Contrast Volume 8, Issue 2

CONTRAST

Vassar’s Art & Style Magazine Vol. 8, Issue 2

A Letter From the Editor Photo by Macrae Marran

Vassar College is quite small compared to a big state university, in terms of both acreage and population. Even on our 1,000-acre campus, over half of the land is devoted to the farm, making the space in which we lead our day-to-day lives rather compact. It is, therefore, relatively easy for its two and a half thousand students to have very similar experiences when it comes to “place making” – the process by which bricks and pathways take on personal meanings as they become charged with specific memories and myths.

For example, everyone on campus knows there is a hierarchy when it comes to bathrooms, ranging from the illustrious one near the Rose Parlor to the decrepit ones just one floor up in Main. Students also discover the same nooks and crannies over time, such as the sculpture garden at the Loeb that seems to be tucked away almost out of sight and the futuristic new observatory beyond Sunset Lake. And they have all witnessed the construction of the new science center, albeit with a wide range of opinions. Even professors in disparate fields of study end up finding common intersections, especially in the art of the graphic novel.

We’ve all seen an abandoned barn morph into the more upscale Gusto, alongside other efforts at revitalizing our convenient downtown district on Raymond Ave and Collegeview Ave. And who can avoid complaining about the snow and getting tired of wearing Bean boots – or smiling wide when the flowers start to bloom and throwing on your Birkenstocks? While we are surely a diverse campus overall, we nevertheless have many shared experiences.

All of us take something away from Vassar when we go home for vacation, go abroad, or when we graduate. We leave the physical place behind but hold on tight to lessons learned and memories made on these specific thousand acres. So, join Contrast’s hardworking executive board and me as we take you on a journey through this very special place, and even beyond, into outer space.

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Table of Contents A Letter from the Editor

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A Conversation About Comics

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Eating Local

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Snazzy in the Snow...Dashing among the Daisies

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A Hard Hat Tour of the Science Center

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Moving Between Places: Home/Vassar/Abroad

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Stall of Fame

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Among the Nooks and Crannies: The Hildegarde Krause Baker Sculpture Garden

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Celestial Bodies

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Where are the Contrast Alumnae/i Now?

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Executive Board

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A Conversation About Comics with Patricia-Pia Célérier, Peter Antelyes, & Hiromi Dollase Illustration by Emma Gregoline

Alex Masters ’16 sat down with Professor Patricia-Pia Célérier, who teaches “Francophone African Comic Art” in the French and Francophone Studies and Africana Studies departments, Professor Peter Antelyes, of “The Comics Course,” in the English and Media Studies departments, and Professor Hiromi Dollase, who teaches “The West in Japanese Literature” in the Chinese and Japanese Studies and Asian Studies departments, to talk about their shared passion for comics.

Alex Masters: How did you get into comics? At what age? And how has that developed into your academic life?

Professor Patricia Celerier: I’m French, from Paris. Graphic novels and comics are everywhere in French culture. You collect books; you collect comics. It’s part of the general culture. I’ve always read comics...You have Hergé, and it’s 4

not a matter of generations.

Professor Hiromi Tsuchiya Dollase: I had a very different experience. I think I started reading comics, but graphic novels - we call it manga - around 6 years old.

I started reading manga because of the influence of TV animation, a series called Candy Candy...It’s a story about an orphan girl adopted by a rich family, but she decided to live independently. There were all of those girl’s stories like that, so that was extremely popular on TV around that time, around the mid‘70s. Then I decided to read manga, which it is based upon, but my parents didn’t like that kids read manga. They wanted kids to read more literature. So, I asked my parents for just one volume. “I’ll just read it once, and then that’s it.” Then the neighbor and I used to read it, hidden from my parents, and circulate them among my friends. A very negative thing to do back then.

Professor Peter Antelyes: Interesting because it’s changed now.

Manga shops are everywhere. It’s something that people are very comfortable about, going into shops, sitting down, and reading.

AM: But there is still a stigmatization in Japan of the obsession with manga. I know there’s the pejorative term otaku.

HD: There is a stigmatization, but at the same time, young kids don’t read anything nowadays except for the Internet! So even schools, even the government, encourage kids to read manga. There are a lot of historical stories, actual history, in manga form, and teaching about economics in manga. There are a lot of educational manga at the same time.

PA: It’s similar to earlier on in Japan because comics were criticized

for causing juvenile delinquency and they were considered a low art form. It’s hard enough to get Americans to read anyway. Though, all my students talk about how avid they were reading comic books, reading Archie, reading superhero books (which are getting increasingly sophisticated). But, even so, their younger siblings don’t feel that comfortable walking around with comic books. Because comics were not that well accepted when I was young, I was reading newspaper comics mainly and those fascinated me. It wasn’t until the ‘80s and Art Spiegelman’s Maus came out that I realized this was something else...

Suddenly, all the materials became re-available. I can remember when comics couldn’t be taught in American academies. For all of us, it’s fairly recent.

HD: In Japan, also. Around the ‘80s is when manga began to be treated as an academic subject.

PC: I want to come back to the issue of manga.

PA: Manga started partly out of Japanese traditions and culture, but partly out of American popular culture. They adopted these aesthetic elements and changed them, and then they came back to the States as anime, before manga, and anime then influenced American writers, who were sort of being influenced by themselves.

HD: If you go back to the origin of manga, especially girl’s manga, we can find the origin in art nouveau, from early 20th century type of drawing. It is really cross-cultural, influencing each other internationally.

AM: The connection that you see historically, do you see it in your work here at Vassar? In your academics?

PC: I mean no, I don’t start from manga. The class that I teach is a specific class. The course is on comic art, but also in Africa...We’re looking at techniques, like what is comic art, how does one produce comic art, how does one analyze comic art, what is the terminology, how do you get in, what do you see. We’re looking at history. We’re looking at francophone production and we’re looking at francophone production in Africa, in the press. And, also the intersection with Hergé for example, with Tintin au Congo, we’re looking at, thematically, what Africa has meant in some francophone productions. And what does this mean, what has been the reception...

But, your question was do we look at manga. We come to manga at the end of the class. We look at francophone manga production in Guadeloupe and Martinique, which is where it’s emerging, and Mauritius.

HD: When I use manga in my class, I just spend one day briefly talking about them from a cultural perspective. I haven’t really developed a nice curriculum of teaching manga comics. I think my focus is more on content than culture, so it means that I don’t look at manga from an American perspective or anything like that, but eventually I would like to broaden my knowledge. I think it’s a great opportunity to learn from each other.

for modern comics and graphic novels themselves, which have been around for 150 years, it’s sort of stunning we’re just, within the last 5, 8, 10 years, beginning to do this in our own teaching. I don’t know if you’ve been doing it longer.

PC: I’ve been using comics for a while...It just so happens that in the American academic world, and particularly at Vassar, we are very lucky to have extremely creative students, and students who have wonderful imaginations. I think for me - I think for all of us - teaching about comics allows us to tap into many different resources...For me, I try to underline for my students that studying graphic novels allows us to rethink literary analysis, how one comes to a text, how unique a text the graphic novel is.

PA: Especially with the increasing visual sophistication and visual saturation that our students are going through, even a term like graphic novel – it was a term that was designed to elevate the field, even though some graphic novels are just comics in sequence put together in one binding – so that there are all these sorts of collateral circulations that we developed as a way to talk about these things. When I started teaching [7-8 years ago], I had par-

PA: Sure. I think that for a field, and not an academic field, I mean Illustration by Emma Gregoline

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ents that would complain: “I don’t understand. You’re at Vassar. Why are you teaching comics or graphic novels?”

HD: In Japan, the study of manga is pretty respected. There are schools with manga studies program. I never experienced any criticism or anything like that. For example, shoujo manga, girl’s manga, is usually from a young women’s perspective. I find that manga has a lot of potential for feminist reading.

That area hasn’t been really studied well in the U.S., I think. In Japan, I think it can be used as a case study or as psychoanalysis. It is pretty well respected.

PA: I also think there’s an environment where people are increasingly understanding that no medium stands alone. If you’re going to study manga, you have to understand the differences, but you might want to study anime, you might want to study video games, you might want to study MMOs, film, television, even painting and sculpture, since part of what comics does is freeze time and space. So, that once you start thinking about these

things as integrated rather than here’s this one little thing we can elevate, it becomes more respectable but even more necessary as a way to think about critical thinking and critical reading.

AM: How do you break away from the common conception of comic books in your academics?

PC: We have bright students who break away from it.

PA: I’m not sure it’s necessary to fight that fight. Like you say, all you need to do is present them as cultural vehicles like any production of art, and say, “What are the assumptions going on here? How are these ideas not only being embodied in but constituted by the forms of the art?” You can talk about anything.

PC: Any artistic production is a historical production, so they come in a context that, when being explained, brings up questions that students get curious about and hungry to answer.

PA: One of the things that struck me, Patricia, when you were talking, is the extent to which we think about the works, how we teach the works. It breaks my heart how little is translated...There are kinds of manga I don’t even have access to that I don’t know about historically.

HD: Talking about translation, I sometimes encourage students to use manga for a senior project. I’m a language teacher as well, so I try to integrate a language teaching aspect. I think language is always a difficulty when I seri-

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Illustration by Emma Gregoline

ously teach manga because translated materials are very limited.

PA: I get a lot of people who are interested in manga, particularly young women who started reading manga when they were young. They all come in with these “I thought that’s what comics were,” so you have to destabilize the idea of what they thought the field was and understand it in terms of the larger field. But, you also want to speak to their interests because they bring extraordinarily rich and often archival knowledge of what these fields consist of.

PC: And a keen vision. And a wonderful, younger vision.

PA: On some level we’re all dealing with the Internet, too. The sort of proliferation of materials not just made available the Internet but being constituted on the Internet.

I was thinking about when you brought the person to talk about shoujo, I hadn’t known that there’s this underground economy that immediately translates manga like the second it’s released...But then I wanted to teach Tintin in the Congo but, of course, you can’t buy it in the US now because it’s considered a racist text...But, that should be taught...I can show them a page and say, “Look at the minstrel figure and let’s talk about that.”

PC: You can invite me and I can translate in class.

PA: That actually would be really useful. I also want them to see that it’s an act of not just literal translation but of cultural translation.

I want them to think about that process: moving the text into this

context in an American college, what that means.

PC: I just wanted to come back to the idea of comics and academia.

I want to put that argument on its head to a certain extent. We said before that academia was resisting the comic world, it didn’t have enough credibility, etc… I want to say also that at least in France and francophone circles, the comic world is… a world of people who are artists, sort of edgy, edgy and not pretentious, kind of relaxed, open-minded. To a certain extent, it’s bringing something precious to the academic world, which is a non-stiff creativity that has increasing value.

PA: There’s a language that was framed called termite art, which is the art that’s allowed to flourish without anybody looking at it. So that the sense of it being regulated and public and viewed and judged, when you take all those away, this thing flourishes. It starts to create its own histories, its own references, its own power in its relationship to its own readership. And that becomes a sort thing that’s valuable for us to reach into.

PC: And it’s also a way – you know [Damian] Duffy [and John Jennings], those two artists who came last week – they also brought to their art – they’re a couple of geeks...what gave their creations a backbone was their original analysis of race and gender. They brought through their art very cutting edge ways of looking at gender, sexism, racism, that redefine how we think.

consumer culture, they constructed it very self-consciously as a book available to the academy because they’d been working with transient publishers, sort of struggling to find their access to a larger audience. And one of the ways these books gain that kind of audience is through the academy, so they produced a sort of apparatus to the book. It was a very smart move where the art remained radical, and the apparatus, which was also radicalized in the book, becomes a way that this material can be integrated into courses. That’s a different way of going about this process, of producing art, of having it addressed, of having it considered. I think we’re at this wonderful time when we can start drawing in these materials, that are just under the surface of awareness.

AM: Any final comments? Any comments about where you hope to go with comic art in your academic fields? Pull from each other? Pull from different media?

PA: I have to say, we’ve been at this institution for God knows how many years and we didn’t know each other. And now we can get to know each other. You [Patricia] and I just worked with each other on Blue is the Warmest Color. I went into Patricia’s office thinking one thing and came out thinking twelve different things and thinking about visual strategies. In the clinical term, it’s faculty development. In a larger term, it’s just being intellectually alive.

PC: And fun.

PA: What’s fascinating is that this book that they were talking about this time, The Hole, which is about

astonishing to me.

AM: It’s kind of Liberal Arts turned back around. I’m supposed to be taking a Chinese and Japanese course, an English course, and a French course, and science, but now it’s the faculty who are exploring. Liberal Arts is an opportunity to explore all the disciplines. It’s not separate.

PA: It’s collaborative. But, it’s also a sense of knowledge not being based around disciplines so much as other ways of thinking about those connections, as a network of bodies of knowledge and approaches.

HD: I think my idea of literature and comics also has been confined in a cultural notion. “I’m studying Japanese.” So theory, articles, everything...But now, after having this conversation, I feel like should probably start reading comic series or books written about comics and articles, then think about how I can apply those theories to Japanese manga. That would be an interesting approach that nobody has done in Japan, right? That’s a new project for me now. [Laughs] PC: I think, possibly for you, too, teaching comics and graphic novels keeps me on my toes. I’m learning.

I need to learn fast because the production is fast, because the students are fast, and because the material is wide, but it has to be broken down in creative ways so that we can teach it.

Read the full conversation on our blog, ContrastVassar.blogspot.com.

PA: And fun! The joy of being able to talk to these two people is just 7

EATING LOCAL Illustration by Lauren Garcia

photos by Sarah Sandler

Queen City Bistro

by Sarah Sand ler

206 Main Street I went to Queen City Bistro on a Sunday afternoon with friends, expecting it to be crowded for brunch, but there were plenty of open tables. The large bar made it feel like more of a nighttime spot than a brunch place, but their brunch menu was varied and pretty well-priced. We ordered the waffle tasting to share; some were sweet, some were savory, and all four were delicious. I also had the crab toast, which was simply buttery bread, crabmeat, and fried eggs. I would definitely go back and am curious to try their dinner.

photos by Sarah Sandler

The Mill

by Sarah Sand ler

46 Vassar Road

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I went to The Mill early on a Sunday morning and was the only customer in the restaurant. There were many different options for sweet and savory breakfasts and after the waitress offered me coffee – complimentary before 11 AM – I ordered the Breakfast Flatbread with tomatoes, cheddar, sausage, and eggs. This dish is definitely big enough to share as a starter, but I was starving and ate the entire thing while I read the newspaper I had brought. The Mill is very cozy, boasting a fireplace and jazz music. It is very reasonably priced for the quality and amount of food, and I can’t wait to try it again.

photo by Jake Solomon

photo by Rachel Garbade

Intro Food Concepts

by John Wallner

50 Raymond Avenue A sister restaurant of Twisted Soul, Intro Food Concepts is a tiny gourmet crêperie specializing in both sweet and savory fare. Other options include internationally inspired quinoa bowls and baked sweet potato dishes. Highly recommended are the crêpe specials such as El Mexicano crêpe (chorizo, manchego cheese, jalapeños, red onions) or the classy crêpe (prosciutto, smoked turkey, four cheeses, apple compote, arugula, balsamic reduction). You can wash it all down with a fresh-squeezed juice or their signature lavender lemonade with basil seeds. The décor and music are always colorful and the food always reasonably priced. Additionally, many entrées have vegan and vegetarian options.

photo by Lydia Ciaputa

photo by Rachel Garbade

Gusto

photo by Sean Chang

by Eric Joon

15 Collegeview Avenue Gusto is a small Italian restaurant right across from Vassar. My friend and I went there for dinner. I ordered sausage and cream rigatoni, which was recommended from one the reviews I read beforehand. The rigatoni was flavorful and it was the right amount for dinner. In addition to upscale yet reasonably-priced dishes, this place has a romantic ambiance and its staff is welcoming and efficient. The restaurant can get crowded and the menu may seem limited at times, but I would recommend this place for other foodies or students looking for a good place to eat with friends.

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Pho

Snazzy in the Snow..

Dashing among the Daisies We asked students with exceptional style to think of how a change in weather changes their daily ensembles.

All looks were curated by the students themselves.

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Chloe Ouyang

Photo by Macrae Marran

Photo by Macrae Marran 11

Alix Masters Photo by Jale Solomon

Rishi Gune Photo by Jale Solomon

12 Photo by Macrae Marran

Photo by Macrae Marran

Albert Muzquiz

Photo by Macrae Marran

Photo by Macrae Marran

Photo by Macrae Marran

Sarah Horowitz Photo by Rachel Garbade

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Joseph Bettman

Photo by Rachel Garbade

Photo by Lucas Kautz

Photo by Jale Solomon

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Yehudi Baptiste

Photo by Jale Solomon

Nathaniel Edgar

Photo by Jale Solomon

Photo by Rachel Garbade

Photo by Jale Solomon

Ryan Holguin Photo by Rachel Garbade

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A Hard hat tour of the science center Working with Ennead Architects, Vassar is currently less than a year away from completing its long-awaited science center. Contrast stopped by for an exclusive tour.

“It was really fascinating to hear about the innovative ways in which the science departments plan on utilizing the spaces in the bridge building, such as lab rooms specifically reserved for the development of new projects by faculty. Although the building itself still looks far from finished, it’s clear that the designers have placed an incredible amount of thought into the design. One highlight for me was walking under the building and comprehending the fact that such a massive structure was suspended over the Fonteyn Kill with surprisingly little support. I’m still bitter that I won’t be here when it’s finally finished!”

– Colin Crilly ’15 “I was particularly interested in the literal and metaphorical concept of this bridge building. Our tour guide stressed the idea that the building itself was a bridge over the Fonteyn Kill, but it was also a bridge between hubs of seemingly disparate mindsets. The science center will link Skinner Hall with Olmsted, becoming a dynamic transitional space safe from the cold outdoors, and with ample space for studying and even grabbing a coffee, alongside classrooms and labs. I used to be wary of the idea of making a new building just for the sciences, but it is clear that everyone will benefit in some way or another, if not by using the labs inside, then at least by having a new spot to gather with friends and look out at the beautiful views of the chapel and Skinner Hall.”

– Rachel Garbade ’15

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“As an English major, I’ve been worried that an expensive new science center will indicate a college-wide shift towards the sciences. While this remains a concern, the tour (and my science major friends) reminded me of the need for updated science facilities. The tour guide emphasized the building’s utility for students across disciplines, but mostly I’m just hoping the new café has good coffee.”

– Jacqueline Krass ’16

Photos by Rachel Garbade

Illustration by Lauren Garcia

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Movi Home ng Between Places /Vassar/Abroad :

Janou Hooykaas Went Abroad to: Institute for Study Abroad (IFSA-Butler) at la Universidad de Buenes Aires and la Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires

One weekend in September, my friends and I traveled to the Argentine-Brazilian border, where the Iguazú waterfalls are located. We made our way through the national park that houses them, and were dazzled. The climax of the journey came when we stepped onto a boat that took us between the immense walls of raging water that line the Paraná River, and then right under one. We passed a small beach where we saw a capybara going for a swim, and were met by a swarm of brightly hued butterflies as we stepped off the boat into the rainforest. This was not my typical Sunday spent 18

Photos by Janou Hooykaas and Kelsey Kaprman

nursing a hangover in the Vassar library.

Of course, not every week I spent studying abroad was quite so extravagant. Although I was able to travel around Argentina and a few other countries in South America, I spent the vast majority of my time in Buenos Aires. In the city, I sat in turquoise cafes where they served bite-sized lemon cakes alongside your coffee, soaked up rays of sunshine as I picnicked beneath the periwinkle petals that blossomed on Jacaranda trees, and went to countless outdoor fairs— for antiques, knick-knacks, food, and even an agricultural showcase.

What I miss most about studying in Argentina is the constant excitement and desire to explore. Every day of the week there were events centered around food, art, music, and dance.

Being at Vassar sometimes feels a bit stagnant in comparison. But I also have to remember that by the end of my semester, I found myself aching to see my Vassar friends and craving a late-night slice of Bacio’s.

Kelsey Karpman Went Abroad to: Irish Internship Program at Scoil Mhuire in Clifden, Ireland

I never expected to go abroad. Between the cost of living in Europe, the difficulty of completing two majors, and flat out fear, I thought I was meant to exist solely on the East Coast. Then I happened to stumble upon the Irish Internship Program, and it was a perfect fit for me. I figured Ireland would be an easy transition, and I would be able to get four credits while teaching little Irish children.

As I boarded a plane in D.C., with the one other student on the program (hey, Lauren!), the amount of uncertainty in my life was astounding. I distinctly remember closing my eyes during take off

and trying to imagine what the next three months would be like. My mind drew a blank.

I wasn’t able to imagine that some days I wouldn’t talk to anyone because Clifden, Ireland, while stunningly gorgeous, is also in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t cross my mind that I would pub-crawl with the town rugby team on St. Patrick’s Day or that ninety-nine percent of my interactions in town would be with older, slightly racist men. I wasn’t able to anticipate missing a significant amount of time with my classes because of various ailments, or how much I would love the sound of Irish names like Donnacha and Cahal.

Because I didn’t expect anything to happen, I was able to thoroughly appreciate every moment. I enjoyed getting my second tattoo on a whim there, on Valentine’s Day, which ultimately solidified my love for the Atlantic in zig zagging black ink. I also eventually found some appreciation for spending my 21st birthday sick in bed. While homePhoto by Rachel Garbade

Illustration by Lauren Garcia

sickness was unavoidable, I found that I was too busy most of the time to notice. But if I did, my appreciation for all of my experiences overwhelmed my longing for the familiarity of Vassar.

I am now home from Ireland and senior year is looming over me. Thanks to my experiences abroad, I feel ready to take it on, without expectations.

Arden: What were the big differences between being an international student here [at Vassar] and being an international student abroad?

Khasi: Well, the University of Glasgow was definitely a city school. It wasn’t so much like Vassar, which is next to the city of Poughkeepsie. Instead, living in the city of Glasgow and going to the university was synonymous, because the university was basically part of the city.

Khasi Jamieson

A: Did you have any different experiences with the students at Glasgow, as opposed to at Vassar?

K: There was more of a sense of urgency, probably, in Glasgow.

People seemed like they really had somewhere to go. People were friendly, but a lot less involved. So they would be nice to you, but if they didn’t have to interact with you, they wouldn’t.

Interview Conducted by Arden Shwayder Lives In: Jamaica Went Abroad to: University of Glasgow in Glasgow, Scotland

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A: Were there any big differences between how you felt at home, here, and at Glasgow? What were the biggest transitions you had to make. beyond just transitioning into college life?

K: I think the biggest adjustment between the different stages ended up being the fact that Vassar is a lot more personal…in comparison to Jamaica – you interact more with your professors, you interact more with your classmates. And then going from Vassar to Scotland was basically a shift almost back to Jamaica, where…there was more of an “on your own” type of feel.

A: You were in apartments in Glasgow, right? Has it been weird to come back to living in a dorm?

K: Very. Very. Mainly because I got to cook my own food in Glasgow. I had the added responsibility of getting groceries…what I cooked depended on what I bought…what I

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Photos by Khasi Jamieson Illustration by Lauren Garcia

ate depended on what I cooked. While here, my only options are basically what the school gives me. So, Vassar is kind of limiting but at the same time somewhat liberating, because I don’t have to worry about the responsibility of buying food. That and also actually having to take care of an apartment is quite different in comparison to the dorms, which have their own cleaning staff, and require a different level of upkeep A: And what do you think was the biggest difference socially between home, here and Scotland? Nightlife-wise, social networking-wise?

K: Well Vassar has very limited nightlife that’s basically focused on Thursday through Sunday. Jamaica’s schedule is similar, but we’re mostly going to clubs. We go to the club and drink. But in Scotland we go to the bar from Monday to Wednesday, or Sunday to Wednesday, and then we’d be in the clubs Thursday through Sunday. So we were technically out every day.

That was the normal Scottish pace.

We didn’t stop going out; we were always out; we were always drinking;

we were always in the club.

A: Is there anything else you want to add?

K: They dress really fancy.

A: They dress really fancy? In Scotland?

K: Really, really fancy.

A: What do you mean by fancy?

Like, high fashion brands or just like in bowties?

K: It’s definitely, like, high fashion brands everywhere. Like, going anywhere, everybody wants to look really really good.

A: Even when you went to the countryside?

K: Well in the countryside they look more normal. But in the city everybody was like, “Ah! You’ve got to dress really really nice!” And you go to the clubs and they’re very strict with dress codes.

A: And that’s very different from Vassar.

K: Yeah. Vassar is very laid back… wear what you want. And that’s kind of a cool thing. While abroad it’s a very name brand, trendy type of fashion sense I guess.

A: So which would you say was a harder transition, home to Vassar or home to Scotland?

K: Going from Jamaica to Vassar was definitely the biggest change in my eighteen years of life. Jamaica is very conservative, whereas Vassar is one of the most liberal places on earth.

Shira Idris Lives in: Indonesia Went Abroad to: San Francisco, Vietnam, Morocco, Bolivia

You’d think being a foreigner in a group of foreigners would cancel out, like a double negative or something, but it doesn’t work that way. I grew up in the Philippines, but my parents are Indonesian, so there, I was a foreigner. Now I’m at Vassar, in Poughkeepsie, New York:

still a foreigner. Last fall, I embarked on one of the greatest experiences of my life, travelling to San Francisco, Vietnam, Morocco and Bolivia to study climate change with a group of nineteen Americans and two Singaporeans. Yeah, I was still a foreigner.

Those blue passports eased their way through security in every airport (and we went to a lot of airports), and my green passport stood out in more ways than one. I had to travel through the Paris airport alone because my Indonesian passport (representing a country with the largest Muslim population in the world), didn’t allow me to go through the gate everyone else went through. I also ran into a lot of trouble trying to obtain a Bolivian visa, while (surprise, surprise) no one else did.

The white people on my trip loved Vietnam. Because Vietnam loved them. They were all foreign, fascinating and rich - even when they weren’t rich. Me, I’m from Southeast Asia, but I’m not from Vietnam. I wasn’t different or white enough or didn’t have an oppressive enough history with their people to be interesting to them. I was foreign, but I wasn’t intriguing.

In Morocco, random men on the street greeted my Asian peers and me by saying, “Jackie Chan!” or “do you speak Japanese?”

Once I even got the latter in L.A. In many

of the places we went, people didn’t understand that my Chinese-American peers were American, born and raised in the U.S. of A. They asked them, “Oh, you’re American? But you look Chinese, or Japanese,” and they’d respond, “My parents (or grandparents) were from China,” endlessly and tirelessly. To a lot of the world, being American means being white. In Morocco, we went out to one club that was for “foreigners” and “white people.” A white friend of a friend was dating a Moroccan guy, and he wasn’t allowed in the club, because he was Moroccan. I got in because I went with a bunch of my white friends.

Being a foreigner abroad accentuated the racial and cultural differences between my peers and me a lot more than at Vassar. I guess it’s easier to pretend like I belong here; I just need to shop at Urban [Outfitters] and listen to some indie music. Even so, I still feel like an alien here. I’m a foreigner when I’m back ‘home’ in Indonesia too, since I don’t speak the language and I wasn’t raised there. Maybe that’s why I like travelling around, so I have an excuse to be a foreigner, and I’m allowed to not belong.

Photos by Shira Idris

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Stall of Fame

by Frank Hoffman

Photo by Macrae Marran

In Stephen King’s story, “All That You Love Will Be Carried Away” (wonder how it ends), the traveling salesman protagonist is obsessed with recording the graffiti he finds written on bathroom walls.

If the setting of the story were Vassar, that poor schmuck probably would’ve chosen a different hobby.

This journey has taught me about my school, about the people who go here, and about where exactly I draw the line in terms of where it is comfortable for me to 22

pee. I’m nothing short of a spoiled prince now, sharing a bathroom with only two other people in a cozy TA, but my research has revived vivid flashbacks of bathrooms past. Who doesn’t remember having the bathroom light shut on them once every few weeks while still in the stall? I’d like to take this space to apologize to any passersby who saw me through the giant window in that fourth floor Main bathroom my entire junior year.

Voyeur-esque or not, it was spacious.

Here’s the breakdown: Joss has the big bathrooms (to make room for the roaches), Main has the secret ones (never went to the same one twice), Cushing has the ones where you feel like you also have a good chance of scoring drugs or being shanked, Davison’s are where all your friends are probably hanging out, Noyes’s are full of people who got denied from the Davison bathrooms, Jewett has the fun ones (remember last Friday?), Strong’s smell nice (even on Chili Wednesday), Raymond’s are narrow and

oddly shaped, and Lathrop’s might be Raymond’s. I haven’t gone to either of those last two too much.

When you’re out of the dorms, however, you have to make choices, and this is where the Stall of Fame comes in handy.

My first entry into the Stall of Fame is the unabashedly weird Shiva bathroom. For those who may not see a lot of shows at Vassar, or have iron bladders that lasted through all of Next to Normal and beyond, the Shiva Theater is composed of two bathrooms. The back one is plain, laidback, and gender neutral like many of its siblings here, whereas the one closest to the front, the one most likely to be used, is Vassar’s idea of a funhouse.

The two stalls seem normal enough, except for the fact that neither of them worked during the runs for Frankenstein (it’s very hard to subtly pee onstage when you’re naked most of the play). What’s strange

about this bathroom lies in the two mirrors: one sits at a regular angle, for a regular individual, while its partner is tilted at an angle beyond what any amount of time or interference from nature could do. For

those without vertebrae, it’s a great place to put on makeup. For those with, it’s the reason why you’re that creepy guy standing behind someone waiting for them to wash their hands.

The second paragraph goes to the fourth floor Rocky bathroom. If the tight staircase weren’t already an indication, this bathroom confirms that whoever constructed the fourth floor of Rocky was hoping it could be either a play area for his children or a safe haven for gnomes. I’m not a big guy, and even I had some difficulty maneuvering around. Anyone over six feet should probably stick to the basement bathrooms or one of the math lounges.

Third prize goes to the truly terrifying bathroom in the library basement, right next to Matthew’s Bean. This bathroom accommodates just one occupant, but it contains the most words out of any bathroom on campus.

Besides having one of those posters that stare at you while you’re on the toilet and tell you how to do

shrooms properly (here I was taking twenty at a time), this stall is full of graffiti ranging from the disturbing (why are that bald man’s eyelids so big?), to the inspirational (“run the

world!”), to the obvious (“Welcome to Pissville, USA”… excuse me, but I already knew I was in Poughkeepsie. Zing!). You constantly have the fear that someone is going to break in and scream at you about how his or her thesis is due the next day, but at least there’s a convenient cup holder above the sink for your latte from next door (so you can throw it in his or her face).

Honorable mentions include the beautiful bathroom by Media Resources (those lucky bastards), the entirety of Ely Hall (heard about that sewage leak, guys), the Mug bathroom (I washed my hands once during tech for a play and it was the one time I felt dirtier after doing that), and the one in the basement of Sanders whose lights come on half of the time (whoever’s always in there when that happens, you have a lovely singing voice).

Photos by Frank Hoffman (left) Rachel Garbade (right)

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24 Photo by Jake Solomon

Among the Nooks and Crannies: The Hildegarde Krause Baker Sculpture Garden

By Jane Pryzant

Encircled by the walls of the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center and concealed behind copious paintings, drawings and prints, is a hidden gem on the Vassar College Campus: The Hildegard Krause Baker Sculpture Garden. The garden was renovated, with help from Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates in 2012, in order to enhance its layout and attract more visitors.

Bringing an innovative redesign to the garden, Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates was also the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge Park, and is known for creating naturally sustainable and stimulating outdoor parks. What was once a grassy, non-sustainable, unorganized garden holding merely six sculptures, has been completely transformed.

The Vassar College Sculpture Garden now features twelve sculptures, chiseled by renowned artists including Frank Stella, Pietro Consagra and Anthony Caro, perched on limestone pedestals and nestled among lush plants.

A serpentine gravel pathway leads visitors from sculpture to sculpture and allows viewing from a multitude of angles. The new design makes the most of the space, using the resources present to establish an intimate but engaged setting. Glass windows are strategically placed behind each piece of artwork, creating an inviting and inclusive environment, which allows

an engagement with the greater Poughkeepsie area. Integrated with benches and equipped with an entrance off of Raymond Avenue, the garden now offers an opportunity for social events and a sense of community. Patio tables and chairs situated on a tasteful brick courtyard are located within the walls of the garden to create the perfect atmosphere for a garden party or an intimate gathering.

One sculpture found in the garden is a small bronze fountain of a woman riding a fish and has a particularly fascinating history. The female figure depicted in “The Call of the Sea,” by Harriet Whitney Frishmuth, grabs the fish’s mouth with one hand and throws the other in the air above her head with jubilation. The fountain successfully captures an act of movement, frozen in place. According to Loeb curator Mary-Kay Lombino, this 1924 piece came into Vassar’s collection in the 1950s. At the time, it was placed in Sunset Lake, which added a playful centerpiece to the calm body of water. A decade later, the fountain vanished. The College believed the only plausible way for the fountain to disappear was for it to sink to the bottom of the lake.

Thus, extreme measures were taken to empty the entirety of the lake in hopes to rediscover “The Call of the Sea” resting on the lake’s floor.

However, the College was wrong:

the fountain was simply gone.

In 2011, nearly 50 years later, an unmarked van arrived with a mysterious crate. The fountain had been returned by an anonymous delivery.

“The Call of the Sea” can now be found within the safety of the garden walls and nestled peacefully behind a grove of Japanese maple trees, yet still shrouded in mystery.

The new and improved sculpture garden also offers an abundance of opportunities for outdoor events. From new student welcome receptions, to Vassarion yearbook distribution parties, to the annual Contrast fashion show, the garden is a terrific space for clubs to gather and for people to mingle when the weather is right. The Student Committee, a group of three representatives from each class who speak on behalf of the art center, is involved with putting together an event each year in the garden. Last year, the Student Committee and Sean Eads ‘15 held the BEND light project.

Eads and an art student collaborated to exhibit a light and music show in the sculpture garden.

Although the Sculpture Garden is a site on campus that still remains fairly unexplored, the onset of spring and the rapid disappearance of snow makes now a perfect time for students to rediscover Vassar’s own secret garden.

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C E L E S T I A L 26

B O D I E S

by Jake Solomon27 PhotoPhoto

by Macrae Marran

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Photos by Jake Solomon (left) Macrae Marran (center. right)

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Photos by Lucas Kautz (second to left) Macrae Marran (all)

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Where are Contrast Alumnae/i Now? Contrast is now its eighth year and still going strong.

So, we decided to get in touch with our predecessors and ask them how working on Contrast helped them get to the place they are in now. We wondered what lessons they were able to bring with them through their transition from Vassar College into “the real world.”

Lucy Cantwell Co-founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief 2007-09

Liza darwin Co-founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief 2007-10

Selina, Liza, and I started Contrast after a random conversation one night. We rarely knew what we were supposed to be doing, but we managed to create something that still has legs these few years later. Now, I’m the Executive Director of the New Belgium Family Foundation.

Forging ahead even when my internal monologue is saying, “I have no clue how this is going to end up” is something that has stayed relevant.

Since Contrast, I’ve held several positions in publications, including NYLON and MTV.com. I am now a contributing writer at Refinery29, Noisey, Style.com, and Complex, as well as the music editor for POPULARTV.com. Working at Contrast definitely helped me land my first job at NYLON; I remember mailing the editors our issue out of the blue and it got me a meeting. It definitely helped to get my foot in the door!

Selina Strasburger Co-founder and Co-Editor-in-Chief 2007-10

Alyssa Aparicio Model 2007-2010, Style Editor 2008-09

Jon Roth Editorial Editor 2008-09

Contrast was born out of a desire to develop and explore our love of fashion. Contrast taught me how to execute an idea from scratch and how to work with realities (like budgets!). I now work in advertising where these lessons still serve me well. But, the most important thing I learned from Contrast was what I wanted from my career: fast paced creative thinking, variety, tangible outcomes, and people I enjoy working with.

After leaving Vassar I continued to pursue a career as a model. However, I’ve grown more discontent with the modeling industry. In 2013, I co-founded WildSpice Magazine, which is a hub for artists to share their work in an empowering environment. Witnessing the birth and growth of Contrast definitely showed me that I could envision something and bring it to life with hard work and passion.

The magazine really showed me that stories and photo shoots don’t have to be flawless gems - we had license to get messy, work through the process, then refine the results.

It was probably the first in a series of ‘I can do this!’ moments that led to me interning at Details and Out, then circling back to work full-time at Details, where I’m now an associate editor. Turns out, things at Condé Nast can get pretty messy, too.

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Caroline Mills Photography Editor 2009-10, Co-Editor-in-Chief 2011-12

Hannah Tatar Women's Style Editor 2009-10, Editor -in-Chief 2011-12

Emilia Petrarca Editorial Editor 2011-12, Editor-in-Chief 2013-14

My experiences with Contrast were some of the most vital when it came to finding a job in the fashion industry. While my good grades and internships helped, it wasn’t until I showed an interviewer an issue of Contrast that their eyes lit up. Today, I work for Target as a Specialist in Design Partnerships; a dream job that I never knew existed.

I started working at Little Paper Planes, a boutique dedicated to building conversations between artists and the public. While I’m growing my own line, I’m co-designing and sampling our in-house women’s collection. Art direction, styling and design factor into my daily work in a way I never anticipated while at Vassar. Contrast provided a handson training that has become increasingly central to my creative practice.

In my post-grad interviews, I spoke about my understanding of the organization that goes into seeing a creative project from start to finish.

Currently, I’m Associate Digital Editor at W magazine. When I interviewed for the position, Sarah Leon, the Senior Digital Editor, looked down at my résumé and goes, “I was on Contrast!” After that, I had a pretty good feeling I was going to get the job…

Emily Selter Women’s Style Editor 2011-2012, Co-Editor-in-Chief 2013

Kelley Van Dilla Photo Editor 2011-12

Zoey Peresman Editorial Editor 2012-13

After graduation, I got the chance to meet with Grace Coddington and the features director of Vogue, who were both were very impressed when I showed them Contrast. I now work as an editorial assistant at Town & Country magazine. My boss went to Vassar, too, so I showed her Contrast. She also loved it - how could you not?

Being the photo editor for Contrast taught me extremely valuable lessons about collaboration. This spring, I will direct my first professional short film, which I also wrote and am starring in. The film will ultimately only be as strong as the sum of all of its individual parts and my excitement for this collaboration comes largely from what I learned from Contrast.

I’ve pursued a path in book editing, which seems like a natural extension from my time as Editorial Director of Contrast. Entry-level roles in publishing require you to be an assistant to someone else, and that’s where my time at Contrast has really helped – having experience with following up with writers, tracking their progress, and generally staying organized has been a useful for this work.

Illustrations by Moorea Hall

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Executive Board Here are the editors’ favorite places on campus; all photos were taken by the editors.

Rachel Garbade: Editor-in-Chief Jade Room

Lauren Garcia: Layout Editor Her Suite

Olga Voyazides: Style Editor Library Lawn

Lydia Ciaputa: Style Editor Shakespeare Garden

Zack Meadows: Style Editor Library Lawn

Contributors:

Style: Hannah Nice, Mollie Schear, Paulina Vigoreaux, Laena Haagensen, Taylor Pratt, Sarah Bourenane, Emma Bird Models: Emma Bird, Erika Nakagawa, Yasmeen Silva, Sarah Horowitz, Rishi Gune. Albert Muzquiz, Stephanie Zhu, Nathaniel Edgar, Alix Masters, Chloe Ouyang, Joseph Bettman, Yehudi Baptiste, Ryan Holguin, Aubrey Hays 34

Jacqueline Krass: Editorial Editor Sunset Lake

Arden Shwayder: Editorial Editor CDF Quadrangle

Macrae Marran: Photography Editor Rowing Docks

Jake Solomon: Photography Editor Blodgett

Kristell Taylor: Treasurer Rose Parlor

Olivia Michalak Publicity Editor Studio in Ely Hall

Editorial: Frank Hoffman, Janou Hooykaas, Shira Idris, Khasi Jamieson, Kelsey Karpman, Alex Masters, Jane Pryzant, Sarah Sandler, John Wallner, Eric Yoon, Paulina Vigoreaux, Catherine Burns Photography: Lucas Kautz, Julia Dighe, Liv Rhodes, Parisa Halaji-Dezfuli Other: Moorea Hall, Colin Crilly 35

Contrast Magazine, Spring 2015 contrastvassar.blogspot.com Instagram: vassarcontrast 36

Photo by Rachel Garbade