Volume 135 Issue 9

Writers@Grinnell: Professor Ralph Savarese

Arts page 4

Cribs: French House

Basketball teams kick of their seasons

Features page 9

Sports page 8

Scarlet & Black the

Volume 135, Issue 9

thesandb.com

November 9, 2018 • Grinnell, Iowa

Students UGSDW wins right to election SGA make their opens As College plans appeal, students discuss next steps voices heard Student at midterm elections Initiatives

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu

By Julia Anderson anderson14@grinnell.edu

Over the past few months, Grinnell College has witnessed a surge of announcements regarding voting in the Midterm Elections. The evening of Nov. 6 was no exception, as a devoted cohort of volunteers for the advocacy group NextGen America stood on the steps of the Joe Rosenfield Center (JRC) for hours with signs and megaphones, directing students to the polls. There was a unique sense of urgency as students came outside to board the shuttles, some of them going to vote for the first time in their lives.

A few weeks prior to the elections, political science professor and Rosenfield Program Director Barb Trish sent an email to all faculty members in order to encourage them to remind their students to vote. In this email, she cited statistics from the National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), which showed that Grinnell College’s turnout, already unusually low for a college in its category, decreased in 2012 and 2016, while other schools had increased turnout between those elections.

The NSLVE study compiles turnout data from participating campuses to determine changes over time and differences between schools. According to the Grinnell-specific NSLVE report, Grinnell went from 42.8 percent turnout among all eligible voters in 2012 to only 40.7 percent in 2016, while the average turnout of all participating

On Friday, Nov. 2, the Student Government Association (SGA) opened student initiatives for voting. Student initiatives provide students the opportunity to propose and vote upon suggestions meant to improve the College.

This year’s batch introduced a new format for voting and touched upon several issues at the forefront of students’ minds.

Student initiatives can result in physical changes such as the swingset outside of the Joe Rosenfield Center (JRC), as well as ideological changes, such as improving sustainability on campus.

Sometimes initiatives serve more as opinion polls to determine the student body’s stance on certain ideas rather than intending to enact tangible or permanent change.

“It’s a democratic way to gauge how students of Grinnell feel about things,” said Joseph Robertson ’19, student initiative coordinator.

The student who proposed the initiative historically had the responsibility to implement the initiative once it passes. However, the Student Initiative Committee, part of the Student Government Association (SGA), now exists to help students carry out initiatives.

The committee will also take over initiatives should the student decide they cannot lead it.

“It is our job to facilitate the implementation in whatever way

>> See Volunteers page 3

SARINA LINCOLN

Quinn Ercolani '20 addresses UGSDW members on ways to proceed in the event of an appeal by the College.

By Zoe Fruchter & Chloe Wray fruchter@grinnell.edu wraychlo@grinnell.edu At 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 7, the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) held an emergency meeting to entrust their President Quinn Ercolani '20 with the power to declare a strike.

This meeting constituted the most recent step in a series of escalations between UGSDW and the College in the conflict over UGSDW’s right to hold an election, as approved by the National Labor Relations Board

(NLRB), to cover all student workers. UGSDW called its members together in response to a memo from Grinnell College president Raynard Kington's staff, which stated the College’s intent to appeal the NLRB’s ruling.

All student employees of the College who logged hours between Sept. 16 and Oct. 15 can vote on expanding UGSDW on Nov. 27 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in JRC 101.

According to the NLRB ruling, the College has up to two weeks following the election to appeal the

results. It is assumed that student employees will vote to expand UGSDW in which case the College will likely appeal the election outcome.

If the College goes through with their appeal, UGDSW intends to employ a variety of targeted actions to encourage the administration, which has repeatedly avoided negotiations with UGSDW to drop the appeal. Such actions could include picketing Nollen >> See UGSDW page 2

>> See New format page 3

ISO holds annual Food Bazaar

International Student Organization (ISO) held their annual and largest public event, Food Bazaar, in the Harris Center this past Sunday.

Historically, attending Food Bazaar required purchasing tickets so that

ISO could afford to buy ingredients.

However, this year, Student Government Association (SGA) doubled their funding of the event, thereby making it free. ISO also receives funding from the student activities fund and Organization for International Student Affairs (OISA).

“When ISO was charging for tickets it did remove a lot of people who would be interested in that event,” said Kirtimay Pendse '19, ISO president. “I think looking back… it used to be that a lot of international students would show up but I think this year we got a

good mix.”

Quinn Ercolani '20 hopes that SGA can continue to cover ticket costs for future Food Bazaars.

“Pretty much every event on campus, even though it may be ticketed, is generally free to the student body so we felt a little un-

comfortable funding an event where students may not have the money to go, even though we are spending their money on the event through the student activity fund, so we decided it would be just better to pay for all the tickets,” said Ercolani.

Mithila Iyer '19, ISO treasurer and Ahon Gooptu '21, ISO secretary, also said that free tickets increased domestic and general student turnout. As a result, the tickets sold out within the first hour, marking for some Food Bazaar regulars, including host families, the first time they had not received tickets.

Pendse, Gooptu and Iyer, all from different parts of India, stated that the longevity of the event and the bonds achieved when interacting around food makes Food Bazaar a staple event for the whole Grinnell community.

“It’s significant because it’s in the fall, so a lot of first year students feel like that’s an opportunity for them to share, cook, bring back stuff from home … bonding over food is the best kind of bonding,” said Iyer.

“There are some students who are the only person from their country here and it’s also a chance for them to cook with their friends they made from other countries, or from America, and people learn how to >> See Food Bazaar page 2

Friday Sustainability Summit Main Quad, 4 p.m.

Monday Boren Awards Open Advising Rosenfield Center 204, 11 a.m.

Monday Communication and Negotiations Workshop Noyce 1302, 6 p.m.

Tuesday Piano Recital: Royce Wolf Faulconer Gallery, 11 a.m.

Tuesday Externship Mixer Rosenfield Center 119G, 6 p.m.

SOFIA MENDEZ

Students share their dishes with the Grinnell community. .

By Candace Mettle mettleca@grinnell.edu

Follow us on Twitter @thesandb and on Instagram @grinnellsandb

Arts 4 | Opinions 6 | Sports 8 | Features 9 | Community 10 | Opinions 12

News

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Edited by seibertl@grinnell.edu & suetamay@grinnell.edu

UGSDW meets to plan next phase in battle for expansion

Continued from Front Page Housem the location of many senior administrative positions including that of President Kington, or executing a series of smaller strikes of offices whose work affects mainly the administration and not the student body, including Phonathon or admissions.

“Frank [Harty, one of the College’s lawyer in this case] said any communication will go through [him] first and there will be no meeting with President Kington,” said Sam Xu '20, UGSDW Board member-at-large. Xu represented the union in the NLRB hearing.

Kington declined to comment to The S&B. Following Kington’s All-campus Memo, a group of 69 UGSDW members gathered in Main Quad to vote on three measures proposed

by UGSDW's board of directors.

The gathering marked UGSDW’s largest ever meeting. Another 60 student-workers voted in an absentee ballot emailed to members on Wednesday afternoon.

The three proposed measures sought to authorize the UGSDW president to call a campus-wide strike for members, excluding dining workers, in the case of continued resistance from the College administration; authorized the Board to plan, organize and call additional labor actions as they deem neces-

sary and authorize the president to charge a $200 fine to UGSDW members who cross a picket line without the permission of the president, or expel the member.

The first measure passed with by 86 percent. The second measure also passed, thus extending authorization over strike planning to the board. Ercolani asserted that the executive board would like to avoid a strike, but that these authorizations are necessary given the College’s uncompromising stance.

However, some members questioned the value of the strike, as many student-workers rely on their income from on-campus jobs to survive at Grinnell.

Other students expressed their reservations as to whether UGSDW could orchestrate an effective, equitable strike.

“I was a little worried, you know [the email invitation to the meeting that UGSDW members received from the Union] was like ‘emergency meeting,’ ... I was worried about rushing to decisions that I may not agree with … for me it was important to know that the interests of those students — who would have a very, very strong legitimate reason for crossing the picket line — that those were heard,” said Dean Burrell '22, a student and mailroom employee.

UGSDW board pointed to their

donation driven “strike fund” as a solution to this problem; low-income students would receive the funds in the event of work stoppage to support students during a strike.

The board also informed members that it would be illegal for the College to fire any worker for going on strike.

UGSDW advisor Cory McCartan '19, who also represented the union against College attorneys, reminded members that the strength of a union lies in its collectivity.

“The one thing I’m one-hundred percent certain about is that, as a union, we should not endorse any one of us crossing our own picket line," said McCartan. "How we’d like to talk about making sure that is clear to everyone, and what repercussions would be for basically breaking the trust of every single one of us in this room, we can talk about that. But as far as I’m concerned, that’s pretty inexcusable, just to cross a picket line established by your fellow members.”

To symbolize this commitment, the final measure that the Board proposed was a $200 fine for crossing the picket line.

Henry Brannan '22, a UGSDW member who attended the meeting, took issue with this measure.

“Though I can't think of a scenario where I feel like it would be okay to cross a picket line, I also

can't think of a scenario where it would be equitable to fine a low income student $200. And so I spoke up and the leadership was extremely receptive and agreed with what I said ... when you really care about something, you get invested in ensuring it's the best it can be.”

Rachel Bass '19, agreed with Brannan’s sentiments. She added, “It seems like a pretty weak symbolic stand if we’re always going to be like, ‘Well, we’re not going to enforce it and we’ll make all of these exceptions for it.’ So if people don’t want the fine, and no one is really keen on enforcing it, then I don’t think we should have a rule that we won’t enforce.”

Other members agreed that the fine presented a financial threat. As a result of these concerns, McCartan proposed lowering the fine to $20 or expulsion from the union as punishment for crossing picket lines. This option was approved by a margin of 45 members.

“I was very glad to hear voices in opposition to some of the things we were doing,” said Ercolani of the evening’s debate. “We don’t always have that ... and I think it’s critical for us to consider ourselves a democracy, for people to have differing opinions ... I think it brought the meeting to a place that the most people will be comfortable with what we do.”

UGSDW has received an outpouring of support from alumni over social media and through email communication. Over 200 alumni from graduating classes dating back to the 1960s signed a Letter to the Editor, available in last week's edition of The S&B, in solidarity with the union. Grinnellians employed at legal organizations across the country have also reached out to offer their expertise.

“We were just very moved by the outpouring of support from alumni … it’s astounding because that’s what we see Grinnell as being [as] an institution, that’s how we see part of being a Grinnellian is being active and passionate about what happens here … that’s why we do that work, for the students who are going to become alumni,” Ercolani said.

The outcome of this debate is in the hands of the UGSDW leadership and its members, as well as all student workers eligible to vote in the election.

“I think we had a lot of important discussion, both practical discussion and philosophical discussion … we will continue having these conversations and debates so that we can adequately reflect our members’ vision of how the Union should practice our ideals of equity and democracy and how we promote them,” Xu said.

Food Bazaar gives students a chance to share cultural heritage

SOFIA MENDEZ

Tess Kerkhof '21, Conner Stanfield '21, and other community members enjoying the dishes made by their fellow students during Food Bazaar.

Continued from Front Page cook dishes from other countries,” Gooptu added.

Any domestic or international student can participate in Food Bazaar as long as spaces are available in Harris. There is no cap set for submissions; ISO allows multiple dishes from the same country to be represented.

ISO has been able to purchase most of the specific and unique ingredients requested by the cooks, further making the event possible for anyone to participate. This year ISO made six shopping trips, spending up to eight hours alone in Des Moines with the Office of International Student Affairs (OISA).

Mollie Ullestead, international student advisor, also purchased ingredients online. After gathering all the ingredients, they distributed them to each cook based on what their submitted recipe stated, plus or minus 50 grams.

Senay Gokcebel '22, along with her sister Meltem Gokcebel '21, are the only Grinnell College students from Cyprus. Senay participated in Food Bazaar to raise awareness about her culture. She made hallou-

mi bread, an appetizer that includes onions, mint and halloumi, a cheese specific to Cyprus. Unfortunately, ISO could not find halloumi like they did last year with her sister's dish, so Gokcebel used her own stock instead of feta, the given substituted ingredient.

Gokcebel hopes to intend more ISO events and become a member of the organization. So far, she feels welcomed on campus and not alone despite being the only student from her country.

“I really didn’t feel alone in the sense that everyone is so welcoming. But I’ve also felt special being one of the two Cypriots here I didn’t really feel any negative sides. I feel like ISO represents the international students pretty well here so I felt welcomed and represented,” Gokcebel said.

Nhi Ngo '20 and Linh Bui '20 made sweet and sour chicken rice (Cơm gà xé phay), a dish that combines onions, fish sauce, cilantro, mint, tumeric and Vietnamese coriander to create a multifaceted, flavorful meal. In an email to The S&B, Ngo wrote that the duo loves to cook and that she herself would

SOFIA MENDEZ

Hoang Cao '19 and Karin Cho '20 made tonkotsu ramen, a pork dish from Japan.

do more if she wasn’t so busy with homework. They hoped that the dish would show how more delicious food comes from Vietnam than just phở .

“During Lunar New Year in Vietnam, we have to use a lot of boiled chickens for rituals and worships. Because my family is tired of eating just plain boiled chickens, we usually make [sweet and sour chicken rice]. So making this dish reminds me of my family, of the time we gathered during lunar New Year,” wrote Ngo. Since coming to the College, Ngo and Bui have felt embraced and supported by OISA and ISO, and Food Bazaar only strengthened their conviction.

“Food Bazaar is actually an event that shows how welcomed we are as international students on campus and in Grinnell in general,” Ngo wrote.

This year marked the second time that Puravi Nath '21 and Vidush Goswami '21 participated together in Food Bazaar. Following their theme of cooking street food, the pair made aloo tikki chaat, a potato patty loaded with spices and topped with a variety of sauces such as mint and chill.

Nath and Goswami participate in Food Bazaar because it provides a fun way to overcome homesickness while engaging with the supportive international student community. Nath is from Calcutta, India and Goswami is from New Delhi, India.

“I think it’s very important to represent where you’re from when you’re in a place that has so many nationalities and cultures. I’m really proud and fond of my culture so I love representing it wherever and whenever I can. ISO is the best medium I’ve found here to do that,” said Nath.

Goswami added, “ISO fosters a sense of community among each other international students themselves because a lot of the times [international students] can feel left out or marginalized in a lot of ways ... [ISO] is a place they know they’ll be accepted.”

To the cabinet members, ISO also celebrates diversity and makes connections with not only the domestic student community, but also the wider Grinnell community. In a way, ISO helps improve gown relations because members have many connections with people outside the College through events like Food Bazaar.

I think it’s very important to represent where you’re from when you’re in a place that has so many nationalities and cultures. I’m really proud and fond of my culture so I love representing it wherever and whenever I can.

Puravi Nath '21 “[ISO] is not just international students and friends. It’s kind of like the whole community … we want to share our culture with you, but on our own terms” Iyer said.

For Karen Edwards, associate dean of international student affairs, the impact of Food Bazaar and ISO felt particularly meaningful as the current national climate has proven difficult for international people.

Students from various background uniting to prepare dishes from different parts of the world shows how the process transcends the simple act of eating.

However, Edwards also acknowledges how simply sharing food is a surface level commitment to creating an environment that truly

accepts all people. OISA’s mission is to support international students at the institutional level, whether in the form of ensuring student compliance with immigration laws or taking stock of campus climate towards international students.

“Anytime you talk about food … that feels easy and maybe can be minimized as being important but the truth is food is important in the terms of comfort,” said Edwards.

“It doesn’t begin to mean that if you know somebody’s food you understand their culture but it’s a really valuable start. I think this year I struggled with this idea … because there’s so much going on the national regulatory side for our students right now and the climate … I want people to care about that as much as they care about eating somebody’s food. But if we make the mistake of forgetting that food is important and brings agency to people, we’re ... missing the point too.”

Despite its success and popularity among students, Food Bazaar represents just one step towards ensuring a more inclusive campus.

The ISO cabinet will now spend the upcoming months focusing on the student grievances that pertain to their experiences on and off campus, as well as collaborating with other multicultural groups.

Though ISO has generally been able to provide a safe space for international students, instances have still occurred in which international students have felt marginalized. Domestic students shouting “USA” at ISO Rave and criticizing the event, and professors committing microagressions in the classroom, show that the College is not immune to the national xenophobic climate.

“Our existence as an organization is so necessary specifically in response to these things ... for anyone hurt by nasty sentiments,” Iyer said.

For people who did not attend Food Bazaar, or those who would like to try dishes they loved at the event or did not get a chance to eat, Vincent Noh ’19, vice president of ISO, compiled a cookbook of all entrees. The cookbook currently circulates online and is today available in physical copies.

Food Bazaar is made possible by all chefs who participated, and

by ISO cabinet members who oversaw the planning processes since the summer. Nath and Gaswami would like to thank Aarzoo Bhimani ‘21, Saketan Anand ‘21 and Sriyash Kadiyala ‘21 for their assisting in the cooking.

ISO meets every Sunday at 1 p.m. in the ISO suite. The other cabinet members are publicity coordinators Nana Okamoto '21 Sophie Doddimeade '21 and social coordinators Prerana Adhikari '20 and Arunima Fatehpuria '21. They along with Noh were not available for comment at the time of publication.

Edited by seibertl@grinnell.edu & suetamay@grinnell.edu

News

Volunteers encourage students to get to the polls on Election Day

New Student Initiatives formats create more suggestions Continued from Front Page we can, whether it’s contacting FM, Residence Life Coordinators, things like that,” Robertson said.

In the past, students were required to obtain 100 signatures from other students for the initiative to appear on the ballot. This semester, the SGA chose to eliminate that requirement so that students could easily submit initiatives.

It's a democratic way to gauge how students of Grinnell feel about things.

Student Initiative Coordinator Joseph Robertson

SHABANA GUPTA

Volunteers from NextGen America have spent the past few months reminding students to vote in the midterms.

Continued from Front Page institutions was 4.6 percent. Grinnell’s turnout dropped from being 4.1 points below the average in 2012 to nearly 10 points below in 2016. In addition, Grinnell’s voting rate among registered students fell from 61.2 percent to 58 percent, while the registration rate itself stayed constant.

Faced with these statistics, Trish found herself with no option but to appeal to her colleagues to inspire their students.

“In the past, even as a political scientist, I wouldn’t take class time to encourage participation,” wrote Trish in an email to The S&B. “We study it, try to understand why people participate and why they don’t. We talk about methods and possible institutional changes that might facilitate higher turnout. But I’ve always stopped short of saying ‘go out and vote.’ But this time around, I thought that it’s worth a shot. And it’s worth encouraging other professors to do it too.”

Trish wrote in the email sent to professors, which she forwarded to The S&B, “Grinnell students are not exercising their right to vote.

Given how important it is for their voices to be heard in the electoral process, as well as confusing changes across Iowa and the country in the

laws governing voting, I ask you to spend a small amount of class time to encourage voting and to clarify the process. Recent research has shown that making an appeal in the classroom to a semi-captive audience is an effective way to promote student voter participation.”

Trish emphasized that the email was intended only to encourage professors to support their students in registering and voting, and not, as she wrote “for a particular candidate or party … this is a plug for voting wherever the student chooses to vote, whether in a home state or in Iowa.”

Trish’s email was not the only method in which students received encouragement to vote. Over the past several months, NextGen and student volunteers had hosted events and tabled to help students register to vote, as well as provide students with information on their voting location and requirements.

In an email to The S&B, Grinnell College housing coordinator Lauren Myers wrote, “As an institution, we have made a concerted effort this election to emphasize the power and importance of student voices in the political sphere. I think students can sometimes underestimate their ability to effect change, and we want to empower them to exercise their right to vote and facilitate that process in any

way we can.”

According to Myers, the encouragement made an impact. She expressed hope that students are beginning to gain more interest in voting, as well as the political issues that affect them.

“I have noticed a significant increase in the number of students who have reached out to me, both to provide proof of residence documents in order to register but also to ask more general questions about the electoral process,” she wrote. “I think students are more aware this election of how impactful they are as a population, and how integral their participation is in bringing about change at federal, state, and local levels.”

Trish also felt hopeful going into the midterm elections that students would exercise their right to vote.

“I hope it prompts everyone – students, faculty/staff/administrators – to try to figure why it’s been low in the past and what can be done to facilitate engagement in the future,” she wrote.

“It’s not as if students and others haven’t tried hard in the past to encourage participation. And not to take anything away from the groups mobilizing this year – because it looks they were creative and very effective – but there did seem to be a receptivity to the idea of participating that had been absent in some recent election cycles.”

“Making the application process such that they don’t need to follow through on fixing it and that they don’t need signatures to get it on there was the goal to drive that

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accessibility,” said Myles Becker '19, SGA president.

Due to these changes, students submitted around 50 initiatives, which was far more than usual.

Though this was a positive change, SGA is already looking to add more improvements to the format even next semester. Because of the number of initiatives, the ballot took longer to complete than in the past, which could potentially deter students from completing it. Another future change might be differentiating more clearly between action and opinion questions.

“This semester was a big step away from what has happened previously but seeing those fifty things make the ballot had me really excited about the accessibility of the process. We want to refine it moving forward, but we’re excited to fine-tune it in a way that makes it as accessible and as efficacious as possible,” Becker said.

ERIC MISTRY

The Burling library was one of the topics up for debate in this year’s round of Student Initiatives.

Students plan to hold Andrew Gordon leads workshop sustainability summit on embracing diversity abroad

By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu

On Friday, Nov. 9 at 4 p.m. at the Main Quad, multiple student groups involved in sustainability activism will meet to present the first ever Sustainability Summit.

The event will share information with student leaders on the environmental work and projects being done at the College. For students concerned about the effects of climate change, pollution, deforestation and other environmental crises, the summit provides an opportunity to participate in meaningful activism at the College.

Green Fund Committee members Rachel Snodgrass '21 and Annabel Higgin-Houser '20 took several weeks to plan for the event and hope to receive an enthusiastic turnout.

“We have been trying to get all the sustainability-related student groups together for a long time, and this is kind of the culmination of that. We’re gonna be having conversations about what every group is doing, what their goals are for the semester, and how we can collaborate throughout groups,” said Higgin-Houser.

The event will begin with short presentations by members of various campus sustainability groups, including the Dorm Composting Project, the College garden, the Conrad Environmental Research Area (CERA), Farm House, Beekeeping Club and the Citizens’ Climate Lobby, among others.

Other students will also be invited to speak if they have relevant ideas to bring to the table. The event will continue with roundtable discussions about sustainability, a chance for students to make a paper tree to be displayed in the Joe Rosenfield Center (JRC) which will offer ways to live more environmentally friendly, and a chance to ask questions about getting involved in the various groups.

According to Snodgrass, a strong motivation for the Summit is to foster a sense of solidarity between sustainability groups in hopes of accomplishing more together.

“I feel like there isn’t usually a lot of collaboration between the sustainability groups, usually they’re kind of off doing their own things,” said Snodgrass. “We just thought that if we all work together we would be a lot more efficient and get a lot more done, raise a lot more awareness about sustainability issues.”

Some efforts that Snodgrass and Higgin-Houser said could succeed from communication between groups are composting more on campus, creating a bike co-op program, reducing plastic use and organizing clothing swaps.

Additionally, Higgin-Houser said that many student groups may not realize that they could benefit from Green Fund money, so regular correspondence with the fund could be helpful.

Higgin-Houser also mentioned that uniting students across groups could be a good way to make it clear to the administration what students invested in sustainability would like to see from the College.

“Especially since the school has decided not to divest, we feel more urgency that we have to be vigilant about telling the school about ways we wanna be more sustainable as a campus and in our footprint on the world, so we want to bring a united student perspective to the administration,” Higgin-Houser said.

If students have never interacted with sustainability activism at Grinnell before or ever in their lives, Snodgrass thinks the summit is the perfect opportunity to find out how to get involved.

“We want to invite everyone who’s not currently involved in sustainability projects on campus, but wants to get involved,” Snodgrass said.

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu Studying for a semester abroad can be a life-changing opportunity for students. However, for students with marginalized identities, spending an extended period of time in a foreign country with an unfamiliar culture can also result in anxiety-inducing situations. Andrew Gordon, the founder and president of Diversity Abroad, a group that strives to increase access and safety for marginalized groups while studying abroad, spoke about this issue on Thursday, Nov. 9 at a workshop for College students.

Gordon’s desire to promote diversity in study abroad programs came from his own experiences as a student.

“I studied in Mexico and Spain, and then I interned in Spain when I got out of school. One of the things I noticed, particularly during my semester abroad while I was in school ... was that I was in one of those large programs, probably a hundred or so students, and I was one of four or five Black or brown kids there.

I had this amazing experience, but one of those that’s just really evident to you is just hey, students like me aren’t doing this.”

Diversity Abroad works to help students who are from traditionally subordinated backgrounds, including but not limited to students of color, queer students, first-generation students and students with disabilities, have successful and enriching trips abroad. The organization’s website provides access to scholarship information and career resources, as well as forums for students and alumni to communicate about their experiences.

Gordon went on to explain Diversity Abroad’s unique mission.

“Diversity Abroad is an organization that was founded to address diversity, equity and inclusion in international education, both from

the standpoint of how to diversify the population of students who go overseas, to ensure that it’s representative of the student population at our individual institutions, as well as to support the success of students throughout the overall process,” Gordon said. “It is our firm belief that global programs can greatly benefit students both from an academic standpoint, an interpersonal growth standpoint, and then from a career development perspective.”

In addition, Gordon said, the organization works on training educators to support students experiencing familiar issues in an unfamiliar setting.

“The days are gone when we only sent upper middleclass white women abroad; that was the traditional study-abroad population for a very long time,” he said. “The population is becoming more diverse, which is exciting ... But we know that when you send a more diverse group of students abroad, you’re going to have a higher propensity

for there to be challenges. Those challenges can be in the cohort – if you think about some of the dynamic that we see on U.S. campuses between different groups of students from different backgrounds, those dynamics don’t necessarily stop when the students go abroad.”

In addition to the specific difficulties that students face in unfamiliar settings, Gordon also highlighted the importance of training educators on how to work with students who come from varying backgrounds.

“We’re educating professionals, particularly those who aren’t U.S.-based … on the different populations of the US, and some of the challenges that students from certain backgrounds might face abroad because of their identity,” he said.

Diversity Abroad will be running several workshops on campus.

While the session aimed at students took place on Thursday, Nov. 8 in the Bear, Gordon will hold additional workshops for faculty and staff will be held on Friday, Nov. 9 in the JRC.

REINA SHAHI

Andrew Gordon addresses students on how to use diverse backgrounds in foreign countries.

Arts

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Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu

Professor Ralph Savarese discusses Rachel Harvith '00 talks about internship new book, “See it Feelingly” possibilities for artists

ZOE FRUCHTER

For Grinnell’s final Writers@Grinnell event this fall, Professor Ralph Savarese presented from his new book, "See it Feelingly."

By Madelyn Matsubara matsubar@grinnell.edu Professor Ralph Savarese’s, English, newest book, “See it Feelingly: Classic Novels, Autistic Readers, and the Schooling of a No-Good English Professor,” is a composition of literary-based interactions with people from the autistic community.

Aiming to change the negative stigma generally surrounding autism, Savarese exposes the truly magnificent advantages to the different neurotype.

Due to the popular medical opinion that autistic people have impairments in “language, imagination and social interaction,” they are constantly excluded from a society built for the perpetuation of non-autistic privilege. Savarese disputes the implications that autistic people have only an affinity for math or science, and inserts that he has worked with “some very, very talented autistic writers.”

The impact of Savarese’s son on his work has been monumental. Not only is he immensely proud of him for being one of the few non-speaking autistic people in the world to have a college degree, but his son has taught him that there is so much to autism that is still unknow. The

premise of his book is founded upon the concept of inclusion, the disintegration of social stigma and equal opportunity for people with disabilities.

In an interview with Savarese, he explains that composing the book itself was quite the process. He had interacted with six autistic collaborators, ages ranging from 25 to early 70s. One collaborator was his son, and the other five were adults that he had met through his work or by chance. Savarese explains that he read two chapters of Moby Dick a week for 17 weeks with his collaborator Tito Mukhopadhyay. Though his work for this book was time consuming, he viewed the time he spent as a “virtue.”

Although he has read Moby Dick many times in his studies, Savarese stated that his experience with Mukhopadhyay “had been incredibly revelatory” to him. In choosing which works to analyze, Savarese tried to ensure that his collaborators would enjoy the stories. He used Skype to discuss the novels and short stories with the autistic contributors and kept detailed records of what was said by using the voice memo function and the sidebar typing area of Skype.

Once he transcribed the records,

Savarese had a catalog of every discussion he had. This was important because although “clearly … [he is] sitting there and interpreting and telling the story and framing the story, there’s enough quotation from my autistic collaborators that the story is theirs too.” Savarese’s efforts to record their discussions gives the reader insight into the minds of the autistic people he collaborated with.

Living with biological and social differences, Savarese’s collaborators provided unique insight to these classic texts. Biologically, autistic people have a different mindbody connection. While non-autistic people are incredibly attuned to the semantics of a conversation, autistic people hear more phonetically, with less attention to the actual meaning of what is being said. Not all autistic people share the same advantages and disadvantages to their neurotype, though. Mukhopadhyay, for example, prefers to hear a book on tape, because although he is literate, his mind processes the page of a novel differently. Rather than seeing words that immediately form meanings, Tito sees the design and patterns the words make, then, once he concentrates on the individual words, he reads them.

Savarese stated that he believes there are “advantages and disadvantages to each neurotype.” For instance, autistic people are incredibly talented in hearing phonetic patterns in poems such as assonance, or consonance. Non-autistic people have to develop the skill of hearing the patterns. Savarese asserted that the “idea that an autistic person might bring a different brain … with different tendencies to a text is not a bad thing.”

The neurodiversity movement, of which Savarese is a part, is working to allow people with all neurotypes to have the equal opportunity to education and to inclusion. The general associations with autism being “unempathetic” or “asocial,” suggest someone who “doesn’t want friends, who is incapable of feeling for other people.” However, autistic people are so much more than that.

As Savarese and many others are working to change the popular assumptions about autistic people, his book asks “people to think quite differently about autism … [and] also about what autistic strengths might be.”

Savarese’s book is available now. It is published by Duke University Press.

Award-winning director Alexander Payne to give Scholars Convocation lecture

CONTRIBUTED

Director Alexander Payne has been chosen to give a lecture on Thursday, Nov. 15 for the semester’s final Scholar’s Convocation.

By Jackson Schulte schultej@grinnell.edu On Thursday, Nov. 15, the College will host Academy Award-winning director Alexander Payne for this semester’s final Scholar’s Convocation. Payne is the director of several critically acclaimed films. His notable films are “The Descendants,” (2011) and “Nebraska,” (2013). His most recent film is 2017’s "Downsizing." “The Descendents” depicts the aftermath of a Honolulu attorney’s divorce with painstaking realism.

“Nebraska” is a dark comedy in which an elderly man convinces his

son to road trip with him from Montana to Nebraska in order to claim a non-existent million dollars that he believes awaits him there.

“The Descendants” and “Nebraska” have both won their share of awards, ranging from the Academy Award for Best Screenplay (“The Descendants”) to the Palme d’Or (“Nebraska”), which is given to the top film at the Cannes Film Festival. Those two films aside, Payne has earned nominations and awards for earlier films such as “About Schmidt” (2002) and “Sideways” (2004).

A native Midwesterner, Payne hails from Omaha, Nebraska, and is expected to talk about his connection to the Midwest and the ways it informs his work. After graduating from high school, Payne majored in Spanish and history at Stanford before attending UCLA’s film school for his MFA. Despite leaving the Midwest, his work is often set in Nebraska and deals with issues through characters that are ostensibly as normal as anyone else.

Payne has a unique connection to the College, too. His late brother, Nicholas Payne '72, was an anthropology major at Grinnell.

The Scholars Convocation has been a staple of the College since the 1970s. The mission is to bring a variety of speakers to campus that discuss work in a range of disciplines. Professor David Harrison, French, noted in an email to The S&B, though, that he believes this is the first time an independent filmmaker with critical praise as wide as Payne’s has visited campus.

In addition to being perhaps the first major filmmaker on campus in recent memory, Payne’s presence on campus also makes a symbolic case for artistic practice, specifically film making, as scholarship that is as important as more traditional research.

There are no other planned Scholar’s Convocations from artists this year, so Payne’s lecture is one that students and faculty will not want to miss.

Payne’s lecture will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 15, in the Joe Rosenfield Center, Room 101.

By Shabana Gupta guptasha@grinnell.edu

CLS has been funding students for internships for nearly 20 years and recently has honed in on helping out students focus on artistic areas for internships. This past summer, 29 students participated in art related internships and 15 of them were funded by CLS. The majority of internships are unpaid, which is why Grinnell does their best to limit the negative effects of a lack of funds.

Funds from the College can be especially helpful for students seeking internships who could not otherwise afford to live away from home for a summer. Despite being usually associated with social sciences or STEM, funding for internships in the arts, too, are open to all students.

[An internship] starts building not only art skills but also the opportunity to communicate with other artists.

Rachel Harvith '00, CLS Director of Arts, Media and Communications Director of Arts, Media, and Communications Rachel Harvith ‘00 has been in charge of organizing opportunities for students in the arts since joining the College’s staff.

“It’s a way [for students] to expand their creative practice because we’re not a fine arts institution,” said Harvith. “There are certain pieces of equipment that we don’t have here, there are certains things that we don’t teach.”

Last summer, a large group of students went to Brooklyn, NY and New Mexico. The trips allow students to experience different institutions and communities around the world. “It’s a good way for students to see how others who have artistic skills have used those in a career setting and to see all the different positions that are available in those careers,” Harvith said. “[An internship] starts building not only art skills but also the opportunity to communicate with other artists,” Harvith said. Within the arts community it is necessary to create networks as artists tend to know one another.

Students Charlotte Richardson-Deppe ’19 and Judith Tong ‘19 interned this past summer in New York City with a weaving studio and a print shop, respectively.

Both internships exposed them to well-known artists and allowed for

practice using advanced machinery specific to the art types and styles of each shop’s profession.

Weaving Hand, the studio where Richardson-Deppe interned, was granted a residency at the Museum of Art and Design. “My time was split between going to the studio space helping with the Weaving Hand programs... and being at the museum,” she said.

She helped with making 30 cocoon-like suits that covered people’s entire bodies with a heavy, predominately black fabric that had splashes of reused neon ropes weaved in. At the end of her internship, the cocoons were used in a performance at the museum. Both her and Tong were dancing in the performance as original electronic music played.

Now that Richardson-Deppe has experienced New York, she believes that going back in the future would be less intimidating. “I feel like now that I have contacts there, it won’t be as intimidating to just move now that I’ve had an internship,” she said.

Tong worked with a Grinnell alum for her internship. The shop specializes in large pieces using a multitude of mediums, which taught Tong how to work with each of the different mediums and how to work with specialty items.

A woodshop near her internship was closing down while Tong was working, and her boss suggested she check out what they had. “I got a ton of Plexiglas for free, it’s probably [worth] $1,000,” said Tong. Many of her pieces, including what is in Smith Gallery right now, were created from those sheets of Plexiglas.

I feel like now that I have contacts [in New York], it won't be as intimidating to just move now that I've had an internship.

Charlotte Richardson-Deppe '19 One artist had to print over 2,000 prints using a semi-automatic press. Though he planned to do this without the studio’s help, at one point he had to leave for a month. “I took his place, and I was just working with his assistant and we printed like, 2,000 prints,” Tong said.

Both Richardson-Deppe and Tong were funded by CLS for their internships. “It would not have been possible to live in New York City without [funding],” Richardson-Deppe said.

SHABANA GUPTA

Rachel Harvith '00 is working in the CLS to bring students internship opportunities in the arts, which often looks different than other fields.

Arts

Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu

Cassidy Christiansen The S&B sent writer Lily Bohlke and photographer Liz Paik to hang out with Cassidy Christiansen '20 and discuss their art and their work as concerts chair.

One of the greatest benefits of art for Cassidy Christiansen ’20 is its potential for self-exploration through various mediums. Christiansen is a studio art major and SEPC member, this year’s Student Government Association concerts chair and co-editor of The Sequence, Grinnell College's student comic publication.

“It’s hard to say that’s there like one specific type of art that I do,” said Christiansen. “I love printmaking, and I’ve been doing that for a long time but I also just love drawing and collaging and painting. I’m pretty

much interested in all of it, in some way.”

Christiansen went to a performing arts high school, Flagstaff Arts and Leadership Academy, in Arizona, where they did dance, studio art and creative writing. After high school, Christiansen decided not to go to college right away and instead spent time traveling and living abroad.

They applied to colleges while staying in Australia, and received acceptance letters while in Southeast Asia, eventually settling on spending their next four years in Iowa.

“Since I’ve been in Iowa, a lot of my artwork has had to do with living in Iowa, as opposed to when I was traveling before I came here, a lot of it had to do with movement and travel and exploration in different ways,”

Christiansen said. “I love depicting people, and I love talking about myself in my art. It’s kind of a space that I’ve always used to explore myself and the environment I’m in.”

Studying art at the College in a studio setting has allowed Christiansen’s artistic toolbox to evolve as well.

“I have different access to materials… I’ve kept various sketchbooks since I was 14, but it’s cool being here and being able to work with some really cool technology,” they said.

While a lot of the work Christiansen does, such as painting, collaging and printmaking, is studio art, they also find dance to be a meaningful way of both expressing and learning about themselves.

“Dance taught me a lot about

5 how to situate my body and how to understand my body and feel comfortable in it, and also how to feel uncomfortable in it,” they said. “And so I feel like those principles carry on throughout doing art in other ways and through life in general, and more recently as somebody who identifies as non-binary and who … did traditional ballet for seven years, it’s really interesting to be able to explore movement from a different perspective now than I had then.”

Performing music is one of the few methods of creative expression Christiansen does not do themself, but they still manage to engage with the art form through their involvement in SGA Concerts Committee.

Being concerts chair involves administrative duties such as booking artists, coordinating concerts and holding meetings, but Christiansen said it is also a creative endeavor, through which they have gained new artistic skills.

“It’s definitely involved skills that I haven’t really had the chance to work on before. I’ve taken some guitar and banjo lessons, but it’s definitely worked my ear in terms of being able to sound check,” they said.

“I originally got involved in concerts

because I really felt moved by the shows that I went to, I felt like the space that was created was so amazing, and so I really just wanted to have a hand in creating that space.”

Some of Christiansen’s goals for concerts committee this year include accessibility and catering to a wide audience, as well as diversity in musicians.

“Just making sure that concerts is a space that students feel really comfortable in, and then the artists that we bring are also very comfortable and feel appreciated, I think is important, and in particular I’ve been trying to especially book, or give priority booking to, women of color and LGBTQ musicians, because that’s just something I care a lot about. I think we see a lot of white men performing,” Christiansen said.

Christiansen said they would like to work in community activism through art, or as a tattoo artist. They have been giving themselves stickand-poke tattoos since high school, constantly refining the craft.

“One of my lifelong aspirations has been to be a tattoo artist,” Christiansen said. “It’s what I tell people I’m going to do because I actually have no idea what I’m going to do.”

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Opinions Queer Eyes Special Edition: "Friend Match Making!

Edited by bohlkeli@grinnell.edu

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Welcome to a special edition of Queer Eyes: “Friend Match Making!” This thematic diversion is inspired by my participation in the Grinnell queer community. I have managed to make friends here, which I was completely unable to do growing up. So, in this special edition, I am taking a member of the general Grinnell population, and helping her to gain friendship in the queer or not queer communities here. This person is the same friend who is interested in crafting on the gay side of the grill and will defend the universality of flannels. I now present you with the friendship profile submitted to me.

Proposition: Fourth year student seeking friend • Short term position (with possibility for extension) • Must be pet-friendly Candidate: • Recently 22

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5 feet 5 inches in shoes Described by others as “an old man trapped in the body of a child” Self-described as having “a childlike innocence” Claims to be from “Napperville, Napper-thrill Illinois” (yes, candidate’s presence puts the “thrill” in “Napperthrill”) Every parent’s favorite friend (75 percent guarantee your parent/guardian figure will like her better than you, or money back) For second “play date,” candidate is interested in pursuing bowling, after she has had a chance to “get to know you a little bit” Adjective that best describes candidate: crafty Recently interested in yo-yoing, always interested in Outerspace and felines (together or apart) Has acquired six yo-yos in the immediate past, can’t really seem to get them to work but also has a yo-yoing glove for her coarse hands (that were so dry they bled every single day in second grade) Lives by the motto: “We have to remember what's important in life: friends, waffles

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and work. Or waffles, friends, work. Except not work.”

Sometimes has cookies Candidate will most likely be able to walk again soon Candidate’s favorite book in 6th grade was “definitely ‘The Giver.’” In the years after sixth grade, was a “big Hunger Games person.” Now, “not really much of a reader.”

Favorite cinematic genre is psychological thrillers — candidate likes to be “intellectually stimulated” by the television Current search for friends does not imply lack of favorable qualities, she just doesn’t get out much

Searching for: • A friendly companion • Allows pets • Has a sense of humor, but dark.

“I don’t jam with people who don’t just hate everything a little bit” • Applicant should be open minded (“obviously”) because you never know what the candidate “is going to throw at you” • Interested in joining new clubs, such as the beekeeping club • Candidate has experience in

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butterfly hunting and is looking for someone interested in extending this skill to bird watching and/or star gazing (candidate comes with her own personal set of binoculars) Applicant experience with friendship is encouraged but not required Candidate in search of a “deep connection” with applicant New friend probably can’t have a lot of other friends because candidate is not great with new people, but also applicant can’t be someone who is always available and wants to always hang out. Candidate is in search of a friend who will play “hard to get,” meaning they are not too eager to go out, but in the end still willing to. Quality of friendship success will be completely measured by success of “banter” Candidate says of herself: “I mostly get along with cold, callused people who are as pessimistic as I am” and is especially interested in applicants who are also “cold” Generally nice demeanor preferable but not “clingy” All human beings are encour-

Anna Alvin: Moving Closer

aged to apply. Candidate is not picky, but particular. Trial “hang outs” will be available for promising candidates who bring snacks to the interview. Bribery is encouraged. This is friendship people: take it seriously. I am hoping that the general readership of The S&B can come together to help create a bond between two strangers based on made-up qualities presented in the school newspaper. Interested parties should submit a detailed resume, a brief cover letter and finally, two to three references (please only include friends, not family members as they have potential for bias). Creative gestures of friendship are encouraged in the process of submitting application materials, but not required. All application materials should be delivered to campus mail box #3950.

Gaylord Phoenix can ensure that candidate is an amazing friend.

She is so much fun to be around — it surprises me every time I see her how much I laugh. All applicants are lucky to have a chance at such an amazing friend, but this search encourages applications from the serious and not so serious. Candidate doesn’t handle seriousness well.

Thank you for your time!

—Gaylord Phoenix

Opinions Tresther's Tru-pinions: Asian American sexuality and the fetish

7

Edited by bohlkeli@grinnell.edu

mail order bride system in non-Asian countries. There is of course the long history of American military in Asian countries and the mostly nonconsensual business of sex trafficking. And there are the images in media and the stories people tell about how “Asian women make great wives.”

By Esther Hwang hwangest@grinnell.edu As a Korean American who thinks a lot about how race is created and recreated, I notice how I react to social interactions between Asian women/ people and non-Asian people. Whether it’s seeing an old right-wing white supremacist arm-in-arm with a young Asian woman because she’s getting herself that visa, or being hit on by a guy asking you where you’re from (“I didn’t know there were women like you in the area!”), I can’t help but have race on the brain.

Whether it's seeing an old right-wing white supremacist arm-in-arm with a young Asian woman because she's getting herself that visa, or being hit on by a guy asking you where you're from … I can't help but have race on the brain.

White supremacy and the altright’s embrace of Asian women (see Audrea Lim’s New York Times article) are so deeply tied, not to mention global push and pull factors that create the

So deeply tied are white supremacy and the altright's embrace of Asian women … Not to mention global push and pull factors that create the mail order bride system into non-Asian countries.

With all of this in mind I’ve had a lot of conversations with my female and gender non-conforming friends about their experience with their sexuality, media images and fetishization of people who look like them. A lot of these conversations were about race, queerness, yellow fever, anime and pornography. Our ideas were structural but our stories were personal, and so many of them were related to dating and sex.

In one conversation with a friend, we discussed problematic fetishes. We talked about how the BDSM community supports most kinks and fetishes as long as they are consensual. But in regards to racial fetishes, when are these consensual? When do you actually have agency to racialize yourself?

I think about the story of my friend who matched with a guy on Tinder and felt some red flags about how much he likes Asian culture. One perk of this

was how well he knew the good Asian restaurants in town. On one hand, she loves not having to explain her culture, and of course she loves eating good Asian food. On the other hand, she has had negative experiences in the past with people telling her about their vast knowledge of her own culture. These red flags stay in the back of her head.

After dinner, she went to his house. She thought, I wouldn’t date this guy, but I could go for some sex.

They entered the apartment and towering over her was a wall of oriental fans, stacked one above another. The second red flag propped itself up in her mind but they went to his bedroom. This friend really just wanted to have sex.

They made out, they took their clothes off. They had sex, and in the heat of the moment the man spoke Chinese as he is climaxed. She didn’t even know he spoke Chinese. She’s not even Chinese! At this point she was petrified but did want to think too much. They both finished and she left the apartment laughing. She processed it later when she went home and told her friends.

There is of course the long history of American military in Asian countries and the mostly nonconsenual business of sex trafficking.

In this case, my friend consented to sex the whole way. But did she consent to the highly racialized surprise at the end? I personally would have been traumatized if a man started speaking Chinese to me while climaxing, but maybe that’s just me.

Film in Stock: Non-English language films to widen perspective and worldview

By Martha Beliveau beliveau@grinnell.edu Sometimes non-English language films are not seen as the most accessible or captivating category of film, but I think they provide insight into a different take on the medium. The following films are a great starting point if you’re interested in introducing more films into your media consumption. The films that follow masterfully invite viewers into a different perspective and worldview, as any great film does, but still maintain approachability in their narrative construction and film styles.

"Kler" (2017) by Wojciech Smarzowski This Polish film by director Wojciech Smarzowski, which translates to “The Clergy,” follows the story of three priests in very different positions. The three intertwined stories involve abuse within the Catholic Church and deal with the subject matter in a very tactful way, including personal testimonies from real survivors of this abuse. I would urge anyone interested in the film to watch the trailer; however, the trailer unfairly portrays the film as fairly lighthearted which it most certainly isn’t. Since the film’s release, it’s had a massive impact on the interior dialogue within Poland about abuse claims that have long been ignored.

Since the film's release, it's had a massive impact on the interior dialogue within Poland about abuse claims that have long been ignored.

"The Insult" (2017) by Ziad Doueiri Ziad Doueiri’s “The Insult” is a Lebanese film that portrays the conflict in Lebanon between Palestinian

refugees and Lebanese Maronite Christians. The plot follows a highly-publicized trial after a Palestinian refugee accuses a Maronite Christian of hate speech. The film escalates gradually, interestingly portraying how these broad conflicts impact people’s everyday lives. Well-acted and brilliantly written, “The Insult” humanizes both sides of the conflict without stripping narrative nuance to either.

all-around solid film. Following her boyfriend’s health emergency, main character Marina (played by Daniela Vega) must interact with her boyfriend’s hostile family. To say any more about the plot would probably ruin it, so I’ll only say further that the film carefully investigates issues of transphobia and domestic violence, without erasing the humanity of its main character. Importantly, this film cast a trans woman in the role of a trans woman, and therefore serves as a key representation of a Chilean trans woman. Rightfully so, “A Fantastic Woman” won the Oscar for best foreign film in 2017.

The film escalates gradually, interestingly portraying how these broad conflicts impact people's everyday lives.

While Chilean film "A Fantastic Woman" is well-known for its "Ida" (2013) by Paweł Pawligroundbreaking depiction kowski Yet another Polish film, Paweł of a transgender woman, Pawlikowski’s “Ida” follows its ti- it's also just an all-around tle character, a Catholic nun, as she solid film. discovers that she is Jewish in the 1960s. Another insightful depiction of Poland’s complicated history with the Catholic Church, and its similarly complicated recollection of the Holocaust, “Ida” is beautifully shot in black and white with stunning images of the Polish landscape. The film’s subtlety, including both visuals and sparsity of dialogue, keep it tethered to the implications of its plot, and ultimately the film questions what it means to have one’s identity completely rewritten and how one’s actions can change dramatically according to self-perception and understanding.

The film questions what it means to have one's identity completely rewritten and how one's actions can change dramatically according to self-perception and understanding.

"A Fantastic Woman" (2017) by Sebastián Lelio While Chilean film “A Fantastic Woman” is well-known for its groundbreaking depiction of a transgender woman, it’s also just an

"Son of Saul" (2015) by László Nemes This Hungarian film follows the life of an Auschwitz prisoner as he struggles to give a proper burial to a young boy he believes to be his son.

While this film, as any film about the Holocaust, is deeply disturbing, the deliberate camera work turns this inevitability on its head. Instead of wide shots that contain the physical realities of the concentration camp, director László Nemes employs tight shots that follow the main character, played brilliantly by Géza Röhrig, and the people with whom he interacts. Through this deliberate stylistic choice, the film displays that the power of film is not just in what it shows but also what is excluded from the shots. The most you can ask of a film is that it stays with you long after viewing it, and “Son of Saul” certainly accomplishes such an impact.

While this film, as any film about the Holocaust, is deeply disturbing, the deliberate camera works turns this inevitability on its head.

Some criticism of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers

I would like to begin this letter by stating unequivocally that I believe students have the right to unionize on this campus, and I am a UGSDW member. Furthermore, the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) decision to allow an election is a victory for all student workers.

However, we, as diverse and newly-empowered (by virtue of the union election) student workers, must fight for the values we proclaim and not let UGSDW control what we prioritize as a college community.

A universal increase in student wages by just $1.50 translates to about $375,000 in student wages — $100,000 more than the sticker price of a entire Grinnell education.

This money will not be distributed progressively.

The union has consistently fought for universal pay increases for student workers as well as additional raises for experienced workers, student leaders and specific shifts worked. While this money truly helps some students who need it, this is not the only source of student worker funds.

According to College President Raynard Kington’s testimony at the NLRB hearing, the College pays about $2.5 million in annual wages to the 75 percent of the student body with on-campus employment. According to the New York Times, less than 25 percent of students come from households with incomes in the bottom 60 percent of the nation (this statistic is from 2013, but the share of lower-income students at elite colleges has slowly declined over the past two decades, so I think it’s still a good estimate).

As a thought experiment, let us assume that every student who is in this group works at the College. (Let us also assume that every interna-

tional student on campus has a campus job; it’s unclear how they are counted in the Times study’s methodology). Still, 47 percent of students working at the College would be from the 60th percentile or higher of American household incomes.

A universal increase in student wages by just $1.50 translates to about $375,000 in student wages — $100,000 more than the sticker price of an entire Grinnell education.

This money will not be distributed progressively. It will be distributed based on who is working — a factor that, shown above, is not exactly related to socio-economic status at the College. It’s also worth mentioning that this money will come from somewhere else in the College’s budget, and we as students have little control over where.

Other problems exist with the way the union operates. By expanding its leadership to the entire student body, UGSDW is explicitly focusing its narrative on student workers. In doing so, it largely ignores full-time staff employed at Grinnell College who can benefit greatly from unionization.

Consider a dining hall student leader who is with the college for four years and works 110 hours a semester (less than 10hr/week).

With careful selection of shifts, this student could earn $12/hour. Callin cashiers at the dining hall start their wage at approximately $11/ hour. With a college degree, (which low-income and high-income peers complete at similar rates in Grinnell) that student leader will make an average early career salary of $41,032 in 2015 after leaving Grinnell (probably slightly higher now due to inflation). A 40-hour work week at $11/hour yields a pre-tax salary of $22,880 if no un-paid vacations are taken.

What values do we as the Grinnell community want to uphold?

Let’s protest the financial aid office’s unfair treatment of international students, whose admission the financial aid office does not consider under need-blind policies. Let’s protest the President’s office for more support for low-income students. Let’s hold strikes for better wages for our fulltime staff (Harvard students did this, and now the mandatory wage there is $25+/hour for Harvard staff). Don’t let UGSDW take up all the oxygen.

— Stephen Cropper '21

11/2 Crossword Solution

Have an opinion or perspective you want to share?

Write a letter to the editor and send it to [bohlkeli]!

Sports

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Edited by fruchter@grinnell.edu

Women’s basketball looks to exciting season with young team

By Seth Bartusek bartusek@grinnell.edu

As the Grinnell women’s basketball team prepares for a new season, the squad looks to exceed expectations with a young and energetic set of players. The team will open their 2018-19 season with a home court matchup against Central College on Thursday Nov. 9,

then will host Emmaus Bible College the following Thursday.

After a disappointing 201718 season, going 4-12 in Midwest Conference, the Pioneers look to bounce back with some fresh energy this year. With last year’s leading scorer having graduated, and an incoming first-year class of seven players, this year’s group marks a fresh start for many of the open

positions.

The team began preseason practices back in early October.

“I would have been really surprised if you had told me I’d be one of three seniors on this team a couple of years ago,” said co-captain Hanna Kessel '19. “Practices [this preseason] have been this mix of really fastpaced energetic work with a lot of conditioning, but we’ve also got a lot to learn in a short span of time so it’s been fast, all gogo-go, with lots of learning how we do things in our program.”

I am looking forward to seeing a young team come together and grow on and off the court. We want our brand of basketball to be hard working from start to finish, up tempo and high energy, so I hope that we can provide that each and every time we take the floor.

Coach Dana Harrold ANDREW TUCKER

The women’s basketball team practicing in Darby gym.

Yet, amidst the changes in lineup, the team has retained a number of starters. Daria Guzzo '19 returns as a captain of the

squad again this year, in addition to Kessel.

“As a captain I want to keep reminding our players of our season last year,” said Guzzo.

“We didn’t have quite the season we wanted. Losing a handful of our last games by four or less points, we know that we were close last year and we need to use that as motivation for this next season.”

Coach Dana Harrold is excited to see Guzzo and Kessel lead the team.

“We have quality leadership on this team in Hanna Kessel and Daria Guzzo,” said Harrold.

“Daria has been leading in small ways since her first year with our program and its been great to see that growth, along with the passion and dedication that she has to our program. Kessel takes pride in being a shoulder to lean on for a lot of our young players and is also the Pioneer of our team energy during games.”

Harrold is also excited to see the youth contribute to the season and be important parts of this team alongside veterans like Guzzo and Kessel.

“I am looking forward to seeing a young team come

together and grow on and off the court,” Harrold said. “We want our brand of basketball to be hard working from start to finish, up tempo and high energy so I hope that we can provide that each and every time we take the floor.”

We know that we can accept this news, or prove them wrong. Teams are going to find out that we are a new team, we’ve got new energy, and we aren’t scared of anyone.

Co-Captain Hanna Kessel '19 A younger team can be seen as a detrimant but Kessel is looking forward to the energy it will bring.

“We were ranked ninth out of ten teams in the coaches’ preseason rankings this year, a lot of that is because other teams don’t know what to expect from our team yet,” Kessel said. “We know that we can accept this news, or prove them wrong.

Teams are going to find out that we are a new team, we’ve got new energy, and we aren’t scared of anyone.”

Haenfler to teach “Sport and Identity” Professor Ross Haenfler, sociology, will teach “Sport and Identity” in fall 2019 in Grinnell-in-London program. The S&B’s Shuhan Yi '22 discussed the course and what makes London an ideal site for the topic.

This conversation has been edited for length.

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How does sociology intersect with sports?

The nice thing about sociology is that you can put “sociology of” in front of anything. Sociologists often study issues of social hierarchy, inequality, and the relationship between individuals and their social contexts. So, sport as one of the major institutions in societies becomes fertile ground for investigating questions [like] why are people participating in sport or watching sport? A good bit of socialization and social meaning happen around sports.

What inspired you to start the class?

Sport is so meaningful to so many people; it involves our bodies and involves some of our deepest beliefs ... For example, I am interested in political sociology, how different groups exercise power and how people in power try to maintain that power. If I use sport to think about politics and power, I can think about how, in the U.S. context, we often have the national anthem played at a sporting event. I can think about the Olympic context, internationally, how patriotism and nationalism are encouraged and how nationalism is tied to sport. I can also think about how politicians use sports metaphors to make points as they are running for office, or they might appear at sporting events in order to gain support. There are just a lot of different ways that sport can be useful, because it’s so popular, so meaningful.

Why did you choose London as the location for the class?

London [is] such a global city that brings together such a diversity of people, and all are interested in sports, so you can

find almost every sport being played in London ... London gives us a lot of opportunities to attend different sporting events to see how sports are interwoven into the politics, culture and history of the UK ... For example, I am hoping that we’ll be able to talk with some soccer (football) hooligans, the really intense fans, and that’s something you cannot do at Grinnell.

What do you want the students to take away from the class?

All my classes raise critical questions about social inequality, about power and resistance to power. My intention is to show how, in this powerful institution, social equality is created, reproduced and challenged. I want students to have a good understanding of how the systems of power are reproduced and challenged in the sporting world. That’s really the fundamental piece of it ... I want the students to take sports seriously as an important social space that can teach us all aspects of life.

How do you see sports interacting with identity here at Grinnell?

I think Grinnell is a bit different from other colleges and universities. For our student athletes, we still emphasize academics. I encounter students for whom sports are a big part of their identity but, because here at [the College] we have a very critical perspective, I think that most of the students that I encounter are able to bring a critical perspective to sports in their identities.

I think, in some cases, I hear from some student athletes that they still feel a little bit marginalized and looked down upon by other professors and by other students because they are worried about being perceived as not as smart ... I love having student athletes in my classes. I think we have a nice balance here and we allow people to cultivate their interests in sports and their identities in sports without having to marginalize their academics.

VISIT JIMMYJOHNS.COM TO FIND A LOCATION NEAR YOU LIZ PAIK

Professor Ross Haenfler, sociology, in his office at Grinnell.

Features

Edited by vitaioli@grinnell.edu

9

The S&B reviews the Classic Deli in Brooklyn, Iowa

By Zoe Fruchter & Chloe Wray fruchter@grinnell.edu wraychlo@grinnell.edu “I’ll get the Italian Stallion …

Oh! On sourdough, and can I get a side of potato salad?” asked Chloe Wray, '21. The waitress at the Classic Deli then looked to Zoe Fruchter, '21.

“I’ll have the pastrami sandwich but instead of mustard, can I have thousand island dressing? On rye, please.”

Sitting between us were two cups of coffee, a brew that exceeded our expectations of diner fare. Lining the walls were Grant Wood prints; behind us and lofted above the entrance to the back hall sat a collection of antiques, the most prominent item being a bike from the 1940s. Shadowing taupe walls trimmed in gray and red is a ceil-

ing of red tin. There are 48 seats, seven large tables and a counter.

This is the Classic Deli of Brooklyn, Iowa, to which we made the 15mile jaunt on Friday, Nov. 2.

On the drive from Grinnell, we passed hills dotted with cows and combines, teams of pick-up trucks working late, tractors taking in the last of the harvest, all illuminated by the gentle light of the setting sun behind us. Driving home two hours later, the fields had grown darker and more ominous, intermittently lit by the red lights of the wind turbines lining I-80, flashing across the four miles of fields that separate Route 6 from the interstate.

Turning off Route 6 towards Brooklyn, we stopped short of the Deli, arrested by the site of a rock engraved with the greeting, “Howdy,

CONTRIBUTED

Chloe Wray '21 poses with "The Duke" John Wayne and the "Howdy, Pilgrim!" rock outside of the Classic Deli in Brooklyn, Iowa.

Pilgrim!” A 300-pound metal statue of actor John “The Duke” Wayne and an informational plaque flag each side of the rock. The plaque claims the site as the former home of Wayne, stating that Marion Mitchell Morrison was born in Winterset, Iowa, in 1907. He lived in Brooklyn until his family moved to Southern California in 1914, where he would reach the heights of his fame and change his name to John.

Wayne’s house on Jackson Street, Brooklyn’s main drag, is half a mile up the road from the town’s business district and the Classic Deli, officially referred to as the Classic Deli & Ice Cream Shoppe, where your writers indulged in two hearty sandwiches and dessert.

With menus before us, we were faced with a tough decision: to order a sandwich, or a special. The variety of panini and sandwiches is the standout feature of the menu, and ranges from classic deli staples like the Reuben to the calorically carefree grilled cheese with bacon. Listed on a board, the specials are also posted every day on Facebook. We both ordered sandwiches, though the specials of ribs or shrimp were tempting.

The portion sizes are generous and will not shrink your wallet dramatically; the food at the Classic Deli is both delicious and affordable, with most sandwiches listed at around $8.

For dessert, we shared a vanilla milkshake and a slice of chocolate meringue pie. Fruchter was unconvinced by what she called an unlikely pairing of chocolate and meringue. Wray, who had never indulged in meringue was fascinated by the peaked egg whites hardened into a pseudo-foam. Both writers were pleased with the milkshake, the rightful companion to any meal at a restaurant which recalls the soda fountains and drug stores of days gone by.

For anyone with access to a car, the short drive across the cornfields to Brooklyn is well worth the visit to the Classic Deli, and while you’re at it, John Wayne’s boyhood home.

S&B Cribs: French House and French ghosts

By Tommy Lee leeguhn@grinnell.edu A short walk past the John Chrystal Center along Park Street takes one to French House, located at 1019 Park St. Its residents are Cinthia Romo '21, Annie Levin '19, Emily Rhodes '19, Rafael Monteforte '21, Montserrat Castro '21, Jackson Ferguson '21, Anita Hill '21, Virginia Haverstick '21, Imany Noel '20, Emma Foulkes '19 and Mario Bortolo '19.

Residents of French House must meet specific requirements.

“There’s an application process in the French department,” said Rhodes.

“So, most of us are students of French who are interested in, you know, living in a French environment.”

“Some of us are just interested in the French culture, but we’re put together by our department, and our mission — I would say — is to host French events throughout the year, so we have a TV night every Wednesday, where we watch a French series if we can,” Rhodes said.

“I personally came here because I found out that these kind folks will be living here,” said Ferguson. “And I like French a lot. The house is very beautiful.”

Owned by the College, French House boasts a variety of characteristics that differentiate it from other off-campus residences available in Grinnell. As a house of comparatively large size, it hosts seven spacious rooms of unique layouts and eleven students who provide dynamism and

liveliness in the space.

“It feels like we live off campus, but we still have the perks of having people clean for us and stock our bathrooms, so it’s really good,” Rhodes said.

French House is also connected to the Internet via the College, and unlike many of the other off-campus foreign language houses, is located away from the construction site near the Alumni Recitation Hall, eliminating concerns for disturbances outside the house.

Other advantages include a free parking lot, a crêpe maker and the joy of cooking one’s own food. “I love cooking, so it’s really fun to have people over,” Levin said.

“We have a language assistant fellow, Claire Frances, who comes on Wednesday nights and cooks French foods for us,” said Castro.

Despite the advantages of French House, there is a drawback for the residents. “There’s no laundry!” said Levin. “So, you have to either walk to a dorm with the laundry or drive because it is difficult to walk with a large laundry basket. They should fix this.”

A distinct feature of French House is using French to communicate. While residents hail from various places around the world, including Brazil, England, Mexico and Missouri, French is usually the language that is spoken throughout the house.

“We talk in French, usually most of the time,” Monteforte said.

“I’m learning French in Duolingo,” Levin said. “Don’t put that on

the article...Professor Frances will be really mad at me.”

“Also, take the pick-up lines course for French in Duolingo, it’s so much fun,” Ferguson said to Levin.

“It’s one of the additional ones they have, and it’s amazing. That was my favorite thing that I’ve ever done on Duolingo, because they are all horrible pick-up lines.”

The interview quickly took a supernatural turn, when the residents began unraveling the mysteries of a potential ghost in French House.

“And … the house is haunted,” Rhodes said.

“So, you know the locked door in the basement?” said Hill. “Have you guys been past the door that has a biohazard sign on it? Then there’s like three extra rooms that are really creepy and don’t have rooms and have lots of bugs, but there’s also one room that has a locked door that we can’t open with our keys, but there’s a hole in the wall that you could see into if you stand on someone’s shoulders, and we looked inside, and it literally had a desk and a projector on it.”

“That’s really, incredibly creepy,” Rhodes added.

“Maybe the ghost is like an immature film producer who really wants people to watch his films,” Ferguson said.

“Maybe it was a film major from the 80s who died,” Levin said.

While the existence of a ghost has not been confirmed, residents of French house are certainly entertained with the possibility.

Francess Dunbar '20: a day abroad in Morocco

CONTRIBUTED

Francess Dunbar '20 on the cliffs in Morocco. She is currently spending part of her semester abroad with the School for International Training IHP: Climate Change program.

7:30 a.m. — Wake up from yet another stress dream of being lost in a corn field.

7:45 a.m. — Breakfast bread and coffee with my host mother.

8:00 a.m. — Lead my homestay roommate through the médina. Stop to pet a few of the thousands of cute stray cats along the way and hope that rabies vaccine holds out.

8:25 a.m. — Class begins about ten minutes late as usual.

9:00 a.m. — Discuss our visit to the largest solar farm in the world in Ourzazate, Morocco. Consider how when I stared at the solar panels they stared back at me.

10:30 a.m. — Research methods class begins. I try to pay attention but end up journaling about the inevitable end that is coming for all of us due to our own overindulgence.

11:30 a.m. — Decide that capitalism is to blame.

11:45 a.m. — Get coffee from the espresso dispenser in the hallway. What will I do next semester when I must walk to the Grill for coffee?

12:30 p.m. — Eat some couscous and bread on the rooftop terrace with a beautiful view of the Kasbah and Atlantic Ocean. Write Maggie Coleman '20 and Paige Oamek '20 some cute postcards because I love and miss my friends so much.

2:00 p.m. — Return downstairs for a guest lecture by a leader in the village who sold their lands to make the Noor Power Plant possible. They have lost valuable grazing land with little recompense except for slightly better social services. Reflect on how there is no such thing as empty land, and how many people will lose their lives and cultural heritage for adaptation efforts.

4:00 p.m. — Class ends. We end the day with a “community building” sing along that feels pretty out of place. I’m just not used to structured bonding anymore.

Would I understand this better if I had worked at some weird, vaguely indigenous appropriative summer camp like everyone else here?

4:30 p.m. — Wander back home through the médina, stopping again to pet cats.

I am greeted on the street by at least three older Moroccan women who know my host mother, many men who want to be my “Moroccan boyfriend” (street harassment is a problem here), and a few kids who I give orange slices. After being in Rabat for just two weeks, I feel more welcomed and comfortable in the space than I ever expected.

5:00 p.m. — Home in time for tea and cookies! My host mom makes me a mini pot without mint because I don’t like the taste.

5:20 p.m. — Play with my 2-year-old host niece, Lena, who speaks the same amount of Arabic as I do. She is fascinated by my hair and my bracelets, and likes to hide in my suitcase and surprise me by popping out.

6:00 p.m. — I walk to the red rock cliffs on the edge of the city to watch sunset over the Atlantic Ocean with Carmen Ribadeneira '20. We talk about what will disappear under the crashing waves first: this porous limestone or human civilization. Once again it is one of the most colorful and beautiful sunsets of my life.

7:30 p.m. — We walk back through the médina. The comments from men get a little more aggressive, but nobody grabs or follows us. We stop by my favorite baklava stand, and I get some honeyed walnuts in phyllo dough to eat while I peruse the bootleg book stand next door.

8:15 p.m. — Home for the night. I play with Lena a little more, though she’s starting to get tired and cranky.

9:00 p.m. — Lena’s parents (who are both Moroccan detectives) come home from work to pick her up. I grab my book and read while half paying attention to the Moroccan reality television the rest of the family is watching.

10:15 p.m. — Dinner time! Tonight it is lemon chicken tagine with beet salad and French fries. I chow down on my fifth meal of the day. My host mom urges us to eat until the plate is empty, saying “kuli!” My host sister’s boyfriend comes over for dinner and tests me on my Arabic and French, pointing to different dishes and asking me to translate. I fail the pop quiz, but every night I learn more.

11:40 p.m. — I attempt to finish this episode of my favorite Moroccan singing competition show, but fall asleep on the couch. I haven’t really gotten a solid night’s rest since studying abroad.

TOMMY LEE

From left to right: Anita Hill '21, Virgina Haverstick '21, Jackson Ferguson '21, Emily Rhodes '19, Montserrat Castro '21, Annie Levin '19, Raphael Monteforte '21 and Cinthia Romo '21, part of the French House crew.

12:15 a.m. - My host mom wakes me up and I move back to my bunkbed, once again setting my hated alarm for 7:30 a.m.

10

Community Democrats make small gains, but Republicans win in Republicans maintain control of Poweshiek; Democrats win in Grinnell Legislature, governor's mansion

Edited by taylorse@grinnell.edu

By Maxwell Fenton fentonma@grinnell.edu

By Seth Taylor taylorse@grinnell.edu

Midterm elections on Tues Nov. 6 saw a positive but overall mixed result for Democrats both nationally and in Iowa. The Party won the House of Representatives handily, gaining at least 30 seats from Republicans in a wide variety of districts and boosting them to 225 seats. 218 are necessary for a majority in the House.

According to The New York Times on Thursday, Nov. 8, at least 13 seats remain too close to call.

Democrats also captured seven governors’ seats from Republicans, including midwestern races in Wisconsin, Illinois and Michigan.

Senate Democrats were less fortunate. With 97 of 100 seats declared as of Thursday evening, Republicans won 51 seats, compared to 44 Democrats and two independents who caucus with the latter.

Three seats remain in dispute.

The midterms brought many historic firsts as many candidates belonging to marginalized groups won contested races. The first Native American and Muslim women were elected to Congress, as were multiple LGBT candidates to statewide and national positions.

In Iowa, a similar mixed result emerged by the end of the evening.

Democrats captured two House seats from Republicans, as Abby Finkenauer defeated Rod Blum in IA-1 and Cindy Axne overcame David Young in IA-3. Finkenauer and Axne are the first women elected to represent Iowa in the House of Representatives in the state’s history. Finkenauer was endorsed by the Grinnell Union of Student Dining Workers for her pro-labor stance.

Democrat David Loebsack retained IA-2, which he has held since 2007.

Republican Steve King held off a potent challenge from Democratic newcomer and former professional

The Midterm Election results in Poweshiek County illustrated political divides between city and country. On Tuesday, Grinnell voters overwhelmingly cast ballots in support of Democrats running for national positions as Poweshiek County remained a Republican stronghold.

According to unofficial results released by the Iowa Secretary of State, Poweshiek County voters selected Republicans over Democrats in three of the four competitive statewide elections, including the race between Republican Governor Kim Reynolds and Democrat Fred Hubbell. The only exception occurred in the race for state auditor, where Rob Sand, a former Iowa Assistant Attorney General, defeated Republican incumbent Mary Mosiman.

In the race for the First Congressional District, Poweshiek County voters selected Republican Rod Blum over Abby Finkenauer, but Finkenauer succeeded in collecting more votes in other, more populous areas of the district to win the day. Finkenauer lost Poweshiek County by approximately 100 votes.

Her campaign, which emphasized her youth and working-class background, drew national attention, and now Finkenauer and Cindy Axne of Iowa’s Third District are the firstwomen elected by Iowans to the U.S. House. Finkenauer will also join Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York's 14th Congressional District as the first woman in her twenties to be elected to Congress.

Within Poweshiek County, Grinnell voters consistently supported Democratic candidates, and in the 6th precinct, where many Grinnell College students live, about 80 percent of voters cast their ballot for Democrats. Between all four Grinnell precincts, about two

STATEwide US Rep. Dist. 1

Rod Blum (REP) Abby Finkenauer (DEM)

US Rep. Dist. 2

Christopher Peters (REP) Dave Loebsack(DEM)

US Rep. Dist. 3

David Young (REP) Cindy Axne (dem)

US Rep. Dist. 4

steve king (REP) J.D. Scholten (DEM)

Governor

Kim Reynolds(REP) Fred Hubbell (DEM)

Secretary of state Paul D. Pate (REP) Deidre Dejear (Dem)

State Auditor

Mary Mosiman (REP) Rob Sand(Dem)

Treasurer of state Michael Fitzgerald (dem) Jeremy Davis (REP)

secretary of ag Mike naig (REP) Tim gannon (Dem)

attorney General tom miller (DEM) Marco battaglia (LIB)

poweshiek county state rep. dist. 76 david maxwell (REP) Ann Egley (Dem)

county supervisors trevor white (REP) merle doty(REP) jason roudabush(dem) lamoyne gaard (dem)

co. treasurer

Sandy K. Ross (REP)

co. recorder

dianna Longhenry (dem)

co. attorney

Bart Klaver (REP) Dave Vancompernolle (dem)

Republicans maintained their majorities in both the State Senate (top) and State House (bottom). Democrats managed to make ground in the State House, picking up five seats, while Republicans gained ground in the Senate, picking up three. baseball player J.D. Scholten in IA4. King, who has faced considerable criticism for racist and Islamophobic comments and blatant affiliation with white nationalist organizations, saw his smallest electoral victory in recent years, winning only 50.4 percent of the vote. This percentage was a clear decrease from his 2016 victory with 61.2 percent of the vote.

Republicans also held on to Iowa politics in the Capitol, retaining control of the Iowa House and Senate, allowing them to set the policymaking agenda. According to The Des Moines Register, this will allow them to continue with their “pro-business, free-market” agenda of the past several years.

Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds also ended the night as the first woman elected governor in Iowa history. Reynolds has served as governor since her predecessor Ter-

ry Branstad was named Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China in 2017. Reynolds defeated Democratic businessman Fred Hubbell with 50.4 percent of the vote.

Republicans also won the election for Secretary of Agriculture and, importantly, for Secretary of State, as Paul Pate — who was the driving force behind voter ID laws passed in Iowa last year — received 53% of the vote to Democrat Deidre DeJear’s 45 percent. DeJear would have been the first African American woman elected to a statewide office had she won.

And in an unusally high-profile election, former Assistant Attorney General Rob Sand unseated Republican incumbent Mary Mosiman to become the new State Auditor.

Democrats Tom Miller and Michael Fitzgerald won their tenth terms as Attorney General and State Treasurer respectively.

thirds of voters voted for Democrats over Republicans in competitive races, while in the six other Poweshiek County precincts, about two thirds of voters selected Republicans over Democrats.

While Iowa Republicans won three new seats in the state Senate, increasing their majority to 32-18, Democrats managed to pick up five seats in the state House, narrowing the GOP majority to 54-46. In the race for House District 76, however, Republican Dave Maxwell handily won a fourth term by emphasizing his experience in office and as a farmer in rural Iowa. Despite increased Democratic enthusiasm in Iowa and a new Democratic challenger, Ann Egley, Maxwell won under 59 percent of the vote, a margin of victory similar than in previous elections. Despite Egley’s loss, she wrote in a Tweet on Wednesday, “Lost my race, but not my spirit.”

Merle Doty, a Republican, and Jason Roudabush, a Democrat, won the four-way race for the Poweshiek County Board of Supervisors with 29 percent and 26 percent respectively. They will replace Larry Wilson, who chose not to seek reelection, and Trevor White, a Republican incumbent who fell to fourth place in the race with 21 percent of votes. Republican candidate Bart Klaver, who was appointed as County Attorney earlier this year, won a full term as County Attorney, defeating Democratic candidate Dave VanCompernolle.

According to the Secretary of State, more Iowa voters voted in this midterm election than any prior midterm. Almost 61 percent of registered voters cast a ballot in Iowa.

In Poweshiek County that number was slightly lower at 57.13 percent, but turnout was still greater than the 2014 midterm elections, when 53.31 percent of registered voters cast a ballot statewide and 51.28 percent of Poweshiek County’s registered voters participated.

From the candidates "We as Iowans made it very clear exactly who we are. Tonight we rejected fear and division. Tonight we proved we step up for our friends, our family, and our neighbors." - Abby Finkenauer, Congresswoman-elect of Iowa's First Congressional District "I don't care if you're Democrat, Republican, or independent. If you come here from one of our neighborhoods in the metro area or if you live out in one of our rural communities I don't care what you look like, and I don't care who you pray to. What I care about is the fact that we are neighbors, we are family, we are friends, we are community members, we are Iowans and we are in this together." - Cindy Axne, Congresswoman-elect of Iowa's Third Congressional District "To all Iowans, no matter who you might have supported or endorsed in this election, I want you to know that I want to be your governor. I'm running to represent all Iowans in every single corner of this state and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to do that." - Kim Reynolds, first elected female governor of Iowa "You know, I remember an Iowa where we banded together, where the word community meant making sure that everybody had a fair shot. Well, we need to get back to that, and even if we aren't happy with tonight's results the fight continues ... We must continue to give a voice to the teacher in the overcrowded classroom, those with preexisting conditions, and Iowans who rely on Medicaid." - Fred Hubbell, Democratic nominee for governor "It's not just about running an honest race, it's also about running a race where you're reaching out to people that you disagree with, having an opportunity to hear from people that you might not normally hear from ...

I am happy and proud to have had support from not just Democrats and Independents, but Republicans as well. Because I think if we're going to change our politics, if we're going to make our politics more healthy, we have to start with the way we are interacting with each other." - Rob Sand, State Auditor-elect

This map illustrates how Iowans voted in the gubernatorial election between Republican Kim Reynolds and Democrat Fred Hubbell.

Overwhelmingly, rural areas came out to support Reynolds while urban areas voted for Hubbell. Despite the geographic disparity, Hubbell lost by only three percent.

Grinnellians still in contention In one Iowa State House election and outside of Iowa, several Grinnellians ran for elected office this year — and their races aren’t quite finished.

Kim Butler '83 ran for a seat in the Wisconsin State Assembly in District 28, losing her election to Republican Gae Magnafici. But in Illinois, Laura Ellman '87, who ran for the Illinois State Senate in District 21, was 12 votes behind Republican Michael Connelly as of November 8. And in Iowa House District 55, Kayla Koether '12, who challenged first-term Republican Michael Bergan, was eight votes behind Bergan as of November 8. In both Ellman and Koether’s races the margins of victory were small enough to automatically trigger recounts, and the official results will be known in the coming days.

Women make history in U.S. and Iowa Across the country on Tuesday women ran — and won — in record numbers. For the first time in American history, women hold more than a hundred seats in the United States Congress, spurred on by largely Democratic enthusiasm and a distaste for the politics of Donald Trump.

According to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University, 428 Democratic women and 162 Republican women ran for Congress or Governor, and 273 of those women made it to the General Election.

In Iowa, Kim Reynolds became the first woman to be elected governor, and in the First and Third Congressional Districts, Abby Finkenauer and Cindy Axne won their races for Congress, respectively. They are the first women to be elected to the United States House of Representatives by the people of Iowa. Finkenauer will join Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising progressive star from New York, as one of the first two women in their twenties to be elected to Congress.

Still, not all Iowa women won. Deidre DeJear and Mary Mosiman lost their respective races for Secretary of State and State Auditor.

Community

Edited by taylorse@grinnell.edu

11

New Maker Lab opening to Grinnell Students and community

By Tommy Lee leeguhn@grinnell.edu Last Saturday night, upwards of a hundred people gathered at The Stew for the Grand Opening of the new Maker Lab. With such a large number present at the unveiling of the site, the Maker Lab received a warm welcome from the Grinnell community.

The Maker Lab, also called the MLab, is a new makerspace and fabrication lab in Grinnell. With a diverse array of supplies readily available for use, the MLab is capable of facilitating woodworking, 3D printing, scanning, carving, laser cutting, metalworking, sewing, and much more. To utilize the facility, one simply needs to visit the Maker Lab in its open times, undergo a brief safety orientation, and receive training.

Operated as a joint partnership between the Grinnell Area Arts Council and the Wilson Center for Innovation and Leadership, one of the main motives in establishing the Maker Lab was to create an accessible and collaborative space for the collective Grinnell community.

For me, it's about diversity in learning. It's about the artists, engineers, and social scientists coming together to think about problem solving.

Monty Roper “The Maker Lab is free to use for any student in Grinnell,” said Monty Roper, director of the Wilson Center. “This includes not only the Grinnell College students but also students at the high school, the community college, and in the grade schools. It is also available for any member of the community; [for adults], there will be a small fee structure in place for that.” The MLab will charge $30 for a month and $300 for a year for members of the community who are not stu-

MONTY ROPER

A student worker trains students on how to use the equipment in the new Maker Lab. The Maker Lab, a collaboration between the Grinnell Area Arts Council and the Wilson Center for Innovation, is now open to Grinnell Students for free and community members for a small fee. dents.

The creation of the Maker Lab was not a straightforward process: after all, the effort and cost of maintaining such a space, which is usually operated at larger universities, investigation centers, businesses, and other corporate firms, necessitated serious consideration. The plan began with the efforts of Sage Kaplan-Goland ‘20, a physics major who had envisioned the space since his first year.

“So, when I was a first-year, I started an engineering club,” said Kaplan-Goland. “There were four of us in the club, and we got trained by the physics department from their shop tools, but the only way to get trained on the science division tools was to find a friendly professor to train you and only be able to use the shop when the professor was available to supervise.” Such inconveniences had motivated him to seek

others’ opinions and assistance in creating a makerspace for students.

“I went around and talked to a lot of people, and I got a lot of ‘no’s,” said Kaplan-Goland. He discussed the matter with the likes of the president of the Board of Trustees, people in facilities management, and more to no avail. “I think I’ve talked to about thirty people before walking into Monty’s office.”

The discussion between Kaplan-Goland and Roper evolved into a full-fledged plan for the program, and after proposals, surveys, and Kaplan-Goland’s trip to the 13th International Fab Lab Conference in Santiago, Chile last year, the Maker Lab has now turned into a reality, funded by the Wilson Center on a three-year trial basis.

Fortunately, when the Grinnell Area Arts Council became involved in the project, the mission and needs of the organization were similar to

those of Kaplan-Goland and Roper.

It is also an opportunity for students to try, fail, to build resilience, try again ... the maker culture, in general, not only fits really well with the ideals of a liberal arts education, but also the aspect of problem solving fits with Grinnell's broader mission to be socially engaged.

Monty Roper “One of our old programs was called Grin City Collective, it was an artist residency out on a farm,” said Erik Jarvis ‘12, the facilities and events coordinator of the Grinnell Area Arts Council. “That was a space for adults to gather and create, but they spun off to be another pro-

gram, so The Stew was created for people to actually get together and make things.”

“We invited Sage to meet with us at a staff meeting, and at the time, he was still looking at spaces on campus. Their main idea at that point was the basement of Main Hall, which is super out of the way - unless you live in South Campus, it would be difficult to go there. [I thought,] If you want the community to join, maybe downtown is better.”

“We provided the space, but they’re providing the staff and the equipment to help facilitate that, so it’s cool that we can join forces with our space and knowledge of the community and their resources of money and students who can help teach the equipment. It simply made sense to collaborate.” The shared mission of community engagement and creativity of the Grinnell Area Arts Council and members of the College ultimately enabled the Maker Lab to be located downtown.

“For me, it’s about diversity in learning. It’s about the artists, engineers, and social scientists coming together to think about problem solving,” said Roper. “It is also an opportunity for students to try, fail, to build resilience, try again … The maker culture, in general, not only fits really well with the ideals of a liberal arts education, but also the aspect of problem solving fits with Grinnell’s broader mission to be socially engaged. Grinnell College students and others may discuss problems that they face either at the farm or the classroom and think about the ways in which there may be technological solutions.”

Currently in its first week of operations, the Maker Lab has already been put to good use, with individuals visiting the facility to 3D-print computer parts, make a gift for a family member, scan a skull for an anthropology project, and more.

More information regarding the Maker Lab and ways to get involved with the workspace can be found at makerlab.sites.grinnell.edu

Tickets on sale for the GRMC Holiday Tour of Homes

By Shabana Gupta guptasha@grinnell.edu The Grinnell Regional Medical Center (GRMC) Auxiliary is holding a Holiday Tour of ten homes in and around Grinnell on Friday, November

30 and Saturday, December 1 that have been decorated by owners. The Auxiliary worked with 10 home owners to open their houses to the community for this event. The Auxiliary is made entirely of volunteers through UnityPoint health, and when brainstorming

The Scarlet & Black Staff Editors-in-Chief News Editors Features Editor Sports Editor Arts Editor Community Editor Opinions Editor Copy Editors Photo Editor Video Editor Graphics Editor Business Manager Staff Writer Honorary Editor

Maxwell Fenton Candace Mettle Lily Seibert Mayo Sueta Keli Vitaioli Zoe Fruchter Jackson Schulte Seth Taylor Lily Bohlke Kelly Page Ben Mikek Andrew Tucker Nana Okamoto Ryuta Kure Julia Anderson Chloe Wray Beto O'Rourke

ideas to raise more money, the Auxiliary volunteers decided that having the Holiday Home Tour would be the best and most exciting way to go about it.

They then went out to ask homeowners who would be willing to participate in this event.

“Community members really enjoy visiting other homes to get ideas and inspiration for how to decorate their own homes,” Auxiliary board chair Donnette Ellis said. “Everyone has their own spin on how they like to decorate for the holiday season.”

Tickets will be on sale for $20 and can be bought at the Glass Box Gift Store as well as the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce. All money raised goes to presenting a $2,000 scholarship fund to a student pursuing a career in healthcare and to support patients.

SPARC Policy The Scarlet & Black is published on Fridays by students of Grinnell College and is printed by Times Republican of Marshalltown.

The newspaper is funded in part by the Student Publications and Radio Committee (SPARC) and also relies on advertising revenue to cover operating costs. All publications funded by SPARC are copyright of SPARC and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without specific written consent from SPARC. Contributions The Scarlet & Black welcomes story ideas from students, faculty and other members of the town and college community. If there is any story that should be covered, please email newspapr@grinnell.edu or visit thesandb.com Send letters to the editor via email at newspapr@grinnell.edu or mail them to Box 5886. The author’s name must be included, but letters can be published anonymously in certain occasions. Letters will be printed at the discretion of the editor. The opinions expressed in this section do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff. The S&B reserves the right to edit any and all submissions.

Advertising Advertising inquiries should be directed to the business manager, Julia Anderson, who can be reached at sandbads@ grinnell.edu or by mail at 1115 8th Avenue Grinnell College Box 5886, Grinnell, IA 50112.

Back Page the

Volume 135, Issue 9

thesandb.com

"The best thing since the front page!"

Photo of the Week

Arbitrary Analysis

Got a backpage-worthy photo? Submit it to [bohlkeli] and earn $ for contributing a winner!

Art of art.

LIZ PAIK

Midterm breaks

Midterm elections

Social Calendar The S&B Crossword

Friday

6 p.m. Diwali Celebration @ Harris Center 6:15 p.m. Shabbat Table @ JRC 209 7 p.m. Weekend Chill Out @ Main Hall Lounge 10 p.m. Beyoncé Gardner @ Gardner Lounge

Midterm exams

By Ned Watson '22

Saturday

7:30 p.m. Grinnell Symphony Orchestra Performance @ Bucksbaum 8:30 p.m. Drag Show @ Harris Center 10 p.m. Reggaeton Gardner @ Gardner Lounge

Snedge

This week, Lily Bohlke and Maxwell Fenton, both '19, polled 100 students asking: Celiac or Nickelback?

North Loggia

Platinum Vajine 80%

South Loggia

Like what you see? check us out:

@thesandb /thescarletandblack thesandb.com @grinnellsandb

Across 1. The cheapest option, or voter turnout in 2016?

10. Legendary logician counterpart of Eloise 11. Pennsylvania abbrev.

13. To compel 14. Avian flu formal abbrev.

15. A character outside of canon, in fan fiction 17. Either the number and type of ships named after Argus (var.), or an answer to the question “where did

Rants & Raves:

Afonso de Albuquerque” die 19. Commercial Customs Operations Advisory Committee, abbrev.

21. The state of the union, business-wise 22. The minimum respect in occupied territories for the US Military, abbrev.

23. University for the hard of hearing, abbrev.

24. One description of global warming denial in relation to environmental

sciences, abbrev.

27. My Krazy Life artist stage name 28. Co-op selling sporting goods and camping gear 29. Disrespected, slangily 31. One of very few companies authorized by OSHA to do testing 32. Wearing these is the best way to get ejected from D-hall 34. To administrate carelessly

Students 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 [bohlkeli]

Good-BYE Grinnell

Student Workers Rights

Tomorrow I'm going to Chicago, and in a couple of months I'm going to graduate (sorry to those in denial. Me too, kind of).

In a sense, let me be a first-year again, but in another, truer sense, GET ME THE HECK OUT OF HERE.

Shout out to the UGSDW for asking hard questions and questioning easy answers.

- Sad Senior

Down 2. What all Grinnell students seek in common 3. Mainstream professional organization for lawyers 4. Natural dye, probably the first ever used, in red 5. Vigorous spirit or enthusiasm, to Pierre 6. Phrenologist euphemism for racism 7. Capital of Pyrrhus of Epirus and Greek region of Arta 8. Toronto-Dominion Bank abbrev.

9. May it please the president, the Honorable, the Supreme Associate Justice 11. With great religious reverence 12. Donald Trump supporter chant 14. Lamb, as of God 16. Legal advisor; Mueller is a special one 18. A long-haired Biblical judge in the Commonwealth?

20. Japanese horseradish, without the ‘w’ 25. Some cyberattacks, abbrev.

26. The most important Bhosle in Bollywood 30. Department of Justice division for the War on Drugs 32. Monty Python knights’ curse 33. Grinnell College independence tenet, abbrev.

- Rene Ayala '19

Bosnia and Herzegovina Man, FUCK Slobodan Milosevic.

- Maxwell Fenton '19