www.thekzooindex.com INSIDE The Issue News........................................2 Features...................................3 Opinions..................................4 Arts...........................................5 Sports....................................6 With heartfelt eloquence, the piece sings of Nina Simone’s chant: “Young, gifted and black...” while sharing their own personal stories, sometimes through tears, of how state sanctioned violence has impacted their lives. Kalamazoo, Michigan Student Budgets Passed by StuComm The Student Commis- sion approved two budget requests at their weekly Monday night meeting. The first expenditure, $1,545 for the Asian Pacific Islander Student Association (APISA), was requested to cover fees for conference at- tendance next weekend at St. Louis University. While discussing the request, senior commission- er Alex Werder expressed his concerns with funding the request—namely the role of the Student Commis- sion in paying for student groups to go to conferences off-campus. “It’s in line with my general feeling about StuComm being the source for conference funding,” THE BRIEF GRAHAM KEY publication manager e Student Commission funded APISA and Love Your Own Way STUCOMM on page 2 The Index ONE-HUNDRED-THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE STUDENT NOVEMBER 12, 2014 VOLUME CXXXVII ISSUE IX TODAY’S HIGH: 36 DEGREES EST. 1877 SCAR Marks K’s Campus Consciousness ACADEMICS New student organization aims to create a niche for intellectual discussions, briding experience and theory outside classes Tanush Jagdish ‘18 was seeking an environment beyond just one for pure ac- ademic studies when he from India to attend Kalamazoo College. He envisioned a place where students from diverse backgrounds would gather and explore ideas and relate them through experience in the classroom and in their lives. This way they would develop practical applica- tions from that to impact the world. When he was unable to find such an environment, he founded the Society for Conversations in Advanced Research, or SCAR. SCAR is a new student or- ganization on campus dedicat- ed to creating a niche for in- tellectual discussions. Jagdish stressed that the organization is not one dedicated to the sci- ences, and encourages people from all disciplines to come and contribute to the weekly meetings. He would like to see the organization become one where persons feel comfort- able to listen, contribute, and learn from their fellow peers. “I thought this place [SCAR] could be a collabo- rative environment for people to come together, irrespec- tive of where they’re from; they could delve deeply into an issue that they’re fashion- able about, an idea that fas- cinates them,” Jagdish said. “There’s that nerd in all of us that want to get out and explore a topic thoroughly and put it on the table.” In the medium to long term, Jagdish hopes that SCAR will be able to pursue projects that will have an impact, not only within our campus communi- ty, but in the surrounding local communities as well. He believes that when stu- dents conduct research they are gaining a wealth of in SCAR on page 3 OGDEN WRIGHT co-editor-in-chief CULLORS on page 2 Encore Performance of ‘Power: Mouths of the Occupied.’ Arcus Center provides space for discussions and presentations The campus and city com- munity gathered in the Fine Arts Building last Saturday, Nov. 8, for a performance in re- sponse to the enduring violence against Black lives in the United States entitled Power: From The Mouths of The Occupied. Seven Kalamazoo College Students and one student from Western Michigan University fused together historical and per- sonal narratives. These stories combined live performance, projected video, spoken word, and a collection of statewide personal reflections. The K students who returned to K after a trip to Ferguson, Mo. were confronted with the tension between communication of the experience’s emotional weight and the constant expectation to serve solutions to end racism. To reconcile these demands, the students made a serious commitment to the time, dis- cipline, and energy it took to craft a presentation. The per- formance served as a catalyst for meaningful reflection and healing for the community. In OLIVIA GAINES index staff writer Campus Bake Sale Focuses on Wage Gap Student organizations host “name your price” bake sale to raise awareness The student group P.O.W.E.R., or the Progres- sive Organization of Women Engaged in Revolution, co-sponsored a bake sale with M.E.ch.A (el Movimiento Es- tudiantil Chicano y Chicana de Aztlan) on Nov. 5th. In hopes to raise more than just stu- dent’s spirits, they also high- lighted the wage inequalities based on race and gender. The pricing of goods was through a “name your price” method. Buyers were shown a sheet with income inequal- ity numbers listed and they self-identified their gender and race when they bought a BAKE SALE on page 2 CAMPUS baked good. This method was chosen to avoid misidentifying students’ genders and races. “The bake sale pricing method was important because it made a commentary on how different people are paid dif- ferent amounts for the same work, then they should not have to pay as much as priv- ileged people for the same items,” said Amy Chronis ‘17, Co-President of P.O.W.E.R. The pricing method also highlighted the gender pay gap, as women make 78 percent of what men make. “It’s important to see the numbers presented in a con- crete form, like a price for a product, instead of as just an abstract concept; it’s easier to conceptualize $0.78 when you’re holding it in your hand as actual change,” said Emaline Lapinski ‘15, Co-President of P.O.W.E.R. MEGAN RIGNEY index staff writer Di/re investment forum held in Arcus e Kalamazoo College Climate Action Network held the forum November 5 A view of the conversation pit (with fireplace flue) at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. The Kalamazoo College Climate Action Network held a di/re investment forum at the center November 5. KCCAN on page 2 In the wake of the recent elections, The Kalamazoo College Climate Action Network (KCCAN), held a forum called, “The Social In- justices of Climate Change” on Nov. 5 in the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). The goal of the forum was to discuss the Di/ Re Investment project to be implemented here at K. On Election Day a group of K students, braved the rain and cold to protest against Fred Upton’s re-election on West- ern’s campus. The protesters could be seen holding signs and relaying information on the nature of Upton’s former terms and his policies. Upton was recently voted, by the Los Angeles Times, as the number 1 enemy to the earth. In cooperation with Western’s student environ- mentalist group, Students for a Sustainable Earth, K students helped pass out literature on Upton and his running oppo- nent, Paul Clements. All of this local lobby- ing appropriately fell on the day before the Di/Re Invest- ment forum held in the newly opened Arcus Center. The forum began with an intro- duction and discussion of the current state of the environ- ment and the proof of climate change occurring within it. Iwan Baan / New York Times SHELBY LONG index staff writer ARTS Romeo and Juliet: Latest Performance Reviewed The Festival Playhouse opened its 51st season with the famous and classic play Romeo and Juliet last... PAGE 5 FEATURES K Students Celebrate anksgiving Abroad In a matter of two weeks a majority of campus will head home to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal... PAGE 3 SPORTS Winter Break Brings Bonding Winter break is looming, and the typical Kalamazoo College student will travel home for winter break... PAGE 6 OPINIONS An Interactive Letter: Two Stories and Activism Story one. In 1990, soon after my husband and I were married, we decided to spend a weekend... PAGE 4 Olivia Gaines / Index
With heartfelt eloquence, the piece sings of Nina Simone’s chant: “Young, gifted and black...” while sharing their own personal stories, sometimes through tears, of how state sanctioned violence has impacted their lives.
Kalamazoo, Michigan
Student Budgets Passed byStuComm
The Student Commis-sion approved two budget requests at their weekly Monday night meeting.
The first expenditure, $1,545 for the Asian Pacific Islander Student Association (APISA), was requested to cover fees for conference at-tendance next weekend at St. Louis University.
While discussing the request, senior commission-er Alex Werder expressed his concerns with funding the request—namely the role of the Student Commis-sion in paying for student groups to go to conferences off-campus.
“It’s in line with my general feeling about StuComm being the source for conference funding,”
THE BRIEF
graham keypublication manager
The Student Commission funded
APISA and Love Your Own Way
STUCOMM on page 2
The IndexONE-HUNDRED-THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE STUDENT
NOVEMBER 12, 2014
VOLUME CXXXVII ISSUE IXTODAY’S HIGH: 36 DEGREES
EST. 1877
Emily Walsh / Index
SCAR Marks K’s Campus Consciousness
ACADEMICS
New student organization aims
to create a niche for intellectual discussions, briding experience and theory outside classes
Tanush Jagdish ‘18 was seeking an environment beyond just one for pure ac-ademic studies when he from India to attend Kalamazoo College. He envisioned a place where students from diverse backgrounds would gather and explore ideas and relate them through experience in the classroom and in their lives. This way they would develop practical applica-tions from that to impact the world. When he was unable to find such an environment, he founded the Society for Conversations in Advanced Research, or SCAR.
SCAR is a new student or-ganization on campus dedicat-ed to creating a niche for in-tellectual discussions. Jagdish
stressed that the organization is not one dedicated to the sci-ences, and encourages people from all disciplines to come and contribute to the weekly meetings. He would like to see the organization become one where persons feel comfort-able to listen, contribute, and learn from their fellow peers.
“I thought this place [SCAR] could be a collabo-rative environment for people to come together, irrespec-tive of where they’re from; they could delve deeply into an issue that they’re fashion-able about, an idea that fas-cinates them,” Jagdish said. “There’s that nerd in all of us that want to get out and explore a topic thoroughly and put it on the table.”
In the medium to long term, Jagdish hopes that SCAR will be able to pursue projects that will have an impact, not only within our campus communi-ty, but in the surrounding local communities as well.
He believes that when stu-dents conduct research they are gaining a wealth of in
SCAR on page 3
ogden wrightco-editor-in-chief
CULLORS on page 2
Encore Performance of ‘Power: Mouths of the Occupied.’
Arcus Center provides space for discussions and presentations
The campus and city com-munity gathered in the Fine Arts Building last Saturday, Nov. 8, for a performance in re-sponse to the enduring violence
against Black lives in the United States entitled Power: From The Mouths of The Occupied.
Seven Kalamazoo College Students and one student from Western Michigan University fused together historical and per-sonal narratives. These stories combined live performance, projected video, spoken word, and a collection of statewide personal reflections.
The K students who returned to K after a trip to Ferguson, Mo.
were confronted with the tension between communication of the experience’s emotional weight and the constant expectation to serve solutions to end racism.
To reconcile these demands, the students made a serious commitment to the time, dis-cipline, and energy it took to craft a presentation. The per-formance served as a catalyst for meaningful reflection and healing for the community. In
olivia gainesindex staff writer
Campus Bake Sale Focuses on Wage GapStudent organizations host “name your price”
bake sale to raise awareness
The student group P.O.W.E.R., or the Progres-sive Organization of Women Engaged in Revolution, co-sponsored a bake sale with M.E.ch.A (el Movimiento Es-tudiantil Chicano y Chicana de Aztlan) on Nov. 5th. In hopes to raise more than just stu-dent’s spirits, they also high-lighted the wage inequalities based on race and gender.
The pricing of goods was through a “name your price” method. Buyers were shown a sheet with income inequal-ity numbers listed and they self-identified their gender and race when they bought a BAKE SALE on page 2
CAMPUS
baked good. This method was chosen to avoid misidentifying students’ genders and races.
“The bake sale pricing method was important because it made a commentary on how different people are paid dif-ferent amounts for the same work, then they should not have to pay as much as priv-ileged people for the same items,” said Amy Chronis ‘17, Co-President of P.O.W.E.R.
The pricing method also highlighted the gender pay gap, as women make 78 percent of what men make.
“It’s important to see the numbers presented in a con-crete form, like a price for a product, instead of as just an abstract concept; it’s easier to conceptualize $0.78 when you’re holding it in your hand as actual change,” said Emaline Lapinski ‘15, Co-President of P.O.W.E.R.
megan rigneyindex staff writer
Di/re investment forum held in ArcusThe Kalamazoo College Climate
Action Network held the forum November 5
A view of the conversation pit (with fireplace flue) at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership. The Kalamazoo College Climate Action Network held a di/re investment forum at the center November 5.
KCCAN on page 2
In the wake of the recent elections, The Kalamazoo College Climate Action Network (KCCAN), held a
forum called, “The Social In-justices of Climate Change” on Nov. 5 in the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL). The goal of the forum was to discuss the Di/Re Investment project to be implemented here at K.
On Election Day a group of K students, braved the rain and cold to protest against Fred Upton’s re-election on West-ern’s campus. The protesters
could be seen holding signs and relaying information on the nature of Upton’s former terms and his policies.
Upton was recently voted, by the Los Angeles Times, as the number 1 enemy to the earth. In cooperation with Western’s student environ-mentalist group, Students for a Sustainable Earth, K students helped pass out literature on Upton and his running oppo-
nent, Paul Clements. All of this local lobby-
ing appropriately fell on the day before the Di/Re Invest-ment forum held in the newly opened Arcus Center. The forum began with an intro-duction and discussion of the current state of the environ-ment and the proof of climate change occurring within it.
Iwan Baan / New York Times
shelby longindex staff writer
artsRomeo and Juliet: Latest Performance ReviewedThe Festival Playhouse opened its 51st season with the famous and classic play Romeo and Juliet last... PAGE 5
featuresK Students Celebrate Thanksgiving AbroadIn a matter of two weeks a majority of campus will head home to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal... PAGE 3
sportsWinter Break Brings BondingWinter break is looming, and the typical Kalamazoo College student will travel home for winter break... PAGE 6
opinionsAn Interactive Letter: Two Stories and ActivismStory one. In 1990, soon after my husband and I were married, we decided to spend a weekend... PAGE 4
Olivia Gaines / Index
PAGE 2 News 12 NOVEMBER 2014
EDITORIAL BOARDCo Editor-in-Chief...................Colin Smith Co Editor-in-Chief...............Ogden Wright Publication Manager...............Graham Key Business Manager......................Erin Eagan News Editor.............................Viola Brown Features Editor....................Trisha Dunham Opinions Editor........................Emily Pizza Arts Editor....Kamalaldin M. Kamalaldin Co Layout Editor.............Claudia Greening Co Layout Editor......Mireya Guzman-Ortiz
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ITHE INDEX
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PHOTO OF THE WEEK P.O.W.E.R and M.E.ch.A Host Bake Sale on Campus
Thirty dollars was made and majority of the proceeds will be donated to the YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) of Kalamazoo. The mission of the YWCA is to eliminate racism and empower women. The rest of the money will be going into the P.O.W.E.R. account to help fund Take Back the Night, a campus event hosted in the Spring that raises aware-ness about sexual assault and
help’s to break the barriers of fear and silence around these issues.
“The Bake Sale wasn’t as successful as I thought it would be, but we still raised money for the YWCA. I hope we do more events like this in the future. We are planning probably to do a couple panels on gender/sex/equality,” said Rebecca A. Guralnick ‘14, Co-President of P.O.W.ER.
In the future, P.O.W.E.R. hopes to work more with the YWCA, something the haven’t
James Reuter ‘17 plays guitar with his band at a local concert Saturday night.
done in the past.“I think the YWCA is a
great organization and I hope to work more with them to help spread our message in the community,” said Guralnick.
Environmental Forum Held in Arcus Center
Dr. Jennifer Einspahr, Asso-ciate Professor of Political Science and Chair of the Po-litical Science Department, spoke first. She discussed both sides of environmentalism, those that see a problem and those that do not. Even with the contention that exists she still asserts that nature prob-lems are in fact human prob-lems.
“Nature problems are human problems, even with the contention that exists around the topic,” said Dr. Einspahr.
Dr. Ahmed Hussen, Profes-sor of Economics and Busi-ness, followed shortly there-after. Dr. Hussen focused more on statistics and proof
of global warming and envi-ronmental decline. He also discussed where specifically climate change is coming from and what some nations have done to reverse or attempt to reverse damage inflicted on the earth and its environment.
KCCAN wants more to be done. They will begin with Ka-
lamazoo College’s campus by applying the Di/Re Investment initiative. KCCAN does not want to immediately dive into full divestment. They charac-terize their movement as more realistic than that.
The student organizers ac-
knowledged the widespread dependency on fossil fuels such as: coal, oil, and natural gas. The process of divestment would first begin with coal, because of the harmful way in which it is extracted from the earth. That is their pre-liminary mission. Divestment is an admittedly complicated process that KCCAN wishes to implement in steps.
“Environmental justice is social justice,” said Shannon Haupt ‘16, along with the other KCCAN representa-tives echoing this sentiment.
Not only is KCCAN seeking to divest, but as the name of the movement suggests, they also seek to reinvest in cleaner fuel alternatives. The entire divestment movement seeks to stigmatize the fossil fuel industry while fostering a campus wide environmen-talist consciousness.
“Environmental justice is social
justice.”
Commission Report
BAKE SALE FROM PAGE 1
KCCAN FROM PAGE 1
Robert Manor / Index
STUCOMM FROM PAGE 1
the process they paid tribute to the long, heart-rending list of African American unlawful deaths: Michael Brown, Renisha Mcbride, Aiyanna Jones, Islan Nettles, Trayvon Martin.
And the list continues.The piece sings of Nina Sim-
one’s chant, “Young, gifted and black…” and they shared, some-times through tears, their own personal stories of how state
sanctioned violence has im-pacted their lives and their com-munities.
“I got so tired of being com-fortable,” said Sarah Braggs ‘17 at the end of the performance.
She continued, “It was so sad when Mike Brown died,” and in a hushed tone admitted, “but thank God it’s not me. Thank God it’s not here. Thank God I don’t have to walk outside and see memorials. And I real-ized but wait, that’s not good.
I shouldn’t be this comfortable when it’s stuff that’s happening to people just like me.”
For centuries, African Amer-icans have been remaking the world, giving testament to the power of hope, courage, and re-silience. And the inspired gener-osity of Arcus Center’s visiting fellow Patrisse Cullors who di-rected and co-produced...
CULLORS FROM PAGE 1
Cullors Holds Encore
Werder said. “Whenever a group goes off campus there’s always the question of what impact there will be back on campus.”
While funding for off-cam-pus trips like APISA’s may come increasingly from other sources in the future, to sophomore commission-er Samantha Weaver, Mon-day’s request deserved Com-mission funding.
“Right now it doesn’t feel like there’s another option for funding for them,” Weaver said.
After discussion came to a close, the Commission voted to approve the $1,545 request.
Monday’s second budget proposal came from StuOrgs Love Your Own Way and Cirque du K, who are plan-ning a “rope suspension show” for Saturday of Tenth Week. Senior commission-er and FPC member Will Guedes expressed his res-ervations with the request.
“The magnitude of the event and how much effort has been put into letting the student body know about it—I don’t see it being very balanced in that sense,” Guedes said.
Sophomore commissioner Jose Lopez was concerned about the possibility of poor attendance during the weekend before exams, but Werder saw it as an oppor-tunity for the Commission
to help spread word about the event.
“If we choose to fund this, then we have a chance to really put our mouths where our money is,” he said. “We can all help spread the word—tell our friends and go ourselves.”
Following discussion, the Commission voted to approve $3,520 for the event.
Before the meeting’s close, the Commission voted to approve a reso-lution drafted by sopho-more commissioner Melissa Erikson in partnership with first-year commissioners Georgie Booker and Elyse Kaplan.
The resolution “calls upon the Michigan Legislature to pass HB 5691 that will protect unpaid interns in the State of Michigan from sexual harassment and mis-conduct in the workplace by amending the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Act, and expanding the definition of “employee” to include unpaid interns.”
According to Erikson, the bill is in solidarity with “the Associated Students of Michigan State Univer-sity, and their fight to end sexual assault, harassment, and misconduct of unpaid interns in the State of Mich-igan.”
Through passage of the resolution, the Commission also expects to gain public support from the College’s faculty, staff, and admin-istration.
To finish Olivia’s article, visit our website,www.thekzooindex.com
PAGE 312 NOVEMBER 2014 Features
Greg Brown looks back on 40-year career
In a matter of two weeks a majority of campus will head home to enjoy a Thanksgiv-ing meal with family, friends and loved ones in their own homes. Meanwhile across many different ponds there are Kalamazoo Students on study abroad who do not have the luxury of coming home for the holiday.
Several countries through-out the world observe holi-days similar to the American thanksgiving but very few include the traditional thanks-giving dishes of mashed pota-
toes, turkey, cranberry sauce, or biscuits.
Although the genuine version of thanksgiving cannot entirely be celebrated abroad several study abroad programs have made plans for the groups to gather and recognize this holiday.
In France the program di-rector has organized for the group and their host families to gather and celebrate the day during a lunch, said Mallika Mitra ’16. Additionally, Mitra and others in her group will eat out that evening.
Celebrating the day with one another is important to Mitra because it helps remind them of their families back home.
“For me it’s more about being with people we love and care about when we know that our families and friends are all together at home,” said Mitra.
In Germany, they too will gather to celebrate the holiday
during a meal. Each K student is allowed to bring a guest to the event, said Grady Schnei-der ’16.
“Everyone’s allowed to bring a plus one, so I’m going to bring my Turkish friend,” said Schneider, “I’ll get Bri-an[Raetz] ‘16 to use his plus one on my friend Nick, he’s an American from a Dublin school.”
Schneider said it is import-ant to celebrate then Ameri-can holidays on study abroad because students do not typ-ically celebrate the holidays of their host countries so it’s important and socially healthy to celebrate something.
“Holidays are just like birth-day’s, they give you a nice reason to get together and have that good healthy social time,” said Schneider. “It’s a healthy thing.”
Across the world in Aus-tralia, the study abroad stu-dents also plan to celebrate
the holiday together. Some of the students are even cel-ebrating the holiday multiple times, with each other and with their roommates.
Matthew Kuntzman ’16, plans to attend the group thanksgiving but also host an additional thanksgiving so that his roommates can expe-rience the holiday.
“I live with one other Amer-ican and we are holding a Thanksgiving for the Aus-tralians, Brazilians, and Ma-laysians we live with for the American experience,” said Kuntzman. “Thanksgiving for my American roommate and I is one of our favorite holidays and would such a shame to miss it.”
Although some students may lack the turkey or sweet potatoes usually a part of their thanksgiving festivities, the American holiday is not for-gotten, even from 1,000’s of miles away.
trisha dunhamfeatures editor
Kalamazoo Students Celebrate Holiday Abroad
For the past 40 years Gregory Brown has been in-volved with the Kalamazoo College Athletics and Facili-ties Management departments.
Starting in 1974 Brown began volunteering at the Field House and in 1988 he was of-ficially added to the Kalam-azoo College Athletic Staff. He has served as the assistant equipment manager, manager for the baseball team, security at the field house, and helps with equipment during the USTA tennis tournament in the summer.
Brown grew up in Kalama-zoo and has always been affil-iated with the campus.
“My dad went to K and graduated in ’37, I’ve always been connected with K,” said Brown.
Brown most enjoys the fall and spring season sports but specifically looks forward to the drama the winter brings.
“I like basketball because you never know what kind of road conditions there are going to be in the winter time,” said Brown.
Although Brown has grown to love K sports his main in-terests lay in trains. He has
two model train sets at home and enjoys watching films that feature trains, said Brown.
He also passes on his love of trains to future genera-tions by taking a few of the student workers to America’s largest Railroad Museum in Union Illinois. The museum is one of Brown’s favorite places to visit
“I take my student workers every year to go there,” said Brown. “It’s considered the best regional museum around the Midwest.”
Brown most enjoys working with other coaches, staff and students. During his time at K, Coach Van Nicket, the assis-tant football coach, has been most inspirational. Nicket has been at K before Brown started volunteering on campus and has been a close friend and mentor since that time.
“He and I have been here the longest,” said Brown.
Throughout Brown’s 40 years at K he has seen a myriad of events occur. Not only has he seen students and colleagues come and go but has witnessed the campus change structurally, cultur-ally, and socially. Through it all Brown has served the stu-dents as assistant equipment manager and plans to contin-ue as long as he can.
Kalamazoo College
trisha dunhamfeatures editor
Greg Brown (above) has served at Kalamazoo College with Facilities Man-agement for over 40 years
Thanksgiving festivities continue overseas
without families or American customs, or the traditional turkey and mashed potatoes
Michael Pollan, best-sell-ing author and journalism professor at UC Berkley, addressed a jam-packed Miller Auditorium last Thursday night, Nov. 6. The Kalamazoo Commu-nity Foundation invited Pollan to talk about the importance of creating a healthy food system.
After the standard com-ments about the Glenn Miller song and Derek Jeter, Pollan presented his theme for the night: cooking.
Rather than vaguely cov-
ering the many issues that plague our food system, Pollan focused on the one essential skill that makes us distinct from other species. It’s the “externalizing part of the digestion process,” as a dictionary may read, or it’s the more simply put “cooking.”
The average American spends 27 minutes per day cooking. (If that sounds too high an estimation, which is scary in itself, consider that the market research-ers’ definition of cooking is combining two or more in-gredients. Making a peanut butter sandwich qualifies as cooking.)
According to Pollan, we’ve outsourced this innate and sensual process of preparing our nourish-ment. He puts part of the blame on big food corpora-tions that brought the daily activity of the home kitchen into the factory. As Amer-ican citizens, particularly
women, began to spend more time in the work-place, a market opened up for convenience eating.
The commercial food in-dustry seized the opportu-nity, and our food started to be ‘cooked’ in incom-prehensible quantities, with the cheapest ingredients and most appealing packag-ing. But, as the consumers and demanders, we can’t blame the producers entire-ly. “We are all complicit in this system,” Pollan said.
He admitted that the ‘foodie’ movement annoys him as much as anybody at times, but he sees it as benign excitement about remembering this innate practice that is so sustain-ing and life-giving.
Carrie Pickett-Erway, President/CEO of the Ka-lamazoo Community Foun-dation, selected several questions from the pleth-ora that were submitted. When asked how to make
healthy food more acces-sible to low-income popu-lations, Pollan said, “Well, we could start by paying them more!” Applause rippled from the audience.
It is not about bringing local food costs down; “Your local farmer is not getting rich.” It’s about re-examining our government subsidies and restructuring our ‘living wage’.
Pollan thinks the next wave of the food move-ment will happen at the institutional level. It’s all about procurement; where are you buying the food you’re buying. “Corpora-tions and institutions have incredible power to change the system.”
Pollan’s talk brought the systemic and complicated food crisis to a more basic, personal level. What can we all do now to make a difference in the way we eat? Make a difference in the way we eat.
katherine rapinindex staff writer
Michael Pollan spoke at Western Michigan
University’s Miller Auditorium on
November 6 about healthy food systems
Michael Pollan is a professor of journalism at UC Berkley. Pollan spoke at Miller Auditorium November 6.
Best-Selling Author Visits Kzoo
formation beyond the theory that they gained in the classroom. The beauty of SCAR is that others would be able to gain that wealth of information through the presentations and the fol-lowing discussions. For Jagdish, this environment gives students the opportu-nity to engage in true and meaningful learning.
“True education is when you can incorporate what happens in the classroom with what happens outside; that’s when you really learn, when you connect the theory with the practi-cal, and SCAR I hope can bridge that gap.”
SCAR meets every Thurs-day from 7 to 8 p.m. and Jagdish is always on the lookout for interested for persons to come in and listen—and to contribute through research.
SCAR FROM PAGE 1
New StuOrg Fills Niche on Campus
artsPAGE 4 12 NOVEMBER 2014
The Festival Playhouse opened its 51st season with the famous and classic play Romeo and Juliet last week in the Balch Playhouse from Nov. 6 through 9.
Romeo And Juliet Takes on
a New Challenge
green dickensonindex staff writer
The Festival Playhouse opened its 51st season with the famous and classic play Romeo and Juliet last week in the Balch Playhouse from Nov. 6 through 9. Although the play is well known, the performances were unique: they reversed the genders of the actors.
The line for tickets curved around the edge of the play-house’s lobby. People packed the theater’s seats and the stage was set with golden arches, tissue paper stained glass windows, and two solemn angel statues. House Manager Kyle Lampar ’17 greeted entering patrons and then the play began.
In a play dominated by male characters and traditional-ly performed solely by male actors, seeing so many talent-ed young women on stage re-freshed an old play. At first, the cross-dressing produced some laughs, but the skillful
cast made it easy to become immersed in a plot we all know so well. On occasion, the cast intentionally uses the element of cross-dressing for comical effects.
The production also impart-ed a message about gender equality. The significance of seeing a man experience sexual harassment in the same way that women experience it daily was hopefully not lost on the audience. In one scene Juliet has a kiss forced upon her by Paris. It speaks to the
modern issue of sexual ha-rassment without becoming preachy.
The actor who played Juliet, Thaddeus Buttrey ’17, de-scribed preparing for the role of Juliet, “The first thing I focused on was my physicali-ty; one of the very first things the director told me was to learn how to take up as little space as possible.”
He also had to consider the mental aspect of performing a female character. “Besides changing my physicality, I
also had to change the way I think; growing up male, I’ve been conditioned to be very direct towards other people, and not to be afraid to be phys-ical with others.”
Buttrey referenced a scene where Juliet needs to get infor-mation from the Nurse: “My instinctive reaction was to put my hands on [her] shoulders and demand the information, but as a woman, that would never happen. Eventually, [our director] told me to get down on my knees and beg.
At first I was very uncomfort-able with that choice because it was such a powerless posi-tion, but then it made complete sense because I was playing a young girl in Renaissance Era Italy; of course I was pow-erless!”
The artistic choice of having the actors take on roles oppo-site to their gender, remark-able acting, lighting, sound, all contributed to a success-ful show. Kudos to everyone involved for putting on an ex-cellent show.
Kalamazoo College welcomes two original frozen yogurt flavors to
campus
Sweetwater Donut and Water Street Coffee Twist made its debut as Kalamazoo College’s signature frozen
yogurt flavor last Thursday. CEO and Founder Pete Pala-zzolo and Head of Accounts Dave Seidel set up in Wells Dining Hall during lunch to reveal the new flavor.
As a staff member working to promote efforts of sustain-ability in Dining Services, I was involved in the process of developing the flavor. We felt it was important to make it unique to Kalama-zoo while supporting local
businesses. Pete took the time to visit
students at their tables, giving advice as a success-ful and proud entrepreneur. “It’s not as bad out there as you think,” he assured us. “I mean, it was bad when I first started and I still made it.”
Students lined up to sample the new flavors and the feed-back was overwhelming-ly positive. “Oh my god, it tastes like a donut!” I heard
over and over, stunned ex-pression after a first spoon-ful. “How do they do that?”
Well, with donuts. Palaz-zolo’s blended Sweetwater’s glazed and Boston Crème donuts and steeped them in the cream as the base for the yogurt. This is essentially the process for making any of their over 200 flavors—steep the ingredient in the crème and then strain it out.
The reputable Sweetwa-
ter’s often blends with the K academic lifestyle when students require a caffeine boost. The combination made sense. Plus, coffee and donuts? It’s a classic.
As for putting a name on our twist, take out the redun-dant ‘water’ and you end up with SweetStreet. We could feature the charming brick of Academy Street on the label…
Thoughts?
Kalamazoo College
Public Tour: Your Take on Double Take2:00PMKalamazoo Institute of Arts
November 18
ARTBreak: Ladislav Hanka and Mary Whelan Artist Talk
12:00PMKalamazoo Institute of Art
katherine rapinindex staff writer
American People Abandon Calendars in Favor of Mass-Produced Food
BUZZKILL
Calendars were a nice last-minute gift that
used to say “I don’t care that much about you
and I don’t really know what you like.”
Another month already is halfway to completion and Americans have still been dating October as the current month. This permanent fugue state on the part of the Amer-ican people has grown in-creasingly frightening to
the United States’ govern-ment. The people themselves seem unperturbed, not a single American could be asked to comment because Real House-wives of New Jersey was airing a rerun at the time of attempted questioning.
Because of this month unawareness, the FDA and American government have teamed up to create the al-ternative calendar. All mass produced food, fashioned into holiday specific shapes, will now serve as the new time indicator.
Foods such as the heart shaped candy for Valentine’s Day, pumpkin shaped Reese’s for Halloween, and football
shaped food for the Super Bowl. All of these pre-exist-ing foods will now function as the calendar we once had.
Now, when Americans are writing out their checks to purchase Shake Weights in bulk from an infomercial, they will simply glance at the bowl of Santa-shaped maca-roni noodles on the TV stand next to them. They will then realize it must be late No-vember.
“I only buy calendars for the pictures of dogs and cats dressed up like deceased presidents,” commented an anonymous American. Such a sentiment is true for most Americans. Calendars, much
like an analog clock, are the dusty old sundials of the modern age.
Calendars are only a nice last minute gift that used to say “I don’t care that much about you, and I’m not really sure what you’re interested in.” That is the way it must stay. Why use calendars when you can kill two birds with one stone? Through the focus on chemically- soaked and pre-servative-enriched American cuisine, you can do just about three things.
TV dinners shaped like a shamrock will tell you the time, be prepared almost immediately, and give back money to the massive corpo-
ration that produced it. This is what makes an American an American.
In Kalamazoo, some use the farmer’s market’s produce to tell the season or month. This is also acceptable; however, keep in mind your money would be going to someone that actually earned it. Fol-lowing produce is also more complicated for time telling purposes. It is much simpler to discern the month based on jack-o-lantern shaped Doritos than based on the color of your corn.
However you choose to tell time just rest assured that the ancient relic of the calendar has finally been laid to rest.
shelby longindex staff writer
November 13-14
November 15
Super Smash Bros Brawl Tournament10:00PMGame Room, Hicks
I all the news that’s fit to print... and then some
www.thekzooindex.com
Story one. In 1990, soon after my husband and I were married, we decided to spend a weekend in Union Pier, Michigan. We rented a room at a B & B, and were treated very nicely by the proprietors. When we asked them where to go for dinner, they recom-mended that we go to a local winery. It was about ten miles away, they said, and a bit out of the way. But we decided to go anyway and the food and the atmosphere were great.
We left the winery at about 9:30 pm and about 3 miles into our journey we noticed a police car behind us. In a very few minutes, the police lights came on and we duly pulled over. The policeman came up to the driver window, which we rolled down, and asked for my husband’s driv-
er’s license. My husband gave it to him. He then asked why we were driving five miles below the speed limit. We both answered: a country road with which we were unfa-miliar. The police then said our license plate sticker was expired. My husband said, no it is not because he had just applied it the week before. The police then called my husband a liar, started calling us names and demanded that we get out of the car. I yelled, “I am a professor,” thinking that would help, but the po-liceman looked even more angry as I said it. (What hap-pened? See me)
Story two. I have a 22-year old son. When he was about 14, I took him and a friend to a Panda Express Restau-rant in a little mini mall in
our Chicago neighborhood. I parked in front and let them go in. I could see them through the big storefront window. There were three armed po-licemen in there finishing up their meals. As my son and his friend entered, the police-men walked over to them and put their kevlar-vested chests’ in each young man’s face. The policemen then blocked their ability to move along the buffet line and place their order. My son and his friend tried to walk one way around the police and they were blocked. They went the other way and were blocked. I sat there prepared to run in at any minute. If my son and his friend were going to get hurt or killed so was I. (What happened? See me.)
I share these stories because
I, like the vast majority of Af-rican-Americans, have many such experiences.
Police violence, like do-mestic violence, is usually a silent killer. The numbers of blacks killed today at the hands of police and white vig-ilantes has exceeded the re-corded numbers of Jim Crow era lynchings. Like then, it is largely invisible to those not affected by it and/or rational-ized by others as necessary in the war on crime. In most cases, police and state vigi-lantes suffer no legal conse-quences.
I am proud of the K stu-dents: who on their own decided to go to Ferguson to join thousands of all strata on October 13, 2014, of the smaller number who chose to engage in direct action while
there, and of all those who or-ganized and attended the rally on our campus on October 22, 2014. I have heard from leaders in the region and from around the country that our students are putting Kalam-azoo on the map in new and meaningful ways.
I have also heard rumblings on K’s campus that this is not “approved” social justice work and/or that our students should only focus on study and let others “over there” worry about this matter. Last Friday, eight students shared their own raw stories of abuse and violence at the hands of police or state agents in a devised theater piece. The au-dience was shocked, saddened and in tears. For many of our students, this issue is not and has never been “over there.”
K students are carrying on the legacies of Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Nelson Mandela and thou-sands of college students who went south to register folks to vote. All are considered heroes now, but this was not the case in real time. Rosa Parks was forced into poverty. Dr. King was jailed and ulti-mately killed. Mr. Mandela was a political prisoner for 28 years and many of those college students were kicked out of school. I know which side of this history I want to be on. Embrace our young activists; make them feel a sense of belonging. Let’s figure out together how this kind of “experiential edu-cation” matters and fits into K’s mission. History does not have to repeat itself.
An Interactive Letter: Two Stories and Student ActivismLISA
BROCKLETTER TOTHE EDITORS
Raising the minimum wage has been an ongoing debate in our country, es-pecially over the last few months. Although states like Michigan have voted for the increase, the current battle is in the fast food industry.
Recently, McDonalds workers have been pro-
testing for a $15 minimum wage, which has critics rav-ing about its absurdity.
They argue that by rais-ing the minimum wage, you would be paying $5 for a BigMac, we would break the backbones of business-es, and job rates would plummet.
The numbers, on the other hand, tell a completely dif-ferent story.
emily pizzaopinions editor
ABC news reported that raising the minimum wage to $15 would only raise big Mac prices 68 cents, a much more realistic increase.
However, raising the price of America’s favor-ite burger pales in compar-ison to the other argument: that raising minimum wage would break our economy.
While this seems plausi-ble in theory, and horrific
to our capitalist ideals, this is not something we see in places where minimum wage has actually been in-creased.
Several studies, such as one published by the Asso-ciated Press, found that in the 13 states that boosted their minimum wage, the job growth rate was 0.85 percent, significantly higher than the 0.61 percent of the
other 37 states that didn’t boost their minimum wage.
Another study from the Progressive Public Policy corporation DEMOS report-ed that if retailers increased wages significantly, it could create up to 10,000 more or new jobs.
So surprisingly, what we have considered a last-chance option may actually be a great way to jumpstart
the economy.This has a lot to do with
people earning minimum wage barely able to buy any-thing, since the wages value has decreased to where it was in 1998. So much for a land of progress.
While there is always a risk by increasing the mini-mum wage, the progress we have made so far make it a worthwhile risk to take.
Why Don’t We Really Raise the Wage?
Despite the fact that what trig-gered the movement known as “GamerGate” happened nearly three months ago, talk surrounding the controversy remains at the fore-front of both the gaming and femi-nist community.
Two issues are at stake here – journalism ethics, and the continued and intensified harassment of femi-nist women who speak out against misogyny in the games industry. While I do agree that journalism ethics are an important issue that needs to be discussed, the larger is-sue is the outright misogyny going on in the gaming community.
It is vital to note that the people receiving the most threats from sup-posed “agents of GamerGate” have been women challenging the “boys club” attitude of the gaming com-munity.
One woman, Jenn Frank, wrote an op-ed defending Zoe Quinn; she was forced to leave her position as a freelance writer for the Guard-ian due to the threats she received. Frank’s involvement with the jour-nalism industry wasn’t the issue – her opinions, as a woman, about the gaming industry was what fueled the fire.
Anita Sarkeesian, a feminist blog-ger who analyzes media, has gotten hundreds of death threats that have nothing to do with her “journalistic integrity.” Anti-feminist Gamer-Gate instigators actually bullied In-tel into withdrawing funding from a company named Gamasutra, which champions equal gender representa-tion in video games. Gamasutra is not part of the journalism industry, so why were they targeted?
Is the issue here really about eth-ics in game journalism? Absolutely not. The incredibly misogynistic
attacks on women like Quinn, Sar-keesian, and Frank show that this isn’t a movement about journalism at all – it’s about abusing and ha-rassing feminists who are intruding into a “boys club.”
Journalistic integrity is just a cover for anti-feminist rhetoric, just like how anti-choicers say they’re protecting womanhood and homophobes use the “sanctity of marriage” argument to further their discriminatory agendas.
“But not all male gamers harass and abuse women!” This is true. I know many male gamers who wel-come women into their spaces. But I know too many female gamers who have been abused and ha-rassed in a space where they should feel safe to do what they enjoy.
The phrase “not all gamers,” just like the phrases “not all men” or “not all white people,” stops the conversation before it can actually begin. The fact that women con-tinue to receive death threats from people supporting GamerGate shows that this really isn’t about journalistic integrity – it’s about bullying women out of a space w h e r e t h e y ’ r e seen as not wel-come.
#Gamergate2014 sparked nu-merous debates and arguments over the very broad group of “gamers”. Arguably the largest debate that sparked was that of journalism integrity.
After the initial wave of GamerGate sparked, many gaming magazines released sto-ries such as “A Guide to Ending ‘Gamers’” by Gamasutra and “Sexism, misogyny and online attacks: It’s a horrible time to consider yourself a ‘gamer’” by Financial Post.
This blatant attack on the gaming community was led by the gaming magazine indus-try itself, wrongly accusing all gamers of being “sexist” and overall terrible people. These claims of what gamers are was not backed by any factual evi-dence, which was the largest is-sue at hand.
For an industry to attack and falsely label their own revenue
source shows that Gamer-
Gate was m o r e a b o u t the at-t a c k o f
gamers than it is about the attack on Feminists and women.
Although there are a small por-tion of gamers that may hold those negative opinions of women and people that are different than them, this small portion does not represent the entire gaming community.
A study by the Entertainment Software Association conducted in 2013 said that up to 67% of every American household plays video games. Of that same study, it was also found that 48% of gamers are women. With startling facts such as these, it makes it impossible to make claims about gamers being misogynists when almost half of the community is women.
The gaming community is filled with wonderful people from all over the world and to make harmful and hate-filled comments generalizing them is unfair and journalistically dishonest. A journalist’s job is to report the facts, not make the news. Yet, that was exactly what the gam-ing magazine industry was doing.
Although women make up a large portion of the gaming com-munity and the Feminists working with GamerGate have very valid and pertinent claims, the attacks by media collected everyone, men and women, together into one category to belittle them, making the journal-istic side of GamerGate more about everyone and less about one group affected by this.
Overall, misogyny within the gaming community is a problem that needs to be addressed, but GamerGate was more centrally based around the idea of journalist integrity and the compromise of me-dia.
#gamergateOn Journalistic Integrity
BY SEAN BOGUE
On FeminismBY EMALINE LAPINSKI
PAGE 512 NOVEMBER 2014 OpiNiONs
PAGE 6
SPORTSNOVEMBER 12, 2014 THE INDEX
nick marshindex staff writer
Winter break is looming, and the typical Kalamazoo College student will travel home for winter break. But the members of K’s swimming and diving teams and bas-ketball teams are not among those students.
These student athletes will go home for Thanksgiving, and will return to campus by Dec. 1. During the break teams will keep active by prac-ticing, but they will also find time to create memories when bonding with their teammates.
“When we aren’t practic-ing, we are all either hanging out, watching movies, shop-ping, playing cards or just hanging around the dorms,” said swimmer Kate Cebelak ’16. The swim teams are only on campus for one week of
described last year’s trip to Tampa Bay as “sweet.” This year Baysdell and his team-mates will travel to Wiscon-sin where they will play two games and strengthen bonds over the experience.
While on campus, the bas-
winter break before their midseason meet at Calvin College. Then they will take their annual training trip to the Florida Keys.
While in Florida they will practice twice a day and will also enjoy the sun. “The train-
ing trip is optional because you have to pay for it, but almost everyone goes. It’s the most fun,” said Cebelak.
Just like the swim teams, the men’s basketball team also leaves the state for part of break. Chase Baysdell ’17
ketball schedule during break is intense. Baysdell said their daily routine includes team breakfast, practice, team lunch, more practice, and then team dinner each day. When they do get time off, the bas-ketball players look forward
to celebrate annual traditions and to engage in the Kalam-azoo community.
The basketball team vol-unteers at the local Kalama-zoo Loaves and Fishes food pantry. Here they bag pasta, bread, pretzels and other food that is given to homeless com-munities during the holiday-season.
Their favorite tradition under Coach Dougal is the ‘burning of the boot.’ Bays-dell described this as a bonfire that the team has with Coach Dougal each year where every team member brings some-thing to burn that they want to leave in the past. “Some guys bring old shoes they had inju-ries in, and some guys bring Hope College sweatshirts they have laying around,” said Baysdell.
“I love it,” Baysdell said, “We get to take our time at practice without schoolwork to do and it’s carefree and just so fun with the guys.”
The Men’s Soccer team lost to Calvin College on penalty kicks this past Saturday, Nov. 8, in the battle for the MIAA championship. Despite the lost, the team did not disappoint the K community. Instead, they provided very exciting wins along the way, and this season more students attended
the games than in recent years.The soccer team noticed the
student support and each player appreciated it. Team Captain Beau Prey ’15 said, “speaking on behalf of the team, we love the student support. I want to thank everyone who came out because I believe they are par-tially responsible for wins.”
First year Raphael Weidman ’18 was happy to support the team, “the signs on the way
to Hicks about the upcom-ing games were a constant re-minder to check out the games. I was excited to see K was facing Hope.”
Hope College is one of the Kalamazoo College’s rivals, “it was exciting to watch our soccer team excel this season against all of their opponents, but especially against Hope since they tend to be pretty good at sports,” said Weidman.
Men’s Soccer Ends Stellar Season with Support
The 2013-2014 Men’s Basketball team bags pasta, bread, pretzels and other food that is given to homeless communities during the holidayseason.
K Men’s Basketball
Athletes Prepare for Winter Break on Campus
“I think it showed the level and strength of this year’s soccer program.”
The team’s win against Hope College this past Wednesday solidified their final step to the MIAA final’s game. Player Kyle Hernandez ’17 felt very proud of the team’s perfor-mance against Hope., “It’s a positive step for our program and something we plan to build on.”
Hernandez said when going into the year the team planned on making the MIAA final. He said no one on the team has ever played in an MIAA final, “we have come a long way this season, but we won’t be satisfied by simply making it to the final.”
Even still, it is an honor for any team to play in the MIAA final’s game, and the K com-munity is proud of the ac-
complishments of this year’s team. The team, with the un-derclassmen soccer players in particular, will be prepared to play more exciting games next season.
Team Captain Prey said, “It means a lot to us knowing that they school is standing behind us in our endeavor. It provides us with an extra boost of energy, especially when they make noise.”
