Reel Talk: “Worst Movie Ever” is literally the worst movie ever

By Sean van der Heijden

Last weekend, I got to see an advanced screening of “Worst Movie Ever,” which comes out this Friday. Directed by Kevin Smith, the film concerns real-life director Wes Anderson (played by Amy Adams) who tries desperately to get his movie made. However, the set keeps getting attacked by massive, bloodthirsty zombie cats, played by Jesus (who actually does a good job), McLovin, and one of the hyenas from The Lion King. It’s a ridiculous premise, but the whole thing was supposed to be a satire. Needless to say, I didn’t get it.

Let me start, though, with the makeup—it was fantastic. I couldn’t even recognize Jesus underneath all the fur and prosthetic hind legs. Also, Amy Adams’ fake nose really does make her look like Wes Anderson—it’s kind of creepy. She captures his pretentious, quirky personality pretty well, too.

But that’s about it for the good stuff. It was nice to see the hyena do something new after a 21-year hiatus, but he had terrible chemistry with both Jesus and McLovin. I just couldn’t picture the three of them wanting to eat Amy Adams’ brains out. Also, McLovin is terribly miscast—he does not make a realistic zombie cat at all and you can totally still hear his American accent when he tries to purr or meow. He should just go back to being in Superbad.

As for the plot itself, it’s ridiculous. If the whole thing is supposed to be a satire of how hard it is to get a movie made in Hollywood nowadays, then why would they make Wes Anderson the main character? First off, he doesn’t even make movies in Hollywood, but also—coming off of the success of The Grand Budapest Hotel, he could make whatever movie he wanted to.

Anyways, adding zombie cats seemed like a cool idea, but the deaths were way too predictable. There are some good scares and a lot of blood, but it’s all too generic. If you want a zombie movie, just go see The Evil Dead or something; if you want an Amy Adams movie—just pick anything, she’s probably in it; and if you want a Wes Anderson movie, well, just go watch a Wes Anderson movie. The three don’t go well together, although I have a feeling it’s because of the zombie cats.

So basically, it’s terrible. If the people who wrote Twilight and the people who wrote Fifty Shades of Grey got together and had a baby, it would be this movie—that’s how terrible the writing and chemistry is. I’d rather see Dakota Johnson and whatever his name is stare at each other awkwardly for two more hours than have to sit through this mess again. It really isn’t worth your money.

Overall: 0 out of 10 (but I feel like a zero is still too high).

Skidmore College Cancels Spring

By Andrew Shi, '15  

The Skidmore News has learned that the administration unilaterally canceled spring. The decision came about a month ago, but went unannounced in the hope that students wouldn't notice. The recent cancellation is only the newest in a string of terminated long-held traditions that the administration has made this academic year. Last fall the administration cancelled Moorebid and fun.

When asked why they cancelled spring, the administration replied that it was part of their newest initiative to cut down drinking. "There is a clear correlation between warm weather and partying. If it's cold, fewer students are willing to brave the outdoors on a Friday or Saturday night," said Jeffrey Bryant, Assistant Dean of Student Life.

However, the newest ban on spring may have counterproductive repercussions, as some students are searching for an answer to the unending dismal weather at the bottom of the bottle. "My friends and I have made a drinking game out of it," Janet Bradley '17 said. "We take a shot for every degree the high is below forty and an additional four shots for every inch of snow. I've taken sixteen shots in the last two days."

Surprisingly, the College has received little backlash for their action. "I would go protest, but it is literally freezing outside," Henry Sims said. "I might send a strongly worded letter instead."

However, the College's brash decision has raised the specter that the College might move to cancel Fun Day, Skidmore's other 4/20.

"We did consider it [banning Fun Day], but decided against it in the end" Bryant said. "The fact of the matter is that even if the weather is warm enough, and somehow all the snow melts, knowing Saratoga it'll probably just rain anyways."

Summer is still scheduled to commence once the semester ends, but not a moment before.

April Horoscopes

By Cara Dempsey, Pulp co-editor  

Aries

April will present challenges for you, Aries. At approximately 2 a.m./p.m. on Thursday, April 32, your roommate will start auctioning off your underwear to members of the lacrosse team. Bids will begin at three cents, and you will be disappointed at how little your underwear is actually worth to strangers. Guard your panties.

Taurus

Now is the time to make the career move that you've been thinking of, Taurus. Put on your best fitting trousers and give your current employer a good look at that middle digit because success is on the horizon. In fact, call the ol' boss up right now. Let them know that the stars are in your outer space basketball court this month, and you sure as shoe-shine don't need their minimum wage anymore! Call me after and let me know how it goes.

Gemini

Umm, sorry, Gemini, but I'm still not talking to you. Last weekend was, like, seriously uncool and you know it.

Cancer

I'm so sorry to hear about everything. How are the treatments? Just know that we're all so proud of you for how strong you've been since they diagnosed you. I think things will get better this month. Keep your chin up, buttercup!

Leo

You're a regular DiCaprio! This is the perfect time to pursue your theatrical dreams. Try out for the school play! If it's too late to try out for the school play, buy a ticket and support the arts! That way, if anyone is kind of crappy, you can write a review so scathing, they'll have to be recast immediately. When that happens, they'll know who to call! (Ghostbusters)

Virgo

When your professor hands that paper back tomorrow, do yo'self a favor and toss that thing in the trash face down. It's better this way. You don't want no part of that shit.

Scorpio

Just so you know, Scorpio, I heard what happened with Gemini this weekend, so there isn't any point in making small talk. We're done. Fuggedaboutit.

Sagittarius

You're going to have a great weekend beginning on Friday the 10th. In fact, it might be a little too great. You're not going to remember a thing. Allow me to help: you kissed a girl that looked exactly like Bobby in the bathroom while your roommate was doing a strip tease on top of her lofted bed to the tune of the Animaniacs theme song. Everyone loved it. Campo came, and your Res Life meeting will be on the following Tuesday morning.

Capricorn

Hey, Capricorn, did you know that the Center for Sex and Gender is located on the third floor of case and sells pregnancy tests for way cheaper than CVS? Seriously! It's only, like, 3 dollars! Why am I doing what? Oh, no reason.

Aquarius

Damn, is that you? You look pretty good right this month. Aquarius could get it.

Pisces

It's time to reconnect with family this month, Pisces. Go find your mother. Oh, also, I think that you're finally old enough to know that you're adopted.

Libra

Libra, now is the time to dance and love. Be your own queen bee. This month may very well be your life's peak. Enjoy it!

Weekend A&E Briefing

Breakbeats Final Show

March 27, 8p.m., Filene Hall

Come by and see a lot of dancing with performances by Skidmore Breakbeats, 213 Crew, Rithmos, Ujima Step Team, Skidmore Sonneteers, Skidmore Circus Club, Stompin’ Soles, and Pulse.

The Jacob Perlow Event Series Presents: “Life in a Jar”

March 27, 3p.m. & March 28, 7p.m., Filene Hall

This play is based on the true story of Irena Sendler, a Holocaust hero who saved the lives of 2,500 Jewish children during the Holocaust. It also tells the story of the Kansas students who discovered her story and transformed it into a play. Suggested donations are $5-$10 for Skidmore students and $10-$20 for the public. Proceeds go to the Life in a Jar Foundation towards the work of Holocaust education and the Children of the Holocaust Association in Poland.

The Feminist Monologues

March 28, 2p.m., Wilson Chapel

Every year the Feminist Action Network (FAN) produces and sponsors a production of Eve Ensler's "The Vagina Monologues." But this year is different. Instead, it is a performance of monologues and poems written by Skidmore students themselves. It is about feminism, sexuality, body image, womanhood, self-love, and survival. Tickets are a recommended $5 donation and all proceeds go to Wellspring (formerly known as Saratoga DVRC) and GEMS: Girls Educational & Mentoring Services. The Feminist Monologues are directed by Clara Moser, Mariah Guevin, and Isabella León-Chambers.

 

AKT& Ad-Libs Improv Comedy Mega-Show

March 28, 9-10p.m., Davis Auditorium

Two comedy groups come together in one joint show.

 

TuftsMORE: An A Cappella Jam

March 28, 10:30p.m., Wilson Chapel

The Skidmore Dynamics and Tufts SQ perform in one must-see show.

Scientology exposed in new documentary

By Sean van der Heijden '16, Staff Writer/Copy Editor

We all know scientology as that weird religion Tom Cruise and John Travolta follow, but how much more do you really know? In Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Oscar-winning documentarian, Alex Gibney explores the religion’s origins in the 1950s, all the way through it’s transformation into one of the biggest cults ever. It’s fascinating stuff, and even if you think you know a lot about scientology, it’s well worth a watch.

I was personally surprised with how much archive footage they had—inside looks into scientology conventions (which are totally insane and include way too many fireworks), private recordings from scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, and a bunch of behind-the-scenes photos into how the religion first started. Additionally, they got a ton of people to speak out—from Crash director Paul Haggis, to actor Jason Beghe, and four of the former top executives.

All the stories are fascinating and tragic—the church tries to recruit vulnerable people and convinces them it can solve their problems. Then, only once you’ve invested years of time and thousands of dollars in the church, they tell you about their founding belief—a bizarre science fiction tale involving aliens and ghosts, based on Hubbard’s pulp fiction novels from the 50s. It’s really weird, but is integrated so sneakily into the church’s lessons that a lot of people believe it.

There are also, of course, allegations of abuse on many occasions. There are stories of people being locked up in small rooms together, forced to clean bathrooms with toothbrushes, of children being separated from their mothers and kept in urine-soaked cribs. There are stories of bribery in order to get tax write-offs and donations, of stalking and attacking former members, and one accusation that the church orchestrated the divorce between Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman.

Some of these stories and claims have been heard before, but never have they been compiled together in such a concise way and with such damning evidence to back up all of the claims. The stories of those who have left the church, too, are truly heartbreaking—I was left wondering, in the end, how the church is still functioning today. Why has there been no government intervention? No official investigation into the church’s wrongdoings? They truly are a powerful entity—a whole religion that really is stranger than fiction.

Going Clear premiers on HBO on Sunday, March 29 at 8:00 pm, and opens in select theaters on May 16.

Overall: 9 out of 10.

Explore the history and legacy of Indian painting at the Tang

The Frances Young Tang Teaching Museum and Art Gallery at Skidmore College announces tours, talks and workshops in conjunction with the exhibition Realms of Earth and Sky: Indian Paintings from the Fifteenth to Nineteenth Century. All events are free and open to the public.

Public Tour

Thursday, April 2, 6 p.m.

Tour of Realms of Earth and Sky with Gabriela Perez-Dietz '15 as part of her spring 2015 Independent Study with Saleema Waraich, Assistant Professor of Art History. An Art History and Anthropology double major, Perez-Dietz has been exploring museum education and the Realms of Earth and Sky exhibition.

Lecture with Molly Aitken and Dipti Khera

Thursday, April 2, 7 p.m.

Two leading scholars of Rajput painting—Molly Aitken, Associate Professor of Art History at The City College of New York, and Dipti Khera, Assistant Professor of Art History at New York University—will lecture on pleasure in Rajput painting, and will discuss how pleasure was both invoked within and also extended beyond the confines of the page. Made possible by the Alfred Z. Solomon Residency Fund.

Curator’s Tour

Tuesday, April 14, noon

Rachel Seligman, Assistant Director for Curatorial Affairs, and Saleema Waraich, Assistant Professor of Art History at Skidmore College, lead a tour of Realms of Earth and Sky.

Talha Rathore and Hiba Schahbaz

Talk: Thursday, April 16, 7:30 p.m.

Workshop: Friday, April 17, 12-2 p.m. and 2:30-4:30 p.m.

Artists Talha Rathore and Hiba Schahbaz will speak about the traditional techniques in Realms of Earth and Sky and the ways in which each has modernized and personalized the miniature tradition in their practice. Made possible by the Alfred Z. Solomon Residency Fund.
Reservations are required for the workshops and may be made by calling 518-580-8080.

About Molly Aiken

Molly Emma Aitken Ph.D. is a specialist in Asian art history, in particular the arts of South Asia. She has curated traveling exhibitions on South Asian jewelry and contemporary folk quilts, and has published numerous articles on Mughal and Rajput painting. Aitken received CAA's Charles Rufus Morey book award in 2011 and the AAS Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy Book Prize in 2012 for her book The Intelligence of Tradition in Rajput Court Painting (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2010.) Currently focused on the late 16th and early 17th centuries, she is looking at Mughal receptions of Rajput court arts in the context of social pleasure. She teaches at the City College of New York.

About Dipti Khera

Dipti Khera earned her Ph.D. in South Asian art history. She has published articles and essays on 19th century Indian metalwork and early 19th century Rajasthani painting. She has worked with several museums including, most recently, the Arthur M. Freer and Sackler Galleries, Washington, D.C., and the City Palace Museum, Udaipur, India, with which she is developing an exhibition that reveals the major shift in Indian art represented by Udaipur painters’ engagement with conceptualizing place and representing reality in large-scale works in the 18th and 19th century. She teaches at New York University.

About Talha Rathore

Talha Rathore graduated from the National College of Arts, Lahore, Pakistan in 1995, specializing in the art of miniature painting. Currently based in Brooklyn, her work explores a variety of anxieties and dichotomies that emerge out of the immigrant experience and the quest to belong, poignantly articulated in a series of works made on New York subway maps. Her work has been exhibited widely, including at the Fukuoka Asian Art Museum, Japan; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Connecticut; and World Bank Art Gallery, Washington DC. Her paintings have been shown in various galleries in Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, Malaysia, Japan, Morocco, Dubai, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

About Hiba Schahbaz

Hiba Schahbaz trained in the art of miniature painting at the National College of Arts (Lahore, Pakistan) and graduated in 2003. In 2012, she completed a Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Museum Studies from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. Through the language of miniature painting, she pursues issues of self-identification, and in the process, she contemporizes and re-contextualizes “traditional” miniature painting. The subjects of her work derive from personal narratives and her relationship with her surroundings. Merging the symbolism and iconography of the contemporary world with the traditional techniques and styles she learned at NCA, her paintings fuse the real with the imagined, resulting in fantastical landscapes. She has exhibited her work internationally, in addition to curating exhibitions of miniature paintings in Pakistan and India.

About Realms of Earth and Sky

From the opulence of the Mughal court to stories of gods in human form, from battle scenes to intimate depictions of courtly love, the historic South Asian paintings in Realms of Earth and Sky offer visitors a chance to explore important cultural narratives that remain central to living belief systems on the Indian subcontinent. Portraiture, religious and literary texts, ragamala paintings, and works from both Mughal and Rajput traditions are represented in meticulously rendered tableaux contained in the small scale of manuscript or album pages.

The Best of Yik-Yak

By: Nicole Smith, 16', Pulp Editor

“I’m great in bed…. I can sleep for hours.”

“About to take a blow dyer onto the green and melt the snow myself since nature wants to take its damn time.”

“You think I’d be in better shape after all this time spent running away from my obligations.”

“Trying not to break out in hysterical laughter as someone right next to me lights up the stall.”

“Told a professor on Monday that I was sick and couldn’t come to our meeting, but really I was just unprepared. Saw her today and she said I still look under the weather. I thought I looked good today.”

“Nothing like drooling over a photo of a guy until you realize that he is actually young Stalin. You know, before the murderous dictatorship.”

“It’s the kind of day where I put on eyeliner but forgot mascara.”

“She must be a 14 on the pH scale, cause she’s basic as fuck.”

Steve Weatherford’s Abs Don’t Give Him a Leg Up

By Katie Peverada, Skidmore Alum Class of 2014

My friends and I long ago discovered the physical specimen that is Steve Weatherford. Way back in January of 2012, as the Giants and Patriots were about to square off in the Super Bowl, we ogled over his abs. After we got over our initial fascination, our main rumination was: “Wow. For a kicker, he sure is jacked.” Had he been a receiver or running back, it wouldn’t have amazed us as much. One Monday night this past NFL season, during one of Rick Reilly’s weekly segments on ESPN’s pregame show, Weatherford was the subject of the interview, and he gave us an inside look at his workout routine and habits. Weatherford’s habits include lifting every day, which is fine. But they also include extremely eccentric practices such as regularly sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber, which is a bit much. It got me thinking, though. Sure, Weatherford has the title of most aesthetically pleasing punter in the NFL, but where does he rank in terms of performance? In other words, do his practices warrant acclaim on the field, or are his less-physically-refined fellow punters just as accomplished? In his eight full seasons in the NFL, Weatherford has cracked the top 10 in yards per punt only twice. In 2012, he was ninth, with an average of 47.5 yards per punt, and his 46.9 average in 2013 put him seventh. Weatherford has kicked one of the top 10 longest punts of the year only three times. A 66-yarder in 2007 put him seventh, a 68-yarder in 2012 put him ninth, and in 2013 he was 10th with another 68-yard punt. His career long punt of 71 yards came this year in week six against Philadelphia, which puts him in a four-way tie for seventh. A punter that is—somewhat—physically the opposite of Weatherford is Shane Lechler, who is 6’6”, 225lbs (Obviously as a professional football player he has some semblance of a workout routine, but as best I can tell he doesn’t go as far as sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber or taking over 30 vitamins a day). Lechler, who spent his first 13 seasons with Oakland before going to Houston in 2013, has better numbers than Weatherford. Lechler has a career average of 47.6 yards per punt, which is more than three yards further than Weatherford’s 44.4, and his career long punt of 80 yards is nine yards more than Weatherford’s. Lechler has punted the ball at least 70 yards in seven of his 15 seasons, while Weatherford has done that only once. ProFootballReference.com uses a metric called “Approximate Value” to try to assign the value of a player’s season (it’s obviously difficult to have a WAR statistic like in baseball, but this is somewhat similar). The highest AV that Weatherford has ever achieved in a season is three, which he did in 2012 and 2013. Lechler, on the other hand, achieved a six in 2009, and has earned a five on three occasions and a four in six seasons. And that top 10 in yards per punt that Weatherford has only reached twice? Lechler has led the league four times, is the career active leader, and only missed that list once, in 2012. And he still manages to look not ripped. Weatherford isn’t a bad punter by any means, but his obsession and pride of working out so much and taking such meticulous care of his body is not producing the results. His effort isn’t giving him a leg up on the competition.

Making Changes That Last: From Self-Help Kicks to Habits

By Brittany Dingler, '15, Peer Health Educator Corespondent

The changing of seasons often accompanies the rise of self-help kicks - perhaps there’s just something about the looming warmth and summer freedom that makes us want to eat differently, exercise differently, wake up earlier, or start flossing...again. Whatever we choose to do, we likely do it because we get a “rush” from starting over or starting new, even in small aspects of our lives. “This will change everything” we often tell ourselves, when emerging from a rut (such as this long, hard winter) or when simply yearning for a fresh change of pace. It certainly feels good to think that everything will be different but, unfortunately, our reinvented selves hardly ever last - and that’s not our fault.

Why don’t self-help kicks stick? Usually because, as we’ve all seen and experienced around New Years, our self-improvement goals are too big and multifaceted. For example, USA.gov states that “quitting smoking” is the third most popular resolution in the US. However, to quit smoking for good involves addressing a physical addiction, changing or removing oneself from triggering environments, and creating substitute behaviors in response to stressful situations. Dan Diamond from Forbes, however, suggests that self-improvement goals like these are largely unsuccessful because they are complicated, intangible, full of loop-holes, and are so ambitious that we often lack the confidence in our ability and the patience to achieve them.

The key, therefore, seems to be to throw out our lofty, convoluted resolutions in favor of a few simple, small, surmountable habits that can be integrated into our daily life over time. Once it becomes a habit, it joins a cohort of approximately 40% of our actions that we repeat every day, according to the self-help guru, Gretchen Rubin, (2015). This integration is particularly rewarding if the new, positive habit replaces a pre-existing, negative habit - a flip, which is more easily said than done.

So why are habits so powerful? Let’s turn to neuroscience for some insight. In Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit, he indicts the basal ganglia and the brain stem as the hubs of a dopamine-driven loop that forms and maintains certain repeated behaviors. This loop works as a result of the slight boost of pleasure we feel from the dopamine released in response to a perceived positive behavior. One of the best examples of this from daily life is the compulsive nature many of us have to check texts and facebook notifications. In these instances, whether or not we’re aware of it, we give ourselves a miniature shot of dopamine telling our brain “Hey, that felt good. You should do that again.” It should therefore be no surprise that you hardly ever find anyone looking up in this smartphone era - the boredom of doing nothing, even for one minute, just doesn’t feel as good. Similarly, many of our negative habits overpower our new, positive ones because the latter likely haven’t formed that powerful dopamine-powered circuit that the former have. This internal battle is also helped by the fact that solid, formed habits tend to be somewhat automatic whereas newer efforts tend to be hindered by all the conscious thought processes we go through before we actually carry out the behavior (e.g., “I could get up now to eat breakfast before class but pressing the snooze button to give myself an extra twenty minutes of sleep will make all the difference.”). So how long do we have to wait to make these new habits stick? How long do we have to wait until getting up early without a snooze button no longer feels so painful? A recent study conducted by the European Journal of Social Psychology shows that, on average, participants took 66 days to incorporate a new habit. So, in conclusion, science seems to suggest that to turn a resolution into a long-lasting habit we must break our goals down into small chunks, be disciplined on a daily basis, and - as painful as it might be - wait.

Blurbs Overheard

by Cara Dempsey, Pulp Co-Editor

“You’re looking Chef-Boy-Ar-Deeeelicious!” Overheard in Palamountain

“She’s like human head lice.” Overheard in Case

“I wanna strap a tiny camera to a chicken finger, see what goes on in there.” Overheard in Spa

“Forget everything you think you know about Judaism.” Overheard in Palamountain

"They played guitar with a dildo. No lies." Overheard outside JOTO.

Editorial: A Policy of Administrative Silence on Sexual Misconduct

By the Editorial Board

Throughout the past month, the public controversy surrounding sexual misconduct policy at Skidmore College has escalated. Students have been speaking out against Skidmore’s current policy via social media platforms, at the widely attended Readmission Protest on Friday, and at the open forum on Tuesday, March 24. However, the school administration has remained strangely silent in direct response to the protest.

It is commonplace for Skidmore students to learn more about the happenings on their own campus through local news reports, rather than from their school’s administration. This is not the first time Skidmore has remained quiet throughout conflict--this summer’s campus safety officer’s arrest for sexual assault went unaddressed by the school for months. The recent student break-in and robbery of Case Gallery and Skidshop went without comment, as well. And now, Reina Kiefer’s sexual misconduct case and readmission protest have been met largely with silence.

We recognize that Skidmore College is in a very challenging situation. No official statement will come anywhere close to resolving the issue at stake, but saying nothing is also saying something. The school’s silence insinuates a disconnect between the student body’s concerns and the administration’s awareness.

This lack of acknowledgement is because Skidmore is legally constrained in what they can and cannot say. Regarding ongoing investigations on campus, the school cannot confirm or deny that these investigations are even occurring. This is understandable. What is perplexing is why Skidmore doesn’t just very clearly express to its community that they cannot say much. If they simply explained why they couldn’t elaborate more on the issue, the Skidmore community would likely be far less critical of what the administration does say.

For example, on the evening of March 15, the day of the readmission protest, Skidmore’s official Facebook page posted the following update: “Today, Skidmore students gathered to raise awareness about sexual and gender-based misconduct on campus. We are proud of our students when they give voice and visibility to issues they feel strongly about. Skidmore has a strong sense of community, as evidenced by today's gathering.”

This status update was met with a largely negative response. In response to the school describing the protest as a “gathering to raise awareness,” Facebook commenters said the wording was “opportunistic and disingenuous” and “appalling,” and that they were “controlling words” but “too little too late.” They mocked Skidmore’s mention of their “strong sense of community” in light of the protest being an expression of students’ mistrust and dissatisfaction with the administration. Commenters also noted that sexual and gender-based misconduct on campus is an issue portrayed as something “they” (the students) care about, not something the administration cares about. Commenters also noted that actions speak louder than words, so the school being proud of students is irrelevant, and is simply “soft-pedaling” the issue. A few commenters agreed that the post was a “PR nightmare.”

This is an incredibly negative response to what appears to be a fairly vague, harmless Facebook update. If this were not the first time many students, community-members, and alums had heard a peep from Skidmore about the issue, it likely would not have received so much vitriol.

In a comment responding to the question of what the result of the readmission hearing was, Skidmore said “Federal privacy laws prohibit us from commenting on any specifics related to proceedings such as these.” So, why make a vague post skirting around direct acknowledgement of the issue? Why open up a conversation about the protest when they are aware they cannot follow through? And furthermore, why not just address these federal law constraints in a post itself--not in a comment?

Furthermore, it seems that many of Skidmore’s students and alumni do not recognize that according to Skidmore’s policy, they must offer suspended students a chance at readmission. The hearing held on March 15 was not a unique situation--it was done because of Skidmore’s protocol. Skidmore should acknowledge and explain this too. The Skidmore News recently published an article explaining Skidmore’s Sexual Misconduct Policy in detail, since we felt students were widely misinformed and confused about the school’s policy. More deliberate full disclosure on behalf of the school would surely dilute some of the animosity directed at Skidmore and would help students feel less in the dark about the goings-on of our own campus.

In the Facebook post, Skidmore addressed the protest about as supportively as they could have. However, without the knowledge of Skidmore’s legal constraints, the post did come across as exploitative of the protest, condescending to its participants, and certainly opportunistic in the way they did not acknowledge it as a protest directed towards the school, but still used it to reflect positively on the school’s student body and “sense of community.”

Skidmore has not altogether neglected to take action in the wake of student outcry. The school is hosting an online conversation about their sexual misconduct policy with alumni and parents on March 31, and they hosted an open forum for students on Monday, March 24. They have responded well to the student body’s concerns, but we would all benefit from more transparent statements from the school.

The Overlooked Benefits of Exploremore

by Allison Trunkey '18

A trademark of the Skidmore community is collaboration between students and faculty in the pursuit of personalized, productive knowledge bases. In concurrence with this principle, Skidmore hosts “Exploremore” discussion meetings throughout this week and next week, aimed to provide opportunities for freshmen and sophomores to explore various majors and minors of interest.

At Skidmore, we are privileged to have professors who sincerely want to advance our educational experiences, but during these stressful final weeks of the semester, it becomes easy to forget that support and information are readily available. Exploremore connects students not only with faculty but also with other students who hold leadership positions within the departments. These students are willing and eager to help undecided students make the critical decision of what subjects they want to pursue.

Students at Skidmore receive what might delicately be referred to as an extreme number of emails each day, but out of the bulk that we receive, those about Exploremore are worth investigating. Particularly for those of us who entered college with vague (at best) expectations about our future major and job prospects, Exploremore meetings are advantageous. The opportunities these meetings facilitate, to have direct contact with potential professors and advisors is extremely valuable. The events often encourage students to share their past and future course interests within the department, while declared majors speak on behalf of their notable experiences.

However, for fair warning, professors are inherently advocates for their own departments, and they can be charming, brilliant spokespersons toward these ends. Attend many Exploremore meetings, attend just one, or attend all of them, but be prepared to walk away with a burning desire to major in roughly all of the departments.

Changes to the 2015-2016 Academic Year Calendar

By Noa Maltzman ’18, News Editor

Recently the official academic year calendar for next year (2015-2016) came out. The calendar is very similar in many ways to this year’s calendar but there were some major changes; the fall study day was removed and classes will be held on Yom Kippur (the holiest day in the Jewish calendar).

This change was made for a number of reasons. First, the 2015 holidays fell in such a way that caused Skidmore to have a late start to the semester and an early end. “This required us to add an additional Wednesday and Friday in order to ensure compliance with New York State contact hour requirements,” said Bill Lewis, the chair of the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning (CEPP).

To add an additional Friday to the calendar, the fall study day was removed. To add the additional Wednesday to the calendar, the decision was made to hold classes on Yom Kippur. “We made this change [holding classes on Yom Kippur] with much more reluctance than we did the change to study break. This is because, unlike the study day change, the loss of Yom Kippur will differentially impact members of our community who wish to spend this holiday with family and or with their religious community,” said Lewis.

Had these changes not been made to the calendar, then students would not have been able to leave until as late as Dec. 24. “These decisions were made as a last resort and only after all other options were evaluated by CEPP and by the Administration,” said Lewis.

Ta-Nehisi Coates Urges Students to Take Action

By Tara Lerman, '15

When I walked into Gannett Auditorium, just about every seat was filled with students, professors, and members of the Saratoga community eagerly awaiting Ta-Nehisi Coates’ keynote address. Coates is a national correspondent for The Atlantic. He won the George Polk Award for commentary for his 2014 feature “The Case for Reparations,” which was the subject of Thursday’s talk. The evening began with an introduction from Hope Spector, chair of the SGA Speakers Bureau and Dr. Jenny Mueller, Assistant Director of the Intergroup Relations program at Skidmore.

Coates began the lecture by discussing one of the most relevant instances of racism in America today: the shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Coates explained that citizens see the police force in Ferguson as a gang as opposed to an authority, due to their fining of citizens for financial gain. This corrupt relationship breaks the unwritten contract that exists between the government and its people.

Coates claimed that in order to truly change the state of race relations in America today, it is important to understand its origins. “People say that slavery is a bump in the road,” Coates said. “But slavery is not a bump in the road, slavery is the road.” He went on to explain that during the 19^th century, slaves were human property worth 3.5 million dollars, more than the production of banks, ships, and railroads combined. The period of American enslavement lasted longer than the period of freedom in America has thus far.

And while blacks in America are of course freer than they were during the Civil War era, there is certainly much more work to be done. Coates explained that the dialogue about race that we have initiated is based on manners. The real problems are found in the discussions we aren’t having.

“We have a choice,” Coates tells us. “We can continue to pretend that everything is okay, or we can start doing the hard work.” Coates compared the love of our country to the love of a family. “Love demands hard conversations and even harder actions.”

But how can we turn these actions into a reality? Coates urges America to stop making jokes about racism and discrimination. He tells us to start informing others about the issues surrounding race in the United States. The sooner we know what exactly is wrong with our nation, the sooner we will be able to fix it.

However, Coates recognizes that what he is proposing is not an easy task. He has accepted that we are several generations away from a society free of racism. He knows that he will probably never live to experience a free America, and he is okay with that. The reality, he tells us, is that “very few people live to see the fruits of their struggles.” But he continues to fight for freedom today so that future generations might one day know the liberty and equality that America was supposedly founded on.

Ta-Nehisi Coates has challenged us to begin to initiate these difficult conversations, and we must rise to the occasion. In our society, we are often more inclined to fight for our own rights than to protect the rights of others. But whether we choose to realize it or not, racial discrimination in America is something that impacts us all. It has injured the way we view our country and our relationships with one another. It has divided America rather than united it. With every racist action, with every racist word uttered, with every racist thought, the citizens of this country continue to distance themselves from true unity. The issue of racism in America is not just something we should talk about; it is something we must talk about.

Club Profile: Raíces

By Janine Kritschgau, '18, Features Editor

Diversity is often a subject that people subconsciously shy away from out of fear of unintentionally offending others. But by not taking part in conversations about race and culture, we as a community are overlooking one of the greatest opportunities we have here at Skidmore; to learn and to teach one another about what makes us who we are. Raíces, one of the diversity clubs on campus, confronts these opportunities head-on, and hopes to make others feel more comfortable—and competent—when talking about race and diversity.

The club, whose primary focus is educating others about latino culture and heritage, is far from exclusive. In fact, “one of our biggest accomplishments is how we’ve managed to create a larger audience this year,” says club member of Public Relations Wilson Espinal, ’17. “Everyone’s opinion counts,” elaborates Angela Paulino, ’17, another member of the Public Relations team. Espinal offers words of encouragement to students who may feel uncomfortable or ambivalent about joining the conversation: “A lot of people tell us that they don’t have roots worth exploring. We like to emphasize that your roots are what shape you into who you are today.”

What students may not realize is that even by attending a meeting, they are making a sizable impact towards the goals of the club. This year, a specific focus has been educating students about micro-aggressions, which are essentially unintentional racist comments that may seem appropriate to the speaker. By fostering conversations about what micro-aggressions look like and how they affect others, the club hopes to stop the behavior.

Recently, the club hosted a week of events called Mis Raíces Son Week. There were film screenings, as well as hands-on art projects like painting the windows in the dining hall and constructing a tree out of paper in Case Center. The most successful event was the dining hall painting, because the location made it possible to reach out to a great number of students, and gave people ways to express their identities in a creative and fun way. “Many students and staff members were excited to take advantage of such an opportunity,” reflects club President Keldwin Taveras, ’17.

The campus community can look forward to an array of exciting Raíces events in the future. Currently, the club is planning a talent show where students can perform. In addition, Raíces will host a parade-themed party before Fun Day called Vivir Mi Vida. Collaborations with the dining hall regarding a themed dinner are also a possibility. In any case, the club will continue to strive according to its mission, “primarily to act as a resource to students of Latino backgrounds, and secondarily to promote awareness of Latino culture, history, philosophies, people and other facets.”

Student Suspended for Two Years after Readmission Hearing

By Noa Maltzman ’18, News Editor

On the Friday before spring break, March 13, a readmission hearing was held for a sexual assault case that happened in April of 2014. On Wednesday, March 25, the results of the hearing were announced by reporting student, Reina Kiefer ’17, who released a statement on Facebook with the results of the hearing.

Kiefer shared the following:

Hi everyone,

My apologies for the delay. I did hear from the board today. They determined that he is not ready to return to the rigors of the Skidmore community. He has been suspended for the following two years, but has the opportunity to request another readmission hearing in the spring of 2017 to reapply for the fall semester of 2017, after I've graduated. Although their decision feels a bit incomplete, it is certainly a victory. I'm so thankful for everyone who supported me throughout this difficult process. This truly would not have been possible without all of you.

Thank you, Reina

Andrea Wise, Director of Media Relations, provided the Skidmore News with the following statement (she has given this statement to all press who have inquired today), when asked for comment on the decision.

Skidmore College remains firmly committed to maintaining a safe environment for our students and to policies that are fundamentally fair. Federal privacy laws and institutional practice—which are designed to safeguard student confidentiality and the integrity of our hearing process—prohibit public comment on cases that are being handled in the campus conduct system.

Redemption and restorative justice to be April 1 Skidmore topic

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Attorney Bryan Stevenson will give a talk titled “Mercy: Redemption and Restorative Justice for the Condemned” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 1, at Skidmore College. Free and open to the public, the talk is sponsored by Skidmore’s Speakers Bureau and the program In Our Name.

America has the largest prison population in the world – and the criminal justice system that puts the men, women, and children in these prisons is broken. Excessive punishment and abuse are widespread, and the collateral consequences are devastating lives and communities. Stevenson will talk about defending some of America’s most rejected and marginalized people. The stories he tells are heartbreaking yet inspiring and have been known to motivate audiences to make a change.

Stevenson is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative. His memoir, Just Mercy, is the story of a young lawyer fighting on the front lines of a country in thrall to extreme punishments and careless justice. It is an inspiring story of unbreakable humanity in the most desperate circumstances, and a powerful indictment of a broken justice system and the twisted values that allow it to continue.

Nobel Peace Laureate Desmond Tutu has called Stevenson “America’s young Nelson Mandela.” His work on individual cases has generated national attention and his efforts have reversed death penalties for dozens of condemned prisoners. Stevenson’s 20-minute TED Talk on the subject of injustice has been viewed 1.25 million times on the TED web site and another 150k times on YouTube; The New Yorker named it one of five essential TED talks.

After graduating from Harvard Law School in 1985, Stevenson moved to the South, a region on the verge of a crisis: the states were speeding up executions, but many of the condemned lacked anyone to represent them. On a shoestring budget he started the Equal Justice Initiative, a law practice dedicated to defending some of America’s most rejected and marginalized people. The cases he took on changed his life and transformed his understanding of justice and mercy.

Stevenson is the recipient of numerous awards, including a MacArthur Foundation “Genius” grant and the NAACP Image Award for Best Non-Fiction, and is a tenured law professor at New York University School of Law.

Skidmore to host March 29 program on cultural and cinematic representation of Italian Jews

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — Italian Jews: An evening of cultural history and cinematic representation, is scheduled Sunday, March 29, in Gannett Auditorium of Palamountain Hall at Skidmore College.

Yale University scholar Risa Sodi will discuss “Pitigliano, the (Italian) Little Jerusalem” at 4 p.m. A reception will follow at 5 p.m. At 5:30 p.m., Ferzan Ozpetek’s 2004 film Facing Windows will be screened followed by a Q & A session with Professor Sodi.

Admission is free and open to the public. Skidmore’s departments of Foreign Languages and Literatures and History are sponsors of the program, with funding from the Jacob Perlow Fund.

Pitigliano, a small, rural Italian hill town just about halfway between Florence and Rome, was known for centuries as La piccola Gerusalemme, the Little Jerusalem, for its flourishing Jewish community, the learning of its inhabitants, and its unusually cordial interfaith relations. Sodi’s talk will investigate this unusual town and community, also renowned for its stunningly beautiful silhouette, and provide answers to some questions. What made Pitigliano unique? What was Jewish life like in rural Italy? How did the Jewish and Catholic communities interact? What does 1492 have to do with Pitigliano? How did the Jewish community fare during the Holocaust? What is Pitigliano like today?

Tying together the rural with the urban, attention will shift to Rome, the setting of Ferzan Ozpetek’s 2004 La finestra di fronte (Facing Windows). The personal becomes political in this film as Ozpetek — a Turkish director residing in Italy — explores themes of love, commitment, loyalty, and amnesia of several different sorts. Along the way, he gives a “window” into the acute dangers that stalked the wartime Roman Jewish community.

Risa Sodi holds a B.A. magna cum laude in history and Italian from Smith College, an M.A. in French and Italian from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and M.Phil. and a Ph.D. degrees in Italian language and literature from Yale. From 1995-2013, she served in the Yale Italian Department as the Senior Lector II and Language Program Director, where she taught undergraduate and graduate courses on Jewish Italy, opera, film, modern literature, and foreign language pedagogy. She also regularly taught courses abroad in Sardinia, Umbria and Tuscany in conjunction with Yale Summer Session.

In 1990, Sodi published A Dante of Our Time: Primo Levi and Auschwitz, the first monograph on Levi in English, which drew on her 1987 Partisan Review interview; the book was reprinted 2012. She is also the author of Narrative and Imperative: The First Fifty Years of Italian Holocaust Literature, 1943-1993 (2007) and, with Millicent Marcus, New Reflections on Primo Levi: Before and After Auschwitz (2011). Her most recent publication is a chapter in the Modern Language Association volume, Approaches to Teaching Primo Levi (2015).

Sodi has lectured in Canada, England, France, Italy, and the United States on the Jewish Italy and Italian Jewish authors, Holocaust in Italy, and Italian film. She has also published many articles on these topics.

Since 2013, Sodi has served as the inaugural director of academic advising for Yale College. In that role, she supports the work of the residential college deans, freshman and sophomore advisers, and directors of undergraduate study, and develops new academic advising programs. Since July 1, 2014, she has also held an appointment as associate director of the Yale Center for Teaching and Learning, where she develops and leads programs for faculty members, postdoctoral scholars, and graduate students.

Skidmore Softball Spends Spring Break With Their New Family

By Lizette Roman-Johnston '18

After a long week of finicky weather and midterms, the rest of Skidmore Softball and I found ourselves in sunny, ninety degree weather, playing the sport we love. In Winter Haven, Florida, we battled against some of the most highly ranked teams in the country, ultimately beating schools such as Kean University and McDaniel College. We finished with a 4-6 record, giving us a solid foundation for the remainder of our season. Considering we played ten games in five days in heat and humidity, the rest of our schedule should be doable in the perpetual tundra that is the northeast. Furthermore, without the restraint of gym walls, we could execute and further improve upon the skills we have been working on since the fall. My fellow infielders and I could field grounders on dirt rather than wood, our pitchers could throw against batters they had never seen before, and our coaches could talk (or yell if necessary) us through high-stress situations. Overall, things flowed naturally. The team that had never played together worked like a machine. It may have not been well-oiled at all times, but we did a pretty good job of tightening up loose screws when necessary. Though getting some wins under our belt contributed to our overall satisfaction with the trip, nothing compares to the inevitable team bonding that comes with spending a full week together on the field, on the road, and in the houses. Up until I boarded the bus Saturday morning, I was worried about being in such close quarters with a team I had spent only a few months getting to know. On our way to the sports center, one of my sophomore teammates had told me how essential the Florida trip was to fully enjoying her college softball experience. I believed her to an extent, though I was skeptical that she was just saying anything to make sure I got on that bus. However, after seeing my teammates surrender all their energy to the Florida heat; after listening to a new friend open up to me for the first time; after sharing a gluten free pizza with my coach, I learned that she was right. You can have the best record in the country, but if your team feels uncomfortable belting out karaoke in front of their coaches and family, then where is the fun in playing? In a Division Three program, nobody is forcing you to play—nobody is being held against his or her will by a signed contract. When we step onto the field with “Skidmore” across our chests, it’s because we are proud to represent the program we all make up. Some teams in Florida may have never even heard of us, but after executing our playing philosophies, letting our energy vibrate through the field, and having fun with people we can all call family, nobody can forget us.

Skidmore Women's Tennis Edges #12 Case Western, 5-4

By Skidmore Athletics The 20th-ranked Skidmore College women's tennis team wrapped its spring trip with a 5-4 win over 12th-ranked Case Western Reserve on Sunday, March 22, in the Blue/Grey Invitational at University of Mary Washington.

Skidmore (7-7) won two of three doubles matches to earn the 2-1 edge going into singles. Danielle Ginannetti ’18, Brianna Greene ’18, and Michelle Fuca ’18 won their singles matches to preserve the win.

Fuca came back to beat Surya Khadilkar 4-6, 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 at number five singles in the deciding match.

“I have nothing but pride and admiration for this group,” said Skidmore coach Curt Speeschneider. “They were put through the ringer a bit this week, with six tough matches in nine days, but kept coming back with more and more toughness. They gritted out two big wins over two very good nationally ranked programs in the last three days. This team loves to compete, and it shows every time they step on the court.”