Volume 135 Issue 12

Dance Enseble's "ACORN" opens this weekend in the Flanagan. Arts page 3

“Especially on the weekends it’s like ‘have some wine, have some floss'..."

Features page 5

Holidaze in Grinnell's Holi-deals.

Community page 8

Scarlet & Black the

Volume 135, Issue 12

International students face higher taxes from Trump administration

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu Late last month, students who qualify as nonresidents of the United States received an email informing them of a change to United States tax law that may have an effect on their income. Prior to this year, the email explained, nonresident taxpayers could claim a personal exemption of up to $4,050, which would not be taxed.

Under the new legislation, a Republican-led tax reform bill that went into effect in December of 2017, nonresidents cannot claim any tax-exempt income.

Not all students who qualify as nonresidents for tax purposes will be affected by the change; certain countries have tax treaties with the United States which specify different amounts of income that can be claimed as tax-exempt. If a student is from one of these countries, they may only have to pay taxes for earnings over the amount specified.

The email also explained that

thesandb.com

December 7, 2018 • Grinnell, Iowa

Alumni speak out on College's decision to appeal UGSDW

while in the past nonresident students may have received tax refunds after filing, some of those same students may now have to pay additional taxes due to the new law. With the new legislation in place, nonresident student workers will pay around 10 percent of their income in taxes.

Karen Edwards, associate dean and director of International Student Affairs at the College, sent the email to students and is working with her office to plan next steps. Edwards said that although not all nonresident students will be affected by the law, she felt that it was important to let them know that there was a possibility that they would be.

She explained that although the Office of International Student Affairs can offer support to nonresident students who want to make sure they are compliant with U.S. tax law, there are limits to what kinds of help the office itself can give.

“It’s such a complex area; we are constantly weighing the fact that we can’t give specific individ>> See Republican tax bill page 2

PAUL CHAN

David Macdonald '21 and Nicole Rosengurt '20 join the Union action outside Nollen House on Friday, Nov. 30.

By Jackson Schulte schultej@grinnell.edu

REINA SHAHI

Chengjie Xi '21, an international student at work in the Grill, will be one of many Grinnellian's facing increased taxes under the Republican tax bill.

Outlining the union appeal process

Many Grinnell College alumni have spoken out through editorials and social media, offering vehement support for the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) and its right to collectively bargain with the College. While many of the alumni have argued that the College’s self-proclaimed progressivism does not fall in line with its opposition to UGSDW, they are especially con-

cerned for the precedent an appeal would set for student workers nationwide.

Chase Strangio '04, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who represented Chelsea Manning and a well-known figure on issues related to transgender people’s legal rights, tweeted on Nov. 30 that, “I usually do whatever Grinnell asks of me, but I can’t continue to support an institution that does this to their student workers.”

Many other alumni expressed

similar sentiments over Twitter, recalling the hard work they did themselves when they were student workers.

“The more the College becomes another profit-driven institution that squanders what draws students there in the first place, the more it will lose its character,” wrote Strangio in an email to The S&B. He added, “Sadly, many non-profit institutions fight their workers with union-busting lawyers.

I find it despicable and an awful reflection on leadership. My advice to the student union is to keep fighting and connecting with larger movements for justice to build strength.”

Grant Woodard '06, a lawyer in Des Moines and former chief of staff to a Democratic member of the House of Representatives, stated his frustrations with the College’s attempts to shut down union expansion.

“I think the way they’ve handled this entire situation has been atrocious,” said Woodard. “Their appeal could be used as regulatory precedence to undermine the rights of student workers not just at Grinnell but around the country.”

Woodard, like many students and alumni, is concerned with the higher powers to which the College may be answering.

“My guess is some of it is being directed by the board of trustees,” Woodard said. “They’ve always been a bit more conservative than the institution as a whole. The old political operative in me wants to know what else is behind this. What other amicus briefs are going to be filed using this case? The Koch brothers? Americans for Prosperity? The College needs to ask itself, is that really who we want to be affiliated with?” >> See Alumni page 2

Student Initiative voting concludes: Real whipped cream comes to the Dhall, cops stay too

By Zoe Fruchter & Chloe Wray fruchter@grinnell.edu wraychlo@grinnell.edu The Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) will receive their Certificate of Representation from the National Labor Review Board (NLRB) this week. The Certificate of Representation will be granted after the College did not object to the Nov. 27 election which showed that of the student-workers who voted, 84 percent supported being covered by the union.

The College stated its intent to appeal the decision to hold the election in a Nov. 28 Special Campus Memo, stating “[The College] will continue to appeal the decision by the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board regarding this election … We think it is important for the full NLRB to hear and consider further the College’s concerns, and we expect to file this appeal soon.”

Upon UGSDW receiving their >> See The S&B explains page 2

The results of this semester’s student initiatives were released

by Joseph Robertson '19, Student Initiatives Fund Chair, on Monday, Dec. 3. Voting for student initiatives officially opened Nov. 2 and remained open until vote count reached the requisite 50 percent of the student body vote amount.

Robertson said this semester’s initiatives took on three general thematic trends: environmental,

political and dining-related. A wide array of initiatives were proposed by students, ranging from simple dining requests like free water at the Grill or regular grilled chicken in the dining hall to more complex concerns like the proposed demolition or renovation of Burling Library.

One particular “political” initiative that has engendered discussion was the proposal to ban guns from the dining hall, which Robertson and the Student Government Association indicated would effectively ban on-duty

Friday Nick Miguel Voice Studio Recital Seabring-Lewis Hall, 7:30 p.m.

Saturday Women's Basketball v. Knox College Darby Gymnasium, 1 p.m.

Sunday Men's Basketball v. Colorado College Darby Gymnasium, 12 p.m.

By Max Fenton fentonma@grinnell.edu

Follow us on Twitter @thesandb and on Instagram @grinnellsandb

police officers from the dining hall. The subject has been a major discursive point on social media, with multiple discussions on police presence in Facebook groups like Current Grinnell Students 2018-19 or Grinnell Thumbs Down.

The gun ban proposal ultimately failed. Though exact numbers were not released by SGA, Robertson believes the final tally for that particular initiative was close, and that it did not fail “by a huge margin.”

Robertson said the initiative failed because “people in the dining hall trust police officers with their guns,” but was quick to indicate he was not totally sure of students’ motivations.

Many students are disappointed in the failure of this initiative, given the perceived antagonism between the College and local police force, largely predicated on concerns about racism and potential violence.

Sayles Kasten '19 called the failure “unfortunate,” and wished that it would have passed given the uncertainties of this relationship.

Henry Brannan '21 expressed similar feelings of concern in an email to The S&B. “[T]he fact is police violence

and profiling is an everyday reality for many, has a long history of targeting marginalized individuals and communities and could easily happen in our own dining hall if they are there … What implicit or explicit preformed ideas do they have about people of various identities and experiences that will influence how they handle that?” wrote Brannan.

Another proposed initiative this semester was to name the College’s unnamed ceramics studio after Jack Gustafson '19, who passed away suddenly this March while studying abroad in Germany.

Jasper Egge '20 considered himself “passionate” about this initiative in particular, having known Gustafson.

“I played video games with him … he’s someone I’d consider to be a friend,” said Egge.

However, the initiative may run into trouble during its implementation. According to SGA President Myles Becker '19, College policy dictates that it costs money to name a building or space after an individual based on its square footage. The exact dollar figure for naming the ceramics studio for Gustafson remains unclear as of yet, as do potential funding sources.

Wednesday Mbira Ensemble Concert Bucksbaum, 4 p.m.

Thursday Grinnell Review Fall 2018 Release Party Bucksbaum 131, 7 p.m.

Arts 3 | Features 5 | Sports 7 | Community 8 | Opinions 9

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Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu & vitaioli@grinnell.edu

Alumni denounce the College in light of Union appeal

Continued from Front Page Woodard also wonders whether the College can legitimately make an argument against the union based on its finances. He referenced the College’s recent expenditures, like the new Grinnell College Poll and the one-page, color ad it took out in the New York Times Sunday issue a few weeks ago. That is all not to mention the legal fees of appealing this case.

“When I see them take out a full-page ad in the New York Times that probably costs 100-150k, it just shows hypocrisy from the institution,” Woodard said. “You know, what particularly set me off is when I heard they hired Proskauer Rose.

As a lawyer, my guess is they’re billing associates at $600-$800 an hour and partners at even higher. I don’t know that for sure, but from knowing friends at multinational law firms, this appeal might cost a million dol-

lars.”

Woodard’s greatest frustration, though, is the national implications the appeal would have for student workers.

“I’ve had friends that have gone on to grad school that have struggled with the way higher-ed works in this country,” he said. “They’ve dealt with the indentured servitude that teaching assistants are put through. [The appeal] just absolutely disgusts me.”

It is no secret that Grinnell College students enter graduate programs at a higher rate than almost anywhere.

The College boasts on its website that it is “7th nationally in the percentage of Ph.D.s per graduate.” Brendan Mackie ’07, now a history Ph.D. candidate at UC-Berkeley, wrote how important his student union is to his life in graduate school in an email to The S&B. “Grad students are in a financial-

Republican tax bill increases tax burden on international students Continued from Front Page ual tax advice with the reality that we want to help students understand their compliance [responsibilities in terms of tax laws and immigration regulations] … When students arrive and … fill out their initial tax [paperwork], we help facilitate to make sure that gets done [in collaboration with the student payroll office].”

"We will certainly do what we can to advocate for their socioeconomic interests.”

Sam Xu '20

Sam Xu '20, an international student and executive board member at large for the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers, explained that while the union is currently dealing with National Labor Review Board proceedings and does not have any concrete plans for specific support regarding this law, they always have a goal to be supportive of student workers from all backgrounds.

“Many of our members are international students and two of our executive board members are international students,” said Xu. “We will certainly do what we can to advocate for their socioeconomic interests.”

Cat Dang Ton '22 is a nonresident student who works on campus,

finds that as a first-year at Grinnell, the complicated and bureaucratic nature of U.S. tax law can be confusing. The first she had heard of the legislation was through the email.

She explained that after receiving a paycheck with a significant tax deduction, she’d looked to College offices for clarification.

“I went to ask OISA and someone from the student payroll department, and they sent me a file of how taxes are calculated, and the highest rate was for [nonresident] students.”

She expressed that the tax change contributes to a feeling that the current federal administration does not have the interests of nonresident workers in mind.

For specific help and advice as well as yearly filing assistance, Edwards explained, the College provides free access to Glacier Tax Prep, an online income tax filing tool that helps guide nonresident students through the process. She said that the evolution of services such as the tax program has assisted the College in supporting student needs in this area.

“Tax law in the U.S. is incredibly complicated, and in my career I’ve seen that really shift, from years ago, when campuses did far more hands-on [support], to stepping back and realizing that we have to lean on tax attorneys and [other] qualified people to be giving that advice.”

ly precarious situation,” wrote Mackie. “We don’t make a lot of money.

We don’t exactly have the ability to go out on the free market and get work. So we rely on the union to bargain for the things we need — healthcare, wages and parental leave.”

A successful appeal from the College could set a precedence that would strip graduate student unions’ rights to collectively bargain with their institutions, potentially hurting graduate students like Mackie and other alumni in graduate school.

Andrew Behrendt '06, a history professor at Missouri University of Science & Technology, organized for the graduate student union at the University of Pittsburgh. Behrendt feels that the College is going after the union with an intensity that he hasn’t seen elsewhere.

“My other alma mater is [the University of] Chicago,” said Beh-

rendt, “and I’ve been paying attention to that and Columbia, Penn, Penn State. The colleges follow a certain kind of playbook because they use the same law firms. Pitt seemed to play it a little bit safer, but, there’s something about Grinnell that seems more aggressive, and that is a little bit surprising.”

“In my opinion, both as someone who’s been involved in organizing and as a historian, union busting comes from the same place: the maintenance of power. That of capital over labor, and bosses over labor … I think it could end up being a pointless tragedy,” Behrendt said.

Strangio said he does not currently donate, but the decision to appeal makes him unlikely to donate in the future. Woodard, Mackie and Behrendt all came to the conclusion that they will no longer donate money to the College should the school suc-

cessfully appeal.

“I won’t put my money somewhere that doesn’t reflect my values, even if it is an institution that I loved for part of my life,” Strangio wrote.

“I love the College, it changed my life,” Woodard said. “I would not be the person I am now were it not for the College. All my closest friends are people I met at the College. But if this were to pass, for whatever it’s worth, I would not be donating to the College.”

“I will not give money to a [college] that refuses to recognize their students’ right to organize,” Mackie wrote.

“If they were to be the cause for other unions to lose their bargaining rights I don’t think I could continue to donate,” Behrendt said. “I feel like it is a betrayal of what I felt I learned there and the values I thought the school stood up for.”

Admissions finalizes ED1 applications

By Shuhan Yi yishuhan@grinnell.edu Applying to colleges via early decision (ED) can be a nobrainer choice for applicants with a clear first-choice school. Grinnell College’s 2018 ED1 admission is soon to be finalized and the notification letters will be sent to the applicants today, Dec. 7, at 5:00 pm.

According to Jonathan Edwards, senior associate director of admission, this year the College received 231 Early Decision applications in total, including 89 internationally.

I mean, they are pretty good kids,” Edwards added.

ED1 applicants to Grinnell are usually students who have done a lot of college researches upfront and determined Grinnell College to be their first choice.

Grinnell is committed to access, so we want to try to make it as easy as possible.

Jonathan Edwards, senior associate director of admissions

Regarding this year’s ED1 application materials, Edwards said he did not find many differences compared with last year’s applications.

“What we are doing, I think, is finding the right people in our admissions. First, good schools that would be a good fit for what there is to be offered, as well as people that are well-prepared and qualified to do well,” Edwards said.

“So in terms of if I’ve seen anything new with the type of student who is applying, I don’t think we’ve seen much difference.

“Those are great, great matches for us,” Edwards said.

When determining what makes a great match for Grinnell in terms of ED1, Edwards keeps a few questions in mind when viewing the applicants’ materials.

“Number one, the question: can the students do the work academically, of course. Because that’s the most important thing; we don’t want set a student up to fail.”

“But secondly, we want to answer these questions: would the students be happy here? Is Grinnell a good social fit for them as well? Will they plug into the extracurricular stuff that liberal arts colleges offer? And, do students end up learning from each other,

as they do from faculty, from their coursework? So we are looking for those qualities that students might bring in that regard, with respect to what they are gonna teach others and what they are open to learning from others,” Edwards said.

Students who apply to Grinnell both ED1 and through regular decision are not required to write any additional essays beyond the Common Application. The choice to not require any additional responses was made by admissions officers who feel answers to questions like “Why do you want to come to Grinnell?” were not very productive in determining if a student was going to be a good fit.

In the meantime, Edwards also noted that to fulfill the College’s commitment to accessibility, the Office of Admission eliminates application fees for all the applicants and also offers Free International Students Financial Aid Application (FISFAA) to international applicants who cannot afford the delivery costs of their application materials.

“Grinnell is committed to access, so we want to try to make it as easy as possible,” Edwards said.

While the two rounds of early decision are not yet finalized, Edwards estimates that 30 to 35 percent of the incoming class of 2023 Grinnellians will be students who have been admitted through either ED1 or ED2.

Since the admission result is not finalized yet, all data above has limited value. For the finalized data, see the report of the Office of Admission upon its release.

The S&B explains the College's union appeal process

MAHIRA FARAN

Union organizers meet this week to go over their strategy as they prepare to defend themselves against the College and Proskauer Rose, their law firm.

Continued from Front Page Certificate of Representation, the College has 14 days to file a request for review with the NLRB. To break down the appeal process, The S&B spoke with Elizabeth Newman '08, a practicing employment and civil litigation lawyer in Cincinnati, Ohio. Although she is not licensed to practice law in Iowa, Newman has given union members legal advice. With Newman’s insight, The S&B navigated the logistics of NLRB legal proceedings.

What happens when the College appeals?

The College will be appealing to the NLRB for judicial review of whether or not student-workers are recognized as employees under the National Labor Relations Act. This appeal is not for the election results. If the College’s request for review is granted, the NLRB will

hold a hearing to determine whether the Board members will uphold the Regional Director’s decision in favor of the union or overturn it.

The National Labor Relations Board consists of Chairman John F. Ring, William J. Emanuel, Marvin E. Kaplan and Lauren McFerran. Chairman Ring, Kaplan and Emmanuel were all appointed

by President Donald Trump, while McFerran is left over from the Obama era. The fifth seat on the Board is currently vacant, giving the Trumpappointees a 3-1 majority.

“The new members made it pretty clear that this [student-worker rights] was an issue that they planned on reviewing and there’s no reason to think that they won’t overturn the precedent on which the regional director relied in ordering the election,” said Newman.

In overturning the Regional Director’s decision in favor of the

union, the Board would also overturn the national precedent relating to the employment rights of student workers, established in The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York and Graduate Workers of Columbia — GWC, UAW, Case 02–RC–143012. This decision would effectually revert precedent in this area to Brown and UAW AFL-CIO, Case 1–RC–21368 (2004). The ruling in Brown determined that studentworkers were not employees due to the primarily educational and not economic relationship they held with the University.

If the Board rules in favor of the College and determines that studentworkers are not employees, the union could potentially appeal to the 8th circuit Federal Court of Appeals and beyond that, the Supreme Court.

However, judicial review, including the initial proceedings at the national board level, is an often lengthy and expensive legal process that would be extremely difficult for the undergraduate union leadership team to undertake successfully.

“I think the union knows that it is in everyone’s interests for them to withdraw the petition if the board grants review. … If they drop out then this whole process should stop,” Newman said. “A few student unions have withdrawn their petitions to avoid the current labor board because they knew that it was hostile to them.”

What happens if the College does not appeal, or the NLRB declines to review the decision?

Even if the College does not

appeal or the NLRB does not grant a review of the Regional Director’s decision and the union is allowed to retain their Certificate of Representation, UGSDW may nonetheless face another judicial hearing.

“Employers will refuse to bargain to prompt an unfair labor practice charge and that is a way to get judicial review of the election,” Newman said of alternate strategies the College could use to direct appeal.

In a Nov. 12 special campus memo, the College wrote that they would willingly bargain with the union if the vote to expand passed, despite their continued opposition to the union’s efforts. However, the College is currently refusing to bargain with the union, as stated in a Special Campus Memo on Nov. 28, and reaffirmed in an email from College President Raynard Kington to union advisor Cory McCartan '19 on Dec. 4.

“Unfortunately, as Grinnell already communicated, the College has concluded that we legally cannot bargain or discuss a framework agreement with UGSDW while our appeal is pending before the NLRB,” wrote Kington in the memo.

The union contends in a Dec. 5 press release that “this claim is completely and laughably false.”

Last month, Proskauer Rose, the College’s legal representative, established collective bargaining between Columbia University and its graduate students while an appeal to the NLRB was still pending.

The union’s only recourse against

the College’s silence would be to file an Unfair Labor Charge for the College’s refusal to bargain. This charge would be investigated by the Regional Director of the NLRB and possibly filed to the national board. Such a filing could lead to an NLRB hearing in which the Trumpappointed majority could reverse Columbia if the Board holds that students are not employees and thus cannot be bargained with.

Grinnell: Think National, Act Local While the union debate has consumed Grinnell’s campus, the conflict ties in to a larger societal and legal shift to disempower unions. In late June of this year, the Supreme Court, which has only become more conservative with the installation of accused sexual assailant Brett Kavanaugh this October, limited the rights of unions to collect dues from non-members in Janus vs. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

“In the Trump era, there is less faith in thwe branches of government, so people are organizing their own groups to marshal whatever power they have. I think it’s working to a degree, but it’s scary … [for] unions on the margins, that the courts can still destroy them. Because [a union] is still going to come up against the very forces that may have triggered organization in the first place,” Newman said.

The S&B will continue to provide updates on the status of the appeal process.

Arts

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Edited by fruchter@grinnell.edu

What’s in Bucksbaum before break?

Student-Directed One Acts Festival

By Julia Anderson anderson14@grinnell.edu

The twelve students in Professor Craig Quintero’s directing class will present their one act plays during the One Acts Festival this weekend. The festival spans from Friday to Sunday, with each play performed twice over the course of the weekend. Tickets for the event sold out within two hours of becoming available at the box office.

Each student directed a play of their choosing over the course of the semester, applying what they discussed in class to their own directing process. Students researched and read several one-act plays before each choosing one that fit their personal interests as a director. The only requirements for their selections were that the play could be no longer than 20 minutes, with a cast of no more than four.

Following the one-act selec-

tions, the class held auditions over two days and assigned actors to each director. The students then held rehearsals for six to eight hours each week, outside of class time.

“It was a lot of pressure, but then once the rehearsal process actually started, I found it to be a lot of fun to play with my actors, to help them develop their characters and figure that out together,” said Nicole Rosengurt ‘20.

Quintero came to rehearsals about once each week to give directors notes, but the otherwise left the directing process entirely up to the students. During class meetings, students gave each other feedback and brainstormed ideas for their individual plays.

“My favorite part of directing has been seeing this vision come together with all of these different elements. It’s so incredible seeing what just started off as a vague idea in my head, like some words

Dance Ensemble presents ACORN

SARINA LINCOLN

Dance Ensemble rehearses “ACORN,” based off of Yoko Ono’s as-titled book of poems.

By Lily Seibert seibertl@grinnell.edu On Dec. 7 and 8, the Grinnell College Dance Ensemble will hold their end-of-semester performance at 7 p.m.

in the Flanagan Theater. While the show explores multiple themes, its main inspiration is Yoko Ono’s “Acorn,” a book of 100 short poems, that the dancers have adapted into their performance.

Professor Celeste Miller, theater and

on a page and ‘maybe this will look like that,’ and then all of it actually coming together as fifteen minutes of art is so exciting,” said Conner Stanfield '21.

In addition to directing, the students were in charge of technical details including set and light design as well as working with costume designers.

“I’ve done a lot of theater work before, but I’ve mostly done behind the scenes design stuff. This is my first time ever directing, and I knew it was going to be difficult, but I didn’t know it was going to be this difficult,” said Carlos Ventura '20.

This weekend the students will debut their one-acts to what they anticipate will be a full house.

“Putting on a piece is always something that you put a lot of emotion into, and it’s a part of you that you’re putting out there for people to see. Even if you’re a first-time director, [or] if you’ve done this many dance, will direct the show.

The dancers chose nine of the instructions to use as source material, seamlessly weaving the words into their movements to create a narrative. Ono’s book itself emerges as a prop at several points throughout the performance. Audience members can expect to witness a variety of timely themes conveyed through both the dancers’ movements and Ono’s poetry.

Miller frequently imbues her work with social consciousness— last semester’s show, strangers in a strange land, focused on belonging, citizenship and borders. This year’s subject matter includes a mixture of joy and suffering.

“We’ve sort of created a world that we want to invite the audience into,” said Kaya Prasad '19. “And it’s a world that has sadness and famine, but it’s also a world that has a lot of joy and…gratefulness. But it’s not about escapism. It’s about living in a world where there is darkness but being able to find the hope and joy even inside of that.”

Miller said her desire for her students to “find a balance between joy and all the other emotions. The sorrow, the

SARINA LINCOLN

Tess Kerkhof '21 and Maya Kusunoki-Martin '21 rehearse Audrey Boyle’s one-act play, “Defusion.” times before, I think it’s always very nerve racking to put something on,” Ventura said.

Despite the nerves, the student-directors are excited to finally debut the plays on which they have worked so meticulously over the

course of this semester.

“This certain magic that just can’t happen during rehearsals happens during a show night, so I’m really excited for that energy and for these things to reach their final form,” Rosengurt said.

fear, and all those things.”

In addition to creating performances with a specific message, Miller said she strives to choreograph dances that touch on the unique strengths of each student. This strategy manifests itself in the show, which often features individuals breaking off from the group and carving out their own space onstage.

“In terms of style, it’s always whoever comes to ensemble, we work together to build ourselves as expressive movers,” said Miller. “So that means that it’s this beautiful melding of each individual who comes into the group. It never looks the same.”

While Miller determines the underlying theme of each piece, the dancers have had extensive opportunity for creative expression during the process of creating and rehearsing the piece.

“This ensemble year has been particularly playful, whimsical,” said Naomi Worob '19. “Usually [the dance studio] is more of what I think of as a laboratory or a space for me to individually explore movement, but this semester it’s been all about connecting with each other and playing with each other,

being goofy, being there for each other.”

The process of experimentation that Miller encourages has been at once intimidating and liberating for the students.

“Coming from a rigid ballet background, watching what dance ensemble does is very different, but I find it super wholesome,” said Christina Collins '21.

“I remember more in my ballet days, the most exploration I got was going across the floor with a certain combination that was handed to me. So it was a big learning curve, coming here and having [Miller] be like, ‘Go!’” Despite each individual’s unique style, the performers have created a cohesive team throughout the semester.

The dancers said they feel encouraged to express their vulnerability and experiment with their movements onstage without fear of judgment.

“I feel like the hope is that we’re all comfortable in our bodies enough that we can feel free to express ourselves in whatever ways and know that that will be supported by the group, which feels radically different than a lot of other places,” Worob said.

“Spring Awakening” MAP production

By Will Dubow dubowwil@grinnell.edu

How do you produce musical theater at a school that has no classes in musical theater? You do it yourself.

An entirely student-run production of “Spring Awakening,” a musical based on Frank Wiedekin’s nineteenth century play about German youth in the 1890s, will come to the Roberts Theater next week. The play, according to director Nolan Boggess '19, theater and dance major, is about teenagers “discovering their bodies, and their sexual and social selves, in the oppressed environment of Germany at that time.”

The 2006 musical adaptation matches Wiedekin’s script with what Boggess describes as “old-timey language” with rock, folk, techno and pop music to transform the play into a modernized juxtaposition of the traditional and the contemporary.

When the original play came out,

it was almost immediately banned for its scandalous and controversial material, but the 2006 musical went on Broadway and won multiple Tony awards. For Boggess, who considers himself obsessed with musical theatre, and especially “Spring Awakening,” it has been a childhood dream to direct this musical.

Boggess is no amateur when it comes to directing musical theater. He directed a production of the musical Godspell during his second year at the College and has continued to have a major role in the theatre department.

Now as an older director, he feels confident in his guidance of the show and is excited for people to enjoy the musical. As a result of directing this show and Godspell, Boggess has discovered that directing is something he is seriously considering pursuing after graduation.

Abraham Teuber '22, undeclared, is a first-year actor in “Spring Awakening.” Teuber plays the character of

Moritz, who struggles with his sexuality and understanding his body.

Teuber is a self-proclaimed theater kid and a member of the Grinnell Singers. Though acting has been a big part of Teuber’s life since elementary school, he did not expect to land a lead role and auditioned “just for fun.” Teuber was shocked when he got called back and was ultimately chosen for the part. He reported initially feeling nervous under the pressure, but those feelings went away quickly as his fellow castmates, many of whom had participated in past student-run musical theater productions at the College, welcomed him.

“We all get along really well.

One of my favorite parts about being in this production is getting to know these people and connecting with the second, third and fourth-years,” said Teuber.

He mentioned other first-year peers participating in the show and specifically lauded Kaitlin Ryan '22,

SARINA LINCOLN

The cast of Spring Awakening rehearses “Totally Fucked,” a musical number from the show.

undeclared, another first-year, who “holds the show together” as a pianist and conductor for the band.

“Spring Awakening,” opens on Thursday, Dec. 13 and runs through the 16. Tickets are available on Monday Dec. 10 at the Box Office.

Content Warning: Spring Awakening is intended for mature audience

Considering Matthew Shepard

By Sarah Licht

lichtsar@grinnell.edu Grinnell Singers’ Sunday performance of “Considering Matthew Shepard” by Craig Hella Johnson will offer an opportunity for peace and remembrance through the exploration of a horrific story of hatred and violence.

The piece revolves around the heinous 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard. Professor John Rommereim, music, who is the director of the Grinnell Singers and conductor of the piece, describes “Considering Matthew Shepard” as a “musical theatre/choral piece” because it flows through the story of Shephard’s life and death while still being based in song.

Despite the graphic events that surround the choral piece, Rommereim said, “it’s not like a documentary where you are left to sit with the emotions” but is instead an experience of hope and healing. He expressed hope that, given the state of the country in

present day, the piece will allow all of us to “process the terrible news” in the world and to “come together in some pathway toward healing.”

Rommereim explained that he discovered Considering Matthew Shepard when he had “met someone in 2017 who was writing his dissertation on [the piece]” and he [Rommereim] thought it was “remarkable.”

Since the piece was yet to be officially published, Rommereim was only able to acquire the musical scores a month into the school year.

Despite the time delays, however, Rommereim saw how well singers were able to connect to the piece.

“You could see it from the first time [the students] saw the piece how greatly it affected them,” said Rommereim.

For the students involved in the production of Considering Matthew Shepard, the process of studying the piece impacted them profoundly.

“Learning the music was really overwhelming because of what the piece

SARINA LINCOLN

Professor John Rommereim, director of the Grinnell Singers, conducts the Singers in a rehearsal of “Considering Matthew Shepard.” is about,” said Conner Stanfield '21.

One of the songs rehearsed, Stanfield said, was so powerful that “the first time we performed it, I couldn’t even get any notes out because I was just so overwhelmed with emotion.”

Stanfield emphasized the impor-

tance of performing the piece due to the national and international cultural impact of the murder of Matthew Shepard. He explained that the murder drew attention to the oppression that queer people face on a daily basis. Shepard’s death led to the pas-

and includes scenes depicting or concerning death (including suicide), sexual assault, physical and sexual abuse (child abuse, incest), and sexual situations (includes masturbation). Contact [boggessn] with any questions.

Editor’s note: Zoe Fruchter ‘21 is arts editor of The S&B and is involved in this production. sage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act in 2009, which expanded the previous federal definition of a hate crime.

“The piece really asks important questions, such as how do we all contribute to this culture where violence against people who aren’t like us is normalized? And, how do we recover from violence, and how do we continue to live in spite of that fear and embrace the beauty of the world around us?” Stanfield said.

The Grinnell Singers and the Oratorio Society will perform “Considering Matthew Shepard” at 2 PM in Sebring-Lewis Hall in the Bucksbaum Center for the Arts this Sunday, Dec. 9th.

The performance will be free and open to the public, and donations will be collected for the Matthew Shepard Scholarship Program, an Iowa-based program that gives scholarships to students who have demonstrated outstanding academic performance and contribution to the LGBTQ+ community.

Editor’s note: Eva Hill ‘22 is a copy editor for The S&B and is a member of Grinnell Singers.

Arts

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Edited by fruchter@grinnell.edu

Emma Cristoph '19 premieres “My Own Voyeur” in Smith Gallery

By Keli Vitaioli vitaioli@grinnell.edu This week, Emma Christoph ‘19 opened her first show in the Smith Gallery, “My Own Voyeur.” In this exhibition, Christoph explores the idea of turning an observation inward, specifically through the lenses of behavior tracking and therapy.

The show contains works in a range of media amalgamated from Christoph’s time at the College. The walls of the Smith display a largescale figure drawing of Christoph seen through a peep hole, therapy cards dangling across the wall, a medicine cabinet stocked with empty pill bottles from the last two years, video projections of Christoph, a television display and a series of peep hole photos she took of herself.

Though the work is widely varied, the clear emotional and spatial connection between pieces brings harmony to the show.

While interacting with this idea, at first Christoph was thinking outside of the sexual concept of voyeurism.

“I was thinking about it in a sense of looking back on yourself and tracking your behavior, which is something that I think is really prevalent in therapies,” said Christoph.

“I’ve done dialectical behavioral therapy, and there are these things called behavior diary cards, and you track your behaviors and a bunch of different stuff. I liked the idea of researching myself, and what watching myself means.”

As the show developed, Christoph thought about the sexual nature of voyeurism. For her, it is more about the perception of illness as sexy and intriguing, particularly in art.

“The sexual side of the voyeurism kind of connected with the fetishization of mental illness. Because, [sexuality is] a way to cope with [mental illness], because you’re like ‘I wouldn’t be so artistic if I didn’t have problems,’ and people look at it and it’s like, ‘depression, anxiety, it’s so beautiful, dramatic, and that kind of stuff.’ So, I think that ended up factoring into it in this sexual ideal of voyeurism,” Christoph said.

Christoph found the ideas of men watching women are inherent to most of society’s perception of voyeurism, and one she wanted to play with as well.

“I don’t want to make this about women and women being watched, but that’s what happens. When you think about voyeurism, you think about men watching women unknowingly, and so what does it mean that you know you’re being watched but you’re doing the watching yourself?”

In putting on a show about watching herself and her behaviors, Christoph invited the world in to watch her as well, to be her voyeur with her. She notes that this is some of her most vulnerable and intimate work.

“Honestly, I just deeply want people to respond, and it makes me feel better that … a lot of people just

MAHIRA FARAN

“My Own Voyeur” by Emma Cristoph '19 explores voyeurism and mental illness. relate to it, and that makes it feel less scary,” Christoph said. “It’s more vulnerable if someone comes in and they don’t feel anything; if they don’t get anything from it. Then it just seems, if someone doesn’t have a certain kind of experience in it, and it seems so separate from them personally, then I think that might feel more vulnerable to me than someone who feels emotionally opened by it.”

Christoph’s favorite element of the show is the main wall featuring projections of herself performing daily tasks over her medicine cabinet.

The piece wasn’t something she had planned before entering the space, but instead came together within it.

“I’ve had the pill bottles, I’ve

had the medicine cabinet, I’ve had the little quilts that I’ve made of pill bottles outside and I’ve had the video, but I never thought about putting it all together like that,” Christoph said. “I think that’s the part that I get excited about the most just because it’s something that came specifically from me making the show, as opposed to something I’ve made for the show and then placed in the gallery, it’s something that I’ve created in the gallery, which I like.”

The television in the space features a video Christoph made for her site-specific class last spring. She recorded herself on her bed while projecting images onto mirrors on the other side of the room that re-

flected over the bed and herself. The effect is a blend of light and color, all with Christoph in the foreground.

The piece is an example of Christoph moving away from her previously preferred medium of drawing.

Although the media of her work has expanded, ideas of voyeurism and mental health are two themes that are depicted across Christoph’s work created at Grinnell.

“I think that with most art majors here, it’s like the more seminar classes you take, the more classes you take, you realize there’s a theme that runs through your work, and try to stick to that and throw it all together in a way that makes sense,” Cristoph said.

Inside the studio: Figure drawing

By Zainab Thompson thompson8@grinnell.edu

SARINA LINCOLN

Figure drawing classes are held every Monday and Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Bucksbaum room 225, but you have to enter through room 223.

In the dim lights of Studio 225, the only sounds to be heard are the quiet hiss of the ventilation system and the occasional rustle of paper. A single nude model poses in the middle of the room, warm lights highlighting the planes of his skin. Every so often, Anne Rogers ‘19 calls out a one-minute warning, signaling to participants that their time for the current pose is short. All in all, it’s a calm, unstructured environment that’s a nice reprieve from the business of stress and classes. The best part? You don’t even have to be in an art class.

“Something not a lot of people know is that you don’t have to be in a drawing class to come to figure drawing, and you also don’t have to be an art major,” said Rogers. “If you’re interested in drawing, you should show up and be a part of it.

You don’t have to have drawn before. There isn’t really a lot of instruction in this context, so you can just mess around or get a friend to show you something.”

While the expectation is that you walk into the session to draw the model, students are by no means held to that. Losing interest in the model and doodling on the page, for example, would not be judged in the slightest. That being said, it is a good idea to use the sessions to their fullest. Figure drawing sessions in the real world often cost a significant amount.

“It’s a real privilege to have

someone stand still for us so we can just draw them,” Rogers said.

Rogers added that, though she does get paid to facilitate the sessions, she would do it without compensation.

“I’m an artist, and I love drawing just as practice … I get to draw and I’m getting paid to do it, and I get to facilitate other people’s drawing.”

Students that find they really enjoy figure drawing may want to consider taking an art class.

“It’s pretty hard to get into art classes if you’re not an art major,” admits Sarah Phillips ‘19, a studio art major. “But if you show you’re interested, your chances are a lot better.” She’s currently enrolled in a figure drawing course at the College.

Coming to figure drawing sessions isn’t required for the course at this point in the semester, but Phillips shared that she enjoys coming in for practice.

“I just really enjoy drawing, and it’s nice to have an activity beyond reading. It offers an alternative to reading, but it’s still productive and activates a different part of your brain,” said Phillips.

Figure drawing sessions are from 7 to 9 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays, and 12 to 2 p.m. on Saturdays. Enter the figure drawing studio through room 223 to get into room 225; just turn and go through the sink room on the right upon walking in. Paper and drawing materials are provided at the session, so all you have to do is bring yourself.

Features S&B Cribs: Moon Signs on Main Street

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Edited by anderson14@grinnell.edu

LIZ PAIK

Andrea Baumgartel '19, Caroline Loftus '20 and Lizzy Rabchuk '19 in Baumgartel and Rabchuk’s apartment.

By Monserrat Castro Gomez castromo@grinnell.edu Apartment One of 916 ½ Main Street is the residence of Lizzy Rabchuk and Andrea Baumgartel, both '19. Considered to be a movie house and a fairy house by its inhabitants, the apartment is a creative, warm and welcoming space. The walls have paintings left behind from previous owners, as well as drawings from the current residents (such as a huge blue hand giving the middle finger, random chalk stains and poetic phrases).

“We draw on the walls, because our landlord never comes. He doesn’t care,” said Rabchuk.

The living room is the center of the apartment. Between two sofas, there is a table full of books, crafts, random silverware, and plants, as well as a pot containing a completely dead plant.

“This is our ash plant,” said Baumgartel. “We keep it for aesthetic and utilitarian purposes. It is a mixture of decomposing plant, apple cores and ash. There’s some paper in there, I think.”

“It’s a representation of, like, my innermost self. Decomposing and ashy,” Rabchuk said.

Their favorite part about living together is that they are never lonely.

They have debriefings after particularly hard days. They both share an interest in art, astrology, crafts and ego-death.

“My favorite part about living with Lizzy is … so, we have the same moon sign, essentially, so we really understand each other on a deep emotional level. I’m completely serious," Baumgartel said.

“It’s like having a second brain

that I can think through," Rabchuk said.

The two friends met each other the first day of first year and have been friends ever since. “I honestly don’t even remember our first interaction, I feel like Lizzy was just a part of my life since, like, day one,” Baumgartel said.

After trying to live in a Cowles apartment, which in the end did not work out, they finally decided to live together off-campus and wrote a frantic application right before the deadline.

Their decision was mainly based on the ability to be outside of the Grinnell bubble that is provided by living off-campus. They particularly enjoy the trip to campus in the mornings. They both own scooters, so they scooter together to their 8 a.m. classes on Mondays and Wednesdays.

“It’s actually kind of nice, the actual time to walk, because you just get to think, and we complain about existential problems,” Baumgartel said.

“Yeah, it’s a nice way to transition into the day. Instead of having, like, a two-minute dash to class, it’s a ten-minute long walk,” Rabchuk said.

They both agree that living off-campus feels for them like a preparation for life after college.

“Fourth year is definitely a time when you’re like, ‘I’m on the brink.

Here we go.’ And that’s how it’s supposed to be,” Baumgartel said.

“I think that living in an apartment has pushed it further towards the precipice, whereas if we were living in dorms we would still be caught up in Grinnell,” Rabchuk said.

Baumgartel describes living downtown as "fun and funky.”

“There are so many cool things always happening downtown, and you just see so many things happening.

I feel like a snoopy eavesdropper.

I just crack the window open and get to listen to things happening on the street that you wouldn’t hear about or see when you’re living in school,” she said.

“Sometimes it’s not fun and funky, like when I’m walking home and get cat-called from trucks and stuff, but that’s part of life. Smalltown Midwest,” Rabchuk said.

They mention that one of the disadvantages of living together is the mess. “Well, Andrea’s messy, I’m also messy, and so then our messes like compound, and it just gets worse,” Rabchuk said.

However, there are sometimes advantages. “I think Lizzy definitely made me aware of some things I do that I never realized that I did, so it’s made me more self aware,” Baumgartel said.

They describe the apartment as a very judgement-free zone with a caring and open vibe. They stopped leaving their door unlocked recently due to an assault incident that happened on campus, but some of their friends have keys in case they want to spend time away from campus.

Whenever they have some free time, they’ll invite people over to sit and talk in their apartment.

“Whenever anyone comes over, I give them floss,” Baumgartel said.

“Especially on the weekends it’s like ‘have some wine, have some floss’ and we just kind of sit here and talk and floss, and it’s kind of wholesome.”

SHIC hosts Tinder workshop

By Sarah Licht lichtsar@grinnell.edu For those looking for love, dating apps can be an easy and accessible way to find others.

Thanks to smartphones, anyone can easily download Tinder and a multitude of other dating apps.

Nonetheless, there is a certain art to perfecting one’s personal profile in order to attract the maximum number of people. For those who are new to the dating app game or who want to perfect their skills, the Sexual Health Information Center has the answer.

This Friday, Dec. 7 at 6 p.m., at Bob’s Underground, the center is hosting a Tinder Workshop in order to help students build their dating profiles and become more comfortable with online dating.

“In our meetings, we brought up the topic of online dating, how it works and how Grinnell students use it,” said Zama Buthelezi ‘21, the student organizer of the workshop.

The staff also discussed how students use Tinder while they are enrolled in the College versus how they use it outside of Grinnell.

These discussions led to creating a workshop “to play around with Tinder and other dating apps and also to talk about dating online in Grinnell and outside Grinnell,” Buthelezi said. The workshop will also offer food, a photo booth and stations dedicated to creating bios for your Tinder profiles.

An exciting part of the

upcoming workshop is the Tinder experts who will help guests perfect their dating app skills. The experts are “students who feel that they’re really good at Tinder and other dating apps. They will help [the SHIC staff] facilitate the process of creating really cool and efficient profiles,” Buthelezi said.

The numerous experts attending the workshop will be able to show those more inexperienced Tinder users how to make a fabulous first impression that is sure to make people want to swipe right. For those who might feel insecure about their online dating abilities, the experts will be able to help everyone enhance their craft.

As a bit of a sneak preview of the Tinder Workshop, Buthelezi was able to offer a piece of dating app advice. She explained how a large part of giving the best first impression is the type and order of pictures used in someone’s profile.

“From the research I’ve done, people seem to have pretty consistent views about having the first picture be a picture of just you smiling, have one of you being adventurous and have one really cute one, like of you with a dog,” Buthelezi said.

For more advice on how to go above and beyond in creating a bio and how to stay safe while dating online both at the College and away from campus, the workshop will provide a great place to get that help.

MAHIRA FARAN

Zama Buthelezi '21 is the student organizer of SHIC's Tinder Workshop.

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Features Students combat seasonal affective disorder as winter arrives at Grinnell

By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu

Winter can have a negative effect on people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health.

Lucky Resch ‘19 started experiencing symptoms of seasonal affective disorder when they moved from their home in the California Bay Area to Grinnell.

“I’m diagnosed with seasonal affective disorder, so I experience an increase in my depressive symptoms, my anxiety; I can tend to have a lower energy level, and these things are all really weird because I think there’s a way in which Iowa winter is really beautiful even though it’s simultaneously kind of painful and hard for me to go through,” said Resch.

Zoë Whittle ‘21, a Santa Fe, New Mexico native, echoed a similar sentiment. “I definitely get worse seasonal depression here than I did back home, which makes it harder to

Edited by anderson14@grinnell.edu

get out of bed, harder to go to class, harder to do anything.”

For Antonix Davis ‘21, who grew up in Texas, not having prior knowledge of the realities of winter caught them off-guard when temperatures fell their first year, which made it difficult for them to function.

“Even though I logically knew that temperatures could get below 30 degrees, actually experiencing those temperatures was almost too much for me … I fell further into depression, lost interest in basically everything, and even stopped hanging out with my friends as much,” wrote Davis in an email to The S&B. Although winter can have a negative effect on anyone, dealing with seasonal affective disorder presents its own unique problems that those without the disorder do not experience.

Resch cautioned students away from using the label of seasonal affective disorder when they do not actually suffer from it. “I think it’s

CANDACE METTLE

For many students, the onset of the cruel Midwest winter can lead to mental health problems including seasonal affective disorder.

Meskwaki reflections on Thanksgiving

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu Thanksgiving is the second-most-celebrated holiday in the United States, with 90 percent of polled Americans in a 2000 Gallup survey reporting that they celebrate it. In a more recent study, conducted in 2015 by Walt Hickey of FiveThirtyEight.com, 74 percent of the 1,095 respondents reported that Thanksgiving was their favorite holiday, making it the second most popular in the country, immediately following Christmas.

However, the historical and cultural tradition behind Thanksgiving is complex and frequently misrepresented in popular media and in educational materials. The story typically taught to schoolchildren in the United States offers a romanticized take on the actual origin of the holiday, which has much more to do with colonialism and violence.

"When we think about all of the people that were lost over such a long period of time, there's really nothing to celebrate."

Mary Young Bear Mary Young Bear, the conservator of the Meskwaki Cultural Center in Tama, Iowa, spoke about how she and other members of the indigenous community view Thanksgiving as it is celebrated in the United States today.

“I do not celebrate Thanksgiving—I usually spend the day here in the office—I come to the museum and I find some work to do. That’s just my way of acknowledging the day, to just come to work like any other day,” said Young Bear of her own experience with the holiday.

“I think most people spend the day at home with their families and do the usual activities, have a meal together and watch sports. It's mostly a family day. I think that as more peo-

ple find out how the holiday came about, we don't acknowledge the myth that we were taught in school,” Young Bear said.

The most commonly taught story, and the one that most people are familiar with, is that the Thanksgiving holiday came out of a feast celebrating a treaty between the Wampanoag tribe and the English settlers, negotiated by Squanto, a Patuxet Indian who spoke English. According to the Manataka American Indian Council’s website, this feast was a real event, but it only happened once and was far from being an indicator of future positive relationships between the white colonists and indigenous residents of the area.

Young Bear explained that the historical origin of Thanksgiving actually comes from feasts that were held in celebration after colonists, searching for new land to build upon as the settler population grew, would attack native communities, kill the inhabitants and take over the land.

The Manataka American Indian Council website describes an early use of the name “Thanksgiving” relating to the holiday, when the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared a “day of thanksgiving” in 1637 after over 700 members of the Pequot tribe were massacred by colonists. Following this event, the colonists continued to attack indigenous villages, killing many inhabitants and selling countless others into slavery, often holding “thanksgiving feasts” after each assault.

Knowing this history, Young Bear said it is difficult to see Thanksgiving as the innocent, happy holiday it is often portrayed to be.

“When we think about all of the people that were lost over such a long period of time, there’s really nothing to celebrate. It’s really a day to mourn and to be thankful. We’re thankful for all the tribes that are still here, that survived. That’s why I come into the office on Thanksgiving.”

important to leave the actual label to those who have sought diagnosis or intend to. On the flipside, it is very valid for winter to be vaguely difficult for anyone, and accepting the validity of that helps both those people and the diagnosed,” they said.

Gina Liddell-Westefeld, a staff counselor at SHACS, outlined some coping skills that they might recommend to students struggling through the winter.

“I would first say that everyone’s different, so something that might work for one person might not work for another, but I think basic things are feeling like you’re getting support from other people or just having people that you feel connected to, being active, trying to get 20-30 minutes of sunlight a day. If it feels like counseling is possible, coming in for counseling, or talking to your physician about medication,” said Liddell-Westefeld.

Aside from seeking counselling at SHACS, students are able to use the Wellness Lounge, located on the west side of the second floor of the Joe Rosenfield Center. It can be a cozy space for students to focus on their wellbeing using tools like a happy lamp, a light fixture intended to replicate sunlight and ease some of the strain of winter darkness.

There is also a weekly Tea Time in the Wellness Lounge on Tuesdays from 7 to 9 p.m., where students can relax together and seek connections to mental health resources.

“I think it’s nice because the Wellness Lounge is a very accessible area for students. It’s not even a particular room, just a place that people kind of stumble upon, and you never feel too disconnected from campus.

It’s just a little oasis,” said Emma Olson ‘19, a board member of the Wellness Lounge.

Olson, who is from Minnesota, pointed out the importance of helping friends who are less familiar with the winter.

“I think make sure to check in with friends that maybe haven’t had to deal with this before and they don’t know or understand that this

is something that is very normal. Be like, ‘let’s find fun winter activities to do. Like sledding is really cool!

It’s cold, but it’s fun.’ Trying to find those good points in the winter months can make it easier to get through,” she said.

Resch uses a happy lamp to deal with their seasonal affective disorder symptoms, saying “It’s not a cure-all, but it definitely helps.”

They also try to combat their deficiency of vitamin D through supplements and diet, which helps alleviate some of their symptoms, and work to maintain a healthy sleep schedule to make sure that they are exposed to light as much as possible.

“I think [winter’s] negative impacts on me are primary, but one of the things that I think is interesting that is more positive is that I do get more focused on the people around me and my schoolwork because there’s almost a limiting of physical spaces that I can be in,” Resch said.

They added, “Snow is so pretty, and it lets me live in the picture of winter that you’re fed as a child in California.”

Davis says that along with their coping skills of deep breathing strategies and reading books, their friends have helped them combat winter depression.

“Because my attachments to people grew stronger, I feel more motivated to get out of bed when necessary and go eat with others. When I don’t feel motivated to take care of my health, oftentimes my friends will intervene by doing things such as bringing me food, dragging me to the Grille, or just coming to be present and in the moment with me,” they wrote.

In the Netherlands, people deal with the brutal winter months by embracing “hygge,” a feeling of coziness and closeness to others that helps the country remain one of the happiest in the world. In Norway and Sweden, locals keep with the philosophy of “friluftsliv,” or “free air life,” staying happy in the winter by prioritizing their connection with nature. Loving nature and feeling the comfort of connection with others can be powerful tools in staving off the cold darkness.

Chanukah gives Jewish students a time to shine

By Acadia Broussard broussar@grinnell.edu On Thursday, the fifth day of Chanukah, Rabbi Leibel Jacobson, the Chabad rabbi at Iowa State in Ames, joined the Jewish community at Grinnell in lighting the second largest menorah in the state of Iowa. While most menorahs are small enough to be perched on a windowsill, this one towered over Mac Field at an impressive nine feet tall.

“The thing about Chanukah is that, unlike many other of our holidays, this one is purposefully supposed to be very public, so that’s why we have the giant menorah and are outside. It’s a moment where you can try to spread light over darkness for the entire community, and as challenging as that is in the times we’re in, it’s really an opportunity for us to come together as a community and show that light survives. Even after all the hardships we’ve faced over 2,000 years ago and through the hardships we’re facing now, we’re still here and we’re still celebrating and we’re still having this light,” said Dylan Caine ’21.

Chalutzim senior student leader Jacob Friedman ’19 echoed these sentiments. “There is a long history of Jewish resistance. [Chanukah] has always been kind of like a symbolic reference for that,” said Friedman.

Friedman also connected the importance of visibility. “There’s this photo — I think it’s the most powerful photo I’ve ever seen — and it’s a Jew’s windowsill facing the Reichstag with Nazi banners all over it, and there is a lit menorah. There’s a lot of pride in it and affirmation that despite insurmountable odds you should not recede into the shadows, very literally, because it’s a festival of light,” he said.

Chalutzim students expressed their gratitude that Rabbi Jacobson was able to join them to celebrate the holiday.

“Because we don’t have a rabbi right now, this is the second time we’re kind of outsourcing our rabbinical needs to Rabbi Jacobson, and we’re very grateful for him offering his services,” Friedman said. “The CRSSJ is working really hard and really are doing an amazing job, but from what we understand it’s tough to find a rabbi.”

Caine elaborated on the difficulties of the search, adding, “Outside of the college there isn’t really much of a Jewish community at all for the most part. There is a little bit, but in rural Iowa there isn’t that much of a significant Jewish population, so it’s hard to find rabbis who are willing to take on the challenge of building something within a not very established Jewish community. So it’s a work

in progress and we’re very hopeful and we know that we will eventually find a rabbi.”

Caine expressed how happy he was with how the Chalutzim student leaders have been working to keep the Jewish community strong in this interim, and both he and Friedman voiced their optimism for the rabbi search. Optimism was a common theme with these students, from celebrating Chanukah and being proudly Jewish in the current political climate to the difficult search for a rabbi.

Regarding this attitude through tough times, both students shared a common expression recited on Jewish holidays, including Chanukah: “They tried to kill us, they failed, and now we eat,” said Caine.

LIZ PAIK

Iowa’s second largest menorah shines in front of Younker Hall on the fifth night of Chanukah.

Sports

Edited by mettleca@grinnell.edu

7

What happens when student athletes quit?

Falling in and out of love with the Division III game

By Seth Bartusek bartusek@grinnell.edu

N

early one-third of Grinnell College students play a sport, whether at the varsity, club or intramural level. Each year, teams receive new students to bolster their roster, but athletics are not always a viable pursuit for four years and each year teams lose players for a variety of reasons. But transitioning from life as an student athlete to a non-athlete is not always easy, and can mean changing social scenes entirely.

“I really liked playing soccer because it kept me in shape and gave me a family,” said Lila Cardozo '19, a former soccer player who left after her second-year season. “For me, I stopped playing soccer in favor of taking advantage of a few more opportunities on campus.”

I definitely think that its different for former athletes because we’ve had time to learn the Bear and get to know the people in it, whereas nonathletes might be a little more intimidated by it.

Rohan Gandotra '20 College sports, even at the

Division III level, require a sizeable time commitment and often mean giving up a variety of different activities in favor of the sport. “That was what made the transition easiest for me,” said Sam Nakahira '19, a former member of the women’s golf team. “When I stopped playing, I got so much time back. I received a fellowship the following semester and was able to take time to focus on that. I think people forget what kind of commitment and responsibility being a student-athlete [requires}, and for me leaving [the team] was nice to get a chance to focus on my studies.”

Transitioning out of sports is akin to breaking a habit. Many of the resources available on campus for athletes aren’t expressly available for non-athletes or those who stop playing a sport during their time at Grinnell. But for most leaving a team is like leaving a family.

“I was lucky that I didn’t play a sport when I first got to campus.” said Elizabeth Lane '19, a former volleyball player. “Because I was able to establish a social group on campus before I started playing [volleyball] ... I still had friends I could go to. But leaving the team was hard, I felt like I was letting them down.”

Each team has a slightly different culture, making each transition

equally varied, but the small size of campus can make it easy to maintain friendships even without sharing a playing field.

For me, I stopped playing soccer in favor of taking advantage of a few more opportunities on campus.

Lila Cardozo '19 “I was also lucky in that when I joined [football] I joined it after I had a social group on campus,” said Rohan Gandotra '20, a former football player. “So when I quit I also had friends to go back to, but I still am good friends with my former teammates. The transition wasn’t really that hard for me because they were supportive and it didn’t feel like I had to change social scenes.

They respected my decision and were supportive throughout.”

For Cardozo, leaving the soccer team changed her life, but she still finds ways to get some athletics back into her life. “Being in the Bear [Athletic Center] can be a little weirder now,” Cardozo said. “But I’ve found ways to stay active and interact with the community through clubs like ISC [International Soccer Club] and workouts in general. I still

see teammates and though I definitely don’t use the space like I did, I still engage with it.”

Gandotra also noted his interactions in the athletic center.

“I feel very comfortable being in there,” Gandotra said. “I think that comes from the year I played [football] because I built a familiarity with the space. I think it's different for former athletes because we’ve had time to learn the Bear [athletic center] and get to know the people in it, whereas non-athletes might be a little more intimidated by it.”

In terms of a social transition, it varies based on individual team culture, but Gandotra, Cardozo and

Nakahira all mentioned that different aspects of life at Grinnell made the process worth it.

“I loved being on a team,” Cardozo said. “I was in this closeknit community of other women who would hang out together and be social and that went away when I quit, which was sad. But there weren’t a lot of international students on the soccer team, so if I hadn’t stopped playing, I don’t think I would have ever gotten to meet those people and share those experiences. I think [quitting the women's soccer team] allowed me to expand socially and ...

I’ve met people and made friendships that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”

Women's Basketball ends losing streak in surprising victory

CONTRIBUTED

Daria Guzzo '19 goes in a layup against Central College on Thursday, Nov. 8.

The team lost 55-59.

The first month of the season for women’s basketball has had its highs and lows. This week, with the defeat of Lawrence University on Dec. 1, marked the Pioneers’ first away win in nearly two years.

“We came into Saturday’s game really fired up. … We played really up-tempo and tried to push the ball against Lawrence and I think, even though we had a pretty tired team, Lawrence was also tired, and at the end of the day, we were able to put pressure on them and just use our toughness to overcome that,” said team captain Daria Guzzo '19. “I think we were good on the boards, [and] we had some people really step up in terms of shooting.”

The Pioneer’s Sasha Thomas '22 scored 18 points and Tyria Heath '21 added 11 points, which read 61-52 at the end of the game.

The most recent game maintianed a Grinnell College basketball trend: the Pioneers have lost to Lawrence only once since 2008.

The victory also brought an end to an away-game losing streak that lasted all of last season.

“Nothing really changed dramatically. I think we have been trying to turn this page of, you know, we’ve been in a lot of close games in the past,” Guzzo said. “We’re

obviously more comfortable and love playing in Darby Gym, but … our motto this year is rise up, rise up to the challenge, and that’s kind of what we’ve been going into every game with the mindset of.”

According to Guzzo, the team played up to standard, winning back nine points from early in the game.

Kind of when we sealed the free throws we knew we were going to win that game … just knowing we had it in the bag and were able to minimize their runs and uptimes.

Daria Guzzo '19

“I think the favorite moment was just towards the end of the game where we were up by eight to ten-ish,” Guzzo said. “They came back and got within 6 with like a minute left, which was a little scary, but overall, we got a couple fouls and put a lot of our free throws in at the end. Kind of when we sealed the free throws we knew we were going to win that game …

just knowing we had it in the bag and were able to minimize their runs and uptimes.”

The victory against Lawrence followed a narrow 57-62 defeat at the hands of Lake Forest College the night before.

“We played really well on Friday night [Nov. 30]. Unfortunately, we didn’t come out on top against Lake Forest, but we were pretty pleased with the way we played and wanted to correct the things, the little mistakes that we made on Friday night,” Guzzo said.

The Pioneers were also defeated 45-58 at Cornell College on Wednesday, Dec. 5, for the 15th time in a row.

“I think that we can compete with [Cornell College] better than we did last night. We let them bother us on defense, they’re a physical team and they want to push you out and make you uncomfortable, and they succeeded at that last night,” Guzzo said. “That's something that, when Cornell comes here, we’ll really try to work on from this game last night.”

Now 1-2 in the Midwest conference and 3-5 overall, the Pioneer’s will next play Knox College in Darby Gymnasium this Saturday, Dec. 8, at 1 p.m.

Nikki Schlegel '22: Pioneer sports is going swimmingly Nikki Schlegel '22 is from Boulder, CO and enjoys skiing, hiking, kayaking, writing, watching Oscar-nominated films and of course, swimming. At the Pioneer Classic last Friday, Schlegel accounted for three of the College’s four individual match victories. The S&B’s Will Dubow '21 sat down with Schlegel to discuss her swim career.

The S&B: When did you first start swimming?

NS: I was born in Chicago, and there was this quarry by my house where I would go to swim with my parents. I was always in the water at a young age. When it came time to take the deep-water test … I failed. I could barely make it across the deep pool. But because of that it became motivation for me to get better and stick with it.

My parents were always at the pool or at the beach, which wasn’t an actual beach — that’s what we just called it, so it was this environment that was I put in that helped make it my passion.

What made you want to be better at swimming?

I played a lot of different sports in addition to swimming, such as soccer, softball, track and karate, and decided that I should just focus on one sport. So I chose swimming because it was the most fun, since I was always outside.

I started club swimming when I was 13 and I saw people on my team make junior nationals, so I was like “Oh my

God, that is so fast.” And because of that I saw their hard work paying off and the ways they would train and decided that I wanted to do that. It was successive years of getting better and eventually it paid off.

When did you realize that swimming was your niche?

I was always tall for my age, I was born into an athletic family and compared to my peers I was developed more mentally and was able to swim fast at a young age. As I got older, people started to catch up to me. I’ve never been the fastest.

In club meets I would rarely win, so I began to set pretty steep goals and actually achieved them … I was able to translate my work outside of meets and [was] being compared to people I look up to.

What’s it like to be a part of Grinnell College Swimming?

It is very different from what I am used to. Lifting is much more intense, practices are very different and purposeful and everything we do is for the end of the season for the big meet [Midwest Conference Tournament].

So I am practicing for two hours a day, as well as hour and a half lifts 3 days a week, so its not that much time, but we are very efficient with the limited time that we have. The team environment fosters success, everyone looks out for each other and we all want to make sure that we are aware of each

other’s goals and want to push each other. In practice, we’ll race against each other that have closely similar speeds, so we can push each other in and out of the pool. The team is a very special environment and everyone is very genuine and approachable and a part of something that is greater than myself.

Is there any advice to young swimmers that want to pursue collegiate swimming?

You need to be aware of the bigger picture and how all your little swims … contribute to your championship times, since it’s a marathon, not a sprint. You’ll have meets every week, then stretch moments, then you’ll have a final chance to prove yourself, so you need to make sure you’re keeping the end goal in mind and not get caught up in the moment. Also, remember that you should dwell on things for maybe five minutes after a race and move on, stay inside the present and do not get too inside your head. Utilize your teammates if you’re feeling out of it and make sure you are doing the sport you like, because it won’t be worth your time if you’re not having fun, especially at the collegiate level.

Lastly, know that you’ll have a lot of responsibilities to balance in college and swimming, or your sport. [It] may be different from what you’re used to but expect that change, expect the transition, and use your resources to help you adjust the best you can.

SCOTT LEW

Nikki Schlegel '22, in her first year as a collegiate athlete, has made a mark in Pioneer swimming.

8

Community Holi-deals for the holidays: gift-giving in Grinnell

Edited by taylorse@grinnell.edu

By Elizabeth Wong wongeliz@grinnell.edu With the holidays around the corner, Grinnell’s town square has its trees dressed in color and its archways trailed with Christmas lights. The shops, too, are anticipating the holiday season.

Ranked America’s third coolest small town by CBS in 2009, Grinnell has a special holiday system. Because there are a limited number of stores, anyone can make a wish list for the holidays and give it to the specific stores they wish to receive a gift from, according to Rachael Kinnick, the director of the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce. Friends, family and neighbors can then go to the stores, request to see the wish list of their loved one and purchase the gift. If the store does not have the item, they will usually acquire the item for the customer from trusted retailers and have it within a day or two to pick up, said Kinnick.

“The stores that we do have have a higher commitment and level of service that you might not find in larger communities,” Kinnick said.

Part of what makes this the case is that very often, customers will do business either with employees once or twice removed from the store owners or directly with the owners themselves.

“Downtown Grinnell also has a good number of stores that offer activity-based events, or participate in holiday community engagement,” Kinnick said.

The holiday season started in Grinnell with Jingle Bell Holiday in November, with retailers and services

SHABANA GUPTA

Downtown Grinnell hosts many buisnesses that have decorated for the holidays or that are offering special seals for those procrastinating their shopping. contributing to the day’s festivities.

That day featured the Winter Farmer’s Market, and anyone can directly contact the vendors from that event and ask for gift ideas or holiday presents that they carry, or for recommendations of items residents need.

Grinnell also features pop-up stores for the season, like Busy Bee Farms or Handmade for the Holidays.

Busy Bee sells naturally-made chapsticks, lip balm, lotion and more that they produce in Grinnell. Handmade for the Holidays, open during select hours from now until Christmas, hand-

crafts every item that they sell.

Pop-ups and regular stores that are members of the Chamber of Commerce accept GrinnellBucks (or ChamberBucks), which are essentially gift cards that can be used in any member restaurant, retail, community center or other business associate with the Chamber. This is perfect for people who are not familiar with Grinnell, or who have to shop in multiple places or want to support local businesses. And for all stores, you don’t even have to pay on the spot. Grinnell has a registry for this purpose.

“You can do that locally and go shopping for yourself without having to spend the money first, and see what you get, and go back and use your gift card to purchase the things on your list.”

Overall, it is encouraged to shop locally here in Grinnell. “If you make the commitment to look local first, you can oftentimes find a product you are looking for, or a variation of that product,” Kinnick said.

According to Kinnick, shopping locally also has an economic effect.

“Every dollar that gets spent here has

seven percent that goes directly to the economy. It helps with things you don’t normally think about, like roadways and sidewalks, and the school district, and just making Grinnell a bigger and stronger place. The more economic impact and sales we can capture here, the more economic impact we can capture long term. It does add up.”

With the holidays around the corner, stores have started lighting up their displays and getting ready for the season of giving: it’s the perfect time to take a walk downtown and finish up your holiday shopping.

New rental inspection program to begin spring 2019 As Grinnell students push through the semester’s final weeks, Grinnell community members have begun pulling on their ugly sweaters, sipping spiced eggnog, and listening to holiday classics. The S&B’s Sarah Licht '22 and photographer Liz Paik '22 took a break from studying to ask community members, “What’s your favorite holiday memory?”

By Elizabeth Wong wongeliz@grinnell.edu “When I was a child, my younger sister of two years told me that Santa Claus didn’t exist. Somehow she figured it out before I did.” — Karen Cooper

“Last year, my niece and nephew got a train set and they were the most content children making the train stop and go.” — Emily Weber

“Going to my grandmother’s house and visiting with my extended family on my father’s side.”

— Angela Thys

“The Christmas Eve services.” — Mark Dimit

“We always had a sleigh in the barn, and my dad would always say that it was Santa’s sleigh. Each year we’d have a great big family dinner and have sleigh rides.” —L’ena Hotchkin

“It’s actually for Halloween because I’m like that. My friends set up a haunted house, and they let me be a part of it. It was really fun grabbing at people’s feet when they walked by.” — Henry Hutchinson

Iowa mandates that all communities over 15,000 people must have a rental inspection program.

With only 9,000 people, the city of Grinnell has never had a rental inspection program before, even after one was proposed in 2013, but that’s about to change.

Each year, active community members get together and list their goals for the next fiscal year. In 2013, one of the goals was to “set up a minimum set of standards for all rental properties within the city of Grinnell,” according to Tyler Avis, the city’s director of building and planning.

Now, after six months of bimonthly meetings of a task force made up of Grinnell residents with experience in real estate, many are supportive of the rental inspection program and hopeful for its adoption in spring 2019.

The program plans to enforce the minimum standard of living conditions in rentals citywide. Its framework is based off of the rental inspection program in Oskaloosa, Iowa, and the standards were built from the 2015 International Property Maintenance Code to ensure that the program would be effective and fair.

Each rental property owner has to register their property and have their property inspected. The number of violations determines the frequency of the inspections. If the rental units fail the inspection program, the property may have flyers posted announcing a $500 trespassing fine to discourage anyone to enter the site, the residents may be forced to vacate, and the property

may be stripped of its occupancy certificate.

According to Avis, there have been 80 to 100 complaints on rentals since 2009. Complaints occur when renters express concerns about the home to the property owner and the property owner fails to adequately fix the problem or does not attempt to address the issue. Advocates of the new system hope it will decrease complaints and aesthetic issues with rentals.

Right now, the city is awaiting feedback before putting the final touches on the program. Most reactions have been positive, and, according to Avis, the few negative responses have been from those who have a history of incurring violations, and who the program would therefore impact most.

In a nutshell, the new program facilitates understanding of what is expected of each party. This includes an agreement on standard living conditions during move in and move out. Renters and prospective inhabitants would also have access to the inspection details of the property and other documentation and regulation agreements.

As of now, there is no definite limit on the number of companion animals allowed in a property, but the number will be defined by the occupancy limitations, which is typically by square footage of the property’s living room and bedroom. In the end, the landlord still decides if companion animals are allowed.

Although the money from inspections is minimal (the initial cost is $50, but if found with less than six violations, then re-inspections will only happen every three years), the department and program will be self-funded.

Opinions

Edited by fentonma@grinnell.edu

9

This Week in Rueter’s Digest: The liminality Wellness: Finals time of the fan experience and French trains — everything, in other words, that one could want in a vacation read. Christie’s mildly sardonic style gives the book an old-fashioned, if slightly dated, charm and her characters are, as always, over-the-top in a mostly enjoyable way.

By Eva Hill hilleva@grinnell.edu With finals week approaching, it seems illogical not to address the stress that nearly every student faces at this time of year. So, I’ve decided to devote this edition of This Week in Wellness to a review of the topics I’ve covered in the past.

My first column discussed mindfulness meditation, an extremely relevant topic at this time of year. Whether you meditate regularly or just when you can, or even if you’ve never tried it before, mindfulness can be an incredibly useful strategy for destressing when you don’t have much time. A three-to-five minute meditation could fit into your walk between classes or immediately before going to sleep.

You can also meditate to music, timing breaths to the rhythm of a song. Classical music is especially good for this; this week’s music recommendation is one of my favorites to use as a meditation soundtrack.

I’ve also covered sleep and supplement use, which I’m grouping together only because prescription stimulants, which are occasionally used by students in the hopes that they will enhance studying or test-taking, have a negative effect on sleep. In fact, not only do these drugs not work as academic performance enhancers, they disrupt the sleep cycle, making it even more difficult to focus and form longterm memories.

More recently, I’ve discussed selfcare, another important thing to keep in mind during finals prep. Self-care involves taking time for yourself to do things that make you feel better and keep you healthy: for example, taking a nap (either no longer than 20 or approximately 90 minutes long is best) or making yourself some food (see below for a simple hot snack).

This is my final column for this semester, so, before I sign off, good luck and be well.

Best, Eva This week’s book: As a read to unwind with after a long study session, Agatha Christie’s The Mystery of the Blue Train does its job very well. The story involves, among other things, contested inheritances, jewel theft, mistaken identity

This week’s music: If you’re looking for an introduction to the world of Baroque classical music, try Vivaldi’s Gloria in D Major as an accessible, energetic piece with plenty of variety and a good combination of both vocals and instrumentals.

There are nearly countless recordings of this work, but my favorite in terms of sound quality and performance is the 2001 version recorded by John Eliot Gardner and the Monteverdi Choir, although the choir of King’s College Cambridge also have a great recording from 2002. I’d recommend listening to the full 12 movements to get a feel for the piece as a whole, but in terms of individual movements, my favorites are Gloria in Excelsis Deo, for the powerful vocals and liquid string accompaniment and Laudamus Te, a joyful soprano-mezzo-soprano duet with beautiful harmonic and rhythmic intersection between the soloists.

This week’s recipe: Fried potatoes These are one of my favorite dishes to make if I wake up before the dining hall opens for Sunday brunch. All quantities are pretty much subjective and depend on the size of the pan and how many potatoes you’re using. The most important thing on this recipe is to get the browning of the potatoes just right; they have to be cooked through, but if they stay on the heat too long they can get dry or scorched.

Ingredients: Potatoes (any, larger work better) Salt Olive or canola oil Peel the potatoes and slice them crosswise into discs approximately 1/4 inch wide. Pour oil into a frying pan over medium-high heat. The oil expands and thins a little as it heats, but make sure it covers the whole pan.

When the oil starts to form bubbles, add the potato slices. Be careful not to drop them from too high up to avoid oil splashes. They should be in a single layer on the bottom of the pan (not layered on top of each other). Cook the potatoes until they are brown around the edges, then flip them over. When both sides are browned and potatoes are tender, remove from pan and shake off oil if necessary. Salt to taste and serve immediately.

By Sam Rueter ruetersa@grinnell.edu On Dec. 2, Los Angeles Clippers Guard Patrick Beverley was ejected in the 4th quarter of a game versus the Dallas Mavericks for throwing a crisp bounce pass at a fan’s legs during a stoppage of play. Beverley alleged that the fan made derogatory comments about his mother (“fuck your mother”), whereas the fan maintains that, though he called Beverley a dirty player and invoked his mother, he never used any profanity.

“I can accept the ‘Fuck you, Beverley,’ the ‘Fuck you, Pat,’ but out of the lines of my mother, anybody who knows me, man, knows I’m a family-first guy, and there’s some things that are unacceptable,” said Beverley in a postgame interview with ESPN. The NBA fined Beverley $25,000 after the game and he vowed, along with his coaches, to move on from the incident.

Though Beverley might be ready to move on, the general sporting public should not. This latest instance of fan and player interaction may have been much tamer than in the past, but it still poses important questions about the responsibility associated with fandom, especially when said fandom is tied to the purchase of a (often very expensive) ticket.

“I can accept the ‘Fuck you, Beverley,’ the 'Fuck you, Pat,' but out of the lines of my mother, anybody who knows me, man, knows I’m a family-first guy, and there’s some things that are unacceptable,” said Beverley in a postgame interview with ESPN.

On the surface it may seem reasonable to wholly blame the fans who feel emboldened to bully, harass and chide the professional athletes they pay to watch play, but I believe there is a certain hypocrisy

in this viewpoint.

After all, the most widely decried aspects of the fan experience such as yelling profanities, blindly hating opposing players, drinking incessantly, is the exact same behavior which is constantly valorized whenever players talk about the effects of the “12th man” or notions of “home-court advantage.”

In fact, the noise, the bubble of energy, the overall atmosphere of intensity that makes sporting events so great is often comprised of a cacophony of voices and individuals screaming and yelling things not so different than the eccentric Mavs fan sitting courtside at whom Beverley fired a bounce pass.

I have been attending sporting events in Boston since I was a toddler, and I have heard far, far worse from fans every single time I have stepped into a stadium or an arena.

And yet, Boston sports are consistently held up as having some of the most passionate and best fans in the country.

I have been attending sporting events in Boston since I was a toddler and I have heard far worse from fans every single time I have stepped into a stadium or an arena.

And yet, Boston sports are consistently held up as having some of the most passionate and best fans in the country.

The issue I think then, in Beverley’s case at least, is the proximity of the fans to the players. Most of the ugliest and nastiest fan behavior occurs in the periphery of the arena, where the lack of exposure only amplifies the liminality of the space.

These sections are usually made up of fans who take the most pride in their perceived ability to influence or alter a game. Anyone who heard what these folks are actually saying would probably be appalled, but, in their current position as just another voice screaming into a sea of noise, their actions go under-examined.

The danger, then, if we begin to overly regulate fan behavior, is an over-sanitization of sports. I will never forget seeing my sweet, soft-spoken father telling LeBron

James to “fuck off” during a Celtics playoff game last year.

And yet what are we to do? If we kicked out every fan who used the F-word during games in all these leagues and by extension the player, we would lose a lot of money. Additionally, if we tried to codify an unwritten code of subjects off limits for fan taunting (mothers, for example), we would surely run into issues of subjectivity.

Furthermore, there are probably many fans who don’t want anything to change. With stadium prices, specifically for the really good teams, going through the roof, fans feel entitled (and they should) to a certain kind of experience at sporting events, which, whether we like it or not, has always meant unloading some profanity and telling grown men we have never met how much they suck. If players are allowed to call each other a piece of shit, why aren’t fans?

Now, this doesn’t mean that I think sporting arenas can’t have some sense of decorum. There are obvious, logical lines you cannot cross anywhere, anytime: slurs, racial epithets, threats to the safety of family members. But unless teams, players, executives and media are willing to rethink the way in which they privilege and treat fan behavior (spoiler alert: they won’t, this kind of stuff makes them ridiculous amounts of money), then it seems we are at somewhat of an impasse.

And yet what are we to do? If we kicked out every fan who used the F-word during games all these leagues (and by extension the players) would lose a lot of money, and if we tried to codify an unwritten code of subjects off limits for fan taunting (mothers, for example), we would surely run into issues of subjectivity.

If we consistently cosign our own fans’ rowdy, rambunctious, and probably-inappropriate behavior as “helping the team win,” than we can’t get upset when a fan of another team tells us “fuck your mother.”

After all, when you live with the liminality, you have to live with the consequences.

Tresther’s Tru-pinions: Juk means porridge in Korean 죽 to be exact. The romanization of 호박죽 is hobakjuk. The pronunciation of hobakjuk is your problem, not mine. You can also call it squash porridge, but hobakjuk is a much cozier name. It’s one of my favorite fall foods, and it reminds me of Korea and the Korean communities in America my parents have created.

By Esther Hwang hwangest@grinnell.edu In the corner of my living room in a Traget dish chairs from is a butternut squash. No one is allowed to sit in the chair. It is not meant for humans. It’s a chair exclusively for melons, squash and produce that have found their way into our home.

Melons are no longer in season, so this chair is now exclusively for squash and clementines.

This particular butternut squash has been sitting around for two weeks in our Target chair. Tomorrow it will be boiled into porridge for me and my housemates. 호박

This particular butternut squash has been sitting around for two weeks in our Target chair. Tomorrow it will be boiled into porridge for me and my housemates.

I’m making hobakjuk tomorrow for my housemates and I can’t wait to sip that steamy creamy juk.

I made it once for myself when I was a second year in college when I was missing home. When the leaves

have fallen and the seasonal affective disorder descends, that’s when I bring out my porridge recipe from Maanchi, my favorite online chef.

It is during autumn, the season of change, that we gravitate most towards the familiar. We hold onto what grounds us and what has been tried and true to work.

I bring out the soup to take care of myself and to share the care with others. I fill up my bowl until it’s full and the overflow is for my loved ones. I’ve made juk for my parents before and whenever I do, the juk enters and soothes any wounds inside. It opens their mouths to reveal memories and stories of their parents warming up their families their stoves. A regular night would turn sacred because their parents made them steamy red bean juk with rice balls. You can see in the juk all the stories of care, suffering, celebration and living yet another day. In the juk

are the stories my dad has told me and my brother time and time again and the stories my mom holds inside and will take to her grave.

We’ll nourish ourselves with warm thick sweetness and laugh at RayK’s special campus memo about the college’s “collaboration” with the union. We’ll cry about the excruciating process of applying for jobs and our journeys with imposter syndrome and self-growth.

When I eat tomorrow with my friends we will reflect on the stories and memories we write today. We’ll nourish ourselves with warm thick sweetness and laugh at President Kington’s special campus memo

about the College’s “collaboration” with UGSDW. We’ll cry about the excruciating process of applying for jobs and our journeys with imposter syndrome and self-growth. What therapy has done for us. What our relationships have done for us. How many unhelpful men we’ve cut from our lives. How we have to perform for Drag next semester, our last semester together.

Now I’m a fourth year thinking about post-grad, and in the midst of all the coming change I know I’ll make the same recipe of butternut squash, mochiko rice flour and water after I’ve left this cold hearted neoliberal business of a school and settled down in a new city. People ask me what my plan is, and my plan is to stay open. It’s to embrace the uncertainty of the future and hold onto what I know works for me, one of which is a juk recipe that has never failed to keep me warm.

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

Maxwell Fenton Candace Mettle Jackson Schulte Keli Vitaioli Julia Anderson Tommy O'Donnell Zoe Fruchter Seth Taylor Kate Irwin Eva Hill Ben Mikek Andrew Tucker Ryuta Kure Kelly Page Anneliese Stattelman Jojo Siwa

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.

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Back Page Volume 135, Issue 12

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

The semester may end, but journalism lasts a lifetime.

Real eyes

Social Calendar Friday 7:15/9:07 p.m. Elf @ Harris Cinema 6:15 p.m. Sweater Party @ Younker or Loose Halls 10 p.m. Calculus Gardner @ Gardner Lounge 10 p.m. Nerf @ Noyce Saturday 3 p.m. Men's Basketball vs Knox @ Darby Gymnasium 10 p.m. Winter Waltz @ Main Lounge and Main Quad

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Real lies

Horoscope:

This week, Sarah Licht '22 and Maxwell Fenton '19 polled 100 students asking: Right-to-work or Rightto-twerk?

JRC

Rants & Raves: Sagittarius season Sagittarius season is in full swing and I am absolutely thriving...I just wish it wasn't over so soon.

- Sagggggggg

ANDREW TUCKER

The signs as holiday foods

Aries: Peppermint bark Taurus: Candy canes Gemini: Fruitcake Cancer: Lutefisk Leo: Christmas cookies Virgo: Latkes Libra: Christmas pudding Scorpio: Egg nog Sagittarius: Figgy pudding Capricorn: Roasted meats Aquarius: Panettone Pisces: Feast of the Seven Fishes — Sister Aurora Impulse

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 [irwinkat]

Great GWSS Intro GWSS needs to be fucking required.

- Gender Warrior

Mouth My tongue really fucking hurts.

- Ow