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(04/11/18 11:35pm)
Film and Media Culture Librarian Amy Frazier is liaison to Film and Media Culture, Dance, Theatre and American Studies.
Who Fears Death by Nnedi Okorafor, 2010
386 pages
RATING
4/5 cardigans
The What
Sometime between the time I started this novel and now, Afrofuturism went from being an established literary/artistic subculture with a history and a growing canon, to becoming The Hottest New Trend in Everything. I feel an impulse to congratulate Nnedi Okorafor for finding herself well-positioned to be a major beneficiary of the trend, but then, she has been here for quite a while, waiting for the rest of us to catch on.
Nnedi Okorafor is Nigerian-American, and her fiction is very much rooted in African, and particularly Nigerian, culture and mythology. She is one of the emerging cornerstones of new Afrofuturist literature, and as such, is especially relevant to the moment. (And yes, she’s the author of a few recent issues of the Black Panther comic book series. You know I couldn’t write this review without including a Black Panther connection, right?)
The Why
Shocker: this librarian is a huge nerd. I like a lot of nerd stuff. I’ve read more than my share of science fiction (both hard and soft) and graphic novels, and while I’m not all that into fantasy, the fantasy novels I do like, I really like. After reading enough of this stuff, though, if you have any awareness at all you start to notice that it’s all very… Eurocentric. There may be spaceships and unicorns and strange alien species, and maybe even Captain Kirk kissing Lieutenant Uhura, but basically, everyone in the future and/or fantasy realms is white. And speaks English. And apparently comes from Iowa, or the Shire, or some other comfortably-familiar-for-white-people place.
So I made it a project for myself to seek out some nerd-ish lit by people whose experience of the world is different from my own: Chinese fantasy novels, genderqueer science fiction (SF), and “Who Fears Death” by Nnedi Okorafor. Also, full disclosure: the reason I chose this Okorafor novel over her many others, is because I read that it got optioned for development into a TV series for HBO, and I wanted to read the book before I watched the show. I’m not necessarily proud of that as my selection criteria, but there it is.
The world of “Who Fears Death” exists an undetermined number of decades/centuries in the future, and the story takes place in an nonspecific part of Africa. That world is connected to ours through history (our present is their distant past) and something, we don’t know what, happened to utterly change our world into theirs. Our technology still exists as semi-functional, repurposed scrap material, but the world is not technologically-advanced in the usual SF mode. Magic is very much a living force, but the human condition seems relatively unchanged. Our protagonist is an adolescent girl named Onyesonwu, translated, meaning “Who Fears Death,” who is living with her mother and adoptive father in a reasonably peaceful small town.
Also, she can bring the recently-deceased back to life, among other things.
Note: this is not a gentle book. There is harrowing brutality and suffering visited upon female characters from very early on. It has narrative and thematic purpose, but it’s there, and Okorafor does not smooth over the rough parts. There is also real friendship and righteous vengeance and a long arc about love and sexuality as conduit for magic and power.
As a middle-aged white woman, I have to recognize that in reading a novel rooted in African culture, by an African-rooted author, I’ll inevitably miss some of book’s nuance and depth. Nnedi Okorafor and I come from very different figurative places, so I don’t always feel confident that my understanding of her story aligns with her own. But I wanted to open up my ideas about well-worn, familiar genres to genuinely different perspectives, while honoring the fact that my “genuinely different” might be someone else’s “finally, something I can relate to.” And all to the good, because if faraway worlds and fantastical settings can’t make room for perspectives outside the white, heteronormative, European norm, then what is even the point?
(04/11/18 9:18pm)
(04/11/18 9:17pm)
(04/11/18 9:16pm)
(04/04/18 11:07pm)
User Experience & Digital Scholarship Librarian Leanne Galletly is liaison to Classics, English & American Literatures, French, Italian, Studio Art, and Russian.
Umami
by Laia Jufresa, 2014,
translated by Sophie Hughes in 2016
“Nobody warns you about this, but the dead, or at least some of them, take customs, decades, whole neighborhoods with them. Things you thought you shared but which turn out to be theirs. When death does you part, it’s also the end of what’s mine is yours.”
― “Umami,” p. 34
The What
“Umami” is largely the characterization of life after loss; acknowledging that the world goes on after you lose someone, but is forever changed. Author, Laia Jufresa animates the lives of five neighbors whose homes are connected by a courtyard in Mexico City. Twelve-year-old best friends, Ana and Pina are the central characters to the story and frequently pop in and out of the other narrators accounts. Ana’s younger sister Luz unexpectedly died while on a family vacation a few years earlier, while Pina’s mother left her family without saying goodbye; the girls frequently reflect on and grapple with their missing loved ones.
The other narrators include: six-year-old Luz, Ana’s sister, who narrates her part almost up to the time of her death; the neighborhood landlord, Alfonso who is perpetually grieving the loss of his wife to cancer; then there is Marina, a 20-something who struggles with loneliness, lack of support and unstable mental health. Each character handles survival differently and every one of them is relatable, whether you have experienced the loss of a loved one or dropped your ice cream on the sidewalk. Jufresa utilizes an unusual pacing, where each chapter is associated with a year in the lives of the characters, the chapters do not align chronologically, which can be a little confusing for the reader.
“Umami” is the first novel from Laia Jufresa, who grew up in the Veracruz Cloud Forest, Paris, and now lives in Edinburgh. The book won the English Pen Award, which honors outstanding books in translation. After reading Umami, I learned that Jufresa first wrote the book in English, then upon finishing, she translated the book back into Spanish!
There is also a lot of wordplay and word creation in Umami, which reads very well in English. An impressive process coming from my monolingual brain. I thought this was particularly interesting given that the English version of the novel, which we have at Davis Family Library, was not translated by Jufresa. (I have now ordered the Spanish version!)
The Why
I found the book from the “Indie Next” reading list which I obsessively steal from every bookstore I visit. I am also very interested in visiting Mexico City, so I was excited to read some fiction that is set there. For future travelers to Mexico City, this book is not by any means a travel guide, through reading you will learn the lives of five individuals who live in the same community, as well as some insight into ancient Mexican food production through the expertise and curiosity of some of the narrators.
This book is an engaging read, but not for reasons related to the plot, which I have been struggling to remember and had a lot of trouble following due to the chronological disruptions. What I really loved about the book was Jufresa’s ability to reflect on and put words to the existence of losing a loved one.
The characterization of Ana and Pina was also expertly crafted, never feels childish, but also not too grown-up. Reading about these girls at the start adolescence while, coping with their respective loss is truly engaging. Not lost me is the intentional umami-ness of the book itself, inherently hard to describe, the rich and savory flavors of umami aptly describe this book. If you like character-driven, deep, poignant stories this book is for you; this book is not for those who need action, adventure or plot resolution.
(04/04/18 11:03pm)
Who: My solo radio show is titled “It’s Complicated.” I (Maddy Dickinson) have had two radio shows since my freshman spring here at Middlebury, and this show, “It’s Complicated,” originated during my sophomore fall. This is the longest running show I have had on WRMC, broadcasting every semester since then with the exception of Spring 2017, when I was abroad.
Why: My show revolves around the essential question that most music consumers hear at some point in their lives, “what kind of music do you like to listen to?” I framed this show to answer this question week by week, on a genre-by-genre basis. As someone who consumes a large variety of music on a daily basis, (I listen to everything from Kacey Musgraves to Death Grips) I have a music taste that isn’t easily definable. Consequently, I often resort to the answer “It’s Complicated” when answering the inevitable question.
What: I cater each of my playlists to a different genre I’m exploring/enjoying at the moment, playing a wide range of music including Chinese folk, lo-fi skuzz, pop-punk, psychedelic and singer-songwriter. I’ve also recently been revisiting some of my older playlists from my first semester on air, or two plus years ago, to see how my music taste has evolved even throughout that short period of time.
When: You can listen to “It’s Complicated” on Tuesdays from 8 to 9 p.m at WRMC 91.1 or at go/listen.
Want to be featured? Contact fmurphy@middlebury.edu
(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.
(03/22/18 1:06am)
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(03/22/18 12:54am)
Who: Sufjan Stevens, firstly. Secondly, John Wayne Gacy Jr., Carl Sandburg, Mary Todd Lincoln, Louis Armstrong and more people throughout the history of Illinois. And thirdly, me, trying to piece together playlists inspired by each song Sufjan has made and the history that influenced them.
What: A week-by-week aural exploration of the myths of the State of Illinois as they are written by Sufjan Stevens and the people who inspired him. Each week, I will be focusing on one song from the album “Illinoise” in chronological order and trying to make a playlist that is marginally related to the historical content or musical style of each song. Themes so far have ranged from outer space to colonialism and I hope for the playlists to get even more out there as I progress through the album.
When: Mondays, 3-4 p.m.! My favorite thing about doing a radio show is when people participate by calling in to the station or chatting online at wrmc.middlebury.edu. Some of the best songs that I have played on the show have come from other people and I love it when people listen and help me out.
Where: The DJ booth above Proc. 91.1 FM. Highland, Illinois. Jacksonville. Decatur. Chicago. This is a show that is all about places in time and the reactions that they create. I am really trying to tap into the power that music has to bring you back to a specific moment and place. These songs are capable of evoking that so well and that is why I love this album.
Why: This was the first album that blew my mind. I remember sitting down doing homework in eighth grade and hearing one of the songs play on Pandora, I think it was “Chicago.” Straight after that I went and found the album. I listened to the whole thing straight through and would listen to it for days on end. I thought it was such a beautiful sentiment to try and create a song for a special place that could hold both historical and individual meaning. Plus, I always wished Sufjan had continued his 50 states project and gotten to Tennessee, where I’m from. So, even though this show is still about this one album, it reminds me of the songs that remind me of those places I would drive by every day and the stuff that happened there. It still amazes me that I can be walking across campus here in Vermont and hear a song that takes me back to a moment in a car with friends looking out the window at a specific landscape. I think that kind of music should be celebrated.
Want to be featured? Contact fmurphy@middlebury.edu
(03/21/18 10:09pm)
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association named Bowdoin senior Kate Kerrigan Division III National Player of the Year...
Bowdoin and Amherst met in the women’s basketball national championship at the Mayo Civic Center in Rochester, Minnesota. Amherst beat the Polar Bears to finish the season 33–0, allowing them to clinch their second-straight national title and undefeated season. The Mammoths have now won 66 games in a row...
Williams’ board named Maud S. Mandel the school’s 18th president on Sunday, March 11…
Colby’s Nescac-champion men’s hockey team beat New England 4–2 on Saturday, March 10, in the NCAA Sweet 16. They then beat SUNY Geneseo on the road 2–1 last Saturday, March 17, to advance to the Frozen Four in Lake Placid. The Mules (17–10–2) take on St. Norbert (25–4–1) tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m…
Panthers fans will note that the men’s hockey team beat the Mules 3–2 in Waterville on Friday, Jan. 19, so we’re sure some folks may be arguing for postseason tournament expansion pending this weekend’s result…
Trinity women’s lacrosse lost on the road to York 16–15 in 2OT last Thursday. The Bantams moved down to No. 4 in the latest IWLCA poll …
Amherst women’s softball improved to 9–1 on the season with a victory over Plymouth St. last Saturday, March 17, as Lorena Ukanwa threw a one-hitter in the Mammoths’ 2–0 win…
Bates’ women’s tennis No. 1, senior Maisie Silverman, is one of four finalists for the ITA’s Ann Lebedeff leadership award…
Eight Nescac women’s lacrosse teams are ranked in the top 25 of the IWLCA Coaches national poll, as of Monday, March 19. This includes your very own Panthers, who slot in at No. 2, the highest among Nescac teams, behind only defending national champion Gettysburg...
(03/21/18 10:05pm)
If there is anything that the data we have gathered so far from the NCAA men’s basketball tournament has taught us, it is the more you know about the ins-and-outs of college basketball, the less likely it is you’ll be at the top of the rankings in our Go Pants! bracket challenge.
Benjy Renton ’21 was atop the poll when the last game ended in the wee hours of Friday morning. Less than 24 hours before, Renton announced in The Campus newsroom that he couldn’t possibly make a bracket because he knew “nothing about basketball.” Despite being told that the less he knew the better chance he might actually have, Renton still had his doubts.
“I mean, I knew nothing…well, actually I really know nothing about basketball,” Renton said. “I just had the machine fill it out for me and then I chose the final picks.”
Renton filled out his bracket at the last minute on Wednesday.
“As a member of The Campus editorial team, I felt obligated to participate,” Renton said dutifully. “This is the first time I’ve done this sort of thing.”
Renton’s process of filling out the brackets was unique, as he employed neither the eye test nor any sort of Sabermetric-like system of calculations and tabulations.
“I think I just pressed whatever the autofill was,” Renton said. Although he fell out of the lead early in the day on Friday, what was possibly the most shocking day in the history of the tournament, Renton was happy he took part in the bracket challenge.
“I enjoyed this one night of fame.”
Avery Dyer ’21 has one of the more successful brackets so far, and she seems to be more in touch with what is actually happening on the hardwood.
“I’m very excited with the way things are going so far,” Dyer said. “I didn’t predict many of the upsets that actually happened.
“Clemson over Auburn is really the only one I picked, if you can even call that an upset.” In fact, along with Clemson over Auburn, the only true “upsets” Dyer picked were nines over eights and a 10 over a seven — Oklahoma over Rhode Island — which did not go her way. Her choices have worked out thus far, since Dyer is in tie for fifth place after the first two rounds in our field of 325 brackets.
“I believe in Villanova and Kansas,” Dyer said enthusiastically, “and I am confident that they can go to the Final Four.”
Asked if Azubuike’s nagging injury concerned her, Dyer said “Yes.” And that it is “one thing I’ll be looking for, especially because of how much help he gives their defense.”
Ellie Anderson ’19, a Local editor for the newspaper, is currently tied for fifth as well and has her national champion pick, the Zags of Gonzaga, still in play.
“I don’t know if I’m the one to quote because I do not follow basketball,” said Anderson. “My cousin goes to Gonzaga, and I was just going with my gut.”
Anderson trusted her instincts with her bracket, and they have not failed her thus far. She picked Loyola and Syracuse to win their first round games and had Nevada advancing to the Sweet 16.
“I just figured some of the teams seeded lower would win, and Syracuse just spoke to me,” said Anderson.
On Gonzaga’s prospects going forward, Anderson said she’s still on board with her pick and not second-guessing herself.
“I’m pretty hopeful. Their game against UNC Greensboro was concerning, but I think they can do it.
One of the newest members of the Middlebury community, Ben Lahey ’21.5, also picked the Zags and, adding to the intrigue, is also tied with Anderson for fifth at the top of the post-first weekend rankings.
“It was mostly luck that I did well in the Midd group,” said an honest Lahey. “The last college game I watched was last year’s national championship game,” a thriller that saw UNC triumph over Gonzaga.
“For the most part, I just went with the stats and with what I heard,” Lahey added. “That was just hearing from others they were under-seeded. And they were in the championship last year, so I figured experience would help.”
“I did five brackets,” Lahey said, “and this is the one that happens to be the one that did the best, but that’s really what March Madness is.”
Andrew Rigas ’18 provided some perspective from a student whose bracket did not fare well in the first two rounds. Rigas lost three of his four Final Four teams, North Carolina, Michigan State and Cincinnati, as well as his champion, North Carolina.
“The saving grace of my bracket was Loyola Chicago, whom I picked to go to the Sweet 16. I think my bracket at large was unlucky,” Rigas said.
Rigas was confounded by North Carolina’s performance against Texas A&M, a game in which the Tar Heels entered as a clear favorite but laid an egg.
“They couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn,” Rigas said. “And the committee gave them a tough matchup, against one of the biggest teams in the country. The ‘Heels like to play small, so the matchup against A&M was a tough one.”
His choice of Cincinnati to advance to the Final Four was surprising, since only 6.2 percent of brackets in the ESPN Tournament Challenge picked the Bearcats, while 32.9 percent picked Virginia.
“Everyone else was picking Virginia out of that bracket,” said Rigas, adding “I thought Cincinnati had a decent shot as well so I thought I might as well pick them.”
Rigas, a noted fan of St. Bonaventure, is still getting over the Bonnies’ 77–62 loss to Florida.
“It was a memorable year for the Bonnies to win their first tournament game in 48 years,” Rigas said proud of his team. “I’m optimistic the Bonnies will contend for a tournament bid again next year, even without two of their best players in recent program history.”
(03/21/18 8:40pm)
SGA Passes Financial Aid Bill
The Off Campus Food Financial Aid Program (OFFAP) bill passed with senator Stephanie Andrews ’18 abstaining [14-0-1] in a Student Government Association (SGA) vote on Sunday. The OFFAP will cover the cost of food for students on financial aid while they are away from campus on trips with student clubs and organizations. The program is expected to cost $17,000 annually and will be reevaluated after a year of operation.
When asked about the status of the budget allocation for the program, treasurer and chair of the finance committee Peter Dykeman-Bermingham stated that it would not be possible to draw from the OFFAP’s allocated funds for use for anything other than the program itself.
SGA members discussed the scope of the financial aid brackets the program would serve and the food expense per diem that the program would support, ultimately deciding that the program would provide a per diem of $15 to all financial aid recipients. - Eric Kapner
CC Passes Inclusive Bathroom Resolution
Community Council voted unanimously to pass an inclusive bathroom recommendation on Monday.
The recommendation suggests that, in all existing buildings on campus, the signage on single stall bathrooms should be changed to be gender inclusive, and that at least one “menstrual friendly” bathroom should house a free tampon dispenser.
The recommendation calls for an all-gender and “menstrual friendly” bathroom on every floor with restrooms in every new public building built on campus. It also calls for a disability accessible bathroom in every new building, with a consideration for disability accessible showers available within close proximity to all campus buildings.
The changes will be implemented in three stages. They will be applied to the planning of any new buildings, implemented when renovations are done in existing buildings and taken into account when maintenance is done on existing building on campus.
The recommendation is intended to increase bathroom access for community members with disabilities and for people of all gender identities on campus. The recommendation aims to address issues such as ableism, classism, gender identity and expression, health, menstrual equality and sexism on campus.
The recommendation also suggests the preparation of two studies which will help to improve accessibility for those with disabilities on campus and will consider similar reforms as the ones listed above to all ancillary properties of the colleges. - Caroline Kapp
President Signs Letter Seeking Endowment Tax Repeal
President Laurie Patton signed a letter on Mar. 7 asking for the repeal of a provision in the 2017 tax act that places a 1.4% excise tax on endowments of private colleges and universities exceeding $500,000 per student with more than 500 students. The letter was sent to Republican and Democratic leaders of the House and Senate by 49 presidents of institutions including Amherst College, Bowdoin College, Williams College and others.
Patton took a stand with other school leaders even though the college would not currently have to pay the tax, as its endowment is currently below the $500,000 per student line.
The letter states that the tax will reduce the capacity for endowments to increase access, affordability and opportunities for success for students in higher education institutions across the nation. On these grounds, it urges lawmakers to re-evaluate this section of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Acts.
The letter works to address the misconception that endowments are left in long-term reserves and unused. It highlights instead how critical endowments are to the functioning of colleges and universities, in some cases providing almost half of annual revenues.
The letter makes clear that the tax will be hurting students above anyone else.
“Students are the leading beneficiary of these resources with each of us committed to significant efforts to enhance affordability,” it said. “Yet this tax will not address the cost of college or student indebtedness, as some have tried to suggest. Instead, it will constrain the resources available to the very institutions that lead the nation in reducing, if not eliminating, the costs for low- and middle-income students, and will impede the efforts of other institutions striving to grow their endowments for this very purpose.” - Catherine Pollack
(03/15/18 1:37am)
Who: I (Alexandra Burns) am a first-year so I started my show on WRMC last semester. I have always been super excited by podcasts and radio in general. I am a huge NPR fan and volunteered a few summers ago at my local NPR station in Maine. As soon as I got here, I knew I wanted my own show.
What: My initial idea was to have a Spanish (language) music show but I decided to change it a bit so that my theme was to pick a Spanish speaking country each week and play songs from that country. I try to choose songs that range in genre and decade because as much as I enjoy Spanish pop, I want this to be a show that is representative of the culture and history of each country I choose.
When: This semester “El Mundo en la Madrugada” airs from 10-11 a.m. on Sundays. For the non-Spanish speakers out there, the show’s name translates to “the world in the early morning.” 10-11 a.m. may not be early morning for all but it certainly is for college kids on a Sunday. Where: You can tune into the show on WRMC 91.1 FM or listen online by going to wrmc.middlebury.edu. This show is also broadcast on a separate station for migrant workers in Vermont.
Why: I am doing this show because I want to expand my understanding of Spanish music. I lived in Spain for my final semester of high school and was introduced to lots of reggaeton, which like lots of pop music, is very catchy, talks about drinking and objectifies women. Not to discount that genre, but there is so much more Spanish music out there than “Despacito.” As someone who is currently taking two classes that study Latin America, my show allows me to apply what I have learned in class to the radio. For instance, I just did a show on Uruguay and played candombe, which is a style of music and dance that comes from slaves in Uruguay. After playing a song, I talked about the history of that music and explained its significance. I like being able to play music that Midd kids and the people of Addison County might not otherwise be exposed to.
Want to be featured? Contact fmurphy@middlebury.edu
(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.
(03/15/18 12:38am)
Ten O’Clock Ross
Suspended
The Student Government Association announced on Monday that 10 o’clock Ross would be suspended until April 2. The announcement also warned that the program would be suspended for the remainder of the semester and reevaluated for fall semester viability if issues persist, citing staff concerns with cleanliness and general disarray. The suspension of the program is the result of a mutual agreement with all of Dining Services.
“The dining room has been left in a horrible condition,” said Brent Simons, Ross Commons dining room manager, “Napkins strewn about. Melted ice cream on counters and tables, silverware strewn about, messes on floors, equipment tampered with (mainly the frozen yogurt machine which is an expensive piece of machinery), cooler, food items have also been stolen, cereal, ice cream, allergen free food products etc.”
Since its launch in fall 2015, the program has faced multiple sanctions due to violations to Ross Dining’s alcohol consumption policy. In addition, there have been reports in the past of students stealing tubs of ice cream and boxes of tea.
“Students can help by cleaning up after themselves as much as possible and by notifying a student monitor when liquids are spilled,” Laura Castillo ’19, director of institutional affairs said. “This would demonstrate our respect and value for our Middlebury staff who come in early in the morning to set up for breakfast.”
According to SGA President Jin Sohn, SGA is currently working with Ross Dining and Dining services to improve communications and discuss future plans for 10 o’clock Ross. Students can contribute to the solution by responding to the survey included in the announcement with their Middlebury email account.
Squirrel Electrocuted
Nearby students witnessed a small explosion outside of Voter Hall on Monday. The incident was caused by a squirrel attempting to climb from the telephone pole positioned on the north side of Voter Hall to a power line.
The pole, which carries high voltage wires, had three transformers fixated to its top. During the squirrel’s commute, the circuit of one transformer was disrupted, forcing it to ground itself and discharge its electricity to the nearby neutrally-charged squirrel. Nearby students heard a loud bang.
The sudden discharge also caused a safety fuse to open, shortly knocking out power to Voter Hall. However, the Voter emergency generator automatically activated, providing auxiliary power to the building.
According to Luther Tenny, assistant director of Facilities Services, Green Mountain Power was immediately notified. Line power was restored by 1:15 p.m. to Voter Hall.
No other buildings were affected by the incident. However, Luther said, “I’m afraid the squirrel did not survive.”
College Hires Associate Chaplain & Muslim Advisor
Saifa Hussain will join the Scott Center for Religious Life on March 19 as the new associate chaplain and Muslim advisor. She will fill the position that was formerly held by Beau Scurich and Naila Baloch until their departure last year. Scurich left to begin work in hospital chaplaincy and Naila to begin her graduate studies.
Hussain was a student at DePaul University where she led the Muslim Student Association before becoming an active community organizer in both Chicago and Vermont. In Chicago she was involved in social justice organizing and in Vermont she participated in spiritual community organizing related to sustainability efforts. She has also worked with Ahle Bayt Institute to lead a hajj for diverse Muslims.
In a campus wide email sent on Monday, March 12, Mark R. Orten, director of the Scott Center, wrote that the center is looking forward to welcoming her to campus. According to Orten, a former supervisor in describing Hussain said she “stands out among many with her rare combination of intelligence and heart. She is truly exceptional.”
With Hussain’s experience in student programming, activism and her articulation of her Muslim identity, the Scott Center hopes to build up its resources for their Muslim Student Association. It also hopes to create larger discussions around the tenets of Islam in the broader college community and beyond.
Orten wrote in his email, “We look to her to infuse a wise religious voice into current discussions around campus, the nation and the world.”
(03/08/18 2:46am)
Members of the Black Student Union (BSU) attend a special screening for the recently released movie “Black Panther” at the Marquis Theater in town. A collective of students, named the February Committee, came together to book the film for Black Histor Month. It was one of the integral events for the revival of the BSU, which elected a brand new board last week.
(03/08/18 2:40am)
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.
Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story, by Peter Bagge, 2013
143 pages
Happy Women’s History Month!
The What
This full-color graphic novel is a work of historical non-fiction that tells the tale of a woman born in the 19th century into a numerous family of Irish Catholics and her tireless efforts in the 20th century to re-define women’s choices in terms of procreation. Margaret Sanger, known today as one of the mothers of Planned Parenthood, struggled against many obstacles so women could make safe choices about shaping their families. Among those obstacles were the patriarchy, a chronic case of tuberculosis and, potently, the law. Despite the many antagonists that provided her resistance, including multiple arrests and jail time, she shared her message throughout the United States, in Japan, China, India and more countries around the world.
The Why
Again, I was bopping around the browsing collection and the cover of this graphic novel caught my eye. In terms of artistic style, it reminded me of My Friend Dahmer, another graphic work of historical non-fiction that centers on one character-- a serial killer-- and his legacy in the U.S. I found the title, Woman Rebel, broad and generic and therefore not terribly compelling, but the image used on the cover of a gagged woman was. I knew it was a symbol for censorship and, as Sanger underscores repeatedly during her life’s work, censorship only heightens intrigue. Because her message was symbolically cloaked, I wanted to know what it was. Perhaps what impressed me most about author Peter Bagge’s representations of Margaret Sanger’s life had to do with her unconventional views of marriage. She regularly emphasized her sexual interest in men but shied away from the institution of marriage which she clearly deemed stifling in many ways. Though she married twice and birthed three children, she insisted on applying conditions to her marriages, for example, the freedom to work during an era when men were more likely to be sole breadwinners, maintenance of a separate residence from that of her spouse and the intention of pursuing polyamorous unions. Overall, she was a woman generally uninterested in compromise and compelled by her convictions. Millions have benefited from her self-sacrificing efforts and her legacy lives on. It could be remiss to fail to mention Sanger’s affiliation with the Eugenics movement. Sources state that she agreed that birth control should be used to limit reproduction of the “unfit.” While race was not one of the factors she identified as a marker of “unfitness,” this proclivity had/has the potential to infringe upon the reproductive rights of marginalized people.
RATING
5/5 cardigans
Brilliant. I have to say that it’s not so much Bagge’s publication that is remarkable but rather his choice to highlight this historical figure in graphic novel format. He came across rich, raw material, which will help any author to develop a successful narrative. I do like that at the end of book, in a sort of “appendix,” the author describes the motivation for including certain parts of Sanger’s story in the work. He shares some primary sources and details about collecting information. Ultimately, this book is a great way to quickly learn about an important and unorthodox figure from the past.
(03/08/18 2:37am)
Who: Our show started about three and a half years ago, during our freshmen year in Allen Hall. I and one of my co-hosts, Will Case, met at a meet-up for students from Chicago hosted by Middlebury. We met up again when we were on the same Middview trip, “Media in Vermont.” Getting to play around with the radio and actually record a few jingles for Vermont Public Radio was so fun we started talking about starting our show with WRMC. We brought in the third guy, David Dennis, and our show was born.
What: That was actually the hardest part of our very first show application: “Explain what your show is.” We had no idea what kind of music we would play or what kind of concept we wanted. There were people with shows based on the periodic table or conspiracy theories that seemed so high concept, and we really didn’t. Originally our concept was supposed to be building music and conversation around a weekly quote, but we soon let go of that concept and just let things evolve into the freeform mess that our show is now. And we love it.
When: This semester of “3 Guys and Their Show” runs from 9 - 10 a.m. on Sundays.
Where: You can find us on WRMC 91.1 FM on the radio. You can also just listen online on WRMC’s website.
Why: The one thing we really try to do during each show is share the good vibes we feel when we’re around each other. Sometimes, when the semester gets particularly bad, my co-hosts and I just don’t have the time to see each other as much as we’d like. But when we have the chance to come together and just talk for an hour, it just feels good. If we had a theme, it would be how our friendship and the things we experience change week by week. We want to bring the audience in, if only for an hour.
Want to be featured? Contact fmurphy@middlebury.edu
(03/01/18 12:07am)
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.
If Someone Says “You Complete Me,” Run!: Whoopi’s Big Book of Relationships
By Whoopi Goldberg, 2015
Pages: 244
Happy Black History Month!
The What
Actress, comedian, talk show hostess and film producer Whoopi Goldberg takes some time to reflect on what she has learned after navigating the institution of marriage thrice and a variety of romantic and sexual relationships over the years. In this memoir/self-help hybrid, Goldberg recommends we all apply a heavy dose of common sense and honesty in pursuing unions with others and that we make the pursuit of romantic love less central to our lives and their meaning. In approximately 15 chapters, Goldberg addresses romantic love with a lack of sentimentality and with a good deal of logic. She has embraced her singlehood without denying her sexual appetites.
The Why
As I was collecting works for the Black History Month display, I made sure to include both Sister Acts, movies that were central to many black people’s youth in the 1990s and developed massive cult followings.
It was by accident that I found out that Whoopi Goldberg was an author and filmmaker, too. I started to dig deeper and explore facets of the artist’s and writer’s life. I knew, for example, that she was a comic before she was an actress, but I was unfamiliar with her work. So I took the time to appreciate her stand-up in Whoopi, Back to Broadway, her documentary, Moms Mabley and her words on relationships in this highlighted tome, ...Run!, all of which are available in the Davis Family Library.
In this work, Goldberg asks her readers to critically examine where we get our societal cues on what makes, builds and sustains functional relationships, naming songs as one of the culprits that brainwashed the masses. When I critically examine my past, I realize that Ginuwine’s “Pony,” the Temptations’ “My Girl” and Salt N Pepa’s “Shoop” may not have led me down the path towards a bona fide, edifying, reciprocal love. Not one of these incredibly popular songs references household maintenance, chores, or who takes out the garbage and washes the dishes, payments of a shared mortgage, the revolutionary concept of a pair maintaining separate households, polyamory, love languages, STDs, vasectomies, tubal ligations, IUDs, spermicide, diaphragms, prenuptial agreements or any of the other conversations, products and situations couples encounter when they attempt to cohabitate, reproduce, parent and/or love one another.
Sexually-motivated and cloyingly amorous lyrics are what we are inundated and indoctrinated with. And while they’ve got irresistible beats and conjure historical memory, they hardly, poorly and ill prepare us for relationships that actually work, relationships that survive conflict, demand negotiation and carry us through turmoil. Goldberg challenges readers to be more methodical, balanced and level-headed in approaching unions.
I generally liked the work as it seems to suggest that every relationship is a world of its own that can be shaped by its participants. While Disney has generally suggested that wedding bells are the ultimate manifestation of love, few narratives offered by this cartoon warehouse engages what happens after the nuptials. Goldberg’s ...Run! asks readers to anticipate just that.
...Run! is rarely laugh-out-loud funny; more often it’s gently snaky. But it meaningfully problematizes an institution that we have culturally come to accept as a default. The work leans rather heteronormative yet contains critical thinking prompts that apply to a variety of relationships. I’d recommend it to feminists and/or anyone planning a wedding that will exceed $10,000 in costs.
(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.