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
Monday, March 19, 2007
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.
Friday, February 23, 2007
Song, dance and job interviews at ISO Cultural Evening
by Lawrence Sumulong
For students who know International Student Organization (ISO) mainly through their popular food bazaar, it is high time to add another item to the calendar: the Cultural Evening, ISO’s other major annual event.
Cultural Evening, which will take place on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Harris, showcases the cultural cornucopia at Grinnell through various student performances. It also serves as a get-together for international and domestic students, especially graduating seniors and students returning from abroad, and enhances dialogue between social and cultural groups.
“It’s extremely important because on the most basic level it encourages American students to learn more about different culture and different ways of life outside of the United States,” said ISO treasurer Hamza Hasan ’09. “But it’s not just specific to the students of the college—we usually get a good number of people from the town as well.”
The longstanding Cultural Evening is an open forum for students and groups. According to Hasan, ISO sends out an invitation to the various cultural organizations asking for anyone who might be interested in representing their country, organization, and culture through various artistic mediums. Emphasizing diversity, ISO shapes the final list of participants by making a concerted effort to represent as many different countries as possible.
The evening profits from performances by a medley of different student organizations, like the African Students’ Union, the Korean P’ungmul Percussion Ensemble and the Latin American Ensemble. And in the vein of offering new avenues of cultural insight, this year’s program will include a new segment: a short skit showing four students from differing social backgrounds in the setting of a job interview. The addition of the skit represents ISO’s continuing effort to disarm stereotypes, entertain and educate the public about the world outside of what they consider familiar.
Hasan said Cultural Evening’s strength lies in its capacity to unite students and groups, and said, “It’s a collaborative event that serves to bring together people of all nations and countries.”
For students who know International Student Organization (ISO) mainly through their popular food bazaar, it is high time to add another item to the calendar: the Cultural Evening, ISO’s other major annual event.
Cultural Evening, which will take place on Sunday at 7 p.m. at Harris, showcases the cultural cornucopia at Grinnell through various student performances. It also serves as a get-together for international and domestic students, especially graduating seniors and students returning from abroad, and enhances dialogue between social and cultural groups.
“It’s extremely important because on the most basic level it encourages American students to learn more about different culture and different ways of life outside of the United States,” said ISO treasurer Hamza Hasan ’09. “But it’s not just specific to the students of the college—we usually get a good number of people from the town as well.”
The longstanding Cultural Evening is an open forum for students and groups. According to Hasan, ISO sends out an invitation to the various cultural organizations asking for anyone who might be interested in representing their country, organization, and culture through various artistic mediums. Emphasizing diversity, ISO shapes the final list of participants by making a concerted effort to represent as many different countries as possible.
The evening profits from performances by a medley of different student organizations, like the African Students’ Union, the Korean P’ungmul Percussion Ensemble and the Latin American Ensemble. And in the vein of offering new avenues of cultural insight, this year’s program will include a new segment: a short skit showing four students from differing social backgrounds in the setting of a job interview. The addition of the skit represents ISO’s continuing effort to disarm stereotypes, entertain and educate the public about the world outside of what they consider familiar.
Hasan said Cultural Evening’s strength lies in its capacity to unite students and groups, and said, “It’s a collaborative event that serves to bring together people of all nations and countries.”
Thursday, February 22, 2007
The rules of chains
Everyone loves Harris parties. This is a documented scientific fact, supported by a wealth of empirical evidence. By which I mean, of course, that Harris has essentially no redeeming value. The loud music damages your hearing, any calories you burn off by dancing are immediately replaced by empty booze calories, and the all in-the-moment drunken excitement about hooking up with someone pales in comparison to the immense awkwardness of the day after. We all know this. Yet we all still go. Hell, you probably still have the stamp from the last Harris party on the back of your wrist, you dirty hippy. All of this irrational Harris-related excitement is quintessential to the atmosphere of Grinnell, and no party embodies the gratuitous sketchiness of Harris more than last weekend’s Chains of Love party.The premise is simple. Pick two people you (for some reason) think need to spend more time together. E-mail these names to an account, see if they accept an anonymous chain, and if all goes well, they get handcuffed (“screwed”) together at the party. On the good end of the spectrum, this can lead to people being chained to their extra special super best friends and having adorable platonic dance parties, or to two individuals with tremendously obvious sexual tension finally getting over their insecurities and having a practice session for 100 days, as it were. On the more negative end, this leads to people being chained to their worst enemy or to some random person they may or may not have once had a History class with. These malicious chains tend to lead to excess drinking, or even worse, really awkward situations in which your chain is making out with someone else’s chain, leaving you unable to do anything but stand off to the side, making idle chit-chat with your chain’s make-out partner’s chain. And that connection is not nearly enough of a common bond to facilitate the creation of a real friendship. Seriously.
As such, perhaps it is time to make a series of rules of chaining etiquette, so as to save future generations the pain and humiliation of a really uncomfortable chain.
The first rule of proper chaining etiquette is to make sure you actually know who you are chaining together. Many people on campus have similar names. As such, it is never a bad idea to pull up Stalkernet to double-check your choices. Your friends will thank you when you manage to actually chain them to their crushes rather than to Rusty K or Darcy, the pizza lady.
The second rule is that unrequited affection is not sufficient grounds for a chain. Even if your friends are creepy people who don’t mind being exposed for the stalkers they are, it will still probably be really awkward if they get chained to that one guy who works in the dining hall who has really shiny hair. Not even the bounciest hair can substitute for a complete lack of conversational topics. Nor should you assume that, just because the girl down your hall is always talking about how hot a certain football player is, that they have any amount of common ground or basis for spending the evening together. Clues that such chains might be a bad idea often come in subtle signals, such as the fact that she only ever refers to the fellow by his jersey number or vaguely descriptive nicknames such as Buff-o or Sexy Rexy.
The third rule is that chains should not be a venue for proposing riddles to people. That is, do not chain people together who have never met simply because you happen to know of some really insignificant commonality they happen to have. No one wants to spend all night asking stupid questions in an effort to figure out whether they and their chain had a goldfish with the same name when they were seven, or whether their high schools had the same vaguely racist mascot.
And finally, the fourth, and most important, rule about chains etiquette is that these rules really only apply when you are considering chaining me to someone. Honestly, I would have a much better time at chains if I had the opportunity to see everyone else in really awkward situations.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Q&A with writer Stephen Kuusisto
by Lawrence Sumulong
The S&B did an e-mail interview with writer and disability activist Stephen Kuusisto, who will be on campus Tuesday as part of the Writers @ Grinnell series and Disability Awareness Week. Kuusisto, who has been blind since birth, is the author of the memoir Planet of the Blind and the poetry collection Only Bread, Only Light. He will read from his latest work, Eavesdropping: A Memoir of Blindness and Listening, on Tuesday, Feb. 20 at
I was talking to Professor Ralph Savarese about your work, and he mentioned how your exquisite attention to language seemingly transforms, like a work of alchemy, prose into something closer to poetry. With that in mind, how has your background in poetry spilled into the structure of the memoir and creative nonfiction?
I learned how to write nonfiction largely from the point of view of a poet. In general, poets love language—its compression, imagery, sweetness, muscularity, energy and musicality. While prose writers often admire these things as well, very often a fiction or nonfiction writer will be thinking ahead about the narrative arc of her or his story. Poets tend to think word by word, line by line, like the old children's song about watering the garden: inch by inch, row by row. So I simply began writing true stories by using the poet's love of language as my essential building block. I tend to find out where I'm going with the story only after I've enjoyed putting the images and sounds on the page. As the poet Theodore Roethke said, "I learn by going where I have to go."
I think that having a message is sometimes really a matter of being open to hearing the people in the local community. I've long been fascinated by the life and accomplishments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who as you know was a coast to coast mover and shaker in the civil rights movement in the ’50s and ’60s. He would never give a talk in a city or town until he'd heard the local people either in a church or a community center. I think that's crucial. You may have some pre-formed and seemingly important ideas, but they can't be useful unless you take the time to know what the people around you are thinking. So at Grinnell I will endeavor to learn from students, faculty and staff, and I'll try to shape what I have to say about disability and higher education in accordance with local needs. Obviously talking about poetry and literature can be more from the world of the writer, though it can be argued that poetry is also a community activity.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Urban Bush Women mesmerizes crowd
by Sarah Mirk
Roberts Theatre is packed with people--students in the center rows and out toward the edges, where a few seats linger unfilled, older professors and trustee look-alikes sit talking and paging through programs. It’s a diverse crowd, and a rowdy one. Everyone is waiting, excited, for the Urban Bush Women dance troupe to raise the curtain for their one-night performance, Thursday, Feb. 8, at Grinnell. Right on schedule, the theater goes black. Slowly, the light fades up in a single circle onstage, where a dancer stands wearing a wide-brim hat. The audience cannot see her face, but from the light falling from above on the well-defined muscles of her arms and legs, it is obvious that she is incredibly strong. And sexy. These are recurring themes in the night’s performance.
Urban Bush Women hails from Brooklyn, but the women who make up the creative team are from all over and all use the theatrical style of modern dance to explore and express different ideas. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, the buff, grey-haired founding artistic director of the 22-year-old group (who also choreographed three of the four pieces performed on Thursday) was raised in Missouri. Her pieces ranged from the outrageous ode to butt-shaking, “Bati Moves” (Bati is a Caribbean word for buttocks), in which five dancers rapped about being proud of their large bodies and large attitudes, to the moving solo dance, “Give Your Hands to Struggle,” which mixed a slow traditional spiritual song with powerful body movements laden with overtones of African-American/female empowerment. In this latter piece, the dancer, the strikingly gorgeous Paloma McGregor, is dressed in flowing white. Her movements are smooth and fluid, but her every muscle – including her face – is tensed and she pushes through the air like it’s lead. Zollar, offstage, reads the names of influential African Americans, filling the theater with their sound. As she reads “Malcolm X,” Dénécy’s hand forms a fist, thrusting upwards into the light and then exploding into five fingers. The audience was silent, enraptured.
Each piece, in its own way, expressed the strength of the female body. In the opening piece of the night, where the first dancer wore that wide-brimmed hat, the dancers moved quickly through very difficult moves. Their costumes, which can only be described as safari-chic, revealed their rippling muscles as each body moved through arabesques, pirouettes and handsprings. When one dancer spun the entire length of the stage, sweat flew from her body across the light, reminding the audience just how rigorous the simple moves of modern dance can be.
Roberts Theatre is packed with people--students in the center rows and out toward the edges, where a few seats linger unfilled, older professors and trustee look-alikes sit talking and paging through programs. It’s a diverse crowd, and a rowdy one. Everyone is waiting, excited, for the Urban Bush Women dance troupe to raise the curtain for their one-night performance, Thursday, Feb. 8, at Grinnell. Right on schedule, the theater goes black. Slowly, the light fades up in a single circle onstage, where a dancer stands wearing a wide-brim hat. The audience cannot see her face, but from the light falling from above on the well-defined muscles of her arms and legs, it is obvious that she is incredibly strong. And sexy. These are recurring themes in the night’s performance.
Urban Bush Women hails from Brooklyn, but the women who make up the creative team are from all over and all use the theatrical style of modern dance to explore and express different ideas. Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, the buff, grey-haired founding artistic director of the 22-year-old group (who also choreographed three of the four pieces performed on Thursday) was raised in Missouri. Her pieces ranged from the outrageous ode to butt-shaking, “Bati Moves” (Bati is a Caribbean word for buttocks), in which five dancers rapped about being proud of their large bodies and large attitudes, to the moving solo dance, “Give Your Hands to Struggle,” which mixed a slow traditional spiritual song with powerful body movements laden with overtones of African-American/female empowerment. In this latter piece, the dancer, the strikingly gorgeous Paloma McGregor, is dressed in flowing white. Her movements are smooth and fluid, but her every muscle – including her face – is tensed and she pushes through the air like it’s lead. Zollar, offstage, reads the names of influential African Americans, filling the theater with their sound. As she reads “Malcolm X,” Dénécy’s hand forms a fist, thrusting upwards into the light and then exploding into five fingers. The audience was silent, enraptured.
Each piece, in its own way, expressed the strength of the female body. In the opening piece of the night, where the first dancer wore that wide-brimmed hat, the dancers moved quickly through very difficult moves. Their costumes, which can only be described as safari-chic, revealed their rippling muscles as each body moved through arabesques, pirouettes and handsprings. When one dancer spun the entire length of the stage, sweat flew from her body across the light, reminding the audience just how rigorous the simple moves of modern dance can be.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
The S&B Online
We appreciate everyone's patience with the lack of S&B issues online. We're currently hiring a new web editor and will have the issues up as soon as possible. In the meantime, we're going to be uploading pdfs of each issue so you can view the issues that way. Last week's issue is available at http://web.grinnell.edu/sandb/. Thanks again for your patience!
Caitlin Carmody, Editor-in-chief
Caitlin Carmody, Editor-in-chief
Friday, February 09, 2007
Rocking on Campus: Rehearsal Space in the Last 5 Years
The article “Bands search for space,” on the front page of this week’s S&B, describes the recent efforts of students and faculty to find adequate practice space for campus musicians. But the campus has faced this issue before. Check out the links to the S&B archives to trace practice space history though the years.
by Ari Anisfeld & Justin Erickson
Campus bands have struggled for years to find a space that meets their requirements for “rockability,” which include acoustics, availability, equipment security and acceptability to neighbors. From 1999 to 2004, the off-campus college-owned house at 1128 High Street was designated as Music House (a.k.a. Musik Haus or Freesound House). At least 9 bands practiced in the wooden-floored living room during the 2003-2004 academic year, according to former SGA Concerts Chair Brendan Baker ’06. Music House treated residents to consistent practice space, safe storage of instruments and a community of like-minded musicians.
But Music House also had its downsides. According to Music major Ioannis Loukakis ’07, it was often difficult to fill the house because many students were not willing to live with the noise level. He cited the case of a college athlete, who had no connection to music but did not mind the noise, living in a Music House single.
In 2004, Music House lost its spot at 1128 High St. to the now-defunct International Gourmet House. John Chavez ’05 and other campus band advocates went to Vice President for Student Services Tom Crady, and they worked together to make an accessible practice space available in Norris Pit. The large, graffiti-covered room had been used as a practice space from the 1960s to the 1980s. Crady appropriated funds for foam to line the space, which Baker said "contained noise in the room" but did not soundproof it. With the foam, the acoustics were "as all right as a concrete room could sound,” said Baker, but the noise was still bothersome to Norris residents. Freesound received funding from SGA to buy basic equipment for the space, including a guitar and a bass.
In the 2005-2006 year, Music House experienced a brief revival as Art and Music House, but this lasted only a year. Currently, 1128 High St. is home to Dag House.
The search for alternatives has led bands to unconventional spaces, including off-campus houses, dorm lounges and dorm rooms.
by Ari Anisfeld & Justin Erickson
Campus bands have struggled for years to find a space that meets their requirements for “rockability,” which include acoustics, availability, equipment security and acceptability to neighbors. From 1999 to 2004, the off-campus college-owned house at 1128 High Street was designated as Music House (a.k.a. Musik Haus or Freesound House). At least 9 bands practiced in the wooden-floored living room during the 2003-2004 academic year, according to former SGA Concerts Chair Brendan Baker ’06. Music House treated residents to consistent practice space, safe storage of instruments and a community of like-minded musicians.
But Music House also had its downsides. According to Music major Ioannis Loukakis ’07, it was often difficult to fill the house because many students were not willing to live with the noise level. He cited the case of a college athlete, who had no connection to music but did not mind the noise, living in a Music House single.
In 2004, Music House lost its spot at 1128 High St. to the now-defunct International Gourmet House. John Chavez ’05 and other campus band advocates went to Vice President for Student Services Tom Crady, and they worked together to make an accessible practice space available in Norris Pit. The large, graffiti-covered room had been used as a practice space from the 1960s to the 1980s. Crady appropriated funds for foam to line the space, which Baker said "contained noise in the room" but did not soundproof it. With the foam, the acoustics were "as all right as a concrete room could sound,” said Baker, but the noise was still bothersome to Norris residents. Freesound received funding from SGA to buy basic equipment for the space, including a guitar and a bass.
In the 2005-2006 year, Music House experienced a brief revival as Art and Music House, but this lasted only a year. Currently, 1128 High St. is home to Dag House.
The search for alternatives has led bands to unconventional spaces, including off-campus houses, dorm lounges and dorm rooms.
Movie review: La Dolce Vita
reviewed by Andrew Lippman
A masterpiece. Federico Fellini’s 1960 rumination on sex, love and miscommunication is as challenging and engrossing today as it was nearly fifty years ago. Seven days and nights in the life of playboy journalist Marcello Rubini (Marcello Mastrianni) seem an unending parade of socialites, celebrities, exhibitionists and “intellectuals,” all of who contribute to the empty decadence of 1960s Rome. Caught in the whirlwind are Marcello’s clinging girlfriend Emma (Yvonne Furneaux), the married academic Steiner (Alain Cuny), and Marcello himself, who earnestly seems to love both everyone and no one. Acknowledging the frivolity of his existence, Marcello intends to settle down and do some “serious” work. However, he finds a life of meaning more elusive than he anticipated.
La Dolce Vita is three hours long, but Fellini keeps the film going at a good pace and chocks it full of hot cars, trendy nightclubs, beautiful women and, of course, the circus. The sets and costumes are tremendous (the film won an Academy Award for Costume Design), as is the soundtrack. Mastroianni and Anouk Aimee (who plays heiress love interest Maddalena) are newcomers in their first collaboration with Fellini (they come together again for 8 ½). Watch for “American film star” Anita Ekberg’s famous fountain scene, as well as Valeria Ciangottini as the ingénue waitress Paola.
Showtime: Friday Feb. 9, 8:00 p.m. ARH 302
photo courtesy http://www.ledoux.be
Thursday, February 08, 2007
Why am I so awkward?
Every time I leave the Grinnell campus for an extended period, I wind up being rudely slapped in the face with the realization that I have no idea how to conduct myself in the real world. I often spend several days confused by the prevalence of people not between the ages of 18 and 23, people who are offended by profanity and sexual references, and people who stare blankly at me when I use words like “opprobrium” in casual conversation. My tendency to dress like a hobo and my love-hate relationship with makeup and shaving suddenly qualify me as a weirdo, whereas my Grinnell self had always seemed so painfully mainstream. But one thing that really frightens me about my inability to pass as normal in actual American society is that I’m pretty sure I never actually learned how to legitimately flirt.
I know that sounds dreadfully shallow. Shouldn’t I be concerned about human rights, the destructiveness of capitalist consumer culture and the impending disaster of global warming? Sure, and I am. Really. My interests are many and varied. They just also happen to include occasionally hooking up with people.
Generally, this is less of a problem at Grinnell. Most people here are awkward enough to make me seem vaguely charismatic. As such, my stilted, bastardized version of flirtation actually seems to work. However, I often forget that the real world operates quite differently. This often leads to strange situations in which I give the impression of being mildly tweaked in the head.
One prime example of this occurred last week, when I was visiting a coffee shop in Des Moines with my good friend, Christy “not-awkward-enough-for-Grinnell” Boeckholt. I approached the counter first, hanging back briefly to decide what I wanted to order. As I was perusing the menu, the fellow behind the counter addressed me casually, trying to make conversation. At some point during this interaction, it dawned on me that this individual was flirting with me. This realization was bewildering for me. I specifically remember being agitated. I hadn’t entered the situation with the expectation that it would require any form of actual social skills, and as such I had not prepared myself. I had absolutely no idea what to say to this man. I made a half-assed effort to play along, not wanting to seem unfriendly.
The fellow seemed to have noticed my stilted mannerisms and attributed them to tiredness, saying, “Had a long day, huh?” I could easily have lied, pretended that I’d spent all day at some sort of legitimate job instead of sitting around reading Plans and crocheting earflap hats. But instead I decided to be unnecessarily honest, saying “No, not really. I’m actually just incredibly awkward.”
Had I made a similar comment to a Grinnellian, we probably could have shared a friendly laugh of commiseration at our mutual social ineptitude. However, outside of Grinnell, a statement such as this sends a pretty clear message of “I’m really freaking weird,” as evidenced by the relatively quiet manner in which the rest of our interaction panned out. I walked back to my table, confused and a bit embarrassed. Christy subsequently ordered, flirting casually and comfortably with the same man who had already written me off completely.
The encounter wasn’t a total loss, however. I got a delicious café mocha out of the transaction, and I managed not to trip while walking to or away from the counter. Also, I learned that flirting should not include blatant admissions of my own awkwardness. This just puts me one step closer to the day when I will finally be able to have comfortable social interactions with people I don’t really know. I’ve been making a lot of progress lately. At this rate, I should be pretty damn charismatic by the time I’m elderly.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Arseneault a finalist for Cousy Award
Point guard David Arseneault '09 has been named a finalist for the Bob Cousy award, given annually to the nation's top collegiate point guard by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Arseneault is one of only two Division III guards named to the list of 17 total finalists. Last year, Illinois' Dee Brown won the award, which is presented by the Hartford Financial Services Group.
The Grinnell native is averaging 19.2 points per game (3rd in the MWC) to go along with a league-leading 8.39 assists. He averages over three assists more per game than second-place David McMullen of Ripon College.
Arseneault is one of only two Division III guards named to the list of 17 total finalists. Last year, Illinois' Dee Brown won the award, which is presented by the Hartford Financial Services Group.
The Grinnell native is averaging 19.2 points per game (3rd in the MWC) to go along with a league-leading 8.39 assists. He averages over three assists more per game than second-place David McMullen of Ripon College.
Sunday, January 28, 2007
E-Registration is a mixed blessing
by Pat Caldwell
For the first time ever at Grinnell, students did not have to brave the frigid walk to the John Crystal Center or stand in the long lines at the Harris center to finalize their registration. Instead, students were able to confirm their registration status from the comfort of their own dorm rooms as the Registrar’s Office implemented a new system for students to confirm their registration online when they returned to campus.
Registrar of the College Gerald Adams said he instituted the change because the previous method took a lot of time on the first Sunday back from break for faculty and staff members. Adams said that the new method so far appeared to be a success, and many students seemed to agree.
Victor Colussi ’09 initially was unable to log in and register when he arrived, but later on Sunday completed the process: “I thought it was easier [than before],” he said.
Arunabh Singh ’09 agreed. “It is way more convenient and should be persisted,” he said.
But the new form of registration did cause problems for some students. According to Adams, many students will be fined for late registration. The school attempted to remind the students about the change in policy with repeated e-mails. But Adams lamented that campus-wide emails are not always effective at disseminating information. “It upsets me that the official form of communication at the college is ignored,” he said.
The online confirmation process also required students to be on campus in order to register. The system would only allow students to confirm their registration through Pioneerweb if they were on a computer connected to the college’s network.
One student, Kat York ‘09, did not realize that she needed to confirm her registration until she was interviewed for this article on Wednesday. “It was kind of in the background and I don’t read the e-mails from the school; they send a lot of stuff,” she said.
Students also potentially face difficulties coordinating with professors without the central location at the Harris Center. Julie Edwards ’07 takes Piano lessons at the college and had problems scheduling a time for lessons with her professor. Where previously she had been able to meet with the professor during registration, she had to try to coordinate with the professor through e-mail which proved more difficult. “I wish there was still the option to go to the Harris Center,” said Edwards.
Many students even questioned the necessity of what they thought was a trivial process. Said Edwards, “I thought it was kind of silly; you only had to click two buttons.” However the office of the registrar views the process as an important function for the school. Adams said the system is important, because “We [the college] need to know physically who’s returning.”
According to Adams, the Office of the Registrar considers this a test and has not decided whether or not the online confirmation will continue. But one aspect of new registration will not change: first-year registration at Harris will remain a part of the Grinnell tradition.
For the first time ever at Grinnell, students did not have to brave the frigid walk to the John Crystal Center or stand in the long lines at the Harris center to finalize their registration. Instead, students were able to confirm their registration status from the comfort of their own dorm rooms as the Registrar’s Office implemented a new system for students to confirm their registration online when they returned to campus.
Registrar of the College Gerald Adams said he instituted the change because the previous method took a lot of time on the first Sunday back from break for faculty and staff members. Adams said that the new method so far appeared to be a success, and many students seemed to agree.
Victor Colussi ’09 initially was unable to log in and register when he arrived, but later on Sunday completed the process: “I thought it was easier [than before],” he said.
Arunabh Singh ’09 agreed. “It is way more convenient and should be persisted,” he said.
But the new form of registration did cause problems for some students. According to Adams, many students will be fined for late registration. The school attempted to remind the students about the change in policy with repeated e-mails. But Adams lamented that campus-wide emails are not always effective at disseminating information. “It upsets me that the official form of communication at the college is ignored,” he said.
The online confirmation process also required students to be on campus in order to register. The system would only allow students to confirm their registration through Pioneerweb if they were on a computer connected to the college’s network.
One student, Kat York ‘09, did not realize that she needed to confirm her registration until she was interviewed for this article on Wednesday. “It was kind of in the background and I don’t read the e-mails from the school; they send a lot of stuff,” she said.
Students also potentially face difficulties coordinating with professors without the central location at the Harris Center. Julie Edwards ’07 takes Piano lessons at the college and had problems scheduling a time for lessons with her professor. Where previously she had been able to meet with the professor during registration, she had to try to coordinate with the professor through e-mail which proved more difficult. “I wish there was still the option to go to the Harris Center,” said Edwards.
Many students even questioned the necessity of what they thought was a trivial process. Said Edwards, “I thought it was kind of silly; you only had to click two buttons.” However the office of the registrar views the process as an important function for the school. Adams said the system is important, because “We [the college] need to know physically who’s returning.”
According to Adams, the Office of the Registrar considers this a test and has not decided whether or not the online confirmation will continue. But one aspect of new registration will not change: first-year registration at Harris will remain a part of the Grinnell tradition.
Friday, January 26, 2007
Black, White & Scarlet all over
After a slow winter break here at the S&Blog, we've rolled out our new design, just in time for a new semester of great "blog-sclusive" content!
Enjoy!
(Of course, no design is ever really final. Got comments on the design? Leave them on this post and we'll do the best we can to fulfill all your requests.)
Enjoy!
(Of course, no design is ever really final. Got comments on the design? Leave them on this post and we'll do the best we can to fulfill all your requests.)
Monday, December 11, 2006
New Blog Features. Don't Panic!
If you've come here only to be shocked by a blue banner don't turn around, you're at the same old S&Blog you've quickly come to love. Today, we upgraded the S&Blog to the new Blogger Beta with a few new features that we think will help you use the S&Blog much better.
On the sidebar to your right, you'll see a list of labels. From now on we'll tag each article with its section (Arts, Corrections, Editorial Posts - something from the editorial staff, like this-, Features, News, Opinions, Sports, and, maybe in the future, The Backpage). If you only want sports, only read sports. If you want opinions, read only opinions.
Furthermore, if you want to go back to articles in November, we've got a great archive section in our sidebar that allows you to browse through our previous articles in a very efficient manner.
As for the red, don't worry. It'll be back.
On the sidebar to your right, you'll see a list of labels. From now on we'll tag each article with its section (Arts, Corrections, Editorial Posts - something from the editorial staff, like this-, Features, News, Opinions, Sports, and, maybe in the future, The Backpage). If you only want sports, only read sports. If you want opinions, read only opinions.
Furthermore, if you want to go back to articles in November, we've got a great archive section in our sidebar that allows you to browse through our previous articles in a very efficient manner.
As for the red, don't worry. It'll be back.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Swimmers finish seventh in Omaha, prepare for Florida trip
by Eli Best
Grinnell’s swim teams each finished seventh in the Mutual of Omaha Invite last weekend out of nine men’s teams and 10 women’s teams. Those results may seem surprising coming from teams that are accustomed to holding up MWC championship trophies, but the swimmers felt good about their weekend performances because of the high level of competition they faced.
The Pioneers were up against a field of mostly Division II schools. Also, Grinnell did not bring divers and was not eligible to score points in some events. Considering they competed against DII schools, and could not score points in the diving events, the Pioneers were proud to not finish last.
Julia McHugh ‘07 highlighted yet another challenge of the meet: competing against academic pressures as well as good swim teams.
“It’s always tough … right before hell week,” she said. “We all have a lot on our minds on top of swimming.”
The Pioneer women received a strong performance from first-year Meghan McDoniel. She took seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:11.99, and she was also part of a relay team that finished 5th in the 200-yard medley.
A first-year on the men’s team also had a strong showing. Paul Gagne ’10 followed up his Midwest Conference Performer of the Week award with a third-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle (18:01.59) and was part of the 800-yard freestyle relay team that finished 5th.
The Pioneers will spend the next couple of weeks preparing for their winter break trip to Florida, where they will both train and compete.
“Florida is where we are really challenged with our training,” McHugh said. She pointed out that the workouts in the pool and on dry land will both intensify.
The Pioneer swimmers compete next against Connecticut College.
Grinnell’s swim teams each finished seventh in the Mutual of Omaha Invite last weekend out of nine men’s teams and 10 women’s teams. Those results may seem surprising coming from teams that are accustomed to holding up MWC championship trophies, but the swimmers felt good about their weekend performances because of the high level of competition they faced.
The Pioneers were up against a field of mostly Division II schools. Also, Grinnell did not bring divers and was not eligible to score points in some events. Considering they competed against DII schools, and could not score points in the diving events, the Pioneers were proud to not finish last.
Julia McHugh ‘07 highlighted yet another challenge of the meet: competing against academic pressures as well as good swim teams.
“It’s always tough … right before hell week,” she said. “We all have a lot on our minds on top of swimming.”
The Pioneer women received a strong performance from first-year Meghan McDoniel. She took seventh in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:11.99, and she was also part of a relay team that finished 5th in the 200-yard medley.
A first-year on the men’s team also had a strong showing. Paul Gagne ’10 followed up his Midwest Conference Performer of the Week award with a third-place finish in the 1650-yard freestyle (18:01.59) and was part of the 800-yard freestyle relay team that finished 5th.
The Pioneers will spend the next couple of weeks preparing for their winter break trip to Florida, where they will both train and compete.
“Florida is where we are really challenged with our training,” McHugh said. She pointed out that the workouts in the pool and on dry land will both intensify.
The Pioneer swimmers compete next against Connecticut College.
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