The S&B won't publish another print issue until after winter break, but that doesn't mean we've completely closed up shop. Keep following the S&Blog for both news and content like this, Fiona M. Martin '08's random rant.
What the hell?
I was under the impression that TV in the Grille was to
A) only broadcast news
and
B) remain on MUTE.
Yet here I am, in the weekend before finals, and the Grille TV was on the USA network showing some mediocre action move, and now its on some MTV dance show. Even worse, its not on MUTE! I'm up on the second floor above the grill, with my back to the TV, and yet I can hear every word coming out of that machine (two supermodels are having an argument).
Regardless of what people want to watch, the TV needs to be on MUTE. Plus, the student initiative I voted for, said the TV would be on a news channel.
Who's in charge of the remote anyway?
Your distracted peer,
-Fiona M. Martin '08
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Friday, November 16, 2007
Virgin: The Case Against Hillary Clinton
by Sheahan Virgin
To the Barack Obama and John Edwards supporters out there, who had been adamantly and intently waiting for that time when Hillary Clinton would stumble, look no further, for your hopes have been realized. Or at least that was the general ‘spin’ coming out of the Democratic debate a few weeks ago when, towards the end, Clinton attempted to take two different positions on the same issue during the same answer. Edwards, Obama, and the press immediately pounced, and that night, Hillary Clinton was caught attempting to straddle the fence and looked like a fool.
And speaking of fools, it would be foolish of Democrats to nominate the New York senator, though there is, despite Clinton’s recent missteps, a very real chance that her machine of a campaign will continue to roll to victory. With Clinton being such a poor candidate and having developed the reputation of being insincere and overly polished (indeed, one need not look further than polls showing that most Americans believe Hillary will say anything to get elected and generally avoids answering difficult questions), some Democrats are beginning to seriously worry they’ve been backing the wrong horse.
The case against Clinton is strong: nominating Hillary, while it would make history by selecting a woman to head a major party ticket, is plane and simple, bad politics and poor strategy. Running for political office places a premium on money, organization, and name recognition, and while Clinton may have the money and resources to win a general election campaign, it is her name which, in the end, will bring her down no matter how many millions she spends.
Next to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton has the highest unfavorability ratings of any politician, with estimates ranging from forty to fifty percent depending on which poll one consults. Such numbers not only undermine Clinton’s claim that she will be a “uniter in a divided America,” they hit right at the heart of her electability and her ability, come November, to deliver the percentage of votes necessary to shape a mandate for which Democrats have long craved. If there is one rule in politics, it is that you never run a candidate whom a majority of the nation already detests.
The bottom line: too many Republicans came to loathe the Clintons in the 1990s and as a result, many (even ones considering voting Democratic in 2008) will refuse to vote for Hillary under any circumstances in November. They fear that by allowing another Clinton in the White House, Bill will (behind the scenes) privately influence American policy. And nothing makes conservatives balk more than the thought of another four years of Bill Clinton calling the shots in Washington.
Understandably, in the last debate, Clinton attempted to put a positive spin on the question as to why Republicans continually mention her on the campaign trail. Her answer: that Republicans are afraid of running against a woman who has already shown that she can “beat the right-wing attack machine.” Clinton’s spin is so absurd that it is almost laughable.
It is true that Republicans fear Hillary, but not because they worry that she would beat them, but because they fear the “debauchery and drama” to which a new Clinton administration would give rise. The last thing Democrats need, therefore, is a weak nominee capable of scaring a fractured Republican Party into uniting, which is exactly what Hillary, despite her massive amounts of campaign money and perfectly rehearsed debate responses, would do—energize and galvanize conservatives whose hatred of the Clintons is just as potent today as it was in the 1990s.
At a time in our nation’s history when elections are extremely close, a battle between “Red America” and “Blue America,” it is absolutely essential to nominate a candidate who will appeal to more than just the party faithful. Nothing scares Democrats more than the thought of swing-voters passing on their candidate. The Democratic nominee in 2008 must poll well among independents and disillusioned Republicans, something that Clinton would do remarkably poorly. Nominating Clinton is like starting a marathon with a broken leg. Sure, there is a chance that you could win the race—by luck or by the unlikely event that your competitors founder. But nevertheless, if I were a betting man, I would bet against the athlete hobbling down the track and whose very presence would make her opponent’s supporters turn out en masse.
Democrats have reached the fork-in-the-Y in the nomination process; one branch leads to the nomination of Senator Clinton—it means disingenuous answers, hollow rhetoric about change, and planted questions at public events. It means shame. It means Washington-politics-as-usual. It means a loss in the general election. The other branch leads to the nomination of another candidate, in whom, although he may certainly not have the resources of Clinton, we can honestly believe. It means hope and pride. It means a great discussion of the issues. It means renewal and a system that works again for Americans. Democrats have a choice in this primary campaign. Let us hope they take the right decision.
To the Barack Obama and John Edwards supporters out there, who had been adamantly and intently waiting for that time when Hillary Clinton would stumble, look no further, for your hopes have been realized. Or at least that was the general ‘spin’ coming out of the Democratic debate a few weeks ago when, towards the end, Clinton attempted to take two different positions on the same issue during the same answer. Edwards, Obama, and the press immediately pounced, and that night, Hillary Clinton was caught attempting to straddle the fence and looked like a fool.
And speaking of fools, it would be foolish of Democrats to nominate the New York senator, though there is, despite Clinton’s recent missteps, a very real chance that her machine of a campaign will continue to roll to victory. With Clinton being such a poor candidate and having developed the reputation of being insincere and overly polished (indeed, one need not look further than polls showing that most Americans believe Hillary will say anything to get elected and generally avoids answering difficult questions), some Democrats are beginning to seriously worry they’ve been backing the wrong horse.
The case against Clinton is strong: nominating Hillary, while it would make history by selecting a woman to head a major party ticket, is plane and simple, bad politics and poor strategy. Running for political office places a premium on money, organization, and name recognition, and while Clinton may have the money and resources to win a general election campaign, it is her name which, in the end, will bring her down no matter how many millions she spends.
Next to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, Hillary Clinton has the highest unfavorability ratings of any politician, with estimates ranging from forty to fifty percent depending on which poll one consults. Such numbers not only undermine Clinton’s claim that she will be a “uniter in a divided America,” they hit right at the heart of her electability and her ability, come November, to deliver the percentage of votes necessary to shape a mandate for which Democrats have long craved. If there is one rule in politics, it is that you never run a candidate whom a majority of the nation already detests.
The bottom line: too many Republicans came to loathe the Clintons in the 1990s and as a result, many (even ones considering voting Democratic in 2008) will refuse to vote for Hillary under any circumstances in November. They fear that by allowing another Clinton in the White House, Bill will (behind the scenes) privately influence American policy. And nothing makes conservatives balk more than the thought of another four years of Bill Clinton calling the shots in Washington.
Understandably, in the last debate, Clinton attempted to put a positive spin on the question as to why Republicans continually mention her on the campaign trail. Her answer: that Republicans are afraid of running against a woman who has already shown that she can “beat the right-wing attack machine.” Clinton’s spin is so absurd that it is almost laughable.
It is true that Republicans fear Hillary, but not because they worry that she would beat them, but because they fear the “debauchery and drama” to which a new Clinton administration would give rise. The last thing Democrats need, therefore, is a weak nominee capable of scaring a fractured Republican Party into uniting, which is exactly what Hillary, despite her massive amounts of campaign money and perfectly rehearsed debate responses, would do—energize and galvanize conservatives whose hatred of the Clintons is just as potent today as it was in the 1990s.
At a time in our nation’s history when elections are extremely close, a battle between “Red America” and “Blue America,” it is absolutely essential to nominate a candidate who will appeal to more than just the party faithful. Nothing scares Democrats more than the thought of swing-voters passing on their candidate. The Democratic nominee in 2008 must poll well among independents and disillusioned Republicans, something that Clinton would do remarkably poorly. Nominating Clinton is like starting a marathon with a broken leg. Sure, there is a chance that you could win the race—by luck or by the unlikely event that your competitors founder. But nevertheless, if I were a betting man, I would bet against the athlete hobbling down the track and whose very presence would make her opponent’s supporters turn out en masse.
Democrats have reached the fork-in-the-Y in the nomination process; one branch leads to the nomination of Senator Clinton—it means disingenuous answers, hollow rhetoric about change, and planted questions at public events. It means shame. It means Washington-politics-as-usual. It means a loss in the general election. The other branch leads to the nomination of another candidate, in whom, although he may certainly not have the resources of Clinton, we can honestly believe. It means hope and pride. It means a great discussion of the issues. It means renewal and a system that works again for Americans. Democrats have a choice in this primary campaign. Let us hope they take the right decision.
Thursday, November 08, 2007
The Simpsons Movie
by Kevin Marcou
I’m about as big of a Simpsons fan as you can get without memorizing production codes for each episode, so when The Simpsons Movie was finally announced, I was fairly excited, to say the least. I imagined it to be the sort of opus longtime fans like myself were hoping for, a movie full of callbacks to previous episodes, popular one-shot characters like Hank Scorpio and Sherry Bobbins and generally the same quality as the acknowledged golden age of the series back between seasons five and eight.
Here we have Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) creating a toxic nightmare out of Lake Springfield, spurring the head of the EPA Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks) to have the entire city of Springfield sealed in. Homer and his family escape to Alaska, but when they learn that Springfield has been slated to become the “new Grand Canyon” via high-powered explosives, the family rushes back to save their hometown.
The movie can be hilariously funny. Be it Homer rifling through a Bible while bemoaning the lack of answers it provides or a simple sight gag like a rat scurrying out of a donut shop, the jokes are great. And self-referential humor abounds, such as the location of Springfield in the U.S. (apparently it borders Maine, Kentucky, Ohio and Nevada). The first half hour of the movie finds the jokes coming in hot, heavy and funny. But then things start to get serious, and the humor—and the movie—begins to lag.
Now, any show that’s featured thousands of characters over its history is going to have a hard time fitting everyone in. That’s completely understandable, and it’s great fun to be on the lookout for past characters that don’t necessarily have a speaking role but are still hanging around in the background. But there was a lot of potential to bring back favorite one-shot-glory characters. Heck, the voice actor for Hank Scorpio (also Albert Brooks) was there, so why not at least give him some time on screen? It simply seems like a wasted opportunity.
On the plus side, the animation is gorgeous and a refreshing change of pace from the glut of CG cartoon movies we’ve been getting recently. The voice actors also have clearly stepped up in terms of the quality of their readings. One particular scene with Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner) elicits about as much emotion as you could conceivably get from a cartoon character with no chin and three-foot-tall blue hair.
It would be impossible to make a movie that fully and satisfactorily encompasses the universe that The Simpsons has created over the past 20 years, so I honestly can’t hold it against them for the things they didn’t include. The Simpsons Movie is not perfect, but it’s as good as you could ever get from the Simpsons. Woo-hoo!
I’m about as big of a Simpsons fan as you can get without memorizing production codes for each episode, so when The Simpsons Movie was finally announced, I was fairly excited, to say the least. I imagined it to be the sort of opus longtime fans like myself were hoping for, a movie full of callbacks to previous episodes, popular one-shot characters like Hank Scorpio and Sherry Bobbins and generally the same quality as the acknowledged golden age of the series back between seasons five and eight.
Here we have Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) creating a toxic nightmare out of Lake Springfield, spurring the head of the EPA Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks) to have the entire city of Springfield sealed in. Homer and his family escape to Alaska, but when they learn that Springfield has been slated to become the “new Grand Canyon” via high-powered explosives, the family rushes back to save their hometown.
The movie can be hilariously funny. Be it Homer rifling through a Bible while bemoaning the lack of answers it provides or a simple sight gag like a rat scurrying out of a donut shop, the jokes are great. And self-referential humor abounds, such as the location of Springfield in the U.S. (apparently it borders Maine, Kentucky, Ohio and Nevada). The first half hour of the movie finds the jokes coming in hot, heavy and funny. But then things start to get serious, and the humor—and the movie—begins to lag.
Now, any show that’s featured thousands of characters over its history is going to have a hard time fitting everyone in. That’s completely understandable, and it’s great fun to be on the lookout for past characters that don’t necessarily have a speaking role but are still hanging around in the background. But there was a lot of potential to bring back favorite one-shot-glory characters. Heck, the voice actor for Hank Scorpio (also Albert Brooks) was there, so why not at least give him some time on screen? It simply seems like a wasted opportunity.
On the plus side, the animation is gorgeous and a refreshing change of pace from the glut of CG cartoon movies we’ve been getting recently. The voice actors also have clearly stepped up in terms of the quality of their readings. One particular scene with Marge Simpson (Julie Kavner) elicits about as much emotion as you could conceivably get from a cartoon character with no chin and three-foot-tall blue hair.
It would be impossible to make a movie that fully and satisfactorily encompasses the universe that The Simpsons has created over the past 20 years, so I honestly can’t hold it against them for the things they didn’t include. The Simpsons Movie is not perfect, but it’s as good as you could ever get from the Simpsons. Woo-hoo!
Sunday, October 14, 2007
Mental Health Coverage
Grinnell's mental health policies have been much-discussed on campus over the past day.
The S&B has no issue coming out this coming Friday due to Fall Break and mid-semester exams, but we have writers working on a story about Grinnell's mental health policies and how they affect students. Our plan is currently to run a major article in our first issue after Fall Break.
With regards to particular circumstances, at this point the S&B will respect individual privacy and not discuss particular names or events until those names and events can be directly corroborated and approved for publication by those involved. If changing situations call for it, we will post an article on the S&Blog prior to our coming issue on Nov. 2.
The S&B has no issue coming out this coming Friday due to Fall Break and mid-semester exams, but we have writers working on a story about Grinnell's mental health policies and how they affect students. Our plan is currently to run a major article in our first issue after Fall Break.
With regards to particular circumstances, at this point the S&B will respect individual privacy and not discuss particular names or events until those names and events can be directly corroborated and approved for publication by those involved. If changing situations call for it, we will post an article on the S&Blog prior to our coming issue on Nov. 2.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Horoscopes
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22) –On Sunday, you will write a new hit pop song that will earn you millions of dollars. By Tuesday, you will have dropped out of Grinnell and embarked on a nationwide tour. On Thursday, you’ll become an out-of-control drug addict and forsake your fan base. n Friday, your career will fail miserably and you’ll be forced to go back home and enroll in community college. However, by next Tuesday, you will have a culinary degree and a dumb but reasonably attractive fiancée. Bit of a whirlwind week, no?
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) – I swear to God, if you poke me in the side and run away giggling one more time, I will punch you in the kidney. STOP IT.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) – This week, you will learn the true meaning of Christmas. However, your miserliness and materialism will be back with a vengeance by the time the holiday actually rolls around.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) – This week, you will lose your first postgraduate job opportunity due to awkward drunken crossdressing pictures on facebook. You will then curse your stupidity and make promises to yourself that you will change all of your privacy settings and untag incriminating photos. However, before you get around to it, you’ll get distracted by liquor and wind up with tagged photos of you running around campus accosting sculptures with your genitals, which will result in the loss of your second postgraduate job opportunity.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) – Having trouble planning your future career and life goals? Simply walk over to your bookshelf, select the 6th book from the left, turn to page 135, and read the last complete sentence. In my case, this results in, "I'm pregnant with his child and want him to leave his wife and three girlfriends because I am more of a woman than they are." Now that is an actionable goal that my liberal arts education has adequately prepared me for.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) – Don't forget to trim/pluck those unsightly nose hairs. You never know when you might spontaneously fall in love with someone much shorter than you.
Aries (Mar. 21- Apr. 19) – 95 percent of the time, horoscopes are stupid and wrong. That being said, the stars will align in your favor and you will meet your one true love if you send six candy bars and a check for $22.50 to box 3374.
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – Despite being a natural-born citizen of the USA, you will be unexpectedly deported to Siberia later this week. Perhaps all those snarky letters you wrote to the president during your activist days in high school weren’t actually such a good idea.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) – The next bottle of shampoo you buy at Wal-Mart will single-handedly cause the collapse of small business in America. Nice job, jerk.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) – This week, you will click on one of those obnoxious sidebar ads that purport to calculate the exact name of your soulmate, and you will actually find and fall in love with your soulmate. S/he will be the person who comes to rid your computer of the horrible virus you contracted by clicking on stupid sidebar ads.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) – The fact that you live in Iowa is no excuse for not planning for grizzly bear attacks. Don’t be foolish.
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) – Fact: every time you sit around gossiping with your friends about how strange or inept one of your professors is, s/he is sitting around saying the same thing about you with other professors.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) – I swear to God, if you poke me in the side and run away giggling one more time, I will punch you in the kidney. STOP IT.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) – This week, you will learn the true meaning of Christmas. However, your miserliness and materialism will be back with a vengeance by the time the holiday actually rolls around.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) – This week, you will lose your first postgraduate job opportunity due to awkward drunken crossdressing pictures on facebook. You will then curse your stupidity and make promises to yourself that you will change all of your privacy settings and untag incriminating photos. However, before you get around to it, you’ll get distracted by liquor and wind up with tagged photos of you running around campus accosting sculptures with your genitals, which will result in the loss of your second postgraduate job opportunity.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) – Having trouble planning your future career and life goals? Simply walk over to your bookshelf, select the 6th book from the left, turn to page 135, and read the last complete sentence. In my case, this results in, "I'm pregnant with his child and want him to leave his wife and three girlfriends because I am more of a woman than they are." Now that is an actionable goal that my liberal arts education has adequately prepared me for.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) – Don't forget to trim/pluck those unsightly nose hairs. You never know when you might spontaneously fall in love with someone much shorter than you.
Aries (Mar. 21- Apr. 19) – 95 percent of the time, horoscopes are stupid and wrong. That being said, the stars will align in your favor and you will meet your one true love if you send six candy bars and a check for $22.50 to box 3374.
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – Despite being a natural-born citizen of the USA, you will be unexpectedly deported to Siberia later this week. Perhaps all those snarky letters you wrote to the president during your activist days in high school weren’t actually such a good idea.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) – The next bottle of shampoo you buy at Wal-Mart will single-handedly cause the collapse of small business in America. Nice job, jerk.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) – This week, you will click on one of those obnoxious sidebar ads that purport to calculate the exact name of your soulmate, and you will actually find and fall in love with your soulmate. S/he will be the person who comes to rid your computer of the horrible virus you contracted by clicking on stupid sidebar ads.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) – The fact that you live in Iowa is no excuse for not planning for grizzly bear attacks. Don’t be foolish.
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) – Fact: every time you sit around gossiping with your friends about how strange or inept one of your professors is, s/he is sitting around saying the same thing about you with other professors.
Friday, October 05, 2007
Horoscopes
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22) – Make or break: Your romantic partner is perfect in every way except that s/he is a vampire. This seemingly trivial question will become surprisingly relevant to your love life this upcoming week.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) – Your entire hallway can hear you having sex. I can hear you having sex. That’s just disrespectful.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) – This week, you will be confronted by no fewer than six wild possums. One of them will be carrying a small pouch full of $100 bills. Another will be rabid. Choose wisely.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) – Your 10/10 experience will be truly legendary. On Saturday, you feel like a king among men. On Sunday, you will learn, to your dismay, that nacho cheese damage is not covered by your laptop’s warrantee.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) – As it turns out, the recent tornado warning was actually an elaborate plot by Dining Services to establish a dictatorial regime in the JRC basement. Be on the lookout this week for more mildly suspect warnings, such as earthquake, volcano, and tsunami. Believe me, they are willing to do Whatever It Takes to rule over you with an iron fist.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) – This is a bad week to come forward about that secret Freemasons ceremony you stumbled upon in the cornfields last summer. The police already know about it, and are probably in on it. Oh, and don’t eat the carrot cake.
Aries (Mar. 21- Apr. 19) – Today is a good day to tell your crush how much you care. Preferably in an awkwardly public place, with gaudy flowers and overpriced chocolates. Because really, there hasn’t been a hold lot of entertaining gossip lately
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – The bad news is you’ve recently developed a severe, life-threatening allergy to Cajun Shepherd’s Pie. The good news is that this will cause absolutely no change in your dietary decisions.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) – Remember how your parents told you that they couldn’t make it out here for Parent’s Weekend? That was actually a lie. They came, but they just wanted to hang out with your ex instead of you. Perhaps if you bring those grades up or clean your room once in a while, they’ll stop by to say hi next time.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) – Don’t worry, that giant suspicious mole you spontaneously developed on your chest last week isn’t cancerous; it’s chocolate. Also, you should shower more.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) – On Tuesday, you will single-handedly overthrow the white patriarchal hegemony. Just kidding. Instead, some townies will shout homophobic remarks at you from their pickup truck.
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) – On your trip home for fall break, you may be surprised to learn that Snakes on a Plane is not just a whimsical action spectacular starring Samuel L. Jackson. Watch for the black mambas, they’re feisty.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) – Your entire hallway can hear you having sex. I can hear you having sex. That’s just disrespectful.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) – This week, you will be confronted by no fewer than six wild possums. One of them will be carrying a small pouch full of $100 bills. Another will be rabid. Choose wisely.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) – Your 10/10 experience will be truly legendary. On Saturday, you feel like a king among men. On Sunday, you will learn, to your dismay, that nacho cheese damage is not covered by your laptop’s warrantee.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) – As it turns out, the recent tornado warning was actually an elaborate plot by Dining Services to establish a dictatorial regime in the JRC basement. Be on the lookout this week for more mildly suspect warnings, such as earthquake, volcano, and tsunami. Believe me, they are willing to do Whatever It Takes to rule over you with an iron fist.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) – This is a bad week to come forward about that secret Freemasons ceremony you stumbled upon in the cornfields last summer. The police already know about it, and are probably in on it. Oh, and don’t eat the carrot cake.
Aries (Mar. 21- Apr. 19) – Today is a good day to tell your crush how much you care. Preferably in an awkwardly public place, with gaudy flowers and overpriced chocolates. Because really, there hasn’t been a hold lot of entertaining gossip lately
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – The bad news is you’ve recently developed a severe, life-threatening allergy to Cajun Shepherd’s Pie. The good news is that this will cause absolutely no change in your dietary decisions.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) – Remember how your parents told you that they couldn’t make it out here for Parent’s Weekend? That was actually a lie. They came, but they just wanted to hang out with your ex instead of you. Perhaps if you bring those grades up or clean your room once in a while, they’ll stop by to say hi next time.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) – Don’t worry, that giant suspicious mole you spontaneously developed on your chest last week isn’t cancerous; it’s chocolate. Also, you should shower more.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) – On Tuesday, you will single-handedly overthrow the white patriarchal hegemony. Just kidding. Instead, some townies will shout homophobic remarks at you from their pickup truck.
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) – On your trip home for fall break, you may be surprised to learn that Snakes on a Plane is not just a whimsical action spectacular starring Samuel L. Jackson. Watch for the black mambas, they’re feisty.
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Movie Review: The Namesake
by Aru Singh
Based on the best-selling novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake is the story of the Ganguli family, who move from Calcutta to New York in the late 1970s. The touching story explores their inner turmoil in the U.S., especially as they try to raise their son with their own set of Indian traditions and run into conflicts between Eastern and Western mindsets.
The movie begins when Ashoke Ganguli (Irrfan Khan), an engineer in the U.S., goes back to his hometown Calcutta for an arranged marriage to his bride-to-be Ashima (Tabu). They return to the U.S., a new country of which they are very proud, but, like most first generation immigrants, at heart they still remain attached to their Bengali roots and culture. Ashima is slowly but surely falling in love with her “chosen” husband. It's in these scenes that the film shows it true charm—it's so beautifully and realistically handled.
But once they have children problems surface. They grow up full of New York attitude, and tend to have difficulty accepting Indian traditions and customs. The firstborn, rebellious son Gogol (Kal Penn) and his sister Sonia’s (Sahira Nair) dual identities cause them both conflict and even heartache. They endure racism, work and snobbery; meet potential partners; marry: the sad and joyful surprises of the 25-year life journey the movie encompasses.
The lead couple, noted Bollywood actors, give flawless performances. Kal Penn and Sahira Nair also put in decent performances, as does the remaining supporting cast. But what really stands out in the movie is the realism and dialogue. The movie, despite being poignant and serious, is not preachy.
But the movie is not without faults. The script drags at times, the camerawork is less than perfect and the characters of the two children are slightly under-developed.
Yet The Namesake remains a powerful and compelling drama. It is not as much about Indian culture (then and now) as it is about the power and pull of family—that one force that unites us all with love and misery in equal measure. In this era of globalization, immigration and free movement, The Namesake presents the often-ignored human perspective.
Based on the best-selling novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake is the story of the Ganguli family, who move from Calcutta to New York in the late 1970s. The touching story explores their inner turmoil in the U.S., especially as they try to raise their son with their own set of Indian traditions and run into conflicts between Eastern and Western mindsets.
The movie begins when Ashoke Ganguli (Irrfan Khan), an engineer in the U.S., goes back to his hometown Calcutta for an arranged marriage to his bride-to-be Ashima (Tabu). They return to the U.S., a new country of which they are very proud, but, like most first generation immigrants, at heart they still remain attached to their Bengali roots and culture. Ashima is slowly but surely falling in love with her “chosen” husband. It's in these scenes that the film shows it true charm—it's so beautifully and realistically handled.
But once they have children problems surface. They grow up full of New York attitude, and tend to have difficulty accepting Indian traditions and customs. The firstborn, rebellious son Gogol (Kal Penn) and his sister Sonia’s (Sahira Nair) dual identities cause them both conflict and even heartache. They endure racism, work and snobbery; meet potential partners; marry: the sad and joyful surprises of the 25-year life journey the movie encompasses.
The lead couple, noted Bollywood actors, give flawless performances. Kal Penn and Sahira Nair also put in decent performances, as does the remaining supporting cast. But what really stands out in the movie is the realism and dialogue. The movie, despite being poignant and serious, is not preachy.
But the movie is not without faults. The script drags at times, the camerawork is less than perfect and the characters of the two children are slightly under-developed.
Yet The Namesake remains a powerful and compelling drama. It is not as much about Indian culture (then and now) as it is about the power and pull of family—that one force that unites us all with love and misery in equal measure. In this era of globalization, immigration and free movement, The Namesake presents the often-ignored human perspective.
Friday, September 21, 2007
Horoscopes
Aries (Mar. 21- Apr. 19) – An unexpected call from your parents will leave you sexually frustrated and unable to look at trees at least until Wednesday.
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – After three weeks of constant drunkenness you will wake up to find that not only are you sober again, but that you don't really like the people you've been calling your friends all this time.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) – If you've every thought about giving streaking a try, this week is not your week. The wind just won't be in your favor.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) – A sudden heart attack brought on by excessive steroid use won't stop you this week, Cancer. Keep shoving down those fried hot cakes and the ladies and the mens will be all up ons in no time.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) – No one likes a crying Leo. Suck it up.
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) – If you thought last week was bad Virgo, check out this week. After a brief interlude with a can of mace, you'll come face to face with a hoard of angry Iowa farmers that aren't too happy that you've been stealing away their sultry daughters.
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22) – The world is in your hands, Libra. Don't make the same mistakes you did last time.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) – The intelligentsia is catching on to your schemes. Make plans to flee either early on Tuesday or late on Friday.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) – Beware of that sketchy person that sits in the back of your 8 a.m. class. He's not a student, and he really likes pocket protectors.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) – Congratulations. This is the dawning of the age of Capricorn.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) - Did you remember to wash your hands before dinner young lady?
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) – Your stunning good looks and Cary Grant-like charm will be the cause of a four bike collision on North Campus.
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – After three weeks of constant drunkenness you will wake up to find that not only are you sober again, but that you don't really like the people you've been calling your friends all this time.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) – If you've every thought about giving streaking a try, this week is not your week. The wind just won't be in your favor.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) – A sudden heart attack brought on by excessive steroid use won't stop you this week, Cancer. Keep shoving down those fried hot cakes and the ladies and the mens will be all up ons in no time.
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) – No one likes a crying Leo. Suck it up.
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) – If you thought last week was bad Virgo, check out this week. After a brief interlude with a can of mace, you'll come face to face with a hoard of angry Iowa farmers that aren't too happy that you've been stealing away their sultry daughters.
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22) – The world is in your hands, Libra. Don't make the same mistakes you did last time.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) – The intelligentsia is catching on to your schemes. Make plans to flee either early on Tuesday or late on Friday.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) – Beware of that sketchy person that sits in the back of your 8 a.m. class. He's not a student, and he really likes pocket protectors.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) – Congratulations. This is the dawning of the age of Capricorn.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) - Did you remember to wash your hands before dinner young lady?
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) – Your stunning good looks and Cary Grant-like charm will be the cause of a four bike collision on North Campus.
Caution: crossword answers
Answers for Sept. 21 puzzle
1. Steiner
2. Gerhardt
3. Hamilton
4. Corn
5. Exco
6. Fall break
7. Graffiti
8. Intel
9. Lyle
10. Tutorial
11. Burling Library
12. Brio
13. YGB
14. S and B, or B and S
15. GORP
1. Steiner
2. Gerhardt
3. Hamilton
4. Corn
5. Exco
6. Fall break
7. Graffiti
8. Intel
9. Lyle
10. Tutorial
11. Burling Library
12. Brio
13. YGB
14. S and B, or B and S
15. GORP
Friday, September 14, 2007
Horoscopes
Aries (Mar. 21- Apr. 19) - If there's one astrological sign no one wants to be this week, it's probably Aries. Try changing it up if you can ... have you ever thought about being more of a Scorpio?
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – The Ford Taurus has to be the worst car ever made. End of story. And now that they switched from making mid-sized Tauruses to making full-sized Tauruses, they've made the car even worse. I mean, you must have skill to take the worst car ever, and make it worse. Taurus, stay out of a Taurus.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) - You're really sweet, Gemini, but the mullet thing is getting really distracting. I know a good barber in town if you'd like his number. If you don't want his number, though, I know how to get in touch with a few Billy Ray Cyrus fans in town, too.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) - Get rid of all that baggage you've been carrying around! Nobody's really been listening since Tuesday anyway. Or, if you're really into baggage, try making something up to keep things interesting, and throw a little truth in here and there. Someone's bound to take the bait and give you some superficial advice!
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) - You made some bad decisions last week that are going to haunt you. If you feel like sharing, e-mail [newspapr].
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) - You might be loose, but you are not ready. Stay in this weekend and make yourself useful. By the way, that person you've been making eyes at all week totally saw you walk into that pillar in front of the JRC. You might want to stop staring at the ground all the time. And get a new shirt. That one you've been wearing all week just isn't that ironic. Also, avoid all Libras ... they've got it out for you.
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22) - Watch out for ladders this week, especially six-foot ladders being carried around by your advisor. Avoid confrontation as well, unless, of course, you enjoy having animal claws embedded in your medulla. Try seducing a Virgo on the evenings of odd-numbered days.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) - Your presidential ambitions will be dashed this week when you are caught snorting cocaine off an intern's stomach before your speech at the Harkin Steak Fry.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) - Wednesday is going to be the most awesome day you have ever had. Enjoy it while you can, because your professor is going to drop a bombshell on Thursday. Bring a helmet to class just in case.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) - The votes are in. YOU are America's Next Top Model.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) - The weather is not your friend this week. Try avoiding any sun, wind and rain. But if it snows, you've got it made. If it does snow, go out into the middle of Mac field and build the largest snowman possible. This is your fated way to attract your one true love. If it doesn't snow, that sucks for you. Settle in for a long period of lonely days and lonelier nights.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) - Yes, that cute editor from the S&B has been flirting with you after class every day. Try paying a visit to the Student Publications office next Tuesday after 4:15.
Taurus (Apr. 20 - May. 20) – The Ford Taurus has to be the worst car ever made. End of story. And now that they switched from making mid-sized Tauruses to making full-sized Tauruses, they've made the car even worse. I mean, you must have skill to take the worst car ever, and make it worse. Taurus, stay out of a Taurus.
Gemini (May. 21 - Jun. 20) - You're really sweet, Gemini, but the mullet thing is getting really distracting. I know a good barber in town if you'd like his number. If you don't want his number, though, I know how to get in touch with a few Billy Ray Cyrus fans in town, too.
Cancer (June 21 - July 22) - Get rid of all that baggage you've been carrying around! Nobody's really been listening since Tuesday anyway. Or, if you're really into baggage, try making something up to keep things interesting, and throw a little truth in here and there. Someone's bound to take the bait and give you some superficial advice!
Leo (July 23 - Aug. 22) - You made some bad decisions last week that are going to haunt you. If you feel like sharing, e-mail [newspapr].
Virgo (Aug. 23 - Sep. 22) - You might be loose, but you are not ready. Stay in this weekend and make yourself useful. By the way, that person you've been making eyes at all week totally saw you walk into that pillar in front of the JRC. You might want to stop staring at the ground all the time. And get a new shirt. That one you've been wearing all week just isn't that ironic. Also, avoid all Libras ... they've got it out for you.
Libra (Sep. 23 - Oct. 22) - Watch out for ladders this week, especially six-foot ladders being carried around by your advisor. Avoid confrontation as well, unless, of course, you enjoy having animal claws embedded in your medulla. Try seducing a Virgo on the evenings of odd-numbered days.
Scorpio (Oct. 23 - Nov. 21) - Your presidential ambitions will be dashed this week when you are caught snorting cocaine off an intern's stomach before your speech at the Harkin Steak Fry.
Sagittarius (Nov. 22 - Dec. 21) - Wednesday is going to be the most awesome day you have ever had. Enjoy it while you can, because your professor is going to drop a bombshell on Thursday. Bring a helmet to class just in case.
Capricorn (Dec. 22 - Jan. 19) - The votes are in. YOU are America's Next Top Model.
Aquarius (Jan. 20 - Feb. 18) - The weather is not your friend this week. Try avoiding any sun, wind and rain. But if it snows, you've got it made. If it does snow, go out into the middle of Mac field and build the largest snowman possible. This is your fated way to attract your one true love. If it doesn't snow, that sucks for you. Settle in for a long period of lonely days and lonelier nights.
Pisces (Feb. 19 - Mar. 20) - Yes, that cute editor from the S&B has been flirting with you after class every day. Try paying a visit to the Student Publications office next Tuesday after 4:15.
Penthouse Poverty
The Cast:
Wyatt: The violent roommate
Tim: The elitist roommate
Mike: The roommate who still retains a (somewhat) functioning conscience
This week we join our heroes as they discuss the merits and drawbacks of their lair in the Cowles apartments. Tim, Mike, and Wyatt are sitting on the couch in their living room watching Wyatt play video games while sipping some beers. On a Monday afternoon.
Tim: Listen, guys, I’m sick of people telling us how nice our apartment is. All I hear is, “Oh, wow, you have air conditioning! How awesome!” Well, guess what: our air conditioning only goes down to a balmy 60 degrees, and it can’t even maintain that temperature with the windows open! That might be acceptable if we lived in Alaska, but after spending a day barefoot in the apartment with the air conditioning set as low as it can go, my toes STILL didn’t have frostbite. Now all my mittens and scarves are worthless … all I need is slippers and a blanket.
Wyatt: Did you see me just rip the head off that fiery Minotaur? Sweet!
Mike: Come on, now. We have it a lot better than most students. After all, the school gave us this TV.
Tim and Wyatt: Shut up, Mike!
Wyatt: Yeah, Mike, the school gave us this TV, and it sucks! First, it’s only, like, 30 inches. That is downright insulting. Plus, it’s not even HD! How am I supposed to watch Everybody Loves Raymond from this school-provided couch five feet away when I can’t see the pores on Ray Romano’s face?
Tim: On top of that, the cable the school gave us only has 60 channels. Just basic cable? Our peer institutions get HBO and SHOW-Time. If we want to stay competitive, we need to add some premium channels. The people demand CineMax!
Mike: Honestly, those things are just luxuries. We don’t need them to have a happy, fulfilling year together. After all, we have each other, and we have the joy of learning and expanding our friendships.
Tim and Wyatt: Shut up, Mike.
Mike: No, really, I think that living without all those things can bring us closer together!
Wyatt: Mike, if you continue to talk, you should seriously consider saying goodbye to those testicles.
Tim: How can this hellhole bring us together? We don’t even have a balcony!
Mike: We do have a loft, which is kinda like a balcony.
Wyatt: Yeah, but you see all those stairs going up to the loft? Stairs! Where is the elevator? Did Housing honestly think that after a hard day of playing video games I would have the energy to haul myself up 16 steps?
Tim: I thought this was America, not a third-world country!
Wyatt: And even though the school gave us a lot of free stuff, they didn’t deliver on some of their promises.
Tim: Yeah, they didn’t include a fireplace. That leaves me with almost no options for placing the Italian marble bust of myself that I commissioned last year. And where is the gold-plated fountain of champagne?
Wyatt: And no fireplace means I don’t have any place to burn things! Plus the walls are so thin that I can piss people off with my heavy metal without even trying. Where’s the challenge in that?
Tim: Really, Mike, we live like poor people here. And you know how much I hate poor people!
Mike: Tim, I think it’s time you rethought your attitude towards the less fortunate. They are people just like everyone else …
Tim and Wyatt: SHUT UP, MIKE!
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Full spring archives posted
After great trials and tribulations, the S&B finally has full spring PDF archives posted. Enjoy--just in time for a whole new semester of issues.
Monday, August 13, 2007
Grinnell and Study Abroad programs
Grinnell Director of Off-Campus Study Richard Bright said in an e-mail that Grinnell does not have any financial arrangements with study abroad programs, such as those that were detailed in The New York Times today. The Times published an article on student loan programs and the "gifts and money" that sometimes flow the universities' way in those relationships. Some things mentioned:
Colleges and universities cited in the article included the University of California (Berkeley), Fordham and Pace, Rice, and Columbia.
"I can say with confidence that Grinnell does not engage in the sorts of financial arrangements with study-abroad programs described in the article," Bright wrote in his e-mail after being asked about the Times article. "The college selects programs according to their academic relevance to the on-campus curriculum and would not accept monetary or non-monetary incentives in making these decisions. In fact, none of the programs to which Grinnell sends students has ever made such an offer."
At many campuses, study abroad programs are run by multiple companies and nonprofit institutes that offer colleges generous perks to sign up students: free and subsidized travel overseas for officials, back-office services to defray operating expenses, stipends to market the programs to students, unpaid membership on advisory councils and boards, and even cash bonuses and commissions on student-paid fees. This money generally goes directly to colleges, not always to the students who take the trips.
Colleges and universities cited in the article included the University of California (Berkeley), Fordham and Pace, Rice, and Columbia.
"I can say with confidence that Grinnell does not engage in the sorts of financial arrangements with study-abroad programs described in the article," Bright wrote in his e-mail after being asked about the Times article. "The college selects programs according to their academic relevance to the on-campus curriculum and would not accept monetary or non-monetary incentives in making these decisions. In fact, none of the programs to which Grinnell sends students has ever made such an offer."
Monday, May 14, 2007
Letter to the Editor: Commencement speaker a disappointing choice
Editor's note: The following open letter to President Russell Osgood was submitted to the S&B this week. We're not printing any more issues this semester, so we've posted the letter here instead.
Dear President Osgood,
While making my travel plans to attend my daughter's upcoming graduation from Grinnell, I visited your website and was appalled to discover that the commencement address will be delivered by Angela Davis. I investigated on the Web to see if this could really be the Angela Davis of memory, whether she had undergone some type of inspirational change, and what she has been about since gaining notoriety. I listened to a recording made at one of her recent speeches.
I found that she's even worse than I had recalled. Hers was an appeal for an emotional response from those already convinced, certainly not a rational treatment aimed to educate or persuade.
Ms. Davis came to national attention decades ago because of lethal violence (murder, kidnapping at gunpoint) by associates all armed with weapons registered in her name. I find nothing from her indicating remorse over these acts, much less denial. Her legal acquittal is more sad commentary on our justice system than sign of her innocence. Since, she's apparently made a living as an academic professional victim, her trade racism, her scientific contribution nil. Her irrational rants masquerade as social science. Is this dishonest scholarship something Grinnell espouses? Why choose as speaker an unrepentant accessory to violence and pseudo-scholar? Why send off our graduating sons and daughters with a pep talk from a cartoon relic of 60's radicalism?
Colleges and universities surely should be places of unfettered free speech, of uninhibited airing of ideas. These should be subjected to withering but civil testing, cross examination, debate, and clarification. Blowing off the head of an intellectual opponent with a shotgun does not qualify.
Commencement addresses, on the other hand, should inspire, reassure, challenge, offer perspective, and admonish the graduates at a moment they're singularly receptive. I expect nothing positive in these areas from Angela Davis. I expect a call to emote in anger, resentment, and hate, not a call to think. While my daughter is sufficiently independent and critical of thought to escape damage from the sophomoric demagoguery of Angela Davis, it's sad her college graduation will not send her on her way with something other than sheepskin. I will attend commencement for the sake of my daughter, but I cannot sit through her address in quiet that might be mistaken for approval of Angela Davis.
I am offended at the choice of a commencement speaker. I resent having this unpleasantness imposed upon what's otherwise a happy occasion for my family. I am disappointed that Grinnell appears not to be the educational institution of integrity that I had been led to believe.
Sincerely,
Michael H. Denyer, MD
Dear President Osgood,
While making my travel plans to attend my daughter's upcoming graduation from Grinnell, I visited your website and was appalled to discover that the commencement address will be delivered by Angela Davis. I investigated on the Web to see if this could really be the Angela Davis of memory, whether she had undergone some type of inspirational change, and what she has been about since gaining notoriety. I listened to a recording made at one of her recent speeches.
I found that she's even worse than I had recalled. Hers was an appeal for an emotional response from those already convinced, certainly not a rational treatment aimed to educate or persuade.
Ms. Davis came to national attention decades ago because of lethal violence (murder, kidnapping at gunpoint) by associates all armed with weapons registered in her name. I find nothing from her indicating remorse over these acts, much less denial. Her legal acquittal is more sad commentary on our justice system than sign of her innocence. Since, she's apparently made a living as an academic professional victim, her trade racism, her scientific contribution nil. Her irrational rants masquerade as social science. Is this dishonest scholarship something Grinnell espouses? Why choose as speaker an unrepentant accessory to violence and pseudo-scholar? Why send off our graduating sons and daughters with a pep talk from a cartoon relic of 60's radicalism?
Colleges and universities surely should be places of unfettered free speech, of uninhibited airing of ideas. These should be subjected to withering but civil testing, cross examination, debate, and clarification. Blowing off the head of an intellectual opponent with a shotgun does not qualify.
Commencement addresses, on the other hand, should inspire, reassure, challenge, offer perspective, and admonish the graduates at a moment they're singularly receptive. I expect nothing positive in these areas from Angela Davis. I expect a call to emote in anger, resentment, and hate, not a call to think. While my daughter is sufficiently independent and critical of thought to escape damage from the sophomoric demagoguery of Angela Davis, it's sad her college graduation will not send her on her way with something other than sheepskin. I will attend commencement for the sake of my daughter, but I cannot sit through her address in quiet that might be mistaken for approval of Angela Davis.
I am offended at the choice of a commencement speaker. I resent having this unpleasantness imposed upon what's otherwise a happy occasion for my family. I am disappointed that Grinnell appears not to be the educational institution of integrity that I had been led to believe.
Sincerely,
Michael H. Denyer, MD
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Bitterness of an (almost) senior
I’m starting to get old. I’m not the spry, happy-go-lucky first year I once was. Well, perhaps calling myself ‘spry’ is a bit of revisionist history, but the fact remains that I am now an old and cynical (almost) senior. I am all too painfully reminded of this fact each time I or my friends get turned away from positions on campus in favor of younger students. We are seriously old.
Perhaps you think I’m exaggerating. I mean, I am only 21. I’ve got a few years yet before I have to start worrying about wrinkles, gray hair, and mysterious aches and pains that are not due to wacky drunken misadventures. But if we start talking about life in terms of time at Grinnell, I’m getting damn near close to being able to collect Social Security. I may even have to spend next spring sitting out on my loggia in a lawn chair, wearing black socks and Bermuda shorts and cursing at the young ‘uns to keep the volume down and stop throwing those campus bikes around. Damn kids never appreciate what they’re given. Anyway, you get my point. I fear the inevitable marginalization that comes from the ticking clock of seniordom. The administration knows that we’re getting jaded and antsy, so they’re trying to shuffle us out of the spotlight, especially when it comes to the all-important sphere of prospie relations.
I learned this year that the admissions office has an unofficial policy of trying as hard as possible to house prospies with first and second-year students. At first, I wondered if they did this because they know that upperclassmen tend to have a lot more work, and they don’t want prospies to know that Grinnell is the overwhelming stress factory that it is. However, the older I get, the more I begin to realize that this policy exists because upperclassmen are cynical bastards. Or, at least, I am.
Back when I was a first-year, and even when I was a second-year, the idea of hosting a prospie was really exciting because it was an opportunity to show the college off to someone who had a very real possibility of becoming a friend to me in the future. I didn’t give much thought to those who would have to leave before these prospies actually got to come to Grinnell. These days, I’m starting to feel actively threatened by these high school students who are here, essentially, to interview as replacements for our beloved senior class. I’m even more threatened by those who are interviewing to replace my own class. More than once, I have engaged in a half-assed introductory conversation with a prospy, only to find out that they intend to apply for the class of 2012, and I lose all interest in them. If you’re not going to be here until after I graduate, you are irrelevant to me. Any interest I do retain at that point is not so much based on a desire to encourage the prospy to come to Grinnell as it is on a desire to see something that is personally amusing to me. For example, few things amuse me as much as the face of a 17-year-old right after having been told about how certain colorful campus characters sometimes get wasted and piss in other people’s dorm rooms on accident.
I’m not a mean person, though. Really. The psychology major in me keeps telling me that all I’m doing is using antagonistic humor to project my fears of graduation and the real world onto some poor innocent high school students. And I know that I’ll eventually hit the point at which I will be able to accept that the end is coming, and start to consider the fact that Grinnell does still have to go on without me, and that it’s not my responsibility to make sure that it continues its legacy of awesomeness.
But, I’ve still got at least a good six months to be pissy and elitist about how everything was so much better back when we still used the Forum. And rest assured, Asia Sample, that I will continue to reminisce about the Forum until the day I die, and I encourage all members of the classes of 2007, 2008 and 2009 to do the same.
Friday, April 20, 2007
Letter from the Editors
By Caitlin Carmody and Ben Weyl, Editors-in-Chief
This letter was first published today in the print edition of the S&B.
When trying to think of something meaningful to say to the campus community about the tragic events of this week, we were at a loss. It’s hard to make sense of things that seem so senseless. It’s difficult to find words to talk about what we cannot wrap our heads around. The sadness and grief over Paul’s death was compounded by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Receiving such horrible news on such a beautiful spring day felt so surreal.
It’s natural to want answers and lessons from the tragedy of a fellow student’s suicide. We look for ways to understand it because dealing with such acute and collective pain can feel incredibly overwhelming.
We’ve talked to students who are experiencing guilt about Paul’s death. But the responsibility to make someone happy or to keep someone alive lies with no one person. We’ve talked to students who weren’t close to Paul and feel weird about being upset. The same applies to the heartbreak of Virginia Tech—why are some of us upset even though we may not have known anyone who died? But there is no hierarchy over claim to grief, nor a prescribed trajectory of emotional coping. Everyone responds differently to tragedy, and that’s OK.
Community is a strange creature. We are tied together by common experience, common surroundings, a common ethos. Whether or not you knew Paul, he was one of us, a Grinnellian, and the loss of a friend, peer, or community member affects us all.
This week’s coming-together, scheduled and impromptu, was a moving demonstration of how supportive this community can be. We are humbled and comforted to be surrounded by the people around us, and to live in the community we do. Ours is a campus of thoughtful, supportive, and wise individuals. We should turn to each other for comfort.
If you’re in pain, please talk to someone, be it a friend, RLC, chaplain, or walk-in counselor at the Health Center.
In the coming weeks, we encourage the community to use the S&B as a forum for thoughts, emotions and reflections about what has happened and where we can go from here.
As a community we should remember and mourn those we have lost. And we should continue to love and care for each other. It is all too easy to forget about that love and support, especially when things seem horrible, but it is there.
This letter was first published today in the print edition of the S&B.
When trying to think of something meaningful to say to the campus community about the tragic events of this week, we were at a loss. It’s hard to make sense of things that seem so senseless. It’s difficult to find words to talk about what we cannot wrap our heads around. The sadness and grief over Paul’s death was compounded by the tragedy at Virginia Tech. Receiving such horrible news on such a beautiful spring day felt so surreal.
It’s natural to want answers and lessons from the tragedy of a fellow student’s suicide. We look for ways to understand it because dealing with such acute and collective pain can feel incredibly overwhelming.
We’ve talked to students who are experiencing guilt about Paul’s death. But the responsibility to make someone happy or to keep someone alive lies with no one person. We’ve talked to students who weren’t close to Paul and feel weird about being upset. The same applies to the heartbreak of Virginia Tech—why are some of us upset even though we may not have known anyone who died? But there is no hierarchy over claim to grief, nor a prescribed trajectory of emotional coping. Everyone responds differently to tragedy, and that’s OK.
Community is a strange creature. We are tied together by common experience, common surroundings, a common ethos. Whether or not you knew Paul, he was one of us, a Grinnellian, and the loss of a friend, peer, or community member affects us all.
This week’s coming-together, scheduled and impromptu, was a moving demonstration of how supportive this community can be. We are humbled and comforted to be surrounded by the people around us, and to live in the community we do. Ours is a campus of thoughtful, supportive, and wise individuals. We should turn to each other for comfort.
If you’re in pain, please talk to someone, be it a friend, RLC, chaplain, or walk-in counselor at the Health Center.
In the coming weeks, we encourage the community to use the S&B as a forum for thoughts, emotions and reflections about what has happened and where we can go from here.
As a community we should remember and mourn those we have lost. And we should continue to love and care for each other. It is all too easy to forget about that love and support, especially when things seem horrible, but it is there.
Friend, musician, athlete remembered for humor and passion
By Caitlin Carmody
This article was first published today in the print edition of the S&B.
Last spring, for his tutorial’s “music happening,” Paul Shuman-Moore ’09 performed in the style of Jandek, an idiosyncratic blues-folk musician who was one of Paul’s favorite performers. Paul played a guitar and sang covers of Jandek tunes and nursery rhymes, never once breaking character.
Eric McIntyre, Music, Paul’s advisor and professor of last year’s “Weird Music” tutorial, said that even being confronted with the weirdest of weird performances couldn’t shake Paul. “I had a chicken in one hand and was yelling Dr. Phil excerpts at people…I went up to Paul and was reading these Dr. Phil excerpts, trying to maintain character furiously. I’ve got the camera on him, and I just started laughing, because he would not be shaken, he didn’t shake at all, and it was just this true performance,” McIntyre said. “There was Paul over there just completely in character, in the style of Jandek singing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’.”
Music played a significant role in Paul’s life. “For him, music was just pure passion,” McIntyre said. “It’s hard to describe, it’s just pretty unique to be so completely wrapped in it.” McIntyre said Paul was a talented and creative student. “He had a real aptitude for the subject matter,” he said. “In our class he always had creative insights. He wasn’t afraid of things that were off-the-beaten-path views.”
Paul played the trombone in the orchestra, but much of his musical experiences were much less mainstream and more experimental. Daniel Furuta ’08, a friend and fellow tutorial member, said he and Paul, and occasionally other students, would play a show at least once a month. “What we played varied … electronics, toy instruments, non-music objects,” he said. “It sounds kind of ridiculous, toy instruments, but it was a serious pursuit [for him].”
Emily Iwuc ’08 was on the Concerts Committee with Paul, and often played with him and Furuta. She said that Paul taught her different aspects of experimental music, like how to circuit bend and solder. She said he thought about applying to be Concerts Chair and they joked about competing for the spot. “When he was playing music, he seemed to have a good time,” she said.
Paul was also very involved in Ultimate Frisbee. He starting playing on the Grinnell team at the beginning of his first year and excelled at the sport. “He was a really good thrower and really fast,” team member Brian Cavanagh-Strong ’09 said. “There was also kind of a running joke that he had the prettiest legs on the team. He wore really short shorts and these [leg] muscles would pop out.”
Cavanagh-Strong recalled Paul’s participation in the Frisbee team’s annual Good v. Evil tournament. “Paul was always on the Good team and he would come in long white underwear, white t-shirt and wear white briefs. He would make crosses out of sticks and parade around, and he also wore underwear on his head once,” he said. “He was always coming up with funny chants and cheers.”
Yet Paul’s sense of humor didn’t overshadow his kindness. “I don’t think he ever said a disparaging word about anyone, ever,” co-captain Noah Bindman ’07 said. “Even in a context where something like that might be acceptable, he never said anything bad about anybody,” Bindman said.
Paul’s intensity and humor also carried over to his passion for movies. He was a core member of the group “Movie Maddness” and according to his friend Soleil Ho ’09, Paul liked “terrible movies.” “I don’t think he ever missed a meeting of Movie Maddness,” she said. “Sometimes it would just be him and Andrew Cole [‘06] watching a movie together. He was really into movies, it was his favorite thing to do on the weekdays.”
One of Ho’s favorite memories of Paul was when they watched Dr. Seuss’ cult classic The 5000 Fingers of Dr T. “The voice sounded familiar,” she said. “And we were like, “Who the fuck is this guy?” and we were brainstorming while watching in agony, and then Paul whispers, ‘It’s Captain Hook,’ and we just had a collective orgasm, it was so good.”
McIntyre said that Paul exhibited a “humor matched with boldness.” He said one of his fondest memories of Paul was of an orchestra performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, during which Paul used a few bars of rest memorably. “At the climax of this work, after all this tumultuousness, comes this sort of triumphant theme. And Paul’s in the very back, and in the performance I look back there and he’s raised his fist in triumph and is waving it around,” he said. “It’s just something that I can’t get past,” McIntyre said. “Nobody would do that, but he did, and it made me smile.”
McIntyre said that this was a good example of Paul’s character. “I felt all along, even before he disappeared, that he was someone that I would be talking about to classes for generations,” he said. “The reasons I’m going to talk about him in the future are things that he did while he was here, because he did some things that were very memorable. George Carlin said, ‘Make someone’s life.’ It’s one thing to make someone’s day, but to do something that people for years from now on Thanksgiving, people will be saying, ‘Did I tell you about this guy who did this?’”
Many who were close to Paul recalled his sense of humor as a defining feature of his personality. “I remember his infectious laugh and smile,” Cavanagh-Strong said.
“If you looked at Paul and he was smiling, you were on your way to laughing with him,” he said.
Bindman agreed that Paul was “absolutely hilarious.” “It took me awhile to realize that what was hilarious about him was this gentle sarcasm that was really funny,” Bindman said. “His eyes were always laughing, no matter what was going on.”
McIntyre echoed these thoughts. “It seemed like to me there was a lot of joy,” he said.
“If there’s one sort of image that carries through all the images I have, it’s of him with this small, perhaps mischievous smile that says he doesn’t really want to let on that something’s funny, but he’s thinking something’s funny.
This article was first published today in the print edition of the S&B.
Last spring, for his tutorial’s “music happening,” Paul Shuman-Moore ’09 performed in the style of Jandek, an idiosyncratic blues-folk musician who was one of Paul’s favorite performers. Paul played a guitar and sang covers of Jandek tunes and nursery rhymes, never once breaking character.
Eric McIntyre, Music, Paul’s advisor and professor of last year’s “Weird Music” tutorial, said that even being confronted with the weirdest of weird performances couldn’t shake Paul. “I had a chicken in one hand and was yelling Dr. Phil excerpts at people…I went up to Paul and was reading these Dr. Phil excerpts, trying to maintain character furiously. I’ve got the camera on him, and I just started laughing, because he would not be shaken, he didn’t shake at all, and it was just this true performance,” McIntyre said. “There was Paul over there just completely in character, in the style of Jandek singing ‘Itsy Bitsy Spider’.”
Music played a significant role in Paul’s life. “For him, music was just pure passion,” McIntyre said. “It’s hard to describe, it’s just pretty unique to be so completely wrapped in it.” McIntyre said Paul was a talented and creative student. “He had a real aptitude for the subject matter,” he said. “In our class he always had creative insights. He wasn’t afraid of things that were off-the-beaten-path views.”
Paul played the trombone in the orchestra, but much of his musical experiences were much less mainstream and more experimental. Daniel Furuta ’08, a friend and fellow tutorial member, said he and Paul, and occasionally other students, would play a show at least once a month. “What we played varied … electronics, toy instruments, non-music objects,” he said. “It sounds kind of ridiculous, toy instruments, but it was a serious pursuit [for him].”
Emily Iwuc ’08 was on the Concerts Committee with Paul, and often played with him and Furuta. She said that Paul taught her different aspects of experimental music, like how to circuit bend and solder. She said he thought about applying to be Concerts Chair and they joked about competing for the spot. “When he was playing music, he seemed to have a good time,” she said.
Paul was also very involved in Ultimate Frisbee. He starting playing on the Grinnell team at the beginning of his first year and excelled at the sport. “He was a really good thrower and really fast,” team member Brian Cavanagh-Strong ’09 said. “There was also kind of a running joke that he had the prettiest legs on the team. He wore really short shorts and these [leg] muscles would pop out.”
Cavanagh-Strong recalled Paul’s participation in the Frisbee team’s annual Good v. Evil tournament. “Paul was always on the Good team and he would come in long white underwear, white t-shirt and wear white briefs. He would make crosses out of sticks and parade around, and he also wore underwear on his head once,” he said. “He was always coming up with funny chants and cheers.”
Yet Paul’s sense of humor didn’t overshadow his kindness. “I don’t think he ever said a disparaging word about anyone, ever,” co-captain Noah Bindman ’07 said. “Even in a context where something like that might be acceptable, he never said anything bad about anybody,” Bindman said.
Paul’s intensity and humor also carried over to his passion for movies. He was a core member of the group “Movie Maddness” and according to his friend Soleil Ho ’09, Paul liked “terrible movies.” “I don’t think he ever missed a meeting of Movie Maddness,” she said. “Sometimes it would just be him and Andrew Cole [‘06] watching a movie together. He was really into movies, it was his favorite thing to do on the weekdays.”
One of Ho’s favorite memories of Paul was when they watched Dr. Seuss’ cult classic The 5000 Fingers of Dr T. “The voice sounded familiar,” she said. “And we were like, “Who the fuck is this guy?” and we were brainstorming while watching in agony, and then Paul whispers, ‘It’s Captain Hook,’ and we just had a collective orgasm, it was so good.”
McIntyre said that Paul exhibited a “humor matched with boldness.” He said one of his fondest memories of Paul was of an orchestra performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 1, during which Paul used a few bars of rest memorably. “At the climax of this work, after all this tumultuousness, comes this sort of triumphant theme. And Paul’s in the very back, and in the performance I look back there and he’s raised his fist in triumph and is waving it around,” he said. “It’s just something that I can’t get past,” McIntyre said. “Nobody would do that, but he did, and it made me smile.”
McIntyre said that this was a good example of Paul’s character. “I felt all along, even before he disappeared, that he was someone that I would be talking about to classes for generations,” he said. “The reasons I’m going to talk about him in the future are things that he did while he was here, because he did some things that were very memorable. George Carlin said, ‘Make someone’s life.’ It’s one thing to make someone’s day, but to do something that people for years from now on Thanksgiving, people will be saying, ‘Did I tell you about this guy who did this?’”
Many who were close to Paul recalled his sense of humor as a defining feature of his personality. “I remember his infectious laugh and smile,” Cavanagh-Strong said.
“If you looked at Paul and he was smiling, you were on your way to laughing with him,” he said.
Bindman agreed that Paul was “absolutely hilarious.” “It took me awhile to realize that what was hilarious about him was this gentle sarcasm that was really funny,” Bindman said. “His eyes were always laughing, no matter what was going on.”
McIntyre echoed these thoughts. “It seemed like to me there was a lot of joy,” he said.
“If there’s one sort of image that carries through all the images I have, it’s of him with this small, perhaps mischievous smile that says he doesn’t really want to let on that something’s funny, but he’s thinking something’s funny.
Investigators rule Shuman-Moore’s death a suicide by drowning; campus begins to cope with vigil and discussion
By Abby Rapoport with additional reporting by Cid Standifer, Chris Neubert, Rebecca Park, and David Logan
This article was first published today in the print edition of the S&B.
After an almost seven month-long police investigation, the search for Paul Shuman-Moore ’09, came to an end Tuesday when police confirmed that the identity of a body found in the Grinnell Country Club pool was his. According to investigators, the cause of death was suicide by drowning.
Tuesday night, SGA held a candlelight vigil for both Shuman-Moore and the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting. School administrators are offering a variety of resources to help students cope with the situation.
A country club employee found the body on Monday when he removed the cover of the outdoor pool to prepare for summer use. Upon the discovery, Grinnell police shut down the country club and called Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) mobile lab units and investigators, including many who were involved in the initial missing person case.
Police sent the body to DCI labs and on Tuesday, after conducting an autopsy and checking dental records, confirmed that the body was Shuman-Moore’s. On Wednesday, at a Des Moines press conference, police announced that the cause of death was suicide by drowning and that foul play was not involved in Shuman-Moore’s death.
“In this particular case, there is absolutely no indication of evidence that Mr. Shuman-Moore was the victim of a homicide,” said Jody Matherly, Grinnell Chief of Police. According to investigators, Shuman-Moore’s hands and feet were loosely bound with duct-tape, and those bindings were self-applied. Police recovered a knife at the scene and a slit had been cut in the pool cover where entry would have been possible.
Many have wondered how the police missed Shuman-Moore’s body as they combed the area surrounding Grinnell. Matherly said that on two rounds, search dogs converged on the country club, though the slit in the pool’s cover was not immediately visible.
“You folks have to understand that we had investigators, we had trained search parties, volunteers, fellow students, community members, airplanes, [and] dogs,” Matherly said. “Simply put, it was missed and we certainly don’t place blame on anybody for that being missed,” said Matherly. Tom Crady, Vice-President for Student Affairs, agreed, describing the search as “extremely well-organized.” “The pool cover itself is pulled very tight and so I can see why people would not think it would be a place to look,” he said.
Students responded quickly to the news. On Tuesday, when police announced the body was Shuman-Moore’s, SGA organized a candlelight vigil in honor of both Shuman-Moore and the victims at Virginia Tech. Student Services Coordinator Julie Edwards ’07 and Katie Jares ’07 worked together to plan the event, relying largely on Adam Brumer ’07 for logistics. The vigil took place in the JRC courtyard between the Grill and the Dining Hall. The Grinnell Singers performed three songs before students proceeded to the Forum where they signed posters to be sent to Virginia Tech. The next day, SGA provided posters outside the Dining Hall to be sent to Shuman-Moore’s family.
“We wanted everyone to come together as a community, and we wanted to give everyone time to grieve together,” said Jares. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else. These people are my family.” The vigil struck a cord with many of those who attended. “Not only were we trying to respect Paul, but at the same time the whole Virginia Tech thing,” said Lauren Bacon ’10, who went to the event. “This week has been … pretty heavy on everybody.” Edwards felt the vigil provided a comfortable space for students to mourn. “I was more proud of planning this event than anything else I’ve done in four years here,” she said.
In addition to the vigil, Student Affairs offered a community discussion on Tuesday night to further help students cope. “We invited the whole campus to come and just have a time to talk about Paul,” said Assistant Dean and Director of Residence Life Sheree Andrews. “Talk about the good things, the funny things, the sad things.” According to Andrews, about 50 students attended the discussion. The event also gave students an opportunity to join an e-mail list designed to let students share stories with the Shuman-Moore family. The Shuman-Moores came to Grinnell Wednesday and talked with students between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. The family has asked to grieve privately, but they have welcomed friends to visit and e-mail them.
Administrators have been frequently available since Monday, and left Student Affairs offices open Wednesday night from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. for students to come in, talk, and eat pizza. RLCs are available to meet with students, and Andrews said many students are taking advantage of the opportunity. Student Affairs also has worked to make sure students do not feel pressure from their classes. “We understand that this is a really stressful time for people and that it could affect their academics,” said Andrews. She told students worried about schoolwork to contact Joyce Stern, Dean for Academic Support.
A memorial for Shuman-Moore will be held tomorrow at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago. Students who wish to attend the memorial can contact Dean for Student Life Jennifer Krohn about college-organized transportation by noon today. College administrators said a memorial would also be held in Grinnell but further details have not been released.
This article was first published today in the print edition of the S&B.
After an almost seven month-long police investigation, the search for Paul Shuman-Moore ’09, came to an end Tuesday when police confirmed that the identity of a body found in the Grinnell Country Club pool was his. According to investigators, the cause of death was suicide by drowning.
Tuesday night, SGA held a candlelight vigil for both Shuman-Moore and the victims of the Virginia Tech shooting. School administrators are offering a variety of resources to help students cope with the situation.
A country club employee found the body on Monday when he removed the cover of the outdoor pool to prepare for summer use. Upon the discovery, Grinnell police shut down the country club and called Department of Criminal Investigations (DCI) mobile lab units and investigators, including many who were involved in the initial missing person case.
Police sent the body to DCI labs and on Tuesday, after conducting an autopsy and checking dental records, confirmed that the body was Shuman-Moore’s. On Wednesday, at a Des Moines press conference, police announced that the cause of death was suicide by drowning and that foul play was not involved in Shuman-Moore’s death.
“In this particular case, there is absolutely no indication of evidence that Mr. Shuman-Moore was the victim of a homicide,” said Jody Matherly, Grinnell Chief of Police. According to investigators, Shuman-Moore’s hands and feet were loosely bound with duct-tape, and those bindings were self-applied. Police recovered a knife at the scene and a slit had been cut in the pool cover where entry would have been possible.
Many have wondered how the police missed Shuman-Moore’s body as they combed the area surrounding Grinnell. Matherly said that on two rounds, search dogs converged on the country club, though the slit in the pool’s cover was not immediately visible.
“You folks have to understand that we had investigators, we had trained search parties, volunteers, fellow students, community members, airplanes, [and] dogs,” Matherly said. “Simply put, it was missed and we certainly don’t place blame on anybody for that being missed,” said Matherly. Tom Crady, Vice-President for Student Affairs, agreed, describing the search as “extremely well-organized.” “The pool cover itself is pulled very tight and so I can see why people would not think it would be a place to look,” he said.
Students responded quickly to the news. On Tuesday, when police announced the body was Shuman-Moore’s, SGA organized a candlelight vigil in honor of both Shuman-Moore and the victims at Virginia Tech. Student Services Coordinator Julie Edwards ’07 and Katie Jares ’07 worked together to plan the event, relying largely on Adam Brumer ’07 for logistics. The vigil took place in the JRC courtyard between the Grill and the Dining Hall. The Grinnell Singers performed three songs before students proceeded to the Forum where they signed posters to be sent to Virginia Tech. The next day, SGA provided posters outside the Dining Hall to be sent to Shuman-Moore’s family.
“We wanted everyone to come together as a community, and we wanted to give everyone time to grieve together,” said Jares. “I can’t imagine being anywhere else. These people are my family.” The vigil struck a cord with many of those who attended. “Not only were we trying to respect Paul, but at the same time the whole Virginia Tech thing,” said Lauren Bacon ’10, who went to the event. “This week has been … pretty heavy on everybody.” Edwards felt the vigil provided a comfortable space for students to mourn. “I was more proud of planning this event than anything else I’ve done in four years here,” she said.
In addition to the vigil, Student Affairs offered a community discussion on Tuesday night to further help students cope. “We invited the whole campus to come and just have a time to talk about Paul,” said Assistant Dean and Director of Residence Life Sheree Andrews. “Talk about the good things, the funny things, the sad things.” According to Andrews, about 50 students attended the discussion. The event also gave students an opportunity to join an e-mail list designed to let students share stories with the Shuman-Moore family. The Shuman-Moores came to Grinnell Wednesday and talked with students between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. The family has asked to grieve privately, but they have welcomed friends to visit and e-mail them.
Administrators have been frequently available since Monday, and left Student Affairs offices open Wednesday night from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. for students to come in, talk, and eat pizza. RLCs are available to meet with students, and Andrews said many students are taking advantage of the opportunity. Student Affairs also has worked to make sure students do not feel pressure from their classes. “We understand that this is a really stressful time for people and that it could affect their academics,” said Andrews. She told students worried about schoolwork to contact Joyce Stern, Dean for Academic Support.
A memorial for Shuman-Moore will be held tomorrow at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago. Students who wish to attend the memorial can contact Dean for Student Life Jennifer Krohn about college-organized transportation by noon today. College administrators said a memorial would also be held in Grinnell but further details have not been released.
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Officials confirm Shuman-Moore's death a suicide
By Caitlin Carmody
At a press conference in Des Moines Wednesday, representatives from the Grinnell Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the State Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that Grinnell student Paul Shuman-Moore ’09 committed suicide. The official cause of death was listed as drowning.
“In this particular case there is absolutely no indication of evidence that Mr. Shuman-Moore was the victim of a homicide,” Grinnell Chief of Police Jody Matherly said. “All indications are that he was a talented, well-liked yet troubled young man who took his own life.”
Matherly said that Shuman-Moore’s hands and feet were “loosely bound” with duct tape. and that examinations indicated the bindings were self-applied. Police recovered a knife at the scene and a slit had been cut in the pool cover where entry would have been possible.
Responding to inquiries about why the initial search in September had failed to locate Shuman-Moore’s body, Matherly said that the country club area had been searched twice and that search dogs had gone near the pool.
“Simply put, it was missed and we certainly don’t place blame on anybody for that being missed,” Matherly said. "It’s a fact of life that things can be missed, and in fact it appears it was."
A memorial for Shuman-Moore will be held this Saturday at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago. College administrators said a memorial would also be held in Grinnell but further details have not been released.
At a press conference in Des Moines Wednesday, representatives from the Grinnell Police Department, the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, and the State Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed that Grinnell student Paul Shuman-Moore ’09 committed suicide. The official cause of death was listed as drowning.
“In this particular case there is absolutely no indication of evidence that Mr. Shuman-Moore was the victim of a homicide,” Grinnell Chief of Police Jody Matherly said. “All indications are that he was a talented, well-liked yet troubled young man who took his own life.”
Matherly said that Shuman-Moore’s hands and feet were “loosely bound” with duct tape. and that examinations indicated the bindings were self-applied. Police recovered a knife at the scene and a slit had been cut in the pool cover where entry would have been possible.
Responding to inquiries about why the initial search in September had failed to locate Shuman-Moore’s body, Matherly said that the country club area had been searched twice and that search dogs had gone near the pool.
“Simply put, it was missed and we certainly don’t place blame on anybody for that being missed,” Matherly said. "It’s a fact of life that things can be missed, and in fact it appears it was."
A memorial for Shuman-Moore will be held this Saturday at the Resurrection Lutheran Church in Chicago. College administrators said a memorial would also be held in Grinnell but further details have not been released.
Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Grinnell PD, Crady provide update
By Cid Standifer
On Tuesday at approximately 3:45 p.m. the Grinnell Police Department issued a press release stating that the dental records of the body found in the Grinnell Country Club pool matched those of Paul Shuman-Moore '09. The release also states that there is "no compelling evidence to indicate foul play," and further information will be released as it becomes available.
Steve Moore and Betsy Shuman-Moore were quoted in the release: "For the past six months, we have hoped and prayed that our dear son Paul was alive. Now that he has been found, we are devastated." Paul's family thanked the media for their help in the search for Paul, but asked that now "they respect our need to grieve in private."
Vice President of Student Affairs Tom Crady spoke to the media shortly after the Police Department’s announcement. Crady talked about the reaction of the college and described steps that will be taken to support students as they work through this tragedy. Crady said that Student Affairs has been discussing ways to help the student body grieve if a body were found since Shuman-Moore disappeared in September, but they were still not prepared for the recent news.
"We weren't planning on a death response three days ago," Crady said. "What we were planning for was how to help Paul's family and figure out where he might have gone ... so we were very surprised."
Crady said he understands that many other members of the campus community are having trouble dealing with the news, even though some students have long believed that Shuman-Moore was no longer alive. "I think there's been a long time for people to mentally prepare for it, but how can you ever mentally prepare for a student death?" he said.
Crady also said he was discomfited by the fact that last fall's search failed to turn up Shuman-Moore's body when it was so close to campus. Crady personally helped in the search for a week, and described the process as "extraordinarily well-organized." He remembers that the search of the country club golf course and nearby railroad tracks was extremely thorough. However, he said that "the pool cover itself is pulled very tight, and so I can see why people would not think it would be a place to look."
Members of the media are allowed on campus in public places, and so were able to cover the candlelight vigil held Tuesday night at 9:30. However, they were not granted special passes to cover the student counseling and discussion session in Younker. According to Kate Worster, Director of Communications, the college does not allow the media into private residence halls and has no intention of doing so. "We asked everyone to please show us kindness and respect because we are grieving," she said.
"I think our students are extraordinarily mature and very thoughtful in the way they respond," Crady said. "Our students come together very well and are very resilient and we want students who are upset to know that we care about them."
An autopsy has been completed but members of the Police Department have not yet commented on the cause of death. Tuesday's press release stated that a press conference would most likely be held Wednesday afternoon to announce any further information.
On Tuesday at approximately 3:45 p.m. the Grinnell Police Department issued a press release stating that the dental records of the body found in the Grinnell Country Club pool matched those of Paul Shuman-Moore '09. The release also states that there is "no compelling evidence to indicate foul play," and further information will be released as it becomes available.
Steve Moore and Betsy Shuman-Moore were quoted in the release: "For the past six months, we have hoped and prayed that our dear son Paul was alive. Now that he has been found, we are devastated." Paul's family thanked the media for their help in the search for Paul, but asked that now "they respect our need to grieve in private."
Vice President of Student Affairs Tom Crady spoke to the media shortly after the Police Department’s announcement. Crady talked about the reaction of the college and described steps that will be taken to support students as they work through this tragedy. Crady said that Student Affairs has been discussing ways to help the student body grieve if a body were found since Shuman-Moore disappeared in September, but they were still not prepared for the recent news.
"We weren't planning on a death response three days ago," Crady said. "What we were planning for was how to help Paul's family and figure out where he might have gone ... so we were very surprised."
Crady said he understands that many other members of the campus community are having trouble dealing with the news, even though some students have long believed that Shuman-Moore was no longer alive. "I think there's been a long time for people to mentally prepare for it, but how can you ever mentally prepare for a student death?" he said.
Crady also said he was discomfited by the fact that last fall's search failed to turn up Shuman-Moore's body when it was so close to campus. Crady personally helped in the search for a week, and described the process as "extraordinarily well-organized." He remembers that the search of the country club golf course and nearby railroad tracks was extremely thorough. However, he said that "the pool cover itself is pulled very tight, and so I can see why people would not think it would be a place to look."
Members of the media are allowed on campus in public places, and so were able to cover the candlelight vigil held Tuesday night at 9:30. However, they were not granted special passes to cover the student counseling and discussion session in Younker. According to Kate Worster, Director of Communications, the college does not allow the media into private residence halls and has no intention of doing so. "We asked everyone to please show us kindness and respect because we are grieving," she said.
"I think our students are extraordinarily mature and very thoughtful in the way they respond," Crady said. "Our students come together very well and are very resilient and we want students who are upset to know that we care about them."
An autopsy has been completed but members of the Police Department have not yet commented on the cause of death. Tuesday's press release stated that a press conference would most likely be held Wednesday afternoon to announce any further information.
Tuesday, April 17, 2007
Body Identified as Paul's
According to Grinnell Police, the body found yesterday at the Grinnell Golf & Country Club swimming pool has been identified as Paul Shuman-Moore's '09. This Des Moines Register article currently has the most up to date information on the situation.
College administrators have announced that they will host a "Grinnell College Community Discussion" tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Younker Lounge, to be facilitated by student affairs staff and the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center.
SGA also intends to host a candlelight vigil tonight at 9:30pm in the courtyard of the Joe Rosenfield Center. The vigil will proceed to the Forum South Lounge at 10:00 p.m. where SGA will host a campus-wide study break "with food and other fun things to destress" according to an email sent out by the SGA cabinet. Additionally, the email said that students will be able to sign banners to be sent to Virginia Tech "letting them know that they are in our thoughts."
If students need to talk to someone, they are urged to go to the Residence Life Coordinators or Chaplains, or attend the Walk-In Mental Health Counseling Services at the Health Center or the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center which requires appointments.
Our thoughts go out to Paul's family and friends and to the entire campus community amidst this time of grief.
College administrators have announced that they will host a "Grinnell College Community Discussion" tonight at 7:00 p.m. in Younker Lounge, to be facilitated by student affairs staff and the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center.
SGA also intends to host a candlelight vigil tonight at 9:30pm in the courtyard of the Joe Rosenfield Center. The vigil will proceed to the Forum South Lounge at 10:00 p.m. where SGA will host a campus-wide study break "with food and other fun things to destress" according to an email sent out by the SGA cabinet. Additionally, the email said that students will be able to sign banners to be sent to Virginia Tech "letting them know that they are in our thoughts."
If students need to talk to someone, they are urged to go to the Residence Life Coordinators or Chaplains, or attend the Walk-In Mental Health Counseling Services at the Health Center or the Poweshiek County Mental Health Center which requires appointments.
Our thoughts go out to Paul's family and friends and to the entire campus community amidst this time of grief.
Monday, April 16, 2007
Body Found in a Grinnell Pool
by Cid Standifer
Monday afternoon at 4 p.m., Jody Matherly from the Grinnell Police Department and Wade Kisner from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) held a press conference concerning a body found in the pool of the Grinnell Golf and Country Club. An employee of the country club found the body as he was taking the cover off of the outdoor pool to prepare it for the summer. The Grinnell Police Department shut down the country club and called in DCI mobile lab units and investigators, including all of the agents who were involved in the case of Paul Shuman-Moore ’09, who disappeared last September.
Matherly said it appeared that the body had been there “probably for weeks, if not months.” However, he had no information about its gender, clothing, or identification. Matherly said that the police may have to review the search process that was conducted last fall after Shuman-Moore’s disappearance if further investigation shows that the body has been there since September.
Approximately 10 to 20 Grinnell College students attended the press conference, including many of Shuman-Moore’s friends. Plans administrator Eryn O’Neil ’07 posted information about the press conference on the Plans front page about 45 minutes before the conference, and news about it also spread by word of mouth. Residence Life Coordinators were contacted by the college earlier this afternoon and excused from all meetings so that they can be available to help comfort students. Matherly said that Shuman-Moore’s parents have been contacted, but “we’re not much help to them right now because we don’t know enough to be of any help.”
As of Monday afternoon, the body was being sent to DCI labs. An autopsy will be performed by state medical examiners tomorrow morning to try and identify the body and determine the cause of death. Matherly hopes that they can determine the identity of the body within the next few days. He said that “Obviously, if this is somebody we have knowledge of that is missing…if we have something to compare to, that would naturally speed things up.” He intends to hold a press conference with updated information tomorrow afternoon.
The S&B will do its utmost to cover this matter as fully as possible.
Monday afternoon at 4 p.m., Jody Matherly from the Grinnell Police Department and Wade Kisner from the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigations (DCI) held a press conference concerning a body found in the pool of the Grinnell Golf and Country Club. An employee of the country club found the body as he was taking the cover off of the outdoor pool to prepare it for the summer. The Grinnell Police Department shut down the country club and called in DCI mobile lab units and investigators, including all of the agents who were involved in the case of Paul Shuman-Moore ’09, who disappeared last September.
Matherly said it appeared that the body had been there “probably for weeks, if not months.” However, he had no information about its gender, clothing, or identification. Matherly said that the police may have to review the search process that was conducted last fall after Shuman-Moore’s disappearance if further investigation shows that the body has been there since September.
Approximately 10 to 20 Grinnell College students attended the press conference, including many of Shuman-Moore’s friends. Plans administrator Eryn O’Neil ’07 posted information about the press conference on the Plans front page about 45 minutes before the conference, and news about it also spread by word of mouth. Residence Life Coordinators were contacted by the college earlier this afternoon and excused from all meetings so that they can be available to help comfort students. Matherly said that Shuman-Moore’s parents have been contacted, but “we’re not much help to them right now because we don’t know enough to be of any help.”
As of Monday afternoon, the body was being sent to DCI labs. An autopsy will be performed by state medical examiners tomorrow morning to try and identify the body and determine the cause of death. Matherly hopes that they can determine the identity of the body within the next few days. He said that “Obviously, if this is somebody we have knowledge of that is missing…if we have something to compare to, that would naturally speed things up.” He intends to hold a press conference with updated information tomorrow afternoon.
The S&B will do its utmost to cover this matter as fully as possible.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
Facebook research
Like most Grinnellians, I am busy as shit. It takes a lot of time to read for four classes, write papers, carry out my senatorial duties, work at the dining hall, DJ at KDIC, write columns for the S&Blog, get KrUnKz0rZ!, and occasionally sleep. As such, I often find myself annoyed by facebook.com and its completely inane yet utterly fascinating array of time-wasting minutia. Of course it is far more important for me to know that my gun-toting pseudo-friend from high school has “crazy Christian” listed as his religious views than it is for me to know that Broca’s area of the cerebral cortex is integral to the production of speech. Obvi. This is why I spent two hours in the KDIC studio today, putting off important reading in favor of looking through myriad unintentionally hilarious facebook groups. It wasn’t completely a waste of time, however, since I managed to stumble across more than a few absolute gems that I will now share with you, my loyal readers.
One of the first quality groups I found was called “Damn, Bitach Why You Just Cant Give Me The Answer?” My assumption is that the second word is supposed to be “biatch.” The general theme of this group is that people who don’t let you copy answers from their tests are total assholes. Part of me is tempted to join, if just to inquire as to what these people believe the purpose of testing actually is. However, I am loath to disrupt the distinctive motif of the group’s wall, which contains comments such as “Hell Yea!! I mean damn I studied. I jus 4got a couple of answers ‘DAMN.’ I hate when mufukaz b cover'n they paper. They act like they gon die if u give a answer. ‘STINGY BASTARDS.’” Reading this made me seriously regret all those times in high school when I neglected to facilitate cheating amongst my peers. I was a serious bitch. Or bitach, as it were.
In this same vein of exalting vices, I also found a group by the name of “MO5T WANT3D/53XI35T ON FAC3BOOK.” First off, it is completely unacceptable to use numbers as letters. This is why we have letters! To be used as letters! Numbers are for counting! The essential premise of this group is that you join if you are a smokin’ hottie, and then you post an excessive number of vaguely flattering pictures of yourself. The implicit rules regarding these pictures are as follows: 1. At least one of these pictures must be taken on a camera-phone and show the reflection of your ass in your bedroom mirror. 2. At least one of these pictures should show off your ‘cool’ or ‘model’ look. 3. None of these pictures should be taken by another person or contain any other people, as this may serve to threaten the extreme vanity of this endeavor. This group has 1,527 members and serves no other purpose than to reward narcissistic behavior and waste untold hours of time.
But, by far, the best awful facebook group I’ve come across during my “research” is one entitled, “Stop, Drop, and Roll…Doesn’t Work in Hell!” Yes, this group was created by someone who legitimately believes that the most effective way to evangelize to people is to joke about the burning agony of the afterlife. One person posted very authoritatively on the message board that “Stop, drop, and roll doesn't work in hell. But this isn't some joke. Hell is a real place and if you don't accept Jesus Christ as your savior, you will go to hell. Hell is NOT a happy place and you do live in fire. My biggest fear in life is drowning. I think that would be the scariest way to die. Now, imagine your worst fear, and multiply it a billion times a billion and more. Thats how scary and horrible hell is.” Clearly, this girl knows where it’s at. I’m assuming she has a wealth of empirical evidence about this perpetual fire scenario.
Fortunately (for my faith in humanity), not everyone on this group takes its message quite so seriously. One young person posed the following question about the stop, drop, and roll process: “Seriously, if you’re on fire do you really need to stop? What if the bank closes at 5 and its 5 til 5 and you’re 4 minutes away and you happen to catch on fire...you gotta get to the bank!! You don't have time to stop!!” Somehow, even though I’m fairly certain this young woman is particularly vulnerable to fire-related injury, I would feel more comfortable trusting her than the previous young woman. But maybe that’s just me.
Monday, April 09, 2007
YouTube and Paul
Paul Shuman-Moore '09 is still missing, but his family and friends are not giving up hope. In addition to their renamed website, comehomepaul.com, they've put up a compelling video message on YouTube to let him know that they love him and that he should let them know if he is ok. As of this post, the video, featuring Shuman-Moore's bandmates and friends, has been viewed over 18,000 times.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Great article by alum featured in The Advocate
Check out the article "Chasing the duclod man" by Sarah Aswell '04 in the March 27 issue of The Advocate.
You can click on the title of this post to link to it.
It's a creepy, but excellent, read.
—Caitlin Carmody, Editor-in-chief
You can click on the title of this post to link to it.
It's a creepy, but excellent, read.
—Caitlin Carmody, Editor-in-chief
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
A "Constitutional Crisis" in SGA
We at the S&B work hard to maintain a level of objectivity and detachment from our stories. When people are involved in a newsworthy situation, we do not let them write or edit the piece covering it. This is always difficult on a small campus, where it can feel like everyone knows everyone. The recent run-off election between Eric Olson ’08 and Caitlin Carmody ’08 shows just how hard this can be: Carmody is co-Editor-in-Chief of the S&B.
While we certainly would not have chosen this situation, the significance of this election and its aftermath is too great to ignore. Carmody has not been involved in any way in any part of this story—in fact, we purposely wrote and edited this piece when she was not present. We’ve done our best to make this piece fair to all parties, regardless of our personal affiliations. This story of an election and ensuing constitutional crisis deserves serious attention, through whatever lens you choose to view it.
— Ben Weyl, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Abby Rapoport, News Editor, David Logan, Assistant News Editor
by Abby Rapoport and David Logan
On Sunday, March 11, Joint Board held an emergency meeting to discuss the outcome of an election process that had started a week earlier but was still mired in uncertainty. On Friday, March 9, Election Board had held a run-off election between Eric Olson ’08 and Caitlin Carmody ’08 for Vice-President of Academic Affairs (VPAA). Soon after, an anonymous student filed a grievance with Election Board, questioning Olson’s campaign tactics, and leading Election Board to recommend a revote without Olson on the ballot. Olson appealed the decision, requiring an emergency Joint Board meeting; at that meeting, Joint Board elected to suspend the SGA Constitution, making Olson the VP-AA-elect.
THE CAMPAIGN
Upon hearing that he was in a runoff election Thursday, March 8, Olson decided to ask his friend and Loosehead senator Laura Lienemann ’08 to poster for him. Lienemann had already offered to help at least three times previously, according to Olson. “It was done on a friendly level,” he said.
Lienemann also sent an email out to fifteen friends, asking them to vote for Olson. The email, which was given to the S&B anonymously due to the fact that the source did not receive the original email, began by saying “I know for many of you, I’m not your senator anymore … but I’m sending this to you to tell you why I voted for Eric Olson.” Lienemann did not mention this email to Olson.
According to Election Board member and SGA Treasurer Brad Bishop ’08, Election Board decided that both Lienemann’s posters and e-mail violated Article III Section 1 of the SGA Bylaws which prohibits the sending of “…material promoting any candidate…through campus mail, or through unsolicited email” and “…candidates from soliciting SGA Senators to distribute any campaign materials.”
Olson’s run-off campaign also included posters with pictures of current SGA Vice-President Michael Billups ’07 and Olson, who have been friends since Olson’s first year. “I was just looking for some new, funny material [in my posters],” said Olson. The posters included sayings like “Stay the Course” and pictures of Billups knighting a kneeling Olson. Additionally, SGA Administrative Coordinator Nick Blencowe ’08 helped Carmody poster during the run-off campaign. While current Cabinet members are not prohibited from endorsing or helping candidates, the practice is considered atypical.
Olson received 55.8% of the 451 total votes cast in the run-off. But before he ever found out these results, Election Board received a grievance alleging that Lienemann’s aid constituted a violation of SGA bylaws. Election Board convened the next day to assess the validity of the charges.
ELECTION BOARD
According to Bishop, Lienemann’s violations of election policy would normally result in Olson forfeiting his status as an official candidate; he would still be able to participate in the election, but only as a write-in candidate.
But because the election was a runoff, according to SGA Bylaws, Election Board could not simply remove Olson from the ballot since doing so would have left Carmody as the only official candidate. Election Board also decided that it could not legitimately invalidate Olson’s candidacy or declare Carmody the winner. “We solicited assistance from past members of Election Board to see if this had happened before,” said Bishop. “It had not. We had a constitutional crisis.”
After much deliberation, members decided to resolve the crisis by holding a second runoff with Carmody and Lindsay Dennis ’08 as official candidates while allowing Olson to participate as a write-in. “The course of action was agreed upon by consensus,” said Bishop. “No one on Election Board disagreed with the decision.”
Upon hearing these results, Olson decided to appeal Election Board’s decision, which meant Joint Board had to convene an emergency meeting within 24 hours.
JOINT BOARD
As the meeting began, Joint Board voted to make it a closed session, but included Election Board members, as well as Carmody and Olson. According to the minutes of this session—which were given to the S&B by a source who wished to remain anonymous due to the closed nature of the session—Election Board offered senators four options based on whether or not they believed Olson to have violated the Constitution and whether they thought Election Board’s decision should stand.
Olson and Lienemann said they did not know about the rule, and further believed they had respected the intention of the rule, if not the rule itself. “If you’re going to do a technical reading of the Constitution, yes I violated it,” said Lienemann. “However, I don’t think I violated the spirit of the laws.”
According to the Constitution, Election Board must publicize the election rules, but what this means is up for interpretation. “I think it’s the duty of Election Board to make available the rules of elections,” said Bishop. “But I feel it’s the responsibility of candidates to inform themselves.”
Billups had a different take. “[Election Board] should offer a bullet point breakdown of the rules,” he said. “Technically, Election Board is to publicize the document.”
Furthermore, some took issue with the rule itself, believing it to limit speech. “On an individual level, we should never try to stop people from expressing preference,” said Olson. “There’s a line between the office and the individual holding the office.”
Many at the Joint Board meeting expressed their dislike of the rule, and hoped to later rewrite it in an SGA Constitutional Reform Committee.
After much debate, Joint Board senators unanimously voted for “Option D”, declaring that Olson had violated the Constitution, but that the rule he had violated was unfair. But “Option D” required use of the Elastic Clause, which allowed Joint Board to go around the Election Board decision and make a new one in its place. Only the President or Vice President could approve a motion to enact this clause, and since SGA President Chris Hall ’07 was out of town for the weekend, Billups was the only person who could do so.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Because of Billups’ endorsement of Olson, he was in a difficult position. “In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have gone that route,” said Billups. “I guess on principle [I shouldn’t have endorsed Olson].”
Vice President of Student Affairs-elect (VP-SA) Jan Koszewski ’08 agreed that the situation was complicated at best. “[Billups’] endorsement was, to be quite honest, out of place,” Koszewski said. “He was well aware of the awkward place in which he was caught.”
Ultimately, Billups approved the motion for the Elastic Clause after taking several straw poll votes to gauge interest. While others were displeased by Billups’ situation, no one at the meeting felt the conflict of interest was significant enough to prevent the motion. “I think [the endorsement] was a conflict of interest and a double standard,” Lienemann said. “But I think he did what Chris [Hall] would have done.”
“I’ve said before and maintain that if it happened the other way around, I would have done the same thing,” said Billups. “I acted in the most principled manner I could as a member of SGA. I feel like my personal relationship…didn’t come into play.”
Billups was not the only one whose ability to participate was questioned. Before discussion began, Joint Board members agreed that due to potential conflicts of interest, senators Lienemann and Dennis as well as those senators serving on Election Board were barred from voting. Only two members of Cabinet, Michael Van Hulle ’07 and Karly Newton ’07 were considered far enough removed from the situation to vote.
The decision to enact the Elastic Clause also required a four-fifths majority, and while some members expressed reservations about enacting the clause, they believed it was the best option available. “We’d have gotten much more of an uproar if we’d have thrown out the results,” said Lindsay Dennis ’08, who abstained because she was a candidate in the initial election for VPAA. Joint Board ultimately voted unanimously to enact the Elastic Clause.
Some of those not voting did not think the clause should have been enacted. Blencowe, who had to abstain due to his candidacy for VP-SA, was vehement in his opposition to use of the Elastic Clause. “I don’t think it was appropriate for them to use the Elastic Clause to exonerate people that should have known better,” he said. “What we saw is essentially [SGA] doing favors and fucking with our constitution when we shouldn’t have.”
Blencowe also thought this use of the Elastic Clause set a bad precedent. “I understand the reasoning on [invoking the Elastic Clause],” he said. “But I think this is a bad time to start picking and choosing what rules we follow.”
Because so many people abstained, some took issue with Koszewski’s decision to vote in the matter. “As someone who had just been elected to be either Eric or my counterpart, for him to be making decisions to allow even the slightest advantage for one of us seems to be a huge conflict of interest,” said Carmody. Koszewski said in hindsight, he wished he had abstained. “I tried to keep my … participation at a minimum,” he said. “I felt I had a duty as an active senator [to vote].”
Billups said he would have abstained had he been in Koszewski’s situation “in light of the fact that you’ve got a whole other six weeks as vice-president elect to build relationships. This really sets the tone for your whole vice-presidency whether or not you’re going to act in a principled manner.”
Koszewski and Olson will join Megan Goering ’08 as next year’s SGA Executive members, but some are still pondering the election itself. “I still have doubts [about the decision],” said Billups. “I sort of feel for public officials who have to make those decisions that can be seen as overly political. You do the best you can at the time.”
While we certainly would not have chosen this situation, the significance of this election and its aftermath is too great to ignore. Carmody has not been involved in any way in any part of this story—in fact, we purposely wrote and edited this piece when she was not present. We’ve done our best to make this piece fair to all parties, regardless of our personal affiliations. This story of an election and ensuing constitutional crisis deserves serious attention, through whatever lens you choose to view it.
— Ben Weyl, Co-Editor-in-Chief, Abby Rapoport, News Editor, David Logan, Assistant News Editor
by Abby Rapoport and David Logan
On Sunday, March 11, Joint Board held an emergency meeting to discuss the outcome of an election process that had started a week earlier but was still mired in uncertainty. On Friday, March 9, Election Board had held a run-off election between Eric Olson ’08 and Caitlin Carmody ’08 for Vice-President of Academic Affairs (VPAA). Soon after, an anonymous student filed a grievance with Election Board, questioning Olson’s campaign tactics, and leading Election Board to recommend a revote without Olson on the ballot. Olson appealed the decision, requiring an emergency Joint Board meeting; at that meeting, Joint Board elected to suspend the SGA Constitution, making Olson the VP-AA-elect.
THE CAMPAIGN
Upon hearing that he was in a runoff election Thursday, March 8, Olson decided to ask his friend and Loosehead senator Laura Lienemann ’08 to poster for him. Lienemann had already offered to help at least three times previously, according to Olson. “It was done on a friendly level,” he said.
Lienemann also sent an email out to fifteen friends, asking them to vote for Olson. The email, which was given to the S&B anonymously due to the fact that the source did not receive the original email, began by saying “I know for many of you, I’m not your senator anymore … but I’m sending this to you to tell you why I voted for Eric Olson.” Lienemann did not mention this email to Olson.
According to Election Board member and SGA Treasurer Brad Bishop ’08, Election Board decided that both Lienemann’s posters and e-mail violated Article III Section 1 of the SGA Bylaws which prohibits the sending of “…material promoting any candidate…through campus mail, or through unsolicited email” and “…candidates from soliciting SGA Senators to distribute any campaign materials.”
Olson’s run-off campaign also included posters with pictures of current SGA Vice-President Michael Billups ’07 and Olson, who have been friends since Olson’s first year. “I was just looking for some new, funny material [in my posters],” said Olson. The posters included sayings like “Stay the Course” and pictures of Billups knighting a kneeling Olson. Additionally, SGA Administrative Coordinator Nick Blencowe ’08 helped Carmody poster during the run-off campaign. While current Cabinet members are not prohibited from endorsing or helping candidates, the practice is considered atypical.
Olson received 55.8% of the 451 total votes cast in the run-off. But before he ever found out these results, Election Board received a grievance alleging that Lienemann’s aid constituted a violation of SGA bylaws. Election Board convened the next day to assess the validity of the charges.
ELECTION BOARD
According to Bishop, Lienemann’s violations of election policy would normally result in Olson forfeiting his status as an official candidate; he would still be able to participate in the election, but only as a write-in candidate.
But because the election was a runoff, according to SGA Bylaws, Election Board could not simply remove Olson from the ballot since doing so would have left Carmody as the only official candidate. Election Board also decided that it could not legitimately invalidate Olson’s candidacy or declare Carmody the winner. “We solicited assistance from past members of Election Board to see if this had happened before,” said Bishop. “It had not. We had a constitutional crisis.”
After much deliberation, members decided to resolve the crisis by holding a second runoff with Carmody and Lindsay Dennis ’08 as official candidates while allowing Olson to participate as a write-in. “The course of action was agreed upon by consensus,” said Bishop. “No one on Election Board disagreed with the decision.”
Upon hearing these results, Olson decided to appeal Election Board’s decision, which meant Joint Board had to convene an emergency meeting within 24 hours.
JOINT BOARD
As the meeting began, Joint Board voted to make it a closed session, but included Election Board members, as well as Carmody and Olson. According to the minutes of this session—which were given to the S&B by a source who wished to remain anonymous due to the closed nature of the session—Election Board offered senators four options based on whether or not they believed Olson to have violated the Constitution and whether they thought Election Board’s decision should stand.
Olson and Lienemann said they did not know about the rule, and further believed they had respected the intention of the rule, if not the rule itself. “If you’re going to do a technical reading of the Constitution, yes I violated it,” said Lienemann. “However, I don’t think I violated the spirit of the laws.”
According to the Constitution, Election Board must publicize the election rules, but what this means is up for interpretation. “I think it’s the duty of Election Board to make available the rules of elections,” said Bishop. “But I feel it’s the responsibility of candidates to inform themselves.”
Billups had a different take. “[Election Board] should offer a bullet point breakdown of the rules,” he said. “Technically, Election Board is to publicize the document.”
Furthermore, some took issue with the rule itself, believing it to limit speech. “On an individual level, we should never try to stop people from expressing preference,” said Olson. “There’s a line between the office and the individual holding the office.”
Many at the Joint Board meeting expressed their dislike of the rule, and hoped to later rewrite it in an SGA Constitutional Reform Committee.
After much debate, Joint Board senators unanimously voted for “Option D”, declaring that Olson had violated the Constitution, but that the rule he had violated was unfair. But “Option D” required use of the Elastic Clause, which allowed Joint Board to go around the Election Board decision and make a new one in its place. Only the President or Vice President could approve a motion to enact this clause, and since SGA President Chris Hall ’07 was out of town for the weekend, Billups was the only person who could do so.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Because of Billups’ endorsement of Olson, he was in a difficult position. “In hindsight, I probably wouldn’t have gone that route,” said Billups. “I guess on principle [I shouldn’t have endorsed Olson].”
Vice President of Student Affairs-elect (VP-SA) Jan Koszewski ’08 agreed that the situation was complicated at best. “[Billups’] endorsement was, to be quite honest, out of place,” Koszewski said. “He was well aware of the awkward place in which he was caught.”
Ultimately, Billups approved the motion for the Elastic Clause after taking several straw poll votes to gauge interest. While others were displeased by Billups’ situation, no one at the meeting felt the conflict of interest was significant enough to prevent the motion. “I think [the endorsement] was a conflict of interest and a double standard,” Lienemann said. “But I think he did what Chris [Hall] would have done.”
“I’ve said before and maintain that if it happened the other way around, I would have done the same thing,” said Billups. “I acted in the most principled manner I could as a member of SGA. I feel like my personal relationship…didn’t come into play.”
Billups was not the only one whose ability to participate was questioned. Before discussion began, Joint Board members agreed that due to potential conflicts of interest, senators Lienemann and Dennis as well as those senators serving on Election Board were barred from voting. Only two members of Cabinet, Michael Van Hulle ’07 and Karly Newton ’07 were considered far enough removed from the situation to vote.
The decision to enact the Elastic Clause also required a four-fifths majority, and while some members expressed reservations about enacting the clause, they believed it was the best option available. “We’d have gotten much more of an uproar if we’d have thrown out the results,” said Lindsay Dennis ’08, who abstained because she was a candidate in the initial election for VPAA. Joint Board ultimately voted unanimously to enact the Elastic Clause.
Some of those not voting did not think the clause should have been enacted. Blencowe, who had to abstain due to his candidacy for VP-SA, was vehement in his opposition to use of the Elastic Clause. “I don’t think it was appropriate for them to use the Elastic Clause to exonerate people that should have known better,” he said. “What we saw is essentially [SGA] doing favors and fucking with our constitution when we shouldn’t have.”
Blencowe also thought this use of the Elastic Clause set a bad precedent. “I understand the reasoning on [invoking the Elastic Clause],” he said. “But I think this is a bad time to start picking and choosing what rules we follow.”
Because so many people abstained, some took issue with Koszewski’s decision to vote in the matter. “As someone who had just been elected to be either Eric or my counterpart, for him to be making decisions to allow even the slightest advantage for one of us seems to be a huge conflict of interest,” said Carmody. Koszewski said in hindsight, he wished he had abstained. “I tried to keep my … participation at a minimum,” he said. “I felt I had a duty as an active senator [to vote].”
Billups said he would have abstained had he been in Koszewski’s situation “in light of the fact that you’ve got a whole other six weeks as vice-president elect to build relationships. This really sets the tone for your whole vice-presidency whether or not you’re going to act in a principled manner.”
Koszewski and Olson will join Megan Goering ’08 as next year’s SGA Executive members, but some are still pondering the election itself. “I still have doubts [about the decision],” said Billups. “I sort of feel for public officials who have to make those decisions that can be seen as overly political. You do the best you can at the time.”
Friday, March 09, 2007
Extended Q&A with jazz critic Gary Giddins '70
This week’s Arts section features a Q&A with jazz critic Gary Giddins, who has been on campus for the past month as a guest lecturer teaching about jazz and writing. Here are further excerpts from his conversation with the S&B.
Interview by Pat Caldwell
(On his time as Concerts Chair)
My feeling was, as a general rule, jazz and blues and country … were so much less expensive than rock that we could have a concert every month or two instead of blowing it all at once. So we got B.B. King before he started playing really for white audiences. In fact in my new book Natural Selection I finally published the interview I did with King on the steps of Darby Gym with two or three other kids, him sweating, wearing his tuxedo after the gig and talking to us for about two hours.
(On his time at Grinnell)
I was a terrible student—that is my single biggest regret. I really regret the classes I didn’t pay any attention to. I was an English fanatic and I put all my time into the English courses.
I edited a literary magazine, Montage. We had 1.5 issues, because the second one, the school closed so we never published it; I still have the galleys in my closet, including an unpublished manuscript of Lenny Bruce that someone gave me. But the first issue was exciting. We printed it in Victor, Iowa because nobody in Grinnell would publish any Grinnell [College] publication because of obscenities. I wrote to the S&B, I produced the films, I produced the concerts.
I think almost entirely positively about the experience; it was just the right place for me. I came here as an accident because the idiot guidance counselor at my high school told me it had the best writing program in the country; of course he’s thinking of Iowa City … But it turned out to be a complete mistake—I would have hated Iowa City. Going to a big university and becoming a cog in that. I used to spend a lot of time visiting there, but I needed a small liberal arts school and there isn’t a better one.
(On how Grinnell has changed)
I think in a lot of ways the school is incredibly well-endowed now in a way that it wasn’t then. As an institution for education I think it has probably improved in many ways. On the other hand I’m very disappointed to see that the music department has no serious interest in jazz. They’re searching for somebody now, but I would have thought there’d be a department here.
And I’m a little surprised that there doesn’t seem to be the institutional memory here. We used to hear and tell Grinnell stories about Gary Cooper riding his horse into Gates and we knew about James Hall being here, and the whole Roosevelt brain trust and Hallie Flanagan and all those people. We had a sort of sense of the history, that from talking to people I don’t think is still there anymore.
I think it’s ultimately the same place. I do think you’re wasting the goddamn Forum. My God, that great building. We used to have dances in the North Lounge. The Jackson 5 was so little known that we didn’t even put them in Darby, we put them in North Lounge for a dance with little Michael.
We had Skip James perform in south lounge which is where Borges spoke as well. So those lounges were used a lot. There were jukeboxes in them. Cecil Taylor when he was here emptied his pocket of change into the jukebox and picked only the Aretha Franklin tracks, which there were at least a dozen, and there was a piano there as well, and he backed her for an hour. He just sat there accompanying Aretha Franklin. It was unbelievable.
After graduation, what did you do? Did you start right away in journalism?
I tried. I sent resumes to every newspaper in New York and collected more rejection slips than I care to remember, from just about every magazine that I could imagine myself writing for. I had a terrible first year, it was just unbearable. My father had been very ill, so he and my mother were in Texas being operated on. So I was virtually alone in a house in Long Island, writing and sending out stuff and getting rejection slips.
After about a year of that, the New York Post called, which was a liberal paper back then—a lousy paper, but a liberal paper. They must have run out of nieces and nephews because they had an opening for copyboy. So I got that job and things just started happening…For the next year I was writing movies reviews for the Hollywood Reporter at $5 a review and music reviews for Downbeat at $7, occasionally $15. I never had to pay taxes, that was the only good part. But the copyboy gig which I kept for a while was a pretty good salary, so I was keeping head above the water. And then I sent a piece into the [Village] Voice which they ran, and then they invited me to write every week, and after a year of that they gave me the column, and that’s what really made my reputation.
I wrote the column for 30 years. After I had been doing it for about 6 years, Oxford University published a collection of pieces I had done. That was my first book; I have 9 books altogether. I was also teaching. I taught a little bit at Pennsylvania for a semester, Rutgers for a semester, I taught criticism at Columbia for a couple of years. But for the most part I would write the column, and when I need the time to finish a book they were great about giving me whatever leave I needed…But things started to change there, and after 30 years I realized that you get to a point and you don’t know how much time you’ve got left and there are a bunch of books I really, really need to write, and I don’t want to go to my grave thinking that because I was afraid of not earning enough money to survive, I stayed at the Voice past my interest. My wife totally encouraged me. That was in ’03, exactly the 30th year [of working at the Voice]. I left and I’ve published two books since then, Weather Bird and Natural Selection, and I’m working on two now.
What do you think of the current [Village] Voice?
I’m appalled. I’m just appalled … I don’t know what to say. I still occasionally pick it up. It takes me about 10 minutes to read. The cover stories, with one exception that they did on landlords which was sort of throwback to the old Voice, they’ve been trivial … It’s not a New York paper anymore. Most of the critics are part of this national syndicate of Voice Media.
What do you think of the nationalization of alternative newspapers?
To me that’s antithetical to an alternative paper. What makes a paper an alternative paper is its very city-centric, specific to that area, because you want to wage the battles that concern you and your neighbor. If you’re a reporter, you want to talk about the bad judges and landlords in New York. You want to talk about corruption in New York. If you live in Des Moines, if you live in Los Angles, wherever you live, you want to deal with that city. When it becomes nationalized it becomes another rag that exists for one reason primarily, which is to get ads; to make a profit … Whatever it is, it’s not alternative—it is the establishment. It’s just the establishment by some guy in Arizona who’s in it as a business.
Interview by Pat Caldwell
(On his time as Concerts Chair)
My feeling was, as a general rule, jazz and blues and country … were so much less expensive than rock that we could have a concert every month or two instead of blowing it all at once. So we got B.B. King before he started playing really for white audiences. In fact in my new book Natural Selection I finally published the interview I did with King on the steps of Darby Gym with two or three other kids, him sweating, wearing his tuxedo after the gig and talking to us for about two hours.
(On his time at Grinnell)
I was a terrible student—that is my single biggest regret. I really regret the classes I didn’t pay any attention to. I was an English fanatic and I put all my time into the English courses.
I edited a literary magazine, Montage. We had 1.5 issues, because the second one, the school closed so we never published it; I still have the galleys in my closet, including an unpublished manuscript of Lenny Bruce that someone gave me. But the first issue was exciting. We printed it in Victor, Iowa because nobody in Grinnell would publish any Grinnell [College] publication because of obscenities. I wrote to the S&B, I produced the films, I produced the concerts.
I think almost entirely positively about the experience; it was just the right place for me. I came here as an accident because the idiot guidance counselor at my high school told me it had the best writing program in the country; of course he’s thinking of Iowa City … But it turned out to be a complete mistake—I would have hated Iowa City. Going to a big university and becoming a cog in that. I used to spend a lot of time visiting there, but I needed a small liberal arts school and there isn’t a better one.
(On how Grinnell has changed)
I think in a lot of ways the school is incredibly well-endowed now in a way that it wasn’t then. As an institution for education I think it has probably improved in many ways. On the other hand I’m very disappointed to see that the music department has no serious interest in jazz. They’re searching for somebody now, but I would have thought there’d be a department here.
And I’m a little surprised that there doesn’t seem to be the institutional memory here. We used to hear and tell Grinnell stories about Gary Cooper riding his horse into Gates and we knew about James Hall being here, and the whole Roosevelt brain trust and Hallie Flanagan and all those people. We had a sort of sense of the history, that from talking to people I don’t think is still there anymore.
I think it’s ultimately the same place. I do think you’re wasting the goddamn Forum. My God, that great building. We used to have dances in the North Lounge. The Jackson 5 was so little known that we didn’t even put them in Darby, we put them in North Lounge for a dance with little Michael.
We had Skip James perform in south lounge which is where Borges spoke as well. So those lounges were used a lot. There were jukeboxes in them. Cecil Taylor when he was here emptied his pocket of change into the jukebox and picked only the Aretha Franklin tracks, which there were at least a dozen, and there was a piano there as well, and he backed her for an hour. He just sat there accompanying Aretha Franklin. It was unbelievable.
After graduation, what did you do? Did you start right away in journalism?
I tried. I sent resumes to every newspaper in New York and collected more rejection slips than I care to remember, from just about every magazine that I could imagine myself writing for. I had a terrible first year, it was just unbearable. My father had been very ill, so he and my mother were in Texas being operated on. So I was virtually alone in a house in Long Island, writing and sending out stuff and getting rejection slips.
After about a year of that, the New York Post called, which was a liberal paper back then—a lousy paper, but a liberal paper. They must have run out of nieces and nephews because they had an opening for copyboy. So I got that job and things just started happening…For the next year I was writing movies reviews for the Hollywood Reporter at $5 a review and music reviews for Downbeat at $7, occasionally $15. I never had to pay taxes, that was the only good part. But the copyboy gig which I kept for a while was a pretty good salary, so I was keeping head above the water. And then I sent a piece into the [Village] Voice which they ran, and then they invited me to write every week, and after a year of that they gave me the column, and that’s what really made my reputation.
I wrote the column for 30 years. After I had been doing it for about 6 years, Oxford University published a collection of pieces I had done. That was my first book; I have 9 books altogether. I was also teaching. I taught a little bit at Pennsylvania for a semester, Rutgers for a semester, I taught criticism at Columbia for a couple of years. But for the most part I would write the column, and when I need the time to finish a book they were great about giving me whatever leave I needed…But things started to change there, and after 30 years I realized that you get to a point and you don’t know how much time you’ve got left and there are a bunch of books I really, really need to write, and I don’t want to go to my grave thinking that because I was afraid of not earning enough money to survive, I stayed at the Voice past my interest. My wife totally encouraged me. That was in ’03, exactly the 30th year [of working at the Voice]. I left and I’ve published two books since then, Weather Bird and Natural Selection, and I’m working on two now.
What do you think of the current [Village] Voice?
I’m appalled. I’m just appalled … I don’t know what to say. I still occasionally pick it up. It takes me about 10 minutes to read. The cover stories, with one exception that they did on landlords which was sort of throwback to the old Voice, they’ve been trivial … It’s not a New York paper anymore. Most of the critics are part of this national syndicate of Voice Media.
What do you think of the nationalization of alternative newspapers?
To me that’s antithetical to an alternative paper. What makes a paper an alternative paper is its very city-centric, specific to that area, because you want to wage the battles that concern you and your neighbor. If you’re a reporter, you want to talk about the bad judges and landlords in New York. You want to talk about corruption in New York. If you live in Des Moines, if you live in Los Angles, wherever you live, you want to deal with that city. When it becomes nationalized it becomes another rag that exists for one reason primarily, which is to get ads; to make a profit … Whatever it is, it’s not alternative—it is the establishment. It’s just the establishment by some guy in Arizona who’s in it as a business.
Movies, My Family and Sexuality
By Lindsay Dennis
God bless the cinema. I’m so thankful for the fact that this country wholeheartedly supports a multi-billion dollar industry designed to allow us to spend quality time with our friends and loved ones without actually having to engage in that pesky business of conversation or looking at one another. This makes life so much easier for those of us stricken with debilitating cases of extreme social awkwardness. Or, at least, it used to.
Back in the day when they’d just come out with those new-fangled talkie films, cinema was much simpler. The storylines were classic and wholesome, so as to appeal to the whole family. But these days, all those heartwarming tales of angels getting their wings and whatnot have all been done to death, leaving filmmakers with no other option than to start pushing the envelope with crazy raunchy sex movies (because sex is the last thing that still really makes Americans uncomfortable).
There’s not anything inherently wrong with these movies, per se. They are often sincere, artistic, thought-provoking, or even just downright hilarious. The problem I have with these movies (which really hit home for me this weekend in Harris as I was sitting between my good friends watching the third or fourth orgy in scene in Short Bus) is that I never think through the implications of watching certain films with certain people. Surprisingly, as aware as I am of my own awkwardness, I never seem to think ahead about the content of a movie before sitting down to watch it with the family. This has led to me making the questionable life choice of watching American Pie, Kinsey, and the 40-Year-Old Virgin (uncut, no less) with my parents.
Granted, my parents were hippies. They are both alums of Reed College, and they have a history of liberal politics (marching through the streets of Portland shouting “Nixon eat shit!”, etc). However, this fact does not overcome our family’s uncomfortable WASPy tendency to completely ignore the reality of sex. For example, my primary experience with sexual education from my parents comes in the form of two succinct statements: “Herpes lasts forever” and “Don’t ever have sex…well, don’t ever have unprotected sex”. There was also a brief but exceedingly uncomfortable discussion about how diaphragms are no longer effective if you lose a lot of weight, a fact that is apparently proven by my existence on this planet. Still, despite these moments of mildly earnest sexual discussion, the general rule in the house is silence about sex.
As such, watching scenes of Jason Biggs humping a pie, an old lady masturbating, and Steve Carrell watching porn in a Circuit City was more than a little upsetting. Even though I never really got a clear impressive of what my parents expected normative sexual behavior to be, I was pretty certain that it wasn’t this. So I merely laughed awkwardly and tried to pretend not to understand the raunchier jokes. Those for which I couldn’t hide my knowledge, I simply played off as things I learned about in that one Bible class on what you should never do if you don’t want to burn in the fiery chasm of Hell. I assume that I was fairly convincing. But really, how would I know? We don’t talk about these things.
All in all, I like to think of these mildly traumatic experiences as opportunities to learn about the importance of considering consequences. I figure things have to normal out someday, and I will either find myself avoiding these situations entirely, or finally coming to terms with my sexual identity in a way that I feel comfortable sharing with my family. I’m thinking silence and avoidance is probably the more realistic option.
God bless the cinema. I’m so thankful for the fact that this country wholeheartedly supports a multi-billion dollar industry designed to allow us to spend quality time with our friends and loved ones without actually having to engage in that pesky business of conversation or looking at one another. This makes life so much easier for those of us stricken with debilitating cases of extreme social awkwardness. Or, at least, it used to.
Back in the day when they’d just come out with those new-fangled talkie films, cinema was much simpler. The storylines were classic and wholesome, so as to appeal to the whole family. But these days, all those heartwarming tales of angels getting their wings and whatnot have all been done to death, leaving filmmakers with no other option than to start pushing the envelope with crazy raunchy sex movies (because sex is the last thing that still really makes Americans uncomfortable).
There’s not anything inherently wrong with these movies, per se. They are often sincere, artistic, thought-provoking, or even just downright hilarious. The problem I have with these movies (which really hit home for me this weekend in Harris as I was sitting between my good friends watching the third or fourth orgy in scene in Short Bus) is that I never think through the implications of watching certain films with certain people. Surprisingly, as aware as I am of my own awkwardness, I never seem to think ahead about the content of a movie before sitting down to watch it with the family. This has led to me making the questionable life choice of watching American Pie, Kinsey, and the 40-Year-Old Virgin (uncut, no less) with my parents.
Granted, my parents were hippies. They are both alums of Reed College, and they have a history of liberal politics (marching through the streets of Portland shouting “Nixon eat shit!”, etc). However, this fact does not overcome our family’s uncomfortable WASPy tendency to completely ignore the reality of sex. For example, my primary experience with sexual education from my parents comes in the form of two succinct statements: “Herpes lasts forever” and “Don’t ever have sex…well, don’t ever have unprotected sex”. There was also a brief but exceedingly uncomfortable discussion about how diaphragms are no longer effective if you lose a lot of weight, a fact that is apparently proven by my existence on this planet. Still, despite these moments of mildly earnest sexual discussion, the general rule in the house is silence about sex.
As such, watching scenes of Jason Biggs humping a pie, an old lady masturbating, and Steve Carrell watching porn in a Circuit City was more than a little upsetting. Even though I never really got a clear impressive of what my parents expected normative sexual behavior to be, I was pretty certain that it wasn’t this. So I merely laughed awkwardly and tried to pretend not to understand the raunchier jokes. Those for which I couldn’t hide my knowledge, I simply played off as things I learned about in that one Bible class on what you should never do if you don’t want to burn in the fiery chasm of Hell. I assume that I was fairly convincing. But really, how would I know? We don’t talk about these things.
All in all, I like to think of these mildly traumatic experiences as opportunities to learn about the importance of considering consequences. I figure things have to normal out someday, and I will either find myself avoiding these situations entirely, or finally coming to terms with my sexual identity in a way that I feel comfortable sharing with my family. I’m thinking silence and avoidance is probably the more realistic option.
Monday, March 05, 2007
Debaters argue their way to top positions in Kansas tournament
By Rebecca Park
While the basketball team may have gotten more attention last weekend, they were not the only ones representing Grinnell in a regional tournament. At the Capital City Classic Invitational, the Grinnell debate team scored eleven points overall, to tie for third with William Jewell College. Among the highlights, Megan Goering ’08 and Zach Razavi ’08 placed first in the team competition and Michael Billups ’07 was awarded second overall speaker.
The debates were conducted in parliamentary style, meaning teams had 20 minutes to prepare an argument either for or against a government policy. Subjects included “a ton of different current legislation in Congress and some metaphysical, philosophical kind of stuff as well,” Goering said.
According to Billups, the team usually at least “breaks”, meaning they proceed to the next round, at each tournament. But this tournament marked the team’s greatest success in recent years.
In addition to the team’s overall success, Walter Liszewski ’08, Danny Haupt ’09 and Ethan Struby ’10 placed individually. “It’s just gratuitous that we managed to have a team win,” Billups said.
Razavi and Goering, who occasionally writes for the S&B, attributed some of their success to a strong team dynamic they developed when debating together in high school. They also said they benefited from a familiarity with judges’ expectations since the tournament was held in their home state of Kansas. The team was able to perform to the judges’ preferred style of debate, which Razavi described as “very fast, very technical, very high-impact.”
The team also benefited from the relatively relaxed approach to the competition. Because their priorities were “speaking our best and just having a good time,” Goering said, “I think that’s part of the reason we were so successful.”
Despite the team’s success, it is not resting on its laurels. Recent practices have been focused on improving counterargument skills, which judges highlighted as an area for improvement.
The success will not, according to Billups, alter the team’s plans for the future. “As far as the big picture goes,” he said, “[tournament success] won’t encourage us to go to any more debates than we would normally go to, and it wouldn’t make us stop going to debates either.”
Upcoming tournaments include one this weekend at Stanford and the National Parliamentary Debate Association Nationals at Colorado College in the spring. Whether the team hopes to replicate its success is hardly debatable.
While the basketball team may have gotten more attention last weekend, they were not the only ones representing Grinnell in a regional tournament. At the Capital City Classic Invitational, the Grinnell debate team scored eleven points overall, to tie for third with William Jewell College. Among the highlights, Megan Goering ’08 and Zach Razavi ’08 placed first in the team competition and Michael Billups ’07 was awarded second overall speaker.
The debates were conducted in parliamentary style, meaning teams had 20 minutes to prepare an argument either for or against a government policy. Subjects included “a ton of different current legislation in Congress and some metaphysical, philosophical kind of stuff as well,” Goering said.
According to Billups, the team usually at least “breaks”, meaning they proceed to the next round, at each tournament. But this tournament marked the team’s greatest success in recent years.
In addition to the team’s overall success, Walter Liszewski ’08, Danny Haupt ’09 and Ethan Struby ’10 placed individually. “It’s just gratuitous that we managed to have a team win,” Billups said.
Razavi and Goering, who occasionally writes for the S&B, attributed some of their success to a strong team dynamic they developed when debating together in high school. They also said they benefited from a familiarity with judges’ expectations since the tournament was held in their home state of Kansas. The team was able to perform to the judges’ preferred style of debate, which Razavi described as “very fast, very technical, very high-impact.”
The team also benefited from the relatively relaxed approach to the competition. Because their priorities were “speaking our best and just having a good time,” Goering said, “I think that’s part of the reason we were so successful.”
Despite the team’s success, it is not resting on its laurels. Recent practices have been focused on improving counterargument skills, which judges highlighted as an area for improvement.
The success will not, according to Billups, alter the team’s plans for the future. “As far as the big picture goes,” he said, “[tournament success] won’t encourage us to go to any more debates than we would normally go to, and it wouldn’t make us stop going to debates either.”
Upcoming tournaments include one this weekend at Stanford and the National Parliamentary Debate Association Nationals at Colorado College in the spring. Whether the team hopes to replicate its success is hardly debatable.
Sunday, March 04, 2007
EXCO provides quirky classes, but participation has been low
By Alisha Saville
To the majority of students on campus, Anne Geissinger is known as a dean of the college and coordinator of the Grinnell-in-London and Grinnell-in-Washington programs. To a select few, she is the “Permanent Belly Dance Member.” Thanks to the SGA-run Experimental College program (EXCO), Geissinger has been able to fuel her passion for dance over the past six years.
Historically, EXCO classes have always enjoyed a large participant base, but the past few years have seen a decline in both the number of classes offered and the level of participant interest, though it still attracts between 150 and 200 students. One reason for the decline could be the infamously busy schedules of Grinnellians. “It’s one of those things that Grinnell students are really intrigued with, but don’t really have time for,” said Ben Bowman ’08, one of three Belly Dance teachers.
Because the classes do not count for credit, EXCOs are often the first activities dropped from a busy schedule. Even so, Matt Johnson ’08 said that the low-stress nature of EXCO is generally what draws students to the classes. “It’s really chill, something students do for fun," he said.
Despite its previous popularity, EXCO nearly did not happen last semester, which some worry might hurt student participation in the future.
Suzanne Polivy ’08, coordinator of EXCO programming this semester along with Jackie Graves ’09, said that administrative difficulties last fall also played a large part in the program’s reduced presence on campus this year. “We’ve had fewer responses than in previous years [to teach classes], probably because of last semester,” said Polivy. But she and Graves said they are pleased with the eight classes that will be taught this semester.
The program was originally intended to bring students, college staff and community members together to share interests, skills and particular talents that are not normally part of the college curriculum. In recent years the program has veered away from this initial goal, catering mainly to students.
To increase the program’s presence in the entire community in the future, Polivy suggested inviting those from town to participate. “EXCO was designed to bring together students, professors and townspeople,” said Polivy. “It would be nice to open it up again, to foster more of a sense of community.”
With an operating budget of $2000 per semester, potential teachers do not need to spend their own money to share a skill or interest they feel could benefit others. “A lot of students have ideas and talents to share,” said Polivy. “EXCO gives them the resources to do so.”
To the majority of students on campus, Anne Geissinger is known as a dean of the college and coordinator of the Grinnell-in-London and Grinnell-in-Washington programs. To a select few, she is the “Permanent Belly Dance Member.” Thanks to the SGA-run Experimental College program (EXCO), Geissinger has been able to fuel her passion for dance over the past six years.
Historically, EXCO classes have always enjoyed a large participant base, but the past few years have seen a decline in both the number of classes offered and the level of participant interest, though it still attracts between 150 and 200 students. One reason for the decline could be the infamously busy schedules of Grinnellians. “It’s one of those things that Grinnell students are really intrigued with, but don’t really have time for,” said Ben Bowman ’08, one of three Belly Dance teachers.
Because the classes do not count for credit, EXCOs are often the first activities dropped from a busy schedule. Even so, Matt Johnson ’08 said that the low-stress nature of EXCO is generally what draws students to the classes. “It’s really chill, something students do for fun," he said.
Despite its previous popularity, EXCO nearly did not happen last semester, which some worry might hurt student participation in the future.
Suzanne Polivy ’08, coordinator of EXCO programming this semester along with Jackie Graves ’09, said that administrative difficulties last fall also played a large part in the program’s reduced presence on campus this year. “We’ve had fewer responses than in previous years [to teach classes], probably because of last semester,” said Polivy. But she and Graves said they are pleased with the eight classes that will be taught this semester.
The program was originally intended to bring students, college staff and community members together to share interests, skills and particular talents that are not normally part of the college curriculum. In recent years the program has veered away from this initial goal, catering mainly to students.
To increase the program’s presence in the entire community in the future, Polivy suggested inviting those from town to participate. “EXCO was designed to bring together students, professors and townspeople,” said Polivy. “It would be nice to open it up again, to foster more of a sense of community.”
With an operating budget of $2000 per semester, potential teachers do not need to spend their own money to share a skill or interest they feel could benefit others. “A lot of students have ideas and talents to share,” said Polivy. “EXCO gives them the resources to do so.”
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Second Winter Storm Coming Through -- Grinnell preparing for possibility of 72 hour power loss
icicles on bicycles after Saturday's storm (photo by Sidionie Straughn Morse '08)I was sitting in a Younker dorm room yesterday when the phone rang. It definitely wasn't who I expected to be calling.
"This is a message from the Department of Homeland Security..." said a prerecorded voice on the other end of the line. Poweshiek County has been declared a disaster area and, the government voice urged, "If you are still without power, seek shelter immediately."
An ice storm ripped through campus these weekend, coating every blade of grass and abandoned bicycle with a solid layer of ice. The storm also downed trees and knocked out power to the campus and town for at least several hours.
While power has returned to all of campus, students, professors and college employees living in some parts of town -- and other cities -- are still in the dark. "Basically, living without power for five days, it feels like you haven't slept," says Mac Pohanka, of High Street, who has been sleeping on couches at friends houses and in lounges since the ice storm Saturday. His apartment still doesn't have heating or electricity. "Every day, you go to class and you're more tired and furious than the day before."
Even before Grinnell is entirely back on its feet, however, the town is bracing for another hit: a snow and ice storm rolling through tonight and Thursday. That means more ice and possibly more power outages.
Get prepared! If you're still without heat, find somewhere safe you can crash for a few days. Head out to the store while you still can -- it's not snowing here yet -- and stock up on supplies. Here's a shopping list, courtesy the Department of Homeland Security, of what you should have on hand:
matches
candles
canned food (week of tuna, anyone?)
extra water
blankets!!
extra hats, mittens and warm clothes
flashlights
extra batteries
also:
charge your cell phone and computer
park your car off the street
and
(for you nerdlings out there afraid you won't be able to finish your homework)
print off any Pioneerweb or e-reserve readings now
candles
canned food (week of tuna, anyone?)
extra water
blankets!!
extra hats, mittens and warm clothes
flashlights
extra batteries
also:
charge your cell phone and computer
park your car off the street
and
(for you nerdlings out there afraid you won't be able to finish your homework)
print off any Pioneerweb or e-reserve readings now
If anyone else has any preparation advice, feel free to add it in the comments. I'm from Southern California, I've got no experience with this "ice" thing.
We'll keep you updated here on the S&Blog, but check out major Iowa news sources for more info on the storm and where it's headed.
We'll keep you updated here on the S&Blog, but check out major Iowa news sources for more info on the storm and where it's headed.
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