Vol. 139, Issue 8

Sthecarlet & Black

is exhausting, I just want it to be over,” first-year student speaks about misinformation circulating on social media

By Nick El Hajj elhajjni@grinnell.edu

This story was originally published online on Nov. 11.

A screenshotted Google document circulating on Instagram that describes an alleged attack on a “Southeast Asian American first-year student” on campus has sparked controversy, concern and confusion within the Grinnell College community.

On Oct. 11, Shabab Kabir `26 was the victim of two separate incidents on and off the Grinnell College campus, which left him injured and needing to seek medical care. The details of these incidents were then subject to campuswide speculation after a Google document created by Hannah Biles `23.5 and Attaira Prince `23 began circulating on social media weeks after the incidents occurred.

The sharing of this document and a subsequent GoFundMe set up on behalf of an “anonymous firstyear” have led to some members of the College community claiming the Google document has bred misinformation.

“There are inaccuracies in this statement [circulated Google document] that are important to address because the circulation of misinformation has caused fear among members of our community,” said an email titled “Statement About Social Media Posts” that was sent out by the Grinnell College Office of Communications on Nov. 9.

“I never wanted it to be public. I didn’t find out about the document until I was on Instagram, and I didn’t know when it was made and how it spread so far … I’m not even Southeast Asian,” said Kabir, who identifies as Bengali

and South Asian.

Kabir explained that he had initially only disclosed the details of the incident with his friend, Prince.

“I was shocked,” she said. “To hear that someone is actually targeted on campus is surprising,” added Prince. With Kabir’s permission, Prince shared her recollection of the details of the incident with her friend, Biles.

said Biles, who decided with Prince to create the Google document describing the incident. “The document was definitely a rough draft,” said Prince. “It was written without referral back to him [Kabir].”

“It was a third-person account of events. There are a lot of things that needed to be clarified in that Google [document], it was never meant to go out,” said Biles who, out of concern and “kind of on a whim,” shared the document with her sociology class.

“I think that that was a complete lack of forethought on my part, I didn’t think of the consequences,” said Biles.

Crimes at Grinnell” on Nov. 3 with the attached Google document. Another email with the same subject line was sent by the Chinese Student Association on the same day with the attached document and read: “Our hope is to have everyone aware and protect themselves to the best extent. Please spread this message to your friends and classmates!”

“Social media went on a frenzy about it,” said Kabir. He also noted a number of inaccuracies in both the College’s Nov. 9 statement and in the document circulating on social media.

Shabab Kabir `26

“I was like, ‘how do people not know about this?’ It’s like physical violence that no one knows about,”

UGSDW Bargaining

“From there, I saw that someone had shared it with an MLC [Multicultural Leadership Council] group, then the MLC group shared it with everyone.”

After the document was shared, the International Student Organization sent an email titled “Racist Hate

According to Kabir, he was walking between Younker Hall and Joe Rosenfield Center with his uncharged electric scooter heading back to his dorm after a meeting around 8 p.m.

UGSDW rallies, negotiations continue behind closed doors

By Ellianna Cierpiot cierpiot@grinnell.edu

“[W]e have come to the conclusion that the disrespectful interruptions no longer allow us to continue bargaining with an audience present,” wrote Brad Lindberg, associate vice president of institutional initiatives and enrollment, in an email to the UGSDW bargaining team.

“We didn’t think it was a disruption,” said Executive Board Member-at-Large Malcolm Galpern-Levin `24.

The UGSDW bargaining team offered to open the bargaining

College approves new Japanese major

By Conrad Dahm dahmconr@grinnell.edu

A new Japanese major was just ap proved to be added at Grinnell College. Students and faculty have been pushing for a Japanese major for over 10 years, but the major was approved after a second tenured track faculty position was created.

Mariko Schimmel, associate profes sor of Japanese and the chair of the Chi nese and Japanese department, said she hopes that the major will increase diver sity in the College’s curriculum and assist students’s ability to explore the world.

Up until this point, the College has offered Japanese classes but did not have a major to accompany it. Addition ally, the proposed major will also bring new classes to Grinnell College, which

Schimmel also said she is excited about.

One of the new classes that will be in troduced with the new major is JPN 398: Advanced Japanese Seminar, in which students will conduct a capstone research project, according to Schimmel. The ma jor will also require classes that already exist such as JPN 120: Japanese Popu lar Culture and Society, JPN 241: Japa nese Horror: Past and Present and JPN 279: Modern Japanese Fiction and Film.

Schimmel said that the new major was created in part due to the immense popularity of Japanese classes among students, with Japanese classes being some of the most crowded at Grinnell.

“The two sections of JPN 101 are usu ally quite packed,” Schimmel said.

“It was high time that we have a ma jor,” she said. “The existence of the major

will hopefully encourage our students to continue on to advance their proficien cy in this very challenging language.”

According to Schimmel, the creation of a new major is never easy — it takes years of work and the hiring of new fac ulty to support the major. As a result, the College is planning on hiring anoth er faculty member in the department. “I hope the creation of a major will add to their [the new Professor’s] excitement of joining the College” said Schimmel

Another difficulty of starting a new major is faculty contracts and po sitions. “I had to consistently push for expanding my part-time colleague’s po sition into a full-time position, then ex

Grill meal-swipe alternative met with mostly positive reactions

By Molly Wilcoxson wilcoxso2@grinnell.edu

The Spencer Grill has be gun offering a new meal re placement plan allowing for students to use their Dining Hall swipes on meals on week nights between 8 p.m. and 10 p.m. The plan, which was im plemented after fall break, of fers four meal options for stu dents to choose from after the Dining Hall closes each night.

The new option for mealplan-covered meals after regular dining hours has had positive feedback from some students who say that this op tion better fits their schedules.

“If you miss dinner at D-hall, you don’t have a lot of other options, espe cially if you don’t want to spend your dining dollars,” said Wallis Shepard `25. Diona Plakolli `26 said that the meal replacement plan works better for her because in her home coun try of Kosovo she is used to eating dinner at later times.

“Eating at 6 p.m. just feels too early for me,” she said. Medhashree Adhikari `26 agreed with that sentiment, saying, “I usually put off get

“This

OWEN BARBATO

Prior to bargaining, members of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers rallied outside the Joe Rosenfeld Center to protest the closing of bargaining to an audience and to support Just Cause for Academic Workers.

I never wanted it to be public.

Sports: Shootout! Women’s soccer wins conference title

The Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) led a rally protesting Grinnell College closing collective bargaining to in-person audiences before the bargaining session on Thursday, Nov. 10. The College informed the union that they intended to close bargaining following the Oct. 27 session during which members of the audience laughed following a response from Frank Harty, legal counsel to the College, over a question about the definition of academic freedom.

Social media frenzy fuels misinformation surrounding incident

but they never did,” he said.

Then, “out of nowhere, someone with their bicycle collided with me and then they just kept going, and then I fell really hard and came unconscious for several minutes,” he said.

Kabir described the person who ran into him as “a white slender person with a duck grey hat,” he said. “That’s all I know, but it was also really dark, whether or not they actually were white or not, I don’t know.”

Unsuccessful in reaching Campus Safety, Kabir then decided to drive himself to the Grinnell Regional Medical Center emergency room. “I was bleeding a lot [from] my head,” he said.

Driving westbound along 10th Avenue, he noticed a white SUV behind him that he said he thought was following him. “I purposely took a lap around the neighborhood just as a check and then they were still following me,” he said.

Kabir said he then continued to the hospital and, “as I was turning into the neighborhood, they hit me in the back.” He said the white SUV hit his own car from behind. “Hit and run, the dude was gone, he just vroomed away. I was frozen for several minutes,” he said.

was cleanly and deeply cut into me and that it wasn’t consistent with my accident [in the car].” Kabir referred to his back laceration as a “stab wound.”

Following the events of Oct. 11, the incident was not reported to the College or the Grinnell Police Department (GPD) until Oct. 28, when Kabir shared the incident with Kate Ferraro of Academic Advising, who then filed a Bias Incident Response Team (BIRT) report on his behalf to the College. The GPD never received a report about the incident according to Shannon Watts, a GPD administrative clerk.

“They [Campus Safety] looked like they were taking notes, but I guess they didn’t end up reporting that,” Kabir said.

‘small cut,’ it felt very dismissive,” said Kabir in response to the College’s email.

The duck grey hat was mentioned in the Google document and was a source of confusion to many students online. Kabir clarified that it refers to a grey baseball cap with an embellishment of a duck on it.

After regaining consciousness, Kabir tried to call Campus Safety repeatedly. “For some reason, they weren’t picking up and I don’t know if that’s my phone’s fault, or if it was like their own phone system,” he said, contrary to what was shared on the Google document. It stated that, “the student called campo [Campus Safety] and campo said, ‘we’re too busy rn [right now].’”

James Shropshire, director of Campus Safety, referred the S&B to the Office of Communications and Marketing for comment. Ellen de Graffenreid, vice president of communications and marketing, declined comment beyond what was already shared in the Nov. 9 allcampus email.

Kabir said he couldn’t be sure whether the driver of the vehicle was the same man with the bike who had run into him earlier in the evening. “It was the same vehicle and it looked like the same person with the bike, although whether or not it actually was [the same person] is a different question, but it looked like them. They had the cap, it looked like the same cap, but then again it was really dark,” said Kabir.

Concerned for his safety, Kabir decided to return to his room and call Campus Safety to drive him to Grinnell Regional Medical Center’s emergency room instead. “This time they actually picked up,” Kabir said. He said that the Campus Safety officers then offered him first-aid help before transporting him to the hospital.

Kabir described discovering that his wounds were beyond injuries on his face and hands when he laid back on the hospital bed. “It had like this white paper on, and I started seeing red streaks of blood on it which meant that I was bleeding from my back.”

“The hospital thought that there was some kind of jagged object that

“The College’s response teams are only able to move forward with action on an incident if the impacted student or a witness — or a College official like an academic advisor or a staff member — makes a report. When incidents are not reported for several weeks, it is difficult for the police to find the individuals responsible and hold them accountable,” said the Nov. 9 all-campus email sent out by the College.

Kabir said that he received a multi-thousand-dollar bill following his visit to the emergency room and that he decided to pay it off by putting as much of the bill as possible on his credit card. He then applied for College emergency funds, which are capped at only $1,000 and require the requestor to obtain itemized receipts. After hearing about what happened, one of Kabir’s friends from home in Oklahoma, Erik Martin, made a GoFundMe to support his medical expenses.

“That GoFundMe was supposed to be for people in my hometown, not for, you know, Grinnell people,” said Kabir.

“I never shared it, I never asked people to donate to it,” said Kabir. “I didn’t want this to explode at all because I have that feeling that history repeats itself. Anytime some kind of weird crime explodes, it always ends up backfiring for the victim. I just wanted to keep it down low. Especially with Grinnellians, it can go on fire very fast.”

“Ever since the [College’s] email went out, I noticed social media went crazy again, and this time it looked like it was antagonizing against me this time,” said Kabir. “I remember one Yik Yak saying ‘lmao admin told us the truth, student just scammed all of us.’”

He added that his name mistakenly appeared on the GoFundMe as the beneficiary for a few minutes and that multiple students were then able to identify and reach out to him through email.

Shabab

`26

Shabab Kabir `26

In an email to the S&B, de Graffenreid wrote, “I can affirm that Campus Safety responded to the student’s call and ensured that they received care. No BIRT report was filed at that time.”

To address why he didn’t file a BIRT report, Kabir said he didn’t know how to and assumed Campus Safety would do so on his behalf. “They said they would contact me with next steps,

Kabir added that he initially didn’t think the incident was racially motivated. This was not reflected in the Google document shared by Biles which referred to the incident as “racist violence.”

“The student did not state that they were the victim of a race-related incident,” said the email sent by the College which referred to the initial notes written by Campus Safety the day of the incident.

“When the student later called for a return transport, they reported a small cut on their side and stated that they must have fallen on something,” read the email sent by the College. “Grinnell called my stab wound a

“I guess some students recognized who I was. I don’t know if it was the band-aid, I don’t know if it’s my ethnicity or whatever, but some people physically came up to me and said I just scammed them and they wanted their money back,” he said. “I sent their names to my friend [Martin] and asked him to return their money. I think it is now around $900 and will end up being around $500 after the money is returned,” he said, referring to the GoFundMe.

“Hearing everything that was happening on campus in response to that information, and that people were basically talking trash about it, it kinda got overwhelming,” said Prince.

Following the negative response, Prince and Biles decided to remove public access to the Google document.

“This is exhausting. I just want it to be over,” said Kabir.

Spencer Grill offers new meal-swipe alternative

alternative — Continued from Front Page

ting dinner in the Dining Hall. Plus, I don’t usually eat breakfast, so I have a way to use my extra swipes.”

Student-athletes have also found the plan helpful as it allows them to eat dinner even if their practic es regularly interfere with the Din ing Hall hours. Bella Nesbeth `26, a player on the softball team, said that during the winter she is not able to make it to dinner due to practice running from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. “So I’m definitely a big fan of the meal replacement plan,” she said.

D-hall, sometimes it’s great, and sometimes it’s less than great.”

“We have had a good number of students utilizing this program, and we have had compliments from some of the students,” Moser wrote in an email to the S&B. “Overall, we believe the meal replacement program to be a good success.”

The addition of gluten-free meals — a spicy black bean burger and a macaroni and cheese option — were added after Will Chapin `24 reached out to the Spencer Grill management about the lack of gluten-free options.

session with a request to the audience to keep their conduct respectful, but the College did not move from its position of holding closed sessions and making a WebEx livestream available for viewing.

Approximately 30 students rallied outside the Joe Rosenfield Center, holding signs that read “Grinnell: Bargain now! No more threats!” and chanting in support of both re-opening bargaining to an audience and including academic workers under Just Cause protections, before walking through the Humanities and Social Studies Center to stand outside the bargaining room.

During the bargaining session, the UGSDW and College bargaining teams continued to discuss the release of protected student information. The College’s bargaining team stated again their concerns about FERPA restrictions and proposed an information-release waiver to UGSDW, which was rejected. According to UGSDW’s bargaining team, they have concerns that student workers are not informed about what the information release would entail, and therefore, workers might be dissuaded from releasing their information. Because of this, UGSDW’s bargaining team said

they would be willing to consider the FERPA release waivers only if their new proposal on a mandated union orientation was accepted by the College.

UGSDW’s orientation proposal would require a room provided by the College and payment for the employees’s time in attendance. They also said in the bargaining session that the orientation would be mandatory for all student workers, who would not be able to work at Grinnell College without completing this training. When asked about the possibility of students to opt-out of the orientation, UGSDW’s team said employees could be permitted to submit a written statement to the College requesting to do so.

The discussion on the orientation reached a standstill because, according to Harty, an employer cannot mandate whether or not workers participate in union activities as a condition of their employment, pursuant to Iowa Code Chapter 731.

Both parties also discussed the terms of UGSDW’s grievance proposal, including the proposed timeline of the grievance and arbitration process. According to UGSDW’s proposal, the final step in the grievance process, which would be taken only if previous steps fail, would involve three arbitrators. Each arbitrator would be paid by

both UGSDW and the College, according to this proposal. Members of the College’s team raised concerns about this, saying that the College is unable to pay individuals who do not work for the College. Additionally, the College’s team questioned who could serve as an arbitrator, but no decision was reached.

At the end of the session, Harty brought up Section 1.1 of the College’s proposals, describing it as “low-hanging fruit.” Section 1.1 is a statement that summarizes who UGSDW represents — the College proposal specifies that the union serves as the exclusive bargaining representative for degree-seeking individuals who are paid hourly and also for community advisors.

UGSDW’s team did not accept the college’s proposal, citing concerns over the specification of hourly workers, and they also stated their interest in including in the bargaining unit students whose sole employment in the College is a research fellowship from grants outside of the College.

The next bargaining session is scheduled for Thursday, Nov. 17.

As student workers, all staff members of the S&B will be included in future collective bargaining. The S&B remains an independent newspaper and is committed to maintaining its integrity in reporting.

The meal replacement plan gives students four options for their meals which rotate every week. Since the in stallation of the plan, the Spencer Grill has offered a variety of foods, includ ing crab rangoon, fish and chips, black bean burgers, egg rolls and chicken tenders. According to Jeanette Moser, director of dining services, nearly all meals are prepared within the Spen cer Grill itself, except for the aller gy-friendly options, which are pre pared in the Marketplace Dining Hall.

According to the students who spoke with the S&B, the quality of the food has been overall positive. These students unanimously agreed that the food offered at the Spen cer Grill was generally better than the Dining Hall’s dinner offerings.

“It’s definitely more con sistent than the food in D-hall,” said Shepard, “and I can count on this food being pretty good. At

“Overall, I hear gluten-free stu dents say that they just don’t have enough access to food,” Chap in said. “I sent the Grill a heavily worded email about this, and they claimed they always intended to of fer gluten-free options, but I can’t confirm whether that’s the case.”

Despite the reception of the new meal replacement plan, the Spencer Grill has faced some setbacks, includ ing staffing issues. Hope Ware `26, a student worker at the Spencer Grill, said that the lack of student workers during night shifts led to staff being overwhelmed with the number of orders. “People order regular items on top of the meal replacement op tions, so it’s overwhelming,” she said.

Multiple Spencer Grill supervi sors declined to comment on the addi tion of the meal replacement plan, say ing that Moser had advised them not to speak with the S&B. As of Nov. 10, Moser has not responded to multiple requests for comment on this claim.

New Japanese major approved

tending the length of the contract and finally, turning it into a ten ure-track position,” Schimmel said.

When asked about what she is most excited about with this major, Schimmel said “I had so many great

students over the years who worked with me from their first semester to the last. As I see them graduate, I would clap hard for those students, but people around me would wonder why I would be clapping so hard for a CS major, chemistry major, studio art major, etc. Now it will be shown on their diploma if they so choose.”

OWEN BARBATO

Members of the College’s bargaining team met with the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers’ team in HSSC room 2314.

There are a lot of things that needed to be clarified in that Google [document], it was never meant to go out.

Hannah Biles `23.5

Ever since the [College’s] email went out, I noticed social media went crazy again.

History repeats itself. Anytime some kind of weird crime explodes, it always ends up backfiring for the victim.

Kabir

UGSDW Bargaining

Japanese

Meal-swipe

Speaking with Jodie Geddes: “If you don’t know, say you don’t know”

By Nadia Langley langleyn@grinnell.edu

Jodie Geddes is an advocate for racial healing and an international speaker on restorative justice. She was invited to the Grinnell College campus to present at the Oct. 27 Scholars’ Convocation, “Defining Community: Resistance and Dis covery.” The S&B was able to speak with Geddes over WebEx from her home in Oakland, California af ter her time on campus. During the conversation, which has been edited below for clarity and brevity, Geddes shared her knowledge of restorative justice and how it can be applied in the Grinnell College community fol lowing the racist vandalism and ha rassment which occurred on campus in mid-October.

The S&B: I was able to attend your scholars’ convocation talk last week, and you began by introduc ing yourself as being from Jamaica and acknowledging your heritage and your lineage. Why did you choose to start like that and why was that an important thing to do?

Geddes: It’s a practice of re membering this deeper connection to community and ancestry. In order for people to know who I am, it’s also important to tell them where I come from because my Jamaican lineage and ancestry, while I’ve grown up in the United States as a Black woman, there are also parts of my Caribbean heritage that inform how I see race and inform how I see identity. I don’t want to ever separate those things. For our readers who aren’t familiar with restorative justice, could you explain what it is?

There are two ways to define restorative justice, one that is much more abstract and one that is more concrete because I think it’s import ant for people to have all of those perspectives. On one hand, the way that my being is engaged with restor ative justice is that it is a practice of remembering. What are practices, rit

uals and ceremonies that folks have used to be in a community that also allow them to move through mo ments that are hard, whether that is conflict or harm?

It’s important to name that be cause restorative justice, or what we name as restorative justice today, has deep roots in indigenous and Af ro-centric practices that many people still continue to practice. So, for me, it is really remembering the sacred ness of all people, that everyone matters, right? And I can still hold people accountable for the harm that they commit or the conflicts that they produce while also still seeing their full humanity, which I know is chal lenging. And I’m not asking that for everyone. I’m just saying that has al ways been a part of my being which is why I think I lean into restorative justice.

And in addition to that, restor ative justice is a set of principles, practices and theories that inform how we’re in community with each other. But also then we ask the ques tion, “what happens when harm

takes place?” How do we create an opportunity for repair, to acknowl edge that repair doesn’t require for giveness? It really just says, “okay, all people impacted, be a part of the conversation.” And what we have in relationships, families, systems of hierarchy, is that there often isn’t an opportunity for all parties impacted to come together to identify what re pair looks like. It’s important to note that many people come to restorative justice from a harm-centered lens. And while restorative processes that engage in harm and engage in con flict are really important, it is even equally important to build a culture of community.

At Grinnell, we recently had several cases of racist vandalism and harassment on campus. At the convocation talk, you made a point of being very clear about naming them as racist vandalism and rac ist violence, rather than calling it “the incident.”

It is always important to speak truth to power. And if we don’t name the thing and just continue to talk

around it, then any actions or solu tions that are created often lack real hard conversation. Part of why peo ple might not name it is a defense mechanism. Folks might not feel like they have the language to define it and to talk about it, and I think that people are often afraid of saying the wrong thing.

While I understand that, I think that saying the wrong thing is much better than not saying anything at all. If we’re not naming the thing, what are we taking actions against? Or what are we taking actions towards? And when we name whatever it might be, when we name the harm, when we name the truth, it allows for us to also engage in a space where we don’t repeat the same actions, we don’t repeat the same harm.

And that piece is important be cause, in many ways, I can guaran tee that students on this campus have already witnessed or been directly harmed by racial terror and racial conflict. And this specific incident was kind of the straw that broke the camel’s back — maybe not for indi

viduals, but for the institution.

And if it is not named and sim ply glossed over, it doesn’t really ac knowledge the magnitude of some thing like that. That it is not simply vandalism, but an attack, a way to terrorize people.

I know you mentioned in your talk that it’s okay to be “messy” in restorative work and that perfec tionism is tied to white supremacy. I think this is connected to some thing I’ve seen at Grinnell, where some people might be afraid to say anything because they’re worried that they’re going to be called out or canceled in some way.

A lot of times most things are messy, but it’s about what we pay attention to. We recognize that there isn’t one answer, and we recognize that the more space that we create for many voices, we really can begin to engage in a process that’s really about dreaming about the communi ty that we want to create.

And sometimes there’s a com mitment more to the process, like the physical structure of the process, than really the voices that we’re bringing into the room. So some times folks might say, “Oh, you only need to meet with these three peo ple,” but who are the voices that are missing? How do we bring them into the space?

And it is important to acknowl edge that whatever people see as ac tivism or anti-racist work is not per formance, that there are many people where this work is about them also being liberated and about them be ing free. And I’m also one of those people that do this work as a part of my freedom. I speak truth to power as a part of my freedom because I don’t want to perform this falsehood of what Blackness is supposed to be because it’s so much more expansive than what structures of white su premacy decided that it is.

I just want people to be truthful and honest. If you don’t know, say you don’t know.

“On the backs of vulnerable students:” Accessibility concerns on campus

House more accessible. They just chose not to prioritize the funds and systems that would do so.”

Chintagunta said that the pro cess to get infrastructure change around campus requires persistence. She has been trying to get an auto matic door button on the loggia door in front of Kershaw since she got to Grinnell last year.

“Ultimately, things will get done if you push hard enough, if enough people talk about the issue, if it becomes a big enough deal,” said Chintagunta. “But to get to that point, you have to talk about it with a lot of people.”

“Attention to a wide range of accessibility features is considered during the planning, design, and building phases of new construc tion,” Wilke wrote.

“I just want to stress that it’s a community issue,” said Envy. “All of the labor in order to solve these issues is on the backs of very vulner able students who are trying to deal with it.”

By Eleanor Corbin corbinel@grinnell.edu

Last May, when Hemlock Envy `25 learned he would be living in Farm House for the fall semester, he sent an email to the Office of Disability Resources with concerns about the accessible entrance to the house. While the door in the back is situated at the top of a ramp, there is no scanner for Pioneer One-Cards, no automatic door mechanism and no way to open it from the outside. Two doctor’s notes, several emails and six months later, every time Envy needs to use the ramp to get into his residence, he said he must enlist the help of a friend to open the door from the inside.

“I still have no idea when I will be able to use the door,” he said.

The back door to Farm House is one of several entryways around campus that lack or have broken automatic door buttons. The loggia doors outside of Cleveland Hall and Kershaw do not have automatic but tons. Envy says that the buttons reg ularly need repairs.

Environmental and Safety Co ordinator Chris Bair said that facil ities management (FM) has been

made aware of these problems, and the timeline for attending to them depends on the nature of the issue. Ideally, Bair said, if a button is bro ken, it can be fixed with parts on hand. In other cases, however, new parts or entirely new automatic door systems may need to be ordered and installed.

Pioneer One-Card scanners and automatic door systems come from two separate vendors, according to Bair. When both need to be added to a door, as is the case at Farm House, the process takes longer. Supply chain delays have added additional time to these requests.

“FM is certainly aware of those [the entrances without door buttons]. We contacted the vendor and we will get those installed as soon as we can,” said Bair.

Associate Chief Diversity Offi cer for Disability Resources Autumn Wilke, said that accessibility needs are determined in two ways.

First, FM and Disability Re sources work together to identify ar eas in need of improvement in terms of general accessibility, noting both small repairs and larger projects. These areas are determined through a combination of building audits and

suggestions from students who work with Disability Resources.

A group of students who work under Disability Resources, called “User Experts,” are also often in volved in this process. According to User Expert and Vice President of the Grinnell Disability Alliance Ela Chintagunta `25, the purpose of the group is to “audit spaces and try to figure out things that are potentially wrong with accessibility, and we in clude those in reports.”

Second, cases are evaluated in dividually. Students are often preplaced in rooms meeting their spe cific needs, said Wilke.

If accommodations are approved after room draw or in the middle of the year, Wilke said that new acces sible infrastructure can be installed. Wilke wrote in an email to the S&B, “Disability Resources can work one on one with students to determine in terim accommodation which may in clude moving the location of classes, offering alternative housing arrange ments, etc.”

Envy said that Wilke offered him the option to move twice. He re sponded to this offer by saying, “It is insulting because this institution has all of the resources to make Farm

She also discussed a lack of transparency within the repair sys tem, saying, “It would be nice to know the status of things. If I fill out one of those work order forms, will it happen? When will it happen? What is the progress on those things? Be cause sometimes that gets lost.”

Functioning automatic door mechanisms are not the only factor that goes into creating an accessi ble campus. Envy said that doors in the Humanities and Social Studies Center close far too quickly. The ac cessible entrance to Student Health and Wellness is locked and requires a phone call inside to open. Envy said that the process of noting these issues and reporting them to the Col lege has been difficult.

“The avenues in which to go about making things accessible is also inaccessible, and very time-con suming and very emotionally ex hausting to engage with,” said Envy. “Sometimes it’s just easier to figure out your own way to do things.”

Looking forward, Disability Resources has been involved in the renovation and/or building of struc tures on campus to ensure they are accessible, including the new Com munity Engagement Quad going up downtown. A third-party consultant, the Institute for Human Centered Design, is also consulting on the project.

OHANA SARVOTHAM

Disability Resources is working to make sure campus is accessible.

OHANA SARVOTHAM

The loggia doors outside of Cleveland Hall and Kershaw do not have automatic buttons.

CONTRIBUTED BY JODIE GEDDES

Jodie Geddes was invited to Grinnell College’s Scholars’ Convocation to speak about her work on restorative justice.

Republican candidates dominate Iowa Midterms

Democrat Liz Mathis in District 2, which includes Poweshiek County.

Iowa District 3’s House race did not have as clear of an outcome —the race between incumbent Democrat Cindy Axne and Republican Zach Nunn was so close it was not officially called until Wednesday, Nov. 9. In the early afternoon, the Associated Press formally announced that Nunn narrowly beat Axne, making District 3 the only flipped congressional seat in Iowa.

At the time the race was called, the difference between Nunn and Axne’s total votes was only a little over 2,000. Nunn’s victory gained the Republican Party a new seat in the House of Representatives.

At the state level, Grinnell’s own Sam Cox, a Democrat, lost her race for Iowa Senate District 27 to incumbent Republican Annette Sweeney. Sweeney currently is a state senator in Senate District 25 — due to recent redistricting, she will move to represent District 27. Sweeney received 67% of the vote share.

candidate from Grinnell and the director of outreach programs and events at Grinnell College, also lost her race running for House District 53 to Republican incumbent Dean Fisher.

Along with electing representatives, Iowans voted on a ballot initiative to add the right to keep and bear arms to the Iowa State Constitution. It would also require strict scrutiny of any alleged attempt to violate this right brought to a court. Iowans heavily supported this ballot initiative, with 65% voting in favor of it.

The majority of counties supported Republicans in the elections at every level although a few trended blue. Polk County, which encompasses Des Moines, Story County, Linn County and Johnson County, all favored the Democratic candidate in both the Senate and Gubernatorial elections. Black Hawk County also favored Democrat Franken for Senate. In the House election, however, all districts voted red.

By Taylor Nunley nunleyta@grinnell.edu

A red wave swept across Iowa this past Tuesday, Nov. 8 as voters across the state cast their ballots in a series of influential midterm elections. The Republican Party in Iowa saw their candidates win in every major election in the state. As polls closed on Tuesday night, the wait for results was a tense one with many races finishing extremely close.

Incumbent Charles E. Grassley, who has held office in the U.S. Senate since 1981, successfully defended his seat against Democrat Michael Franken. Grassley accrued 56% of total votes compared to Franken’s 44%.

Grassley’s bid for the seat ended

Metal

By George Kosinski kosinski@grinnell.edu

Growling vocals, heavy guitar riffs, throbbing baselines and highspeed kick drums blend into a vivid, roaring soundscape on local metal band Rehtek’s new album “Abomination.” The group hails from Tama, half an hour’s drive north from Grinnell, and includes vocalist Colton Davenport, lead guitarist Joe Youngbear, rhythm guitarist Mythias Keahna, bassist Julian Williams and drummer Dylan Main.

The members of Rehtek grew up as friends, and Youngbear and Davenport are distantly related while Keanha and Youngbear are brothers by ceremony. After listening extensively to classic metal music, they began learning instruments and playing together as teenagers.

“Around 2011 we all started hanging out and seeing each other more often,” Youngbear said. “We were all like fourteen or fifteen at the time, and we just got together and tried to form a band.”

The group first played shows in local bars such as Las Dos Fuentes in Tama. Youngbear said they drew relatively large crowds but did not have the highest quality equipment, and they were often forced to use a makeshift setup onstage in order to accommodate all the band’s instruments.

“We started off playing original songs, which had a bit more of a thrashy sound but also a lot of softer stuff. The lyrical content was okay, but we have definitely come a long way from those first shows,” Youngbear said. In 2012, after initially making a name for themselves, Rehtek

with him finishing ahead of what several polls estimated to be his closest run for election since his first race in 1980. Although Grassley performed better than expected, this year’s race was still his closest since his first bid for Senate, surpassing the 2016 election when he won against the Democratic candidate, Patty Judge, by a margin of 24%.

Kim Reynolds, Iowa’s incumbent Republican governor, was also up for reelection for her second term, with Democrat Deidre DeJear on the ballot as her competitor. Reynolds pulled comfortably ahead in the polls, ending the race with a total vote share of 58 to DeJear’s 40.

All four of Iowa’s congressional districts were taken by Republicans. In Districts 1, 2 and 4, Republican

DIGIOIA

candidates, who were all the incumbents of their respective districts, won their races with at least a 6 percentage point margin or above.

Randy Feenstra, who ran in District 4, had the greatest lead out of all his fellow Iowan candidates in the GOP — he won 67% of total votes while Democrat Ryan Melton secured 30%. Bryan Jack Holder, a third-party candidate in District 4, was able to make a small dent in the race’s outcome, taking 2% of the total votes. Holder was the only third-party candidate to gain any vote share in the major state elections.

Republican Mariannette MillerMeeks won over Democrat Christina Bohannan in District 1, and Republican Ashley Hinson won over

album

began playing in Des Moines and opening for popular metal bands from around Iowa and the Midwest.

“Being on the Woolys stage really made things easier,” Youngbear said. “After that, we played a lot of shows between 2013 and 2017. Our best shows were the ones we threw in Tama. We headlined and brought down other bands and people that we knew. We used to have some pretty crazy shows there.”

Then, in 2019, the band took a hiatus.

“Some stuff happened which forced us to take a break and think, ‘What’s next? Are we going to keep going?’ Some of us were having kids. It was a time when everyone was just having life happen. We all became more like adults around then. We weren’t sure if we were going to get back together.”

Youngbear moved to Des Moines, but the idea of the band never left him. “I was always writing,” he said.

“I had a little home studio that I was still building,” Youngbear continued. “Davenport actually showed me the song ‘Abomination’ from the new album, and that’s when things really started kicking back up … Then the pandemic happened, and that's when I really learned how to record. I recorded the album like three or four times, and by then, I felt like I knew what I was doing.”

For inspiration, Rehtek draws from a wide array of metal groups — Youngbear cited Metallica, Pantera and Slipknot among other bands. “We took inspiration from the Nü metal era, with its bouncy and groovy aspects,” Youngbear said.

He added that Rehtek enjoys making music that resonates with listeners. “It has to have a lot of feel and make you want to move. That’s my thing. I try to think of what I would want to hear if I was watching a band. You know, does that riff make me want to mosh or headbang?”

“If it's anything we're trying to get across in the songs, it's just that we've experienced many things,” Youngbear said. “The lyrical

content portrays not exactly the best of times, and it can get personal. We understand that we're just here experiencing life like everybody else. It’s not always easy.”

Youngbear said that the band was lucky to find each other in Tama, an extremely small town without the extensive metal community they have since been able to find in Des Moines, where Rehtek is now based. “The scene at Des Moines is pretty solid,” he said. “Everyone knows each other. People kind of come out and support each other. You really need that kind of community to help you out.

Davenport, Keahnu and Youngbear all belong to the Meskwaki Nation, which has its settlement in Tama. Youngbear said he would like to feature imagery from the Meskwaki Annual

Democrat Sarah Smith, another

All results for the 2022 Elections were taken from weareiowa.com.

public, but personally, I feel limited in what else we feel like we can incorporate.”

He added that he finds the fourfour tempo characteristic of the powwow music he was exposed to growing up reflected in his songwriting, and he wondered about how the tradition of powwow singing has translated to his and Davenport’s metal vocal abilities.

After releasing their new album, Rehtek has one more show this year at Lefty’s Bar in Des Moines on Friday, Nov. 18. Doors will open at 4:30 p.m. and music will start at 5 p.m. Several metal bands from Iowa and nearby in the Midwest will open before Rehtek headlines. The band plans on playing some older songs which they have not performed in a while as well as some tracks from the new album.

Powwow, held every August, in a music video for the song “O.I.T.N.,” which incorporates a beat that resembles powwow music.

“We grew up being told that we shouldn’t tell a lot of people about how we do things because that’s private and that’s community. The imagery of the powwow is

CORNELIA

We have definitely come a long way from those first shows.

Joe Youngbear Lead Guitarist

I try to think of what I would want to hear if I was watching a band. You know, does this riff make me want to mosh or headbang?

Joe Youngbear Lead Guitarist

Rehearsals with "The Putnam County Spelling Bee" cast

By Cadence Chen chencade@grinnell.edu

As the nine-person cast of her student-run production of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” reaches its midpoint in preparations before opening in December 2022, Director Lucy Polyak `23 describes the project as “a roller-coaster ride.”

“Right now, I’m doing the screaming, arms-in-the-air thing,” she said.

During the first week of October, Polyak, Stage Manager David Gales `23 and Music Director and Pit Lead Jacob Johnson `23 held auditions for the musical. On Nov. 8, the cast rehearsed the show cover to cover. Rehearsals are typically every day from 7:30 p.m. to 9:15 p.m. and are split between music practice and stage blocking. By now, Polyak said, the cast is almost off-book.

In the next month, the cast will work on developing their characters as they discover the quirks and subtleties that define their individual styles. This structure is applied in hopes of encouraging the cast to make bigger character choices.

Johnson began rehearsals with the pit orchestra over the weekend. The cast and crew are “aggressively in the swing of things,” said the director.

— “a small, intimate space for a small, intimate show,” cast member Sophie Noyes `24 said.

Originally created by Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn, “The Putnam County Spelling Bee” follows six eccentric middle school students and three adults as the adolescents compete in the titular spelling bee. The show’s lightheartedness and strong moral values are what initially drew Polyak to this show.

“I walk in the room and silliness hits me in the face,” said Reese Hill `24, who plays Rona Lisa Peretti, an adult who now runs the spelling bee after winning it as a child.

As a director, Polyak emphasizes showing compassion for one’s character. Gales, alongside their many other roles, dedicates time before rehearsals to be a dialect coach for Maggie Morris `26 to help her replicate her character’s lisp in a way that sounds authentic and is not a caricature of someone with a lisp.

Morris, who plays precocious and ultra-politically aware Logainne Schwarzand Grubenierre (Schwarzy for short), said she initially felt like she “was trying to act more grownup” at the beginning of rehearsals. Similar to ten-year-old Schwarzy, Morris is the youngest in the cast.

an aspect of her character that she relates to.

“It’s such a relief to find that funny rather than just finding that embarrassing.”

Even as Hill is playing one of three adults, she has still been able to find the “echoes of puberty and awkwardness” in Rona.

While the show maintains a playfulness throughout, each character is internally going through something emotionally volatile, driving their individual desires to win the spelling bee.

there are sad things and they exist simultaneously, but they are not the same.”

Over the past month, some cast members faced illness and had to manage their personal lives alongside regular rehearsals. This, coupled with the campus-wide mourning of Davis Cooper `26, made for an emotionally taxing rehearsal period.

This week, the cast is set to rehearse at the Loft Theatre in the Grinnell Area Arts Center, where the show will ultimately be performed. The Loft is a black-box theater where the audience members are near the actors and the seats wrap around the stage in a stadium-like curvature, seating 65 to 100 people

Polyak’s production features adults playing kids, which has led the cast to reflect on their younger selves in relation to the present. Noyes said that they and the rest of the cast have found that playing a younger character has allowed them to heal their inner child.

“You get to embody a child and show them the most amount of love you possibly can,” Noyes said.

“I'm managing myself, but also, I miss my mommy and daddy like I never have before,” she said. “And these people around me already have a major or maybe even a career plan, and they're really going into adult life — where I feel like I'm just catching up to being a college kid.”

Morris also finds that Schwarzy’s passion over political issues but general misguidedness is

Sheepish contestant Olive Ostrovsky, played by Noyes, is the only contestant who does not have a parent in the audience due to her father’s abuse and mother’s neglect.

This culminates into “The I Love You Song,” a heart-wrenching song that, Gales noticed, everyone cried to.

“The show doesn't ever soften the impact of its blows with humor,” said Gales. “The humor in the show is separate from the tragedy, in that there are funny things, and

Noyes said that they sometimes struggled to come in with a positive attitude. Among much sentimentality, Hill said she finds that the space the cast has cultivated together is one free of judgment and full of people who want to support one another.

“We are holding space for negative emotions, to be like, ‘you don't have to be feeling anything other than what you are feeling in this rehearsal process,’” said Noyes.

“That sort of balance and that sort of sincerity can be a really hard thing to strike if you're not in the headspace to do it. But … they did and are,” said Johnson.

By Ella LaBarre labarree@grinnell.edu

In the early 1990s, an art teacher at a Michigan high school started a fundraiser making and selling ceramic bowls with his students to raise money for local food banks. Over time, this effort morphed into the international project known as Empty Bowls, which seeks to address food insecurity at a grassroots level worldwide.

This year, the Grinnell community will be participating for the fifth consecutive year in an Empty Bowls fundraiser for the Mid-Iowa Community Action organization (MICA).

Community members and students, including members of the Stew Makerspace ceramic studio and the Grinnell Area Arts Council, created and sold bowls with all of the profits going towards the MICA food pantry. This year, 29 artists

have assisted in creating the bowls, including a number of college students.

According to Empty Bowls organizers Jane Mertens and Cecilia Knight, Grinnell College’s involvement in the program has increased every year.

Mertens especially commended the contributions from students Mary Jarmusz `23 and Sarah Schillinger `23.

In addition, Kelly Maynard, professor of history and chair of the European studies department, is teaching a course this semester titled Introduction to Material Culture Studies. The 12 students in the class, which is croslisted between the humanities and social studies departments, worked together to contribute 12 bowls for the fundraiser.

Maynard described the multistep process of creating a bowl. “I take clay, cut them all into pieces, and I weigh them. I then decide on a shape and put them on a tray to dry. Once they’re dry enough, I flip them over and trim the bottoms,” she said.

“Then they get fired, which is about a 14-hour process.”

“This is the first year that we’ve had as many students as we have, and we’re very excited to work with them,” said Mertens.

The students are currently glazing the bowls, which will be followed by another 16-hour firing,

explained Maynard.

The community contributions towards MICA through Empty Bowls has consistently grown over the years.

Knight said, “We’ve raised between two and four thousand each year with the bowls we’ve made. We’ve done very well.”

“We think it's important to be supporting them because they provide food locally for a bunch of nearby counties, but then they also have a really specific focus on making sure to address food insecurity for children and families,” said Mertens.

“According to various websites, about 10% of children in Iowa have experienced food insecurity while they were growing up, and we want to make sure that there are options and that there are safety nets out there,” Mertens said.

This year, bowls will be sold at four different locations throughout late November and during the month of December.

The primary vending location is the Grinnell Area Arts Council, which is located right across the street from the Stew Makerspace. Bowls will be sold during the Jingle Bell Holiday event, hosted by the Grinnell Area Chamber of Commerce, on Friday, Nov. 18 between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 19 between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.

They will continue to sell bowls from Nov. 30 through Dec. 17 on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 12 p.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Bowls will also be sold at the Winter Farmer’s Market on Nov. 18 and 19 from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Hotel Grinnell. The Iowa Kitchen — formerly the restaurant Relish — and the St. Mary Catholic Church will also be selling bowls on Nov. 18.

Each bowl will be sold for $20 with all proceeds going towards MICA. The Iowa Kitchen will also provide food options on Nov. 18, such as soup and bread, for $5.

I walk in the room and silliness hits me in the face.

Reese Hill `24

OHANA SARVOTHAM

Bowls decorated by students in Introduction to Material Culture Studies.

OHANA SARVOTHAM

This is the first year that we've had as many students as we have, and we're very excited to work with them.

Jane Mertens

ELEANOR HEDGES-DUROY

"The Putnam County Spelling Bee" cast rehearses every day from 7:30 p.m. tp 9:15 p.m. The student-produced musical opens in December.

Shootout! Women's soccer wins conference title at home

Payton Lowrey named MWC women's volleyball Player of the Year

teammate is also being a good teammate to yourself,” said Lowery.

Lowery said she came to this realization through talks with Coach Ragan, the positive environment on the team and a lot of self-reflection during the pandemic.

The pandemic was difficult for Lowrey. She practiced her individual skills, but it was not the same playing volleyball without a team due to the highly cooperative nature of the sport.

By Jandry Perez Garcia perezgar@grinnell.edu

By Jane Hoffman hoffmanj@grinnell.edu

On a bulletin board outside of their locker room, three words: “win host win” serve as aspiration, inspiration and, as of this weekend, a reality for the Grinnell Women’s soccer team.

“Win host win,” which refers to winning the Midwest Conference (MWC) Championship title, then hosting and winning the ensuing conference tournament, was something seniors Antarah Chopra `23 and Elinor Arneson `23 had been hearing since their freshman years at Grinnell. Chopra said it had always felt like more of a slogan than something attainable. This season, things changed.

This season, during which Grinnell established a win-loss-tie record of 11-2-5, felt like a switch from “‘Oh, this is fun,’ to ‘oh, we’re actually doing really well,’” said Arneson.

Reflecting on the season before the tournament, Co-Captain Chopra `23 said that the team’s October victory over Beloit College, the 2021 Conference Champions, was a “huge momentum shift” for the team. “It started to feel like, oh, we can actually do this. We have the potential to take it all the way, and we’ve just been building off that since,” said Chopra.

The team secured this year’s conference champion title on Oct. 29 after beating Lake Forest College in their final regular season game. The MWC Champion title is awarded to the school that has accumulated the most points during the regular season, which Grinnell had not received since 2006. With the title came the hosting rights for the Midwest Conference Women’s Soccer Tournament, which occurred on Saturday, Nov. 5 and Sunday, Nov. 6.

At the semifinals on Saturday,

first-seeded Grinnell faced off against fourth-seeded Cornell College, while Lake Forest and Beloit (seeded second and third, respectively) competed against each other.

Pushing through the spitting rain, and cheered on by dedicated supporters huddled beneath umbrellas, Grinnell secured a 2-1 win against Cornell.

suspense-ridden penalty shootout with Arneson in goal.

Ultimately, 4 goals from Chopra, Maddie Beltramo `25, Berk and Alison Wehrman `24 secured the 4-2 win for Grinnell.

As Wehrman slotted the ball into the goal, pushing Grinnell across the threshold for victory, the crowd erupted and students crashed onto the field, embracing players and one another as “We are the Champions” blared from the speakers.

“I knew we could do it, but I’m just in shock. I love this team so much,” said forward Tori Thomas `25 while the music shifted to “Cotton Eyed Joe” and the team broke into a line dance.

After a record-breaking final season, Payton Lowrey `22.5 has been named the Midwest Conference (MWC) Volleyball Player of the Year — an achievement that has only been accomplished by two previous Grinnell volleyball players.

During the 2022 season, Lowrey had a total of 649 digs and 6.18 digs per set. These feats ranked Lowrey as #8 in the NCAA Division III National Ranking for number of digs and digs per set.

Additionally, Lowrey holds first, sixth, seventh and tenth place in the school records for total digs, which she accomplished with her performance over her fourth, third, second and first years respectively, said Coach Eric Ragan in an email to the S&B.

“She is hands down the best defensive player Grinnell has ever had,” wrote Ragan.

“I can't hit a ball, I'm the Libero. I don't ever finish the point unless I pass a free ball over and they miss, which does not happen. So, the idea that I can play this sport without a team just doesn't make sense because I need someone to hit the ball,” Lowrey said. “But I'm glad there are people that can do that better than me and they will be playing.”

Liberos are defense specialists and the rules do not allow them to serve or complete an attack in any way.

Ragan said he has seen Lowrey develop her leadership over the years. Avery Richardson `22 wholeheartedly agreed. Richardson said that during their last game, after the team lost the first set of the match, Lowrey gave the team a motivational speech that helped them win the second set.

“It was a pretty emotional game for me because it was my last, my whole career. I knew if we didn't win this, we were done,” Lowrey said. “I wanted to make sure people understood because I'm the only senior that's graduating and not playing another semester. So, I thought it was important for people to know how much I valued this team and how much I wanted to go out playing like the team that I loved,” she said.

Assisted by Jillian Paladino `23, Tali Berk `24 scored just six minutes after kickoff, ensuring a lead that lasted until Cornell tied the team with a goal at the 65th minute. In the 78th minute, Keiko Smith `25, assisted by Reese Komsthoeft `25, shot the ball through the Cornell goalkeeper’s hands, securing Grinnell’s place in the final.

At Saturday’s second game, Beloit College beat Lake Forest College 1-0, advancing to play against Grinnell for the tournament title on Sunday.

Under a brighter Sunday sky, students, family members and supporters wrapped around the perimeter of Springer Field lawn, lining the bleachers and roaring with frequent delight, occasional disapproval and cheers of support for the players as they fought for control of the ball.

Despite heated gameplay, and 11 shots from Beloit and 8 from Grinnell, neither scored a goal in regulation time nor in the double overtime period that ensued.

As the sun slipped behind a bank of clouds, the game advanced to a

The team’s impressive season has felt “surreal,” Chopra said, and has brought the team closer to alumni players who have reached out with messages of support and have watched their games over the course of the season. “We’re doing it for them, too,” Chopra said.

Tori Thomas `25

“Our freshman year, our captain said, ‘win host win, I want to get on a plane,’ because that means we would be going to the national tournament,” said Chopra.

Three years after Chopra heard this as a freshman, the team will begin their NCAA Division III Tournament journey by competing against Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa in the coming weeks. This year marks only the fifth time in the team’s history, and the first time since 2006, that Grinnell has qualified for the NCAA Division III Tournament.

Lowrey said she started her volleyball career when she was 11 years old and has continued to play for nearly 12 years now. She joined a club the year after she started playing in a recreational league.

“It just became something that I loved so much because I got to be around the same group of people. It was like a built-in friend group outside of school,” said Lowrey. “I decided to come to Grinnell because I wanted to continue having that builtin team, having those friends but also playing a sport that I like,” she said.

Ragan wrote, “I’ve loved coaching Payton. She’s one of the first student-athletes that I recruited to Grinnell. It’s been awesome to see her grow as a person and player. Payton has helped me grow as a coach, too, and I have valued our conversations and the feedback she’s provided me.”

Lowrey said that she used to be hard on herself when she made mistakes playing volleyball, but after starting to play at Grinnell, she matured into someone that is not as self-critical.

“I think that being a good

“Payton is an amazing teammate and person. Not to mention a fantastic volleyball player,” said Lowrey’s teammate, Sophie Weber `25. “Payton is a great mentor for defense specialists. She always has things to say about what we can do better during games, and she always tries to make everyone feel good, even if we are losing the game,” Weber said.

Another teammate, Emmy Nyquist `24, echoed the sentiment.

“She’s been a leader for our back row since she arrived on campus and brings incredible ball control and defense to our team. She’s the first one to pick me up after I make a mistake and knows how to take my mind off that mistake and helps me move past it,” Nyquist said.

In reference to Lowrey being named the MWC Volleyball Player of the Year, teammate Rachel Woock `23 said, “She certainly has not been given enough recognition for all the things she's done for our team and compared to a lot of the people in the rest of the conference … I don't think she's really gotten the recognition that she deserves so it was really exciting as a teammate to hear that she won.”

Men's basketball preview: defense, effort top priorities

but their final game was in the MWC tournament, an achievement Coach David Arseneault Jr. said he did not expect before the season.

Reflecting on their turnaround, guard Dean Mazlisch `23 said the team had learned that, “it doesn't matter what your preseason ranking is, it doesn't matter how the last five games have gone. Especially with the way that we play, if you can flip a switch and find the right pieces to put together, you can be really good.”

to 49.9% — the first time that number has been below 50% in the team’s available statistics (publicly available statistics date to the 201112 season).

By Isaiah Gutman gutmanis@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell men’s basketball team was not looking to start off the season with a blowout loss. The team dropped their first game on the road to Luther College, 95-76 on Tuesday, Nov. 8. But for this team, a slow start should not be cause for alarm. They bounced back on Thursday, Nov. 10, against out-of-conference opponent Barclay College to the tune of 15581. Adam Phillips `23 and David Bluder `25 scored 27 and 22, respectively, while Dillon Gestring

`25 added 16 points, 8 rebounds and 4 blocks in the big win.

Last season, the team had an upand-down start. After 12 games, their record stood at an even 6-6, and their first post-pandemic season looked like it would end no better than the team’s 13-12 2019-20 season. Then, something clicked over winter break.

A low-scoring 81-70 loss to Midwest Conference (MWC) regular-season champion Ripon College on Jan. 4, 2022 preceded a 10-game winning streak that ended more than a month later on Feb. 19. The team ended the season on a three-game losing streak,

Mazlisch remembered the streak as being fueled by high-effort defensive play. “We just started outworking our opponents,” he said. Coach Arseneault Jr. agreed that the team’s defense “became our calling card” during the streak, and the statistics back him up. Grinnell’s defensive strategy is well-known as a part of “The System,” where the team puts more pressure on the opposing offense than nearly any team in the country. Their strategy of forcing snap decisions by ball handlers has led to high turnover numbers by opposing teams, but before last season opponents tended to shoot at high rates when they did not turn the ball over. In the 201819 season, a year where Grinnell finished second in the conference, opponents shot 55.6% from the field compared to Grinnell’s 43.2%. Last season, the team held opponents

Coach Arseneault Jr. and Mazlisch credited defensive effort for the team’s success on that end, but they acknowledged the impact of strong individual performances from Will Bebee and Tommy Smith, both `22. Bebee led the team in blocks, finishing his career third all-time in blocks for Grinnell. Smith’s impact may have gone under the radar for many, but his ability to stay vertical and affect countless shots at the rim prevented a common strategy for opponents to run up the score against the Grinnell press by forgoing threepoint shots and funneling all of their shots to the rim.

Despite these two big losses, Coach Arseneault Jr. felt that the team could replace their defensive impact. “I think we got some really, really quality, capable guys that can fill the void at the back line of our defense,” he said. Tolu Johnson `25 will be one key player the team relies on in the role of “safety,” which is The System’s equivalent of a big man. Johnson and John Vincent `26, a 6’9 first-year player, will need to quickly round into form if the team hopes to defend effectively this year.

Replicating their success defending the rim is not the only path

to defensive success for Grinnell. In past years, Coach Arseneault Jr.’s defenses have excelled when they consistently force turnovers and turn those giveaways into offense at the other end. In 2018-19, the team scored 32 points per game off of turnovers, an area where they enjoyed a 16-point per-game advantage over their opponents. Last year, that advantage was only 8.9 points per game. Mazlisch emphasized that “what really influences whether or not we win games is our energy and effort,” which shows up most on the defensive end.

Another effort statistic to watch: free throw attempts. Grinnell took more free throws per game than their opponents last year after losing the free throw battle badly in 2019-20. If they can keep that up, offense will come easier for a team that has sometimes struggled to score on two-point shots.

The men’s basketball team started their season off with a game on the road at Luther followed by two at home on Thursday, Nov. 10 and Saturday, Nov. 12 against Barclay and North Park University. Their next games are Tuesday, Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Darby Gymnasium against Wartburg College and on the road at Lake Forest College on Nov. 19. Next week, the S&B will preview the team’s offense and catch up on their early-season performance.

OHANA SARVOTHAM

Kate Nakamura `26 handles the ball in the Midwest Conference Tournament. Grinnell hosted the tournament and qualified for the NCAA Division II Tournament for the first time since 2006.

It started to feel like, oh, we can actually do this. We have the potential to take it all the way.

Antarah Chopra `23

EVAN HEIN

Dillon Gestring `25 takes a free throw in the men's basketball team's victory over Barclay College on Thursday, Nov. 10. Gestring scored 16 points in the win.

EVAN HEIN

Payton Lowrey `22.5 won the Mid west Conference's Player of the Year honor for women's volleyball.

I knew we could do it, but I'm just in shock. I love this team so much.

Mental Musings: It’s time to speak our shame

By Millie Peck peckcami@grinnell.edu

When I tell people I have an eat ing disorder, they often look at me like I’ve just revealed that I have a third nipple. They knew these people existed but have never met someone actually willing to admit it (and I feel that I must now confess that I do in fact have three vestigial nipples). I can’t presume to know exactly why people are so surprised. Maybe they didn’t know eating dis orders were so common or they just aren’t used to hearing that label used so openly. Maybe the latter results in the former.

I think many people are scared of labels because often we come to be defined by them, but this doesn’t always have to be the case. Yes, I am mentally ill, and yes, I speak about it openly — I even write a column about it. But anyone who knows me even a little bit would know I am more than just a sick person. I am a person who loves the color yellow and going out of her way to step on leaves to hear the crunch, a person who gets food on her face at every meal. I’m a friend and teammate and fierce advocate. I am also a person who can tell the people around me how I’m really doing because the fear of being labelled doesn’t bother me anymore.

was done with making excuses, and I had enough information about the insidious nature of my disease to know that it wasn’t my fault. I felt secure enough in myself to not feel shame over my disorder. If others judged me, so be it.

Sometimes I forget how diffi cult vulnerability is because I have been practicing it for so long, but the truth is that it took me a long time to get comfortable with it too. I started going to therapy when I was 12, but it wasn’t until midway through col lege that I shared that information publicly. After residential treatment during my second year at Grinnell, I

I have been part of many mental health conversations across campus, usually for sports teams. Often when we discuss eating disorders, the con versation inevitably turns to being careful to not label anything when discussing concern for a teammate because it would be oh-so terrible to suspect someone of having an eating disorder if they didn’t. But would it really? Why is that so bad? I don’t think having a mental illness should be shameful. Wouldn’t it be better to ask if someone is really struggling and be wrong than not ask and be right? If you don’t want to share because it’s personal, I understand, but I don’t think that’s the case — shame is the underlying reason.

The unfortunate side effect of not using certain words and avoid ing labels is that we end up having to tell subtle lies constantly. A big com ponent of 12-step therapy (which is commonly used for alcohol and oth

er addictions) is honesty. Obvious ly, when dealing with an addiction, honesty is crucial because one can’t be lying about their behaviors, but honesty does a lot more good for our overall well-being. Honesty helps us to heal, to feel whole. Honesty is the only way we can form genu ine connections. When we tell halftruths, we are only really capable of half-relationships.

that we isolate our shame. We lie to almost everyone around us because we don’t want to burden them or feel ashamed or cause a fuss. So, we say we are stressed or tired, we say we have a lot on our plate, that we already have plans, that something came up. We want to say I’m de pressed, I’m anxious, I’m having a panic attack, I can’t come because I need to take care of myself, because I have therapy. Sometimes there are words we are scared to say because we fear they hold too much weight, but not saying them aloud doesn’t make them any less real, and it dis tances us from everyone around us.

spond training, they teach you that the best way to deal with someone who you fear is suicidal is to ask them directly, “Are you feeling sui cidal?” I can’t count the number of times I have been asked, both by mental health professionals and loved ones, “Do you feel like you want to hurt yourself?” The question isn’t meant to accuse or assail, it’s a question to show concern. If you suspect someone of being tired, you would ask, “Are you tired? Do you want to go to bed?” You wouldn’t beat around the bush; we would ask the person the most direct question to help them get to bed and get some sleep. We have developed a much broader vocabulary to talk about the complicated nature of our psyches. We have the language, and I think it’s time we use it.

Obviously, everyone has the right to choose whether they share or not, and for some people that might not be the right choice for a number of reasons. However, I worry that when people are really struggling, they don’t reach out not because it’s not the right choice, but because it is such an abnormal and stigmatized thing to do. Pushing against the norms takes a level of bravery and vulnerability that seri ously hurting people don’t have the energy to access, which is exactly why it needs to be everyone’s job to push against these norms.

When I think about the mental health crisis we are in, it’s easy to see that a huge part of the problem is

It shouldn’t be just on the peo ple who have mental illness to nor malize these labels either. Obvious ly, mislabeling isn’t good, but in this case, it might be better to make a mistake and apologize. I want to be clear though, I think that this should only be done when speak ing to the person with whom you are concerned for. Labels should never become gossip. Period. Even if they are true. Period. A good rule of thumb is that we should never as sume and always ask questions.

In Question, Persuade and Re

We talk about mental health on this campus, but it’s usually only the things we know everyone can relate to. We are afraid of actually talking about neurodivergence — the ex periences that we know some peo ple might not understand. We talk about stress and anxiety, and maybe sometimes depression, and that’s great, but we also need to be able to talk about the quantity of people on campus who are suicidal, who are anorexic, who are having absolute mental breakdowns. Doing so will both reinforce that these are shared experiences, making us feel less alone, but also push us towards a fu ture where we can get help. We need to make sure these aren’t as com mon of experiences. Take away the power and shame from these words by speaking them.

Food For Thought: Mario Vs Luigi

By Gabby Hernandez hernande6@grinnell.edu

What is the most intense sibling rivalry of all time? Some might say Cain and Abel — I’d argue for Ma rio and Luigi. There is no way twins in the same profession would not be competitive. I think this competitive ness transfers over to the menu items at Grinnell’s very own Jay’s Deli. That’s right folks, in this round of philosophical food thought I will me diate the fight between the Mario and Luigi sandwiches. May the favorite child prevail!

At least, that was the mindset I had up until I ordered my food. I didn’t realize until I already paid for it that the primary ingredients of the Mario are bell peppers, pepperoni, and mushrooms. At that moment only one thought was on my mind: I hate mushrooms.

So maybe I went into this contest of brotherly love a little biased. Sure, mushrooms decrease your risk of cancer and help with tummy health, but that doesn’t outweigh their icky texture and lack of flavor. Often, eat ing mushrooms feels like chewing through rubber. That, in addition to their lack of any intrinsic flavor, will never make the unpleasant experi ence of eating them desirable. Mario may have been the older of the twins, but he was definitely the underdog in this competition.

My internal mushroom mono logue came to a stop once I was hand ed my sandwiches. Upon squishing the Mario, I was instantly taken back to my comfy pillow (because Grin nell beds could never be that soft). Never before had I felt such doughy sandwich bread. It was a delectable squish. Kneading my sandwich as a cat would, I took a bite of the Mario. The crunch reverberated through my skull. The bite was superbly fresh and crisp thanks to the bell peppers. The crunch of those perfect peppers made my soul cry tears of pure hap piness. Every bite and chew made me believe I was acting in a Kit Kat commercial. (I hope that at least a few of you remember those.) The finished splash of pepperoni as I swallowed my first bite was beautiful. It was the last taste in my mouth, and while I was glad to have been able to ex perience it, I was sad to see it go. It felt as though the bell peppers were the concert and the pepperoni was the encore.

I took a sip of my French toast latte after I finished the Mario and sat there questioning myself. Do I really hate mushrooms? Was I wrong this whole time? I had a flashback to fall break when my roommate cooked a perfectly balanced and flavorful mushroom cream as a side to beef skewers that I quite literally drooled over. Reflecting on that experience helped me realize that in the frame

work of the concert metaphor, the mushrooms are the stealthy stage manager that supplies sup port and structure as needed. The more I pondered the feelings I had towards mushrooms, the further I pushed myself into an identity crisis.

I further suspected bias to wards Luigi as soon as I held it with my bare hands. My first thought was, “yummy Luigi.” The Luigi is essentially a pizza on toasted bread. The tastefully toasted beast I had before me fea tured beautiful grill marks on each side, marinara sauce that spoke to my soul and mozzarella cheese that spoke to my heart despite my lactose intolerance.

During my consumption of the Luigi, it quickly became clear that the lead singer of this sand wich was the cheese. It was melt ed in a way that only the Platonic ideal of melted mozzarella cheese could be.

Somehow playing bass, drums and keyboards all at the same time was the marinara. How they managed to derive such depth of flavor from singular and sweet sauce is unknown.

After I finished the entirety of the lively Luigi, I was able to account for all members of this rockin’ sandwich band except for one: the pepperoni. The flavor and sound of the pepper oni seemed to have been drowned

out by the cheese and sauce. The circularly sliced meat was surreally silent, and the harmony of the sand wich was affected as a whole. The Luigi’s warmth almost made up for the absence of pepperoni flavor. That heat transferred the love and care that went into preparing it directly into my hands, warming me up.

After consuming each brother’s sandwich, I realized that knowing when to eat each is like knowing when

to wear a jacket outside. The desire for the Mario is strongest on warm er days when one wants something light, fresh and full of vegetables; the Luigi is most desired on crispy cool days, when its warmth can warm your hands and its flavor can warm your heart. The competitive twins can each have their own time in the spotlight, but for me on this day — even despite the cold temperature and my biases — Mario came out on top.

Nadia Langley Allison Moore

Mohammad Igbaria

Nick El Hajj

Lucia Cheng

Lilli Morrish

Isaiah Gutman Eleanor Corbin Millie Peck

Samuel Bates Emme Perencevich

Maddi Shinall

Cornelia Di Gioia

Qingshuo Du Charles Entertainment Grasley

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The Scarlet & Black Staff Fall 2022

HANNAH AGPOON

The unfortunate side effect of not using certain words and avoiding labels is that we end up having to tell subtle lies constantly.

HANNAH AGPOON

We talk about stress and anxiety, and maybe sometimes depression, and that’s great, but we also need to be able to talk about the quantity of people on campuys who are suicidal, who are anorexic, who are having absolute mental break downs.

By Ms Constellation Prize

Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21)

Drinking Games and Party Culture, this major will study all our favorites: Rage Cage, Pong, Flip Cup and more. How have parties shaped college cam puses for better or worse? Is college de fined by drinking and drug culture? This major will explore historical and con temporary attitudes about partying and how parties as we know them have come to be through the lenses of history, so ciology, psychology and GWSS. They’ll have no choice but to do an ethnography research project and immerse themselves in party culture. Don’t be surprised if you get interviewed at the next Moose.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21)

To honor the original Sagittarius her self, Reputation: Analyzing Taylor Swift, Her Music & Pop Culture in the Early 2000s. You’ll focus on the different eras of Swift and where each album exists in the historical context of the beginning of the millennium. This interdisciplinary study will also examine the role the me dia played in her reputation and how that changed over the years. It’s a major com bining history, digital media and the arts.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)

A fully funded meal at a fancy restaurant funded by the school? Yes, please! This was Capricorn’s goal, to get funding for a free dinner with their friends. But to get approval, they de clared their major in Finding the World’s Best Fry: a Journalistic Investigation. This research- and writing-based study will allow them to travel all over the state, practice interview and writing skills while reviewing each restaurant, and try to learn how to make the best fries. They even try to break down the chemical compounds involved and see the impact on the fry’s quality.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)

Aquarius is ready to expose the truth to the world: Dove Soap is Not Actually Soap (confirmed by Dove themselves). Through this major, they’ll explore cul tural phenomenons that have allowed corporations to trick us into believing their product serves a certain function that it doesn’t. What rhetorical tools do they use to persuade us to buy their prod ucts? What have been the most success ful scams of our sales-oriented world? What does this say about our society

and our interactions with capitalism?

Pisces (Feb. 19 - March 20)

Led by their roaming imagination, Pisces would make a major called In vestigating Princess Diana: Life, Loss & Legacy. This would dive into the history of the British Royal Family, the role they play in England and the culture of people who are so entranced by them. It would indulge conspiracies of Princess D’s death and try to recon cile the impact she had on the world.

Aries (March 21 - April 19)

Sneakerhead Culture as a Cultur al Movement and High Fashion: we all know someone who would go into debt to buy their dream pair of sneak ers. Where did this passion of collecting sneakers come from? Especially sneak ers designed by celebrity athletes? It will examine how reselling emerging as the most prominent method of collecting shoes has impacted the overall culture of selling them. Aries thrives here be cause of their athletic tendencies: they are already familiar with the culture.

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)

Taurus needs to take a page out of someone else’s book and Learn How to Calm TF Down. This major will allow them to practice rest and relaxation and hopefully learn the skills so well that they can teach them to everyone around them. Maybe they can put this major to good use as a wellness guru, a yoga teacher or maybe even a social worker.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)

Why is the Midwest so Obsessed with Ranch? And Other Midwestern Phenomena. This major finally asks the question everyone has been scared to ask! Where did Ranch come from? Why is everyone in Iowa into dipping anything and everything into ranch dressing? This is perfect for the Gemini who moved to Grinnell without ever meeting a Mid westener and was startled by the prom inence of the sacred salad dressing. (Dis claimer: I am a Midwesterner by birth and a proud lover of Ranch, but I don’t know why we’re so obsessed with it.)

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)

Cancer is the sign most emblematic of its element, water. So, what else could they major in but the age-old question, Is

Water Wet? Science classes will explore the behavior of water, such as surface tension, adhesion and cohesion. In phi losophy, they’ll debate what the state of being wet means. They’ll attend dance classes that mimic the water cycle. These classes will allow them to come to a con clusion answering the titular question in a 50-page senior capstone paper and de cide rightfully so that yes, water is wet.

Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22)

Besides Sagittarius, no one sign is as adventurous as Leo. Students will be steered to implement a new pre-profes sional track at Grinnell, the Pre-Pilot Pro gram. This physics-based major will not have any hands-on training (the Grinnell Regional Airport turned them down) but will focus on the history and the science of airplanes. It also will teach them about the commercial airline industry. Most importantly, their senior capstone proj ect will be to make better airline food.

Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22)

A combination of education, writ ing, psychology and art classes will lead Virgo to be approved for their Bullet Journaling and Study Methods major. How does elaborate note-taking and ex haustive planner-keeping habits improve a student’s well-being and academics? How can they share these skills with others and make sure it is a sustainable practice? For their senior capstone, they will create a syllabus for a 200-level bullet journaling art class and get the college to fund a brand-new Moleskin journal for every first-year (brand ed with the college logo, of course).

Libra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22)

Now that she has given up her Ac tor’s Equity Card (essentially retiring from Broadway), we can reflect on Patti LuPone and Contemporary Broadway and how the industry has changed in the last 50 years. This will touch on Amer ican history and historical media to see how society influenced what shows were produced (and one that were not), as well as theater and sociology. Who are the icons of Broadway? How did they influence contemporary productions and how will they continue to change? What role did COVID-19 play in shift ing the theater industry? What have we lost, and what’s to come? They’ll put on a show depicting LuPone’s life story.

Sage & Blunt Advice: Not Feeling So Hot

Dear Sage & Blunt,

My best friend is really hot and con ventionally attractive. She is always getting hit on and picked up by peo ple at parties. I’m happy for her, but sometimes it sucks standing by her and no one notices me! What do I do?

Sincerely, Not Feeling So Hot

Dear Not Feeling So Hot, I find it interesting that you’ve paired the terms “really hot” and “conventionally attractive,” even if you didn’t necessarily mean to con flate them. Can we break that down? While it’s definitely possible to be both at the same time, these two descriptors do not mean the same thing.

I don’t want to pretend that the institution of beauty, the capital-B Beauty that is worth major social currency, isn’t real and oppressive. Fatphobia and white supremacy still have our desires and sensibilities in

an impressive chokehold, especially at this school. These things play a role in who gets hit on at parties. But thinness and whiteness (or whatev er conventionally attractive features one might have going for them) do not make a hot person.

You can’t escape these forces that decide who is and isn’t beauti ful. We can collectively liberate our selves from them if we work togeth er over time, but you, Not Feeling So Hot, cannot escape them before the next party you go to.

So, what do you do? You become hot. Listen, I haven’t been thin since the third grade, but I’m trying to get laid a few more times before the in stitution of anti-fatness eventually fades into obscurity. I work towards this goal by being hot in the face of it. You become hot by caring for and about yourself, dressing the way you want to, reading interesting things and talking to people about them. You do it by understanding who you are and what you want and how you fit into the world — admittedly, some higher vibrations of hotness simply come with age. You can’t know the confidence and security of living in

your body for more than 18-22 years until you’ve done it. But you can get started on becoming hot today!

Also, whether you’re conven tionally attractive or not, you cannot truly become hot without divesting as much as possible from the sys tems that tell you what is attractive and what isn’t. There is nothing less hot than subscribing to mainstream beauty standards.

Maybe you’ve already done this work and you are just sick of being overlooked by people who haven’t. Maybe you’re already very hot. I have no advice for you that can guar antee more people will hit on you at parties. My suggestions are to stop comparing yourself to your friend (there is no way to know the real reason she gets hit on and you don’t) and to focus less on being conven tionally attractive and more on be ing noticeable. Believe in your own noticeability. I want you to become so into yourself that you don’t even care if people come up to you — I think that’s when things will start to get interesting for you.

And hey, expand your horizons.

What if there are more places to get hit on than at parties? What if you just haven’t met the people who can recognize your hotness yet? What if there are people waiting to be hit on by you?

Fondly, Sage & Blunt

This week, Ellianna Cierpiot `25 and Gabby Hernandez `24 polled 100 students, presenting the spicy scenario: Pumkin Pie or Backyard Die?

CORNELIA DI GIOIA

CORNELIA DI GIOIA