From solo recitals to symphony orchestras, Oberlin concerts range in grandeur. Instrumentation, number of performers, and time to prepare affect some repertoire choices. Practical decisions aside, the more nuanced selections aim to create an enjoyable and fulfilling experience for the audience. Concert designers may pick a theme, blending similar sounds and ideas into a melodic conversation. Alternatively, they may create contrast by showcasing disparate pieces side by side. Every performing artist develops unique tastes, and hopes to share their distinct vision with their audience. The Verona Quartet, a highly acclaimed chamber group in residence at Oberlin, reimagine their set list seasonally.
Abigail Rojansky, OC ’11, the Verona Quartet’s violist, described their collaborative process of music selection in preparation for a concert cycle. Origin and time period do not constrain the quartet’s repertoire. They compile manifold musical works in a shared document before narrowing down possibilities through open discussion. Above all else, they prioritize beautiful music.
“When something is expertly written for the instruments at hand, then you are speaking the music through your tool,” Rojansky said. “Any physical challenges there might be to playing technically, they’re all for the greater musical purpose, and that’s very gratifying — when you feel challenged technically but can sense an exhilarating and worthwhile end goal that you can apply yourself towards.”
The Verona Quartet’s debut album, Shatter, encompasses their repertoire selection philosophy. Released in June 2023, Shatter features world-premiere recordings of music from current American composers. The title itself invokes a destruction of the glass ceiling and an attempt to overcome invisible barriers that hinder a borderless appreciation of music. Shatter celebrates the creative diversity burgeoning within the American music scene.
“They were all pieces that we became really passionate about, and all by contemporary American composers,” Rojansky said. “But each with a different perspective and very different voices. We thought that that would be a really exciting snapshot of right now, the current American landscape.”
The first piece on Shatter, a quartet by Indian-American composer Reena Esmail, highlights this all-encompassing, cross-cultural goal. Esmail pulls from Indian and Western classical music to weave a vibrant musical tapestry. From a fundamental standpoint, the differences in the scales used in both traditions present a challenge. However, Esmail’s goal wasn’t to merely combine the two traditions and push musicians toward a foreign style, but rather to create something entirely new.
“It’s not just classical players playing a style outside of our realm or a Hindustani singer singing in the classical style,” Rojansky said. “No, we asked [Esmail] about it, and she said, ‘I’m seeking to create something that is unique on its own; it’s another type of music.’ We asked her what she would tell somebody who says we’re trying to claim a style of music that doesn’t belong to us, that we haven’t grown in. She responded that as an Indian American, she feels honored and happy when classical Western players can partake in what she understands, grew up with, and loves.”
Conservatory students are given a chance to try their hand at setlist construction during their junior and senior recitals. Blake Logan, a Conservatory fourth-year cellist, took the opportunity to branch away from traditional classical pieces.
“I was trying to challenge the canon of what is usually performed and the idea that there are a couple of composers that are geniuses and that those are the only ones that are worth learning as a classical music student,” Logan said. “I feel like I can learn so much and grow in so many different ways by playing these pieces that are less well known.”
Logan’s finalized setlist included repertoire from a contemporary Finnish composer, an arrangement of Klezmer folk music, and a self-composed piece. They wanted to perform music that matched their own personality, which required reaching outside the box. The Jewish folk songs and modern compositions acted as a refreshing break from Logan’s 16 years of classical music study.
Including a specific piece in a concert informs the audience of that composition’s perceived value. The exploration of new music in addition to paying homage to the established greats is required to prevent staleness and stagnation.
“It’s incredibly fun to discover new things and share them with people, but it’s also a hefty responsibility because we know that we’re helping to forge the future of this field,” Rojansky said. “What people hear is what they’re going to know.”
The Verona Quartet and other modern pioneers of classical music forge a path for the future of the genre. Their mission is to imagine and endeavor to create a future in which all music is appreciated
“We know where tradition has brought us, and we are grateful for it,” Rojansky said. “We also have the honor of being able to imagine where the future will be for classical music and to create that future. But rather than reacting to where we are, our perspective is to put our minds where they should already be and make our choices from there.”
]]>This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
How did the quartet form?
SYM: I wanted to do competitions, specifically the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition because I had never done it before. When I transferred from Juilliard in January 2022, I was looking for a group, but I didn’t know anybody. I asked Drew, because I knew we had mutual friends from social media. Originally, we were going for a piano trio, but we found Jasper and Max, and we got together to play. We all agreed on competitions as a group, and we did the Advanced Quartet Seminar together in our first semester.
At what point did you recognize your success as a group?
SYM: After performing at the St. Paul Competition we listened back to our performance, and that was the first time I really thought to myself, “Oh, wow, we actually have something good.” And I remember before that I would listen to our recordings and always have a problem with it. I would think that we would never win anything. After the St. Paul Competition, we won the gold medal, and the BIPOC/Female Composer prize, which we did not think we would win. But when we listened to it back, I felt like there’s something. There’s an energy here that I never had before in a chamber group. And I was interested in it. And I started exploring it more in rehearsals. I still — even to this day — think all four of us have doubts about ourselves as a group; we still question whether we could work together. But we are all committed to getting to a point where we feel secure in that.
What makes the Poiesis Quartet so special?
SYM: I don’t know whether we have a concrete answer for that. I feel like a lot of quartets have a very specific path they set and we don’t really have that — we are all interdisciplinary people.
Drew is double-degree, Max is doing jazz, and Jasper is doing everything. I guess we diverge from the traditional ensemble in that we are always exploring things that would give each of us a voice. We really want to do commissioned works, like placing priority on new music or diverse composers and repertoire that isn’t usually played in a quartet setting. I personally would really like to work with visual art and other types of art that can be collaborated with string quartets.
DD: We also want to be a queer group when we play. Not only with how we dress and present ourselves, but more for the idea that we are spontaneous, we like being very stylistic and so on. We like to bring that approach to the music.
SYM: I think that is really inherent to who we are. We are all queer, and I can’t think of many ensembles that have openly queer members, like the Attacca Quartet.
Can you tell me more about being a queer classical string quartet?
SYM: The programming and traditional classical music do not prioritize queer repertoire, queer music, or queer performers. They don’t really talk about queer approaches to music, or any marginalized approach, because there’s an ethic to the way marginalized people perform. The way we play is that we find a collaboration that is inherent to us because it is sort of how we always found belonging as queer people. I think us being a very openly queer ensemble, with the way we dressed at finals of the Fischoff Competition as well, is a big part of who we are. It is not something very purposeful, our identities give us a specific approach to music, and we play music in a different way because of that. The majority of the groups that I am inspired by are comprised of marginalized performers. And there’s a reason for that. I think it’s because of their approach to music being rooted in something community-based or the value that isn’t really seen in this standard representation of classical music.
What does the future look like for the quartet?
SYM: After Fischoff, we spent five months deciding what we were going to do in the future because Drew won a job in Cincinnati. But, a week ago, we all decided to move to Cincinnati. Starting in January 2024, me and Max will graduate early, and I will have to drop my double-degree. I am just going to get my Bachelor of Music and two minors. We are going to pursue an Artist Diploma at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
DD: Yes, that is a two-year program. So we’re thinking it’ll be a really good opportunity for us to rehearse intensively, especially when we first get there, giving us some breathing room to learn a bunch of new rep, whatever we might need for competitions and performances in the future. Hopefully from there we can do more tours and find some management for it.
]]>The article additionally states that, “recent evidence suggests a misfired rocket was destroyed by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system in the immediate vicinity of the hospital.” While there has been speculation about the role of the Iron Dome in intercepting the rocket, recent evidence regarding this claim is inconclusive.
The Oberlin Review’s intention is to report the news factually and in good faith. We apologize for any harm caused by the inaccurate characterization of events cited in this article.
The digital attention economy conditions us to expect rapid change and gratification. We can unfollow or block a person, effectively removing them from our lives within seconds. We can open Instagram or TikTok and receive an instant dopamine high. When I open Instagram, I am looking to be instantly entertained. As I begrudgingly scroll past T-Mobile and NBC Peacock ads to see what my friends are up to, I also wade through an endless sea of content about the Israel–Hamas war.
On Tuesday, Nov. 7, I tapped through every single Instagram story on my feed to see just how much content there was about the Israel–Hamas war and humanitarian crisis in Gaza within a 24-hour time frame. Out of 165 users who posted that day, 41 had posted content about the war, with a total of 93 individual story posts. But what does this content actually accomplish? Are there real world implications from our actions on Instagram, or any other online media platform?
University of Pennsylvania professor Jonah Berger, author of the New York Times bestseller Contagious: Why Things Catch On, found that the leading factors that play into people posting on social media were social currency, emotion, and practical value. A similar Times survey conducted in 2018 found that boosting one’s self-image is the biggest reason people post and interact with online users. One survey participant said, “I try to share only information that will reinforce the image I’d like to present: thoughtful, reasoned, kind, interested, and passionate about certain things.” Social media is yet another vehicle for people to buy and sell their own personas and egos. Digital commodification is a topic for another day, but it’s important to keep in mind when thinking about why people post; I could write an entirely different article on how late-stage capitalism eclipses and tends to diminish interest in true civic engagement.
Activism and civic engagement as a whole exist on a spectrum, and individuals’ levels of engagement will always differ. Some may have the time, money, and ability to join a protest or donate to an aid organization. Others may only be willing or able to perform the simplest action of liking an Instagram post.
Many would characterize the latter side of this spectrum as “slacktivism,” a term coined by Dwight Ozard and Fred Clark in 1995 which refers to the act of supporting a political cause or movement with very minimal effort or personal resources. I’ve never been a fan of the term, and 28 years later, “slacktivism” has seemed to become a means of further dividing the political left between “real” and “fake” activists. In addition to the never-ending online discourse around political movements and crises themselves there is further discourse around how we ought to talk about these movements and take action on social media platforms.
This division makes online platforms incredibly volatile spaces, mostly thanks to our short online attention spans and the ability to speak our minds behind the safety of our screens. People, for the most part, don’t take the time to really think before posting something. Instagram is designed to keep you entertained and engaged. That comes at the cost of being accurately informed on an issue or able to have productive discussions.
The online fallout after the Oct. 17 Al-Ahli Arab Hospital explosion in Gaza City is a prime example of social media’s unparalleled potential to spread misinformation and create animosity. Initial world headlines suggested that the Israeli military was responsible for the explosion, which was deemed to be an intentional airstrike. For a day or so posts circulated and blame was traded. Not long after, news sources retracted these headlines, eventually agreeing that a misfired rocket from the Palestinian Islamic Jihad was responsible, and apologized for acting on insufficient evidence. Online arguments continued to unfold.
Ultimately, war is incredibly difficult to accurately report on. As of now we don’t really know who’s to blame, although recent evidence suggests a misfired rocket was destroyed by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system in the immediate vicinity of the hospital. Most importantly, the more filters a piece of news goes through the more blurred it becomes, and the news we consume online is incredibly filtered.
During the immediate days following the explosion, I noticed Instagram users using these conflicting headlines to further their own arguments and — going back to the concept of social currency — bolster their self-image and stance on the conflict as a whole.
So we know why people post online, and we know what happens when you mix that with heavy, emotionally-tolling issues that many people have physical ties to, the Israel-Hamas war being the current example. But who benefits from this online anger, volatility, and misinformation? It’s not the people of the United States — anti-Arab and antisemitic acts of hate and violence are incredibly high right now, and we are more divided on the Israel —
Palestine conflict than ever before. The Gazans who desperately need clean water do not need an influencer’s infographic endlessly circulating, they need donations from all of us and aid from the United States government. The only people benefiting from what a recent Atlantic article aptly described as the “informational jungle” and “tangled vegetation” that has taken over social media platforms following the Oct. 7 massacre are those contributing to this “jungle.”
I’m not saying not to post about the Israel–Palestine conflict. Social media is many people’s first experience with activism and a gateway to political awareness. Others rely on social media to know when protests are happening, or to discover organizations to donate to. What I am asking is for people to be more cognizant as to why they post something, what immediate effect that post has in an online space, and who may be actually benefiting from it.
]]>The first and second round games were played with mini goals and no goalkeepers. However, for the third and final round, teams played with regular soccer goals and goalkeepers. Each game was around 30–45 minutes long. The referees for the tournament were third-year Zoe Garver and fourth-year Brynn Adams, who are both women’s soccer players and recent All-NCAC honorees.
College third-year Olivia Gonzalez is on the club soccer team and played in the tournament. Her team — Koby’s BFFs, named after third-year Koby Mbonu — was a mix of College students, varsity soccer players, and members of other varsity teams.
“I had a great time at the tournament!” Gonzalez wrote in an email to the Review. “It was awesome for BSAG to organize this event, and I’m really proud of the turnout and success!! I was on Koby’s BFFs and despite our early elimination to Him (which actually featured a lot of my club soccer friends), we still had a blast.”
Gonzalez joined club soccer at the end of her first year, and though she believes she still has a long way to go in improving her game, it has given her an opportunity to practice a sport she loves.
“It was definitely daunting to join the club at first because I hadn’t played since middle school,” Gonzalez wrote. “However, we have practices 4–5 times a week, and slowly I’ve improved!”
These days, Gonzalez serves on the club soccer leadership committee team, which helped with the organization of the soccer tournament.
“BSAG invited me to one of their meetings to discuss logistics for the event and to run some ideas by club soccer regarding game timing, promotion, and rules,” Gonzalez wrote. “But I credit the majority of the event planning and success of the event to BSAG!”
Mbonu, who is co-chair of BSAG and on the men’s soccer team, served as one of the main organizers for this event.
“BSAG wanted to create another sports tournament for the Oberlin community and decided a soccer tournament would be the best idea,” Mbonu wrote in an email to the Review. “We partnered with Club Soccer and Yeofit (who were great to work with) and had an amazing time.”
Mbonu reached out to the club soccer team because it would guarantee players for the tournament. He also reached out to YeoFit since they would provide resources for the event, such as hoodies and frisbees for raffles and food and beverages.
“We haven’t hosted anything in the past with either organization, but will definitely be doing this tournament next year so we’ll be sure to reach out again,” Mbonu wrote. “In addition, the athletic and non-athletic community don’t cross over too much at Oberlin so it gave us a chance to do that as well.”
Only one team could win it all, and that was Tacha’s Team. Tacha Lee, a third-year on the women’s soccer team, thought that it would be fun to put a team together. It was composed of all varsity soccer members from the men’s and women’s teams.
“The tournament was really fun!” Lee wrote in an email to the Review. “It was nice seeing a bunch of people play soccer together. Winning was also great but it was more fun to just hang out with my friends and kick the ball around.”
Third-year Samantha Gilfond, who is on the women’s soccer team, played on the winning team.
“It was nice getting a chance to play with my teammates again after our season ended and also play alongside the men’s team,” Gilfond wrote in an email to the Review. “I thought it was a great way to spark friendly competition and meet new people. I love playing soccer and I am very competitive so it was a great way to support BSAG and leverage my competitiveness.”
When asked how the tournament was compared to a Division III in-season soccer match, Lee commented on the light-heartedness of the game.
“It definitely was a lot more relaxed than varsity soccer and I could just kinda enjoy myself while playing soccer more casually with others,” Lee wrote.
Gilfond noted the similarities and differences between this game and varsity games.
“It was super different, especially when we were competing against teams that were not made up of majority soccer athletes,” Gilfond wrote. “In the final game both teams were made up of mostly varsity soccer players which made the level of play pretty high.”
Mbonu, who also played on Tacha’s Team, had similar remarks to Lee and Gilfond.
“It was great playing in the tournament,” Mbonu wrote. “All around, I believed everyone had a great time though. It doesn’t really compare to DIII soccer at all because a lot of people playing weren’t currently training athletes, but the competition level was still high and I hope it will keep the same standard for next year.”
]]>Last week, the Classics Department hosted the Charles Beebe Martin Classical Lectures, presented by Argyropoulos Chair of Hellenic Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara Helen Morales under the title “Art, Activism, and Ancient Fiction.”
Founded in 1927, the Martin Lectures honor former Professor of Classics Charles Beebe Martin, OC 1876. Occurring almost annually since then, they are regarded as one of the most prestigious Classical lecture series in the country. As Chair of Classics Kirk Ormand noted in his introduction to this year’s opening lecture, the series differs from most other endowed classical lectureships in that rather than being funded by a single large gift, it was funded by an extensive collection of small donations from alumni. Each year, the Martin Lectures are given by a guest lecturer on a single topic, serving as an example and learning experience for lecturers in the audience.
This year, Morales’ lectures were held Oct. 30, Oct. 31, Nov. 2, and Nov. 3. Each lecture had a distinct topic and title within the overarching theme and explored several ancient stories including some of Aesop’s fables, “Secundus the Silent Philosopher,” and “Apollonius of Tyre.”
In the first of four lectures in the series, “Re-encountering Antiquity with Harmonia Rosales,” Morales discussed the art of contemporary Afro-Cuban, Los Angeles-based artist Harmonia Rosales.
“[Her art] takes Renaissance artworks that feature Greek and Roman myths and history and reimagines them to tell the myths and history of the Yoruba people, who were abducted, enslaved, and trafficked from West Africa to Cuba during the Atlantic slave trade,” Morales said.
Rosales’ artworks include “White Lion,” a re-imagining of Jean François de Troy’s “The Abduction of Europa,” and “Garden of Eve,” a re-interpretation of Lawrence Alma-Tameda’s “The Roses of Heliogabalus.”
In subsequent lectures titled “Aesop, Slavery, and Queer Kinship,” “Riddles of Incest,” and “Heliodorus’ Blackness,” Morales focused on numerous literary, artistic, and political themes. It included how both ancient and contemporary dehumanizing depictions of Aesop, who was said to have been an enslaved Greek man in the medieval fictionalized biography The Life of Aesop. That book portrayed conceptions of family beyond the traditional nuclear family, and images of Apollo — specifically the Apollo Belvedere — were used to support racism and white supremacy.
Morales also explored power imbalances and incest in the ancient story “Secundus the Silent Philosopher.” It’s about a young man who, in order to test whether all women can be bought, arranges to sleep with his own mother and takes a vow of silence so he can never again speak of it. These themes were also brought to light in “Appolonius of Tyre,” in which the King of Antioch rapes his daughter, leaving her only able to speak in riddles. Morales discussed other ideas as well, including ancient notions of race through the lens of Heliodorus’ “Ethiopian Tales.”
Ormand explained the considerations of the Classics department when seeking a Martin Lecturer.
“The Classics department looks for a scholar with an international reputation who is doing cutting-edge and relevant work,” Ormand wrote in an email to the Review. “In recent years we’ve also tended to look for scholars whose work is in some way interdisciplinary.”
For this year’s Classics faculty, it was Morales’ scholarship on an under-studied area of the field and her commitment to working through an activist lens that confirmed their decision.
“We were interested in Professor Morales for several reasons: her work on the ancient Greek novel, which is a genre often overlooked, as well as her general engagement with issues of equity and social justice as they relate to Classical scholarship,” Ormand wrote.
Mildred C. Jay Professor of Medieval Art History Erik Inglis, OC ’89, who attended three of the lectures, noted the contemporary relevance of the series.
“Professor Morales’ lectures were remarkable to me in … her ability to take texts unfamiliar to me and make them urgent and interesting,” Inglis said. “I was particularly enthralled by her discussion of Heliodorus, which demonstrated that bringing contemporary questions to ancient texts is both historically responsible and intellectually generative. The enthusiastic response of the large audience confirmed Morales’ success.”
]]>To our team, thank you for allowing us to end our collegiate careers by creating history. Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for buying into the vision of what we wanted our season to be and what we’ve always wanted it to be. Thank you for creating a family and sticking together through all of the cracks.
It took three years, but we did it. There’s no team like us. No one else is going to break out in dance battles during a timeout or do a catwalk before the game to Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love.” You all have provided a home in the chaos of what the last four years have been for us. We’re grateful it was this team we got to accomplish this season with. Every single person was integral to creating our family.
To our newest members, our first-years, you all make us so incredibly excited for the future of this program. When we look at you, you remind us how far we’ve come. We started just like you and can’t wait to see the people you become and watch you lead this program to an even better future than we can imagine. You committed to building relationships on this team and taught us how to be better teammates, leading through empathy.
To our second-years, you truly brought the joy of playing to this program. You raised the bar in discipline, and your love for the sport of volleyball is contagious. Each of your diverse perspectives and personalities taught us how to be better leaders through listening and making sure each voice was heard. When you joined this program, you reignited each of our loves for this sport. We can’t wait to watch each of your flames grow.
To our third-years, you are the core of our little family. We shared our first season with you, and you’ve grounded this team for the last three years. You started us on our leadership journey and have instilled confidence in us with your trust as we’ve grown up together. While you may not feel ready, we have full confidence in your ability to lead the team. You don’t even know how much the underclassmen look up to you and how much of a leader you already are. As we pass the baton onto you, we have a couple things we’ve learned. First, the person always comes before the player, and your worth is never determined by your performance on the court. Lead with empathy, and compassion will follow. Second, em- brace your own leadership style. The way each of you lead doesn’t have to be the same, and it won’t be the same. Everyone on the team brings something special, and it’s our differences that build our community. Lastly, change is a good thing. Over our four years, we’ve learned that, even though change is scary, good can always come from it. Two years ago, Stanny joined the program and transformed how each of us see the game of volleyball for the best. Without change, we could not have built the program we have today.
As our lives are about to change, we know we will always have a home here and can call OCVB our family, and we can’t thank you all enough for that.
Peace, love, volleyball.
]]>Tomorrow, Gotham FC and OL Reign will square off in the 2023 National Women’s Soccer League Championship game on Bashor Field at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. A new champion will be crowned this season; Gotham hadn’t won a playoff game since 2013 and the Reign earned their first playoff win since 2015. Sixth-seeded Gotham snuck into the playoffs with the final berth and proceeded to upset No. 3 North Carolina Courage in the quarterfinals and the No. 2 Portland Thorns FC in the semifinals. The Reign entered the playoffs as the fourth seed, beating No. 5 Angel City FC in the quarterfinals and upsetting No. 1 San Diego Wave in the semifinals.
Connor Stalions Resigns
With a dynamic offense and one of the most daunting defenses college football has seen in the last decade, the Wolverines are 9–0 and the No. 2 ranked team in the country. However, for the last three weeks, the spotlight has not been on any specific player; rather, it has been on 28-year-old football analyst, Connor Stalions.
A former Marine Corps officer, Stalions now finds himself in the center of the NCAA’s investigation into illegal off-campus scouting and sign stealing. Stalions bought tickets to over 30 games at 12 Big Ten stadiums and four tickets to non-conference College Football Playoff contenders over a three year span. According to ESPN, Stalions also bought tickets to the 2021 and 2022 Southeastern Conference Championship games via the secondary market. Sign stealing is allowed in college football, but not to the extent of Stalions’ actions. Teams are able to watch film from upcoming opponents’ previous games as long as they do not go off campus and/or use electronic equipment to record a player or coaches voices or signals. NCAA Bylaw 11.6.1 states: “Off-campus, in-person scouting of future opponents (in the same season) is prohibited.”
On Nov. 3, Stalions resigned amid the growing investigation into the program. He had previously been suspended by Michigan without pay on Oct. 20.
“I love the University of Michigan and its football program,” Stallions told The Athletic regarding his resignation. “I am extremely grateful for the opportunity I’ve had to work with the incredible student athletes, coach [Jim] Harbaugh, and the other coaches that have been a part of the Michigan football family during my tenure. I do not want to be a distraction from what I hope to be a championship run for the team, and I will continue to cheer them on.”
C.J. Stroud’s Historic Day
With 46 seconds left on the clock and two timeouts, quarterback C.J. Stroud and the Houston Texans had the ball down four to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. On the previous play, Buccaneers quarterback Baker Mayfield capped off a 10 play, 61 yard drive by finding tight end Cade Otton open in the back of the end zone from 14 yards out to put the Bucs on top 37–33.
Stroud, the second-overall pick in the draft, proceeded to lead the Texans down the field on a six play, 75 yard drive in 40 seconds to put the Texans on top 39–37, connecting with fellow rookie and second round pick Tank Dell on a post in the back of the end zone from 15 yards out.
Stroud finished the game with an NFL rookie record 470 passing yards, 5 touchdown passes, no interceptions, and a 147.8 passer rating — the highest single game rating by a rookie quarterback in NFL history. The rookie of the year favorite became the sixth player in NFL history to record over 450 pass- ing yards and five touchdown passes with no interceptions.
At 4–4, the Texans are in the thick of the playoff hunt, sitting one game back of a wild card spot and two games back of the American Football Conference Southern Division leaders, the Jacksonville Jaguars.
NBA Slate Empty Tuesday; Players and Fans Encouraged to Vote
The NBA season is in full-swing, but on Tuesday, Nov. 7, it took a day off. For the second year in a row, the league did not have any games on Election Day.
Last season, the NBA announced they would not hold any games on Election Day in an effort to encourage teams, players, coaches, and fans to vote in their own communities, increasing overall civil engagement among the NBA community. That initiative has carried over into this season.
“The league will continue to encourage fans and the broader NBA community to make a plan to vote and participate in the civic process,” the NBA said at their 2023–24 schedule announcement on Aug. 18. “As part of this initiative, the NBA will share important resources from voting organizations and highlight the civic engagement work of teams in their markets.”
]]>The dance used multiple actors to represent the people in the story, even having them represent different versions of the same character. It used spoken word as well as dance to tell the story of a child who is diagnosed with severe scoliosis and consequently spends their whole life facing the fallout of it. The piece opens with a row of people in lab coats surrounding a bed occupied by a single person. The “doctors” begin listing the conditions of the patient, speaking over each other until the words are unintelligible — a mess of medical jargon. Then the person on the bed uses their own voice to tell the audience “how fucked up I am.” This set the tone for the whole piece, and simultaneously made me sit up and pay attention.
I was diagnosed with a rare bone condition when I was seven years old. As a result of that, I have spent most of my life in and out of hospitals. I was subsequently diagnosed with several other exciting things like Cyclic Vomiting Syndrome — as fun as it sounds — and scoliosis — though not as bad as that of the subject of the dance. At this point I am well and able-bodied, but that makes me a medical anomaly and a fascination of doctors. I remember being so proud that the medical student assisting with my care wrote a paper about me when I was eight. I thought that the fact that doctors had never seen a case like mine was cool. I was unusual. Little did I know how isolating and dehumanizing that kind of “unusual” actually is.
While I understand that people felt “Patient 6183” was too long a piece for a show like Fall Forward, I personally relish the fact that something highlighting an experience I know only too well was able to be placed in it for the general public to consume. My entire viewing experience was spent sitting on the edge of my seat, engrossed in the story and seeing myself represented for the first time ever. I was brought to tears multiple times as I watched these dancers recreate the exact feelings I’ve never found a way to express.
There is one part of the dance that will stay with me as long as I live just for the sheer heartbreak of it. The scene begins with the main character lying on the hospital bed, staring up at the ceiling. They describe the mural painted on the ceiling, most likely placed there to comfort children who are suffering. But they are not a child, so the mural is not meant for them. At the same time, unseen by them, the older version of themselves is sitting on the bed next to them, reflecting on the experience of that day and how their mother must have felt. The child begins to describe the pain they are feeling, their terror and sense of loneliness. The more they speak the more desperate they become, unable to hear their older self telling them it will be okay, desperately crying out, begging for God, someone, anyone, to be there — and then, like magic, they see their older self. They hear them say, “I am here. I am here. I am here.” The two lock in an embrace as the scene changes.
No description of this moment can accurately depict its earth-shattering grief. I felt the tears streaming down my cheeks as I watched my own young self with the same childish pride, upset about the stupid “kid” things that filled my hospital rooms, trying to be brave and grown-up as I felt the pain, terror, and loneliness threatening to take over. I found myself constantly wishing that I could go back and comfort my younger self, that she would hear me as I told her that I am here and that I will never leave her behind even as I grow and move forward.
I understand that people will have their critiques about this performance. I respect and welcome that, as there is always room to grow. That said, I will always be grateful to Liz Hawk for baring their soul with such raw honesty in “Patient 6183.” I saw myself on that stage for the first time in my life and experienced an emotional catharsis that nothing has ever given me before.
]]>Unlike the walkout two weeks ago, which circled the perimeter of Tappan Square, this walkout led directly to the Cox Administration Building. There, SFP leaders announced that they would be performing a die-in, a type of protest in which a group of people lie down in a public place as if they are dead. Leaders also passed around a leaflet explaining the plan for the rest of the afternoon, which included the demand for Oberlin to formally condemn Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to divest from corporations that support the Israel Defense Forces — referred to as the Israel Occupation Forces in the leaflet — including aerospace and defense company Elbit Systems; and information technology company Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
At 2:10 p.m., students trickled into the Cox Administration Building and gathered throughout the second floor, the stairs, and the first floor. For about two hours, approximately 80–100 students led chants, sang songs, and laid down to symbolize deceased, injured, and grieving Palestinians. SFP airdropped a document to students in attendance with an email template for students to reach out to Oberlin administrators, faculty, and other campus organizations demanding that Oberlin “acknowledge and condemn Israel’s genocidal assault on Palestine.” At around 4 p.m., Campus Safety officers refused to let in more people, although some students were allowed to leave. Administrators left the building at 4:30 p.m., leading to a brief confrontation between officers and students.
Shortly before 5:30 p.m, students left Cox and went to President Carmen Twillie Ambar’s house, where an event for prospective students was being hosted. Around 30–40 students chanted outside of the house. At approximately 5:35 p.m, Vice President and Dean of Students Karen Goff exited and started a discussion. Students speaking on behalf of SFP asked Goff to clarify the College’s stance on the conflict in the Middle East, in light of the absence of the words “Palestine” or “genocide” in statements released by the Office of the President. Student leaders and Goff also discussed the context of the Oct. 11 SFP-led vigil to commemorate lost Palestinian lives, where candles and slogans left by students were interfered with in the aftermath of the gathering. After 40 minutes of dialogue, SFP leaders agreed to a later meeting with Goff and President Ambar.
Production Manager Isaac Imas contributed reporting to this story.
]]>Throughout their season, which lasts from September to mid-February, the team partakes in a rigorous practice schedule. Each week, they start practices at 5:45 a.m. on Monday mornings, followed by a second practice along with a lift in the middle. Despite this time commitment, the seniors couldn’t imagine a world where they weren’t swimming.
Weber has been swimming competitively since she was nine years old, and Ferrari since she was eight.
“For me, I could not have pictured my life without swimming, and it’s really difficult for me to picture my life in the future without swimming,” Weber said. “I think a lot of that has to do with how swimmers really work hard and I like the feeling of being with my team and getting through a really tough set together, or joking around on the bus on the way to a meet, or eating dinner together after practice. Those are things that I really value and I know I’m gonna miss once I graduate. But I think I’m lucky that every single team I’ve been on has been a really great group of people that are all super dedicated, super hardworking, and also willing to have fun.”
Ferrari appreciates the swim team for the values that they share.
“Swimmers as a group of people are really interesting and dedicated,” Ferrari said. “ There’s a certain value to them that other people — I don’t know, I don’t want to say ‘don’t always have,’ but there’s just something about swimmers and the culture that a swim team builds in my life that I really always wanted to keep. It’s kind of weird to be graduating and think of myself as a swimmer and over my competitive career per se. But honestly, that team environment and team culture and just the mentality of a swimmer — that I don’t even know how to describe.”
In contrast to some other sports, being named captain is not an election process, but instead decided by the coaches who use their judgment and receive recommendations from previous captains. Both seniors were named captains at the end of their second year and have continued to remain in the position since.
“I know in other sports, the best players are often chosen to be the captains, and that’s definitely not how it works on the swim team,” Weber said. “We’re not the fastest people on the team, so I think a lot of our role is being a role model to other people, so that’s a big responsibility. Also, serving as an intermediary between the coaches and the team, although we’ve been trying to kind of change the leadership structure a little bit so that more people can feel included and feel like they have a voice directly to the coaches.”
Swimming is both a team sport and an individual sport. Swimmers race against competitors to improve their own times while competing to improve the team’s standing, and working to improve their technique and endurance. As captain of a team unique in this way, Ferrari emphasizes the spatial awareness needed to navigate being captain of a swim team.
“I feel like you have to be aware of your mindset and where you are because obviously you need to be in the mindset to go out and race and be hyped and excited for your races,” Ferrari said. “But also, at the same time, watching out for the team and noticing, ‘Oh, maybe this person is really anxious about this event, or they’re nervous before this’ and just taking a second and talking with them and helping them get ready for their races is a lot of work. I also did that as a teammate and a member of our team, so I don’t think that was a behavioral shift once I became a captain.”
Weber points out that a common misconception people have about swimming is that it is solely individual, when in reality, swimming as a sport would not be attainable if you were by yourself.
“When it comes to a meet, yes, it’s just you and the pool, and that’s what it really is,” Weber said. “But, whatever you do, whatever place you get, that determines the points for the team. At the end of the day, your contribution can decide whether or not the team wins.”
Out of season, the captains run captains’ practices, which are lower-stakes and meant to keep the team in shape. During this time,
the team lifts, swims, and plays occasional water-polo games.
“We are also in charge of the team’s Swouse,” Ferrari notes.
“Swouse” is the term the team uses to refer to the swim house.
This team is very closely bonded and spends the majority of their time together, both in and out of the pool. Weber notes how at their last conference meet last year, which is hosted at Denison University every year, the team was just as engaged and excited as the beginning.
“I’ve never had more fun than our conference meet last year,” Weber said. “Everyone was swimming so hard and doing their best, but also you could see that our team was having more fun than any other team there. We were just joking around with each other. So it’s definitely the people that make the team.”
Weber and Ferrari’s first season occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, so they aren’t familiar with how the team operated pre-pandemic. As a result, they have prioritized creating new traditions. They express how much the team has changed since their first year, and they are working hard to ensure the culture stays the same once they leave.
One of their favorite traditions is the team brunch hosted at the start of each year, which the class of 2024 started as an opportunity to get to know the new first-years and reconnect as a team after the summer. This year, all the fourth-years on the women’s team are housemates, so they invited the team to their house to reconnect.
“Also, as a women’s team, in the fall we always go apple picking and go to corn mazes and do fun fall activities,” Ferrari said.
Going into their second year as captains, Ferrari and Weber are experienced in motivating the team to work hard and push each other. Now, their goals have shifted to ensuring they leave a positive legacy for the program.
“Swimming is a hard sport,” Ferrari said. “It’s a lot of time where you can’t talk to people, you’re in the water, your head down, and it can be very hard mentally. So just making practices fun, and making that team environment as fun as it can be, is kind of what I’ve been trying to work on the most.”
Weber explains her shifts in goals during her second year as captain.
“At first it was more about trying to figure out how to be the best leader I could, and I think that’s still true, but also with the mindset of like, ‘I’m going to be leaving this team soon, so how can I help foster the best team environment I possibly can?’” Weber said. “How can I make it inclusive so that people feel like their voices are heard? How can I make sure that people are having fun and actually enjoying practice, enjoying the need to not take anything too seriously for myself, for my team now, but
also to set them up?”
Outside of swim, the captains balance various extracurriculars along with their jobs working for the Admissions Office.
Ferrari works as a senior fellow with Admissions, a peer tutor, and an Environmental Studies major representative. She also does research with Visiting Assistant Professor of Biology Andrew Pike, OC ’08, on mosquitoes in Lorain County. She is one of the
officers of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee and also volunteers weekly with Oberlin Community Services.
Weber also works for Admissions as a tour guide and is part of OSteel, Oberlin’s steel pan ensemble. Along with this, she is an America Reads tutor and has been in the same fifth-grade classroom at Oberlin Elementary tutoring English language for multiple years. She also does research for the Anthropology department. Last summer, Weber did a study-abroad internship in Peru where she worked at an non-governmental organization in Cusco that works with Indigenous people. This past summer, she worked in Cleveland at Catholic Charities Migration and Refugee Services as an immigration legal intern.
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