Vol. 139, Issue 9

Sthecarlet & Black

Remembering President George Drake `56

By Cadence Chen chencade@grinnell.edu

When the granddaughters of George Albert Drake `56, Elizabeth Drake and Hannah Drake `18, were cleaning up his home office, they came across books and documents revealing his many accomplishments.

“Oh, I didn’t know that,” said Hannah, who was unaware of the breadth of Drake’s legacy.

If you had a conversation with Drake, he was often more interested in you than anything else — his humility and affection overpowered his long list of accolades.

“He really made you feel like you

were the only person in the room,” Hannah said.

After a long career in Grinnell, where he went from a student, to a trustee, to a professor, to president to a professor again, George Drake, 88, died on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2022 in the Mayflower Home surrounded by his family.

He is survived by his wife Sue Ratcliff Drake `58; their children Christopher, Cindy and Melanie Drake `92; and six grandchildren Nicholas, Elizabeth, Hannah, Danielle, Lila and Samantha (Sam) Drake-Flam `25.

A friend and colleague of Drake’s, President Anne Harris said Drake had “an enduring fascination” with the

College. During his time as a student, he led his cross country team to its first conference championship and won the Archibald Prize, awarded to the person with the highest grade-point average in the graduating class. In 1970, he became a trustee, and in 1979, he went on to be the first alumnus to serve as president.

Stepping down in 1991 after 12 years in office, he and his wife Sue dedicated themselves to the Peace Corps, advancing education in Lesotho. In 1993, Drake returned to Grinnell where he taught history

UGSDW Bargaining

Collective bargaining yields first tentative agreement

By Ellianna Cierpiot cierpiot@grinnell.edu

At the collective bargaining session on Thursday, Nov. 17, teams from the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) and Grinnell College continued discussions about Just Cause and the Grievance Procedure as well as reached a tentative agreement on

The

ing

Just

Since academic workers are generally not fired and instead reassigned, the progressive discipline process could take too long, accord

UGSDW calls for Palestine Solidarity and BDS, faces mixed reactions

By Nadia Langley langleyn@grinnell.edu

Members of the Union for Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) re cently introduced a campaign to support Palestine and the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement on the Grin nell College campus, which has sparked varied responses among the student body.

The Palestine Solidarity and BDS working group, made up of 12 to 14 union members, formed in late Octo ber and hosted an informational meet ing on Nov. 4 to share the history of the Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments and econom ic sanctions against the Israeli state.

They also introduced UGSDW’s po tential role in the movement by standing alongside Palestinian trade unions, call ing on the College to divest from any part of the endowment currently invested in corporations that financially support “Is raeli apartheid,” according to Malcolm Galpern-Levin `24, a member of the BDS Palestine Solidarity working group. He

said another action point is removing Sa bra hummus products sold in the Spen cer Grill due to the brand’s connection to the Strauss Group, a group he said sup ports the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

“We’re standing in solidari ty with people who are oppressed and actively facing violence on a daily basis,” said Galpern-Levin.

Marisa Goffman `24, a board mem ber of Chaverim, a Jewish student group on campus, said it is hard to know how to approach the union’s BDS cam paign when considering the two sides of her identity, both as a Jewish student and as a student worker in the union.

Goffman shared that one of her main concerns with the campaign is the risk of it increasing cases of microaggressions against Jewish students on Grinnell’s cam pus. According to Goffman, “When BDS comes to campus, Israel and Jewish people become linked in people’s minds. Jewish students are often blamed for a lot of the things that the Israeli government does, even though we don’t always agree with it.”

Ahmad Ayyeh `25 said he has had con

versations with students who did not agree with him that the union should support the BDS movement at Grinnell College, including with some of his friends who are members of Chaverim. After hearing their concerns, Ayyeh said it became more important for him that education around the difference between anti-Zionism and antisemitism was incorporated into how UGSDW approached a BDS campaign.

“It’s also as a way for me to advocate for the idea that being pro-Palestinian is not antisemetic, it’s anti-Zionist,” he said. Ayyeh is from Jordan, but his grandparents were displaced from Palestine and he has extended family who still live there today.

Ayyeh, who works in the math lab, said he was not active in the union be fore the campaign entered the planning stages for the Palestine Solidarity cam paign in late October. At the Nov. 4 in formational meeting, he spoke about me dia censorship of pro-Palestinian forces.

Galpern-Levin said he thinks the

Correction: Japanese major proposed

By Conrad Dahm dahmconr@grinnell.edu

Correction: This article was previously published in the Nov. 14 edition of the S&B, and it incorrectly stated that the Japanese major had been approved by the College. The major has been proposed and has not yet been approved.

A new Japanese major was just proposed at Grinnell Col lege. Students and faculty have been pushing for a Japanese major for over 10 years, and the major has recently been of ficially proposed on Nov. 7 by Mariko Schimmel, associate professor of Japanese and chair of the Chinese and Japanese de partment. As a result, a second tenured track faculty position was also proposed to supple ment the new proposed major. Currently, Japanese classes are offered, but students cannot receive a degree in the subject.

Schimmel wrote in an email to the S&B that she hopes

that the major will increase diversity in the College’s cur riculum and assist students’s ability to explore the world.

The College has offered Japanese classes but has not had a major to accompany it. Additionally, the proposed major will also bring new classes to Grinnell College, which Schimmel also wrote that she is excited about.

One of the new classes that Schimmel wrote she hopes to develop with the new major is JPN 398: Advanced Japanese Seminar, in which the students would conduct a capstone re search project. The major could also require classes that already exist such as JPN 120: Japanese Popular Culture and Society, JPN 241: Japanese Horror: Past and Present and JPN 279: Mod ern Japanese Fiction and Film.

Schimmel wrote that the new major was created in part

OWEN BARBATO

Members of the College’s team just before the Nov. 10 collective bargaining session. From left: Clark Lindgren, Marc Reed, Germaine Gross, Jana Grimes, Brad Lindberg and Frank Harty.

Features: Having fun over the weekend with [Weekend] Community: Bird Scooters terminate contract with City Opinions: Mental Musings

UGSDW’s inclusion of grant-funded positions into the bargaining unit. Overnight stay coor dinators would also now be included under the unit per the tentative agreement.

majority of this session was spent ne gotiating the Just Cause proposals from both UGSDW and the College, specifically the inclusion or exclusion of academic workers from the provisions on filing grievances and

Cause. The teams discussed the timeline of both UGSDW’s grievance and Just Cause proposals, and the College expressed concerns that the timeline for progressive discipline was too lengthy and would create problems for ac ademic workers due to the short semesters.

to Brad Lindberg, a member of the Col lege’s bargaining team. The teams discussed writing a separate Just Cause provision for academic workers or reducing the number of written warnings to streamline this process, but an agreement has not yet been reached.

CONTRIBUTED BY DRAKE FAMILY

George Drake `56 leaves behind a loving family and an inspiring legacy.

Students prioritize broader disccusion on Palestine following proposed BDS campaign

BDS movement is necessary at Grinnell Col lege, which he noted does not have a Stu dents for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter as some other colleges across the country do.

“There’s not really conversations had about what’s happening in Palestine or Israel at all,” he said of the Grinnell College campus.

When asked about the student response to UGSDW’s announcement of a potential BDS campaign, Galpern-Levin said, “One of the loud est things was that the union should not be doing BDS because BDS is antisemitic, which I think is 100% false. BDS is anti-Zionist,” he said. Galp ern-Levin, who described himself as Jewish and anti-Zionist, went on to specify that the BDS move ment was specifically in opposition to the Israeli government and the oppression of Palestinians.

Ayyeh said he thinks the campaign’s initiative to call on the College to divest from Israeli-linked corporations is important, but he said his main goal in engaging with the campaign is to increase awareness of the conditions in Palestine as well as to encourage open discussion about it on campus.

“There’s a lot of oppression and dis crimination that’s happening against Pales tinians, and when I try, as a Grinellian, to talk about it, I am being called antisemitic when I am not being antisemitic,” Ayyeh said.

Goffman agreed that Palestine should be a

topic discussed more on the Grinnell College campus and in the classroom setting, but she said that a UGSDW campaign might not be the way to start. “I don’t know if coming at it from a political point of view is the way to start that conversation.”

Galpern-Levin said that some students were questioning why UGSDW would consider tak ing on this campaign now, in the middle of bar gaining for a new contract with the College. To this, he said, “it is related to our work as an an ti-capitalist, anti-colonialist, anti-imperialist or ganization.” He also noted that the union can do both, and they have continued to bargain for a contract while organizing a BDS campaign.

According to Goffman, many Jewish students are familiar with the BDS movement, and even within Chaverim, student opinions on a UGSDW campaign differ and are continuing to develop.

Goffman said she was surprised when UGS DW reached out to Palestinian student workers when they began planning the BDS campaign but did not contact her or other members of Chaver im. Goffman has since spoken with members of the working group and said she would like to col laborate with the union to provide her perspective to the campaign as an anti-Zionist Jewish student.

“Chaverim is an open space for discussion, for debate, for support,” Goffman said, “and I think it’s just important for me and for the rest of the board to let students and Jewish students know that that’s what we’re here for. We support all Jewish students, no matter how you identify or what your opinions are.”

Ayyeh said that he also hopes to see more open discussion of Palestinian oppression on campus, and he does not want a BDS campaign taken up by UGSDW to negatively affect the student body. “We’re doing this for a good cause and we want it to stay a good cause,” said Ayyeh.

The next step for UGSDW would be to adopt a resolution voted on by members which would outline how an actual BDS campaign would function on the Grinnell College campus. If passed, any future actions by the union would have to reflect the intentions set by the resolution.

Resolutions that have been passed by UGSDW members in the past include fighting for a higher minimum wage as well as robust job security, both of which have come up in recent contract bargaining.

According to Galpern-Levin, the Palestine Solidarity and BDS working group does not have a specific timeline in mind for when they will present a resolution to union membership, and raising awareness among students is the group’s current priority. So far, this has taken the form of one-on-one meetings and a one-page information al pamphlet shared to students on campus late last week which provides a historical snapshot of the BDS movement as well as an explanation of the difference between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

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

UGSDW Bargaining

UGSDW considers including academic workers under Just Cause and Grievance Procedure provisions to be a hard-line stance.

For the first time, the UGSDW and College bargaining teams were able to reach a tentative agreement on who is included within UGS DW’s bargaining unit. At the previ

ous session, UGSDW’s bargaining team brought up the inclusion of grant-funded positions into the bar gaining unit. Although the College’s team expressed concerns about this, they agreed to remove the exclusion of grant-funded positions from the unit. Both groups planned to meet in small groups to discuss which posi tions would be considered employ ees to be included in the unit on a case-by-case basis.

UGSDW also introduced new proposals on health and safety and union security and dues.

In a short discussion on the union’s Past Practices clause, the College’s bargaining team ques tioned the limitations this clause would place upon them in closing workplaces in between academic years and semesters. The UGSDW team brought up what they called an assumption of rehiring, where

student workers would expect to be rehired to jobs that only hire on a semester basis. As a result, UGS DW’s proposed contract would re quire the College to bargain closing or modifying these workplaces in between semesters. They provided the example of the College no lon ger hiring students as All Campus Events Student Safety (ACESS) staff this semester and instead rely ing on student volunteers.

Japanese major proposed

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 usually quite packed,” Schimmel wrote.

“It was high time that we have a ma jor,” she wrote. “The existence of the ma jor will hopefully encourage our students to continue on to advance their proficien cy in this very challenging language.”

Since the new major has just re cently been proposed, there is still a lengthy process it must go through pri or to being fully approved, according to Schimmel. First, a division vote will be held in December on the proposal, and then, in the spring, a second vote will be held where all faculty members will be eligible to vote on the proposal.

When asked about what she is most excited about with this proposed major, Schimmel wrote, “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 ma jor, studio art major, etc. Now it will be shown on their diploma if they so choose.”

The next bargaining session will take place on Dec. 1. An ad ditional session may be scheduled before then, but that has yet to be determined as of Nov. 17.

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

Each side’s proposals, side-by-side

UGSDW Grinnell College

Coverage and Jurisdiction

UGSDW is the sole bargaining represen tative of all undergraduate student workers employed by the College. This excludes stu dents whose sole employment relationship with the college is an internship, Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) or an equivalent relationship.

Just Cause Employment

UGSDW’s Just Cause proposal states that employees shall not be disciplined or discharged without just cause and invokes seven tests of just cause to determine if a firing or disciplinary action was just.

It also establishes a course of progres sive discipline before termination. The pro posal also states that violations of workplace rules would not carry over between jobs or semesters, and each rule has its own sepa rate progression for violations.

An employee cannot receive multiple warnings for violation of the same rule within a single shift. An employee can be placed on paid investigatory leave. If a termination is found to be without just cause, the em ployee will be reinstated and receive back pay plus 50%.

UGSDW must be provided with a written record of disciplinary action taken against protected student employees within two days for the action to be valid.

Including academic workers (graders, research assistants and lab assistants) under the provisions of Just Cause and the Griev ance process is a hard-line stance for UGS DW.

Grievance Procedures

Within UGSDW’s proposals, a grievance would apply to the interpretation, applica tion or claims of violation of a term of the contract. It also applies to any dispute over corrective action taken against a student employee.

UGSDW’s proposals would require the employee or UGSDW representative to no tify the College within 30 days of the griev ance occurring.

If the matter is still not resolved after going through the grievance process, the grievance will be submitted to arbitration. The arbitration process would involve ar bitrators chosen by both the College and UGSDW to conduct a hearing and settle the dispute.

Information to the UGSDW

UGSDW’s proposals require information about workplaces, hirings, firings and disci pline to be sent to the union each week.

Since this information is protected by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), UGSDW has proposed that the College should place this information under the category of directory information, which could be shared without an opt-in waiver. Under FERPA, individual colleges can de cide what is and is not directory information as long as they publicly notify students.

UGSDW has also stated that they would be willing to consider a waiver if the College requires student employees to undergo a paid union orientation before they begin working.

Workplace Health and Safety

UGSDW’s workplace safety proposal would establish a two-hour paid workplace training, which would cover general em ployee and workplace-specific skills as well as health and safety information. It also pro poses COVID-19 precautions.

The proposal would also allow employ ees to wear noise-canceling headphones or earphones, provide chairs for workplaces that have extended-standing and allow stu dents with medical conditions to take breaks for medical needs.

Wages

UGSDW has not yet released a proposal that responds to the College’s wages pro posal.

Union Security & Dues

This proposal would allow for employ ees to authorize a dues check-off, which will deduct dues from the employee’s paycheck.

Coverage and Jurisdiction

The College and UGSDW have reached a tentative agreement on who the UGSDW represents.

Just Cause Employment

The College’s proposals also include Just Cause provisions, stating that em ployees will not be terminated without just cause. It outlines a progressive disci pline procedure that would provide a stu dent worker two written warnings before imposing discipline or job separation.

The College’s proposal states that student workers cannot be disciplined or discharged without just cause. However, it also includes a clause for immediate termination should a student employee falsify their employment application, time card or other College records; cause inju ry to property, person or public relations as a result of carelessness or lack of atten tion; commit any criminal act; harass oth ers; violate the College’s Title IX, non-dis crimination, or confidentiality policies; or refuse to perform assigned duties.

Academic workers are excluded from Just Cause and Grievance Procedures un der what the College calls the fundamen tals of academic freedom.

Grievance Procedures

The College defines a grievance as a dispute, claim or complaint that arises un der the contract terms.

The grievance must be filed within three calendar days of the grievance oc curring.

The College proposal for the Griev ance Procedure includes an arbitration process which can be requested by either UGSDW or the College.

Information to the UGSDW

The College has proposed a waiver for student workers to sign that would allow them to opt-in to share employ ment information (such as hirings, firings and discipline) with the union.

Since this information is protected un der the Family Educational Rights and Pri vacy Act (FERPA), students need to sign the proposed waiver to allow this infor mation to be released, according to the College.

Workplace Health and Safety

The College has not yet released a proposal that responds to UGSDW’s health and safety proposal.

Wages

The College has proposed a two-lev el system for base wages. Level 1 work ers would receive $10.75/hr while Level 2 workers would receive $12.50. The pay level would depend on the workplace of the student employee and their work expectations. This wage would rise 2% per year for the first four years to reach $11.41/hr and 13.27/hr.

Union Security & Dues

The College has not yet released a proposal that responds to UGSDW’s Union Security and Dues proposal.

The following is a summary of each UGSDW and College written proposal presented at collective bargaining up to this point. It does not reflect all changes made or agreements reached during the Nov. 17 collective bargaining session nor does it include every aspect of all the UGSDW or College proposals.

Collective bargaining — Continued from Front Page

Correction:

OWEN BARBATO

The Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers held a rally before the Nov. 10 collective bargaining session in support of Just Cause for aca demic workers and keeping negotiations open to an in-person audience.

Third annual International Education Week broadens horizons for off-campus opportunities

By Ella Labarre labarree@grinnell.edu

Last week, Grinnell hosted the third annual International Education Week — with this one being the most extensive yet, according to the Direc tor of the Center for Languages and Intercultural Communications, Anas tasia Izmaylova. Thirteen events were offered throughout the week by staff involved with international education.

These events were organized by Emily Perry (OISA), Ann Landstrom (CLS), David Stanley (IGE), Anastasia Iz maylova (IGE) and Casey Clements (IGE). With events like the Interna tional Student Organization (ISO) food bazaar, info sessions about fellowships and a scholars’ convocation, students could learn about different off-campus opportunities.

Trinisa Fung `23 participated in a domestic off-campus study program through American University and a paid internship. She discussed the difficulty of loneliness when studying abroad, saying, “I think in a way the loneliness was something transforma tive, it makes you appreciate who you are, who you’re with and being in the moment.”

“In a way, that was something that made me realize I’m a capable adult,” said Fung. Fung also notes that studying abroad helped her figure out more about if she wanted to remain in international relations or switch to a new career path. Fung’s program also allowed her to get a truly holistic ex perience. “I really appreciate the flex ibility that my program gave us,” said Fung. “I took four classes, and all of them met just once a week … and that let me have my Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays as time to explore the city.”

Remembering George Drake

for a decade. He retired at 70 but continued to teach a tutorial class at the College and with Grinnell’s Liberal Arts in Prison Program at Newton Cor rectional Facility. He has lived in the town of Grinnell since.

“He knows every corner and every stone,” said Harris.

From their conversations, Harris, who noted “the twinkle in his eye,” found that Drake was interested in how the College governs itself. Ac cording to Harris, Drake often won dered, “What will our students teach us next?”

Harris and Drake often ate and chatted together at Michael’s, a restau rant that closed during the pandemic. Drake ate champagne cake and thought it was the best cake in Grinnell.

When Drake led the campus tour at a new faculty orientation, he laughed as they passed by the Burling Library. “I’m the one responsible for the mon strosity on the top of the library,” Har ris remembered him saying, referring to the boxy third and fourth floor addi tion that Drake approved.

When Professor of history Sar ah Purcell `92 was a student, Drake served as president.

She remembered his presence as whimsical. He would ride his bike around campus, casually go to football games and wave at the people playing naked frisbee.

Sometimes, the class would meet for breakfast at the beginning of class in the Whale Room in the Dining Hall. Here, they would transition from casu al conversation to heated debates relat ing to the leaders they learned about.

Drake would also invite his stu dents to his house to watch long mov ies on the leaders they studied. He and Sue would prepare popcorn and brownies.

“It was the classic grandpa’s base ment type thing,” said one of his tuto rial students Jacob Cowan `23.

At one of the movie events, Writam Pal `23 ate more than eight brownies. George took note of this and handed a recipe card to Sue for her to fill out. Pal still has Sue’s recipe in his home in India.

Pal also said that Drake had giv en him a “reality check.” When Pal would miss classes, he made up many excuses. Drake told him something along the lines of, “You need to pull your pants up.”

“He was the first professor who actually was very patient with me be cause many professors gave up,” Pal said.

As an international student from Ecuador, another one of his tutorial students Antonella Diaz `23 said, “He helped me so much to find strength in my own voice and to feel confi dent that I am meant to be here. That I earned my spot to be here, that I can be in a level playing field with people who are here.”

Sam studied at the College, they were able to visit their grandparents more readily. Sam would come over to their home and show them her art.

“He would be like, ‘show your grandmother,’ and have this enthusi asm and light in his eyes,” said Sam.

When Drake worked with influen tial societal figures, he would tell them about his children and grandchildren.

“All these important people and yet he was so proud of me,” said Hannah.

When Sam committed to the College, she first broke the news to her grandparents over the phone be fore she told her parents. At Hannah’s graduation, it was her grandfather who handed her her diploma.

When she was a child, his daugh ter Melanie would run with him near their home in Colorado. Hannah is fond of family hikes in Colorado near the cabin that her grandfather built himself. The Drake family loved ad venturing together.

Up until three weeks before his death, Drake could be seen around campus riding a recumbent bike, even in the winter. While his pancreatic cancer worsened, he got a hold of this particular bike once his regular one proved too difficult to ride.

Two days before he passed away, the doctor had told him that he would need a wheelchair. Drake refused.

Julianna Vajda `24 talked about the importance of “getting lost” and truly immersing yourself in the new area you find yourself in, noting that “freedom and really acknowledging that you are in control of your life, and where you’re about to go and how you can react. That was honest ly the most memorable thing.” Vaj da studied with Grinnell-in-London during spring 2022.

Kenji Kajita `25 and Marisa Goffman `24, spoke about their off-campus experience in Panama. The two students both participated in an internship at the local elemen tary school, Escuela Fernando Eleta Almaran. Both students were able to gain some career experience by working on their own and with the school’s English teacher to teach and create lessons for the children.

Having fun on the weekend with [weekend]

By Marcy Cassidy-Mapp cassidym@grinnell.edu

With the struggles and stressors of college life, it can be difficult to find opportunities to relax and enjoy yourself. While some turn to sleep, work or even partying when they are old enough, the Weekend organiza tion hopes to provide an alternative.

Weekend is a student-run or ganization that plans and organizes substance-free events and activities on campus. Their overall goals fo cus on bringing aspects of city life into a small town to relieve student stress and encourage peer-to-peer connection. The organization cur rently meets weekly and plans to split the coordinators into separate com mittees, focusing on PR marketing and event planning. Alyson Won `25 serves as one of the Weekend coor dinators, focusing primarily on event planning and PR marketing.

“We know that Grinnell is a very tight-knit small community and also full of a lot of academic rigor,” Won said. “We try to host large- and smallscale events for a range of different student needs and interests with the goal to build community connections between students.”

Weekend coordinators are hired through a standard application pro cess which is followed by an inter view. During interviews, Michael Simms, dean of student involvement,

along with the returning members, focus on finding passionate appli cants who want to work with vendors and serve the Grinnell community. There are currently six coordinators who work in one of several roles, including PR marketing of events, content creation for the Weekend social media page or general event planning. Hemlock Envy `25 focus es mainly on marketing and content creation.

“I really like having a lot more people working there because every one has their own perspective and experience with what the campus needs, so they can come and suggest ideas,” Envy said. “Then those events get funded, so it’s like the students involved have quite a lot of agency to make things happen on campus.”

Several members of Weekend staff attended the National Associ ation for Campus Activities confer ence in Indiana, where they were able to acquire a different perspec tive on student event planning. After meeting all of the event’s vendors, the Weekend coordinators voted on which vendors followed the organi zation’s values and goals before pro ceeding to schedule them.

“Ashley Adams has different kinds of communication with Mi chael Simms, who approves the bud gets and fills out the contracts” said Won. “Once the people are contract ed, then we’re in charge of running

“No big deal. He wasn’t really fussed by any of it. He just had a sense of humor about the world and didn’t take anything too seriously,” Purcell said.

In her first year, students tried to pull a prank by inviting first-year stu dents to have pizza at the president’s house. Once people started showing up, Drake and his wife did not want to send the students away, so they scram bled together some ice cream for an ice cream social, which persisted as a New Student Orientation staple during his presidency.

Later, when they became col leagues, Purcell learned that Drake was also president of his high school. He successfully led a campaign to win a contest in which the senior class needed to sell the most greeting cards in the country, which would allow Duke Ellington to perform at the se nior prom — an early sign of Drake’s effective leadership.

During the fall of 2019, Drake taught a tutorial class about leaders in history called “Crisis, Liberation, Jus tice and Leadership.”

As she sought to strengthen her ties to spirituality at Grinnell in her first year, Drake invited Diaz to join the choir in Herrick Chapel. As they would sing alongside one another, Drake would keep Diaz, who was un familiar with how to read sheet music, on track by pointing out where they were in the music.

Diaz said, “I don’t know if I nec essarily have a lot of memories that come up, but a lot of feelings do.”

As he was passing, Hannah post ed a notice on a Grinnell alumni Ins tagram page that called for those he impacted to send their notes to him. He received over 50 letters. As his family read them aloud to him, they noticed a trend of people thanking him for the compassion he showed them and how he encouraged them to follow their passions.

In a reading for Sam’s GWSS class, the phrase “living legend of an institution” stuck with her — what she believes to represent the essence of her grandfather.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, the family hosted George Drake’s “Celebration of Life” service in Herrick Chapel, where his fam ily and those impacted by him gathered in honor of his expansive

logistics and everything, making sure that they arrive on time and staying to make sure the event runs smoothly.”

Though there is not an entire ly distinguished department for it, Weekend’s contracts with event ven dors and their organization funding are overseen by their supervisor Ash ley Adams, associate director of stu dent involvement, and Simms. They receive funding from different sourc es, one of them being the student ac tivity fee.

“It feels good to be able to use the College’s resources to make student life more meaningful and provide ways for students to connect and ac cess entertainment and other resourc es,” Envy said.

This year, Weekend has host ed several popular events like laser tag and the Springfest. The roster for the spring semester has already been filled as of this week, and the organization hopes to cater to a wide range of interests and demographics

throughout the community.

“Personally, it’s worth having so much reach as a student organiza tion that plans events for such a large scale of people. There’s a lot of priv ilege that comes with that, in terms of not only funding [but] reach, and so with that, I want to be responsible with the way that we choose events,” said Won. “I want to ethically make sure that the vendors that we choose are people that are aligned with our values.”

CONTRIBUTED BY SARAH OIDE

One event Weekend holds is called Dueling Pianos, where two expert pianists battle it out on stage.

Drake Obituary — Continued from Front Page

OWEN BARBATO

Cristian Sales Garcia `23 shared his intercultural learning experience at Monday’s event.

OWEN BARBATO Trinisa Fung `23 participated in a domestic program spring 2022 with American University.

OWEN BARBATO

Julianna Vajda `24 studied abroad with Grinnell-in-London.

CONTRIBUTED BY THE DRAKE FAMILY

George Drake, pictured with his wife Sue and three of his grandchildren, has always been proud of his family.

Poweshiek Trading Post hosts weekly pop-up shop with local coffee roasters

By Marcy Cassidy-Mapp cassidym@grinnell.edu

The Poweshiek Trading Post has recently partnered with Happy Home Coffee Roasters to host coffee pop-ups every Saturday in hopes of fostering a mutual space for both townspeople and students.

Located downtown at 826 Main St., Ren and Cameron Fisher founded the Poweshiek Trading Post in 2021 out of a love for antiques. The owners of the local vintage clothing store have since made efforts to strengthen the community throughout the town through a pop-up coffee shop.

“It’s just kind of an effort to give one more thing to do in Grinnell and provide another space to create community,” Cameron Fisher said. “We wanted to do something that changed the rhythm of what Grinnell had going on.”

The opportunity presented itself through the Fishers’ longtime friend and owner of Happy Home Coffee Roasters, Carlos Simms Jr., who shared a common desire and needed a venue to host events. He transports his own equipment from Des Moines on Saturday mornings and provides espresso, drip coffee, lattes and other drinks while customers shop or socialize.

“The point is for people to hang out,” Ren Fisher said. “He roasts his own coffee, so he pretty much brings all of his equipment, and all that we provide is just a space.”

Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, Simms Jr. played football at Grinnell College in his first year. Afterwards, he transferred to Georgia Southern University before returning to Iowa and joining the campus ministry at University of Iowa.

“It dawned on me, you can do so much good for the world just by

making a cup of coffee. So, that's where the vision to start Happy Home first started,” Simms Jr. said. “I wanted to create a company that could cultivate belonging.”

Simms Jr. has previously worked for Chick-fil-A management and said that his experiences working in the hospitality sector turned into a passion for coffee and connection, which led to the founding of Happy Home Coffee Roasters. The Des Moines-based coffee roaster works closely with a company located in Kansas City that cooperates with farms to source coffee beans from Ethiopia, Kenya and Brazil.

Bird Scooters terminates contract with city of Grinnell

“That's the whole reason I started my company — because I want to create space,” Simms said. “I want to create a product where people could come from different backgrounds and gather together.”

Simms Jr. said that one of Happy Homes’ primary objectives is to unify people from different backgrounds through coffee.

“Happy Home stands for cultivating joy and belonging,” Ren Fisher said. “Carlos has a passion for coffee, and it's a very universal thing to invite people to have a cup of coffee.”

Simms Jr. said he eventually plans to open a specialty coffee shop storefront for the company with support of his wife Kaitlyn and his three children, Zion, Elim and Ezra.

“I have dreams and aspirations to have one of those specialty coffee shops where you can get the dopest coffees sourced ethically from farms and create a space for people that are college students,” said Simms Jr.

By Jane Hoffman hoffmanj@grinnell.edu

Grinnell’s flock of Bird scooters is flying south, for both the winter and the foreseeable future, after the mobile scooter company terminated its agreement with the city of Grinnell in October.

Bird scooters arrived in Grinnell in July 2021, slated for a one-year trial period. In May of 2022, the city of Grinnell entered into an agreement with Bird, allowing the company to operate on city streets. The contract included a clause allowing either party to terminate the agreement at any time.

In October 2022, Grinnell Building and Planning Director Tyler Avis reached out to Bird to express the city’s concerns over storage and rider safety and to explain that “it was likely that the city would not look to renew their agreement in the coming spring.” Bird responded by terminating the agreement between the two parties, effective Nov. 14, 2022.

In September 2021, the S&B reported on the challenges the scooters posed to the town — without reliable charging stations, the scooters often lost battery in inconvenient places, blocking sidewalks on campus and downtown. Additionally, while Bird requires all users to be over 18 years old, one of the most frequently observed demographics of users was middleschool aged students.

Avis also noted ongoing traffic-

safety concerns, saying that there “have been some really close calls” for younger riders using scooters on busy streets like the four-lane West Street by Dollar General.

The novelty kind of faded after awhile.

`24

Unlike mobile operations with designated charging stations, the Bird system relies on a “flock manager” to charge the scooters overnight. Nevertheless, potential riders frequently found that the scooters lacked battery and were discarded haphazardly across town and on campus.

Students and community members reflected on a familiar pattern — while they initially found the scooters fun and useful, over time, they became impractical.

While Antonio Bernardo `24 enjoyed using the scooters during fall 2021, “the novelty kind of faded away after a while,” he said. “Half of the time they just wouldn’t work.” With the time required to launch the scooter, connect to the app and start the ride, “If I had walked, I’d already be there,” he said.

At Jay’s Deli, Lindsay and Lizzy, two Grinnell residents, said that while they used the scooters when they first arrived, Bird’s fees made using the scooters routinely less attractive.

The scooters are slated to be removed from Grinnell by the end of

November, said Avis.

“Oh thank God,” said Grace Kurtz `25 upon hearing that the Bird fleet is leaving the city. “They’re annoying. They’re always in the way.”

“I think it’s good to have options,” said Henry Coen `25, but he noted that he has seen younger children riding scooters far more frequently than college students or adults, Bird’s over-18 target demographic.

When left in unreasonable spots, in a way that obstructs, they can have real impacts on people using crutches, wheelchairs or with visual impairments.

Ellie Seehorn `25, a student access leader, echoed Avis’ concern about scooters and accessibility issues from September 2021. While the scooters are intended to be stored upright in designated areas, such as near the 8th Avenue Humanities and Social Studies Center entrance, they have often been left strewn across walkways, in the grass beside the sidewalk or even on the train tracks.

Seehorn said, “When left in unreasonable spots, in a way that obstructs, they can have real impacts on people using crutches, wheelchairs or with vision impairments.”

MADDI SHINALL

Poweshiek Trading Post, located in downtown Grinnell, has partnered with Happy Home Coffee Roasters to host a weekly pop-up shop.

MADDI SHINALL

Bird terminated their contract with the city of Grinnell in October following concerns raised by the city.

MADDI SHINALL

All Bird scooters are scheduled to be removed from Grinnell by the end of November.

Antonio Bernardo

Ellie Seehorn `25

Happy Home stands for cultivating joy and belonging.

Ren Fisher

Arts

"

“The vibes are good,” said Lizzi Kelly `22.5.

“Vibes are very important,” said Aris Reyes `24.

In a word, that’s what the 15th biannual drag show was: vibes. Themed “Creatures of the Night,” the show was an opportunity for queerness to step out of the shadows and into the spotlight, a celebration of Grinnell’s queer people of color that does not necessarily happen on other parts of campus. According to Reyes, a co-leader of the aptly named Queer People of Color (QPOC), a focus on intersectional identities is rare; you can either talk about being queer with white queer people, or talk about race with BIPOC that aren’t necessarily queer. QPOC creates a space that holds these intersecting identities, a space that allows people to enter as

their whole selves.

On Nov. 12, 2022, Drag Show became that space. When the first song, “Calling All the Monsters” by China Anne McClain, started playing, the crowd went wild – feral, even –and didn’t stop.

During a rendition of “You and I” by Lady Gaga, an audience member reached on stage to smear lipstick onto Ms. Jen Dermé’s face and a second audience member instantly began to make out with the performer. Tips rained down on the stage. During another act, a raccoon flung trash onto the stage as a possum did a strip tease down the catwalk. Many, many performers were picked up and bitten on the neck with a lust for bloodamong other things.

“Grinnell is a very queer campus and queers love drag,” said Reyes.

“Judith Butler would be pleased,” added Kelly.

Compared to Kelly’s first year,

ELEANOR HEDGES DUROY Ms. Jen Dermé after a costume change in their rendition of "You and I" by Lady Gaga.

Drag Show continues to grow. When she first came to Grinnell, upperclassmen organizing the show had to beg for even a thousand dollars of funding, said Kelly, and had to make do with decorations and outfits bought with their own money. Now, there are lighting and filming crews on hand, a runway brought in especially for the show, and approved funding from the Stonewall Resource Center (SRC). In addition, QPOC is building up the drag closet for future performers to use.

Judith Butler would be pleased.

gender or their sexuality or both,” said Kelly of drag. “It’s pretty liberating because you can explore more sexual themes. People can express their bodies in ways they don’t get to on a daily basis.”

When Kelly performed, she was able to slip into a different persona and embody a different kind of expression, to have a “multiplicity of identities,” in her own words.

“It feels kind of intimate,” said Kelly, “Because you get to have a relationship with all these people while you're on stage, where you're being observed, in a good way, not a scary way.”

Drag Show, for Reyes, is also a way to give back to the community, both to Grinnell, as well as outside of Grinnell. This year’s tips will be donated to Reyes’ organization, the American Trans Resource Hub.

COVID disrupted the passing down of organizations from upperclassmen to underclassmen, the loss of student leadership hindered students’ ability to engage with each other.

“It’s really just artistic expression, a lot of playing with gender and finding fun ways to express their

At one point, QPOC was in danger of disappearing. Because

“It [QPOC] is just a very intersectional, comforting place to be in. It’s a space for you to pause the speed of Grinnell, to sit with yourself and your experiences here,” said Reyes.

By George Kosinski kosinski@grinnell.edu

Actors styled in colonial Spanish garb call out to one another and the audience, enacting a drama of interwoven love affairs and court intrigue. Patterns of light are projected onto a cloth architectural backdrop, giving the stage depth and movement. Musicians dressed in nuns’ habits sit off to one side, accenting the dialogue with quick bursts of sound; sometimes a full band joins in, filling the entire theater with its rollicking music. This is "House of Desires (a queer comedy)", produced by the Grinnell College Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies (THDPS).

House of Desires has a long history, first performed in 1683 in Mexico City. It was written by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, a Mexican writer, philosopher, composer, poet, and Heironymite nun—seen today as one of the most important literary figures of the Spanish colonial period. Director Karie Miller, visiting assistant professor of theatre, dance, and performance studies, said that she chose the play because it resonated with her students in past classes.

“This time last year I was reading it with my theatre history class, and students really enjoyed it. When we [the THDPS department] were talking about the season, with the other things we were doing, it made sense to do a period play, and this one is special because it’s written by a Mexican nun from the seventeenth century,” Miller said. “Sor Inés is awesome, and there’s a lot about gender that relates to now, so it was just a really good fit.”

The action of the comedy revolves around two couples, thwarted in their love by circumstance, political intrigue, and societal norms. On its website, the THDPS department calls the play “a subversively feminist comedy featuring jealous lovers and mistaken identities, queer themes, and period costumes.”

Miller credits the play’s nuanced portrayal of gender to Sor Inés’s Mexican background. “The Catholic Church had a big presence, and its perception of gender was incredibly binary, but the indigenous population in Mexico was far more fluid, and she’s sort of responding from one side to the other. That is very present in our production. She’s queering the form that she saw in her peers, and we’re using that queering to go even further and queer the style.”

Despite its significance and enduring cultural resonance, House of Desires is a rare sight for modern audiences, especially in the English language. “It's not done very often,” Miller said. “We’re using one of the few translations, from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2004 production.”

Adapting the play to the stage at Grinnell, Miller emphasized the work done behind the scenes in order to reach out to the audience in a compelling way. “When you produce a play, you have to ask who is telling the story, and for us the nuns are telling the story. That’s the framing device on the outside. Having the nuns be the producers means we’re owning the fact that we’re putting on a play right from the top. We’re not hiding it, it’s not realism, and the style isn’t realism

anyway. That opens the door for much more theatricality.”

She said that, due to its age, House of Desires is different from the dramatic works that actors and audiences are used to, and thus can at first be difficult to relate to.

“It’s a long play, and it’s in a certain style,” she said. “I think the hardest part can be finding the style and getting control of these characters that are larger than life. It’s not people just talking to each other, it’s people talking to the whole audience and bringing the whole audience along, and that can feel awkward.”

Still, Miller is happy with the production, and says that rehearsals went well. “This is a really smart cast, and they’re very fun,” she said. “I think

it’s all coming together in a fun and exciting way.”

Miller and the rest of the production team have worked hard to make the performance relatable and engaging for audiences while retaining its authenticity. She highlighted the use of forced perspective—a technique popular in Renaissance theater which employs exaggerated perspective to create artificial depth—as well as creative lighting. “We’re playing with visibility, using walls that can be seen through. We project light onto or through them, so the characters in the play can’t see one another. It’s literally like they’re in the dark groping around for each other.”

Song also featured prominently in the production. A four-person student

band was always onstage, punctuating the dialogue with their instruments. In addition, the Grinnell Jazz Ensemble performed a mashup of the baroque music contemporary with House of Desires and Mexican punk music from the 1980’s and 90’s, adapted by Associate Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Ensemble Mark Laver, to accompany lyrics from the script. “Here, again, we’re playing with the queering of music,” Miller noted.

Watching House of Desires, audiences experienced a unique blend of queer Renaissance theatre, innovative technical work, and a highly original musical score. The play ran for three performances from Nov. 18-20 in the Roberts Theatre at the Bucksbaum

Center for the

OHANA SARVOTHAM

QPOC has always been more than just a space of support and activism, Reyes said. It’s also a space to simply spend time with each. However, the effort to even show up and be there for friends is almost like unpaid labor, said Reyes. Especially because Drag Show is an integral part of institutional memory, like Tithead, it’s a way for people to get to know who you are. In a time where it feels like many organizations have died off, spaces like QPOC are becoming more and more important, said Reyes.

Lizzi Kelly, Co-leader of Queer People of Color

By Lucia Cheng chengluc@grinnell.edu

"House of Desires" queers 17th-century theatre

Arts.

Cast members of "House of Desires" during a dress rehearsal.

ELEANOR HEDGES DUROY

Nebula, adorned with a blue wig and cutesy makeup, was one of the show's first performers.

OHANA SARVOTHAM

From left: Randy Raccoon, Daddy Virginia and Bat Baby slinked across the stage.

ELEANOR HEDGES DUROY

April Showers performing to "Frankenstein" by Rina Sawayama before a sparkly costume change.

OHANA SARVOTHAM

A Tall Glass of Water (standing) and Mr. Thiccc performed a dramatic duet to "You and I" by Lady Gaga.

An investigation into a social divide on campus: The non-athlete perspective

By Carter Ottele otteleca@grinnell.edu

This week, as I continued my investigation into the social divide between athletes and non-athletes, I turned to non-athletes for their thoughts on sports and school cul ture. I spoke with three students and asked about their social experiences at the school. They gave me a nuanced portrait of their social experiences, fielding questions about slang, New Student Orientation (NSO), cliques and more.

As a disclaimer: I don’t play for a varsity sports team. Thus, I approached this week with an un avoidable bias. I’ve tried my best to neutralize that bias when inquiring. I have, however, incorporated my ex periences into the broader narrative of non-athletes at Grinnell, presenting it alongside the interviewees.

I started by explaining my project and asking for general opinions on the topic. The answers immediately veered away from my previous in stallment. Whereas athletes had hesi tated to characterize the social scene as divided, non-athletes showed no such reluctance.

“Certain sports teams are very removed from me, personally,” said Bella Steward `25. “They all have their own friend groups.”

Steward, like the other non-ath letes I talked to, described how ath letes tend to socialize with other ath letes — in the gym, in the Dining Hall and on High Street. She painted a pic ture of a campus divided. At the same

time, though, Steward acknowledged her proximity to certain athletes. In particular, her current roommate com petes for the track team.

Other students also expressed that they found friends through shared traits or identities, particularly those that extend beyond Grinnell. Phukao Prommolmard `24, for instance, said that he bonded with fellow interna tional students his first year.

“When you talk to other interna tional students, they really understand … it’s really relatable,” explained Prommolmard, who comes from Thailand. As such, he believes that most international students hang out with other people from outside the U.S. However, Prommolmard said that participation in musical events on campus has had the largest effect on his social life.

In a similar vein, Addy Davis `22.5 cited her involvement in the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers and political campaigning as key factors in forming relationships. “It’s a small school,” said Davis. “It’s hard to meet people without being in volved in something.”

Davis ran for the cross country team during her first two years at Grinnell but stopped running com petitively after the pandemic. Before then, Davis said, she was closest with her teammates. But, since leaving the team, she has found her social life to be “less stressful.” She said she has felt “able to branch out” more after quitting the team, without the so cial pressures stemming from sports teams.

Perhaps nothing defines the social divide at Grinnell better than the word “sporto.” When I mentioned it, inter

Cross country first years excel at conference, end season strong

viewees laughed and paused to collect their thoughts.

“‘Sporto’ is used way more often than you’d ever expect,” said Steward, shaking her head. She uses the word jokingly with friends, and though she maintained that she doesn’t intend it to be malicious, “Sometimes it’s a little mean” when coming from other students, Steward said.

Both Prommolmard and Davis agreed that the word “sporto” can be thrown around with negative connota tions. “It is usually used in a deroga tory manner,” Davis told me. Con sequently, she theorized that some sports teams are offended by it. Still, she noted that she used to describe herself as a sporto when participating in varsity athletics.

When I talked with athletes a few weeks ago, none of them perceived hostility from non-athletes. On the other hand, students this week all said they perceived negative sentiments

about athletes. “People have stereo types,” Prommolmard admitted.

Between the three interviews and my own observations at Grinnell, I grew familiar with these stereo types: athletes are louder, more ob noxious, less politically correct, less approachable and less academic than non-athletes. To be clear, I don’t give credence to these generalizations. No body I’ve spoken with has given any indication that they believe such ste reotypes, either. Instead, non-athletes all blamed a mysterious, undefined presence — “other students,” “some people I know” — for spreading these misconceptions. To be fair, I would’ve given a similar answer; I’ve observed non-athletes mocking athletes, but I wouldn’t name anyone in a publicly available interview.

Nobody in my conversations had experienced the social divide as an impenetrable wall. Each non-athlete highlighted their friends on sports

teams, for example. Similarly, all seemed comfortable connecting with athletes in certain circumstances — through shared activities, shared iden tities and shared interests. And yet, each perceived tension on campus and cast it in stark terms.

I’m left wondering if non-ath letes exaggerate the social divide on campus. Since their descriptions of Grinnell-at-large tended to contrast with their own experiences, could their intuitions be wrong? Or, having selected a misrepresentative sample, did I accidentally exclude students with more potent stories, with harsh er encounters? I include myself in the category of students who characterize the social divide as worse than my so cial life would suggest; I’m not sure if I represent an exception or the norm.

I’ll try to answer that in my next and final installment. I’ll be talking with the administration and summa rizing my findings from this semester.

Men’s basketball preview: offense a bright spot amid slow start before conference play

By Isaiah Gutman gutmanis@grinnell.edu

The Grinnell men’s basketball team started their season 1-3 after consecutive home losses to North Park University and Wartburg College. Despite their record, the team has plenty to be optimistic about. Last week’s article recapped the team’s previous season and previewed the team’s defense. This article will cover the offensive end and highlight several players who have stood out in the early going.

the 35.5 free throws per game taken by Grinnell’s opponents, it is the offense that may be more responsible for their turnover struggles, likely due to the team’s gap at point guard.

By Marcy Cassidy-Mapp cassidym@grinnell.edu

After a strong performance at the Midwest Conference Champi onship, Grinnell’s men’s and wom en’s cross country teams ended their seasons at the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament. Each team finished second at the Conference event on Oct. 29.

The winners of each of the na tion’s 10 regions advance to the NCAA Division III Nationals to compete against 22 other at-large teams. Grinnell finished 14th of 37 teams with 421 points, showcas ing solid performances from both teams. On the men’s team, Connor Heagy `26, John Miller `26 and Luke Robinson `26 finished 88th with a time of 27:20.6, 104th with a time of 27:31.8 and 119th with a time of 27:49.3, respectively. On the women’s team, Keely Miyamoto`26 finished with a time of 23:31.4 in 41st place and Hannah Roark `22 ran a 23:58.7, coming in 54th place.

Mira Diamond `25 earned the ti tle of the Elite Twenty Award, which is awarded to the athlete in the con ference with the highest GPA.

The teams saw especially strong performances from their first-year runners in the Midwest Conference Championship, who represented four out of each team’s top seven finishes.

“We’re just in a really good place to feel comfortable in that sec ond place position, knowing that we can reach first,” said Coach Sarah Burnell. “Walking away from the season, we should walk away from this feeling very hungry, very hun gry for more because there’s a lot of potential left in there. First place is

not out of reach, and that should be almost like an expectation of theirs.”

Luke Robinson `26 was named MWC Newcomer of the Year, an award that has only been awarded to one other Grinnell student in histo ry, Andrew Nickeson `24. Robinson, Nickeson and Connor Heagy `26 fin ished in sixth through eighth places, with respective times of 26:18.61, 26:26.80 and 26:29.24.

“We had a lot of injuries, a lot of school going on and navigating, you know, the first semester of college, especially as a young team,” Robin son said. “A lot of us are freshmen. So yeah, it was tough, but we got it done and it’s been a good season.”

With this tight loss, the team still got a taste of their own poten tial. Several of the returning mem bers weren’t content or satisfied with second place, looking forward to claiming first place next year.

“We’re really looking forward to the coming years, not even just next season,” Heagy said. “Every one on the team, we’re new here, so now that we got everything under our belts, we’re really gonna start improving a lot, so we’re all excit ed.”

Miyamoto, women’s Newcom er of the Year, noted team culture as an important part of the team’s success. Traditions, like writing per sonal mantras on their hands before races and dinners at Burnell’s house, contribute to a sense of community that supports each runner’s success.

“It’s blown me away with just how supportive everyone is and just how close-knit the community on the team is,” Miyamoto said. “And all of the upperclassmen really were really phenomenal people to look up to during my first term.”

First, a brief note on statistics. This article uses numbers from the first four games of the team’s season, but I want to caution against reading too far into any trends they indicate. For one, all four games have been out-ofconference games against teams with a wide range of competence. It would be difficult to take strong conclusions from four in-conference games, let alone a small sample size that is even less representative of the type of teams Grinnell will face for the rest of their season. All that said, we can only work with the available information. My analysis will take the early season’s statistics into account, but I also rely on my observations from the team’s home games to supplement the numbers.

The most worrying trends for the team should be their free-throw and turnover differentials. In recent years, the team has succeeded when they have taken more free throws than their opponents, cresting with 2.5 more attempts per game in both 2018-19 and 2017-18, two winning seasons. So far, the team stands at a disadvantage of 10.5 free-throw attempts per game, which resembles their -8.6 differential in Grinnell’s disappointing 2015-16 season (the team won nine of their 23 contests that year and finished 6-12 in conference play).

The story is similar to the team’s turnovers. As discussed in last week’s preview, the team’s historical success with The System has relied on forcing far more turnovers than their opponents and turning those giveaways into points at a high rate. This season, the team has only forced 5.5 more turnovers than their opponents — that number would be by far the lowest since 2011-12 if it holds. The team’s turnover differential had not been lower than an advantage of nine in that period. Again, it is early in the season, and there is no reason to think these numbers will hold. While shaky defense appears to be driving

Going into the season, the team knew they would have big shoes to fill on the offense, especially when it comes to ball handling. Last year, guard Patrick Simms `22 had an outstanding season, leading the team in minutes, points, assists, field goals, 3-point and free throw attempts. Simms took on a huge role in the offense and excelled, shooting at high efficiency from every part of the floor. He was named to the Midwest Conference’s First Team for his performance in leading the team to the conference tournament. Valuable ball handling guard Morgan Walser `22 graduated as well. So far, Zach Rosen `26 has proven himself as the team’s most promising point guard with 17 assists in four games. Rosen has looked confident handling the ball, shooting off the dribble and managing the team’s offense when he’s been on the floor. In other shifts, the team has yet to establish clear on-court leaders who can keep the team on target offensively.

Despite the team’s slow start overall, their offensive numbers have looked very similar to past years. The team has gotten up a healthy amount of 3-point shots and has hit a respectable 33.9% of them. Their 41.2% mark on field goals is also higher than last year’s number of 40.4%. Along with Rosen, Adam Phillips `23 and Dillon Gestring `25 have driven the team’s offensive success. Phillips has kept

up his eye-popping 3-point shooting from last season. After four games, he has shot 45.3% from the 3-point line with 16 shots per game, accounting for nearly all of his 24.8 points per game. Gestring has scored 15.3 points per game with an approach that is nearly the complete opposite of Phillips’. He has shot 58% on 2-point shots to complement 54.5% shooting on nearly three 3-point shots a game. In his season debut, Aiden Gilbert `23 went 6-8 from the field, scoring 12 points. The team will likely rely heavily on Phillips, Gestring and Gilbert going forward to spearhead the offense.

No matter the game results, this team looks cohesive in practices and games so far. Mazlish `23 and Jackson Leone `25 both spoke highly of the team’s first-year crop, and both were confident that the young team will grow quickly as they gain more experience with the team’s style of play. Already, Rosen, Sean Walser and Sean Murphy, all `26, have played more than 10 minutes per game. When I asked Coach David Arseneault Jr. about his expectations for the team in replacing their big contributors who have graduated, he was confident in his young players. “I think we got some really, really quality and capable guys that can fill the void … I’m excited to see what they can do.”

The men’s basketball team will continue their season at home against Kenyon College on Nov. 21 at 6 p.m. in Darby Gymnasium. Their first conference game at home will be on Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m. against Knox College.

“What does the word ‘sporto’ mean to you?”

CORNELIA DI GIOIA

CONTRIBUTED BY JAMES SNYDER

Grinnell’s cross country teams finished second at the Midwest Conference tournament. The team’s first years paced the group with four out of seven top finishes for the men’s and women’s teams.

EVAN HEIN

Dillon Gestring `25 finishes at the rim against Barclay College on Nov. 10. Gestring has scored 15.3 points per game through Grinnell’s first four contests.

Mental Musings: Actually, I’m having a tough time

By Theo Richter richtert@grinnell.edu

This week I invited my friend, Theo Richter `23.5, someone whom I frequently share my mental musings with, to guest write for my column!

Our minds can be scary spaces full of ideas and images we would rather not think of or see. Follow ing the events on campus the past couple weeks, I have been remind ed of how often throughout my life I have felt lost in the dark abyss of my mind, unable to differentiate my thoughts from the mental secretions of my depression — an experience I think many people on campus feel but are hesitant to talk about, espe cially men.

As much as we tell ourselves that the stigma is depleting, it just isn’t. Men, especially male athletes, don’t even talk about stress, much less suicidal ideation. We don’t want to come off as being “soft.” Not checking in on a friend for fear of it being interpreted as soft highlights the way in which mental health stigma has joined forces with hegemonic masculinity to prevent male athletes from having open dia logues with one another about men tal health.

As an athlete myself, I have ex perienced the ways that unhealthy forms of masculinity infiltrate into sports. I have been in therapy learn ing how to negotiate life with my brain for ten years, but for over five of those years, I was too embarrassed and ashamed to tell anyone that I saw a therapist. It was another four years before I felt comfortable shar ing my struggles with anyone other than my parents and therapist. When I finally did, it was by no means easy, but I felt I needed to because hiding such a large part of myself

prevented me from having authentic relationships with the people in my life. I was in therapy for nine years before finally feeling able to speak about my experiences with mental illness. That is wack! So very wack! So incredibly wack that I think the employment of an expletive would be fitting, but I don’t think that can be published, so I’ll stick with wack.

Here I am, a twenty-one-yearold man that has been in therapy for

a decade, and it has taken me almost that long to wriggle out from under the muck and sludge that is mental health stigma. You don’t have to be a sociologist to see that the charac ter traits associated with tradition al masculinity create a barrier for men who want to share their mental health struggles. From a young age, I had coaches telling me not to cry on the field or the court — instead, they encouraged me to keep my emotions bottled up and to release them through physical exertion alone. Yet, exercise is not a cure, and many male athletes are left to process frightening thoughts alone when they shouldn’t have to. So what can we do? We must acknowledge the ongoing mental health stigma and work hard to fight it. Generally, male athletes are not conditioned to talk openly about

their feelings. That’s why it’s so im portant that we create space for male athletes to have these conversations with each other. As a student athlete mentor for the men’s track and field team, I try to build relationships with my teammates so they can feel comfortable coming to me with any problems they may have. At the end of the day, however, not all of my teammates may want to talk to me about how they are truly doing, but they might tell their friends. So, ask your friends. Let them know you are there. Just to be clear, I’m not talking about a casual “how’s it going?” in the hallways. I’m urg ing you to sit down with your close friends in a private setting and ask them how they are doing. Tell them that you care about them and let them know if you are worried for them. Share your own experiences

in the hopes of creating space for them to share their own. Unfortu nately, they will probably say they are fine the first time, even if it’s not true. That’s what I would have said when I was struggling with anxiety, OCD and depression in high school, but nobody asked me. If my friends had asked, I think that I would have been willing to open up to them, at least eventually. That is to say, the first conversation you have like this might not seem to have any impact, and the second one might not either, but what you are doing here is tell ing the people in your life that you care about them and that you are there to listen whenever they want to share with you. They might never want to share with you, but maybe you are the person that makes them realize that it is okay to share if they so choose.

We must create more spaces for men to communicate about their mental health issues. We need men to feel more comfortable asking fel low men if they are doing alright, and we need men who are struggling to feel comfortable enough to say, “no, actually, I’m having a tough time.” We have such a long way to go before getting to this point. Still, I believe that acknowledging the very real presence of stigma around mental illness, especially the stigma that men feel, is a big step toward creating spaces for men to have open conversations with one anoth er about their struggles. I plan to advocate for and create these spaces at Grinnell, but the stigma around mental illness and manifestations of “traditional” forms of masculinity can’t be faced alone. So, I’d like to ask you one more time to look out for your friends, especially your male-identifying friends, because feeling the support of others can make all the difference.

Food For Thought: ISO food bazaar edition

By Gabby Hernandez hernande6@grinnell.edu

I was stunned when I walked through the doorway of the Harris Concert Hall — my eyes flickered between all of the tables at the food bazaar filled with delicious food fast er than my brain could process. I was overwhelmed by my excitement to eat all the food cooked with insur mountable love by the chefs. I owe to them the happiness of my tastebuds, stomach and heart.

Eating the paneer but ter masala was an over whelmingly positive experience. You butter believe me when I say that its sweet flavor was remarkably saliva-inducing and that the creamy tex tures found a play ground on my tongue.

My first dish, the rose tteokbok ki, struck me as it was truly as red as a rose. The menu described it as a spicy Korean dish, and while it did come with a kick, I was caught off guard by the dish’s sweetness. It was remarkably savory and consist ed of a variety of pleasing textures from the sauce, rice and Korean rice cakes. The kimchi tuna kimbap, also a Korean dish, was beautifully rolled and as fresh and light as the scent of linen, though it thankfully did not taste like laundry. The seaweed roll and rice let the kimchi and tuna shine

by allowing this dish to boast a fresh seafood flavor in the middle of Iowa.

It was so delicious that my friends ate most of my serving. I was not upset, though, because it would be a crime to not share food that good.

The meat of the interior of the Mongolian dumplings was unbe lievably soft, and the exterior of the dumpling was so structurally sound that I talked about it with my friend studying architecture for fifteen min utes non-stop.

The size and shape of the arepas, a traditionally South American food, made me miss my home, San Anto nio, and its street food.

I will dream about the Korean fist rice for months, fondly remem bering its fresh crunch and exponen tially increasing spice. I was both eager and sad to share this with my friends, as it was one of my favorites. The beef pho noodle soup, a Viet namese dish, cut such spice easily with its superbly flavored liquid and perfectly cooked meat.

Eating the paneer butter masa la was an overwhelmingly positive experience. You butter believe me when I say that its sweet flavor was remarkably saliva-inducing and that the creamy textures found a play ground on my tongue. I loved the use of tofu and how the orange hue of the masala popped on my plate. Con suming this dish highlighted how disrespectful the Dining Hall is to the entire masala food category.

Of similar color to the paneer butter masala was the potato pirozh ki, a Russian dish, which sported a beautiful golden exterior over which Gordon Ramsay would cry tears of joy. It was unbelievably soft, so much so that I almost convinced myself that cumulus clouds must be

The Scarlet & Black Staff Fall 2022

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made of this food. That way, I would more easily be able to dream of the delightful potato flavor that was brought out in the most delicate way possible.

Of a vibrant green hue was the unforgettable North Indian snack — the hara bhara kabab. When eat en with its accompanying sauce, the hara bhara kabab was spicy enough to force me to my cup of water after each bite. My nose leaked mucus of happiness as I consumed this deli cious patty of flavor. Its texture was remarkably fun (it reminded me of cookie dough, yum!) and required little effort to chew, which I appre ciated. Of similar convenience to eat was the misir wot, also known as Ethiopian red lentils, which fell apart on my tongue in the best way. The misir wot was so mature in flavor that I could imagine a lawyer eating it regularly for lunch.

Rivaling the potato pirozhki in softness were the Indian kathi rolls — I wanted them to roll on my tastebuds for all eternity. Not only were they themselves soft, but they also made my soul soft as it swooned for more. There to lift my spirits was the dango, a delectable Japanese des sert. It was playful in nature and kept me drooling as I chewed through it.

The flavor of the tandoori chick en, hailing from South Asia, sang to me. I was sad to only get one bite be cause my friend wouldn’t share any more than that. The oyakodon left me speechless. It was so awe-inspiring that I have no other words to express my feelings towards this Japanese dish other than I wish I had spent all five of my food vouchers on it.

The two desserts I ate shall not leave my memory. The first was a southern United States dish known

as banana pudding. I was happy to see this dessert because I grew up eating my aunt’s. She would make trays of this beautiful pud ding topped with whipped cream and Nilla wafers, not to be touched until everyone ate the main course. My whole family would keep a close eye on the fridge, waiting for some one else to initiate the pudding feast. Nothing can rival hers, but this one came close. It brought tears of happi ness to my eyes as fond memories of family cookouts returned to me, and it was in that moment that I became sad that this dessert is not as common as I thought it was growing up.

The second dessert I was devas tated to part ways with was the Pão de Mel, a Brazilian dessert. The choco late outer shell of this hauntingly sa

vory cake contrasted perfectly with its inner textures. Its aftertaste was enveloped by a subtle aura of winter holidays. If the Dining Hall were to ever serve this cake, they would run out instantaneously (because I would find a way to stuff all of it into my two allotted to-go boxes and take it home).

As I put on my coat and threw away my trash, my mind began to wander. Grinnell would be bland without the cuisine its students bring from around the country and the world. I am grateful for the opportu nity to taste the lovely and love-filled food my peers prepared. Let this article serve as advice to everyone moving forward: show love to your peers and your taste buds by getting a ticket to the next food bazaar.

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CORNELIA DI GIOIA

As much as we tell our selves that the stigma is depleting, it just isn’t. Men, especially male athletes, don’t even talk about stress, much less suicidal ideation.

HANNAH AGPOON

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21)

At your core, you’re fiercely in dependent. This Thanksgiving, you should take a solo trip, something you’ve been wanting to do for a long time. This could be driving out to Chi cago by yourself or going alone to the Strand to see a movie. The important part is you do something for yourself.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19)

During Thanksgiving Break, make every effort to go to an artistic place. Try to spend the day at an art museum, whether that be the Grinnell College Mu seum of Art or your hometown’s art mu seum. And take some company with you!

Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18)

Time to move your body, Aquar ius, and what better way to celebrate the changing season than ice skating! Spend a day in a city, go ice skating and get hot chocolate afterward. Make sure you layer up for the excruciating winter.

Pisces (Feb. 19 - March 20)

Do whatever it takes to get yourself to a concert over break and listen to live mu sic. Dance with friends and strangers any chance you get. Live music will fuel your adventurous spirit and maybe even inspire you to start recruiting your friends for an even bigger adventure over winter break.

Rants & Raves:

How am I supposed to pay attention when my profes sor’s beanie keeps sinking lower onto his bald head?

- Doesn’t Even Have ADHD

Sagittariuses are notorious for loving adventures and being spontaneous. Regardless of your star sign, you should lean into any desire you have to travel or to do something new! Sagittariuses know how to

Aries (March 21 - April 19)

It goes against your nature to go on an adventure without extensive planning, so, to appease that, plan the party of the semester. This will be the best situation for you: an adventure without any sponta neity. Host the pre-Thanksgiving Moo$e and invite everyone on campus. This will satiate your social side before a break!

Taurus (April 20 - May 20)

Take an adventure that shows off your competitive side! Drag your parents to a bowling alley or to an axe-throwing place. If you can’t embark on a formal adventure, turn Thanksgiving dinner into an adventure and a competition. Win the night by making the best mashed potatoes and showing up your least favorite aunt.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20)

An adventure doesn’t mean cha os — an adventure for you should be something that gives you room to relax. Make your way down to a spa or to get a massage, and take a break from every thing! Your life has been clashing with Scorpio season and it’s time to recover.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22)

You know how people say that you can’t throw money at a problem? Well, Cancer, you need to rebel: DO throw money at the problem. Go shop ping. Take an adventure to an out-oftown mall and buy that purse you have had your eye on for a couple months.

make everything an adventure, even the smallest activities. It’s just about having the right attitude. Here’s a new activity each sign should try over our short but sweet Thanksgiving break:

Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22)

Try to figure out how you take an adventure that involves you swimming this break. This could mean doing some laps at the Natatorium, finding the pool at your hotel or jumping into an ice-cold lake in your hometown! Immerse your self in water and enjoy the adrenaline rush incited by the freezing temperature.

Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sept. 22)

Virgo, Thanksgiving itself is the biggest adventure of the year to you. Planning the perfect meal and correctly timing your courses will put you in the best mood until winter break. Revel in the holiday spirit and enjoy knowing that you hosted an unforgettable Thanksgiving.

Libra (Sept. 23 - Oct. 22)

Libra, you don’t need a huge ad venture this month. You should indulge in some rest and relaxation. To satiate your desire for adventure during this Sagittarius season, don’t venture and rather do something safe: try a new fla vor of Ben & Jerry’s! Add cocoa pow der to your iced chai with oat milk!

Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21)

Take a crush or partner on a hiking or camping trip. Make it an intimate get away with rose petals and chocolates. It’s not your typical behavior to make a big gesture for a lover, but the adventure for you is trying something new and selfless.

Students & community members speak about what’s on their minds in 75 words or fewer, and you’re invited! If you have a rant or a rave, email it to [peckcami].

They should sell cigarrettes at the Grill. They could just put them in raisin boxes and no one would notice.

- The Marlboro Man

I dont’ think I’m straight.

- Everyone at Drag

CORNELIA DI GIOIA

Tuesday, Nov. 22 is the begin ning of the 2022 Sagittarius season. Spend time with your Sagittarius friends and let them rub off on you.

By Ms Constellation Prize

OWEN BARBATO

From left: Katie Paek `24, Eugene Ko `23, Feven Getachew `25, Tanmai Kailash `24 and Anna-Sarra Kofina `25 serve the food they cooked at the 2022 International Student Organization Food Bazaar.

ELEANOR HEDGES DUROY Drag performers take a bow together to conclude the 2022 drag show.