Though this statement has not yet been supported by scientific findings, the BBC One show, “Dolphins: A Spy in the Pod,” used dummy marine animals outfitted with video cameras to observe the natural behavior of dolphins.
The “spy” recorded young dolphins catching and chewing on a pufferfish, passing the toxin-filled fish around to one another. The dolphins then began to act “high”– swimming in loopy circles and gazing at their reflections at the surface.
While one might assume that pufferfish are difficult to light underwater, it is speculated that the young dolphins chew on the fish to consume its toxin, which in small doses can produce a narcotic effect. The adorable fish fill themselves with water to “puff” up when they feel threatened, filling up with the toxin tetrodotoxin. Roughly a thousand times more deadly to humans than cyanide, an antidote to tetrodotoxin has yet to be discovered. Tetrodotoxin can sometimes be lethal to fish, but to dolphins, it seems that the toxin is more titillating than deadly.
Humans and dolphins sharing a special bond. (Source: Georgia Aquarium)
Humans have been fascinated by the intelligence and personality of dolphins, but there seems to be a disconnect between the respect for these creatures in the wild and national security interests. Since militaries started using sonar technology, there has been an increase in the strandings of dolphins and whales. Scientists speculate that the animals, who normally rely on echolocation to navigate vast distances, become confused and misled by the sonar, in some cases trapping or beaching themselves in locations that they would normally not travel to. Dolphins also rely on acoustics to mate and communicate, and sonar can disrupt these patterns.
The more scientists learn about dolphins, the more we are confronted with the enormity of their intelligence. From chewing on pufferfish to utilizing advanced navigational skills, these creatures must be protected from human action that threatens their fragile ecosystem. Environmental groups are currently protesting the U.S. Navy’s use of sonar in critical dolphin mating areas, hoping to address one human activity that has a profound impact on the animal. To be responsible caretakers of the oceans we must continue to learn about marine animals, and adjust our practices in the ocean to ensure they have a presence in the oceans for years to come.
Jill Goatcher is a senior politics major and marine biology minor. She can be reached at goatcher@oxy.edu or on Twitter @WklyJGoatcher.
(Released on Wednesday, Feb. 12 to the Occidental community.)
Friends and Colleagues,
Yesterday at approximately 5:40 p.m. I received an email informing me that the College Administration had fired Lieutenant Joseph Cunje as of February 28th of this year. Despite 30 years of wonderful service to this college, 20 years with a sparkling record as Head of Campus Safety along with Holly Nieto, no one in the Administration was kind enough or brave enough to tell him face to face. He received a letter. And despite the valid and real option of putting him on Long Term Disability, in which case he would get 60% of his salary and contributions to TIAA-CREF and health insurance, they chose to terminate him instead. They fired Joe.
Many of you know Joe, but some don’t. Some of my details below might be off slightly, because I never thought I would write a letter like this. I assumed I would tearfully toast him at his retirement party. Instead, they fired Joe.
Joe came to this country from Guyana more than 30 years ago with something like 34 cents in his pocket, landing on an uncle’s porch, somewhere like Pennsylvania or Ohio. He worked two, even three, jobs at a time until he came to Los Angeles and to Occidental, and he and his wife put two fine sons through Occidental College, a place they love and toward which they have deep gratitude. He rather quickly won the Sarah Gilman Award for Best Employee of the Year. But they fired Joe.
I love Joe like a brother; I came to know him well as one of the happy consequences of my rheumatoid arthritis. Over the last twenty years, I have had hundreds of rides with Joe from my house to campus and back, and I have learned that Joe is an extraordinary man. Very few people who call Campus Safety are rude. Not once did Joe have even the slightest irritation in his voice when an impolite student called; Joe handled every call in a polite and professional manner. Students always said hello to Joe because they loved him too. Joe put in hundreds of hours of overtime on weekends and at night, overtime for which he was rarely paid, because he wanted everyone on campus to be safe. He would stay late almost every Saturday night with his hand on the volume knob, keeping the volume down of music played at campus parties, so no neighbors would call LAPD. He loved students to have parties on campus, because then no one could hurt himself or herself or anyone else with drunk driving. Joe was devoted to the students, staff, faculty, and the administration. But they fired Joe.
I saw Joe become teary when an Occidental student died bicycling down Mt. Wilson; it happened miles from campus, but Joe was devastated. When a student was skateboarding without a helmet in back of the library and fell and hit his head on the asphalt, Joe and his officers and the paramedics rushed the student into the operating room in 20 minutes, saving his life. Joe and his officers were ecstatic, because they care so deeply about students and everyone else on campus. But they fired Joe.
How did this happen? No problems occurred when Mike Groener supervised Campus Safety, but he was relieved of his job, and the Administration passed the supervision of Campus Safety to the Dean of Students Office, in this case, to Tim Chang who is an expert on residence halls but not on law enforcement. Mr. Chang never consulted the officers or even talked with them about what they thought were good practices, but instead gave orders that Joe thought were unprofessional, unrealistic, and against good law enforcement procedures. Joe also was frustrated that he and his fellow officers were not allowed to help with Sexual Assault Cases. In December of 2012, at the annual Christmas Party with officers and their families, the families sat at one end of a long table, and Barbara Avery and Tim Chang were alone at the other end. When asked if she would like to say a few words, Ms. Avery declined; after the party, Mr. Chang wrote Joe up for being uncooperative. Then, sometime just over a year ago Joe and Mr. Chang had a quarrel with Joe expressing his frustration that Mr. Chang had no experience with law enforcement; Joe went home, unable to sleep, and had something like a stroke that impaired his vision in his right eye. He is to this day genuinely disabled. He was put on medical leave that generously lasted more than the usual six months, but now, instead of legitimately putting him on Long Term Disability, they fired Joe.
There is a poison in the atmosphere on this campus, and it does not emanate from the faculty. One can see it in the firings of Dennis Johnson, Michael Kerwin, and Ed Cunje. President Richard Gilman would not have fired Joe, President John Slaughter would certainly not have fired Joe, President Ted Mitchell would not have fired Joe, but this Administration fired Joe.
I hope we can vote at the next faculty meeting urging that Joe be put on Long Term Disability, and that we can vote no confidence, once again, in—at least—the Dean of Students Office. They fired Joe.
If you think this is an important email, please forward it. I am not sure that the computer will let me send it to staff, administrators, and students. Thank you.
Several faculty called for a new round of no confidence votes amid revelations that the administration ended 30-year Campus Safety veteran Lt. Joseph Cunje’s employment on Feb. 10.
“I came to work today, and all I felt was incredible sadness,” Faculty President and mathematics professor Nalsey Tinberg said. “[Cunje] is one of the most beloved, dedicated, passionate, competent, student-centered people that has graced this campus.”
On Jan. 20, 2013, Cunje suffered a stroke that left him with impaired vision in his right eye. He has not been able to work since. Cunje attributes his stroke to the stress from the treatment and workplace tension he felt after Campus Safety was put under the Dean of Students’ jurisdiction. After his stroke, Cunje was put on medical leave. His son, Ed Cunje, had already gone on medical leave after having back surgery, and was let go in the summer of 2013 when his doctor did not clear him to return to work. On Feb. 10, 2014, Joseph Cunje met the same fate.
“We are left with no alternative than to regretfully inform you that the college can no longer extend your leave and has ended your employment,” a letter sent to Cunje by Director of Human Resources Richard Ledwin said.
The letter also states that Cunje’s insurance benefits will end on Feb. 28. Associate Director of Human Resources Jacalyn Feigelman said that Cunje is receiving long-term disability, and Vice President of Academic Affairs Jorge Gonzalez has asserted the same.
“I can assure you that the college recognizes and values his long service, and that we all care deeply about Joe,” a Feb. 14 letter sent to staff and faculty from Gonzalez states. “Statements that have been made suggesting denial of access to disability insurance benefits (which the college does not control and is typically a matter between the insurance carrier and the employee), along with some other statements about confidential personnel matters, are not accurate.”
It is apparent that there is considerable confusion around the terms of his dismissal, which Cunje attributes to being let go without warning or a face-to-face conversation. It is also clear that the college did not offer Cunje the option of early retirement.
“After all the years, the memories, the trials and tribulations, the joy and the sorrow, I am asking you to treat me with a little more dignity and not treat me like a pile of garbage,” Cunje wrote to Ledwin. “Occidental means the world to me. It has given me and my family numerous opportunities and it would be a shame to leave such a bitter taste in my mouth.”
Over two days, Ledwin was unavailable for comment.
Cunje came to the college after immigrating from Guyana to Washington D.C. He worked four jobs to keep his family afloat, including as a janitor at Occidental. When the job in Campus Safety (then called Campus Security) opened, Cunje applied and was hired. Six months later, he was promoted to sergeant. He took classes at Pasadena Community College in law enforcement and eventually, after graduating from the Police Academy, was promoted to lieutenant. For 21 years, Campus Safety Director Holly Nieto and Cunje ran Campus Safety under the vice president of administration.
But according to Cunje, things started to change when the Dean of Students Office began requesting Monday morning meetings with Nieto to review incidents from the prior week. Cunje said Nieto would come back every week from the meetings with a massive list of criticisms from Associate Dean of Students Tim Chang, Vice President of Student Affairs Barbara Avery and others second-guessing officers’ judgment.
“They always criticized us, never gave us accolades, we never did anything right in their eyes,” Ed Cunje said.
According to Cunje, Student Affairs continued to slowly diminish the independence of Campus Safety, making numerous mandates to trained officers for how to deal with students. Cunje and the other officers were told they were no longer allowed to write citations for noise violations or parties. Cunje was also restricted from bringing students into his office to discuss problems, as was his preferred form conflict reconciliation.
The transition culminated in November 2012 when, amid restructuring by President Jonathan Veitch, Vice President Mike Groener left the college and Chang was officially put in charge of Campus Safety. Chang immediately proposed major schedule changes, stunning Cunje. He had no idea why an assistant dean, with no law enforcement experience, was treading so deeply into Campus Safety operations.
For Chang, the move was a way to put Campus Safety and the Office of Residential Education and Housing Services (REHS) under unified management since the two offices already work closely together.
“In my four to four-and-a-half years, no one worked more closely with Campus Safety than REHS,” Chang said.
But Tinberg, like Cunje, questions the judgment of placing a troubled student affairs division and an associate dean with no law enforcement experience in a position to fundamentally change Campus Safety’s operating culture. She asserted that the actions of the current administration have repeatedly contradicted the college’s core values.
“When you have as your values excellence, equality, community and service either those are intrinsic to who you are and you make decisions based on them or you don’t,” Tinberg said, noting that faculty will try to remedy the contradiction. “We feel that when injustice occurs, we have to speak up.”
Tinberg said she would bring up no confidence votes if that is what the faculty want.
“If there’s support for that, I’ll bring it to the faculty,” Tinberg said.
Professor of politics Roger Boesche has been Cunje’s most vocal backer, penning a letter to faculty expressing his outrage over the situation that spread quickly through the online community.
“When I came here, this was the nicest, most compassionate place I had ever seen. And we had faults, we certainly weren’t perfect; I don’t want to romanticize the past,” Boesche said in an interview with The Occidental Weekly. “Even now, students, staff, you know I am riding my wheelchair, or in the occasional case I’m walking, people rush to open the door, it’s just amazing. They’re just so wonderful. But it’s a poisonous administration right now. Somehow the environment has come to this point where you’ve got a poisonous, bitter, angry administration and it’s real sad.”
But Avery has a different take, blaming the faculty’s vote of no confidence in her leadership on the campus environment.
“That nastiness didn’t come from us; [the no confidence vote] is where it started,” she said, noting that the faculty’s decision to vote no confidence in a dean of students made history and that the faculty does not understand what her division does. “Our goal is to make sure that we do what we need to do for the betterment of students.”
Cunje recalled several incidents which solidified his displeasure with the administration’s alleged intrusions. On a rainy night several years ago, a student got into an accident when making a right turn near the soccer fields. Debris had fallen from the hillside, making it very slippery, and the student spun into some pipes. Cunje, who was off-duty, came to help.
After clearing the accident and taking the student to his room, Cunje went home, only to be greeted by criticism the next morning from Chang, who Cunje says assumed the student must have been drunk.
“Tim Chang and his group got a hold of the report and the first thing I was greeted with was, ‘Why didn’t you call the police? Why didn’t you turn the student over to the police? He was drunk.’ In my mind, I’m going you’re an administrator and this is the way you think, the first thing you think of is calling LAPD. It was a rainy night, how did you know the student was drunk?” Cunje said.
Chang stood by his decision-making.
“We should call LAPD because we are not able to give field sobriety tests,” Chang said. “If a student is intoxicated and gets into a traffic accident on campus, then we take him home and put him in his room, but he leaves again and gets into a car and hurts himself or others, then we are liable for what the student then does. Better be safe than sorry to call LAPD to help us.”
About a month after Chang officially took control of Campus Safety, the Department held its annual holiday party. According to Cunje, upon arriving, Avery and Chang turned away from him as he entered. Then the two deans sat at the main table and never got up, even when Nieto asked them if they would like to say a few words.
“They never moved from that side of the table,” he said. “A couple days later on Dec. 17, I got a written reprimand,” Cunje said. “In 30 years at Occidental, I have never received a letter much less a written reprimand.”
The Letter of Admonishment, provided to The Occidental Weekly by Cunje, cites three reasons for the reprimand. First, that “you did not acknowledge nor did you even speak to either Chang or Avery. Your apparent disdain for their attendance was obvious and made for an awkward situation that was embarrassing and bordered on disrespectful.” Second, that “you have generally shown an overall lack of acceptance for and exhibited only minimal cooperation with recent changes. You were unwilling to seriously consider and, more importantly, discuss the pros and cons of scheduling and staffing suggestions.” Lastly, that “you allowed personal feelings as to what you consider ‘right’ to overshadow your professionalism.”
The letter did not cite any violations of specific college policies. In response to the charge that he was unwilling to discuss the pros and cons of scheduling suggestions, Cunje provided a document outlining numerous problems with the proposed schedule, which he had written and presented to Chang and Nieto before the holiday party.
Chang said that because this is a personnel matter, he was not able to comment on the letter or the holiday party.
“It is interesting that he is giving this to you when he knows full well I can’t respond to it,” Chang said.
“I internalized a lot of this, this bickering and this fighting,” Cunje said. “I couldn’t sleep. I couldn’t deal with all of this, having to deal with Tim. It bothered me a lot. It caused me a lot of anxiety and stress. And I went to bed and woke up and that was it. I got very sick. And that was the end of me.”
Many others were disappointed in the treatment of Cunje by the college. Cunje’s daughter-in-law, Micaela Cunje, expressed the effect of his termination on her family and on Cunje.
“This is a man who really didn’t want to bring anything up,” Micaela Cunje said. “It is difficult to see his heart broken … It is really sad that somebody loves a place and students so much and his heart is so broken because since he has been out of work, all he wants is to get better so he can go back and then this happens. I mean 30 years and it isn’t 8-to-5 thirty years; it is 24/7 thirty years…it is terrible how they can just break someone’s spirit.”
Backdoor Science explores the scientific world and updates the Occidental community on all of its happenings. Each week we will bring you engaging stories behind scientific history and current events.
Backdoor Science is Chris Discolo, Nick Thomas, Elya Shamskhou and Griffin Mead.
As a college student, I am sure you are familiar with the magic of procrastination. When there’s a massive assignment looming, few things in the world are more enticing than just not doing said assignment. Why, that paper is only due tomorrow morning! There’s a whole 12 hours between now and then! And what better way to spend that 720 minutes than with some delightful television?
My friends, I have been there. It is just so easy to get engrossed in a new show, especially in the age of unfettered Internet access. There’s Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Streaming, DVD box sets (“haha, as if”), Crunchyroll, network-owned websites and more…unscrupulous methods, if that’s your bag. If you were to spontaneously decide now would be the best time to start watching that new Teen Wolf show, there is a way for you to do that on your laptop.
But there’s just so much content out there. Now that streaming providers like Amazon, Hulu and Netflix have started producing their own shows, the market is reaching a saturation point the likes of which television has never seen.
That’s where this blog comes in.
I am a man of many extracurriculars. These activities have opened doors I never thought I would be able to enter, but I often find myself sitting on my hands while I wait for videos to render, podcasts to upload or emails to arrive. So, I spend a lot of time in my room watching Aaron Sorkin’s classic political drama, “The West Wing” for the first time, or looking back on my favorite episodes of the dark sitcom, “It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.”
And when it is time for me to give a new show a look, there is nothing that crushes my spirits more than wasting my time on a waste of time. As a result, my list of “shows to watch” has gone through many a culling. This method has worked for the most part but every so often, something bad slips through the cracks. It may be compelling bad (good ideas executed poorly), so-bad-it’s-good (bad ideas executed well) or just awful (bad ideas executed poorly), but the result is the same.
I want to help protect the Occidental community and the Internet at large from bad television. There’s a lot of shows out there and only so much homework to ignore. This blog is so you know which TV is worth rotting your brain for. I also believe any critical work involves an implicit contract between the critic and the audience, so with that in mind, let me both introduce both the blog’s rules and myself.
“Community” is my favorite sitcom and “Breaking Bad” is my favorite drama, with the first four seasons of “The West Wing” in a very close second. I was raised on a diet of pop culture staples like “Monty Python,” “I Love Lucy” and the “Andy Griffith Show.” Right now, I’m way into “House of Cards” and “Kill la Kill,” both guilty pleasures for entirely different reasons. I know about “Sherlock,” “Doctor Who,” “Broadchurch,” “Orphan Black,” “Downton Abbey,” “Shameless,” “The Walking Dead,” “Hannibal,” “Teen Wolf” and “Game of Thrones.” My backlog is a little sizable; I’ll watch and finish them eventually. I can’t stand “Full House” and I fell off the “Doctor Who” wagon somewhere around season seven’s terrible mid-season finale.
As for the blog, I’ll be alternating between three different kinds of posts as I see fit: full seasons, seasons-in-progress and single episodes. I also might break up the formula here and there. For example, I’ve been meaning to pit President Bartlet from “The West Wing” and President Fitz from “Scandal” against each other for a while now, but haven’t quite found the outlet for such a bout.
I usually try and give shows about six episodes before I give up on them entirely: three episodes for setup, another one to stick the landing and two more episodes to get back on track. I’ve seen many a bad show come back around towards the end of a season or in their second outing but like I said earlier, there’s a lot to watch.
And I hope you enjoy watching it with me. We’re going to be spending a whole semester together and I look forward to helping you decide which show will be the one to finally crack your GPA.
Mike Cosimano is a first-year psychology major. He can be reached at cosimanowhite@oxy.edu or on Twitter @WklyMCosimano.
Despite the emotionally complex and often tortured roles depicted on screen, movie audiences often believe that the actors, by contrast, walk off the set to glamorous and joyful Hollywood lives. Consequently, when Philip Seymour Hoffman died on Sunday, Feb. 2, the news shocked viewers who were unaware of the actor’s lifelong struggle with drug addiction. Hoffman is survived not only by his partner and three children, but by the host of disturbed characters he masterfully depicted and the filmmakers he worked with to craft these performances.
Movie audiences are familiar with many director-actor partnerships. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are predictable stars in any Tim Burton movie, while Michael Caine has acted in every Christopher Nolan movie since “Batman Begins.”Hoffman was director Paul Thomas Anderson’s muse. He appeared in five of Anderson’s six feature films beginning in 1996 with “Boogie Nights” and ending with “The Master” in 2012, in which he played Lancaster Dodd, a character thought to be loosely based on the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard. As in all of his films, Hoffman playedthe character with the rare depth and complexity that only a select few actors can achieve.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin worked with Hoffman on the films “Moneyball” and “Charlie Wilson’s War.” His painful yet honest obituary in Time magazineremembers Hoffman as “this kind, decent, magnificent, thunderous actor, who was never outwardly ‘right’ for any role but who completely dominated the real estate upon which every one of his characters walked.” Those who worked with Hoffman felt the haunted persona that fed his characters as well as his destruction.
In the days since his death, Hoffman has been hailed as one of the greatest actors of this generation, although he generally was not included in Hollywood’s glittery, movie star cliques. He played characters with commitment, whether for an Academy Award nominated biopic or a teen dystopian series. Although he was honored only oncewith an Academy Award for his performance as Truman Capote in the film “Capote,” viewers will remember him for the extensive breadth and passion he demonstrated in his career.
Nope, not Christmas. New York City’s Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
Luckily for us, NYC Fashion Week actually comes twice a year and doesn’t care if you have been naughty or nice, just if you have the money to throw down for some serious designer rags. Of course, calling what has come down the runway this fashion week “rags” is near blasphemy.
Per the usual two-season ahead schedule, the current shows – which run this year from Feb. 6-13 – present styles for Fall and Winter 2014. While it may seem straightforward to design for the chillier months, the 95 different collections that are on the official schedule suggest that there is more than just wool suits and ear muffs to think about. However, the shows that are noted on the official schedule are just the tip of the iceberg. New York Fashion Week is not restricted to official tents, as young, talented and unknown names put out shows in nightclubs downtown and across the boroughs. Big names eschew the traditional Bryant Park tents all together, instead putting on intimate luncheons and cocktail hours with bored, emaciated models standing for hours in carefully curated outfits, heavy leather totes balancing delicately on their elbows.
To put it plainly, New York Fashion Week is thrilling and exhausting. Each of these designers have toiled for months on making sure very hem is correct, ever fabric is appropriate, and that each look will appeal to buyers at the big department stores. The weight that the designers carry on their shoulders is enormous: the runway is more like walking the plank, for each look that pops out will be dissected and hopefully devoured by its fashion-concious audience. These are not merely looks that are aesthetically pleasing, but also trends in the making. Here is my breakdown of the best, the worst, and the heavenly.
The Best Vera Wang used classic plaid and soft chiffon well, making the generally heavy knit fabrics in which plaid usually appears into airy, silky garments that breathe new life into a season where bulky fabrics usually reign supreme.
Tory Burch and Donna Karen both did classic fall, in rich velvets and tweed that were composed into elegant, fierce looks. Burch leaned into her classic, prep resume, adding knee high socks and a touch of shine with beads and metallics. Karen was celebrating her thirtieth year in the industry, and had each of her models looking like they could take on the world with severe make up that complimented the architectural looks she engineered. Best moment of the Karen show? Supermodel Karlie Kloss’ confident strut down the catwalk in a flowing red silk-chiffon gown.
Theory and Altazurra both took a feminine route, combining diaphanous fabrics with menswear inspiration. In a myriad of muted tones, Theory bonded silk and wool together to lovely effect and used elegant, boxy, long jackets to stay true to the season. Altazurra used small spots of bright colors to jazz up his muted palate, while showing off a spectacular fit to each model’s frame. Silk dresses were enveloped in warm jackets and there was a series of shift dresses that were made to rule a boardroom. Bonus points to Altazurra for the simple and pretty hair and makeup that doesn’t take away from the different looks.
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s line, The Row, gave me pause. At first, it was all too reminiscent of the over-layered look the diminutive twins favored during the early 2000s. Further examination of the looks led to the realization that these looks were refined, streamlined, and accessible. Obviously, a dark grey floor-grazing wool/cashmere cape seems a little over the top, but it is the sort of regal item that would be lovely with jeans and boots. My particular favorite from this collection was a robe style jacket in a soothing shade of oatmeal: the tailoring was perfect, while the waist tie made it feel casual.
The Worst I get that “Star Wars” was one of the best franchises of all time. What I don’t get is a gown that has Luke Skywalker on it, and unfortunately, this is what Rodarte presented to us this season. The sisters behind Rodarte are utter fashion darlings, but their taste level is always a little off; they frequently wobble between fashion-forward and homeless person. The problem this time was theme and fabric composition. Using George Lucas and “Star Wars” as inspiration is interesting, but was ultimately poorly executed, with rich fabrics being overloaded and clashing terribly with one another.
The Thakoon collection was much, much too much. Every color in the rainbow was used, from neons to moody jewel tones to regular ROYGBIV classics; proportions were all over the place, with sweaters that covered only the neck on display alongside bizarrely short ponchos. Most heinous was the use of floral print, a pattern that is reserved for spring luncheons and your grandmother’s closet.
3.1 Philip Lim’s collection was more of the same, with a confusing amount of flowers on silken fabrics that are better suited for resort collections. The addition of fur, corduroy and leather made things even more complicated, as it was hard to see if there was any coherent theme to the looks coming down the runway. Bad color-blocking topped off this flop of a collection.
Heavenly Goodness Zac Posen is hands down one of the best American fashion designers of all time. His fall/winter collection is a testament to that, with both gorgeous colors and fabrics making his architectural gowns the most beautiful of all. Even his smaller project Zac Posen was a delight, with tailoring in each ensemble done exceptionally well.
Thom Browne went for his standby British aesthetic and employed herringbone, tweed and felt for his couture-level designs. Browne took a risk and went more avant garde with this collection and it absolutely paid off: sleeves were dramatic and striking, details were subtle with big payoff and there was a definite Victorian feel throughout the collection. It was museum-level quality clothing for the office and streets and it was a revelation.
Diane von Furstenburg proved that her wrap dress standby is no one-trick-pony. She amped up the drama by using metallics and vibrant details to make cocktail dresses that would make for conversation starters all by themselves. I am also biased towards any DVF collection; Mrs. von Furstenburg is fashion royalty and a revolutionary for promoting healthy modeling standards.
Special mention goes out to Coach, who staged its first fashion week show and proved that classic doesn’t mean boring. More importantly, Coach showed off its apparel collection; for a brand that is known for their luxury leather goods, it certainly did well with jackets and skirts that would be warm and chic.
Noel Hemphill is a junior ECLS major. She can be reached at hemphill@oxy.edu or on Twitter @WklyNHemphill.
Johnson Hall was inundated with sewage last Sunday as a result of a backup in the main sewer line that runs underneath both the building and the Academic Quad. The overflow resulted in the temporary relocation of classes and faculty offices as well as the shutoff of heating and cooling systems in the building.
The overflow originated from toilets and sinks in the first-floor bathrooms and custodial closet near the back of the building, according to Director of Facilities Management Thomas Polansky. The overflow then spread to the office area behind the media wall and into the area around Room 106, which includes several office spaces, working spaces and walking areas.
A faculty member discovered the sewage at 10:30 a.m. Within an hour Facilities, had began working on the issue, according to Polansky.
“Crews worked until late Sunday evening to remove carpet and the lower portion of any drywall affected as well as thoroughly disinfecting and drying the flooring and/or surfaces in all adjacent areas,” Director of Communications Jim Tranquada said viaemail. “Prompt cleanup means there should be no impact on the health and safety of anyone in the building.”
Although Johnson was the only building affected by the overflow, the cause of the problem was due to a backup of various materials and substances from sources across lower campus, according to Polansky. Sewer pipes from Samuelson Pavilion, Haines Hall, Emmons Wellness Center and other buildings join togetherunder Johnson Hall. The convergence of sewage at this location and under the quad ultimately caused the backup and overflow inside Johnson.
According to Tranquada, staff members near the area affected by the minor sewer flood have been moved temporarily to offices in North Trailer A. Monday’s classes in Johnson 106 were also relocated, but have resumed in their regular location.
Tranquada expects the faculty will be able to move back into their offices by Thursday. To ensure no contaminants remain, an outside decontamination company is currently testing the area, Polansky said. Heating and cooling systems have also been turned off to avoid exacerbating the problem.
“As a precaution we have shut down the building’s heating and cooling system until the scope of the flooding has been fully understood,” Tranquada said via email. “The mild weather should assist with the building’s general comfort level, but in the interim there may be areas of the building that become either too hot or too cold.”
According to Polansky, the college will replace sewer lines in the quad over the next month to fully resolve the issue.
“I have seen every American film,” my language tutor Ajit boasts as we sip chai in the hot Indian sun.
This is a bold claim for an American to make, but for a student at India’s University of Hyderabad, and as a lover of American movies myself, I’m intrigued.
“‘The Dark Knight,'” I test.
He scoffs.
“Everyone has seen ‘Dark Knight!’ Christian Bale is a hero.”
“The Notebook,” I try again.
Even I have never seen “The Notebook.”
“Ugh, very sad,” he reminisces, and sips deeply on his chai.
He can tell me something about every film I think of, but he flips when I say “Pulp Fiction.”
“Tarantino! My favorite all-time! So great.”
American media and enterprise have spread around the world like a fever since the start of the 20th century. India has caught that fever as much as anywhere else, and in these blog posts I intend to explore how globalization has shaped this process along three dimensions. The struggles and successes of the American culture and companies that have made their home in Hyderabad over the last 30 years can tell us a lot about America itself.
First, culturally. Why do so many kids slap their wrist and chant, “Ben Ten! Ben Ten!” when I introduce myself?
Second, economically. Why does Microsoft have more employees in Hyderabad than anywhere outside of Seattle in the world? What’s the draw for American multinational corporations to this landlocked city in the center of India?
And third, gastronomically. Why are McDonald’s and KFC the powerhouses they are in Hyderabad? Have they changed Hyderabad’s eating habits, and how has Hyderabad changed these establishments?
In closing, I’m reminded of an Indian tale I heard when I was a little kid: a king brings some blind men into a room with an elephant, and asks them what they feel. Each man touches a different part of an elephant and is separately convinced that the elephant is a pillar, or a rope, or a spear. As a kid, I just thought it was a cold-blooded thing to do to blind people, but since I’ve been in India I’ve been thinking:
Maybe it means India’s the elephant. And America’s the blind man. And McDonald’s is the spear. Or it could mean India is the spear and America is the pillar and it’s the world that is blind. And I’d like that.
But that ain’t the truth. The truth is, America’s the elephant. And I’m the blind man. But I’m tryin’, readers. I’m tryin’ real hard to be the king.
If this sounds interesting, or you’re my Mom, come back to this page every Wednesday for new posts!
Ben Poor is a junior American Studies major studying abroad in Hyderabad, India during the Spring 2014 Semester. He can be reached at benpoor1@gmail.com or on Twitter @WklyBPoor.
Home to Occidental College, Eagle Rock is a neighborhood on the rise. The real-estate brokerage firm Redfin recently named Eagle-Rock the second “hottest” neighborhood in the U.S., a ranking that has given the community national recognition. Eagle Rock’s burgeoning presence in Los Angeles is providing Occidental students with more resources to which they can apply their liberal arts education.
As students, it is imperative that we take advantage of these resources as they are unique to our school and will ultimately enrich our formative college years.
Eagle Rock, with its Bohemian ambience, is where hipsters go to grow up: twinkle lights illuminate the boutiques on Colorado Boulevard and the scents of various cuisines from Japanese to Peruvian waft through the air. Eagle Rock is home to the Eagle Rock Music Festival, a widely recognized street fair in Los Angeles that celebrates the surrounding community and promotes local business.
The student-run start up Student IDeals has taken advantage of the community to offer discounts to students at some of these local restaurants and stores. Art history and Visual Arts major Talon Gonzalez (senior), who handles merchant relations for Student IDeals, has noticed the growth of businesses within Eagle Rock and Highland Parkand their association to Occidental students directly.
“There’s a lot of new businesses popping up that are catering to a younger audience,” Gonzalez said, mentioning how restaurants like Cacao Mexicatessan and Big Mama & Big Papa’s Pizzeria are expanding their restaurants to include bars.
The Hermosillo, a bar popular among Occidental upperclassman, is also expanding to include a brewery. The main boulevards in Eagle Rock are filled with a diverse array of restaurants and bars for students to try, 40 of which offer Occidental students a special discount. Many students do frequent these locally-run restaurants, cultivating relationships with hip, small businesses in the community.
In a CNN Opinions article on the importance of the liberal arts, Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, said that attending a liberal arts institution presents the chance to work, make friends and participate in a community based on educated interests rather than just social and ethnic origins. Situated in a growing neighborhood in the second-most populous city in the U.S., Occidental students need to do just that. We hail from all over the world and should engage with the equally diverse citizens of Eagle Rock, who bolster Occidental’s interdisciplinary and multicultural academic concentrations. More than ever, it is important that Occidental students collaborate with these local businesses through both professional and academic outlets, and it is becoming easier to do so.
Redfin reported that the trend in 2014 neighborhood popularity is based on a short commute at an affordable price. Eagle Rock connects to the Interstates 2 and 134 as well as the Gold line, making it easy for Occidental students, many of whom rent houses near campus, to commute to different areas of L.A. The Take Back the Boulevard initiative in Eagle Rock recently installed bike lines and new crosswalks on Colorado Boulevard, making it easier for car-less Occidental students to easily get around the neighborhood.
Last summer, Occidental’s Career Development Center launched InternL.A., an internship program that offers more than 30 opportunities around the city to Occidental students. In an affordable neighborhood with convenient routes to other areas of L.A., Occidental’s location in Eagle Rock makes InternL.A. a possible and unique opportunity for students.
Multiple departments at Occidental also have initiatives that promote student involvement within the burgeoning Eagle Rock community. Supported by a Keck Grant, students in Professor Jan Lin’s Los Angeles Field Research Course (SOC 360) have the opportunity to interview individuals who have made an impact in our community. Interviews have featured Daniel Ruiz, a muralist whose work is featured in Highland Park, Camilo Gonzalez, owner of Camilo’s California Bistro on Colorado Boulevard and Baba Austin, the owner and tattooist at Vintage Tattoo Art Parlor on York Boulevard. These local personalities are as diverse as the Occidental community, and their varied backgrounds expose us to a multitude of professional possibilities after college.
Occidental’s mission is “to provide a gifted and diverse group of students with a total educational experience of the highest quality — one that prepares them for leadership in an increasingly complex, interdependent and pluralistic world.” Eagle Rock is a microcosm of the pluralistic world in which we live. The variety of local businesses, organizations and residents allow us to apply our culturally-oriented education on a small scale.
Art history majors can go to Avenue 50 Studio, a space grounded in Latina Chicana culture and engage with native artists. Economics majors can talk business strategy with the owners of Spitz, Occidental alumni who have now opened six different locations. Avid readers can check out Read Books, a family-run bookstore that boasts a treasure trove collection. And the list goes on.
Eagle Rock is a rapidly growing and socially present community, a small gem in the vastness of Los Angeles. As Occidental students and liberal art thinkers, we can be catalysts to this growth by engaging with our ever-changing, complex and diverse community. With Eagle Rock as our home and Los Angeles as our back yard, we are obligated to take advantage of the multitude of resources available to us.
