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Volume 162 | Issue 10 | November 21, 2024 | miscellanynews.org | | Welcome to the Miscellany News' weekly email newsletter! Each week's articles will be delivered right to your inbox. If you know of anyone who would be interested in receiving this service, please share it with them at this link. | | JACQUES ABOU-RIZK | On Nov. 14, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul said she will reinstate a $9 Congestion Toll on the majority of drivers entering Manhattan’s Congestion Relief Zone, identified as anywhere below 60th Street, to raise money for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), starting Jan. 5, 2025. Some Vassar community members are adamant that the toll creates new obstacles for commuters, while others say the toll could benefit the broader well-being of New York City residents. | | Image courtesy of Natalie Sang '27. | | ALLISON LOWE | On Friday, Nov. 15, the Mid-Hudson Anti-Slavery History Project (MHAHP) held the first session of their Vassar Quilting Circle. MHAHP is a grassroots organization centered around uncovering the history of slavery and anti-slavery in the Mid-Hudson Valley. Acknowledging that this history is often left undiscussed or hidden, especially in New York, the MHAHP website states, “All around us in the Mid-Hudson Valley, landscapes and historic sites were shaped by New York’s two centuries of slavery. | | | ALLEN HALE | Since Oct. 30, the College Center’s Palmer Gallery has been exhibiting “Slip,” featuring art made by Janine Polak. Although I unfortunately missed the Artists’ Reception on Nov. 1, I recently had the pleasure of ambling through the Gallery to learn more about Polak’s creations and life.
Upon entering, I identified a placard describing Polak’s artistic trajectory. She was born into a military family in Nebraska, frequently moving around the country before settling in Virginia Beach. After graduating from the University of Virginia as a studio art major, she later earned her MFA from Yale University. In addition to international exhibitions in Australia, Iceland and China, Polak has exhibited throughout galleries in New York, including: Sardine, Essex Flowers and Lorimoto Gallery. She lives and works in Queens, serving as an Associate Professor of Art + Design at SUNY Purchase. | | NICHOLAS TILLINGHAST | Late last month, the prolific video game company Nintendo released the Nintendo Music App, a streaming service for the music of its broad catalog of games, available for Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Nintendo has long kept their video game music off of digital services, with fans having to rely primarily on compressed YouTube rips to listen to their favorite tracks, so this announcement was exciting for me and many others. I downloaded the app and was immediately struck by how sonically impressive these soundtracks are in terms of streaming quality. The app in its entirety also illustrates the company’s nearly four-decade-long history in gaming. Going console by console, I would like to trace the evolving sonic landscape of Nintendo across time. | | Image courtesy of Tait Tavolacci ’27. | | CHARLOTTE ROBERTSON, EMMA BROWN | If America was tasked with voting for the greatest living writer, Colson Whitehead would win by a landslide; so said Professor of English Amitava Kumar in his opening remarks at the annual William Gifford lecture last Tuesday. A two-time Pulitzer Prize recipient, Whitehead is the author of nine novels and two works of nonfiction; he has garnered international praise and recognition for his creative analyses of race and power in America and his ability to experiment across a variety of genres, including historical, speculative and science fiction. He spoke of “Star Wars” and the challenges of a career in writing. He sang a rendition of “MacArthur Park.” There were no empty chairs in Taylor 102. | | MARYAM BACCHUS, LUKE JENKINS | From Nov. 14 to 16, the Vassar Institute for the Liberal Arts hosted the first of its six Signature Programs planned throughout the year. This program, entitled “EcoVisions: Finding Your Place in Environmentalism,” was developed by The Preserve at Vassar, The Environmental Cooperative, The Office of Sustainability and the Political Science Department with the goal of highlighting actionable steps towards climate activism. Each day centered around a different theme: building decarbonization for a just energy transition, approaches to conservation and land management and environmental engagement. We managed to attend and recap the second and third day. | | Luke Jenkins/The Miscellany News. | | JHANAE STEWART | In recent years, the national conversation around banning books has reached a fever pitch, affecting communities across the country. Following the 2024 Presidential election, this topic has extended to a new high, including at Poughkeepsie High School. With President-elect Donald Trump proposing broader book bans as part of his campaign rhetoric, questions arise about how these bans could influence what we study in schools—and how they might shape the way we learn about the world. | | Image courtesy of Jhanae Stewart. | | | MARYAM BACCHUS, JESSE KOBLIN | On Nov. 11, 2024—Veterans’ Day—friends, family, students and fellow veterans gathered in Rocky 200 in support of Assistant Professor of Education Jaime L. Del Razo’s talk entitled “The School-to-Military Pipeline: An Updated Report.”
As attendees settled into their seats, Del Razo’s wife Maritza Del Razo took the podium. She introduced Del Razo, providing his background as a first-generation high school and college graduate, whose parents immigrated to the United States with only an elementary school level of education. Del Razo’s life's work has come to focus on two important topics: College access and equity for undocumented students and the school-to-military pipeline, the latter of which Del Razo himself is a product. Del Razo served for four years in the Gulf War, and upon completing his service, left as a decorated sergeant. Outside of his professional roles, Del Razo highlighted her husband’s passions for his roots, community and family, officially introducing him as her favorite person aside from their two children before handing over the mic. | | EDUARDO CULMER | The last vestiges of tequila sour drip out of the sticky red solo cups covering the living room floor, crunching as flip-flopped feet move to NBA Youngboy and Kendrick Lamar with alcohol-induced abandon. Publix sugar cookies are split five ways between cousins and friends, the smell of freshly baked tres leches cake wafts over the celebration, and the laughter of three generations of family drowns out the sound of 175 mph winds raging against the metal window shutters that keep the storm outside and the party in. | | Image courtesy of Berk Meral '28. | | CHARLOTTE ROBERTSON | We are living in the most incohesive era of fashion yet. Whereas the past 10 decades are each distinguishable by shoulder pads, rhinestone-coated sweatsuits, beehives and greasy hair, latex catsuits, ballet flats and gogo boots, beadwork, perching hats, pant rise, skirt length and eyebrow width, today’s fashion is “all of the above.” The lifespan of fashion fads has shrunk, as has their return rate—rather than recycling every 20 years, trends are becoming nostalgic after five. It is fitting, then, that the 2024 Contrast Fashion Show was structured around “Archival.” | | Image courtesy of Leo Kogan '28. | | Anna Kozloski/The Miscellany News. | | | EVAN SEKER | The end of the fall semester is upon us, and with the roll-in of time, also cometh the roll-in of plague: Whether you have ringworm (annoying) to mycoplasma pneumonia (trying), quarantining is a must for any hopeful recovery. As someone now out on mycoplasma pneumonia, I have compiled a list of fun, enjoyable activities for any Vassar student hoping to spice up their sick days.
| Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany News. | | NANDINI LIKKI | Sometimes Instagram can actually be a wonderful place, instead of the soul-sucking hellscape it usually is. It can open your eyes to gaiety never thought possible. This week, while poring through reels urging me to travel to Amsterdam with the first person on my share list, I magically stumbled upon the perfect Insta account.
"Titanium Daydream,” created by artists Jacob Sluka and Ben Crouse, is described as a “3D saga in many parts,” with new episodes being released every Tuesday. The Blender-animated web series follows Benjamin Jacobs, a red-blooded American hero who’s called back to his hometown of Sleeper’s Edge, Iowa after having fateful visions that haunt him “like a "Titanium Daydream".” | Nicholas Tillinghast/The Miscellany News. | | SAM GOLDSTEIN | In 1517, per the Library of Congress, German priest Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the door of his Wittenberg church, publicly challenging many Catholic practices and setting off the Protestant Reformation. Yet at Vassar, where we supposedly value freedom of expression much more than the 16th-century Catholic church, we are not allowed to post political statements on the doors of Gordon Commons or anywhere else on campus. Through changes to the posting policy and seemingly greater limiting of postings, the administration has attempted to depoliticize the physical environment of the campus. This politically motivated restriction of speech weakens our community, fragmenting our social scene and taking away what was once an important place for both political and non-political discourse. | | WILSON PRIEVE | As I watched the election results pour in on Tuesday, Nov. 5, I was horrified. It quickly became clear that not only would Donald Trump win this election, but he would win every swing state, the popular vote and contribute to a Republican trifecta. As someone who put in a lot of time to help Democrats up and down the ballot get elected, these results were a huge gut punch. More importantly, though, I was terrified about the future of America. Could Trump get to appoint more far-right justices to the Supreme Court? Would Trump and Republicans go through with their proposals of mass deportation? Would Trump’s tariffs shoot up inflation? Needless to say, I did not fall asleep that night. | | Image courtesy of Stephen Melkisethian via Flickr. | | WILLEM DOHERTY | In the waning hours of Tuesday, Nov. 5, Chris Wallace of CNN said what I think is the most prescient line of the 2024 election cycle. Watching as the nation’s key swing states began to tilt, lean and finally collapse right, Wallace remarked that this Tuesday, the day when Donald Trump won not just more than 300 electoral votes but the national popular vote, “felt more like 2016 than 2020.” | | Image courtesy of Art Vander via DeviantArt. | | | NICOLAS VILLAMIL | Amidst the frenzy of the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees first World Series clash in decades, the legacy of Fernando Valenzuela was undeniable.
The last time the two teams met in the World Series was 1981, the same year Valenzuela debuted and incited “Fernandomania” with his elusive screwball and peculiar throwing form. After capping off a historic rookie season with a 147-pitch complete game victory against the Yankees in Game 3 of the 1981 World Series, Valenzuela became the first player in MLB history to win both Rookie of the Year and the Cy Young Award, given to the best pitcher in MLB. | | CASEY MCMENAMIN, DAVID BRAY | The college football landscape has become the Wild West. With the advent of the transfer portal, players are able to switch schools and make an immediate impact without having to sit out a year. In a landmark 2021 Supreme Court case, NCAA vs. Alston, NCAA student athletes won the right to profit off of their name, image and likeness (NIL). College football, meet neoliberalism. Traditionally weak programs are evening the playing field by snatching up high quality players from the juggernauts of college football with huge brand deals. Just as Adam Smith theorized, the open market has brought a never-before-seen parity to the sport. | | Image courtesy of David Bray '27. | | Henry France/The Miscellany News. | | | | |
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