Across:
1. cold cold
4. China
5. home
7. coal
8. refrigerator
9. England
10. lichen
11. tree
Down
1. paint
2. Canada
3. clothes dryer
6. bathtub
Month: March 2014
Chatham transitions bathrooms to non-gender specific in hopes of inclusivity
On March 6, in efforts to make Chatham a more inclusive space for all members of the community, 11 bathrooms across the University’s three campuses were changed from single-sex to non-gender specific.
This change took place, according to Zauyah Waite–Dean of Students–in efforts to “demonstrate the institutional value of inclusivity as demonstrated by our non-discrimination policy”, which promises equal opportunity and affirmative action to everyone, regardless of personal differences. “As a result of this statement we are committed to creating a safe space for all members of our community which include community members who identify as transgender on the gender spectrum”, Waite said.
As of now the signage outside of the bathrooms is the only thing that has changed, and the transition has had no impact on the contents or structure of the bathroom interiors.
When asked whether or not all of the bathrooms would eventually be transitioned to non-gender specific, Waite explained that that would definitely not happen, saying, “This number is adequate to serve the expected need we currently have on campus. Not everyone would feel comfortable using a non-gender specific restroom and the needs of those individuals need to be respected and served as well.” She further explained that this should not impact students’ daily routines, as “there are sufficient restrooms for all to utilize regardless of gender.”
To offset any concerns that this transition was in in preparation for Chatham College for Women’s possible co-education future, Waite emphasized the fact that the future of the undergraduate program–whether it be all women or co-educational–had no impact on the bathroom decision whatsoever.
She explained that Chatham has considered making this change before, and that they simply felt that this was a good time to move forward with it. She additionally pointed out that nine of the bathrooms in question were men’s rooms before the transition occurred, as further evidence of this point.
Waite also pointed out that Chatham is not alone in this shift towards non-gender specific restrooms, as many neighboring institutions have been moving in the direction for years. Additionally other public entities, like the city of Philadelphia, have recently made efforts to provide more gender-neutral options to fulfill the needs of all citizens. According to Waite, “It is just time and right for Chatham to do the same.”
When asked, several members of the Chatham community declined to offer comments or opinions regarding the transition. Despite this, the general attitude among the student body towards this change seems to be a neutral one.
Any students or other members of the Chatham community who do have who concerns about this change can direct their questions to Dean Waite at ZWaite@Chatham.edu.
However, Waite emphasized that this was not an effort to make anyone feel uncomfortable. “The primary purpose of doing this now is that we have community members who identify as transgender on the gender spectrum” Waite said. “Their needs are important [and need to be addressed] and this is Chatham’s way of doing so.”
A night of magic: Spring 2014’s final Spit Reel
The final Spit Reel of the year was a huge splash with the audience of students, instructors, and fellow writers who came to the Mellon Living Room on Thursday, March 7 to hear the featured readers. In the adjoining room were trays of brownies, cupcakes, pita chips, and more, which the audience happily snacked on, chatting with their friends before heading to their seats.
Lorena Williams, a creative writing professor at Chatham, took the podium–lit by small electric lights–first. She spoke of the enormous success of the Creative Writing Club and the growing popularity of Spit Reel, congratulating all the club members. Once her speech was completed, Professor Ian Riggins–the night’s MC–took the microphone.
He spoke of his excitement about being there to help present the readers and then introduced the first speaker: Kaitlyn Lacey. Reading an excerpt from her novel-in-progress, Silverblood, she told the story of a family of supernatural creatures, including a vampire and a werewolf, struggling to survive in a dangerous town. The audience was captivated by her imaginative world and entertained by her humorous dialogue.
Next was Melissa Garrett, a self-published author and sophomore at Chatham University, who read five poems: “1.53,” “What I’ve Grown to See as Love,” “Jane’s Angel Recounting,” “All About Alice,” and “Water and Wine.” Telling of tragedy, life and love, each poem–which hearken back to 19th century writings–was moving, shifting the tone of the evening to a more somber yet beautiful atmosphere.
Once she concluded her poetry, senior Courtney Druzak (also a member of the Minor Bird Literary Magazine) took the podium to read an excerpt from her Creative Writing tutorial which tells of newly born gods and humans–a gripping fantasy novel that has all the captivating sensory description of authors such as Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
After a brief intermission, the Open Mic began and almost ten readers decided to dive in and share their creative work with their Chatham sisters. Rachael Owen began with a poem on the art of writing itself, and was followed by Spit Reel veteran Meaghan Clohessy who read “The Rise and Fall of Innocence”, a hilarious excerpt from her tutorial on travel writing.
Stephanie Vituccio composed a powerful piece on the process of healing and Bertie Yarroll came next with his fiction piece on a robot doctor that had the audience in stitches. Other highlights include when Maryann Fix performed “To the Girl with Golden Hair,” a poem about lost love, and the excellent audience response received by Rebecca Pell when she read her clever poetry.
Although it was the Creative Writing Club’s final Spit Reel of the Spring semester, audiences can look forward to the event’s return in Fall. The Creative Writing Club encourages undergraduate students of all majors to submit.
Alumna Janel Diven makes cross-cultural connections
Directly after high school, Janel Diven chose to dive directly into the workforce. She then decided to go back to school after some time off, since she did not enjoy her current job. Diven made the brave, inspiring choice to change her life, as she knew it when she chose to attend the university.
Since Diven was over the age of 23 when she entered Chatham’s hallways, she was considered a, “gateway student.” Gateway students are students that have decided to go back to school, but it’s more than a label. As a Gateway student, specific events are held in order to allow off-campus students to maintain involvement on campus. It also allows for all-gateway student events to be held, which can serve as a support system and a great way to meet new friends.
Photo Courtesy of Janel Diven
Despite any nervousness about her change in career path or in life, Diven created a wonderful change for herself. In 2012 Diven, graduated from Chatham’s undergraduate program with a degree in cultural studies. Now 37, she works for a relocation company, which means she utilizes her cultural studies degree often.
Essentially, the company services other companies, when an employee needs to be moved globally. Her job entails working cross-culturally with families new to the United States. Diven not only aids new families to get acquainted with the land, but with the right people as well.
Following her love for culture, one of her favorite experiences at Chatham was her time abroad. Looking for a way to spend Maymester, Diven decided Greece sounded like just the place to be. During her stay in those three weeks, she connected with the country in an amazing way. “I felt a strong connection [there],” said Diven. “I loved the art, the history, and the culture.”
Given the strong connection and lovely experience in Greece during her Maymester field experience, Diven gave Greece another shot. She chose to spend an entire semester next. Diven’s time abroad seemed extremely important to her and her Chatham career, commenting, “I loved both semesters!”
Greece wasn’t the end all of connections during Diven’s stay Chatham though. Diven also spoke fondly of Chatham’s own Anissa Wardi. Dr. Wardi works as a literature, writing, and cultural studies professor. During her time with Dr. Wardi, Divens again spoke of connections that impacted her in a special way.
Diven also remembered the beginning stages of her experience at Chatham. There was one major influence on her decision to attend the university. First and foremost, she referenced Chatham’s environment. A key reason she attended Chatham was due to the all-women atmosphere it provided, noting: “I think it should stay that way.”
After completing the entire process, Diven advised any and all students, “If you can, study abroad and travel as much as possible.”
Little Red Riding Vogue: Feeling “Clueless”
Anyone that knows me knows that it has been my lifelong dream to be Cher from the 90s classic “Clueless”. She was beautiful, popular, and above all fashionable. Every decade has its own style and people will almost always regret the fashion choices they made as a teenager—I know I do. Naturally, plenty of people look back on the 90s with dread. I, however, happily embrace its wild fashion.
The 90s was the decade to get away with anything fashion-wise. If it was crazy and unique, it was suddenly a trend. I fell in love with the fuzzy crop tops, plaid mini skirts, and glittery everything of the 90s. It was the only decade where you could go out dressed up like a Spice Girl or Zenon Girl of the 21st Century and get compliments.
So you have to imagine my delight when one of my favorite rappers decided to make a music video entirely based on “Clueless”. If you aren’t familiar with Iggy Azalea, she’s a fearless young recording artist with a fashion sense that absolutely pulls from the 80s and 90s. Her music videos are vivid and colorful and her songs are catchy enough to send you to the dance floor. And the most charming thing about her? As loud and outspoken as she is as a performer, in interviews she’s just a shy, quiet Aussie with a big smile. She’s only 23 so it’s no surprise she’s a fan of “Clueless”. Still, the results were even better than expected.
The song, “Fancy”, had Iggy Azalea partnering with fellow recording artist Charli XCX who played the Tai to Iggy’s Cher. The video featured many of Cher’s classic outfits (as well as some improvised ones—all clothes she would approve of though). The most prominent of course was the unforgettable yellow plaid ensemble that introduced Cher as a 90s icon. Iggy Azalea picked it out like any modern Cher would—by viewing her closet on her smart tablet.
If I had to pick a favorite piece, it would be a pink Chanel polo that Iggy Azalea wears during a lunch scene with her respective Tai and Dionne. Also I couldn’t help but notice all of the pieces from one of my favorite stores: UNIF—most notably a smiley face backpack with three eyes shaped like sixes. Ah, UNIF.
And, of course, I can’t pass up covering the classic Dionne hat. If you remember Cher’s yellow plaid getup, you have to remember Dionne’s similar black plaid outfit, accessorized with a great hat, since you’ll rarely find Dionne without some fabulous headgear.
If you’re like me and you’re always looking to get your fix of “Clueless” (beyond religiously re-watching the movie), another thing to check out is Wildfox Couture’s old SS13 lookbook, which, like Iggy Azalea’s music video, was entirely inspired by “Clueless”. If the outfits and famous poses didn’t give it away, their Tai’s Marvin the Martian covered notebook certainly did. Personally, my favorite finishing touch to the photo-shoot was the retro phones as props. Nothing says “Clueless” like a huge black flip-phone.
Foodie on the Half Shell: A taste of Mexico
Mexican night at my house is never complete without guacamole. The recipe is from my dad who grew up in Southern California, where Mexican food is a prominent genre of cuisine. He gave me vague directions the first time I made it, and I was left to improvise. It wasn’t until only about a year ago that I was given a cook- book put together by my late grandmother on my father’s side.
My grandma liked to take pictures and do arts and crafts, the way grandparents do, and so in the nineties, she put together one of those family recipe books. She got a hold of some close friends and family members, got some pictures together, and put all of the recipes and pictures into a binder. I believe she gave them out to a group of the family members.
My dad and his sisters were pretty busy people, and this sort of weird crafting wasn’t exactly their cup of tea. My Aunt Kim (the cookbook was orginally hers, and was given to me when she passed away), told my grandma that she’s “just too busy”, so my grandma put a lovely picture of Aunt Kim in the binder anyhow along with that quote, and wrote next to it “with those looks, who wouldn’t be busy?!”
The funny thing about this cookbook, is that it is a union of a bunch of family members who normally, would not be united in any other way. So it’s a tiny bit of normalcy that I like to look at from time to time.
Now, honestly, none of the recipes are spectacular. My dad grew up on pretty basic things like meatloaf and fish sticks, but being from Cali he also had taco night. In the binder, my dad actually offered a recipe and it is his guacamole! My dad always has critiques about my guacamole, so I thought I finally found the key to perfect guacamole.
Well, the story ends with the fact that I will never make the “perfect” guacamole for my dad, but he loves it all the same. I never said I was a perfect cook anyhow. I prefer the word “rugged”.
My guacamole is many of my friend’s favorite guacamole, and it is so flavorful and perfect on top of tacos, chips, or even in your favorite sandwiches! Make this and I promise that you will impress anyone who tastes it, even if it’s only you!
What you’ll need:
3 avocados
¼ finely chopped red onion
½ finely chopped tomato
½ finely chopped green pepper
A bunch of chopped cilantro
½ lime
A scoop of your favorite salsa
This is the easiest recipe because all of the ingredients go into a bowl, and get mashed together. Don’t mash too much, because a nice chunky guac is the best kind of quac. Finish with a sprinkle of salt and a nice bit of freshly ground pepper, and there you have it: a delicious bowl of guacamole!
“The Johnstown Girls” : a mystery novel with a Chatham connection
Very soon, local Pittsburgh mystery author, Kathleen George, will release a new novel, “The Johnstown Girls”. The book combines George’s mystery skills along with undertones of historical-fiction, and contains a special Chatham connection.
George, a theatre and writing professor at University of Pittsburgh, is known for her critically acclaimed novels such as “Taken”, “Fallen”, and “The Odds”, all part of her thrillers set in different areas of Pittsburgh.
The story focuses primarily on three characters: Ben, Nina, and Ellen. Ben and Nina, both journalists for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, return to Nina’s hometown of Johnstown, Pennsylvania to interview one hundred and three-year-old Ellen, one of the few survivors of the Johnstown flood of 1889.
Photo Courtesy of Kathleen George
The story takes an interesting turn when Ben and Nina find out that Ellen holds onto the belief that her twin sister, Mary, is still alive. While Ben simply finds it interesting, Nina becomes invested in trying to help Ellen find her missing sister.
The Chatham connection comes into play through the schools former name, Pennsylvania College for Women, which is referred to numerous times throughout the novel. Ellen was a student at the college. There is even the mention of the name change that occurred, “sometime in the fifties” as Ellen put it.
George also has a personal connection to Chatham. Not only does she, “love the setting”, she also says that she, “once directed “Sleuth” for a summer theatre there. And [she has] taught fiction in the MFA program several times.”
Kathleen George says that the inspiration to write the book came from “the feeling of fear that a family member is lost”–a theme that is prevalent in many of the conversations throughout the story.
According to George, “tons” of research went into making sure the novel was accurate. Not only did she have to make sure that the specifics of the flood of 1889 were accurate, she also had to do plenty of research to ensure that the details about twins, nursing, and memory were accurate.
While this research was extensive, George did include a disclaimer at the opening of the novel saying that the details of the Pittsburgh Pirates’ baseball season of 1989 were altered to fit the storyline. She also stressed that the settings are all real, but the details are fictitious.
As for the novel, George does an amazing job of maintaining the focus and heart of the Johnstown mystery, while also including the complicated romantic interests of Ben and Nina, among other subplots.
“Johnstown” will be particularly interesting for those readers in the Pittsburgh area, who can expect colorful descriptions of such places as Kennywood, Homestead, and, of course, Johnstown. However, those readers outside of Pittsburgh or even Pennsylvania can look forward to the fascinating history lesson that George presents in such a creative new way.
Each character is developed and well-rounded, and increasingly complicated as the story unfolds. Similarly they all add to the intrigue, mystery, and excitement that is carried from beginning to end.
The novel is truly a triumph for George, as well as a source of interest for the Chatham University community. “The Johnstown Girls” will be available on April 1, 2014.
Waiting for Intermission: Review of “The Wind Rises”
Animated films contain the power of the visceral experience. These films manipulate color, sound, and texture to fully immerse audiences within a new world. They provide understanding to events through a different form of literacy.
When it comes to animated films, there is no better master than Hayao Miyazaki. He ends an illustrious forty-year career with the film “The Wind Rises”. This fictionalized history follows the life of Jiro Horikoshi (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a Japanese aeronautical engineer.
He strives to create beauty in the rapidly industrializing world of interwar Japan. In the midst of successes and failures, he falls in love with the beautiful Nahoko Satomi (Emily Blunt). With sensational animation and a refreshing portrayal of Japanese history, “The Wind Rises” becomes a kind of “Tempest” performance for Miyazaki, employing imagination to create an intense visceral experience for its audiences.
Miyazaki conveys visceral experience largely through the cyclical theme of wind. Wind reflects the film’s sense of timelessness. Miyazaki displays incredible pacing by establishing only a few time codes throughout the film. Inconsistent time coding physicalizes the slipperiness of time, where whole years can pass in moments.
Any historical context then becomes an invasive force intruding on Jiro’s desires to create airplanes for his people as opposed to warfare. Visceral animation strengthens these themes by making the wind its own character. The wind shimmering through the grass takes on an aqueous quality that instills texture within the film, grounding audiences in both spatial intimacy and time. Even Nahoko is drawn with wind constantly flowing through her hair and dress, making her very presence part of the wind itself.
Animation also provides literacy to events outside western memory. The most prominent example is with the depiction of the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The beautiful animation shows the Japanese landscape reverberating in thick defined vibrations. Debris floats down from an ashen sky.
Clear transitions from the initial tremor to the aftershock place audiences in this horrific moment. Coupled with nuanced dialogue, animation becomes a platform for western audiences to understand Japanese history. To understand the world of Jiro/Miyazaki’s creation, one must be first welcomed into it.
Unfortunately, a couple elements of the film may turn away some American audiences. Pacing may come off as slow for those fans of the fast-paced action film. More pressing are the quiet allusions to the atomic bomb. Some moments seem to foreshadow the brutal end of Japanese involvement in the war, including a German engineer’s snide remark that “Japan will blow up.”
Although Jiro muses that his airplane designs—which would be used as Japanese fighter pilots—“fell apart at the end,” no specific references were made to the end of the war. It retains the timeless feeling of the movie, but it just misses what seems to be one of the central messages of the film: imagination can provide escape from the horrors of reality.
If reality becomes destructive, then creative minds are needed to rebuild that society. Even a simple clarification of that societal context, which they mention in detail throughout the film, would have been enough to advance that them without demonizing Jiro or ruining the film’s cultural influence.
For the best enjoyment, watch the film in the original Japanese. Even with English subtitles, this tale carries the most agency in its native language.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5.
Dinh Q. Lê gives Artist Talk at CMU
On Tuesday, March 4, artist Dinh Q. Lê lectured students and community members in Kresge Theater at Carnegie Mellon University about his artwork in the final “Artist Talk” of the 2013 Carnegie International.
Lê, a Vietnamese-American artist, is one of 35 artists represented at the Carnegie International, and one of five to have been represented in the “Artist Talk” series.
“Over the past 20 years, I’ve been committed to the artistic process as a way of uncovering history,” he said.
His Carnegie International work, “Light and Belief: Sketches of Life from the Vietnam War” (2012), includes an exhibit of drawings and paintings by Vietnamese artists depicting life during the Vietnam War that were curated by Lê, and a documentary about some of the artists who made the works.
Lê was born in South Vietnam, but he and his family escaped by boat and relocated to southern California in 1979 when he was 11 years old to avoid the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
“America was never home,” said Lê. “When I [went back to Vietnam for the first time] in 1994, even though I was totally Americanized, I knew that this was my home.”
He has been living in South Vietnam since 1997.
Lê’s art career began in 1998 with his work “Mot Coi Di Ve”, a quilt-like curtain of old family photographs abandoned in Vietnam.
Lê had begun collecting old family photos in hopes of finding the ones his family had left behind when they fled their home. “These photographs became surrogate family photographs for me,” Lê said. “They remind me of my childhood.”
Although Lê has not found any of his own family photos, he felt it important share his collection with the public. “Most of these are happy moments,” said Lê. “I want the world to see this side of Vietnam.”
Another of Lê’s major works is “Damaged Genes” (1998), a commentary on the effects of Agent Orange used by US troops in the Vietnam War on civilians. The chemical Agent Orange can cause deformities in people who are exposed to it. It affects people on the genetic level, and health problems can be passed down through generations.
According to Lê, the United States and Vietnamese governments have almost entirely ignored the issue, and Vietnamese citizens treat the topic as taboo.
“We keep moving away from all these very ugly subjects that we don’t want to deal with,” Lê said.
Lê opened a kiosk in a Vietnamese shopping mall and sold souvenirs (including disturbing two-headed baby doll figurines and clothing for two-headed people) to start a conversation about Agent Orange’s damaging effects.
According to Lê, about half of the passersby ignored his kiosk. One-quarter stopped, looked, and walked away. The rest stopped, looked, and began asking questions about his work.
Lê’s is also concerned by Hollywood’s depiction of the Vietnam War. “I had always felt that Hollywood had left us out in their films,” said Lê. “Over the years, I started to insert regular [Vietnamese] people into the Hollywood history.”
Lê has done so in his work “From Vietnam to Hollywood” (2003-2005) by “weaving” imagery from popular Hollywood films about the War with images of Vietnamese citizens, many of which came from his collection of abandoned family photos.
Another of Lê’s works deals with the perception of Vietnamese emigrants. “Erasure” (2011) is a response to Australians’ general disdain for “boat people,” or refugees who flee their country by boat and seek asylum in more stable countries.
“These people are people, and most of the time they don’t want to leave their country,” Lê said. “In the discussion about the boat refugees, a lot of people forget about that. I want people to look at this on a more humane level.”
This work is set up like an excavation site, with pits brimming with family photographs that people can pick up and examine. Archivists are in the process of logging the photos on a website so they can be viewed around the world.
Lê’s main goal as an artist is to give a voice to his home country through his art. He said, “I’m trying to understand each perspective [of the United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam], and at the same time preserve some aspect of the southern side of the War.”
Journalism and literature collide in Susan Minot’s “Thirty Girls”
In 2012, a campaign entitled “KONY2012” went viral, taking this nation by storm and motivating people into action against the Ugandan rebel leader Joseph Kony. Kony, who is known for kidnapping children and forcing them to serve as soldiers in his Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), is responsible for thousands of deaths and atrocities throughout Uganda and central Africa over the past several decades, and it is with this in mind that Susan Minot chose the central theme of her latest novel “Thirty Girls”.
Minot, who herself travelled to Africa to report on the horrors of Joseph Kony and the LRA, put her journalistic knowledge to use in this novel. Basing the plot on a 1996 incident in which 139 girls were kidnapped from their boarding school in northern Uganda by the LRA, Minot recounts how the headmistress followed the kidnappers into the woods and succeeded in bargaining for the release of 109 of the girls, with the stipulation that she leave the 30 healthiest girls behind. After a graphic telling of this encounter, the narrative picks up with the story of one of the girls form the school– fifteen-year-old Esther Akello–and her experiences serving as a child soldier for the LRA.
While this is a dramatic departure from Minot’s usual romantic fictions, she does not abandon her typical theme entirely. Running parallel to Esther’s, in alternating chapters, is a storyline involving a thirty-something American journalist by the name of Jane Wood, and her experiences as she travels to Africa to report on the incident with the 30 girls. Jane, who is attempting to escape from the memory of her deceased, drug-addicted, ex-husband, soon finds herself traveling through Africa with an eclectic group of adventurous young adults.
In the midst of concerns regarding her inevitable loss of youth, Jane eventually becomes romantically entwined with a much younger man, named Harry, whose free spirit and adventurous nature serve to counter her usually reserved and withdrawn personality.
While Jane’s storyline is interesting, and the search for love/purpose is more relatable to the reader than the other aspects of the book, she inevitably ends up coming off as slightly superficial when placed as a contrast to the tragedies that Esther experiences throughout the novel.
When it comes down to it, the strength of this novel lies with Esther, and the strength that she shows in the midst of such horrific circumstances. Minot should be commended for her ability to voice Esther with such emotional depth and accuracy. She makes it clear that Esther is simultaneously a strong and brave young women being forced to commit acts that no one should ever have to experience, and also a girl who wants nothing more than to have someone comfort her. Even in the rehabilitation camp from which she tells her story after her escape from the LRA, Esther’s residual anger, and the moral conflict she experiences regarding her actions in the LRA, is told with unabashed honesty.
“Thirty Girls” is an interesting mix of genres, and Minot finds a way to blend them, while making sure to treat both subject matters with the respect that they deserve. This book is very difficult to read at times, as Minot does not shy away from describing the horrors of war, but for any reader who is willing to experience that, this is a beautifully written story that should not be missed.