No longer do residents of Eagle Rock have to go to villages in the Swiss Alps, the plains of the Netherlands or the fields of Wisconsin to obtain top quality cheeses. A cheese shop of our very own has at last landed in Eagle Rock.
Milkfarm, an artisan cheese shop, opened in Eagle Rock on Colorado Boulevard. Amongthe many stores on Colorado Boulevard, the shop adds cheesy originality and classy ambiance to the Eagle Rock community.
Upon entering Milkfarm, customers are greeted by a cool breeze, friendly faces and an impressive array of cheeses, ranging from French Bucherondin to classic Wisconsin Cheddar.
Customers can also sit down and eat while shooting the Bries at the four-seat counter or at a large rustic table in the back of the store.
Owner Leah Park Fierro, who grew up in Southern California and has worked in the food industry for 15 years, dreamed opening up a small independent business in her hometown.
“I want it to feel very comfortable, but also feel like a learning experience for people who do not know about cheese, who are not familiar about seasonal food and locally-produced food,” Fierro said. “I want to know everybody by name. I want to know the community.”
In an effort to draw in and appeal to more customers, Milkfarm does not exclusively offer cheeseand instead has broadened its options. Other choices of food are available, including grilled cheeses, baguettes, meat, chips and drinks.
Unlike other shops such as Subway or Quiznos where customers can build their ownsandwiches to order, Milkfarm is purely a cut-to-order cheese shop that offers pre-prepared cheese and food. Fierro claims that expanding food options would pull too much away from cheese aspect of the shop; it would make them sandwich producers and not cheesemongers.
If so inclined, customers can easily buy all the ingredients to make their own sandwiches. Bread is delivered fresh daily to Milkfarm from Bread Lounge, a local artisan bakery in Los Angeles.
Milkfarm has also formed a partnership with local farmer Mike Scott so that fresh produce, farm fresh eggs and local honey are offered at the shop.
Fierro is currently trying to obtain an alcohol license so that she can sell wine and beer at Milkfarm.
The biggest attraction to the shop will by far remain the assortment of cheeses. Traditional cheeses like Manchego, Majorero and Beemster Extra Old will always be offered, according to Fierro. On top of that, seasonal cheeses will be offered, such as the current selection of Winnimere from Vermont.
Milkfarm’s addition to Eagle Rock certainly broadens the possible culinary adventures of the community residents while simultaneously taking a quaint and simple approach to local and trendy food shops.
Milkfarm is located at 2106 W. Colorado Blvd. It is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Mon. through Sat. and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sun.
In honor of yesterday’s Earth Day, Occidental is hosting its first-ever Earth Day Sustainability Fair Friday as the culminating event of Earth Week. The fair will showcase the sustainability effortsof a wide range of campus groups, such as the biology department, the Beekeeping Club, the Hawaii Club and the Green Bean Coffee Lounge.
The goal of Occidental’s Earth Week is to educate the campus community about sustainability. Sustainability Coordinator Emma Sorrell ‘13 is spearheading this year’s events with the help of the Sustainability Committee, which monitors the college’s use of resources and pursues environmentally-friendly on-campus projects. Biology and theater double major Dylan Bruce (sophomore), who also serves as the sustainability intern for Campus Dining, is working with Sorrell as a member of the Sustainability Subcommitteefor Outreach and Education.
“Hopefully we will be able to keep momentum going and have a more cohesive group that works around sustainability on campus in the future,” Sorrell said.
Sorrell and Bruce believe that the Earth Day Fair will show the Occidental community that sustainability is easily attainable and relevant to everyone.
“We want to engage people and show them that this stuff is fun and important at the same time, that these issues do matter to them and that they are connected,” Bruce said.
The Earth Day Fair will elucidate how sustainability relates to students’ daily lives by showcasing the diverse ways in which groups from across campus are tackling environmental issues.
“We hope that students will see how broad sustainability is,” Sorrell said. “It’s everything from bees to transportation and everything in between.”
Green landscaping
Professor of biology Gretchen North will lead the biology department in selling succulent and perennial plantson the quad during the Earth Day Fair to raise awareness about water-conscious landscaping.
“It is important that the campus is moving towards drought-tolerant planting,” North said.
According to the Public Policy Institute of California, at least 50 percent of the state’s urban water usage goes toward landscaping — namely, watering nonnative plants.
The biology department will also educate students about the importance of pollinators, such as butterflies and hummingbirds. In response to the plummeting monarch butterfly populations, students in North’s Flora of California class became interested in establishing butterfly gardens around campus. They started by planting milkweed on a plot of land behind Stewart-Cleland Hall where, according to North, six monarch caterpillars have already found a home. North’s students have also planted a garden outside of the Bioscience building for hummingbirds.
“There’s a nice, renewed focus on pollinators and how to attract and plant them,” North said.
Bees: California’s pollinators
Occidental’s Environmental Health and Safety ManagerBruce Steele and the newly formed Beekeeping Club have planned an exhibit for the Earth Day Fair to show the environmental importance of bees, and hopefully cure some students of their apiphobia (fear of bees). Steele will bring an observation beehive that he maintains at the Kidspace Children’s Museum in Pasadena and hold a honey tasting for his audience with samples of honey sourced from black sage, orange groves and wildflowers. Samples of honey from various areas will show how different floral sources affect the taste of the honey.
The Beekeeping Club will also look for ways to network with other campus groups at the fair to reiterate the relevance of bees in campus sustainability initiatives such as the Biology department’s monarch butterfly and hummingbird gardens and the Hawaii Club’s taro crops.
Steele explained that bee pollination is imperative to not only California’s flower populations, but also to food crops such as melons, apples and alfalfa used for livestock feed. According to Steele, the world would be bereft of almonds without healthy California bees because 80 percent of the world’s almonds come from the San Joaquin Valley.
“Bees play an incredibly important role in our food supply,” Steele said.
He also noted how far-reaching implications of bee health are becoming increasingly apparent as environmental changes threaten their populations.
“From a sustainable perspective, bees are a canary in the coal mine. They are an indicator of the health of the ecosystem,” Steele said.
The bee exhibit will educate students on the importance of bees and the necessity for sustainable agriculture in relation to colony collapse disorder, an epidemic caused by anthropogenic introduction of new viruses, pesticides and malnutrition.
Water-conscious farming
Earth Week will give Hawaii Club a chance to share their poi — a Polynesian dish made from the taro plant — with the Occidental community in order to raise awareness about the environmental issues affecting the livelihood of taro farmers in Hawaii. They will also sell shirts to promote, “I am Haloa,” a documentary about Hawaiian identity and culture that the club will screen next year.
“We want to promote understanding of the problems that are affecting the taro culture,” Art History and Visual Arts (AVHA) major SarahTamashiro (junior) said.
According to Tamashiro, taro grows efficiently with very little land and water, requires no refrigeration and is hypoallergenic, yet it is the most underused starch in world. Tamashiro believes that planting sustainable crops such as taro helps Hawaii’s local environment and economy and has the potential to do the same globally.
“We need to start thinking about how we can re-look at what we’re consuming,” Tamashiro said.
To educate Occidental students about the cultivation and benefits of taro, members of Hawaii Club planted taro in the Food, Energy and Sustainability Team (FEAST) garden and hope to yield a harvest by the end of the year. Tamashiro is excited about the prospects of the stronger partnership with the garden.
“We’re definitely going to work more with FEAST next year,” Tamashiro said.
Efficient waste disposal
The Green Bean will conduct a waste audit throughout Earth Week in order to combat the problem of wasteful disposal. Despite signs reading, “Compost Me!” and “STOP! Compost Only!,” Green Bean staff continue to see non-compostable items in compost bins, according to Urban and Environmental Policy (UEP) major and Green Bean Programming and Customer Experience Manager Caroline Bringenberg (senior).
“It’s a bummer that if there is one non-compostable thing in a bag, then the whole bag doesn’t get composted,” Bringenberg said.
Green Bean staff will display the contents of the compost, recycling and trash bins from the lounge on tarps in the academic quad.
“The main point of the waste audit is to educate the student body onhow to sort their trash, and for them to see how many mistakes are made throughout the day,” Bringenberg said.
The display will also incorporate a game in which students can sort the waste correctly for a chance to win a Green Bean Klean Kanteen.
“We put a lot of effort into being a sustainable business, so participating in Earth Week will help to spread the word and show all our efforts,” Bringenberg said.
Other participants in the Earth Day Fair
Sorrell and Bruce believe that the Earth Day Fair will consist of the largest and most diverse participants of any campus event.
Campus Dining will provide samples of produce grown at local farms from which it plans to purchase produce. It will also display a regional map showing how it is shrinking its radius of supply. The Marketplace will feature local and organic food throughout the entire week, providing comparisons of the carbon footprint of different diets.
FEAST will give out mint transplants and a recipe for mint tea.
Several groups on campus will promote sustainable means of transportation. The physics department will display its solar car, the Bengal Bus and Zipcar will run promotions and Bike Share will host an introductory bike mechanics demonstration.
Oxy Green Tours, a student organization that gives tours centered around sustainable projects on campus, will run a water taste comparison. In an effort to eliminate plastic bottle waste on campus, UEP major and Oxy Green Tours founder Lila Singer-Berk (senior) came up with the idea to show students that tap water is just as good as bottled water.
“Occidental still sells bottled water while other schools do not, so the taste comparison is a small thing we can do to promote campus sustainability,” Singer-Berk said.
Oxy Green Tours will alsogive out Renewable Energy and Sustainability Fund (RESF) hand towels to those who can correctly guess the origin of each water sample. The towels were introduced last year to clip onto backpacks and save paper towels.
Students will also be able to kick around the SOCCKET, a soccer ball created by the environmentally responsible enterprise Uncharted Play, that uses kinetic energy to power small appliances. Students can also help paint an earth-themed mural.
RESF will host its second annual “Thrift Store” Clothing Swap during the fair. Students who have donated clothing in previous weeks will gain free access to clothing and Green Truck food. Those who did not donate clothes can charge $5 to their student accounts for the same perks.
The Prison Beautification Club will alsopromote their club at the fair and the economics department will display posters on the economics of sustainability.
Sorrell sees the fair as a promising start for greater participation in sustainable initiatives on campus.
“Hopefully students will learn about organizations on campus that they did not know were there before, and that there is a lot of networking to make sustainability a bigger presence on campus,” Sorrell said.
On a stage at the front of the room, theDJ plays the first jazzy tune and the lights dim to a glow. The dance floor floods with newcomers and regulars in full skirts and loose slacks, rocking in the step-step-triple-step pattern. A gangly teenage boy — frog-like with his green pants and long strides — leads a girl his age around the middle of the dance floor, who twists and twirls wherever his unpredictable strides lead her. An older man in a tilted trilby hat and a light-footed woman weave around each other in unison in their own private bubble. The beat is steady, the piano is smooth and the skirts are swishing. Lindy Groove has just swung into action.
Lindy Groove is a community swing dance held at Pasadena’s Masonic Hall every Thursday night. According to several patrons, it is one of the most popular swing dances in the Los Angeles area, and the men to women ratio is surprisingly equal, so no one ends up as a wallflower. As a birthday treat, the organizers offer free cupcakes and entry for ten friends, so there are always a few celebrations.
Undeclared Britta Swedin (first-year) went to Lindy Groove for the first time last Thursday, rekindling her swing dancing skills for the first time since starting college. She picked up the steps quickly and danced to nearly every song.
“My favorite dance of the night was with a guy who teaches swing dancing. He looked like he was having lots of fun and genuinely enjoyed dancing with me,” Swedin said.
Danielle Carlson, a Pasadena resident who has been going to Lindy Groove for about six months, loves the size of the crowd and the opportunity to dance with so many different people. While participants only dance with others at their skill level at other dance venues, at Lindy Groove, everyone finds one another, regardless of ability. Each partner has a different style, so half of the fun is learning different ways to perform the steps. Experienced dancers are willing to teach moves to their partners during the dance. Though there is a lesson at the beginning of the night, the best way to learn to swing dance is to dance with more experienced partners.
Geology major Wayana Dolan (sophomore), a skilled swing dancer, has attended Lindy Groove several times in her first two years at Occidental. Last Thursday, she took on a dance with a more experienced young man. Though somewhat intimidating, dancing with a challenging partner can be freeing, according to Dolan.
“It’s a great feeling once you get to the point where you don’t have to think about moves, and you just react to the other person and dance,” Dolan said.
Lindy Groove takes place every Thursday night at 200 Euclid Ave in Pasadena. Beginning and Intermediate classes start at 7:30 p.m. and dancing is from 8:15 p.m. to 12:00 a.m. All segments of the evening included in the $8 entry price.
Seven distinguished professors from seven separate departments will retire at the end of this semester. The group includes a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award Poetry Prize, a scholar-in-residence in the Office of Soviet Analysis at the CIA and an award-winning actor, director, filmmaker and producer.
Those retiring include American studies professor Arthe Anthony, politics professor Larry Caldwell, theater professor Alan Freeman, chemistry professor Phoebe Dea, music professor Allen Gross, economics professor James Whitney and English and Comparative Literary Studies (ECLS) professor Martha Ronk.
Within the ECLS department, Irma Jay Price Professor of English Martha Ronk teaches Shakespeare, modern poetry and creative writing. She has been teaching Shakespeare since her first days at Occidental as an adjunct professor in 1981.
Ronk haspublished numerous works and received distinction from the literary community. Her book “Vertigo”was a National Poetry Series selection and her poetry collection “In a Landscape of Having to Repeat”received the PEN USA 2005 poetry award. She has been published in The Chicago Review,The Harvard Review, Shakespeare Quarterly and English Literary Renaissance.This past year, Ronk was a finalist for the 2013 National Book Award Poetry Prize for her book, “Transfer of Qualities.”
While reflecting on her time at Occidental, Ronk expressed her desire for a more comprehensive creative writing program.
“I really would have liked to have had a fuller program in creative writing, so students could start with an intro class then move onto more advanced classes, but we don’t really have enough faculty or a large enough program,” Ronk said.
Although she is retiring at the end of the year, Ronk will continue to be a presence on campus.
“I’m probably going to come back and teach in the spring next year. I want to keep teaching a course here and there,” Ronk said. “But I think it’s important for me to think about what other things I’d like to do.”
With her new-found free time, Ronk hopes to see her son and his family more often. She plans to venture into social service, specifically tutoring, and finish a few manuscripts which are currently in production.
Theater professor Alan Freeman, who has also received a number of awards over his career, has his own post-retirement goals.
“I will work. And nap. Hang out with friends and family. I will write and direct and seek more curtains to raise.
Occasionally, I will act. And I hope to develop a stronger spiritual practice,” Freeman said.
In addition to his many accomplishments in the professional world of theater, Freeman has acted in and directed dozens of productions since coming to Occidental in 1962as a student.
“Oxy offered me a unique career path as an artist in the theater: teaching, acting, directing, producing, writing and later building Keck Theater. I was mentored by Omar Paxson and Howard Swan — first as their student, and later their colleague.I have continued to collaborate with some of the finest colleagues one could choose,” Freeman said.
The career of Cecil H. and Louise Gamble Professor of Political Science Larry Caldwell has also exceeded four decades at Occidental. His areas of expertise are Soviet and post-Soviet foreign and military policies, arms control and U.S. national security policy. He has written several books over the years, including “Soviet and American Attitudes Towards S.A.L.T.” (1971), “Soviet and American Relations: One Half-Decade of Detente”(1976) and “U.S.-Soviet Relations in the 1980s” in collaboration with William Diebold, Jr. (1980). The Larry Caldwell Research Fellowship, which awards $2,000 to the junior politics majorwith the strongest research proposal in national security, comparative politics or international relations, was created in his honor.
Over the years, economics professor James Whitneyhas focused his studies on international economics, the economics of professional team sportsand the economics of higher education. One of his favorite courses to teach was Law and Economics.
“I really enjoyed my 32 years at Oxy, and working with students was my favorite part of the job. If I were to keep working, it is still the job I would want most. But I enjoy leisure even more and am ready to work at it full-time,” Whitney said.
Whitney plans to spend much of his retirement traveling.
“My wife, Linda, and I have always enjoyed traveling, and we wanted to retire early enough to still have the energy to actively explore and haul our luggage around for several weeks when we visit foreign countries. My free advice is to not settle down too soon or retire too late, and I am trying to set a good example,” Whitney said.
American studies professor Arthe Anthony’s passions include interdisciplinary examinations of the American South, socio-historical views of 20th Century African-American literature, African-American history and women’s/gender studies.
Music professor Allen Gross teaches conducting, orchestral literature and materials of music. He is the conductor of the Occidental-Caltech Orchestra, which will be departing with its conductor.
To make up for the loss of these esteemed professors, Occidental has hired 10 new tenure or tenure-track professors in Art History and Visual Arts (AHVA), Diplomacy and World Affairs (DWA), chemistry, cognitive science, economics, history, mathematics and kinesiology.
Upon entering the historic May Company building on Wilshire Boulevard, guests see the above quote by American fashion designer Diane Von Furstenberg, blinking in neon pink letters at the apex of the entry hallway to the gallery. This is “Journey of a Dress,” Von Furstenberg’s (DVF) exhibit at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA),which celebrates the 40th anniversary of her brand and eternal contribution to fashion history — the wrap dress.
Inside the exhibit, visitors are surrounded by pink walls decorated with photographs of women wearing Von Furstenberg’s iconic wrap dress. A photo of Michelle Obama shows hersmiling and waving at gallery-goers, stunning in her floral DVF. The dress, which wraps in the front and ties at the waist, became part of the milieu of the ’70s, when many women began ascending the corporate hierarchy.
As visitors pass through the halls of the gallery an army meets them —an army of 200 lifeless white mannequins, positioned on tiered platforms and clad in an array of DVF dresses. The vintage dresses feature a spectacular assortment of prints, including Deco-inspired geometrics, python patterns, a Jackson-Pollock-splash print and pop art, Warhol-esque motifs.
Von Furstenberg’s dynamic patters cover the walls of the exhibition room, allowing visitors to interact with her designs. The dim room is lit by spotlights that highlight the mannequins, which look as if they are preparing to walk a runway.
Designed by Stefan Beckman, the installation features several of the dresses’ vibrant prints on the walls and floors of the exhibition space, where visitors are encouraged to take pictures against the eye-popping background.
Each of Von Furstenberg’s featured dresses is a work of art, deemed a masterpiece due to the the wrap dress’s permanence in fashion history. The dresses empowered the workingwoman in the ’70s and continues to empower women today, making Furstenberg’s designs deserving of this celebratory exhibition. It is, in a word, fabulous.
One of the lesser-known perks of participating in theater at a small liberal arts school is that many times, rather than choosing talent to fit into the production, productions are chosen based on the talent available. The exceptional talent of theater major Lukecus King (senior) convinced director and chair of the theater department John Bouchard that Occidental was finally ready to bring “Othello” to Keck Theater.
William Shakespeare’s “Othello,” based on a short story by Cinthio, is a timeless tragedy of love, jealousy, racism and betrayal. Othello, a Venetian general played by King, secretly marries, much to her father’s dismay, Desdemona, played by theater major Stephanie Wong(senior). It is also to the dismay of Iago, Othello’s ensign, played by guest artist Daniele Manzin ’09, who spends the rest of the play deviously trying to ruin Othello for reasons never fully revealed. He decides the most effective route to his demise is to convince the general, Cassio, played by theater major and Weekly staff member Will Westwater (sophomore), that his wife is sleeping with him.
“I have a bucket list of plays I want to do. Hamlet was one of those, and I had an actor I thought could play Hamlet, so we did Hamlet,” Bouchard said. “Othello was another. I thought, I [finally] have an actor I believed could do Othello.”
A role as demanding as Othello, which requires an extreme range of emotions as well as the stamina to maintainbelievability for over two hours, warrants patient waiting for the right actor to come along. From his tender and heartwarming embraces with Desdemona in the opening scenes, to his passionate, tormented and dithering murder at the end, King certainly proves he was worth the wait.
“The difficulty for me was finding how to get to these extremes and stay there the whole time,” King said. “Thank God for rehearsal and the beautiful Desdemona, and just hard work and dedication.”
It is no secret that the play is naturally dark, and the role of Iago is as equally daunting in and of itself.
“Iago is almost the opposite in terms of the actor’s challenge,” Bouchard said. “The challenge is you don’t want to play an overtly creepy Iago, [but] you can’t play an Iago that the audience thinks is too genuine. It’s a really tight little window you have to play in, and you have to do it for the entire play.”
The theater department traditionally casts at least one guest artist per Shakespeare production to serve, in part, as a model for student actors. The challenging nature of Iago’s character warranted such a guest artist like Manzin.
As powerful as their performances were — and they truly were exquisite — English and Comparative Literary Studies (ECLS) and theater double major Savannah Gilmore (junior) stole the show as Iago’s wife and Desdemona’s attendant, Emilia. Though her character acts as an observer for the bulk of the show, Gilmore consistently teems with energy from scene to scene. Her mounting frustration and anxiety over Othello and Iago’s mistreatment of Desdemona floods the room with merely a facial expression or gesture. Come the final scene, after Emilia learns Othello has murdered his wife, she erupts in a downright chilling monologue that must have raised every hair on every arm in the audience.
“The way we [decided I should] play Emilia is that her husband abuses her and that made it much more human to me and easier to play. But it is really difficult,” Gilmore said.
Wong and Gilmore together were an intensely commanding duo. Wong as Desdemona matched Emilia’s composure, cynicism and wisdom with veritable vulnerability, trustand naivete.
“I think the key into the role was belief in Othello as this wondrous human being, and the idea that the only other male figure in my life has been my father. And being transferred to Othello, and having nothing else left,” Wong said. “My love was the only thing I knew was real. At the end, [the key was] disbelief and faith in something that is killing her.”
Othello continues Apr. 26 and 27 at 7:30 p.m., Apr. 28 at 2 p.m. and May 17 at 7:30 pm in Keck Theater. Tickets are $10 for students, faculty and seniors (+55), and $15 for general public.
On a warm and windy Saturday afternoon, the members of the Occidental track and field teams proved that their historic SCIAC Multi Dual 2 meet three weeks ago was no fluke. Once again, the squads posted multiple personal and national bests in the third-and-final SCIAC Multi Dual meet of the season.
Kimberly Orpinela (junior) was the top performer on the women’s side, securing first place in the hammer throw competition and the third-best throw in Occidental history with a distance of 145-06 feet.
Orpinela said that she was in a good mental space for all six of her throws.
“I’ve been telling my coach that I want to improve on my throws, and my seasonal goal would be to reach 140, which was not in my grasp in the beginning of the season,” Orpinela said. “But what really clicked today was that I wasn’t really thinking about anything.”
The women went 2-2 in the meet, defeating Whittier and Chapman and falling to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) and Redlands.
The women’s short distance runners lit up the track as Onyekachi Nwabueze (first-year) and Jenny Quilty (junior) finished second and third in the 200-meter with times of 25.84 seconds and 25.93 seconds, respectively. Nwabueze’s time was a lifetime-best, and Quilty’s was a season-best.
Sophomore Rachael Hinkel picked up a second-place finish and a personal-best time of 15.33 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles.
“Despite the importance of the meet, I was able to step back and remind myself why I love to run and that I have the support of my team behind me 100 percent of the time,” Hinkel said.
A movie moment came to life in the 4×400 meter, when the relay team composed of Nwabueze, Quilty, Hinkel and Ayana Foster (senior) finished second with a time of 4:04.16 minutes.
“Literally, around the entire track, our team was spread out — coaches included — to cheer us on,” Nwabueze said.
Seniors Lila Singer-Berk and Marnie Kinnaird both overcame the hot and windy weather conditions that can especially hinder long distance runners.
Singer-Berk’s fourth-place finish in the 5,000-meter in a time of 19:05.07 minutes marked her career-best result in a conference-scoring race. Kinnaird, who was competing in her first meet since suffering a quad injury a month ago, finished fourth in the 1,500-meter with a personal best time of 4:53.25 minutes.
“I was really proud of [Kinnaird] because I think when you have an injury like that or are overcoming adversity then the first thing that is going to be affected is your confidence,” Tiger head coach Rob Bartlett said.
The top performance on the men’s side also came from the field events, as Kevin Cox (senior) leapt over 23-05.5 feet of sand to win the long jump and notch the ninth-best Division-III distance in the country so far this season.
“I’m really excited to go farther and see what I can do,” Cox said.
The men defeated Whittier but fell to CMS and Redlands.
The unit competed without distance specialists Colin Smith (junior) and John Guzman (junior), who both raced with some of the top runners in the country at the Mt. Sac Relays on Friday night.
Smith secured the second-best time in Occidental history, the 10th-fastest Division-III time in the country and a lifetime-best in the 5,000-meter at 14:25.21 minutes. This time was good enough for a ninth-place finish in the event.
Despite the absence of these key runners at SCIAC Multi Dual 3, the men’s side produced standout races like those of Kyle Dalton (first-year), who cranked out personal-best times in the 100-meter and 200-meter at of 11.00 seconds and 22.11 seconds, respectively.
Cox and Dalton were impressed by Jeh Johnson’s (first-year) season-best 48.5 second third leg of the 4×400 relay, as they both referred to his performance as the most memorable of the day.
“At this time of the year, you hope everyone is going to start peaking, and I think the team showed today that they are ready to do that,” Bartlett said.
The teams will compete next at the SCIAC Championships on May 2–3, running on their own Bill Henry Track.
The first of the Four Questions, “But why is this night different from all other nights?” echoed through the discussions held by Occidental students at an off-campus seder in commemoration of Passover. For the students, the seder was different from all other seders. The seder reconciled not only the diverse traditions of Jewish students, but also welcomed non-Jewish friends to observe the holiday.
Although neither are Jewish, economics major Will Huang (sophomore) and philosophy major Cristina Checa (sophomore) were present at the seder. The gathering also included Critical Theory and Social Justice (CTSJ) major Sarah Schmitz (sophomore), who, although Jewish, had never before attended a Passover seder. They joined their classmates to taste the bitter herbs and matzah and learn exactly what differentiates the holiday from other nights.
Passover commemorates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. The seder, which occurs during the first two nights of the holiday, is a time for Jews to rejoice and be thankful for the sacrifice their ancestors made to ensure future generations were free from slavery.
Throughout the course of the night, students traded off reading from the Haggadah, retelling the story of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt and of the first Passover, interspersed with songs of prayer and explanations of Passover foods.
“Even though I am Jewish, I never had the chance to attend a seder, and the explanations were welcoming,” Schmitz said. “I wasn’t expected to know everything by heart. I could learn about my heritage as the night [progressed].”
Those unfamiliar with Passover were confronted with rituals such as eating maror (horseradish), symbolic for the bitterness of slavery. At the seder, students carefully spooned helpings of the maror onto broken pieces of matzah and watched one another’s reactions to the bitter herb, ranging from tears to a sprint to a nearby water jug.
“The horseradish was a shock,” Huang said. “It’s like wasabi; it wasn’t as bad, but still bitter. I took a big bite of that and regretted it a lot, but understood the purpose of the sting.”
The first hearty plate of the night was matzah ball soup — a mixture of matzah meal, eggs and oil — typically served in chicken broth. Cheers erupted across the seder table when students brought out trays of the steaming soup, a Passover staple.
“It was surprisingly familiar. It tasted like home,” Checa said.
Even the long-standing observers of Passover became acquainted with new traditions at the seder. A discussion over the addition of an orange slice to the seder plate — a plate containing symbolic Passover foods — interrupted the reading from the Haggadah.
Some students defended the belief that the orange represents the acceptance of female rabbis, which is nontraditional for Orthodox Jews. For other attendees, the fruit symbolizes the fruitfulness of all Jews, especially those who feel marginalized from the Jewish community. The seeds of the orange serve as a reminder to spit out any prejudiced thought.
“I thought it was really special how there was even discussion over changes in the rituals of the ceremony, a ceremony that has been occurring for centuries,” Schmitz said. “It reflected, at least to me, how the Jewish culture can change with the times, while still maintaining its core values.”
At the end of the night, students returned to their respective residences, filled with chocolate-covered matzah and macaroons, reflecting on the ceremony.
“Usually on this campus, religion tends to be something that polarizes people,” Checa said. “It’s a personal thing, which is great, but at the same time it was nice to see people be outwardly celebratory, celebrating their religion. Everyone was singing and having a good time. Even though I don’t practice Judaism, I could still share the feelings that everyone else was having.”
Huang also appreciated the chance to learn about Passover.
“I don’t normally have those things in my life, so it was literally a new experience for me,” Huang said. “Where I come from, there is a very small Jewish population, so it was really eye-opening to experience the traditions of the Jewish culture.”
“Xbox on,” I say as I walk into my room.My little box of joy illuminates its warm and bright X logo. I am home. I love my new Xbox One. However, as it makes its place as my dominant gaming console, I can’t help but feel nostalgic for my old game library that is becoming obsolete.
I am what some in the gaming community call an early adopter of the Xbox One, meaning that I bought the system fairly close to when It came out. I knew the risks of doing so, but the Xbox One “Titanfall” bundle just seemed too good.
“Titanfall” is my only Xbox One game because few good new games have been released. The Xbox One has no backwards compatibility. I knew both of these things when I bought the Xbox One, but what I didn’t know is how much not having backwards compatibility would hurt my gaming experience.
As if Sony and Microsoft agreed upon it, neither of this generation’s consoles (Xbox One and Playstation 4, or PS4) have what is called backwards compatibility. These devices would be backward compatible if the PS4 could play a PS3 game or an Xbox was able to play an Xbox 360 game. No backwards compatibility means that this entire section of the market is closed off, immediately starving current systems of a great and diverse library of games.
So, my entire Xbox 360 and PS3 backlog of games is worthless unless I have my old consoles to run them. As a college studentin a dorm, I don’t have much space. I need too many consoles to play my old favorite games as they are no longer up to date.I am aware of some of the technical limitationsthat make backwards compatibility difficult. I am also aware of forward marketing ruthlessly pushing out the old to make room for the new. These companies want to push their new products and reduce costs of making their updated console.
There is a market for re-releases. I am not alone in feeling separated from my backlog of games. There are solutions emerging that should make the transition a little easier.
Sony is leading the charge in online game streaming. This summer they are releasing what is called Playstation Now, where players can stream PS3 titles straight to their PS4, PS3 or PS Vita system(s). This is a way around backwards compatibility that sounds extremely promising, streaming the game through the cloudrather than having the console emulate the old games.
Microsoft has yet to be as ambitious with their streaming play, but at least both parties will benefit from some re-releases of last-generation games onto their new consoles. Rockstar’s “Grand Theft Auto V” is already up for pre-order for the current generation of consoles. In addition, Naughty Dog’s “The Last of Us” is updating to PS4.
For an early adopter, the options of cloud streaming and re-releasing are especially nice because it will allow us to play some of our favorite titles on our new, sexy consoles.
Performing covers of another artist’s song, like making a playlist or choosing what Taylor Swift lyric to put as your Facebook status, is a delicate task that should not be approached lightly. You are essentially taking someone else’s work to express yourself.
Many times, perhaps more often than not, covers either fall completely flat and fail to live up to the original at all. However, every once and awhile, an artist takes someone else’s song and creates something better, or at least a new version that can stand on its own. There are some steps one can take to make a cover stand out.
Expand on the Theme of the Original
Who got it right: Gary Jules, Johnny Cash
An easy way to create a great cover is to either expand on, or in some cases better capture what the original is all about. Case in point: “Mad World,” originally by Tears for Fears and famously covered for Donnie Darko by Gary Jules.
While those in my parents’ generation might argue that both can hold their own against each other, Gary Jules’ version better captures the stress, confusion and desperation of youth in trying to comprehend life’s complexities. The sparser production and slower pace more strongly convey the desperation Tears for Fears was going for but got lost amidst the synthesizers and drum kits. Even the original artists prefer the cover to their version, which says quite a bit about the talents of Gary Jules.
Another instance where the cover artist expanded on the original is Johnny Cash’s rendition of “Hurt.” Both tackle the always bright and cheerful topics of addiction and depression effectively. However, Mr. Cash’s takes those themes and turns the intensity up to eleven, and he does it with a simple word change.
In the original Nine Inch Nails rendition, Trent Reznor sings about wearing “a crown of s— upon my liar’s chair.” Clearly, there is quite a bit of self-loathing going on there. Johnny Cash makes this even more powerful by changing his crown to one made out of thorns. Though this might initially seem overly blunt and patronizing, when taken in context with the “liar’s chair” it becomes very poignant. He portrays himself as a false martyr — a hero to many who does not deserve to be held in such esteem. Combine that with the stripped down, intentionally minimal production and Johnny Cash’s lifetime of drug abuse, relationship troubles and overall self-destructive behavior and you get one of the most haunting and powerful songs ever recorded. As Trent Reznor said himself, “Tears welling, silence, goosebumps…[I feel like] I just lost my girlfriend, because that song isn’t mine anymore.”
Who did it wrong: Hilary Duff
Now this is not to knock the pop star in general, but more her choice in what song to cover. Perhaps she is actually a big fan of The Who and just wanted to pay tribute to the band. However, by altering the lyrics ever so slightly, either her or the record executives completely missed the point of “My Generation.” Specifically, “I hope I die before I get old” becomes “I hope I don’t die before I get old.” What was once a giant metaphorical middle finger to conformity and a safe lifestyle becomes something else entirely. It is corporate and Disney-fied to the point of nausea. Add in overproduced, generic and instantly forgettable instrumentals and you have a pretty terrible cover on your hands.
Turn the Original on Its Head
Who got it right: Aretha Franklin, Franky Perez & The Forest Rangers, Sid Vicious
Sometimes, rather than trying to match or enhance the themes of the original, it’s best to use the same music and to say something completely different. This is an incredibly difficult route to take, but when done correctly, the result is astounding.
Some may not realize that Aretha Franklin was the second singer to perform “Respect,” with Otis Redding providing the original version. In Redding’s take, the “respect” is a very thinly veiled euphemism for something else, whereas Franklin added the now famous bridge, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” and turned a song about a man’s self-worth into an empowering anthem that resonated with both the Civil Rights and feminist movements in the late ’60s, and is still seen as such today. Even Otis admits that Franklin’s version is better (noticing a trend here?).
The most-underrated TV show on the air today, “Sons of Anarchy,” has arguably the best soundtrack for a television program in the last few years at least, helped in large part by the in-house band The Forest Rangers that have performed a number of high-quality covers, but none come close to their rendition of Stevie Wonder’s, “Higher Ground.” The upbeat and funky sounds of the original give the listener a sense of hope for the future— that it “won’t be too long” before we are saved from the warmongers and oppressors.
This is not so with Franky Perez and company’s version. The song is stripped to the basic components (a few guitars, bass and drums), and takes on a more apocalyptic tone. The world isn’t going to be saved: We are headed down a fiery path to an early grave and there’s nothing we can do to stop it. It is the antithesis of Stevie Wonder’s vision and works just as well as the original.
Lastly, while it will never fully surpass Frank Sinatra’s, the Sid Vicious cover of “My Way” is brilliant for entirely different reasons. The former’s voice is not proud of its past but finds a way to stay strong in the face of adversity, a classy and refined number from a talented vocalist.
In the hands of the former Sex Pistol, it becomes a sneering ethos — the ultimate “live fast, die young” manifesto. It is deliberately sloppy and repulsive and as fatalistic as it is defiant, a combination more intriguing on some levels than the original. If you’re going to go in a drastically different direction than the original, you might as well go all out.
Who did it wrong: The Animals
Yes, The Animals’ version of “House of the Rising Sun” is probably the most well-known and well-liked take on the folk classic. Notably, when performed by artists such as Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie, Joan Baez, and Nina Simone, the song is sung from a female perspective. The original version, derived from multiple traditional folk songs, is a gut-wrenching narrative about a woman who turned to prostitution because of her neglectful lover and misfortune, warning her sister to avoid living the same life but feeling trapped all the same.
By switching the gender perspective, “House of the Rising Sun” is about a boy who had a father with a gambling addiction. While technically and musically on point, The Animals’ cover is not as lyrically prolific or flat-out interesting as the traditional (to that point) versions.
Have Fun
Who got it right: Bruce Springsteen, Playing for Change, and Miley Cyrus
Sometimes, an artist does not have to complicate a cover to make it stand out or work well. Sometimes, you just need to take what made the original great and play it your own way.
Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band are the undisputed world champions of this form of covers. From playing rock ‘n’ roll staples such as, “You Never Can Tell,” to renditions of Van Halen tracks — synthesizers and all — they are, at their core, simply one great artists performing songs from other great artists. The differences are significant enough to differentiate the tracks, but not oppressively so.
Similarly, the Playing for Change “band” (a project that includes street performers from around the world, only a small number of which actually play shows together) is effective because it is primarily a chance for artists to showcase their talents playing beloved songs very well. Not much is changed from the core message or music, just each performer’s own little flourishes and some extra instruments. Nothing too complicated, just an incredibly talented group of musicians from across the globe playing together.
The last example might come as a bit of a surprise. It certainly was for me the first time I heard it. After hearing tracks from “Can’t Be Tamed” and “Bangerz,” a stripped-down acoustic Bob Dylan cover was the last thing I expected from the “Hannah Montana” star. Yet, that might be why the cover is so effective. By taking away the usual flair and excess, the more straightforward approach is refreshing and enjoyable and does a much better job of showcasing Miley’s vocal talents. She is fully committing to the opportunity to perform something out of her usual standards, and it is clear in her recording of “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go,” done for an album of Bob Dylan covers by contemporary acts.
Who did it wrong: Madonna
Sometimes, its best to leave the classics to the original performers, especially when your version comes across as poorly performed and uninspired. There is really not much else to be said about the queen of pop’s cover of “American Pie” by Don McLean. What could have been a fun and unique take turned into a lifeless mess of a song, omitting most of the song’s expertly crafted lyrics and trading the rocker tone of the original and replacing it with dull, generic synthesizers and bored vocals.
Not all of these methods are guaranteed to make a cover great, nor is this a comprehensive list of the ways to craft a great cover. However, it can serve as guide for aspiring Youtube stars and bar bands across the world.
Until next time: No retreat, no surrender.
JTB
Jack Butcher is a senior history major. He can be reached at butcher@oxy.edu or on Twitter @WklyJButcher.
