Vol. CXXXV No. 12

Suspects steal car and other property from CMC Senior Apartments

The Coop Fountain reopens for the spring semester

KAITLYN ULALISA & AMEYA TELI

Pomona College’s Coop Fountain cafe, known around campus as “the Coop,” has reopened for the spring semester following a month-long closure last fall that resulted from campus-wide staffing shortages. While the reopening sparked excitement across campus for community members who frequent the restaurant, it also raised questions about the current state of the college’s staffing shortage. Attention was first brought to last semester’s staffing shortage on Nov. 11, when Jose Martinez, General Manager of Dining Services, explained that the Coop would be closed for the following week in order to “ensure the dining halls [were] sufficiently staffed.”

While the restaurant was set to reopen later that month, it ultimately remained closed for the remainder of the semester. Martinez announced this closure in a Nov. 30 email, attributing it to an “unexpected shortage of staff.” Edward Mac, lead cook at Café

before one suspect broke into and drove off with a

“I felt violated. It was kind of a feeling I don’t really have here at CMC.”

Alex Towers CM ’24

They then stole “several items from parked vehicles”

The email contained five images of the crime that had been obtained through security footage. These images showed suspects entering the parking lot, exiting their car and holding several bags and unidentifiable objects.

While the Senior Apartment parking lot does have a gated

that is only accessible

47, a neighboring campus coffee shop, explained that the staffing shortage described by Martinez began in Pomona’s dining halls. With an increasing number of dining hall employees dropping shifts last semester, staff members at both the restaurant and the cafe were asked to move locations and cover these shifts.

In a previous interview with TSL, Mac suggested that this transition of employees from one location to the next reflected management’s reluctance to post vacant positions on the college’s scheduling system so that they could be filled by workers incurring overtime.

This would violate the contract between the union that represents Pomona dining workers, UNITE HERE! Local 11, and the college. The contract states that, if management is aware of a position that will be vacant at least eight hours in advance, it must be posted on the college’s scheduling system to allow other workers to cover the vacancy.

‘How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom’: Maya Wind and Robin Kelley explore the role of higher education in occupied Palestine

On Tuesday, Feb. 6, Maya

Wind and Robin D.G. Kelley led a discussion titled “Towers of Ivory and Steel: How Israeli Universities Deny Palestinian Freedom.” The event, located at Pitzer College’s Benson Auditorium, centered around what speakers described as the complicity of higher education institutions in Israel’s ongoing occupation of Palestine.

According to event organizer Professor Emeritus of Anthropology and History Daniel Segal at Pitzer, Wind and Kelley were invited to speak at Tuesday’s talk because of their existence as “scholar-activists.”

Wind is the Killiam Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Anthropology at the University of

them

Hosts:

Podcast

Some

Mac claimed there have been no new changes to this violation since last semester. SANDeR

of

culture and, most importantly, answer the question: What does the dorm you live in say about you?

WeNDY ZHANG

‘He will live always in our memory’: Club Claremont honors Ali Mirza CM ’15

KAHANI MALHOTRA

by Claremont McKenna College (CMC)

in May 2013.

“He was a fun-loving kid, no question about that,” Marc Massoud, professor of accounting at CMC and close friend of the Mirza family, said. “Ali loved the campus. He would try to be involved as much as he could.”

Alongside being a psychology major and having a deep interest for all forms of media, Mirza was a popular DJ at parties, served as co-president of the 5C Hip-Hop club, and played for the 5C club volleyball team.

“He was a very intelligent young man who was eager to learn and prosper in our CMC environment,” Massoud said. “Unfortunately, his life was cut short.”

An email to students on Jan. 29 stated that alcohol would not be served at the event and that the consumption of substances would not be permitted within its perimeter. As Mirza passed away due to substance use, his family asked that the college not provide alcohol at the event.

“Club Claremont is in memory of Ali Mirza, so please be respectful of our substance-free event policy,” the email said. “This means no drinking and smoking INSIDE of the event. If you choose to engage in those beforehand, it’s OK — please just leave it at the door.”

When the event was first held in honor of Mirza, his family donated a lump sum to help the ASCMC host it each year. However, the last of the Mirza family’s donations was used last year, so this year’s celebration was funded entirely by ASCMC.

“It is my understanding that the Mirza family made that request to ensure none of their donations went towards substances of any sort,” Victoria Williams CM ’25, vice president of student activities, said in an email to TSL. “Now, even when we ran out of funding from [them], I made the decision to continue to not provide alcohol at this event and respect their original wishes.”

Director of Student Securities

Richard Bershtein CM ’24 described the positive energy Club Claremont has brought to CMC’s campus culture.

“[The event] is for people to show up, dance, have a good time and eat some pizza,” Bernstein said. “It’s the most inclusive college party you’ll ever see.”

Club Claremont intended to be a space for students to participate in party culture without the pressure to engage in substances. A majority of the funding goes to DJ equipment and speakers to mimic a real nightclub experience for 5C students.

“There’s a lot of kids out there who want to party but are afraid of substances,” Bershtein said. “Having a party they know they can go to without feeling any amount of peer pressure to do substances is great.”

Lauren Lambrecht CM ’27 found that this did not affect the party’s fun environment.

“Honestly, it was more fun than I expected it to be,” Lambrecht said. “[The] music was really good and everyone pulled up.”

Club Claremont was an annual event prior to Mirza’s passing but has been dedicated to him in the

years since.

“He loved this event as an attendee and as a DJ, so it only made sense to make the event in his memory,” Williams said. Mirza’s legacy has been commemorated on campus in multiple ways, including a Recreational Court in Roberts Pavilion that features Mirza’s name. In March 2014, the Mirza Summit on Personal and Social Responsibility was held to encourage conversation about student behavior and campus life, particularly the use of drugs and alcohol. Mirza was also awarded an honorary degree at CMC’s 2015 Commencement Ceremony, which was met with a standing ovation.

“With the help of President Chodosh and the trustees, we were able to grant him a degree with his graduating class,” Massoud said.

Club Claremont’s dedication to Mirza through this year’s event continues a tradition of remembrance.

He is survived by his father, Mustafa Mirza CM ’76, CG ’78, CG ’79, his mother, Liz Mirza CG ’79 and his brother, Akbar Mirza CM ’13.

THEFT:

Grand theft auto and burglaries at CMC Senior Apartments

Continued from page 1

to residents through the scanning of their student ID cards, the gate was broken prior to Jan. 25, according to residents.

The suspects took bags, sunglasses, shoes, power cords, a hand-held vacuum cleaner and more from the car of Alex Towers CM ’24, which was parked at the Senior Apartment lot the night of the incident.

Towers, on her way to class Thursday morning, opened her already unlocked car and noticed the missing items. Towers said she immediately knew it had been broken into after seeing the components of her glove compartment strewn throughout the inside of her car. Everything that was in the trunk of the car had been taken. Later, she said she realized that other items had been stolen as well.

“I felt violated,” Towers said. “It was kind of a feeling I don’t really have here at CMC.”

Adrian Bustamante CM ’25 was also a victim of the thefts.

On Monday, Jan. 29, Campus Security notified Bustamante that items had been stolen from his car, as was identified in security footage of a suspect searching his trunk. In addition to his proof of registration and proof of insurance, Bustamante’s clothes, laundry detergent and dryer sheets were stolen.

Bustamante said that Campus Safety spotted the suspect going “from car to car” and “checking anything that was unlocked.”

The day of the theft, Bustamante’s car was having a mechanical issue in which his key couldn’t lock his door. Bustamante decided to leave his car unlocked in the meantime, assuming nothing would get stolen.

“That’s at least the mindset that I have,” he said. “Or, I had.”

The student whose car was stolen declined to interview for this article.

Senior Apartment resident Nathaniel Worley CM ’24 explained that many items placed outside of the apartments were stolen as well. After the notification was emailed, residents in a Senior Apartment group chat started to message about personal items they realized had gone missing. Several students were missing scooters and bikes. Worley lost his water bottle.

Because of its small, tight-knit community, Worley explained that individuals unaffiliated with the Claremont Colleges could be easily identifiable in a residence hall or community setting. However, CMC is not immune to criminal incidents, despite 24/7 security and student-only access to facilities. There were 10 burglaries and 13 motor vehicle thefts in 2022, according to CMC’s most recent Annual Security and Fire Safety Report. In 2021, there were six burglaries and two motor vehicle thefts.

“I think we have a great system here, but there are always going to be things that happen,” Towers said.

The report also provides a list of suggestions that students can take to avoid theft. These include locking doors when spaces are not in use, locking valuables and attending to electronic devices. Worley emphasized the importance of following these suggestions.

“College is partly getting a sense of what the real world is like,” said Worley. “Most places that you live, you shouldn’t just be leaving stuff outside.”

The Claremont Police Department, who was notified about the case by Campus Safety after students made initial reports of the theft, is currently investigating the case.

TALK: Wind and Kelley on Israel universities

Continued from page 1

not extend their work into activism, during this moment of global-local peril and scare,” Segal said in an email to TSL.

Segal’s emphasis on Wind and Kelley’s existence as “scholar-activists” was highly reflective of the event’s focus on the intersection between scholarship and activism. At the talk, the speakers stressed the importance of holding universities accountable.

“What we’re witnessing today is not only a genocide, not only an attempt by Israel to erase the Palestinian people, but also [to erase] centuries of knowledge, culture [and] history central to who they are as a people,” Wind said. “Israel has always understood Palestinian education as a threat to its rule and it has targeted it at every turn.”

Wind explained her own discoveries about the relationship between Israeli and Palestinian education, which she made while visiting Israel and researching for her book.

“Israeli institutions of higher education are deeply implicated in Israeli colonialism and apartheid and must be understood as settler universities,” Wind said. “They are embedded in the infrastructure that sustains Israeli society as a settler society.”

She said that Israeli universities deny Palestinian freedom by suppressing critical research pedagogy, debate and student mobilization, especially following increased government restrictions in the ’80s and ’90s.

“Before the ’80s, in Israeli universities, Palestinian and some Jewish Israeli scholars really began to explore the histories and structures of Israeli state violence,” Wind said, reflecting particularly on events like the Nakba. “Following government control, researchers faced harassment and violence that drove many Palestinian scholars and some of the most critical Jewish Israelis out of these Israeli acad -

emies.” Wind then went on to describe the current state of Palestinian universities, which she says are facing the full force of Israeli state violence. According to her, Palestinian universities in the occupied West Bank have always been governed by the Israeli military and subjected to bureaucratic restrictions that isolate and obstruct them.

“Now, all 11 of the universities in Gaza have been targeted and either partially or entirely destroyed by Israeli bombardment,” Wind said. “Israel has killed over 240 Palestinian faculty members in Gaza — including deans and university presidents — killed over 4,800 students, injured over 8,400 and has left over 90,000 students with no university to attend.”

Kelley also commented on the silencing of Palestinians in academia, citing professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a Palestinian professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, as an example. According to Kelley, Shalhoub-Kevorkian is currently receiving death threats and dismissal because she drafted and signed an open letter calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“The letter described the mass killing, maiming and enforced starvation of children in Gaza as genocide and for this, she received death threats and threats of dismissal coming from the administration,” Kelley said.

“They’re saying that she should be fired because she used the word genocide to talk about killing children; her research is on children — so much for free speech in enlightened Israeli universities.”

Kelley emphasized the responsibility of intellectuals in the face of genocide, which he explained is to speak truth to power and to unwaveringly advocate for principles of justice and critical thought.

“As long as we don’t stand up, we lose the possibility of thought, so we are complicit in the loss of academic freedom,” Kelley said. “We have to stand up for thought, stand up for thinking and stand up for justice. And that’s it.”

Following a rise in COVID-19 cases, Pomona College updates policies

BEATRIX KARAMBIS

In an email sent to the Pomona College community on Monday, Jan. 26, Dean Avis Hinkson announced multiple updates to the college’s COVID-19 policy in accordance with new guidelines issued by Los Angeles County Department of Public Health.

The guidelines reflect updates to the recommended isolation period for asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals.

Although students are still required to test if symptomatic and to isolate if that test is positive, they are now able to leave isolation on day two if they do not have a fever and have not used any fever-reducing medication for 24 hours.

Students who are asymptomatic are not required to be isolated, although all students are required to wear a mask in public for 10 days following a positive test.

The email also notified students that rapid test kits are available at Student Health Services (SHS) during regular business hours and at any time of day from the Campus Safety Office. However, PCR tests are no longer available from campus vending machines.

The implementation of these new policies on campus followed a recent increase in COVID-19 cases nationwide and in LA County.

According to Patricia Vest, Pomona’s senior director of communications, the college drafted these new guidelines after SHS briefed student deans about the new LA County Public Health Department guidelines.

“For years, Pomona’s approach has been to align with county public health guidance,” Vest said in an email to TSL. “In this case, Pomona’s senior leadership discussed the matter and determined that aligning with the county and state was an appropriate path.”

Although no other college received an email about an updated policy, SHS explained that the Claremont

LUCIA MARQUEZ-UPPMAN • THE STUDENT LIFE

Colleges work very closely with each other when responding to COVID-19 issues and that there are usually only minor differences between their policies.

SHS further explained that these differences are largely a result of the varying needs and goals of each college.

“There are slight variations in implementation efforts across the consortium, mainly attributed to each campus’s unique culture and the home institution’s desire to best respond to the needs of its campus community,” SHS wrote in a statement sent to TSL.

SHS also said that campus policies almost always align with LA County’s guidelines, adding that there are sometimes exceptions based on the needs of the campus community. SHS suggested that, more often than not, COVID-19 policies at the 5Cs are stricter than they are off-campus.

“The campuses may exceed standards in some cases but remain in compliance with the provided guidance,” they said.

Stella Fang PO ’26, who has had COVID-19 twice while

attending Pomona, stated that Pomona’s attempts to follow LA County Public Health’s Guidelines are thoughtful but do not make much sense in terms of public safety. She also expressed that, in her experience, SHS has been inflexible and inconsistent with COVID-19 treatment.

“By the time I had been at Pomona, I had already had COVID[-19] for multiple days,” she said. “They were basing [the isolation] off of the day that I tested positive and that gestational period even though that gestational period was shorter for me because I had already had it.”

In her opinion, the most important thing for the college to do at this point is to have accessible tests. Without them, she believes the updates in Pomona’s COVID-19 guidelines will only lead to an uptick in cases.

“I think getting rid of their testing vending machines makes it really inconvenient for students to test,” she said. “It disincentivizes students from testing — now, the only site is at the campus security center, which is completely off-campus.”

How do you have difficult conversations? Salam Al-

Marayati and Daniel Sokatch speak to 5C Students

CAIDEN SEARCY

On Feb. 5 Pitzer College’s Presidential Initiative on Constructive Dialogue hosted two speakers for the event “How do we talk about Israel and Palestine?” The speakers, Salam Al-Marayati, president and co-founder of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and Daniel Sokatch, CEO of the New Israel Fund led their discussion on Zoom, due to weather conditions moving the meeting from its original in-person location, the Benson Auditorium.

The initiative was created last December by Pitzer President Strom C. Thacker with the goal of encouraging productive conversations regarding controversial topics among students and faculty at the 5Cs.

“We as a society and a college need to be able to engage each other in constructive dialogues,” Thacker said, opening the talk.

“Especially when we disagree.”

Throughout the talk, both Al-Marayati and Sokatch advocated for nonviolence. Al-Marayati argued that war does not pave a viable path towards peace.

”We should be against war as the way to resolve issues in the Middle East,” Al-Marayati said. “There is no military solution.”

Sokatch and Al-Marayati have worked together on encouraging discourse between those who disagree. Sokatch highlighted the nuance that comes with the wide array of perspectives present within both communities, whom he noted have both been historically oppressed groups.

“Part of what Salam [Al-Marayati] and I have tried to do over the almost quarter century that we’ve worked on these issues together is to … develop the ability to listen,” Sokatch said. “These are two peoples who have been victims of the world, victims of each other and victims of themselves; they are both righteous so far as those claims are legitimate.”

He continued on to the topic of having difficult conversations amongst parties that disagree, emphasizing the importance of this dialogue in times of instability.

“When it is hardest, when fears are strongest, these are the times when you have to do the uncomfortable thing,” Sokatch said. “You have to continue to build bridges.”

COOP: Pomona café reopens

Continued from page 1

“They haven’t changed anything,” he said. “When people have to be out for anything, they’re still not posting their leave for people to cover their shifts.”

Still, the reopening of the Coop comes as a great relief for many people on campus, including one student employee who requested anonymity in order to maintain job security. After the restaurant’s closure last semester, the student began their employment at Café 47, where they ended up working far more hours than they were used to at the Coop.

“There was one Friday that I worked eight hours,” they said, comparing this to the two or three hours that they used to work. “It wasn’t ideal.”

Now, with the Coop back in business, the student has been able to return to their usual work hours.

According to Martinez, the restaurant’s reopening is a direct result of an improvement in staffing levels. In an email to TSL, he explained that these levels are now “aligned with [the Coop’s] business needs” and that, as long as staffing levels remain favorable, the Coop will remain open for the remainder of the spring semester.

The reopening has garnered positive responses among students.

“As someone who enjoys studying in busy places, I missed having that space on campus,” Wynn Sharp PO ’26 said in a correspondence with TSL. “It has always been a great source of community for me and my friends.”

Wynn centered her response around the workers of the restaurant, expressing her hope for their proper treatment and fair pay.

“We hope that workers on campus are being treated properly and paid fairly for their work,” she said. “Student solidarity with workers is always the most important consideration. We’re incredibly grateful for all the work the workers at the Coop do and love the environment they have created.”

During the talk, Al-Marayati and Sokatch both emphatically called for a ceasefire and highlighted key points they agree on.

“I would very proudly stand alongside [Al-Marayat] in calling for a ceasefire, a return of the hostages and critically, a return to a search for a diplomatic political resolution to the conflict that recognizes both peoples rights to self-determination,” Sokatch said.

Permeating much of the talk was the theme of nonviolent resistance. Both speakers referenced Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., referencing that despite being nonviolent, he was a profoundly impactful figure and threatened the status quo. However, Al-Marayati laid out his terms for peace.

“When we talk about nonviolent resistance, it is not just saying ‘let’s have peace,’” Al-Marayati said. “Of course we want peace, peace is the outcome. But peace is not to be under enslavement.”

Bella Jacobs PZ ’24 said she appreciated the speakers’ shared sentiments surrounding nonviolence.

“It was powerful that they both said they were in support of nonviolent resistance,” Jacobs said. “And it was really powerful that Salam Al-Marayati publicly endorsed suspending Pitzer Haifa as an important part of nonviolent resistance.

Jacobs made reference to Pitzer’s study abroad program with the University of Haifa in Israel and the ongoing campaign

pushing for its suspension. The Pitzer Student Senate will vote on a resolution in support of its suspension on Sunday.

In relation to nonviolent resistance, Al-Marayati expressed support for the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement and said he believes the program to be a way to achieve peace through nonviolent opposition.

While Sokatch emphasized that he does not support the BDS movement, citing a lack of clarity surrounding its end goals, he also stated his belief in people’s freedom to support it.

“I, to-date, have not agreed with it in total because of some of the ambiguities around what it says it stands for,” he said. “But I, as well as the [CEO of

the] Israel Fund, am a firm defender of people’s right to support the BDS movement.”

Willa Umansky PZ ’27 expressed that she had hoped the talk had focused more on practical advice on how to talk to people with different views from one’s own. “That would be more useful for college students to build their tool belt,” she said.

Despite the speakers disagreeing on multiple topics, two things were clear: Both presenters had tremendous respect for the other and each sought justice and truth through difficult situations.

“It is very hard to reach out your hand to the other,” Sokatch said. “But what you find is that you become more human in doing it.”

Two years in: Ukrainian students share personal accounts from the Russia-Ukraine war

ELLIE URFRIG

On Thursday, Feb. 1, Ukrainian students at the Claremont Colleges invited members of the community to gather in Scripps College’s Hampton Room to discuss and mourn the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. With Feb. 24 marking two years since Russia began their full-scale invasion, the student panel served as a way to commemorate Ukrainian resilience and highlight student voices. Since the start of the war, approximately 10 million people have been displaced, including Sofi Zaozerska HM ’27 and her

family. On Thursday, surrounded by peers, Zaozerska shared her story.

Zaozerska is from Kharkiv, Ukraine, an industrial city located 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the Russian border. It was here that she recalled being awoken by her mother’s frightened voice nearly two years ago. “I didn’t feel safe at all,” she said. “All of a sudden, I was using Google Maps to find out where to hide from bombs.”

Immediately following the invasion, her family fled the area and drove west. For over a week, they lived in a parking garage, which provided the family with shelter

and security when neither were easily found.

Even in that dark time, Zaozerska explained that she was able to find the light. “When I looked out of the garage, I could see blue sky during the day and stars at night,” she said. “I couldn’t help but remember how beautiful [Ukraine] is.”

Attendee Avery Smith HM ’26 later commented on the effect that Zaozerska’s story had on him.

“Sofi’s story about what she did right after the start of the invasion was touching, not only because it was scary, but because she chose to focus on the joy she found,” Smith said in an email to TSL.

In addition to discussing Zaozerska’s story, some of the Ukrainian students at Thursday’s panel highlighted the overwhelming support they’ve received from people in Claremont. They also mentioned that, despite this support, it is challenging to live thousands of miles away from the country they call home.

Hlib Olhovskyi PO ’27 noted the “survivor’s guilt” he carries with him.

“Why am I here, living my best life and not on the front lines — fighting, learning CPR, doing that kind of stuff,” Olhovsky said. “I have to remember I am here exactly because I am supposed to be here.”

Ivan Dudiak HM ’26, the event organizer, emphasized Olhovskyi’s latter point, pointing out that — by creating awareness — the Ukrainian students at the panel were supporting their country even though they weren’t on the front lines.

“There is nothing better than serving your community and country in any way you can,” Dudiak said.

The group intends to continue spreading awareness by holding monthly panels like this one, highlighting a different student’s story each time. Before the next one, there will also be a vigil on Feb. 24 to commemorate the two year mark of Russia’s invasion. Additionally, Pomona College’s Oldenborg Dining Hall will be implementing a Ukrainian table later this month.

Thursday’s event ended on a positive note. At the end of her presentation, Zaozerska acknowledged how easy it would be for her to agonize over the hardships she has faced; instead, she explained that she chooses joy.

“If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that every day is a good day,” she said.

eLLIe uRFRIG • THe STuDeNT LIFe

students at the Claremont Colleges hosted a panel to discuss and mourn the ongoing conflict in

Arts & Culture

Paris Fashion Week Men’s – Belated analysis

As we return for another semester, it feels only right to start my column back up by documenting the most important week in fashion: Paris Fashion Week (PFW). Every January, 60+ designers show their collections in locations strewn across the city for celebrities, clientele and buyers/stylists from around the globe.

I’ve been following PFW menswear for around six years now and it continues to amaze me how increasingly mainstream these shows become each year. Runway photos used to only be accessible through websites like Vogue, but now they’re plastered all over news outlets’ social media pages like advertisements. As prices swap exorbitance for outright ridiculousness, the general public becomes, ironically, more enamored with the spirit of consumerism that fuels PFW.

Since we’re on the topic of consumerism and unaffordable things, Louis Vuitton feels like a great place to start. In his second season since taking over the position of creative director from the late Virgil Abloh, Pharrell Williams sought to establish his vision for the brand by … choosing a theme that had absolutely nothing to do with its history or prior collections. This collection combines westernwear, workwear and suiting with loud bags and graphics from Pharrell’s previous show.

While I can’t knock the inspiration, which looks to subvert the typical perception of a “cowboy” by using Native American materials, colors and music, Louis Vuitton is not the brand to tell this story. Not

only are they a French leather maker that started in the 1800s, but their current brand identity feels more catered to Instagram accounts like @leaguefits that document NBA players’ looks than anyone with an appreciation for fashion. All this collection does is continue to capitalize on the same clientele that will purchase $1,000,000 handbags without a thought by unveiling collaborations with streetwear brands like Timberland in a futile attempt to be just as different as Abloh.

There are some good looks in the collection, but the contrasting themes and continued usage of monogram bags and childish digi-camo print were the final nails in the coffin for this collection, making it clear that Pharrell has a long way to go before establishing any concrete brand identity.

On a more positive note, Olivier Rousteing’s Balmain collection was pleasantly surprising. Ever since their infamous biker jeans fell out of fashion some 10 years ago, Balmain felt kind of tacky, like something that would plague the shelves of Saks Off 5th or Nordstrom Rack. This collection, however, reestablishes their status as a top fashion house.

Spearheaded by a long coat bedazzled with Swarovski crystals that give the appearance of a woman’s face, the collection displays equal variety to that of Louis Vuitton in a much more tasteful way. Elements of Anthony Vaccarello’s Saint Laurent as well as Abloh’s Louis Vuitton are both present, with elegant monochromatic looks complementing vibrant pieces created in collaboration with Gha-

naian artist Prince Gyasi. And they all fall under the umbrella of the theme — sapeurs, traditionally francophone Africans who mix traditional French tailoring with bold African color schemes.

After picking through these two shows, it became clear that no other show deviated enough from the brand’s identity (or lack thereof) to warrant a deep analysis. In fact, most other major brands’ shows can be summarized in a sentence or two.

Givenchy struggled to decide which direction to go in after parting ways with Matthew Williams, resulting in a collection with too much breadth and not enough substance to make an impact.

Prada continued to explore suiting with minor twists in an

interesting way, but their runways contrasted heavily with a logo-adorned ready-to-wear collection ubiquitous among luxe consumers.

Dior styled their models in an intriguingly androgynous way, with deep-cut shirts, sheer tops and a slicked-back hair and headband combo that gave the impression of an imminent facial, but the clothing didn’t add anything except for the notion that Kim Jones threw his previous collections in a blender with Kiko Kostadinov and gave it the all clear. Loewe featured innovative cuts and materials, but Jonathan Anderson went a little over the edge in toeing the line of surrealism both in full looks and individual pieces. Rick Owens was similarly over-

Franco-Iranian-American cultural fusion

In my first-year U.S. history class, we were disseminating how technology has completely upended traditional ties to culture and family.

“This is the first time in human history where you,” the professor paused for dramatic effect, looking into each of our eyes, “have more in common with your cousin who grew up in Germany than your own parents.”

At first you might think, “Well duh!” But it didn’t always used to be like this. In Jane Austen times, you would pine for eternity before receiving a letter from a lover. Traveling to Europe was a year-long endeavor for many Americans, with a months-long voyage at sea both to and fro. Needless to say, before telegraphs and cellphones, the people we would see most often were our family members.

The concept of study abroad would sound absolutely bonkers to a person in the 1800s. But alas, Facebook is here and I’m in France.

The decision to study abroad in Paris was partly due to my immediate family — I have two great uncles and a great aunt on my mother’s side living in the city. Being an Iranian-American and a part of the worldwide Iranian diaspora, I have family in the United States, Canada, France, England, Denmark and Turkey. When I was growing up in Iran, I attended a trilingual school teaching English, French and Farsi side by side. As the Middle East grows ever more unstable and Iran becomes increasingly uninhabitable, an Iranian identity becomes a manifold existence.

When my family immigrated to the United States, I started to look for the things we and Americans had in common in order to bridge the vast ocean of difference between myself and the inhabitants of an alien world — be it through a mutual love of the English language or more personal similarities. It was a response to the traumatic shift of immigration.

The general principle of studying

abroad is to strand yourself in a foreign environment. Choosing to intentionally put myself in a position where I had to assimilate into a different country (AGAIN) seemed a bit masochistic. But I have family here and in the age of the Internet, truly how different can being Iranian in France as opposed to America be?

Walking down the streets of Paris, you come across the many stereotypes we’ve conjured up for the French. Parisians wearing allblack outfits with their long trench coats billowing behind them, cigarettes clutched between index and middle finger. You see baguettes in tote bags and purses and Parisians sitting at cafes with their chairs facing the street to people-watch.

Living with a host family, I witness the everyday minutiae of a French household. The host parents keep much to themselves in their colorful, Dr. Seussian apartment. The host father sits in his office on his computer and the host mother goes off to work in the day and shuffles around the apartment at night. We have dinners three days a week, during which we have conversations about music, politics and history over big helpings of French bread and cheese.

But in many ways they aren’t so different from Americans, much as they pretend to be — Parisians avoid eye contact on the street the same way Americans do and the individualistic, capitalistic way of life isn’t really that different from the United States You’re just substituting a baguette for a bagel.

Observing my Iranian-French family, I realize the biggest cultural difference continues to be Iranians living in the diaspora. My aunt and uncles speak Farsi in their homes, keeping the language alive. They serve the same plethora of stews over rice that my mother does back in California. Still, they have made room for certain French customs in their day-to-day lives: They enjoy French gateaux and other pas -

tries along with Iranian cuisine and their Farsi is sporadically interrupted by French words or phrases.

However, the warmth and same sense of community persists in my family — my aunts and uncles routinely call one another every day, making plans for get-togethers over the weekends. My cousin’s baby is equally raised by her grandparents as she is by her mother and father, the same way I was brought up in Iran.

They always take extreme care with me: “Tania Joon, please help yourself to more rice and don’t you dare say no!” “Tania Joon, please let me drive you home, I can’t bear the thought of having you walk home on my watch!”

We are still incredibly interdependent and emotionally anxious about one another’s thoughts and feelings in a way I’ve seldom experienced living in America.

The question becomes more complicated — it’s not just about finding what we have in common. How thoroughly can two cultures mesh? Is it possible for phantasmagoric opposites to coexist?

In a conversation with my aunt, I asked her these questions. I told her how my strategy for assimilating is to find commonalities between the different cultures and that I always strive to connect with people who I have the most in common with. But she counteracted this idea.

“It isn’t about finding people who are exactly like you in every respect,” she said. “Sometimes extreme differences are good for us because they make us see life in a different light.”

Herein lies the solution to a manifold existence: to embrace the extreme cultural and individual differences and open your mind to the beauty of a multiplicitous world.

the-top for me; though I am a huge fan of his work, the inflatable boots featured on most looks this season pushed the exaggerated silhouettes he has developed so well in his recent collections into the realm of complete impracticality.

At this point, it might sound like I hated everything, so I do want to point out a few collections that caught my eye.

Hed Mayner was particularly enjoyable to sift through as the comically oversized silhouettes featured throughout the show poked fun at the current obsession with all things large and wide-legged. Lemaire’s commitment to silhouette and layering spoke for itself as the brand continues its rise in popular culture with its latest collection that traversed the color spectrum. Doublet’s ever-abstract show straight out of a horror film featured some surprisingly styleable looks and a great variety of materials.

I want to close my analysis out by making a request to a particular multihyphenate who has both shown at PFW and released music recently. Nope, Pharrell is not the man on my mind. Kid Cudi, I would like to formally request that you never make a commercial clothing collection again. Please, just save yourself the money, time and effort. I’m begging you.

I’m going to spare the readers the details, but all of these runways are available on WWD and Vogue for viewing. They may not be the most practical or attainable pieces to look at, but sometimes the joyful pleasure of critiquing a $10,000 coat while wearing a $5 T-shirt is more than enough.

‘The Texture of Joy’: Tish Harrison Warren on why joy is a choice

In the fast-paced nature of contemporary life, joy is often perceived as a goal to be achieved.

On Feb. 1, Tish Harrison Warren asked the audience at Pomona College’s Rose Hills Theater to rethink this mindset at her talk “The Texture of Joy.” Warren, an Anglican priest, author and New York Times contributor, reflected on the complex process of defining and cultivating true joy and contentment. The event marked the fourth installment in the 2023-2024 Joy Speaker Series, organized by the Pomona College Humanities Studio. Kevin Dettmar, director of the Humanities Studio, was inspired to invite Warren after reading her column in the New York Times. “[I thought] that she’d bring a thoughtful and different perspective to the year-long conversation we’re trying to curate,” Dettmar said. “The ideal would be that the talk would reach both the heads and the hearts of audience members. That we’d be given some tools to think differently about joy, sure; but also that we’d feel joy, both in what Tish brings to us, but also in the sense of a community coming together.”

In her talk, Warren discussed her journey in trying to define joy for her book “Prayer in the Night”. While talking to pastors and priests about this idea, she found that they often established the experience of joy in contrast to other feelings, an approach which she found inadequate. “Joy is not mere happiness,” Warren said. “The test of joy is if it [is] still there when you know everything else [has] kind of [gone] terrible … I just found that unsatisfying on a deep level. I’ve come to think of joy as a kind of deep connection or even communion to God and others, to community.” She also emphasized the value of embodied experiences to truly understand what it means to be in a state of joy.

“People need a lot — far more than we realize — of the body, [like] the experiences of encounters with goodness … This is a friend’s smile; this is the sound of rain; this is the smell of incense.

We need this kind of materiality to know joy,” Warren said. “The digital revolution has tried to convince us that we can easily toggle between the material and immaterial. Every minute I spend interacting digitally is a minute where I am not holistically embodied in time [and] place.”

Warren clarified that perseverance and bravery are required to be joyous and she recognized the value of connecting gratitude and joy.

“It often takes a lot of courage to try to experience joy,” Warren said. “To choose joy is to see all of existence as a gift. Gratitude gives birth to joy because gratitude teaches us to receive life itself and the moment we’re in as gifts, regardless of what lies ahead.”

Warren argued that the culture of late capitalist consumerism shuns contentment because it doesn’t promote sales. She asked the audience to reject the excuses that capitalism provides.In the quest for grounded joy, Warren reminded us to integrate the mentality of an “arduous good” into our daily lives.

“Arduous good is a good that is worth fighting for,” Warren said. “A good that inspires fear and hope and endurance in the face of adversity … For example, marriage is as arduous [of a] good as committed friendship and parenting. The best things in life can be difficult, but it’s [the] very place where joy is most often found.”

Attendee Ethan Fong PO ’25 was inspired by Warren’s talk to approach joy from a new perspective. The talk was a reminder that genuine joy is a deliberate choice that is worth fighting for.

“As college students, we’re trying to figure out what our identity rests on and it was very clear for [Warren] that she is connected to a deep source of joy that is powerful and very real for her,” Fong said. “I hope I can find that, but it requires a level of introspection that a lot of people aren’t ready for and it requires sacrifice.”

Pomona Professor of Mathematics Ami Radunskaya was particularly fascinated by the connection between joy and gratitude.

“I have this idea that gratitude makes you feel good and you say to someone else, ‘I’m so grateful’ and that makes them feel good,” Radunskaya said. “Before, I had this idea of a treadmill and now, I’m thinking it’s a feedback loop.”

GUS GINGRICH

VANESSSA HO • THE STuDENT LIFE

ANANYA VINAY

AMErICAN IN PArIS

TANIA AZHANG

MAX rANNEy • THE STuDENT LIFE

Tish

Celebrating Black culture: Pitzer’s Bsu hosts second Black Flea Market

ADRIANA MACIEL

Racks of colorful clothing, glistening waist beads, perfumes and handmade gold jewelry lined the mounds at Pitzer College on Friday, Feb. 2, creating a vibrant scene for excited shoppers. The aroma of homemade cookies, cupcakes and catfish filled the air. The Pitzer Black Student Union (BSU) Black Flea Market was back for part two.

Following the success of their inaugural Black Flea Market in October, Pitzer’s BSU decided to host the event once again this winter, celebrating the diverse culture of the Black community in Claremont. Attendees supported local Black-owned businesses and student vendors, ate delicious soul food and danced to music.

The event’s lead organizer, Hannah Chimpampwe PZ ’26, was inspired to create the event during the summer after visiting a Black flea market in Los Angeles.

“I wanted to make an impact for the Black community at the 5Cs and build that community through a healing and meaningful event,” Chimpampwe said.

The principal aim of the event was to support Black business owners, including Black 5C students and thus support the community that these owners help cultivate.

“Small Black-owned vendors are the backbone of our communities,” Chimpampwe said. “Growing up in LA, it was always the small business owners that established community spaces … it is these vendors that help cultivate these types of events and bring people together, which is why we as a community need to support them the same way they support the community.”

Organizer Bee Joyner PZ ’25 stated that there was a greater collaborative effort in the preparation for this event compared to last semester’s inaugural flea. Pitzer BSU established a committee where specific members were in charge of coordinating logistics, including managing vendor invoices, arranging DJs and setting up the venue.

“[This semester] we have more vendors and we have two special guest performers: YFR Eazy and Asha Imuno,” Chimpampwe said. “We have many of our vendors re-

turning from [last semester’s] Flea Market and most importantly the same community.”

Despite concerns about the weather due to rain in the days leading up to the event and the projection of a historic rainfall on the weekend to follow, the sky was kind to the Black Flea Market and all patrons stayed dry.

The Flea provided a much-needed space for the Black community to feel represented and celebrated.

“It is important for us to have a space like this on campus because in a [predominantly white institution], every space is meant for white people to shine and thrive,” Joyner said. “We don’t pay attention to the people of color on campus a lot of the time.”

William Marshall PZ ’25, a returning vendor who was selling clothing at the event, saw this event as an opportunity for students and community members to generate income for mutual aid and other causes by selling their designs, clothing and handmade art.

“I think [the Flea] is a great opportunity which lets students here make a tangible difference through mutual aid and through supporting people who most need that help, as well as just sharing the culture,” Marshall said. “Any working educational and cultural institution should work to implement [all that good stuff] in our daily lives.”

Chimpampwe agreed with these statements, stating that she wanted her idea to flourish in order to celebrate the beauty of the Black community — specifically, the student community.

“Throughout my freshman year, I noticed many Black students had talents like singing, clothing brands, dancing and entrepreneurship and I wanted to make an event that allows Black students to show off their talents and interests,” Chimpampwe said. “Every person who has talent should be given the opportunity to express themselves and I wanted the Flea Market to be the space for all Black students to do that.”

‘Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982’ historicizes the forgotten women of the 2010s

Kim Jiyoung, the titular character of Cho Nam-ju’s novel, “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982,” is an ordinary woman who extraordinarily embodies every woman: a daughter, sister, businesswoman, wife and mother. Her story brutally captures the inescapable gender inequities of women across the world through a Korean lens.

“Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” was published in Korean in 2016 and in English in 2021. Cho wrote the novel in just three months. The translation was compiled by Jamie Chang.

The novel begins with a detached narration that briefly describes Kim Jiyoung’s current situation: a stay-at-home mom with a husband working at a small tech company. The familiar scene becomes odd when her husband mentions Jiyoung’s “abnormal behavior.” Like a one-woman show, Jiyoung’s actions consist of her imitating other women in her life, embodying them to the point where the reader cannot tell fiction from reality: Who is Jiyoung? Does she actually believe she is all these women?

Cho answers these questions by inviting the reader to immerse themselves in Jiyoung’s life, starting at the very beginning: her childhood.

The first few chapters of the novel, which describe Jiyoung’s youth, encapsulate the inescapability of girlhood. At home, Jiyoung is called greedy by her grandmother for eating more than her younger brother; at school, she has to wear dress shoes because girls shouldn’t play like boys during recess.

When Jiyoung graduates from college and enters the workforce, she is confronted with the shattering reality of discrimination. Her applications are rejected for reasons ranging from the “possibility” of future maternity leave

to having an innately sensitive personality. “What do you want from us,” Jiyoung says, summarizing the experience of seeking employment as a woman in her circumstance.

“The dumb girls are too dumb, the smart girls are too smart and the average girls are too unexceptional.”

Although “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” takes place in Korea, Jiyoung’s experience in the workplace mirrors many American offices. Recurring footnotes throughout the book citing the statistics about women in the workforce that inspired Cho’s writing actualize the recurring glass ceiling motif. I know, I’ve just recited a plethora of devastating moments — but there are scenes of beauty in the book, too. “The job did not pay well or make a big splash in society, nor did it make something one could see or touch, but it had brought her joy,” Cho writes, aptly portraying the independence Jiyoung’s job provides. “It afforded her a sense of accomplishment when she completed tasks and climbed the ladder and gave her a sense of reward knowing she was managing her own life with the money she earned.” This bliss doesn’t last. As in most patriarchal societies, Jiyoung is expected to leave the workforce and become a mother shortly after she marries. “Jiyoung said they weren’t planning on having children yet, but the elders were convinced, regardless of Jiyoung’s input, that she couldn’t get pregnant and proceeded to investigate,” Cho writes of the immense pressure to have children. “She’s too old … She’s too skinny … Her hands are cold … She must have bad circulation … The zit on her chin is a sign of an unhealthy uterus … They concluded the problem was her.”

Thus, Jiyoung becomes a mother and the next chapter of her life — and the book — begins. One of the most heartbreaking moments of the novel is when Ji-

young wishes to return to work but cannot because of her expectation to stay home and care for her newborn. When an exhausted Jiyoung goes for a walk to the park with her daughter in a stroller and buys a coffee, she is called a “mum-roach” by local businessmen.

The offensive term merges mom and cockroach, distorting the realities of motherhood. The men view her as a lazy mom with a husband exhausting himself to support his family. In reality, Jiyoung is the polar opposite: a mom cooking family meals, cleaning the house and expressing endless love for her newborn.

Now, what I am about to say is a bit of a spoiler … so skip this paragraph if you would like to read the book for yourself.

Cho concludes by revealing that the book’s opening was a psychologist’s case report on Jiyoung. The final chapter returns to these notes; the novel ends where the story began. In the eyes of Jiyoung’s husband and male psychologist, she has simply lost her mind.

However, I propose an alternate interpretation: What if the many roles Jiyoung cycled through (daughter, sister, businesswoman, wife and mother) are simply who she has become? What if, by living an ordinary life, Jiyoung truly is every woman?

I would be remiss to not mention the implications this novel had for Korean society. The all-too-familiar yet devastating nature of the story led to international acclaim and success.

“Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” aided in sparking #MeToo and Escape the Corset movements (the latter of which is dedicated to rejecting unattainable Korean female beauty standards).

Ultimately, Cho’s ordinary woman is an ode to female rage. Her success in capturing the challenges of the modern-day woman with searing accuracy make “Kim Jiyoung, Born 1982” a must-read.

Caroline Kelly (PO ‘27) is from Boston, Massachusetts. Her ideal afternoon involves reading and cold brew.

Nicole Duennebier and painting decay

Dark portal-like shapes contrast starkly against the white walls they occupy while shining objects and creatures jump out of black or near-black backgrounds. These are the still life paintings of Nicole Duennebier.

“Nicole Duennebier: Faint of Heart” opened at the Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles on January 13, highlighting Duennebier’s paintings. The artist, whose work can be found in the permanent collection of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston and New Britain Museum of American Art.

Still lifes represent inanimate objects — usually a combination of the natural and man-made. See Willem Claesz Heda’s 1634 “Still Life with Fruit Pie and Various Objects,” a well-known example. Each object is stationary but seems captured in the moment right before or after movement. A gilt cup toppled, prone to roll off the table if we look away; a meat pie half-eaten and spoiling; a lemon half-peeled, its skin curling off the platter; a used knife, the shells of nuts, a broken glass. The whole ensemble, shining metal and glass built with bits of white paint, threatens to fade away into translucence. There is a tension between all these inanimate objects that imagines movement into decay. Inherent in the still life, but brought to the surface in Duennebier’s paintings, is the effort to preserve an impermanent scene. The paintings choose and hold one moment — one frame but also one point in time — to the light and to our eye. They remember in paint

the curl of a lemon peel in midair; a half-eaten pomegranate with every seed red; a lily just-bloomed. A piece of silver perpetually polished, a glass perpetually covered in condensation. The effort a still life makes to preserve is bittersweet, as it also reminds of the scene’s deterioration. And so, maybe naturally, these still life paintings — when taken as representations of reality, but not reality — elicit in me a little bit of longing. It’s almost nostalgia. Nostalgia for, if anything, the short life of one lemon which

existed 400 years ago. In Duennebier’s still lifes, this longing, this consciousness that the still life’s objects are decaying by the time the painting has made its way to us and have transitioned from objects to images, is more obvious.

Like the still life paintings of Dutch Old Masters, Duennebier’s paintings not only preserve, but also sugar and gloss their object. Flower petals look candied and fish scales glow. But the gilded beauty extends to objects of decay. Worms form a woven floor in “Still Life

with Benthic Species and Fish”; spiderwebs coat everything like a glossy embroidery; tent worms cluster in a beautiful and shivering blue mass in “Tent Worm Bouquet”; ribbons of something that might be hair or guts or seaweed pattern themselves into wreaths. The fish do not swim freely, but neither do they arrive on platters. Their limp bodies — frozen, if not dead — weave around each other in piles, amassing into shining bouquets of scales and perpetually widened eyes. “Bête noir (1)” and “Bête noir (3),” rendered mostly in

brown, are composed of reminders of decay: mushrooms, moths, wizened trees and wilting leaves.

If in Dutch still life the lemon peel, fruit ripe and yellow, is about to fall, then in Duennebier’s still lifes the peel has fallen or is falling. The fruit has already begun to brown. We are shown the passage of time at face value — not hinted at with the half-eaten or half-broken, but displayed openly, worm and rot cohabitating with sugared flowers.

Duennebier’s still lifes are comforting to me and maybe that is why. There is no hidden warning of mortality and no pretending at realism, at painting as pure representation of life. As the exhibition’s press release notes, these are dreamscapes, almost alien.

“Gradually it became evident that an image could outlast what it represented; it then showed how something or somebody had once looked,” John Berger wrote in “Ways of Seeing” (1972) — the book from which this column takes its name. In Duennebier’s still life paintings, we are made aware by decay that we have outlasted the objects represented.

And if a painting, as a made image, is a looking glass, then Duennebier shows us the looking glass. Many of her still lifes are either made on arch-shaped panels or contain arches as shapes within the painting that hold another image. In others, organic forms open holes into other scenes. These entrances “invite viewers through the looking glass.” We are made conscious of our position as onlookers and so of these paintings as fragments of time frozen in place for us.

ANNIKA WHITE • THE STuDENT LIFE

COurTESy: NICOLE DuENNEbIEr

LuCIA MArQuEZ-uPPMAN • THE STuDENT LIFE

NADIA HSU

CAROLINE KELLY

THE LIbrAry OF TrANSLATIONS

Columnist Nadia Hsu PO ’27 reviews Nicole Duennebier’s exhibit at the Nicodim Gallery in Los Angeles.

WAyS OF SEEING

Pitzer College hosted the second Pitzer Black Flea Market at the mounds on Feb.2.

Claremont

PARISHI KANUGA

Met first with the nostalgic aroma of freshly fried donuts and the sound of pulling espresso machines, patrons of Nosy Neighbors Coffee & Donuts, known colloquially as Nosy Neighbors, are quickly enveloped in the brand’s signature orange atmosphere.

Despite the familiar smells, colors and sounds, the café recently underwent a major change.

Over the Claremont Colleges’ winter vacation, Nosy Neighbors moved from its cozy home on Harvard Avenue, a mere few blocks away from Pomona College, to a much larger space on Yale Avenue. The grand opening took place on Jan. 27.

The new location was previously occupied by Heroes & Legends Bar & Grill — who shared the space with Sancho’s Tacos — and is located near popular spots such as Ubatuba Açaí, DeeLux and 21 Choices.

Nosy Neighbors’ old spot was located next to Pepo Melo, a beloved açaí establishment across the street from Shelton Park. Despite its 180 square-foot footprint, the café’s former site drew a significant crowd. Due to limited space, the cafe only offered outdoor seating.

Keith Strenger, the owner of both Nosy Neighbors and Pepo Melo, noted that the original location served as a proof of concept for something with the potential for widespread popularity. He cited high customer demand and a need for indoor seating as the primary motivations for the move.

“Indoor seating was important because we were affected by the weather quite a bit,” Strenger said.

Strenger attributed Nosy Neighbors’ popularity to its branding and quality. As advertised on the front door’s “Coffee and Donuts” sign, the shop is known for its signature mini donuts, which pair well with coffee. The menu features ceremonial grade matcha, seasonal items such as a chocolate-covered strawberry mocha and coffee brewed from Klatch Beans, a family-owned brand known for its award-winning blends.

Hannah Park CG ’25, a self-proclaimed coffee lover, ranks Nosy Neighbors among her top Village coffee spots. Park loved the old location

due to its cozy feel but was also “excited for a new place to sit down and do work and to hang out with friends and family.”

Kathryn Dunn, director of Claremont Village Marketing Group, said that the coffee shop was a valuable addition to the collection of local cafés in the Village, providing 5C students a new study spot.

“We have 7,000 people that come in every August and, granted, they leave in May; those 7,000 people need a place to study and get snacks and they don’t always want to get a big meal,” Dunn said. “But they want to meet with a couple of classmates and work on a group project … and we can’t have enough spaces for that.”

Claire Moore CM ’26 used to frequent Nosy Neighbors’ old location after class. Moore remarked that the new location maintains its cozy atmosphere, even with a larger space.

“It’s a little farther from where I typically am on campus, but I think it’s in a good central location of the Village,” Moore said.

Patrons of Nosy Neighbors should be prepared for the establishment’s bustling popularity. Lines are moderately long on weekdays and even longer on weekends.

There are tables and comfortable chairs spread throughout the space, making it the perfect place for students to catch up on some work. While parents frequently bring along young children, 7C students on laptops generally take up the majority of seating.

Rebecca Rodriguez has been a barista at Nosy Neighbors since the original shop’s opening two-anda-half years ago. She describes her transition to working at the new location as seamless.

“It’s a lot more space to keep track of, but it’s also nice to have people sitting down in here and hanging out,” Rodriguez said. The coffee shop has changed its usual hours from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. hours with the move. Nosy Neighbors is now open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays and Mondays and from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday.

Language Residents Anya, Manxi and Alessia on the joys and struggles of sharing language and culture at the

Claremont Colleges

Chances are that anybody who has studied a language at Claremont McKenna College (CMC), Pomona College or Scripps College has met one of the language residents, who are colloquially referred to by their first names, living, working and learning across the 5Cs.

Beyond teaching language conversation classes, language residents, like Anya Doglio from CMC, Alessia Griesi from Scripps and Manxi Wang from Pomona, host study breaks and cultural events, lead language tables at Pomona’s Oldenborg Center and the 5C dining halls and serve as accessible resources for students eager to explore the language and culture of their home countries.

As the newly appointed French language resident at CMC, Anya was excited yet overwhelmed by the novelty of Claremont when she arrived last August: new colleagues, new students, a new daily language, a new country — and, on top of it all, her new position as a language resident, acting as a bridge between 5C French students and her hometown of Bordeaux, France.

As an aspiring teacher currently pursuing a master’s degree in second language acquisition, Pomona’s Chinese Language Resident Manxi expressed similar thoughts on the strain of the adjustment process.

“I regard last semester as the time I needed to get used to life here,” Manxi explained. “The life here, living and learning style, my responsibilities, it was all very new.” Language acquisition is an immersive process and the spaces that language residents occupy and create are incredibly valuable

in building community within the language departments and across the 5Cs.

Reflecting on what goes on in the classroom, Scripps’ Italian Language Resident Alessia said that she cherishes the moments she gets to spend learning with her students.

“There’s a satisfaction when you see people willing to learn about your culture, your language and really putting effort into it,” Alessia said.

Outside of their daily responsibilities, the Residents are eager to explore all that Claremont has to offer, whether it be playing baseball with students on Saturday afternoons or taking classes alongside their students.

Manxi is always one to show up for her students, from intramural water polo matches to dance performances and thesis presentations.

“I want to support [my students],” Manxi said. “I love to witness all of [their] important, shining moments and be there to cheer [them] on.”

The Language Resident program also serves to facilitate the learning exchange between students and Residents.

“I can help you improve your Chinese, but you all also help me a lot with English and [American] culture,” Manxi said. “Through interaction, I teach you and you teach me.”

Although the chaos of the initial adjustment period has passed, many language residents are still figuring out how to navigate the liminal space they occupy: not quite a teacher and yet not solely a student.

Anya explained that due to the barriers of her age difference and role as a language resident, students often are unsure of how to act upon meeting her.

“Being a [teaching assistant (TA)], you never know how people will see you,” Alessia agreed. “A lot of people see me as a TA, a teacher, so they wouldn’t consider me a part of [the student body].”

In reality, the interests and goals of language residents are not so different from those of students.

“They’re also students and so we have very similar experiences … we want to go out and do things that are fun and we want to meet new people,” Anna Jircho SC ’25, one of Manxi’s Chinese conversation class students, said. “They understand that we all want to have a fun environment to learn in.”

The barriers present in students’ perceptions of language residents can contribute to a sense of isolation. To counteract this, they have built strong support systems on campus, starting with the administration.

“The Oldenborg [Center] team is very supportive in helping us get used to both living here and our teaching roles,” Manxi said. Language residents also support each other by sharing advice during meals and exchanging hometown dishes.

On Feb. 9, Manxi is hosting a dumpling making workshop in celebration of the upcoming Lunar New Year. This event is open to all students and is an example of the engaging activities language residents frequently host for the 5C community.

Language residents are colloquially known by their first names.

Harvey Mudd College does not offer any languages, but Mudd students often participate in language programs at other schools. Pitzer College offers Spanish, Portuguese and French, but their Teaching Assistant programs don’t typically host residents from other countries and therefore are not included in this article.

‘Queering the form’: Playwright Gina Young is reaching out to the next generation of queer artists

NIKKI SMITH

CW: Self-harm

Award-winning radical queer playwright, director and musician Gina Young (she/they) visited Scripps College’s Communities of Research and Empowerment’s (SCORE) living room for an intimate reading of her work, reminiscing on two decades of queer history and theater.

In an event hosted by Family at Scripps on Feb. 1, Young performed monologues from six of her plays from the past 23 years. She fielded questions on everything from her creative process to coping with negative reviews to seeing her music from 2002 gain new popularity on TikTok.

An intimate event, Young guided the audience, who were seated on couches around the living room, through a collective deep breath before beginning the performance.

Young introduced each monologue with anecdotes that painted a picture of her life, leaning forward more emphatically each time she introduced a new character. She first performed an excerpt from her first play, “she cuts herself / she likes to write,” based largely on her experience navigating queer adolescence and self-harm at Catholic school in the 1990s.

“[The excerpt] is a monologue for two voices because it was written for the two lead characters … to overlap as if speaking with one voice,” Young explained.

Young’s performance sounded like a conversation with an echo, each train of thought layered on top of the last. By the end, the distinction between the two characters’ words was hazy.

Every piece she presented at the event was centered on gay and gender-nonconforming characters,

but for Young, that aspect is only half of what goes into making radically queer art.She emphasized the importance of not just “queering the content,” but also “queering the form”: subverting the typical modes of storytelling in theater. For Young, that looks like a ballet with locker room roughhousing instead of dancing, or a stream-of-consciousness monologue that spirals out into freeform poetry. Unable to express her queerness at Catholic school in the ’90s, Young was drawn to the Riot Grrrl scene, a DIY feminist punk subculture based around music that centered womens’ anger and sexuality. Local punk and goth shows were the only places she felt comfortable holding hands with her girlfriend in public.

“[Riot Grrrl] artists were not necessarily always queer themselves, but [they] had a majorly queer aesthetic and queer inclusion was the norm,” said Young.

In Young’s 2002 song “SoCalled Str8 Grrrl”, she gleefully addresses a girl with a boyfriend:

“If you think you’re straight, how come I know how you taste?”

The song is both tongue-in-cheek and serious, acknowledging the pain of familial rejection that can accompany coming out, but encouraging the girl to “come join the party” anyway. Twenty years later, the track went viral on Spotify and TikTok among a new generation of queer kids.

“I was so surprised and happy to find out that my music [became] so popular on Spotify … and that it means something to people, especially, as Spotify told me, to a lot of young people in countries where it’s illegal or really dangerous to be queer,” Young said.

Several attendees were initially drawn to the event because they had connected with Young’s music, including Janie Fingal SC ’26.

“I’m really fascinated about queer history,” Fingal said. “Also hearing [these plays] — one of them was from 2002—and hearing issues going on in these plays from before I was born and resonating with the queer issues and experiences that she was going through.”

Young draws inspiration for her work from her real experience building queer community spaces, like SORORITY, which Young founded in 2016 as a venue to highlight the work of female, trans, nonbinary and queer artists.

“The important thing about community is that everyone has a voice,” Young said. “I’m also a huge fan of ‘calling in’ rather than ‘calling out’ people we disagree with if we know they’re part of our community and that the relationship is worth salvaging.”

During the Q&A, Young emphasized the importance of finding creative collaborators whom you can trust and work alongside rather than micromanage.

“BUTCH BALLET,” Young’s movement-based tribute to female masculinity, was created collaboratively with five butch, transmasc and gender nonconforming performers, who used personal stories about butch lesbian culture to inform a series of choreographed vignettes.

“When I build community, like with ‘BUTCH BALLET,’ I am always trying to foster a group that is as diverse as possible, in every way,” said Young. “ I love to direct as more of a facilitator, not as a full-on ‘leader.’”

Young concluded with a final message to marginalized artists.

“We need your voice. Do it.

Make your art, write, sing, whatever the thing is that you want to create,” Young said. “Remember that the world is not a just or fair place, so our ideas of what is ‘good’ or who deserves to make art are actually extremely unjust and unfair.” Attendee Cate Brownhill-Slatore SC ’26 took Young’s advice to heart. “I’ve never had the confidence to think of myself as someone who can write or create art,” Brownhill-Slatore said. “And I feel like any opportunity to get some sort of motivation or to hear from someone who is an artist is cool.” Young has many creative projects lined up for 2024, including new music and a full-length rework of “BUTCH BALLET.” She will also continue her Feminist Acting Class, a workshop devot-

ed to dismantling the patriarchal dominance of the craft.

Young posits that she would likely be more successful if her work was less explicitly queer or less experimental, but she doesn’t regret choosing the more radical path.

“My need to write is inextricably linked with my queerness, my mental health, anything central to who I am,” Young said. “So they are bound together and I end up creating art that is influenced by what my community and I have experienced.”

“My need to write is inextricably linked with my queerness, my mental health, anything central to who I am,” Young said. “So they are bound together and I end up creating art that is influenced by what my community and I have experienced.”

JIAyING CAO • THE STuDENT LIFE

CLAIRE WELCH

Chinese language resident Manxi Wang at the Oldenborg Center language tables.

CELESTE GArTON • THE STuDENT LIFE

Nosy Neighbors Coffee & Donuts opemed its new location on Jan. 27.

Pomona’s mental health resources are too little, too late

ANJALI SUVA

Whenever I hear the term “mental health support,” I inwardly groan. Faced with the sheer onslaught of news reports proclaiming Gen Z’s mental health crisis, Pomona College is attempting to pay lip service to the issue, but is only offering a Band-Aid solution to declare the matter settled.

In the middle of winter break, I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). The diagnosis changed my life in a number of ways, namely through stimulants I was prescribed that allowed me to experience life without executive dysfunction.

As I rejoiced at my newfound diagnosis, I kept thinking about how much easier my life would have been had I been diagnosed just a few weeks earlier — when I had initially reached out for support during the middle of finals week. At the very least, I would have felt much better had I had someone to regularly consult with.

I had reason to suspect that I might have ADHD. My sibling had recently been diagnosed with it, my mother has it and I consistently showed symptoms of it throughout my childhood and adolescence. During finals week, these symptoms — namely inattentiveness and time-blindness — were exacerbated to an overwhelming extent.

So, I reached out for support from Pomona — and was disappointed at the resources they provided for students like me.

Having untreated ADHD during finals week went a little like this: I would wake up, open my planner and make a to-do list of every paper and exam I had. Then, I would promptly scroll on my phone for three hours with the intention of starting my work whenever I entered my “work mindset.” After some time, I would get so bored of scrolling that I would have no other choice but to start studying. And when I finally did, I distracted myself by opening over 50 tabs of tangents inspired by the research I was supposed to be doing. You get the idea.

As my deadlines neared, I was hit with the hard realization that I wouldn’t be able to adequately complete my schoolwork if I continued like this; at the same time, “this” was all I knew.

Frantic, I reached out to Monsour Counseling and Psychological Services — the mental health service provided for students

by the 5Cs — to make an appointment. I spent valuable time filling out preliminary screening forms and finding time during the blur of finals week to sit down for a virtual appointment.

I was told during the appointment that because we were nearing the end of the semester, I would have to wait until the next semester to get more counseling appointments. I was given the alternative of getting connected to off-campus therapy — an option I dreaded because of the number of hoops I’d have to jump through by checking prices and trying to figure out if they would take my health insurance.

The other option was to use TimelyMD, an online counseling platform that I hoped would give me an easy and quick way

to

as I rejoiced at my newfound diagnosis, I kept thinking about how much easier my life would have been had I been diagnosed just a few weeks earlier — when I had initially reached out for support during the middle of finals week.

week. Not only were appointments few and far between, but the professionals available on TimelyMD specialized mainly

in anxiety, depression and grief and family counseling. Not ADHD.

Eventually, I gave up, believing that the time I would spend futilely searching for a counselor would take away the precious time I had left during finals season. Reflecting on my experience since my diagnosis over the holidays has made it abundantly clear: Pomona needs to provide better resources for students.

By hiring a greater number of mental health professionals who are well-equipped to handle a variety of conditions, students struggling during finals week can get the support they need. Don’t get me wrong — “Dogs on the Quad” is adorable, but finals week is arguably the most stressful period of the semester (on top

of the inherent, everyday stressors of college life) and students require more comprehensive professional care. Professionals should be able to provide unique support for neurodevelopmental disorders or other learning conditions, beyond anxiety disorders and depression.

Considering that so many students at the 5Cs are neurodivergent and the fact that Pomona prides itself on the diversity of its student body, having such resources available is an obligation that the school must fulfill. Beyond a simple TimelyMD Band-Aid.

Anjali Suva PO ’27 is from Orange County, California. She loves watching horror films, reading fantasy books and just about anything that allows her to avoid touching grass.

Obsessing over Snapchat? It’s not that deep

While watching “Twin Peaks” last Thursday for my media studies class, I was suddenly bombarded by urgent text messages from my friends who were studying abroad. The first message read: “wait i’m like about to cry tho. did i do something wrong?”

My mind spiraled into a flurry of worry.

Then I read the next message: “Mike left me on-read and turned off his Snapmap.”

My concerned expression quickly dissipated and I shifted my gaze back to “Twin Peaks” to watch Donna Hayward dramatically react to her best friend Laura Palmer’s corpse.

I could not help but laugh at the distress evident in my friend’s text juxtaposed with its subject: Snapchat. I sighed exasperatedly and texted back: “it’s not that deep.”

I’m portraying myself as a sage, but only because I’m a nine-year Snapchat veteran who has had her fair share of Snapchat freakouts — and who has learned that keeping my mental stability intact means putting Snapchat into perspective. Snapchat interactions do not hold the same weight as real human interactions.

Snapchat is a multifunctional social media platform that allows communication through photos and messaging. Contrary to some of my friends’ opinions that Snapchat is irrelevant, a whopping 90 percent of Americans between the ages of 13-24 have Snapchat accounts. On college campuses, Snapchat is commonly used to keep streaks with friends, make fun group chats and facilitate hookups.

Snapchat is distinct from other communication apps because users are not afforded the comfort of ambiguity and discretion. Users can see exactly when a friend has opened, screenshotted or replayed a Snapchat as well as when a user begins to type in the chat box.

Although there are some loopholes for hard-core noncommit -

tals to have their cake and eat it too (like the infamous half swipe strategy), Snapchat generally forces people to expose their reactions right when they see a photo or message. This is similar to the read receipts setting on iMessage, but even read receipts can be turned off. The risk of rubbing someone the wrong way with a slow or non-existent response after opening a snap or a chat runs high and with it the pressure to formulate a speedy yet substantial response. Snapchat’s exposure of users’ habits and whereabouts have intensified with the evolution of the app. Through “Snapscore,” Snapchat tracks the amount of Snapchats a user receives and

sends. This can induce anxiety if a user notices that their friend’s score has increased (indicating that the friend has recently messaged someone) while the same user still has not received a response. Moreover, users can decide to disclose their location on “Snap Map,” allowing others to pinpoint their whereabouts to a creepily-precise degree.

The ease and accessibility of these tools provokes many Snapchat users to toxically obsess over them. “Snap Map,” “Snapscore” and the status of a sent Snapchat contribute to the festering of Gen Z fears: “Are my friends hanging out without me?” “Is my significant other cheating on me?” “Is my hookup

hooking up with someone else?”

“Why are they not responding to me?” “Why did they respond so quickly?” These inquiries underline my friend’s more destructive question: “Did I do something wrong?”

Perhaps the high percentage of young Snapchat users and the fact that 61 percent of Gen Z have a medically diagnosed anxiety condition have some correlation. These Snapchat features fuel anxious habits and signal the importance of separating the Snap-world from the real world.

Don’t get me wrong: I am not demonizing the entirety of Snapchat. Snapchat adds serious value to the human experi -

ence through features that allow people to document and share important life moments.

For example, Snapchat Memories act as an extension of the camera roll because it allows people to save meaningful Snapchats they send or post. Thanks to the Snapchat Flashback feature, I get to laugh, cringe, frown, smile and reminisce at my Snapchats from years past and be constantly reminded of all of my amazing life experiences.

Snapchat’s overarching goal is well-intentioned. Rather than villainizing the app as a whole, I am arguing that there should be no conflation between the snap-world and the real world. Repeatedly, I have witnessed friends garner frustration over an overdue or lack of response, only to discover there was a valid, unrelated reason all along.

My study abroad friends and I all have Snapstreaks with each other and we jokingly call each other out in our iMessage group chat regarding Snapchat actions. I was seriously humbled after my friend explained she lost all of her streaks (including ours) because she was tending to her mother who was in the hospital with a broken leg. Receiving that response after insensitively pointing out her absence reminded me that Snapchat will never be able to provide the full context of an action or location, even with its detailed tracking tools.

Snapchat cannot reproduce the genuine peaks and valleys of the human experience that transcend the importance of our phones. A person’s actions, posts and interactions on Snapchat are not an accurate portrayal of their reality.

For the sake of Snapchat users’ mental health, let’s relinquish the compulsion to mull over Snapchat actions and find peace in the fact that, in the grand scheme of life, Mike leaving my friend on read is insignificant.

Tess McHugh PO ’25 is from Denver, Colorado. She loves Jordan Peele horror movies, her Siberian kitten named Dolly and her mom’s basil pesto.

62.

The unspoken importance of unnecessary language

FRANCES SMITH

A core frustration of mine as a young child was my brother sitting across from me at the dinner table, putting up a finger every time I used the word “like.” The gesture wiggling its way into my head, I ultimately lost track of all the thoughts I was trying to express in the first place.

Infuriating … y’know?

It didn’t stop with him. And yet, no matter how many people criticized my use of filler words, I never stopped relying on them. I just kinda spoke less in their presence.

Many people can relate and have been on the receiving end of an angry adult yelling about stuff like effective communication and distracting and unnecessary language. While I can understand their point of view, I don’t think they quite understand the role these words can play in spoken language.

Let me explain.

Filler words can be a major asset for individuals who have, um, a more jumbled or complex thought process. They act as a kinda … stepping stone in a train of thought, where the idea is like a river: Only through pausing and gathering your footing at each stone do you make it across without falling into the water and losing sight of the end goal altogether.

The judgment cast upon these words in academic, professional and everyday scenarios creates an atmosphere where individuals feel uncomfortable expressing, like, their thoughts and ideas, taking away from a free-flowing discussion where everyone can participate.

Research shows that an increased use of filler words is more common in children and adults with ADHD or other cases of neurodivergence. The lack of focus, impaired memory, impulsivity and other fun complications that go hand in hand with ADHD kinda … create a massive jumble in the brain that stepping stones can help navigate.

The vocal repetitions, word fillers and pauses can be met with, um, impatience and misunderstandings from people who do not share the same experiences. This can be particularly harmful in early learning settings where children can feel that they aren’t as smart or coherent in comparison to others around them and can lose interest in their studies.

Filler word condemnation is also a prevalent issue in upper-level academic spaces, where students can feel discouraged from speaking up in a presentation because of the scrutiny that befalls their language choices. Academics

require a sorta … specific sentence structure with big words that not only contain intriguing ideas, but also “sound smart.” This ideal inadvertently excludes those with a different cognitive process — whose process of bringing words out of the brain and into spoken language flows differently.

“The more pressure that is felt while speaking, the more, like, focused and insecure you become about your language, causing more filler words to spill out and your fear of losing your thoughts to grow,” Cem Öztürk PZ ’25 said when I briefed him on the topic.

Öztürk is right. When I tried

to speak to friends about writing this article, I would be, like, too focused on my personal use of wording and would filler word vomit until I gave up.

Öztürk described a current professor whose use of filler words helps him track and follow the lessons in ways he has not previously experienced. He described how the “ums” and “likes” that annoy some of his fellow classmates act as the same stepping stones that help guide him through the idea or concept that is being taught. This professor’s classroom should be the golden standard.

It is crucial to recognize that everyone has a kinda … unique way of processing and expressing their thoughts. Filler words allow these many learning styles to flourish, as well as emphasize the content of one’s ideas rather than the manner in which they are presented.

By embracing filler words as a legitimate and natural part of communication, academic and professional spaces can become more, um, inclusive and accommodating for all.

Frances Smith PZ ’26 loves miniature ponies and the combination of hot water and lemon bars. This is her first article for TSL.

From the Puzzlemasters

To all 5C puzzle fans: the TSL’s Puzzlemasters are happy to announce that, alongside our usual finely crafted crossword puzzles, we will be now publishing a leaderboard every week showing off the fastest crossword solvers in the 5C’s! To be considered for this very prestigious honor, scan the QR code down below, and submit a photo of your completed puzzle. Placement will be judged based on how quickly you submit your solution!

26. Love, in Venice

27. One’s 2nd or 3rd account

30. Catan resource

32. Favorite saying of Gordon Ramsay

33. Sh____, common Dim Sum dumpling (sorry this word is rather poor but it’s 1am and I can’t be bothered reworking everything else)

36. Betray surreptitiously

38. A painful, slighting remark

43. Innocently

45. Whim

46. Bane of San Francisco

48. Hit the slopes

50. One in the Class of ‘24

52. ____ Magazine, 2023 Athenaeum feature

55. Over-the-top 2022 Indian historical drama

57. Field of geopolitics, in short

58. *Southern marshy areas

60. Benchwarmers

62. Sketchy home project

64. Lawyer’s title

66. Morning damp

68. Iphone ____

70. Of, in Mexico

Jasper Langley-Hawthorne

Athenas can’t make it to home plate in home opener loss to Hope International

CHARLOTTE RENNER

The Athenas are off to a … walking start after their season opener at Athena Field on Saturday, Feb. 3 ended in a disappointing loss to Hope International University (HIU) as the scoreboard read seven zeros for the home team. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) struggled to defend their scoreless tie past the third inning and ultimately fell to the Royals 4-0.

The defending SCIAC champions did not live up to their prestige.

They were immediately off to a rough start in the top of the first after a missed tag that went down as an error for shortstop Destiny Garcia SC ’24 and it didn’t get much easier from there. Still, despite the disappointing result, the Athenas are keeping their heads held high. CMS starting pitcher Jade Johnson CM ’24 shut out the Royals until the third inning, when HIU put up two runs. The top of the fourth proved just as difficult for Johnson, with a single on the first

pitch of the inning and a sacrifice bunt advancing a runner to third. After a meeting on the mound, Hannah Adams CM ’26 took over. HIU scored two more runs in the fourth, bringing the score to 4-0. Despite these extra two runs, Adams helped Johnson escape a jam that could have ended much worse for the Athenas. “They started getting hits and Hannah definitely came in and saved me a little bit,” Johnson said. “We just need to really work on getting hits as well.”

COurTeSy:

On offense, CMS was able to run up the pitch count and continued to battle at each plate appearance, striking out only three times for the entirety of the game. However, nearly every ball the Athenas put in play ended up in the mitt of a Royal. Foul balls and pop outs into shallow field were a common sight during the game, as the Athenas only managed 3 hits from 23 atbats against HIU pitcher Allie Puente, who threw all seven innings for HIU.

Bouncing back from their rough start, the Athenas defense was able to finish the next three innings with no Royals crossing the plate. Right fielder Paige Zimmerman CM ’25 made a diving catch to end the seventh, giving the Athenas one last chance to mount a comeback. In her third at bat of the day, Madison Gonzalez HM ’25 fired a double to shallow left field, but was stranded on base to end the inning and the game.

Rachel Sapirstein CM ’26, a utility player, played third base for the Athenas on Saturday and singled in the bottom of the third. As a freshman Sapirstein batted .331 and had a .961 fielding percentage. Sapirstein said that despite the loss she’s feeling good about the rest of the season.

“I think it was a pretty good first outing,” Sapirstein said. “I’m excited for the potential of this team.”

Though they couldn’t pull out the win, the Athenas kept the energy high through the whole game. Chants directed at the opposing

team’s pitcher of “ball in the dirt, she can make it work,” and “I like it when you pitch it in the dirt, I like it when you make your catcher work” echoed from the CMS dugout in the bottom of every inning.

Adams credited head coach Betsy Hipple as the key to the Athenas’ high-energy play.

“We have a new coach this year and she’s really hyping us up,” Adams said.

Hipple served as head coach of the CMS softball program from 2006-2017 and has returned for the 2023-2024 season. With a new coach and only three seniors, defined and productive leadership will prove key if the Athenas are to have a winning season and advance through the playoffs.

The Athenas found stiff competition in the Royals, who are already looking to repeat their 4116 campaign from 2023 with five wins under their belt and only one loss. CMS will play Chapman and Redlands next, two more fierce competitors.

“It’s some of the top teams in conference,” Sapirstein said. “So I’m excited for those SCIAC battles early in the season.”

According to Johnson, the Athenas are remaining optimistic about the rest of the season, and are not letting this early loss dampen their spirits.

“Definitely it’s up from here,” Johnson said.

CMS steps up to the plate again in a double header against Chapman and Redlands on Saturday, Feb. 10 at Redlands.

The Coyotes are coming out to play in season’s biggest tournament

JOSH GEHRING

As the sun sets in Claremont, the coyotes creep out. The animals stay in the shadows, but from the brightly lit tennis courts the howling laughter of the Claremont Coyotes 5C Tennis Club can be heard amidst the rattle of bouncing tennis balls and swinging rackets.

The team was founded with the intent of prioritizing fun and inclusivity, serving as a way for students of all abilities to come enjoy tennis with a more flexible schedule. While more experienced players like Iman Morlot SC ’27 have been competing since as young as five-years-old, the team is also open to new players looking to try something new.

The club hosts clinics on Thursdays that teach basic tennis strokes, allowing athletes of all levels to work their way onto the competition teams. This spring, they’re preparing for their biggest tournament of the season which they will compete in next weekend.

Kai Wong PZ ’27 started tennis his freshman year of high school and, similar to Morlot, is no rookie. Despite years of experience with the sport, Wong said club tennis has still been a new and exciting experience.

“It kind of takes the pressure off a little bit in terms of having to go to practice every day and it becomes more of a social thing,” Wong said. “You can go out there and have more fun.”

According to Wong, meeting new

people, especially upperclassmen, has been invaluable. He described how being on a team in his first year has helped him navigate the stress of college by being able to take advice from upperclassmen and have a supportive community that would normally take months to build.

“I’ve met a lot of people from different colleges that I don’t think I would have met otherwise,” Wong said.

Despite the fun and relaxed atmosphere, the Coyotes still work hard to improve their skills for the spring season of competition. Morlot explained the benefit of having a diversity of skill levels on the team. She said it helps beginners improve faster.

“We try to mix the levels as much as we can, because the only way you get better is by playing people that are better than you,” Morlot said. “You always need a challenge, so it’s good that we’re giving some beginners those challenges.”

For more advanced players, upcoming competitive tournaments serve as a chance to improve their skills against opponents from schools with stronger club programs such as UCLA, UCSD and Cal Poly Pomona. With Sectionals right around the corner, players are gearing up for intense competition. Wong said he is apprehensive going into matches against these tougher teams, but made clear he has faith in the Coyotes.

“You can see how much effort

and how much competitiveness they put on the [teams from bigger schools], so it’s a little more pressure,” Morlot said. “This year seems pretty promising, though. We have some strong players, a lot of new players that are in it to win it.”

Though nerves are kicking in, the freshmen are looking forward to the new and exciting Sectionals tournament. Southern California’s Tennis on Campus Sectionals tournament is an annual competition for SoCal’s bids to the National Club Tennis Championship. The tournament spans two days and will be hosted this year in Claremont.

“I’ve heard [sectionals] is really fun,” Wong said. “We play against a lot of different schools in the SoCal area and I think the overall vibe is like, we’re very excited. But I’m also a little nervous.”

Team captain Tomas Carrillo

PZ ’24 explained he has high hopes for the team this year at Sectionals, noting they have a more balanced roster than previous years, where the limited number of women forced the members to play more games than they will be asked to this year.

“We actually have a full roster of both girls and guys,” Carrillo said. “Usually, we have two to three women per A and B team and they have to play an insane amount of matches.”

The club team is split into A, B and C teams based on experience. While in the past it was rare for any of these teams to make waves

at Sectionals, according to Carrillo, this season may tell a different story. “We’re hoping that at least one of them will be able to make it through Sectionals and win that pool and then move on,” Carrillo said. “People are playing really well. Especially since it’s in Claremont, I feel like we have a home-court advantage.”

As the Coyotes approach Sectionals, the most important tournament

of the season, pressure is on. However, according to Morlot, the Coyotes have done everything they can to prepare.

“It’s gonna be competitive but it’s gonna be fun,” Morlot said. “We’re just gonna do our best. My main goal is to have fun and just keep playing and doing what I love.”

The Coyotes will compete in the Sectionals tournament on Feb. 17 and 18 at the Claremont Tennis Club.

COURTESY: DOMINIQIC WILLIAMS

Rat Race on a whole other level; after leaving CMS and PP track three athletes compete for spots on Olympic Marathon team

OWEN KOBETT

The hot Floridian sun beat down on hundreds of runners lined up ready to compete for the chance to represent their country on the world’s biggest stage. Nestled among these hundreds were three 5C alumni: Jesse Joseph HM ’17, Sara Passani CM ’15 and Maya Weigel PO ’17. The alums all ran track and cross country in Claremont and have now transitioned to competitive marathoning after ending their collegiate careers.

On Saturday, Feb. 3, the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials were held in Orlando, Florida. In order to even be considered for the U.S.’ gold-medal marathon team, the men and women competing needed to hit times of 2:18:00 and 2:37:00, respectively. This race occurs every Olympic cycle in February and selects the three fastest men and women who will represent the U.S. on the global stage.

According to Joseph, his journey to the Olympic trials has been a long road that started in Claremont.

“After I graduated, it was on my mind that at some point I would try to make the trials,” Joseph said.

In preparation, Joseph ran multiple marathons before finally making the qualifying time in the Eugene Marathon last April, where he placed third with a time of 2:16:49.

Passani had a similar story, explaining how she took her time transitioning from collegiate run-

ning before beginning to train for the Olympic marathon.

“I took a step away from competitive running for a few years as I settled into post grad life and was working an incredibly demanding job,” Passani said to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps distance’s Instagram in the days leading up to the race. “I knew for a few years that my goal was to qualify for the Olympic trials in the marathon and in my first marathon back from taking time away, I did just that.”

Passani came back to com -

petitive running in a major way.

On Dec. 8, 2022, Passani ran a time of 2:34:33 at the California International Marathon (CIM) in Sacramento, qualifying her for this year’s Olympic Trials.

After her collegiate running career, Weigel joined the Peninsula Distance Club based in San Francisco. At the same race as Passani, Weigel qualified for the Olympic Trials at the CIM in December 2022 with a time of 2:34:25. According to Weigel, her club organized her training in preparation for the hot climate expected in Orlando.

She reflected on her accomplishment in the trials and what it would have meant to her seven years ago.

“In college I honestly never really thought I would race marathons or if I did, it would just be for fun,” Weigel said. All three of the 5C runners finished the race despite the hot conditions. Joseph placed 75th in the men’s race with a time of 2:21:42, Passani placed 96th in the women’s race with a time of 2:46:52 and Weigel placed 20th, 45 places above her seed of 65, in the

women’s race with a time of 2:32:16, her personal record.

The race went differently for the two female runners. According to Passani it did not go as she had planned but she was still proud of herself for finishing. Weigel, on the other hand, performed much better than she expected.

“I know I don’t want to run another [marathon] for a long time — it’s hard on the body — and I don’t think it’s healthy to do more than one or two a year,” Weigel said. “But eventually I would love to pick a fast course and really go for time!”

eVa FerNaNDeZ

Iman Morlot SC ’27 gets ready to smash a serve for the Claremont Coyotes club tennis team.

Stags make panthers look like house cats as CMS men’s basketball rushes Chapman to continue dominant season

ANDREW YUAN

In a ‘Stag-ering’ display of dominance, Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) men’s basketball proved they were no prey for the Panthers. Having only lost two conference games thus far, the Stags have continued their run of dominance into the final month of the season, defeating Chapman 82-79 on Feb. 4, at Roberts Pavilion.

With this win, the Stags improve to a 16-5 overall record and a 10-2 record in the SCIAC. However, this game was more than just an average regular season game. The Stags were out for revenge. On Saturday, Dec. 2, in their first meeting of the 2023-24 season, the Panthers clawed the Stags, defeating them 82-66 and handing them their first conference loss of the season.

Two months later, CMS came ready to defend their home turf, heading into the game with renewed confidence and an adjusted game plan that aimed to focus on the team’s play holistically. Josh Angle CG ’24 explained how the Stags used what they learned from their last match up with the Panthers to prepare for Saturday’s game, stressing the importance of playing well on both ends of the floor.

“When we played them last time, they made a bunch of threes on us so we made a lot of defensive adjustments after that game,” Angle said. “We wanted to make sure we were getting to their shooters … Offensively, we wanted to try to attack them in the ball screen and get good looks on the weak side, setting the weak side screens, fighting the roller when we could and making plays from there.”

Will Householter CM ’27 echoed Angle’s thoughts. He said the team discussed the necessity of having a complete game.

“We just have to crash the offensive glass really hard, hit some big shots down the stretch and defend all around,” Householter said.

Athletes of the Week

The Stags’ game plan went into effect early, as tight defense and fast paced transition basketball set them up for success in the first half. A pair of steals by Reid Jones CM ’27 and Caelen Jones CG ’24 set up jump shots and layups to give CMS a quick 19-7 lead.

Center Rhett Carter CG ’24 emphasized the mental aspect of the game, reflecting on the team’s ability to bring energy straight from the tip-off.

“It is coming in with the right mentality and getting after it from the jump,” Carter said.

Building on their momentum, the Stags led by as much as 13 points in the first half. However, with just under 7 minutes and 30 seconds remaining, both teams went cold resulting in a two-anda-half minute scoring drought.

CMS struggled to shoot the ball well during the first half, going just one for six, which allowed Chapman back into the game. In the remaining 5 minutes, Chapman converted four of five threepoint attempts, bringing them back within striking distance of the Stags.

Still, the Stags managed to hold onto the lead going into halftime thanks to a jumper from James Frye CM ’26 and a layup from Angle, ending the half with the score at 33-30.

The second half began with a back and forth clash. A constant stream of Chapman jumpers was regularly met by CMS attacking on the interior. The physicality of the game matched the tension of the match-up with fouls flying from both sides. With a little under 17 minutes remaining, the Panthers began to pull away for a brief period after a series of unanswered layups putting CMS in a 6 point deficit. However, the Stags quickly responded with a run of their own instigated by steals from Housesholter and Angle that were both converted into three pointers.

With 10 minutes remaining and the score tied at 57-57, Chapman’s three point shooting began to falter, opening the gate for the Stags to pull ahead with a four point lead with 3 minutes and 15 seconds on the clock. However, Chapman wouldn’t let the Stags off easy, answering back with a push of their own, making it a one possession game. In the last two minutes of the game, the Stags truly came alive. In sharp contrast to their 16.7 three point shooting percentage in the first half, CMS jumped to a blistering 70 percent from deep.

Consecutive threes from Caelan

Jones, Angle and Householter pushed the Stags lead to 77-70. However, the game wasn’t over yet as two layups in just 20 seconds by Chapman cut it to a four point game. Unfortunately for the Panthers, Householter was ice cold from the free throw line, knocking down all four of his shots to officially seal the victory for the Stags. Angle credited CMS’s performance in crunch time to the team’s chemistry. “At the end of the day, we trust ourselves and we trust each other,” Angle said. “When it comes down to those nitty gritty mo -

ments, we know that if we have a shooter with an open shot we want him to take it and today we saw the result of that.”

According to Householter, this win signified the team’s capacity to win the conference.

“If we play our style of basketball we can beat any team in this league,” Householter said.

After mounting another win against Redlands on Wednesday, Feb. the Stags stand at second in SCIAC, one game behind California Lutheran but with a game in hand as they head into their first sixth street encounter of the new year against Pomona-Pitzer.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps

CMS basketball legend Josh Angle has put on a Criss Angel-esque performance in the past weeks, being a true magician on the ball. After cresting over the thousand point plateau his illustrious 5C career he has continued going hard on both ends of the court, being a key part in the Stags dominant run in the SCIAC 11-2 run in conference, putting up back to back 20 point performances against Occidental and Chapman, showing his dominance form beyond the arc.

Pomona-Pitzer

P-P senior Namlhun Jachung helped trounce LA Salle university at Brown University’s bruno tournament, being the only player on the team to score multiple goals in the 10-7 victory. Jachung also stunned in the following 13-12 victory over host Brown, where she netted two goals, pushing her season totals to ten goals in six games played.

Friday, February 8

Women’s Track and Field @ Boston University (Two day meet)

Men’s Track and Field @ Whitworth Invitational (Two day meet)

Saturday, February 3

Men and Women’s Swim P-P Invitational

Women’s

Women’s

Women’s

Monday, February

Wednesday, February

ANDREW YUAN • The Student Life

Josh Angle CG ’24 puts up a three during the Stags’ 82-79 win against Chapman on Saturday, Feb. 3.