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(10/04/18 10:00am)
Their slogans are catchy, jeans are bleached and their health is progressively deteriorating. Robin Campillo’s award-winning 2017 movie “Beats Per Minute” (“120 Battements Par Minute”) follows the Parisian activist group Act Up in their battle against HIV/AIDS in the 1990s. The screening was co-sponsored by the French department as part of the Hirschfield International Series.
The story begins following activist Sean Dalamazo’s (Nahuel Pérez Biscayart) difficult personal struggle with the disease as he falls in love with new member Nathan (Arnaud Valois).
We are introduced to Act Up at their weekly meeting in a lecture hall and are accompanied by Fabien’s (Jean-François Auguste) forceful words of advice: regardless of your true status, as an activist you have to now get used to being seen as HIV-positive. What follows is a series of awkward protest scenes, bass-driven parties with bizarre biological animations and a lot of medical jargon. Though somewhat quirky, Campillo’s portrayal of Act Up is oddly refreshing: it is not a dumbed-down, sanitized and perfumed version of social movements. Instead we are allowed to experience the group and their messiness in first person.
Despite taking place almost three decades ago, the events of the film feel contemporary. Were it not for Thibault’s (Antoine Reinartz) Gameboy in the hospital and the lack of laptops in the meeting room, the film could easily be set in 2018. The group’s passionate discussions about the inclusion of marginalized groups in their work and their constant struggle with corporate representatives bear a striking resemblance to issues which continue to color social activism as we know it today. As the group storms a high school to distribute condoms and flyers, the headmaster exhibits the same conservative attitude towards students’ sexuality which we still see in American sexual education today. Whether that says something about the stagnancy of Western social development can be debated.
Yet “BPM” is not all protest and debate. Judging by the number of people who were shrinking in their seats, the film’s boldest moments are found in its sex scenes. Biscayart and Valois’ captivating chemistry gets to shine as the camera appears to glide over their skin. With every vertebra and skin crease on display, the audience almost feels like an intruder. As Sean reluctantly tells Nathan about an affair with a teacher that led to his infection and the lesions on his skin, the heaviness of the atmosphere in the auditorium was palpable.
The film also proves its relevance to current debates by showing physical intimacy in a rather progressive way: sex in “BPM” is communicative and light-hearted throughout, all while never losing its spark. Plus: points for the consistent emphasis on protection — just please do not rip condoms open with your teeth like Sean does.
Although the stories presented by individual characters are generally insightful and well-developed, supporters of the Bechdel test may find themselves getting frustrated.
In its treatment of gay and lesbian women as accessories, “BPM” reflects the tendency of queer popular culture to pay disproportionate amounts of attention to gay men. Campillo feels entitled to throw around the derogatory word “dyke” for its shock factor yet gives little to no space for the development of female characters with strong presences like Sophie (Adèle Haenel), Eva (Aloïse Sauvage) and Hélène (Catherine Vinatier). While even characters with significantly less screen time, such as Germain (Médhi Touré) and Markus (Simon Guélat), get to vocalize their personal experiences with HIV, we are left to speculate what might have led the women to Act Up.
As the majority of the film is spent closely following Sean and Nathan’s relationship, some may say that this observation is irrelevant. Yet such a view fundamentally misunderstands the film’s function. “BPM” is at its core a political film and thus deserves to be discussed in political terms. Hence, its downfalls in creating an accurate portrayal are important: the HIV/AIDS epidemic may have primarily affected men, yet women certainly were (and are) not immune to it. In its current form, “BPM” remains complicit in reproducing misconceptions about the insignificance of women in the movement against HIV. Even a slight expansion of this angle could have given the film a dimension which few have explored.
As I walked out of the Dana Auditorium amidst viewers who, like me, tried hard to rub the marks of the film’s last half hour off their eyes, I found myself hyper-aware of my surroundings. Arnaud Rebotini’s soundscape and Campillo’s intricate cinematography force your mind to recalibrate.
Sean may have been joking as he described the vividness which his HIV-status added to his life, but to the viewer that illusion is very much present. In its essence, “BPM” is what one would want a film about a personal struggle like AIDS to be. It is tender, it is unapologetic, it is raw and most definitely worth your time.
(10/04/18 10:00am)
“these are not men who are scared in the way that we are scared”
By CHARLOTTE FRANKEL
When I came up with the idea for this column, my hope was to create a space for rather banal silliness to exist outside of the relative garbage can fire that is today’s political climate. I still hold true to this intention and will continue to hold fast to this mission in the coming weeks. However, I have also been gifted with a platform, and I would be remiss if I didn’t use it this week to write on the Brett Kavanaugh hearings and the subsequent responses I’ve seen from the media to friends’ deeply personal reflections.
I am a woman. I know, big shocker! Alert the presses (which I am doing right now!) Anything I write here about watching Dr. Christine Blasey Ford testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee has probably already been said or written by the various women in your lives. The lack of originality in what I’m about to say shouldn’t make you feel anything other than angry and sad. To watch Dr. Ford testify about her experiences of assault and have her testimony essentially summarily dismissed in favor of political gain was more than disheartening. It was heartbreaking.
To be frank, I didn’t expect to have such an emotionally visceral reaction to the hearing. The end result was exactly what I had expected. I had prepared myself for the outcome. But to actually see Dr. Ford sit in front of those men and watch them disregard her account of her assault broke me. Furthermore, it forced me to once again consider the ways in which I, a woman, and others like me, have been taught to accept some behavior from men as normal, or just par for the course of existing in the world as a woman. This was further cemented by the numerous posts on Facebook by my female friends reacting to the decision by the Committee and Dr. Ford’s testimony, recounting their own stories of abuse.
[pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]There was nothing funny about the complete lack of care expressed by some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to her testimony.[/pullquote]
I am a woman, and I have been followed for blocks by a man on a bicycle in New York City. I have been asked lewd questions by multiple male taxi drivers, forcing me to throw whatever cash I had at them and run out of the car at a stop, praying they wouldn’t follow me in anger. I have been followed down Main Street in Middlebury by a man who continually confronted me and a friend for some perceived slight. When I was 16, a drunk boy walked up to me at a party and took his time clawing his hand across my chest. No words were exchanged. He walked away as if nothing had happened.
Each of these stories I have told and retold; I don’t think I have ever once told them seriously. This is to say, I treated them all as a joke. These things happen every day to women just like me, so why should I consider my experiences anything special? It was funny. It was funny that some man with control of the locks on the car thought it was appropriate to ask me whether or not I had a boyfriend and what his penis looked like. It was funny that this strange boy thought it was OK to touch me in a possessive, frightening way without my consent. And it was so funny that every woman I told the story to could relate in some way. We’d all laugh and move on with our lives in the shadows of these ‘everyday assaults.’
I usually think that almost anything can be made funny. After all, as the classic formula states, tragedy + time = comedy. There was nothing funny about Dr. Ford’s testimony. There was nothing funny about the complete lack of care expressed by some members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to her testimony. And I can’t help but feel that there was really nothing funny about Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony as well, which was mined for jokes by every late night talk show out there.
[pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]I’m angry that I was in no way surprised by this.[/pullquote]
Humor is often used as a coping mechanism. But as I looked at the men who dominate late night give monologues about Judge Kavanaugh’s overuse of the word “beer,” his almost-crazed demeanor and his detailed calendars, I couldn’t help but think that these are not men who are scared in the way that we are scared. This is not to say that they are not empathetic or understanding of what Dr. Ford and many women have gone through. This is to say that they are limited in what they can joke about, and we are forced to hear the same recycled lines over and over again, because, where are we?
Shows like The Rundown with Robin Thede and The Break with Michelle Wolf, both showcases for female comedians of color, have been cancelled by their respective networks/streaming services. The only female late night talk show host currently on air is Samantha Bee, whose show has a shorter runtime than her compatriots. Seth Meyers often allows his female writers (of whom Wolf was one) tell jokes that he “can’t” tell, which is a step, but there is a complete lack of visibility when it comes to women in late night, where many of my friends actually gather their news from.
I guess I’m just angry. I’m angry that Dr. Ford’s testimony wasn’t enough to convince some senators to cross party lines and delay the nomination process, and I’m angry that I was in no way surprised by this. I’m angry that it feels like women are constantly shut down for telling their stories. This is not a commentary at all on the merits of these late night talk show hosts or their humor. Rather it is a statement of anger against women being systematically denied a platform to tell these kinds of jokes and cope with abuses of power through humor.
Well, that’s all for now. Tune in next week when I genuinely will get smushed between the stacks in the bowels of the Davis “FAMILY” Library (I still have yet to see a ‘family’ studying together).
“they waited until she was gone to open their mouths”
By LUCY GRINDON
In 1982, Brett Kavanaugh sexually assaulted Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. I believe it, and if you watched her testify last Thursday before the Senate Judiciary Committee, it’s difficult for me to imagine you don’t believe it too.
Her voice sometimes shook, often she held back tears, but the truth of her words was as clear as water. So many women have opened up and written about their long-hidden traumas over the course of the #MeToo movement; watching Dr. Ford recount her assault in her own voice, in real time, she seemed to be the ultimate embodiment of this era.
I wonder if any Republican senators could have been moved had they actually spoken with her. Instead, they waited until she was gone to open their mouths. They claimed to have hired outside prosecutor Rachel Mitchell to question Dr. Ford because they wanted the hearing to be coherent and methodical. Of course, we know the real reason — they wanted to avoid looking aggressive and disrespectful towards women before the upcoming midterm elections. The most depressing and grave reality, however, is not their implied inability to treat a woman with respect, but their collective refusal to engage with anyone who might disrupt their view of Brett Kavanaugh as a victim.
Many men in our society, including some of the affluent, white, educated men who occupy government positions, can’t seem to imagine any greater suffering than to be denied something they see as rightfully theirs, whether it’s sex, a gun, or a seat on the Supreme Court. Our culture of entitlement can turn male-female friendships into the “friend zone,” young men into violent “incels,” and freedom of speech into a prerogative to spread racism, sexism, or incitements to violence without facing opposition or criticism.
The stories of those who have suffered at the hands of entitled men are the strongest challenge to the dangerous idea that men who don’t get what they want are victims. Dr. Ford told powerful men how one of their own had hurt her, and the only way they could reassert Kavanaugh’s victimhood was by undermining her legitimacy as a witness.
During the latter half of the hearings, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham did not question Dr. Ford’s honesty or the strength of her memory. Instead, he tried to delegitimize her by casting her as nothing more than a political tool. In a furious tirade accusing senate Democrats of power-hungry political maneuverings, he said to Kavanaugh, “She’s as much of a victim [of the Democrats] as you are.”
Dr. Ford has certainly suffered. She has sacrificed her anonymity, her privacy and even her family’s safety. But she was no one’s victim in that hearing room. Everything she has said and done over the past several weeks has been her choice. “I am a fiercely independent person. I am no one’s pawn,” she declared in her opening testimony.
Brett Kavanaugh already made Dr. Ford into a victim once, when she was 15. Graham’s effort to re-victimize her in the eyes of the country was a despicable attack on her personal agency and a denial of her heroism.
Despite intense fear, she stood up for the sake of truth, justice and duty, inspiring more people to come forward and hold sexual abusers accountable. Perhaps equally heroic was the way her testimony exposed the fraudulence of privileged men’s victimization masks — the ones they accessorize with dramatic pauses and tears and indignant shouting.
On Friday, Ana Maria Archila and Maria Gallagher, two survivors of sexual abuse, confronted Arizona Senator Jeff Flake with their pain in an elevator. “Don’t look away from me,” Gallagher demanded as she spoke. Injustice, abuse, and exploitation are too common, and one person’s emotional trauma is not more significant than anyone else’s, but U.S. senators and men who are nominated to the Supreme Court are not typically the world’s great sufferers. When people in positions of power and privilege are faced with that truth, they must not be allowed to turn away.
“Dr. Ford made those watching her want to be better people,
to emulate her bravery”
By MATT SMITH
Last Thursday, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford sat in front of some of the most powerful people in our country — the Senate Judiciary Committee — and she spoke her truth plainly.
She was honest when she could not remember something; she was “terrified” to be there and yet she felt it was her “civic duty” to testify. She spoke with such honesty and eloquence that it was hard to watch at times. Quite simply, Dr. Ford made those watching her want to be better people, to emulate her bravery.
This, contrasted with Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s visceral anger and belligerence in his opening statement and in his answers to the Democratic members of the committee, displays the ridiculous double-standards that were evident in Thursday’s hearing.
Speaking first, Dr. Ford was questioned by the Republican majority’s prosecutor (hired so they wouldn’t accidentally say something misogynistic) and by Democrats about the specifics of her story and the strongest memories of the night.
She did her best to answer every question directly and honestly, admitting when there were lapses in her memory. Conversely, Judge Kavanaugh spent his time denouncing the hearing as “revenge on behalf of the Clintons” and avoided answering nearly every question posed to him.
The Republican majority, after a tirade by Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, spent their time attacking both the Democrats on the committee and the hearing itself as being unjust.
Indeed, what they thought was unjust was the “good man” being made to go through the “most unethical sham in politics.”
[pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Our Senate now lives by an "eye for an eye" doctrine.[/pullquote]
Imagine for a moment that Dr. Ford yelled at the committee members (which her emotions must have compelled her to do) and Judge Kavanaugh had stayed quiet, calm, and tried to be as helpful and honest as possible, in keeping with the behavior of a Supreme Court justice. There would be no question of his confirmation.
And so, I watched a hearing that started as a profound moment for the #MeToo movement disintegrate into a bitter partisan fight, led by an all-male group of senators. While criticizing the Democrats for not joining their investigations, they refused to call further witnesses, subpoena documents, or ask for further FBI investigation.
And yet while Republicans repeatedly avoided doing their job Thursday, it’s hard not to acknowledge that both parties have larger motives: Democrats want to delay until the midterms, Republicans want to push this nominee through as quickly as possible.
Our Senate now lives by an “eye for an eye” doctrine. Republicans filibuster President Barack Obama’s Federal Court nominees, so now-retired Senator Harry Reid reduces the vote requirement to confirm those nominees.
Then Republicans refuse to speak to former Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland, so Democrats withhold Dr. Ford’s letter until the last moment to try and derail a nominee.
And now Republicans refuse Dr. Ford and the other accusers a proper investigation, and so the cycle continues. At what point do we say, “Enough. What’s right is right”? [pullquote speaker="" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]We have a responsibility to do more than hope.[/pullquote]
Even the successful and admirable attempts of Senator Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona, to have the FBI investigate have been constrained by an arbitrary one-week time limit and a narrow scope. Doesn’t Dr. Ford deserve more than that? Don’t we deserve more than that?
In just the past few days, three women whom I am close to have spoken for the first time about assaults in their pasts. They volunteered their stories when asked about their opinion on Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation.
One said this: “the person who assaulted me would not remember my name or what happened – it meant nothing to him and forever changed me.”
Judge Kavanaugh has issued a categorical denial of all accusations directed at him of ever being blackout drunk, all the while admitting that there were times when he “drank too much.”
I ask then, is it not possible that Judge Kavanaugh did not remember this event because it meant nothing to him, because he was drunk at the time? Is it not possible that “it meant nothing to him and forever changed” her? In light of Dr. Ford’s extremely compelling testimony, that seems the most likely outcome.
We can hope that this week’s FBI investigation will shed more light on the allegations, we can hope that a man who has caused lifelong suffering will never sit in judgement of others.
Yet, we have a responsibility to do more than hope; we have a responsibility to vote for candidates who will believe and respect survivors. We deserve senators who won’t congratulate themselves on giving Dr. Ford a fair hearing and call her testimony “the most unethical sham in politics” not an hour later.
It is very, very easy to fall into a partisan vortex. It’s easy to fight with each other until we forget how much we have in common. Yet we all deserve a Supreme Court, conservative or liberal, that has members of sound moral integrity, who have led lives of virtue.
Can we not, at this moment in history, say to each other simply “What’s right is right, and we all deserve better than this?”
“why am I even here?”
By SOPHIE CLARK
On Friday I had a fully-fledged, borderline comical, breakdown. Swollen red face, giant tears, the whole deal.
All over a Supreme Court nominee.
Because it was not just a nomination process. It was a blatant, full bodied, laugh in the face to any woman who is trying to accomplish anything in her life. Dr. Christine Blasey Ford is everything Trump’s America could possibly want in a woman. From the outside, she is white, upper-middle class, non-threateningly middle-aged. From the inside, she has worked her entire life to receive an education, to earn a PhD and to become a professor.
And she wasn’t believed.
She wasn’t taken seriously. What does that mean for the rest of us? I went through the rest of that day feeling like a zombie. Passing from class to class questioning at every moment, “Why am I even here?”
Twenty-seven years ago, Anita Hill was hauled up in front of the same panel and treated with the utmost disrespect for all of the world to see. Treated so disturbingly in fact that it inspired a new generation of female candidates to run for office — to change things. It’s been 27 years, however, and what has changed? Why should we even bother?
To me, this hearing screamed: what is the point of getting a Middlebury education when in the eyes of this country, no matter what I do, I will never be enough?
I’m lucky my attacker is not a particularly ambitious guy, but many attackers are. And in twenty years when those men are up for promotions that they are seen as “entitled” to, will their victims be taken seriously? Will anything change?
Other generations are quick to criticize millennials for being overly emotional, too attached to issues — but this is not just an emotional response to the pain of survivors (although I am perfectly entitled to that). This is an objective understanding that those in power shunt half of its population to the side with ease. So why should we bother? Why should we contribute? Why should we get educated, or speak up?
What pushed me out of this rut was the enormous strength I witnessed in other people. I saw the two women who confronted Arizona Senator Jeff Flake bare everything I was feeling and too scared to show to the world. I saw my own peers grapple with their pasts and chose to fight back against what I chose to bury. It gave me hope that there is still a force for change, that women are told “No” time and time again and that we are not giving in until we are given a chance to speak up and be listened to.
Emotional responses matter. Feeling utterly despondent and alone matters. Because I will never forget feeling that way and will forever look for ways to stop it from ever happening again.
(09/13/18 10:00am)
Stroll down Main Street this afternoon and you may find a vastly different landscape from the downtown of semesters past.
The “For Sale,” “For Lease,” and “Markdowns up to 70% off” signs, as well as unfamiliar shop windows and the conspicuous rail bridge construction project are unavoidable.
The tide of stores closing or changing hands became apparent to many last spring with the departure of The Diner on Memorial Day (purchased by The Town Hall Theater) and rumors of the now-closed Carol’s Hungry Mind Café going out of business. Over the following months this surge of changes seems to have begun flooding in full-force.
On Aug. 7, owner John Melanson permanently closed Carol’s after an involved attempt on both his part and the part of many regular customers to save the business.
“These are people’s livelihoods, these are people that have worked hard to be a part of the downtown and they’ve participated in things and they’ve given a lot of themselves,” said Karen Duguay, executive director of the Better Middlebury Partnership (BMP), an organization committed to supporting local businesses through various events and programming in order to maintain a vibrant downtown and strong community.
Replenishing the caffeine market in Middlebury is Adam Shafer of Shafer’s Market & Deli, who launched The Daily Grind at Carol’s previous location at 24 Merchant’s Row. It will doubtless be difficult to say goodbye to some of these local fixtures and gathering places, and yet, at the same time Duguay said, she can’t help being encouraged by the businesses and individuals, like Shafer, who have stepped forward to fill in the voids left as storefronts close down.
“That’s what we need right now,” she said. “We need people willing to take a shot and to fill some of those gaps and I want to support them as best we can.”
The Daily Grind hopes to build a community hub similar to that fostered by Melanson at Carol’s Hungry Mind. Shafer will also continue to operate the popular Market & Deli on 54 College St.
A staple of Middlebury’s downtown, Otter Creek Bakery, at 14 College St. is also facing changes. The owners of the bakery, Sarah and Ben Wood have been looking for a potential buyer for some time now said David Donahue ’91, who chairs the Addison County Chamber of Commerce. Donahue is also chief of staff to President Laurie Patton and the college’s director of community relations.
“Ben and Sarah feel like they have had a good long run,” explained Donahue, adding that while they loved their business, they feel “it’s time for someone new, with new ideas and fresh energy to take over.”
Another tough goodbye for residents and students alike will be Ben Franklin at 63 Main St. The general store has been an essential part of the downtown since 1943, and yet due to economic hardship, this favorite catchall store will be forced to shut down. Like many small business owners across Vermont and the country, Andy Li, the current owner of the store, cited Amazon and other online retailers as part of his decision to close the business.
Middlebury Selectboard member Lindsey Fuentes-George echoed Li, saying that many businesses in Middlebury – like elsewhere – are struggling as people choose to purchase more online. In addition to these nationwide issues, Li elaborated on some economic challenges specific to downtown Middlebury. A lack of parking in the downtown area and the rail bridge construction near Merchant’s Row have put a damper on much of the area’s foot traffic, which, he said, is key to a small business owner’s success. The future of Ben Franklin after its sale remains unclear; however, Li hopes to see a similar retail or general store fill the storefront.
Clay’s Clothing at 60 Main St. had its last day of business on June 24. The boutique, founded by Kurt and Laura Reichelt, faced strains of a period of diminishing sales and the looming rail bridge construction, as first reported by The Addison Independent.
Green Mountain Shoe & Apparel in the Hannaford shopping center at 260 Court St. followed closely on the heels of Clay’s, officially closing its doors on August 31. Angie Wade and her husband Scott, who owned and operated the store for 21 years, moved to the Court Street location in order to increase customer-parking options, according to Donahue. Donahue also named online shopping as a cause of the decline in patronizing of local retail businesses such as Clay’s and Green Mountain Shoe & Apparel; the local stores struggle to match the lower prices and the free deliveries of Amazon Prime, Zappos and other larger chains.
Other changes include the opening of Foundation Salon & Spa, owned and operated by Jennifer Stocker, replacing Curve Appeal, which was a sex positive store for women at 32 Merchant’s Row. The new spa is located right next to The Daily Grind. Shafer and Stocker are a husband and wife business team.
Adding to the list of new ventures, Matt Corrente ’07, previously the head chef of Two Brothers Tavern, will be taking over The Lobby at 7 Bakery Lane. The new ownership could bring exciting transformations and Italian cuisine. The Campus will continue to report on this change as it develops.
“I will say that I think that as a community Middlebury is as relevant, community focused, and driven as any I’ve ever seen,” Duguay said. “I think that if any community is going to withstand some of these challenges and really thrive and flourish it’s Middlebury.”
Duguay is also the co-chair of Neighbors Together, a steering committee formed in 2014 by St. Stephen’s Church with the goal of identifying values important to the town’s community and creating action items to support those values. Some of those action items include: a revamp of the experiencemiddlebury.com website, various advertising campaigns like #middhiddengems on Instagram, movie and concert events and the Midd Money Match program, which is a local shopping rewards program. Additionally, Neighbors Together hopes to work towards long-term infrastructure projects like free WiFi in town and tax-free holidays during the heaviest parts of the rail bridge construction.
“I have faith in our community that we’re not going to let our downtown go anywhere, that we will survive this and that we will come back with a very vibrant and healthy community,” said Duguay.
She stressed, however, the importance of connecting with college students, encouraging the future addition of student positions to the BMP Board in order to receive their feedback.
“The college has a huge impact on many levels,” Donahue agreed, “and we are thinking of new and different ways that we can strengthen the connection between the town and college. When students choose to shop downtown or when students and their families make a point to stay local, that can make a real difference.”
“Because this is not just a downtown thing,” Duguay emphasized. “It affects everyone.”
Neighbors Together will be hosting the last outdoor movie screening of the summer this coming Friday, Sept. 14 at 7pm. The organization will be playing the Greatest Showman at College Park, across from Shafer’s Market.
(05/09/18 11:52pm)
On December 2, 2001, Houston-based energy company Enron, whose shares once peaked at $90.75, declared bankruptcy. Ironically, the collapse of Enron Corporation, hailed by Fortune as “America’s Most Innovative Company” for six consecutive years, was partially instigated by an article titled “Is Enron Overpriced?” in the same magazine. Eight years later, Enron’s financial scandal inspired the British playwright Lucy Prebble to conceive a play of the same name, stylized emphatically in promotional material as “ENRON.”
The spring faculty production of “Enron” was presented last weekend at Wright Memorial Theater, starring Sebastian LaPointe ’18 as the brilliant though somewhat egotistical chief executive of Enron Jeffrey Skilling, Madeleine Russell ’19 as Skilling’s business rival Claudia Roe, a fictional figure who is a combination of different Enron executives and who serves as the sole central female figure in the play, Galen Fastie ’20 as Enron’s chief financial officer Andy Fastow and affiliated artist Peter Schmitz as Ken Lay, the founder and chairman of Enron Corporation.
Director Cheryl Faraone, a professor of theater and gender, sexuality and feminist studies, explained her decision to produce “Enron.”
“The story of Enron’s implosion is one which has fascinated and angered people for a long time,” she said. “Multiple books and many articles have been written, documentaries filmed. Even in our community I encountered people whose lives were directly touched by the company.”
Compared to journalistic accounts, Prebble’s interpretation of the Enron incident for the stage offers a fresh and perhaps more sympathetic view towards the mostly male Enron executives who wanted, as the saying goes, to “change the world.”
Prebble’s Skilling, as presented by LaPointe, is both obsessively ambitious and surprisingly idealistic. His vision of Enron as “not just an energy company, but a powerhouse for ideas” with a corporate culture of “less structure, less routine,” where “people’s minds [can] run” bears resemblance to the slogans of more than a few majorly successful contemporary corporations. Skilling’s faith in the power of his idea of market to market energy trading to create “new industries, new economies” was convincing.
The heavy use of gendered language within the play, not least by Skilling, draws attention to Enron’s macho-culture that perhaps lent its executives an overabundance of false confidence. Skilling’s influence over his energy-traders is comparable to that of a god over his reverent followers, or that of a hound-master over his pack of hunting dogs. Skilling questions “why [we] should respect ineptitude” and advises his protégé Fastow to “never apologize.” One of Skilling’s traders declares that the game of the deal is the “closest thing there is to hunting, closest thing there is to sex — for a man, that is,” echoing Skilling’s capitalistic sentiment that “business is nature.”
In a moment of reckless desperation to impress his boss, Fastow pitches to Skilling his idea of special purpose entities, an ingenious series of hedges or partnerships with shell companies where Enron could bury its losses to maintain its high stock value. “F— it.” Fastow says, throwing his origami mathematical models aside. “Two guys in a room. You want my help?”
The special purpose entities, or Raptors, as they later came to be called, were represented on stage by dinosaur-like figures that physically consumed Enron’s debt. Curiously, their relationship to Fastow resembles that between a master and his beloved pets, between a father and his children. “Clever girls,” he coos upon the green-scaled financial vehicles’ first appearance. The later scene in which a mournful Fastow is forced to “kill” his Raptors seemed almost tragic.
The rest of the play makes ample use of caricatures such as the Raptors to simultaneously elucidate and ridicule American business practices. Three blind mice who saunter on stage at frequent intervals refer quite apparently to the company’s board, who have questionable knowledge of the company’s true financial operations, the accounting company Arthur Andersen is played by a ventriloquist and his dummy and financial services firm Lehman Brothers is a weak-kneed pair of conjoined twins who change their rating of Enron from “moderate buy” to “strong buy” after a thinly veiled threat from Fastow.
“There is a huge difference in the forms,” said Faraone, contrasting news reports on Enron with Prebble’s play, observing that the play offers psychological insight into chief executives at Enron. “Though the playwright relies heavily on actual statements, the play constructs an interior life for Skilling that does not show up in much reporting. For theatrical purposes, complex, flawed, fascinating characters like Skilling are utterly compelling. Whether or not we would personally ever like or trust them is not really relevant in the story that’s being told. This isn’t the story of just one man, is it?”
In a rare moment of vulnerability in his final court hearing on stage, Skilling reveals the true purpose of his actions at Enron, as interpreted by Prebble. “I’m not a bad man,” he insists. “I’m not an unusual man. I just wanted to change the world.”
“Theatrically,” Faraone said, “Enron” is “a terrific piece, epic in scope, with humor, song and dance, melodrama, sexiness and outrage.”
(05/03/18 1:16am)
MONTPELIER — In recent years, a movement towards inclusivity has begun the refamig of binaries regarding gender and sex to longer be based on those assigned at birth. The proliferation of these evolving ideas has turned the heads of scientists, lawmakers and others as they grapple with dismantling prior gender roles and assess the implications of these legal, medical and social changes in our society. While many institutions and governments have had difficulty accepting these advancements, certain Vermont lawmakers have acknowledged societal evolutions in order to stay abreast of social issues.
In its attempt to approve the initial H.333 bill that requires all single-occupancy bathrooms be “gender free,” the Green Mountain State aims to make public restrooms more inclusive to trans and gender-nonconforming individuals. While multi-stall bathrooms will remain gendered, their private bathroom counterparts will be labeled as gender neutral in schools, hospitals, places of worship, stores, workplaces and other public spaces.
With support from the House, the bill is on track to be approved by the end of the current legislative session. Senator Becca Balint of Windham District, who presented the bill on the Senate floor, sees its passing as a change that would “benefit many Vermonters as they seek to meet their most basic of human needs.” Balint’s claim acknowledges the frustration and fear that many LGBTQ+ community members feel in their everyday lives and especially when asked to choose from a gender binary.
Jacob Tobia, national LGBTQ+ rights activist, member of the transgender community and co-producer and host for the MSNBC show Queer 2.0, sees the adoption of gender neutral bathrooms as one that benefits the community and dissolves fears of physical or verbal violence. In the TIME Magazine article, “Why All Bathrooms Should Be Gender-Neutral,” Tobia writes, “Allowing trans students to ‘use the restroom that feels most comfortable to them’ assumes that a comfortable option exists in the first place.” Vermont officials’ support of gender-neutral bathrooms caters to Tobia’s call for the dissolution of traditional gender binaries with the goal of creating more comfortable and safer accommodations.
Senator Balint, the Vermont Senate’s Majority Leader, reinforced this bill with another avenue of persuasion. Rather than solely encouraging it in association with gender-nonconforming individuals, she extended the benefits of the bill to caregivers. Instead of caregivers forced into deciding which bathroom to use based on the sexual identification of the child or disabled person they are assisting in the restroom, they can use a gender-free private restroom without anxiety. Furthermore, Senator Balint argues that the creation of gender-neutral restrooms increases restroom accessibility for men and women waiting on long lines.
This bill would become official legislation on July 1 if approved by the Legislature and Governor Phil Scott. Currently, it must be reconsidered by the House because the Senate has made minor changes, mostly focused on plumbing protocols. Proposers of the bill emphasize that public places need not make structural changes to their bathrooms in order to comply with the bill—instead, only the signs must be changed to indicate gender-neutrality.
The passing of the House bill looks hopeful—with the House of Representatives approving an initial version of it with a vote of 123-19 and limited current opposition.
While some may view gender-neutral bathrooms as a radical step, Tobia emphasizes that colleges have widely adopted gender-free bathrooms. At Middlebury, there are 15 non-residential buildings that have gender-neutral restrooms. Middlebury posits in its statement on all-gender restrooms that, “Everyone has the right to meet their basic needs in a safe environment, without feeling threatened or intimidated… All-gender restrooms provide an opportunity for our community members to enter a restroom without being questioned or interrogated.”
The push for a more inclusive environment is not just found at Middlebury. In 2016, Yale University joined the more than 150 colleges who have endorsed all-gender bathrooms and have additionally permitted transgender individuals to use their preferred name on their diploma instead of their birth name.
While it seems that institutions across the country are encouraging changes that acknowledge the challenges gender nonconforming people experience, there are still opponents who disagree with such changes. A few years ago, a proposed Indiana law attempted to criminalize entering a public restroom that differs from that person’s “biological gender,” which is defined by “sex at birth.” The repercussions to violating this law could include a $5,000 fine and up to a year in jail. While seven other states have tried to impose similar laws in recent years, Vermont seems to be leading a progression of social change.
To opponents of the bill and gender-neutral bathrooms in gender, Brenda Churchill, a transgender resident of Bakersfield, VT, writes: “Remembering that this bill applies to everyone and hurts no one is what is most important. Vermont is a state that often has shown the rest of the United States where to go and how to get there.”
(04/18/18 4:33pm)
Elections for the Student Government Association (SGA) will be occurring this week, with online polls open from noon on Thursday, April 19 to noon on Friday, April 20 at go/vote. Three students are running for the position of SGA President: Charles Rainey ’19, Nia Robinson ’19, and Rae Aaron ’19.5. This week, each candidate met with members of The Campus to discuss their respective platforms.
RAE AARON ’19.5
Aaron is a junior Feb and an International Politics & Economics major with a Spanish minor. Her website can be accessed through go/SGRae.
Aaron has served as Feb Senator in the SGA since she came to Middlebury. She was elected Speaker of the SGA Senate in the fall of 2017 and spring of 2018. Aaron has served on the Hillel board and is currently the organization’s president. She is the treasurer of Middlebury Women Leaders. She also serves on the New Traditions Initiative Selection Committee.
Throughout her campaign, Aaron has highlighted her experience and accomplishments in the SGA, including sponsoring bills supporting the creation of a “Mountain Day” and calling for on-campus gym equipment. She has worked with several organizations regarding club sports, sponsoring bills to improve funding and create new teams. She has also collaborated with the Black Student Union and sponsored a resolution in support of minority students.
As SGA president, Aaron said she imagines her role being “to represent the voice of the students to the administration, but also to serve as a middle ground between getting ideas across.” Her platform is focused around three areas: Campus Life, Inclusivity, and Accessibility.
In order to improve life on campus, Aaron will try to create opportunities for students to form personal relationships with faculty and staff, like funding off-campus meals. Aaron also proposes the creation of an outdoor classroom for use by seminars and organizations. She advocates for the return of 10 o’clock Ross and for more late night dining options.
To create a more inclusive campus, Aaron proposes a structure to increase peer-mentoring within majors for underclassmen seeking advice. She also would like to create a health and wellness space on campus for activities related to mental and physical health. Aaron promotes a reexamining of support systems for minority students, aimed to improve them so that minority and international students have adequate support.
Aaron’s commitment to accessibility is demonstrated through her proposal to offer financial aid for physical education courses. This would allow students to take the courses they want regardless of socioeconomic background. Aaron also plans to work toward making all buildings on campus accessible to injured or disabled students and staff. Lastly, she proposes pairing Parton counselors with residential commons to improve access to counseling services.
CHARLES RAINEY ’19
Rainey is currently a junior and is a joint Political Science and American Studies major, with a minor in African American Studies. This is the second time Rainey is running for SGA President. His website can be accessed through go/Charles.
His campaign website highlights his experience with the SGA and Community Council. He served as his class’s First-Year Senator, chairing the First-Year Committee. Rainey has served as a member of Community Council’s Residential Life Committee since 2015, and has been a full member of the Council for the past two years.
In addition to his experience with SGA and Community Council, Rainey was the acting president of the Black Student Union (BSU) and is currently the Gamut Room’s event coordinator. Recently, he founded the improv group Baggage Claim.
Rainey’s platform consists of 3 pillars: Social Life, Community, and Support. While not explicitly pillars of his platform, Rainey said that “every single policy point that I put has some sort of element of inclusion and accessibility in it.”
The first pillar of his platform, social life, includes initiatives, such as creating a “MiddNights” fund, which would provide grants to students wanting to host open parties. This is a solution to Rainey’s concerns that socioeconomic background can be a barrier to social life. Other policies include making dorm lounges reservable for parties, allowing for the booking of certain spaces by students without having to go through a student organization and streamlining the process of reserving spaces as a whole.
The second pillar, community, proposes setting up a grant for student organizations to randomly pair up and host an event together, thus producing social and organizational connections. Rainey wants to give everyone “a seat at the table” by creating a space for informal communication between students and cultural organizations and the administration. He also hopes to push for an ethnic studies major program and to set up periodic meetings between student advisory committees and the SGA’s Committee on Educational Affairs.
Support is the third major piece of his campaign. He hopes to institutionalize “MiddSibs,” a commons-coordinated system that would provide peer mentoring to underclassmen. He also proposes the creation of a Mental Health week in an effort to reduce the stigma around stress and anxiety. Other policies he intends to pursue to create a better support system include getting counselors of color at Parton, providing more funding for consent, relationship and sex education and including more resources for students on the SGA website.
NIA ROBINSON ’19
Robinson is a junior and a Sociology major. Her website can be accessed through go/Nia.
While campaigning, Robinson has emphasized her experience and involvement with several organizations on campus. She served as co-president of the Black Student Union during her sophomore year, and is a member of the Community Judicial Board. Nia has been an opinion editor for The Campus, a tour guide, a barista at Crossroads Café, an Anderson Freeman Resource Center intern, a Chellis House monitor and a coach for Oratory Now. She has also been involved with the greater Middlebury community through volunteering with EverybodyWins! VT at Mary Hogan Elementary.
Robinson’s platform has five main tenants: Social Life, Diversity & Inclusion, Communication & Transparency, Accessibility and “College St. and Beyond.”
Her proposals for improving the school’s social life include expanding the role of social houses on campus so they may have greater impact. She also wants to create more social opportunities and activities that do not involve drinking, so that students who opt not to drink have more choices. Her final goal is to strengthen the student body’s relationship with the Public Safety department to create a safer environment.
To address the issues of diversity and inclusion that have become prominent recently, Robinson would, as SGA president, foster relationships with cultural organizations, and also host office hours every month so that groups have the opportunity to have their ideas and/or issues be heard. She also advocates for the creation of a caucus where students from all years, multiple organizations and teams could have a voice.
Robinson aims to create a more transparent SGA that communicates more effectively by determining the best ways that the SGA can interact with the student body by asking students what methods of communication they prefer, and then implementing those methods. Robinson stated, “I don’t think big changes should be a surprise, which they have been in the past.”
The accessibility aspect of Robinson’s campaign involves working with the administration to make Middlebury’s campus navigable for those with physical disabilities. She would also like to create a program that would allow for Public Safety to provide rides to Porter hospital for students without other means of transportation. Lastly, Robinson plans to expand funding for existing programs for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and also publicize those programs better.
(04/11/18 3:35pm)
SEXUAL ASSAULT AWARENESS AND PREVENTION MONTH
The college is observing Sexual Assault Awareness and Prevention Month (SAAPM) throughout the month of April. The goal of SAAPM is to increase awareness surrounding sexual assault and to engage students in discussions about preventing violence and supporting survivors.
Director of health and wellness Barbara McCall explained that while the events planned for the month used to focus on awareness, they have increasingly begun to address prevention.
“An increased level of base awareness has paved the way for the month to highlight action-oriented themes like violence prevention,” McCall said.
Throughout the month of April, there will be a weekly “Self-Care for Survivors” workshop on Wednesday afternoons. The workshop is aimed at survivors but is open to all.
The month will end with two events hosted by Karen B.K. Chan. Chan is a sex and emotional literacy educator from Toronto, Canada who uses stories, metaphors and diagrams to facilitate productive dialogue and work through difficult conversations about challenging topics. Chan is also known for her accessible style of education and her ability to make people laugh.
On April 17, Chan will host “Sexy Bingo” which will test participants’ sexual health knowledge. The following night, April 18, she will co-lead an event with student activists entitled “Empowerment, Allyship, & Calling In: A Workshop for Activists.” The event will discuss concrete ways in which individuals can work to combat sexual assault.
SAAPM is sponsored by the Office of Health and Wellness Education, Green Dot, the SGA Committee on Sexual and Relationship Respect, Sex Positive Education College Style (SPECS), and the Title IX team.
A complete calendar of events can be found at go/saapm18/.
- Caroline Kapp
SGA PASSES STUDENT TRUSTEE BILL
The Students-Trustees Representation and Engagement Bill passed in the SGA Senate on Sunday with one senator opposed. The bill recommends to the administration that an additional student constituent be added to the College Board of Overseers, that the terms of the student constituents be increased to two years, and that the student constituents be given voting power in the board.
A proposed bylaw amendment which would make Commons Senator positions semester long position passed with three senators opposed and two abstaining. The change will allow students who are studying abroad for part of the year able to participate in SGA.
Opponents to the amendment pointed out that it would be logistically difficult to implement, and that the transition would create confusion. The amendment passed with three opposed and two abstaining. One of the amendment’s cosponsors, Wonnacott Commons Senator Anthony Salas, plans to study abroad next spring.
However, the change will not take effect for another week, since changes to the SGA’s bylaws require that they be revealed to the student body prior to approval.
- Eric Kapner
ALUMNUS AND PROFESSOR NOMINATED FOR PEABODYS
Two members of the Middlebury community — an alumnus and a current professor — were nominated for Peabody Awards on Monday, April 10.
Andrew Ackerman ’13, served as co-producer and cinematographer for Chasing Coral, a Netflix documentary that followed a team of divers, photographers, and scientists as they documented the demise of the world’s coral reefs.
David Miranda Hardy, a professor in the Film & Media Culture department, received a nomination for his Chilean television series Bala Loca, which he co-created, wrote, and produced.
The Peabody Awards are among the most prestigious awards in storytelling, and “represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in electronic media during 2017.” The winners will be announced on Saturday, May 19 in New York.
- Will DiGravio
(03/22/18 1:10am)
Literatures and cultures librarian Katrina Spencer is liaison to the Anderson Freeman Resource Center, the Arabic department, the French department, the Gender Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSFS Program), the Language Schools, Linguistics and the Spanish & Portuguese departments. These affiliations are reflected in her reading choices.
“While I am a very slow reader, I’m a very critical reader,” she says.
habibi
by Craig Thompson, 2011
672 pages
Trigger Warnings: Multiple scenes of rape are visited in this work. There is also a good deal of partial female nudity.
The What
“habibi” is a graphic novel that tells a fantasy tale of love in the fictional land of Wanatolia, a landscape that is both desertous and urban, “timeless” and modern and distinctly Middle Eastern in aesthetic and tradition. Dodola, the female protagonist, is sold as a child into marriage and saves a baby, Zam, a black African, who was headed towards a similar fate of slavery, subjection and oppression. Making a daring escape from potential captors, Dodola raises Zam in isolation from society.
Her engagement with the rest of civilization (spoiler alert!) involves her exchange of sex for provisions. After years, this set-up begins to fail and leads our characters down paths of new adventures when the two become separated. These include Dodola’s navigation of a palace harem where she becomes the object of a lusty sultan’s desire and Zam’s adoption into a band of hijras who believe in castration and harass society into giving them alms for their survival.
Yes, there’s that much going on in the work! Rape, suggestions of incest and a battle for water rights are all interwoven by sacred scripture from the Qur’an, parables and tapping into a rich tradition of storytelling from Arabia.
Visually the text is intoxicatingly gorgeous even in its monochrome. The visual appeal is the least disputed of the the book’s characteristics among critics. Despite not knowing the Arabic language, Craig Thompson learned the alphabet (abjad) and its ligatures and employs them alongside Middle Eastern motifs like ornate tile design to effectively conjure the feeling of having traveled elsewhere for his Western audience. Truly, if the tale had no words, merely looking at the text would be a treat for the eyes.
The Why
The tone is visually arresting. Its design, deeply maroon and textured, makes one feel they are encountering something special and unique. On the cover, Thompson melds English and Arabic in the strokes he uses for the letters in the title. That alone had me. Unlike German or Spanish, one of the initial features that attracted me to Arabic was that I couldn’t decipher it: I couldn’t read it, pronounce it or make any sense of it given my ignorance of the alphabet. So when I saw this work, “habibi,” a popular term of endearment meaning “my beloved” or “my darling” (for males) used by Arabic speakers, it drew me in. Having become a working adult, I had to violently tear myself away from my love of language study. So now, when I can fit in a brief and fleeting moment to make love and draw near, I do. This was one of my chances to do so. [Note: Don’t ever grow up. #srsly]
I wanted to like this work. It is meritorious for its sheer beauty and naked ambition alone. It is over 600 pages worth of drawing! However, in reading this work, it is as though the author had never heard of Edward Said and “Orientalism” before.
The narrative relies on dangerous tropes that ring of colonialism, exotification and a global divide. In comparison to the values we espouse today in the 21st century, the work is strikingly anachronistic in its representations of women, Arabs and the Middle East. It’s as though Thompson mined every stereotype he could find that casts the white, Western gaze over the Middle Eastern region and said, “Yes, I want that in story! Naked, lounging women here! Shisha pipes there! And many camels in a caravan! Yes, I want it all!”
Moreover, while allusions to the Qur’an, the Bible and “1,001 Arabian Nights” appear throughout the work along with cryptic mysticism, parables and talismen, it’s unclear what the author wanted to accomplish with them. They add to a sense of otherness and geographic distance but their objective beyond these is vague and beyond my comprehension.
While I would happily consume this artist’s graphic work in another publication, I’d hope that he’d collaborate by letting someone else lead a more modest venture in text-based storytelling and he, himself, assume responsibility for drawing. He must work harder by many measures to more fairly, accurately and humanely depict people who are not white or male. In a text that approaches verisimilitude in its late chapters, it leaves much to be desired elsewhere in the narrative. For a different taste, see the author’s 2003 memoir release “Blankets” that received more critical praise.
(03/16/18 4:35pm)
Spring Break is almost here! To celebrate, here's the best work produced by our paper during February 2018!
P.S. If you read our paper regularly, you will have noticed this note by Ethan Brady, our editor in chief, announcing a change to both the Features and Opinion sections. Please read it. Also, our Cartoons section is now online, check our their work!
Disclaimer: It is my hope that our readers will use this monthly post to both rediscover old stories and find new ones they may have missed. Of course, most months I will probably leave out a piece that should have been included. It is important to note that I will be selecting stories more or less from memory, so I apologize in advance if I leave anyone out! I’m open to suggestions both before and after the post is published. Feel free to comment or email me at wdigravio@middlebury.edu. Also, there may be times when stories by me appear in this post. In those instances, I will have already reached out to another editor(s) to confirm that they belong. If you disagree, also feel free to email me or comment! Also, the selection of a piece does not constitute an endorsement.
News
Applicant Pool Reaches Record High Despite Murray Controversy - By Bochu Ding
Applicants Have Right to Protest, College Says - By Elaine Velie
Interview with President Patton by Ethan Brady, Amelia Pollard, and Elizabeth Zhou:
Edited Transcript
Article By Ethan Brady
Marijuana Policy Unchanged Despite New Vermont Law - By Elizabeth Sawyer
College Disciplines Dunn - By Catherine Pollack
Local
Vermont Furthers Equal Pay Act - By Joel Lyons
Career Center Hosts Maker’s Faire - By Sadie Housberg
UVM Students Protest Racism, Demanding President's Resignation - By Ally Murphy
Opinion
Why You Should Pick Up That Copy of New England Review Lying Around the Library - By Ellie Eberlee
Let’s Talk About Sex, Baby & You Are Not Alone - By Ivey Noojin
The Mammies of Middlebury - By Treasure Brooks
Study Abroad: The Hardest Four Months of My Life - By Laura Dillon
Gun Violence Is a Product of Social Illness, Not Mental Illness - By Elizabeth Zhou
Administrators Should Follow His Lead - By The Editorial Board
Redefining ‘Inclusivity’ as ‘Freedoms’ - By Shawna Shapiro and Michael Sheridan
Why Hate Crime Laws Shouldn't Exist - By Brendan Philbin
In Defense of Our Hate Crime Laws - By Kai Wiggins
We Need to Confront Civil War Falsehoods - By Joey Lyons
Arts & Sciences
Grace Kelly Charms - By Monique Santoso
The Big Sip Laps up Success - By Nate Obbard
Alum Talks Changing Environmental Markets - By Sarah Holmes
Feminism, Science Commingle - By Caroline Jaschke
Cabaret Captivates Campus - By David Gossens
Sports
Eagles Fans at Middlebury Rejoice - By Rob Erickson
Cavs GM Altman ’05 Tries to Save Sinking Ship - By Andrew Rigas
Women’s Swimming & Diving Takes Seventh at NESCACs - Lauren Boyd
Women Finish Third, Martinez Wins 400 - By Jordan Howell
Women's Squash Takes Down Amherst, Finishes 15th at Nationals - By Emily Bian
Men’s Basketball Earns NCAA Bid, Readies for Regionals - By Andrew Rigas
Men’s Lacrosse Committed to Overcoming Playoff Heartbreak - By Imran Ganda
Features
A Change to Features - By Ethan Brady
Professor Provides Local and Global Context to #MeToo - By Emma Patch
Dining Hall Staff Innovates with Dairy-Free Ice Cream - By James Finn
Speaker Defends Sandusky, Discussing Malleability of Memory - By Nicole Pollack
Professor Teaches Winter Term Class at Local Correctional Facility - By Kacey Hertan
MAlt Trips Culminate with Reflection Dinner and Presentations - By Benjy Renton
(03/15/18 1:32am)
Literatures and cultures librarian Katrina Spencer is liaison to the Anderson Freeman Resource Center, the Arabic department, the French department, the Gender Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSFS Program), the Language Schools, Linguistics and the Spanish & Portuguese departments. These affiliations are reflected in her reading choices.
“While I am a very slow reader, I’m a very critical reader,” she says.
My Lesbian
Experience with
Loneliness, by Nagata Kabi and translated by Jocelyne Allen from Japanese, 2017
143 pages
Happy Women’s History Month!
The What
This piece is a first-person, memoir manga, the first of which I’ve read. The story centers on a young woman, Kabi, who is anxiety-ridden about many aspects of her life: work, self-care, sexual expression, intimacy, fulfilling her parents’ expectations, maintaining a stable income, approaching independence and her own mental health. While Kabi is in her 20s, she remains living at home with her parents. She has dropped out of school and acutely feels pressure from her family who wants her to be a productive member of society by becoming economically self-sufficient.
Like many people, Kabi struggles to identify how to find balance and engage with an adult world while simultaneously and gainfully pursuing something she loves and is good at. (I’m sure this last concern will have resonance with many readers of this column.) To assuage her longing for closeness to another adult woman, the author seeks out an encounter with an escort so that she might sample contact, touch and sexuality with a counterpart. This unconventional approach leads Kabi down a road of unexpected self-discovery.
Spoiler Alert: While orgasms do not ensue, something perhaps just as good does.
Trigger Warning: If you have ever struggled with an eating disorder or self-harm, you will find reflections of both in this work and a tale of triumph in the pursuit of self-love.
The Why
This work is housed in the browsing collection and it was likely the pink and white cover that caught my eye, and the title (“My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness”) certainly stopped me: it was so honest about a central part of its subject matter: lesbianism, a minority and oft-stigmatized sexuality. The frank boldness of the title drew me in.
As I looked it over, I couldn’t tell where I was supposed to start reading because unlike Western books, the “front cover” rested in my right hand. And when I read the dialog boxes in the panels, left-to-right, I did that wrong, too. Given the narrative is born of a Japanese tradition, the flow of pages and the speech bubbles go from right-to-left. (I’ve seen this with Arabic but not with a translated work.) With a title such as this one and a format of graphic narratives that I already love, I was won over.
While I found “profound” and/or “compelling” moments to be rare, “vulnerable” moments were common. As of December 2017, 87 out of 87 people gave this work five stars on amazon.com. It was also there that I found out the work has a sequel, “My Solo Exchange Diary.”
I will commend the work for treating lesbianism without affect. That is, the narrative drew very little attention to the fact that a woman might and/or want to sexually engage with another. Her experimentation was not an “anomaly” or especially “remarkable.” In passing, it did address the idea that the sex the author had been most exposed to was either between a man and a woman or two men. In other words, it suggests that internationally, lesbianism has little visibility. And moreover, sex education is neither holistic (acknowledging a multiplicity of sexualities) or required worldwide. I liked that this tale was not about “coming out” and, in that respect, it made for a progressive gesture at normalizing same-sex sex.
Lastly, the drawing throughout is certainly effective but not especially impressive. I like how manga, in print and/or on-screen, has special ways of conveying urgency and extremes.
However, the strength of this work is more the story than the visuals. For another work with a similar feel, I’d recommend “Bridget Jones’ Diary” (book and DVD) as it also treats the sexcapades of a woman who often feels like a failure. And for a similar format (graphic novel) and style (memoir) that treats sexuality outside of heterosexuality, see Alison Bechdel’s “Fun Home.” Oh! And if you read Portuguese and want to read a professional sex worker’s take on the business, grab Bruna Surfstinha’s “O doce veneno do escorpião.” (You can order the translation through interlibrary loan: go.middlebury.edu/ill/.) Also, “Paying For It,” by Chester Brown, recounts a man’s tale as he attempts to attain sex from a completely transactional approach.
(03/01/18 1:24am)
Over February Break, six Middlebury Alternative Break (MAlt) trips departed for destinations from Atlanta to Haiti and other places in between. MAlt aims to provide affordable, service-oriented alternatives to traditional February break activities. Student leaders and participants convened in Atwater Dining Hall on Wednesday, February 21 for a reflection dinner, during which each group presented about its trips and had the opportunity to answer questions asked by attendees and Center for Community Engagement (CCE) staff members. Co-presidents of MAlt Ana Sanchez Chico ’18 and Prasanna Vankina ’18 introduced the evening’s program. “We hope you understand the impact of your trips by bringing these connections back to campus,” Vankina said.
MAlt Appalachia explored the mechanisms of rural poverty through engaging with communities in West Virginia. Participants assisted low-income families through home repair and maintenance, tearing down one home that had been in place since 1970. “Obviously, we as a group of college students had very limited construction experience,” said Yuchen Zhu ’18, one of the trip’s leaders. Helping at a food bank, attending a church service and learning about West Virginia’s coal industry were also major parts of the trip. “It was a truly transforming trip, and I’m very lucky to have been with the people I was with,” said Gloria Breck ’18.
Learning about biodiversity and environmental conservation, MAlt Costa Rica partnered with Osa Conservation, a sustainable farm and nonprofit on the Osa Peninsula. The region holds 2.5 percent of the world’s diversity, which provided the participants with many opportunities to observe and engage with organisms such as birds, sea turtles, orchids and corn. The trip’s main activities fell into three greater projects: reforestation, sustainable agriculture and conservation. “One thing we learned [about] at Osa was the intersections with the environment,” said trip co-leader Ravi Patel ’19.
MAlt La Push lived and worked with members of the Quileute nation, a tribe based in northwest Washington State. This trip partnered with Xperitas, an organization invested in cultural immersion and building a global community. This was not a typical service trip, as intercultural learning was a key part of the experience. “Our trip was not meant to teach anyone. It was instead us learning how we live in the community,” said co-leader Valeriia Vakhitova ’20. The group participated in drumming circles, joi1ned a women’s domestic violence support group for lunch, helped the community’s elders and cleaned out transitional homes. “We were really honored to participate in those traditions,” commented trip participant Rebecca Strull ’20.5.
Focusing on food justice in urban environments and sustainable urban agriculture, students on MAlt Atlanta worked with Metro Atlanta Urban Farm in College Park, Georgia. Over the course of four days on the farm, they planted new seeds, cleaned out old sheds and met the other farm volunteers. Other activities included raking leaves at the community garden and visiting the Center for Civil and Human Rights and the King Center in downtown Atlanta. Participants also noticed a contrast between rural and urban areas and segregation in the American South. “Atlanta is actually the second-most-segregated city in the U.S., and by taking the MARTA [Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority] it was really evident. … We were lucky to not just [experience] the agriculture piece but [to] also interact with the city,” said trip co-leader Claudia Huerta ’18.
MAlt Haiti was based in Anseà-Pitres, and participants flew into Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, and crossed the border by bus. “Considering today’s political climate, that was ... really special,” commented Georgia Grace Edwards ’18. The trip spent most of the time at École Anandamarga, a community day school and orphanage dedicated to raising women and children out of poverty through self-sustaining methods such as education and microfinance. Painting a mural and assisting at the school, trip members explored development and the role of international aid in a Haitian context. In addition, much of the trip took place without cell-phone service, which was a welcome part of the experience. “None of us really had our phones. We didn’t want to keep them out around the kids,” said trip co-leader Katherine Kulp ’20.
Partnering with the Life of Freedom Center, MAlt Miami engaged in conversations about sexual exploitation and human trafficking in the Miami area. Students participated in workshops and talked to a survivor of sex trafficking who managed to escape. One of the most striking aspects of the trip was a van tour during which a local contact pointed out sex-trafficking “hotspots” in restaurants and hotels. “It showed us how pervasive sex trafficking is,” Varsha Vijayakumar ’20 said. The average age of entry into the commercial sex industry is 12 years old, and participants brought pictures of missing girls to their work on the streets. MAlt’s reflection dinner was the culmination of over three months of careful planning, as participants for trips are selected in October. “People think of [MAlt] as a week, and it actually goes much longer than that,” said CCE program director Ashley Laux. In addition, unlike many peer institutions’ travel programs, MAlt is almost entirely student-organized. “MAlt is really unique in that students design trips, find community partners, fundraise and go on trips,” Laux added.
(02/28/18 11:56pm)
Editor's note: The author of this op-ed has since asked her name be removed from this piece. The Campus has a strict policy that it does not retroactively remove names from stories, but given extenuating circumstances has agreed to do so for this piece.
CW: Sexual assault
Why is it so important for me to hear? Why do I need to be told that I am not the only survivor of sexual violence? Obviously I would not wish what happened to me on anyone. I still need those four words, though. You are not alone.
Growing up, I would listen to the news, hear stories about women in college I had some vague connection to, and watch “Law and Order: SVU.” I thought I understood what sexual assault was. I thought it would never happen to me. I thought that, if it did, I would go straight to the police.
Sexual violence is so much more complicated than that. It is more complicated than paying attention to your drink at a party. It is more complicated than having any signs of physical aggression documented by a hospital. It is more complicated than Olivia Benson slapping handcuffs on the wrists of a perpetrator.
It is my life, and it is the life of everyone else who has experienced sexual violence.
It is very hard for others to understand why it takes so long for survivors to come forward, if at all. People often ask, why did you let it happen to you? Why did you not scream or fight? Then, when the survivor does come forward and say something, they ask, why did you keep it a secret for so long?
I cannot answer these questions on behalf of every survivor, but I can give anyone who is reading this now a glimpse of understanding.
The first time was in the middle of May. I told him not to come over; he did anyway. The second time was in the middle of September. I wanted to go back to sleep after having been woken up by him banging on my door; he did not let me. The third time was Oct. 6th. I said stop; he did not.
Each time I knew something was wrong. Each time I felt gross afterward. Each time I regretted it. I thought everything was my fault. I was the one who must have done something wrong. I was the one who must be weird because I could not get pleasure from sex. I was the one who must have the issues because I did not want him to touch me. I blamed myself for everything.
Would you tell anyone something like that? Something that brings you shame. Something that sexualizes you. Something that can label you for the rest of your life.
It is very common for survivors to not understand what is happening in the moment and then gain a clearer comprehension with the distance of time. Why do you think it takes so long for people to tell their story? Maybe they did not even realize they had one. I sure didn’t.
As time went by, I began to realize how problematic everything that had happened between him and me was. At that time it was my normal. Now I know it should not be.
To this day, I continue to discover more and more violence that existed throughout my “relationship” with him, and that is okay. I do not have to figure out everything all at once, and neither do you. It is a process. The only thing I can do is be patient with myself, and I hope you do the same.
I have realized that a part of my healing process is being vocal. I have to tell people my story because then he loses power. He loses bits of his presence in my being.
However, today he is still here in my soul. Trying to take control. Crawling up toward my throat to choke the words before they even leave my mouth.
I still walk around campus, searching for him. I still ask who is knocking at my door. I still scream when someone unexpectedly touches me. He is always with me, even if not physically.
Using my words to describe my experience is the only way to loosen his grip. Today is not the day when he lets go; tomorrow will not be either. I do not know how long it will take, but I cannot wait for the day when I can look at him, holding on for dear life, and finally say: I am not scared.
Until that day comes, the only thing that brings me comfort is four simple words: you are not alone.
You are not alone.
(02/22/18 2:28am)
Literatures and cultures librarian Katrina Spencer is liaison to the Anderson Freeman Center, the Arabic department, the French department, the Gender Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSFS Program), the Language Schools, Linguistics and the Spanish & Portuguese departments. These affiliations are reflected in her reading choices.
“While I am a very slow reader, I’m a very critical reader,” she says.
“In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World”
by Rachel Dolezal
Pages: 270
Happy Black History Month!
The What
Back in 2015, a media firestorm erupted when “ethnically indeterminate” Rachel Dolezal, a woman who ran a local chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Pacific Northwest, was caught in a strange conundrum: her biological parents were white but she claimed to be black. Dolezal’s memoir, In Full Color: Finding My Place in a Black and White World, covers more than 35 years of her life, highlighting many of her identities and roles as someone born into poverty in Montana, a mother of black children, a mixed media artist, a historically black university graduate, a cancer survivor, an activist, an academic, a teacher, and… a [questionably] “Black” woman. Her story is told in 30 chapters and details the progression of events, affinities and experiences in her life that led her to identify as a racial minority despite her familial history falling outside of more traditionally accepted narratives of blackness. This is her attempt to clarify her stances on racial identity and to respond to her numerous critics who, over the last two years, have ridiculed her on a national scale, suggesting that her racial presentation was a farce.
The Why
As a black woman, an identity I hold that is hardly ever called into question given my stereotypical physical features and comparatively more typical background, I approached Dolezal’s memoir with great skepticism, #allthesideeye. Many people in the “black community” decided a while ago that Dolezal was an impostor, concluding that she wasn’t black and was electively living a lie. However, as I had the time to read her story and attempt to understand her positions over winter break, I took the opportunity to do so. To be clear, while I have *not* been convinced that she’s a black woman, I found out that her story is not as simple as expected. Like many black women, Dolezal has black children and has shown herself to be committed to activism for the benefit of the black community. The contention, as I see it, lies in the fact that there is a difference between having lived experiences that are similar to a black woman’s and calling oneself a “black woman.” Her choice strikes me and her critics as cavalier and reductive. It is rare that I want to speak for the entire black community. Yet, in this scenario, I feel compelled to assert that while Dolezal’s work to pursue justice for black causes is welcome, she can do it as a white woman. Race, as Dolezal suggests, is a social construct. It’s weak in its very foundations and not supported by science. However, if we insist upon engaging it and the idea of blackness, as we do unquestionably in this nation and around the world, we need some meaningful and marginally delineated definitions. I doubt “blackness” means “born of European descendants and having acquired a degree from an historically black college.” Stretching race and blackness beyond recognition has the potential to invalidate a marker of identity about which millions of people organize their fealty and families. And while policing blackness is hardly my favorite pastime, willfully abusing an inherently faulty label does not work either.
One of the features that’s difficult about this work is its strong appeals to pathos that paint Dolezal as a perpetual victim. Her recounting of her life suggests that she has suffered many injustices in multiple scenarios. It is troubling, though, to see her heavy-handedly massage the “truth” in terms of race. This misstep ushers others towards questioning other accountings in her life. Is she a reliable narrator? I wrestled with this work more than any other in the short history of this column. It is well written, but overall I do not feel it advances the conversation on race. If there is one conclusion it has gestured towards, it is that race is a conversation, not a box that you check or a binary choice between two poles. For more on ethnic and racial identity, listen to the stories at go.middlebury.edu/inyourownwords. For black, women writers fitting a more traditional bill, try out the collection of poems, salt, by Nayyirah Waheed; tales of travel to Spain in the memoir Kinky Gazpacho by Lori L. Tharps; Longthroat Memoirs: Soups, Sex and Nigerian Tastebuds by Yemisi Aribisala; We Need New Names by NoViolet Bulawayo; the historical fiction novel Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi; or the short story collection Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson-Spires which will be out April 10th. For more on the phenomenon of racial passing, see Almost Black: The True Story of How I Got Into Medical School by Pretending to Be Black by Vijay Chokal-Ingam or the 1929 novel Passing by Harlem Renaissance writer and former librarian Nella Larsen.
(02/22/18 2:21am)
Editor's note: The author of this op-ed has since asked her name be removed from this piece. The Campus has a strict policy that it does not retroactively remove names from stories, but given extenuating circumstances has agreed to do so for this piece.
CW: Sexual Assault
We have all heard the statistic: 1 in 5 women and 1 in 20 men are sexually assaulted on college campuses.* However, there are still issues with this supposed fact. First, we do not even know how many people who do not identify within the gender binary are affected. Second, we do not know how many people refrain from coming forward. Third, there is an overwhelming amount of evidence that shows that the aforementioned statistics are nothing compared to the truth.
What is the truth then?
The truth is that every single person on this campus is somehow connected to sexual assault, even if you may not know it yet. It could be your best friend, someone on your hall, the person you sit next to in class, or one of those people that you happen to run into all the time in the dining hall. Each and every person who is reading this is now also connected to sexual assault. Why?
Because I am that statistic. I am the 1 in 5 women between ages 18-24 who have been sexually assaulted on a college campus.
It all started after spring break of the last academic year. I was a virgin, but I wanted to have sex. All I ever heard people talk about were their hookups from their weekend and their accumulated “body count.” It made me feel left out.
I was always uncomfortable when the topic came up because the people who were the same as me, those who had not experienced sex before, were not vocal about it. However, I can assure anyone who is reading this and is in a similar situation that you are not alone. So many people on this campus do not participate in the hookup culture.
The ones who do, however, are generally loud about it. That is why sometimes it can be very isolating, but that does not mean you are the only one. I was you before spring break of last year, and sometimes I wish I were still you.
It all started with a guy I thought I could trust because we had mutual friends. I now know that I was wrong. I never had Sex Ed; I had never heard of healthy sexual relationships; I did not know about consent.
He took advantage of that. He never once asked me for an enthusiastic “yes” before touching me. He would not wait until I was ready on multiple occasions, and I would bleed. He would not acknowledge my existence in the dining hall. All of these things, and many more, were problematic, but I did not realize it at the time.
It happened three times. Sexual assault, that is. Two times he woke me up for sex because he wanted it. One time I said stop, and he did not.
Yet it still took me months to figure out what had happened to me. I started coming to terms with everything once “The List” came out. I decided to put his name, the guy who hurt me for months and continues to cause me emotional pain from the trauma, on that list of around thirty men’s names to avoid because of their problematic sexual behavior.
All I wanted to do was protect other girls. I did not want him to hurt anyone else like he had done to me.
After I came forward with my story a couple of days before Feb Break, I had packed up all of my things and had withdrawn from Middlebury for the upcoming spring semester. The administration could do nothing to protect me, and I had never felt more unsafe in my life. I knew of his violent tendencies, and every second of the day I was worried he was going to come after me. He knew where I lived; he was mad about “The List”; he was threatening any girl who could have been involved.
I had to sit across from him every day in class throughout J-Term, wondering if he was going to figure everything out. Wondering if he was going to attack me when he wore that same jean jacket and those same clear glasses like that night of October 6th. I could not take it anymore. He was everywhere, and there was nothing the administration could do to guarantee my safety.
I decided to come back to Middlebury for various reasons, but the biggest one was that I thought I would be safe. I got a No Contact Order against him, and I thought that I would hardly have to see him.
I was wrong.
The first day of class, just after I had spent an hour and a half in the judicial office detailing what he had done to me, there he was, walking into the classroom wearing that same jean jacket and those same clear glasses. I do not remember a thing the professor said that day. I was numb.
When class was let out, I immediately went to the professor. I asked him to please not let the boy in the jean jacket off of the waitlist. He said there was nothing he could do. I called the judicial office. They said he had the same right to be in that class as me, even though I was registered and he was not.
They said that people with No Contact Orders are in the same class all the time. They said they would make sure we did not work on any group projects together. Once again, Middlebury was not keeping me safe. I had come back to campus because I thought the administration would support me. I was wrong.
I am the one who has to accommodate him. I am the one who has to provide all the evidence that he did something to me. I am the one who always has to look over their shoulder to see if the other is going to attack. I am stuck here at Middlebury and at this phase of my life without any escape.
Today I am writing this to give everyone a glimpse of what is wrong with this campus, and the world, surrounding the issue of sexual assault. I am also writing this to all of the survivors out there who feel alone. You are not. I am one of you now, and I am here to support you in any way throughout your journey of healing. I, too, am traveling along the dark and winding road of trauma.
There are too many people on this campus who have been violated. I say no more. The administration is not doing enough. Because of their inability to do the right thing, we are now the ones who have to make a change. I say we come together and tell everyone that we have never consented to being treated this way, neither by our attackers nor by the administration.
The administration is taking advantage of our inexperience, just as that person who knew you were a virgin. The administration is making us go through the judicial process without our permission, just as someone waking us up in the middle of the night to violate us without our consent. The administration is telling us that we are safe, just as us sending that “don’t come over” text and yet being in our room a couple of minutes later pretending to have never read it.
I am done feeling violated, and you should too. We have already gone through enough trauma. The administration needs to change its actions, just like all of the sexual predators who continue to prowl on this campus.
Let’s get justice.
Are you with me?
*Due to the variance in statistical data from year to year, the hyperlink we provided is data regarding campus sexual violence from a trusted source - RAINN.org
(02/15/18 1:57am)
Literatures and cultures librarian Katrina Spencer is liaison to the Anderson Freeman Center, the Arabic department, the French department, the Gender Sexuality & Feminist Studies (GSFS Program), the Language Schools, Linguistics and the Spanish & Portuguese departments. These affiliations are reflected in her reading choices. “While I am a very slow reader, I’m a very critical reader,” she says.
Pages: 159
The What
Having grown up in the South Bronx, New York, Antiguan-born author Carol Tonge Mack is a Middlebury College graduate from the class of 1995. While she completed a bachelor’s degree in history, her undergraduate experience became rather unique when she found out she was pregnant during her first year of studies. As one might ascertain from a quick and cursory survey of our campus, mothers are not the “non-traditional” students that tend to matriculate here. Facing the challenge of simultaneously becoming a mother and completing a college degree in the 90s, Carol was faced with some difficult decisions. This memoir tells the story of how she made sacrifices for both her education and her offspring, a road that ultimately led her on a path to success, yet one that was not without bumps, turns and detours.
The Why
During the Alumni of Color Weekend this year, I met Carol, an affable and generous woman with an indulgent sense of humor and warm personality when I attended her book talk hosted at the Anderson Freeman Center. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the event, but after having some breakfast bites, an audience came in and sat to hear her speak. She was interviewed by her former classmate, Trustee Leilani M. Brown, author of From Campus To Cubicle: 25 Tips For Your First Professional Year. There I learned that Carol is now part of the administrative staff at the University of Cincinnati where she works as the Director of Student Retention Initiatives. She gave her book talk in the same building on our campus, the former site of the health center, where she first found she was pregnant more than 20 years ago. I was moved by her story and convinced I’d request a copy be purchased for the libraries.
During the Q&A session, I asked Carol how her personal narrative impacted the ways she engages the topic of sex education on her campus, a question that continues to intrigue me. While there is a newer wave of rhetoric surrounding sex positivity and certainly a burgeoning one surrounding sexual assault, sex education still needs louder, more frequent and consistent voicing. I’d recommend this work to anyone interested in knowing more about our alums of color and their present day activities.
(02/15/18 1:55am)
At the end of J-term, BiHall’s Great Hall was transformed for a day into a gallery housing an art show that brought together science, feminism and art. Co-organizers Mikayla Hyman ’20 and Mika Morton ’19 set up an open square of large display boards and invited students to peruse the art pieces, which ranged from paintings to collages to poetry.
“We’re in BiHall because we wanted to engage with the space where science majors are,” Hyman said. “The point of this is to really engage in conversation and raise awareness about the importance of feminist science.”
One of the most prominent pieces in the exhibit was a painting of a naked female body, designed to appear as if from the perspective of a woman looking down at herself. When the viewer looks at the painting, it was as if he or she was looking down at his or her own breasts and bulging stomach.
“A lot of the guys who have come to the exhibit haven’t recognized what the painting is of” Morton said. “I think they’re just not used to looking at a female body from that perspective.”
Hyman and Morton were inspired to organize the art show by an assignment in their organic chemistry class. The assignment was to pick a chemical compound and present it to the class in some creative way. A classmate created a watercolor painting of a molecule as a female form. Both Hyman and Morton were struck by the beauty of the painting, as well as the blend of disciplines.
By bringing science and feminism together in an art show, Morton and Hyman hoped to start conversations and to show viewers how much either discipline could benefit from the other.
“Feminism is about taking the time to understand, respect and value other points of view, especially underrepresented ones,” Hyman said. “Science is all about learning new information through a rigorous and highly reliable process. I think that when trying to learn new things, more perspectives contributing to an answer can only lead to a more universally correct truth. Feminist science is responsible science.”
“Feminism is important when you’re doing your science and thinking about how you phrase your questions, who your research team is, and whom you are researching,” Morton said.
Gender bias plays a huge role in how we think about and conduct science. It affects the language we use – Morton recalls a freshman year biology textbook that referred to sperm as “stripped down speedsters,” whereas eggs were described as passive support systems. It affects how we approach diseases – considered a disease of men, Coronary Heart Disease has been understudied, underdiagnosed, and undertreated in women even though the mortality rate is greater for women than for men. And it affects how we conduct experiments.
In biomedical research and preclinical trials, researchers use animals for their experiments. These animals, however, are overwhelmingly male. A University of California, Berkeley analysis of published research found gender bias in eight out of ten scientific disciplines.
The biggest offender was neuroscience, which had 5.5 single-sex studies of male animals for every 1 single-sex study of female animals. Traditionally scientists have used male animals over female animals to avoid complications from variability due to reproductive cycles and hormonal fluctuations. There is, however, research indicating that variability is not significantly greater in females as compared to males.
Some scientists believe that findings in males can be generalized to females. Sex differences, however, have real effects. For example, researchers have demonstrated that female rodents process pain through different immune cells than male rodents. This may affect how women versus men respond to pain medication.
Using male animals has meant that when drugs hit the market searchers know much more about the drug’s effect on men than on women.
(01/25/18 12:13am)
MONTPELIER-- After the revelations of sexual misconduct by such public figures as Al Franken, Harvey Weinstein, and Matt Lauer, the #metoo movement continues to carry momentum, prompting action to prevent sexual harassment. On Dec. 22, Vt. Gov. Phil Scott, updated his office’s ethics policy to require executive branch employees to complete sexual harassment prevention training by the end of 2018.
Previously, training was optional and only accessible online. The new mandate requires in-class training. The Vermont Digger published that since 2014, Vermont has investigated 52 cases of sexual harassment reported by state employees.
“What we’ve seen and heard about the prevalence of harassment and assault from many across the country is disappointing, and it is clear we must all take a strong stand against this abuse,” Scott said in a statement last month.
Beth Fastiggi, the Vermont Department of Human Resources Commissioner, is optimistic that this change in policy will have its desired effect. “The updated Executive Code of Ethics and the mandate to provide sexual harassment training will go a long way towards creating a workplace culture of respect, dignity and professionalism,” she said.
Although Commissioner Fastiggi recognizes that training on the issue may lead to an uptick in complaints, she commented that this was acceptable “if it signals that employees are better educated on the subject matter and that leadership will not tolerate inappropriate behavior at work.”
The Governor’s directive parallels a surge of local responses to sexual assault by elected officials across the country. A similar order was made by Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser who, only a few days prior to Scott, mandated that 30,000 city employees undergo online sexual harassment prevention training. Although this order covers more government employees than Scott’s initiative, Vermont’s in-class approach may prove to be more influential than online sessions.
Deborah Katz is quoted in a recent Washington Post article on the matter citing research that online prevention training is ineffective because it may make “harassers more inclined to harass” in the sense that it provides a “how- to” guide on harassment. Fastiggi says that Vermont has taken the in-classroom route as opposed to approaches like Bowser’s “because the in-classroom experience lends itself to rich discussion and the ability for participants to ask questions of presenters.”
The Governor’s order is not the only action that Vermont’s government is taking to implement sexual harassment training. Vermont Business Magazine reported that on Jan. 9, Vermont’s House of Representatives received sexual harassment training. The Speaker of the House also made clear their intent to make Vermont’s sexual harassment policies the “gold standard” by ensuring their continual improvement.
The Vermont Senate also received a briefing on its sexual harassment policy. Although noted by many officials as an important discussion, Seven Days reported that the issue of sexual harassment has ignited some tension in the Senate. Senator Dick Sears told Seven Days that the confidentiality with which cases are treated is an apt measure to protect victims, but it is unfair to the senators because any one of them could appear culpable.
Despite the problems that Vermont and other states will face going forward in combating sexual harassment within government, officials have recognized the success of the #metoo movement in igniting this policy change.
Vermont Senator Mollie Burke (D), the chair of the sexual harassment panel in Vt.’s House of Representatives, told WCAX3 that the #metoo movement has been important in empowering victims of sexual harassment, and that policy should facilitate their ability to come forward. She added that she is hopeful that the House of Representatives will be able to take such action.
Commissioner Fastiggi also recognized the impact of the #metoo movement. “The movement and surrounding discussions caused us to review our policies and refresh our training so that it was most effective,” she said.
With such high-profile allegations as those leveled against the aforementioned U.S. Senator Al Franken, and the 52 cases of harassment reported by Vermont state employees, it is timely for state governments to take measures aimed at addressing this issue. When briefing the House of Representatives, legislative council Katie McLinn emphasized that sexual harassment “is a form of sex discrimination.” Taking steps to prevent sexual harassment may help to restore faith that those at the highest levels of government do not participate in discrimination and as such it will not be reflected in their legislation or governance.
Fastiggi concluded that there will be more done in the future and that a “culture of respect starts at the top.” She indicated that because uncivil behavior can lead to harassment, the state training center will make Civility in the Workplace training, which “focuses on work- place etiquette, diversity awareness and cultural sensitivity,” available to all state employees within the next year.
Fastiggi is con dent that “the combination of sexual harassment awareness and prevention training and workplace civility training will have a significant and positive impact on workplace culture in Vermont state government.” However, It is unclear what future action state governments plan to take in addressing sexual harassment not related to government employees. The governor’s office did not respond for comment.
(01/24/18 11:56pm)
As our campus entered finals period a month ago, a list, inspired by the #MeToo movement, was published on Facebook. This list cited many male students, approximately 35 of them, as being complicit in gender-based violence, describing each of their behavior in parentheses next to each name. The list looked like this: “John Doe (rapist), John Doe II (sexual harassment, emotional abuse), etc.”
The Facebook list has spurred further dialogue about sexual assault, patriarchy and sexism on campus. #MeToo, among many efforts in Hollywood and other spaces to empower women to come forth and speak out against abuse they have experienced, puts the list into context.
The time is apt, and long overdue, for society, and our community specifically, to critically assess the ways we tacitly condone sexual assault and violence against women. For too long, women have suffered abuse from men and few systemic steps have been taken to name or address it.
This paper’s fall editorial, “It Happens Everywhere,” touched upon how our community needs to do more to prevent harassment and abuse done onto women. Clearly, sexual assault happens on our campus. Regardless of how we feel individually about the actions of the person who published the list, that choice highlights the broken nature of situation on campus.
Someone in our community felt compelled to compile this list of men who are allegedly guilty of sexual violence on multiple occasions, not to mention all the unnamed men. It’s also important to note that not all of the aforementioned survivors consented to having their stories shared, a fact that demonstrates yet another troubling aspect of the situation.
One common critique of the list is that the publisher did not authenticate claims because survivors who spoke out against the listed men were not named, nor was an accompanying narrative about the incident. It is unfair to ask survivors to make themselves so publically vulnerable and risk their health and safety. They do not need to reveal themselves. They did not ask for the abuse they experienced; they are not required to publicize their pain.
No doubt it was jarring for all of us to see the names of those we know on that list. As members of this community, our indignation is colored by the anecdotes of our friends and peers who say the college’s legal system has failed them.
While we understand that the legal framework (particularly Title IX) is central to the operation and responsibilities of the administration, we are frustrated by the way in which it prioritizes careful legal-speak over empathy. Issues of sexual violence are treated like legal complexities, as ambiguous gray areas, and often eclipse the actual experiences of survivors.
Though the school has advocated its judicial processes and reporting procedures, these are not for everyone. There are other roads to healing for victims of sexual violence, including Parton’s counseling center and MiddSafe. To speak of one process as the predominant form of support fails to accommodate the nuance of these situations.
The way society reproduces notions of patriarchy and bestows young boys with sexist, problematic understandings of sex and intimacy needs to be part of the framework. These same notions of patriarchy persist at the college, so the college could help students unlearn these insidious lessons through more thorough sex and consent education for first-years. Once such work is incorporated and built upon, then perhaps Middlebury can better support those who have experience sexual violence, and prevent it in the first place.
But the college’s orientation program cannot be the only place where this issue is addressed. Students have a responsibility to end rape culture on this campus. We need to set new standards for how we uphold ourselves in our interactions.
We already have such a framework for understanding microaggressions and cultural appropriation. Many of us come to Middlebury without a sufficient understanding of these issues, but we quickly learn what actions or statements are offensive. Calling out these instances is a part of our campus culture. Indeed, we students have the collective power to establish norms and to hold each other accountable when they are broken.
Much of the dialogue surrounding the list has been raw, in part because it affected, directly or indirectly, so many people on this campus. As we decide where to go from here, our campus should move forward with nuance and intentionality. Let’s believe and listen to women, acknowledge when and how we’re complicit, and work hard to bring justice to this issue.
(12/07/17 12:19am)
A black and white picture of a young blonde girl at the beach faced the audience throughout Barbara Amaya’s presentation about human trafficking in Dana Auditorium on Nov. 29. The girl in the picture is a younger version of Amaya, whose lecture was co-hosted by Stop Traffick and the Chellis House to shed light on the issue of human trafficking.
To put her own experience into perspective, Amaya began her presentation by informing audience members that there is no “stereotypical victim of human trafficking”— rather, it occurs across ages, genders, and locations. She also noted that there are roughly 300,000 child sex-trafficking victims in the US and that the average pimp makes $200,000 per year per victim. Trafficking, she emphasized, boils down to “vulnerabilities being preyed upon” and “supply and demand.”
With that, she began to tell her story. Amaya ran away from an abusive home at age twelve.
“I fell through the cracks,” she said. “No one had the time to listen to me.” In D.C., she met a woman who sold Amaya to a pimp who took her to New York. Trafficking, she told the crowd, means “turning a human being into a commodity.”
Once in New York, the pimp had another girl show her the rules of “the life.” Each night, no matter the circumstances, Amaya had to bring in a certain amount of money or else her pimp, “Moses,” became violent, at one point beating her with a wire coat hanger.
“They think they can do whatever they want with you because they bought you,” she said. Amaya was taught to follow certain rules, such as to always give the police a fake name, address, and age any time she was arrested.
“I was told to tell the police I was twenty-one, but to tell people who had sought my body I was younger,” she said. “No one ever asked for an older person.”
A few years later into her young life, Amaya became addicted to heroin. By the time she was around the age of 15, she had been arrested so many times that she was eventually sent to Rikers Island Prison. Unlike the other times she was arrested, Amaya came clean to the police about her real age and situation. Horrified, the police promised to reunite her with her parents. Her parents came all the way from Virginia, only to miss her by five or ten minutes when her trafficker came to pick her up instead.
Amaya said that when she eventually left New York, she didn’t really know how old she was. She checked into a rehabilitation center, where the intake person “treated me like a human being… I didn’t remember the last time anybody treated me like a human being.” There, she discovered her sister was living in Philadelphia and the people at the center helped her reconnect with her family.
“I didn’t tell anybody what happened to me,” she said. “Nobody even asked me.”
Years later, sitting at home listening to the TV, Amaya heard a news story about gang members trafficking young women. The reporters began talking about recruitment techniques that the traffickers used, and Amaya recognized those techniques as the same ones that had been used on her when she was twelve. It was a moment of self-identification.
“[Until then] I never thought I was a victim,” she said.
Amaya said that moment changed everything, and she began to share her story. She built a website and started speaking in front of audiences. She is now the author of a book called “Nobody’s Girl: A Memoir of Lost Innocence, Modern Day Slavery & Transformation”, as well as the 2014 winner of the James B. Hunter Human Rights Award. Amaya currently works actively with legislators to push for anti-trafficking legislation such as the D.C. Safe Harbor Bill, as well as with law enforcement, developing a five-module training program meant to help police officers view victims of trafficking as victims, not criminals.
Amaya said that her current work was about “awareness, education and then legislation,” and that she hoped by putting a face to the issue, her audiences would stop thinking that trafficking only happened in a “far off land somewhere” and confront the realities of the human trafficking trade here in the United States.
(12/07/17 12:16am)
Sitting in rows of desks in a Hillcrest classroom on Thursday Nov. 30, a group of students watched as sex educator Roan Coughtry demonstrated cutting a condom to make a DIY dental dam. On a table in the corner, stickers, coupons to sex toy stores, smart wallets, and pamphlets proudly displayed the logos of Planned Parenthood and O.School, which is an online pleasure-based sex ed company that was launched earlier this year by a group of sex ed advocates, including Middlebury alumna Kristina Dotter ’14.
Coughtry is a sex educator at O.School, a company that describes their mission as “building a shame-free space by offering pleasure education through live streaming and moderated chat.” Dotter and O.School founder Andrea Barrica visited campus last spring to explain the concept for their new company. This year, Cece Alter ’19.5, an O.School intern, thought many students at Middlebury could benefit from a basic sex-ed class that was more LGBTQ inclusive, consent-based, and pleasure-focused than what many students had received in high school.
To that end, Alter organized the event with the support of Chellis House, Queers & Allies, the SGA Sexual Relationship Respect Committee, Feminist Action at Middlebury, and the MCAB Speakers Committee. Coughtry’s two workshops were part of a college tour O.School recently debuted, where sex educators travel to colleges around the country to give sex and relationship workshops.
Coughtry’s visit to campus included a comprehensive sex education workshop on Nov. 30, followed by a more narrowly focused workshop on healing from trauma and sexual liberation on Dec. 1. The idea behind the two workshops was to provide a basis of education for students before diving into more complex topics surrounding sex and relationships.
“We asked ourselves, what is missing here? And it turns out sex ed is missing here,” Alter said. “We have very little sex education in this country, and this world that is available. Maybe some people get here having no sex ed, so you really have to start with safer sex, and the basics of sex education, before you move on to something else, especially because there is no regular sex education [at Middlebury].”
The organizers were attentive to the fact that students, whether coming from a fairly comprehensive sex education, or none at all, likely all had some gaps in their knowledge, and wanted to focus on addressing as many of those topics as possible.
“Some people don’t know what an STI is and how to prevent that,” Alter said, adding that Coughtry’s workshops covered a variety of subjects that most high school programs do not talk about, including consent, pleasure, communication, how to say no, and more queer and trans-inclusive language.
One gap that stood out in many student’s previous sex education was that lack of LGBTQ inclusivity. It was particularly important to Alter and the other event organizers as well as queer groups on campus that the workshop was inclusive of queer and trans experiences, especially considering the lack of queer representation in the speakers who usually come to campus. Part of Coughtry’s sex ed basics workshop was centered on queer-inclusive anatomical terms that avoid the gendered associations of words like “penis,” and “vagina.” Instead, Coughtry used “innie” and “outie,” because, they said, the gendered associations with biological terms make such words less inclusive.
Coughtry began the workshop by announcing that they were going to help students “unlearn all the crap we’ve been taught,” and acknowledged the difficulty of finding comprehensive, pleasure-based sex education in today’s world.
“We live in such a sex-shaming, body-shaming society,” they said. ”Even if we fit the most narrow definition of what is considered normal sexually, we are probably still shamed for something.”
Coughtry also wanted the workshop to focus on safe-sex practices, including preventing unwanted pregnancy and STIs, while avoiding rhetoric that can make STIs seem shameful. They provided as an example the common practice of saying “I’m clean” when you have no STIs, rather than saying that your tests came back negative
“The word clean implies that having STIs are dirty,” they said. “People can be in long, healthy relationships when they have STIs…it needs to be more normalized.”
The last half of the first workshop was dedicated to communication and consent. Coughtry brought up and then broke all the myths surrounding consent, including ideas such as, “consenting once means consenting every time,” or “a lack of a no can be considered a yes.” They wanted to address these myths, because many seem so ingrained in society that they are not always disproven or even talked about in regular high school sex ed classes. Coughtry also challenged prevalent myths about communication, most notably: “the biggest myth about communication is that it’s happening.”
Coughtry’s workshops were a major step towards de-stigmatizing sex ed at a college level, and Alter and other organizers hope to make sex ed more permanently prevalent on campus. The SGA Sexual Relationship and Respect Committee has been working with groups on campus to brainstorm ideas for bringing sex ed to Middlebury, perhaps as part of first year orientation, in the form of a possible new student organization, and more speakers and workshops.
“People can be very uncomfortable in sex ed classes, and talking about sex, and I think we need to normalize it more. There’s a certain group of people who goes, and only a certain number of times per semester, and we need it to become more part of the culture,” said Alter, who is also a member of the Sexual Relationship and Respect Committee.
In the meantime, students seeking more sex education can go to O.School’s website to look at thousands of videos on topics ranging from “How to get the most out of your hookup” to “Sex after giving birth.” Their website is https://www.o.school.
