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Hey Midd, u up? Other schools don’t hook up like we do

Two months into my freshman year at Middlebury, I got mono. It was … well-deserved. (Sorry, mom.) During the day, I was intimate with my essays and readings, delicately stapling printouts and color-coded notes. On weekends, I wasted my time at parties kissing guys who, after sticking their tongues down my throat, would lean in and whisper, “Hang on. Gotta piss.” If that isn’t classy, I don’t know what is.   One night stands should not exist at Middlebury. Frankly, the framework that underpins casual sex is incompatible with Midd’s whopping 2,500 students (give or take a few). Small colleges prevent anonymity — a staple of random hookups elsewhere — and muddle otherwise impersonal sex with interconnected, complicated social undercurrents. At Middlebury, both casual and committed relationships are limited by friendship dynamics and calling arbitrary dibs on class crushes. But these factors alone are not enough to preclude relationships.  On numerous Saturdays nights over the past three years, I have wondered if it finally snowed enough to break all the cell towers in Vermont. That could be the only logical explanation for why my male peers, rather than sending me a text composed of simple words and sentences, opt for a tasteful Snapchat: “roll thru.” It’s pathetic, but genius. Snapchat has eliminated the discomfort of expressing interest, enabling men and women alike to send bold, visual messages that disappear within seconds. After a message is opened, recounting the conversation becomes hearsay, protecting the sender’s interests and invalidating the recipient’s claims. In a small university, the app thereby reduces the accountability involved in romantic pursuits, contributing to the uncertainty inherent in intimacy.  Despite these gray areas, many claim Midd is a relationshippy school, citing the recycled admissions statistic that 60% of alums marry each other (the real number stands at 17%, although I’m willing to believe in fairytales if you are). I admit, there are pockets of committed couples (see: much of my friend group). An arguably more relevant dialogue, however, deals with “pseudo-relationships,” a term coined by Leah Fessler ’15 in her thesis, “Can She Really ‘Play that Game Too?’”. Fessler uses “pseudo-relationships” to refer to partners continuously hooking up, oftentimes only with each other, without commitment or emotional investment. Of the 75 Midd students polled, Fessler found only 8% of women surveyed were satisfied in their pseudo-relationships. The majority of male respondents also felt insecure in ambiguous romantic arrangements; despite favoring committed relationships, most men felt their masculinity was judged on the number and attractiveness of their partners.  And yet, in an environment where relationships are stunted by booze, insecurities and a rigid social life structure, no one feels comfortable asking the “what are we?” question, much less answering it. This past fall, I studied abroad at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. Compared to Middlebury, St. Andrews is a traditional relationship school; there is a distinct “get to know you” culture centered around (relatively) sober courting. Most refreshingly, I went the entire semester without hearing the phrase “Snapchat message.” I refuse to believe that I magically became more appealing the minute I went abroad. Sure, I had a  “cute” American accent, but I was still loud, bad with rules, and prone to eating food in the grocery store before paying (sometimes I have to scan an apple core at the self-checkout line). These tendencies are wholly un-Scottish, which is why it surprised me that I was disproportionately (not to mention soberly) pursued across the pond. Unlike Americans, Scots and Brits do not walk on eggshells. There is little space for Middlebury-esque pseudo-relationships in a culture that barely tolerates ambiguity. Once, a British guy I was seeing felt compelled to inform me — unprompted, no less — that he had enjoyed getting to know me but solely wanted a physical connection. Although I liked him and was bummed, at least I wasn’t left wondering how he felt. When we consequently broke things off, it was cordial. By comparison, defining relationships at Midd becomes a painstaking process of obscuring and ignoring emotions (or the lack thereof). To this date, my personal favorite euphemism for “I just want to sleep with you” — which I received from a male friend during my second year of college — remains, “I’m in love with you but have a lot on my plate, so let’s hook up and talk about it after.” Good one.   To be fair, it isn’t entirely Middlebury’s fault. In many ways, St. Andrews has superior dating conditions: a larger student body, more cafés, a drinking age that permits controlled alcohol consumption in pubs or bars. Still, just like Midd, the town itself is a “bubble,” and so should theoretically incubate the lack of romantic privacy we say prevents “traditional dating” at Midd. And yet it doesn’t.  Hook-up culture is not an inevitable product of 20-something-year-olds, hormones and empty beds. We’ve created it. The shortcomings of Middlebury’s romantic environment have more to do with the current, limited dialogue surrounding intimacy than an explicit desire for commitment. This is a loss: no matter how casual a fling, everyone wants to be respected. We might take a page out of the Scottish playbook. There is something undeniably sexy about being honest about what you want. Maria Kaouris is a member of the class of 2021.

Covid-19 outbreak exacerbates difficulties with Census 2020

Following the 2010 census — termed by the Census Bureau as “the most massive participation movement ever witnessed in our country” — the 2020 decennial census risks miscounts as a result of Covid-19. The decennial census, which has been conducted every ten years since 1780, is a complete count of the U.S. population. As stipulated by the U.S. Constitution, the census determines state representation in the U.S. House of Representatives. It also dictates how federal funding is distributed. “The census tells us who we are and where we are going as a nation and helps our communities determine where to build everything from schools to supermarkets,” reads the census website. In a time of social distancing and mass hospitalizations, however, conducting a count of the U.S. population is proving more difficult than usual. “We know that there are many people who have died in the last few weeks who, a couple weeks ago, would have been counted as Americans but might not be,” said Middlebury Assistant Professor of Sociology Matt Lawrence. He added that the Covid-19 pandemic has disrupted the usual distribution of certain populations, including college students.“College students have moved away from campuses,” he said, “and there are some concerns about what that might do for local counts.” Middlebury has responded to this issue by sending out a school-wide email reminding students that they will be counted by the college, which Lawrence commends.“This is a census that is being completed in a moment of uncertainty,” he said. “I don't think there's any question about that.” Middlebury Professor of Geography Peter Nelson said that Covid-19 also hinders certain efforts the Census Bureau has used to encourage responses. These efforts include sending community advocates into neighborhoods to talk with citizens who might be wary of filling out the census. Another planned effort was for the Census Bureau to encourage ministers to endorse the census in their Sunday services. This effort is not an option this year. “We know that churches aren't meeting,” Nelson said, “so some of the traditional vehicles that the Census [Bureau] has used to turn out the vote, so to speak, are closed given the constraints on mobility.” Such actions reduce undercounts, something both Nelson and Lawrence are concerned about. “[Undercounting] tends to be minority communities, low income communities, hard to reach communities [and] communities that don't trust the government,” Lawrence said. Lawrence said that frequently undercounted communities include homeless populations and others who do not have a consistent address. This creates a funding problem for populations in need. “The people who need the most federal funding for social services also tend to be the people who are least likely to be counted, which is why [undercounting] ends up being such a problem,” he said. Despite these difficulties, Nelson said that the Census Bureau has the capacity to correct for possible undercounts.  “Typically, the Census Bureau will release the uncorrected results from the 100% count of the population, knowing that there are people that were missed,” he said. “Then, they have statistical mechanisms to adjust those counts.” Nelson says these mechanisms include exit and follow-up surveys that help gauge the extent of the census’ undercount. Even correcting the undercount can prove difficult, however. “[Correcting the undercount] becomes a really politicized process,” Nelson said. “It’s to the advantage [of certain political interests] to have the corrected numbers, and other groups benefit from having the uncorrected numbers.” This politicization results from the link between the census and the distribution of political power, the latter of which is determined using census data.“Representatives that represent [undercounted] constituencies often advocate for the corrected numbers, [because] then there are more people in their districts,” Nelson said. These areas, often urban and communities of color, are being disproportionately affected by the novel coronavirus, Lawrence pointed out. He said that census data is needed to better understand Covid-19 and its spread. “I think that if we want to know how much more at risk, say, African American communities are to Covid-19 — which is something that a lot of the numbers are showing us — we need to know the community, or we want to know the community's racial and ethnic composition,” he said. He added that the census may offer a chance to look more closely at inequality in the wake of the pandemic. “If anything, I think Covid-19 demonstrates the importance of having information about local communities,” Lawrence said. “We will need to rely on census data — about racial composition, about household composition, about sex — to be able to understand, to be able to detail [and] to be able to document this crisis we're all going through right now.” Nelson also noted that the 2020 census was going to prove challenging even before the Covid-19 pandemic. He cited that the potential inclusion of a citizenship question contributed to the expected difficulties.  The citizenship question —which would ask about a respondent’s citizenship status — does not appear on the 2020 census form. However, Nelson said that just the prospect of such a question has still discouraged certain communities from filling out the census. Lawrence, too, had concerns that the prospect of a citizenship question could discourage responses.“If there are citizens who live in areas that might have a lot of surveillance from ICE officials, for example, or if there are citizens who have relatives or housemates who are not citizens, they might also not want to draw attention to those people in their census forms,” Lawrence said.  Aside from worries concerning citizenship, Nelson said that another factor he is thinking about is accessibility. Nelson said that this census, which is the first census that can be completed online, may make it difficult for certain populations to respond. He acknowledged, too, that the opposite may be true. “My guess is that [internet technology] would have improved the coverage, though we also know that there's an age component to that,” he said. “My 78-year-old mother might not be as savvy at filling out her form online.” Nelson added that there are also populations who do not have access to reliable internet, which could make responding to the census difficult.“There's a digital divide that could compromise the count,” he said. “The undercount could be higher in rural areas where the internet coverage is more spotty, or among marginalized populations that are less likely to have reliable internet.” For more information, visit www.2020census.gov

Quarantine streaming recommendations

Time is now, for many of us, no longer a luxury; it is something we possess in abundance. If you, like me, have found yourself searching for something to occupy your time at home in between a 10 a.m. wake-up and a 2 a.m. bedtime, look no further. While I may be biased, I think there is no better way to spend your time during this quarantine than by watching and rediscovering the golden age of streaming we live in. There are far too many shows and movies available online for any single person to see in a few months, and because of that, there is no shortage of critics and news outlets releasing their own streaming guide. I have read all these lists and still find them insufficient, so I have, with the help of my good friend Gabe Gilleland, devised a list of movies and television worthy of your time. They will be divided by streaming platform, so feel free to skip ahead to whichever you subscribe to, but I would also consider reading others and possibly picking up a new streaming service that suits your fancy.  Netflix Netflix is a streaming behemoth, though with options aplenty, it can be even more difficult to make a decision — I personally have a list of over 75 shows and movies. I will limit my choices to just three: one film, one television show and one more suggestion that could fall into either category.   Movie: “Good Time”  The Safdie Brothers’ “Good Time” (2017) is, like their 2019 release “Uncut Gems,” an exploration into chaos. After a poorly executed bank robbery finds Connie Nikas’s (Robert Pattinson) brother Nick (Benny Safdie) arrested and thrown in prison at Rikers Island, Connie must come up with $10,000 in bail money. To watch “Good Time” is to ride a roller coaster without the price of admission; a roller coaster with no chest bar, screws missing and no brakes. It is a release of oneself into the chaotic world the Nikas brothers inhabit.    Television: “Sherlock” Though my favorite show on Netflix is far and away “Bojack Horseman,” I have already written a slew of Reel Critic reviews on the subject and I would be remiss if I didn’t look beyond it for another recommendation. The 2010 BBC adaptation of Sir Aurthur Conan Doyle’s original works stars Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman as investigative duo Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in a modern 21st century London. Though many of Doyle’s stories are well known, “Sherlock” reinvents them for a modern setting. The writing is incredibly complex, with some of the finest acting I’ve seen from either Cumberbatch or Freeman and an undeniably engrossing chemistry between the two. Each episode of this show is a short film in its own right and invites viewers to watch in a single sitting, but I would urge this one to be taken slow. It really rewards a viewer who takes his or her time with each episode before continuing to the next.   Wildcard: “Demetri Martin The Overthinker” Demetri Martin’s 2018 stand-up special is an hour long buffet of one-liners served up in polished silver dishes. Martin’s style of comedy is not for everyone and very much unlike many of his contemporaries, but I find myself completely stitched in laughter from the pure silliness of his humor. “The Overthinker” also includes a sort of meta-commentary from Martin over his stand-up in a way that draws attention to the medium in which he is performing and only extends the reach of this special. It is well worth the watch. Hulu Though only valued at 10% of Netflix’s net worth, Hulu has surprised me recently with its consistent release of acclaimed films as well as fantastic and original television shows. If you don’t have a subscription to Hulu, I would highly recommend it for its FX television shows and steady release of smaller, less popular but nevertheless great films.    Movie: “Shoplifters” "Shoplifters" was my favorite film of 2018. It centers around the Tokyo-based Shibata family as they maneuver the streets of Japan stealing and scamming for their survival. Even in their destitute state, the family adopts a young girl (Miyu Sasaki) who they find locked out in the cold night. With meager resources and a misguided moral compass, “Shoplifters” asks audiences to consider the ethics of doing bad things for good reasons. How far does empathy allow us to go to understand one another and the decisions we make?   Television: “Nathan For You” Nathan Fielder graduated from one of Canada’s top business schools with really good grades. The premise of the show is quite simple: Nathan is hired by failing businesses as a consultant to revamp their declining sales. Nathan Fielder, the show’s creator and star, is an odd person who excels in filling the awkward silences between strangers with even more awkwardness. His solutions, while not always perfect, are most certainly unconventional. The show thrives in presenting people with an absurdist reality through which it generates a certain honesty in their reactions. There is a nonfiction humanity in “Nathan For You” that a room full of writers would never think about. The show’s final episode “Finding Francis” is a beautiful combination of quirky honesty and an impossible search wrapped up into a 90 minute documentary. Even if you don’t watch the show, make sure to check out “Finding Francis;” it’s more than worth your time.   Wildcard: “DAVE” “DAVE” is a semi-fictional autobiographical depiction of Dave Burd’s transformation into his ironic and comedic rap alter ego Lil Dicky. Created and starred in by Dave Burd himself, “DAVE” throws audiences into the struggle of trying to be the greatest rapper of all time whilst also being Dave, a normal suburbanite who’s entire existence is in antithesis to rap culture. “DAVE” finds comedy in the mundane, in Dave’s awkward mannerisms, and in being a musical braggadocio rapping about sex and drugs whilst also trying to be polite and have a stable relationship. The line between Dave Burd and Lil Dicky is distinct, almost like a superhero donning their costume, but the show explores the times in Burd’s life when the line isn’t so clear. This show is without a doubt hilarious and the cast of characters Burd surrounds himself with are incredibly unique and undoubtedly comedic in their own right.    Make sure to look out for a part two coming soon with recommendations for Amazon Prime and HBO with additional updates for Netflix and Hulu based on my current viewing. I’ve only just started watching season one of “You” on Netflix and it’s sent my head into a tailspin, so lookout for a possible Reel Critic on that as well.

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Online dating in the era of Covid-19

Well, last week was crazy ... to say the least. But just because I’m no longer on Middlebury’s campus doesn’t mean that I will stop doing my best to continue as your trusted Sex Panther. I’m sure everyone’s last week on campus got quite jumbled romantically. I know mine did. I’m usually a very pro “no regrets” person, but your girl/panther has got some serious regrets. The end of days really makes you do some crazy things. It also gives you a phenomenal excuse to rationalize getting rejected — for example, if someone ghosts you, it's because it's the apocalypse, right?  Speaking of ghosting, one of my biggest regrets about my de facto senior week is neglecting to include my phone number on my crush list. Granted, my crush list was up for all of two hours before it was quickly removed from its shrine on the bulletin board outside Proctor. A day later, when the dean of students kindly gave the green light to seniors to post them, I was so happy to see the wall filled with lists. I loved seeing everyone not only shooting their shots, but showcasing how much they love their friends through creative mediums like paper plates and Spotify playlists.  In honor of those brave seniors and the spirit of shooting your shot (pandemic or not!), I compiled all the best coronavirus references from dating apps I have been scanning as I shelter in place at home. What better way to pass the time than to chuckle at the bravado and audacity of horny singles, couples looking for a third and people who are “ethically non-monogamous” (trust me, this one shows up a lot)? Without further ado, here’s a selection of my favorites. “Let’s go on a quarantine date!” “Shelter in place and chill?” “Quarantine and chill?” (I cannot even describe how many times I saw this one, and how irrationally angry it made me ...) “Corona and chill?” “Catch me before corona does.” “Be my quarantine partner! 6’5”, if that matters” (I don’t want to say that it does, but yes, Steven, it does.) “Yes, I have toilet paper, but you’re not invited. Netflix and FaceTime?” “Sorry, I don’t have extra toilet paper or Purell, but I do have Netflix and a strong immune system, so let’s watch Narcos?” “I’ll die drinking these Coronas before that weak a** virus gets to me.” “My dearest madams: Seeking a pen pal with whom I can exchange Jane Austen-style letters until this madness passes. Very much obliged, Adam.” (Accompanied by a decidedly modern shirtless selfie … Mr. Darcy would have at least worn a cravat.) “Funny how you end up on this app when you’re bored. So, on that note… Where the quarantine queens at?? I’m pretty sloshed in the first picture.” (As if that justifies the lack of a shirt ...) “Social distancing is the new dating; not looking for anything serious right now.” (Is anyone?) “If coronavirus doesn't take you out, can I?” “Don’t know if it’s the coronavirus or you that took my breath away.” “We’re under a three week house arrest with our laptops and phones. If they leave you on read, they just aren’t that interested.” (OK — ouch, little too real.) “If you have symptoms plz don’t swipe, lol.” And an honorable mention completely unrelated to coronavirus content: “Not trying to see titties, just personalities.”

The Librarian is in: '100 Times'

“100 Times” is a compilation of autobiographical vignettes in which the author tells of the many times she has been sexually harassed, assaulted and/or discriminated against from the time of her childhood and up until her mid-thirties. The author is a white, queer woman who is based in Brooklyn and she also spent time growing up in the Midwest. The truth is that the stories are shocking, disconcerting and terribly familiar all at once. Unfortunately, they do not strike me as “out of the ordinary” and likely wouldn’t strike many American women as anomalous. For the record, I’m not proud of this assessment. I’m not proud to live in a society that desensitizes me to sexual harassment, assault and discrimination due to their prevalence, and I imagine this is one of the reasons this book exists: to shake us awake, causing us to recognize, evaluate and interrogate what we have accepted as “normal.”  The work is invaluable as it highlights the multitude of unwelcome and unfair behavior women are socialized to tolerate and endure. It also raises questions regarding public violation of bodily autonomy and personal space. It features moments of gaslighting and the relentless testing of boundaries many women encounter as they assert themselves in interactions with men. In her youth, for example, adults told Woods that boys’ violence towards her was reflective of their interest in her. She recounts experiences in which her expressed disinterest in a man’s sexual advances seem to embolden their pursuits, as though her “no” is not the end of the conversation, but rather the beginning of a negotiation. She has also been iced out of professional enrichment/development opportunities because she is perceived as a threat or a liability on the sole basis of her sex.  I’d recommend this work to any woman who has been admonished for turning down a man’s interest in her — “Go easy on him” — who has been chastised regarding her clothing choices — “She was asking for it” — who has been catcalled in the streets — “It was a compliment! What’s your problem?” — or who has had an appropriately angry reaction to someone disrespecting limits she has clearly set. I’d also recommend it to all men, especially those who liberally use the phrases “It was just a joke,” “I was just kidding around” and/or “Don’t take it so seriously.” Also to any man who has ever uttered the phrase, “You’re not that cute anyway” in an attempt to shake a woman’s confidence following her rejection of his advances. Readers should know that the book includes retellings of attempted rape, aggravated assault and nonconsensual drugging (i.e., roofie-ing) and I wouldn’t recommend the work to anyone who may be triggered by these themes. Another work in our collection that features autobiographical stories from women who have been sexually vicitimized is “Not That Bad: Dispatches from Rape Culture,” edited by Roxane Gay. If the book could grant me one wish, it would be a cursory roadmap that would tell us how to build toward better. But it’s not the victim’s responsibility to also provide the solution.

College creates student-led mental health educational program to build support

The Office of Health and Wellness Education will introduce Mental Health Peer Educators (MHPE) next fall.  This initiative aims to further discussion, support and guidance surrounding mental health at Middlebury. The office, which added several new positions this school year, has been working on the MHPE program since last summer. “There has been a steep increase in requests for counseling appointments and interest across campus in discussing mental health,” Madeline Hope, assistant director of health and wellness education, said in an email to The Campus. The new program will rely heavily on student members who will be responsible for attending weekly group meetings and conducting peer listening hours, among other activities. Peer listening hours, which will allow students to seek support from peer educators during 30-minute sessions, are still under development, but Hope specified that they will not be the same as counseling. The office has not yet finalized the role of confidentiality, according to Hope. “We are still working out the details of peer listening hour confidentiality, but before the group goes live in Fall 2020, these details will be shared with our community,” Hope said. “It is my hope that we can offer a safe and private space for students to be heard.” Becca Gorman ’20, the former student government association health and wellness director, said she believes the program will be useful to students who have not yet been able to see a professional or are unsure if they should, and could serve as a resource for those who cannot access certain mental health resources for financial or insurance reasons. Gorman is currently one of the presidents of Active Minds, a club that promotes increased discussion about mental health. Last year, Gorman participated in a focus group about mental health resources on campus. She said that some of the group’s participants proposed the idea for peer mental health advocates. Hope believes that peer education makes information more accessible and ensures that the programs remain conscious of student needs. Students interested in becoming mental health peer educators must fill out an online application by March 2 and will be interviewed. Selected students will then undergo training in the fall. Online information about the program estimates a four-hour time commitment per week, though Hope says she anticipates peer educators will have some lighter weeks. Hope is looking for applicants who are passionate about tackling mental health issues and are ready to both listen and lead. She also noted the importance of representing a variety of voices in the program, encouraging queer students and students of color to apply. The MHPE program will join existing student-led education programs including Sex Positive Education for College Students (SPECS) and MiddSafe, which are completely student-run, and Green Dot, which is run by the school with student involvenment.  Although they will have some overlap with MHPE as programs providing peer support, MiddSafe advocates and student residential life staff cannot join the initiative. Hope cited conflicting fall training times and the potential for burnout and compassion fatigue. “I think our community is longing for more ways to speak openly about mental health and MHPEs can be a part of meeting that need,” Hope said.

‘You can no longer say that you don’t know’: 1619 Project creator reframes American history

Nikole Hannah-Jones, an award-winning investigative journalist and the founder of the New York Times’ Magazine 1619 Project, spoke to over 700 people in Mead Chapel on Tuesday night. In her talk, titled “1619 and the Legacy that Built a Nation,” she revealed the holes and hypocracies in the popular narrative of American history and the country’s indelible legacy of slavery. The New York Times Magazine launched the 1619 project in Aug. 2019, the 400-year anniversary of the beginning of slavery in America. The project, initially developed as a magazine issue and podcast, hosted by Hannah-Jones, “aims to reframe the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.” The event, featured as part of the Critical Conversations lecture series about race, was sponsored by the Black Studies Program, Middlebury College Activities Board, the Office of the President, and Critical Conversations. During the talk, Hannah-Jones challenged the conventional view of the U.S. as an uniquely remarkable country founded on the principles of liberty and equality, highlighting the irony of Thomas Jefferson writing in the Declaration of Independence that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal” while his enslaved brother-in-law served him and made him comfortable in his temporary Philadelphia residence. She noted that ten out of the first 12 presidents were slave owners. Hannah-Jones explained that the U.S. was built on the “backs of Black bondage,” Proceeds from the slave trade led to the prosperity of American financial institutions like Wall Street and allowed for the creation of many academic instiutions. Slaves built much of Washington D.C. and constructed the infrastructure and provided that fueled the industrial revolution. Yet much of the basic infrastructure in modern America, such as the highway systems in many major cities, were built to contain and oppress African Americans. Despite being the targets of oppression and hypocrisy throughout U.S. history, African Americans have constantly toiled to improve the nation. Hannah-Jones described the Black civil rights movement as a catalyst for change and equality across a variety of marginalized groups, pushing the country to live up to the ideals expressed in the Declaration of Independence. “Out of the Black resistance struggle is every other resistance struggle and freedom struggle and rights struggle in this country. They all owe their inheritance to their Black rights struggle,” Hannah-Jones said. She cited the use of the 14th amendment’s equal protection clause, which emerged from the abolition movement, in the Supreme Court case that legalized same-sex marriage in 2015. Critics have called Hannah-Jones unpatriotic, chiding her criticism of the legitimacy of the founding fathers’ ideals. In her talk, she responded by saying that the project is “only unpatriotic to those who believe that Black people are not Americans,” because Black people have always fought for and upheld those ideals, even as their rights were deliberately withheld by the U.S. government. “We are never taught about the unparalleled role that Black people have played in perfecting our democracy and expanding the common good and actually believing in the ideals of the revolutionary period,” she said. Hannah-Jones lamented the absence of these narratives in her own childhood, acknowledging the power in celebrating African Americans as “the real founders of this country”. Since the 1619 project launched, it has since expanded into an upcoming book and a history curriculum that has been widely adopted by schools across the country. “When I think about the project, I hope that we will create a generation of Black children who are freed from that shame that so many of us were raised in and who feel they have a right to claim their own country,” she said. Beyond empowering African Americans, Hannah-Jones hopes that the project will lead Americans of all races to reflect on the legacies of slavery in America. “You don’t have to personally have family that owned enslaved people to have profited and benefitted from a system of slavery,” Hannah-Jones said. “[After this talk] you can no longer say that you don’t know that. From here on forward it’s a choice about whether you continue to benefit from it or if you work to deconstruct it and work to create the country of our ideals.”

Considerations from the capital: Vermont legislative updates

Electronic cigarettes, climate change, marijuana, the safety of sex workers and paid family-leave are all topics that have come before the Vermont General Assembly this year. The topics have caused consequential debates about what is, and what is not, best for the state. Electronic cigarettes and vaping products have become increasingly prominent in recent years, prompting legislators to propose bills addressing these devices and their markets. The 2020 session brought a proposed ban on menthol products, which was met with significant pushback from the tobacco industry. The bill as introduced (H.823) proposes “to ban the sale or possession of flavored cigarettes, flavored e-cigarettes, and flavored substances that contain nicotine or are otherwise intended for use with an e-cigarette.” Led by Representative Jessica Brumsted (D-Shelburne), over thirty members of the House sponsored bill H.823. Brumstead explained teenage use of flavored vaping products  underpinned her sponsorship. “Those who start using e-cigarettes while in their teens are four times more likely to become traditional cigarette smokers than teenagers who do not,” Brumsted said.  The General Assembly has made multiple efforts to combat the health effects of e-cigarettes and similar products, including the ‘Tobacco 21’ bill passed last year to ban the sale of and use of tobacco products for people under the age of 21. Still, the Assembly sees a need for further action.  “We know that by reducing the number of people vaping and smoking, we will also reduce health care costs for our state,” Brumsted said. H.823 was read and referred to the Committee on Human Services Jan. 21 of this year. Legislators are also working on several climate-related bills this session. Senator Ruth Hardy (D-Addison) said this an area of particular importance for lawmakers. “I am a member of the Climate Solutions Caucus, [which] has been working hard since the end of last session to put forth a bunch of different proposals,” she said.  Legislators are considering bills to create and meet targets for greenhouse gas emissions, to increase electric vehicle accessibility and use and to create carbon credit programs for owners of forest land, among other bills addressing climate change.  “In Vermont, our number one emissions [source] is automobiles,” Hardy said.  Though the effect auto emissions have on Vermont’s carbon footprint is immense, its prominence allows lawmakers such as Hardy to address the problem head-on. “We all have to do our part as individuals because we don’t have one big smoke stack it’s all coming from, it’s all coming from our tailpipes,” she said, adding that she wants students to know that the legislature is working to pass “meaningful climate legislation.” “I don’t know what the end result will be, but [climate legislation] is something that we work on every day on a number of fronts,” Hardy said. Legislators are also working on cannabis-related issues. S.54 was introduced last year and has been actively worked on to date. The bill proposes the creation of the Cannabis Control Board to regulate “the production and sale of cannabis and cannabis products in Vermont.” The senate passed S.54 on March 1 of last year, moving it to the House, where it was referred to Government Operations and then to by Ways and Means. It was referred to Appropriations on Feb. 6 of this year.  Senator Joe Benning (R-Caledonia), a cosponsor of S.54, believes that the need for the bill is simple given the activity that takes place on the black market.  “In the black market, we have no control over who obtains [cannabis], no control over what it contains, and no revenue to promote educational or prevention programs that might help eliminate this and other problems,” he said.  Benning said that the bill, if passed, would introduce a method of distribution that would take on an educational stance, monitor product quality, and prevent minors from accessing cannabis. Benning said too that the bill generates revenue to put towards prevention and rehabilitative programs, including law enforcement efforts. One bill gaining national attention this session is H.569, an act relating to prostitution. The bill as introduced reads that, “It is the intent of the General Assembly to repeal the laws pertaining to prostitution between consenting adults, while retaining strict prohibitions and criminal penalties for human trafficking.” H.569 was referred to the Committee on Judiciary Jan. 7 after a first reading. The 2019 session also included a proposal that creates a Paid Family Leave Insurance Program within the Departments of Labor and Taxes. This program is funded by contributions from employers and employees as part of H.107. Following a sustained veto from Governor Phil Scott (R), sponsors of the bill reformed and brought a new version of the bill to the legislature in the 2020 session. Gov. Scott vetoed the bill again on Jan. 31, 2020 in accordance with his promise to not raise taxes. The bill then returned to the House where the assembly sustained the governor’s veto by one vote.  Gov. Scott said he is not opposed to paid family leave but said he is opposed to the notion of raising taxes to sustain a mandatory family leave policy. Gov. Scott talked about his work on a voluntary paid family and medical leave plan in his veto message to the Legislature, Jan. 31. “Our approach is voluntary for employers and employees,” he said in the address. “It can be accomplished more efficiently, affordably and quickly, without a $29 million payroll tax that Vermont workers simply should not be burdened with, and without putting the risk of underfunding on taxpayers.”  Representative Constance Quimby (R-Essex Caledonia) explained that the Republicans agreed with Gov. Scott and came together to support his position. The Republican party needed all members present to have any hope of sustaining the veto, given the significant Democratic majority.  “It’s a shame that the liberals did not think it was a good idea to ‘tweak’ the bill and make it a voluntary program so that perhaps all members of the house could have voted for it,” Quimby told The Campus.  Legislators are also considering bills relating to electric vehicles, water quality, gun regulation and other points of interest. More information about activity in Vermont’s capital can be found at legislature.vermont.gov.  Editor’s note: Senator Ruth Hardy (D-Addison) is the spouse of Prof. Jason Mittell, The Campus’ academic advisor. Any questions may be directed to campus@middlebury.edu.

Lucia Evans ’05 on Midd, #MeToo

Lucia Evans ’05 applied early decision to Middlebury. When she was a student here, she lived in Hepburn, Stew and Voter. She acted in plays, ate in the dining halls and took literature classes.  She is also one of more than 100 women who have accused famed Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexual assault, for an alleged incident that occured the summer before her senior year at Middlebury. She was part of some of the first criminal charges brought against Weinstein and an integral part of the dissemination of the #MeToo movement. Evans, then Lucia Stoller, now runs a marketing consulting company, but was an aspiring actress in the summer of 2004 when she met Weinstein at a club in SoHo, New York. She agreed to a meeting at his office at a later date to talk about two scripts, where she alleges he assaulted her, forcing her to perform oral sex.  In 2017, Evans opened up about her experience to Ronan Farrow for his groundbreaking story in The New Yorker about allegations against Weinstein. The article prompted the New York police to contact Evans about pressing charges against Weinstein — they said she was “a highly credible witness” and repeatedly told her that she was “the only one who could put him in jail.” After months of deliberation, she agreed to join the criminal case.  Despite insistence from NYPD detectives about the viability of her case, Evans’ suit was dropped the following year when it was discovered that the lead detective on the case had failed to inform prosecutors about a witness with a conflicting testimony. Still, her decision to press charges helped jumpstart the legal process against Weinstein. Now, Weinstein is on trial for five felony counts, including rape and predatory sexual assault, and six women are expected to testify against him. Weinstein and his lawyers maintain that all encounters were consensual.  The Campus spoke with Evans about her time at Middlebury, the process of prosecuting Harvey Weinstein and how the events of the summer before her senior year affected the rest of her life.  Editor’s note: This conversation contains references to sexual assault, rape and suicide. It has been lightly edited for clarity and length. RILEY BOARD: When we first contacted you, you said that you’d be happy to speak with us because Middlebury had a special place in your heart. Can you talk about that? What did you do and study at Middlebury? LUCIA EVANS: I was a Literary Studies and Theater double major. It was just a really special place for me. All of my best friends, my close friends now, are my friends from my junior and senior years there. Something about the place is so special. I think the only thing that kind of soured it for me was, obviously, my sexual assault, which occurred the summer after junior year — so my senior year was a bit of a nightmare. But I think the people who go there just really want to make a difference in whatever field they’re in or whatever they’re doing, they always have multifaceted interests outside of class and really are the smartest people I’ve ever met. They continue to be the people that challenge me to this day.  RB: You mentioned in your most recent interview with Ronan Farrow that you had had a “magically good” life before [the alleged] assault happened, and that you had to reconcile how this affected and changed you, the before and after. It happened before your last year at Middlebury — then you came back to campus for another year. What was that like? What was it like in the immediate aftermath, the return to school?  LE: It’s so crazy, because that year was such a happy year for me a lot of the time. It was honestly the year where I had my closest friends and kind of my best group and took fantastic classes and had a really great social life. I was really active and — and yet at the same time, I felt like I was living this other life. After I came back to school, I told my close group of friends, my roommates. We lived in Voter at the time, it was awesome. Voter was always a place I wanted to live, and I just never thought I would and I was so happy with this group of girls, with our space and our life that we shared. I really felt like I needed to tell them the honest truth. I didn’t tell anyone else the scope of what happened. Emotionally, it was a period of very high highs and very low lows.  I had the opportunity to play this role in the play “Necessary Targets,” which is a play by Eve Ensler [’75]. My character was on stage the entire play but she doesn’t speak except for one long monologue kind of toward the end where it is revealed — and she’s been holding a baby the whole time — and it’s revealed that the baby has passed away, and in her hands are just a bunch of rags, and she has been raped. And so she tells her whole story. And it’s heart wrenching. And I remember the director, when I was auditioning, saying, “You can just channel this character so well, it’s amazing.” And I remember thinking, “If only you knew why I could do this so easily.” And it was because it had literally just happened to me. I kind of felt that in playing that role, that I had told my parents, which is ridiculous, but it actually really calmed me down and helped me deal with it for a few years, because I felt like in my own way that I had told them what happened to me. And then I could be at peace, which was, of course, not true. But it did give me some semblance of normalcy.  RB: Did you seek out help at Middlebury after that summer? From where did you draw support? LE: When the cops came to my house two years ago and told me I could put him in jail, they were like, “Why didn’t you come to us right away?” And I said, “Why would I have come to you?” I mean, he was so powerful at that time — and he was the biggest producer in Hollywood. I couldn’t watch the Oscars or anything after it happened to me because I would see him everywhere. Every film, I still see his name everywhere.  I try to not beat myself up for what I didn’t do but obviously do wish I had gotten help. And I would advise anyone going through something similar to absolutely seek help, because it just compounds over the years and it becomes worse and worse and you’ll end up hurting yourself like I did for many years. And I don’t wish that on anybody else.  RB: We’re obviously in a very specific cultural moment, that of the #MeToo movement, in which survivors are coming forward in unprecedented numbers and college campuses are offering more institutional support for victims than ever before. What was the culture around consent and sexual assault when you were a student here? Was it possible to talk to your friends and peers about what you’d endured?  LE: If the #MeToo movement had happened then, there’s no question I would have said something right away. There was such a stigma around it then, and little did I know that 100 plus women were going through the same thing as me at the same exact time. And then obviously, women all over the world are dealing with much, much worse, and they have zero support.  It was hard for me to even say what happened to me and identify myself as a victim — or as a survivor, because now we’re meant to use the word survivor. Sometimes you feel like a victim, sometimes you feel like a survivor. You can be both, right? But I do remember at Middlebury, when I was feeling suicidal, my boyfriend at the time reached out to campus security — they were really fantastic. They were very supportive, even then. But the [#MeToo] movement didn’t exist. And there wasn’t yet that tipping point of cultural change where it became OK to talk about this, where people want you to tell the truth. Everyone I had met at Midd was great, I just was not ready. And the world probably wasn’t ready either. RB: In the episode of “The Catch and Kill Podcast” on which you appeared, you spoke about how [the alleged] assault affected your confidence with acting and your career. Can you talk about that? How did that ordeal change your plans for the future? LE: It completely changed it, for two reasons. One of them was that in my entire time as an actor, I’d always been of the school of thought that acting should come from a place of real emotion and raw energy — and you translate that into the character. Acting post-college was a struggle, because I was at a Meisner acting school that was all about coming from that place of real truth. So first of all, I couldn’t find my real truth because I was absolutely not ready to talk about anything.  Whenever I tried to tap into any real emotion, I would just shut down. There was only one time when I was able to kind of let loose and then I knew after that I couldn’t do it anymore, it was just too painful. Even though everyone said, “Wow, that was amazing.” I was like, I can’t do it. I couldn’t act when I was hiding something that big.  The other reason was just because I had seen the worst of the industry, very quickly, and I thought that was what the industry was like. And I thought, I don’t want to do that. I have no interest. Now the whole narrative that they’re spinning is that people did it for roles. But I never got a role. And I never wanted a role after that, because I didn’t want to get a role like that. I just was not interested in being part of a system that just chewed up and spat out woman and didn’t respect them and forced them to perform sexual acts against their will.   RB: Now that your case has been dropped, what has it been like for you to experience Weinstein’s trial?  LE: I would have a lot more trouble experiencing it if it hadn’t been for this photo shoot [“100 Women vs. Harvey Weinstein”] that me and my fellow Silence Breakers participated in for New York Mag. It was so amazing meeting these people — we have an email chain that we’ve been on for years, but it was just me and a  bunch of actresses. It’s so surreal for me. I’m the only non-actress on this email chain. It was like Rose McGowan and the other Silence Breakers, and I’m one of them, but I’d never met them. And meeting them was so meaningful and wonderful — and I just felt like I had all these sisters. And so thank God that happened before the trial, because now I have this amazing network of women who’ve been through some of the same things that I have and have been hurt by this horrible person but now we’re empowered and we’re a collective.  [pullquote speaker="Lucia Evans ’05" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"] Now the whole narrative that they’re spinning is that people did it for roles. But I never got a role. And I never wanted a role after that, because I didn’t want to get a role like that.[/pullquote] RB: I wanted to talk a bit about an interview with Donna Rotunno, Harvey Weinstein’s lawyer, that was aired in an episode of “The Daily” last Friday. Have you listened to the interview?  LE: No, I couldn’t listen to it. And I think that’s also an important point. Just because I think it’s important to realize that you do not have to do everything, because media consumption is so damaging sometimes. And I would just encourage people to take a step back and just not feel like they have to consume everything. Because your health is more important than browsing Instagram, you know what I mean? Or reading or listening to the podcast that you think might be triggering for you. Tell me what I missed.  RB: Do you mind if I read you a quote from Rotunno from the interview?  LE: OK, sure.  RB: “So when I make comments and say ‘if you go to the hotel room,’ doesn’t mean you deserve to have something bad happen to you. But if you go to the hotel room, you continue to perpetrate a culture that allows that to be acceptable. And so if women take the power and women say, none of us are going to a hotel room, then that culture must change.” This was in reference to the circumstances under which many of the alleged assaults by Weinstein occured. How would you respond to that quote?  LE: I knew that he was a really dangerous person, and that put me on extra guard — I wasn’t going to go and meet with him late at night because I was nervous about him. I wasn’t as nervous as I should have been. But I went to his office in the middle of the day, when there would be people, because how could something bad happen to me, surrounded by people?  Also, why would somebody want to put themselves through this hell? I mean, it’s not like we’re getting anything out of this. None of us have gotten a thing out of this. This is not a fame-seeking thing. In fact, we’ve only lost jobs, we’ve only lost like careers and opportunities because of this.  We just really want to help and that’s the only reason why we’re doing it. I hope people continue to want to help because it’s the only way that any changes are ever going to happen.  RB: What advice would you give to someone who has just graduated and is beginning to navigate industries, like the movie industry, that can be fraught with certain injustices and circumstances like the ones that you have experienced?  LE: I would just encourage people to talk to someone as quickly as you can, because I wasted far too much time not being open and honest. Even though you can have some great times — it wasn’t like I just wiped 13 years off of my life. I got married, I have a wonderful career, I’ve had great things happen to me. But there’s still something in the back of my mind that wouldn’t leave me alone. And this thing that I hadn’t told anyone was like eating me up. So I would encourage people to talk about it with someone they trust and trust that person that they’re talking to.  I remember thinking in college, during my senior year, I just wish that my parents would tell me that I was still a good person, that it was okay that this happened to me. I just needed some type of validation, that I was okay and that I was still a good person, because I still thought it was my fault, which obviously it was not. Also, I would not be afraid of the criminal justice system, even though I’ve had a really horrible experience with it. Because honestly, if you don’t try to make a difference and change the law, there’s no way that anything is ever going to change around here. And we all know that things have to change. So I would just say if there is ever an opportunity that anyone has to try to make a difference in that way, don’t be afraid of it. I’ve had the experience I’ve had and I would do it again, even though it was painful. The more you revisit these horrible things actually really helps you heal, even though you don’t want to go back to these places. And I hope no one ever has to go through what I did. And some have gone through far worse than I have. But it really is amazing how much it can help you heal by talking about it.

A Throwback for RIDDIM

RIDDIM World Dance Troupe, one of the college’s oldest and most recognizable student dance groups, takes Wilson Hall by storm twice a year. Its biannual show consistently sells out, and its recent Fall 2019 show, “RIDDIM Throws It Back,” was no different. Nearly every seat was filled as members of the audition-only troupe performed a variety of pieces choreographed by fellow dancers.  So, what’s RIDDIM all about? RIDDIM began as RIDDIM World Dance Club in Spring 1998. Started by Tessa Waddell ’02, the club aimed to present the Middlebury community with different styles of dance. From the club came the troupe, an audition-only and student-run group with a stated goal “to provide the Middlebury College community with an outlet of expression through diverse dance styles.”  The word “riddim” comes from the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word “rhythm,” but in reggae and other Afro-Carribean music styles it most commonly refers to the instrumental background of songs.  Mariel Edokwe ’20, a RIDDIM board member, said that the troupe’s style of dance has shifted away from its Afro-Carribean origin over the years. “As [RIDDIM] continued on, it started kind of shifting towards a contemporary, modern, more ballet-based [style],” Edokwe said. “I know that there’s controversy about that, but I know that since I’ve joined RIDDIM, freshman year in the fall of 2016, they’re really trying to diversify in terms of its members and in terms of its dance styles.” Edokwe said that the group aims to create a positive, open space for students to dance on campus. She recalled her own experience as a ballet dancer before coming to Middlebury and noted that many dancers in her position choose to pursue their career instead of an education. On-campus groups like RIDDIM allow students who want to dance to do both.  With that being said, RIDDIM members come with varying levels of dance experience. Some members come from a competitive background and have several years of ballet experience whereas others have no formal dance training at all. The troupe remains open to all styles of dance, which Edokwe considers “part of the beauty of RIDDIM itself.” “I know that for me, personally, and for a bunch of my friends and the group members, that it’s been really awesome for us to come in as, for me, say, a ballet dancer, and then to try hip-hop, try Latin dancing, and to try styles I’ve never done before and just grow as a person and dancer, and just kind of expose yourself to all there is that’s out there in a way that maybe you didn’t get to before," she said. Malia Armstrong ’22.5 acknowledged the challenges of being a student dancer but said she feels supported by the RIDDIM community.  “Being in Riddim has completely reignited my creativity and passion after feeling burnt out after years of dancing competitively and has created a supportive and healing space on campus," she said. "It reminded me why I love to dance and that is something I will always be grateful for.” RIDDIM is an inclusive environment that is welcoming to students of all classes and levels of experience.  The nine-person board includes members of different years, which allows multiple voices to be heard, and any RIDDIM member can choreograph a piece as early as their second show. Armstrong and Katie Koch ’22.5 choreographed their first piece, “Partition” for the Fall 2019 show. The dance was performed to Beyonce’s Partition – a song that celebrates female sexuality – and featured excerpts from speeches by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a renowned author and vocal feminist. Armstrong said that she and Koch chose this song because it features a woman talking about sex and sexuality with strength and confidence, something that is often repressed in society. They overlaid Adichie’s speeches over the song in order to more concisely convey their message. The song ended with the phrase “I have chosen to no longer be apologetic for my femaleness and femininity,” which Armstrong said sums up the intention behind their piece as a whole. “My favorite part of choreographing this piece was being able to collaborate with Katie doing something that is out of my comfort zone,” Armstrong wrote in an email to The Campus. “I had never choreographed a heels piece, so exploring different movements with Katie was challenging, but being able to create something together that meant a lot to us was really exciting.” “When I joined RIDDIM, I thought I was just joining a dance group,” she said. “I had no idea that this group would become my second family. I am so grateful to have connected with such an incredible community of people, all bonded by our love of dance.”

The Librarian is in: "Shrill"

In her debut collection of essays, “Shrill,” available in print and as an audiobook, author Lindy West takes a number of anti-feminist, fatphobic and misogynistic beliefs and challenges readers to examine the underpinnings of these hegemonic and harmful ideologies.  What does that mean in plain English? West supports women. She believes fat bodies are worthy of respect, space and love. And she believes that women have more to offer the world than just their sexual appeal to men. She also believes this in spite of the fact that the predominant culture in the United States would suggest otherwise.  West is a smart writer and an in-tune cultural critic. One of her strengths is her vulnerability. For example, in one of her essays, she recounts calling out her former boss, well- known sex columnist Dan Savage, for his insulting rhetoric surrounding fat people. In another, she tells of the abortion she had before she was ready to become a parent. In a third, she tries to explain why there really is no appropriate place for rape jokes, despite the fact that some stand-up comedians favor them.  These positions and willingness to be open and confrontational about issues that are largely taboo in our culture should garner West an award for bravery. However, I’m concerned that the audience most likely to consume her work— or the words of any “shrill” woman— is an audience that is already on board with her message. And in that respect, regrettably, she may not be catalyzing widespread change — The same may be true of this very column.  West’s audience is likely white women between the ages of 20 and 45 who are highly literate, regular readers, willing to appreciate rhetorical nuance and sensitive to feminist issues. Wonderful. They likely look to her to help themselves better articulate some of the ideological conundrums they encounter. That’s fine. But, I suspect that the people who most need to engage in discussions regarding a woman’s bodily autonomy, such as some male legislators in Congress, for example, will never page through this publication. The people who most need contact with this work are likely oblivious to its existence.  Is it West’s responsibility to lure that readership towards her arguments? No! But how do we move a conversation forward when the interlocutors create an echo chamber? In plain English: if the only people willing to hear a message are those who already believe it, what, ultimately, are we accomplishing? Is the book good? Sure. As with any collection of essays, some are stronger and more compelling than others. I have already mentioned my favorites.  To whom would I recommend it— with realistic hopes that they might read it? You can see my quote above: “white women between the ages of 20 and 45 who are highly literate, regular readers, willing to appreciate rhetorical nuance and are sensitive to feminist issues.” What more might I hope for? That there be a way to position the work so that the issues it addresses are heard by more people who will encounter the ideas as novel, provocative and so alien as to be engrossing. For more titles like this one, see Roxane Gay’s “Hunger” or Samantha Irby’s “Meaty.”

Taking sex off the table

About two weeks ago, I was catching up with some friends from home and we got to talking about our love lives. I won’t bore you with the details, but the first conversation I had was with a friend who was telling me about the boy from her new  “situation-ship”. She had known him for a while and the two finally went on a first date. When the date was over, they returned back to this house where they proceeded to hook up. While they were hooking up, my friend stopped to say that she wasn’t ready to have sex. Her date instantly became distant and cold. When I spoke to her two days after their date, she felt unsure as to whether or not she regretted saying no to having sex. By choosing to not have sex, even though that was clearly his expectation for the night, she felt that she had messed up her chance to be with him. And just a few days later, I talked to another friend about her current “situation-ship.” The boy she was seeing had recently gotten out of a serious, long-term relationship that began in high school. After going on dates for about a month, they were now trying to move beyond goodnight kisses. Once they did, they found it challenging being more intimate. The more they kept trying to have sex, the more it just did not work. She felt like she was doing something wrong, and he felt like he was letting her down. When I asked her whether it was important that they have sex, she responded that it was not; she felt like having sex was something they ought to do. We got to talking about how many times we’ve said yes to having sex because it was expected, not because it was something that we decided we actually wanted. Just how many times have we adjusted our expectations to fit the other person’s?   The advice I gave my friend was to take sex off the table. We both expressed that it felt like once we had lost our virginity, we had inadvertantly broken the seal and suddenly sex was expected almost every time we hooked up with someone. We lamented the days when there was a seemingly linear progression of intimacy: the first kiss, then going a little farther than  kissing … and, well, you get the picture. My friend’s partner  probably felt an immense amount of pressure. She was the first person he’d had sex with since his long-term girlfriend; not only did he want to make her happy, but he also did not want things to end because of their intimacy problems. Being with him was more important to her than having sex right away, and taking sex off the table meant they they could get more comfortable with the idea of building emotional intimacy — and from there, sexual intimiacy. Ultimately, you’re allowed to have whatever relationship with sex that you want. There is a lot of pressure to form a relationship with sex that is casual and devoid of intimiacy in hook-up culture. As I approach my last semester of college, the ongoing importance of sex and role of sex in my life is frequently on my mind. Where I have landed is that until I can decipher what my expectations are and how I want to communicate them, my relationship with sex is being defined by the people I have sex with. For that reason, taking sex off the table might not be such a bad thing. For my friend with the intimacy dilema, taking sex off the table was an opportunity to build a relationship without the pressure and expectations that came with introducing sex before they were both ready. For my friend with the post-hook-up frozone problem, taking sex off the table meant that she didn’t go farther than she wanted to for the sake of meeting his expectations.  Whether it is because you want to evaluate your own relationship with sex, build your emotional connection with someone or stay true to what you want, considering taking sex off the table is the only diet that I will be supporting in 2020. 

New student group calls for sensible drug policies

Because our friends have been punished for drug use, or have had nowhere to go for adequate treatment and counseling, we, the members of Middlebury’s new Students for Sensible Drug Policy (SSDP) chapter, have come together to support substance users on campus and in the broader community. We want to stand up with and for those among us who have experienced unwanted institutional scrutiny and neglect. We also want to emphasize and encourage the work students already do — on their own, often without realizing it — to keep each other safe when they use drugs or alcohol. This October, our original Middlebury interest group elected to become part of SSDP, which is an international grassroots network of students dedicated to ending the war on drugs via harm reduction strategies. Harm reduction is an advocacy framework that recognizes that drug use is a part of our social reality and so strives to mitigate its harmful effects rather than punish those involved in the use and proliferation of licit and illicit drugs. Harm reductionists work to complicate dominant ideas about drugs and addiction, empower users to participate in drug policy-making, develop empathetic services and resources for users, and educate about safe drug use without preaching abstinence. Given Middlebury’s spatial and socioeconomic context, our SSDP chapter especially seeks to recognize the ways in which, as the Harm Reduction Coalition writes, “the realities of poverty, class, racism, social isolation, past trauma, sex-based discrimination and other social inequalities affect both people’s vulnerability to and capacity for effectively dealing with drug-related harm.” Middlebury has already enacted certain policies that align with SSDP’s framework. For instance, the college’s Good Samaritan Policy protects student drug users who might otherwise be wary of seeking medical care for fear of punishment. The Health & Wellness Office offers education sessions for students who use alcohol, cannabis and tobacco, and it hopes to have organized education for students who use narcotics by next fall. However, when operating within an overarching, persistent culture of abstinence, shame or punishment, isolated policies and measures like these cannot reach their fullest potential. For instance, many students remain reluctant to use these services because of the stigma that surrounds them and fear of repercussions from the administration. Middlebury’s approach to safety is perhaps epitomized by Community Council’s decision (publicized earlier this semester) to install dozens of new surveillance cameras in areas of campus where illicit behavior has been previously reported or suspected. As preventative measures typically foreshadow, even mimic punitive measures — take for example how the administration used video footage of the Charles Murray protest to punitively target student activists — we must fundamentally reorient the logics of Middlebury’s institutional policy making. To that end, our SSDP chapter’s first initiative is to host a Narcan/Naloxone training session for students. Narcan is a safe and easy-to-administer emergency treatment for opioid overdoses. We believe that organizing a Narcan training would foster a culture of community responsibility and care. Such an event would not be without precedent, either; many other U.S. colleges have hosted trainings (Yale, Columbia, Wesleyan, Stony Brook, The New School, Ithaca, Beloit, Mt. Holyoke, to name a few). Moreover, Public Safety has already elected to be trained in Narcan administration (which shows that Public Safety officers have observed or at least suspect the potential need for this training on campus). Our hope going forward is to create and participate in other, similar initiatives to support our broader community in the town of Middlebury and Addison County. For example, we hope to volunteer at statewide expungement clinics, which help people with past criminal convictions update their records in accordance with statutes of limitation and changes in the law. We will also support bill H.162, a proposal to legalize the opioid addiction treatment drug buprenorphine, when it returns to the Vermont Statehouse in January.  If you would like to learn more about SSDP and the work we do, you can email us at middlebury@chapters.ssdp.org, or attend one of our weekly meetings, on Tuesdays from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Queer Studies House. Signed Maria Bobbitt-Chertock ’19.5, C Green ’19.5, Kineret Grant-Sasson ’20, Amy Egan ’21, Lily Shale ’20, and the rest of Middlebury’s new Students for Sensible Drug Policy chapter.

Parental control should have some boundaries

Roughly two weeks ago, rapper T.I. stated on the “Ladies Like Us”  podcast that he takes “yearly trips to the gynecologist” to ensure that his 18 year-old daughter, Deyjah, still has her hymen intact. This sparked numerous reactions from the listening public. Some were in support of his yearly check-ups, arguing he was right for protecting his daughter; others — like me — considered the check-ups a violation of Deyjah’s privacy. An 18 year-old is legally an adult and can make their own decisions for themselves. Why, then, does T.I. see his daughter’s sexuality as something that he can (or should) control?  I think most of us can agree that yearly hymen checks are just too much for a parent to impose on their kids, whether or not they believe it’s for their protection. It’s an unnecessary practice and reflects  distrust more than anything else. It would have been easier if they had a private conversation because no one should feel compelled to reveal that information. Children should  always have some form of privacy, especially when it relates to their sexuality. Not everyone is comfortable divulging that kind of personal information to their closest confidants, let alone to their parents. What’s more, privately subjecting Deyjah to a humiliating ritual is one thing, publicly broadcasting this abuse is another completely. T.I.’s evident comfort in casually detailing these horrible doctor appointments to the greater public should not go unnoticed. It ties back to a patriarchal culture that endorses deeply problematic ideals about a woman’s virginity and her father’s right to protect it at all costs. The truth of the matter is that an 18 year old girl should not feel external pressure to abstain from sex if she feels ready — especially not from her father. At the end of the day, imposing hymen checks strips Deyjah of her autonomy. This public violation of trust could have long term consequences in her future relationships — not only  romantic relationships, but also her relationship with T.I. himself. A parent should not feel comfortable enough to invade their child’s privacy but should instead set some boundaries in order to not risk causing the child to become distant. Trust should be at the foundation of the relationship.  Trust should be given to children in order for them to be raised as independent, autonomous thinkers who can decide for themselves; controlling them impedes that process. Taking away someone’s self-control and autonomy does more harm than good in the long run.  Tyra Browne is a member of the class of 2020

Letter to the editor

Editor, The excellent article by Hannah Bensen on Middlebury College activism detailed how college activists have made an enormous impact on progressive issues such as fossil fuel divestment and sexual assault. I heartily applaud these efforts for both their societal and educational value. It’s important to know how much student involvement in the issues of the day is part of the Middlebury experience. Recognizing that no one article can cover the entire life of the college, I would add that there is a longer history of Middlebury activism. For example, I arrived as a student on campus in the fall of 1970 after the recent Kent State shootings and found a small but very dedicated group of students working to help end the Vietnam War. Other students built organizations to focus on concerns such as the environment, sex education, and access to contraceptives. For all of us involved, the impact of those experiences remains with us today. In the ensuing decades, various student groups have strived to end South African apartheid, protect immigrant rights and bring greater racial and gender diversity/equality to campus, among a host of other causes. Some of this work is nicely summarized in “A People’s History of Middlebury College,” created several years ago by a group of Middlebury activists. It can be accessed at go/peopleshistory. — Greg Dennis Cornwall, VT Middlebury Class of 1974

Sexual and Relationship Respect Committee develops interactive consent training workshops

Middlebury is the only school in the NESCAC that does not include a non-online mandatory consent training program in its freshman orientation. Elissa Asch ’22.5, head of the SGA Sexual and Relationship Respect Committee (SRR), is changing that. Asch began spearheading the effort to institute such a program last summer. Now, she is looking to implement the training in the upcoming February orientation. Over the summer, she contacted and spoke with representatives from the 10 other NESCAC schools, including wellness directors, violence prevention specialists, and students in charge of organizations equivalent to both SRR and Sex Positive Education for College Students (SPECS) at Middlebury. She interviewed students and/or staff at each school about the sexual health and consent trainings at their schools, focusing specifically on what mandatory orientation trainings they had. Schools’ programming varied from 20-minute workshops with Title IX coordinators, to speakers, to theatrical performances, to fairs during orientation with tables for all sex-related organizations on campus. The individuals Asch spoke with at each school had specific reasons why they thought programs did or didn’t work for their student body, and spoke about goals they had to continuously improving their trainings. “It was really useful to create a network, because now I can reach out to them if I’m looking for ideas or support from people working on these issues,” Asch said. Asch then wrote a proposal with all the information she collected from other schools, which she presented to Civil Rights and Title IX Coordinator Marti McCaleb, and Violence Prevention and Advocacy Specialist Emily Wagner, at the start of this academic year. Middlebury currently provides mandatory training on sexual violence to all students through Show Some Respect, an interactive online training program by United Educators (UE) that students complete before arriving on campus, McCaleb explained. “This program includes numerous modules on sexual assault, sexual harassment, stalking, dating violence, consent, coercion, incapacitation and bystander intervention,” she said. “There are also regular refresher courses offered that students complete throughout their college career.” McCaleb noted, though, that these trainings “don’t necessarily create opportunity for group dialogue or discussion about the issues. This is where we are currently trying to expand.” The Office of Health and Wellness Education also provides a mandatory introduction to the Green Dot bystander intervention program during MiddView orientation and offers a six-hour bystander intervention training each semester that has been shown to reduce violent incidents on campus, according to McCaleb. However, Asch and her fellow SRR members saw a need to expand this programming. According to Asch, adding in-person workshops to the the online workshop would be more effective; students would need to sit together and have real discussions about consent, hook-up culture, drinking culture, and more. “That’s where real expectations about how we’re going to live together get set,” she said. “When I did my research, Middlebury had the least developed program out of any NESCAC.” To get the conversation started about what SRR wanted an updated program to look like, Asch wrote a prototype for a consent training workshop. For orientation workshops, McCaleb proposed “Roll Back the Script,” a theatrical-based programs offered by “Speak About It,” an organization many of the other NESCACs use. Asch and McCaleb hope to see a mandatory workshop implemented during the upcoming February orientation. The pair have discussed including small group discussions, as well as explanations from  McCaleb of the definitions of consent and rape and the college's Title IX policy, as a part of the orientation training. Since the interview, McCaleb has secured funding for the “Speak About It” program for this February orientation.  Asch’s proposal also includes an introduction by McCaleb, in which she would explain the definitions of consent and rape, as well as the Title IX policy at Middlebury. “I think a lot of preventative training can be too happy-go-lucky, like ‘just say no!’ If you’re really going to take it seriously, you need to get into complexities of what realistic hook-up and drinking culture look like on college campuses,” Asch said. “‘Don’t have sex when you’re drunk’ is not realistic on a college campus. We need to address that.” Providing effective consent education is incredibly important and incredibly difficult, according to Director of Education for Equity and Inclusion Renee Wells. “It’s important because everyone needs to be intentional about both asking about the comfort, desires, and boundaries of partners and articulating their own comfort, desires, and boundaries,” she said. “It’s also difficult because consent education isn’t something that can be easily reduced to a slideshow presentation; it requires having nuanced conversations that don’t always have pre-packaged answers.” Asch is not the first to express concern over Middlebury’s lack of mandatory consent training for students. Students and administrators have made past attempts at putting one in place. “I stand on the shoulders of student activists and representatives that have come in years before me,” Asch said. “People have tried to do this work and made small changes to the culture in a way that I am now able to get through.” She sees her research into other NESCAC programs and the new administrators as important factors in her success as well. This fall is the first time in Middlebury’s history that there is a full-time violence prevention education professional on campus (Wagner). Wells’ position is also relatively new. “We are in a unique position with a significant number of college staff dedicated to these issues, to build greater capacity to support and engage our students in smaller, facilitated dialogues about issues like consent,” McCaleb said. “My sense isn’t that it was an intentional decision not to offer mandatory consent training,” Wells said. “My sense is that it has been an issue of capacity and what staff have been able to provide in the past compared to what we are working to build the capacity to provide in the future.” Asch has also reached out to sports team captains and social house presidents asking them to commit their teams or houses to sign up once workshops are available. Over 20 teams and houses have already committed. She hopes to make regular trainings available throughout the semester. “Conversations about consent require buy-in and a commitment to dialogue. It’s not a ‘once and done’ type of topic,” said Wagner, adding that she is excited about the How Will We Live Together study and its programming recommendations because of their potential to “facilitate those conversations with smaller groups of students and in an ongoing manner.” Now, Asch is working to find funding to train student facilitators. “We have SRR members willing to facilitate and train, to take on those emotional and social risks for themselves. We have houses and teams who want to participate, who don’t feel taken care of on the campus. We have a workshop written, that needs to be edited and approved. What we don’t have is training for the facilitators,” Asch said. McCaleb and Asch are discussing the possibility of hiring professional facilitators for the current consent workshops instead of training student in facilitation. Asch’s goal is to have some hundreds of students trained in consent by the end of this school year. Editor’s note: Elissa Asch is the sister of senior news editor Sarah Asch. Sarah was not involved in the reporting or editing of this article. Correction: A former version of this article misstated the name of the Sexual and Relationship Respect Committee, and misrepresented various details about the timeline and process of the workshop development. That information has since been corrected.

Rocket ’14 moves to “Love Town” in a Tesla

YouTube has long been known as a platform for user-created video content. Nearly 15 years after the website launched, a recent survey by toymaker Lego found that one-third of kids between 8 and 12 aspire to be either a vlogger or a YouTuber. I’m fairly certain this desire to be seen and heard isn’t just limited to kids. We all have that one friend from high school who started their own food blogging or make-up channel, and let’s be honest — who doesn’t secretly want to be a YouTube star?  For Rocket ’14, one of the two co-owners of the freshly minted YouTube channel “Love Town,” storytelling (or more appropriately, outing details of his personal life) is nothing new.  In 2012, he gave a speech as the first student speaker at TEDxMiddlebury on his summer traveling the country using the Amtrak system, and later spoke at Moth-Up, Middlebury’s version of the nationwide storytelling platform The Moth, on the same subject.  In 2013, he started a column in The Campus called “Dining, Dating, and Dashing,” whose content is exactly what it sounds like. The biweekly column’s goals were threefold: Rocket dated, ate free food and chronicled his experiences and musings for all to see in the pages of the paper. Each article chronicles a date with a different person at a different restaurant in the Middlebury area, which he persuaded in advance to provide free meals for him and his date. It seems like a pretty sweet deal, especially if you’re looking at it from Rocket’s perspective. As he writes in the inaugural article, “I get a date, the girl gets a story, we both get fed, the restaurant gets publicity and hopefully we all get a good laugh.”  A little over a year after graduating, in October of 2015, he changed his name legally from Ryan Kim to “Rocket, no last name.”  [pullquote speaker="Rocket" photo="" align="center" background="on" border="all" shadow="on"]Coming from Love Town means I want to live a life in pursuit of love... not a romantic or sexual love; it’s a love to live.[/pullquote] “It just popped into my head,” said the 27-year-old self-described conceptual artist. What started out as something of “a secret stage name” eventually became a part of his identity. “If we as adults are required to take responsibility or ownership of all of our actions, then it is my right to own the actor,” he said. We choose the clothes we wear, the food we eat, with whom we spend our time, Rocket pondered — so why can’t we choose our own name? Legally changing his name to Rocket, then, seemed to be both a statement of his identity and an assertion of his autonomy.  Three weeks ago, “Love Town” released its first video, titled “Welcome to Love Town!” In the video, Rocket, sporting all black clothing, a slightly overgrown mohawk and gold-rimmed lens-less aviator glasses, introduces himself and the channel’s co-owner and producer Marshall Hodge, who he identified as “my adopted brother.” They sit side-by-side, arms wrapped around each other’s shoulders in front of a gorgeous mountain range speckled with autumnal patches of green and orange. Right behind them is their black Tesla Model X, parked on the lawn with its wings up, batmobile-style.  “We’re living in Rex, this Tesla behind us,” Rocket said, “just out on the road, adventuring and just figuring things out as we go.” According to the channel’s description, the two are “on a journey of discovering the most authentic, dopest version of ourselves and overcoming any obstacles along the way: personal fears, expectations from others, cultural norms, etc.”  Bringing his background as an Economics major to the table, Rocket did some number-crunching to explain the rationale behind this recent lifestyle change. Previously, he had been commuting into Los Angeles and paying over $500 per month in gas, in addition to rent, utilities and other living expenses that plague the electronic checkbooks of many a working millennial. When he analyzed the costs of living in a car, monthly payments on a Tesla turned out to be cheaper than what he had been paying in rent and gas. “Well,” he said, “if I’m willing to live in a vehicle, I could have a pretty sweet vehicle to live in.” It actually seems quite practical, once you can get behind the idea of living in a sedan.  From a more conceptual standpoint, “Love Town” for Rocket is also a personal project that grew out of his “rabid curiosity” about the full range of human existence and experience. Love Town is a metaphorical place, according to Rocket. “Coming from Love Town means I want to live a life in pursuit of love,” he said. “And it’s not a romantic or sexual love; it’s a love to live.”  His goal is “not to be celebrities or heroes,” as he said in an interview, nor is it to be an influencer, a term he rejects because of its reputation as a provider of simple entertainment. “Entertainment is cheap,” he said, “and it can go anywhere.”  Rather, he’s exploring what he calls “radical candor,” an effort at authenticity in a world of perceived fewer human connections. This is all part of his path to becoming a “real and dope person.” What is a “real and dope person,” you ask? According to Rocket, “a real person listens to the song of their soul” and “goes the distance for people they care about.”  For Hodge, who serves the roles of content producer, video editor and (adopted) younger brother, “Love Town” is about “pushing past this bitch named fear.” Before joining “Love Town,” Hodge was a video editor at Yes Theory, an adventure-travel YouTube channel that makes videos like “Asking Strangers to go Skydiving on the Spot!!” and “SAYING YES TO EVERYTHING FOR 24 HOURS (ended up in a dress in Mexico).” He admits that, even in a Tesla, life on the road can take some getting used to. “The shower part’s a little tricky sometimes,” he said in a video. “We can go a few days, sometimes a week before showering; it’s a tradeoff of this lifestyle, honestly; like if you wanted to have another lifestyle where you could shower everyday you’d have to get an apartment or something.”  The channel’s only three weeks old, but has already amassed a following of 16.2K subscribers at the time of this article, with videos that range from 10K to 283K views. In a video released last week, titled “I Lost My Virginity in a Tesla,” Marshall documents his first sexual encounter (“everything but the sex”) with a woman Rocket had matched with on Tinder. Another video recounts their 7000-mile road trip from California through Vermont and back and in a third viewers are invited to follow along Marshall’s “First Date Ever.”  Internet fame aside, however, “we don’t want to place any of our personal value on what this view count is or what this subscribe count is, ’cause it doesn’t fundamentally affect any of our inherent worthiness,” Rocket said. “The only thing we can do is to be as real of a person and as dope of a person as you can. That’s it.”  Here’s to becoming “real and dope” people.