Contrast Volume 9, Issue 1

CONTRAST

Vassar’s Art & Style Magazine Vol. 9, Issue 1

Letter from the editors

Every issue of Contrast tries to highlight the Vassar Community in a different way. Where some issues have revolved around the itch to venture outside the confines of the bubble, others have explored the spaces that we exist in on campus. For this issue, we decided to study our everyday movements- The Vassar student is always in motion. From the slipping on of a goalie’s glove, or the zipping of a backpack, to the grand gestures of a performer on stage, we are surrounded by movement.

Motion dictates how we prepare ourselves for the day, from what we wear, to how we wear it. In this issue of Contrast, you’ll see the way that motion and style are intertwined, both freeing and restricting us, and how we began to bend those rules. From our Chemistry lab jobs where we’re protected in coats and goggles, to the gloves and cleats we adorn for our time on the field; we move and we change and we become fuller students for it.

It’s been a wild semester, with many ups and downs, but it’s through the wonderful work of our Executive Board, their committees and models, that this issue is in your hands.

Thank you and enjoy,

Lauren Garcia & Olga Voyazides

Photo by Parisa Halaji

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Photo by Lucas Kautz

Contents A Conversation with Professor Paravisini-Gerbert........................................................4 - 5

by Clara Pomper

A Conversation with Professor Colleen Cohen................................................................6 - 7

by Mollie Kather

Overdressed............................................................................................................................8 - 11 An Interview with Kevin Maher.........................................................................................12 - 13

by Arden Shwayder

Scuplture In Situ...................................................................................................................14 - 17 Notes from the echo chamber..........................................................................................18 - 19

by Collin Knopp-Schwyn

On the Ball............................................................................................................................20 - 25 Horoscopes of Vassar.........................................................................................................26 - 27

by Sam Greenwald, Laena Haagensen and collages by Fanni Somogyi

In Flux................................................................................................................................................................28 - 33 Contrast Executive Board.........................................................................................................................34 - 35

Photo by Lucas Kautz and Parisa Halaji

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Photo by Parisa Halaji

A Conversation with Professor Paravisini-Gebert

by Clara Pomper

Professor Paravisini-Gebert is a professor of Caribbean culture and literature in the Hispanic Studies department. Contrast sat down with her to talk about maps, Caribbean environmentalism, and homemade clothing.

This interview has been edited. Check out the full transcript at contrasvassar.blogspot.com!

there is this added responsibility to speak for the environment…In Puerto Rico, when I was in college – and this was in the early 1970s – the first time that I heard a coherent, articulate, persuasive argument to explain some of the problems affecting Puerto Rico, from an environmental perspective, was from a novelist, Enrique Laguerre.

Contrast Magazine: Where did you grow up?

Professor Paravisini-Gebert: I grew up [in] a small town called Salinas, directly south from San Juan…I came to the States in 1973. I had just finished college at the University of Puerto Rico.

Could you tell me about the exhibit you’re currently organizing?

It’s called Fluid Ecologies: Hispanic Caribbean Works on Paper from Vassar College’s Collection. It is intended to showcase the Latin-American works we have, including [works by] Cuba’s José Bedia, Puerto Rico’s Rafael Ferrer, [and] Maria Sol, a very well-known Venezuelan artist…

Most of them are either pieces that are focused on nature, or allude to lack of balance in nature.

You have many maps on your walls—an homage to your research?

I am a lover of maps. If I could cover my house with maps, I would! Most of mine are 18th century maps of the Caribbean…I love the way that maps give me a sense of place, and it’s a constant reminder of what it is that I do for a living, which is to research the places in [them].

With your degrees in literature, how did you end up teaching a course [Environment and Culture in the Caribbean] in Environmental Studies?

Comparative literature evolved very quickly into comparative cultures, and the most central issue in Caribbean culture right now is environmental thought…Because I work multidisciplinarily, in the end it didn’t really matter what I got my degrees in; most of my training has come after graduate school. You keep reading, you keep evolving, you keep teaching, you keep doing all kinds of things. And since I’ve been teaching for such a long time, I have had many iterations of my career, all of them requiring some kind of retooling.

Speaking of multidisciplinarity, you always use regional art and literature in your environmental classes.

In the Caribbean, artists, writers, intellectuals, they’re all the same…Like, for example, someone like [Nobel Prize-winning poet] Derek Walcott in St. Lucia…when it comes to environmental issues, because in his poetry he cares for it,

I know you’re very proud of your heritage in Puerto Rico. How did you handle that while raising a family?

That’s a complicated issue, because my daughters are actually my step-daughters, so I came into a family situation with two little girls…I didn’t speak Spanish at home, not even when our son was born, because that would exclude my husband, who’s from Iowa and doesn’t speak a word of Spanish. But we did immerse them in the culture of Puerto Rico, because I needed to go home...It became, if not a part of their heritage, a part of their upbringing.

You tend to wear flowing skirts, is that because those are the styles you grew up with?

Well, growing up, we were very poor, so I would wear the clothes my mother made...Once, I had been invited to a party, and I was so excited, but I felt like I didn’t have anything to wear…My mother took this piece of fabric, folded it in half, made a hole for my neck, which lead to this bateau-like neckline, cap sleeves naturally from the fabric, and then she put a piece of elastic for the waist. I ended up with this…incredible dress. And that’s the kind of thing she could do, so I got very used to flowy clothing. When I was growing up, we may not have had other things, but I was always very well dressed.

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A Conversation with Professor Colleen Cohen

by Mollie Kather

Colleen Ballerino Cohen is a Professor of Anthropology and Women’s Studies. She is also the coolest person you will ever meet.

This interview has been edited for space purposes. Read the full version at contrastvassar.blogspot. com!

Contrast Magazine: Were you always interested in becoming an anthropologist?

CC: I was going to be a philosophy major at UC-Santa Barbara and I took a course as a freshman first semester by James Dietz, who is a very well known archeologist…I realized there was something very philosophical about anthropology that attracted me. […] I have an Irish father and a Mexican mother and I was constantly culturally code switching…

So it really helped me to understand the cultural variation in my own life experience, and I have to admit I was drawn to this idea of other cultures.

You did fieldwork in the British Virgin Islandscan you pinpoint one experience that changed the way you viewed your field of work?

The person with whom I worked most closely with, doing filmmaking, was a British Virgin Islander, and he was my partner in all of our research…[I was] learning to get rid of that notion of alone in the wilderness - I was learning the value of collaborative work and the value of committing myself to that.

Do you see style as a result of a particular culture or culture as a result of style- are they necessarily two different things?

Clifford Geertz says that cultures are ideas and models of reality, and models for reality. So I would say that fashion, how we dress, is a model of what we’ve learned has meaning, says something, even as we model new cultures through our clothes.

Angela Davis gave a lecture here earlier in the semester and gave you a shout-out - can you talk about your relationship?

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I was director of Women’s Studies when she was here in 1995 teaching. She was a colleague, she was a friend - her whole family came to my house for Thanksgiving - and we’ve remained friends. She has lived a life of honor and of politics and of activism and I just look at her life and see how she has lived it and I am in awe that her path has been one of such integrity and such courage and such dedication. intellectual and physical. I really admire that.

I would be remiss if I did not ask you about Woodstock – Oh! It was hard – I lived on a commune…I had 3 children with me and there were 3 adults in the van and I was 3 months pregnant…We could hear everything [at the festival], but we also had access to running water and to a toilet and a little supermarket so we were able to be there without being exposed to the…the hard stuff, ‘cause they were only little kids. So it was great but it was different, that was my Woodstock. It was great music and it was wonderful seeing all the people and talking to everyone.

You were in a commune?

Yes, we believed that by working together, we could create a lifestyle that, after some sort of revolution, that we could learn to live collectively and share resources and learn to raise children collectively. […]

We were a very conservative commune, it wasn’t sex, drugs, and rock and roll. It wasn’t really everyone’s idea of a commune – it wasn’t sitting around and smoking weed and switching sex partners. It was a commune of artists and very hard workers.

Finally, what is one incorrect notion about culture that you would like to remove about popular thinking, and what would you replace it with?

I would like to get rid of the notion that white, Western culture is superior just because we’ve got technology and, as Amitav Ghosh says, the bombs, the tanks, and the guns.

Photo from http://www.woodstock.com/

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Photo by Lucas Kautz

Photo by Lucas Kautz

over dressed Put down those slippers and pick up those stilettos.

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Photo by Parisa Halaji

Photo by Lucas Kautz

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Photo by Lucas Kautz

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AN INTERVIEW

with

KEVIN MAHER

by Arden Shwayder | photo from lovekevin.com

The liberal arts education is under attack. Vassar encourages students to explore subjects outside of their chosen focus, but in a world that is increasingly divided and specialized, not everyone agrees this is worthwhile. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that students who graduate from liberal arts colleges earn less than their research university counterparts. Should Vassar students panic and transfer?

The answer is: probably not. This past September, Vassar alum Kevin Maher ’97 returned to his alma mater to conduct a workshop called “TRUE TALES FROM THE WRITER’S ROOM: The Business and Craft of Writing.” Maher, who majored in History and So-

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ciology in the American Culture program as an undergraduate, is now an Emmy-nominated comedy writer who has worked for HBO, Nickelodeon, AMC, CNN, and, currently, Comedy Central. Contrast interviewed Maher to ask just how valuable a liberal arts education is in the entertainment industry today.

Contrast Magazine: You’ve taken your workshop to many schools and businesses – what was it like coming back to Vassar and doing it here?

Kevin Maher: I think it was only different for me because I was flooded with memories… Liberal arts colleges are getting this really bad rep in the media [as full of] these delicate, hypersensitive young

people who are clinging to some kind of political correctness ideology. So I went into it looking to see whether there would be any truth to that or not, and I was really impressed by the questions and the students… It was nice to see that the student body is pretty hip and intelligent and forward-thinking and… realistic. And that’s the thing, it’s a workshop about being a working writer, like a paid writer, not about becoming a superstar screenwriter.

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Liberal arts colleges are getting this really bad rep in the media ... It was nice to see that the student body is pretty hip and intelligent and forward-thinking and ... realistic.

“

Have you found that having a liberal arts background has affected your career?

What’s beneficial about a liberal arts education is hopefully you come out of it learning how to think and how to read and how to read people and how to collaborate. The entertainment industry is changing so much… Somebody could [learn] to write a very particular type of structured drama with commercial breaks but then the Netflix model… blows it out of the water… So a liberal arts education hopefully makes a thinker who’s adaptable and learns to pay attention to bigger contexts and constructs.

You have worked on a wide variety of shows, on TV and online. How do you approach writing for these different styles and media? Do you have a favorite?

I think approaching it is the same way a college student learns to write… for a different class, a different professor, that you learn a style. You have to learn what’s needed for a certain genre… and decide how much you want to follow those rules, how much you want to try and bend those rules … And my favorite genre? I like short form better than long form, just ‘cuz I have commitment issues?

Many people are calling this era the “Golden Age of Television.” In your experience, has the Golden Age also come to comedy?

I don’t even know that I agree, that I would call it the Golden Age of Television. The thing is that

television is starting to get more like movies. And you see that in the cinematography and the story arcs and some of the performances you get….

There are new highs, but I think there are also new lows. And if you talk about comedy, you’ve got Twitter, stand up, improv, musical improv, filmed comedy, YouTube videos, television sketch comedy, I think it’s kind of all over the map.

How did you go from a serious, academic major to writing comedy television? It seems like a bit of a jump.

Oh no, for me it wasn’t at all… I was in a comedy group [Laughing Stock, now defunct] and I was doing comedy shows several times a year, and I took that as seriously as any of the classes I was enrolled in. I was trying to do as much comedy as I could. A lot of it wasn’t very good. And that was wonderful because it allowed me to go from being really bad to bad to a little better than bad…And then for several years not doing it for a paycheck but just, you know, working terrible temp and office jobs to pay the bills and then do[ing] comedy shows at night, which is how a lot of people start.

Do you have any advice for aspiring television writers? Or perhaps, what is something a young person trying to break into TV should not do?

Things not to do: don’t be a braggart. If it looks like your project might get a green light, don’t burn bridges…Don’t try and be the smartest person in the room, don’t [shoot] your mouth off all the time when you could listen and learn from other people. Don’t just talk about your project, actually do it.

What is one thing that always makes you laugh no matter what?

I like… when we see the juxtaposition of a guy in a suit, like a rich white guy in a suit, wearing a hard hat.

Talking about how we’re building a better tomorrow, the condescending, familiar image of a guy putting on a hard hat for a promotional film …I love old visions of what the future would look like…What people think a computer will look like in the future. Not just necessarily funny, but I just find it fascinating.

I asked Kevin what his favorite joke to tell is, and after a long debate he chose one that (almost) always gets a laugh: I met a man whose claim to fame is that he can eat 58 hot dogs in 6 minutes. So I said, “Hey man, what do you think of all those starving kids in China?” He said, “I could eat 4 of them in 10 minutes.”

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<<<

Sculpture in situ Curious about the hidden world of Doubleday Art Studio? Always wondered about those mysterious sculptures that pop up around campus and disappear? Fanni Somogyi beckons us backstage for a glimpse at the day-to-day in Sculpture I.

Entering the Doubleday Art Studio, you are greeted with a hub of activity and industrial noises. Like many other classes at Vassar, Sculpture 1 challenges your preconceived notions – in this case about the world of 3D and observation – but it also challenges your physical abilities. My first project was to create a sculpture of a memory.

The sculpture was six feet tall and comprised two pairs of feet appearing to step toward each other. From the knee upwards, the feet morphed into tube-like forms tangling together to represent emotional connections over physical distances.

I began the project by designing and creating different sketches. Then I started casting the feet of my friends and welding metal rods for the structure of the tube, which I covered with

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styrofoam and plaster. I encountered problems during the building procedures – like when I forgot about gravity, and my sculpture was too heavy to stand on its own. (Oh, that.) Since I wanted the sculpture to be freestanding, I had to weld metal weights onto the metal rods and cover them with plaster. Sawing the metal weights and constructing the whole structure made me very aware of my own physical weakness, but it also challenged me to try harder. I’ve always considered myself a painter, but I can feel myself falling more and more in love with sculpting. I love the hub of the room whenever I’m in the studio with other passionate students, reflecting on our thoughts, perspectives, and realities through the creation of visual art.

<< Lucy Mutz untitled My assignment was a site-specific sculpture, meaning that whatever we created had to live exclusively in one space of our choosing.

I knew I wanted to make something for the drive directly in front of Lathrop, which was my home at the time, and I was inspired to create a bicycle lane after I was nearly crushed by a cyclist on the sidewalk. Cyclists on Vassar's campus rarely use the street, preferring the sidewalk or even the grass instead. I thought it would be interesting to comment on that.

We don't have any bike lanes, but would people use them even if we did? Thus, I created a bike lane that wasn't really usable because it straddled both the sidewalk and the road, while also illustrating the odd paths people take on their bikes anyway, like going through the grass. I used a very strong white duct tape and improvised where the lane would lead.

<< Ariadne

Skoufos “Betty” My assignment was to make a sculpture out of 10 or more identical items. I chose to make a brick bed because it has some symbolic significance for me. I have a back injury and am in constant pain, even when I’m in bed. I wanted the brick bed to be representative of how I feel: my bed feels hard as bricks, so to speak. Additionally, I wanted to create a public space where people could sit, lay down, or rest their things.

Previously, the location where the brick bed is now situated was an unused, overgrown area.

The actual construction was pretty tough.

Mark, the sculpture technician, really helped me out. The bed itself is made from 120 red bricks from home depot. I drilled holes into the bricks and inserted rods vertically, so the structure could support the weight of a person. Everything else is just held together with mortar.

Buildings and Grounds were able to move the 1.5-ton structure with a forklift. Luckily, it survived both the move and last year’s winter so hopefully it will continue to live where it is now.

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<<

Space is inherently embodied – to be in space one must physically, three-dimensionally encounter it. But what would happen if the sensory, affective, embodied human was at the center of spatial design? How could designers use media to physically evoke this type of spatial experience? These questions developed into my investigation of what I came to call “sensual spaces” and what I dedicated myself to for my Media Studies senior project. Grown from this study, The Grass Box was conceived with participant experience at the center of its design. The angled floor, the low interior height, the textured grass, the clear stain exterior finish were all carefully calculated to create an intimate and peaceful dwelling that awakens the senses and harkens to memories of lying in the grass. Resting on the lines between sculpture, architecture, and public furniture, The Box provides a space for artistic contemplation, a welcoming shelter to rest, and an open seat for unplanned meetings with friends or strangers alike. If you enjoyed the Box, please submit a petition for me to make another Grass Box on campus, thank you :)

Sasha Zwiebel “the green box”

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“Pegacorn”

<< Hope Berry “Dinosaur,” “Pegacorn,” and “Wishing Well” (not pictured) For the dinosaur, pegacorn, and wishing well sculptures, the process started with the idea of making a linear scene that would excite children and bring out the same childhood delight in adults.

I made small models by soldering wire together and drew out the scaled versions on paper. I cut, bent, and welded rod together to create the final forms.

I created a wishing well because it is a folkloric item that sparks creativity and imagination in everyone. Drop a coin in a wishing well and all your dreams will come true. The pegacorn and dinosaur were meant to be manifestations of people’s wishes. A pegacorn is something I would wish for.

The sculptures were located on the quad because it has plenty of open space. The forms wouldn’t get lost amongst the trees but would still be situated in a natural, forest-like area.

Also, the quad is a high traffic location and plenty of children and adults would walk past and see my work. Due to their medium, the sculptures weren’t visible at a distance so they magically appeared when a viewer approached, adding an enchanting quality to my pieces.

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Page and graphics by lauren garcia

Story by collin knopp-sCHWYN

notes from the echo chamber Timeline

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vassar Missed 8 hrs

u were leaving the dining hall in a white/red stripey dress that looked like a candy cane. i wanted to say hi but i’d just eaten many onions and i didn’t want u to think i normally smell so oniony. u just whizzed away on ur alabaster skateboard like a gnarly lovecupid. pls hmu. if ur looking for me, I’ve got black hair, shoes, and the jansport backpack.

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vassar Missed 7 hrs

this is embarrassing but I’m dead in love with u, sk8r candy cane gurl. but ur dating someone??? that’s kind of rude, I thought we had something but I guess not?????? I’ve been ogling u from afar for how long???????? and we haven’t even boinked yet????????????????????? pls respond pls

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vassar Missed 7 hrs

Hello it’s me, I’ve been wondering after 1000 posts who the cute boy I’ve been seeing everywhere is. He has it all: black hair, shoes, even a JanSport backpack.

I’m just too embarrassed to talk to u, guy, even though I seem cool. Also I’m totally not dating anyone and we absolutely could boink if u wanted to

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vassar Missed 6 hrs

omg, candy cane gurl replied guys, this is totally happening. candy cane, where do u want to meet?

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vassar Missed 6 hrs

How about ur dorm room

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vassar Missed 4 hrs

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Wow, I’m that same candy cane sk8boarding gurl from before and I just had the most competent sex in my life. U made me feel like all my sex regions were aflame with the hot fires of passionate magnificent love. Ur really super and not at all desperate. ;)

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vassar Missed 4 hrs

did u hear that guys? it’s me jansport. we just did the goodgood. it was everything you can imagine sweet loving with someone who owns a sk8board would be like.

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vassar Missed 3 hrs

@Jansport: Want to continue our rampant and viscous fling later?

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vassar Missed 3 hrs

@candy cane: absolutely, u are always so caring and loving

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vassar Missed 3 hrs

@Jansport: And u never cry because ur lonely and u always know how to talk to girls because ur so masculine, and u have a cool room which u clearly put a lot of work into. It would be impressive to any girl who came into ur room for whatever reason, like if u had a group project and u invited ur partner (a girl) over, then she would think it was nice. she wouldn’t, hypothetically, say something like “Do u think talking to girls is different than talking to anyone else?? it’s rude, okay? because ur treating me differently than u treat ur mom or ur professors or ur roommate kyle (and ur kind of a dick to kyle). stop being such a creep, and let’s just focus on the project, okay? And could you throw away your garbage, it smells really strong.” that would NEVER happen to u, Jansport.

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vassar Missed 3 hrs

@candy cane: thank u that means a lot to me

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vassar Missed 2 hrs

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What the hell, Terrance? I can see this was all from you. I’m shutting this page down. Please take out the garbage. The room smells like onions. Kyle

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ON THE BALL Vassar athletes spend hours out of the classroom practicing, playing, and preparing for competition.

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Photo by Lucas Kautz

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Photo by Lucas Kautz

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Photo by Lucas Kautz

Title: Sebastien Lasseur, Men’s Soccer Above: Lucy Brainerd, Women’s Soccer Left: Jeffery Gerwin, Men’s Tennis

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Below: Gabby Miller, Women’s Volleyball Right: Ben Glasner, Men’s Soccer

Photo by Lucas Kautz

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Photo by Lucas Kautz

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HOROSCOPES of VASSAR

by Sam Greenwald and Laena Haagensen | collages by Fanni Somogyi

Aquarius

You may have been feeling a bit down and lost in the world lately. Disconnect and look around – you may find something new that you love! Try unplugging, leave the library, don’t even get near the Retreat. Head to the farm instead, or get your hands dirty at the Vassar Experimental Garden.

Some fresh air will give you much needed energy.

Pisces

There’s no better time to become more proactive. Put that Nalgene of water on your bedside table before you go out for the night. (You’ll thank yourself the next morning.) Actually look at the paper prompt earlier than the day it’s due. Try and get to Tasty Tuesday before the Twisted Soul line wraps around the entire College Center – that way you may even get a seat inside the Retreat.

Aries

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This month will be a time of great stress for you, with assignments piling up higher than the South tower of Main. While you may be desperate to finish all your work ASAP, don’t neglect your personal health. The Vassar plague is lurking close behind you, perhaps already within your dorm. The only remedy is plenty of sleep and good nutrition. You must also be wary of your hook-ups, lest they infect you and derail your productivity.

Taurus

Your sexual mojo is strong and others can certainly tell. It may be wise to get a full order of supplies from C.H.O.I.C.E. Feel empowered to send hookup hints on Friendsy; you will find that they pay off. Maybe that Vassar Missed is about you – you never know!

Just be careful not to lead on a friend, as they’re especially susceptible to your charms. No matter what, ask for consent, and don’t forget to use your newly ordered safer sex supplies.

Gemini

Beware of technology; you cannot count on it for anything right now. Save your Moodle posts in a word document, lest the server crash and delete your work. Student secure, too, will be unreliable: it may be best to stay on public wifi. VPrint may be on the fritz, and color printing is out of the question.

In the end, you may have to result to pen and paper. And don’t even bother with the library stapler.

Cancer

Recently, you may have been feeling a bit confined. Now is a great time to venture outside the Vassar bubble. The Big Apple is calling your name; so take a weekend and treat yourself.

Stop by Williamsburg to sip coffee in a café “you’ve probably never heard of” and maybe try a Ramen burger at Smorgasburg. That being said, be mindful of you wallet!

Leo

You’ve been a little tense, and you’re ready to let loose this weekend, but be careful not to go too hard.

Avoid the Crystal Palace and grab a Natty Light instead. Hold every hand railing as if your life depends on it, for in truth, it may. It might also be wise to just stay in: “Netflix and chill” never killed anyone. If you must drink, eat a full meal (hopefully not at the Deece) and drink plenty of water throughout the night.

Virgo

Bad news, Virgo. Those weird vibes you’ve been feeling lately? Yeah, those are coming from you.

You may have been spending more time alone, and your friends don’t want to hang. Even the ghost in the 24 Hour Room wants nothing to do with you. Take some time to reflect and readjust your attitude.

Libra

Remember when you said you wanted a liberal arts education because you wanted to ~branch out~ and ~learn new things~? Now’s the time to actually follow through!

Flip through that course catalogue and pick a class you may have never thought you would take. A Chemistry major in Russian 167 – Hipsters, Rebels and Rock Stars in Russian Literature and Culture? Sounds right to me.

Scorpio

You’ve been working hard lately and the universe can tell. Putting in those hours at the library will soon pay off – if you remember to stop by the CDO. Continue to pursue your dreams with fervor and, combined with a newly polished resume and LinkedIn profile, you may soon find yourself living on Easy Street, employed and all.

Sagittarius

Use this month to let go of what you don’t need, both literally and figuratively – people, thoughts, and things. For those items that have been sitting idly in the back of your closet, try donating them or trying your hand at Free & For Sale.

After all, $3 for the occasionally wrinkly and poorly photographed tee is better than no profit. Likewise, toss any self-defeating thoughts like last week’s dirty laundry.

Capricorn

Get excited for December break! Going home will offer the rejuvenation you so desperately desire. Take this time to hibernate, hide from work, and eat too much.

Leave your textbooks on campus and you’ll feel your burdens instantly disappear. Whatever holidays you celebrate, they’ll feel as magical as when you were a kid. And yet, when it’s time, you’ll be ready to go. A month at home is sometimes more than enough.

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in FLUX [in fluhks] noun. the rate of transfer of fluid, particles, or energy across a given surface.

Photo by Parisa Halaji and Lucas Kautz

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Photo by Parisa Halaji and Lucas Kautz

Photo by Parisa Halaji and Lucas Kautz

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Photo by Parisa Halaji and Lucas Kautz

Photo by Parisa Halaji and Lucas Kautz | Special thanks to Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre

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CONTRAST Editors-in-Chief Lauren Garcia & Olga Voyazides Layout Editor Katie Eliot Photo Editors Parisa Halaji & Lucas Kautz

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Style Editors Mollie Schear & John Wallner Style Team Jasmine Prasad, Madison Clague, James Haxton, Maynie Yang, Victoria Abut, Ashley Hoyle, Gabby Miller, Sam Greenwald, Noah Jackson, Clara Pomper, Emily Hallewell, Margaux Lieser, Anna Beeman, Taylor Braunstein, Rachel Altemose, Allison Sugino, Kibi Williams, Sydney Lee, Savannah Smith, Maranda Barry, Natalie Westgor

EXEC BOARD Makeup & Hair Editor Paulina Vigoreaux Makeup & Hair Team Lauren Di Fazio, Rose Hedreen, Hannah Cho, Amber Dean

Publicity Editors Nicole Schonitzer & Ellie Winter Publicity Team Reina Miyake

Editorial Editors Jackie Krass & Arden Shwayder Editorial Team Collin Knopp-Schwyn, Sam Greenwald, Clara Pomper, Fanni Somogyi, Jane Pryzant, Laena Haagensen, Mollie Kather, Jasmine Prasad, Reina Miyake

Treasurer Michelle Zhao

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Contrast Magazine, Fall 2015 contrastvassar.blogspot.com Instagram: vassarcontrast Photo by Parisa Halaji and Lucas Kautz