First of all, we bear our name in solidarity with the larger Occupy movement, which asserts that the abuses of power on Wall Street have gone on too long and it needs to be “re-occupied.” It is this idea that, last fall, united people all around the country and the world—and Grinnell is no exception. Since our inaugural General Assembly (G.A.) over two months ago I have had the pleasure to meet and make friends with Grinnell residents of all ages and occupations (no pun intended) whom I doubt I would have met otherwise. At a typical G.A. the assembly is less than half Grinnell students.
In early December, just before winter break, the Occupy Grinnell General Assembly gathered to read aloud and ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Huddling in the cold, we took turns each reading an article from the Declaration and having it repeated with the “people’s mic.” Did Wall Street perk up its ears, acknowledge the error of its ways, and pledge to stop its methodical economic subjugation of the populace once and for all? Of course not. But a group of outraged individuals got together to acknowledge the extent of Wall Street’s abuses and find strength in each other, and I think that in itself is valuable. At small occupations all over the country, moments like these are occurring regularly. This is an incredible thing.

One of the aspects of Occupy that has drawn the most criticism—its decentralized nature—is what appeals to me most. This is because I think it allows a given occupation to adapt to and address local issues. In New York, OWS has lent its considerable weight to raising awareness about the NYPD’s unfair “stop-and-frisk” practices, in which 97% of men “randomly” searched for weapons are black or Latino. Occupy Baltimore is occupying a vacant lot on which the city plans to build a $100 million youth jail as part of its “Schools not Jails” campaign. All over the country, in areas urban and rural, the Occupy our Homes movement is defending homeowners from unfair foreclosures.
Which brings us to Grinnell. Last month the Occupy Grinnell General Assembly decided to undertake an issue close to home: the ongoing harassment of organic farmers by the Monsanto Corporation. Earlier this week, we led a direct action at the Monsanto plant right outside of town in solidarity with the plaintiffs in a lawsuit challenging Monsanto’s right to genetically trespass on organic farmers’ crops. We had about 40 people—Grinnellians and allies from Des Moines and Cedar Valley—show up at the Monsanto plant and mic-check a letter to Monsanto’s CEO in support of organic farmers. Al Henderson, the Monsanto Grinnell plant manager, has agreed to meet with us. There are Monsanto facilities outside of small towns like ours all over the Midwest. This is a chance for rural occupations to really make a difference.

I am pleased that there is such overwhelming support for Occupy among my peers; I think it’s a movement with the potential to actually affect change in a system which I believe is broken, and that’s why I’m a part of it. It is by nature a participatory movement, and to me getting involved with a small rural occupation is just as meaningful as getting involved with a large urban one. The cornfields are not free of Wall Street’s reach. To quote a phrase you might have heard: We are all the 99 percent.

In this past month, the Arizona school system halted the teaching of ethnic studies throughout the state. Following Arizona law SB 2281, courses that “are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group” and “advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals” are illegal. According to the New York Times, if the Tucson Unified School District fails to comply with this law, the education system could lose more than $14 million in state funding. While Arizona’s appalling situation may not seem comparable to that of Grinnell’s, we must question Grinnell’s commitment to social justice as it relates to race and ethnicity.

Although classes such as Race and Ethnicity in America, Traditions of Ethnic American Literature, and Intro American Studies and Colonial Latin America have become a standard at Grinnell, due to the large amount of material and history these courses are forced to cover, they still only provide a general scope of ethnicity studies.

When will ethnic studies be at the forefront of our academic experience instead of at the end of our textbooks? The creation of an ethnic studies department would engender discourse on specific groups and help breakdown stereotypes. Professor Leung’s Asian American Studies class was over-enrolled this spring, bringing the initial total to 31. Clearly there is an interest in this field of study. At our peer institution Colorado College, their race and ethnic studies aims to actively study and understand the “meaning, nature, and enduring significance of race.” These same goals can serve as examples for what a department at Grinnell could attempt to accomplish.

As a liberal arts institution that aims to prepare men and women “in life and work to use their knowledge and their abilities to serve the common good,” the instability of minority-centric classes will only reinforce an unbalanced, unegalitarian education that propagates euro-centric values.

We plan to put our archives back online.  Their current location on Grinnell servers is too obscure to be practical—S&B editors had not found the page on PWeb before Thursday. To our knowledge, no one has found the page from the Loggia, which seems to connect digital cobwebs better than alumni. Everyone will soon be able to read all articles recent enough to be posted online and download .pdfs  of newspapers going back decades.

Furthermore, non-Grinnellians often have a legitimate interest in our articles. For over two years, the Huffington Post has republished S&B articles of national interest, such as Raynard Kington being named Grinnell’s President and Michelle Bachmann’s disrupted campaign event in town this fall. Stories have trickled back of other colleges basing policies off Grinnell’s, as described in our online articles. Also, prospective students and parents may want to read first-hand reporting of Grinnell’s history.  S&B reporting is of and by Grinnell, but for anyone who wants to read it.

We acknowledge that the archives were taken offline for an important reason.  Alumni applying for jobs were sometimes asked in interviews about shenanigans from their college days found on Google by potential employers.  The S&B, as well as the offices of Communications and Alumni Relations, have occasionally received requests to take down past articles. It is our policy to change names by request in stories that may be controversial outside of Grinnell.

Johnny Buse ’10, co-editor-in-chief at the time of these archival decisions, experienced these requests first-hand.

“If you know your product is high-quality and fair and journalistically ethical, then make [those articles] available to everybody,” Buse said. “But you can’t speak for newspapers in the past.”

Buse agreed with the decision to move the archives to internal servers in part because he viewed the S&B as “campus-based,” which he acknowledges may be changing.

In this age of the internet, we should embrace our place in the global news community by making our articles available. We can protect against incendiary articles by making certain .pdfs non-searchable by request. The S&B will work closely with SPARC to come to a decision about this issue and will report any changes.

“What is social justice,” asked my uncle, after I described it as a central goal of the Occupy movement. A minister by profession, he had heard the term, but did not know its precise meaning. Ironically, although it was a term that I used often as a tour guide, I had no definition to give. Phrases like “rectifying inequality,” “social responsibility,” and “respecting the rights of the underrepresented” were the best I could muster.

Upon returning to campus, to my surprise, other students could not define “social justice” any more clearly than me. For some, the term had professional connotations, entailing a non-profit career of “social justice” as an activity pursued during the workday. For others, it meant the equality of initial opportunity, perhaps something to be provided by government. “Social justice” in this sense is more a voting acting act inspired by social responsibility, without a requirement of personal financial sacrifice.

Grinnellians’ uncertainty about the precise meaning of the term is unsurprising when one considers that the College itself offers none. Defining social justice often relies on deferring to other Grinnellian staple terms, such as “self-governance” and “personal responsibility” (“A Historic Commitment to Social Justice”). The Social Justice Action Group, the primary on-campus group officially dedicated to social justice, promotes “peace, justice and positive social change,” and targets its efforts toward “fight[ing] hunger, promot[ing] volunteerism and build[ing] understanding.” The Social Justice Prize provides no defining terms at all, asking nominators to categorize how the nominee’s action “disrupt[s] the status quo or create[s] systemic change” to make a particularly positive and long-lasting effect on the world (Prize: FAQ).
This lack of definition seems to have little effect at Grinnell. After all, while on campus, we need do virtually no cognitive work to evaluate the social justice of an action: the information is provided to us, free of charge or effort. Campus-wide symposia tell us what social justice means, and college-sponsored Prizes show us cutting-edge projects that we can support and aspire to. Our peers give us endless “worthy” initiatives from their tables in front of the dining hall, as they collect signatures, volunteers, and monetary and in-kind donations for innumerable causes.
But beyond campus, this clarity is largely absent. Without dining hall tablers to pressure us into awareness and action, and with many more immediately pressing concerns to handle, how will we find the time, energy and motivation for concepts like “social justice,” to which we were so dedicated in college? This apprehension likely stems partially from the fact that I am a senior, and that I sometimes worry about how being faced with new ways of living and ‘doing business’ may change my own priorities. For seniors considering employment in the for-profit sector, the matter seems to be especially pressing: how to maintain one’s own not-necessarily-only-motivated-by-profit values without the support structure of institutionalized like-mindedness (or at least open-mindedness) that we find in our college?

What I propose is that, next semester, SGA lead a process of student discussion about the meaning of social justice. As official representatives of our self-governing community, SGA is uniquely well-situated to address such issues, which have been central to the College since its founding. I propose that we write a constitution, documenting in concrete terms what we consider our social justice mission to be. An excellent side effect of the process will be that we can see the true diversity of understandings of this fundamental concept.
The best-laid plans, if not written down, are easily waylaid, or worse, forgotten. I hope that this one small communal act of definition will provide us the clarity to better pursue our goal of a socially just world. At the very least, we could then confidently share with our uncles, on future Thanksgivings, precisely what is means to be socially just.

Recent college developments indicate the Humanities are under increasing scrutiny, and at least part of the reason is because the college must maintain a tight budget for the future. We suggest a conversation about the future of Grinnell should begin with the issues on the periphery of the school’s education.

The story of David Duerson has shocked us into writing a letter. Duerson, an NFL lineman, committed suicide by shooting himself in the chest, and implied in text messages to his family that his brain should be studied by science. As the New York Times reports, “ After years of denying or discrediting evidence of football’s impact on the brain—from C.T.E. in deceased players to an increasing number of retirees found to have dementia or other memory-related disease—the N.F.L. has spent the last year addressing the issue, mostly through changes in concussion management and playing rules.” Dozens of players are now submitting their brains to science. The evidence of the harmful long-term effects is mounting.

In 2009, Purdue University conducted a Neuroscience study with a high school football team. The researchers concluded that even the sort of minor head-to-head contact that occurs on every play has traumatic effects on players’ brains. The two players focused in the study weighed roughly the same as many Grinnell players at 260 and 190 pounds, respectively. Two Purdue engineering professors and their staff, Sports Illustrated reported in 2010, “fitted 23 helmets with accelerometers and gave both the players IMPACT test—a computerized neurocognitive exam that tests memory and concentration—and tests of working memory while their brains were monitored with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).”

The engineers combined accelerometer figures with IMPACT scores to get a sense of how players were affected by football. Researchers considered anytime an accelerometer exceeded 80 Gs was enough force to cause a concussion. Multiple hits in the first contact practice they attended exceed 100 G’s. One offensive lineman suffered an impact of 289 Gs (289 times the force of gravity) while holding an extra-point, an event that occurs multiple times in most games. The scores of one lineman before and after the preseason were examined, and he scored 20% lower on the visual memory section of the IMPACT test, which requires rapid identification of recurring patterns. Other players also fared particularly poorly on the test. And the scariest find of the entire study? Four players were categorized as “functionally impaired” with apparent symptoms of which none the four were cognizant.
Schools have responded to this and other studies. The New York Times reported: “‘Because of the seriousness of the potential consequences, the presidents determined the league needed to take proactive steps in protecting the welfare of our student-athletes,’” said Robin Harris, the executive director of the Ivy League.

According to new rules, teams will be able to hold only two full-contact practices per week during the season, compared with a maximum of five under N.C.A.A. guidelines. On the other days of the week, practices cannot include contact or live tackles, and no player may be ‘taken to the ground.’” Grinnell has adopted similar measures, but this avoids the inconvenient fact that even during these two practices and particularly during games, significant, concussive-inducing hits occur.

The other disturbing consequence of playing football is the constant pressure to gain weight and eat an unhealthily large number of calories. An American Medical Journal article published in January 2007 classified an astonishing 45% of the high school linemen it studied as overweight, and 9% with adult severe obesity. The article concludes, “Severe obesity in adolescence can have an important impact on quality of life and accompanies several comorbid conditions.” On a nationally read blog, one Grinnell football players details his strategy for gaining weight rapidly in order to play college football. He writes that he gained 100 pounds between his sophomore year in high school and his first year in college. One of the central thrusts of Grinnell athletics is to encourage wellness. How does encouraging rapid weight gains fit into this purported institutional philosophy?
Another less considered argument was advanced by Swarthmore College when they ended their football program in 2000. College spokesman Tom Krattenmaker said at the time, “it’s basic math. If you eliminate football, you suddenly have a lot more spaces for everything else.” As a small liberal arts college, Grinnell’s recruited football players represents a chunk of each incoming class. The College Sports Project has cogently summarized the data at 84 selective Division III schools. They concluded that male recruited athletes at the 24 most selective of these schools in certain target sports significantly underperformed academically compared to their peers. As an institution we must always ask ourselves if we have best utilized our coveted admission spots. At a minimum, Grinnell would do itself a great favor by participating in such useful data collection to show the impact of this recruitment. Clarity and transparency are reasonable expectations at such a tightly-knit institution as our own.

We write this article on behalf of a number of concerned students who respect the vast majority of the football team and believe they belong here as well, as students. We ask that these recommendations be considered by adding it to the list of topics for the Strategic Planning Committee. Maybe the proposed solution appears to be brash, but it must be. No half measure could protect these students’ minds. We can make Grinnell a leader and save money. President Kington, you know the effects of binge drinking on the brain and passionately object to the practice for that reason, so take a step to address the practice of binge head-bashing due to its effects on students’ minds. We suggest that Grinnell College, in concurrence with peer institutions like Colorado and Swarthmore College, should suspend its football program indefinitely until these critical issues can be addressed.

Regards,
Marcus Eagan ’12 and Thomas Neil ’14

____

Editor’s note: The S&B received a complaint that comments supporting football players or the football program are being edited out because of their content. This is not true. All comments are approved except those deemed inflammatory without cause or argument, off-point personal attacks, and comments published under someone else’s name.

The first thing that many of us consider about a computer is its battery life. Most modern electronics use some variant of a lithium-ion battery, a powerful technology that represents an enormous improvement over the older batteries of the late’90s. Lithium-ion batteries aren’t troubled by the “memory effect,” a problem where charging older batteries before they were drained cause them to lose strength over time.

But that doesn’t mean they’re invulnerable. When your laptop or other device has reached full charge, unplug it as soon as possible. Modern batteries have onboard sensors to determine when they’re overcharged, but these have a tendency to fail. Overcharge your battery, and you’ll see your battery life dwindling far faster than you expect.
Another repeat offender: using your computer on the floor, carpet, or on a bed. Many devices have cooling intakes on the underside of their cases (Macbooks, for example, have their fans positioned along the screen hinge), and when you use them on non-flat surfaces the fans will suck up dust and debris.

This is a prime reason for overheating problems. The processors in your computer run so hot that they could catch fire in seconds if not properly cooled. And while there are safety measures in place to prevent that from happening (such as automatic shutdowns), you can still seriously damage your computer before they kick in.

The first solution: avoid these situations altogether. Use a lapdesk, a folder, or something to keep your computer on a flat surface. The second is to periodically clean out the vents on your computer using a can of compressed air (usually $4 – $8). I’d advise you do this in the hallway or something—you’d be surprised at what kinds of disgusting stuff comes out of your computer.

Periodically, you’ll also want to clean your computer’s monitor. Don’t use tissue paper or paper towels—these contain rough wooden fibers that can scratch or seriously damage the coating on your screen. Use microfiber clothes when possible (the little cleaners they give you for your glasses)—these are very effective at cleaning screens.

Cleaning your screen helps with more than aesthetics—it helps you save battery life as well. Many users will ratchet the brightness on their screens up to blot out the grime—a cleaner screen lets you keep things readable even with the backlights turned down low.
These are simple, physical habits that can remedy many common problems. There are also many software-side steps you can follow to ensure that your computer continues to run smoothly (though not quite like new).

For a Windows machine, you’ll want to make sure that you keep your computer up to date with the latest Microsoft updates. If you think that it’s a pain for your computer to take a few more minutes shutting down, think about what happens when you’ve put off updates for a whole year—or more.

You should also make sure that you’re running a good anti-virus package. Microsoft Security Essentials is a powerful protection tool that’s both free and light on your system. It’s also one recognized by the Cisco Agent used on campus, making it one of the better choices all-around for Grinnellians.

For a Mac user, you’ll want to download a utility called Mac Janitor. Mac Janitor runs the maintenance scripts that your Mac needs to continue running smoothly, but is only configured to run at—you guessed it—three o’ clock in the morning or so.
Taking simple steps like this can save you a lot of headaches later, so take the leap—you won’t regret it!

Take a classic problem: text input.  Many people buy tablets with the intention of taking notes in class, only to find that the virtual keyboards tablets ship with aren’t up for the task.  And while it’s easy to text on a smartphone, their usefulness often ends there.  Most modern devices now ship with Bluetooth, meaning you can pick up a cheap Bluetooth keyboard and pair it with your device. Be warned: Bluetooth does reduce your battery life.  But if you use the feature judiciously, you’ll find that it’s entirely possible to write a paper on an iPod Touch quite comfortably (though beware the strain on your eyes).  A good contender would be HP’s Bluetooth keyboard, designed originally for the discontinued Touchpad tablet.  It works flawlessly on just about any device I threw it at, and for $30 it’s a mean steal.

Another issue: working with files.  When you’re on a full-fledged computer, you rarely think about how you’re going to get those files you need off the internet or out of e-mails and into a program you can work with.  But on a mobile device, all that changes.  Some browsers don’t even offer the option to download files at all, and applications like iWork for iOS devices are notoriously difficult to import files to.

Fortunately, software updates and new applications have put many of these problems to pasture.  The “open with” feature for iOS devices is still primitive and clumsy, but when paired with a good file manager like Dropbox or iFiles, you’ll have reasonably good access to your work.  iFiles also offers a simple browser to download files from the internet, and their cloud integration lets you offload large files to the internet.

Newer Samsung Android devices come with a powerful file manager pre-installed, and the number of choices available in the Android Market gives you a lot of flexibility when it comes to what you want to do.  And in both cases, many office suites give you the ability to link your cloud services (like Dropbox) directly to the app.

Speaking of office suites, we’ve come a long way from praying that your papers display at all in iOS’ Mail.app.  Documents to Go and QuickOffice are available for both iOS and Android, featuring the ability to retrieve files from the cloud, your e-mail, or directly from your computer. Between the two, I recommend Documents To Go—it’s more feature-complete, has a generally cleaner interface, and I’ve found it to be a more powerful tool than QuickOffice.  But if the latter floats your boat, it sells for several dollars cheaper.  Although there are several alternatives available for both platforms, I’d recommend you dish out a little more for either of these reputable and reliable programs rather than taking a gamble.

Besides being able to work with files, you’ll also want to be able to communicate readily with your tablet or smartphone.  For the latter, this is rarely a problem—after all, they’re still phones at heart.  But for iPods and tablets, this can be a fair sight more difficult.  Fortunately, newer devices of all stripes come with cameras for video and audio conferencing, and Skype is almost universally available.

If you want to achieve the elusive goal of placing calls or getting texts on these devices, there are several options available—though be prepared to do some legwork.  One of the better-established methods is to link your phone number with Google Voice, and then use a free app like Talkatone to receive calls over WiFi.  Beware—this can be flaky!

Instant messaging is a far more achievable goal.  Android devices already hook easily into Google Talk—for iOS, the best app I’ve found is Verbs, a versatile but no-nonsense AIM/GTalk client. Ultimately, are we ready to cut the cord and live without our laptops?  Not quite—there are still some sacrifices to be made.  But with a little research and work, you can come pretty darn close.

VPSA Chris Dorman hosted a forum on Tuesday concerning our alcohol culture. Students called on their peers to monitor their friends’ and their own alcohol consumption and suggested policies to alleviate the problem: serving food throughout Harris parties to slow the digestion of alcohol, labeling mixed drinks at parties with their alcoholic content and facilitating more peer-to-peer training of safe drinking habits.

Other actions will be taken. ACE plans to eliminate many of the smaller Harris parties to discourage dangerous pre-gaming. Future 10/10s may start earlier and include a dinner to encourage healthier drinking.

Fortunately, student leaders and most administrators seem to understand that students don’t get dangerously sick from beer at college parties, but rather from more concentrated alcohol. Because of this, and in accordance with self-governance, the S&B reasserts that administrative policies that limit student drinking at official college events will, at best, fail to solve the problem and more likely backfire, causing students to drink more hard alcohol before going out.

We need a more comprehensive analysis of who drinks dangerously and why. If our alcohol problem is symptomatic of a widespread mental health problem, perhaps we should continue to expand mental health care at SHACS. If it’s exacerbated by academic stress, we should bolster Academic Advising so they can do more for students who need help balancing their lives. If Grinnellians just like to party and don’t mind the risks of alcohol, we need a public awareness campaign about its dangers, one more legitimate than AlcoholEdu, one students will take seriously.

No matter what the causes, we as students should step up and look out for each other. The students who were taken to the hospital didn’t party alone; watch out for your friends and take responsibility for yourself.

To that end, we have a suggestion: Drink more beer. Seriously.

Pregame with beer. Drink beer at the party. Drink beer after the party. There is approximately the same amount of alcohol in 1.5 oz. of Hawkeye Vodka as there is in an entire 12 oz. beer. Consuming beer instead of liquor allows slows the rate of intoxication so drinkers realize the potential of entering a dangerous level of drunkenness before unwillingly arriving there by surprise. Additionally, if someone does drink too much beer, the volumetric limit of the human stomach means they are more likely to vomit before suffering from alcohol poisoning.

Understandably, some people don’t like the taste of beer or cannot drink it because of dietary of allergenic reasons. In this case, make a mixed drink with a similar alcohol level as beer. As mentioned above, that means 1.5 oz. (a shot and a half) of alcohol for every 12 oz. of soda, juice or whatever mixer you use.

Let’s show, as a student body, that we can drink responsibly, so the administration doesn’t even need to consider punitive measures to protect the health and safety of its students.

Grinnell is a stage on which we learn what role, if any, we want alcohol to play in our lives, but our learning process needs to be safe.

“The common perception is that our problems are too big to solve,” she said.

The entire U.S. agriculture system seems to be stacked so that intractable, insatiable behemoths dominate how our nation produces food and any change to our system can only fundamentally risk our standard of living.

Is this what people are thinking when they converge on the student garden? Is this the notion behind the local Thanksgiving?

How can it be that a campus that professes to live by the tenants of social justice demand bananas in December while damning the American agriculture system as being corrupt and unsustainable?

Are we dealing with an unstoppable juggernaut of a food system or elitist hypocrisy? The registrar website reported today that the Intro to Environmental Studies class is overenrolled by 60 people. There are 90 people who are willing to put one semester of their college career into learning about food systems, 90 people who are clamoring to learn about food systems and their consequences. Yet where are these people when solutions are needed?

Why do we need strawberries in December? Why are we up in arms when we don’t get the type of rice we like? How can we live with ourselves when we shout that Grinnell College does little to further sustainable foods yet down the fresh tomatoes grown by means of for all intents and purposes, environmental terrorism (read the book Tomatoland)?

The systems destroying our world have won if we are left clamoring for cheap plastic shoes on the Internet but are almost violently opposed to paying those few extra cents per pound for locally raised or organic produce.

We can live sustainably. Save our land. Restore our environment but not if we’re going to pretend that by not eating meat you’re any better than those carnivores. You sip that soy and you are responsible for cutting down the Amazon rainforest. You eat that tilapia that destroys miles of coastal fish communities but sign up for PETA’s sexiest vegetarian award as if you’re not destroying the earth too.

By thinking about what you eat, you can save the Midwest. You can prevent the food crisis. You can get rid of the hog smell. But only if you are willing to close your Facebook, put down the banana and pick up a shovel.

As I understood him, Joe blended his views on the Occupy movements with a criticism of Kington’s recent efforts to connect with alumni. He sang the common refrain, that thieving, dishonest investors and executives have, by their greed, caused a financial crisis in our society. Investors as a class of people offer very little “tangible [benefit] to society,” he asserts, namely in that they do little for the furtherance of social justice. Joe then hammered Kington for sympathizing with an alum now working at Morgan Stanley, who had complained that he “didn’t feel like the College appreciated the work that he was doing.” To which Kington allegedly responded by “suggest[ing] the need for a change in Grinnell culture, one that respects the work that people on Wall Street are doing.” The editorial argued overall that alumni who “contribute… tangibl[y] to society”—teachers, doctors, scientists—“deserve our support” far more than alums who are investors.

I do not contest the argument that investors and executives were greedy, or that this greed contributed largely to the current crisis. I would have phrased my critique differently: The crisis has its origins in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when firms, looking for ways to incentivize executives to manage more efficiently, began restructuring compensation. Executives began being paid extensively in stock options. This tied their income to the performance of the firm, as measured by the stock’s current valuation on the stock market. However, this also created a mindset oriented toward short-term profitability, rather than long-term real expansion of physical assets. Ultimately, innovative, quick methods of trading outpaced the real world’s ability to adjust in value too greatly, leading to a market failure. All this to say, I agree that executives are paid way more than they are worth. I also agree that their mindset (Joe phrased it as “greed[iness]”) was a major precipitant to this crisis. I disagree that the mechanics of the crisis can be subsumed under simple generalizations such as “deregulation” and “tax reductions.”

My more important contention arises, however, where Joe connects the archetypical “investor” with the Grinnell alum. I disagree on two counts. Firstly, I believe Joe has misunderstood Kington’s “culture change” intentions. Rather than proposing an overhaul of Grinnell’s cultural values vis-à-vis investing—turning us all into finance-enthusiast-robots—Kington intends to make the college more welcoming to alumni of all walks of life. As I understand it, the logic is that alumni who feel personally respected by the college community are more likely to invest their energy, money and talents into the furtherance of the College’s goals. Helping students realize (changing cultural assumptions) that all sectors of society can contribute to social justice would be the first step in this process.

Secondly, I would gladly support Grinnellians deciding to enter finance. Investment is essential to the functioning of this country. Investment schemes in various evolutionary stages explain much of U.S. development—its founding (joint-stock companies), linking (railroads) and uniting (major news providers). Investment continues to be crucial to today’s Grinnell College as well: proceeds from the endowment pay financial aid, operating costs and so on. Considering all that is at stake, I would be much more comfortable if Grinnellians would engage in finance. At least then, I would know that someone in one of Wall Street’s buildings, looking down on Occupy protestors, has been indoctrinated with the concept of “social justice,” as a temperance on the deceptively straightforward euphemisms of the market and economic rationality.

Grinnell’s on-campus and alumni community has people of diverse talents and interests. Once we recognize this, we can pursue a truly integrated approach to achieving our common goal. “That’s what I call social justice,” or rather, how to feasibly achieve it.

It seems to me that many cities, towns and states have their own special brand of geography. Take Iowa, for example. There are certain geometric operations that the laws of our state will simply not allow, like driving your car in a northeasterly direction. All roads run east-to-west or north-to-south so driving northwest or southwest is pretty much out of the question. When I moved here 20 years ago, I found this quite annoying. “Jeez,” I would complain to my wife, “hasn’t anybody in this state ever heard of a hypotenuse?”

Then I spent last fall in London. If Iowa has ignored Pythagoras, so to speak, then London has paid no attention to Euclid. To borrow from Monty Python, there is obviously no Royal Society for Putting Things Parallel to Other Things. No two streets in London run in the same direction. Even straight lines are not straight lines as we conceive of them in America. A few blocks from my flat, for example, was a single stretch of pavement that ran pretty much as-the-crow-flies for about a mile and a half. Over that short distance it was variously called Everholt Street, Upper Woburn Place, Tavistock Square, Woburn Place, Russell Square and Southampton Row. As you travel along, these changes occur without warning, and happen for no apparent reason. Or, at least, for no reason that has been apparent since the 16th century.

Contrast this with, say, New York City. Bearing no historical obligation to Georgian kings or Medieval bishops NYC was free to name its streets after much more ordinary things—like integers, for example. Not possible in a place so dense with history as is the city of London. To turn “Russell St.” into “8th Ave.” would be to snub a duke who could have bought the whole of Manhattan for $24! Unthinkable.

But of course there are costs to indulging dead Dukes, and it is foreign visitors who often bear them. Consider: you’re in New York headed west on 25th St. and suddenly realize that you ought to be going east. What to do? Luckily, you are only one block from 24th Street which goes west, so just make the next turn. Should you turn right or left? Doesn’t matter; you are also one block from 26th Street, which goes east as well. On that street-with-six-names in my London neighborhood, however, it’s not nearly so simple. If you’re traveling the wrong way on the part called Russell Square, you can just take the next left onto. . .Russell Square, and then another left onto . . .Russell Square, before making the final left onto . . . Russell Square. In purely geometric terms this might make sense—it’s a “square” after all—but to me it felt like being trapped in orbit around some alien planet.

Now anyone who has been there will tell you that what I’m complaining about is precisely what makes London so fascinating. As it happened, my GIL course, for example, concerned “The City”, the most ancient part of London, now given over to banks and insurance companies. It is a labyrinth of interconnecting streets and alleys. But the most mundane if its thoroughfare is packed with significance. I wonder, for example, if the “occupiers” at St. Paul’s Cathedral realize that the original “Wall St.” is Change Alley—now literally an alley—a few blocks southeast of where they are camped.

After the great fire in 1666, Sir Christopher Wren wanted to transform The City into a grid, much like New York would one day become. Part of me wants to say, “Thank you, Sir Christopher, for trying to help an American who would be stumbling around town like Mr. Magoo two centuries in the future.” But another part of me is enormously glad he did not prevail. By definition, you’re always off the grid, if there simply is no grid. And whenever I was lost in London—which is to say, every day—I always discovered some new piece of history or culture I would have missed had I the slightest notion of where I was going. So I discovered new things pretty much all the time.

I love living in Iowa, but it’s hard to get lost in this state.

It is no secret that Grinnell students love to drink—a lot. By and large, the drinking culture at Grinnell is respectful; Grinnellians take care of themselves, their friends, and uphold the basic tenets of self-governance through their actions. Of course, there are slip-ups: this semester alone, 10 students have been transported to the hospital for alcohol-related medical emergencies. These figures aren’t trivial. In a school with roughly 1400 students living on-campus, having such a high number of hospitalizations is alarming. These figures don’t just reflect poor drinking choices, but also reflect the breakdown of self-governance at multiple levels.

There appears to be a huge disconnect between the drinking environment and the number of people who require medical attention. Despite an agreeable and safe drinking environment, the high number of hospitalizations begs the question of why it is that we are unable to prevent students from going to the hospital despite all the preventative structures in place. For instance, event hosts and servers are required to be TIPS trained, SAs and RLCs take a harm-reduction approach to drinking behaviors and Grinnell fosters a safe space to discuss personal issues related to drinking. Students Affairs has helped support programs such as Not Your Average Weekend to offer students alternatives to drinking on the weekends, and there are a bevy of committees—the Wellness Committee, Harm Reduction Committee, and Residence Life Committee—that spend lots of time and resources in addressing the very questions that I am raising. However, I think that it is time to consider a change in perspective, which may help us decide how it is that we want the drinking culture at Grinnell too look like.
In the BBC piece, Kate Fox, a social anthropologist, argues that in ambivalent drinking cultures (examples include the United States, UK, Australia, and Scandinavia), drinking is associated with disinhibition, violence, and anti-social behavior. In contrast, in integrated drinking cultures (examples include Latin America and most European countries), drinking is a “morally neutral, integral part of ordinary, everyday life.” After drawing these two distinctions, she claims that, “The effects of alcohol on behavior are determined by cultural rules and norms, not by the chemical actions of ethanol. “ To support this claim, she lists the physiological effects of drinking—reduced reaction time, muscle coordination, short-term memory, and articulate speaking. The other effects, she argues, such as violent behavior and increased sexual behavior, are products of the way in which individuals have been socialized to engage with alcohol.

I find her argument compelling. She emphasizes that alcohol does not inherently produce disinhibition, but that the expectation that one will become disinhibited is what sets the tone for these behaviors. In her piece, she cites studies that have suggested that when offered an incentive to stay ‘in control,’ intoxicated individuals will meet the expectations that society has for sober individuals.

While I feel that Fox fails to recognize some other physiological effects of alcohol that may facilitate some of these socially disruptive behaviors, I find her overall argument to be interesting given the way that Grinnell administrators deal with drinking on campus. One of the things that I have always appreciated about Grinnell is that it is generally realistic about our lifestyles and also the cognitive development that we undergo throughout our time here. In this way, the harm-reduction approach to drinking is commendable and necessary to foster a healthy drinking environment at Grinnell. In many ways, Grinnell is following many of Fox’s recommendations, particularly in the way that we attempt that we attach accountability and responsibility to students who choose to drink. However, we can take our approach one step further. Fox argues that drinking prevention programs have failed because they continuously reinforce the association between personally and socially negative behaviors and the consumption of alcohol. I think that by attempting to disengage these two as much as possible and attempt to recast drinking in a positive light, we may find that attitudes towards drinking will positively change over time.

The challenge is that every single student who comes to Grinnell has vastly different drinking experiences, so attempting to generate a monolithic drinking culture at Grinnell will be difficult and perhaps unrealistic. Yet despite this challenge, it is a worthy goal for us to attempt to uphold the positivity that accompanies drinking, while being mindful of the profound negative consequences that overindulgence may bring. Restructuring TIPS training and the NSO alcohol talk to reflect the varying attitudes to drinking and the ideas that drinking behaviors are not produced solely by the consumption of alcohol will allow us a greater chance to reflect on our personal behaviors and attitudes.

If you need an alternative to the pricey Microsoft Office, there’s no better one out there than LibreOffice (Windows, Mac, Linux). A powerful free and open-source office suite, LibreOffice is fully compatible with most Microsoft Office documents. While the interface might be a bit dated, it’s more than enough to get your homework done.

When it comes to playing music and video, VLC (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS) is the gold standard. It may not be gorgeous to begin with, but VLC supports custom themes for any occasion—and more importantly, it’s capable of playing just about any file known to humanity. DVDs and CDs are included, so get ready to ditch QuickTime and Windows Media Player!

If you use your computer late at night, f.lux (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS) is a lifesaver. The human body is designed to wake up when it encounters blue light—which is precisely what computer and cell phone screens are so good at showing. f.lux gradually reddens your screen later at night to save you headaches and help you get to sleep earlier. And don’t worry—after awhile, you won’t even notice the tint.

If you’ve ever looked in Apple’s App Store, you’ll find what seem to be thousands of task management apps. But why fork out a few dollars when the best of them all is free? Wunderlist (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, Android, Web) is a simple and elegant way of managing to-do lists that gets the job done. But more importantly, it lets you sync your tasks from just about any device, anywhere.

As counterintuitive as it seems, getting a good instant messaging client can be an excellent way to improve your productivity. If you like to float around Gmail to “check your e-mail,” you’ll find yourself chatting when you can least afford it. But if you use a client, you can check your e-mail without the same distractions. Pidgin (Windows, Linux) is an excellent way to go. If you’re a Mac user, Adium is every bit as good.

In a similar vein, a dedicated e-mail client can be a big help. If you open a web browser to look at your e-mail, you’re practically begging to be distracted by links and games. But Microsoft Outlook costs a small fortune—and it’s often too powerful or complex for most occasions. A good all-around choice is the Thunderbird (Windows, Mac, Linux) client, which can be customized almost endlessly. With an enormous library of add-ons and themes, it can become just about whatever you want it to be—just experiment! Of course, Windows Live Mail and Apple’s Mail.app also work.

If you’re doing light image editing, you don’t want to shell out your life savings for Photoshop. And sometimes, a trip to the CCL just isn’t in the cards. If you’re a Windows user, Paint.NET is an excellent all-around image editor with support for layered editing, filters, and much more. Mac users have Seashell, and Krita is a good choice for Linux users. Of course, the GIMP (Windows, Mac, Linux) is always an option—but it’s often just as confusing as Photoshop.

Things are much simpler when it comes to basic audio editing. Audacity (Windows, Mac, Linux) is an open-source tool that can import and edit many kinds of audio files. Although it’s no GarageBand, Audacity can export to OGG, WAV and MP3, making it ideal for project work.

And to wrap up the arts trio, there are many powerful video editors out there. The best of these are available for Linux-based operating systems, including big names like OpenShot and KDenlive. Although OpenShot has plans for coming to Windows, in the meantime your best bet is the Windows Live Movie Maker. It may not be powerful, but it’s usually enough.

On a cold, blustery day, a salad seems unpalatable, at least to me. However, vegetables are still super important during the winter. How can you drop those oh-so-cold salads for the winter but still have enough vegetables? The answer is soup! Simply get a bowl (preferably the ones used for stir-fry vegetables) and add a scoop of soup to it. Next, depending on the soup, add a variety of vegetables from the salad bar to this soup. I like to chop mine into smaller bits before I add it to the soup bowl. Next, add some seasonings and sauces, perhaps some legumes and microwave for a short time to allow the vegetables to be cooked in the soup. I personally look forward to adding red peppers, celery, carrots, black beans, cheddar cheese, pepper, sriracha, and chili powder to the Wisconsin Cheese soup. It should be delicious and adds a great deal of variety to your winter meals.

Sandwiches are also another one of my favorite winter staples. Nothing is quite as wonderful as biting into a warm, filling sandwich when the cold winter winds have sapped you of your strength. Our feature sandwich of the week is the hummus-yummus sandwich. I like to start with an everything or wheat bagel and then toast it ’til it is golden brown. Next, I like to slather on some scrumptious (and MUCH improved) hummus from the vegan bar on both halves of the bagel and stick some sliced red peppers on the inside. This simple sandwich is vegetarian-friendly, filling, warming, and full of protein and tastiness. It is a great option if you are in a rush and want to have a substantial meal.

My final creation of the week is a delectable drink that can also serve as a dessert. Fill up a green glass about halfway with coffee, then fill an additional quarter of the glass with chocolate milk. Next, head over to the ice cream station, and fill the remaining quarter of the glass with an ice cream of your choice. Raspberry Chocolate Chunk and Mint Chocolate Chunk both add a fun twist to the drink, but classic vanilla ice cream is also great. After adding the ice cream, swirl on a topping of caramel and chocolate sauce and dash cinnamon on top to your liking. Add additional sugar packets and creamer to your personal taste. The Grinnellicino is the ultimate pick-me-up on a dreary day. The practicality of the caffeine and the decadence of the ice cream combine to make this a great go-to wintertime drink.

Warm foods and drinks are invaluable as the days get colder. Blending aspects of your favorite foods can create incredible dishes with vibrant new flavors. Try combining the potatoes of the day with different sauces and toppings for a variation on baked potatoes, or pile your pizza and pasta high with unusual ingredients. The more variety you have in your food, the more exciting your meals will be. Enjoy our transition into the winter months with some delicious new food choices. You stay classy, Grinnell diners.

Perhaps I was wrong to think that my recipe for fry bread was the definitive one. It turns out that I had many naïve, preconceived notions that would be debunked on Alt. Break. While driving to Tahlequah, I was expecting to meet socioeconomically depressed, alcoholism- and unemployment-plagued people who receive poor quality education and federal services, and who were otherwise very marginalized members of U.S. society. Quite wrong. Despite its history of sordid treatment by the U.S. government, the modern Cherokee Nation appeared to be flourishing culturally. The Nation has even been historically better off than its surrounding communities—with impressive education and social services (helped perhaps by hydrocarbon development and, more recently, casinos).

I have two reflections to share:

Firstly, I am pleased to report that this Alt. Break trip epitomized the purpose of this column. The column is inspired every other week by the way students grow their understanding of the world beyond Grinnell’s bubble through unstructured conversations over meals (hence the title). As people bring together their unique backgrounds and insights, they open themselves to a process of collective learning—indeed, collective knowledge production, by synthesis.
This is precisely how my eleven companions and I learned about the Cherokee Nation. With little prior knowledge and no laptops or internet research to fall back upon, we were forced to use as resources ourselves and our own experiences working and traveling around in the Cherokee Nation. Our knowledge of the Cherokee Nation is predicated upon the total sum of what each person literally “brought to the table”. We gathered snippets of information by talking to the teachers we were assisting, reading the local newspaper, reading museum information placards and generally observing our surroundings. And at the end of each day, we would dump our collected knowledge onto the dinner table for each other’s scrutiny, and sift through our findings until long after our stomachs were full.

Secondly, I find the issue of Cherokee language fascinating. Every person I met expressed their Cherokee heritage with great enthusiasm, as a point of pride. A speaker at the new Chief’s inauguration made the crowd go wild when he recognized, after a list of dignitaries, the Cherokee Nation as the “most important people” there. Tribal membership is increasing daily, as more people find connections in their heritage to the Dawes Roll, the original federal listing of the members of the “Five Civilized Tribes” who received land grants in the Indian Territory.

Yet few people translate this enthusiasm into knowledge of “Ja-la-gi”. Many of the people I met did not know even the syllabic alphabet, or basic phrases such as “It’s raining”—phrases that my group learned in just a two-hour Cherokee Language class. I, for one, could not understand how one could claim to be an active member of a community without making the effort to speak its language; knowing the concepts through which we articulate our world seemed to me to be inseparable from any complete understanding of a group’s history.

Upon reflection, however, this linguistic loss makes a sad sort of sense. For one, the federal government attempted, historically, to eradicate Cherokee. And economically speaking, why spend resources teaching a child a language that will not directly help them to integrate into the broader market? For adult non-legacy-speakers the chances are worse still—how to find time and energy, in a busy life?

All of this to say: it is sad that minority languages are weak, even where political support is high. Yet the battle is not mine to fight.

Imagine a typical Sunday brunch—what are some of the conversations that you typically overhear? Probably something like: “Harris was really sloppy…”, “ I shouldn’t have waited till
nowtostartallmyreading…”,“I really need to stop going to Snack Shack beause I feel gross.”but the quintessential Sunday brunch topic has to be “Uh muh guh, did you see Karlie Kuezelbacher going home with Ren Ronald at Harris??!”

Many Grinnellians pride themselves on participating in Grinnell’s sex-positive hookup cul- ture, but it can be easy to forget that many of us are in monogamous relationships or choose to abstain from sexual activity. Being or becoming sexually active is a personal choice. Sometimes in Grinnell’s sex-positive environment it’s easy to feel like everyone around you is having sex or hooking up. Nevertheless, besides being able to talk about sexuality freely and openly, being sex-positive also requires that we acknowledge that people have highly variant sexual sensi- bilities and histories. It is about respecting all individual’s sexual choices, whether that means having loud sex three times a day, postponing a sexual relationship till later in life or committing oneself to complete celibacy. Regardless of your personal choices, you have the right to feel confident about your (consensual) sexual decisions wherever and whenever. If that means talking with friends about your decisions, coming out as a virgin, asking to change the conversation or proudly participating in Grinnellsex, you should do it. Remember that if we allow ourselves to talk about our sex, we also must be willing to talk about our not-sex.

Try these conversation starters at your next Sunday brunch!

“Walk of shame? WALK OF FAME!” “You know what’s just as sexy as sex? Respecting each other’s personal sexcisions!”

Orgasm: True or False?

How many myths come to mind when it comes to orgasms?

You may be surprised to hear that when it comes to orgasms the definition varies from per- son to person. Many people believe that in order to truly enjoy sex, orgasms for both partners must be involved. However, “While it is almost always a good thing to want to give your partner sexual pleasure, it can be counterproductive, to assume that in a relationship pleasure and or-gasmarethesame”(Joannides).For men and women orgasms can be physical, or emotional, for some people experiencing orgasms are like freight trains, and for others they can be silent with an occasional sigh or twitch. If you’re wondering if your partner had an orgasm, communication is a wonderful tool! Just ask! Another assumption is that orgasms require experience and special “skill.” FALSE!!! The more orgasms one experiences the more one will be better able to define what an orgasm feels like to them. This doesn’t necessarily mean you need a long sexual history to experience a fantastic orgasm. Even if you haven’t experienced an orgasm this does not mean you wont be able to achieve one, again different strokes for different folks. Pleasure and different types of stimulation vary from person to person—feel free to communicate this to your sexual partner.

Another myth is that a climax and an orgasm are one and the same, they are not. For men ejaculation is believed to be the end of the sexual encounter. However ejaculation is the physical indication of a climax while an orgasm is focused within the brain. For some, ejaculation is almost a reflex, without that erotic peak of feeling—some men can feel that peak or climax but never ejaculate.

These are just a few of the myths whirling around out there, in summary orgasms are personal and range from person to person. There is no sure fire way to orgasm, what you do with it is a matter of choice.

Fact #1: Co-ed is not the same as gender-neutral. This is a distinction entirely lost on our friends at Fox: “Now we’re hearing of co-ed rooms, co-ed showers, co-ed bathrooms,” said Brian Kilmeade, co-host. Co-ed housing means that men and women live on the same floor or in the same dorm. Unlike co-ed, gender-neutral housing does not require that students identify their gender, which better accommodates students who don’t identify with either gender.

Fact #2: The gender-neutral policies at Grinnell are self-selected and are not mandated for any student. Gretchen Carlson’s comment “… that stuff was going on in college when I went way back anyway, but it wasn’t mandated,” reveals just how little she knows about the system. Students can choose from a number of different housing options, including all-female, all-male, gender-neutral and co-ed floors. The claim that Grinnell has “co-ed showers” is also intentionally misleading. As the Des Moines Register reported in the Oct. 23 article, “toilets have stalls and showers have doors so that anyone can use the facilities at the same time.” Allowing any one to use a dorm bathroom does not mean that the college is encouraging group showers. Grinnell College does not control students’ interpersonal relationships.

Fact #3: Being transgender is not a “fad like bell-bottoms” as Kilmeade described it. According to the Merriam-Webster definition, “transgender” refers to a person “who identifies with or expresses a gender identity that differs from the one which corresponds to the person’s sex at birth.” A biological male, for example, may feel as though he should adopt the mannerisms of a woman. Transgendered students are also not the only supporters of gender-neutral housing or bathrooms. Most floors have at least one gender-neutral bathroom, and many students appreciate that they are not segregated by gender identity. The stark increase in available gender-neutral housing was driven by an increase in demand for gender-neutral housing by the student body at large.

Fact #4: The number of people who identify as transgender has no bearing on whether or not they deserve respect and consideration. Co-host Steve Doocy’s concern that “there could actually be a man in the next shower to [his] daughter” is no more relevant than the concerns of a parents of a transgendered child who worry about their child’s ability to express themselves in a group living situation. For those who are uncomfortable playing a gender role with which they do not identify, group living within the gender binary can be unnecessarily problematic. Understanding that both of these viewpoints are valid, the residential system at Grinnell pro- vides opportunities for students and families with disparate opinions on the matter to enjoy a comfortable housing situation. As in most civil rights movement, the LGBTQ community does not represent a majority of society, but that does not limit their rights, especially in a country that so explicitly protects the freedom of expression.

Fox and Friends misrepresents the gender-neutral system and demonstrates an overabundance of outright errors illustrating how unprepared they are to seriously address this issue. As students at a college that values intellectual pursuit and open-minded acceptance of all people, we insist that others strive to understand the facts. We are proud of our progressive residential system and we are proud to accommodate the housing needs of all of our students.

At the same time, it’s important to remember what a netbook is—and what it isn’t. Netbooks were designed to be cheap, light, and long-lasting. Consequently, while they’re more than capable of doing your homework and watching YouTube videos, you shouldn’t expect to game or run hundreds of programs at once (or even ten or twenty).

This isn’t necessarily a problem, given netbooks have pretty small screens to begin with. You’ll find a netbook works best when you’re focusing on one or two tasks at a time—that way, you can maximize your work space and avoid straining your processor at the same time. And with a few simple tips and tricks, you’ll find a netbook is every bit as useful as a larger laptop.

To begin with, choose your web browser carefully. Netbooks are called that for a reason—they’re primarily designed to get you on the internet. My recommendation of choice is Google Chrome, a free browser that does its job and gets out of the way. Unlike Internet Explorer, which is usually filled with useless toolbars, Google Chrome takes up less than an inch on your screen and leaves the rest for the web.
You can also enhance your experience with extensions, freely downloadable modifications that change the way that Chrome works and looks. Four must-haves for a netbook:

1. Adblock Plus for Google Chrome blocks ads in all shapes and sizes, all over the web. Not only will this free up your screen, but it’ll also make browsing much less annoying.
2. Flashblock: Flashblock stops Flash content from loading unless you really want it to. It’s easy enough to let popular sites like YouTube through, and when you’re doing research and don’t want to be distracted, it’s a lifesaver.
3. Better Pop Up Blocker: Unlike many built-in blockers, this one just works. You can also whitelist trusted sites and let popups through on a one-by-one basis.
4. Thin Scroll Bar: This simple tool shrinks the scroll bar to take up less space on your screen. It’s surprisingly effective, and does wonders getting Chrome even further out of your way.

When it comes to getting work done, most of us still use some version of Microsoft Office. For both Office 2007 and 2010, you can double click the ribbon (the row of tabs and buttons at the top) to make it hide by default. When you need to use it again (say, to change your font size), you can just click a tab, and the ribbon will pop back into view again. This saves you another inch of screen space, which is quite valuable when you’re working on a paper.

If you’re just changing the formatting of text, you don’t even need to use the ribbon at all. Just select the text you want to change and right click. Microsoft Office will open a small balloon with common options like bold/italics/underline, font color and size right next to your mouse. Neat!

On the hardware side of things, there’s not a whole lot you can do. Netbooks are already designed to use as little power as possible, but you can help them along by dimming your screen. Go to the lowest brightness setting, then slowly increase it until you’re comfortable. This way, you’re both saving battery life and your eyes.

One last tip is to purchase more RAM. RAM, or Random Access Memory is a physical part of your computer that lets it read and write data at very high speeds. Upgrading your RAM will make your computer much faster, and it only costs $20 to $30 in most cases. Talk to a TC of a tech-savvy friend—they can probably find you a good deal!

There’s a lot more you can do, but not much space in this column. If you have any questions, just e-mail me at [leechris]—I love to help, and I’ll get back to you right away.

A snippet of the mission statement of student affairs reads: “[The department] advances the College mission and strategic plan by intentionally fostering and proactively promoting student learning and development…” Similarly, the academic catalog describes a Grinnell education in the following way: “Intensive teaching, active learning, residence in a community of cultural and global diversity, and self-governance in both social and academic life.” More pertinent to this discussion is the established role of the faculty adviser, which is described in the following manner: “[The responsibilities are to] help the student plan his or her program of study; provide a sympathetic hearing and, as needed, advice or referral on academic and career concerns; be readily available to the student, giving each an opportunity to know a faculty member well and a sense that someone is personally interested in his or her welfare; and encourage each student to develop the ability to make responsible decisions.” It is clear that both academic affairs and student affairs advocate similar aspirations with student development, accountability, and well being located at the core of their missions.

Upon reflecting on my personal experiences with my advisers, student affairs staff, and professors, as well as informal conversations that I’ve had with many students, it seems as though the schism is powered by the attitudes held by professors. For instance, Student Affairs is often the ‘dumping ground’ that faculty resorts to when there is an issue that is alarming or non-academically related (I am of course omitting outlier examples, such as indications that a student may be self-harming or not sleeping or eating—these should obviously be attended to by health professionals). I am lucky in that I have never felt as though my professors have ‘dumped’ me onto Student Affairs, but I can’t count how many friends and classmates have described the times when they were extremely stressed out, anxious, or depressed and the initial reply was, “Well…you could go talk to someone in Student Affairs.” Is this a valid response?

Of course, if I were to talk to my RLC about problems I was having in understanding phage morphology, she would encourage me to talk to my professor. The follow-up would be minimal unless I was close to failing my biology class, but at that point my advisers and academic advising would be involved. Therefore, is it fair to expect a more involved reaction from professors when we share personal struggles with them that could be affecting our classroom performance? If we define student affairs strictly as the body that deals with student issues and academic affairs as the body that deals solely with curricular and academic issues, then, no, this is an unfair expectation. But, nothing is ever so neatly divided—our interactions with our classmates and professors are relevant to our personal lives, and our interactions with student affairs staff teach us important social and emotional skills. Yet, this division is upheld by many—some students point out that they would never speak to their professors about personal problems, citing that those professors “really wouldn’t care” or that “it’s not their problem anyway..it’s not related to class material.” In response to this claim of neglect, one professor I spoke to said that she would be fearful of saying the wrong thing and exacerbating a problem and for that reason would rather refer a student to an RLC.

Of course, it is unfair to expect professors to become intimately involved with their students’ lives, by virtue that relationships are unique and demand different forms of guidance. We should be sensitive to the fact that professors have personal lives and other things going on, so it is selfish and unrealistic for us to expect them to attend to us exclusively. While this problem affects a significant portion of the student body, we should also celebrate and recognize those professors who embody both intellectual and humanistic ideals—the perfect Grinnell professor.

Grinnell is an educational institution, and a Grinnell education is never restricted to the type of ‘academic’ learning that takes place in the classroom. A Grinnell professor once encouraged me to “demand more from myself, my education, and my professors” and I think that this advice resonates well with all those involved in this issue. Establishing more open lines of communication between faculty and student affairs is promising initial step, but not sufficient. I am not asking anyone to step out of the natural and healthy boundaries that must exist in every relationship, nor am I asking anyone to do more than their background, training, or emotional faculties permit. I am asking faculty members and student affairs staff to reflect on the relationship that they have with each other, to respect and value each other’s work, and to work with each other to provide students with a more holistic educational experience.

We will first define the locations of this week’s star ingredient. The salad bar is the go-to option for shredded cheese, and offers up cheddar and mozzarella for your tasty treasures. Sandwich bar is also great for cheeses, containing slices of cheddar, provolone, swiss, pepperjack, and occasionally gourmet-gratifying gouda! The final two cheese options are less obvious, but equally delicious: parmesan cheese found by the pizza and pasta bar, and the cream cheese that resides near the bagels and toast.

To explore the many cheese options, I am going to walk you through a multi-course meal with each dish featuring cheese. Appetizers are always a great way to start a meal, and cheese just makes them better! Our two options for appetizers include a bruschetta-style slice of tastiness and a delicious bean and cheese dip. To craft the bruschetta, grab a slice of bread, (any will do, but it is a lucky day if you can get baguette slices), get a few tomato slices from the salad bar, cube the slices, place them on top of the bread with mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, as well as Italian seasonings, and carefully deposit it in the toaster oven until slightly browned, and dig in! (Note: the toaster oven is by the microwave. It is not the revolving toaster by the bagels. If you place bruschetta in the revolving toaster, it will cause a smelly fire. Avoid that.) Don’t have time for bruschetta? Whip up some bean dip in almost no time. Grab a soup bowl, add a scoop of black beans, lots of cheddar cheese, some scallions from stir-fry station, a large splash of sriracha or other hot sauce and a scoop of cream cheese, stir, microwave until mostly melted, stir some more, then serve! This delectable dip is great with chips, bread, fries, and more!

With our appetites slightly abetted, we can now create a great main course. Besides some previously discussed creations, such as mac’n’cheese (plain pasta, add salad bar cheeses, italian seasonings, and microwave) and grilled cheese sandwiches (toast two slices of bread, add cheese and other fillings in between, and microwave) and “Plate-o-carbs” (potatoes, rice, cheese, spices, microwaved!) I have crafted a new item, sandwichasta. Basically, it is a sandwich with its components in bite-sized bits that you can eat like a pasta. By not being restrained to fitting everything inside two pieces of bread, the filling can be more creative and messy. Start with a bagel, and tear or slice off small sections. Next, saunter over to sandwich bar and ask for various meats and cheeses. Tear these into small pieces and place on top of the bagel. Next, visit pasta bar for some marinara or daily specialty sauce on top of your creation and Parmesan cheese on top. (Extra points for you if it is a meatball day!) Finally, add some mozzarella cheese from salad bar and then microwave it after dashing some Italian seasoning on top.

If you have not hit your cheese limit yet, here comes dessert! This can actually be considered fairly healthy, and incredibly delicious. Prep by slicing a banana or another fruit and lay the pieces flat on a plate, then dash on a thin slather of cream cheese, and garnish with a swirl of honey. This sweet dessert is clean way to end a meal.

These recipes only offer a glimpse of the possibilities cheese offers. It is an endlessly versatile food, suitable for both savory and sweet selections. Go forth, experiment, and have a Gouda meal! What is an article on cheese without a muenster of a pun like that?

You stay classy, Grinnell Diners.

“It worries me that [drinking]’s considered an integral part of what’s supposed to be service,” Kington said.

Perhaps most importantly, Kington conceives this policy as an important expression of self-governance. In addition to looking at how we make decisions in order to respect and work with each other within our community, he thinks that we must use self-governance to restrict ourselves in order to conform to the ‘real world.’

The S&B disagrees with how the College adopted this interim policy. It was applied retroactively, unilaterally and unnecessarily. ReNew, Water Polo and Ultimate had already received their funding without restrictions and in the case of Water Polo, SGA President Gabe Schecter had to call them while they were on a trip to inform them of the policy changes. The administration consulted Schecter about the changes, but ignored all of his objections. They didn’t open a conversation with the broader student body. Furthermore, there was no need for so sudden a change in policy. The incident that apparently instigated the policy occurred earlier this year when ReNew declined funds from the College (instead seeking them from SGA) so that they would have the option of drinking on their trip. The College, acting seemingly out of spite, declared the policy changes in one afternoon, with no campus-wide conversation.

On one level, this issue is about our right to our own money. SGA funding comes out of the student activity fee. We, the students, pay this fee and we elect our Student Government to decide how that money is spent. It is fundamentally not for President Kington to decide any of the restrictions regarding these funds. This marks the first time President Kington mandated a policy for SGA.

On another level, this issue is about personal responsibility and a community of trust. Undoubtedly, this policy raises some red flags in that regard. President Kington’s view is well reasoned and understandable, but it demonstrates a lack of understanding of Grinnell College student life. How does the College plan on implementing this policy? It seems that either the College will make us sign a toothless waiver, or they will attempt to have students self-report, both of which may force even innocent students who observe misbehavior to choose between lying to the administration and effectively shutting down their own student group. The law is that people over 21 get to choose whether they would like to drink or not; why should the College restrict that?

A Kington mandate of student behavior is governance. Only a student mandate is self-governance.

Every other week, my column reports on the content of a discussion had over food in the JRC, most notably in the dining hall. This is the center of campus, where most Grinnellians come several times per day to eat, or at least to check their mail—and where many spend far too long dallying, in avoidance of homework and real-world concerns. And as we enjoy some of the only unstructured time in our hectic schedules, we say some truly amazing things. We sit in the dining hall (as did our revolutionary forbearers at coffeehouses) sharing lessons, building new ideas, and pondering why the world isn’t ‘as it should be’. In this column, I propose to take just one of the ideas that I hear getting digested in the JRC, and to expand upon it. Specifically, I seek ideas where Grinnellians make an assumption about the international community that I do not necessarily agree with. In doing so, this column will certainly be a learning process for me, and perhaps also for you.

The (belated) introduction having been made, we may move on…

I addressed ‘international justice’ in my last column and do not plan to revisit the topic. But this week’s column takes a different approach. Whereas my previous comments addressed the justice of the international intervention in Libya, today I seek to understand the opposite side of the coin: how the international community can exert influence on the United States, under the aegis of ‘justice’.

Last Wednesday at dinner, I tried to digest the fact that a man would die as I chewed. As I walked into the Dining Hall’s fine rendition of Spanish Tapas, I was asked by several students to observe a moment of silence for Troy Davis, a Georgia man accused of killing a police officer many years ago, who was to be executed at 6:00 p.m. CST. While I tend to ignore activism, the immediacy of the execution, twenty-five minutes, got me to thinking about his case and about the conceptual justice of state-sanctioned murder.

For the sake of context: According to the student awareness-raisers, the case against Davis was weak, with 7 of 9 witnesses against him having recanted their testimony. The students told me, with a significant look, that the EU, the Pope, Amnesty International (and, as I discovered upon subsequent investigation, others including UK MPs, the Council of Europe and Desmond Tutu) had called on the U.S. to put the execution on hold. This international assertion of values was, to them, conclusive support that Troy Davis’s treatment in the U.S. Justice System was unjust—a violation of his human rights.

I make no comment about Davis’s individual case, and intend to comment on the implications of the many letters that were sent in by international entities, advocating for Davis’s pardon.

As any practiced cynic will know, such letters have no instrumental value in stopping executions. The death penalty is permitted in the United States as a punishment for the most serious of aggravated crimes. The exercise of capital punishment is strongly supported by several decades of legal precedent. What is more, it would be very hard to for an outsider to convince a Georgia parole board to have sympathy for an offender, when the family of a murdered policeman is ‘glad that justice will finally be done.’

But these normative statements nonetheless have value when viewed as a whole. Most of the countries sending letters only abolished their own capital punishment in the past several decades. I believe one can view the letters as part of a slow de-normalization of a previously acceptable means for organizing society. I believe that, eventually, the U.S. will likely ‘catch up’.

During the 1970s, the Supreme Court suspended all executions, so that it could review the constitutionality of capital punishment. Already, a quarter of U.S. states have ended the practice of capital punishment. And whereas 620 prisoners on death row comprised a “pile-up”, today that number exceeds 3500—making for a 40-year supply of executions at the current rate. This suggests that the death penalty is already less eagerly viewed as a viable option for criminal punishment.

The death penalty has certainly begun to be questioned as an effective means of justice. But what is needed to stop the death penalty is not letters sent from international figureheads concerned with their own public image. Rather, what is needed are letters to Members of Congress. It is not enough to feel conflicted about an execution as one eats dining hall Spanish Tapas. In order for the death penalty to be revoked, legislation must be counteracted: such as the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which played a part in preventing Troy Davis from earning a new trial.

Unfortunately, in view of the strength of legal precedent, I predict that capital punishment will remain legal in the United States, for many years. However, there is still positive progress. If current trends continue, the attractiveness of capital punishment use will become increasingly restricted, hopefully to the point of de facto repeal. This is progress. But of course, this is also no comfort to those killed in the meantime.

Stipends will negatively impact self-gov:

On our campus, SAs hold a certain leadership role and many of them genuinely enjoy the role they play in student life in the dorms. There is a competitive pool of applicants each year willing to commit to the responsibilities and time requirement as a Student Staff without monetary compensation. While students complain of SAs who fell short of their expectations of organizing study breaks, encouraging a floor community and mediating in student conflicts, or just to receive a single room, there is no guarantee that monetary compensation would improve the quality of the applicant pool or that it would be easier to weed out candidates who are driven by ulterior motives. In fact, if we were to implement compensation, the applicant pool may increase in number, but also increase disproportionately in number of students interested in compensation.
Conner pointed out that if Student Staff were compensated, the SA position itself would be restructured and would include more extensive evaluations and responsibilities. This would compromise the role of SAs as we know it, and would change the “flat hierarchy” of each floor and instead implement SAs as authority figures. Conner mentioned that with compensation, RLCs would closely monitor SAs thereby disrupting the role of self-governance by which our Student Staff currently operates. Even if more quality control is thought to be appropriate, RLCs could assist SAs in fulfilling their responsibilities.
This hierarchy would jeopardize the role of self-governance and would put greater responsibility on the Student Staff to monitor our personal conduct. The Student Affairs’ website explains that the College practices the principles of self-governance through “an administrative structure intentionally designed to challenge and support students to govern themselves.” SGA senators are not compensated for all of their efforts and services as student leaders so they answer to the students who elect them and not the administrators who pay them. If Student Staff, as part of the administrative structure, receive monetary compensation and act as authority, would Grinnellians govern themselves in the same way?

Stipends will encourage accountability in Student Staff:

By introducing stipends, Student Affairs can hold SAs and HWCs more accountable. Student Affairs could do this by professionalizing Student Staff positions to ensure they meet certain requirements throughout the year. These requirements could include stringent evaluations and have Student Affairs discontinue the practice of retaining SAs unconditionally. You can’t fire volunteers. This policy will ensure that only committed students staff members who harbor greater commitment to their position will be retained.
In addition to improving quality of applicants, a stipend will attract students who rely on campus jobs to afford their education. Financial need discourages students from investing their time into an unpaid position, such as Student Staff and also discourage them from applying for the position altogether. By compensating students for their work as SAs and HWCs, more students who rely on work-study for their tuition will apply to be on Student Staff and be able to invest their time in helping the students on their floor or in their cluster. This will broaden the application pool for Student Staff and therefore increase the quality of the staff selected.

Grinnell is unique in the way it handles its Student Staff positions but it is also worthwhile to note that we are the only one of our peer institutions not to offer them some sort of monetary compensation. We are part of a greater group of related schools who push each other for the betterment of our campuses. We need to question why we do not compensate students who provide fundamental services to the College. It is important to recognize the work Student Staff does for all of us, including supporting self-gov.

Maintaining the same level of food intake at each meal is important to feeling full, so I like to adapt my meals to include more of the healthful options and less of the fried variety. Any item of food can be added to in a manner that fills you and makes the dish more nutritional. Pizza, for instance, is a great foundation to any nutritious meal. I like to start with a slice of pizza and then meander over to salad bar. I’ll pile it high with lots of vegetables, including peppers, onions, black beans, and tomatoes and then sprinkle a little bit of parmesan cheese on top and microwave it for about 27 seconds. This simple slice of pizza transforms into a veritable vegetable feast in a matter of minutes.

Another great option includes a meal-worthy salad. This is no simple salad, as simplicity with one’s salad leads to boredom and a general lack of tastiness. I like to fill a plate with lettuce over which I will compose the medley of vegetables. (I’m partial to romaine for its crunch, but also appreciate the deeper flavor of spinach.) The salad bar contains a vast quantity of flavorful toppings, including cucumber, carrots, onions, beans, and more! I like to top my salads with some sliced meat from the Grille, and then garnish it with Italian seasonings and black pepper (found at the pasta station) and finally drizzle a VERY slight amount of dressing on top. This is one of those dishes that I tend to avoid putting in the microwave.

Desserts and drinks are another section of the meal where cutting calories can be incredibly easy and tasty too! We’ll start on drinks with one of the easiest concoctions the Dining Hall has to offer. Rather than drinking calorie-laden soda or plain water, I like to upgrade my previously plain water by adding a lemon or lime. Simply grab a section of citrus as you swing through salad bar, and enjoy a delicious, calorie-free drink with your meal. For desserts, think natural. As appealing as that scrumptious gooey butter cake or cheesecake may seem, eating platefuls with every meal cannot exactly be defined as beneficial. However, some “desserts” can provide both nutrition and a delicious end to a meal. I love using celery, carrots, or bananas as a base. These can be chopped or whole and placed on a plate with small condiments such as honey, peanut butter, and cinnamon. These natural flavors are a refreshing, healthy twist on dessert.

Finally, the best method for nutritious eating is portion control. Not only does eating small, single portions at a time help promote health, it reduces the amount of food that goes to waste. I personally like to eat on the smaller plates found at the pizza station and in the small bowls usually used for stir-fry meat. Eating more variety is possible thanks to these smaller portions that allows for more experimentation. And in the event that those smaller portions are not filling enough, you can always go back for seconds. So, in the weeks to come, experiment with more nutritional food options and smaller portions to see if you can eat your way to a healthier you.

It turns out there’s a surprisingly simple and elegant solution to morning chaos, and it’s completely free. Dropbox is a cross-platform cloud service, which means it’s like a flash drive that lives on the web. But unlike the pen drive you know and love, whatever you’ve got in your Dropbox will always be up-to-date and ready to go—no matter what computer you’re on.

That’s because Dropbox isn’t just a storage solution—it also syncs your files between devices. Let’s say I’m working on a paper on my desktop, but I decide to go work at Burling. Instead of hunting for a flash drive or pulling up my e-mail, I just grab my laptop and head out the door. Once I’m at the library, all I have to do is connect to the web and Dropbox will automatically download my essay and I can get to work.

It’s the same story on the way back, as well. Ordinarily, I would have to transfer the file back to my desktop, and make sure to delete my old copy so that I don’t print it out by mistake later on. But before I’ve even shut my computer down, Dropbox has already saved the new version to the web, and by the time I’m back in the dorm, it’s already on my desktop and ready to go.

It’s even better if you have a compatible mobile device—meaning just about any Android/iOS/webOS device you’ve got. If I want to proofread my essay at breakfast, I can pull up a mobile version of Dropbox, make a few changes, and then find them waiting for me at the next computer lab. That’s because your Dropbox files are accessible even if the program isn’t installed—you can just go to dropbox.com and download whatever you need.

While this is great if you have multiple computers or mobile devices, there’s a lot more to Dropbox than just that. By going to Dropbox’s website, you can share folders with other Dropbox users, meaning any files you save into those folders will be synced between both of your computers. If you’ve ever tried to work on a group Powerpoint or handout, you’ll know just how handy this is. And if two people don’t agree on something, there’s no fear of saving over each other—Dropbox will automatically flag conflicted versions and save both for later.

What’s more, Dropbox also has limited version control. Let’s say someone in your group (or you, who knows!) screwed up on the Powerpoint. Just go to the website and find your file, and a helpful menu will let you restore previous, or even completely deleted versions of whatever you were working on. Nice save!
There’s also a wealth of extensions and programs that integrate with Dropbox. If you use Google Chrome, Cloud Save lets you save files to your Dropbox account just by right clicking. This is great if you’re working on a public computer, but want to download a large file to your personal machines.

So, how to get started? By default, Dropbox will give you 2GB of free space, which is more than enough for most documents and reports. But if you’re in need of more space, you’re in luck. When you first sign into your account, you can do five simple tasks to get an extra 250MB. dropbox.com/free has several more easy bonuses, and if you need more, you can always turn to referrals.

Referrals are mutually beneficial—for each person you recruit, you’ll both earn an extra 250MB. But since we’re all students, it gets better—dropbox.com/help/54 explains that just confirming your .edu e-mail address doubles your referral bonus to 500MB.

So what are you waiting for? Have a go—and be sure to use my referral link (http://db.tt/hRHPS5p) for some extra space.

This performance, open to the whole Grinnell community, represented the culmination of a week’s effort on the part of the students, faculty and staff who worked with the members of the Bread and Puppet team to bring this unique example of site-specific political theater to Mac Field.

We, of the S&B, want to commend the College for inviting the theater and to further recognize the ingenuity and bravery of the collaboration they supported. Monday’s Insurrection Mass truly fell in line with Grinnell’s tenets—public arts that speak to a blend of local and global politics.

In addition to presenting a massively creative “cheer-up circus” complete with jiving old-timers in surreal masks and a post-modern corn-popping dance, the production touched on the very real and very pertinent issue of immigration in the United States. In a staged ‘sermon,’ the performers in the Insurrection Mass confronted their audience with some of the unconscionable after-effects of a broken immigration system: AIDS patients who die in detention for lack of care, a Grinnellian who, despite leaving this college trained for active and responsible US citizenship, is currently being denied that status and the rights it entails.

Since we hope to develop a community which both governs (and cares for) itself and participates in the broader project of social justice, we encourage Grinnell to continue supporting performances and statements like that of the Insurrection Mass.

I’d like to focus on the concept of ‘distinctiveness,’ especially given the fact that Grinnell seems to have exploded onto the national scene over the past year. As a refresher, Grinnell has made an appearance on several ranked lists: “Most Hipster Colleges,” “Most Rigorous Colleges,” and was recently named the 19th best liberal arts college by the U.S. News and World Report. In addition, Grinnell’s office of admission was featured on Good Morning America and the White House honored the Grinnell Science Project (GSP) with the prestigious Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering mentoring. Clearly, Grinnell is making a huge mark.

The notion of ‘distinctiveness’ seems to be begging the question: what sort of Grinnell do we want to showcase to the rest of the world and why is this important? The hardest part of this question rests on the fact that it requires us to define Grinnell in a specific way. Like with self-governance, every single Grinnellian would respond to the above question very differently and would obviously highlight different strengths. Therefore, the difficult part in moving forward is defining the essence of what it means to be a Grinnellian in different capacities. What does it mean for us students who choose to not only educate ourselves here, but to also develop emotionally, socially, and intellectually? What does it mean for the faculty who choose to settle in a rural town and devote their careers not just to advancing their fields, but to becoming an educator? What does it mean for the staff, who support student endeavors by enriching our academic and social experiences in uncountable ways? Finally, what does it mean for the alumni who carry the label of ‘Grinnellian’ for the rest of their lives? Making the choice to be part of this community comes with many rewards, but also comes as a result of many sacrifices, and I think that we should keep that in mind as we search for the description of Grinnell that resonates with us best.

It is only natural that other liberal arts colleges will share many of our values, our approach to education, and commitment to social justice. I think we all have a tendency to generalize the personalities and values of liberal arts college graduates. We tend to characterize them as smart, driven, interesting, and open-minded. Therefore, in finding our distinctiveness we are also challenged by comparable institutions that are similarly academically excellent and devoted to developing students holistically.

In particular, we should be honest about our limitations as an institution, the challenges that we still face, and the issues that we struggle with—especially to outside audiences. We must be brave in recognizing the not-so-pretty aspects about Grinnell because not doing so would go against the very values that have carried us throughout the years. And this is precisely where I think Grinnell will find part of its distinctiveness—having the ability to be transparent and humble—not only to the campus community, but also to the outside world. In fact, I think we should celebrate the fact that we are self-reflective about our faults and what course of action will improve our lives as Grinnellians. This openness will positively influence all areas of Grinnell life, by making all members of our community accountable to ourselves and the outside world about what type of place we want to be.

Grinnell is a place where being a Grinnellian is not a label just affixed to students. Everyone who has traversed through Grinnell at some point during their professional or academic careers plays an important role in sustaining and contributing to this community. In addition to being honest about the areas that we need to improve on, we are also able to find our distinctiveness in this simple fact. Grinnell is not just a school, but an experience that we all contribute to in some way or another. Recognizing and having pride in this cohesion is what sets us apart and what will continue to set us apart for years to come.