Features
Arts
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Grinnellians really pulled through with innovative Halloween costumes this year.
Victoria Park shreds on the bass in the numerous student bands with which she plays.
Pioneer cross country beat personal bests and runs to the top of the rankings.
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Scarlet & Black Volume 134, Issue 9
thesandb.com
November 03, 2017 • Grinnell, Iowa
The S&B examines College partnership with Iowa Prison Industries
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Workers from Iowa Prison Industries participants from Iowa State Penitentiary build furniture included in the Grinnell Group package of IPI products. By Michael Cummings & Candace Mettle cummings@grinnell.edu & mettleca@ grinnell.edu For approximately 25 years, Iowa Prisons Industries (IPI) — a non-profit extension of the Iowa Department of Corrections — has provided dorm furniture and renovations for Grinnell College. The College’s relationship with IPI concerns many students who believe a progressive college should not employ prison labor in its operations. Grinnell College, University of Iowa, Iowa State University and University of Northern Iowa, among many other private schools and community colleges, purchase furniture from IPI. Other state institutions and public services such as hospitals and churches own
goods made by IPI participants. Private citizens and organizations cannot purchase these goods unless they are part of the state or nonprofit sector in Iowa. IPI receives no appropriations from the state; the program relies on the sales of their products to pay for equipment, workers, victim compensation and more. The state of Iowa does not require state agencies to purchase from IPI, and IPI only sells to Iowan institutions, unless special circumstances arise that requires IPI to send out furniture to another prison labor worksite. The College received a special set of furniture designed by IPI when the College renovated all its dorm furniture, accessible at: http://www.iaprisonind.com/ store/c/242-Grinnell-Group.aspx. At the Iowa State Penitentiary, a maximum-security prison for men,
Chief Reilly wants you to "Know Your Rights" By Lily Hamilton hamiltol@grinnell.edu
IPI participants build the Grinnell furniture, and participants from Newton Correctional Facility move in the furniture and renovate dorms. According to FM’s budget report, the College spent $9,135 on new furnishings, and $1,800 for moving labor to renovate Haines Hall on South Campus last summer. “[IPI has] great value and also crew size. … It’s difficult to get a dedicated crew in a short time frame to do that kind of work because you need a crew of roughly eight to ten people, very physical labor. … There are very few resources available, commercially,” said Rickey Whitney, director of Facilities Management at the College. Whitney, along with President Raynard Kington, believe that the College’s relationship fits the school’s values by supporting the vocational side of rehabilitation,
one of the main goals of prison sentencing. Simultaneously, Kington believes that the College supports the educational side of rehabilitation through the Liberal Arts in Prison Program, a program in which Grinnell College students design classes, teach and tutor incarcerated people in Iowa. Rather than buy furniture from companies that may have bad working conditions or from companies notorious for their malpractices, Kington argues that the College should support organizations like IPI that operate to improve the lives of others. “If we did not think [IPI] was consistent with our values, we wouldn’t do it whether it was a good service or not,” Kington said. “[The College] sees ourselves as trying to play a positive role in our broader community. … We had
to buy [furniture] from somewhere, why not buy from some place that’s allowing for prisoners to prepare for the world they’re going to enter when they leave?” Concerned students have contacted Kington and the rest of the administration, urging for the College to reevaluate its relationship with IPI. However, with the recent revelation of the relationship between the College and IPI unearthed among current students, many find it hard to organize against or for a cause they have little information on, other than their reluctance to support the prison-industrial complex in any way. “I think that divestment from Iowa Prison Industries could be a productive option, but it may not be the best one,” said Nate Williams >> See Relationship page 3
CRSSJ opens house after much anticipation By Molly Nelson nelsonmo@grinnell.edu
The police chief of the City of Grinnell, Dennis Reilly, gave a presentation entitled “Know Your Rights” during community hour this past Tuesday. Throughout the presentation, Reilly, who has been the chief of police since 2012, explained the types of encounters that members of the public may have with the police and shared tips for interacting with them. Reilly described the lowest level of street encounters: inquiries and voluntary conversations. Reilly explained that police officers can approach anyone in a public place and ask questions if the individual is willing to answer. These questions can include asking to examine someone’s identification or requesting an individual’s consent to search their person or property. Reilly explained that voluntary encounters are not considered seizures under the fourth amendment because there is no restraint of the individual’s movement and the conversation is voluntary for both parties. Reilly explained that fourth amendment protections from unreasonable seizure do apply, however, in investigative stops or detentions. According to Reilly, investigative stops are temporary and require reasonable suspicion of a criminal activity. In investigative stops, an individual is required to stop, unlike in voluntary situations. The stops are intended to freeze the action, so the officer can get more information, according to Reilly.
In demonstrating what constitutes an investigative stop, Reilly stated that, “A stop takes place whenever there is a show of authority.” He then portrayed the difference between an officer requesting someone to come speak with them and commanding them to enter a conversation, emphasizing that the command demonstrated a show of authority. Reilly mentioned, however, that he tries to keep conversations voluntary as much as possible because they tend to give him more information that helps him confirm or deny his suspicion of criminal activity. As a result, Reilly often does not inform people why they were detained immediately, but ensures they are informed at the end of the encounter. An audience member pressed Chief Reilly on the information officers gain throughout investigative encounters, suggesting that some encounters can lead to unrelated convictions like drug arrests. “When are [police officers] supposed to look for things that are not based on a complaint or specific evidence?” the audience member asked. “They’re always looking. That’s our job. We’re always looking for that thing that just doesn’t fit right,” Reilly said. “But it can’t be a hunch. [The officer] has to have a reasonable, articulable suspicion, a reason, for stopping that person, and the purpose of that stop is to either confirm or deny the suspicion.” Reilly continued, explaining that individuals are not obligated to answer questions, but that it’s a good >> See Community Hour page 2
The Center for Religion, Spirituality and Social Justice (CRSSJ) hosted an open house last Monday to establish its new building’s presence in the community. Near the corner of 8th Ave. and Park St., the relocated CRSSJ looks like any other Grinnell home. The house, single story and partially obscured by a tree, is not by any means extravagant. But its simplicity contributes to the welcoming atmosphere that pervades the center. “I think we try to create a space that feels like a sanctuary and a home,” said Rabbi Rob Cabelli. “A place where [students] can go and know that, during regular operating hours when staff are here, there will be people who know they are there and welcome them. A place where students can study and hold meetings that also does not feel like a sterile or anonymous space.” The CRSSJ relocated during the summer, moving across the street from 1233 Park St. to the current location, 913 8th Ave. The CRSSJ and three language houses relocated to make way for the construction of the College’s new admissions building. While the language houses were lifted off their foundations and moved to their new locations, the old CRSSJ building was completely demolished because it lacked structural stability. The center then moved to a house owned by the College previously used to rent out to faculty and staff while they searched for a more permanent residence in town. “The idea was that we would all start back August 1 and things
would be up and running here, which was more or less the case,” Cabelli said. “We were able to do things, but some of the things necessary with respect to P-card access and things of that nature were in some cases not functioning until well into the school year.” Deanna Shorb, dean of religious life, appreciated the diverse crowd that the CRSSJ opening attracted. “[I am] very grateful to students, faculty and staff who took their time to come on what was arguably a very cold and windy [day] to celebrate and see our new space,” Shorb said. “We extended an invitation to make sure that townsfolk knew that they could come and a number of community members came. It wasn’t just people who knew me, it was people who read about it in the paper or saw it on posters. … So I was delighted to see such a diverse turnout.” The CRSSJ waited to have their open house until after some of the larger renovation projects on the building were completed, like planting grass and pouring concrete for sidewalks.
“I think it will take until next fall to have everything ready,” Shorb said. “There are still details.” These details include the unfinished backyard and planned creation of signs to help people understand how to use the building. After the initial commotion of moving, Cabelli is quite happy with the new building. While the old building had two stories, the new CRSSJ boasts more space overall and a finished basement that houses a lending library, a resource for students who qualify based on need. During the moving process, the basement was transformed from a dungeon of exposed cinderblock and unfinished ceilings to a cozy space with hardwood floors, bookcases, armchairs and even a flat screen TV. The College also constructed an addition to the building to create Muslim and Hindu prayer and cultural spaces, something Cabelli cites as a success in the transition to the new building. Shorb is currently working with Muslim and Hindu communities to
Saturday Pieta Brown Public Concert Grinnell Arts Center, 926 Broad St., 7:30 p.m.
Monday Supporting UNdocumented & DACAmented JRC 226, 7:00 p.m.
Tuesday Gallery Talk: Rashmi Varma
Thursday From the Periphery to the Center
Friday
Faulconer Gallery, 4:00 p.m.
JRC 101, 7:00 p.m.
JRC 101, 8:00 a.m.
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REINA SHAHI
The CRSSJ's Hindu prayer space is available for use.
>> See New home page 2
2017 Multicultural Reunion
Arts 4 | Features 6 | Sports 8 | Community 9 | Opinions 11
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Edited by hermanal17@grinnell.edu & mettleca@grinnell.edu
CLS develops Career Grinnell Police Department addresses Communities, programs individual rights at the College during this week's Community Hour for humanities students By Kate Irwin irwinkat@grinnell.edu The Center for Careers, Life and Services provides Grinnell College students with countless resources to help prepare for careers and give assistance with the application process for graduate school, externships and internships with alumni. In recent years, the number of domestic students taking the humanities has decreased. The CLS is working to change the perception that humanities degrees are not lucrative by implementing the new initiative called Career Communities. The number of humanities majors in each graduating class has been dropping over the past few years for domestic students. The 20052006 graduating class had the peak distribution of humanities students at roughly 40 percent. Since this time, that number has dropped to approximately 25 percent for the 2016-2017 graduating class. Interestingly, this trend extends mostly to domestic students. Humanities degrees awarded to international students have actually increased in the last years. Among some students is the perception that non-sciences are not “marketable,” which may explain the declining enrollment by domestic students in humanities majors. This decrease of graduates in the humanities is a relatively new issue that the College is attempting to resolve. The linear distribution of humanities majors for domestic students is approximately 30 percent. The trend of diminishing Grinnell humanities majors combined with the considerably lower than expected number of humanities graduates has caused concern for the College. “We're looking at an issue that we're very much still in the process of analyzing. We're still in the process and just beginning the process of consulting with the different academic departments, our faculty leadership, to define the key questions that we want to pursue,” Dean of the College Michael Latham told trustees and administrators at this fall’s General Trustee Meeting. While there is a perception that non-sciences are not “marketable,” a student's major does not necessarily determine their career or how employable a student is. “Whether a student is aiming to continue their studies in graduate/ professional school, secure a full-time position, compete for a post-graduate fellowship, or seek a post-graduate service position, that candidate's ‘marketability’ is determined by a host of factors,” wrote Mark Peltz, Dean of Careers, Life and Services, in an email to The S&B. Non-linear careers are common among liberal arts students, creating the misperception that some majors are not marketable. The CLS is working to fix this misperception by providing students with better access to data about what alumni do after graduation. Additionally, the CLS is working to help students identify their skills and abilities they have cultivated during their studies at Grinnell. “Such activities help students widen the scope of potential opportunities and foster a deeper and more nuanced understanding of what it means to be liberally educated,” Peltz wrote. The CLS is taking steps such as
providing data and helping students to recognize their transferable skills, but the Career Communities is the largest program undertaken by the CLS. There will be seven Career Communities in the new program: Arts, Media & Communication (AMC), Business & Finance, Education Professions, Government & Social Service, Health Professions, Law and STEM. All but AMC and Health Professions exist today. Currently, the CLS is searching for directors for these programs. Each Career Community is led by an individual who has professional experience in that field. This allows for students to work with someone who is well-equipped to advise students based on their knowledge and personal experience. “The CLS Career Communities will provide students access to: specialized advising to help them prepare to pursue and secure internships and jobs; field-specific treks to various locations where they will meet with alumni and professionals in professional and civic areas of interest; mentorship and guidance from alumni pursuing careers in fields related to their goals; advice and assistance with the application process for graduate and professional school programs,” Peltz wrote. While the CLS is expanding to include the Career Communities, the budget remains relatively constant. For this current fiscal year, the budget for the CLS is roughly $803,000. This budget does not include the cost of compensation and benefits for staff and students employed in CLS. “These are the funds used to support student internships, campus symposia, fall/spring break treks, guest speakers, alumni visits to campus, skill-development workshops, the Grinnell Prize and more,” Peltz wrote. The CLS budget, as always, has gone up and down, depending on multiple factors throughout the years. “In some years, the CLS budget has increased. In other years, it has decreased. … There are many ways to accommodate growth without increasing the budget,” wrote Kate Walker, vice president for finance and treasurer, in an email to The S&B. Like all budgets, if spending increases in one area it must be taken from somewhere else. The process requires several meetings and significant discussion. Each year this conversation is different, as situations and priorities evolve. “It's a difficult conversation that happens as part of every year's budget cycle. The Budget Planning Committee works together to reach consensus about which budget increases will be recommended to the president and the board and where the offsetting budget cuts will occur,” Walker wrote. The implementation of the Career Communities is a feature that sets Grinnell College apart from other liberal arts schools and is regarded by the College as an important resource to help students to prepare for life after Grinnell. “Grinnell College is setting a new standard with regard to preparing its students for their post-college lives, and we’re really just getting started. Many of our new initiatives — including our Career Communities — embolden our mission and affirm the value of a liberal arts education. By providing our students with an exceptional education,” Peltz wrote.
CRSSJ finds new home Continued from Front Page decorate their respective prayer and cultural spaces. The Muslim prayer space so far has a comfy couch and an intricately patterned rug, as well a shelf holding prayer rugs and other decorations. In the Hindu prayer space, one wall is painted saffron, the same color of orange that is on the Indian flag. The pop of color draws attention to Ganesh, who sits on a table against the wall. At their new home, the CRSSJ hopes to continue providing spaces, resources and support for students and community members of all cultural, spiritual and religious backgrounds and identities. “In a certain sense, the center functions to try to do anything
that we can to help students find community,” Cabelli said. “That may be community tied to identity, patterns, or profiles, constellations of identity, intersections of identity … whatever it is. And obviously some of it concerns religious or spiritual, but also cultural, also all forms of identity.” According to Cabelli, the CRSSJ is essential in helping students find community on a small college campus. “On one hand, [Grinnell] can be this nourishing bubble,” Cabelli said. “But on the other, people can often feel the degree to which they stand out. To be seen as other, in fact, by others in this small town — I think it means the need to find community is all the more precious and important.”
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idea to cooperate with police, so that the issue can get resolved as easily as possible and so that the encounter does not escalate into an arrest situation. According to Reilly, situations escalate when an individual flees because they are then interfering with official acts, an offense that warrants arrest. Chief Reilly wrapped up his presentation with a discussion of Miranda rights, arrests and searches. Reilly stated that police do not need to read an individual their Miranda rights during investigative stops. However, once an individual is in custody and encounters interrogation, their Miranda rights kick in. According to Reilly, individuals are arrested and taken into custody when officers have a probable cause for believing that they have committed or attempted to commit a criminal act. This decision must be made given the facts and circumstances in keeping with their Fourth Amendment rights, which protect from unreasonable search and seizure. Finally, Reilly discussed how people assume that the police always need a warrant to search a person or object for contraband or evidence relating to a crime. However, there are a number of exceptions in which the police can search individuals, including incidents to arrest, inventories, plain view of something illegal, moveable vehicles, exigent circumstances, consent and abandonment. Reilly’s presentation was part of
an effort by the Student Government Association (SGA) to improve the relationship between the Grinnell police department and the student body. Vice President of Student Affairs Kahlil Epps ’18 spearheaded the effort with the intent of giving both domestic and international students an opportunity to interact with the local police because they may not have had
facilitated between the hosts of the off-campus 10/10 party and a police officer in early October. Throughout the conversation, the officer explained what the hosts should do to prevent negative encounters with the police throughout the course of the event. 10/10 did not have any police encounters. Epps further explained that
SARAH RUIZ
Khalil Epps '18 (left) leads Community Hour with GPD Chief Reilly (right). many encounters with police in the past. “I thought it would be very valuable to have the police come in, introduce themselves and answer any type of question that students had,” Epps said. Epps described other ways in which he has tried to bring students and the police together. He pointed to a successful conversation he
he hopes to continue developing opportunities for students to interact with local police personnel including office hours with the police chief or discussions with officers who eat meals in the dining hall. “All of these things will hopefully help students become more comfortable talking with the police and will help them know why they’re there,” Epps concluded.
Intersection between mental health and employment sparks discussions on protections for College members By Ben Mikek mikekben@grinnell.edu Financial aid packages for hundreds of students at Grinnell include on-campus jobs. This places work-study at the center of debates over inclusivity, particularly for students with mental illnesses who may face additional challenges in the workplace. For some on campus, the threat of negative consequences at work can be a serious stressor. “Having people’s jobs be on the line for any sort of illness — chronic, mental or physical, it doesn’t matter — that’s not good,” said Quinn Ercolani ’20, vice president of the Union of Grinnell Student Dining Workers. “People depend on financial aid, and these are circumstances that they can’t [control].” Ercolani claims that the College does not take sufficient steps to protect student workers with mental illnesses. “Especially with the recent events which have been brought to our attention, [the topic of mental illness and employment] coincided with some things that were said in our bargaining sessions … where the College was less than concerned with student health in general in terms of how that might affect [student] employment.” Though the extent and sufficiency of accommodations for mental illness for student workers may be in question, protections exist for at least some students. “If a student employee requests an accommodation through the interactive process with Disability Resources, Autumn [Wilke] works closely with the supervisor of the student to explore and implement approved accommodations,” wrote Autumn Wilke, assistant dean for disability resources, in an email to The S&B. At multiple levels, protections apply for employees of any kind, including students. “Some students with mental illness[es] may qualify as an individual with a disability under the Americans With Disabilities Act Amendments Act of 2008,” Wilke wrote. “Some students with disabilities, including mentalhealth-related disabilities, may also be entitled to support from Iowa Vocational Rehabilitation Services.” According to Wilke, support is also available at the college level.
HELENA GRUENSTEIDL
SHACS is located in the bottom floor of the Forum. Nurses and counselors are available for scheduled and walk-in appointments. “If any college employee, including students, believes that they have a disability, they can meet with [me] … to explore eligibility for individual accommodations.” Though the College and the law do go to some lengths to protect workers suffering from mental illness, how far do they go? What is a reasonable accommodation? Do accommodations ever interfere with financial realities? “When we start trying to reconcile moral arguments with economic arguments, the soul dies a little bit inside,” Ercolani said. “Trying to make an argument [that the College has] to recover the economic losses because people have mental illnesses and are not always steady reliable workers for every shift.” With respect to students missing shifts due to mental health issues, Ercolani believes it is a small deficit that the College is able to handle. “On some level, you have to say, [The College], as a $2 billion industry, … can afford to eat some of that loss, especially because … it’s not paid sick leave, it’s just, ‘I can’t show up so you’re not going to pay me.’” Regardless, Ercolani thinks that making accommodations for students with mental illnesses is not a huge burden. “Because of the way things are scheduled on this campus, generally, in most cases the work schedule could be shifted [to accommodate students with mental illnesses]. There are jobs on campus that people can work that are not strictly
hourly shifts, and that gets by just fine,” he said. If the accessibility of campus employment for students with disabilities is such a significant problem, then, what solutions have been and are in the works to fix it? “Training would definitely be something that I would recommend, … making staff understand there are more specific problems for modern day college students that are being more fleshed out as the research improves,” Ercolani suggested. “Maybe saying to students, ‘we understand these issues you're facing, and from an employment side, we can’t economically justify this, but what we can do is get you into a position where you have more flexible hours.’ [Creating] a basic understanding among the staff, through training, that students have different priorities than a full member of the work force.” It seems that such training may already be in progress. Wilke pointed out that training for staff was among the recommendations of the Disability and Accessibility Task Force Report, finalized in Sept. 2016. “All student supervisors will receive training on accommodation procedures, the ADA in the workplace, and mental and emotional disabilities during the Spring 2018 Training Session to be held during the January break,” she wrote. The College is taking steps to improve accommodations for student workers with mental illnesses. How effective these steps are remains to be seen.
Edited by hermanal17@grinnell.edu & mettleca@grinnell.edu
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Relationship between College and IPI sparks discussion between administration, students, faculty and alumni
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’20. “It might make more sense to try to negotiate our existing contract and support better wages and labor conditions for those incarcerated and working in the industry. Either way, I think before moving forward, the most important step is to reach out to those working in the industry and ask them what solidarity from our end would look like, whether it's divestment, contract negotiation or something else.” Johnny Buse ’11, an educator based in Chicago public schools, also feels skeptical about the College’s use of IPI, especially since the relationship is not widely known. For Buse, the use of cheap labor runs counters to the values of the College. “I’d like to see the College contract with a union-supported furniture maker,” Buse said. “Even before we talk about prison labor, we should be employing, sourcing school materials to workers who get a fair pay.” For the time being, the College will not stop buying from IPI unless information appears that exposes IPI for wrongdoings, yet Kington appreciates the voiced concerns by students and alumni. “I think it’s great that students are asking the questions, but I think there’s a compelling answer that justifies our continuing with the program,” Kington said. “I think it’s the right thing to do, and I think many of us certainly believe that there’s a major problem in our criminal justice system that has led to the highest rate of incarceration of any western society … [but] this
is not the primary problem within that discussion.” Kington urges students to consider the nature of the work arrangement before commenting on the College’s relationship with IPI. Students, Kington believes, may mistake the stated mission of IPI with the large-scale problems of criminal justice in the United States. “Do the critical analysis of [it] before you get uncomfortable, ask yourself why you are uncomfortable and go through the questions,” Kington said. “And if you are uncomfortable because they are our prison system, then I would focus on our prison system. … Think of the skills that [the College] teach[es], critical thinking [and] thoughtful analysis. … Think about the big questions and what [you] can learn, and then make a decision about whether your discomfort is valid. If it is, ultimately you can apply to live off-campus but if you are uncomfortable because of what is happening with prisons primarily in this country, then focus on that.” According to a study conducted in 2013 using Pew Research methods, IPI accounted for eight percent of the recidivism rate in Iowa. Recidivism is defined as when a formerly incarcerated person commits a second offense after they have received sanctions or undergone intervention for the previous offense. In theory, incarceration serves to rehabilitate a person who has committed an offense. Thus, the rate of recidivism helps to display how effective offender sentencing is in decreasing criminal activity. States use educational and vocational services
to achieve low recidivism rates. According to Professor Logan Lee, economics, there are a lot of considerations to keep in mind when thinking about the issue of using prison labor. Much of Lee’s research focuses on the economics of crime, prisons and prisoners. For Lee, the best case scenario is one in which prison labor ends up helping to reduce rates of recidivism. “Two thirds of prisoners [nationally] end up returning to prison within three years. That’s absurdly high, and it’s largely because they can’t get jobs — they get out, they try to get jobs, nobody wants to hire ex-cons, and so they recidivate.” “Breaking that cycle, I think, through job training, would make everything else, even the low wages paid before, utility-increasing for everybody,” Lee concluded. Professor Doug Hess ’91, political science, offered similar sentiments. “It sounds like there’s some evidence that [IPI] does seem to do that, it does seem to reduce recidivism in prisoners,” Hess said. “So that’s a social benefit, assuming it outweighs the cost of the program.” However, Hess questioned whether that benefit might be worth the risk of allowing for the possibility of forced or coerced labor as a means of punishment. “That aspect of a job program that is punitive, in a sense, even if you’re given some reward for doing it. … That sort of labor as punishment, I think, is really reprehensible,” he said. In 2016, Iowa had a recidivism
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IPI participants from Iowa State Penitentiary build the Grinnell Group furniture.
rate of 34 percent, among the lowest in the country. However, this rate is an increase from 2014, when recidivism was at its lowest point of the decade at 29 percent. Some attribute the increase to an overall increase of incarcerated people. Disparities between African-American/Black and white incarcerated people has declined over time, yet recidivism among people with mental illness has
"My own rehabilitation is all within myself, and how I want to be when I get out. I feel like IPI gives you more of an encouragement for rehabilitation. I’m not saying the jobs on grounds don’t, but it just gives you more to work forward to. Monsheeka White increased. Some contribute the rise in recidivism among people with mental illness to the closure of many mental health facilities in Iowa. IPI offers employment at the prison sites through Traditional Industries, Farms and the Private Sector Work programs. Traditional Industries and Farms work within the IPI site, while the Private Sector Work program contracts incarcerated people who will be released within three years to a private, commercial job. Participants in the Private Sector Work program receive a wage of $10 to $14 an hour, while pay in Traditional Industries lie between 67 cents and $1 per hour. Participants use their paycheck to purchase from the canteen, and prison savings accounts, according to IPI participant Bobbie Lopez, cap at $100, or are given to their family. IPI jobs pay more than jobs offered through Iowa correctional facilities, which incentivizes incarcerated people to apply for IPI. Just as with job applications outside of prison, incarcerated people must go through a screening process that includes an interview and background check that takes into consideration their behavior while in prison. All of Iowa’s nine state-owned prisons contract with IPI to cover the vocational portion of rehabilitation. “Participation in the IPI program does not depend upon what a person did to get themselves sent to prison,” wrote Dan Clark, director of IPI, in an email to The S&B. “We don't look at their crime. It's very important that we provide every offender with an opportunity to join IPI (there is normally a waiting list).” Clark served on the IPI Advisory Board for seven years as the manufacturing representative before becoming the director in 2011. He strongly believes in IPI and the effects that the organization brings, and lauds the commitments the College makes to Iowa’s incarcerated people through its support of IPI and Liberal Arts in Prison. “There is a shortage of ‘middle skill’ employees in Iowa right now,” Clark wrote. “The IPI program trains exactly these kinds of skills — welding, driving a forklift, operating production machinery, etc. We also train men and women in ‘lean manufacturing’ and certify them. As a result, employers are calling us daily, wanting to know if anyone is getting released in suchand-such area. The Department of Corrections works closely with [the state employment agency] Iowa Workforce Development [IWD] to help match releasing offenders and Iowa employers, and in fact there are IWD employees ‘embedded’ in several of our prisons. The IWD folks help offenders prepare their resume, search the internet for job openings in their home area, and even arrange interviews prior to being released.” Although IPI has connections to job sites and IWD, Clark admits that it is often difficult for released offenders to secure jobs due to the stigma that clings to people who have been in prison. Additionally, the changing job market has made many jobs obsolete, or not widely available as in the past. Yet the number of middle skill jobs needed to be filled has made more businesses open to the idea of hiring
released offenders. “Offenders are generally prohibited from using the internet, email and telephone, and so this limits our ability to train for certain occupations — website developers for example,” Clark wrote. “But honestly, in today's environment, employers are asking just to find people that are reliable and will show up to work, can work as part of a team, have decent reading and arithmetic skills, and generally just want to work. If they can hire that sort of person, they figure they'll train them from there.” Clark also stresses that aside from IPI setting up jobs for released offenders, IPI does offer a break from the stresses of prison life. In particular, IPI worksites have an environment that differs from the main prison facility. Several prisoners working for IPI at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville expressed satisfaction with their jobs. The IPI facility at Mitchellville does not produce the furniture used in Grinnell’s dorms. But the facility does have operations in sewing, furniture-making and upholstery, construction of cubicles and workspaces and manufacturing of plastic garbage bags. The yellow bags used by the City of Grinnell for trash pickup are produced at this facility. “It’s more, hands-on out here, and there’s a lot more learning experience,” said Lopez, who currently works sewing medical scrubs. Lopez stressed that anyone working in any area of the IPI facility could gain experience at any of the other areas if they wished. “Even though we’re in the sewing department, we have one of our sewers right now that’s over helping on the other side. So, just, different,” Lopez said. “And the only other learning experiences that are inside the gate would be the kitchen, you know, so I just think there’s more opportunity out here.” Emiley DeVore, a team lead for the cubicle panel and workspace construction operation, appreciates how IPI gives her the opportunity to produce something real. “We have a job right now that includes like, over 800 panels and 30 work surfaces,” DeVore said, “and we’ve been on this job for a month, and it’s due Monday, so we’re still working at it, it’s due on Monday, so it’s crunch time. It’s really a test of time, and I know we’ll get it done, but this has been a labor of months for us, this is our baby going out, you know?” “People want to come to work here because there are so many things you can do,” DeVore said. “It’s all a specialty that you pick up . … You can stay there and learn the specialty of making fifty different kinds of chairs. And every day you’ll make a different one. And then the knowledge of that picks up, and you can say to yourself, ‘I know how to do all these aspects of this job.’ And if I don’t use that in my everyday life, because that’s obviously not something that I probably plan on doing, it’s something that teaches me discipline every day.” Monsheeka White, who works as the clerk and a team leader for the panels and chairs departments, echoed this sentiment, especially with respect to the choice to work for IPI rather than inside the prison. “[I wanted to work for IPI for] financial reasons, and also I wanted to learn something more fundamental for when I was released back into society,” White said. A key aspect of what makes the IPI job desirable for White is how it feels like a real job, unlike jobs inside the prison where she’s constantly reminded of where she is. “This is more like a traditional warehouse setting. It takes you away from the prison in a sense, because you’re leaving all institutional things behind when you come here,” White said. “It’s actually like a real work area, … so it’s like you’re leaving the institution in your mind frame, and it’s like you’re leaving those fences to go to work, like you would in a car." “My own rehabilitation is all within myself, and how I want to be when I get out. I feel like IPI gives you more of an encouragement for rehabilitation. I’m not saying the jobs on grounds don’t, but it just
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Victoria Park By Lily Bohlke bohlkeli@grinnell.edu Bassist Victoria Park ’21 has played at Lollapalooza in Chicago, the Red Rocks Amphitheater in the Colorado desert, the Hard Rock Café in Times Square and in a Grammy-winning sound engineer’s studio. “I started playing piano when I was four years old. I grew up in a very musical family,” Park said. “When I was around nine, I started playing guitar because I was interested in rock music, and then when I was 11, I started doing this program called School of Rock, and it’s an outside-of-school program where kids and young adults play contemporary music at a high level in ensembles. When I was there they asked me to play bass on one song and … I just really delved into the instrument and fell in love with it. It became my primary instrument from then on.” Many of the bass-playing opportunities Park has received have been through the School of Rock, although she and her family have also found venues and gigs on their own. Last summer, she went on tour with her indie band Last Shelter, playing in Connecticut and Rhode Island in addition to their usual performing spots in New York and New Jersey. Park even got to play bass for Twisted Sister lead singer Dee Snider’s solo album “We Are the Ones.” While attending a corporate event at Times Square’s Hard Rock Café, Snider’s producer starting chatting with Park’s dad and after hearing her play, they made arrangements for her to do the record. “It was my first time recording in a studio and to have it be a pretty big
thing with a Grammy-winning engineer was super exciting, and to have my name in the credits and everything on a pretty major record was … a super unique opportunity,” Park said. “It was also really cool because one of the songs I played bass on was paired with a music video that was made in support of the protests happening at Standing Rock, so he took his crew out there and took some really amazing videos in solidarity.” The bass is a “social instrument,” according to Park, in that it works best when paired with other instruments. A valuable addition to any musical composition, the bass supports the other instruments, bringing out each one’s playing. “I think it’s really cool to take a role in the band where you’re not necessarily the main focus, but you’re still trying to hold everything together,” she said. “It requires you to listen to everyone else in the band and work with them to create things that work, basically.” Until this year, Park’s first year at Grinnell, Park played at numerous gigs around New York and New Jersey, constantly seeking out new opportunities. Although the Grinnell music scene is not quite as loud, late and popping as New York City’s, Park has loved it so far. She plays in a few student bands and has played shows on-campus, for example a Tiny Dorm Concert, and she plays in jazz ensemble. She’ll also be performing in Showvember, Freesound’s annual student music showcase, on Nov. 10. “I think the music community is really awesome here. It’s a really tight knit group of people. Everyone's super nice and welcoming, [and] especially in my first semes-
ter I’ve been able to join a bunch of bands on campus and that has been really exciting for me — just meeting new people and playing with new people and approaching music in a different way that’s a little more laid back,” Park said. As for the content of her music, she can most commonly be seen writing bass parts for other musicians’ songs. However, she also writes her own entirely original music. “I have started writing my own music, and I’m trying to work on singing more so I can play my own music. I’m also working on writing music with a couple of my other friends. Otherwise, I’m mostly playing bass for other people, where I’ll write my own parts but not necessarily the full song,” Park said. Not only does Park make music, but she also does graphic design and illustration. Some of her favorite things to design are album art and other pieces that intersect music and visual art. “Translating auditory material and trying to pair it with a digital image is a really fun activity and a fun challenge to try and figure out how to connect the two,” she said. “I’ve been able to do artwork for my band and for other musician friends of mine, so to have that kind of skillset is really fun.” Park began as a pianist and transferred to guitar and then to bass, and somehow she found time to learn visual art skills as well. Like her varied artistic interests, her musical preferences are diverse. “I will play any genre,” she said. “Right now I’m in an indie rock band, but also a punk band and playing in jazz [ensemble], so a huge variety of things.”
PHOTOS BY HELENA GRUENSTEIDL
As a bassist, Park has the opportunity to be part of the music making process without struggling to be a main focus.
National Book Award finalist Carmen Maria Machado discusses horror and writing female pleasure
HELENA GRUENSTEIDL
Carmen Maria Machado answers questions at a roundtable in JRC 209. After its release from Gray Wolf Press this year, Carmen Maria Machado’s debut short story collection won the prestigious title of finalist for the National Book Award this year. Currently an artist-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania, she holds her MFA from the Iowa Writer’s Workshop. The S&B’s Mira Braneck sat down with Machado to discuss horror, story in the era of Trump and writing female sex. Your stories are deeply unsettling in the best ways. What possibilities do you see in your use of horror or the scary, especially for stories about women? I feel like the genre, like horror as a genre, is a genre that can be very reductive but also very subversive. Ultimately it’s about what we’re afraid of, like what are we anxious about that will happen or has happened. So it’s pretty useful. It doesn’t feel that radical, it feels like a pretty obvious tool to just sort of explore issues like race and gender and the body and all those things. “Get Out” would be a great example of a movie that came out this year that did that exact thing. So I feel like it’s just natural. ... Your use of form is really interesting, and plays such an interesting role. Like a scary campfire story with directions of how to read it aloud, or a story of the apocalypse
told through this inventory of sexual partners. How do you see form functioning in your writing? I mean all stories have form. It might be a more traditional form, but it just exists, right? So for me, I’m really interested in places where stories appear in real life that don’t appear to be [stories]. So for example when you find a grocery list in your grocery cart that somebody else left in there. There’s a narrative in there, you know, and there’s a lens through which you can view the person’s life. And so it makes sense that you could use these unusual structures or less traditional structures to explore and examine ideas. I have to be careful, because I was really worried for a long time about getting pegged as a writer who only knows how to do that thing. So obviously my book has a lot of different examples, traditionally structured stories and untraditionally structured stories. … Everything has a shape. Why not that shape? You do such a good job of writing pleasure in the female body. Can you talk about your philosophy of writing specifically female pleasure, when it’s often not broached in such a cohesive way? There’s a couple ways of thinking about it. On one hand, I had a teacher once say to me, ‘You should give your characters a roll in the hay. They work hard, they deserve it.’ Which I thought
was really funny, this idea that characters are doing all this work for your story, so make them happy for a minute, you know? ... Have you ever seen the documentary about the MPAA, “This Film Is Not Yet Rated”? It’s really interesting. It’s about the group of people who decides what a movie is rated, and the double standard that exists, how corrupt and weird that system is. So for example, if there’s a movie with a woman having a visible orgasm, it’s automatically rated R. But the same, with men, it can be PG-13 still. And it’s true of queer and straight sex, like queer sex will automatically get an R-rating or an NC-17 rating, and straight sex won’t. ... Certain kinds of pleasure are punished, like queer sex and sex where women are enjoying themselves. So yeah, it’s like why not do the thing that people get punished for doing? ... How do you draw the line between real and fantasy or the surreal in your stories? I don’t really. I feel like we already exist on the verge of fantasy in our regular lives, and so I don’t really think about it. Certain writers think about world-building in very cohesive ways. Like Tolkien, for example, was this very meticulous world builder, who had this elaborate, completely thought out, secondary world in middle earth. And there are writers like C.S. Lewis, who would just write these insane, nonsensical fantasy worlds. ... I think of that latter way, I call it ecstatic world building, so it’s not thinking about, what are the logistical rules of this world, but what is the emotional truth shining through, and then sort of marshalling various elements of genre to that purpose. ... I just sort of let myself write what I want to write. Do you think fantasy and the unsettling and horror allow for that emotional truth to come out in ways that get us towards our reality in our stories? Our emotional realities. I think the interesting thing about
writing liminal fantasy is yeah, you can express certain truths in ways that are a little more straightforward and that seem similar even when they’re not. It’s just an interesting tool. It defamiliarizes it. It takes this essential thing about sexual violence, for example, and turns it a little bit, and when you hand it back to the person, it looks fresh and new, even though it’s not. These ideas have been around, but I’m just sort of revisiting them
How has your writing changed since you were an undergrad? Since I was an undergrad? … I mean as much as I can possibly imagine. I was an undergrad 12 years ago. Even five years ago, when I published this collection there was this story that was five years old and I had to rewrite it sentence by sentence, because the prose wasn’t up to my current standard. So if you’re doing it right, your style will always be changing and evolving and tightening and getting stronger. ... I’ll look back at stories that I’ve really liked, even now, like my book is out and I’ll read the stories and be like, I like these, but I would write these differently now than I would have like three years ago. ... You’re always improving, or you should be, anyway. We read, in [Professor] Alissa’s [Nutting, English] class today, your piece about Trump winning the election. I was just thinking, for you, what do you see as the power of story in the Trump era? I think it’s the same it’s always been. I don’t know, it’s hard because obviously it’s really terrible right now, but I feel like it’s been terrible for a really long time in different ways. It’s more visible now. I think we’re in this very unique moment where Trump is particularly terrible, and he can’t keep his mouth shut, so it’s very obvious. His incompetency and his evil is more obvious than other politicians. ... But the world’s been shit for most people for like, ever. But I think stories are lifeblood, that they keep us alive in
their own ways. A good example would be the Harvey Weinstein stuff. There’s this narrative that’s been happening of women being like, oh yeah, women knew. Women would tell each other to stay away from him. There’s this whisper-network with these stories being told and that was a thing trying to keep people safe when the official narrative wasn’t anything, using this informality of stories. I feel like there’s something really important and sort of special about that quality of story-telling. Even if you’re writing fiction, you’re delivering essential truths, or at least that’s what you should be doing. Everyone doesn’t do that. But that’s my goal as a writer — I’m delivering a truth, a thing that I think is true, and that I think can help other people. Alissa teaches a feminist memoir course, so we read a lot of your nonfiction that’s published online for today’s class. I was really struck by the difference in style between your fiction and your nonfiction. Do you have a different approach, or can you talk about your different approach to each? Nonfiction is just a really different mental process. I can write fiction really quickly, but it takes me a really long time to write essays. It takes me like months and months ... to get it right. I don’t know if you read “The Trash Heap Has Spoken,” that was one that I published in Guernica earlier this year. And that’s an essay I’ve been trying to write for five years. And I only finally found myself where I could get my hands around it. I feel like part of writing memoir is trying to step back and understand your own mind, which is really hard, right? Because you’re in it, so it’s hard to see the shape of it. Everyone’s different, but for me, it’s really hard to write, it just takes longer. And it’s more emotionally difficult, so it’s just a different process. So yeah, they probably seem different because they are, it’s just coming from a different part of my body, I guess.
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McMahon explores James Buhler examines the musical feathers in Hispanic art world of "Star Wars" By Hallela Hinton-Williams hintonwi@grinnell.edu Surrounded by the art of a different continent, Brendon McMahon’s interest in the use of feathers in the artwork of the modern Hispanic world has stark contrasts with the paintings originating from India in Faulconer's current exhibition. However, there are similarities in the global and cultural significance, and in underlying allusions to the divine and nature. McMahon delved into the work of feathered micro carvings used in Hispanic artwork. In his speech, he highlighted the importance of the hummingbird feathers to show themes of the divine, nature, materiality and epistemology. In his work, McMahon uses archives, the work of researchers and the observations of explorers to the Spanish Americas to understand the significance of feathers, especially those of the hummingbird. In the analysis of his research, McMahon finds that the scale, color and behavior of the hummingbird were specifically intriguing to artists and observers and is integrated into the artwork in order to reflect the nature of God and the divine, human nature and other daunting themes that philosophers and artists were considering in their work. “For discerning viewers, looking at a feathered micro carving was not an exercise of ruthless curiosity, but a rehearsal of knowledge that migrated alongside within the period,” McMahon said.
McMahon’s work is an exercise in delving deeper into a topic that has been rarely explored. He said that academics with different backgrounds and interests all find something intriguing in the research McMahon has been conducting, as well as in its conclusions. “My reason I like the topic is that it can grab people from a lot of different backgrounds and perspectives. ... My dream is to have these conversations with as many people as possible,” McMahon said. McMahon was always drawn to this research and enjoys the challenges that come up, especially since this kind of research into feathers in Hispanic art is fairly unprecedented. “I love birds. My dad is a big bird watcher. I was drawn immediately to the objects because they were so visually exciting. People haven’t really thought about these specific objects and how that could contribute to meaning,” McMahon said. “I’ve been hunting these objects down because a lot aren’t in public collections. Every time I find a new one it is like another feather in my cap. ... There is so much more out there.” McMahon sees his research expanding to change the way we perceive art based on geographic region. “There’s a real interest in globalizing disciplines, like art histories that have pretty narrowly focused in the past. Any object that was made in an interesting place is an opportunity to move art history into a less euro-centric mold, to think about other places besides Renaissance Florence as a worthy place to think about art.”
REINA SHAHI
McMahon explored the use of feathers in Hispanic art in his talk in Faulconer gallery on Thursday, Nov. 2.
By Saiham Sharif sharifsa@grinnell.edu Last Friday, on Oct. 27, James Buhler, a professor of music theory and the director of the Center for American Music at the University of Texas at Austin, spoke about the role of music and composition in the “Star Wars” film franchise. His speech first highlighted the importance of music in film theory, and showed the association between thematic music and the qualities of significant characters. Beginning his speech with the connection between the worldbuilding in “Star Wars” and the series’ commercialization, Buhler showed how “Star Wars” has changed the film industry by gaining massive profit through merchandising. The preamble cultivated an aura of excitement around the larger than life series. For Buhler, the connection to this series is also close to home. “The ‘Star Wars’ filmset has been very important to me personally. My family had been regular filmgoers when I was young, but none
Jay Som and p.morrow to bring some heat to Gardner By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu Get ready for a concert that will feel like hot apple cider for your soul. On Tuesday, Nov. 7, DIY songwriter Jay Som and Grinnell band p.morrow will play the Gardner stage. Doors open at 7:30 p.m.. p.morrow will begin their set at 8 p.m. and Jay Som will perform at 9. Oakland native and core member of Jay Som, Meline Duterte grew up playing trumpet, but by the time she got to college, she left her trumpeting days behind and took classes in music production. Soon afterwards she started writing and recording her own music under the name Jay Som, which came from the online Wu-Tang name generator. Her music is influenced by both Carly Rae Jepsen and Phil Elverum and draws from genres as diverse as funk and shoegaze. In 2015, she released several demos on Bandcamp, which garnered so much attention that she re-released them as her debut album “Turn Into” the next year. This March saw the release of her sophomore album “Everybody Works.” According to Jay Som’s Bandcamp, Duterte recorded “Everybody Works” in three weeks in her bedroom studio, creating almost every sound on the album by herself. The album is vulnerable and autobiographical, exploring love and intimacy in a way that feels hopeful. In “The Bus Song,” Duterte sings about the comfort of riding busses, feeling “like a firefighter” when she takes off her partner’s shoes, and her sister knowing “that ghosts are real,” just a sample of how she opens up different aspects of her life to the listener with a comforting honesty. No two songs on the album sound exactly the same: “1 Billion Dogs” uses shoegazey guitars, “One More Time, Please” is centered on funk rhythms and “Baybee” evokes R&B. Her set is one of the most anticipated on the
Grinnell Concerts roster this semester. Also playing on Tuesday is Grinnell band p.morrow, composed of students Justin Leuba ’18, Jacob Getzoff ’18, Sylvie Bindas ’18, Victoria Park ’21 and Ian Donaldson ’20. The band formed after many members of Leuba and Getzoff’s band from last year graduated and Leuba wanted to play some of their solo music in a group. Leuba formed p.morrow, which takes its name from Leuba’s middle initial, “p,” and their mother’s maiden name, “morrow.” “I think we try to go for a real sense of layering, so we try to work with a lot of textures, sort of interweaving melodic lines,” Leuba said. “We’ve got a keyboard player and I play the guitar and Victoria plays the bass, and in terms of the melodic instrumentation, we try really hard to make sure all those are synched up, and then Jacob does a pretty good job of keeping the songs rhythmically interesting as well.”
Leuba has written a lot of songs about their mother, fitting into a community and different types of imagery, always using words in interesting ways. “Sometimes I’ll have a song where a verse is describing a particular image and that’ll just be a verse. And I feel like a lot of thematic content can be projected onto an image,” they said. “My lyrics rhyme in strange ways. Often there’s not obvious rhyme scheme. I like to experiment with different lyrical form and kind of give myself the space to be heterodox.” Although their music doesn’t directly replicate any of the bands they listen to, they say they enjoy the work of musical acts like St. Vincent, Iron and Wine, D’Angelo and Solange, and it comes through in their music. p.morrow will be releasing a full-length album next semester. Make sure to come to Tuesday’s concert which will be a dose of warmth on a cold November night.
of my experiences going to films prepared me for ‘Star Wars.’” Buhler recalled the amazement of his first viewing of the science fiction classic. “I was transfixed, mesmerized, and I still remember the awe and terror in the opening shot, as the enormous imperial destroyer appeared on the screen,” he said. “I remember watching the film half a dozen times when it was in town.”
"The music already knows who the characters are and what they’re going to be and how they’re going to have an impact in the world." James Buhler His presentation analyzed the consistency of the opening sequence, across the series. In his view, the easily recognizable scrolling epic white text on the black background provides a sense of repetition — order in the world and intimacy. Connecting the music with the
text, Buhler cemented the ideas of John Williams, the composer of the “Star Wars” soundtrack, and quotes him in saying that the music invokes, “some memory of Buck Rogers or King Arthur or something earlier in the cultural salts of our brains, memories of lives lived in the past, I don’t know. But it has that kind of resonance — it resonates within us in some past hero’s life that we’ve all lived.” Buhler mapped the characteristics of each character’s theme with their respective personality. He finds Luke’s theme to be heroic, evoking that aspect of his character, while Leia’s theme to emphasize her portrayal as a romantic object, by marking her as striking yet tender. Buhler made similar connections for all the major themes and characters of the franchise, demonstrating how pervasive the impact of the compositions is throughout the films. “The music already knows who the characters are and what they’re going to be and how they’re going to have an impact in the world,” Buhler said.
What steps should Grinnell take to impact climate change? Join the conversation. MONDAY, NOV. 6, JRC 101 Noon–1 p.m. Matt Remle, representative from Mazaskatalks 5:30–6:45 p.m. Rick Lancaster ’76, Vice President for Power Generation, Great River Energy 7:45–9:30 p.m. Dr. Laura Skandera Trombley, former President Pitzer College, Pitzer’s process leading to divestment
TUESDAY, NOV. 7, Harris Cinema 11 a.m.–1 p.m. Grinnell Sustainability Plan — Chris Bair, Environmental and Safety Manager and Liz Queathem, Senior Lecturer in Biology 4–6 p.m. Georges Dyer, Principal, Intentional Endowments Network Kirsten Spaulding, Director, Ceres Investor Network via videoconference 7:30–9:30 p.m. Student panel on personal, interpersonal, communal, and societal climate impact moderated by Megan Goering ’08, CEO/Founder at Action Labs Global
All sessions will be livestreamed to: grinnell.edu/livestream Important: Minors under age 18 need to be accompanied by an adult. Grinnell College is not responsible for supervision of minors on campus. Grinnell College welcomes the participation of people with disabilities. For information, please contact Conference Operations at 641-269-3178. ART BY STEVEN DUONG
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Edited by mckechni@grinnell.edu
A serious conversation about Tourism Fall break concluded a week ago, and many of us took off our Grinnell student hats in order to don a different hat — the cap of a tourist. Curious about digging underneath the fun surface of tourism to see what political implications lie below, The S&B’s Caryn McKechnie sat down with Professor Kesho Scott, sociology, who teaches a course called “The Sociology of Tourism.” Read on to see the result of her curiosity journey ... The S&B: Why do you teach a course on the sociology of tourism? Professor Kesho Scott: Why do I do that? Why did that become a subject of a subdiscipline of sociology? Two reasons. One, because it’s people being involved in group activities and, second, because it’s now transnational. So there are some facts about tourism that we have to start from. One, it is the largest commercial-service industry in the world. Eighty percent of the people that are involved in tourism are women, which are generally the most disenfranchised, economically and politically, around the world. And the third thing, that tourism does not necessarily benefit the country that it finds itself in. In what way does tourism not benefit the country it’s in? So, for example, the 31 million people who visit Disneyland, which is the number one tourist site in the world, means that that is income that comes to the United States; but, when people go to Myanmar, and they’re seeing the new land, the tourist industries are often owned by past colonial nations — that means the money leaves. So tourism, in a way, is a new way that neocolonialism can work.
"...the tourist industries are often owned by past colonial nations...tourism, in a way, is a new way that neocolonialism can work." Professor Kesho Scott Are there pros to tourism? The focus of the course is to engage in examining what are the pros and cons of tourisms. Certainly,
there have to be certain democratic imperatives, say, removing military regimes, that then makes a country be able to plug in to the network of global tourism. So there are pluses. And certainly where there’s been a move toward democratization, there have been greater opportunities for young women to go to school, for them to challenge marriage laws, to look at customary laws, so there have been some changes. Tourism can also be hugely educational. If you go to the slave castles in Ghana, for example, and look at the history of slavery from their point of view, or Senegal, the island of Gorée, and see how they have turned these structures into museums that teach the world. This is very important. This is a very powerful tourism. In the same way that Jewish people have created Holocaust museums all over the world. Thank goodness they have done that. The other issue is that we don’t want to exploit tragedies. So, when we look at the battle of Nanjing, where hundreds of thousands of Chinese were killed by the Japanese. We want to know about the Nanjing massacre, but we don’t want to disrespect it also.
"Tourism can also be hugely educational. If you go to the slave castles in Ghana ... they have turned these structures into museums that teach the world." Professor Kesho Scott Why should we be wary of tourism? If you look at it from a neocolonialist point of view, the same dilemma at the root of that problem exists. Past colonized nations became politically independent, but not necessarily economically independent. … When we think about studying tourism, we’re studying when and where those things happened — where the neocolonial pillars are operating, and where, in fact, the innovative things are happening in tourism. Certainly, tourism has brought more women out of the home, to work outside of the home and have wages, which requires education — these are some of the pluses. But it’s also created ways in which women have
been exploited, because who sets the wages? We know, for example, the incentive of nations and companies who want to develop tourist industries, but what percentage of that debt are they going to assume? Is the country that’s going to create the tourist industry borrow debt from who is building the tourist industry? Or are they going to give over some of their natural resources to a company that’s going to develop the industry? I think of Myanmar, and I think of Tibet, where these two countries found themselves having great oil reserves right now. Who approaches them [and] raises ethical questions? Do you approach them and say, “we will help develop your industry where the people will benefit,” or do we help develop your tourist industry in which our companies will benefit? Because, remember, tourism is about companies operating in other countries to develop a tourist industry. And sometimes all of those countries — in developing countries and in western countries — have a tourist industry, which then have tourist organizations. And some of these tourist organizations have international components and international links. So you’ll find that there might be a company operating in France that has branches operating in many other countries. So how is that any different than the colonial arrangements of the past? I think what’s exciting about studying tourism is that you begin to see how advanced capitalism works, right? And what is the new social fabric of creating global industries? And we don’t often think about that. In fact, Karl Marx predicted that one day we would have a socialist world order, well, guess what, we have a capitalist world order. But in that capitalist world order there’s ... the universality of language, business practices, education. So we’re finding that places in the world are, even though we still have national boundaries, we read the same books, we see the same movies, we buy the same clothes, we’re often having the same beauty standards, we’re having similar systems of leisure, and on and on. So tourism is a really interesting thing to study in the 21st century, because it’s really about power and prestige — the study of power and prestige.
So, knowing that tourism can be neocolonialism by another name, is there a responsible way to be a tourist? That’s one of the final questions of the course: is there responsible tourism? I’m glad you asked that. Because I think we have to look at that question on multiple levels. As individuals, yes. There are practices you can engage in in a country that are about your ethics. … You might seek medical tourism practices. … So at the individual level I think you have to make a choice. At the institutional level is where many of us don’t have control. You know, the vast majority of the people that climb Mount Kilimanjaro as a hobby are not the people that live there. The people that have the jobs to help them get there, are jobs where the wages are set by the people that do the climbing. So, I think you can be responsible by recognizing that privilege still exists where there is western tourism in these countries. … We go into these countries with a lot of resources, and how we spend them has power. At the global level, responsible tourism is extremely a challenge. We can look at what our nation’s practices are with other countries. Do we end up protecting other countries by our tourist practices? For example, certain countries put industrial waste in West African countries, particularly Nigeria. And in putting this industrial waste there, they’re using the lands of people because it’s illegal in the western countries to do that. And trying to develop tourist industries now, they have to figure out how to move
that industrial waste out so that it’s safe for tourists. But they didn’t ask the question of safety prior to, for the people that lived there. So at those larger levels, we have to ask ourselves, what are the political practices of our own nation?
"I think you can be responsible by recognizing that privilege still exists where there is Western tourism in these countries... We go into these countries with a lot of resources, and how we spend them has power." Professor Kesho Scott What should the conversation around tourism be like? We have to be honest about looking at how people in other countries push back. How the tourism industry in some countries isn’t working, and how we white out, or westernize out their critiques of our tourist organizations in those countries. Is tourism an ethical industry? We’re just learning how to have conversations about the ethics of tourism. We’re not just looking at the ethics from the vantage of the people who benefit from tourism. We want to look at the impact. And I always talk about the difference between impact and intention. Impact is about structures, and intention is about ideology. And, in knowing that, the ethical answers are somewhere in between.
Day in the life of a student abroad in France: Danica Bojovic
CONTRIBUTED
7:15—First alarm goes off. Continue to sleep. 7:30—Second alarm goes off. Take my phone and scroll through Instagram and all the messages that happened after 11 p.m. last night, when I was officially asleep. 8:00—Enough of social media poisoning. Thinking about coffee makes me get out of the bed. 8:05—Make coffee, feeling satisfied.
8:10—Search for the morning playlist on Spotify, key word: coffee. Nothing looks attractive. Play Sylvan Esso “Coffee” (first habit acquired in the States thanks to my first-year roommate [bunnelle]) 8:15—Start getting ready: make up, clothes, peanut butter jelly sandwich (since when do I like American food?!). 9:05—Ready, but too early to head to class. Waste some time reading Audrey Tautou interview on The Talks. Immediately after search for Vincent Cassel (at least I’m wasting my time on French actors). 9:30—Head to class. Choose music while running over the street. Hear annoying tram bell. Run faster. 9:50—Tram mafia walks in checking the tickets (they literally block the door while one of them checks the tickets and they all wear same black and white uniforms — more intimidating
than police). Search for it in my bag for three minutes. Smile awkwardly and say: “Merci.” 9:55—Walk fast, thinking I’m late for class. 10:10—I’m five minutes early, so I pick up some instant cappuccino from the machine. 11:05—In Contemporary Literature class, I think about some fun ideas but I’m too scared to participate in class, thinking I will say something grammatically incorrect with a weird accent (not that I’m not used to that. My accent is strong, even in English, but still). 11:07—Someone else brings up the same fun idea. I just give them a look as if they robbed me of my own thoughts. 13:00—Play some ping pong in program’s office. Win some, lose some. Get overexcited and sweaty. 13:45—Ask people when our gram-
mar class is. At 15:45. Beg people to play more ping pong with me. 15:00—Eat with friends in French D-Hall. Food options are actually exciting. 15:45—Run to class. We’re late again. Give people shit for that while running. 16:25—Participate too much in grammar class to show off my French in non-French student class (frustrations from lit class still hurt). 18:05—Come back home. Make coffee. Think about what to make for dinner. 18:40—Make grilled cheese sandwiches (but I thought I hated American food?!). 19:45—Start wondering what people are doing and why nobody’s messaging. Check GroupMe and realize my phone didn’t notify me about 50+ messages. Catch up. 20:00—Get a glass of wine just because I have some in the fridge (in
France, you always have some in the fridge). 20:35—Knock on my friend’s door to see if she’s coming for the Babble Bar (American-French mingle made for people to socialize and practice speaking in their weaker language). She opens the door and greets me with “hey ho.” Makes my day. Every time. 21:05—Go to the bar. Realize that only two random people are there. Order some wine. 22:05—Too many people came. Ended up talking to Americans about where Grinnell is. 22:30—Realize I’m sleepy. Walk back home. Think about how I only drink coffee and wine and suddenly do all these American things I never did before. 22:55—In bed, hear my phone vibrating but too lazy to get up and read the messages. Will do it tomorrow morning.
Grinnell alum gives back through short course Julia Echikson echikson@grinnell.edu
Wilson Scholar Sanjay Khanna ’85 is currently teaching a short course on entrepreneurship called “Real Life Entrepreneurship.” The three-week class will end on Nov. 9.
"...this is my way of wanting to return their kindness and the opportunity that America and Grinnell College gave me." Sanjay Khanna '85 The class aims to teach students how to be entrepreneurs in the real world. In an email to The S&B, Khanna wrote that he wants to educate students on a “‘way of life’ in today’s competitive environment.”
Despite the focus on entrepreneurship, Khanna believes that this class is useful regardless of the professions students choose to chase. Khanna writes that he wants to “teach and develop in students an ‘intuitive’ methodology to think out of the box and innovate, which in my opinion are critical skills to be successful in life, irrespective of the profession one chooses.” Like other classes taught at Grinnell, the class revolves around Khanna’s lecturing, readings and discussion from students. Khanna does not have a doctorate; he wanted to give back to his alma mater by teaching the class. “When I was in Grinnell in the early 80s, many Americans, professors, corporate professionals, associates and friends from many a country, helped me develop my personality and skills, and this is my way of wanting to return their kindness, and the opportunity that America and Grinnell College
gave me,” he wrote. Khanna describes his career as being “creative.” He began by working for Time Magazine in 1985. After a stint in the hotel business, working for Oberoi Group of Hotels, he became an executive at Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in 1995, bringing the channels to his home country, India. Today, he considers himself a “struggling entrepreneur looking for his next big challenge.” Beyond improving his writing and communication skills, he credits Grinnell College for teaching him how to handle people. “You need to learn how to manage your parents, peers, professors, spouse, friends, colleagues, associates, dog etc.,” Khanna wrote. “In my opinion, life is a management game and Grinnell College’s liberal arts experience has perhaps given me an edge in management and the Emotional Quotient.”
CONTRIBUTED
Features
Edited by mckechni@grinnell.edu
7
Messy college students in a messy college house
CONTRIBUTED
GOVIND BRAHMANYAPURA
Christine Rains, Clara Trippe, Josephine Sloyan, Olivia Schouboe Elzinga and Yufei Wang, all ’18, pose outside their cuddly, welcoming, all-femme party home. Amanda Weber weberama@grinnell.edu
Many Grinnell partygoers are likely familiar with the interior of 1014 High Street. However, for the house’s residents, Yufei Wang, Christine Rains, Josephine Sloyan,
Clara Trippe and Olivia Schouboe, all ’18, familiarity has become an understatement. “It was funny moving in because I was like, ‘Oh yeah, I’ve been to parties here,’” said Trippe. Indeed, the house has hosted many a party, which can leave a visible impact, even when the par-
ties are over and done. According to Rains, chairs used to block off the upstairs to partygoers during the party have been known to remain an obstacle for days afterward, and dancers at a party once broke a table. While instances like these can contribute to clutter, they also imbue the house with a sense of joy
and celebration that has become as much a part of the house as the framework, and 1014’s welcoming nature is a point of pride for the residents. “I like having a space where people can feel comfortable coming in and hanging out,” said Trippe. “There’s not a lot of femme-only houses that throw parties … so [it’s nice] having a space where women and non-binary people can feel safe going to parties and feel comfortable socializing.” “A lot of houses on High Street particularly that host things tend to be associated with a sports team,” Rains agreed. “It’s kind of nice to be the alternative.” Though the house is every inch a site for socialization and celebration for the greater Grinnell College community, it has also provided an environment that has fostered close friendships among the residents, and the easy amiability there is immediately apparent. “There’s a lot of coming and going. We’re all very busy people. But it is nice at the end of the night — everyone comes back and hangs out on the porch for a little bit before they go to bed or we’ll eat together or cook at the same time. There’s a lot of cuddling in various people’s beds,” Trippe said. One region of 1014 that has es-
tablished itself as a place for relaxing and bonding — and as an especially significant spot for Trippe— is the porch. “Clara’s the porch queen. … We have an enclosed porch and that’s like Clara’s little space. A lot of times I’ll come home from Burling and there’ll be a bunch of people on the porch,” Rains said. The porch is one of many endearing aspects of the house, and there are plenty of smaller details that add to 1014’s charm. The painting of mallard ducks with lasers coming out of their eyes that hangs on the wall, for instance, though divisive for the residents, adds to the eccentric appeal of the house. It is details like the painting that, when glimpsed on a simple walk-through, give one an immediate sense of 1014’s personality: it is a home that is warm, welcoming and well-lived. “The house is charming, it has beautiful crown molding and could use some more repair probably, but it’s got really good bones. … And it’s both literally and figuratively warm all the time,” Rains said. To describe it simply, Trippe said it best with no small amount of affection and poignancy: “We’re messy college students and our house is a messy college house.”
Experimental College: from personal finance to songwriting By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu There’s only one place at Grinnell College where one can take classes about how to brew beer, freestyle, write songs or be wealthy: the Experimental College, commonly referred to as ExCo. Students and community members can sign up for five-week courses taught by Grinnell students about anything they think is interesting. It’s a unique opportunity to delve into topics that are not officially offered at the College, sharing the experience with other people who possess a similar passion to learn with a community in an exploratory peer-facilitated setting. Christian Clark ’18, who has been the ExCo coordinator since last spring, sees ExCo as a way to engage with his passion for teaching and to be part of a unique program. “It’s definitely a lot of hard work,” he said, “but I enjoy it because I personally want to become a teacher so that was instantly something that I gravitated towards.” Many of the students who become teachers for ExCo see it as a way to bring information to other students that they feel people should know — information that is not typically provided in the college curriculum. “ExCos are a really great opportunity for students to identify
gaps in the Grinnell curriculum and take the initiative to fill those gaps,” said Philip Kiely ’20, who is teaching a course this semester entitled Personal Wealth Maximization in which he teaches strategies for money management, which students can employ after college. Kiely focused on streamlining his course to make sure those who attend his class learn things that will be useful to them. “I’ve read a lot of books about it,” he said, “and I know that there’s a lot of bad information out there, so I wanted to sort of filter that out. It’s something that everyone needs to know, but, to be honest, it’s really boring and it’s really inconvenient to figure out, so if someone’s going to teach personal finance to you, that makes it a lot easier.” Oscar Buchanan ’21 also knows the difficulty of figuring out what information is important enough to take up one of his five ExCo meetings. He is teaching a class about songwriting. “A lot of it was thinking back to what I had learned in the past and what would be valuable, and it’s hard because songwriting is a very niche course and you have to figure out what’s going be useful, so I spent a good amount of time just working through everything I knew, figuring out what of this information about songwriting isn’t easily available.” Buchanan says that he wants
to make some of the resources that helped him learn songwriting available to Grinnell students.
"Excos are a really great opportunity for students to identify gaps in the Grinnell curriculum and take initiative to fill those gaps." Philip Kiely '20 “There’s a really great music community at Grinnell, and we have music courses for instrumental virtuosity, like learning your instrument and music theory, but when it comes
to writing your own music, there’s a gap. I’ve been writing songs for a long time and my dad was a songwriter. I also grew up in a choir that worked with songwriters and I got to talk to them all the time, and having that support was super useful and I want to make that sort of network available here.” Similarly to Kiely, Buchanan is working to fill a gap in the curriculum and to share his passion with others. Clark sees sharing a passion for inquiry as an important factor of ExCo. “I think it’s just, in general, a really cool experience to get to teach people things you’re really interested
in, and there’s always someone else who’s interested in that same thing. I think something that keeps people from doing an ExCo is this idea that maybe no one will sign up. That’s never actually been the case. There’s always a ton of people who regularly sign up for multiple ExCo classes and are really engaged,” Clark said. ExCo is a powerful way for students to spread ideas and expertise, drawing from a knowledge base that they have sometimes spent years gathering out of sheer interest. Students very intentionally decide what they feel is important to share with others. It is a unique opportunity to learn new things in a new way.
Slaying the first ever Grinnell Halloween costume contest By Quan Minh Tran tranminh2@grinnell.edu This past Saturday, the Student Government Association (SGA) hosted the first-ever costume contest at Halloween Harris. The contest, one of SGA’s initiatives to bring students together, was a big success. The S&B's Quan Minh Tran spoke with winners of the contest, Mary DaVega ’21, Pratik Karki ’20, Reed Winter ’21, James Msekela ’20, Ben Lim ’19, Talera Jensen ’19, Julia Schafer ’18 and Jane Jordan ’18 . All photos contributed. S&B: Tell me about your costume? Mary Davega (Barbie): The doll box was made of a cardboard, teal satin fabric, tulle detail and good ole' acrylic paint. It cost about $25 and four to five hours to shop, create the box, and to get dressed, get the wig looking right and beat my face to perfection. What inspired you to dress as Barbie? MV: Barbie's entire image is based on the Anglo-centric male ideal of beauty: skinny, white, able-bodied, blonde, cis/straight and tall. I decided that for one night, I would reclaim this image to shock people in a sensationalist and lurid way. The day before Harris I remembered Beyoncé was Barbie a few years back, so I think in my subconscious I was trying to be Beyoncé.
Mary DaVega ’21 as Barbie
How was your costume received? MV: My friends were all elated to see my costume. When the results were announced, I like to think I gained a lot of clout. My girls were all very supportive, hugging on me and calling me queen almost to an excess. Did the Teletubby costumes match up with your personalities? Ben Lim (Teletubby): We did it randomly, but it turned out our personality matched the Teletubbies. Reed is the youngest one in the group, like Po. The loudest and obnoxious one is Tinky Winky, and that’s James. I’m like the goofball. And Pratik is the weirdo. What went into creating the costumes?
Pratik Karki ’20, Reed Winter ’21, James Msekela ’20 and Ben Lim ’19
James Msekela (Teletubby): We bought the costume online. And we had to tape pillows to our stomach to make us fatter so it would look more like the Teletubbies. How did you pick your costumes? JM: It was like a spur of a moment decision ... It conveys our group’s friendship and camaraderie. You can see that each of us is actually from different race[s], and [things like that] didn’t happen by accident. Can you share a favorite moment from when you were in costume? Reed Winter (Teletubby): Our friends loved it. The best part is when we went to Walmart, and saw regular people’s reactions and took pictures
Talera Jensen ’19 as Björk
Julia Schafer and Jane Jordan, both ’18, as Napoleon and Kip Dynamite
with them. We have no regrets.
How did people react to your costume? TJ: Reactions to my costume were very positive, even if people didn’t recognize the reference (“Are you Black Swan?”). Many people were bewildered when I explained to them that I made it myself. One of my friends even said he would drop out if I didn’t win the contest.
What was your costume and how did you make it? Talera Jensen (Björk): My costume is a replica of the famous swan dress that the musician Björk wore to the 2001 Oscars. I made it with a few yards of tulle, some cotton fabric, stuffing and an elastic band. I also patterned rhinestones on the bodysuit underneath. The black wig I just had lying around, I also wore heels and tried to style my makeup like hers. It took several days over fall break to cut and layer the tulle into the band and sew the swan head. The total cost of materials was around $50. Why did you pick Björk? TJ: Björk is an artistic visionary and one of my biggest inspirations. I actually first thought of the costume because I have a huge poster of her in my room.
What’s was your costume and how did you craft it? Julia Schafer (Napoleon Dynamite): We were dressed as Napoleon and Kip Dynamite from the movie Napoleon Dynamite. We did a lot of thrift shopping, and then got the rest of the pieces from Amazon. How did you settle on the Napoleon and Kip Dynamite? JS: We'd been planning on wearing these costumes for months before Halloween. [Napoleon Dynamite] is one of our favorite movies ever.
Sports
Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu
Men's and women's cross country give stellar effort at conference
8
A spritz of sports with Sam By Sam Rueter ruetersa@grinnell.edu “We can't have the inmates running the prison.” These were the words of Bob McNair, longtime owner of the Houston Texans, at a recent meeting between NFL owners and Commissioner Roger Goodell. The meeting, which was meant to address the proliferation of player protests during the playing of the national anthem before football games, produced no tangible course of action to either curb or sanction such protests. McNair's comments, however, soon became a major headline, with many NFL players, fans and athletes outraged at his comparison of players to prisoners. Multiple players from the Texans reportedly left their practice facility upon hearing their owner's comments, while others acknowledged that the team would have to consider some form of protest as a response. Fellow athletes took to social media to voice their displeasure with McNair's sentiments and his mere presence in the American sports landscape. It is must be acknowledged that McNair's comments are incredibly problematic, if not outright irredeemable, and as such, the anger amongst players is completely justified. For one, the NFL has always operated as a historically Black league. In this sense, by drawing the comparison (whether intentionally or unintentionally) between Black players and an American prison system which incarcerates, oppresses and degrades Black people at astronomically high rates, McNair displayed
an ignorant disregard for the racialized nature of his comments. In more grounded terms though, McNair's player-to-prisoner comparison is the continuation of a rift between players and management in nearly all sports, which exacerbates inherently existent financial and cultural divides between the two groups. In both senses, it is logical and understandable why McNair has been so widely condemned, and his character assassinated. But is this a turning point for the politicization of the NFL, or rather a setback? As opposed to writing McNair off as an evil man with evil intentions, we need to try and understand where he, as well as the many fans and Americans who accepted his apology or agree with the gist of his sentiment, are coming from. This is an unfair proposition, but ultimately a necessary step; after all, criticizing someone's point effectively involves understanding how and why they crafted it. The phrase that McNair seems to be attempting to use was “we can't have inmates running the asylum,” which, although also not great optically, has an altogether different tone than his evocation of prisoners. Furthermore, McNair was discussing a situation in which employees were seemingly being allowed to dictate the actions of their employers — this doesn't excuse his use of a lazy analogy, but it also makes his choice of words (minus “inmates”) not altogether illogical. While these characterizations may come from a place of socially motivated righteousness and kind-hearted intent, their impact
often serves to strengthen political divides as opposed to bridging them. Isn't it possible that for fans who might struggle to pay their rent to see handsomely paid athletes refusing to stand for the anthem — something that to them, represents connections to fallen soldiers or an integral part of their American identity — is infuriating? Of course, it can be argued (in many cases quite effectively) that people like this are missing important cultural or historical understanding that would allow them to empathize with the fact that American identity is an experience that vastly differs for minorities in this country. But not everyone is afforded the opportunity and privilege of education, the gift of compassion or the valuable tool of context. Calling people names, even if such names might be applicable, only causes them to shut down, making meaningful listening and learning impossible. As such, instead of calling people like Bob McNair out, we need to bring them in. We need to listen to them and talk to them, in hopes that they too can understand why their words or actions cause consternation, anger and above all else, pain. This is a wholly unfair and unsatisfying task, as it asks the oppressed to understand their oppressors and the recipients of hateful speech to respond with eloquence. But, in some ways, that is what the fight for social justice and equality is: the continued confrontation of unfairness and hatred with love and kindness. This is the response that NFL players can hopefully begin to exhibit, and, in doing so, they can help to shape a world where education does more good than condemnation.
Athlete spotlight: The Sinha sisters
MAHIRA FARAN
Vrishali and Vidushi Sinha have stood out throughout their three golf seasons at Grinnell. Last weekend, they took the top two spots at conference. By Zoe Fruchter fruchter@grinnell.edu At this year’s Midwest Conference golf championships, Vidushi and Vrishali Sinha, both ’19, dominated the competition. Vidushi claimed her second MWC title while Vrishali placed second, for her third top-two finish at the competition. The sisters and their teammates finished the three-day tournament to claim their fifth league championship in a row.
"I picked [golf] up to spend time with my dad and my brother." Vrishali Sinha'19 Yet the Sinhas’ competitive prowess is not readily apparent from talking to them. Non-identical twins, golf has always been a family affair. “I picked it up to spend time with my dad and brother,” Vrishali said. Golf was a consistent presence at the Sinhas’ home in New Delhi. “We’d always putt at home, instead of playing board games,” Vidushi added. Making the transition to competitive golf came as a matter of course for the talented sisters, but was never the main draw. “My coach forced me to do tournaments. I was scared at first that I wasn’t good enough,” Vrish-
ali recalled. This would prove false as Vrishali went on to win the first tournament she entered. This feat, she noted, “is actually quite rare.” Vidushi was inspired by her sister’s success and started competing as well, although she mentioned that, “I’ve always been a little bit more competitive.” Like many other sibling athletes who compete in the same sport (Venus and Serena Williams, for example), the Sanhi sisters are immensely supportive of each other. Vidushi said that “the fact that we’re playing together” is what really motivated her to continue with golf. To illustrate this support, Vidushi recalled the sisters’ final nationals match in India when they were set against each other in the first round: “Usually you finish golf for 18 holes, but our game went on for 25 holes ... It took us six hours.” Vrishali said that in the six-hour showdown she “probably had the most fun round of my life.” Vidushi added, “We were all just laughing... she’d win a hole, I’d win the next one. It just wouldn’t finish.” The sisters enjoyed challenging each other and the winner of the game is never the focus. Family is central to the sisters at Grinnell. They were drawn to Grinnell College, in particular, by the relationship they built with Coach David Arsenault. The sisters referred to their relationship with “Coach A” and assistant women’s golf coach
Jennie Jackson as a familial dynamic. “They are a huge part of our support system here,” Vidushi said. “If I’m feeling super homesick I can talk to [Coach A].” Their team is also a source of fun and support. The sisters had never played team golf before coming to Grinnell but have enjoyed the change. “Our team is pretty great,” Vidushi said Obviously, golf is not all fun and games to the sisters. At Grinnell, the Sinhas have continued to push themselves further than even they might have expected. Vidushi admitted that “Coming into Grinnell, I knew it was a Division III school and I didn’t want my game to get worse. ... But my game has improved.” She also stated that the team as a whole has “been getting better every year” because “people want to work hard-
"We'd always putt at home, instead of playing board games." Vidushi Sinha'19 er and improve.” Vrishali cited a more technical scale for her improvement at Grinnell: this year she aimed to get more than 50 percent “up and downs” (an “up and down” refers to the feat of getting the ball in the hole with only two strokes from around the green or in a greenside bunker). This season Vrishali got 70 percent up and downs. Her success rate, her sister noted proudly, is “crazy” in the golf world. Other than such well-earned pride, the sisters take their athletic successes with a large degree of humility and a bit of humor. When questioned about the lack of attention paid to golf at Grinnell, Vidushi noted wryly, “I wouldn't go out and watch golf either.” Both made the choice not to pursue professional golf in eleventh grade when they decided to apply to Division III schools such as Grinnell. Instead, they wanted to focus on academics. Both sisters are Economics majors. Vidushi is a double major with Studio Art and paints “a lot,” while Vrishali is pursuing a concentration in Global Development Studies and enjoys spending time with her friends. In short, the Sinha sisters are typical, well-rounded Grinnell College students — who just happen to be golf champions as well.
CONTRIBUTED Cindy Luo '21, Terran Mott '20, and Christine Rains '18 pass runners together at the conference meet, where many Grinnellians ran personal bests. By Kate Irwin irwinkat@grinnell.edu This past weekend, both the men's and women's cross country teams placed second in their Conference meet. Placing second was not the outcome that either team anticipated, but both teams had several personal bests and gave outstanding performances both individually and collectively. The cross country teams use the entirety of their seasons to prepare for Conference. This meet is the focus of the training season for both the men and women, where both teams can see their hard work and dedication pay off. “It's the thing that we're focused on — where expectations are highest,” said John Lennon ’19. “It's the culmination of all your hard work and it's really nice to be able to accomplish something with your teammates,” added Mikayla Fujiwara ’20. Both the men and women were expecting to win, but both teams fell short of making this goal. The women's team does not always win Conference, but they are always one of the top teams. “Of course you always want to win and you have this hope that the team is going to win, and I think we all very much came from that place. But my coach said to us before the race that she would never be disappointed if we really went and gave it our all and didn't win,” said Emma Zimmerman ’18. “I think that we wanted to win. … Everyone on our team performed well, so we can't really be that disappointed,” said Anna Ahrens ’19. Women's coach Evelyn Freeman could not be more pleased with the women's team's performance. “It was incredible. … A majority of the people on the team had their lifetime [personal record] or their seasonal best [personal record],” she said. “I think for a lot of people it really came together just at the right time,” said Emily Burgess ’19. Last year the men won their 19th Midwest Conference title in 20 years.
Not clinching the title this year was frustrating and disappointing. “We come in expecting to win every year, and I think over the decades that holds up pretty well. But this year we just got beat. Cornell was much better. We're not especially happy about that, but it is what it is,” Lennon said. Will Freeman, the men's cross country coach, is satisfied with how the men ran this past weekend, despite not winning Conference. “We ran our best! Our scoring seven all ran personal best times. We were simply beaten by a better team this year,” he wrote in an email to The S&B. The season is not over for the men and women. The top seven runners with compete at the Regional meet Nov. 11 in Northfield, Minnesota. This meet is an opportunity for two of the seven competing teams to make it to the National meet. “Every once in a while, Nationals becomes a viable goal, and we feel like it could be this year,” Lennon said. The men and women are utilizing the upcoming track season to help prepare for cross country and work towards winning the Conference title next season “I think our immediate goal for next year is to win the conference meet. Everyone in Cornell's top five returns, so we know exactly what we're up against. As far as track, I'll be abroad, but I think everyone is ready to focus in on their individual events and become a better runner competitor,” wrote Pieter Hansen ’19 in an email to The S&B. Strong underclassmen are undoubtedly going to continue the success the programs have seen. “I have a lot of hope for the future of the team, looking at the younger runners and not only their running talent, but their commitment to the team and their work ethic and their spirit," Zimmerman said. “I think that the attitude they bring to the team and the strengths they bring to the team all lead to a great continuance of our traditions and program.”
Women's soccer makes conference tournament
CONTRIBUTED The Pioneer women's soccer team qualified for conference last weekend in a 1-0 win over Monmouth. They begin tournament play Friday, Nov. 3.
Edited by braneckm@grinnell.edu
Community
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S&B writer embarks on historical tour of downtown Grinnell
By Chloe Wray wraychlo@grinnell.edu The S&B's Chloe Wray took a stroll along the Chamber of Commerce's Historical Grinnell Walking Tour. With fresh eyes, she saw downtown in a brand new context. When I came to Grinnell last spring, visiting for an admitted students weekend, I strayed from the scheduled events to walk downtown and see the small town beyond the College’s campus. On that Sunday evening in mid-April I don’t remember seeing another person, and I walked down the middle of the street without meeting a car. Although ghostly, the emptiness allowed the focus to be on the buildings and the atmosphere they created, without the distracting influence a bustling downtown may have
had. While I half expected a ball of tumbleweed to roll down the empty street like a scene out of a wild west film, the building facades were far from simple saloons and general store fronts. Instead they were architecturally complex with an apparent history. I remember walking past the Strand and seeing “Grinnell, Iowa” tiled above the bike shop. Since my initial excursion downtown last April, and on subsequent and frequent walks since my arrival here three months ago, I have attempted to explore the town and get to know the community’s people and history. Recently, the Grinnell Area Chamber of Commerce put out a series of walking tours through their initiative “Get Into Grinnell,” a resource for discovering all that the community has to offer for longtime residents, students and visitors alike. The tours offered cover history, architecture and the arts. All three can be found on the “Get Into Grinnell” website, under “Things to Do”. Most of my exploring consists of imagined histories and musings of why and how buildings came to be. The history tour countered some of my assumptions, expanded on others and introduced me to a few buildings I had not previously known. The first stop on the historical tour’s eight listed sites within a twoblock radius of each other downtown
was the Merchants National Bank. On the corner of 4th Ave. and Broad St., this bank is literally Grinnell’s jewel box. It rightfully receives notoriety as a design of renowned architect Louis Sullivan, one of several “jewel box” banks that he designed across the Midwest. Both the exterior and interior are subject to an enormous amount of detail. Each time I walk past, I notice something more than the time before, stunned by the jewel-like shapes that are replicated on the planters and crosswalks all around town. My favorite bench downtown is situated on the west side of Central Park, across from Solera, and what is known as the Phoenix Block. All the time I’ve spent on this bench and I’ve never known what I was looking at. The Phoenix Block earned its name after a fire broke out in 1889 between Commercial St. and 4th Ave. on Broad St., and practi-
cally all the original buildings were heavily damaged. Through repair and reconstruction, the block was restored, rising out of the ashes like a Phoenix. Like the Phoenix Block, which was originally primarily wood framed buildings, the block north of 4th Ave. caught fire in 1891. The light stone buildings were built as a result, across from the historic Stewart Public Library, now the Grinnell Arts Center. At the top of the buildings that now house Saints Rest and the bike shop are names. Likely these are the names of the original owners and a detail worth further investigation. The Old Grinnell Register Building at the corner of Broad St. and 5th Ave. is slightly run down, now apartments. The Register and the Herald, combined since 1936, are housed on 5th Ave. I had noticed the slightly dismal side staircase in
MAI VUO PHUOUNG
Above are some of the sites that Chloe Wray saw, along with a photo of the writer on her walking tour.
contrast to the desirable glass brick windows leading down to the basement before, but had never noticed the tiles that, while chipped, still adorned the door frame and windows.
While I half expected a ball of tumbleweed to roll down the empty street like a scene out of a wild west film, the building facades were far from simple saloons and general storefronts. Instead they were architecturally complex with an apparent history. Most students have probably been into McNally’s, marveled at the old model-T car sitting in the eating area, and have given it little thought. Had I been paying attention previously, the photos on the walls, as well as the wheeled wings that sit above the door on the exterior should have been indicators to me that the building was once a car dealership. Down the street from McNally’s, the Masonic Lodge is a prominent building, striking in size and architectural detail, and full of Freemasonry mystery. Down the street, Victor’s Appliance and Mattress has always had plenty of beds, previously housing workers from local factories. On 4th Ave., between Broad St. and Main St., lies Grinnell’s oldest building. Tucked between a row of buildings that all bear plaques marking their designation on the National Register of Historical Places is 807 4th Ave. An empty store front, the small two-story building is old, but not immediately remarkable. Sites like 807 4th Ave. and the old Register building are just a few of Grinnell’s hidden gems, unmarked albeit their markers of historical designation. Much of the downtown has been preserved through these designations, making it far easier to imagine what life was like 100 years ago for Grinnell residents. Of course, at the turn of the century, far fewer storefronts stood empty as they do today. As I walk around downtown, I wonder if the first step to revitalizing downtown and making it a place students want to go is simply a matter of getting students there in the first place.
New pastor joins Prairie Studies and Arts Council to host local musician Immanuel Lutheran By Kelly Page pagekell@grinnell.edu The prairie is a remarkably dry ecosystem, but this weekend Prairie Studies is hosting an event that will be anything but dry. On Saturday, Nov. 4, the Grinnell College Center for Prairie Studies will team up with the Grinnell Area Arts Council to host a night of local food and music from Iowa City folk musician Pieta Brown. At 6:30 p.m., Middle Way farm will serve food prepared by Relish, and new local business Peace Tree Brewing will provide beer. After this reception, local band Pink Neighbor, which consists of Grinnell alums Erik Jarvis ’12 and Katie In ’13, will open for Pieta Brown at 7:30 p.m., commencing a night of music that celebrates Iowan prairie culture. This is not the first time Prairie Studies has teamed up with the Arts Council. Last January they brought Iowa folk band The Pines to Grin-
nell, hosting a similar night of music. According to Jarvis, the Arts Council events manager, this collaboration benefits both the college and the community. “From our perspective, the Arts Council, it’s really nice that the College is putting the funding behind this, and it’s a really great way for them to reach out to the community,” he said. “And then it’s a benefit for Prairie Studies to reach a different audience, and I think music is a really easy way to get people engaged.” Jarvis and Prairie Studies Chair Jonathan Andelson hope that Pieta Brown will be an artist who is particularly engaging for multiple generations of Grinnell residents. “We settled on her because she’s really good and her music can really speak to that prairie experience,” Jarvis said. “And a lot of other kind of Iowa songwriters don’t attract the younger demographic as well, so she’s worked with indie people like Bon Iver and Mason Jennings and
CONTRIBUTED
Pink Neighbor, comprised of Grinnell grads Erik Jarvis ’12 and Katie In ’13, will be opening for Pieta Brown this Saturday.
has that kind of younger pull. And she does also reach the older generations cause she’s the daughter of Greg Brown, the really famous Iowa songwriter, so the older folks will know her as well.”
“From our perspective, the Arts Council, it's really nice that the College is putting the funding behind this, and it's a really great way for them to reach out to the community.” Erik Jarvis '12, Arts Council event manager and one-half of Pink Neighbor Brown’s most recent album, Postcards, features collaborations with contemporaries Calexio, Mason Jennings, Mark Knopfler and The Pines. It consists of musical postcards: she wrote songs and sent them to her friends and told them to respond to her in music. On her website, she says, “Collaborating with other musicians and elevating a song beyond its outlines has become one of my favorite things about making music.” These songs written like letters will be extremely interesting to experience in person. Apart from just being a fun night of music, Pieta Brown’s performance will be a celebration of Iowa itself. In a press release about the event, Andelson states, “The arts play a crucial role in connecting people to the places in which they live and work by telling stories about place and inviting us to reflect on what it means to live in a particular place and not in some other place.” While eating food grown on local farms and prepared by local chefs and listening to music created by Iowans, it will be hard to not feel connected to life on the prairie.
By Carter Howe howethom@grinnell.edu
The Rev. Dr. Joel Koepp has been settling into his new job as pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church here in Grinnell, a job he began in late August. A Minnesota native, Koepp arrived in Grinnell after serving seven years as pastor in Wood Lake, Minn. Being a pastor was something Koepp dreamed of since childhood. “It’s something that I’d thought about ever since I was a little kid. I was about five years old, and I would play church … reading the bible and talking about the scriptures is something that’s always interested me,” he said. Koepp graduated from Southwest Minnesota State University with a B.S. in social work and a minor in psychology. During college, he also taught tae kwon do. He then headed right to seminary at Concordia Theological Seminary in Fort Wayne, IN. After his time at the seminary, Koepp spent his vicarage year in Brooking, SD doing campus ministry. “Talking about the Bible and God’s word on college campuses I think is something that is important, something that is near and dear to my heart,” he said. “That’s what I did on my vicarage.” In his education and ministry, Koepp has often focused on understanding mental health. In addition to studying social work and psychology in college, in 2014 Koepp earned his Doctorate of Ministry from Sioux Falls Seminary in South Dakota, writing his dissertation on how Christians can understand and combat self-harm practices. This dedication to understanding self-harm was brought about by experiences he had talking to parishioners of his Minnesota congregation. “After the first couple months of serving in Minnesota, I started to have many conversations with people that were engaged in self-harm behaviors, and so that spurned me on to get my
doctorate of ministry focusing on mental health and self-harm,” Koepp said. “So I wrote my dissertation and published a book based on what does God’s word have to say, or how do we as Christians understand that whole area of self-harm. There was many who would come in and ask questions … the church hasn’t really been engaged in that conversation, so I thought it was kind of a way to start that.” Koepp hopes to use this experience to be a resource for people who might be struggling with mental health issues. “Creating a safe space for people … to be a resource more or less. I guess on a city level, you know, I understand there isn’t a whole lot of mental health resources in Grinnell, and so if opportunity presents itself to be a resource in that way too, I’m open to that.” Concerning his congregation, Koepp hopes to make Immanuel Lutheran more visible and get his parishioners more involved in the community though he recognizes the challenges of doing this with a congregation where many drive in from outside Grinnell. “The understanding that I had in coming here was that the people are well catechized — they’re well taught — but they’re paralyzed from the knees down,” he said. “A large group of the congregation that drives in from other towns, so the city of the Grinnell really doesn’t know the church exists, and so I guess the biggest goal is just getting the community to know that we’re here and to reach the unchurched, those that don’t have a church home … how do we speak to them, how do we help them, how do we bear one another’s burdens in love, as Galatians tells us." For any Grinnellians who are looking for a new spiritual home, Koepp says he is always available to talk. “Call me anytime … I’m always open to questions. I love just sitting down and visiting.”
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World Community Day service to be held Friday By Caleb Forbes forbesca@grinnell.edu A service for World Community Day will take place on Friday, Nov. 3 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, which is located at 1224 East St. The theme of the service is “Making a Difference in a Bewildering World,” and will address concerns about feeling powerless in a world without peace. The event is affiliated with the national World Community Day. “World Community Day is an annual event in Grinnell and throughout the United States that brings together people of faith to celebrate the bonds of community locally, nationally and worldwide,” wrote Church Women United member Mary Schuchmann in an email to The S&B. The event will feature Associate Chaplain Rabbi Rob Cabelli as the speaker. The event organizer is Church Women United, “a national ecumenical Christian organization that works for peace and justice in our world,” Schuchmann wrote. “In Grinnell, it is a way for women of all faiths to work together for good on projects that benefit the community.” According to Schuchmann, the worship service may be of particular interest to people living in a community like Grinnell, since, “Life in a small town like Grinnell can often seem isolating, as if we are only spectators looking on helplessly at a world we no longer understand.” Cabelli attempted to explain the problem by mentioning how social media has interconnected people and enlarged their perspective on the world, “We’re aware of the vastness, in ways I think people weren’t in many ways in the past. … All of the sudden things are both smaller, and because of that, so much larger.” “The world seems to operate on a level that is far, far removed from the individual human being, and their ability to actually influence anything,” Cabelli said, “so I think this creates a lot of existential anxiety.” Cabelli further explained that a lot of the confusion in our world is present because, “People are very vulnerable and open to narratives that attempt to describe everything and create some sense of comfort.”
Community
He explained how people then transfer these narratives into competing language which gives rise to conflict. “What this means is that we’re actually communicating in ways that ensure we can’t communicate effectively with each other,” Cabelli said. “So everybody is saying, ‘How do I get them to change their mind?’” When we think this, Cabelli said, “What we are also doing is sending a message that we are sure that the other person isn’t right.” Cabelli thinks we can improve the situation if we make the effort to “not be so intent on our rightness.” “Are we going to pay attention to the unfairness in the world, or are we going to try to impose our narrative on the unfairness in the world, to make it seem as though it’s just a reflection of the wrong economic or political system?” “We can only come to greater depth of understandings of different perspectives,” Cabelli said. “Out of which we might appreciate … what we do share in common, and where our differences come from.” Cabelli sees communication among individuals to be a wealth of possibility. “In that sense there is a tremendous amount we can do on individual levels ... through that ethos of communication, that ethos of what it means to be present with other people,” he said. Schuchmann intends for the event to inspire those who attend to make change. “We hope those of us who attend will learn how we can find ways, big and small, to make this a better world,” she wrote, “and will leave hopeful that each of us can do something meaningful in our own way or as a community.”
Edited by braneckm@grinnell.edu
True Grinnellian: Janet Carl
By Mayo Sueta suetamay@grinnell.edu Not many people can say that they’ve had five different careers and loved them all. However, Janet Carl, the current director of the Grinnell College writing lab, certainly can. Carl came to Grinnell College in 1977 as an associate dean of students. After three years, she left her job at the College to serve in the Iowa legislature for three terms. Then, she briefly worked in the Iowa Supreme Court in Des Moines, after which she worked for Mid Iowa Community Action, writing grants and doing community development. After that, she came back to work at the College, where she eventually became the director of the writing lab. It is not surprising that she found herself back on a college campus, considering her love for the college environment that she discovered during her undergraduate years. “I liked college as an environment. … There are interesting people at colleges and they’re doing interesting things,” she said. “I decided I’d like to work with college students. And here I am all these years later, working with college students.”
“You have to be able to recognize an opportunity when you see it. ... Stay open, stay open.” Janet Carl Indeed, her love for the students shines through. When asked about the difference between working at a college and working elsewhere, she mentioned the value of interacting with people she wouldn’t interact with anywhere else. “The students are the obvious difference. And a good difference,” she said. “And the reason I’m probably still here today is because I still find it really interesting to just be in touch with people not of my age, not of my background, not of my culture.” Carl has done thousands of writing lab appointments. She has contributed to the growth of many students’ writing skills over the years and feels lucky that she has been able to do so. “I just really like the writing lab.
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Janet Carl has worn many hats in her life. Now, she heads the Writing Lab, where she helps students improve their writing. I like the environment here. … We’re good friends, we’re good colleagues,” she said. “And I think what we do is incredibly valuable, so I feel lucky to be contributing to so many students’ education in the way that I get to.” Carl is, in some ways, like a lot of the students at the College, in that she didn’t have a clear idea of what she wanted to do after graduating. As an undergraduate student, she majored in sociology and psychology. Then, she went on to get a master’s degree in counseling and student personnel affairs. Even after getting a master’s degree in a specific field, she worked in the field for a total of ten years and then went on to pursue careers in completely different fields. She does not think that students should panic if they don’t have their whole lives planned ahead of them. “You don’t have to feel like you’re a failure if you don’t walk across the stage on graduation day and say ‘I’m going off to be a …’,” she said. “If you had asked me when I graduated from college, ‘How do you think your career is going to go?’ Believe me, I would never have said, well I’m going to spend six years
in the legislature, and I’m going to spend 13 years writing grants … and I’m going to spend 20 years teaching writing. I couldn’t have predicted those things.” She believes that as long as people keep an open mind, a path will open up. “You have to be able to recognize an opportunity when you see it,” she said. “Stay open. Stay open.”
“I feel so lucky to be contributing to so many students' education.” Janet Carl In addition to the College, Carl is also fond of the Grinnell community at large. She grew up in a small town, around the same size of Grinnell and while she has lived outside of Grinnell for periods of time, she considers herself a Grinnellian at heart. “I have to tell you, I just love it,” she said. “I like knowing who I’m seeing on the streets and I like knowing that I’m going see these people in all kinds of settings. To me, it’s satisfying.”
The S&B's Amanda Weber, along with photographer Mai Phuong Vu, went downtown and talked to some of the Grinnellians who were out and about. With the weather turning and autumn setting in, Weber asked: What's your favorite part of fall?
And I love the fall colors, I love when the trees start turning and then early in the morning when the sun comes out they just glisten. I just love that. Plus, I love getting ready for Halloween — decorating for fall and for Thanksgiving. — Donna Ricks
Oh gosh, I don’t know. Here in Grinnell? I like the trees, you know, the leaves, all that, that’s real nice. It’s my first time here in the fall, so I guess those two things mainly. — Tim Ortiz
My favorite part of fall is Halloween because everybody gets to dress up and it’s fun watching the kids run around in their costumes and get candy and stuff. And it happens to be my birthday the day before, Oct. 30, so that’s probably my favorite part of the fall. — Ryan Price
The weather because then I can wear layers. Seven-layer Kalli Miner, that’s what they call me. — Kalli Miner
I love the colors. We were married in the fall, so I love the yellows and oranges and greens. — Chris Day
The color — fall color. We got cheated this year a little bit, didn’t we? Didn’t last for very long. — David Ellis
Movies at the Strand
THOR: RAGNAROK
Showtimes: 1:00 p.m., 6:30 p.m. 3D: 3:40 p.m., 9:10 p.m. "Mark Ruffalo is hot" — Keli Vitaioli ’19
A BAD MOMS CHRISTMAS
Showtimes: 1:20 p.m., 4:00 p.m., 7:00 p.m., 9:30 p.m. Exactly the same as the first one, except Christmas themes and featuring the moms’ moms.
ONLY THE BRAVE
Showtimes: 1:10 p.m., 3:50 p.m., 6:45 p.m., 9:20 p.m. Miles Teller is blonde.
Opinions
Edited by fentonma@grinnell.edu
11
IoWhat is Going on in Politics? Sexplanations: White offers representation, committed On pronouns and how to public service effectively sexile that does harm. Because of this, I am unequivocally endorsing Jim White to continue his work as an at-large city councilperson.
by Austin Wadle
This Tuesday, Nov. 7, voters from across Iowa will go to the polls to choose their next municipal leaders. There are many candidates to choose from, especially in Iowa’s bigger cities. In Des Moines, voters will choose between a passionate environmental lawyer, Josh Mandelbaum, and a seasoned political organizer and President of the Iowa Council on American Islamic Relations Abshir Omar. While there is only one contested race on Grinnell’s ballot, I urge my fellow students to get out the vote with the same vigor as you did last fall. Campus Democrats specifically chose not to endorse a candidate in the municipal elections, as these offices in Iowa are officially non-partisan and oftentimes the issues that the city faces go beyond the simple left-right dichotomy. Like School Board elections this past September, most partisan organizations encourage their membership to be active only in the campaigns. As a leader in a variety of Democratic organizations, I was planning to do the same. As someone who places the highest value on public service and a willingness to work towards a better Grinnell, I cannot stand by as a candidate pretends to be progressive but at the same time draws upon rhetoric
While there is only one contested race on Grinnell’s ballot, I urge my fellow students to get out the vote with the same vigor as you did last fall. Campus Democrats specifically chose not to endorse a candidate in the municipal elections... Another candidate in the race has made something very clear — he won’t represent College students. Instead, he’ll only represent “ordinary” Grinnellians. I understand the need to represent every citizen of Grinnell, especially as the at-large councilperson. That is in no way accomplished by othering the students that make up a large part of the community. This kind of rhetoric is a part of the clear effort in town politics that seeks to suppress and disenfranchise students. Every general election, students’ ballots are systematically challenged by certain members of the community that think that students should not have a political voice in Grinnell. But every time those ballots that are challenged, they end up being counted, as they rightfully should be. Just as our ballots are challenged and just as people don’t see us as valuable members of the community, we are pushed out.
Rhetoric that others the College students should not win in Grinnell. Jim White has played an active role with students. He has hosted more than 35 international students, and he has employed many students over the years in his local business. White says that, in its best moments, Grinnell is a city of helping people. The Midwestern culture of kindness is not just a stereotype. It should be an aspiration to guide our government as well as our interpersonal interactions. Those values of a welcoming community should be cherished and acted upon. For example, it is important to ensure that Grinnell is a welcoming community for immigrants by promoting civic development. White has made sure that when the City has to fine members of the community for improvements, there is always a fund that can ease that cost for our most vulnerable citizens. This belief in Grinnell is what inspires him in this job and what he wants to continue.
White says that, in its best moments, Grinnell is a city of helping people. The Midwestern culture of kindness is not just a stereotype. I believe White has shown himself as a committed public servant who has the best interests of his constituents at heart. So, for this reason, I encourage you to cast your vote for him at the Elks Lodge this Tuesday, Nov. 7.
Letter to the editor: Rural economic development drives Iowa’s growth
Economic development is critical for Iowa’s success. It takes on an even greater importance when dealing with the state’s rural economy. To secure the continued growth and success of our state, we must focus on rural development programs that create sustainable jobs and livable communities across Iowa. In order to maintain a vibrant and growing economy, we must direct funding to all areas of Iowa. This is why programs such as the federal Rural Economic Development Loan & Grant (REDLG) program and the Revolving Loan Funds from our rural electric cooperatives are so important. Central Iowa Power Cooperative (CIPCO), the state’s leading generation and transmission cooperative, is committed to expanding and growing the communities served. As a board director, I’m honored to be a part of an organization that is committed to ensuring the growth and vitality of Iowa’s rural economy for the betterment of everyone. CIPCO
has funded 50 projects that created over 725 jobs in rural Iowa. The projects brought a total investment into the communities of more than $115 million. Without the support of rural economic development programs, most of this growth would not have occurred. Incentivizing rural growth empowers individuals to bring new ideas and options to the table for the benefit of rural Iowa. In the service territory of my cooperative, Eastern Iowa Light & Power Cooperative, programs recently helped create the $22 million investment by a hatchery company, which added 42 new jobs to the economy in a rural community. Ensuring that Iowa works to integrate both rural and urban areas narrows the economic gap, expands rural opportunities and encourages the growth of skilled employees in rural areas. Supporting rural infrastructure is another area where cooperatives back rural economic development efforts. CIPCO and its
member systems, using federal and cooperative loan programs, have supported hospital revitalization in Knoxville, Osceola, Grinnell and more. This sustained support of healthcare allows rural communities to grow and thrive. Federal, state and local rural economic development programs are crucial for Iowa’s success. They create improved access to education, information and resources for continued growth. Economic development and job growth are augmented through the programs. The resources enhance the evolution of sustainable growth throughout the region and encourage others to contribute. As you embrace the state of Iowa, I encourage all citizens to engage with community and government leaders to embolden a commitment to rural economic development for the benefit of Iowa. — Allan Duffe Board Director, Central Iowa Power Cooperative
Sexplanations is an anonymous Q&A column meant to increase access to information regarding sex, sexual health, sexuality, relationships and the promotion of sexual respect at Grinnell College. Questions are answered collaboratively by the Sexual Health Information Center (SHIC), the Stonewall Resource Center (SRC) and the Office of Wellness and Prevention. Submit questions at https://goo.gl/forms/ buyQ1aZWhdcDspUx2 Someone asked for some fun date ideas in Grinnell, on and off campus. We thought we should ask YOU! This is the last week to submit your answers via the link provided, and a $40 gift card to Prairie Canary will be given to the person with the best idea. Why do people often introduce themselves with pronouns on campus? —They/them/theirs Hi They/them/theirs, This practice is new to many on our campus, so we appreciate your reaching out. This kind of introduction serves a few purposes, and isn’t just a Grinnell campus thing. In the past couple of years, it’s become common practice in (usually younger) queer spaces and liberal arts colleges to try to normalize including pronouns in introductions. The basic thought is that if everybody introduced themselves with pronouns, then it would be less of a burden for non-passing trans and gender nonconforming people to assert their pronouns. By non-passing, I mean people who aren’t regularly read as their actual gender (or lack thereof). In an ideal setting, this would mean that nobody would get misgendered, and that if a trans person speaks their pronouns they wouldn’t have to deal with bewildered stares. However, I sometimes question our campus’ focus on pronouns because I fear it excuses people from doing the real work of decolonizing gender. Instead, it further fuels a need to “know” gender, basically a synonym for policing gender. Would it not be more liberating if we accepted that we don’t need to know the gender of every person we come across and learned to use more gender neutral language? This point is tricky too, though — many women and trans folks across the spectrum fight hard for gender recognition and don’t want to be sublimated into a genderless pool. Personally, if I’m meeting someone in passing, I do not disclose my pronouns unless for some reason our first conversation
is specifically about gender or trans stuff (I’m trans). Why do randos need to know my gender? I will close by saying that if cispeople (cis = identify with their sex/ gender assigned at birth) want to disclose their pronouns in introductions, that’s fine and good because it opens up space for others to offer theirs! Just don’t ask for others’ pronouns — that can put pressure on trans people to out themselves and that’s not a cute look. Sexiling roommates??? How do we talk about it? Where does the sexiled person go? How do you respect your roommate? —Loveshacked Hey Loveshacked! Lots of people have questions about this, so we’re glad you sent this in! Definitely set ground rules from the get go! Ask your roommate what their comfort level is with things like having other people over and being asked to leave. Even if you and your roommate have a friendly relationship, I think it’s important to establish formal guidelines about how you’ll be sharing your space. Bringing it up casually over dinner, over text, etc; it’s up to you. Just make sure the agreement is clearly understood by both of you. It is most important to honor the fact that you share this living space. If you need more support with this conversation, feel free to reach out to a CA or RLC. You might find someone at SHIC or the SRC to also be helpful. Finding a system that works for all of you is in everyone’s best interests!
Even if you and your roommate have a friendly relationship, I think it’s important to establish formal guidelines about how you’ll be sharing your space. Bringing it up casually over dinner, over text, etc; it’s up to you. Just make sure the agreement is clearly understood... In terms of where the sexiled person can go, get creative! A friend’s room is a good possibility. You may also consider whether you need to kick your roomie out for the whole night, or even at night at all. Maybe there is a time during the day or a weeknight evening that you know your roommate will be out. Grinnell is also unique in that everyone lives close by and we don’t get kicked out of most lounges or public spaces at any given time. If you or your roomie is down for the cause, try camping out in a lounge or even a comfy couch in an academic building. Find what works for you, your partner(s) and your roommate, and if it isn’t working, speak up!
Slice of Life by Seungyun Chong
The Scarlet & Black Staff Editors-in-Chief News Editors Features Editor Sports Editor Arts Editor Community Editor Opinions Editor Copy Editors Graphics Editor Photo Editor Video Editor Business Manager Staff Writer Honorary Editor
Lily Bohlke Emma Friedlander Alice Herman Candace Mettle Caryn McKechnie Jackson Schulte Keli Vitaioli Mira Braneck Maxwell Fenton Carter Howe Mayo Sueta Lica Ishida Jeff Li Helena Gruensteidl Riley Murphy Kate Irwin John Fahey
SPARC Policy The Scarlet & Black is published on Fridays by students of Grinnell College and is printed by Times Republican of Marshalltown. The newspaper is funded in part by the Student Publications and Radio Committee (SPARC) and also relies on advertising revenue to cover operating costs. All publications funded by SPARC are copyright of SPARC and cannot be reproduced elsewhere without specific written consent from SPARC. Contributions The Scarlet & Black welcomes story ideas from students, faculty and other members of the town and college community. If there is any story that should be covered, please email newspapr@grinnell.edu or visit thesandb.com Send letters to the editor via email at newspapr@grinnell.edu or mail them to Box 5886. The author’s name must be included, but letters can be published anonymously in certain occasions. Letters will be printed at the discretion of the editor. The opinions expressed in this section do not necessarily reflect those of the editorial staff. The S&B reserves the right to edit any and all submissions. Advertising Advertising inquiries should be directed to the business manager, Riley Murphy, who can be reached at sandbads@ grinnell.edu or by mail at 1115 8th Avenue Grinnell College Box 5886, Grinnell, IA 50112.
the
Back Page Volume 134, Issue 9
"The best thing since the front page!"
Photo of the Week
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"Everything is awesome, everything is cool when you're part of a team!" #Justice4Legos
Arbitrary Analysis Social Calendar
90's Bowie
80's Bowie
Snedge
This week, Mira Berkson '20 and Maxwell Fenton '19 polled students asking: G.W.F. Hegel or Everything Bagel?
Friday
JRC
7:15 p.m. The Hitman's Bodyguard @ Harris Cinema 9:00 p.m. Ritalin Test Squad @ Loose First Lounge 10:00 p.m. Tokyo Club Gardner @ Gardner Lounge
MAMA YAA BIAMAH AMPOFO-TENKORANG
60's Bowie
Pub Quiz Winners
1. Rum and Cock 2. Buttjuice 3. Ragu and the Boys
The Signs as Things Softbois Like
Saturday
Aries: Black Coffee Taurus: Cable knit sweaters Gemini: Charles Bukowski Cancer: Moleskine journals Leo: Mac DeMarco Virgo: David Foster Wallace Libra: Overalls Scorpio: Bumble Sagittarius: Vice Capricorn: Craft beer Aquarius: American Spirits Pisces: Wes Anderson — Sister Aurora Impulse
7:30 p.m. Pieta Brown Public Concert @ Grinnell Arts Center, 926 Broad Street 10:00 p.m. Fetish Harris @ Harris Center Concert Hall
Like what you see?
ARH
check us out: @thesandb /thescarletandblack thesandb.com @newspapr
Rants & Raves:
thesandb.com
Students speak about what’s on their minds in 100 words or fewer, and you’re invited! If you have a rant or a rave, email it to [newspapr] or [fentonma]
Here's some tea from 1773
A comment on cats
Independent Media Now!
Pagan Poetry
So the Grill has raised the price of tea... As an American, I will not stand for that. Why am I even paying for a crappy tea bag? At least the Founding Fathers at the Boston Tea Party had access to quality tea.
PSA: Most of the cats in and around campus aren't necessarily strays. Plenty of people let their cats wander around town, and their pets know how to get home on their own. Unless you have demonstrable evidence it's a stray, there's no need to turn them in, even if your concern is well-placed.
Fuck the fucking billionaire Joe Ricketts for shutting down my favorite local news orgs, DNAInfo and the Gothamist, after their employees unionized last week! Many of the reporters at these orgs literally found out they were being fired via a New York Times alert, and the websites were wiped, so all their clips are lost. This is not exclusively a labor, New York, or journalism problem — we all should be angry about this. Support independent media! Fuck the billionaire class!
Sometimes I wonder if there is a god. Then I remember we live at the same time and on the same planet as Björk
— Candace Mettle '19
— Crazy Cat Lady
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— Anna Schierenbeck '18
— Army of Me