Global Feminisms, a discussion on gender in our society

This Tuesday, Dec. 3, Associate Professor Kesho Scott’s sociology seminar, “Global Feminisms,” hosted a fishbowl discussion on gender, feminism and patriarchy. Students in the class spent time in advance engaging Grinnellians with these topics through thought-provoking and interactive posters and one-on-one interviews.

One such poster posed the following question: “Are YOU a feminist?” The passionate, confused and funny responses that it elicited were a testimony to the inquisitive and inclusive spirit that characterizes many academic experiences at Grinnell.

Choosing to extend conversations beyond the classroom as a way to “think globally and act locally,” Scott’s seminar chose to engage their peers in a discussion of feminism in order to prompt an exploration of “the P word”—patriarchy. The result was a largely successful fishbowl discussion that the class designed and executed on its own.

“This was a very powerful experience for all of us in the class, and we wanted to share that with people. Kesho didn’t originally have this [as an] assignment,” said Elena Gartner ’14, one of the 14 female members of the class (there is one male student as well). “We realized that patriarchy does exist on this campus … and we want it to be talked about.”

Naomi Ramsay ’14, another student in the seminar, weighed in on their choice of presentation.

“We could have had a discussion about exactly what we learned in the class, but I think that would have been really academic and that was what we were trying to avoid.”

Another class member, Mekdes Kebede ’14, emphasized that the class wanted to alert students to the issue of patriarchy in the first place.

“Whether they think of themselves as feminists or not, they still operate within it,” she said.

The event, though specific to patriarchy, touched on the broader topic of accountability and awareness. Many of those who initiated and participated in the discussion held themselves, their peers and mentors accountable for their actions as continual students both inside and outside of Grinnell College.

Jeffrey J. Kripal discusses paranormal activity at Grinnell

Jeffrey J. Kripal holds the J. Newton Rayzor Chair in Philosophy and Religious Thought at the Department of Religious Studies at Rice University. His current areas of interest include the renewal of the comparative method in religious studies, the comparative eroticism of mystical literature, American countercultural translations of Asian religious customs and the history of Western esotericism. The paranormal is something that occupies his life. In fact, while writing his Ph.D. dissertation, he actually underwent an out- of-body experience in which he felt “electrocuted by God” and began to float above the ground. He claims that this experience has influenced all of his research ever since, and is not sure if he has “taken a single full day off from such intellectual and spiritual pursuits in over three decades.” This week, the S&B’s Mineta Suzuki spoke with Kripal about paranormal activity and his experiences.

Several webpages I looked at said that you think you may be Spider-Man. What do you mean by that?

Of course I’ve been playful. I don’t really sling webs and dress up as a spider. But in another sense I suppose I’m serious. I think that superhero genre is about … secret identities and that human beings are more than we think we are. I think that … [the] superhero genre is a playful way of exploring that.

How do you define “paranormal?”

A paranormal experience is … when something happens in the physical environment that corresponds perfectly with something happening inside the mind or the human beings. There is an exact correspondence between the material world out there and the mental world in here. And the correspondence is so exact and so precise that … the person recognizes instantly that something special is happening. It is … an event in the external world, but also an internal experience.

Is it similar to “paranormal activities” in the movies or popular culture?

Yes and no. Hollywood takes these sorts of experiences and exaggerates them in … such extreme ways. So that’s not really what I’m talking about. Although, there is clearly a relationship between what Hollywood does with these things and what people actually experience. There is also a connection … paranormal [in Hollywood] tends to be associated with horror movies … and people do have negative paranormal experiences. It’s not all positive. What can be some of the examples of paranormal?

The most common paranormal is when a person has a dream, a vision or an intuition that a loved one just passed away or is in some kind of danger. That event can be taking place hundreds of miles away or even days or weeks into the future. So there is the separation in space and time, and yet the person knows the loved one is in trouble or … has died.

You mentioned that paranormal is something scientists ignore because it appears to violate causality or scientific rationalism. How can we be critical or objective to the method we use for science?

Well, I’m a big admirer of science. But I think that scientists have to be more humble … about what they know and they don’t know. I think we all have to be humble … I also think that science needs to listen to other disciplines, particularly humanities, particularly folks who study these things for a living. What happens a lot is that science becomes a kind of scientism becomes dogmatic particularly materialist. I’m most interested in scientists who have had these experiences and have to struggle with how to reconcile their materialistic understanding of science with these events that are clearly real, but simply don’t fit into materialist interpretation.

It is often stated that science attempts to reveal causality or law of the world, while philosophy attempts to reveal meaning of the world. How can one come to terms with another?

What scientists are after is mechanisms and what humanities are after is meaning. Those are two different things, but they may actually be two sides of the same coin. Those might be … the same reality. [When the reality is] looked at from outside, we see mechanisms, but looked at from inside, we see meaning. My hope would be … that we become more skilled in moving between those two perspectives, and not lock out one for the sake of the other.

In the “Introductory Essay” for the webpage of Rice University, you have mentioned that you don’t see the undergraduate education as a technical training toward a specific career, but an opportunity to foster students into independent thinkers. Do you have any comment or message for students at Grinnell?

My personal view is that the world’s problems … and their promises will depend almost entirely on people making connections between different disciplines and different forms of knowledge. One kind of knowledge, particularly one kind of technical knowledge, simply is inadequate to meet your generation’s challenges. Whether that’s a climate change, economic development or cultural understanding … none of those things can be addressed by a particular or singular discipline. They will have to be addressed in a broad, broad way. So I happen to think [that a] liberal arts education is the only way to … move forward. So I think you came to the right place.

Munchies to memory: Kilmer weeds out the problem

Dr. Jason Kilmer, Assistant Health and Wellness Director for Alcohol & Other Drug Education at the University of Washington, delivered two talks on Monday regarding the effects of marijuana and marijuana legalization, respectively. He entertained a packed and attentive JRC audience with a blend of anecdotes, intriguing facts and cutting edge research on the issues developing around marijuana and marijuana legalization in his home state and what those issues mean for the future of the drug throughout the U.S.

Kilmer’s first speech, an open workshop titled “From the ‘Munchies to Memory Problems: What the Science Says About Marijuana,” related the overlooked effects of marijuana by the general public, which are only now being brought to light.

“In many ways, we’ve learned more about marijuana in the past five years as in the previous 50,” Kilmer said.

Kilmer highlighted the three factors behind new marijuana research: MRI imaging, a shift away from “reefer madness”—the tendency of scientists to make bold conclusions about marijuana beyond the extent of the data—and the ability to do research with people rather than rats. The third factor was crucial in researching the parameters of legalizing marijuana, particularly in regards to DUI laws and warning labels.

“Before, they’d give marijuana to a rat and then they’d see if they go to Taco Bell later on,” Kilmer joked.

Punctuated with bouts of humor, Kilmer’s speech was nonetheless very methodical and eye-opening. Colorful infographics explained the effect of marijuana on memory, dopamine receptors and sleep, which countered common misperceptions that marijuana has no after-effects.

Kilmer spoke in depth regarding marijuana’s impact on concentration and attention in the hippocampal region of the brain, explaining that marijuana is not only psychologically addictive, it is also physically addictive. For example, Kilmer explained that when frequent marijuana users say they don’t focus as well if they skip a day of smoking, they are experiencing symptoms of withdrawal. In his second lecture, “Research Questions in Changing Legal Climate: Assessing the Impact of Marijuana Legalization,” Kilmer explained his involvement in the creation and shaping of marijuana policy in his home state, which is currently at the forefront of developing laws and policies in the face of legalized marijuana. Kilmer focuses primarily on DUI laws and health advisories based on recent studies, which are expected to have drastic impacts on the future of legalization.

Kilmer explained that Washington state law defines impairment in ways that do not adequately account for the potency of the marijuana, pre-existing conditions or the size of the person. He drew attention to the fact that new scientific findings are complicating marijuana policy and rendering it more complex.

Kilmer noted other disturbing findings, such as the correlation between marijuana usage and loss of IQ points, how usage of marijuana as a sleep aid results in deep sleep at the expense of a “pot hangover” with similar symptoms as an alcohol hangover the next day and the importance of clarifying the effects of using antagonistic drugs (such as alcohol and cocaine) that can often lead to fatalities.

Explaining his cautionary stance on rushing into marijuana legalization without fully understanding its consequences, Kilmer lamented, “legislation has gotten ahead of science.”

#OneGrinnell: Community rallies against hate crimes

On Wednesday, Dec. 4, nearly 200 students, staff, faculty and Grinnell community members gathered on the JRC patio to participate in a #OneGrinnell Solidarity Rally to share their experiences with and express their resistance against bias- motivated incidents in the Grinnell community.

This protest comes following a series of similar incidents, in which individuals in passing vehicles have yelled insults and slurs at members of the College community that specifically target them based on their perceived race or sexual orientation.

Bias-motivated incidents are certainly not unprecedented on the Grinnell campus. Dean of Students Travis Greene estimated that such drive-by harassment incidents alone have occurred as frequently as once a semester prior to this year. In the past, other forms of bias-motivated offense such as graffiti and hate mail have occurred, as well. While the identity of the perpetrators in these most recent incidents is largely unknown—they have generally been described as in their late teens or early 20s—in the past, both members of the College community and outsiders have been implicated in these issues.

While the rally was catalyzed by the recent spate of incidents, it aimed to address the issue of hate crimes as a whole.

“We got tired of bias-motivated incidents, we got tired of cars driving by, we got tired of our own peers causing oppression to one another, when we should come at it together as a family,” said Jason Camey ’16, who, alongside Eric Brito ’16, spearheaded the effort to organize the rally.

Operating according to the College’s Hate Crimes and Bias- Motivated Incident Policy, the Grinnell staff has immediately reached out to those individuals who were targeted in the incidents this semester, making sure they had the support and resources they needed in the aftermath of an incident. While the Policy includes guidelines for the possibility of notifying the community at large following an incident, none of those individuals targeted deemed such a measure to be necessary.

According to Director of Intercultural Strategic Analysis and Engagement Narren Brown, members of the Multicultural Leadership Council (MLC), which he chairs, had expressed frustration with the resulting lack of a public response on the part of the College.

In the wake of such dialogue, Brown reached out to student leaders about the possibility of organizing a more deliberate response, with Camey and Brito volunteering to take the helm of the planning effort.

Participants in the rally represented all elements of the greater Grinnell community. Both Grinnell Police Chief Dennis Reilly and Mayor Gordon Canfield gave speeches, as well as numerous College students, including victims of the bias- motivated incidents and Student Government Association President Thomas Neil ’14.

Neil, who, along with other members of SGA, provided support to the event organizers throughout the planning process, pointed out the importance of a rally that included members of the entire Grinnell community.

“I really appreciated what the organizers did. They didn’t turn this into an ‘us versus them’ sort of situation. There’s a reason the mayor was there, there’s a reason the police chief was there and there’s a reason that middle schoolers were there. Because it’s a bigger thing,” Neil said. “And no one knows exactly who it is, and I don’t think that they’re trying to point fingers at the community. I think they’re trying to say that in this community, which extends beyond Grinnell’s campus’ borders … it’s not accepted, period.”

According to Reilly, reporting of these incidents has frequently been delayed and, when it has occurred, descriptions have been fairly minimal. However, based on the information police do have, these incidents are not believed to be traceable back to a single perpetrator.

Reilly stressed how important immediate reporting and detailed descriptions will be in the successful apprehension and, ultimately, prosecution of those perpetrating these acts of harassment.

“While we don’t want anyone putting themselves in harm’s way to obtain information on a vehicle, if the victim is able to look at nothing else other than the license plate of the vehicle and write [it] down or type [it] in on their phone … I mean, that’s what we’re looking for,” he said.

Such incidents, while not considered a hate crime under the Iowa Code, would constitute a harrassment simple misdemeanor, resulting in a fine if an individual was convicted.

In addition to informing the public about ways they can help law enforcement in apprehending offenders, Grinnell police are also stepping up patrols in the campus areas—notably on 8th Avenue between Park and East Streets—where these incidents have frequently been occurring.

“I think a combination of educating the public as to what is going on, reporting it as it takes place, increased presence in the area—I think that together is going to be beneficial to either catching and dealing with the people that are doing this or just mak[ing] it uncomfortable enough where they’ll stop it,” Reilly said.

After the 4 p.m. rally, a panel discussion featuring Brown, Greene, Director of Security Steve Briscoe and Kim McKee, Sociology took place at 7 p.m. in ARH 302.

The topics ranged from the College’s Hate Crimes and Bias- Motivated Incidents Policy to participants’ own experiences with bias-motivated harassment, both in Grinnell and elsewhere. Much of the conversation focused on strategies to translate the momentum and energy gained through the #OneGrinnell rally to continued activities promoting tolerance and understanding of all types of difference.

“The theme that I took away from the panel is, ‘Enough of the talking. How do we keep this momentum going?’” Greene said. “So, I think as a community going forward, I would share that sentiment. How do we put action into these ideas, these feelings, for some this righteous anger—and understandably so?”

Greene brought up a number of channels this energy could take. For policy changes, he encouraged students to come to the open monthly meetings of the Committee on Student Life—the next meeting is next Tuesday, Dec. 10 at noon in JRC 224B.

He also mentioned the possibility that future iterations of the town hall meetings that have been happening this semester might specifically address the campus climate surrounding these issues of bias.

Brown, for his part, brought up a planned new program by the Office of Intercultural Engagement and Leadership that would see twice-monthly conversations designed to “speak to the intersectionality that happens between class, sexism, racism, gender, you name it,” which would be hosted by members of all campus bodies—students, faculty and staff. He also mentioned that the MLC is currently discussing further plans for continued action.

For Camey, who volunteers at Fairview Elementary, as well as the Grinnell Athletic & Recreation Center, where he coaches soccer, an essential element of this process will be working to bridge the gap between the the College and the rest of the town.

“A lot of Grinnell College students don’t go out into the community as much. And there’s this lack of communication between the College and the community. … For this rally, I wanted to include the community, I wanted to reach out to the people in town,” Camey said. “ … That was very emotional, very moving for me, to see that even the community supports us, and we should be doing the same thing.”

Briona Butler ‘15 talks about her experience as a victim of drive-by harassment; Eric Brito ’16, one of the rally’s organizers, looks on. Photo by John Brady.

SGA Cabinet shares progress: Part II

ACE Coordinator, Natalie Richardson Gentil ’14

After taking over the position of ACE Coordinator, Gentil has sought to address the financial missteps that plagued the ACE Committee last year. Along with Vice-Coordinator Aaron Levin ’14, Richardson Gentil has helped to alter the trajectory of ACE. Last semester, ACE was the source of the majority of the eight percent over-budgeting by SGA, accounting for 24,000 of the more than 28,000 dollars total over-expenditure. Although this year’s Cabinet took on the issue of balancing the budget across all the committees, Richardson Gentil made restructuring ACE funding policy a priority from the start of her term.

This year ACE prioritized allocation in advance, frequent check-ups with the treasurers and more whole-budget restructuring. These efforts constituted structural changes that are intended to guard against future overspending and over-allocation.

SGA recently announced that its budget has stabilized through the combination of new policies, such as those employed this semester by ACE and other committees, and better overall awareness of budgeting.

Resultingly, the committee is currently under-allocated for the semester by 3,000 dollars. Richardson Gentil is happy with the results of the decisions she and the SGA Cabinet made early on to address the budget problem directly and now looks to put the unallocated funds towards other investments for ACE.

“Because we are under-allocated this semester, we will be able to invest in things for next semester,” Richardson Gentil said. “[Like] better training for ACE Security next semester … they have requested to be trained in first aid and bystander intervention. It would make them more comfortable in doing their job … and make sure the parties are safer for the [security] people and the attendees.”

With ACE’s budget comfortably managed this semester, Richardson Gentil and Levin ’14, are looking forward to the spring semester, which typically features more events. In addition to the usual range of events planned for spring, ACE has been working with the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce and the Office of Community Enhancement & Engagement to organize new events.

Student Services Coordinator, Sam Offenberg ’14

Although he went into his new position with “pretty realistic expectations”, Sam Offenberg ’14 did not expect his responsibilities as SGA Student Services Coordinator to include dressing up as Santa and posing for photographs for the town’s holiday celebration.

Offenberg has been focusing on fostering community connections this semester.

“I definitely like to think that those [small] things go a long way,” Offenberg said. “I think that will help with bridging town-gown gaps.”

Costumes aside, SGA Services has made very real progress in establishing new town-gown relations and instituting OrgSync as the main organizational program for unified communication and protocol with student groups.

OrgSync was unrolled fully with this year’s 2017 class, who were introduced to the program over their orientation. The main remaining challenge with OrgSync is informing upperclassmen about using the program effectively. With most student organizations registered with the program at this point, Offenberg is already seeing the benefits of the uniform structure.

Offenberg has also been expanding the working relationship between the Service Committee and the town, which have culminated in more town-gown events this year, with more in the works for next semester. Citing more frequent and regular meetings with the Chamber of Commerce, Offenberg hopes to see more events and more projects involving local causes and community members. The newly announced Community Engagement Award is the result of some of this invested time and effort in improving and building on links between students and the community.

Survival Testimonies and Personal Journals

This is my last column of the semester! Thank you to everyone who has read it and let me know that they enjoy reading it—it means a lot. I have never really had a solid idea for a column. I usually just let out a deluge of words that grows somewhat coherent after some rearranging. But I’m always impressed with how my words manage to articulate a thought in a way that my mind never could on its own.

I’m teaching a class at the Newton Prison for Men next semester, focused on the theme of survival within three short stories and one novel. When I stumbled upon an article by Humera Afridi on Guernica Magazine, I merely read it with the intention of finding interesting supplementary material for the class. Its impact echoed far beyond my considerations of a syllabus. It pushed me to rethink how I approach the class, and how narratives of survival and of life are articulated in the world around us.

Afridi explored survival in post-natural disaster landscapes—Staten Island after Hurricane Sandy, Tacloban City after Typhoon Haiyan— and the symbolic necessity for a survivor to convey their story. The author described how disasters left those affected feeling like they were disconnected from the world at large, victims of cataclysms that shattered their image of the Earth. The article stated, “Ever more rudderless and desperate, the invisible aspire to membership in the tribe of the boldly living, relying on community-based organizations, if they exist in their area, to bring their struggles to light. Survivors want—no, need, deserve—their losses to be articulated and etched into public memory.”

The piece made me reimagine the obligations that we have to preserve the experiences of people in words, as testimonies. The case of the disaster gave real life consequences to the thus far intellectual precepts with which I approached the class I was to teach. When telling a story of survival, who do the survivors tell their stories to? Anyone who will listen?

But this isn’t a meditation on disaster relief. I’m not a GDS concentrator and I want to use this example to bring up how we voice our own experiences. Not to be melodramatic, but journals, I think, can represent a powerful representation of what drives human survival. Journals give voice to the things that we encounter, overcome and dread on a daily basis. The acts that we choose to write about are the stories we tell each other after a long day or in between classes, they’re flashes of experience that you find meaningful enough to share and preserve.

Experiences significant enough that, sure, maybe you won’t remember them a few years down the line, but for a time they captured your full attention—symbolic and psychic navigations that represent the reasons that we wake up every day. While survival prerogative is simple—make it to the next day—we can articulate the day-to-day routine that we fall into and look into them to understand how we give meaning to our own lives.

The journal I keep myself is a dream journal. A friend once told me that a dream journal, “allows you to know yourself as a dreamer.” I remember my dreams vividly and have on occasion been able to interfere with the workings of my dreams. I was always dismayed whenever anyone would say, “I never remember any of my dreams.” Dreams are opportunities to experience fantasy first hand, its deliriums, paradises and all the spaces in between free to explore. Whether to explore the ostensibly symbolic nature of these dreams or just keep a catalogue of freak incidents that you dreamed up, I’m keeping track of my own unconscious.

Yet in doing so, I see that my own unconscious is fixated with survival—my most recurring dream is a zombie apocalypse! In addition to these scenarios, a while ago, I had a dream that I was in “The Hunger Games.” The only weapons I had gotten from the Cornucopia, the supply tent at the beginning of the games, were two forks. Yes, two dining forks. As the other tributes closed in on me and I felt death approaching, a doorway opened and my close friend Linnea Hurst [’15] pulled me out of my situation and into a dark room, and held me tight. I was in no physical danger, really, but she saved me from the intense fear that I would lose my life. It’s moments like these that show me how closely I rely on my friends for my sense of well being, a revelation that comes up time and time again in my journal, and that speaks to the symbolic value behind my day- to-day survival.

Mistry Spices Up Your Life

Let’s get serious about the spice rack. It can turn any meal from boringly bland to surprisingly scrumptious with just a few dashes of your favorite spices. Quite honestly, it’s the most powerful tool for cooking new food in the Dining Hall. Also, mastering the spice rack now will mean you can make your home cooked meals even better by developing a palate of spice mixtures to call upon. It’s relatively simple to create some basic recipes from the spice rack, and more complex ones will come easily with practice. We’ll start by exploring some of the pre-made blends, then look at my most commonly used spices and then finish off by looking at spice blends and flavor profiles.

The Dining Hall spice rack has three extremely easy-to-use blends that add a boost to nearly any entrée or dish. The first is the Italian Herbs. It’s simple to use and adds a nice touch of color and taste to any pasta or rice dish. I also like to add the Italian Herb seasoning, a little parmesan and some cracked black pepper to a small plate, then pour a little bit of olive oil (enough to float the spices) and a small splash of balsamic vinegar to make a delightful dipping sauce for breadsticks or pizza crusts. The two other spice blends, the taco seasoning and the Cajun seasoning, can be used in similar manners to each other. Both add a bit of intense flavor to any dish, and work particularly well with sauces, meat dishes or rice dishes. An easy meal with these spices is the previously mentioned bean and rice bowl. Just take beans, rice, vegetables, a little cheese and either spice. Mix it up and microwave, and enjoy a nearly instant healthful meal.

Want to try something a little more meaningful than a pre- mixed spice blend? Check out the following superstar spices: cumin, seasoning salt, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon, paprika, kosher salt and black pepper. Each one of these spices has a distinct flavor profile and can either dominate the dish or draw out flavors, depending on your usage. These spices work excellently in tandem as well. I almost always end up using at least one of them as the base for my spice blends.

Making your own spice blends is hugely rewarding, and once you’ve established a few solid combinations, it becomes second nature to use them daily. An unusual, but delectable spice mix for chicken is a bit of black pepper, a dash of cinnamon, some cumin and some paprika. Mix it up in a condiment cup, then sprinkle a fine layer over the meat. Another successful set of spices is rosemary, oregano and thyme. Crush up the dried rosemary, so it is the same consistency as the thyme and oregano, mix them and add the mix to any salad for a nice amount of depth. Mixing your spice mixes into different mediums can give your meal even more personality. Plain yogurt, mayo, olive oil, rice vinegar and just about any sauce can be a viable way to use your spices.

Working with spices is a huge amount of trial and error, but can be extremely rewarding. I’d recommend doing a few things to make your experience more successful. First, become familiar with every spice on the spice rack by doing a small taste test. Sprinkle a small amount on your plate, try it and note the flavors and strength of the spice for later use. Second, keep track of your blends that you make. It’s important to remember which spices you use and how much of each one you use. Last, add spices in small amounts. Spices can be extremely powerful and while it is easy to add more of a spice, it can be nearly impossible to take it out.

So with this (brief) introduction to the spice rack complete, I encourage you try using the spice rack with every meal. Transform your food, find magnificent mixtures, unlock new flavors and expand your repertoire of dishes. In the immortal words of the Spice Girls, “Spice up your life!” You stay classy, Grinnell.

Poetry, lyricism on the radio

A lover of stripped down, from-the-heart storytelling in music, Hannah Condon ’16 is the host of Bare Bones Radio which airs on Sundays from 9 to 10 p.m. The name of the show emphasizes what music is all about for Condon.

“I think what’s great about music is it exposes insights about the lyricist or society at large, so that’s where bare comes from, and then bearing your insides, so bare bones,” Condon said.

On her show, Condon often plays artists such as , The National, Bright Eyes and other bands that she identifies as or , and places a lot of importance on the poetry and messages of lyrics.

“I like pretty raw music, I don’t like it to sound too polished, and I like people with kind of weird singing voices,” she said. “I like getting into the story that a song tells.”

When choosing the music each week, like many KDIC DJs, Condon tries to work with a theme – this year has so far included neo-blues week (such as ) and murder ballads. Because an emphasis of Bare Bones Radio is good lyrics, Condon spends time between tracks giving her personal analysis of the lyrics of a song just played.

“I had seen a dead bird lying outside one of the dorms so I went with all bird songs [one] week,” Condon said. “I would analyze what the bird was symbolizing in any given song.”

Condon also researches the background of a song to get an idea of its origins.

“I like to play a lot of songs from my own iTunes library because I want to be pretty familiar with them so I can give some insights on it,” she said.

In addition to analysis, Condon often gives listeners fun information about the band that was just played.

“If I’ve seen a band in concert I’ll tell stories about that, or if I know any interesting facts about a band I’ll share them,” she said. “I like to Google things as I’m DJ-ing to see if I can find anything interesting.”

This is Condon’s first year with a radio show at Grinnell, but she took a radio broadcasting class early in high school and had a radio show with a very similar format at her school. She is still building her listenership, has a few friends who listen regularly and is beginning to podcast her shows, which she hopes will help gain more listeners.

“I just really like getting people to listen to [the music I like] because it’s really important to me and I like to share it,” Condon said. “I like the radio because if someone’s listening to my show it means they want me to share music with them.”

Next semester, Condon is hoping to spice up Bare Bones Radio with some musician interviews. Over winter break, she is going to see The National live, and is working to get an interview with the band, and is looking to possibly interview The Heartless Bastards as well.

“I think I’m [also] going to start playing more full albums and analyzing the full album because that would be fun,” Condon said.

Hannah Condon ’16 live in the studio. Photo by Shadman Asif. One step forward, two steps sideways

This past Tuesday, Caleb Neubauer ’13 premiered his latest exhibit: “Scaling Sideways.” Neubauer, no newbie to displaying his work, has had three exhibits prior to “Scaling Sideways,” but this particular show is distinct from his others. Although Neubauer states that “abstract art is not usually my arena,” each of his pieces within “Scaling Sideways” are at first difficult to decipher. His exhibit encompasses various media, from scroll-like tablets to trace monotypes to video frames, each seemingly only united by their sideways scale. There is, however, much more behind the surface.

“I was compelled by mark-making and the ever-evolving need to find a place between a musical and visual urge. It has been a driving force in my work in the past year,” Neubauer said.

Following his desire to fuse both music and visual art, Neubauer put his musical material onto paper. For one of his pieces, he used a trace monotype, a process that involves inking a plate and placing a sheet of paper on top of the inky surface. After applying a pen and pencil to the back of the paper, the sheets pick up the motions of the utensil and they appear on the sheet after it is removed from the tablet. Neubauer twisted this fairly popular form of print-making by using the mandolin guitar as his art utensil; he pressed his mandolin onto a sheet of paper as he strummed it. This was able to record the movement and action of playing his instrument. Another piece involved playing piano on it to continue the theme of musicality on paper.

“I wanted a different way to record music and sound not in an audio file,” Neubauer said.

Similarly, another one of his scrolls contains lyrics and the movement of a song that Neubauer has only played once. In this way, no one has heard the song except the scroll, thus creating music that has largely only been experienced on paper rather than to an audience, or in an audio file.

Neubauer’s exhibit is a result of his post baccalaureate fellow in studio art, a program put together by the art department to allow one student to experience being a full- time artist. This ninth semester program allows for a stipend and materials budget, as well as a private studio space. The title “Scaling Sideways” connects to his feelings on this fellowship.

“To scale can also mean to ascend, and so to scale sideways would be a contradiction. This fellowship could be seen as a potential culmination, but it more so feels like a complete new path. A friend and I explained it as, you have a flashlight, and you’re able to see singular things, like a door or a wall, but not the entire art arena,” Neubauer said.

Next semester, Neubauer will be continuing his artistic pursuits within Grinnell, working with Faulconer Gallery—an act that will allow him to scale sideways in yet a different direction.

Neubauer included a guestbook for his exhibition. Photo by Aaron Juarez.

Students explore the horizontal trace monotypes. Photo by Aaron Juarez.

Te(e)n things I hate about “Ten Things”

When I was probably nine or 10 years old, I watched “Labyrinth” for the first time with my two older sisters, who had grown up in the 80s, and seen and adored the film when it was originally released. While for them “Labyrinth” was a cherished artifact of childhood nostalgia, as enjoyable as it had been when they were children, I cannot claim to have had the same experience, instead finding the movie pretty cheesy if not at times downright grotesque—e.g. David Bowie throwing that baby in the air over and over. Remember?

In approaching a film like “10 Things I Hate About You,” adored by seemingly every other member of my generation, my experience with “Labyrinth” serves as a useful critical framework. Does “10 Things” stand up to a post-adolescent viewing or does it fall victim to the “Labyrinth” effect, enjoyable more for its personal novelty than its cinematic worth?

The film—loosely based on Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew”—chronicles a chapter in the respective romantic careers of sisters Katarina (an altogether enjoyable Julia Stiles) and Bianca Stratford (Larisa Oleynik).

The two sisters live with their overprotective father (Larry Miller), who, in a moment of intended wit towards the beginning of the film, moderates the family’s strict “No dating” policy to one in which Bianca’s ability to date is contingent upon her standoffish older sister doing so first.

Hilarity and schmaltz ensue as school bad boy Patrick Verona (a charming, if slightly wooden, Heath Ledger), is enlisted to brave Kat’s tempestuous temperament and successfully win her heart.

“10 Things” follows in the footsteps of a long line of similarly rendered teen romances that all came out in the 80s and early 90s—think Hughes, Crowe, Linklater—a fact that director Gil Junger embraces wholeheartedly. From the expository rundown of Padua High School’s numerous cliques (“beautiful people,” “cowboys” and “white Rastas,” to name a few) to the film’s inevitable school PA-hijacking courtship ritual, Junger makes sure to hit all the familiar conventions of the genre.

In this endeavor Junger is not entirely misguided. These are the elements we have grown to expect as an audience and his compliance in delivering the goods is gratifying in its formalism. A goofily heartfelt late-90s soundtrack and a number of strong supporting characters don’t hurt either.

Where the film differs from its still-classic predecessors—and, as such, ultimately fails the “Labyrinth” test—is in its inability to transcend this campy recipe, to connect, if not to some existential profundity, at least to some deeper emotional resonance for the viewer.

Junger makes occasional gestures in this direction, as when Kat reveals the genuinely heartbreaking source of her nonconformist tendencies or with the Stratford family’s subtext as a broken home. But gestures is all these are, ditched almost as quickly as the film’s fealty to Shakespeare’s original play.

“10 Things I Hate About You,” isn’t an unenjoyable film—far from it. It’s still frequently funny, occasionally sweet and unabashedly weird—just don’t expect it to be much more than this.

One Act Festival set to grip Grinnell

This weekend, 13 students from the Theatre course ‘Directing’ will cap off their semester with a festival of 10-20 minute one-act plays. As their final project, the class members individually selected a one-act piece, secured the rights, cast, rehearsed, designed and directed the play.

“One-acts in general … [are about] how we build relationships as human people, how we relate to one another, how we mess with those relationships and how we ruin them sometimes, but also how they can be saved or healed,” said Lauren Sheely ’14.

The students’ plays have been divided into two groups and the groups will run their shows back-to-back. The first group, Joe Kloehn ’14, Hutch Freeland ’14, Deb Tillman ’14, Jarrett Thompson ’14, Teddy Hoffman ’14, Cedric Hakeem ’15 and Youngbin Song ’15 will perform Friday, Dec. 6 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, Dec. 7 at 2 p.m. Sheely, Kate Loftur-Thun ’14, Heather Guy ’14, Cristal Coleman ’15, Ian Saderholm ’15 and Ebony Chuukwu ’16 will perform Saturday, Dec. 7 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 8 at 2 p.m.

“It’s nice because it isn’t too much of an investment, time- wise … it’s not like Hamlet where you sit in the audience for three hours. There are varying styles of plays that you are going to see. It will be a little weird but the flow will be interesting. You’re getting a lot of styles all at once. It’s going to be more of [a] panache than the normal plays that have one storyline,” Freeland said.

The plays are an opportunity for class members to showcase the results of their theoretical and practical investigation into the responsibilities and techniques of directing in the theater. Taught by Craig Quintero, Theatre, the class started in an avant-garde style of examining image-based pieces to develop the mood of a play before actually reading the content. The class is highly discussion-based—examining what has worked and what hasn’t—which allows students to workshop and form powerfully meaningful pieces with their actors. Quintero emphasizes the final lasting image that remains with the viewer, whether for the night or a lifetime.

“Quintero is a professor who always pushes you to go further … a professor that will catch you [slacking off] and get you to work harder,” Freeland said.

It is hard to know what to anticipate at a One Act Festival with titles like “Beer Girl,” “I Am Not Batman” and “Land of the Dead.”

“It’d be best if you come in without any expectations, really. … Just let us take you to places,” Song said. As there is no ticketing for the show, it is first-come first-serve basis and space is limited to 47 seats. Abundance and Scarcity: Evaluating the economy through movement

Last spring, when Celeste Miller, Theatre, went to Chicago for the “Too Big” conference on communicating the economy through dance, she was far from inspired by the concept. However, after further evaluation, she saw the opportunity for personal growth.

“I didn’t want to make dances about the economy,” Miller said. “How [was] I going to find my muse inside of that? But that sort of said to me, ‘That’s a very good topic to take on.’”

The conference helped Miller pose questions regarding to what we assign value.

“Our current system is built on notions of abundance and scarcity and value identified with [the] monetary,” she said.

Miller is the director of Dance Ensemble, which has been collaborating with ACTivate since last spring to put together a production that examines the current economic climate through movement. Throughout the show, the performance literally becomes a conversation built off of a movement- signified language developed early on. The audience will find themselves translating each leg extension and pose into literal sentences, being able to pick out words and phrases as the dancers move across the stage.

For the dancers, the production has become very much about learning through their movement, “[We’re] not just creating dance movements, but also working on researching and learning more about the economy and what’s going on behind it,” said Rosie Fuqua ’16.

The performance has become a medium for education—an alternative approach to understanding a concept that plagues the minds of generations now entering the workforce. The show integrates audience participation, engaging audience members to evaluate their own perspectives and experiences, and even invites audience facilitation and participation in the performance itself. In this way, the performance becomes a means of audience education and reflection.

In a particular portion of the show, the dancers move as they are underscored by recordings of their own questions about their economic future. The questions they pose, “Will I be loved?” and “Will I find a job?” communicate the ubiquitous nature of economy. The dancers found it surfacing in more than just their financial lives, discovering its influence in their ability to find love and happiness. The performance develops as a criticism to the way capitalism has infiltrated our interpretations of success and self.

The solo performances, choreographed by individual members of the ensemble, became a medium to look at the economy through their own personal lens.

“I enjoy my piece because it was an opportunity to really delve into the subject the way I wanted to, and gave me an opportunity to make my own interpretation that was maybe different than the ensemble,” Fuqua said, referring to her individual performance.

Two of the ensemble members, Benji Zeledon and Ana Novak, both ’14, are engaging in MAPs with this performance that pursue the focal concept of abundance and scarcity. Novak’s piece looks through the lens of science and science education, whereas Zeledon’s evaluates the concepts of “want” and “need.” The show, titled “Exploratorium: Dancing about the economy,” which has performances on Friday and Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m., is a precursor to a larger show in the spring as part of the “Too Big” project that Miller learned about last year.

“Finding ways to make [the economy] interesting and to also make it beautiful to watch has been difficult,” Fuqua said.

However, the dancers have risen to the challenge and created some incredibly beautiful works. One of which, a duet, captures the audience’s attention with its intense fluidity of movement as it examines the culture that prides itself in ‘white collar’ jobs—a concept mirrored in the final group performance where the dancers seem to move as one cohesive unit.

“I’ve never been a precise mover … so the precise movement has been crazy difficult, but I’ve learned a lot about how I operate,” Zeledon said.

The movements require a consciousness of both the individual dancer’s movement, as well as the movement of the collective, an idea that seems to mirror the position of the individual in the economy.

Abundance and scarcity are terms used to evaluate a prosperous and suffering economy, but those terms mean more in the experiences of each person. Dance Ensemble and ACTivate use movement to create a conversation about the economy. With the use of fluidity, rigidity, singular interpretation and group cohesion, the audience will find themselves engaged with the performance on every level. The group will perform Friday and Saturday evening at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m. in Flanagan Studio Theatre, but the audience is encouraged to come a half hour early to participate in a pre-show activity. The dancers illustrate the state of the economy through movement. Photo by Carlos Ortiz

In Exploratorium: Dancing about the economy, the performers create a movement-based language. Photo by Carlos Ortiz.