The Marginal

Spring 2017 Alumni Newsletter

What’s Inside: • Graduating Senior profles • Education Event • “Te ” • Other Events • News Updates

The Marginal Page 1 Senior Profles Jael Goldfne American Studies and Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies What does Watermargin mean to you? , cheese, emails, , womb, a place I actively speed up to get home to faster.

What will you miss least about col- lege? Frat bros, mean nihilistic radicals, bureaucrats, science classes, library late fees.

What have you learned at Cornell that will prepare you for the “real What is your favorite Watermargin world”? memory? Private property is thef! Coming home to a full of loving folks, cooking, eating, drink- What is the dumbest Cornell rule, ing and talking. and how do you actively subvert it? Tat co-ops can’t have parties! And What was something meaningful by helping to through raucous, fabu- you did at Cornell? lous and safe parties at Watermargin! I wrote my senior honors thesis about the politics and culture surrounding What are your future plans? contemporary female (“sadgirl) indie I’ll be spending the summer in Ithaca rock scenes. and traveling in Southeast Asia!

The Marginal Page 2 David Fiskus Singler Animal Science

What was something meaningful What is the dumbest Cornell rule, you did at Cornell? and how do you actively subvert it? I listened to elephant rumbles on a Well, my second semester sopho- computer in a windowless for more year I lived in a West dorm, and a bunch of the semester. they make you buy the 99-meals-a- week meal plan. It was really tough What does Watermargin mean to because my Jewish blood obligated you? me to consume way more ice cream Watermargin means late night than my lactose intolerance could schmoozing in a dirty kitchen, danc- cope with. I farted a lot that semes- ing like silly monkeys at fan club ter. Also, I stole 18 bagels once for a concerts, pink sunsets on a pal-flled breakfast party my holocaust litera- porch. ture class was having, but the dining police busted me on my walk out, What wil you miss least about I got a JA, and I showed up bagel-less college? to the party. Being sleepy. The Marginal Page 3 Lucy Dean Stockton Developmental Sociology

What is your favorite Watermargin you? memory? WM is my terrible, wonderful, eclec- Watching our dance parties bloom tic family ! into life, as all diferent kinds of peo- ple come together to tear up the dance What will you miss least about foor; watching people who don’t feel college? like they belong everywhere, embody Feeling like I will never be as accom- their wildest selves. plished or valuable as any of my peers; always on a treadmill and running to- What was something meaningful wards ~something~ you did at Cornell? I wrote a senior thesis ofering cri- What is the dumbest Cornell rule, tiques of and alternatives to Engaged and how do you actively subvert it? Cornell, an institutionalized univer- Cornell is so full of dumb rules. Tis sity-community engagement pro- is overly simplifed, but I think our gram, that I argued reproduces and parties ofer an important alternative perpetuates inequalities. social space / community, and they are *not allowed* !!! What gives ?? What does Watermargin mean to The Marginal Page 4 Mane Mehrabyan Design and Environmental Analysis with minors in Theatre and CPEJ dancing, similar places we have been was a special time.

What have you learned at Cornell that will prepare you for the “real world”? Connecting with people is what I love most about life, afer dancing What is your favorite Watermargin (but they aren’t mutually exclusive). memory? Learning one on one with mentors One of my favorite memories is hav- accompanied by real life experiences ing the middle eastern ensemble play is how I have learned the most and in our . Te room was will learn. packed with students sitting on the foor and there was very little space What is the dumbest Cornell rule, in front of the musicians but when and how do you actively subvert it? the klezmer music started a bunch of Tat darn fence that our frat neigh- us got up and started to line dance, bor puts up. Every time I come back kicking our feet in the air and going to Watermargin, I’ll make sure to see in circles. the progress that war will have taken. Hope we will win, amicably but with What was something meaningful humor too. you did at Cornell? Participating in the theatre group What are your future plans? at Auburn prison with 10 amazing I would like to be a designer for men who are incarcerated became underprivileged communities and my home away from home. Playing healthcare systems, but change the games together, creating performanc- design feld by not designing FOR es from similarities and diferences communities, but WITH. in our lives, and just chatting about The Marginal Page 5 Peter Biedenweg History

What is your favorite Watermargin What does Watermargin mean to memory? you? My favorite memories at Watermar- To me Watermargin is a chance to gin would have to be every time I strive at creating an environment fo- unexpectedly walked in through the cused on democracy, equality, and front afer a long night of home- harmony. Tere are few other plac- work to an unexpected music concert es on this campus where people of or dance party. Tere is no better way diferent backgrounds work and live to end a tough night of schoolwork together, and being a part of this ex- than by being greeted by and joining periment has taught me more about a group of happy and friendly people. myself than I ever expected.

The Marginal Page 6 Aurora Rojer History

What was something the porch, the kitchen, meaningful you did at the creaky , and Cornell? of course the friends. I wrote a senior honors It’s hard when people thesis for the history ask what my favorite department called “Re- WM memory is, be- member the Radicals: cause more than crazy American Women in the Spanish parties or wild nights, the best times Civil War. I profled three American at WM for me have been just sitting women (Salaria Kea, Ruth David- around, eating snacks and talking ow and Lois Orr) who went to Spain with some of the best friends I’ve ever during their Civil War (1936-1939) made. WM means support and love and argue that history has neglected -- it means family. them due to their gender, but also that when they are spoken of, it is through What is the dumbest Cornell rule, a sanitized lens that does not do their and how do you actively subvert it? ideals justice. Tey were radical an- No dumpster diving -- and by flling ti-capitalist feminists who wanted to the with rescued trea- fght imperialism and racism as well sures ranging from thousands of ra- as fascism. men packets to winter coats to furni- ture! What does Watermargin mean to you? What are your future plans? Watermargin was the frst place at I’m going to Ithaca College next year Cornell where I really felt at home. to get a masters in teaching, then I I love everything about this house -- plan to teach high school history! The Marginal Page 7 Tamar Law College Scholar, Feminist Gender and Sexuality Studies, French

What is your fa- WM means the vorite Watermar- safest most warm gin memory? place on campus I think every mo- where I can be my- ment spent on the self. porch, sipping on beers, speaking with all the lovely people that end up on the porch! What will you miss the least about college? What was something meaningful Education costs money // competi- you did at Cornell? tion. I wrote a thesis on the traditional ecological knowledge and biocultur- What have you learned at Cornell al signifcance of beekeeping in the that will prepare you for the “real Southeast Coast of Madagascar, ex- world”? amining how globalization and mod- Find people who accept you as you ernization have altered it! are and cultivate those relationships.

What are your future plans? What is the dumbest Cornell rule, I’m moving to the West Coast! and how do you actively subvert it? Parking costs money?? I get parking What does Watermargin mean to tickets and forget to pay them. you? The Marginal Page 8 The Wall Cooperatives vs. Frats: The Eternal War

Tere runs a well-worn path from Watermargin’s front door up to the least-steep part of libe slope. Tis path is every marginal’s pre- ferred commute. It just happens to cross the edge of the very big lawn of a large and vicious fraternity. Tough they have ofen taunted with “Private Property” signs, we at Watermar- gin, and the rest of the residents of McGraw Place, have always and will continue to cross their lawn to get to campus. But at the beginning of this se- mester, the frat decided that our tres- passing could no longer stand. And so they did what our recently elect- ed President had been demanding gleefully all year: they built a wall. Weakly constructed out of sticks and orange mesh, the Wall was an insult more than an injury. Tat night, we tore it down, arranging the sticks and mesh on their lawn to resemble a gi- ant bonfre (which we did not light, because we believe in fre safety). A few nights later, the Wall was back, with the materials we’d lef

Our darling Gloria in all of her glory them. And so we tore it down again, The Marginal Page 9 Te newest version of the Wall this time moving the sticks and mesh Te mission was a great success. to our own yard, out of their view Te Wall was not re-erected, and our and beyond their reach. commutes to campus were unim- In a few days, the Wall returned, with peded for almost the entirety of the newer (and even more fimsy) sticks semester. Until May, when the frat and fresh mesh. We tore it down, but boys once more had enough of us knew that we needed to leave a mes- doing literally nothing and harming sage. And so we constructed a scare- literally no one. So they hired a con- crow with miscellaneous clothes, a struction company to actually install mask, and a wig found in WM’s cos- a chain-link fence with real dug-in tume bin. On a top-secret midnight posts. mission complete with code names Te fence is easily skirted, and and alarm calls, we staked our scare- most house-members make a point crow, who we lovingly christened of crossing their lawn to spite them Gloria, in front of their front door anyway. But future generations will with a note around her neck (“Send certainly have fun devising new and Nudes”). devious ways to take revenge. The Marginal Page 10 Education Event

For our education event this brown communities. semester, Watermargin and Kitsch Her talk, “Te Race Contract,” Magazine co-sponsored a talk by ac- was held in Annabel Taylor Hall. It tivist Negesti Cantave, who is a queer was a discussion piece based on the lifelong resident of Bedford-Stuyve- “Te Racial Contract” by Charles sant, Brooklyn. She is a revolutionary Mills that examines the way people thinker, flmmaker, and community of the African Diaspora are treated organizer whose liberation theory is in today’s society and highlights the rooted frmly in the undeniable log- ways in which this continues to be ic of Black Power. Negesti has spent complacent in anti-black white su- much time organizing around the premacy. Te talk was followed by a issues of the environment, access to discussion about how to be an active afordable housing, and ending the bystander and what sorts of com- state-sanctioned murders of black munity-based solutions to white su- people in low income black and premacy Negesti works towards. The Marginal Page 11 Other House Events Febrary 11: David Bowie Goes to April 12: Living room concert: Tiny Senior Prom party to celebrate nu- Hazard / Red Sled Choir / Hugh merous house birthdays. Wilhelm

February 23: Rock n’ Roll concert April 15: Watermargin’s 69th Birth- featuring local artists Beau Mahadev day Banger. / China Shop / No Comply / Cool Teen. April 27: Healthy Manhood Initia- tive: A presentation and open dis- March 3: Intercooperative Cofee- cussion about how we can support house at Annabel Taylor Hall Alter- healthy manhood development in natives Library. communities of color. Co-sponsored with Latinas Promiviendo Comuni- March 11: End of mosey party to dad. celebrate our new housemembers. May 6: Spring Formal, entitled March 14: Snowdarty, a cozy party Watyr Fest 2k17, inspired by the to celebrate the blessed and *ex- Fyre Fest fasco. tremely rare* snow days March 14- 15. May 11: Slope Day party with all- day BBQ on the porch. March 23: Cornell Graduate Stu- dents Union Get Out the Vote May 12: Women’s Rugby Prom, held Concert featuring Beau Mahadev at Watermargin. / American Metaphysical Circus / China Shop / Sea Ghost May 13: Cornell Middle Eastern En- semble living room concert. April 3: Dining room concert: Fanc- loncat / China Shop / Benjamin Tor- May 23: Spanish-themed party to rey / Patti Creamer. say goodbye to our Spanish ex- change students. The Marginal Page 12 Annual Watermargin Reunion Friday, June 9 (Reunion Weekend) 4:00-6:00 PM at the house, 103 McGraw Place. All are welcome. Light refreshments will be served. No RSVP is necessary. If you have photos you’d like to share, please bring them with you! Watermargin Alumni Board recruiting 2 new members Finance/investment and/or legal background a plus. Commitment of quarterly meetings and three year term. Contact board President, Jenée Chizick Agüero: [email protected] First Annual Friendship Dinner Saturday, November 11th, 6:00 PM. Alumni and housemembers welcome

New and Improved Watermargin Website: http://watermargin.org Check for updates on fellow alumni! Questions? Comments? Conerns? Email our new alumni secretary, Rachel Biggane at [email protected]

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