Volume 134, Issue 23.

Sports

Arts “Stranger in a Strange Land”

Community

Who are you rooting for this NBA season?

Music in the Park brings bagpipes and other sounds on a sunny day

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opens this weekend page 8

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the

Scarlet & Black Volume 134, Issue 23

April 27, 2018 • Grinnell, Iowa

thesandb.com

Labor shortage puts pressure on dining services

College community debates expanding union

Career employees share their experiences and thoughts on staffing, wages

By Vera Kahn kahnvera@grinnell.edu

On Wednesday, April 18, President Kington sent an all-campus memo detailing the College’s refusal to endorse an expansion of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW). Among the College’s chief arguments was the cost that such an expansion would entail. The ollege states “that dozens of unions” would be necessary to address the variety of campus employment opportunities.

According to the memo, “it would be unduly burdensome and expensive to administer such a system. The resources spent doing so would necessarily be drawn from the mission of the College. This could have an adverse impact on our students who receive financial aid through the work-study program.”

The next day, on a private Facebook group for Grinnell students, Tim Burnette ’19 posted that President Kington’s assertion posed a threat to the well-being of low-income students. Burnette, who >> See Union page 2

MAHIRA FARAN

Worker shortages have left stations closed and caused stressful circumstances for employees on the job.

By Alice Herman hermanal17@grinnell.edu According to Jeanette Moser, director of dining services, three fulltime positions are currently open in the dining hall. While the shortage of student workers in Dining Services has long troubled the department’s operations, the current lack of fulltime employees is a relatively new phenomenon.

Kelly Edgington, who worked in dining services from January of

2000 until early this spring, reflected on her work at the College and the challenges posed by the scarcity of employees.

“I enjoyed my time at Grinnell, I learned a lot while I was there,” Edgington said. “What’s been good at my job is the students. That’s probably what kept me there as long as it did, but in the same retrospect that’s what also pushed me away. … You always have … students that need to work and need to make money, and then you have other students that basically

Departure of the crane signals construction progress

are working for party money,” she said.

Edgington also pointed out the lack of career staffers and described her attempts to juggle the tasks of coordinating schedules, managing student employees and serving food.

“You have to take care of the office work along with doing your job. Honestly there was never enough hours in the day to make that happen.

Career staff side, I’d really like to see another supervisor there,” she said.

Julie Williams, a presentation

MAHIRA FARAN

The College community and Grinnell at large said goodbye to the beloved crane earlier this week.

By Zoe Fruchter fruchter@grinnell.edu Over the weekend, the College community said goodbye to “the crane.” McGough Construction’s iconic crane towered over campus, measuring 148 feet tall to the top of its mast with a 230-foot-wide radius.

Since its installation last year, the sight of the soaring crane against the Iowa sky has provided residents with what some might call inspiration, a sense of dignity or even a beacon of hope amidst the stressful and insulated environment of Grinnell College.

The crane was taken down using a smaller crane, leaving a hole in the landscape, and in many hearts. Brent Jaeger, an employee of the College and resident of the city of Grinnell, perhaps put it best when he wrote on Facebook: “Last week the tower crane over the Grinnell College Humanities & Social Studies Complex (HSSC) construction site was disassembled and removed from the Grinnell skyline. Central campus will feel different without the giant weather vane and nightlight.”

The popular Facebook page “Grinnell Construction,” run by anonymous individuals, provided its own memoriam: “The crane is gone.

We are experiencing a lot of emotions Saturday Fossil Fuels Dialogues Laurel Leaf Lounge, 4:15 p.m.

right now and have not been posting a lot, so please forgive us. The end of a relationship as long as this one has hit pretty hard. Thank you all for sticking with us through this difficult time.”

Even prospective students mourned the loss of the crane, despite not having ever lived on campus concurrently with the legendary piece of equipment.

"Central campus will feel different without the giant weather vane and nightlight."

Brent Jaeger, College employee “I do miss the crane! I told my parents about it when we were coming, and I was very disappointed that I couldn’t show it to them,” said admitted student Eleanor from St. Paul, Minnesota, who visited campus in October and has now committed to Grinnell. “I remember that it was super cool at night because it was the only big light that was up above besides the stars so it was a cool contrast. I was a fan.”

Although the crane has been taken down, construction persists in its daily rhythms on campus. According to the official construction website, this Saturday Stranger in a Strange Land Roberts Theatre, 7:30 p.m.

Follow us on twitter @thesandb

>> See Labor Shortages page 2

Wilson Center Panel addresses damages in post-Maria Puerto Rico

By Will Telingator telingat@grinnell.edu

cook at the dining hall, also discussed the challenges posed by the shortage.

“We need at least two more full time employees to be fully staffed. So therefore people are working longer days, fewer days off, the inability to take vacation time because we’re just not covered. When the students don’t show up — students make or break us. Because we need an extra pair of hands to help. When you prepare food for 1,000 people, it’s really hard to do without extra hands,” she said.

For Edgington, the pressure of the job began to affect her health.

“The last several years, the stress did start wearing on me. The mental and physical aspect of the job, it affected my sleep. I honestly can say — I’ve been off two and a half weeks from there and didn’t have to go back — I’m actually sleeping at night now. Towards the end I had to force myself to go into work, some mornings I would wake up anxietyridden that I didn’t even want to walk in the place,” Edgington added.

To address the student staffing shortage, the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers (UGSDW) has pushed for higher wages since its creation in 2016. Full time employees, who are not represented by the union, do not enjoy such a platform for bargaining with the College. And while many dining services staff members praised the

week saw the installation of a flat roof and workers are beginning to construct an interior stone fireplace. Workers are also installing windows on the second floor. Those interested in keeping up with the fast-paced construction work can watch the transformation live on the website at at http://comm.sites. grinnell.edu/.

Prospective students noted that although the construction may be inconvenient, it did not detract from their opinion of the College.

“A lot of the college campuses I’ve visited have also been under construction, but I feel like here more than most places it doesn’t feel like an eyesore because it's … not around the classes or a lot of the places that I visited. So, I look forward to seeing [the completed HSSC] if i can come here,” said Natalie, a non-committed admitted student from Chicago.

Kaitlin, from West Lafayette, Indiana agreed: “[Other construction] is really confusing and hard to navigate but it seems a lot easier here.”

Ostensibly, the class of 2022 will be the first students to use the HSSC at some point during all their four years at Grinnell, but the College is projected to begin breaking ground on additional projects within the next four years. The crane might be down, but campus construction will continue.

Sunday Grinnell IOWATER Monitoring Training Harris Center Concert Hall, 8 p.m..

On Sept. 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico and wreaked havoc and destruction across the island. The damage was catastrophic, and millions of people across the country are still struggling to recover in the aftermath of the event.

This week, the Wilson Center hosted a panel discussion entitled “Blue Tarps and Plátano Shortages: Puerto Rico After Hurricane Maria” in an attempt to open up a dialogue surrounding Hurricane Maria within the College community. Broadly, this event aimed to provide an interdisciplinary perspective into the “pretext that led to Puerto Rico’s vulnerability before the hurricane and the island’s recovery and healing process afterwards.”

This event was organized by Vivienne Kerley-de la Cruz ’20 in partnership with the Wilson Center for Innovation and Leadership and the department of Global Development Studies. Kerley-de la Cruz has a strong

personal connection to Puerto Rico, as she has family that lives on the island and spent the summer of 2017 working for a local art museum on a project that strives to promote community engagement in neighboring areas. In the wake of the hurricane, Kerley-de la Cruz looked to continue her work within her community and give back to those who had been affected, and received funding through the Wilson Center to go back to Puerto Rico over winter break.

In an email to The S&B, Kerleyde la Cruz wrote, “After Hurricane Maria, I began trying to design a project in partnership with the museum and El MAC en El Barrio [the museum’s community project] to bring some aid to the communities I was so deeply connected to. I hoped that this work would help the relief effort in a way which might ultimately reach rural areas such as those where my grandparents lived.”

Of the panel, Kerley-de la Cruz wrote that she “would love for my peers to understand the greater crisis in Puerto Rico which allowed for Maria to be so devastating as well >> See Puerto Rico page 2

CANDACE METTLE

Vivienne Kerley-de la Cruz ’20 and Professor Tess Kulstad, anthropology, detail why natural disasters have a devastating affect on Puerto Rico and the Caribbean. Professor Fredo Rivera not pictured.

Tuesday "Riding" the Underground Railroad Burling 1st Floor, 4:15 p.m.

Thursday Latin American Ensemble Concert Sebring-Lewis Hall, 7:30 p.m.

Sports 3 | Community 5 | Features 6 | Arts 7 | Opinions 9

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Puerto Rico panel Labor shortage affects Dining Services includes variety of perspectives

Continued from Front Page as what is happening on the island to heal.”

In addition to introducing Kerleyde la Cruz’s work to the campus community, the panel discussion also featured Professor Tess Kulstad, anthropology, and Professor Alfredo Rivera, art history. Kulstad and Rivera helped to provide an interdisciplinary perspective to the discussion, and although they both have different academic backgrounds and specialties, they also share a personal connection to Puerto Rico and the Caribbean.

"Disasters are not natural … but rather they are the result of the interaction between the natural world and human action or inaction."

Professor Tess Kulstad, anthropology Kulstad has done extensive work surrounding disasters. Having grown up in the Dominican Republic, she is personally familiar with the response to hurricanes in the region.

“My role is to contextualize Vivienne’s project … to contextualize from my own experience, but also from the point of view of anthropology and disasters,” Kulstad explained. She emphasized the idea that “disasters are not natural … but rather they are the result of the interaction between the natural world and human action or inaction.”

Rivera, who is of Puerto Rican descent, specializes in Caribbean art, architecture and visual culture. In the discussion he gave a brief overview of the social and economic context in Puerto Rico before and after Hurricane Maria. In particular, he illustrated the role that Puerto Rico’s history of colonization has played in the island’s relationship to Hurricane Maria.

“It is the peculiar colonial condition of Puerto Rico that exacerbated the devastation felt throughout the island,” Rivera wrote in an email to The S&B. Professor Rivera also explained how Puerto Rico’s current economic crisis has resulted in a mass migration of Puerto Ricans to the United States, a trend which has only continued to increase in the wake of the hurricane.

MAHIRA FARAN

Since the closure of the "Eggs to Order" station, diners make their own omeletes.

Continued from Front Page benefits of the job — such as health insurance and free tuition for children attending the College — they argued that the hourly wages did not suffice to cover personal expenses, in part due to summer vacations that leave otherwise full-time employees without work for much of the year.

Put simply, said Mike Fiebelkorn, who worked for dining services until this October, “it was a good paying job that didn’t pay very well.”

“Through four years, I had my own electrical business and I made more in the three months during the summer I was off than during the seven and a half months I’d work at the College combined. When you’re full time and you spend seven and half months getting paid and then are off for like three months … it’s not easy,” he added.

Another staff member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, noted that in addition to their full-time jobs at dining services, many employees with families felt the need to take on second jobs.

Edgington agreed, and said that the issue was one that she had emphasized in her exit interview with the College.

“I told them I thought that I wasn’t being paid enough. … It took me a long time to work there to build up enough vacation time to cover the voids when I was off from work, that I would actually get paid. People

just starting out, they honestly need, would literally have to get a part-time job for just over the breaks, and that’s hard to do,” she said.

Some schools, such as the Grinnell-Newberg School District, mitigate the effect of summer breaks by “prorating” employee pay, a practice in which a portion of an individual’s pay is withheld from a given paycheck and distributed during the employee’s time off.

Mary Greiner, assistant vice president of human resources, acknowledged that the issue of prorated pay had been raised in the past, but stated in an email to The S&B that, “The Department of Labor and corresponding wage and hour laws would not allow us to pay our hourly staff in this manner. Time worked must be paid in the pay period following the time the work is performed — so spacing out pay for work done in earlier months is prohibited.” To stretch payment across the summer months, the College would need to provide workers with salaried, rather than hourly, work positions.

As for wages, Greiner says, the school has partnered with Willis Towers Watson, a national consulting firm, “to determine appropriate pay ranges and benchmarks for our faculty and staff positions.” And although the College could not provide specific information regarding contracted wages for employees, the issue will remain a contentious one as labor shortages persist.

Edited by hermanal17@grinnell.edu & mettleca@grinnell.edu

IRB revises regulations on the use of human subjects

By Kate Irwin irwinkat@grinnell.edu On March 20, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) published changes to the regulations for researchers using human subjects. It will go into effect January 21 of next year for all institutions of higher learning. Many of these changes were made to the Common Rule for human subjects testing that receives federal funding. Grinnell College is affected by these changes as research done at the College is federally funded. Professors and students will experience the change in regulations differently, due to the nature of their research. However, the effect of the changes for student research, like MAPs, will streamline the review process and actually allow for more exemptions to the regulations.

Changes include new and revised exemptions to human subject regulations, specifically highlighting what is not counted as human subject research. It is the responsibility of each college or university to implement and adhere to the changes. Norm Braaton, research compliance manager for Grinnell College, ensures that all research done at the College is in line with federal policies.

Previously, this work was done by an IRB Chair. Because of high turnover in IRB Chairs, Braaton was put in this position to provide continuity.

“One of my major tasks has been with the human subjects committee. … [Administration] thought ‘if we get someone who has that expertise and can provide that, it takes quite a bit of burden off the faculty,’” Braaton said.

If research is exempt from IRB oversight, it means that it is of such low risk that the IRB does not need to monitor what is studied. If expedited, it means that the research is also minimal risk, but it does have oversight at the college or federal level.

Another change that helps to make research more streamlined is what is and is not considered research. These activities include oral history, journalism, biography, literary criticism, legal research,

historical scholarship, health surveillance, criminal investigation, operational activities (as determined by each agency) in support of intelligence, homeland security, defense or other national security missions.

“We hope that the process becomes a little bit more streamlined as a result of this,” Braaton said.

Ann Ellis, chair of the psychology department, also feels that the changes in the human subject testing will streamline minimal risk student research. “We won't need to check back with the IRB if the research is exempt. … It makes it more likely for minimal risk to not require any oversight by the College IRB,” Ellis said.

In psychology, low-risk surveys and interviews and low-risk psychology experiments will now be exempt.

"We hope that the process becomes a little bit more streamlined as a result of this."

Norm Braaton, Research Compliance Manager

“More things will be able to be exempt from review, but that doesn't mean you don't have to submit IRB proposals, because the only way a piece of research can be deemed exempt if someone puts in a proposal,” Ellis said.

Despite these many changes, student research is not seriously impacted. Student research will most likely be more streamlined if it is minimal risk and may otherwise go unaffected.

“I don't think there's going to be a really big impact, because you'll still have to develop your proposal, send your proposal to the IRB, make sure you're following all the ethical standards for research with human participants. It just means from the college level that there will be less watching of people's different projects,” added Ellis. "I don't think it's going to have much of an effect on MAPs, honestly.”

"I hoped that this work would help the relief effort in a way which might ultimately reach rural areas such as those where my grandparents lived."

Vivienne Kerley-de la Cruz '20

ALICE HERMAN

Julie Williams, a presentation cook in dining services, stresses that the low amount of workers add more difficulties to the job.

Union, low-income students worry over financial aid and work-study Continued from Front Page is not a member of the union, penned a letter in concert with other First Generation and Low-Income (FGLI) students expressing their outrage and demanding an apology. They sent the letter early in the morning on April 22.

“I, as well as many others, did not welcome the threat,” Burnette wrote in an email to The S&B. Burnette is currently in Copenhagen and helped organize the FGLI response in spite of the time difference. They said that the group of FGLI students will continue in their advocacy work and that “another letter is on the way.”

Quinn Ercolani ’20, the UGSDW vice president, also believes that the language in the campus memo came across as threatening. “[President Kington] mentioned that a good place for [the costs of unionizing] to come from is financial aid or student programming budgets.

How is that anything other than a threat?” Ercolani said. Ercolani also refuted the idea that collective bargaining would ever result in such cuts: “The union would never engage in something that is going to make people worse off.”

Although the school is resistant to the demands for expansion, the administration showed a willingness

MAHIRA FARAN

Sam Xu ’20, Quinn Ercolani ’20 and Alec Doss ’19, UGSDW leaders, have negotiated with the College over wages and work conditions. to engage in the “civil and inclusive discourse” mentioned in President Kington’s memo. On Monday, April 24, the College provided UGSDW the email platform to send out an all campus memo in response to the school’s memo. The UGSDW memo, prefaced by the College’s statement that “in the spirit of fairness and equity, Grinnell has made a one-time allowance to distribute the UGSDW letter in the same manner as the message to which it responds,” begins by stating that the school’s

arguments are “unsupported by the facts and the law.”

In the memo, UGSDW rejects the school’s assertion that student employment is too varied to be covered by one single union. Instead, the memo emphasizes the “common background” of all Grinnell workers, namely that they “live on the same campus, get paid the same low wages, and face the same issues at work.” Finally, the letter signs off affirming that the school may not be able to control what organizing

happens on campus: “the decision to unionize is not left up to the administration. Regardless of your opinion on unionization, it’s up to us, as workers.”

Ercolani expressed gratitude to the school’s openness on two fronts.

“Purely selfishly, it benefits us. They came out and threatened financial aid, student programming, they said that students aren’t workers and aren’t deserving of [the right to unionize], they said that students don’t share a community of

interest.” Additionally, Ercolani is appreciative of the school’s efforts to help facilitate open conversation.

“It’s hard to have [civil discourse] when there is only one side of the story being portrayed, either when it’s just our side, or just the administration.”

In keeping the spirit of open conversation, President Kington promptly responded to the FGLI email on Tuesday, April 24. In his response, he thanked the students for reaching out and addressed the perceived threat to financial aid.

“I was referring to a longterm impact of increased costs from operations that would affect allocations within the whole budget, of which financial aid is one of the largest components,” Kington wrote.

“I have used very similar language in other situations when there have been potential hits to our budget. …

The financial aid of current students would not be affected by the creation of multiple or a single union of student workers.”

The College declined an interview with The S&B, and instead issued this statement: “Given the ongoing interest some students have to pursue expanded unionization, commenting any further beyond the Special Campus Memo would be inappropriate at this time.”

Sports

Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu

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NBA playoff predictions

With the NBA playoffs fully underway, The S&B sent writer Lily Bohlke and photographer Mahira Faran to get the scoop on the how students think things will turn out. Not only did we ask who people are supporting, but we want to know: What are the Cavs doing wrong? Are the 76ers legit?

Who are you rooting for?

Celtics.

What do you think of the Cavs's lackluster performances?

It’s the Kardashian curse.

Who's going to the Finals?

I’m gonna say Celtics just cause like, my boys, and then I think Golden State.

Abby Thomson ’19

Who are you rooting for?

The Timberwolves.

What do you think of the Cavs's lackluster performances?

I think, well I don’t actually know that much about basketball and I just follow it because of my friends, but from what I know, I think it’s like Kyrie leaving and then not being able to fill in that gap.

Ayon Dey ’18

Who are you rooting for?

Well I’m from Wisconsin, so go Milwaukee. Go Bucks.

What do you think of the Cavs's lackluster performances?

I think that it’s just been a long season and they’ll pick it up when they need to.

Who's going to the Finals?

I have a feeling it’s gonna be Golden State again, I feel like Steph Curry’s just hot all the time and has got a good team behind him.

Sidney Litke ’19

Who are you rooting for?

Indiana Pacers.

Do you think the 76ers are contenders?

I think so, Cleveland is playing like shite, like they’re having a hard time against Indiana. 76ers are better than Indiana.

Then who's going to the Finals?

I think 76ers and Golden State.

Jonghoon Bae ’18

Who are you rooting for?

I’m rooting for the 76ers.

Do you think they're title contenders?

No. Why? Because they’ve sucked for so long, I’m just rooting for them because they’re the underdog.

Who do you think is gonna be in the Finals?

I’m gonna say the Rockets and the Celtics.

Noah Jacobson ’20

Who are you rooting for?

I'm rooting for the Timberwolves.

Do you think they're contenders?

Yeah, sure, Timberwolves, and Cavaliers — could that happen? [“Sure,” interjected Bae]. There you go.

Duncan Ward '20

Rueters Digest: Hammon deserves a head coaching job

By Sam Rueter ruetersa@grinnell.edu Though the NBA playoffs may just be ramping up, there will be a litany of head coaching jobs up for grabs come the offseason, with the Suns, Knicks, Hawks, Grizzlies, Bucks and a few more teams likely searching for a new coach. One possible name that has come up in recent weeks is a former player, who is a six-time all-star and has worked under the tutelage of Greg Popovich. Her name is Becky.

Becky Hammon is qualified to be an NBA Head Coach. She has spent six years working as an assistant under arguably the greatest coach of alltime, Greg Popovich. She had a stellar professional career in the WNBA

and overseas, and she has been lauded for her high basketball IQ and player management skills.

However, plenty of qualified candidates get overlooked for NBA coaching jobs each year. There are assistants who have worked in the league for longer than Hammon and with better coaching pedigree than Hammon who haven't gotten their shot yet. In fact, unless you were a well-known NBA player (Jason Kidd, Derek Fisher, Doc Rivers, etc.) or a stellar college coach (Brad Stevens, Billy Donovan, Fred Hoiberg, etc.), it is difficult to get a head coaching job right away without first “paying your dues.”

This is not to say that Hammon won't get a head coaching job or that

she shouldn’t. However, if she goes another year without filling one of the few NBA head coaching vacancies, it is because teams are stupid, not simply because they are sexist.

Their stupidity lies in the fact that Greg Popovich thinks she is ready, right now, to be a great NBA coach.

And the coaching family tree of Popovich is damn impressive.

In fact, of the sixteen teams to make the NBA playoffs this year, six of them are coached by a former Popovich player or assistant. When this is the case, it is hard to understand why a team like the New York Knicks (who have been a laughing stock in the league for the last decade or so) would not at least pick up the phone and give Hammon a call.

While it is unfair to use Hammon's job status to measure the relative level of gender equity in the NBA, it is accurate to say that Hammon’s role as the only female assistant in the league is evidence of a larger system of male culture at play.

Despite an ever-broadening base of female fans, players and coaches, the NBA still seems contented to cycle through the same type of people (male former players) or in some cases, the same exact people (Mike Brown has been an NBA head coach on three separate occasions) when it comes to filling even the most mundane staff and management vacancies.

Further amplifying this gender gap are the recent reports from the

Dallas Mavericks, where it has been alleged that the team (led by Owner/ President Mark Cuban) fostered a front office “locker room culture” in which female employees felt threatened, pressured and even harassed.

No one likes the idea of hiring someone just to make a point — this kind of tokenism is offensive to all parties involved. However, is it really tokenism when one candidate is just as qualified as the others? There will always be reasons that teams can make up not to want to hire a person (see Colin Kaepernick), so maybe public pressure can sway an owner to bring Hammon in.

Once there, she will have to prove herself — more so, unfortunately, than any of her male colleagues.

Check out what Grinnellians are rocking at the gym

No two Grinnellians' outfits are the same. But what kinds of fashion choices are students making when they go to the gym? The S&B sent writer Lily Dawson and photographer Sarah Ruiz to the Bear to scope out what goes into people's decision to put on clothes for the gym.

Why are you wearing what you’re wearing today?

Honestly this shirt is not mine. I, like, changed houses in the middle of the year because mine froze and this was, like, his or something, and I’m out of laundry.

Your house froze?

Like our pipes froze because this kid turned [off] the heat, so then we all had to move out, so I ended up moving next door to a different High Street house.

So then you just got that shirt?

Yeah, it was his so like…

Is [the BEAR] a fashion environment?

I do not think so no. These are not the questions I expected.

Russ Haight ’18

Do you have a statement that you want to make with your outfit?

I think it represents me as an individual and my identity to some extent and, yeah, kind of my passion for like working out and just being active.

Do you wear gym clothes to the outside world?

Never ever.

Do you wear indications that you do go to the gym in the outside world?

Not intentionally.

So you’re projecting “gym” to the other people in this gym?

Yes, exactly.

Jonathan Dowell ’18

Why that animal on your shirt?

It was a track shirt, and our team mascot is the weasels, so I think this is from my first year. So it’s a weasel holding a javelin and going over a steeple barrier.

Cara Bresnahan ’19

Sports

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Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu

Track teams host Dick Young Invitational, first-years shine in distance events and mixed-gender relays steal the show

By Quan Tran tranminh2@grinnell.edu Last weekend, Grinnell hosted the Dick Young Invitational at the Darren Young track and field complex. The event, named after a former Pioneer men’s track coach in the late ’50s and early ’60s, has been Grinnell’s only annual outdoor competition since 1999.

This year, Grinnell hosted six teams from Iowa and four from Minnesota.

Despite not finishing with the most points, the Pioneers still put up impressive individual numbers on both the men’s and women’s side, especially from the freshman class.

Finishing fifth in the overall team results, the men’s team produced big performances in middle distance events. Rookie Declan O’Reilly ’21 finished second in the 800-meter race at 2:02.25, followed by Joel Baumann ’18 and Kevin Anderson ’18.

O’Reilly admitted that he wouldn’t have been surprised had he dropped out of the event that day due to a cold he caught just hours before the event.

“I woke up that morning and didn’t think that I’d be able to run because I had a really bad cough,” he said. “By the time the meet came around, I was

feeling better so I thought I’d give it a run. I thought I’d end up giving out at 600 in, but I was actually in the lead at 600 in.”

In the 1500 meter run, Matt Lieberman ’21 finished second in 4:11.09.

Being so far along in his training progression this season, Lieberman came to see his hard work come into fruition.

“I ran pretty well compared to my other races this year. Coach had me take an easier week so I felt pretty good and was able to run better than I had previously,” Lieberman said.

On the women’s side, the 1500 also resulted in personal bests. Mikayla Fujiwara ’20 came in second place at 4:54.37, just besting her teammates Allison Cottrell ’21 and Emma Zimmerman ’18. That performance now places Fujiwara tenth in program history, and it is also her personal record.

Like O’Reilley, Fujiwara came in the race without many expectations.

The sophomore sprained her ankle two weeks ago and didn’t think she could make it in time to run at the Invitational. When she was finally given the green light by her coaches, Fujiwara stayed collected with a simple strategy.

“I honestly wasn’t expecting much. My strategy was just to hold

on with everybody else and see how things go. I think [I did well] because I’m naturally just a little better at shorter events,” Fujiwara said.

What is more impressive is that it was the first time she had done a 1500-event. Evelyn Freeman, head women’s track and field coach, described Fujiwara as a very “versatile” athlete. She also placed second in the 5000 meter run at the indoor conference meet and is going to run her first 3000 steeplechase this weekend.

Finally, continuing her series of record-breaking performances, Agne Lukoseviciute ’21 took third in the hammer with a toss of 141-8 and sixth in the shot put at 33-1 ¼. Her record, as of now, is second in program history.

With that performance, Lukoseviciute is currently the number one thrower in the conference, and it seems only a matter of time before she breaks the school record. Her progress in the hammer this season has been phenomenal, considering she’s only picked it up a couple of months ago.

“The Emory Classic was a nice [start] to getting a feel of the hammer throw and having a mark to build upon. [Assistant] Coach Pederson has been very helpful in the past couple of

Athletics and admissions explain the policy on recruiting student-athletes

By Emma Friedlander friedlan@grinnell.edu For most prospective students, the process of applying to college begins in the fall of their senior year when they start their applications. For prospective student-athletes, however, the process can begin as early as January of their junior year when the Midwest Conference permits college coaches to begin recruitment. Over the last few years, the Grinnell College athletic department and admissions office have worked in tandem to take advantage of this earlier recruiting calendar, developing a system wherein coaches begin conversations with potential athletes much earlier.

Of all Grinnell students who placed a deposit to attend the College last year, 20 percent were recruited student-athletes. Because of this significant ratio, the athletic department and admissions office ensure that they work closely, even placing an athletics department liaison in the office of admission.

“There’s a lot of communication occurring in the recruitment process much earlier than it used to be,” said Andy Hamilton, director of athletics.

“We find student athletes who are interested in us, or we try to get interested in us, before they’re out of their junior year. One of the byproducts is that they want to know if they’re admissible. … So there’s a lot of interaction between prospective students and the admissions office much earlier.”

Recruiting rules for Pioneer athletics are regulated by the athletic department, the Midwest Conference and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). These rules regulate when college coaches can begin talking to student athletes, where they are allowed to recruit and how they can communicate with potential recruits. Up until 2011, the Midwest Conference mandated that coaches could not begin to talk to student athletes until the end of their junior year of high school. After 2011, however, the conference permitted coaches to begin recruiting students in January of their junior year. As a result, Grinnell coaches have begun recruiting earlier, giving them a competitive advantage over peer institutions. This early recruiting is coordinated with the office of admission.

“When I arrived at Grinnell in 2012, the athletic directors here explained that Grinnell was at a disad-

vantage in the process of recruiting student athletes. Specifically, the timing of our admission process was later than our competitors and often resulted in the most qualified and talented student athletes committing to other institutions before receiving an offer of admission from Grinnell,” explained Joe Bagnoli, director of admission.

The recruiting process varies from sport to sport. Besides Midwest Conference, NCAA and institutional rules, there is no standardization to the Pioneer recruiting process. Recruiting tends to be more intensive for team sports such as football, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, etc., as it is more difficult to attract those athletes to Grinnell. According to Hamilton, this is due to “the national social scene of team sports being publicized,” at other, more athletically-focused colleges. For certain sports, coaches must work with the office of admission to ensure that certain key players are recruited.

“Every year, we’re trying to matriculate somewhere between 15 to 20 student athletes who project football in their future. For women’s tennis, we need two student athletes who are line-up caliber players. For swimming, it’s between six or eight for each gender, so that’s 12 or 16 total,” Hamilton explained.

Regardless of the sport, though, athlete recruiting involves a great deal of communication between coach and athlete. According to Hamilton, this takes the form of phone calls throughout the recruiting process, usually once a month but sometimes once a week. This regular communication allows the coach and prospective student to build a relationship, to see where they are in the admission process and ensure that the student is maintaining an academic standard.

The focus on academic as well as athletic excellence is key to Pioneer admissions. The office of admission stresses that prospective athletes will only be admitted to Grinnell if they demonstrate that they are highly qualified outside of their athletic achievements. To that end, although the athletic and admissions departments maintain close communication, final admission decisions are made exclusively by the admission committee.

“At some institutions, coaches have more autonomy and influence over the admission process. The admission committee at Grinnell —

comprised of professional admission officers — makes all final admission decisions,” Bagnoli said. “Our admission committee works collaboratively with the coaching staff and others around campus in order to assess interest in specific prospective students.

When arriving at admission decisions, our committee takes those interests into account.”

In the athletic department, those interests take the form of an athletic referral. Once a prospective student athlete makes an application to the College, a coach will inform the admission department about that student’s qualifications. According to Hamilton, this information includes athletic qualifications, academic success and how the student might fit the current needs of a sports team.

“Let’s say we’re recruiting a women’s basketball player who’s a six-foot center, and we don’t have a six-foot center. So that commentary to the admissions office is, this person plays a position where we have total need. Where that goes in the admissions office, we don’t know,” Hamilton explained. “There’s a good enough relationship that the admissions office will reach back and ask questions like, ‘Andy, what did you mean by we don’t have anybody in that position?’”

While the collaboration between athletics and admissions is useful for coaches attempting to recruit star players, it also helps admissions to ensure that they are the best qualified athletes possible. In previous years, according to Bagnoli, Grinnell was losing many highly-qualified athletes because they had already built loyalty to other schools who pursued them earlier.

Along with the Midwest Conference pushing the recruiting calendar back, the office of admissions has also began communicating earlier among students, coaches and themselves in order to determine whether a student might be admissible to Grinnell at an earlier stage.

“Admission to Grinnell was also becoming increasingly competitive for everyone, which made the chances of success more difficult for everyone,” Bagnoli said. “In 2011, the rate at which we offered admission to applicants was 45 percent. It has fallen in 2018 to 25 percent. It was clear that, in order for Grinnell to compete for the most qualified and talented student athletes, we would need to develop a different recruitment and admission strategy.”

This updated, more year-round collaborative system appears to have positive results for the relationship between athletics and admissions as well.

“The admission relationship with the athletic department right now is as good as I’ve ever seen it at the 35 years that I’ve been at Grinnell,” Hamilton said. “We have a good system worked out for communication and it’s pretty rare for someone to not be admitted and our coach to be surprised about it.”

CONTRIBUTED

Brad Geiman ’21 jumps feet first into the long jump pit on Saturday. weeks to make this happen. And as a result, we saw the big personal record on Saturday,” Lukoseviciute wrote in an email to The S&B. Because both teams have been traveling a lot lately to make up for schedule changes, they reveled in get-

ting to compete in their comfort zone and in front of a supportive community. Now, they are eyeing the conference meet.

“The end goal is always the conference. It is definitely the icing on the cake,” Freeman said.

Grinnell softball's historic season

By Will Telingator telingat@grinnell.edu The 2018 Grinnell College softball team has been shattering records and blowing out opponents all season in their journey to the top of the Midwest Conference. The team currently boasts an overall record of 21-8, along with an impressive conference record of 10-4.

The ten conference wins are the most ever in program history. In order to claim the College’s single-season wins record, the team must close out the season with victories in three of its last four games.

The softball team has been so dominant this season in large part due to their juggernaut offense. In fact, their offensive performance has been so exceptional that it has propelled the 2018 squad towards the top of Grinnell’s record books. This year’s team now ranks first in program history in several key offensive categories, including batting average, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and home runs.

The 2018 softball season is even more remarkable considering their past struggles. The team’s last winning season was in 2006, and wins have been hard to come by since then.

Needless to say, the team’s absolute dominance this season marks an incredible turnaround within the softball program.

Fourth-year pitcher Maggie Remus ’18 notes that the addition of several first-year players combined with strong returning leadership has been instrumental in the team’s success this season. In an email to The S&B, Remus wrote, “What has been a big game changer this season is the addition of our [seven] first-years.

They have been a force to be reckoned with. Also, our returning players made it a huge priority to continue to work hard in the off season, so that we could really shake things up this

year.”

One first-year player in particular has already made her presence felt in the Midwest Conference, as Darice Wheeler ’21 has been outstanding both on the mound and behind the plate. Wheeler is already Grinnell’s all-time career leader in home runs and has set records for RBIs and total bases in her first season of college softball. Undeniably, her dominance on the field is a major factor behind the team’s turnaround this season.

In addition to standout individual performances, head coach Amanda Reckamp believes that team cohesion and commitment have been the foundation of the team’s success this season. In an email to The S&B, Reckamp wrote, “One big key factor to our team’s success is that everyone has bought in and we have all 18 players contributing, whether it is starters or playing off the bench. … We have a lot of talent on this team, but our talent is also working incredibly hard to reach the goals we want to meet.”

The most important of these goals, according to Reckamp, is to continue to take the season one game at a time.

“We can’t be concerned about the end goal until we take care of today.

We know where the trajectory of our season is taking us and we are working hard every day to put our best effort on the field every game,” Reckamp said.

Fourth-year Kayla Morrissey ’18 has played a critical role in the turnaround of the softball program, too.

“The adversity that we faced in my first few years on the team definitely helped build us into the players we are now,” Morrissey wrote in an email to The S&B. “As a team, our roster size, talent level, and work ethic have definitely increased. Thanks to the coaching staff, leaders from previous teams, and great talent and work ethic, Grinnell College softball is now a force to be reckoned with.”

CONTRIBUTED

The Pioneer women's softball team has reached unprecedented heights this season. The addition of some impressive first-year players combined with experienced leadership has produced a record number of wins.

Edited by mikekben@grinnell.edu

By Chloe Wray wraychlo@grinnell.edu

Community

5

City considers changes to recycling program

Recently, residents of Grinnell have been instructed to leave glass out of their recycling bins. According to Russ Behrens, city manager, glass has proven hard on equipment and workers and devalues single-stream, or co-mingled, recycling, in which all recyclable materials are handled together, instead of being sorted by the depositor.

This switch is just the first of what Behrens predicts will be several changes to the recycling system. In March, the City of Grinnell’s contract with Recycle Midwest, a recycling company in Oskaloosa, IA, was terminated. This prompted the City to evaluate possible alternative companies for the handling of recyclable materials.

Behrens cited Grinnell’s location as the main reason for the end of business with Recycle Midwest. Since Grinnell is located at least an hour away from most recycling companies, transporting recycling out of Grinnell is expensive.

“They’re taking less and less of our recycled materials, which lowers the value of it, which increases our cost to get rid of it,” Behrens said.

Originally, the City of Grinnell was paying Recycle Midwest $15 a ton to take their recycling. Republic Services, a company with a branch in Cedar Rapids, agreed to take on Grinnell’s recycling, at the cost of $83 a ton. In comparison, it costs the City $62.50 to dispose of a ton of garbage at the landfill.

Although residents can no longer place glass in their recycling, they still have the option to bring glass to Grinnell’s Public Service building, located at 1411 1st Avenue. From there, Republic Services collects the glass

for free once the city has accumulated about 26 tons. Republic Services will also pay the City $60 a ton for sorted corrugated cardboard, for which there is a market.

With regards to Grinnell College, the City was previously removing their recycling free of charge. With the end of the contract with Recycle Midwest, however, the City of Grinnell informed Grinnell College that they would be unable to take their recycling. This resulted in the College throwing away all trash and recycling for about two weeks as they sought a new company to take their recycling. This process was ended when the City signed its new contract with Republic Services, allowing the College to recycle once again, but at the higher cost of $160 a ton.

Chris Bair, environmental and safety coordinator at the College,

thinks that this price is comparable to what the College would pay if they contracted with a recycling company on their own. Bair estimates that over the course of the year the College will be paying about $20,000 to the city for about two and a half tons of recycling per week.

In addition to the cost of transporting the recycling to centers where it can be processed, Bair suggested recent tariffs set by the United States and China have influenced the abilities of recycling companies to find a market for their materials.

According to an April 8 report published by CNN, the United States Department of Commerce recommended and President Trump signed several tariffs which took effect March 23. Among them was a 25 percent tax on imported steel and a 10 percent tax on imported aluminum. In response,

Music in the park returns

on April 1 China announced tariffs on 128 products from the United States, including a 25 percent tax on imported recycled aluminum. China has also announced an additional ban on many post-industrial recycled materials.

Despite these tariffs, Bair still sees aluminum as a candidate for sustainable recycling, as a market for it still exists. He encourages students to consider aluminum over glass when possible, especially as the College has not been sorting glass separately from its recycling, and instead asking students to throw it away. The College will be updating recycling signs this week to reflect the fact that glass can no longer be recycled.

With the cost of transport recyclables from municipalities to processing centers, and costs to ship the materials to plants that can transform them into new products, whether that be in China

Bucket course delves into wind tunnels and aeronautics

By Alice Herman hermanal17@grinnell.edu

CONTRIBUTED

Music in the Park will bring a variety of local and outside musical groups to Grinnell's Central Park.

By Seth Taylor taylorse@grinnell.edu After roaming from location to location the last few years, Grinnell’s annual summer music celebration, Music in the Park, is returning to Central Park.

Music in the Park has been a Grinnell tradition since 2009, when the city started the series of events as a compliment to each Thursday’s Farmer’s Market, providing a space for local artists to perform and local audiences to listen to music in the sun.

When construction began in Central Park two years ago, the event was forced to relocate to other Grinnell landmarks, like Ahrens Park, the Grinnell College campus and the steps of the Grinnell Area Arts Council, but it never was quite the same. This year will be a homecoming of sorts, with performers and audience members able to enjoy the new and improved facilities in Central Park.

Twelve musical groups will be featured this summer, ranging from local favorites like Mojo Machine, which has been performing in and around Grinnell since the ’90s, to nationally recognized groups like Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen, a polka group led by Becky Livermore who performs, fittingly, without shoes.

Local groups The Too Many Strings Band, Calle Sur, Prairie Jewel Dixieland Band and Grinnell’s own award-winning bagpipe and drum ensemble Turlach Ur will also perform.

Other outside groups include the Society of Broken Souls, The Pines, Courtney Krause, Christopher the Conquered and Grinnell alumna Jackie Myers.

The Grinnell Community Band, founded in 1856 and a staple of many celebrations in Grinnell, will again headline four of the planned performances.

The Grinnell Area Arts Council organizes the series, and Erik Jarvis ’12, who organizes events and handles facilities upkeep at the Arts Council, was in charge of organizing Music in the Park again this year.

Jarvis begins planning the event in early January. He uses his experience as a musician in Iowa and as a Grinnell resident to reach out to groups who may be interested in performing, and who Grinnellians would like to hear.

He also arranges funding with Music in the Park’s many sponsors, including the Hotel and Motel Tax Committee, Hotel Grinnell, Sarah Joan Baker, Grinnell College, Brent and Dawn Jaeger, Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company, Ramsey Weeks, Peace Tree Brewing and Lonnski’s Pub and Deli.

According to Jarvis, losing Central Park as a performance space posed several issues. Without Central Park, there was no centralized location for performances to be held. Locations like Ahrens Park are too far removed and lack the proper facilities. In addition, Music in the Park was disassociated from the Farmer’s Market, the weekly event with which it was originally paired. Jarvis predicts that this year more people will consistently attend the performances, and that mingling between the musical crowd and the Farmer’s Market crowd will become more pronounced.

In addition to the change of venue, Music in the Park will have a shorter season this year. That made scheduling more difficult for Jarvis, but the con-

densed schedule may also encourage more people to come out when they have the chance.

Jarvis himself is especially excited for The Pines, a band of three being brought in by Hotel Grinnell. The Pines have played in Grinnell before, quickly selling out, and Jarvis hopes a free event like Music in the Park with all the space the outdoors can provide will give many more the chance to see this popular band.

The first Music in the Park event will take place on May 31, after Grinnell classes have ended for the semester, and the last will take place in July, well before most students return for the fall semester. However, Jarvis encourages any students taking part in MAPs, or those in Grinnell for other reasons, to check it out.

In addition, Jarvis hopes he can book more student performers for Grinnell Area Arts Council events during the summer or during the school year, and he encourages any students who may be interested to reach out.

No matter who is playing, performances start at 5:30 or 7 p.m., and audience members will gather around the park, perhaps, according to Jarvis, perusing the produce available at the Farmer’s Market, and settling in for a night of music and community.

“People bring picnics and lawn chairs and blankets, and depending on the band people will dance. … There’s been food in the past. So it’s just really nice summer outdoor music,” Jarvis said.

Music in the Park kicks off with Jackie Myers on May 31, with new artists almost every Thursday until July 26, all performing in Grinnell’s Central Park.

or within the United States, companies handling recyclables as commodities are faced with an ever-shifting market.

Based on the current solid waste environment, Behrens considers the increasing cost of removing recyclables to be unsustainable in the long run.

Currently, the City relies on a monthly fee of $12.60 from all residents of the city, in addition to $1.39 (including tax) per trash bag, while recycling is free. According to the City of Grinnell’s website, they provide each resident with a free red recycling bin, each additional bin costing $9.

Possible solutions include charging based on the size or number of recycling bins residents use, or switching to a self-sorting system wherein residents would transport their own recyclables to the Public Service building and sort them. Once sorted, the recycled materials have a higher value. Behrens speculated, however, that this solution would result in an increase in trash collected by the City.

“I think that one of the things cardboard has done, it’s kind of this panacea that people think ‘I can consume something as long as I recycle it,’” Behrens said. With about 66 tons of co-mingled recycling being produced each week in Grinnell, the cost of fuel to transport the recycling to processing plants and the energy required to transform the recycled materials into another product must be considered.

As Behrens sees it, even if Grinnell found a more cost-effective way to remove their recycling, the problem still would not be solved. “Just because you’re recycling, doesn’t mean you’re a responsible consumer,” Behrens said.

“We’re really going to make a push, and we’ve started to do this already, the only real way we can fix the system is to reduce what we’re consuming.”

Ben Guenther, who has designed “aircraft and space models” for the NASA Langley Research Center, spoke to a full house at the Drake Community Library on Wednesday, April 25. In his talk, entitled “NACA-NASA Wind Tunnels at Langley Research Center,” Guenther explored the history of wind tunnels in flight tests since the inception of the United States’ National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) in 1915.

Wind tunnels, cavernous concrete channels occupied by floor-toceiling mechanical fans, have served as the testing site for air and space machines from the Wright brothers’ earliest gliders to rockets developed for the space race of the later 20th century.

The first wind tunnel for flight testing, called a “whirling arm,” was developed in the early 18th century

by Benjamin Robins, a British mathematician.

However, as Guenther wrote in an informational pamphlet distributed at the talk, “it was clear that these whirling arms devices created excessive turbulence that interfered with accurate testing. The result was the development of the wind tunnel, a device in which air could be moved past a stationary model under relatively controlled conditions.”

During the presentation, Guenther elaborated on the military and technological significance of the development of wind tunnels; the flight testing technique was critical for “aeronautical development” during World War I and was employed by “England, France, Germany, Italy, and Russia — but not in America.”

In response to the United States’ relative slowness in adopting the newest technique for flight testing, and “[a] fter several years of bureaucratic in-fighting,” Congress agreed to fund NACA. After the high demand for testing of military aircraft during WWI, NACA witnessed the expansion of its flight testing program and eventually transformed into NASA as military technological development was adapted to the Cold War period.

According to the NASA website, “Concerns over potential Soviet domination of space transformed the NACA into the National Aeronautics and Space Administration: NASA. As a moon landing became America's Space Race goal, Langley tackled the many challenges of spaceflight, train

astronauts, managed Project Mercury, and assumed major roles in both the Gemini and Apollo programs.”

Despite the name change, the Langley Research Center remained critical to the development of rockets and served as the training site for astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, the first person to set foot on the moon.

Guenther’s lecture, part of a series of Bucket Course Talks held by Grinnell’s Community Education Council, highlighted not only the impressive launch of the U.S. space program but the career of Guenther himself. After graduating from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute with a Bachelor’s in History, Guenther dedicated himself not to the study of history, but the making of it: in addition to work on-site at wind tunnel flight tests, according to the Our Grinnell webpage, “he fabricated aircraft and space models used in several different wind tunnels, as well as models presented before Congressional Committees.”

Guenther’s love of history was apparent during the talk on Wednesday as he explained the trajectory of the Langley Research Center, drawing claps, laughs, and gasps from the audience as he detailed the drama of flight. The talk, which was free and open to the public, will be followed by a second one in which Guenther will delve deeper into the more recent use of wind tunnels for rockets intended for outer space. A video recording of his first lecture can be found online at http://www.grinnellcecbucketcourses.org/ and the next lecture will be held on Wednesday, May 2.

SARINA LINCOLN

The Bucket Course took place at Drake Community Library.

6

Day in the Life: Professor Steve Andrews

4:15 a.m.—I wake up before alarm, yet wake up with alarm. A disturbing dream. Why now? I have a nagging feeling of if, to misquote someone really important.

4:30 a.m.—First cup of coffee. Click on TV. World seems not to have budged much for all its breaking news. What do I really want the news to say? If I could get the news to say what I want it to say, wouldn’t that just be fake news?

I would prefer to think of it as my lucky day.

5 a.m.—ablutions. A favorite word of a former colleague, which I now render down to hot water and soap.

Ablute.

5:30 a.m.—Second cup of coffee.

Check email, forget to check calendar.

6 a.m.—Sheree’s already downtown working out. Good grief! But actually I envy her. Can’t muster the willpower that early. So “workout” looms over me all day.

6:05 a.m.—…and another thing about that dream was not specific detail so much or the feeling — but a looming, too.

6:15 a.m.—I Walk to Work.

6:30 a.m.—Start grading papers.

No, go make another cup of coffee.

Grade papers after all.

8:30 a.m.—Beautiful spring morning. Head to Grinnell House to pick up job candidate.

8:50 a.m.—I’ve waited long enough.

I’m getting antsy. We are in danger of being late for the first interview session. I ask Grinnell House attendant to notify _______________ that someone from the English Department is here to pick them up.

After flurry of phone calls, am reminded that the candidate will be here next week.

9 a.m.—All dressed up: My Outlook, My Life. Beautiful spring morning. Head back to Mears.

10 a.m.—Meet with a committee to go over list of candidates and nominate student for fellowship. We nominate and we do some planning and we feel good about it.

11 a.m.—Back to Mears. Grade papers.

11:50 a.m.—… and just like that it

hits me. Of course!

12 p.m.—Another committee meeting. I say hi to two of my fellows from the previous meeting. This meeting comes with a Jimmy John’s BLT. Forgot to order soda. Damn!

We discuss survey questions, meeting space and wording of invitation to an open-session to discuss issues, concerns and suggestions. I leave a little early…

1 p.m.—… in order to represent department at department fair for prospective students and parents. Chat with several students, likely English majors, who say they are coming to Grinnell.

2 p.m.—Back to Mears to grade papers.

3:15 p.m.—Visit colleague, read about and discuss Teddy Roosevelt.

In his North Dakota days, other cowboys called him “Old Four Eyes.” I learned that when I was a kid, from a performance in Theodore Roosevelt National Park. Sheree and I camped there when we were just getting to know each other. That was, like, 30 years ago.

4:15 p.m.—Off to Peace Tree to visit an alum from ’00 — my first year of teaching here.

When you put it that way, “of course” dissolves into a vague uneasiness, in spite of the signs posted otherwise.

4:30 p.m.—Alum reunion. Red Rambler Ale. We discuss Charles Olson, hip-hop and social justice.

Alum knows his way around all three. I listen in stunned amazement.

6:25 p.m.—Say goodbye to Alum at JRC and walk back to Mears, buoyed by a gift of two vinyl albums of his most recent work. Now to find a turntable.

8:10 p.m.—Sheree’s home. There is no one else that I would rather see.

11:45 p.m.—I’m thinking of going to sleep. As you can see, I’ve skipped a couple of hours, parts of which involved popcorn, cable and cleaning up cat puke. Iowa, the cat, is old.

She’s earned the right.

Lights out, and I’m feeling again the bite of dimwittedness retrospectively trying to transform into wisdom.

That dream again.

Features

Edited by weberama@grinnell.edu

(Nerf) zombie apocalypse comes to Grinnell

By Lily Dawson dawsonli@grinnell.edu Before they get their Monday morning coffee, some Grinnell College students could be mistaken for zombies. This Sunday, however, a hoard of (somewhat) real zombies will descend on campus. At that time, the student group Nerf @ Noyce will be hosting a week-long, campus-wide game of Humans vs. Zombies.

Organizer Jonathan Sadun ’20 described it as “essentially a giant game of tag where the humans go about their week trying to not be tagged by zombies.” Almost all players begin as humans, except for a randomly chosen few who are assigned as original zombies. These original zombies tag humans, who then leave the game for 30 minutes and reenter as zombies. However, the humans in the game have a way to fight back — they are equipped with Nerf blasters and sock balls, which they use to hit zombies.

"The idea of doing humans vs. zombies games in Nerf style is something that happens all across the country."

Jonathan Sadun '20 When hit by a Nerf dart or a sock ball, the zombies are stunned for ten minutes. Players are identified by bandanas worn on the arm for humans or on the head or neck for zombies. For the humans to win, at least one human must finish the final mission. If not, the zombies win. The event promises a week of fun and entertainment for all. And the winners’ reward?

“Nothing?” was Sadun’s answer.

“Fun, you get fun.”

The game is campus-wide, but some areas are off-limits. These areas, according to Sadun, are “various locations that we've determined are dangerous or problematic in some way to play in,” including but not limited to, classrooms, health services and bathrooms. These are

SARINA LINCOLN

Nerf @ Noyce will be hosting a campus-wide Humans vs. Zombies game. considered no-play zones, and are completely removed from the game.

Similar to these areas, safe zones also exist, where players cannot be tagged nor shot, but the game is still in play.

To keep things interesting, organizers have also scheduled daily missions along with regular gameplay, which take a few hours at most.

Moderators of the game will play characters, who the players in the mission must protect, escort or kill.

These missions are not mandatory, but offer rewards and advantages if players complete them.

Humans vs. Zombies began at Goucher College in 2005 and is now played across the world, at “schools, camps, neighborhoods, libraries and conventions,” according to the game’s website. Organizers use the HvZ Source software to register players and track the progress of the game. Players are assigned an ID number from the website, which they print out and carry on them. If tagged, the human will hand over their ID card to the zombie who tagged them, who will then enter in the ID number into the website, which marks that person as a zombie.

The event, which will run from Sunday, April 29 to Saturday, May 5, has a six year history at Grinnell College.

“The idea of doing humans vs. zombies games in Nerf style is something that happens all across the country,” Sadun said, though the organizers don’t “coordinate in particular with any other groups.”

The organizers are hoping the event runs smoothly. In particular, they hope to improve on the experience of previous years by making the process more efficient and inclusive.

"Compared to previous years, we're hoping to get things started faster... and make sure that we have better mechanisms to see who's playing so that no one gets accidentally left out."

Jonathan Sadun '20 “Compared to previous years, we’re hoping to get things started faster, get missions more organized [so] that people can essentially get started more easily and make sure that we have better mechanisms to see who's playing so that no one gets accidentally left out,” Sadun said.

Those interested in playing should visit http://www.hvzsource. com/grinnell/ to sign up, or email [nerf] for more information.

"From Beethoven to Buzzfeed, from Hawkeye to Holst, this is 1021"

By Amanda Weber weberama@grinnell.edu Upon walking into 1021 High Street, one is greeted by an abundance of living space decorated with an eccentric set of décor and furniture. The space is also permeated by a sense of comfort and community, which makes a good deal more sense after having the opportunity to speak with the residents.

The unique decorations, designed almost entirely by Austin Wadle ’18 as a result of a lack of furniture and décor left behind by previous residents, reflect well the character of the house and its residents. Emma Friedlander, Katie Parrish, Charlie Rosenblum and Austin Wadle, all ’18, are 1021’s tenants.

Outside of being housemates, they are all also close friends.

"We found this perfect four-person house. It was serendipity."

Emma Friedlander '18 The four met in their first year, during which they all lived in Norris Hall.

“Through that at-times trying experience, we banded together so we’ve all been friends since then,” Friedlander said.

When they all decided last year to live off-campus, it was hardly a stretch that they make the move all together — and they definitely don’t seem to regret it. Not only do they see the situation as the opportunity to live with their best friends, but they also love the house.

“We found this perfect four-person house. It was serendipity,” Friedlander said.

“A match made in heaven,” Rosenblum agreed.

“Emma actually found the house — we snapped it up a little bit late.

It was like the last house on High Street to be leased by anyone,” Par-

MAHIRA FARAN

Clockwise, from left: Katie Parrish, Austin Wadle, Emma Friedlander, and Charlie Rosenblum, all ’18, reflect on their time as residents of 1021 High Street. rish said. “[But] we came and saw the house and we loved it.”

The house’s layout in particular is a popularly admired feature of the house.

“The layout of the house is incredible,” Wadle said.

“Primo,” Parrish agreed, with enthusiasm.

“We really like throwing parties here because, like Austin said, the layout is perfect for it. We call that front room ‘the ballroom’ because we only use it to dance,” Friedlander noted.

It works well that the house is set up perfectly for social events, because the residents of 1021 do enjoy throwing a good party. In fact, according to Friedlander, the housemates have by this point even set up a regimen for their parties.

“We have a playlist,” Friedlander explained. “To signal that [the party] is coming to a close … we’ll play ‘Green Light’ by Lorde, and then we play ‘Piano Man’ by Billy

Joel and that’s your signal to get the fuck out.”

"The party really doesn't end until 'Piano Man' ends because people stick around and sing, and we've had great times where people have stuck around and stood on the front ledge singing 'Piano Man.'" Katie Parrish '18 “The party really doesn’t end until ‘Piano Man’ ends, because people stick around and sing. We’ve had great times where people have stuck around and stood on the front ledge singing ‘Piano Man,’” Parrish added.

This sense of closeness and companionship manifests itself not only in large parties, but also amongst just the four housemates themselves.

They make a point to spend time together and support one another.

“We all have very different schedules … but I think at the end of the day we all come together at night, we all try to make time for each other and hang out at least for like an hour or two,” Rosenblum said.

“Yeah, we watch stuff on the projector,” Friedlander added.

The aforementioned projector is clearly a fixture of the house. A great venue for the housemates to spend time together and watch everything from Buzzfeed videos to opera to History Channel documentaries, the projector is a source of pride and community.

“Katie and I have a bit now. [I say] in an NPR voice, ‘From Beethoven to Buzzfeed, Hawkeye to Holst, this is 1021,’” Wadle exclaimed.

As close as the housemates are, they also have the advantage of being very different people with very different interests. All four are double majors, and with so many dif-

ferent topics on the table, they have plenty of opportunities to learn new things and share information about subjects and activities in which they themselves are not personally involved.

Perhaps more importantly, it also gives them a space to decompress and distance from the topics to which they are constantly exposed.

“You get to do all of your classes, do your extracurriculars, do your jobs and then come back to this house and decompress and just be with your friends without having to have those things on your mind,” Friedlander said. “We also have stupid conversations.”

“It’ll go from Katie and I being really obnoxious about chemistry … [to talking] about the latest pop culture trend,” Wadle added. In particular, they cited gay pop culture icons as a popular topic of conversation and very significant influences in their lives.

"We can all say anything to each other about anything … and it's all very exciting and fun and supportive and I can always count on them."

Katie Parrish '18 “We can all say anything to each other about anything, and we all care about the things that each other care about. Then we get to go to all each other’s activities and events and performances and presentations. It’s all very exciting and fun and supportive and I can always count on them,” Parrish said.

When asked what their favorite part of living in 1021 is, the unanimous answer was put perfectly by Friedlander, and greeted by plenty of murmurs of agreement.

“Living with my best friends,” she said.

—Editor's Note: Emma Friedlander is the Editor-in-Chief of The S&B.

Arts

Edited by suetamay@grinnell.edu

7

Amaris Bates

By Ahon Gooptu gooptuah@grinnell.edu

Amaris Bates ’18 chanced upon the stage in sixth grade, when she got cast as Maid Marian in a “traveling, put-on-a-show-in-one-week production” of “Robin Hood.”

“I came in here knowing that I really liked English and theatre … but I was really open to exploring,” she said.

After taking Intro to Shakespeare and Intro to Acting in her first two semesters of college, she knew that she wanted to pursue more courses in those disciplines.

“I think [in] my senior year [of high school] I felt really restricted by studio dance and in those dance classes I didn’t really feel like I was learning what I wanted to and it was really conflicting with theatre and stuff I wanted to do, so I started resenting it.”

Having lived in Grinnell all her life, Bates found it relatively easy to adjust to college life. However, it was not without its changes, and she found a newfound freedom in when it came to dance.

“Coming here it was much more liberating, especially being able to take classes and then getting into choreography myself,” she said. “It rejuvenated that love for dance that I had growing up because I could see what I wanted to onstage and I was able to decide what was happening.”

Her first gig at choreography came to her by chance, while walking back from rehearsals of “The Tempest” with Jessica Daly ’18, who directed “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, Jessica, who’s choreographing Spelling Bee?’ and she was like ‘Oh, I don’t know. Do you want to?’… And I had never choreographed before but I had worked as the dance captain in my school musicals, so I sort of knew the gist of what was going on.”

Bates regards choreographing for student-directed musicals as a unique way of contributing to the creative process. Even though she loves musicals, she doesn’t consider herself the best singer, so “it was another way to be involved in musicals.”

Being an English and theatre and dance double major, Bates has had the opportunity to take a varied range of classes in the two departments. Even though she likes to focus on analysis rather than creative writing in English, she enjoys reading and analyzing plays and even wrote a one-act for her Craft of Fiction final in the fall.

“I think it’s pretty difficult to separate the both. … I think my biggest overlap … was Grinnell-in-London … and that was really amazing because of all the stuff that I had been reading about for years and getting to actually experience that. We watched a show a week for one of the classes there and went to the Globe and Stratford-upon-Avon. … It was also my first time leaving the country and my first time being away from Grinnell for an extended period of time.”

She recalled her return to Grinnell after her off campus study program as a “love-hate” dynamic. Being in London and watching all the shows made her realize how much art she had yet to create. Thus, she longed to be back in Grinnell and be involved in all the shows.

Writers@Grinnell: April Dobbins

By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu

On Tuesday, April 24, Grinnell alum and filmmaker April Dobbins ’99 came to campus as part of the Writers@Grinnell series to talk about being an independent filmmaker. She has co-directed the film “Cutter,” which was screened at multiple music festivals, including the Gary International Black Film Festival and the Baltimore International Black Film Festival. She also produced a short film called “Paradise.” The synopsis can be seen on her website: “Joe's obsession with death heightens when he learns of a strange ritual that repulses his wife.”

"...documentaries are about walking in the character's shoes."

April Dobbins She talked about a new project she is working on, titled “Alabamaland,” which chronicles the history of the land that her family lives on, where their ancestors worked as slaves, saying, “documentaries are about walking in the character’s shoes.” Her aim in creating the documentary started

with “making a time capsule” of her family, but through the creative process it grew into something more as she began to focus on the women in her life and place herself in the story.

She discussed the grueling nature of making documentaries independently, and how many people struggle with the idea that their documentaries may not make money.

She also discussed being a woman on movie sets, saying that many women shy away from being directors because they do not feel comfortable telling other people what to do.

She encouraged other women to assert themselves in the role. A student interested in film asked her about whether it was wise to go straight into film school immediately after Grinnell, or if they should try to get life experience first. Dobbins replied by saying that one does not necessarily need to go to film school if they get an entry-level job in the industry and work their way up, but to not to wait too long to go to graduate school, as “life will get in the way … you have the rest of your time to get life experiences.”

For Dobbins, creating movies is difficult, forcing her to spend all of her spare money on her projects and to continue promoting her projects even when it gets hard. However, for her it is a labor of love.

“After London, it really solidified my interest in theatre and made me want to keep going with that,” Bates said.

After coming back, she declared her theatre major, took Advanced Performance with Professor Craig Quintero, theatre and dance, and even traveled to Taiwan in the summer for a MAP. “After my third year, I got really into devised performances like sort of the work Professor Quintero does.

So being able to go to Taiwan and participate and collaborate in making that show was really important to me because it was unlike anything I had ever experienced before,” Bates said.

The Taiwan experience culminated in performances for one in a hotel between the hours of 1 and 6 a.m.

“It was such an intimate experience, I think, as an actor and for the audience as well,” Bates said. “And it was able to touch people in a way that I [didn’t] know anything I had done before could. … It made me really interested in the way that theatre can impact people and the way that theatre can be so personal.”

Currently awaiting responses from year-long theatre apprenticeships and residencies, Bates intends to “get her foot in the theatre world” through a position in arts management.

“I’m deciding this very late, but at this point I think I wish, maybe, I would have directed my own show. … That would have been very cool, whether that would have been a devised performance or probably would have incorporated my choreography and dance in some way,” she said.

Bates’s senior year has been busier than any other theatre major’s. Af-

ter performing in Quintero’s collaborative piece “The First Time I Walked on the Moon,” she choreographed for Daly’s musical, “Next to Normal,” stage-managed Dru Greenwood ’18’s “The Royale” and has been since involved in rehearsals for John Kim ’18’s “Theatre.EXE” that goes up in a couple of weeks. She has also been tasked with directing a staged reading of Nolan Boggess ’19’s play, which

won the McClenon Clark Playwriting Contest this year.

“It’s sort of been a year of exploring for me and figuring out that I really like theatre in all these different avenues. So I don’t know if I’ve had one pinnacle but it’s been such a big year of trying new things and deciding what I want and being involved in all of these separate communities,” Bates said.

REINA SHAHI

Amaris Bates ’18 has been heavily involved in theatre during her time at Grinnell.

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April Dobbins talked to students about her works and filmmaking.

8

milo performs rap at Gardner

By Mayo Sueta suetamay@grinnell.edu

Last Friday, April 20, Rory Ferreira, also known as milo, performed at Gardner Lounge. milo is a 24 year-old rapper currently based in Portland, Maine. He has also lived in Chicago, Los Angeles and Milwaukee, and has multiple alter egos, including Scallops Hotel, under which he released two of his albums.

According to a 2017 article from Rolling Stone, he has a significant online following, and “his projects, which he often releases as limited-edition cassette tapes via his Ruby Yacht imprint, regularly trade for hundreds of dollars online.”

He has released five albums: “A Toothpaste Suburb” in 2014, “Plain Speaking” and “So the Flies Don’t Come” in 2015, “Too Much of Life is Mood” in 2016 and “Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!” in 2017 — as well as multiple mixtapes, EPs and singles.

His albums have received positive ratings by Pitchfork and have gained him loyal fans. Pitchfork calls his debut album “refreshing,” and “So the Flies Don’t Come” is described as being “his most fascinating work to date, filling weird, side-winding productions that deflate and wheeze with tumbling lyricism delivered in near spoken word cadences.” In his latest album “Who Told You To Think??!!?!?!?!,” milo “crafts richly layered rap songs using outmoded tools like sample-based beats, dense wordplay and

unapologetically nerdy references.”

Luke Jarzyna ’18, Chair of Grinnell Concerts, was happy to see milo come to Grinnell and spent some time showing him around the town.

“I was so glad milo could make the show. … It was really special that he made the trip out to Iowa,” Jarzyna wrote in an email to The S&B. “We had some down time, so we played Mario Kart Double Dash at my house and then I took him to Peace Tree. It was fun to show him around town. He's also really good at Mario Kart.”

During the concert, milo took advantage of the closeness to the audience and interacted with the crowd through speech as well as music.

“In Gardner, there's not much distance between the performers and the concert attendees. It’s common for performers to interact with people at the concert when they feel so moved,” Jarzyna wrote. “milo didn't deliver a Kanye West level onstage rant. But, he just kept asking questions and talking in a slow monotone. It was funny, awkward and showed off his personality. I think Rory (milo) may have felt weird about playing a hip/hop show in a basement in rural Iowa, so maybe talking to people helped him ease into the space.”

Rapper Marco Saffold ’20 opened for Milo, and many students came out to support their peer. In addition to being a musician, Saffold is a multi-talented artist and leader of ANACHA, a student art collective on campus.

Arts

Edited by suetamay@grinnell.edu

Big Thief and Squirrel Flower to come to Gardner

ARTWORK BY STEVEN DUONG

Big Thief will perform at Gardner from 9 p.m. this Friday, April 27.

By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu

This Friday, April 26 at 8 p.m., the band Big Thief will play in Gardner Lounge.

Adrianne Lenker of Big Thief has been through a lot in her life, and her music reflects it so unflinchingly that it can be painful to listen to. She was born into a religious cult in Indiana, which her parents left when she was young. Her family lived a kind of nomadic lifestyle after that, driving around in a blue van, and her father taught her chords on the guitar. Lenker never went to high school but she did get a scholarship that allowed her to go to Berklee School of Music after she played guitar for the dean of admissions in his office. It was there that she met Buck Meek, who provides guitar and backup vocals for the band. His last semester at Berklee was her first, so she didn’t really connect with him until a chance encounter in a bodega in New York City. After that, they began making music together.

In an NPR interview, Meek described what drew him to Lenker’s music.

"I guess what struck me as a songwriter then was that her songs all seemed to be really human, and really emotional, and really honest..."

Meek ARTWORK BY STEVEN DUONG

milo interacted with the audience through speech as well as music to make the most of the intimate space.

“I guess what struck me as a songwriter then was that her songs

all seemed to be really human, and really emotional, and really honest — vulnerable — but at the same time they all somehow had this ineffable quality … like, all of that human content was serving as a medium for something beyond.”

Meek and Lenker played music as a duo everywhere they could, but eventually decided to create a full band. At that point Meek saw Max Oleartchik, with whom he had gone to camp at Berklee, in Brooklyn.

Now he is the bassist of the band, and James Krivchenia, who had originally been their sound technician, became the drummer of the band.

Listening to Big Thief, it becomes immediately apparent that their music is very special. NPR wrote, “[Lenker] and her band mates have a sense of her songwriting and music as a living thing — as something that ‘happens’ more than it is crafted.” Their music is visceral and heart-wrenching. It deals with Lenker’s childhood, abuse, love, violence, gender and self-perception. “Mythological Beauty,” a song off of their most recent album “Capacity,” starts off simply enough with Lenker discussing someone's “mythological beauty,” until the listener hears, “there is a child in you who’s trying to raise a child in me,” and it becomes clear that Lenker is talking about her relationship with her mother. It discusses how Lenker’s mother gave her first child up for adoption (“I have an older brother I don’t know, he could be anywhere”) and a near-death relationship Lenker had as a child which left her mother “praying ‘don’t let my baby die.’”

Similarly, the song “Real Love”

off of their album “Masterpiece” seems like it will be a love song but it quickly becomes heart-wrenching, referring to an abusive relationship as the song crescendos over churning guitar into Lenker and Meek singing, “Cry like a bird, fly like a baby. Mama got drunk and daddy went crazy.”

"[Lenker] and her bandmates have a sense of her songwriting and music as a living thing — as something that 'happens' more than it is crafted."

NPR

At the same time as Lenker’s songwriting is unflinchingly real, it can sometimes be difficult to know what she is talking about. In the song “Mary,” she uses lilting figurative language to talk about someone named Mary who she once loved. However, according to NPR, “Lenker often feels that she is singing it to herself.” It’s a simple song, mostly just Lenker’s voice and a piano playing chords, but she uses language as its own music, singing “monastery, monocrome, boom balloon machine and oh …” and asking Mary, “will you love me like you loved me in the January rain?”

It’s sweet, extremely figurative and somehow also heartbreaking.

For many students, it is incredibly exciting to have Big Thief coming to Grinnell’s own Gardner Lounge. It is one of the most highly anticipated shows of the year, and one not to miss.

"Stranger in a Strange Land" opens this weekend

By Emma Friedlander friedlan@grinnell.edu This weekend’s dance ensemble performance, “Stranger in a Strange Land,” incorporates so much more than simple dance. The piece is a multimedia, musical and movement showcase, bringing our understanding of what a dance performance can entail to new heights.

“Stranger in a Strange Land” is a triptych, meaning that it features three separate pieces that come together to constitute one big performance. The three pieces are choreographed by Professor Celeste Miller, theater and dance, guest choreographer Mersiha Mesihovic and student choreographer Niya Weedon ’18.

Each choreographer crafted their piece by responding to one prompt from Miller: What does it mean to be a stranger in a strange land?

“It seems like we are such a divided nation right now,” Miller explained. “All of us at some point in our life have been felt like a stranger in a strange land. For some of us it’s more intense and it’s an everyday experience, and for others it might be as simple as you’re invited to a party and you didn’t realize it was formal and you showed up in jeans.”

The first part of the triptych, “Stranger Things: An Immigrant Story You Do Not See On TV!,” was choreographed by Mesihovic, a visiting choreographer from New York.

She responded to the prompt by considering her own background as a refugee from Bosnia. The soundscape interchanges from music to spoken word audio to complete si-

lence, interrupted only by the sound of high heels clacking on the stage or a dancer rolling on the floor. The performance features a voice-over recording by Mesihovic about being a refugee. In an especially intense moment of that monologue, she speaks about her grandfather’s death as he went out to buy an orange, his favorite fruit — and dozens of oranges then spill onto and off of the stage.

The second piece, “Wake-Up,” is the creation of Niya Weedon ’18.

Weedon is a theatre and dance major who only changed her major from political science this year, after a year off campus at New York’s Trinity/La MaMa Performing Arts Semester. The resulting difficulties with her course load kept Weedon from accomplishing a dance MAP, but she was still eager to put on a big final production before her graduation.

“Wake-Up” is an exploration of the Black experience at Grinnell College. Weedon invited several students who do not otherwise dance to partake in the performance, ensuring an all-Black ensemble of ten students.

“I was really interested in connecting to the history of Blackness on this campus,” Weedon explained.

“When it comes to the performance space, there’s not that much opportunity to have diversity exist. … I’m in the awe of the fact that I got this far and that I have ten Black people on stage performing in a mainstage.

I don’t really know if it’s been done before.”

“Wake-Up” also features a combination of dance and multimedia

with music and spoken word. A major feature of the piece is the projection of images from social media onto the dancers’ backdrop, including screenshots of racist exchanges on Yik Yak from 2015.

“The only people that were here to witness [the Yik Yak incidents] were the juniors and seniors. At this College, a lot of people don’t even know that it happened,” Weedon said. “I want people to leave thinking. I’d hate for somebody to come and be like, ‘Okay, some Black students did another performance about Blackness.’ We’re always trying to say something because it’s always important for us to be heard in some way.”

The finale to the triptych is Miller’s “Searching for the Eulipions.”

Like the other two pieces, “Search-

ing for the Eulipions” also features a heavy mixture of dance and movement with text, projections, props and — unique to them — a live jazz band. The piece begins with an aggressive game of musical chairs among the performers, who gradually grow integrated with a jazz band on stage and find innovative ways to share the chairs and share space with one another. The collaboration between dance ensemble and the jazz ensemble is the result of two to three years of communication between Miller and Professor Mark Laver, the director of jazz ensemble.

“These two really came together on a blank canvas. That in itself is meta-meta, that the dancers and the musicians and the choreographer and the jazz ensemble director are creating a collaboration from two

groups that usually don’t usually get to move together on stage,” Miller said.

While “Stranger in a Strange Land” incorporates so many different elements of the arts, it remains rooted in the unique abilities for expression that dance offers.

“Dance as an art form has the potential to bring issues to our hearts, minds and souls that’s unique to the form because it’s about bodies,” Miller said. “To embody ideas is to look at the body as a source for discovering action.”

“Stranger in a Strange Land” began its run on Thursday night and will continue throughout the weekend, with performances on Friday, April 27 and Saturday, April 28 at 7:30 p.m. and on Sunday, April 29 at 2 p.m., all in Roberts Theater.

SARINA LINCOLN

“Stranger in a Strange Land” is made up of three parts, each choreographed by Celeste Miller, theatre and dance, guest choreographer Mersiha Mesihovic and Niya Weedon ’18.

Edited by fentonma@grinnell.edu

Letter to the editor: Cultural Night in review

Is it possible for a person to feel completely overjoyed, in awe and furious all the same time? Well, that is how I feel every time I attend the International Student Organization’s Cultural Night. This year’s event was well-organized and well-attended, with many student groups performing songs and dances from their homes. The performances aptly commenced with a Vietnamese lullaby about migratory birds and finding home in a new and strange land. I cannot think of a better way to begin the evening than with a performance that captured the intense, often painful desire of many international students to create a home in a faraway place, especially when that place is often hostile towards difference.

There was no dull moment in the night, with many breathtaking performances. The “SenBonZakura” included a live band, which reminded me of the prominent role that the saxophone plays in my childhood memories, bringing me to the brink of tears. The “Slavs Across Centuries” performance exhibited the subversive potential of the space when the student performers, not all of whom were Slavs, danced to the popular Bosnian band Dubioza Kolektiv’s song “U.S.A.,” which begins with a speaker demanding to be taken to the “Promised Land” to see the Statue of Liberty and the Golden Gate bridge and promising, “I will assimilate.” However, upon realizing that the American promise was a lie and that there is “no place like a motherland,” the speaker leaves the United States, announcing “I want to start all over, return to no man’s land / Send greetings to your leader, don’t want your green card / I want to fly back like a rocket to the Balkans.” Dancing to the catchy music of Kolektiv’s song, the student performers tore up a giant green card on stage and discarded a photo of Donald Trump. I found their performance bold and confrontational. It was a reminder of the scary moment we inhabit and a biting commentary on the narcissistic assumption that all who come here want to stay.

Nonetheless, I find the Cultural Night deeply troubling. It presents a false sense of global Grinnell, where difference is embraced and celebrated when we know it is not. International students still experience hostility and racism in the town and on campus. This year domestic stu-

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dents started chanting “USA” at the only Harris party that ISO organizes. Our curriculum remains mainly European- and American-centric.

The College, which is currently in the process of erecting multi-million-dollar buildings, asserted that it did not have funding to fully furnish the MSA suite that was only constructed after students protested its elimination. The list goes on and the evidence is clear: Grinnell, despite its grandiose claims and flashy statistics, is far from embracing diversity. So, the problem with the Cultural Night is that it introduces a fleeting stage where, for a couple of hours, international students are compelled to bring exotic aspects of their homes for the mostly white audience to openly marvel at without actively interrogating the institutionalized ways that international students are compelled to erase and compartmentalize home on a daily basis. The fashion show portion of the Cultural Night perfectly illustrates this dynamic. In the beginning of the evening, students are invited to wear traditional dress and walk the runway. However, I wonder what happens if those same students want to wear those same attire for class or a dinner at a local restaurant? That is, for difference to be celebratory, there first must exist equality among difference. And given the reinforced hierarchies of such difference at Grinnell, its community does not deserve an evening like the Cultural Night.

I know that some would disagree with me and argue that events like the Cultural Night have the potential to combat the hostility and hatred of which I speak, and while that might be true, I wonder if we are comfortable in asking our fellow community members to use the cherished artifacts of their home as a bargaining chip for belonging.

It is hard to critique something when the intent is pure, when the performers are your friends and classmates, when the organizers are your most loyal allies, when the audience consists of your peers, neighbors and faculty members and, most importantly, when you have thoroughly enjoyed the generosity of those who offered to share a piece of their home with you. It is hard when it is home. But it is precisely because it is home that it becomes necessary.

— Farah Omer ’19

Dusty

by Phoebe Schreckinger

Loudspeaker: The great unknown Geeshie Wiley

by Maxwell Fenton Among the greatest tracks of pre-war rural blues, there exist few songs that are so stunning yet so vexing as Geeshie Wiley’s “Last Kind Words Blues.” It was recorded in April 1930 for Paramount Records’ “race records” series, a collection of blues and jazz music by Black musicians primarily marketed to Black audiences. Much of the music recorded on these records was by so-called “country blues” musicians, entirely acoustic tracks of the genre in its rawest form. Artists like Howlin’ Wolf, Tommy Johnston and Big Bill Broonzy would achieve mainstream success from white audiences decades later, but a host of country blues performers languish in personal obscurity. Slung between folk, blues and gospel, many of these musicians burnt brightly in recorded sound while their personal histories remain dimly lit.

In spite of her startling talent, which lead blues historian Don Kent to write that “her scope and creativity dwarfs most blues artists,” very little is conclusively known about Wiley’s life. Even her birthplace is not certain, let alone where she died.

No photographs of her exist. Recent research estimates that less than ten of her original recordings survive, three of which contain “Last Kind Words Blues.” A massive piece in The New York Times Magazine from 2014 catalogued efforts to discover her life, but its researchers and interviews came up with scraps

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If there is a feeling “Last Kind Words Blues” makes its own, it is ache. Wiley sings about love and loss, about waiting for someone to return who wanted “buzzards to eat [him] whole” if he gets killed.

Though Wiley’s lyrics are excellent, it is her voice that grants the song its resonance. Her singing is simple and uncomplicated, in direct contrast to its complex instrumentation. Wiley’s voice takes on an almost ghostly quality amid the scratchiness of surviving cop-

ies of the track, like a spirit voice at a séance. She opens the song with: “The last kind words I heared my daddy say / Lord, the last kind words I heared my daddy say / If I die, if I die in the German war / I want you to send my body, send it to my mother, lord.”

Even without a story to explain, Wiley’s “Last Kind Words Blues” endures as a testament to its genre’s power and beauty.

“Last Kind Words Blues” was made famous as the music to a particularly evocative montage in Terry Zwigoff’s 1994 documentary “Crumb.” The subject of that film, underground cartoonist Robert Crumb, is a well-known collector of country blues music, a charter member of the gangly, mostly white brotherhood of archivists that preserved this genre for posterity. Prior to the montage starting, Crumb places the record on the turntable, saying: “When I listen to old music, it’s one of the few times when I actually have a kind of a love for humanity. … It’s their way of expressing their connection to eternity of whatever you want to call it.”

The raw humanity of Wiley’s song is undeniable. It evokes feeling even without a legendary backstory or vocal complexity. The song concludes as Wiley sings: “What you do to me baby it never gets outta me / I may not see you after I cross the deep blue sea…” What she does musically in “Last Kind Words Blues” never truly leaves the engaged listener, regardless of whether we see her again, or whether we cross “the deep blue sea.”

Film in Stock: A playlist of films for spring

by Martha Beliveau There are so many summer, fall and winter-themed films out there that spring gets neglected altogether. Because the sun has once again graced Iowa with its presence, the newly-arrived season urges me to find spring’s cinematic complements, which are admittedly a bit of a stretch. But, nonetheless, these films summarize what spring represents: being in transition and living in the awkward time between winter and summer. Reflecting on this list, I strangely equate spring with animated films and coming-of-age stories. Nonetheless, below I’ve listed below some films that create a story arch for this season. The first and last films stand in for spring’s bookends, winter and summer, respectively.

“Certain Women” by Kelly Reichardt “Certain Women,” which I briefly mentioned a few weeks ago, is based on episodic, unrelated short stories from Maile Meloy which follow four women in a small Montana town: a lawyer, a mother and wife, a teacher and a rancher. The cast complements the subtle script perfectly, including Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart and (please, someone, give her more work) Lily Gladstone. Reichardt’s 2016 film is, admittedly, not really a film about spring at all. It is set in the time span when it’s technically spring, but

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of information too small to sew into a conclusive story.

Even without a story to explain, Wiley’s “Last Kind Words Blues” endures as a testament to its genre’s power and beauty. It opens with its complex bluesy drone and thumps on the guitar bass string, played entirely in minor key. The dark lamentation of the song is immediately evident from its instrumentation as well as its lyrics. If there is a feeling “Last Kind Words Blues” makes its own, it is ache. Wiley sings about love and loss, about waiting for someone to return who wanted “buzzards to eat [him] whole” if he gets killed. She stands across the Mississippi River and can “see [her] babe from the other side.” She loves this person so much she is willing to give him “bolted meal,” a product left over from the sifting process in mills, even if she can’t find flour.

At the same time, Wiley seems to tempt us with biographical information, singing: “My mama told me, just before she died / Lord, precious daughter, don't you be so wild.”

9

feels very much like winter. Even further, the film is set in Montana, so a Montana spring is really just everybody else’s winter. “Certain Women” offers a good place to start this list, because by the end of the film you can feel the turn towards spring.

“Fantastic Mr. Fox” by Wes Anderson If you’re interested in the newlyreleased “Isle of Dogs,” then I recommend you catch up on Anderson’s first stop-motion feature, “Fantastic Mr. Fox.” The film traces the odyssey of foxes, badgers and more as they combat farmers trying to overtake their home. Apart from the Anderson’s iconic awkward atmosphere with built-in clever dialogue, “Fantastic Mr. Fox” has the most visually stunning shots from the world of stop-motion. I justify putting “Fantastic Mr. Fox” in the category of spring films, because it watches like the animals are coming out of hibernation, marking the end of winter.

“Boyhood” by Richard Linklater While “Boyhood” has some problems, it has a unique voice and presence in the world of cinema. In case you missed its peak popularity back in 2014, “Boyhood” is the coming-of-age story of a boy living in Texas. While that description ultimately sounds dull, the most interesting part of the film is its production. In the first film to do so, Linklater cast the lead actor at the age of six and followed him through age 18, amounting to a three month shoot every year for 12 years. Significantly, neither the plot nor the characters carry the film, but instead the concept of time carries the view-

er’s interest throughout the nearly three hour film. I think “Boyhood,” perhaps more so than any other film on this list, encapsulates the trope of spring as a time of growth and change.

“Loving Vincent” by Dorota Kobiela and Hugh Welchman “Loving Vincent” explores how Vincent van Gogh’s death impacted those around him. Like “Boyhood,” the most interesting thing about the film is the way it was produced. The 2017 film offers something visually new and stunning: all the animations for the film were made from roughly 65,000 oil paintings, reflecting the artistic medium of the film’s subject. “Loving Vincent” is on this list because of its primary concern, the creation and destruction of life and art. Looking at shots directly derived from van Gogh’s beautiful landscapes in full-bloom, the primary tenet of spring comes through.

“Do The Right Thing” by Spike Lee My favorite of Lee’s creations, this 1989 film follows a set of Brooklyn characters on a 100-degree summer day as racial tensions reach their apex. If you’re looking for an introduction to Lee’s films, look no further. “Do the Right Thing” has it all: dead-panned monologues to the camera, tight and witty backand-forth dialogue and photography direction that keeps your eyes on the screen. So, then the question becomes, how can I justify putting this obviously summer-themed film in a spring film list? Apart from being a masterpiece in its own right, “Do the Right Thing” offers the natural conclusion to spring: summer.

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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 134, Issue 21

thesandb.com

"The best thing since the front page!"

Photo of the Week

Got a backpage-worthy photo? Submit it to [newspapr] and earn $5 for contributing a winner!

"The pilgrimage has gained momentum / Take our turn, take our turn / Take our fortune, take our fortune." — R.E.M., "Pilgrimage"

Arbitrary Analysis Social Calendar

Woke

Bespoke

Snedge

This week, Maxwell Fenton '19 and Mira Berkson '20 polled students asking: Baberaham Lincoln or Abraham Stinkin'?

Friday

7:15/10 p.m. Detroit @ Harris Cinema 8 p.m. Big Thief/Squirrel Flower @ Gardner Lounge

JRC

Saturday

Broke The Signs as Mom Rock Bands

Aries: The Police Taurus: Heart

Gemini: Foreigner

2:00 p.m. Grinnell Symphony Orchestra Performance @ Bucksbaum 104 8 p.m. Titular Head @ Harris Center 10 p.m. Weaves/Blacker Face/TGIF @ Gardner Lounge

Cancer: Tears for Fears

Pub Quiz

Leo: Def Leppard

1. Nice for Butt Juice 2. One Egg Two Egg Red Egg Blue Egg 3. How many months until Henry Kissinger dies?

Like what you see?

Virgo: Fleetwood Mac Libra: Pat Benatar

ARH

Scorpio: Mötley Crüe

Sagittarius: Bonnie Tyler Capricorn: Tom Petty

check us out:

Aquarius: Duran Duran

@thesandb /thescarletandblack thesandb.com @newspapr

Rants & Raves:

JOEL FENTON

Pisces: Air Supply

— Sister Aurora Impulse Students speak about what’s on their minds in 80 words or fewer, and you’re invited! If you have a rant or a rave, email it to [newspapr] or [fentonma]

Anonym-ass

ACAB

Absconded fruit

Asinine activity

My butt itches.

Dear cops: stay out of our dining hall. Your guns are not welcome. Your racist "Indian feathers" arm patches are not welcome. Find another way to bridge the police-college gap.

I saw Steven Duong stealing one small strawberry from the dining hall and I am deeply upset!

Hey — don't be shitty and gross this year at Tithead (@ the bros sitting in the front row every year).

- Nolan Boggess '19

- Scarlet the Squirrel

- Anonymous

- Anonymous

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