Oct. 4, 2017: CC announces results of fall elections

SPORTS P. 12

ARTS P. 8 'Antigone in Ferguson' awes

Grodecki '18 wins ITA singles title

The Independent Student Newspaper at Williams College Since 1887 VOL. CXXXII, NO. 4

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2017

CC announces results of fall elections

By MICHAEL GREEN EXECUTIVE EDITOR On Sept. 26, College Council (CC) announced the results of the organization’s fall elections via a campus-wide email. Voting opened Sept. 24 and closed shortly before CC released the results. As most of CC’s executive board is elected to year-long terms in the spring, this election had races for only the assistant treasurer and class representative seats.

Tyler Stebulis ’21, who ran uncontested, will serve as assistant treasurer until the beginning of the spring term, as will the newly-elected class representatives. Stebulis is excited to get to work. “I’m ecstatic!” Stebulis said. “It’s unreal, honestly. I’m looking forward to gaining experience, and handling students’ issues as effectively as possible. I really want to make a change for the better, and if anyone sees something on campus that they’d like to see changed I’d be more than happy to try and help!”

Tony Fitzgerald ’18, Katherine Priest ’18, Lauren Steele ’18, Julia Yarak ’18, Chanel Palmer ’19, Harmon Pardoe ’19, Moises Roman ’19, Abel Romero ’19, Carlos CabreraLomeli ’20, Ashwin Dasgupta ’20, Vijay Kadiyala ’20 and Ellie Sherman ’20 will represent their respective classes.

In addition, Stephen Ankoue ’21 (Williams Hall), Georgia Keogh ’21 (Sage Hall), Vicky Liu ’21 (Armstrong/Pratt) and Onyeka Obi ’21 (Mills/Den-

nett) will serve as representatives for their first-year dorms.

The election also included voting for student members of the Honor and Discipline Committee, who will each serve for a year. Representatives will include Zach Brand ’19, Cassie Deshong ’21, Nicholas Goldrosen ’20, Jad Hamdan ’19, Jerry Li ’18, Holly MacAlpine ’20, Mohammed Memfis ’21 and Cassandra Pruitt ’18. Donglin Zhang ’19 will replace Brand for the spring semester.

Turnout for the assistant treasurer race was at 26 percent. Turnout in the senior, junior and sophomore elections ranged from 18 percent for senior Honor and Discipline Committee representative to 28 percent for sophomore CC representative, which was the only contested race in this group. Turnout for Armstrong/ Pratt representative was 32 percent in the only uncontested first-year race, while all others had above 50 percent turnout.

These turnout rates are in line with last fall’s turnout and lower than last spring’s, though spring turnout rates are generally higher than those in the fall (see “CC Elections Bring New Reps to Council,” Sept. 28, 2016).

Vice President for Communications Michael Rubel ’19 has two ideas to improve future turnout. One is switching to a more user-friendly polling software and the other is having CC members not running for elections set up stations in public places where students can vote, as CC did in Doddrich for this election cycle.

MICHAEL RUBEL/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

The newly-elected members of College Council met for their first meeting of the semester in Hopkins Hall last night.

“I’m confident a more modern software could help boost turnout,” Rubel said. “The election’s physical presence on campus is key to turnout … and that’s something I’d like to focus on going forward.”

Additionally, Rubel thinks it is important that CC recruit more candidates. “In that respect, our biggest goal should

College students aid those affected by Hurricane Maria

By SAMUEL WOLF CONTRIBUTING WRITER On Sept. 20, Hurricane Maria made landfall on Puerto Rico, leaving widespread devastation in its wake. The following day, nearly every home on the island lacked electricity, roads were closed, gasoline was scarce and many people lacked sufficient food and water. In response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, the College’s Puerto Rican community has organized, buoyed by the sense that their collective action could make a difference for their home island.

VISTA is currently planning numerous fundraising efforts, and the organization has already created an easy opportunity for students to donate.

“We coordinated with the Chaplain’s Office and SoCA (Students of Caribbean Ancestry) to offer students the opportunity to donate one

meal swipe for this week,” Karen Linares ’18, a co-chair of VISTA, said. “The proceeds will be split between the Community Foundation of the Virgin Islands and the Fundación Comunitaria de Puerto Rico.”

The response to the tragedy began with three individuals: Mérida Rúa, professor of Latina/o and American studies, Agnes Lugo-Ortiz, a fellow at the Clark Center and Rosa O’Connor Acevedo, a teaching associate for Spanish. All three are Puerto Rican. “I heard about the hurricane on Wednesday; it was the day I had to teach two classes. I saw this hurricane destroy my island,” O’Connor Acevedo said. For her, the need to get involved was personal. “I had to do something, because I am here at Williams and enjoying all the benefits, but my family is struggling in Puerto Rico,” O’Connor Acevedo said. O’Connor Acevedo

lived her entire life in Puerto Rico before heading to Williamstown, and her family is from the southeast area of the island, one of the hardest-hit areas.

For Lugo-Ortiz and Rúa as well, it has been a daily struggle to keep in contact with family and ensure that their loved ones are safe. “I sent [my cousin] a text asking if she had been able to see my 80-year-old aunt. It took a while to get back to me, but she’s alright. … They always say that they’re OK and they have food and water today, but I don’t know about the next few days,” Rúa said.

On Sept. 24, O’Connor Acevedo, Rúa and Lugo-Ortiz met at Tunnel City Coffee to determine a plan, and ultimately decided to hold a larger meeting during which they could come up with a strategy for campus-wide action. Last Wednesday, that

SEE HURRICANE, p. 5

ARCHITECTURE STUDENTS BUILD "CELESTIAL PAVILION," ANGLED TO ALIGN WITH SOLSTICE, DESIGNED BY KATE LATIMORE '19

NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN /NEWS EDITOR

be getting upperclassmen involved,” Rubel said. “There’s some inherent difficulties in recruiting juniors and seniors: … CC needs to find innovative ways to communicate that CC can be a channel for those older students’ experience and perspective on campus. I think the key factor in achieving that goal

is communicating CC’s work on campus and making our meetings and procedures more accessible than ever.”

CC co-President Web Farabow ’18 said that he is ready to get to work.

“We’re thrilled to welcome a new council that includes five returning members and 11 first-time representa-

tives,” Farabow said. “We were impressed by the quality of this year’s self-nominations and can’t wait to get started.” According to Farabow, projects on the agenda for this semester include implementing a new student organizations bystander training program and improving Winter Study programming.

College changes teaching evaluations

By NEENA PATEL EXECUTIVE EDITOR Starting in the fall of 2019, students will complete Student Course Survey (SCS) forms online. While the form will be administered online, the blue sheets of paper that provide commentary for the instructor will still be administered in class. The Ad Hoc Committee on the Evaluation of Teaching of 2016-2017 implemented this change.

The committee was originally tasked with “thinking broadly about the question of what constitutes good teaching, and how we as an institution evaluate teaching,” according to chair of the committee and Professor of History Eiko Maruko Siniawer ’97. The committee's goal was to assess the methods that the College uses to evaluate teaching and take a closer look at how they are all related.

“We did not begin our work focused solely on the SCS form, or on the issue of whether or not it should be moved online,” Siniawer said. “As the committee’s ideas evolved, and as we talked with faculty and staff colleagues, a new SCS form took shape.”

After looking at the new SCS, the committee decided it would be much easier to complete it online than on paper.

“The new SCS form solicits qualitative comments and includes tailored questions; for various reasons, this format is most effectively administered online,” Siniawer said. The Ad Hoc committee of 2015-2016 also looked at the SCS and thought about moving it online; however, it was not done until the 2016-2017 committee changed the form. Many peer institutions already conduct course evaluations online.

While SCS forms will not move to an online format for all students until fall 2019, the committee recommended a pilot program in order to detect potential problems.

This pilot program would occur during the 2018-2019 school year.

In the spring of 1971, a voluntary college-wide course evaluation form was administered and was used

regularly by the fall of 1972.

In 1988, the faculty voted to make mandatory the SCS form as well as student interviews, which are interviews that the tenured faculty conduct of students enrolled in a course as a method of evaluation. In 1992, the SCS was edited and it became required to supplement it with another way of gathering student opinion, such as interviews or questionnaires.

“Indeed, before last year, the College had not done a holistic review of all of the methods of evaluating teaching since 1992,” Siniawer said. The current SCS form was implemented in a faculty vote in 2005 and has been in use ever since.

Across departments there are variations in how teaching is evaluated, and the standards and procedures for the evaluation of teaching are outlined in the Faculty Handbook. For the most part, all use a combination of the SCS form as well as student interviews, questionnaires and class visits.

“As part of the Ad Hoc Committee’s work, we brought forward for faculty consideration changes that emphasize the value of using multiple and different methods of evaluation to form a holistic picture of a faculty member’s teaching,” Siniawer said. In the fall of 2018, units must use three different methods to evaluate the teaching of untenured faculty members.

They will include the SCS form, a method other than SCS for gathering individual student opinion and a method for peer review that involves observing teaching. To gather student opinion, units can use tools such as student interviews or questionnaires and, to observe teaching, evaluative measures such as class visits can occur. Right now, the Faculty Handbook only requires usage of the SCS, so this is an alteration to previous protocol.

“Students should, then, be aware not just of the importance of the SCS form, but also of a questionnaire should they be asked to fill one out for a given instructor/course and of an inter-

view should they be invited to offer their thoughts on a given instructor/course,” Siniawer said. “And students should consider it a regular practice for a faculty evaluator to be present in some sessions of a class they are taking, as part of the process of conducting class visits.”

It is important to note that this is applicable only to the evaluation of faculty teaching and not research and scholarship, which have other methods of evaluation.

The College will significantly delay students' access to their grades if they do not complete their SCS forms for every course that they are enrolled in.

Siniawer is not concerned with a reduction in response rates as a result of the change. “At peer institutions with a similar incentive, the response rates for online administration of evaluations are around what they currently are here at Williams,” Siniawer said.

WHAT’S INSIDE 3 OPINIONS

Leniency toward sexual assault

4 NEWS

Title IX policies will not change with OCR update

7 FEATURES

Thesis considers black women & media

9 ARTS

Kenny Garrett wows on sax

11 SPORTS

Arsenault Livingstone inspires student-athletes

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2 OPINIONS

The Williams Record

October 4, 2017

FROM THE ARCHIVES Editor-in-Chief Emmy Maluf

Arts Editors Shaheen Currimjee and Li Yu

Managing Editors Marit Björnlund and Jack Brent Greenberg

Sports Editors Brooke Horowitch and Danny Jin

Communications Director Francesca Paris

Photo Editors June Han and Janeth Rodriguez

Executive Editors Michael Green, Rachel Levin, Maddy McFarland, Neena Patel, Lucy Putnam, Skylar Smith and Tesnim Zekeria News Editors Nicholas Goldrosen and William Newton Opinions Editor Taran Dugal Features Editors Jane Petersen and R.B. Smith

Business Managers Scatt Macdonald Isabella Wang Financial Manager David Madding Director of Outreach Hayley Tartell Head of Advertising Esther Baek Subscriptions Manager Greg Andreou

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE SINCE 1887 WILLIAMSRECORD.COM

JENNIFER SLEEPER ’07

Word on The Quad

CONVENTIONAL WISDOM

What should President Falk do to celebrate his last Mountain Day?

By ANASTASIA TISHENA CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

WILSON LAM ’21

He should finally sell every single marble block on campus and use the money for students in need: minorities, first gens and those in aid or denied aid.

MOUNTAIN DAY ROULETTE

Always looking for excuses to not do my work!

PUMPKIN PIE GELATO

This will go great with my pumpkin spice latte and pumpkin bread.

APPLES ON STICKS

Creepy addition to Paresky lawn. But apparently can be used to play golf?

READING PERIOD

Four day weekend! ... Followed by midterms.

NO TACO TUESDAY!

Dining services has assured us it will return next week.

TANIA CALLE ’20

Bodak Yellow inspired dance.

ON THE RECORD

ISABEL PEÑA ’19

Perform the Mountain Day remix of ‘Redbone,’ sign the name tags I’ve collected of his and give me a hug.

ANDY CASTAÑEDA ’18

Naked mile.

“The recent changes in guidance from the Department of Education (DOE) do not require any changes in the College’s current sexual misconduct policies, and at this point no changes have been made.”

Toya Camacho, Title IX coordinator and assistant vice president for institutional diversity and equity, on new Title IX guidance from the Department of Education, page 4.

“You tie it all up with a million rubber bands and make a little ball.”

Caroline Taverna ’19, on the creation process for her tiedyed textiles, page 8.

The opinions expressed in signed columns are not necessarily those of the Williams Record editorial board.

Op-Ed and Letter Submission The Record welcomes op-eds and letters from all members of the Williams community. The Opinions section is designed to reflect the varied views and ideas of the Williams community, and the publication of any letter or op-ed does not indicate an endorsement of the views contained therein.

Submissions should be sent to tsd1@williams. edu by Sunday at 5 p.m. for inclusion in the next Wednesday issue. Op-eds range in length from 650-750 words and letters are 500 words or fewer. The Record will not publish pieces that have appeared in other publications. Pieces submitted to the Record are not guaranteed a spot in the upcoming issue.

For Record policy information, please see our website williamsrecord.com.

“Samantha’s story resonates with so many on our campus. ... [The] takeaways are very relevant in the sporting arena, as well as academia and life.”

Head Strength and Conditioning Coach Rob Livingstone, on his wife Olympic swimmer Samantha’s presentation to students on Thursday, page 11.

WRITE FOR THE RECORD. MEETINGS: PARESKY 209 | 7 PM WEDNESDAYS

“The guys in the grades above us put in so much work over the past few years. ... [N]ow we are seeing the effects of all that hard work.”

Bobby Maimaron ’21, on stepping in as the Ephs’ starting quarterback this season, page 10.

BY THE NUMBERS

33

members in Fall 2017 College Council.

573

students who voted in the election.

26.11

percentage of student population that participated in the Fall 2017 election.

39

different candidates nominated for the position of CC Assistant Treasurer.

1

“Dr. Pepper” nomination submitted for CC Assistant Treasurer.

Money matters

e eli

t e

OPINIONS 3

The Williams Record

October 4, 2017

a cial la i

eld at Williams

decided to do with our time, not our money. Upon graduation, however, As an alumna, I have many reasons things changed. As we took differto feel nostalgia for my four years as an ent jobs with different incomes and undergraduate. Most of those reasons I paid off our varying levels of student anticipated prior to graduation: I knew loans, suddenly all decisions seemed that, after college, I would miss living to be financial ones. Where we live is with my friends and being part of a com- influenced by our preferences and primunity of interesting and intelligent orities, but also by how much we earn, people my age. Something I didn’t ex- which in turn affects with whom we pect to miss, or, more accurately, some- live. What we do with our friends is thing I didn’t even notice until it was impacted by our financial situations: over, is the utopian way in which money While working at a non-profit and livwas barely relevant in one’s daily life as a ing on a stipend, I had to plan carefully Williams student. when I went out for sushi with friends Granted, financial aid packages, one day and saw a comedy show with work-study positions and student loan them the next. Even the jobs to which debts were always part of the equation we consider applying is hugely depenof becoming a student at one of the most dent on our economic status; not all of expensive higher degree institutions in us have the luxury of ignoring our stuthe country. But, from my experience, dent debt and letting interest accrue money was rarely a deciding factor in for another year or two. making the day-to-day decisions of how Insofar as your experiences shape we lived our lives. your identity, being As a student, I took able to experience so spinning classes for much while on the ColMoney was rarely a free, even after I met lege campus is a huge the physical education deciding factor in making gift for students. It alrequirement.

Cross the day-to-day decisions lows them to not only country skiing lesfigure out who they of how we lived our lives. are, but also to be who sons were free, as was renting the equipment they are. The harsh refrom the Williams ality is that setting foot Outing Club. On the College’s dime, my off campus is leaving an ideal world and friends and I attended a Macklemore stepping into the real one, where money and Ryan Lewis concert, watched pro- matters significantly more than any fessional ballet troupes at the ’62 Center young and bright-eyed recent college for Theatre and Dance and saw Oscar- graduate would ever like to admit. nominated films at Images Cinema. The In a way, the College didn’t prepare us College paid for a Japanese drumming for this difference – we were sheltered performance by an all-female company, from money’s importance in our society. and it paid for meals with professors.

But by creating a place in which we were On a larger scale, money didn’t con- all on relatively equal footing no mattribute to our class’s luck at the housing ter our financial background, the Collottery. We all lived in dorms – some lege gives us the chance to develop our were objectively superior to others, but identities, form friendships and pursue our fate was determined by random our studies without the distraction or chance and nothing else. We didn’t need obstacle of something so superficial and money to enjoy priceless works of art irrelevant to who we are. In doing so, above our desks for a semester, courtesy the College also encourages its students of WALLS – all we needed for that was to focus on what is, or at least should patience and blankets. Thanks to the be, important in the grand scheme of generous book grant, money rarely fac- our lives. I’m thankful to the College for tored into our decisions on which classes promoting a way of life where money to enroll in. And we all ate in the same doesn’t matter, and I urge current studining halls, albeit with a guest swipe dents to take advantage of all they can do here and a few extra meal points there. with their golden ticket of a little yellow All of this is to say that the College ID card and the perks of being a student more or less evened the playing field at the College. for us. Here, our choices were in our own hands, and our identities were Libby Dvir ’16 was a psychology based on who we were and what we major. She lives in New York, N.Y.

Standing up to sexual assault

ddressi

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le ie c o readmissio o st de ts o

R Content warning: This op-ed deals with accounts of sexual assault and may be triggering to survivors.

A friend recently told me of a peculiar phenomenon she encountered.

Last spring, the campus was decorated with posters shamelessly asking seniors to donate to the College. All across Paresky, purple letters screamed ways in which seniors could give back.

One day, my friend noticed a poster inside a stall in the women’s bathroom that read, in small lettering in the corner: “I’ll donate when Williams stops readmitting rapists.”

Then below it, in a different hand writing: “YESSSS, thank you!!!”

Further down was a list, belonging to many different handwriting styles and pen colors. A list of names. People were listing the names of student rapists who were still at the College. Of course the poster was taken down when my friend went to check again a few days later.

When my friend shared this with me, I was struck – not only by how deep of an issue the readmission of rapists to the College is that so many people would react so quickly to a small comment on a poster, but also by the realization that the only setting in which people felt safe enough to criticize the College’s handling of sexual assault was on the inside of a stall in the women’s bathroom.

Let’s be real. It’s not easy to talk candidly about rape without repercussions. Except for “Take Back the Night,” where students bravely share their personal stories with the community, there aren’t many opportunities for the general student body to be exposed to the reality of rapists on campus. And there certainly aren’t opportunities for students to work with the administration to address concerns about

how sexual assault cases are handled. The College releases an annual count of reported assaults, as it is legally bound to do. On the College’s website under “Rape, Sexual Assault and Sexual Misconduct,” there is general information available regarding the readmission of rapists. According to a letter from Professor of Psychology and Dean of the College Marlene Sandstrom, during the 2015-16 academic year, “all five cases of sexual assault that were investigated and adjudicated resulted in findings of responsibility, as did one of the two cases of relationship abuse and both cases of exploitation. All students found responsible for sexual assault were separated from the College: one of the students was expelled, and the other four were suspended for two semesters.” Accordingly, four of the five students found responsible for sexual assault were eventually readmitted to the College.

I first heard that the readmission of rapists was a thing at Williams while watching a hockey game with the women’s ski team two years ago. Between sounds of cheering, an older teammate had us freshmen girls engaged in a story about a student who reported a hockey player for rape a couple years ago. She told us the student coming forward had a difficult time dealing with the dean’s office, and, after facing social isolation and humiliation when the story was leaked to the student body, ended up transferring to Columbia, even though the assailant was eventually found guilty by the College. Our jaws dropped. My teammate then asked us if we could guess what the hockey player rapist was doing now. She raised her arm, pointed to an athlete on the ice – an athlete we were all gathered around cheering for – and said, “That’s him right there.”

What message does this send to us students? That if you ever decide

d res o sible

to report a rape, it’s going to take a lot more than the bravery to share your story and to make it through.

You will have to go against the administration, you will struggle to find support as you go against your peers and you might have to get used to staying in school and attending classes with your assailant.

Back in my freshman year, I struggled to make sense of that story. I searched online, googling “williams college hockey rapist,” and what I found didn’t ease my sharp inner feelings of injustice.

Articles online criticized the College’s choice to suspend him for a mere three semesters, rather than to expel him for fear of “ruining the life of the [convicted] student.”

Sound familiar? Oh yeah, that’s the same logic that Judge Persky used to get Stanford’s Brock Turner out of a long jail sentence. We are better than that. We have to be better than that.

Under the changing leadership of a new president of the College, we have the opportunity to reconsider how we handle sexual assault on campus and the information that we share with the community regarding these assaults. We must work on better supporting our students who come forward to report rapes, and on creating an environment where all students feel that attackers are consistently and permanently removed from campus.

We’re better than shoving the issue of readmitting rapists under the rug for what we tell ourselves will protect the reputation of our school. Students deserve more of a voice than the secretive scribbling on a poster. We can make the College better if we work together as a community to solve the issue of mishandling sexual assault.

Skylar Chaney ’19.5 is from Wrighstville Beach, N.C. She lives in Fayerweather.

Taking it easy

Recognizing the merits of unproductivity O

OR W

“In my four years at the College, I’ve taken challenging classes in many departments, studied abroad and performed independent research. I’ve spent valuable time with great friends and teammates, participated in organizations seeking to make real change and taken all kinds of interesting electives and Winter Study courses. I’ve pushed myself academically and grown tremendously as a student and person.”

This is the story I tell prospective employers and inquisitive family members, and I see similar stories reflected in our admissions brochures. It is a story about productivity, about “making the most of my time here,” and it is the story I feel like I am supposed to tell. I could tell a different story, one about afternoons spent watching YouTube videos, evenings spent playing video games, weekends spent watching movies and shows with friends – but would my job interviewer nod their head approvingly? Would my grandmother tell me how proud she is that I’m “really making the most of my time”? It seems unlikely. We might say that one story is more impressive than the other, and it might be true that the first story is more relevant to a job interview. I think we forget, however, that the second story is important, too.

Completing assignments may be satisfying, but my leisure time is when I smile, laugh and really enjoy my time on campus. I sometimes have a hard time justifying this to myself – perhaps my leisure helps me recharge so I can be more productive in the future. After all, everyone knows that we should be productive: We consider it morally good to work hard, receive good grades, build solid resumes, pursue careers we are passionate about and find vaguely defined “success” there. At each step along the way, “success” will make us happy, and the whole thing will have been worth it. We should be driven by a deep passion for our work, and if we are not passionate about our work, we should either become passionate or find different work. Phrases like “work-life balance” have lost their sway, because our work should be our lives, and our personal time should be productive. At best, we can “work hard, play hard,” if we have been working hard enough to earn a bit of play, but we had better really play hard to prove we’re not “wasting time.”

Here at the College, I find myself struggling to feel like I have earned my relaxation – if I complete all my work early and have an entire weekend off, I can relax through Friday evening, but by lunch on Saturday I feel like a failure, like I should be doing something “better” with my time. I suspect I am not the only student who goes to bed worried about not working hard enough. It is one thing to face the pressure to achieve, but we are exhorted to constantly push ourselves to our limits.

As Williams students, “the best” potential members of the capitalist elite, we should be competing with the world every day! If we work hard enough, improve enough, grow enough to consistently accomplish our goals ahead of deadline – congratulations, time to set harder goals, join a new group, take a fifth class or a second major or a new club sport! I wonder, though: Is free time really free when we are pressured to make even our leisure productive?

There is a hierarchy of hobbies: Cultured hobbies like reading books are better than activities like watching television and playing video games, social hobbies are better than solitary hobbies and hobbies that result in a useful product or skill are more useful than those that only entertain. Meanwhile, the classic college hobby of partying may not be work in the traditional sense, but it can be “productive” and socially valued insofar as it becomes part of networking, part of “playing hard” and part of fitting in with other high-achievers. Even when we are not working, there is pressure to ensure that our time still serves some purpose. We want to justify our reading as educational, our dancing as social, our cooking as a valuable life skill.

I would like, however, to make a brief plea on behalf of our “unproductive” hobbies – our pastimes that keep us up late, make us procrastinate on assignments and might not even leave us refreshed and ready for work the next day. Can we be proud of the things that do nothing but make us happy? Perhaps we can justify it by thinking of it as hard work – struggling to change ourselves, in a campus that glamorizes exhaustion, to unlink our self-esteem from our perceived productivity. Maybe, if we try hard enough, we can learn to appreciate our free time for its own sake.

Connor Swan ’18 is from Tulsa, Okla. He lives in Currier.

KAYLEY MCGONAGLE ’18

Once more to the campo A student’s exploration of origin

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R

would cook for me and play with me. She used to joke that I would be One memory about the Domini- so rich one day that I would be able can Republic (D.R.) sticks out to to send her money for a generator.

So, kindergarten me drew the me. I was in kindergarten and the teacher told the class to draw a family’s house, and I showed it to a place that we loved being at. So I classmate of mine. I tried to explain drew my family’s house in El Cam- to him what it was, but of course I po, or the mountainous countryside didn’t do the best job. He was conof the D.R. Nowadays the house is fused and whispered, “Those are withering away and is in need of bad things.”

From what I can remember, that lots of repairs, but in my mind, I still have the same image of it from was the first time I tried talking to when I was a child. Sometimes someone who wasn’t a family memwhen I think I don’t have a place ber about the D.R. And, of course, I was too young to have here or anywhere else, the language to talk I think of El Campo. I remember feeling like I’m trying to figure about immigration or the Diaspora. To me, it I somehow belonged out how this small wasn’t a land full of pothere in that time. litical corruption, ecoIf I had to draw it island affects my nomic hardships and right now, I would draw a long, big place in the world. disparity – haunted by colonialism, genocide house. Living in an and dictator Rafael apartment in New York makes you long for a big Trujillo’s legacy. To me, it was the house – the irony is that the house wild paradise of my childhood.

As I grew up, I made assumptions I always wanted in America was in another country. I would draw the about the D.R. and its people from my red and orange porch. And put a lot limited knowledge that I overheard. of black dots too, because I remem- For example, I thought we were from ber the walls were bumpy. I would Santo Domingo because every Dodraw the zinc roof that used to minican seemed to be from la capital. moan in the night. My uncles said (My family is really from Santiago.) that witches were walking across All Dominican men had two families the roof. When it rained heavily, and were dogs. All Dominicans were it would be so loud that you had to supposed to hate Haitians because scream at the person next to you. I they were going to kidnap you or rob would also draw the old tree nearby you. And my family’s only ancestors that I was scared to go near because were the Tainos (I never thought I I thought a poisonous animal would could have black ancestry). These come out and eat me. And I would were assumptions I took to be true draw the neighbor in the adjacent until I overheard something else that plot. Her name was Issa. I’m not contradicted them.

As I got older, the D.R. wasn’t sure how she became close with my family, but she loved me like I was this vacation spot that I used to go her son. I would go down the hill to to when I was kid. This island in her house in the mornings, and she the Caribbean had a history I didn’t

know, that no one taught me. I had never heard of Trujillo until I read his name in one of Junot Diaz’s short stories. One time, I flipped to the index in the back of my history textbook and looked at the pages that mentioned the D.R. Those mentions were limited to when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. I felt proud that Columbus found the D.R. first, because it made the island seem more important.

There is an implied history for the island and, in turn, for my family. The D.R. was colonized by the Spanish, suffered from oppression for hundreds of years and became independent. My family was poor and left for America for a better life. My mother came to America and worked endlessly so that I can be here at the College.

Coming here, I learned that we’re big on sharing your stories. But I never spoke about the D.R. with non-Dominicans or Haitians. I still don’t know how to talk about the D.R. I’m trying to figure out how this small island affects my place in the world. Even writing this is a struggle because I still cannot articulate my connection to the motherland. Because the island is there and I’m here at the College.

Because my family was there but they’re here in America. And my history is here, but is it there too?

I try to learn as much I can here to create a connection with my Dominican narrative by taking classes and learning academic terms that my family won’t understand. But is that enough to make me learn and force a connection I never had in the first place?

Leonel Martinez ’20 is from New York, N.Y. He lives in East.

4 NEWS

The Williams Record

October 4, 2017

Bilal Ansari returns in new role at Davis Center

By JI WON SUNG CONTRIBUTING WRITER This fall, Bilal Ansari, former Muslim chaplain and associate director of the Center for Learning in Action (CLiA), began working at the College again as the assistant director of the Davis Center. This is a slightly different position from his job at the College from 2011 to 2014 when CLiA was in its earliest few years as an organization.

Even before he came to the College, Ansari was heavily involved with his neighboring community, social justice and education, working both as a retention specialist in a federal women’s prison and in higher education for several years. At the College, he focused on minority students who had a hard time finishing their academic careers and helped them with their future and career planning.

Ansari recalled his favorite part of the job back then as interacting with students at the beginning of their time at the College through the Where Am I!? First Days orientation program and seeing them grow throughout their four years at the College.

“As chaplain, students are going to come with their woes.

But seeing them become more confident and sure about themselves, I became appreciative to walk along their journeys with them,” Ansari said.

He also believed the two jobs he had back then were greatly related to one another. “I’ve always worked as an organizer within the neighborhood or the state and engaged with the community as chaplain – whether that was in a college, hospital or a church,” he said.

“At Williams, it felt like I was able to bring all of who I am for that role,” he said with a smile.

Ansari recalled the time when he worked with 300

EMILY CALKINS/RECORD ARCHIVES

Bilal Ansari, pictured leading prayer in 2011 as the College’s Muslim chaplain, returned to the College this fall as the assistant director of the Davis Center. churches in his state to receive universal health care before the National Health Care Act was approved.

Despite fulfilling his given roles to the best of his abilities, Ansari left the College three years ago to support his wife, who had become the vice president of Zaytuna College, a Muslim liberal arts college in California. He and his wife had already been working on different coasts before his departure, but he had promised

her that he would help her with her career once it fully took off.

“The goal was to help Zaytuna College gain accreditation, which normally takes five to eight years,” Ansari said. “But we got accreditation in two years, which was unbelievable.”

Ansari recalled that the hardest part of accreditation was teaching the faculty and staff how a higher institution worked. “The core of my job was taking what I’ve learned

here [at the College] and applying it over there. ... So that included setting up core programs and, at the same time, managing, hiring, recruiting, building a mission, taking care of student affairs, residential services and activities,” Ansari said. “I had to write everything from scratch.”

Even though he has only been away for three years, Ansari expressed optimism about the changes the College has gone through during

SPRING STREET BLUES From the files of Campus Safety and Security Monday 9-25-17 12:05 p.m. Paresky Center: The Office of Student Life reported graffiti on the window of Paresky 207, the College Council office. Officers photographed and documented the graffiti. While in the office, officers found additional graffiti on the chalk board and a defaced cardboard cut-out of a Candyland figure.

3:15 p.m. Sawyer Library: Library staff called to report that one of the two picnic tables on the north side of Sawyer Library was missing and that it was reported to them that the table may be the picnic table on the porch of Sewall House. An officer went to Sewall House with a library staff member and verified that this table was indeed its missing table. The officer contacted Facilities regarding the table’s return.

3:30 p.m. Hopkins Hall: The Williamstown Police Department (WPD) notified Campus Safety and Security (CSS) of several encounters with College students who violated the open container law.

Village Ambulance responded and transported them to Berkshire Medical Center.

10:27 a.m. Paresky Center: Custodial services reported additional graffiti in relation to the graffiti found the previous day in Paresky 207, the College Council office.

5:45 p.m. Hopkins Hall: An officer took a stolen article report taken from a student concerning a skateboard stolen from outside the Hoxsey St. entrance of Bronfman Science Center.

5:20 p.m. Greylock Hall: Officers evaluated someone injured during an exercise session. Upon arrival, officers called for an ambulance response. Village Ambulance wrapped and stabilized the patient’s knee and recommended going to the emergency room. The patient did not want to go by ambulance, but instead arranged to have someone take her in a personal vehicle.

Friday 9-29-17

7:30 a.m. The Log: Officers responded to a door ajar alarm, which they determined a contractor caused.

10:41 a.m. Eco Café: A dining services staff member called to report a co-worker in crisis.

12:16 p.m. Thompson Memorial Chapel: Officers responded to a fire alarm from the smoke detector in the basement. A chaplain had lit some incense which set off the alarm. The officer ventilated the area and reset the system.

Wednesday 9-27-17

Tuesday 9-26-17 12:42 a.m. Sawyer Library: Officers responded to a panic alarm in room 309. Staff on site said that a new student worker had opened the panic alarm case as part of their training, thereby activating it.

patient to Berkshire Health North in North Adams.

1:19 a.m. Wood House: Officers responded to a tip that there was a group smoking and being very loud outside.

When officers pulled up, a group of people ran across the street towards Garfield House. Officers detected a strong odor of marijuana in the parking lot.

10:14 a.m. Mark Hopkins House: WPD reported that they were responding to an unresponsive person in Mark Hopkins. Village Ambulance responded and transported the

5:37 p.m. Chandler Gym: Officers responded to a complaint regarding a person smoking marijuana in the plaza area outside.

Saturday 9-30-17 9:08 a.m. Paresky Center: Officers responded to a medical emergency. When EMS arrived, they offered to transport the patient due to their symptoms. The student signed a refusal form and stated that they would go to the Health Center when it opened.

10:03 a.m. Lasell Gym: Dispatch received a call that there were two squirrels running around in upper Lasell. Officers opened the card reader door and the east emergency exit-only door to create an escape route.

2:54 p.m. Health Center: Village Ambulance responded for a 911 activation and transported a non-College affiliated individual who had shown up there for help. Village Ambulance transported them to Berkshire Health North.

11:29 p.m. Perry House: Officers responded to a noise complaint. Upon arrival, officers found everything was quiet.

11:32 p.m. Williams Hall: Officers responded to a report of an

intoxicated student needing assistance. Village Ambulance arrived on scene and performed an evaluation. The patient refused treatment and signed a waiver saying he did so.

Sunday 10-1-2017 1:15 a.m. Paresky Center: Officers responded to Lee Snack Bar for dining services staff reporting an unruly student.

The student had fled but several dining services staff felt they could identify him.

that time. He came to the College in 2011, only a year after President of the College Adam Falk took office in 2010.

“Before I came here, I read all about what President Falk had to say about his vision for the College. And I think [throughout the years] there were really good hires that were brought on to make this place a more inclusive and diverse place,” Ansari said.

He believed that a lot of Falk’s vision regarding di-

College policies not to change following new Title IX guidance

By NICHOLAS GOLDROSEN NEWS EDITOR The College will not, at present, change any of its Title IX/sexual misconduct investigation or adjudication procedures in response to the rescission of Obama-era guidance on handling such cases by the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR).

On Sept. 22, OCR announced that it would be rescinding the Obama administration’s “Dear Colleague” letter from 2011 and a subsequent “Q&A” guidance document from 2014. This letter provided legal guidance on how colleges should respond to and adjudicate sexual misconduct cases in accordance with Title IX, a federal statute prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex or gender in higher education.

The Obama-era guidance included the use of a “preponderance of the evidence” standard for adjudicating sexual misconduct cases, rather than “clear and convincing evidence.” It also delineated a 60-day maximum timeframe for case resolution, allowed appeals from both the complainant and respondent and discouraged cross-examination and the use of informal resolutions for sexual misconduct cases.

The OCR’s guidance letters from 2001 and 2006 will remain the legal standard for institutions of higher education in handling sexual misconduct complaints.

The change in guidance, though, will not affect the College’s policies and practices. “The recent changes in guidance from the Department of Education (DOE) do not require any changes in

Jonathan X. Meng ’18 wins prestigious Goldwater Scholarship for chemistry, math

2:29 a.m. Sage Hall: Officers responded to a noise complaint of loud music. They found illegal drinking and drinking games.

11:11 a.m. ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance: Officers responded to a medical emergency on the north side of the building. Village Ambulance responded.

7:22 p.m. Hopkins Hall: The CSS dispatcher received a call from a student stating he was in the woods hiking the Broad Brook Trail, but had gotten lost as it was growing dark.

His cell phone GPS placed him one mile from the top of White Oaks Rd. near the Vermont border. CSS notified the WPD, which took over search and rescue efforts and began contacting other agencies including the Williamstown Fire Department, the town Forest Warden, the Vermont State Police and Pownal rescue for help searching for the student. College authorities were notified of the event, and the student’s parents were already aware of the situation and coming to campus from the Boston area. CSS learned that the student was found at approximately 1 a.m.

versity had manifested throughout the years and realized the administration had included “more of a rich variety of people that are serving the rich variety of students.” He described the process as a mirror. “At first it was just an aspiration. But now you can actually see and feel that the work is actually being done,” Ansari said.

Now that he is back at the College, he seems more than well-prepared to take on his new role at the Davis Center. “I don’t think my job will be that much different [than my last job at the College],” Ansari said.

“Instead of Where Am I!? at the chaplain’s office, the Davis Center holds ROOT during First Days. Instead of the Muslim Students Association, I now work with the Minority Coalition.”

The Minority Coalition is an umbrella group for the 18 different minority student organizations on campus.

“My job is to make sure that all the students are thriving, living, learning and seeing, and making sure that they feel like they have support in this space [the Davis Center] that is not too far off,” he said.

Ansari is most looking forward to working closely with students at the College again. “The Davis Center is not about ‘us’ as staff,” he said. “It’s about the students and what they are passionate about. No one has an agenda in this office. We work to support what is coming up within the underrepresented voice, and how can we echo that throughout the community,” he said.

As his final words of advice to students beginning the school year, he borrowed the words of a young African American poet from Los Angeles, Kendrick Lamar, and said, “We gon’ be all right.”

the College’s current sexual misconduct policies, and at this point no changes have been made,” Toya Camacho, Title IX coordinator and assistant vice president for institutional diversity and equity, said.

According to OCR’s press release surrounding the rescission, colleges can retain many of their current adjudication procedures, so long as a consistent standard is applied across all disciplinary cases, not just sexual misconduct ones.

Camacho also emphasized that the College continually evaluates its Title IX response and adjudication procedures and will disseminate notice of any changes.

“We are continuing to review the new guidance, which includes the withdrawal of the DOE’s 2011 ‘Dear Colleague’ guidance, to determine whether there are changes to be made that might improve our current policies, and we will of course notify the community if any such changes are adopted,” Camacho said.

The change in OCR guidance does not constitute any change to colleges’ and universities’ legal obligations.

“The rescission letter and Q&A do not add requirements to applicable law,” OCR’s press release said.

Camacho noted that OCR has begun the process of considering legally-binding changes, and that the College will remain abreast of such developments. “If that process results in new regulations (which, unlike ‘guidance,’ will have the force of law), we will then make any changes necessary to bring the College’s policies into conformance with any revised legal requirements,” she said.

October 4, 2017

Students aid Puerto Rico, USVI CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 meeting was held at 4:15 p.m. in Hollander Hall. “The room was completely full.

There were people even sitting on the floor, some sitting against the door,” O’Connor Acevedo said. Additionally, the meeting was attended by representatives from VISTA, the College’s Latinx student organization, Students of Caribbean Ancestry (SOCA), the Center for Learning in Action (CLiA) and Rick Spalding, chaplain to the College.

At first, the plan was to prepare a collection for Western Massachusetts United for Puerto Rico, which was shipping supplies to the island.

However, several hours before the meeting, FEMA released a recommendation that individuals stop collecting donations because it was unable to properly distribute the massive number of items that were being sent to the island. Because of this, attention shifted to 10 organizations that were providing services directly to the people of Puerto Rico by distributing food, water and gasoline, restoring infrastructure and providing emergency medical services. The meeting ultimately culminated with the idea of a 10-week fundraising drive, with each week devoted to a different organization. One week, they envisioned work-

NEWS 5

The Williams Record

ing alongside dining services to donate two swipes for every student at the College: one to Hurricane Maria relief and one to aid for those affected by the recent earthquake in Mexico.

On another week, attendees discussed a possible exhibition in Sawyer Library.

Participants at the meeting also frequently returned to the idea that many opportunities existed to help the people of Puerto Rico other than monetary contributions. The Jones Act in particular – a law forbidding non-American ships from

addition, O’Connor Acevedo worries about the strain that the natural disaster put on the island’s already massive $73 billion debt. “There is no way we can pay our debt with the disaster that we have now,” O’Connor Acevedo said.

In the week following the hurricane, the situation in Puerto Rico has continued to deteriorate. Some people cannot find gasoline for their cars, and O’Connor Acevedo reported that some of her family members were only permitted to purchase $15 worth of gas at a time. Rúa added that, for her family, there was a two-hour line just to get into the local Costco parking lot.

“This is only the place that people know of.

There are other places with no contact whatsoever,” she said. For Rúa, three days passed after the hurricane before she was even able to get in contact with her family.

Many also feel frustration at the lack of newspaper coverage and political response toward the event. “[The disaster’s] been ignored because that island has been ignored for a very long time,” Rúa said. Ultimately, for her, one of the best ways for people to help was simply to pay attention to the island’s struggles. “We have to get people to talk about Puerto Rico. … Just try to read what is going on. I hope people share so that they can organize and keep talking,” she said.

“We have to get people to talk about Puerto Rico. I hope people share so that they can organize and keep talking.”

Rosa O’Connor Acevedo Spanish teaching assistant travelling between two American ports – came up often. Critics of the law, which included O’Connor Acevedo and Rúa, argued that it was limiting the number of resources that could reach Puerto Rico, adding that the 10-day waiver issued by President Donald Trump was entirely insufficient.

“10 days just isn’t enough.

Recovery will take more than one to two years,” Rúa said. She called for students to contact their representatives and demand either a year-long waiver of the law or a full repeal for Puerto Rico, as Arizona Senator John McCain advocates. In

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Breaking news at the College ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜˜ ˜˜ ˜˜

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CONTACT ERM1@WILLIAMS.EDU FOR MORE INFORMATION

In Other Ivory Towers

By MICHAEL GREEN EXECUTIVE EDITOR On Oct. 1, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that 22,000 students have received the Excelsior Scholarship, a new program for State University of New York (SUNY) and City University of New York (CUNY) instate, full-time students, which will allow them to attend college without paying tuition.

These 22,000 students, who amount to about 6 percent of full-time in-state students, add to a total of over 53 percent, or 210,000, New York residents who now attend college tuitionfree. The program will expand in the coming years. Students with household incomes below $100,000 are currently eligible, and over the next two years that figure will jump to $110,000, then $125,000. When the program was initially announced in April, Cuomo predicted that, at its full size, 940,000 New York students (the number which have household incomes below $125,000), would be able to attend college without paying tuition.

Tuition for the 2017-2018 year for New York residents at SUNY schools is $6670, while at CUNY 4-year schools is $6530 and at community colleges it is $4800 per year. The program is estimated to cost $163 million per year and accompanies a $448 million in education spending by the New York government.

“The dream of an affordable college education is now a reality for tens of thousands of Excelsior Scholarship recipients,” Guillermo Linares, acting president of the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation, said in a release.

The scholarship is a “lastdollar program,” which means that students must apply for

other sources of aid before receiving the scholarship. For low-income students, this means that the program covers tuition after deducting the amount they receive from aid like Pell Grants. The program also stipulates that students must live and work in New York for the number of years equal to those for which they received the scholarship. Otherwise, the scholarship must be paid back as a loan. Students must also stay on track to graduate and colleges may impose GPA requirements.

The program follows the lead of states like Oregon, Rhode Island and Tennes-

see that have already implemented community college programs and other institutions that offer free-tuition programs. New York is the first state, though, to include students who are attending four-year institutions in addition to those at community college.

“This innovative investment in our students will pay dividends for decades to come and sets a standard for college affordability for the rest of the country to follow,” CUNY Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson, Jr., said in a release.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDREW CUOMO/TWITTER

Andrew Cuomo introduced a new scholarship program this month.

College hires Jonathan Miller as new director of libraries

By DASOL LEE CONTRIBUTING WRITER For new director of libraries Jonathan Miller, the goal is improvement, not necessarily change.

Miller, who has worked in the libraries of Ohio State University, Augustana College and the University of Pittsburgh, has begun his first year at the College after serving most recently as library director at Rollins College in Florida.

At Rollins, Miller and his team implemented changes such as creating 24-hour access to the main floor of Olin Library and adding a new multi-media center. Rollins received the 2013 Excellence in Academic Libraries Award from the Association of College and Research Libraries.

Miller, however, made it clear that he does not want to hastily change the College's libraries.

Despite his recognized ability to effectively enact change, his plan for the upcoming academic year is to get a better feel for the current library system.

“I wasn’t brought into Williams to be some great visionary,” Miller said. “The question is, what does the Williams community want from its libraries in the future? I’m here to help it have that conversation.”

Miller hopes to learn more about the workings of the libraries from library staff, faculty and students.

“How are [the library staff members] involved in their profession now?” Miller said. “How are they keeping up to date with the latest developments?”

Miller hopes to hear from students about how the li-

brary could have a more meaningful role in the lives of students and faculty and best serve the varied needs of the community. “If there’s a student group that wants to talk to me about the libraries and about their life at Williams ... I’d be happy to meet,” Miller said. “We really want to know what you have to say.”

While Miller’s primary goal for the beginning of his time at the College is to listen and observe, he is firm about certain improvements that need to be made to the libraries. For example, he describes the importance of having a more diverse staff, better able “to support a diverse faculty and student body.” He also explains the need to adapt to technological progress. Because “us-

improvement floating around his mind. He believes in the concept of the libraries as an important “third place,” a space separate from the home and workplace where people can go to feel more connected to their world.

Miller wonders if more food and drink options at Sawyer Library could make it a more popular third place.

“We need to think more carefully about the café.

When they planned this building, they were thinking we’d have a full-service café,” Miller said. “I’d like to hear more from the community about that.”

In addition, Miller is open to hearing community feedback about creating 24-hour access to the libraries. He notes that the Stetson Room is already open 24 hours all week. Although he is hesitant about also opening up other parts of the libraries for 24 hours out of concern for students’ sleep and related health concerns, he is open to discussing the entire issue.

Miller is aware of the immense opportunity and resources that the College’s two libraries have at their disposal and, consequently, he does not take his many duties as their director lightly. The greatest challenge will “not [be answering] the question faced by so many librarians in higher education today, ‘how do I survive with so little?’ But having been blessed with all of these resources ... what’s the best thing we could do with them?” So for now, Miller plans to take a deep breath, to look around and to simply listen.

“The question is, what does the Williams community want from its libraries in the future? I’m here to help it have that conversation.”

Over the past summer, the branch of College Health Services previously known as Psychological Counseling Services (PCS) underwent significant modifications, changing its name to Integrative Wellbeing Services (IWS).

According to Wendy Adam, director of IWS, perhaps the most striking change that Integrative Wellbeing Services presents from the old PCS is the name change itself.

Through the name change, the department wanted to stress that it provides services not limited to just one modality, psychological counseling, but rather a large variety of ser-

Jonathan Miller Director of Libraries ers come into libraries with expectations that are created outside of [them],” as Miller said, libraries must be able to quickly integrate new technologies into their everyday functions. Miller has witnessed many technological improvements over the years, from the introduction of the graphical user interface, or the browser, to the search box, and predicts that libraries will soon need to adapt to advances in artificial intelligence technologies.

But Miller already has many other possible ideas for

6 FEATURES

The Williams Record

October 4, 2017

One in Two Thousand

By MADDY MCFARLAND EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Tiiso has been one of my best friends since my first-year Williams Outdoor Orientation for Living as First-years (WOOLF) trip. In the years since, I have known Tiiso to be one of the kindest and most magnetic souls on campus. I was happy to interview her in our cozy off-campus apartment, before and after a surprise fire alarm.

Where are you from?

I was born in Botswana, which is in southern Africa just north of South Africa. It’s a landlocked country about the size of Texas, for reference, which feels big but I think that speaks to how huge Africa really is because Botswana is fairly small for Africa. My mom is also from there. Her family is originally from South Africa and I lived there until I was about 5, and then we moved to upstate New York – this really small town called Oswego; it’s a terrible place – really cold, actually freezing all the time. We lived there for a really short time and then from there I moved to Syracuse, N. Y., and that’s where my family still lives, and that’s kind of where I would consider myself from now, because that’s pretty much where I grew up.

What is Syracuse like?

I’ve come to appreciate it a lot more, I think. I used to not like it because it’s a very small city; it doesn’t really have a lot going on. And where I lived felt very small too but as I’ve grown up I have become really proud of it. I think the culture there is unique and there are a lot of really cool things about it and I think it’s also becoming cooler – or at least it seems that way to me.

[Laughs.] Part of that might be because I’ve moved away and when I come back things are ac-

tually different – as opposed to living there and feeling like nothing ever changed. But yeah, it’s not bad, I like it – I don’t think I would live there myself, like post-graduating – well, we’ll see.

[Laughs.] But I can appreciate it as a cool place and I’m happy to have grown up there.

PETRA TIISO MCGINTY ’18.5

Ooh, my favorite class is “Sex and Politics.” It was with Josh Vandiver, who was a visiting professor and just a really interesting and funny person. I took it with one of my best friends, Mary [Imevbore ’18], and we just talked about sex and power all the time. It was called “Sex and Politics,” but it really should have been just called “Sex.” It was really fun, and I feel like I learned a lot too, even though I did go into it liking it mostly for the entertainment value. But I came away from it having learned a lot.

And you’re a huge Syracuse sports fan, right?

Yes, so historically, Syracuse has had a really strong football program, but they’ve been really bad in the past decade or so, but it’s still really fun. The culture of the city is still definitely very much centered on Syracuse athletics and the basketball is typically really good – ranges from pretty good to really good every year – so that’s a lot of fun. I love going to the events – I love being in the Carrier Dome, which is like our stadium arena thing. I think it’s cool because I don’t know if I would care or appreciate sports otherwise, if I wasn’t from a place where I was always rooting for a team – but I think that I do have an appreciation for sports and an understanding of sports that I wouldn’t otherwise have. Which can be cool, when I’m watching other teams and I usually know what’s going on.

What was school like?

your

high

I really liked my high school. I went to a public school – Nottingham High School. It was pretty big, about the same size as Williams, maybe a little bigger.

And very diverse – that’s one of the things I really like about Syracuse. There’s a really big immigrant and refugee population, so a lot of the students that I went to school with were new Americans or the kids of new Americans, so there were a ton of different languages being spoken and people wearing the traditional clothing of where they were from, and it always just felt like there were

I know that you're super outdoorsy; what kind of backpacking trips did you go on growing up?

MADDY MCFARLAND/EXECUTIVE EDITOR TIISO’S HOMETOWN SYRACUSE, N.Y.

TIISO’S RESIDENCE HOXSEY STREET

different people and different things going on. It felt very vibrant and lively in that way. It was definitely very chaotic – academically, classes were kind of ridiculous, rules were not really a thing that people followed with any seriousness. So it was a lot of fun I think but in terms of learning, it was hard, and that’s actually one of the big reasons that I picked Williams. Because I had come from this really big, hectic high school where you had to literally fight to get a word in in class to have any level of participation, and all I had heard about Williams was about these small class sizes where you really get to know your professors and you’re gonna become best friends with your professors and I was like, “wow, my teachers can’t even hear me when I talk so that

A-Frame delights with fresh treats

By LYDIA DUAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER It’s 8 a.m. on a Tuesday morning, and while most students at the College are still zombified, Sharon Sutter has already been churning out batches of muffins, breads and cakes for five hours. As the owner of A-Frame Bakery, Sutter devotes herself to creating sugary confections for every mouth in Williamstown to enjoy. With a sweet tooth and a few other friends in tow, I paid a visit to A-Frame last week, with the goals of learning more about the bakery’s operations and buying just a few treats. Naturally, we left with half a dozen bags of various pastries.

We also learned that the bakery had been decades in the making. Sutter, a New York native, knew she loved baking from early on. After completing formal training in culinary school and then catering for years, Sutter and her family relocated to Massachusetts. “From there, it was meant to be,” Sutter said. “There was no better time, and I’ve always wanted to have a bakery, so I thought to myself, why not?”

With a family of six children, it was a team effort to get the bakery up and running, but now AFrame is thriving and approaching its eighth anniversary.

The heart of the operation lies in the baking. Fudge cupcakes with pristine swirls of frosting,

scones that crumble away to reveal cranberry and caramel and fragrant loaves of bread still hot from the oven were some of the many baked goods on display when we entered the shop. As we stood there gawking, Sutter smiled. “Everything is baked fresh daily. There are no carryover desserts from the day before.

Once it’s sold out, it’s sold out.”

It’s her commitment to freshness that has Sutter up well before the crack of dawn each morning, rolling dough and stirring batter so that there can be an array of sugary goodness lining the shelves long before the first customer visits. Her daily routine consists of baking the basics, “the muffins and staples that will be here every day,” Sutter said. But then the rest of her time is dedicated to making the special orders, individual requests that range from a cherry vanilla cheesecake one day to a specialty bread the next. These special orders are part of what makes A-Frame so unique, and Sutter finds them immensely satisfying. “People will call in asking for a batch of 60 cupcakes, and then I can figure out the rest of the details.” These orders give Sutter a blank canvas for her imagination to run wild, and she told us that she loves this creativity in baking more than anything else in her work.

For Sutter, the most challenging aspects of her work aren’t

What has been your favorite class at Williams?

the long hours, but that the prep kitchen is the retail space. The bakery is a come-and-go design without seating, where a customer can walk in, pick up one or two – or 10 – blueberry muffins and walk out. This setup has Sutter moving between the kitchen and the counter nonstop, juggling customer service with baking.

That, coupled with the possibility that “an order is misplaced. You never quite know what you’re going to get,” Sutter said, is what keeps her on her feet.

But Sutter wouldn’t do it if she didn’t love it. “It starts with a good recipe,” she said. Some recipes, like her apple muffins, have been refined over the course of 30 years and, at this point, have been nailed down to a science.

Others are recipes she’s discovered and modified. Once she knows how to get from A to B, though, it’s all about the taste.

When asked what makes a good pastry, she didn’t hesitate. “It’s being able to taste more than just sugar. If I use blueberries, you should taste blueberries; if I use chocolate, you should taste chocolate. It should always be more than just sweet.” She laughed.

“And, of course, everything should taste different.”

With that in mind, we tried a little bit of everything. The pecan brownies, the double chocolate chip cookies, the rich apple cake – delicious didn't even begin to cover it.

FAVORITE ARTIST DRAKE

sounds great.” [Laughs.] And it’s really funny because that’s actually one of the things that frustrates me about Williams now – the size, but it’s funny that it was one of the major deciding factors of why I came here.

What is your major?

I am currently a political science major, and my track within political science is political theory, which I think is way too hard for me, but is really fun and really interesting. The professors in the department are so good, obviously most of the professors at Williams are amazing. I really like theory – I like the discussions we have in those classes.

And I don’t think I would’ve done poli sci if I couldn’t have done the theory track.

My parents have always been into camping and backpacking, so even in Botswana we would do “bush trips” where we would camp in the Okavango Delta, which is northern Botswana, and then when we moved to the U.S. we were always close to the Adirondacks, so we would do camping and backpacking trips on various trails in the Adirondacks. So I’ve done a lot of Appalachian Trail trips – we backpacked the Grand Canyon when I was 11, the South Rim side, and that was really fun.

We’ve done other things out west – we did a Bryce Canyon backpacking trip. They were always really different in terrain and environment – I think actually every trail is really different, with backpacking, and it’s always just very relaxing and a really nice way to pass time.

I’m kind of sad it’s something I don’t do more, but part of it is that it really is something I associate with my family, and kind of growing up, so I think it’s hard for me to have the motivation to do it without my dad. He kind of plans and prepares everyone for the trip.

You're really into Drake.

What is your favorite song or lyric of his?

My favorite Drake song is “Connect” which is on Nothing Was the Same. I feel like it’s kind of a wild-card answer, just because I don’t think people really think when they think Drake, “Connect” is the first thing that pops into their head – but I think the song is really well done. It’s very layered, it’s all a baseball metaphor if you listen to it, but is also just about this relationship between two people when communication is off and there’s misunderstandings and stuff.

Favorite Drake lyric is way harder – I would have to think about that a little bit. … I think one of my favorites is, “This ain’t the son you raised, who used to take the Acura at 5 a.m. to shoot Degrassi” – I just think it’s really funny, because he’s so dramatic about his upbringing, all his hardships, but it’s like you were on Degrassi, that’s why you are a rapper because of your connections from that weird show you were on – that’s probably not my favorite but I do think it’s funny.

Do you have any advice for first-years here?

When I first got here, I felt this really intense need to assimilate and match what I saw in other people and what I was finding in the people that I met, because I felt so different than the people that I met. ... I feel like I’ve been happier since I carved out my own space at Williams instead of trying to fit in to what I thought the typical Williams student was, and I’m still working on that. I think it’s still hard for me to feel like I want to prioritize being myself and not feeling like I’m an outsider, but there is a place here for everyone that’s here, and you might have to forge that for yourself if you’re different or outside the mold, but it is important to do that.

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Email erm1 for more information!

mochi! mochi!

PHOTO COURTESY OF TRIPADVISOR

Nestled on Route 7, A-Frame Bakery is a favorite of students at the College and locals alike.

irresistible ice cream treats in six flavors to mix & match

shop local

Main Street, Williamstown wildoats.coop

October 4, 2017

The Williams Record

FEATURES 7

Senior’s thesis challenges depictions of black women in media

By MIRNA RODRIGUEZ and DOMINIC MADERA CONTRIBUTING WRITERS What started off as a journey in self-discovery inspired Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies major Rachel Jones ’18 to research black women in the media for her senior thesis.

“It wasn’t really until I got to Williams that I started thinking about these things,” Jones said. But, after taking classes with professors of color, particularly women of color, she became increasingly interested in dissecting the role of black women in society, herself included. She told us she “would definitely attribute [her] academic interest to the women of color professors” who affirmed that the work is not only important but necessary.

Now, Jones finds herself browsing through media and shows to find the roles that are available to black women in today’s world. From Beyoncé to The Bachelorette, her thesis focuses on the increased presence of black women in media and analyzes the romantic and sexual agency these characters are given. As opposed to past stereotypical representations, her hope is to promote black female roles that appropriately depict their own personal narratives.

Much of Jones’ project focuses on reality star Rachel Lindsay. Lindsay was the second runner-up in the 21st season of The Bachelor (the furthest a black person has come to winning since the show’s premiere in 2002), and first ever woman of color to go on to becoming the bachelorette in the subsequent season of the franchise.

PHOTO COURTESY OF RACHEL JONES

Rachel Jones’ research centers around depictions of black women in pop culture, particularly in the latest season of The Bachelorette.

“Now because we are in this really interesting moment where black women are seen on T.V. … I think it’s interesting to think of [the] agency in that and how black

women are able to create their narratives,” Jones said.

With this idea, Jones also emphasized that her work is particularly important now, given the turbulent political

Professors’ Corner: English Department The English language is full of specific rules and annoying contradictions that frustrate the heck out of those who study it. So, we asked four English professsors the daunting question: “Which English grammar rule infuriates you the most?” These are their responses.

Gage McWeeny: “Can I just quote my favorite pop grammarians, Vampire Weekend, and say ‘who gives a fuck about an Oxford comma?’”

Paul Park: “The worst is the which/ that rule. Did Shakespeare make this pettifogging distinction? Did Melville?

Please don’t answer either of those questions.”

Alison Case: “The rule against splitting an infinitive – that’s the one that says it’s wrong to say ‘to boldly go.’ It should read ‘to go boldly.’ ... I wish it would just go away.”

John Kleiner: “No prepositions at the end of sentences. No conjunctions at the start. And the rule that I’ve just violated twice and presented no problem to you. The rule that a sentence to be a sentence must be built around a verb.”

climate that both the College and the country are currently facing. She discussed the differences between narratives and agencies of black women during both the Obama and

Trump eras. “In terms of depictions of black women in the Obama era, you were seeing black women, but they weren’t nuanced versions,” Jones said. “It was like, ‘just

because we have a black woman as a main character, then that must mean that everything is fine and her depiction is great and dandy,’ whereas that is not the case.”

Jones also holds concerns about the black female narrative during the Trump era.

Specifically, she analyzes the last season of The Bachelorette, which took place during the 2016 election and made historical progress by having its first black female lead.

“This season aired during Trump,” Jones said. “It was interesting thinking about the things people feel like they can say under this political moment that we are in,” she said, in regards to the show’s contestants last season.

Jones intends to go to law school with an enriched understanding because of her research. Although her research is not tied to law, she believes it will ultimately help her better understand the idea of representation.

“I worked for the Innocence Project, which worked to help wrongfully incarcerated people, and a women’s center,” she said. “I realized how disconnected from real life the people who are making the laws are. … I do think the lack of understanding comes from our history.”

Jones emphasized the deep personal connection she has to the research she has conducted for her thesis. We asked her what black womanhood meant to her. “I don’t think it’s one thing, I think it’s changing. I think in the media, it’s allowing black women to not be tokens, … to be on the same playing field,” she said. “Black womanhood to me is how I’ve lived – on the screen, it’s not always filling the box.”

THIS WEEK IN WILLIAMS HISTORY: FROM THE ARCHIVES (OCT. 4, 2006)

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October 4, 2017

‘Antigone in Ferguson’ moves, lives beyond the stage

By CARLOS CABRERA-LOMELI STAFF WRITER A work of art can be thought of as confined within the space of its exhibition. The reflections gained from a piece or production of art are thus limited to the singular experience of a viewer, which is then limited by the frequency with which a viewer witnesses a piece, prior knowledge, preexisting biases and much more. Unfortunately, these limitations impede many artists and productions that present a unique vantage point on issues of racial justice, the relationship between the police and the policed and inequity in America, from reaching a larger audience.

These barriers, however, are swept away in the living, breathing, moving and inspiring work that is Antigone in Ferguson.

The production encompasses a dramatic reading of Sophocles’ Antigone, featuring actors including Chinasa Ogbuagu, Zach GrePHOTO COURTESY OF CARRIE ZUKOSKI nier, Duane Foster, Marjolaine Goldsmith and Willie Woodmore. ‘Antigone in Ferguson,’ which premiered on Saturday at the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance, is a moving play that speaks to injustice in America.

A dramatic vocal accompaniment by a chorus composed not just of for members of the audience to new king Creon, the brother The overwhelming pathos platform for the audience and our very own Gospel Choir and share their thoughts on the piece. and successor to the throne of coming from the chorus comple- members of the performance Concert Choir, but also joined The talent brought together Antigone’s father, the recently ments the moral and intellectual to understand the complexities

by John Leggette and Samantha for the reading of Antigone deceased and shamed Oedipus, conflicts formed by the reading. of the various perspectives and Madison of the St. Louis Metropol- was a gift to the audience. The bans the body of Polyneices Just as how Greek tragedy uti- opinions tied to the death of Miitan Police Department (SLMPD), two most powerful voices were from receiving a proper buri- lized a chorus as a background chael Brown of Ferguson, Mo., instrumental accompaniment by those of Ogbuagu, as the title al. Antigone disobeys Creon for the action of the play, so does by a police officer – and the many Jason Davis, Ja’Mes Davis, Wil- character of Antigone, and Gre- and buries her brother, but is Antigone in Ferguson, but the following shootings of unarmed lie Woodmore and Bernard Long, nier, as Antigone’s great-uncle, sentenced to death by Creon. music its chorus sings (com- individuals of color by armed poand concluded by a discussion Creon. These two characters Unwavering, Antigone never posed by Phil Woodmore) is a lice officers in the country.

– moderated by director Bryan clash in the Thebes of Ancient regrets her decision and even celebration of gospel music, a Antigone’s impassioned belief Doerries – that included panel- Greece, with Antigone wishing challenges Creon’s authority further translation of the original that she must bury her brother ists Juan Baena ’06, Officer Dar- to bury the body of her brother, by asking whether the laws of work into an American context. because it is the law of the gods ren Derby, Michael Obasohan and Polyneices, who died trying to man are higher than those of With these elements in mind, and the moral thing to do conKeiana West ’18. and an open mic conquer the city of Thebes. The the gods.

Antigone in Ferguson builds a trasts with Creon’s own belief

that firm law preserves a safe society. Both believe they’re right and do not consider the viewpoint of the other. This intensity in believing they are doing the right thing leads to their own tragic ends and pushes Thebes into chaos.

The fact that members of the SLMPD and leaders of the movement that seeks a greater justice for the death of Michael Brown have come together to make this production happen underlines its importance. Keeping in mind that Thebes has been plunged into disaster by Antigone and Creon not being able to reconcile, these members of the St. Louis and Ferguson community come together knowing that, to prevent any more deaths, the authorities and the community itself will have to cooperate, live and sing together.

What results is a space for continuous healing and reflection.

The conversations between the actors, members of the chorus and panel participants during and after rehearsals are all part of this purpose. The actual play is just a starting point for a conversation, and what grows out is an entirely new community made each time Antigone in Ferguson performs at a different location.

Thus, Antigone in Ferguson aims for a type of healing that does not focus solely on the Ferguson community, but which, as the selection of panelists that spoke post-play shows, also fosters difficult conversations and healing in our very own community of the Berkshires. Because, as Doerries remarked, this work “ends [when] the last thoughts and changes, that come much after, end.”

THE ARTIST OTHERWISE KNOWN AS...

CAROLINE TAVERNA ‘19

By ERICA GIBBLE STAFF WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF WILLIAMS COLLEGE

Performing the national anthem at Yankee Stadium was an honor for the Octet a cappella group.

Octet a cappella hits Yankee Stadium

By RACHEL LEVIN EXECUTIVE EDITOR A hallmark of athletic events is the singing of the national anthem before the game begins. For major events, like the Super Bowl or the World Series, famous singers or groups are often invited to sing. Last Wednesday, the Octet, one of the College’s a cappella groups, got a taste of what that must feel like when it sang the anthem at Yankee Stadium.

While it was the first time singing at the stadium for this particular line-up of Octet members, the group has performed there before – back in 1979. Michael Battey ’80, then-president of the Octet, wrote a letter to then-Yankees owner George Steinbrenner ’52, asking if the group could perform. The Yankees’ management said yes, and the rest is history. A recording even survives of the group’s 1979 performance.

This year’s group didn’t have to write a letter – it was actually suggested that it call the wife of a member of the class of 1952, Emily Kraft, about singing the anthem. After her recommendation to Yankee leadership, the Octet was invited and was thrilled to accept the invitation.

One of the most different aspects of this performance from the group’s other an-

nual performances was the environment in which they were singing. Whereas Goodrich or Dodd living room are spaces where sound is confined and people are packed in, a baseball stadium is vast and outdoors; as sound carries differently, microphones were essential to the performance.

According to Mack Radin ’19, co-president of the group, part of the preparation was getting used to stadium feedback. “There was a two-second delay between the microphone and the speakers, so we could hear our past selves singing while we sang,” he said. “We prepared for this by recording ourselves and playing the recording on a loud speaker, right in front of us and a few seconds behind us, while we practiced.”

They were also not in this alone: Brad Wells, a current artist in residence in the music department, the director of choral and vocal activities and a lecturer in the music department, helped them to “tweak and perfect our sound,” Radin said. With the help of Wells, the Octet was on its way to an experience unlike anything its members had had before.

The group’s hard work and extra effort paid off in the performance. “No one booed!” Radin said. A spectator behind home plate

even yelled, “You guys were one of the best national anthems I’ve ever heard!” Most exciting, however, was the response from Yankees’ management. “The most exciting reaction was from Debbie Tymon, Yankees vice president of marketing, who graciously invited us back next year,” Radin said.

This was the group’s first outing of the year, and the first with its new members who joined this fall. The new members “actually seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing,” despite it being their first performance, Radin said. “I guess they had nothing to compare it to.”

Additionally, members of the group were also able to appreciate the chance to sing in the stadium where many of them had grown up going to games. “Walking up from the dugout onto the field was an experience I’ll never forget. It meant even more, I know, to our members who grew up in New York City,” Radin said. “More than one member told me that this performance was fulfilling a true childhood dream.”

It was truly a unique experience for the Octet, but one that the group hopes to experience again. The faces and the people in the group may rotate year to year, but it sounds like this is one tradition that will hopefully remain a constant.

“You tie it all up with a million rubber bands and make a little ball,”says Caroline Taverna ’19, founder of Blue Moon Indigo, a home-dying company based in Wilton, Conn.

She goes on to explain that you drop the little ball of fabric in the dye for three minutes. It comes out green, but is then left out in the sun to oxidize and turn blue. The process is repeated three times for each product, “then you have to rinse all of it out and take the rubber bands off and that’s the best part.”

Taverna founded Blue Moon Indigo at the beginning of the summer of 2016. She sells cotton clothing, sheets, napkins and more dyed in her signature deep blue style. The project started when she casually decided to purchase an indigo-dying kit as a fun summer activity. Taverna started with a simple sheet and a beach cover-up for the summer; when she wore the dress around people asked her when she got it. “For a while I was doing it just for fun. Then I was like, okay it wouldn’t be so bad to make money off of this,” she said. As an economics major with an inclination for photography and crafts, she decided to bring the two together.

The tie-dying itself is time-consuming and complex. Taverna starts with two white powders and adds them to a bucket. The solution changes from white to green to bubbling purple on top to, finally, a vivid blue from which the company gets its name. Folding each piece of clothing, Taverna says, is key. “The folding is how you make the patterns,” and different styles of folding create different designs in the final product. Accordion folds, for example, make diamonds, while squares and swirls form starbursts.

Taverna’s first large order was for four of her close friends. She researched possible patterns and tried to match them to her friends’ personalities. Eventually, she decided to set up an Instagram account as a way of

showing off the products and selling pieces.

Last summer, she sold clothing to customers from South Carolina to Oregon through direct message.

Now, her products range in design and type.

She sells dresses, button-down shirts, shorts, napkins and tapestries and has about 12 different designs. “The most basic one is the sunburst,” she says. “I really like the square and the diamond a lot; I think those are the prettiest.” There are also some that take longer than others, including the design she calls the “multiverse.” She usually customizes almost every order because it’s hard to match the size and design. After completing orders, she has customers send in pictures of them wearing the clothing she has made. One of her biggest projects this year was making a duvet set with pillow cases and sheets.

Taverna’s process has evolved a lot, partly because she loves to experiment. One of her most recent patterns came about from experimenting with the accordion fold in which she adds strings in the rubber bands to create lines on the sides of the pattern. “With the little cloth napkins, I can be more experimental,” she said. As Taverna gained more experience with her medium, she began to notice how small factors, such as the tightness of the rubber bands and the intensity of the sun each day, could affect the final product. “It was cool to figure out all that stuff as I went along.”

She described how her love of dark room development relates to her passion for tie-dye. In a class she took during Winter Study, she had the chance to develop photos herself. “It’s kind of the same thing,” Taverna said. “You don’t really know how it’s going to turn out until you do it.”

Despite her success so far, Taverna remains modest. “It’s just something I do for fun,” she said. She explained that people ask her if she wants to expand, but she insists on keeping it small and handmade. Additionally, she can only dye in the summer because of the oxidation process and time restraints. However, Taverna hopes to keep the company running this coming summer and potentially beyond.

AUSTIN HUANG/CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Caroline Taverna ’19 sells her tie-dyes textiles through her own business, Blue Moon Indigo.

October 4, 2017

9 ARTS

The Williams Record

Kenny Garrett brings jazz greatness to the College

By MANO SUNDARESAN STAFF WRITER The silence was deafening.

There he was, Kenny Garrett, arguably the greatest living saxophone player, bent over on stage, lifeless and at his most human. Bassist Concordan Holt slouched his head. Pianist Vernell Brown wiped a tear from his eye. The silence crept on for no more than two minutes, but it felt like an eternity.

It came after the first half of the Kenny Garrett Quintet’s unforgettable show that took place Thursday on the ’62 Center for Theatre and Dance MainStage.

Garrett is a Grammy-award winning sax player and composer whose resume includes recordings with Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Art Blakey and Q-Tip. He has firmly established himself in the “you-have-to-know-therules-before-you-break-them” vanguard, his improvisations all dichotomies of jolting virtuosity and primal atonality.

Both were on full display Thursday night as Garrett and company burst into their first tune, “Philly,” a standout of Garrett’s 2016 album Do Your Dance! Over a Coltrane-inspired modal chord progression and frantic, wall-of-sound drumming from Marcus Baylor, Garrett unleashed the first of countless fiery solos that night. Laced with an undeniable East Asian influence, the maximal “Philly” sounded regal, Garrett’s alto saxophone blaring like a war-horn.

Despite being just a quintet, Garrett’s band sounded like a full ensemble, largely because of the furious interplay between Baylor and percussionist Rudy Bird.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ARTSY.COM

Kenny Garrett is a Grammy Award-winning American post-bop jazz saxophonist and flutist, who explores the eclectic industry.

The group members’ facial and bodily expressions confirmed their transcendence — Baylor’s wild grin, Bird’s calming gaze, Brown’s noticeable mumbling as he plucked out melodies, Holt’s spiritual focus. And, of course, Garrett’s intense, rhythmic swaying, pulsating back and forth in time with his riffs and flourishes.

The Quintet followed “Philly” with the hypnotic “Pushing the World Away,” an odd-meter tour-de-force defined by several layers of polyrhythmic Buddhist chants from Brown, Holt and Garrett. Brown later described the meaning of the chant to me as a “positive life force,” but hearing it on the main stage, the piece felt like a foggy funeral march for a deceased monarch, Gar-

rett’s saxophone crying out like a mourner. Brown’s piano playing took on a drunken quality, his phrases veering and stumbling over the beat with off-putting intentionality. As the song neared its end, the drums and percussion cut out, leaving just the piano, bass, saxophone and Buddhist chants. Garrett noticeably entered a trance-like state during this coda, sometimes filling space with fleeting flourishes, other times closing his eyes and resigning himself to the groove.

Then it was Baylor’s time to shine on “Haynes Here,” a triumphant F-minor waltz featuring one of the climaxes of the night in its devastating outro. As Garrett and Bird hammered in the threenote melody, Baylor gradually

deconstructed the beat, raising the energy and suspense by playing increasingly fewer phrases and fills. It all culminated in both Baylor and Garrett playing the exact same massive rhythms in absurdly dramatic fashion, anticipating each other’s hits with breathtaking precision.

Roaring applause followed, and Garrett edged the crowd on, demanding even more. As the clapping continued, the lights dimmed to a violet haze and the Quintet began playing a spacey, ambient piece — which Garrett later told me was not planned — buzzing with rattling rainforest percussion and muffled horn riffs. Yet once again, Garrett’s obsession with compositional deconstruction came with an

unsettling vengeance. Drums, bass and percussion systematically slipped out, reducing the totally-improvised piece to piano and saxophone. Brown fell out of rhythm, letting each arpeggio ring out in its wistful simplicity and pondering which chord to play next. Meanwhile, Garrett silently began to weep, mouthing out words that might’ve formed an invocation or a prayer. This went on for minutes on end.

And then, silence. There was no cue to remain silent; everyone in the audience just knew.

No one clapped, no one spoke.

The players on stage were motionless, heads down. I didn’t know what to make of it. I still don’t. Sometimes I haphazardly try to attach social or

political meanings to artistic statements, but this one was beyond that. What it represented was what it was: an absence of sound. It was the essence of jazz, the “notes you don’t play,” as Miles Davis once said. It was utterly captivating.

As suddenly as the silence descended, the Quintet snapped out of it and closed out its set with the most accessible, danceable songs of the night.

Brown took center stage on the funky “Backyard Groove,” slyly quoting the jazz standard “Donna Lee” in his quirky solo and receiving laughs from the jazz students in attendance. Garrett also bought into the quoting game, playfully referencing the nursery rhyme “Frère Jacques” at the end of the tune.

Coming off of the dark first half of the set culminating in that pin-drop silence, I felt a little uneasy about the Quintet’s sudden shift to a lighter mood, more straightforward grooves and increased audience participation. But it all made sense when the band played its earworm closer “Do Your Dance!”

There are countless jazz musicians with the virtuosity of Garrett, but what makes him stand out is his ability to seamlessly tap into nearly every emotion on the spectrum that listeners experience. Only Garrett can go from nearly breaking down in tears on stage to quoting a French nursery rhyme in a funk tune. Only Garrett can include both atonal saxophone noises and the cleanest sounding string of eighth notes I’ve heard in my life in the same solo. Only Garrett can turn a moment of silence into a masterpiece.

German film festival provides fresh perspective on WWII

By CECELIA MESSBAUER STAFF WRITER For the second week of a threepart Neuland / New Territories: German & Austrian Film Festival, last Monday Images Cinema turned to a documentary to explore one the many legacies of the Holocaust rarely considered in conventional historical narratives. In this case, Haymatloz, directed by Turkish-born German filmmaker Eren Önsöz, examines the multi-generational stories of German-Jewish professors who found asylum and raised their families in the young nation-state of Turkey. In doing so, the documentary takes a fascinating look at the evolving intersections of culture from the immediacy of diaspora to the present day.

The film looks at historical footage of interviews with the children of the elite academics who were welcomed by Turkey and employed by its universities while being denied asylum elsewhere. As members of the second generation return to the country of their childhood, they reflect on what it means to be Turkish, German and Jewish, as well as on their parents’ impact on the history of Turkey.

That impact is significant. Invited by the president of Turkey, Kemal Ataturk, to take part in his program of university reform at the same time as the Nazi rise to power forced them to leave Germany, the parents of the film’s five subjects played an integral role in shaping the academic

institutions that contributed to a broad “Westernization” and secularization of Turkey in the state’s formative years.

Regardless of the historical magnitude of their families’ lives, Önsöz’s interview subjects are just as remarkable for their accounts of their individual experiences growing up in Turkey, where they were simultaneously foreign and, for the most part, accepted. Their contentment with their childhoods, however, does not seem to spill over into the current Turkish political requirement. Many of them expressed concern over the presidency of Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the perceived receding of democratic and secular norms. (The film was released in 2016 before Erdogan’s April 2017 controversial referendum to amend the Constitution and switch from a parliamentary to a presidential system, narrowly passed over objections of voting legitimacies.)

Their concern was not limited to Turkey, either, as the five saw Erdogan’s plays to authoritarianism as representative of a wider backslide of democracy.

These fears look more prescient by the day, as the resurgence of far-right politics in Europe has now culminated in the far-right AfD becoming the third largest party in the German Bundestag, less than a century after the Nazis first took power.

The ominous backdrop of contemporary politics aside, the journalistic value of recording retrospective accounts from second-generation Jewish ex-

iles is evident throughout the film, especially since Turkey was a vital place of refuge but is so rarely acknowledged in popular histories of World War II in any context. The backdrop of a return trip to Turkey after many years abroad further enhances the quality of the interviews, allowing for the full range of nostalgia and sensory memory to come to life for the subjects who spent their unique formative years in Ankara or Istanbul.

Haymatloz is a Turkish title derived from a German term for homelessness, heimatlos, a choice that provides a sobering check on the positivity the film’s interviews have to offer.

The fact that Turkey was in many ways a place associated with happiness for the families who grew up in and shaped the country cannot change the fact that those families were exiled.

The opportunity extended by Ataturk, the figure they lionize, was ultimately monumental because of the horrific consequences of staying behind.

Having survived through the reign of Nazism, lived through post-war reconstruction in a state that is a unique bridge between Europe and Asia and lived long enough to perhaps see the world allow Nazis to rise again, the five GermanJewish Turks of Haymatloz give audiences a multidimensional and much-needed new perspective on remembering the consequences of Nazism and the history that has unfolded since.

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10 SPORTS

The Williams Record

October 4, 2017

Quarterback Bobby Maimaron follows family football tradition

PHOTO COURTESY OF WICKED LOCAL

Bobby Maimaron ’21 played for his father, Dave (left), from when he was 7 years old through high school.

By CHARLES XU CONTRIBUTING WRITER Football has begun this season 2-1, a vast improvement on its record last year.

Quarterback Bobby Maimaron ’21 has had a lot to do with the resurgence. Starting all three games, he has passed for 613 yards and four touchdowns on just two interceptions, helping the Ephs snap a 13-game losing streak.

Maimaron’s impact on the team has been undeniable – he brings a “big play capability,” head coach Mark Raymond said. This ability was evident in the first scoring drive of the year when he led the offense 93 yards downfield for a touchdown.

The 6-1 quarterback from Duxbury, Mass., had an impressive resume even before stepping foot on FarleyLamb Field. From starting

as varsity quarterback in ninth grade to leading his alma mater to a Div. II State Championship, Maimaron excelled as a Duxbury Green Dragon; he was even named Massachusetts’ 2016-2017 Gatorade Player of the Year.

As a senior, he made his way into the history books by passing for his 122nd touchdown, breaking the all-time Massachusetts high school record, which was set by for-

mer NFL player Doug Flutie, by 10 touchdown passes.

Bobby is not the first Maimaron to gain prominence through football. He has spent his entire football career playing for the same coach: his dad. His father, Dave Maimaron, is entering his 13th year leading the Duxbury program and has amassed a record of 121-25 with five Div. II Super Bowl wins. Given his background, it is no surprise Bobby decided to focus on football. “It has been a part of my family since I was born,” he said.

Consequently, he has been honing his skills and playing competitively from a young age. “As a 14-year-old freshman, [Bobby] was thrown into a varsity game when the starting quarterback was injured,” Dave said. “He finished the game with three touchdowns and no interceptions, showing poise well beyond his years and foreshadowing a bright future.”

Dave has followed his son all throughout his playing career to date. “[The] first game [against] Bowdoin this year was the first time since age 7 that Bobby played a football game where I was not his coach,” he said.

Even with all of his success at Duxbury, Maimaron

has had to adjust his game to the collegiate level, especially in terms of pace of play.

“The speed of the game is a lot faster in college – everyone on the field is a capable, talented football player,” he said. “In high school, you can get away with picking on the worst kid on the team, but there’s not much of that in college.”

He has also had to learn Raymond’s offensive system.

“At first, especially the first couple days of training camp, it was really hard to adjust to all the new plays and new schemes,” he said. “Once I got comfortable in that, I was able to play my game and focus on the mental aspects.”

Maimaron’s character on and off the field is best described by his father. “Bobby is a quiet, kind, confident but humble kid,” Dave said. “[He] always shies away from attention and responds to any personal accolades with recognition and appreciation of his teammates and coaches.”

As a quarterback, Bobby understands the importance of playing as a unit, and he will not let his youth hold him back from leading.

“As a freshman, it might not mean yelling at the guys or getting on the guys as much as a senior leader would be,” he said,

“but [it’s] more just [being] inspirational, leading by example, working hard and keeping everyone on the same page.”

Maimaron brings the same drive to the classroom. On Sept. 18, he was named one of 35 finalists for the 2017 National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame Chapter Scholar-Athlete Awards. Regarding the struggle of juggling sports, academics and a social life as a student-athlete, he said, “You don’t really have a choice. You have to go with sports and academics. Social life has taken a back seat at this point, but even just practice is a lot of fun. Being with the guys in the locker room is plenty of social time.”

And with his help, the team appears reinvigorated and is improving steadily.

“The guys in the grades above us put in so much work over the past few years, and it hasn’t really translated to much success,” Maimaron said. “Now we are seeing the effects of all that hard work.

Just the happiness [the upperclassmen] felt from the first two wins was awesome to see.”

Maimaron is hoping to repeat his past successes – but this time wearing the purple and gold.

Jim Duquette reflects on career as MLB front office executive

By NELSON WALSH CONTRIBUTING WRITER Although Jim Duquette ’88 was both a baseball and basketball standout while at the College, his career focused on only one of these two passions: baseball. Duquette served as a Major League Baseball (MLB) front office executive, including a tenure as general manager of the New York Mets in 2004. He later spent time as the Baltimore Orioles’ vice president of baseball operations and now works as an MLB broadcaster and analyst.

Duquette played center field for the Ephs and was selected to the All-American team his senior year.

“Our baseball team in particular was really close-knit,” Duquette said. “Regardless of our win-loss record, our coach, Jim Briggs ’60, really set the tone for us. He had the right balance of studies, athletics, what baseball meant to the overall campus experience and I think because of that it was an enjoyable four years playing for the team.”

Duquette went on to say that, on the team, there were “two good years and two lousy years.” Nevertheless, he valued the relationships he formed with others more than the team’s success.

“We made lifelong friends that we still stay in contact with,” he said. “That part of Williams shaped me, or at least shaped what I wanted to do.”

The team was not the only influential factor in Duquette’s time at Williams. In addition to Briggs, many other faculty members at the College had an impact on Duquette. “I played basketball, and [former head coach] Harry Sheehy ’75 played a big role shaping me as an athlete and as a person.”

Regarding academics, Duquette said, “There were so many professors of mine that made an impactful role in shaping me and my campus life here.” He cited in particular Professor of History Emeritus John Hyde ’52 and former Professor of Economics and President of the College Morton Shapiro.

After leaving the College, Duquette took a rather un-

likely path into the MLB. His cousin, current Baltimore Orioles general manager Dan Duquette, was already working in the league as an assistant. The family connection, coupled with the strength of Duquette’s credentials, landed him a front office job with the Mets in 1991.

Duquette gives credit to his Williams education for his ability to succeed in the world of baseball.

“I happened to be lucky in terms of coming along when they were looking for versatile front office executives who didn’t have necessarily a professional baseball background but had a playing background and a level of intelligence where they could run a front office,” he said. “Working for the Mets has made my livelihood and made my career and I’m thankful for all those opportunities, but I think it’s personally the education at Williams and the liberal arts background that, for me, was great training to get into the front office work.”

Duquette now works as the co-host of MLB Network’s radio show “Power Alley.” He

PHOTO COURTESY OF CBS NEW YORK

Jim Duquette ’88 served as the general manager of the New York Mets for the 2004 MLB season. tries to be a fair and considerate commentator.

“Baseball looks a lot easier when you’re watching it on television or from afar than when you’re in the middle of it,” he said. “Among other things, what I try to do as an analyst is, rather than be overly critical, the important thing to always remember

is that baseball is hard and there are only a certain small percentage of players who can play at the highest level and even the best players have a level of failure in their game.

That part of it is something you try not to lose perspective on when you’re making analysis. You have to make sure you have a balance.”

Duquette ties this philosophy, his analytical abilities and quick learning to his education.

“I didn’t have any experience doing it,” he said, “but it was one of those things where I could pay attention to detail, once again going back to … some of the things I learned at the College [that] translated and stayed with me at this job.”

CAPTAINS’ CORNER: GRANT RAFFEL ’17.5 I understand that many members of the men’s golf team have nicknames. What is yours?

Well, as a first-year, I was called “the Bear.” As the older classes have left, it has kind of fallen by the wayside, though. I think it’s because I seemed like a bear as I walked around the golf course – whatever that means.

At what age did you start playing golf?

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

By JACK BRENT GREENBERG MANAGING EDITOR

Team: Men’s golf Hometown: Palo Alto, Calif.

Residence: Dodd House Major: Political science Snack bar order: “I’m too old for snack bar.”

Favorite word: “Squid”

I started playing when I was pretty young – probably 5 or 6 years old. I got into it more competitively when I was older, maybe around 12 or so. I played throughout high school and decided it was something I wanted to keep doing in college, and here I am, more than four years later, still at Williams.

Did you play any other sports when you were growing up?

I did. I probably played basketball the longest; I played that [up until] middle school. I enjoyed that, but it got to a point where, on the weekends, I was having basketball games, and I would have rather been playing golf. I decided to focus on golf because that is what I enjoyed.

What was your high school golf team like?

It was a lot of fun. It was a good group of people, and we had a fun and entertaining coach. I

made a lot of friends. I did not have any classmates on the team with me, so it was all people younger or older. We did really well. It’s very competitive in California, but we were one of the best public schools in our area.

Some of the private schools were a bit of a step above, but we certainly held our own.

Why did you decide to attend and play golf at the College?

I think Div. III and the NESCAC have a really strong balance between being a student and an athlete, and that is kind of lost in Div. I, I think. You have to be an athlete first, and you have to choose your classes and your major around your athletic schedule. Basically, with the level of golf I was at, if I tried to play at a Div. I school, it would’ve been a pretty lowlevel school. It would’ve been a lot of time without much payoff. I was definitely attracted to the NESCAC and Williams, in particular, for that nice balance and being able to be a student first and have competitive athletics on the side. At Williams, obviously Taconic [Golf Club] – it doesn’t get much better than that, being able to walk 10 minutes from class and be on the golf course. We are really lucky to have that. When I visited here, it was pretty apparent right off-the-bat that it would be a unique thing, to have our own course and a very good course right on campus.

Other than that, it was more the

school: a liberal arts school with strong academics.

How does the golf team differ from other teams?

How has the culture on the team evolved over the years?

It’s very different. We aren’t based out of the gym or Weston Field. We aren’t as in the loop with the trainers, [equipment room staff]. … It’s a little different, but in a good way. We have Taconic, which is our home base. Also, golf is a sport where practice has to be tailored to the individual because people have different needs week-to-week. If people are playing well, they want to be on the golf course and shoot some scores. If they are struggling with their swing, they want to go to the range.

If they’re struggling with their putting, they probably want to go to the putting green. Starting last fall, instead of having team range sessions and team playing days, we left it open to people. They could just report back how it went. Practice for us looks different than it does for most other teams, but I think it’s definitely effective for making us better golfers.

I think it has actually changed a lot. Freshman year, we had a very large team of about 20 people.

There were kind of two groups of people on the team; there were the people pushing for the lineup and the other people who probably didn’t think they had a chance to make the lineup. Now, we have more of a cohesive group.

Everyone knows that, if they play well, they will be in the mix. It is probably a little bit of a tighter group. That’s partly because it’s a smaller team, but that’s also because the culture has changed a little bit and brought everyone closer together.

Going off of that, how do you think the structure of tournament play (only a handful of players going to compete) shapes the team’s ethos?

That’s the main challenge as the leader of the team: to make sure that those guys who are sticking around [at the College] on the weekends, instead of travelling, still feel like they are a part of the team and still in the mix if they play well. We’ve done a good job of making the weekends at home a qualifier of sorts for the people who stick around here.

We try to keep the communication open and make sure they feel in the loop.

You left the College in spring 2016 to work for Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign. What impact did that experience have on your golf career and relationship with the team, especially since you are, as a result, in your third season as a captain?

I had gone abroad in the fall of 2015 and enjoyed that a lot. I was in Scotland and got

to play some golf there and, just as that was drawing to a close … I just realized I was looking to do something else for the next semester. Basically, it happened that the 2016 presidential election was in full-swing at that point, and I jumped at the opportunity to go help with [the Sanders] campaign. That was a great experience for me as a political science major to get out into the real world and learn a little bit more about American politics outside the classroom.

I kept in touch with the team and came back on campus once or twice that spring. Last year, after returning to the team from a full year away, I felt a little disconnected from Williams, but jumping right back in was no problem. It was a good decision, a worthwhile thing to do. It didn’t have much of an impact on my golf game or the golf team.

And what’s your favorite course in the world?

Oh my! Having spent a semester in Scotland, some of the courses I played there were pretty spectacular with all of the history there. It’s a different style of golf than what we have here in the United States. Probably the Old Course at St Andrews. Not so much the course itself, but the history and the environment – it’s kind of a part of town there in St Andrews. It’s a pretty special place since that is where golf started. I got to play that a number of times.

October 4, 2017

SPORTS 11

The Williams Record

Gold medalist Livingstone advocates self-compassion, acceptance

By BROOKE HOROWITCH SPORTS EDITOR

The whispers turned to screams when Livingstone changed coaches at 14, and practices frequently became shouting matches. Her new coaches commented on her chest size because she was a late bloomer and threw equipment at swimmers. She yelled at the coaches and was routinely kicked out of practice.

“I wondered to myself, ‘How many people would even come to your funeral?’” she said.

Fortunately, her mother quickly intervened and asked if she wanted to switch programs.

Relieved, Livingstone began swimming for a team that practiced 64 miles from her house; her father dutifully drove both ways. “The sport became fun again,” she said. “That flame inside me rekindled.”

She learned several important lessons that year. “Surround yourself with people who lift you higher,” she told the audience.

Her parents and three siblings made sacrifices to support her, and she became a better swimmer and happier teenager because of them. She also encouraged student-athletes to avoid falling prey to perfectionism.

Indeed, at her first Olympic trials, Livingstone realized that even Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson, her idol, was not perfect. She initially chased Thompson and asked for her autograph, but Livingstone’s coach reminded her that she had to race against her hero. “Superhero does not mean superhuman,” Livingstone said. “No one is really superhuman.”

Several years later, on the World Cup circuit, Thompson again inspired Livingstone and helped her confront her perfectionism. The two were swimming in Imperia, Italy, and Thompson, who held the world record in the

Samantha Arsenault Livingstone has persevered through countless challenges. A top swimmer, she earned a gold medal in the 4x200 freestyle relay at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. A mother of four, she has confronted her perfectionism, quelled her inner critic and overcome an eating disorder. Now based in Williamstown, she travels around the country to tell others that they, too, can “do hard things” and learn to accept themselves.

Last Thursday, Livingstone delivered a presentation entitled, “Why Winning Gold Wasn’t Enough,” in Griffin 3.

She began by describing her childhood dream to be an Olympian. At age 5, she was planning to be a competitive gymnast, but realized that she was too tall.

However, she was determined to make it to the biggest stage.

“The dream to be an Olympian and to be the best in the world remained,” she said. “I had an inner burning desire to know what it was like atop the podium.”

When she was 9 years old, Livingstone began swimming competitively. After one season, she was the top New England swimmer in her age group. She continued to improve rapidly and qualified for the Olympic trials by age 15.

Despite her success, Livingstone confessed that she struggled throughout those early years of competition. When she was 13, she said that she felt exposed and unworthy when racing at Junior Nationals and worried about wasting her parents’ money.

“The locker room became a place of isolation where whispers in my head became increasingly loud,” she said.

100 butterfly at the time, had a bad race but remained cheerful afterward. “I was obsessing about the things I couldn’t control, but that was a major shift for me,” Livingstone said.

While swimming in Sydney on that same tour, Livingstone and fellow Olympic swimmer Natalie Coughlin made a pact that they would return to Australia for the 2000 Olympics, so when she went home, Livingstone dedicated herself to training. “There are so many more lows in training seven hours a day than there were highs, but that’s all part of it,” she said. The hard work paid off in the preliminary and semifinal rounds of the Olympic Trials. “I was the fastest American,” she recalled. “It scared me that I went that fast. It was easy, and I was so ahead of the field.”

However, she came in third in the finals. She could not accept an imperfection – asthma. She refused to admit weakness and take her inhaler before the race, so she collapsed at the 175-meter mark. Her third-place finish meant she made the Olympic relay team but did not qualify for the individual competition.

“It was the most devastating moment in my swimming career at that point,” she said. “I felt like a failure. I couldn’t even look at the board with the names of the Olympians and cried on the airplane. But I never told that story to anyone because people want the Hallmark version.”

Livingstone felt pressure to present a happy façade after winning gold with her relay team.

She showed the audience a photograph, which was published in Sports Illustrated, of her and her teammates yelling as the race concluded. She mentioned that her swim cap did not feature her name because she forgot her

NICOLE CHEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER

Samantha Arsenault Livingstone delivered a presentation to students in Griffin 3 last Thursday. own, and had to wear a teammate’s and color over the name.

“It made me feel like I didn’t belong,” she said. “I led off and touched in sixth place, which my coach asked me to do. It was the fastest American time besides my morning swim, but it wasn’t good enough. I was screaming in the photo because I felt like I had let my teammates down.”

On the podium, Livingstone continued to doubt herself. “I felt vastness and openness because we were the best in the world, but it wasn’t enough,” she said.

“I was just a relay girl.” Her inner critic also shouted at her. “I had stepped on the scale the night before and cried all night because I felt like I wasn’t worthy enough or lean enough,” she said.

After the Olympics, Livingstone continued her swimming career at the University of Michigan. She struggled with an eating disorder during her early years of college after a coach told her that she had to gain strength without putting on weight. At first, she

rejected help, but after working with life coach Greg Harden, who has also assisted Tom Brady, she realized that “asking for help is a sign of courage and strength.”

Livingstone stopped using food as a weapon after her freshman year and transferred to the University of Georgia, where she found a true sense of belonging and won an NCAA title as a senior captain. “I knew my inner critic was not in charge there,” she said.

After college, Livingstone taught high school biology for several years. When she became a mother, she stopped teaching and now focuses on sharing her true story and the confidence she has developed. “Self-compassion is the key to resilience, and you can do hard things,” she reminded the student-athletes at the conclusion of her presentation.

Katie Brule ’20, a member of the women’s basketball team, said she appreciated Livingstone’s honesty and message.

“I’ve never heard someone who

achieved at such a high level say they didn’t feel good enough,” Brule said. “That was refreshing to hear. I identified with it, and she talked about self-compassion a lot, which made me want to stop punishing myself as much when I don’t have a good day and stay positive.”

Rob Livingstone, the College’s head strength and conditioning coach, described the importance of his wife’s presentation.

“Samantha’s story resonates with so many on our campus,” he said. “While it will impact so many, there are also many on this campus that are not ready to hear or accept this information and guidance. It takes one’s vulnerability and willingness to get there to really benefit and hear Samantha has to say.

“Students and student-athletes alike should remain proactive and equip themselves with the tools that Samantha spoke about. Samantha’s takeaways are very relevant in the sporting arena, as well as academia and life.”

Football suffers 17-9 loss to Trinity despite stellar defensive effort

By KEVIN COAKLEY STAFF WRITER

first down before forcing a punt on the first possession. After the punt, however, an Eph fumble gave the ball back to the Bantams at the Williams 12-yard line. Two plays later, Trinity running back Max Chipouras found the end zone to give his team a 7-0 lead.

Despite the early score, defense would be the story of the game. Both teams’ defenses had been strong in the first two weeks. The Ephs had allowed seven points in each of their

Football (2–1) suffered its first loss of the season last Saturday to defending NESCAC champion Trinity in Hartford, Conn. The Bantams capitalized on four Eph turnovers to prevail 17-9, notching their 12th straight win dating back to 2015.

Trinity attempted to set the tone early with its run game, but the men yielded only one

games, and the Bantams had not given up a point until Saturday.

After several short drives, both teams looked to create some momentum. The Ephs answered toward the end of the first quarter. Starting at about midfield, the men worked their way to the Trinity 15, by way of two catches

by Justin Nelson ’21 for 10 and 22 yards, respectively. Quarterback Bobby Maimaron ’21 and the offense were ultimately kept out of the end zone, and the Ephs

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Running back Connor Harris ’18 scored the lone Williams touchdown in Saturday’s 17-9 loss to Trinity.

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"What Psychology Can Tell Us About Criminal Justice" Laura Smalarz, assistant professor of psychology, will discuss the role of social biases in the criminal justice system

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settled for a 28-yard field goal, which Min Kyu Park ’21 converted to bring the score to 7-3.

The Williams defense again forced a three-and-out on the next drive. The Ephs, however, muffed the catch on the Bantam punt, and the Bantams pounced on the ball at the Williams 15.

Trinity took only two plays to score another touchdown, converting by way of a 9-yard completion from quarterback Sonny Puzzo to Koby Schofer.

For the next six drives after Trinity’s second touchdown, neither team managed a first down.

Linebacker Jarrett Wesner ’21 led the defensive effort with five tackles in the first half, including three tackles for a loss.

After one more Trinity threeand-out, the Williams offense had one more chance to score a touchdown before halftime.

Starting at their own 7 yard-line, the Ephs had to move quickly, but two runs by Connor Harris ’18 totaled 29 yards. Then, a 15-yard Trinity penalty, coupled with a 14-yard reception by Nelson, brought the men into plus territory. The Bantams nearly pulled off a stop, but on fourth and 7, Maimaron completed a crafty rollout pass to a wide-open Harris to move the chains. With time running out, Maimaron took a shot to the end zone, but Trinity cornerback Matt Patry intercepted to deny intended

receiver Frank Stola ’21 a score.

The score was 14-3 Bantams going into halftime, with the Ephs receiving the second-half kickoff.

The Eph offense started strong on its first possession of the third quarter, and a 19-yard reception

by Nelson brought the Ephs into the red zone. Harris promptly caught a pass and took it 15 yards for a touchdown. A botched snap on the extra point, however, made the score 14-9.

Trinity responded a few drives later. After gaining 44 yards to the Williams 29, the Bantams brought on kicker Eric Sachse, who had converted 67 straight kicks (either field goals or extra points). He buried the 46-yard field goal to bring the lead to 17-9.

The score took away the Ephs’ momentum. On their subsequent drive, the men were forced to punt on after a three-and-out.

Trinity marched into the red zone for the third time in the game. Sachse, however, missed a field goal attempt – his first miscue in 68 attempts – keeping it a one-possession game.

An Adam Regensburg ’18 punt pinned Trinity at its 1-yard line, and the Ephs started their next possession with great field position at the Bantams’ 35. On the first play of the drive, however, linebacker Carty Campbell intercepted Maimaron, a decisive blow. The Ephs got the ball back with only five seconds left in the

game, but after an incomplete pass, the game ended 17-9 in the Bantams’ favor.

Despite the loss, the men had a 19-9 advantage in first downs and scored the first points Trinity has allowed this season. The Eph defense was stellar again but hampered by the turnovers.

The Bantams edged the Ephs 275-251 in total offensive yardage. Maimaron was 16-of-35 for 164 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. Puzzo was 14-of22 for 163 and a touchdown.

Harris had 19 carries for 76 yards and a fumble, as well as two catches for 26 yards and a touchdown. Nelson led the receiving corps with six catches for 59 yards. For the Bantams, Chipouras garnered 80 yards on 28 carries.

Luke Apuzzi ’20 and TJ Rothmann ’21 led the Ephs with 10 tackles, while co-captain Chris Hattar ’18 had a sack and five tackles. Cornerback Amyhr Barber ’19 also broke up three passes on the day. Trinity was led defensively by Campbell, who, in addition to his crucial interception, had eight tackles.

“Our team showed a lot of poise and toughness,” head coach Mark Raymond said. “Unfortunately, the turnovers were very costly.”

The men will look to rebound at home versus Bates on Saturday, with kickoff at 1 p.m.

ATHLETES OF THE WEEK “Brian’s victory was huge.

Our region is one of the best in the country, so it was awesome for him to emerge at the top. I was not surprised because of how hard he works; he always trains with purpose and intensity. It’s great for him and the team to be rewarded by the process.”

–Head coach Dan Greenberg ’08

“Natasha is an incredible creative presence for our team. Her ideas and ability to execute those ideas have been on point this fall.

Just as importantly, she is working so hard on the defensive side of the ball. She is a complete player and a reason we’ve had such a great start to the season.”

–Head coach Michelyne Pinard

BRIAN GRODECKI ’18

NATASHA ALBANEZE ’18

MEN’S TENNIS WAYNE, PA.

WOMEN’S SOCCER NORTHPORT, N.Y.

Grodecki, a tri-captain, won the singles tournament at the ITA New England Championship last weekend. In doubles, he teamed up with Alex Taylor ’20 and finished second.

Albaneze scored a direct corner kick goal in the 102nd minute to defeat Connecticut College on Saturday. The NESCAC Player of the Week, she added two assists on Sunday to her conference-leading total of seven.

12 SPORTS

The Williams Record

October 4, 2017

Men’s golf takes second, qualifies for NESCAC Championship

By JAKE FOEHL TEAM CORRESPONDENT Men’s golf earned second place at the NESCAC Fall Qualifier last weekend in Hartford, Conn.

Trinity successfully defended its home course on its way to victory in the tournament. The results from the 6513-yard par-72 Indian Hill Country Club mean that an abbreviated field of NESCAC teams will be making the trip back to Connecticut for the NESCAC Championship in late April. The four-team field will be rounded out by Tufts and Amherst, with Middlebury and Hamilton falling just short.

The men posted a team score of 304 on the first day.

It was their highest stroke total of the season but still solid given that they played under the worst conditions they had faced so far. Trinity seemed unaffected by the cold and windy weather and shot a 299, resulting in a firm hold on first place.

Tufts had three players score in the 70s to put its team in a great position heading into the final round at 314.

The Jumbos have not qualified for the spring tournament in several years, but they played well throughout the fall season. The next three teams were separated by three shots: Hamilton at 321, Amherst at 322 and Middlebury at 324.

Three Trinity players were within the top five after im-

pressive rounds in the lessthan-ideal conditions. Nate Choukas and Cameron Chottiner, who made his first start of the year, both finished with rounds of 74 (T-2). Senior Kole Kelly and junior Taylor KayGreen kept the score dispersion low for the Bantams by carding rounds of 75 and 76 respectively. Will Rosenfield, Trinity’s No. 1 player and last week’s medalist at the Williams Invitational, struggled a bit during his round and recorded a 77, which was dropped.

Williams was within striking distance heading into Sunday thanks to the effort of Will Kannegieser ’20, who put together an even-par round when the Ephs needed it most.

Kannegieser minimized his errors to bogeys at worse, and he rolled in four birdies to make up for those rare mistakes.

Kannegieser will tee off tomorrow with a two-shot lead.

Assistant captain Sam Goldenring ’20 and co-captain Grant Raffel ’17.5 shot matching 77s, and Beau David ’21 rounded out the scoring for the men, turning in a round of 78. Co-captain Jake Foehl ’19 came in with 79. Considering the conditions, the Ephs were happy to put up five scores under 80, as they and the Bantams were the only two teams to do so on Saturday.

On Day Two, conditions could not have been more different. They created scoring opportunities, and two Bantams in particular took

advantage. Rosenfield and Kelly fired below-par rounds of 67 and 68, respectively to power Trinity to a team score of five-under 283 for its second round. That score brought the Bantams’ weekend total to 582, a full 20 shots better than the Ephs.

The closest team battle of the weekend was for the remaining two spots in the fourteam field behind Trinity and Williams. Tufts punched its ticket behind its No. 1 player, Taylor Nordan, who posted a 71 that included a 60-yard bomb for eagle on the par-5 ninth hole. Amherst’s Cameron Clark tied Rosenfield for the lowest round of the weekend with a 67 of his own that gave his team a four-shot advantage over Hamilton.

The men did put up the second-best score of the second round at 298, ultimately giving them 15 shots of separation from Tufts. Foehl led the Ephs with a 73, followed closely by Goldenring at 74.

Raffel signed for a 75 in his second round, and the scoring was rounded out by a 76 from Kannegieser.

The Ephs will have plenty of time to draw up a game plan for the spring tournament over the winter and will look to make strides in their strategy and execution in order to contend strongly in April.

The men will travel to Saratoga Springs, N.Y., this weekend to compete at the Saratoga Invitational.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Co-captain Grant Raffel ’17.5 shot a 77 on Saturday and a 75 on Sunday at the NESCAC Fall Qualifier.

Grodecki wins singles title at ITAs

By ALEX OKINAKA CONTRIBUTING WRITER Men’s tennis (2–0) competed at the ITA New England Regional Championship last weekend, and tri-captain Brian Grodecki ’18 won the singles tournament.

The Ephs sent three doubles pairs and six singles competitors to the tournament, which was hosted by Middlebury. The No. 2 seed in doubles, Alex Taylor ’20 and Grodecki, defeated a Colby pair 8-2 in the first round.

Taylor and Grodecki finished in second in the NCAA doubles tournament last spring, falling to Lubomir Cuba and William de Quant of Middlebury in the final. Cuba and de Quant, however, were upset in the first round on Friday.

Two Eph teams fell in the first round as well.

In singles, Sachin Raghavan ’18 won his spot in the third round with decisive victories over Brandeis and Trinity competitors. Austin Barr ’21, Ananth Raghavan ’20 and Grodecki also earned victories in the first and second rounds.

“Our younger doubles teams earned leads and op-

portunities and played solid tennis but were just unable to close out at the end,” head coach Dan Greenberg ’08 said.

Taylor and Grodecki repeated their Friday success with two consecutive wins on Saturday to reach the semifinals of the tournament. After defeating an MIT duo 8-1, Taylor and Grodecki kept the ball rolling with an 8-3 triumph over the No. 8 seed team from Middlebury.

In singles, the Ephs finished the day with two surviving players going into the semifinals. S. Raghavan and A. Raghavan fell to the No. 1 seed and No. 5 seed, respectively.

Grodecki defeated his third-round opponent 7-5, 7-6 (7), before dispatching No. 5 seed Noah Farrell 6-3, 6-3 to finish the day. Barr overcame a Colby opponent 6-2, 6-0, before defeating No. 2 seed Steven Chen with a score of 7-5, 6-3. Barr’s victory set up a meeting with his teammate, Grodecki, in the semifinals.

“The Raghavans pushed two of the best players in Div. III singles, and Grodecki and Barr beat two of the best to get to the semifinals,” Greenberg said.

On Sunday, Grodecki and Taylor faced off against No. 3 Luke Tercek and Grant Erken in the semifinals. After a tough battle, the Eph tandem fell 8-6 to the Bowdoin duo, which would go on to win the doubles title.

In singles, Grodecki and Barr played a close match in an all-Williams semifinal.

Grodecki edged his teammate by a score of 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-4 to advance to the championship match. He then dispatched Wesleyan’s Andrew Finkleman 6-2, 6-4 to win the tournament.

“I am especially proud of Brian for taking the singles title,” Greenberg said. “He’s worked so hard these last three years, so he’s definitely earned this accomplishment.

And Barr made him earn it even more, pushing him to a three-hour semifinal. I couldn’t be more excited for this group.”

The Ephs will conclude their fall season at the MIT Fall Invitational, which will be played Oct. 13-15 in Cambridge, Mass. The tournament will have a similar structure to ITA Regionals, featuring both singles and doubles play but no team competition.

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Co-captain Juli Raventos ’18 came second in doubles with her partner, co-captain Julia Cancio ’18.

Women’s tennis competes at ITA New England Championship

By JOHN TOOMEY STAFF WRITER

PHOTO COURTESY OF SPORTS INFORMATION

Tri-captain Brian Grodecki ’18 defeated Wesleyan’s Andrew Finkleman 6-2, 6-4 in the ITA singles final.

Women’s tennis (1–0) hosted the ITA New England Regional Championship last weekend, with seven Ephs competing in singles and three pairs participating in the doubles draw.

Athletes from 17 different schools took part in the tournament, which featured a singles bracket of 64 players and a doubles bracket of 32 pairs.

In the singles draw on Friday, Chloe Henderson ’20 followed a first-round victory with an upset of No. 2 seed Victoria Yu in the second round. Rachel Cross ’21 locked down two wins to advance to Day Two as well. From there, co-captain Juli Raventos ’18, seeded No. 3, secured victories against Middlebury and Amherst opponents, but cocaptain Julia Cancio ’18 fell to Middlebury’s Heather Boehm in the first round. Co-captain and No. 9 seed Mia Gancayco ’18 earned two wins, while Sasha Cayward ’21 was defeated in the first round. No. 6 seed Leah Bush ’19 also progressed to the third round.

In doubles, Bush and Emily Zheng ’20 fell to the top-seeded Wesleyan team of Yu and Eudice Chong. Raventos and Cancio secured wins over Tufts and Wesleyan opponents to get

to Day Two, and Henderson and Cross won their matches as well.

On Saturday, Cross’ singles tournament came to an end with a loss to No. 1 seed Chong.

Gancayco fell to No. 4 seed Camille Smukler of Amherst in a three-set match.

Bush advanced to the semifinals with two wins, including a tight quarterfinal victory over Middlebury’s Catherine Blayze. Bush dropped the first set 6-7 (5) but bounced back to win the next two 7-6 (3) and 11-9. Raventos also won both of her matches to set up a semifinal meeting with Chong, whom she defeated last year to win the singles tournament.

In doubles, Raventos and Cancio knocked out the No. 5 duo from Amherst and then defeated teammates Henderson and Cross by a score of 9-7 to advance to the final.

The women had two players in the singles semifinals and a team in the doubles final. Wesleyan, however, secured titles in both brackets.

The doubles finals pitted the Cardinals’ Chong and Yu against Raventos and Cancio.

Chong and Yu defeated Raventos and then-partner Linda Shin ’17 in the doubles final last year.

On Sunday, Chong and Yu took the first set 6-2 and secured

the championship after a tight tiebreaker in the second set.

Chong emerged victorious in the singles bracket as well. She defeated Raventos 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 in the semifinals and prevailed 6-1, 6-0 in the final over Smukler, who had defeated Bush to get to the championship match.

Head coach Anik Cepeda was pleased with her team’s spirit as well as its performance.

“The results are nice,” she said, “but I’m honestly most impressed with the attitude and the camaraderie. Teammates were cheering from start to finish. I almost forgot this was an individual tournament – it didn’t feel that way.

Losing in the semis and finals today looks disappointing on paper, especially considering the grind of mental toughness it took to get these opportunities. However, we staged upsets, competed fiercely against some of the strongest players in Div. III tennis and have a laundry list of areas where we’d like to continue growing our games. We have fuel for the next few weeks.”

After a long weekend of tennis, the women have three weeks to prepare before the Middlebury Invitational, which will be played Oct. 21-22. The tournament will conclude the fall season.