Volume 133, Issue 24.

Community "The Jewel of the Prairie boasts a unique market..."

Arts Check out the new web series taking the campus by storm

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Features "Once you’ve come here there isn’t much else to do but study, right? page 5

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the

Scarlet & Black Volume 133, Issue 24

May 5, 2017 • Grinnell, Iowa

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Task Force defines selfgovernance

Seven Grinnell students awarded Fulbright grants this year

By Kate Irwin irwinkat@grinnell.edu Caleigh Ryan ‘17, Mollie Jo Blahunka ‘17, Kieran Connolly ‘17, Stella Gatzke ‘17 and Samantha Fitzsimmons Schoenberger ’17 have been awarded Fulbright Scholarships, highly prestigious awards sponsored by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. According to the Bureau’s website, the scholarship increases “mutual understanding and [supports] friendly and peaceful relations between the people of the United States and other countries."

Fulbright Scholars go abroad for less than a year either to work as English teaching assistants in schools or to collaborate with residents of the country that they are traveling to for research. Scholarship recipients are expected to represent the United States as cultural ambassadors and represent former Senator James Fulbright.

"We're on a mission of goodwill from the U.S. government, which is probably necessary more than ever," Ryan said.

The students who received the scholarship worked closely with Dr. Steven Gump, former assistant dean and director of global fellowships and awards in the CLS. Gump helped connect these students to the Fulbright Scholarship through their passions for education and experiences of being abroad.

"My education group had a meeting about different opportunities >> See Fulbright, page 3

By Alice Herman hermanal17@grinnell.edu Two years ago, President Raynard Kington issued the “Charge to the Task Force on Residential Learning,” a call for the comprehensive analysis and diagnosis of issues relating to the residential experience at Grinnell College. In the charge, Kington noted the increasingly visible issues of substance use and mental health, as well as “parental expectations for accountability” in the College’s adherence to laws such as Title IX, Clery and Title VII. The charge included a request that the Task Force re-articulate the meaning of “self governance.”

In response to Kington’s “Charge to the Task Force on Residential Learning,” the Task Force has released the draft of a document defining self-governance as it applies to the College. The page-long treatise, titled “Grinnell College: A Self-Governing Community,” was sent to faculty, staff and students in an email last Wednesday. Andrea Conner, co-chair of the Task Force on Residential Learning, requested in the email that campus community members submit revisions and critiques of the draft in an attached poll.

TAKAHIRO OMURA

Fulbright winners pictured top to bottom: Stella Gatzke '17, Ian Stout '17, Kieran Connolly '17, Mollie Jo Blahunka '17, Samantha Schoenberger, Caleigh Ryan and Sophie Wright '17.

Block party to remain despite effort to chop it

By Jon Sundby sundbyjo17@grinnell.edu This year, Grinnell College administration has moved to curtail the drinking culture at the College, and as a result, there have been whispers around campus concerning the future of Block Party. Despite these rumors, Block Party is set to usher out yet another academic year through a full day of music, food and beer on High Street.

“I would say that it’s more than on schedule right now,” said Thomas Marsho ’17, an organizer of the party. “We’ve done a lot of things earlier than last year.”

2016’s Block Party was plagued by underfunding, so the organizers of this year’s event, Marsho, Ariel Keller ’17 and Claudia Handal ’17, have worked hard to make sure that the party is on stable ground. The number of beer trucks at the event have been reduced from two to one, although there will still be 30 kegs and fundraising efforts for alcohol have increased. T-shirt and Die sales have been strong this year, and the organizers hope for a big turnout tonight at the Block Party Auction.

As SGA cannot use any of its funds to purchase alcohol, this fundraiser is a key component in raising enough money for the beer truck and kegs.

“[The auction] has been going on for a while, but there has been less publicity about it as well,” Keller said. “The auction helps raise money for alcohol, so students are welcome to donate services, objects, whatever it may be.”

Beyond ensuring that the ledgers are sound, the organizers are also making changes to the party experience itself, hoping to create a more inclusive and safe environment. Earlier in the year they sent out an online questionnaire to the student body to investigate potential reforms to the event. In general, students wanted to diversify the activities of Block Party so that

CONTRIBUTED

Students celebrate Block Party on High Street, May 2016 Saturday Hafu screening and community discussion JRC 101, 12 p.m.

Sunday Yoo-Jung Chang Faculty Chamber Concert Bucksbaum 104, 7:30 p.m.

Follow us on twitter @thesandb

Monday SGA: State of the College JRC 101, 7:00 p.m.

“Self-governance is marked not by license but by the responsible use of freedom … for self-governance to be actualized the community must supersede the individual.”

sub-free individuals and those still burdened with finals could enjoy the day as well. “[We want] more games that aren’t just like drinking games, more sidewalk chalk,” Keller said.

“You don’t have to drink. We’d like to push the fact that you can come in that 11-1 period when you’re not taking finals, so it encourages everyone to come to the event.”

“More food, more booze were also suggestions,” said Marsho. “[And] we accounted for both of those.”

In addition to these changes, a new active bystander training program is being designed that focuses on particular issues surrounding Block Party. Ella Williams ’18 reached out earlier in the year to Keller, Marsho and Handal, and presented the idea of training off-campus residents in bystander techniques.

“They’re tailoring an active bystander training for this event, so it’ll be more specific to the things we might be seeing throughout the day, things that you might see in houses that you might not see in on-campus parties. … It goes along the lines of proving that self-gov is still not dead,” Handal said.

All the organizers hope that the changes they’re making this year will help the event survive an era in which many of Grinnell’s traditions have been amended or eliminated.

For the past few years, the department of Student Affairs has slowly backed away from helping plan the party, increasing the role that students play in putting on the event. This heightened responsibility has been a challenge for the seniors, but it’s one Marsho, Keller and Handal are ready to take on, and hope that future generations of students will too.

“We want to make this a longterm event,” Handal said.

The College’s drafted document, which attempts to articulate the relationship between the “self” of “self-governance” and the community at large has been critiqued for its use of overlycollectivistic language. Under the section of the document titled “Selfgovernance requires accountability and commitment to the community,” the collectivist tone is particularly salient: “Self-governance is marked not by license but by the responsible use of freedom … for self-governance to be actualized the community must supersede the individual.”

Task Force Co-Chair Paul Hutchison wrote in an email to the S&B that “a few people have pointed out that the use of ‘supersede’ can imply a stronger idea than we intend to communicate there. We appreciate that feedback and based on what I've heard so far I am sure we will revisit and reconsider our wording there.” He added, however, that “people who have sought me out to talk about the document have been generally positive and thankful for the work the Task Force has done.”

SGA President Anita DeWitt ’17, who sits on the Task Force on Residence Learning, said that the document meant to point out the fact that self-governance is as much about community as it is about the individual.

“The reasoning behind [the report] is that there is no definition of self-governance, and without a definition, how could it work? I think a big part of the idea of selfgovernance is feeling like you are a part of a community, and I think that’s why so many people don’t care >> See Self-Gov page 2

Tuesday MAPS at Grinnell College Noyce 1822, 7 p.m.

Wednesday Council on Diversity and Inclusion JRC 225, 12:00 p.m.

Task Force on Resident Learning

Community 4 | Features 5| Arts 6| Sports 7 | Opinions 8

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Students hold activist summit

News

Black Church celebrates 20 years of worship

By Steve Yang yangstev17@grinnell.edu

CANDACE METTLE

Simonne Carlton '18 leads the effort to create a coalition of campus activists

By Candace Mettle mettleca@grinnell.edu Following up on the March 1st Day of Student Resistance, students from Occupy 8th Avenue and RISE Grinnell organized an activist summit on Monday May 1. The summit brought various on-campus activist groups together to build a coalition in hope of maintaining student activism after this year’s student demonstrations. Simonne Carlton ’18 and Morgane Garnier ’19, members of Occupy 8th, led the summit.

Eight groups attended the summit, including Dissenting Voices, Grinnell College Student Action, Monsoon, Little Creek, Grinnell Intersectional Vegans and SGA, which, as a nonpartisan force, affirmed their commitment to protect and help student activists.

“Our vision is to create the infrastructure, or a place for people to ask for help when need be, to get bodies in places for large direct actions and to show support for general causes that benefit the elimination of oppression or systems of oppressions,” Carlton said.

Carlton, as well as many of the summit’s attendees, hopes that this new coalition will fill the void that the Voicebox left. No longer as active, the Voicebox once provided a resource center for student activists to convene, learn about and enact opportunities for engagement with activism.

Participants in the summit discussed their roles as student activists: they addressed their organizations’ contribution to the College community; their difficulties in organizing actions and coordinating with the administration; trusting people who share their commitment to activism without being perpetrators of oppression; and their hopes for what the coalition will do. To discuss their ideas in depth, Carlton and Garner encouraged small-group discussions on the aforementioned topics among organizers from different groups.

Although they did not have strong positive or negative expectations about the summit, Carlton ultimately felt that the event went well.

“I was happy that there were a lot of people in the same place who were generally talking and happy about wanting to work together and not be separated for personal reasons,” Carlton said. They had worried beforehand that attendees’ interest in their own work might slow the establishment of a partnership. The end of the hour of the summit proved otherwise.

For campus groups that did not make it to the summit, Carlton and Garnier will host another summit in the fall. They plan to compile their mission statement as a coalition; stress how individual groups can maintain their distinct identities and focus on specific areas of oppression while being part of a larger activist group; and look at out how support will manifest within the coalition.

According to Carlton, each group might end up having a different interpretation of the purpose of the coalition, but they hope that most of the groups are on the same page about it.

“For me personally, support comes through commitments to show up to actions,” said Carlton.

Carlton also stressed the importance of coming to coalitionheld events if students are interested in activism on campus, regardless of whether they attended the summit or have had experiences with activist groups in the past. Carlton believes that right now, students have the chance to build a legacy at the College.

“I want everyone engaged; please be involved,” said Carlton. “We’re on the beginnings of something big on campus and that could have a lasting impact on sort of the history and future of activism at Grinnell. If you’re an activist or a person who wants to incite social change or any type of change please be involved in this, it’s really a call.”

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

On Sunday April 30, Grinnell’s Black Church celebrated its 20th anniversary of monthly worship in Herrick Chapel. Convened in the style of African-American, AfricanCaribbean and African Christian traditions, the Church was begun

by Reverend Deanna Shorb in 1997 for students raised in predominantly African-American churches. Moses Mason ’99, a religious studies and history major, served as the guest preacher for this service, and the Young Gifted and Black Gospel Choir (YGB) reprised their traditional role performing at the service.

According to Taylor Gaskins ’20, an organizer for the event and incoming intern at the CRSSJ, plans for the 20th anniversary celebration came together with input from numerous alumni and church members, including deciding to design coffee mugs, discussing the order of the service with alumni and learning what “Black Church” meant to those who attended in the past. In terms of work, that meant coordinating alum visits; along with

Mason’s return as a guest preacher for the sermon, Christian Snow ’13 performed a solo during the service.

“For this service, we wanted to celebrate the legacy of the Black students forming a place to worship in their tradition and make a space for YGB to perform,” Gaskins wrote in an email to The S&B. “We were also celebrating the different generations of YGB and Black Church members, as well as how it has gotten students — both from the Black church tradition and nonBlack church tradition — through their time at Grinnell.”

Gaskins explained that Black Church has always been about representing the experiences that black students and alumni have had at their own churches and is designed around those traditions and spirit, but welcomes everyone for worship.

Oftentimes, people come from all around Grinnell to participate, and the Church has provided support and guidance to those who may just be curious.

“Many people say that if there was not Black Church, they would not go to church,” she wrote.

Attendees celebrate with hymns, songs, sermons and a style of

Young, Gifted and Black sing the praises of the Lord at the 20th anniversary of Black Church.

about self-gov. They don’t feel like they’re part of this,” DeWitt said.

She added, however, that aspects of self-governance may seem redundant.

“How much do we really need official self-governance? How much is self-governance just saying, ‘Be a good person, be intentional about your actions’? Self-gov will never be dead to me, because I’m always trying to be a good person,” she said.

Hutchison, on the other hand, emphasized the necessity of a formalized doctrine of selfgovernance not due to a lack of community, but rather, “a common problematic interpretation of selfgov as the absence of rules or ruleenforcement,” and cited the year one report by the Task Force.

“A pattern we see is students interpreting the ‘self’ in selfgovernance to refer to just the individual rather than to a community that is self-governing, or to an individual who is a member of — and responsible to — a broader community. A 1999 Institutional Research survey of the ‘student concept of self-governance’ characterizes the dominant student understanding of self-governance this way: ‘The ‘self’ in ‘self-

governance’ refers to individuals, not to halls, floors, or the student body as a whole. Its salient feature is an absence of rules and/or ruleenforcement.’”

The last paragraph of the document elaborates on the issue of rules and conduct: “To uphold the safety and orderly function of our selfgoverning community, policies have been established to prevent actions that would infringe upon the rights and well-being of others, would cause disruption to others or the community, would endanger persons or property, or that would be in conflict with the principles of our self-governing community.”

Perhaps the plurality of intentions shaping “Grinnell College: A Self-Governing Community” reflect the Residential Task Force’s year one report which remarks on the highly personal nature of self-governance, commenting that “this area of evaluation is more introspective than the others.”

For students interested in the development of the document, Conner urged students to contribute, writing in an email to the S&B: "We encourage S&B readers to read the document on SharePoint and provide feedback in the form provided.

CONTRIBUTED

Scholar of Roman History Explores Ancient Biography

By Louise Carhart carhartl@grinnell.edu What would it have been like to win a Greek poetry contest at age 11, in front of the Emperor? While this question may never be fully answered, Kathleen Coleman, James Loeb Professor of the Classics at Harvard University, presented her work on reconstructing a biography of exactly that 11-year-old boy.

Coleman has worked to put together

motives behind the design and how they reflect Roman life.

“I’m most excited for her to meet the students, because she’s excited to meet the students. She’s enthusiastic about teaching even intermediate Latin tomorrow. My students are nervous, but she’s ready,” said Professor Angelo Mercado, classics, who organized the event. “We try to go through all the sub-disciplines, the ones we don’t cover here. So this time

Self-governance Task Force

Continued from Front Page

worship that “will continue to be of the Black tradition,” because of its importance to members throughout the history of Black Church. “[Many] students who come and participate in this church need that piece of home and style of praise to continue making it through and developing on their spiritual journeys,” Gaskins explained.

For those interested in attending future services, Gaskins emphasized the church’s inclusiveness, and wants Grinnellians to know that they should feel comfortable at futureevents. She mentioned that beginning in the fall of 2016, black church will be hosted on the second and fourth Sundays of the month, rather than just the second Sunday of the month, so there will be even more opportunities to attend.

“If you are looking for a church home and you haven't been able to find a place for you, come here. If you want to feel the spirit in the House of the Lord, come here,” Gaskins said.

“If you think you might want to learn more about black church or church in general, and want a community to do that in, come.We welcome you and love you, and want you to worship with us.”

Professor Kathleen Coleman tells the tales of a young poet. what life would have been like for Q. Sulpicius Maximus of Rome based on his funerary altar. Also, in her career, she has consulted on some interesting jobs.

“Let me say one thing about Gladiator first. I’m proud of the fact that I got one stage direction off the script, and it said ‘enter female gladiators with razor blades attached to nipples,’ so I said, ‘this is a glaring inaccuracy,’” Coleman said during her lecture on Thursday evening.

The McKibben Lecture is an annual event in memory of Bill and Betty McKibben, two former classics professors. Their endowed fund was set up by contributions from friends, colleagues and former students to bring highprofile lecturers like Coleman to Grinnell. In her work, Coleman has explored a funerary altar built for Q. Sulpicius Maximus to question the

HELENA GRUENSTEIDL

around a specialist in later Rome and later Latin is coming. None of us [current faculty] work in that period.”

"Who knows what Maximus would have accomplished if he’d survived? He did pretty well at the age of eleven."

Professor Kathleen Coleman In her lecture, Coleman explored the reasons the young boy’s parents would have had for covering his tomb in his own poetry, as well as an especially long epitaph claiming that “but always far more powerful than gold and shining/ silver-gilt/ Will be the writing that you left behind.” Maximus won a poetry contest after improvising a poem in front of the Emperor

Domitian, a fact that is prominently displayed on the oversized altar.

Through analysis of physical archaeological details and patterns within the writing, McKibben has been able to predict the kind of schooling the boy received, that his parents were most likely freed Greek slaves and the exact competition he took part in. While presenting the wealth of information she has gleaned from this one artifact, Professor Coleman continually returned to the impossibility of fully understanding the Roman world.

“I’m going to talk to you today about how to construct a biography of a completely unimportant person.

That’s the value of this,” Coleman said. “We know about Julius Caesar, we know about Livia, we know about Alexander the Great and so on, but we don’t know about people like me or, dare I say it, people like you.”

Much of Coleman’s work is centered on the idea of what the Romans wanted to record. She points out that, while Maximus’ parents wanted to mention his victorious poetry, they were not concerned with the preciseness of details. To Coleman, the imperfections on the altar, including uneven lines and some that don’t fit, are something only a 21st century audience would notice. The true value lies in reminding a contemporary audience of what the reality of life was in the first century.

“Who knows what Maximus would have accomplished if he’d survived? He did pretty well at the age of eleven,” Coleman said.

“Above all else, we can see how fragile life was in antiquity. So few children would live to adulthood.

But he got beyond the critical stage, he got beyond seven.” “Who knows what Maximus would have accomplished if he’d survived, he did pretty well at the age of eleven,” Coleman said. “Above all else, we can see how fragile life was in antiquity. So few children would live to adulthood. But he got beyond the critical stage, he got beyond seven.”

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

News

Peace and Conflict Studies becomes a concentration

By Saiham Sharif sharifsa@grinnell.edu

On May 1, the College faculty validated the concentration of Peace and Conflict Studies, which has been unofficially present at the College since 2004. Starting in Fall 2017, Grinnell students will be able to declare the concentration. Peace and Conflict Studies seeks to study the root causes of violence and strategies to resolve them. Multidisciplinary in nature, the concentration draws from the fields of political science, sociology, anthropology and more.

For the past seven or eight years, students have been taking initiative to push for the concentration. According to Peace and Conflict Studies program coordinator Simone Sidwell, who directly expressed student interest and high enrollment in courses related to the department have helped make the concentration official.

"It's a really great opportunity to work with different students and just learn about schooling, and education, and culture in Argentina. I'm looking forward to expanding my worldview, and I think that [the Fulbright Scholarship] will make me a better educator," Simone Sidwell The Peace and Conflict Studies Committee, comprised of nine students and six faculty members, has made the manifestation of the concentration possible. SEPCs also

By Lily Bohlke bohlkeli@grinnell.edu

helped to design the curriculum that students who declare with the concentration must follow to complete the concentration. Like any other major or concentration offered at the College, students interested in joining the SEPC can apply in Spring of each year.

For Vincent Benlloch ‘18, a two-year member of the Peace and Conflict Studies program committee, it is about time that the College offered the concentration.

“Grinnell is unique in that we’re not one of the first premier liberal arts colleges [to offer the concentration], but we have a good faculty for it,” said Benlloch.

The concentration will be chaired

by Professor Brigittine French, anthropology. Other faculty members include Timothy Dobe, religious studies; Liz Queathem, biology; Gemma Sala, political science and Kathryn Kamp, anthropology. The concentration also funds a Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, currently professor Johanna Solomon.

Next year, Queathem will teach “Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies” with visiting professor George Lopez. In the past, Lopez, an emeritus professor at the University of Notre Dame and leading scholar in Peace and Conflict Studies, cotaught courses over Skype. Next year, Lopez will come to campus to teach in person.

Benlloch recommends that students take the classes if they have the opportunity to do so.

“A few classes to look out for are Brigittine French’s ‘Anthropology, Violence, and Human Rights’ and ‘Introduction to Peace and Conflict Studies,’” Benlloch said.

“Other related courses are ‘Conflict

Analysis,’ which will be taught next fall and ‘Fighting Words: Conflict, Discourse, and Power.’”

According to Sidwell, there was a Peace and Conflict Studies events committee that started in 2010 to host a Peace and Conflict Studies Conference every two years.

It supported students to pursue internships related to Peace and Conflict Studies by helping to fund them.

The concentration requires either a research project or an internship. In the summer after his first year at the College, Benlloch interned with The Center for Applied Nonviolent Actions and Strategies in Serbia, where he assisted in research. He unknowingly fulfilled the requirements for the concentration, although he will not declare a Peace and Conflict Studies concentration.

The Peace and Conflict Studies Conference will continue to host events and bring speakers to campus, including the next conference in the Spring of 2018. Thanks to recent alumni donations, the conference will offer a paper prize to qualified students.

Institutional support for the Peace and Conflict Studies Conference has long existed within the College.

Although it is similar to other events on campus, the Peace and Conflict Studies Conference holds a distinguishing identity and purpose.

“Rosenfield and our program do cross over in a lot of ways because we are both interested in human rights and this sort of international scope of things, but Peace and Conflict Studies is distinct in that it addresses the root causes of violence and conflict and how to specifically address them,” Sidwell said.

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Fulbright Scholars Continued from Front Page to teach after graduation and the Fulbright was one of the opportunities,” Blahunka said.

The College has done a lot to make seniors aware of the scholarship. Ryan and Connolly credit the outreach done by Gump as the reason they were aware of the program.

"I got an email from Steve Gump about [the Fulbright Scholarship].

And I was like ‘huh this seems like a cool idea and I probably won't get it, but I'll apply anyway’ … I want to travel, I want to go abroad … and it worked out," Ryan said. "[Gump] was very helpful in the whole process," Connolly said. "He looked over our applications and suggested edits to make … It seems that at Grinnell, anyone who wants to apply [to the Fulbright can].

Applicants must submit multiple essays, including statements of the grant purpose and personal statements, letters of recommendations, including one demonstrating that they have the foreign language skills necessary, and transcripts.

"It was a lot of editing and then waiting," Blahunka said.

The Fulbright Scholars will be teaching all over the world.

Blahunka will be in Argentina, Ryan in Malaysia and both Connolly and Gatzke will be in Russia. However, they are still unsure of where they will be placed in their countries.

Despite the uncertainty, they are all excited to travel abroad and teach English.

The Fulbright Scholarship opens the door to a wide range of opportunities after each scholar's

time abroad. Blahunka plans to teach English as a second language after she receives her license.

"It's a really great opportunity to work with different students and just learn about schooling, and education, and culture in Argentina. I'm looking forward to expanding my worldview, and I think that [the Fulbright Scholarship] will make me a better educator," Blahunka said.

"I'll probably develop a new perspective [while in Malaysia] of the world that should be useful,” Ryan said. “The Fulbright is pretty prestigious, so that should look good on my résumé. I hope I learn some new things and develop some new priorities, rethink what I want to be doing with my life and come out on the other side knowing more about the world than if I had stayed here in America," Ryan said.

"It's a chance to get more exposure to Russian culture and learn the language more, as well as imparting my culture to other people," said Gatzke. Gatzke would like to have a future career involving translating in Russian.

On the other hand, Connolly is interested in the country itself.

"I would definitely be interested in working with the country of Russia for a career … I've considered academia and government service … but maybe something in the private sector. I'm not really sure," he said.

Regardless of what these Fulbright Scholars choose to do with their careers, the Fulbright Scholarship creates wonderful opportunities that most students do not have access to. Doubtless, these Grinnellians will go on to do great things that reflect the tenants of the program.

SGA passes anti-corruption resolution

Last week, the Student Government Association Senate voted to pass the American AntiCorruption Act Resolution, which was written and brought to campus council by Evan Feldberg-Bannatyne ’20. This resolution affirms that SGA and the greater community of Grinnell College support legislation that upholds principles related to the productivity and efficiency of the U.S. government while curbing corruption.

"This is covering one specific act from my understanding and there’s going to be many different acts that as a student body we should support and politicians we’re voting for should support. " Takshil Sachdev '19 The American Anti-Corruption Act (AACA), a piece of model legislation which acts as a guide for future laws, limits monetary contributions to politicians in order to reduce corruption. FeldbergBannatyne had been involved in anticorruption work before coming to the College.

“Usually, what the goal is, is to be able to petition your community and get this measure on a ballot and do a ballot initiative and people can vote to support it,” said Feldberg-Bannatyne.

“These laws will be legally enacted locally. Iowa, specifically Poweshiek County, is set up where it does not have ballot initiatives available to the people … so this [resolution] is kind of the next best thing.”

Feldberg-Bannatyne adapted the AACA into a resolution for SGA which details Grinnell’s support for the banning of lobbying, “closing the revolving door” and political fundraising during congressional hours. The resolution asks for transparent fundraising and voting commission and supports single open primaries.

The result of this resolution will not affect Grinnell’s student government directly as SGA is a student organization funded through the College and does not accept any kind of financial contributions.

Feldberg-Bannatyne hopes that when U.S. politicians come to campus, the resolution will inspire students

to have conversations with them, on the record, surrounding corruption on legislation such as the American Anti-Corruption Act. “You get to have a conversation about specific policies and to get to understand their stance on these issues, and that’s great because it gets them on the record about some things they might not be inclined to talk about, and then whenever they go on their careers and they do things, either in line with the Anti-Corruption Act or against it, you now have this base, that you can send out to media outlets … and hold them accountable for what they say,” Feldberg-Bannatyne said.

During a discussion at campus council, students raised questions about the ultimate goals of this initiative and why it is relevant to SGA and to student government.

“I’m wondering what the relevance really is. … This is covering one specific act from my understanding and there’s going to be many different acts that as a student body we should support and politicians we’re voting for should support. What was your reasoning behind writing this one specific resolution about this one particular thing?” asked SGA Senator Takshil Sachdev ‘19.

Feldberg-Bannatyne responded, speaking on the function of government and how it was set up for democracy, including examples about issues such as health care and climate change.

“This is really important to me, just because I see the studies about where money’s spent, lobbyists and everything, and I feel like in this day and age … a lot of decisions and regulations not giving the teeth to enforce what they’re supposed to enforce, that our US government is susceptible to outside sources from both sides,” Feldberg-Bannatyne said. “If there’s one issue that you care about, it’s going to be really hard to make progress on that issue if your representative is holding to special interests.”

Other students had concerns about the legislation itself. SGA Senator Pranjal Drall ’20 disagrees with the idea of campus council endorsing specific legislation as well as the implications of banning lobbying.

“I think this is a massive overreach because imagine a labor union that wants political say, [such as] Planned Parenthood, or a small group of people,” Drall said after

the discussion. “People think this will prevent the auto industry from cutting the EPA, but outside of that, it will stop people’s ability to have minor, local change happening. In that sense, it’s not a solution, it just completely takes away one of the most fundamental rights of people in democracy. I’m fine with this campaign finance reform, or having more transparency and some of those things in the bill, but this ‘massivelobbyists-aren’t-allowed’ portion is questionable and I think it affects way more people than [students] may realize.”

To Feldberg-Bannatyne, the principles behind this bill are important to reach for, whether they are immediately attainable or not.

“I think the spirit of this is anticorruption, but I feel like it’s really in the sense of trying to make American democracy healthy again, let it thrive. … It talks about all sorts of broader tactics that would help politicians govern their representatives more effectively, because it would ensure that they’re only listening to what the [constituents] have to say and it just holds people more accountable

and encourages participation in democracy,” Feldberg-Bannatyne said.

When the discussion came to a vote, the resolution passed with five approvals, one rejection and eight abstentions. After the vote, some senators expressed disapproval of the outcome, and a there was a motion to strike SGA’s support from the resolution. In that vote, six senators voted to continue supporting the resolution with two against and six abstentions.

“I think the spirit of this is anti-corruption, but I feel like it’s really in the sense of trying to make American democracy healthy again," Evan Feldberg-Bannaytyne '20 “In some issues, abstentions are used as a no-board. People think, if I’m abstaining I’m showing my disagreement with the vote but not explicitly against it,” Drall said. “Abstaining is shirking your responsibility because

you’re supposed to represent your constituents’ views.”

Feldberg-Bannatyne said that he would have liked to have had a more engaging conversation with senators so that they would feel comfortable in their understanding of the resolution.

However, he feels its passing is definitely positive.

“This is very nonpartisan stuff.

In the real world where people have been implementing this at the local level, it’s typically been tea-partiers and democratic socialists teaming up, putting politics aside, to pass this,” he said. “They both want to the government to work more efficiently and I’d hope that all senators here want the government to work better.

“In the real world where people have been implementing this at the local level, it’s typically been tea-partiers and democratic socialists teaming up, putting politics aside, to pass this."

Evan Feldberg-Bannaytyne '20

Come check out the Grinnell College Bead at Bill’s Jewelry Shop visit us at 903 Main Street

Community Camping season kick- True Grinnellian: Kelly Edgington off in Iowa state parks 4

Edited by braneckm@grinnell.edu

JACKSON SCHULTE

Everyone's favorite Tithead judge Kelly Edgington has been part of the Grinnell community for 17 years.

By Jackson Schulte schultej@grinnell.edu CONTRIBUTED

Rock Creek State Park, the park closest to Grinnell, will host a variety of activities on Saturday, including tree planting, hikes and an astronomy discussion.

By Michael Cummings cummings@grinnell.edu Fans of the great outdoors will be happy to learn that camping season is once again making its way to Iowa. On Saturday, May 6, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is hosting a Camping Kickoff statewide at all of Iowa’s state parks.

Almost all state parks across Iowa will host special events to mark the day, including runs, guided hikes, volunteer opportunities and workshops. The goal of the event is to get people outdoors in order to enjoy everything the Iowa DNR has to offer.

Iowa has 71 state parks with a total of over 4,700 campsites spread out across the state. According to the DNR, these parks receive mil-

lions of visits each year, and almost a million people spent at least one night camping in a state park last year. Events like this weekend’s camping kickoff serve to get even more people out into the parks to enjoy the outdoors..

Rock Creek State Park, the DNR site closest to Grinnell, has several events planned throughout the day on Saturday. Visitors can participate in tree planting, a bird and plant identification session, a nature hike and, after sundown, friend of the park Bob Meakins will host an astronomy discussion and viewing with his telescope.

More information about the events offered at any of the Iowa DNR's state parks this Saturday can be found here: http://www.iowadnr. gov/Things-to-Do/Camping/Camping-Kickoff.

Kelly Edgington met her husband on the internet in December of 1999 and moved to Grinnell from Eastern Pennsylvania. She started working for the College in January 2000 and she’s been here ever since.

In the Dining Hall, Edgington is a Marketplace Supervisor who works with students every day, which is her favorite part of the job. When asked an open-ended question about what she thinks people should know about her, her coworker was quick to chime in and say, “She’s friendly and kind.”

Edgington feels like those descriptors may not be the first ones to come to students’ heads. At work, she prefers tough love. She often tells students, “I know I’m the tough one here, but I have a job to do. You guys have a job to do.” Edgington is being modest, though, because it’s evident that she leaves a lasting impact on students long after they leave Grinnell.

Though she has always worked

Iowa politics update:

Govenor Branstad to be Trump's ambassador to China; Lt. Govenor Reynolds to take on govenor's responsibilites

By Michael Cummings cummings@grinnell.edu The 2017 Iowa Legislative session may be over but divisive political battles in the Statehouse are continuing to unfold. Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D) announced in a ruling this week that when a lieutenant governor assumes the office of governor, Iowa’s Constitution will not permit them to appoint their own lieutenant governor.

This is important because Governor Terry Branstad (R), who became the longest serving governor in American history last year and is currently in his twenty-third year in that office, is expected to leave office

within the next few weeks pending a confirmation vote in the U.S. Senate concerning his appointment as President Trump’s ambassador to China.

Miller announced that after Branstad leaves office, Lieutenant.

Governor Kim Reynolds (R) will assume the full powers and duties of the office of the governor. However, she would not be able to appoint her own lieutenant. Reynolds will become Iowa’s first woman to hold the office of Governor.

This announcement, coming in the form of an official legal opinion, is contradictory to a statement Miller made in December in which he said that Reynolds should be able to ap-

point a lieutenant govenor. Miller explained that while he still personally believes she should be able to make that appointment, his staff convinced him to change his mind based on legal and constitutional arguments.

Republicans have accused Miller of partisanship for his change of opinion.

Reynolds responded to the statement by expressing her intention to appoint a lieutenant governor once she takes office, regardless.

The last time an Iowa lieutenant governor assumed the position of governor was in 1969. No lieutenant governor in that position has ever appointed their own lieutenant.

Dog park to open near PALS

By Zane Silk silkzane@grinnell.edu Dog owners looking for a green space to play with their pets leash-free may soon have a park of their own.

The Poweshiek Animal League Shelter (PALS) is planning to build a 2.5 acre private dog park on its property just south of I-80 with construction slated to start this July and conclude by the end of the year if all goes according to plan.

The idea for a fenced dog park initially emerged out of the City of

Grinnell’s 2007 Parks Master Plan, though at that time no site was chosen. Over the years many city-owned parks were considered for conversion, but for various reasons none of the sites were selected. It was at this point that PALS stepped in to suggest that they convert part of their property into a dog park.

“On the positive side, there are no neighbors who would have issues with barking or odors, the area available is enormous and the site includes a pond for people who have dogs that enjoy the water,” wrote Professor Liz

CONTRIBUTED

Above: The plans for the dog park place it next to the shelter. Below: The sprawling property where the dog park will be located.

Queathem, biology, in an email to the S&B. Queathem, who is a member of the Grinnell Parks and Recreation Board, added that, “on the negative side, the park would be outside the city limits, and people would not be able to walk there with their dogs from town … [but] since we have been unable to find a workable site on City property, the Parks and Recreation Board supports these efforts to place a park at the PALS site.”

According to PALS, the estimated construction costs are $40,000, which will be raised from the community and by applying to grants.

Annual operational costs will be around $5,000, partly paid for by park memberships and sponsorships from local businesses. In an interview with radio station KGRN, Parks and Recreation Director Kelly Rose said that PALS may seek up to $1,500 annually from the city for ongoing expenses.

Though the park does not need the city’s approval, the Parks and Recreation Board passed a resolution on April 24 asking the city council to approve a statement in support for the plan. The hope is that this statement would help PALS gain funding when applying for grants.

“Many dog breeds were originally developed to run, and it can be very difficult to give them enough exercise without risking having them run away. … People who own them really need a place where the dogs can exercise without fearing that they will be hit by a car,” Queathem wrote.

“Before moving to Iowa, I used to take my first dog to dog parks quite frequently, and it was such a joy to be able to run with her off leash. I think this park will benefit the whole community and help people keep their dogs happy and healthy, so I am totally behind it!”

for the College, she has also taken on a job at Fareway within the last year.

“I didn’t realize how many people I knew until I started working there.

Literally one night, everyone that came in, I knew them,” Edgington said. Though she’s definitely busy, she tries her best to make time for activities she loves.

When she’s away from work, Edgington can be found doing almost anything around town. Edgington’s interests range from gardening to tattoos to photography, and her love for dogs has been a means for her to get involved in the community.

“I love dogs, I have two dogs,” Edgington said. “I love to advocate for shelters.” In the past, she has volunteered at the Poweshiek Animal League Shelter (PALS).

Although there aren’t boundless entertainment options in rural Iowa, Edgington makes her own fun. “I like to take a drink occasionally. I like to hang out with my husband, he’s my best friend,” Edginton said.

“I try to get over on campus as much as I can for events.” In fact, there’s

one event on campus Edgington never misses: Titular Head.

“I think I’ve been a Titular Head judge for maybe 10 years. This year was way better than last year. Last year, to me, was all about who can make the raunchiest of raunchiest [films],” Edgington said. She noted that she especially loves Titular Head because it always happens near her birthday, and she views it as a night to celebrate.

When asked what students should know about her, Edgington said she can help them with networking, a perk usually associated with the Center for Careers, Life, and Services. However, after nearly two decades of experience working with students, Edgington has contacts all over the country.

“If I know someone is in a city, I will make a connection for [graduating students]. That way they can find a little bit of a comfort zone there,” Edgington said.

When she’s traveling, she often meets up with Grinnell alums for dinner. “I like to keep connections going, and I like to do networking for students when I can,” she said After over 17 years of working at the College, Edgington says her favorite part about Grinnell is the students. She is always willing to help out, even if it is to have a recorded interview with a reporter that takes up most of her dinner shift. She is warm-hearted and loves the Grinnell community, and expects people who get to know her to say hello.

“That’s what keep me here,” Edgington said, “A lot of townspeople have a misconception of the students of Grinnell. I tell them they’re a bunch of good kids.”

Farmers market to open for season

CONTRIBUTED

The farmers market, which will open this Thursday, provides an outlet for local farmers and merchants to sell their goods directly to the public. purchasing options less economically

By Lucia Tonachel viable. Through sponsorships from tonachel@grinnell.edu Chamber collaborators, vendors are now able to enroll without any transThe 2017 Farmers Market season actions fees. Not only is this beneficial will begin this Thursday, May 11. The for vendors, but it also opens the entire Jewel of the Prairie boasts a unique market to those using SNAP. Individuals who wish to use SNAP market: not only does it provide a wide variety of goods, it is completely a benefits or credit/debit cards exchange producer market. This means that all money for tokens at a central booth vendors produce the products they sell which can then be used as currency at and consumers have the unusual op- a vendor stand. Collaboration with the portunity to purchase directly from the statewide Double Up Food Bucks promakers. In a world often preoccupied gram will allow the market to be more by global market happenings, this is accessible than ever before. The Double Up Food Bucks program allows the truly a breath of fresh air.

The Market is situated at Central Chamber to effectively double SNAP Park, perching alongside the construc- benefits spent at the market.

“If they come to purchase $10 in tion on the corner of 4th Avenue and Broad Street. Approximately 30 ven- SNAP transaction, we will give them dors will line the sidewalk on Thurs- up to an additional $10 free.”

Increasing the reach of the market day afternoons and about a third will return on Saturday morning. Through- farther, vendors donated approximateout the season, musicians, artists and ly 500 pounds of produce to Mid-Iowa chefs will accompany vendors. Mu- Community Action, underscoring the sicians will play live music, artists of community-mindedness of the market all ages will filter in from Arts Council and its vendors.

Another benefit which might parevents and chefs will shop for ingredients at the market and showcase their ticularly appeal to college students is the market punch card. Every purchase preparations.

Chamber of Commerce Director made from a market vendor earns a Rachael Kinnick has worked to secure stamp on the punch card, and every 10 new collaborations at both local and punches earns an entrance into a rafstate levels. To Kinnick, the goal of the fle for a market basket. These baskets market is to “increase access to local feature donations from most market foods,” and she hopes that “people of vendors, including baked goods, fresh all walks of life have opportunity to produce and other goods.

The upcoming season is looking come to the farmers market … and feel even more diverse than the last, includwelcome.”

One of Kinnick’s favorite parts of ing both returning and new vendors. the market is watching interactions be- Kinnick is looking forward to crispy tween vendors and community mem- bars and on-demand made crafts as bers grow into supportive, familial well as asparagus at the beginning of relationships. In part, this is due to the the season and plants and hanging basattitude of vendors towards the market. kets in June. Vendors also sell baked “Our vendors are trying to grow a cul- goods, dairy and meat products, crafts, ture, not just to grow food,” Kinnick fruits and a wide variety of vegetables.

So whether or not Grinnellians are explained.

At the end of the last market sea- spending the summer in town (#grinson, the Chamber began to incorporate nellsummer), the Farmer’s Market SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assis- provides a huge variety of goods and tance Program) and credit/debit trans- unparalleled opportunities for commuactions as purchasing options. While nity engagement. Stop by the market many vendors were interested in par- on Thursdays or Saturdays for grocerticipating, transaction fees made these ies, decorations, snacks and plants!

Features Grinnellians' Summer Background Noyce: Cooper Battle 5

Edited by silkzane@grinnell.edu

Plans

By Andrea Baumagartel baumgart1@grinnell.edu

Grinnellians have big plans for the summer, and the S&B's Mayo Sueta asked students in and around the Grill to share what they have in store for the next few months.

Russia and Lifeguarding

“I got into the [Global Learning Program] so I’m going to be spending two weeks [in Russia] visiting Moscow, Yakutsk, St. Petersburg and other areas. Afterwards I’m flying back to Chicago … and I have a stable job as a lifeguard.” - Gabriela Gryc ‘20

Music and Stats

“In June I’m going to be starting work at the University of Chicago Urban Labs … I’ll be doing a lot of stats work and how it applies to crime and education stuff and cities. [But first] I’m probably going to hang out with my brother in Seattle … maybe try and record some music before I start working for real.” - Noah Sebek '17

Although he has just started working at Grinnell this year, Professor Cooper Battle, biochemistry, is already leading a couple of different research projects, both of which star a particular method of chemical imaging: fluorescence. Given that Battle straddles the fields of biology and chemistry, it is apt that one of his fluorescence-focused research projects falls in the former field and the other project falls under the latter. In chemistry, Battle is studying ways to improve drug delivery in patients.

“A lot of pharmaceutical drugs suffer from [the issue of] water solubility,” said Cooper. “They [need] to cross the membrane into the cell, so they need to be fairly hydrophobic, but that means that they can’t distribute very well through the bloodstream.”

Because of this dilemma, drugs are often delivered by binding drug molecules to molecular capsules, which ensure that the drugs reach their target location in the body.

According to Battle, it is difficult to determine which molecular capsules are appropriate for different drugs, and in his research he has been trying to create fluorescent sensors to make that process easier.

When it comes to biology research, Battle currently focuses on applying these same types of fluorescent signals towards detecting micro-RNA, which is a type of genetic material. In particular, Battle studies

SARAH RUIZ

Professor Cooper Battle conducts research using fluorescence for imaging. those specific micro-RNA that are associated with the uncontrolled cell growth typical of cancer. The problem he is seeking to solve is that current imaging techniques used to identify the presence of a cancerous tumor in the body — such as CAT or MRI scans — are expensive and often do not detect the emergence of cancer early on.

“The point at which a tumor develops to be visible, to when it metastasizes, it's a pretty small window.

That’s why we’re trying to come up with a technique that would let us detect cancer early on, and before you get the actual formation of tumors,” Battle said.

To create better screening technology, Battle is aiming to harness the fact that the micro-RNA he studies acts like early warning signals

of cancer. He is figuring out ways that we can detect the micro-RNA through imaging to screen cancer earlier, using the power of fluorescence just as he does in his research in chemistry.

Before arriving at Grinnell, Battle received his PhD from Tulane University, a research institution that is roughly eight times larger than Grinnell College. While Grinnell does not offer the same breadth of academic specialization that one would find at Tulane, Battle does think there are benefits to conducting research at a smaller college.

“A lot of times, we get ensconced in our majors, but the benefit of a liberal arts college and the way that Noyce is set up allows for the collaboration of research across these disciplinary boundaries,” Battle said.

Konstanty Gebert Q&A Research and Classes Too!

“This summer I’ll be in North Carolina doing research at the University of Chapel Hill. It’s like a research internship so I’d work with the faculty and I’d meet with them once a week and the goal is to create 25 pages worth of research … [and] in between I have to take classes for GRE prep and for public speaking!" - Ashley Jackson '18

Konstanty Gebert is a Polish journalist who was a democratic opposition activist in the Solidarity movement, which led to the fall of the totalitarian regime in Poland in 1989. Gebert, who is at Grinnell this semester to teach a couple of short courses, recently sat down with The S&B’s Alice Herman '18 and Marysia Ciupka '19 to talk about his thoughts on journalism, political correctness, social movements and Grinnell.

The S&B: So how have you liked teaching at Grinnell?

SARAH RUIZ

Konstanty Gebert is at Grinnell teaching two short courses this semester.

Cruising Through Life

“My plans are go to Des Moines to do an internship with Monsoon United Asian Women of Iowa. I’ll be heading the youth program there. And I’m going on a cruise with my family to Europe!” - Esther Hwang '19

ALL PHOTOS BY TAKAHIRO OMURA

Konstanty Gebert: I very much enjoy the teaching, mainly because Grinnell students seem to be self-selecting. The level of humanities is high. The kind of people who come here might have wanted to go to Berkeley or to Columbia, and if they chose Grinnell, it probably wasn’t because of the superior urban environment, but rather because my guess is once you’ve come here there isn’t much else to do but study, right?

The one thing that makes me turn completely green with envy still, when I come to the U.S., is the inter-library loan system. Look, the ease with which you can access information — anything — delivered to your doorstep … this just trips me over. The differences are slowly reducing between the former communist world and the West. This ease of information, the open libraries — the first time I went to an open-stack library was at Berkeley, I thought I was having an epiphany [with] all those books calling out “Read me!”

Most American students don’t really know about what happened in Poland that led to the fall of communism. Why would you say it’s important to study the Solidarity

movement that you were involved in and social movements in general?

for a cause, you’ll end up doing bad journalism, this is inevitable.

I think studying the history of the Solidarity movement has a particular interest because it’s one of the rare examples of mass non-violent movements that succeeded. I mean you have that, you have Gandhi’s movement in India, you have the civil rights movement in this country — and then the list starts getting really short. Usually non-violent movements either run into violent resistance and stop being non-violent, or run out of steam and this is one of the rare cases in which that didn’t happen. To the contrary, it succeeded beyond our wildest expectations.

There’s an Atlantic article that came out a while ago that said “Our students are coddled because they want safe spaces.” What do you think about the debate around free speech and political correctness?

When you are doing journalism, does the line for you ever blur with your work as activist?

[As a journalist] you should be a watchdog, but for the public, not necessarily for a cause. So your job is to get the information out, especially if someone is hiding information. And if that someone is your comrade-inarms, then you better do that job twice as well as if it were somebody else, and if you see yourself as a watchdog

I actually feel that political correctness is a good thing. That is, in general speech, it is extremely appropriate to avoid using stereotyping expressions because speech does shape both thought and behavior and even if I have to pause for a moment to think of a synonym or refrain from using a cliché, that’s minor suffering compared to the damage that can be done. Bottom line is, even if I don’t think speech is hurtful, it’s not for me to decide, it’s for the person who is being hurt. And I, by and large, very much agree with the idea that we should censor our speech — we individually. … But I would certainly stand up for your right to be obnoxious and I would not give the state or anybody else the right to punish you for that … [but] I draw the line at jokes about genocides and I’m not interested in discussing that.

Despite Dreary Weather, Relays are a Success

By Kate Irwin irwinkat@grinnell.edu

The annual Grinnell Relays — a series of jovial competitions that are performed while studens are in various degrees of inebriation — has been a tradition since 1973. While sunny weather would have been preferred, this year’s Relays were a success despite the cold and wet conditions, with 50 teams competing.

Professor Wayne Moyer, political science, is to thank for bringing the hallowed tradition to campus. Moyer was inspired to start Relays when he came to Grinnell after earning his Ph.D. from Yale University. Speaking to The S&B in 2014, Moyer explained how he brought the event from his graduate school.

“During my last year at Yale, the

Vietnam War looked like it was winding down and students were ready to let off a little steam at the end of the semester. And because there was nothing in particular to demonstrate against or protest, they thought, ‘Why not have a big party?’”

Nick Curta '17 and Ariel Keller '17, the students who were in charge of organizing Relays this year, made changes to the structure of the event to accommodate the rainy weather.

"Instead of spray painting the ground, we used flags. We had a big sound system this year so people could hear regardless of the weather and how far away they were," Keller said, adding that they set up tents for the events to protect participants from the rain.

At the beginning of this school year, the College implemented strict

new alcohol policies that posed some challenges for Curta and Keller.

"When [administration] implemented the rules, we tried to work with them to keep [Relays] as close to what is has been in the past," Curta said.

"We worked with [Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Wellness Prevention] Jen Jacobsen for harm reductive type things. That's why we had the breakfast event this year … We tried to take care of people because we know even if you take alcohol away that's served by the school, Relays is an event where people … drink before the lunch break or on their own.”

Curta has helped to organize Relays since his first year, and said that this year’s festivities were the best he had experienced.

"The biggest thing for me, why I stayed on all four years, is [seeing]

CONTRIBUTED

Relay contestants after a competing in an event that involved foam. how happy people get for an event that you're throwing, and being able to give back to the community at large and the campus at large," Curta said.

As Curta and Keller prepare to leave Grinnell, they will look back on Relays with fond memories and they look forward to bonding with new stu-

dents over the tradition once they are alumni.

"It's cool to see that participation [from students in Relays] continues to increase," Keller said, "and that Professor Moyer who created the event in 1973 … continues to advocate for [Relays] and support us."

Arts

6

By Megan Tcheng tchengme@grinnell.edu If you are a fan of offbeat humor, sharp-wit and pure creative genius, "Something Gross," a collaborative web series created by the Grinnell-based Wake Me Up When I Care Productions team, should immediately make its way to the top of your watch list. Conceptualized by Nora Coghlan, Melissa Fandos, Teresa Fleming and Halley Freger (all ’17), the absurdist comedy series chronicles a pair of college students as they navigate the twists and turns of their ever-so-slightly above-average lives.

With three currently-released episodes and additional segments already in production, "Something Gross" possesses all the trademarks of a viral video series. Quick cuts, attention-grabbing visuals and a steady stream of witty quips set the refreshing and dynamic pace of the series.

Likewise, the unabashedly authentic portrayal of show’s two protagonists, played by Coghlan and Freger, will leave you desperately in search of the replay button.

Each episode in the series focuses on an isolated portrait of the characters’ lives. As a viewer, one has the per-

Edited by vitaioli@grinnell.edu

Gross has never been so good

spective of a spectator and can laugh alongside the all-too-familiar chaos of their college experiences. With plotlines that range from YouTube marathons and McDonald’s drive-thru lines to awkward house parties and smalltown encounters, "Something Gross" intentionally draws connections to the shared experiences of their audience.

"We’re doing comedy for ourselves."

Teresa Fleming '17

“A lot of our comedy plays off of the humor in everyday interactions and everyday problems … I think that’s what we excel at — finding things that interest us — whether it’s social norms or romance or everyday tropes, and then pushing them to an extreme where they become gross and funny,” Freger said.

Throughout their creative process, Coghlan, Fandos, Fleming and Freger have made it a priority to test the limits of comedic expression. Within their videos, they hope to offset the traditional balance between comedy and everyday life in order to make a web series that draws directly from their personal perspectives and realities.

For this reason, the "Something

Gross" series possesses an undeniable air of vitality, confidence and ease. The show’s characters and their interactions are raw and surprisingly approachable — not only because they are well-acted and cleverly constructed, but also because they directly speak to the lived experiences of the creators.

“Part of the reason why we’re all so connected to the show is because we start by talking about our own experiences. … ["Something Gross"] is really our lives, just a little bit more dramatic or a little bit funnier or a little bit weirder,” Coghlan said.

“We’re doing comedy for ourselves and I think the idea of that is really cool, that you can create the things that you want to consume,” Fleming added.

Coghlan, Fandos, Fleming and Freger developed the idea for their web series this past winter break, when they traveled to Los Angeles as part of the Entertainment Industry Trek offered through Grinnell’s Center for Careers, Life and Service (CLS). During their week-long tour, the four students received the opportunity to interact directly with members of Los Angeles’s film and television community. Over the course of their

visit, however, the creators were all struck by a glaring gap in the entertainment industry and its approach towards comedy. In order to respond to this identified need, they took on the challenge of creating their own web series.

“We had so many conversations on the trip about how many cis, white men are successful in comedy and how they honestly aren’t that good.

We went to a comedy show and all the funniest people were queer women. …

Then we spent a lot of time analyzing how and why our jokes work,” Coghlan explained.

"These are the funniest, most creative, genius people I know. "

Melissa Fandos '17

Throughout every step of their creative process, Coghlan, Fandos, Fleming and Freger work collaboratively. During brainstorming sessions, they riff off each other and bring their unique senses of humor to the table.

Likewise, throughout the filming, editing and production process, they provide each other with continual

feedback and support. Ultimately, all four members of the production team attribute their ability to work effectively and collaboratively to the success of the "Something Gross" series.

“Before we started working on the show and throughout, we’ve all really respected each other creatively and intellectually. These are the funniest, most creative, genius people I know, and I think we all feel that way,” Fandos said.

As current fourth years, Coghlan, Fandos, Fleming and Freger are all gearing up for their fast-approaching college graduation. While the creative minds behind the "Something Gross" series have plans to release one to two more videos before the end of the year, the future of their joint project is still up for debate. No matter where their time outside of Grinnell will take them, however, all four students are quick to point out the important role "Something Gross" has played in their personal lives.

“It’s nice to have a community of people who are equally interested and invested in film and comedy. … I’ve seen how good it can be when you’re working with a really collaborative, amazing team. I want to do that for the rest of my life,” Fandos said.

HELENA GRUENSTEIDL, SCREENCAPS CONTRIBUTED

From left to right: "Something Gross" creators Fleming, Fandos, Coghlan and Freger, all '17, basking in the glory of fame, Screencaps from episode one, "Hi!" and episode two, "No New Friends."

Whitney, Alex Cameron and "Wit" opening May 5 Frankie Cosmos; final concerts this at the Loft semester

By Halley Freger fregerha17@grinnell.edu

Grinnell Concerts is ending the year with two of the most highly anticipated shows. This Saturday, Alex Cameron and Whitney play Gardner Lounge at 9 p.m. while Frankie Cosmos plays Gardner next Thursday, May 11 at 8 p.m.

Although Chicago-based band Whitney is relatively new, they’ve achieved a shocking amount of success since they formed in 2015. This past summer, they played at both Bonnaroo and the Pitchfork Music Festival, solidifying the band as a prominent indie act. Although Bonnaroo was their first festival as Whitney, the members of the band are no strangers to the indie rock scene. Guitarist Max Kakacek and drummer Julien Ehrlich, who also played drums for Unknown Mortal Orchestra, originally formed Whitney after playing together in the Smith Westerns, a glam infused indie rock band.

Now a band with seven members, Whitney is sure to be a great live show. Although their music is mellow, harkening back to 2007 and the glory days of mellow indie rock, it has an undeniably whimsical and upbeat quality. The band thoughtfully infuses psychedelic pop and indie rock, but most interesting is their inclusion of Jim Ford-inspired country soul.

Their debut album “Light Upon the Lake”

By Steve Yang yangstev17@grinnell.edu

doesn’t turn its back on familiar indie tropes of folk and country, but builds on them. Funky guitar flourishes back a falsetto reminiscent of Bon Iver.

Their music doesn’t feel nostalgic, but like a natural evolution of genres.

The opening track “No Woman” is simultaneously simple and mesmerizing, exemplifying their style. The muted song seamlessly combines strings and soulful guitar, but builds to an exhilarating horn section that feels like a warm embrace.

Although a lot of seasoned indie rock dudes take themselves too seriously, Whitney appears to be having fun, sometimes even making out with each other during live performances.

Kakacek and Ehrlich have worked on other projects, but now it’s their chance to experiment artistically.

They seem to enjoy the freedom and the sweetness in their warm-weather music sounds like a reflection of the joy with which it was created.

On Saturday, Alex Cameron will open for Whitney. Cameron is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter who blurs the boundaries between performer and character through his high-concept music in which he plays the role of a failed entertainer. His album “Jumping the Shark” was re-released last year on Secretly Canadian after initially being released independently on Cameron’s website.

CONTRIBUTED

Headliners Frankie Cosmos and Whitney will soon grace Gardner.

The album seamlessly blends his own experiences with that of this created persona. Throughout the album, he sings in a haunting, reverberating baritone over droning and twinkling synths. The album closes with “Taking Care of Business,” which creates a dark, moody atmosphere, but builds into a hypnotic synth pop jam.

Previously, Cameron would even perform in character by applying latex wrinkle scars, and pockmarks to his face. With or without the makeup, Cameron has a special talent in making down-on-their-luck characters come to life through his rich storytelling music. He’s not only concerned with the music, but with the full performance, and we’re lucky to have a chance to see him live at Grinnell this Saturday in Gardner.

Finally, Grinnell Concerts will wrap up its spring lineup with Frankie Cosmos. Frankie Cosmos is the project of Greta Kline, who originally began releasing lo-fi recordings on Bandcamp under the name Ingrid Superstar and went on to play bass in the band Porches.

With her project Frankie Cosmos, Kline has come a long way from her early days as Ingrid Superstar. However, although she now plays with a full band, their music maintains an intensely personal, bedroom pop sound.

On their second album “Next Thing,” the songs may appear low-key at first, but they retain a deep, poetic intimacy. Kline opens the song “Embody” with the beautifully composed line, “Some day in bravery I'll embody all the grace and lightness.” She packs elegant significance into each poetic line and delivers it all in an effortless singing style reminiscent of artists such as Kimya Dawson, revealing her anti-folk influences.

This year, Frankie Cosmos signed with Sub Pop records and announced they’re working on a new album. Don’t miss the opportunity to see them on Thursday, May 11 at 8 p.m. in Gardner Lounge.

Reverend Wendy Abrahamson will be debuting her first play as a director with her staging of “Wit,” at the Loft Theatre in the Grinnell Area Arts Council. Based on the 1999 Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Margaret Edson of the same name, “Wit” will be performed on May 5-6 and 12-13 at 7:30 p.m. The show tells the tale of Dr. Vivian Bearing, an English professor dying of ovarian cancer who undergoes an experimental procedure in an attempt to save her life. In the process, Dr. Bearing takes a long look at life, the English language and the works of American author John Dunne.

Although she has participated in numerous plays at the Loft as an actor, Abrahamson credits Professor Sandy Moffett, emeritus, and Tom Lacina for getting her foot in the door as a director. As part of her beginners’ directing class, Abrahamson chose to stage the first half of Wit, a one-act play that deals with tough questions like life, death and meaning.

“I’ve been familiar with the play for a while,” she said. “It’s just gripping … this really transcendent story that can be … complicated if you want it to be.”

Abrahamson says that after directing the first act, it made sense to expand to directing the whole play. The play itself is 90 minutes long, with no intermission and no specific set necessary, which poses its own creative challenges for actors and directors.

Nonetheless, Abrahamson felt confident giving her actors more space to find their roles and make it their own.

“I just let the actors go, just trust them to know what to do,” Abrahamson explained. “I sit in the audience to help them fine-tune, but they know their way around. I just want to … give them everything they need to be artists.”

She also credits Lacina and Moffett for their mentorship, particularly with the gritty details like scheduling

SARAH RUIZ

"Wit" tackles intense themes such as terminal illness and death. rehearsals.

“I’ve been in 7 different plays here with 6 different directors, and got to see a lot of what they do,” Abrahamson said. “Sandy and Tom helped me ... with the nuts and bolts.”

She warned that due to the difficult topic that “Wit” deals with, it can be an extremely challenging play.

Abrahamson added that although it can be challenging, she also finds it extremely meaningful, but acknowledges that it can be hard at times to watch.

“The play’s not a bummer, but it’s hard. I would say if you enjoy films that are kind of a challenge, this would be along those lines,” Abrahamson said. “But I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody whose family member is really really sick. This would probably be hard to watch.”

Abrahamson added that the intimate nature of the Loft Theater can also enhance the experience of watching the play, allowing audience members to forget their worries and think about larger issues in life than final exams.

“The Loft is … a beautiful little theater with … great opportunity for mixing, which is pretty cool,” Abrahamson said. “And the whole play is like a poem. There is a whole lot that’s not said. It’s pretty expressive, [it] doesn’t try to be realistic. It certainly would be a break from studying for finals.”

Sports

Edited by schultej@grinnell.edu

7

Men's tennis wins conference, qualifies for national tournament

By Philip Kiely kielyphi@grinnell.edu Last weekend, the Grinnell men’s tennis team won the Midwest Conference Tournament for the fourteenth consecutive year. The team continued its legacy of success, beating Lawrence in the semifinals and Lake Forest in the finals. They will advance to the national tournament to compete against the best of the Division III teams on May 12.

“We swept the first three doubles in the final match against Lake Forest, which I think was the deciding factor in the win. Lake Forest was going to win four, potentially five of the singles matches.”

Will Hamilton '17 “Every team head-to-head match begins with three doubles matches and six singles matches, so it’s best of nine. You need five points to clinch a win,” said Will Hamilton ’17.

While they faced stiff competition in the singles matches, the momentum from winning the first three doubles matches pushed the Pioneers to victory.

“We swept the first three doubles in the final match against Lake Forest, which I think was the deciding factor in the win. Lake Forest was going to win four, potentially five of the singles matches, but luckily Cole [Miller ’17] and Ben [Cobin ’20] picked up two

singles wins for us so we won fivethree,” Hamilton said.

During the singles matches on Saturday, three of the six players in the lineup were seniors. All of the seniors made it to the finals and three Pioneers won individual conference titles.

“Our number one [in singles] is Cole Miller, he ended up winning. Our number two guy got to the semifinals.

Number three was Tommy [Pitcher ’17], he got to the finals. Number four was Zach Lane [’19], he won his tournament, so he’s a conference champion. Number five was me, I got to our finals. Our number six was Ben Cobin, and he also won his tournament,” Hamilton said.

"[Coach Paige Madara] has beeen a very great coach and she's been learning on the job. She grew just as much as we did this season.”

Will Hamilton '17 On Sunday, the team did not ease up the pressure in the doubles brackets.

“All three of our doubles teams made it to the finals. Our number two doubles team got second, Ben Cobin and I teamed up to win the third flight,” Hamilton said.

While dominating the Midwest conference is nothing new for the team, there was a change this year: a new coach. “[Coach Paige Madara] been a very great coach and she’s been learning on the job. She grew just as much

JACKSON SCHULTE

The graduating members of the Grinnell men's tennis team, Tommy Pitcher, Cole Miller, and Will Hamilton (all '17) will finish their Pioneer careers at nationals. as we did this season,” Hamilton said.

One thing that Madara has focused on this season is the mental aspect of tennis. The long, intense matches require focus and mental strength.

"Our priority right now is making sure that everyone is physically healthy and taking this weekend to get ahead on studies.”

Tommy Pitcher '17 “Personally, one thing I’ve noticed is that tennis is a very mental sport, it requires a lot of mental forti-

tude because matches take a long time. … [Madara is] really good at building you up mentally and teaching you ways to develop mental strength and overcome adversity,” Hamilton said.

This was critical in the final round of the team faceoff last Friday.

“Her work in that field helped us a lot in that final match when there was a lot on the line, and Lake Forest, all of them played probably the best tennis of their career,” Hamilton said.

Fortunately, the team persevered and is heading to nationals. Although they do not know who they will be facing or where they are going, they are already preparing for the big

weekend.

“Our priority right now is making sure that everyone is physically healthy and taking this weekend to get ahead on studies. I think that going into nationals it’s just fine-tuning things, picking out weaknesses in our game that we saw last weekend,” Pitcher said.

Team competition for nationals begins on Friday, May 12. If they are successful, they will play again Saturday, and if the team wins again, the finals are on Sunday. While the Pioneers have not made it past Saturday matches in the last three years, they are eager to do so this year.

Shannon Young breaks school record in steeplechase

By Lily Böhlke bohlkeli@grinnell.edu Last weekend at the Kip Janvrin Invitational, Shannon Young ’17 broke the Grinnell women’s track and field steeplechase record by more than three seconds. She finished in 11:21:80, beating the previous record and coming in third.

“The record was held by Diana Seer [’15] and she broke it by 10 seconds [finishing in 11:24:90], which was really exciting,” Young said. “I was on the team when she did that, and then I broke it by three seconds. It was a 13-second PR for me.”

"You're running a distance race but you're also a hurdler, so you flip between those every quarter of a lap."

Shannon Young '17

Last semester, Young was abroad and was not able to train as much as her coaches might have liked. She was in a hot and humid climate, and spent lots of time doing field research. Luckily, the time off did not affect her ability to excel this

because you get to change your way of thinking about the race all the time,” Young said. “You’re running a distance race but you’re also a hurdler, so you flip between those every quarter of a lap. Mentally, it’s broken up.”

Additionally, the steeplechase requires a balance of various track and field strengths, including endurance, form and distance.

HELENA GRUENSTEIDL

Shannon Young came back from a semester abroad in Cambodia and broke a school record. spring.

“My coaches were worried it would affect my training, but honestly I think it could have been better for me because it made it so I didn’t burn out mentally after I’ve been running for all of college,” she said.

“I also do cross country so I don’t ever get a season off. I think it was good to let my body and my mind recover and be better for the season.”

The steeplechase is a 3,000-meter race with five barriers, including one water jump. It is different from any other track and field event in that

it is longer than other races with barriers such as hurdles, and it involves water, which no other race does.

"[In the steeplechase] you still have to have really good form, and maintain that and get over things and have that strength... if you have a bad race it can tear you apart."

Shannon Young'17 “I think it’s really interesting

"It was a meet with some of the highest competition in the nation. There are a lot of D1 schools that go to this meet and this was the first time we've been against really hard competition Shannon Young'17 “In a race when it gets really hard, you have to find a different way to keep going,” she said. “Because I think in a lot of races when you get tired, it’s sort of okay, and you can zone out and drag your feet and push through, but [in the steeplechase] you still have to have really good form, and maintain that and get over things and have that strength. Sometimes if you have a

good race, it’s really rewarding and fun for that reason, and if you have a bad race it can tear you apart.”

For Young, her mental strength and grit are what sets her apart from other competitors. The steeplechase, in addition to being physically demanding, is mentally demanding as well. This past weekend, the meet took additional mental and physical strength due to poor weather.

“Our pole vaulters didn’t get to vault, and our throwers — it’s really hard to throw a discus in the rain,” Young said.

However, the rain did not stop the Pioneers from giving it their best.

The Kip Janvrin Invitational is an annual track meet at Simpson College. This year, there were over 1,050 student-athletes from 45 different colleges, some of which are Division I schools.

“It was a meet with some of the highest competition in the nation.

There are a lot of DI schools that go to this meet and this was the first time we’ve been against really hard competition,” Young said. “Everyone did really well considering that and a lot of people PR’d, which is really exciting towards conference in two weeks.”

Let's talk about the 2017 NFL Draft

By Jackson Schulte schultej@grinnell.edu The 2017 NFL draft concluded last weekend and only time will tell which draftees will be busts, surprise hall of famers or never make it past training camp. This year’s draft was full of surprises, the most notable being its deviation from traditional draft classes.

The Chicago Bearss are due to find out whether their front office is genius or ridiculous, as they traded away other promising picks to draft Mitch Trubisky, a quarterback with only one year of college experience at the second overall spot. Likewise, the Cleveland Browns added Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer to their roster and Cleveland fans can only pray

"I’m a Cleveland Browns fan. That’s a sad answer, I know… I don’t know how they did in the NFL draft, but I assume they got early picks because they’re a bad team.”

Kate Menner '18

they have finally found a savior.

Holistically, many view this year’s draft as the draft of the future.

The NFL is evolving towards a playing style similar to college football.

Players are getting faster and, in some positions, smaller. For example, the Cincinnati Bengals used the draft to pick up speedy wide receivers and running backs that could revolutionize the way they play offense.

Like most other years, there were picks who got attention, not for what they have done as athletes, but for what they have done off the field. Joe Mixon, a former Oklahoma running back who was caught on tape physically abusing a woman, was picked up by the Cincinnati Bengals. Minnesota Vikings draftee Dalvin Cook has been accused of physical abuse against a wom-

"The Bears are absolute morons. They go out and trade three potential starting picks to move up one spot for a quarterback who only started in 13 college games. They just could not have drafted any worse than they did.

Grant Koch '17

an, animal abuse and vandalism.

Nonetheless, Mixon and Cook will likely sign contracts worth millions of dollars this offseason, while Colin Kaepernick, the official social justice warrior of the NFL, might have a hard time finding work after last year’s national anthem protests.

In a very lighthearted fashion, a few Grinnell students have weighed in on this year’s NFL draft.

"I could talk about the Jets, but I think Leonard Fournette is a beast. The Jaguars are about to have a dank team.””

Donna Fintzi '18 PHOTOS BY JACKSON SCHULTE

Opinions

8

Edited by kielyphi@grinnell.edu

Put on that polyester gown and walk!

It’s May again, and nothing says May like a good graduation.

I’ve always been a sucker for graduations. I love the ritual: the music, the boring speeches, the procession of students walking across the stage to shake the president’s hand, the cheer of friends and relatives, the flight of caps thrown in careless elation and the post-ceremony masses of embraces, tears and selfies.

I can recall my first graduation: kindergarten. I wore a cute white cap and gown that I wanted to keep.

I don’t remember much of the ceremony, though. For sixth-grade graduation I remember hating having to wear knee high socks with my first pair of high heels. Who ever thought that was a good idea?

After what seemed a short time later, I gave the Valedictorian address at my high school graduation, a boring diatribe devoid of inspiration. Our school organized an elegant graduation ball after the ceremony. Students walked individually down a curved staircase wearing

long white ball gowns (I designed mine) or tuxes. Once at the bottom of the stairs, each received a flower from the principal. Like society debutantes, we danced a waltz with our father or mother. So kitsch!

My college graduation was particularly exciting. I was the first one in my family to attend college and the first one from my country to graduate from that college. My parents, my most faithful spectators, beamed with pride as I walked past them to pick up my diploma. My Spanish professor, Disnarda Norniella, threw the mother of all graduation parties for me.

Let’s face it: Ceremony and ritual are empty actions without spectators. Graduations are formal events that have no meaning without the presence of those we care for: our spectators. They are the ones who truly make the ritual a festive occasion. I always had a small troupe of spectators: my parents, my little sister and my tías (aunts) leading the way, closely followed by friends, teachers, host parents and relatives.

These individuals clicked cameras, catered parties, bought gifts and cheered loudly. They arranged outfits, drove guests and made sure that pomp and ceremony flowed smoothly. They made me feel loved, proud and special. They boasted, bragged and called everyone in the phone book to share the triumphs of their favorite graduate.

However, spectators have been with us the entire time not only on graduation day and certainly not only when the sun shone. Our spectators have stuck through the thick and thin. They checked homework, ironed uniforms and woke us up three times each morning. Spectators attended PTA meetings, teacher conferences, dance performances and sports events year after year.

They taught, mentored, advised and screamed every time you said you were going to quit. They picked you up at airports, wrote letters, told you to consider graduate school, drove you to the hospital in the middle of the night, fed you a warm meal when you were homesick and

ing her invitation in the mail and that will make your parents forget the endless nights with the colicky baby that you once were.

And yes. It might be uncomfortable: you might have to deal with the stuffy in-laws, the stepparents, your dad’s ugly girlfriend, nose-picking cousins or grandpa’s story retelling; or the hot hours in a dark robe; or the silliness of it all.

Tough. This is the small price you pay for an education.

So, graduate: Pick up that cheap, polyester cap and gown and wear it with pride. Wear it for everyone that chided and guided you along the way. Wear it for everyone who is watching you or wishes they could be with you on that day.

As for me, I will be seated with the faculty, smiling, overheated in my black velvet cap and gown that I wear like a Chanel.

I will be watching you and enjoying my favorite day as a professor.

– Mirzam Pérez, associate professor of Spanish

gave you a hug to get through the day.

They might be seated in the audience come graduation day or they might not be. You might remember their names or perhaps they have become blurry memories. Yet, they are nevertheless spectators that have helped you fight, watched you fall and given you a hand every step of the long, treacherous way.

Don’t take your ceremony and your spectators for granted. It might be another corny moment of family history, a stupid imposition of academia or a political, colonized ritual of society. Maybe it is. Maybe it will be. But that is NOT important.

Graduate: this is payback time.

This is the important moment. In putting on the robe, you acknowledge every one of the spectators who has helped and ensured, in big or small ways, your achievement of another educational milestone.

This is the one simple gesture that will warm your grandma’s heart to the day she dies, that will light your babysitter’s eyes upon receiv-

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Opinions

Edited by kielyphi@grinnell.edu

9

On free speech and sensitivity “The moment somebody says 'yes I believe in free speech BUT,' I stop listening. You know: ‘I believe in free speech but people should behave themselves.'" "I believe in free speech but we shouldn’t upset anybody." "I believe in free speech but let us not go too far." … The point about it is: the moment you limit free speech, it is not free speech."

– Salman Rushdie reacting to January 7, 2015 terrorist attack on the journalists at Charlie Hebdo, the satirical French newspaper in Paris, France.

I read with considerable sympathy and sadness the Special Campus Memo issued this week. I anticipate that my unsolicited reaction will not please many readers. Nonetheless, I do hope it will provoke thinking about the full implications — that is the conditions of possibility which enable normalizing a discussion

Max Fenton

about “the tension between freedom of expression and inclusivity and how a self-governing community can exercise appropriate sensitivity to both.”

Several years of intense pressure from various student groups to silence disagreeable voices and viewpoints should be viewed as an egregious attack on freedom of speech; it is the opposite of political enlightenment. This is most definitely not a radical politics engaged in the pursuit of justice and equality.

Most of all, while muzzling voices we loath feels good and offers immediate gratification, the after-effect is a backlash that is consistently and inevitably undemocratic. The poisonous drop of a three-letter conjunction, “but”, opens the proverbial floodgate to reactionary politics.

Tomorrow has come and we have not yet seen the worst.

We have entered a twilight zone where relativism has given way to “alternative facts.” Once the sentimental vocabulary of “I feel” overpowered the cold “I think” it was easy to claim that one’s feelings would be assaulted by speakers with whom one disagrees. Gone are the days of debate grounded by disciplined reading and research.

Substitute follow the mindset for follow the money and we wake up to the results of Election Day 2016.

And parenthetically, it is too easy to blame spiteful white women and mean-spirited white men for the outcome while conveniently overlooking the diverse groups shoved under an imaginary Benetton umbrella called “people of color” who cast their ballot for the Republican president. These voters are neither hanging their heads in shame nor shaking them in bewilderment. And

frankly, those who wake up each morning with a sense of gloom should have paid more attention to local elections that were replacing Democrats with Republicans over the past few years: this preview was a warning that a big change was coming. It is a waste of time and energy to defensively counter about the popular vote because this did not determine whose hands are now at the helm.

The stifling impact of policing speech, ubiquitously labeled “political correctness” and the active cultivation of victim mentality which infantilizes individuals has encouraged group-think and discouraged critical thinking. Critical thinking is not dropping multi-syllable words or writing sentences whose linguistic glitter is empty rhetoric. It is not taking over the role of oppressors, or seeking refuge through exclusion,

or falling prey to demagogues. It is not to be found by burning books, turning off microphones and locking doors. And it is definitely not to be found in echo chambers where debate is feared and offensive words hurt more than sticks and stones. By all means, there should be safe spaces to cry, to shout and find comfort.

It is precisely in these spaces that one should also learn to distinguish cuddling from coddling because the latter are tools of the privileged which weaken and paralyze.

Safety is not creating shelters in which to hide from offensive words or ideas. We are not living in times that allow this kind of retreat or compromise. Grinnell College must be a space within which we empower minds and nurture intellectual gladiators.

– Professor K. Gibel Mevorach, Anthropology & American Studies

ly speaking, “fascism” comes from the word “fasces.” The Italian Fascists emulated Roman legal principles and iconography, which they saw as a symbol of strength and peoples’ unity. The fasces remains a potent symbol for fascism, though it admittedly lacks the shock value of the swastika.

Ultimately, the lasting symbolism of a fasces is its unity — where a single stick is snapped with ease, a bundle cannot be broken so easily.

President Trump is considered by many on the left to be the closest thing to an actual fascist the United States has ever elected. Though we have yet to veer into dictatorship, President Trump’s disdain for the proper institutions of government, his personalistic leadership and his prejudice against people of color, women and perceived enemies suggest dark clouds on the horizon. He is essentially fascist-lite — all of the bravado with none of the power to back it up (yet). But with the recent announcement that President Trump is inviting

Rodrigo Duterte, the President of the Philippines, to the White House, it appears that he is seeking international support for his agenda. Since coming to power, Duterte has overseen a massive expansion of Philippine anti-drug policies. As of April 2017, 9,000 people have been killed by government-backed death squads, who have targeted an imaginary menace of drug users. The overwhelming majority of victims are the poor, who face a corrupt administration that has no qualms about planting evidence, hiring vigilantes and fabricating stories to justify their misdeeds.

Duterte is, for lack of a better term, bombastic. He recently declared he would “eat a terrorist’s liver,” and has criticized the Philippine Congress and media for demonizing him. Nevertheless, Trump likes the cut of Duterte’s jib. Trump wished Duterte’s violent anti-drug policies well and described his phone conversation as “very friendly.” Like fascists before him, Trump is assem-

bling an international coalition of fellow travelers — a veritable fasces of misfits and autocrats. Duterte is not the only authoritarian strongman Trump has embraced. His personal warmth towards Vladimir Putin has been noted in American media.

In December, Trump described Putin as “very smart!” while tweeting from Mar-a-Lago. Coupled with unanswered questions about Trump’s ties with Russia, this affection paints a concerning picture for American international commitments as well as our supposed concern for human rights abroad.

Even more bizarrely, President Trump has praised Kim Jong Un, describing him not only as a “smart cookie” but admirable for his ability to take power at such a young age.

This flies in the face of conventional knowledge about the Kim family dictatorship in Korea, which has presided over a particularly opaque and repressive state. Kim was able to take power because he inherited

it, not because he is a master political operator. Not only condoning but publicly embracing the leader of such a vile regime is intensely concerning.

Furthermore, it demonstrates both Trump’s lack of international acuity as well as his authoritarian bonafides.

In condoning international strongmen, Trump has laid the groundwork for a new policy of ignorance and autocracy.

The already-questionable American commitment to international human rights continues to rot under the Trump administration. Whether it is authoritarian strongmen in the Philippines, Russia or North Korea, the Trump administration seems happy to praise excesses in power internationally. With the President all but approving of evils overseas, and attempting to commit evils at home, these are dark times for the liberal consciousness. We must challenge fascists at home and abroad, lest these single branches form an unbreakable bond.

Life During Wartime: authorities on democracy

The Latin word “fasces” describes a bound bundle of sticks with an axe blade protruding from the middle. In ancient Rome, it was used as a symbol of imperial authority, illustrating the particular jurisdiction of a Roman magistrate. It has since been passed down as a symbol of collective authority, and remains a commonly recognized heraldic symbol, to the extent that it is a wall design on the wall of the House of Representatives. But the fasces has a darker lineage as well. In the 1920s and 30s, the fasces became the symbol for Italian fascist parties in their attempt to display the collective power of the “common people” and to harken back to Italy’s ancient peak. Etymological-

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

Lily Bohlke Teresa Fleming Eva Lilienfeld Alice Herman Candace Mettle Zane Silk Jackson Schulte Keli Vitaioli Mira Braneck Philip Kiely Michael Cummings Mayo Sueta Jon Sundby Sarah Ruiz Riley Murphy Kate Irwin Kumail Nanjiani '01

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

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

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Keli Viatoli '19 may start fights in the pubs From one shooting star to another: Mira office on the regular, but she's a true-blue BRAneck '19 is my own personal k-dot, pal till the end. She's a bad a$$ bitch. demanding I stay humble, but honestly for my own good. She is radiant, genuine and knows how to drop it. She's my -Mira Braneck '19 work wife.

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