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INSIDEThe IssueNews........................................2

Features...................................3

Arts...........................................4

Opinions..................................5

Sports....................................6

The convocation honored months of hard work done by students who combined a life dedicated to sports teams, schoolwork, and an active involvement in the community on and off campus.

Kalamazoo, Michigan

Nine Questions For Cameron Goodall

Editor’s Note: This interview appears as it was recorded, but has been edited for length and clarity.

Last Sunday I sat down with Cameron Goodall, Kalama-zoo College’s Student Com-mission President, to ask him about where he’s been, where he is, and where he hopes to go during his time in the Com-mission’s highest office.

CAMPUS

graham keypublication manager

GOODALL on page 3

The IndexONE-HUNDRED-THIRTY-SEVEN YEARS OF SERVICE TO THE STUDENT

NOVEMBER 5, 2014

VOLUME CXXXVII ISSUE VIIITODAY’S HIGH: 57 DEGREES

EST. 1877

Emily Walsh / Index

Board of Trustees Hold First Meeting of School Year

CAMPUS

Conversations surround Title IX and sexual assault on campus

The Board of Trustees met for their first meeting of the school year during Home-coming Weekend on Oct. 17 and 18. The Board consists of 36 members, most of them alumni, and they meet three times a year to ensure Kalam-azoo College is fulfilling its mission as well as to discuss the College’s financial plans.

The Board of Trustees focus on the big picture instead of the day to day issues. “Board level institutional issues differ from what students think are institutional issues,” said Dean Sarah Westfall, Vice President for Student Development and Dean of Students.

During these recent meet-ings no by-laws were changed. The Board approved the audit

for the college, discussed Title IX and how the college handles sexual assault as well as recommendations for hon-orary degrees.

Within the Board, there are several task forces and six subcommittees. At the recent meeting student representa-tives elected by Student Com-mission (StuComm) President Cameron Goodall ‘15, were present for four of the subcom-mittee meetings. Though the representatives do not vote, they do have the opportunity to voice any student concerns.

A few Student Commis-sion Representatives attend-ed the various meetings: Andrew Kaylor ’17 at the Academic Affairs commit-tee meeting, Alex Werder ’15 at the Advancement commit-tee meeting, Amanda Johnson ‘17 at the Finance committee meeting, and Emily Sklar ‘15 at the Investment committee meeting.

TRUSTEES on page 2

viola brownnews editor

HONORS on page 2

Honors Day Convocation Celebrated Last Friday

K students are praised for the their

work in all disciplines and activities

The annual Honors Day Convocation was held in Stetson Chapel on Friday morning, Oct. 31, to recog-nize students with depart-

mental, athletic, and colle-giate awards. The ceremony praised the work of students in all disciplines, as well as faculty members and parents who have helped student’s live out their academic ambitions.

Reverend Liz Candido ‘00, College Chaplin and Director of Religious and Spiritual Life, began the program by calling those in attendance to “give thanks to excellence, give thanks to the students, and

give thanks to the faculty who foster the life of the mind.” Faculty wore formal proces-sional robes for the occasion.

The convocation honored months of hard work done by students who combined a life dedicated to sports teams, schoolwork, and an active in-volvement in the communi-ty on and off campus. Awards were divided by academic di-vision and by different college

emily kotzindex staff writer

Di/Re Investment Hosts Forum at Arcus Center

Kalamazoo College’s Di/Re Investment

Movement assembles on campus

Editor’s Note: Greta Herrin is a contributor from Kalamazoo College DI/RE Investment, a movement pushing the College to move out of fossil fuels and into more sustainable energy.

Di/Re Investment aims to refocus Kalamazoo College’s investment methods away from companies who profit from extractive industries like coal, oil and gas and reinvest the money into companies that promote sustainable energy.

To kick off the second year of their campus-wide cam-paign, Di/Re Investment is hosting “The Social Injus- DI/ RE on page 2

CAMPUS

tices of Climate Change,” at the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership (ACSJL) on Wednesday, Nov. 5. This event consists of three pre-sentations, including the Di/Re Investment organizers: Dr. Jennifer Einspahr, Associate Professor of Political Science and Chair of Political Science Department; and Dr. Ahmed Hussen, the Edward and Vir-ginia Van Dalson Professor of Economics and Business.

“The motivation for this event, is to highlight the reasons why continued failure of climate negotiations is due to the reluctance of the industrialized countries to accept their responsibilities for slowing global warming in ways that respects equity and proportionality,” said Dr. Ahmed Hussen.

The six organizers, Shannon

greta herrincontributor

Ethnic Studies: K’s Newest Major?A vote to decide the future of the Critical

Ethnic Studies program will occur during 10th

week

Students protest for the creation of a Critical Ethnic Studies program at Kalamazoo College during the 2012-2013 school year. The program will be officially voted on during tenth week.

MAJOR on page 2

Kalamazoo College stu-dents and faculty gathered in the Olmsted Room to discuss a newly proposed major disci-

pline, Critical Ethnic Studies (CES). Dr. Reid Gomez, a member of the committee ad-vocating the CES major, led the forum.

“Many fields study sub-jugated people as objects,” Gomez continued, “critical Ethnic Studies shifts that per-spective and focuses on the power, agency, and intellect of people on their own terms and from their own philoso-

phies.”The major is committed to

self-determination, solidarity among American racial mi-norities, and educational rel-evance and an interdisciplin-ary approach. “Critical Ethnic Studies asks us to engage the world from the multiple per-spectives of peoples and epis-temologies that have been si-lenced,” said Gomez.

The major would require

eight units, and four required courses include “Argument with the Given,” “Language: The Colonial and Imperial Dif-ference, Insurgency, Solidarity and Coloniality of Power,” and the Senior Colloquium. The remaining four credits would be earned through electives approved for the CES major.

K Ethnic Studies/ Facebook

green dickinsonindex staff writer

artsDavid Sedaris gets a warm welcome at WMUWestern Michigan University’s Miller Au-ditorium welcomed the critically acclaimed author and humorist ... PAGE 4

featureMeet Stacks’ night owl, Alphonso HarrisA self-proclaimed night owl, Alphonso Harris can be found working the night shift start-ing at 4:45 pm... PAGE 3

sportsWomen’s Lacrosse Coach Discusses Upcoming SeasonEmilia Ward, the women’s lacrosse coach, remembers her freshman year of college playing lacrosse... PAGE 6

opinionsIs our campus really disability accessible?Academy Street, with its distinct red brick road and steep gradient, welcomes students onto campus each year.... PAGE 5

Commission President Cameron Goodall

answers questions on Election Day, former competitors, and the conservative nature of the Commission’s

budget approvals

Tony Dugal/ Kalamazoo College

The meetings are not open to all students, but students wanting to voice their opin-ions should speak to their student representatives. The meetings are not open to all students, because many of the topics discussed are confiden-

tially, are not definitive, and they vote on issues that do not affect student life.

“It’s not a plan for tuition to be $60,000 in 5 years, it’s just a model,” said Westfall. “The meetings aren’t about students having their voices heard, they are about the Board of Trust-ees voting.”

President Wilson-Oyelar-an commented on student

involvement and believes that the current model works because it is “the better option to use this students that we have.”

Besides these meetings, there are other opportuni-ties throughout the year for students to voice their con-cerns to the board. During the winter, they have a dinner with StuComm Commission-

ers and Student Trustee Con-versations. The Conversations involve an invited group of 35-50 students of various interest and backgrounds, who meet for about an hour and half with the Board and discuss student affairs.

“Usually we have more seats, than we do attendees,” said President Wilson-Oye-laran.

The Board members are often chosen by the Selec-tion Committee who identi-fy people that have an interest in the institution and believe in the mission. The members support the college with time and talent.

“They love K and want to hear from students. They go to student events when they are here,” said Dean Westfall.

scholarships awarded each year.Prior to the remarks and

awards, Hannah Shaugh-nessy-Mogill ’15 performed the solo soprano piece “Tu che di gel sei cinta” which roughly translates in english to “You who are enclosed by ice,” from Giacomo Puccini’s opera Turan-dot. The remarks and the pre-sentation of the honors were then read by Provost Michael

McDonald. For some of the awards, this

day has been highly awaited and anticipated. Rachel Chang ‘18 was one of four at the con-vocation to be recognized for receiving the Heyl Scholar-ship, which provides a full al-lowance for tuition, room, and books over all four years of study to students from the Ka-lamazoo area.

“It has been a process since last fall,” said Chang, before re-ceiving her award on Friday. “I had to apply for the scholarship

before I even knew I would be accepted to Kalamazoo.”

Alongside the departmen-tal and academic scholarship awards, Enlightened Leader-ship Awards, the MIAA Ac-ademic Honor Roll Awards, Posse Scholars, John T. Wil-liamson Scholars, and Alpha Lambda Delta awardees were also recognized.

Although the ceremony was brief, recipients felt that the service well acknowledged the immense work done by K stu-dents. Rachel Selina ’17 was

awarded the Maggie Wardle Award, for a sophomore woman who showcases achievement in athletics and the social scienc-es or civic engagement.

“I think that there could never be a ceremony long enough to honor the work students do on this campus and in the commu-nity. But for what it was worth, I thought the ceremony was uplifting and reached a good number of people,” said Selina.

Andrew Kaylor ‘17 was one of two students to be awarded the Division of Physical Ed-

ucation Prize given to a first year student who best com-bined leadership and scholar-ship while promoting athlet-ics. Both Selina and Kaylor received Head Coach of Vol-leyball Jeanne Hess’s book “Sportuality” when receiving their awards on stage.

“It was even more official that I expected it to be,” said Kaylor The service ended with the audience singing the Ka-lamazoo College Alma Mater and the playing of Fugue in E minor by Bach.

PAGE 2 News 5 NOVEMBER 2014

EDITORIAL BOARDCo Editor-in-Chief...................Colin Smith Co Editor-in-Chief...............Ogden Wright Publication Manager...............Graham Key Business Manager......................Erin Eagan News Editor.............................Viola Brown Features Editor....................Trisha Dunham Opinions Editor........................Emily Pizza Arts Editor....Kamalaldin M. Kamalaldin Co Layout Editor.............Claudia Greening Co Layout Editor...Mireya Guzman-OrtizCopy Editor.............Hunter Parsons

Photo Editor....................Robert Manor Staff Photographer.........Megan RigneyStaff Writer.........................Sean Bogue Staff Writer......................Mary Burnett Staff Writer.................Green Dickinson Staff Writer.......................Janelle Grant Staff Writer......................Elise Houcelc Staff Writer.......................Elyse Kaplan Staff Writer................Emaline Lapinski Staff Writer..................Katherine Rapin Staff Writer...............Amanda Stutzman

The Index encourages reader response in the form of letters to the editor. The Index reserves the right to edit for clarity, length, grammar and libel. Also reserved is the right to not print letters to the editor. Signed letters are preferred, but unsigned letters dealing with sensitive issues will be accepted and printed at the discretion of the editorial board. Letters should be submitted via email by midnight on the Sunday before the issue in which they are to appear. Please contact the Index with any further issues, comments or inquiries. Please keep letters under 300 words.

We, the Index staff, produce this publication to accomplish the fol-lowing goals: The Index will serve as a means of communication between students, administrators and members of the community. We will respect all opinions and present them in an unbiased manner. The Index will inform and entertain readers and address trends and issues important to its audience. Although we are a staff comprised solely of unpaid student members, we will strive to make The Index accurate and truthful to adhere to all standards of professional jour-nalism. We recognize and respect the privileges given to us under the First Amendment, including the freedoms of speech and of the press. The Index is a form of editorial expression and we, the staff have the authority to make our own content decisions. We will provide a sounding board for the campus community; therefore the opinions expressed in by-lines, opinion articles and letters should not be considered to be the opinions of the newspaper staff as a whole.

ITHE INDEX

GENERAL STAFF

EDITORIAL POLICY

SUBMISSIONS POLICY

PHOTO OF THE WEEK Di/ Re Investment Begins Campus Wide Discussion

Haupt ‘15, Nate Feuerstein ‘14, Asia Morales ‘14, Emily Kowey ‘17, Bronte Payne ‘14, and Greta Herrin ’17 hope to promote and maintain the col-lege’s ideology of social and environmental progressive-ness as well as make a nation-al statement towards other uni-versities about environmental

stewardship and responsibility.The presentations will focus

on the social justice dimension of climate change and students actions on the matter. An open Q&A discussion with all pre-senters will follow immediately after, giving students, faculty and staff the opportunity to ask any questions they might have about climate change, Di/Re Investment, or the in-tersectionality between social

Kalamazoo College’s campus welcomes fall.

injustice and climate change.This event is the first of

many that Di/Re Investment is hosting this year. They will be starting the Ribbon Cam-paign on Thursday, Nov. 13.

Critical Ethnic Studies Takes Next Step

Part of the colloquium is to carry out a social-polit-ical project over the year. Faculty and students will work to support the social justice work done on campus.

“The CES core faculty hopes to formalize and develop the work being done to enrich and balance the current cur-riculum. The committee also hopes to deepen the anti-rac-ist and de-colonial work being done at K, with special atten-tion to the classroom as a site where power can be shared.”

Gwen Keller ‘18 looks forward to the opportunities the major will provide for less circulated cultures. “I think it’s time that the history and cultures of all the people on this earth get equal respect and consideration as a valid source of identity and knowl-edge,” said Keller.

College Board of Trustees Meets on Current Issues

DI/RE FROM PAGE 1

Russell Cooper/ Kalamazoo College

Honors ConvocationCelebrates Stand Out Students

“I see it as a beautiful op-portunity to be a part of the paradigm shift that moves away from seeing certain cul-tures and histories only as side notes to a central culture that ‘wrote the history books’, so to speak. We need to rewrite the history books together.”

During Week 10, there will

be a vote to decide whether or not CES will join K Col-lege’s current majors.

“The major symbolizes and promotes change, growth, solidarity and excellence,” said Gomez. It will “provide a model for scholarship that emerges from silenced people, places and world views.”

MAJOR FROM PAGE 1

TRUSTEES FROM PAGE 1

A quiet, safe and idyllic environment for a student on a fixed budget. Oxford inspired and encouraging for a

committed and focused student.

Glastonbury Hall is a friendly international house serving students, with distinction in Kalamazoo. It is dedicated to advancement of quality education and learning life.

Furnished single room $425, shared room $360. Utilities shared based on actual costs. Bedding provided. Full use of kitchen, laundry facility, and house library. Monthly formal and hearty dinnner.

No smoking, please. Close by the WMU public safety office and St. T. More church. 5 minute walk to campus. Al past resident students have progressed to post-graduate or profession studies.

CONTACT: (269) 948-4340, OR (269) 908-3552 FOR MORE INFORMATION

HONORS FROM PAGE 1

PAGE 35 NOVEMBER 2014 Features

International Student Enrollment Balances Out

Stacks’ night owl, Alphonso Harris, is drawn to Kalamazoo Alphonso Harris enjoys the students who make him laugh as he works

in the Richardson Room, but also enjoys

seeing activism on campus

trisha dunhamfeatures editor

A self-proclaimed night owl, Alphonso Harris can be

found working the night shift starting at 4:45 pm until clean up is finished, around 1 a.m.

“I’m a night person,” said Harris. “I’m more awake at night than in the morning.”

Harris, Richardson Room night shift Deli Lead, began working at Kalamazoo Col-lege’s Richardson Room when a position became available in 2013 with Sodexo, and now works with Creative Dining. His favorite part about working in the Richardson Room is serving and growing

sean bogueindex staff writer

International Diversity has always been one of the many agendas promoted by Ka-lamazoo College. In recent years, there has been a shift from single-digit degree-seek-ing international students to about 29 per year. With the help of the admissions de-

partment, the college has been able to sustain a relatively stable trend, as international students compose 8 – 10% of the student body each year.

Eric Staab, Dean of Admis-sion and Financial Aid, said “I arrived at Kalamazoo College in 2006 and the Internation-al Recruitment Program was not fully developed”. He also commented on the recent shift in making international re-cruitment more of a priority.

In 2007, there were 7 de-gree-seeking international stu-

relationships with students. “They make me laugh most

of the time, or I make them laugh but anyway there’s laughter,” said Harris.

Kalamazoo born and bred, Harris has always found himself drawn towards the area.

“I left a few times, I was in the Detroit area a couple of years,” said Harris, but his family always draws him back to the area.

Outside of work Harris is interested in watching action

films, listening to the BBC show on NPR, and is an avid reader of the Index.

“I guess I want to know what’s going on,” said Harris. “I like the activism and the people that are activists I like to encourage them, I think that’s important.”

He is himself involved in activism in his community. He is a part of an anti-racism group and supports the organi-zation by donating money and participating in walkathons.

Harris also volunteers at

‘Ministry with Communi-ty’ to work with low income and homeless persons in the Kalamazoo area. Although Harris has never been home-less, he said he is able to relate to those in need because he has experienced similar cir-cumstances.

“I’ve never been home-less,” said Harris. “But I’m not working here for shoes, I’m working for rent.”

Harris’s passion for activ-ism comes from his desire to make an active change.

“I just felt like I had to have my hand in it because every-body complains about stuff but not many are making that change,” said Harris.

Harris also urges the Ka-lamazoo College student body to follow his example and become involved with as much activism as possible.

“I want to encourage ac-tivism here and really to do it now; when you get a ‘real job’ you won’t be able to do it as much, you gotta walk that line.”

dents. By 2009, the amount tripled in size. 2010 was a “blip year” at 41 international students, according to Staab. “We were admitting people off of the waitlist and there were a bunch of really good inter-national students,” said Staab.

As for the plans to keep K as diverse as it is now, Staab explained that making the college known and meeting with high school counselors are important steps that K is already taking to continuing international diversity.

This year at 28 and last year at 29, Staab mentioned that the college was reaching its balance in international stu-dents and domestic students and he hopes that it continues down the path of regularity.

International students feel the effects of increased in-ternational diversity as well.

“There are all sorts of people from all over the world,” said Elizabeth Wanjala ’15 when asked about the international diversity at K. Wanjala found out about K College through

programs at her college in Nairobi. As a visiting inter-national student, Wanjala said that she felt well represent-ed as a student from Kenya.

Tuan Do, ’18, a de-gree-seeking international student from Vietnam, said that he found out about K through the book ‘Colleges That Change Lives’. “Yes, it is very diverse” said Do refer-ring to K College as a whole. “There are a couple Vietnam-ese students” he said and con-tinued to talk about the lack of

diversity in his other schools. “I don’t feel like I’m the only one here.”

As a whole, K has been doing substantially better not just in terms of numbers, but consistency as well. Interna-tional students are an import-ant part of Kalamazoo College in the same way that domes-tic students are. Maintain-ing diversity can help differ-ent cultures understand each other better and can create a more tolerant and educated student populace.

An Exclusive Interview with President Goodall

How have you found your first year so far?

It’s been good so far. I was around Darrin [Camilleri ‘14] a lot last year being V.P. It’s different seeing someone in that role, than actually being in it. Before I was much more hands-on with projects and it’s been a big transition for me to kind of step away from that and become more of a point person for Commission-ers. I’m the one holding all of the reins, but not the one who’s driving all of the time. It’s different, but it’s a learning process the whole time.

Describe your range of emotion during last spring’s elections and how it felt to be elected.

It wasn’t the Election Day that made me nervous; it was all of the build up going into Election Day. Even though it was technically an uncontested position, there was still a write-in candidate running. But having that finally set into place, it was a big relief. Then there was the stress of figuring what was going to happen for the next year. It was like a non-stop process and it has been since day one.

As President, what would you say are your biggest priorities?

The first thing was kind of restruc-turing StuComm addressing issues that I’ve had in the past, where I didn’t feel like things were really connected or efficient. Another thing was M and D, which has had a lot of good strides so far. Instead of treat-ing each committee like they’re com-pletely separate things, recognizing that there are things that affect all committees, like matters of multicul-turalism and diversity. But the first thing’s first would have to be elec-tions: making sure that we are ad-vertising for the first years who are going to run, making sure all of the new commissioners, because there were several new commissioners, were all on the same page going into the first couple of meetings. Overall, it’s been shaping StuComm and then allowing that shape to allow each

committee to do what we want, so that’s how it’s starting to go.

Mia Henry, the Arcus Center’s Exec-utive Director, spoke at last week’s Commission meeting about mul-ticulturalism and diversity. What did it mean to the Commission to have her there, and what was its takeaway?

I think it was productive, and I really think that it really is going to help open up these kinds of issues to commissioners who don’t always have it. It’s also something that’s ongoing and continuing. That’s part of the training that we wanted, and are applicable not just to issues of multiculturalism and diversity, but to any sort of issue that comes up on campus. We may be opening cabinet sessions to continue to open up space for these conversations, es-pecially when it comes to the work that affects their committees. I think it was a good sort of starting point. Mia did a wonderful job to tie togeth-er everything that was said.

Earlier you mentioned Alex Werder, who ran as a write-in candidate for the Presidency last spring, how have your working and person-al relationships developed since the election?

Fine, absolutely fine. Alex was wonderful. He and I had a great rela-tionship before he went abroad. We hadn’t seen each other for a year, but we sat down and talked about it, being close friends. I always go to him if I have questions for things. He’s been kind of like a sidekick for me on StuComm. We were on E-Board together our sophomore year, and he’s always on top of his stuff.

Sometimes he seems like a living version of the Constitu-tion, because he knows so much about it.

Yeah. He’s a Poli-Sci major, so he’s on top of his stuff. He’s also been on StuComm since the fall quarter of his freshman year, so a quarter before I joined. He speaks very confidently all the time, but it doesn’t mean that everything he says is always true. There’s been checks where things aren’t 100 percent

correct, but he’s on top of his game and has been a great resource for the Commission and has helped build up other commissioners so far, so that’s been really nice.

The Student Commission has been much more conservative with budget approvals this year. Why is this?

Well it’s a new Commission with new people, and some of FPC have never been on the Commission before. I think a lot of the time there’s that wanting to appease kind of everything that’s going on. We’re students representing other students, and are saying yes, or no to what they want to do. In the past, that’s been something where you don’t want to step on the toes of people trying to do things. You want people to do what they want to do. Something that I’ve seen the Commission take more seriously is wanting to see ideas

that are fully developed. We’ve had issues in the past where we would fund things and then they wouldn’t go through, because of lack of plans. So this is a way to hold other student organizations accountable to uphold the process that’s there. I don’t think it’s meant to not give funds, I think it’s meant to ensure that everything’s done in preparation for these events, so that commissioners and StuOrg leaders are putting in the time they need to be putting in. I think in the past we’ve been kind of lackadai-sical when it comes to these issues, so now we’re making sure that ev-erything is set before there’s ap-proval for it.

At the end of the year, what do you want your legacy to be?

My biggest thing is making the Commission the most productive body it can be. I want people to see the Student Commission and say

‘okay, this is the group of students who can get things done, whatev-er it may be.’ I think there’s been that quarter-to-quarter mindset—the short-term goals. Even the year-to-year goals can be too short. This is a slow-moving institution in terms of when things get done. Having stu-dents being in that—I mean, we’re here for four years and then we’re done, so I’ve been trying to transi-tion the Student Commission into the best-educated, the experts, on all these different areas of campus. I want the Commission to be the best resource on campus for students who want to work with the administra-tion to get something done. So my legacy would be that. I hope that the yearlong term limit amendment passes, so that every Commissioner is trained to the best of their ability and knows what they’re doing all the time. As long as there is that longer, more seriousness to it, that’s what I want.

Adam Liddlcoatt

GOODALL FROM PAGE 1

College achieves target rate for international student enrollment

artsPAGE 4 5 NOVEMBER 2014

David Sedaris was welcomed to Western Michigan University’s Miller Auditorium in late October.

David Sedaris

Journeys to Kalamazoo

emily kotzindex staff writer

Western Michigan Uni-versity’s Miller Auditorium welcomed the critically ac-claimed author and humor-ist David Sedaris as simply Dave last Monday. Not David. Not the formal Mr. Sedaris. But just Dave. He did not let the moment pass by quietly.

“No one ever calls me Dave,” said Sedaris, re-marking that his last name has still been frequently mis-pronounced during his na-tional speaking tour across the country.

His journey has subse-quently sparked an interest in another, often poorly ex-ecuted, kind of introduction. “I’m collecting pick up lines,” he said, “so if you have any, please let me know.”

Sedaris’s stories, known for their ingenious ability to balance humor and tragedy, allowed the audience to reflect on the subtleties and coinci-dences that happen in our daily

lives. For Sedaris, these co-incidences perk up when he is traveling with his family.

He moves us through his traveling encounters with workers in hotels and air-ports, emphasizing the zom-bie-like routines people create for the casualness of every-day language, pointing to fact that very little of what we say, we actually mean in passing. Asking “how are you,” becomes a phrase to

hold no meaning. The overly used and misunderstood word “awesome” relegates that nothing in fact is ever, truly “awesome.”

His stories note more per-sonal interactions could just as easily be replaced by the impersonal encounters we cur-rently have with each other—if we continue to allow for the meaning behind our language to be so easily dismissed. If given the choice, in a deci-

sion between dull lies or frank truths, Sedaris will always choose the latter.

Sedaris’s writing holds a power to bring an audience to a common understanding of a moment, even if the story surrounds a deeply personal situation. Brought together on Thanksgiving for the first time since his sister’s suicide, Sedaris creates a scene that is familiar, yet personal to convey the details of the fam-

ily’s grieving. The beauty dis-played in his metaphors are unmatched in their ability to accentuate the duality he feels over his sister’s absence at the family gathering.

“How were you able to read such a personal story aloud and not cry?” asked someone in the audience after the reading was over.

“Because I didn’t like her very much,” Sedaris respond-ed, a statement drenched in

Master guitarist Anton Baranov visits K CollegeCAMPUS

Master guitarist Anton Baranov made an appear-ance at Stetson Chapel on Thursday, October 30. As a winner of more than fifteen international guitar compe-titions, Anton Baranov has been described by compos-er and guitarist Roland Dyens

as “a real musician, one of those rare guitarists who are able to have their attendees almost forget the instrument they play, managing to have them focus on the expressivity of the music and only this.”

Baranov began each piece by gazing to the left of the stage in intense concentration. He turned to his guitar and played the works of Legnani and Smirnov, Santorsola and de la Masa, del Puerto and Tarrega, and Miguel Llobet

with incredible precision and accuracy. His level of mastery over each song was evident in the speed of his fingers and his articulation of sound. His creative interpretation of each work was undeniable in his daring instrumental technique.

The fourth piece Baranov played, entitled Platero I Yo by E. Sains de la Masa, was composed of four movements, each with an entirely different character and tone. This music expresses “the simple joys of

Spanish life” according to Baranov. Overall, the piece was a juxtaposition of lighter, quicker melodies with heavier, slower ones. Baranov’s deli-cate fingerpicking and heavy strumming created an interest-ing contrast between intensi-ty and volume. His slapping of the guitar further empha-sized his departure from the standard classical sound.

Shelby Golden K’18 de-scribed the atmosphere of the performance as “a mix

between laid-back and intense. There were parts of the concert that were faster paced and parts that were slower paced.”

According to Daniel Mi-chelin K’18: “Anton’s style was very professional but it was also very unique. His use of slapping the guitar and his use of frequent tempo changes was something I don’t usually see in guitar players.”

At the end of the perfor-mance, the entire audience

“Kale chips?! Oh my god. They have kale chips.”

I heard countless variations of this comment as I enjoyed my apple crisp at the local dinner in the caf last Wednes-day night. In collaboration with Farms to K, dining ser-vices put together a menu to promote local growers and

producers in (belated) cele-bration of National Food Day.

October 24th was desig-nated as Food Day in 2011 to inspire Americans to change our diets and our food systems. The organization ‘Food Day’ works toward a ‘vision of food

that is healthy, affordable, and produced with care for the en-vironment, farm animals, and the people who grow, harvest, and serve it’.

Our local dinner was one of thousands of national events promoting conscious action in

improving our ways of eating. And, yes, for some that may include eating more kale chips. The novelty-turned-trendy snack food was arguably the most popular local item on the menu.

In case you too were dis-

tracted by the kale chips and overlooked the rest of the locally sourced offerings in your excitement, I’ve com-piled a list. Look at what we can grow and produce so close to K’s campus!

Dining Services and Farms to K Welcome Local Food to Cafkatharine rapin

index staff writer

gave Baranov a standing ovation. Their applause con-tinued for nearly a minute, and Baranov returned for an encore. The audience rec-ognized that they were in the presence of a technical-ly gifted musician.

“I walked away feeling good and wanting to listen to some more classical guitar,” said Michelin. “The last piece he played was excellent, and I wanted to listen to it again before I forgot the name of it.”

conflict.Humor and grief meld into

one. Sedaris’s rendering of his experience articulated how when adjoined humor, people can better reveal the depth of a situation to then create a greater understand-ing between people. Sedaris sees how we can translate our experiences to each other by seeking to become more per-sonal, less afraid, and unre-lentingly honest.

elise houcekindex staff writer

LOCAL FOOD

Katharine Rapin/ Index

PAGE 55 NOVEMBER 2014 OpiNiONs

Living in Michigan my whole life makes me no stranger to our winters, but I am aware that not everyone here at K College is from the Mitten State, or even from the grand old US of A. The cold weather, lake-effect snow, and drastic reduction of sunlight can be an extreme change for

those from more tropical or desert climes; so it is possi-ble that your mental health changes with the weather, re-sulting in what mental health professionals call Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Seasonal Affective Disor-der, or SAD, has been com-monly referred to as the ‘winter blues,’ when in reality it’s so much more than that. I find the winter months espe-cially hard, since I have SAD

in addition to anxiety.SAD is actually a type of

depression that comes with the changing seasons, usually trig-gered by the reduced amount of sunlight in the winter.

Between 1% and 10% of the population can experience it, and the statistics vary widely depending on geographical locations, according to Med-icinenet.com

The Mayo Clinic states that symptoms resemble those of

depression, including feel-ings of sadness, low energy, fatigue, and lack of interest in activities. SAD results in the low levels of serotonin and melatonin present in the brains of those affected, alter-ing their state of mind.

Dismissing SAD, to say it is just a result of the winter months, really diminishes the experiences of those who suffer, as well as to enable the stigma against mental illness.

The stereotype that mental illness, especially mood disor-ders like depression, are just “all in the head” or in this case “all in the weather,” silences this very important conversa-tion before it can even begin. It makes it difficult for people who do suffer from mental illness to seek help and get healthy.

It is important that while we acknowledge SAD affects stu-dents in the winter, there are

other illnesses which affect people year round. Neither one is less significant or less traumatic for the person that is suffering.

SAD is not something you have to suffer through alone. There are plenty of resources available for those who need it. Whether that be the coun-seling center, your RA’s, or a light lamp, coping with Sea-sonal Affective Disorder is possible on campus.

Don’t Be Sad About Seasonal Affective Disorder

By Emily Pizza

Red Brick and a Steep Gradient

Academy Street, with its distinct red brick road and steep gradient, welcomes students onto campus each

year. For some students however, it’s not a happy sight.As an able-bodied student, I can appreciate the beauty

of our Arcadian hill, but at the same time, I also recognize the struggle for students with physical disabilities.

Trowbridge, Harmon, Crissey, and Severn halls all pose difficulty to people in wheelchairs, Humphrey House does not have an elevator.

While the college says it will do its very best to accom-modate students with disabilities, it’s no surprise that our steep hills and plentiful stairs deter them. Scott Brent, K’16, is a little person, and understands the physical constraints that living on this campus can have.

When he was applying for schools, his need for accom-modations was always weighing on his mind. “I was always fearing when applying...that some of these colleges may not want to pay out of pocket for what I need,” Brent said.

While he applauds our Associate Dean of Students Dana Jansma for her assistance in making sure his needs are ac-commodated, he believes the school doesn’t always have its

priorities straight, especially with the Arcus Center ramp, which weaves and bends.

“The ramp makes it more difficult for those in wheelchairs to access the building. It adds more of a flourish for those who are visiting, and that angers me a little bit,” Brent said.

For a building that is supposed to promote equality, making those in wheelchairs go the extra mile to get inside seems confusing.

However, Brent does manage to deal with the challeng-ing campus every day. He leaves lunch 30 minutes early to get to class on time. His friends often times comment on the length of time it takes to get across campus, which he attributes to his condition.

He adds that since moving into Crissey this year, he has spent considerably less time at the library because he’s “really tired of walking up the hill.”

Although the college attempts to make its campus in-clusive, we need to be honest when we say this is not an all-inclusive school. Even if we provide the funds, support systems, and programs, our campus is not a physical dis-ability-friendly space.

emaline lapinskiindex staff writer

Claudia Greening/ Index

PAGE 6

SPORTSNOVEMBER 5, 2014 THE INDEX

Emilia Ward, the women’s

lacrosse coach, remembers her freshman year of college playing lacrosse and winning her teams NCAA conference tournament.

“I was able to get into that game as a freshman, and [that] doesn’t happen very often,” Ward said. “[it] was pretty memorable.”

Ward has been around la-crosse for 17 years, and loves how it combines many of her other interests.

“It blends a lot of the sports I’ve played between ice hockey and basketball, and I played soccer when I was younger…into one, and that makes it a lot of fun,” Ward said.

Ward joined the sport in high school after some of her basketball teammates talked her into picking up the sport.

“[I just] kinda just fell in love with it,” she said.

After working at Adrian College for a few years as an assistant coach, she knew that starting the lacrosse program here at Kalamazoo College would be a great way to start her head coaching career.

“Starting the program, getting to really build a culture alongside the players is a lot of fun” Ward said.

After working here for a year, she definitely notices a difference in the students she coached at Adrian and the stu-dents here.

Ward, Women’s Lacrosse Coach, Looks Forward“You get to coach a really

motivated student, which is nice,” Ward said. “They are very inquisitive and ask a lot of questions, so you’re able to get into a different aspect of the game.

Her favorite part of coach-ing thus far has been watching the growth of students from the time they were a first year, to the time they are a senior. However, she notes that their maturity can create an issue in the beginning.

“When they’re young you’re

dealing a lot with 17-21 year olds, so dealing with the bumps that go alongside in their life while they’re growing can be difficult,” Ward said.

Since the start of the program, Ward has begun to change as a coach.

“I’m a different coach than I even was last year,” she said. “Learning how each player on our team kind of clicks, how each one of them [responds] who likes you to be really hard on them and who needs a lot of positive reinforcement.

However, starting the new program has caused her to put extra effort into learning about the students.

“What made it tough here was that there was an entire team to learn versus when you’re at other programs you’re just learning that incoming class,” Ward said.

She has high hopes for the season after the team’s 2-0 start last year, and believes that the team has the talent to fight for the conference cham-pionship title.

emily pizzaopinions editor

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This Week in Kalamazoo College Sports

What: Women’s Soccer vs. Alma, MIAA Tournament SemifinalWhere: MacKenzie Field

When: Thursday, November 6th at 7 P.M.

What: Men’s Soccer vs. Hope, MIAA Tournament SemifinalWhere: MacKenzie Field

When: Wednesday, November 5th at 7 P.M.

Chris McGuire/ K College Athletics

What: Women and Men’s Swimming and Diving Where: Kresge Natatorium at Hope College

When: Saturday, November 8th

Mark Blalek/ K College Athletics

What: Football, Senior NightWhere: Angell Field

When: Saturday, November 8th at 1 P.M.

Junfu Han/ K College Athletics

Kalamazoo Women’s Soccer