October 22, 2010

When we interact with art, are we supporting the values it espouses? By consuming the art, do we, by default, approve of the viewpoints contained within it? Am I encouraging homophobia when I listen to Nas, who once rapped about “Gay-Z” and “Cock-a-fella Records”? How about misogyny, when I hear Killer Mike espouse the virtues of women who “gobble up j**m like school lunches”? Or, even, domestic violence when I listen to the Smiths and Morrissey moans about “smashing every tooth” in his girlfriend’s head, right before claiming that he’s persecuted and feels like Joan of Arc?

My completely selfish instinct—after all, I like Nas, Killer Mike, and the Smiths a lot—is to not alter my behavior at all. If it doesn’t bother me, why should I make my life worse? I imagine I’d be a slightly less happy person if Led Zeppelin I were no longer in my iTunes library, but that doesn’t change the fact that the members of Zep basically spent most of their career doing depraved stuff to women, like penetrating them with mudsharks. Does the artistic value of what they created—the ferocious apocalyptic moan of “When the Levees Broke” or the slow burning blues of “Dazed and Confused”—outweigh the raging cock rock of “The Wanton Song”? Yes and no. Yes, because artistic and literary value is enough to redeem something, at least in the eyes of the law. No, because, even if the work is not obscene, it can still espouse views that are offensive, untenable, or otherwise unsavory.

However, is listening to a misogynist like Mick Jagger or a homophobe like Cam’ron any different than listening to fringe neo-Nazi nuts like Skrewdriver or Prussian Blue? On some level, yes. Mick Jagger and Cam’ron are, above all else, popular. They’ve gone platinum. Skrewdriver and Prussian Blue are probably praying to go gold. However, that sort of thinking just gives Killa Cam the bully pulpit to scream “no homo” while clad in head to toe pink fur. We can’t let popularity get in the way of principles. Popular acts should, thus, be more responsible to the masses. We do get that, to some extent. If a song is on terrestrial radio during the day, it’s likely to be free of overtly offensive views, thanks to the FCC. You just won’t catch Taio Cruz espousing the same views that hard heads like Boot Camp Clik would.

I’d wager that a vast majority of Americans who enjoy the genre of music that Skrewdriver plays, i.e., punk rock, refuse to listen to the band entirely on basis of their political views, as opposed to any real or perceived lack of talent. For all I know, Skrewdriver plays exactly the sort of punk rock I enjoy. I just refuse to listen to them because I find their political views to be personally offensive. This leads me to believe that I’ve created a double standard for myself. I’m perfectly okay with Biggie “[smacking] the b***h in the face,” but not with Prussian Blue’s twin Aryans singing about killing Jews. Is it because I know that I’m not going to go and smack women around? Is it because the anti-Semitic blather hits just a bit too close to home? In both cases, yes. All of that aside, I think the real difference lies in intention. Prussian Blue makes hate music. In each and every song, they’re out to let everyone know about the superiority of whites, whereas Biggie doesn’t appear to be intending to convince anyone to hit women. He’s just telling it how he sees it. However, this does not let Big off the hook at all. He’s still responsible for whatever terrible things he advocates.

Many, many critics have attacked rappers for “glamorizing” the gangster life style. While I write this article from the comfortable perspective of a white, privileged, liberal arts college student who will not have to rely on “sellin’ crack rock or [having] a wicked jump shot” to succeed in the world, I can still say that there is a certain glamorizing inherent in not only rap, but most popular music. What could be cooler than doing many shots of Patron with Trey Songz before going back to his crib, except, maybe, selling several kilos of the purest Peruvian white with Rick Ross and then riding around in his Maybach, chilling with DJ Khaled? There’s no way to guarantee that musicians do not portray their lives as rich and famous people as fun and cool. Of course, people could realize that dealing drugs isn’t a good life style and musicians could realize that it’s pretty reprehensible to peddle such propaganda, but that’s just not going to happen.

In the end, there isn’t a singular answer to the question of how we are to react to music that espouses views that we, ourselves, do not hold. We could boycott the music or we could ignore it. It’s up to each person to come up with his or her own answer. I, personally, choose to believe this, which is, in my mind, a massive cop-out: I’ll continue to listen to whatever objectionable music I want, while, subtly, criticizing it for the outlooks that I don’t hold, resting sure in my own ability to not let Morrissey’s sexism, Nas’ homophobia, and Killer Mike’s misogyny pollute my thinking, all while enjoying the music as much as possible.

I was drawn to the idea of living in Dacie’s because of the open-door spirit and the warmth of community that surrounds the house. Admittedly, part of the draw was that I could be paid to bake, something I always spent a whole lot of time doing anyway. My roommate (Emily Winer) and I wanted to help maintain the wonderful tradition of “grandma Dacie’s” while somehow incorporating ourselves into the house. While living here this summer, we started hosting themed Wednesday night dessert parties that were open to the Northfield community and we were amazed at how many people came each week! My personal favorite event which we threw together was the “1950’s Dessert Party” where we served banana cream pie, angel food cake, and about a hundred whoopee pies. Ultimately, I think I chose to live here because I wanted to live in a home and encourage other students to make Dacie’s a home too.

Living here has been a wonderful experience so far although it is a very different experience living and working here in the summer and during the school year. Granted, it is a rather unique living environment for a student, I sometimes feel as if I’m an RA for the entire community because it seems as though almost all of Carleton passes through my house. While it can be very frustrating to know that sometimes students take ingredients for their own use or borrow pots and forget to return them, living here has generally given me more faith in people. Truly, this house would not exist if there wasn’t such a large group of students who not just use the house respectfully but genuinely care about it as a beloved part of the Carleton community.
I’m always so happy to see students using the kitchen to bake and bond with their floormates over improvised recipes. I also love having the acapella groups here, I’m a very big Knights fan so I feel pretty lucky to get to listen to them practice as I work. I’m also very excited about our new floors and carpet (everyone should come by and see!) and I’m even more excited that the whole carpet installation process is over! It’s always slightly anxiety-provoking to change the house in any way because there are a lot of community members and alums who want the house to remain exactly as it was when Dacie lived here.

I personally think Dacie would love our new floors and would be happy that the carpets were so thoroughly used by adoring students that they had to be replaced at all. From what I know about her, I think that she would be very pleased that her house is still a home for so many Carleton students and for me.

By Yuvika Diwan

Comfy couches. Haunting smells of freshly baked cookies. Tinkling music in the background. And now, crunchy carpets. As I stepped into Dacie Moses House, one sunny afternoon, I was greeted by a confused dog who came out of the kitchen to the living room, now decked up with a lavish blue carpeted floor. I walked to the kitchen, and as I had expected, there were cookies waiting for suddenly-hungry-stomachs, and I grabbed one (while thinking if I should grab another, and moving away before I could), and walked down from the kitchen into the little garden at the back of the house. There I met Julia, the coordinator of Dacie Moses House, cutting vegetables on the hammock, and then moving blocks of firewood, leftover from a bonfire that was used in one of the Sunday brunches.

Julia first came to the House, 22 years ago, many years after Dacie’s death. What brought her to live in this 100 year old house within the boundaries of a student campus? She was attracted to the ‘community idea’ of living in Dacies, and how a history had to be preserved within its confines. Dacie, when she was alive, was an ordinary resident in Northfield, who opened her house for students, feeding them with the best that her cooking skills could create. After her retirement, she is believed to have used her pension money to maintain the same relationship with students as long as she could. In return, students volunteered to run her errands, paid her grocery bills, and later when she was unable to bake on her own, baked for her and other students, continuing this tradition. And this tradition amazingly continues to exist. Julia calls it ‘the spirit and strength of generosity’ that Dacie has left behind. According to Julia, with Dacie’s death the ownership of the house passed on into the hands of students. Student ownership is now kept alive by her and the student workers and through continuously organized events in the house. It is an open house, which means any student can come in and make use of its services. This is one aspect that particularly appeals to me about coming and hanging out in Dacies. Even as I looked all around me, while talking to Julia, I noticed a left over cup of water, a forgotten baseball glove, an opened sheet of music and cushions that looked sat down on. The house is happily lived in by so many people, and when they walk out from the front door, they leave some imprints behind. This is a house bundled with layers of memories. Nothing lasts forever, and the house has become more and more fragile with the amount of traffic and usage that it undergoes every term. There have been many occasions when the existence of the house has been threatened by people who feel that it could be much better used. But the student energy has brought life and energy to this house and so it has stayed. There is still a lot of concern for it, not just among the alumni, but also current Carleton students, who never knew Dacie in person. Referring to the replacement of 20 year old carpets, she says,’We are just dressin’ the old gal.’

Before I left Julia and Dacies, I reminded myself to grab another cookie.

Recently, Justin Beiber has dominated the airwaves with his prepubescent but catchy tunes.  King Beibz better watch out, because there is a new girl on the block: Willow Smith. Willow Smith, the nine-year-old daughter of Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith, just burst onto the music scene with the catchy, upbeat jam, “Whip My Hair.” The song combines a fast, percussion-heavy dance beat with Rihanna-esque vocals. The lyrics are pretty simple. 80% of them are the repetition of the phrase “I whip my hair back and forth.” The rest of the lyrics are about confidence and women and girls feeling empowered. “Ladies if you feel me/Do it to whip your hair/Don’t matter if its long or short/Do it to whip your hair.”

With the catchy song comes a fun video. It opens with a whimsical scene of Willow entering a dull silent classroom where the walls and furniture are all a sterile white. Soon she brings it to life and into color by playing her music and whipping her hair dipped into bright colored paints. The later scenes show Willow and other students dancing in other parts of the school. Her fashions in this video channel similar looks to Janelle Monae or the aforementioned Rihanna with intricate hairdos, a face bedazzled with diamonds and trendy, futuristic outfits.

As the daughter of two of America’s biggest stars, there is no question that nepotism played a role in her rise. She was featured in her father’s blockbuster, I Am Legend, as well as Kit Kittredge: An American Girl. She was also signed to Jay-Z’s Roc Nation label.  It is easy to draw a comparison to Miley Cyrus (pre-Vanity Fair photoshoot) when looking at Willow. They both have famous fathers and as youngsters entered careers on screen and in music, garnering fans from their tween base and beyond. Perhaps Willow’s career will go in a different direction than Miley as her sound is a little less poppy. Even Nicki Minaj released a rap over “I Whip My Hair.”

The future of young Willow Smith seems bright for now with tons of attention in the media, the blogosphere, and even a tribute video from Jersey Shore’s Snooki. I wish the best of luck to Willow; as she embarks on her career as she brings to the airwaves prepubescent sugarcoating combined with a spicy twist of swagger.

Want to put together the ultimate Halloween playlist? Well, we at The Carl have got you covered! And you have just enough time before the big night to, uh, purchase these songs through perfectly legitimate means. Or something. So give your dorm that macabre atmosphere with these classics of scaaaaary music…

10. “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” by Bauhaus

Back when “goth” meant something more than a high school fashion statement, Bauhaus released this tribute to vampiric icon Lugosi, who shuffled off this mortal coil in 1956. Long and atmospheric, the song was featured in the opening scene of The Hunger (1983), where it helped establish mood better most of the noisy, confusingly edited scenes to follow. Its eerie simplicity set an example that director Tony Scott would’ve been wise to follow. Sample lyrics: “The virginal brides file past his tomb / Strewn with time’s dead flowers…”

9. “Pet Sematary” by The Ramones

Written for Mary Lambert’s 1987 film of the same name, it was the song that finally brought together punk rock and Stephen King. In their typically repetitive fashion, The Ramones beg not to be interred in the titular burying ground. The band had a history with the horror genre – see the Freaks references in “Pinhead” – so they were a pretty natural fit for this material. But once you’ve heard the Ramones’ rendition, you should listen to the even creepier cover by the Swedish band The Tiny. Sample lyrics: “And the night, when the moon is bright, / Someone cries, something ain’t right…”

8. “Thriller” by Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson could be a pretty creepy guy, and I’m not talking about his appearance or personal life. I’m referring to his frequent use of monsters and the supernatural in his music. (See also: the multimedia extravaganza Ghosts.) And with the assistance of John Landis and a rapping Vincent Price, “Thriller” is not only one of the best scary songs; it’s also a truly great horror movie. Werewolves and zombies and meta-commentary, oh my! Sample lyrics: “It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurking in the dark…”

7. “Transylvanian Concubine” by Rasputina

Much of Rasputina’s music reveals a morbid sensibility at work (see also “Christian Soldiers“), and frontwoman Melora Creager sure has a knack for blending idiosyncratic humor, wordplay, and gruesome imagery. In this song from their album Thanks for the Ether, she invites the listener to a vampiric community of sexual abandon. The song also introduced Rasputina to the wider world through its appearance on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Sample lyrics: “You can never be too rich or too / Thin. The blood has run out…”

6. “In Heaven” by Peter Ivers

In Blue Velvet and Mulholland Dr., David Lynch gave disturbing implications to Roy Orbison (“In Dreams,” “Llorando”) and Bobby Vinton (“Blue Velvet,” duh), but Eraserhead‘s “In Heaven” is probably the most aggressively surreal use of music in the whole Lynch canon. From the gurgling ambient noise in the background to Ivers’ twangy delivery and the shaky organ accompaniment, every aspect of the song contributes to the deranged vision of “heaven” that Eraserhead’s hero Henry pines for. Sample lyrics: “In heaven, everything is fine / In heaven, everything is fine…

5. “Gloomy Sunday” by anyone

Rezső Seress’s infamously depressing song carries decades’ worth of depressing rumors, including ones about its composer’s own suicide. But that hasn’t stopped generations of musicians from covering it! Some of the best include Billie Holiday, Artie Shaw, Lydia Lunch, Portishead, and Sinéad O’Connor, each of whom gives it a unique (and always depressing) spin. It’s not called the Hungarian suicide song for nothing. Sample lyrics: “My heart and I / Have decided to end it all.”

4. “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield

Maybe this wouldn’t be considered “scary” if it hadn’t been used in The Exorcist. But hey, it was, and now it’s impossible to hear those bells a-ringing without conjuring up thoughts of danger, darkness, and Pazuzu. They just sound so redolent of both the 1970s and the unexplained. This also makes great mood music for frightening trick-or-treaters.

3. “Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima” by Krzysztof Penderecki

I don’t know nearly enough about musical technique to say why “Threnody” is so chilling, but its feral, anarchic sound – and the use of Penderecki’s other music in movies like The Shining and Shutter Island – confirm its status as scary music. Blame pop culture for putting this commemoration of a national tragedy into such vulgar contexts, but it’s now impossible to hear it now without thinking of long, narrow hallways and something lurking around the corner.

2. “This Is Halloween” by Danny Elfman

One of the best songs from Henry Selick’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, it’s a paean to everything good and scary about the season, from “the one hiding under your bed” to “the clown with the tear-away face.” It’s also informed by the subtle undertones of poignancy, regret, and tradition that fill Nightmare. The whole segment is a triumph of beautifully grotesque animation meeting catchy songwriting – and it’s only the first of the film’s many musical treats. Others include “Sally’s Song” and “Oogie Boogie’s Song,” or you can try Marilyn Manson’s not-for-all-tastes rendition of “This Is Halloween.” Sample lyrics: “Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright /It’s our town, everybody scream…”

1. “Monster Mash” by Bobby “Boris” Pickett

Pickett’s one-hit wonder is really the beginning and the end of popular Halloween-themed music. It’s harmlessly tongue-in-cheek, but contains a deep and infectious reverence for the Universal horror films of the 1930s. Incorporating Karloff, Lugosi, and the rest into the musical fads of early ’60s, the “Monster Mash” is a reflection of just how ingrained in American pop culture these monsters were. It’s also the quintessential song for radio airplay on October 31 – and the same should go for your iTunes! Sample lyrics: “The scene was rockin’, all were digging the sounds / Igor on chains, backed by his baying hounds…”

So The Social Network is a really good movie. For all you creeps
out there, that’s my current Facebook status. I’ve been to the theater
three times this year (also for Inception and Winter’s Bone), and
Fincher’s latest is easily my favorite. It’s not just about Facebook or
its creator, but also the people he screwed over. The narrative flows
more like The Godfather than a minifeed, jumping between betrayals
within a misogynistic empire of greed.

On paper, it doesn’t sound that fun to watch Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse
Eisenberg) be a dick for two hours. On celluloid, Eisenberg’s so good
it’s a blast. Acerbic stares and veiled scoffs abound as Zuckerberg
outsmarts Harvard, the law, and the Internet itself. He’s a viciously
lovable devil, always ten steps ahead of his audience. Aaron Sorkin (A
Few Good Men, The West Wing) reasserts his reputation as one of
Hollywood’s sharpest screenwriters, alternating between hyper-quick
dialogues and dizzying coding sequences. Against Trent Reznor’s
pulsating score, Fincher sculpts extended music videos. Who knew that
programming FaceMash (a proto-Facebook) could be the subject of the
year’s most virtuosic montage? He’s also not afraid to employ daring
aesthetic techniques to cover important scenes. For example, Fincher
covers the film’s crucial crew race in tilt-shift cinematography, highly
abstracting backgrounds in order to intensify subjectivity.

I think The Social Network is David Fincher’s best film. I’m a
sucker for epic romances, but Eric Roth’s frame narrative in The Curious
Case of Benjamin Button is too clumsy. Here, Sorkin and Fincher
seamlessly weave past and present, overlapping sound cues and repeating
set-ups to create fluid transitions. The Social Network tells an honest,
universal story of ambition, corruption, and its humble origins. In
comparison, Fight Club seems sexist and culturally irrelevant. Zodiac,
while itself something of a masterpiece, runs a reel too long. The
Social Network doesn’t have a single extraneous moment. Each shot
advances the narrative; each character shows a different side of
humanity. Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake match Eisenberg’s manic
intensity, charging the film with nonstop energy. These are three of
many technicians within a greater artistic hierarchy. Fincher’s
storytelling empire (itself a network of actors, crew members, and
rotoscopers) is a well-oiled machine, one of Hollywood’s best.

UK trio xx sneaks into your life unnoticed. They background your AT&T commercial, your Law and Order, your Gossip Girl. They show up on Jimmy Kimmel Live and one of them almost cries. Lucky for you, there are plenty of remixes out there to help you process the experience.

xx (original)

Islands is home base for xx’s carefully articulate sound. The restrained riffs and drum machine complement the whispered exchange between singer-guitarist Romy Madley Croft and singer-bassist Oliver Sim. The song has a powerful progression without being forceful, rare for such young artists (all born in the 90′s).

Jamie of xx (remix)

While it’s Croft and Sim whose vocals appear on Islands, Jamie Smith is the architect of their sound. In a special remix, he boils the song down to it’s essential components, limiting the drum machine to only 30 seconds of the song. Good listening for late walks home from the libe.

Yasumo (remix)

Melbourne remix artists Yanni Nair and Simon Salerno truncate the rhythm for this more accessible but less satisfying variant. There are no new components to the song, they’re simply mixed to give the song more rhythm and pronounced pauses. Perfect for off board dinner parties.

Nosaj Thing (remix)

Jason Chung is an LA-based producer firmly rooted in the Low End Theory scene. His remix of Islands is almost a reversal of what Yasumo has done. Where Yasumo tears apart and rebuilds the song as a new creature (stronger, faster, if not necessarily better), Nosaj replays most components of the song but stays truer to its original intention. Like the original, Nosaj creates a rich tonal environment in which the vocals can shine. This remix is best for waking up from a nap.

Shakira (cover)

Curve ball of all curve balls. It’s not uncommon for superstars to allude to a passing interest in up and comers, but Shakira is taking it to the next level (Universe Cup). Her cover spares no effort in turning Islands into the pop ballad it’s not. A good choice for your studied-abroad-in-South-America-and-gained-new-perspective-on-how-Shakira-is-actually-a-deep-and-multi-layered-artist-and-you-shouldn’t-judge-her-I-mean-Shewolf-was-good-right? roommate.

In 2008, Andy Butler of DFA Records, under the pseudonym Hercules and Love Affair, along with a large cast of guest vocalists, most famously Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons, released a self-titled album. Drawing from the wells of disco and classic house music, Butler crafted an album that smashes nearly all of the misconceptions about disco. There is discussion of important themes, ranging from aging to acceptance. The musical chops are impeccable, with Tim Goldsworthy and Butler expertly blending horns, synthesizers, drums, vocal samples, and more exotic instruments to create a lush, deep musical environment. On the most basic level, Hercules and Love Affair is a great dance album. I’m not sure you could play it at a Sayles Dance, but you could certainly get away with it on some wildly progressive dance floor in either New York or Stockholm. It’s grooveable. However, the greatest triumph of Hercules and Love Affair is the addition of vocals. It’s that addition that changes it from a dance album or a party album to a listening album. It’s not really meditative headphone music (it’s far too bouncy for that), but it’s certainly deep enough to be really, really listened to.

Lead single “Blind” is perhaps the most evocative of Andy Butler’s uncanny ability to work vocalists in. The aforementioned Antony steps in and delivers perhaps his defining performance. Coming across as a sort of male diva, Antony’s voice quavers, soars, shrieks, and generally works to it’s fullest. For example, during the bridge, when most of the instrumental tracks drop out, he soars to unimaginable heights. He then rolls along, low, sort of murmuring about feeling things. It is, without a doubt, one of the most emotive vocal performances in recent electronic music history. Antony also shows up on album opener “Time Will,” a drastically different track. Instead of matching “Blind” and its towering heights, “Time Will” moves along at a slower burn. Antony doesn’t show off the full extent of his vocal talents, instead opting to mutter a bit over some handclaps, crying synths, and thumping drums. Otherwise, vocalists like Nomi Ruiz on “You Belong,” a house song based around an intelligible vocal sample, and a supremely smooth Kim Ann Foxman on “Athene” always add something to the track, creating uniqueness and an aural signpost to remember each song by.

Apparently, Hercules and Love Affair will be coming out with a new album in January. Whether or not its as good as their debut album remains to be seen, but, for now, we have this one testament to what can happen to disco when put into capable, modern hands.

Halloween is fast approaching; do you know what you want to be? Well, let’s brainstorm. What kind of creature is full of deceit, envy, and maliciousness? What type of beast gives birth to babies that are inherently evil? What is that one being that purposely betrayed the creative force of love? You. Why not just be a sinner for Halloween? You won’t even have to dress up.

Unashamed is the campus publication that deals with all matters related to “faith,” and this October’s issue focused on the concepts of good and evil and how they relate to human nature. This topic turned out to be perfectly themed for the holiday at the end of the month, as some of the submissions turned out to be downright spooky. While not every piece was in this vein, there was one especially forceful section that argued for a worldview in which we recognize that all people are born evil. The article and the magazine itself are meant to provoke discussion, and I have been sufficiently provoked.

First, the author lays out the argument from the good Old Testament. Adam and Eve betrayed God, and our lives now “reflect the lack of trust” that began with this original sin. While God may have created us to be good, “we have chosen to turn away from Him,” abusing the free will with which He, “in His love,” endowed upon us. Luckily, Jesus was sent down to die for us all on the cross. By making Jesus “king of our lives,” we may yet be able to avoid “the punishment of eternal death” which God must mete out onto those who stray too far. This is all very well, but it is also internally inconsistent. If God were omnipotent, why would He (She/It) create people that He knew He would have to punish? What’s the use of free will without knowledge in the first place? Was it only Adam and Eve who really had free will, deciding for everybody else that we would be born sinners? I wasn’t even aware that in my “heart and life” I had chosen to “forsake God,” and I’m not quite ready to call this ‘an accurate explanation of my own human nature.

The author then tells us that there are “many instances ” that illustrate how “human nature is tainted with sin.”  To prove this point the reader is asked to closely observe a baby. Babies do not need to be taught to cry when hungry or when their diaper is soiled. This is proof that little children are predisposed to put themselves before everybody else; thy are selfish, and selfishness is the root of evil. “What is the middle letter of sin?” asks the author. “I.”

Well, perhaps babies can seem a bit scary when one gets to thinking about them, and maybe they do seem to only care about themselves. Yet, what would you expect a baby to do? Politely inquire for some peeled grapes? Sit quiet0ly in a dirty pamper and ponder how to do good deeds? Suppose babies (and grownups for that matter) do put themselves before others. Is that really a bad thing? I think we might recognize that by caring about others we also help ourselves, and this is totally ok. I would contend that when people try to follow God and avoid eternal punishment, they are engaging in a self-serving action. So what? They may be doing wonderful things for the world. At the same time, this does not mean that humans can’t engage in selfless action. There are plenty of cases in which one person, before there is even time to think of the consequences, will put him or herself in harm’s way just to help another.

It sometimes seems like volume 4 issue 1 of Unashamed had the message of “be ashamed.” Yes, we can look back to Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening of the mid 16th century to see that this idea has always played a role in our society. For the most part there has since been an evolution to the point where today, there are not many who think it necessary to actually live in fear. At the same time, accepting human nature as sinful has helped many people live their lives, and it continues to do so now. So, if you wish to be a sinner for Halloween, by all means go ahead.   However, I would like to add that really, you don’t have to.

18th May 2009

Today
I heard
What I thought
I would never hear
In my life.

Today
I saw
An end to
What I feared
Would never end.

Today
I felt
So much…

Today…

Today
I will
Let the relief
Seep in.

Today
I will
Let myself dare
To hope.

Today
I will
Remember
What it cost.

Today
I will
Say a prayer
It will never happen again.

Today…

Yes, today,
I finally
I woke up
To peace.
To a country
United.
To a nation
Under one flag.
To a future
With promise.
To a place
That will be beautiful once more.

Yes, today
I watch
As it rains
For the first time
In weeks,
Washing away
The blood,
The hate,
The fear,
The horror,
The agony.

Today
I will believe,

Today
I will hope,

Today
I will dream,

Today
I will
Leave Yesterday behind
And
Await Tomorrow

Today…

Yes, today
There is faith,

Today
There is trust,

Today
There is optimism,
That Mother Lanka
Will be Paradise again…

Today
Change begins,

Today
Healing begins,

Today
We learn from Yesterday’s mistakes,
And rebuild for Tomorrow.

Yes,
Today
Is
Finally
Here.

It’s true that Carleton students love to scale campus buildings, it’s also true that Carleton students like to scale the heights of sensual passion in campus buildings (and other non-dorm room locations).  Here’s a little guide to some of the cozy, crazy, and kind of bizarre spots.

EAST CAMPUS

1. The Arb: For a rustically good time hit up Cowling Arboretum.  Those who frequent the Arb for a good time say it’s “real nice with a blanket and a couple bottles of wine.”

2. Evans: The Evans lounge may seem sketchy but it provides ample space and couches. It’s easily accessible after a Cave dance or an Evans Dining Hall dance, or even just an MSR and Ron Diaz addled night in an E Column quad.

3. Cowling Recreation Center: For a steamy time both literally and figuratively; the Cowling Gym saunas are a sure thing. One must be very careful because Professors, students and Northfield citizens enjoy using the pool and sauna so either try and stay quiet or find a way to break in. I bet it’s been done.

4. Watson: There are a lot of choices for getting busy in Watson.
a.  Basement Kitchen: A good drunken spot is the basement Watson kitchen. No one ever goes there so privacy is practically guaranteed.     Unfortunately, there is no seating/laying apparatus other than the floor, so perhaps this locale is better saved for those drunkest of nights.
b. Laundry Room: Between the tables, and machines, and clothes for extra softness the laundry room services as a unique but cozy spot… as long as it’s a time when no one wants to wash their clothes.

CENTRAL CAMPUS

5. The Concert Hall: The practice rooms can serve as a nice spot with piano benches and soft carpets. Perhaps, start off with some serenading and foreplay. The Concert Hall itself has nice acoustics so it’s pretty awesome for loud sex.

11. Boliou: Boliou 104 might have the worst desks in terms of comfort and note-taking ease, however, the big screen has big appeal. Whether you’re into The Notebook or  8th Street Latinas, setting up the projector is a great way to set the mood.  Maybe if you don’t make it all the way in Boliou, it could serve as a stop on the way to the Arb, the first on this sexual tour of Carleton.

WEST CAMPUS

6. Scoville Hall: Go down to lower Scoville, to the GSC lounge, if you want a good time. Let the Gender and Sexuality Center be your Sexuality Center and enjoy the comfy couches and basement seclusion.

7. Dacie Moses: Everyone knows chocolate is an aphrodisiac and there’s usually plenty of it at Dacie Moses.  Enjoy lots of sweets and the comfy couches. Keep the lights low unless you like to feel like you’re banging at your grandma’s house.

8. Musser: The first Musser study room (the weird room on the left with minimal windows and no TV) was the first random location I ever heard about someone having sex in at Carleton. It’s already pretty overheated; so I suppose encounters in this spot are steamy from the get go. The generally sketchy room, popular for post-1AM homework, is filled with lots of couches, chairs and tables. This diversity in furniture can make for wild times in a rather plain room.

9. Laird Stadium: While the benches may be hard and cold, the Stadium is certainly a dramatic place for a love and/or lust filled night. The elevation leaves you closer to a beautiful blanket of stars – a great way to set the mood, unless there are late night lap runners.

10. Willis: The Economics Lounge to the left of the front stairs is super old school and beautiful. It has nice couches and chairs. It’s the perfect place to let a discussion about Keynes turn to one about Kinsey.

Friends, we at The Carl understand your need to hook up. Sometimes randomly, sometimes obsessively… Who are we to judge? The problem is what comes next. After sharing a passionate moment with a possibly special someone, the best course of action can be unclear, and we would like to help. Another hook up or was once enough? Cut out the following flow chart. Stick it to your mini fridge. It is specifically designed for college students and guaranteed to guide you through any post-hook up scenario possible. All decisions are based on a thorough analysis of  context and the twelve principals of successful hook ups. The dashed lines are NO and the solid lines are YES. Good luck.

Roy Elveton, Philosophy

Quite honestly the things I go back to with some regularity are Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse and Tomas Beckett’s Molloy/Malone Dies/the Un-nameable. The Wolf novel is just incredibly beautiful, thoughtful prose — eminently readable. She’s a master of the English language. For the Beckett, it’s just some of the most thought provoking writing I’ve ever read. Also, Heigell’s Phenomenology of Spirit. It’s bizarre and obscure but immensely suggestive. I don’t know that I understand it.

Pierre Hecker, English

Can we just presume all of Shakespeare and Austen? Books sometimes come to you at the right moment. I was a teenager when I read Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man for the first time, and its depiction of how dehumanizing we can be to one another made a powerful impression. Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, which I also first read in my late teens, struck me not only as scathingly funny but strangely comforting. It confirmed my suspicions that Scheisskopf was in charge. You think you’re alone in seeing the world a certain way and then books like these — even if they’re about a black man in a New York basement in the 1930s, or a bombardier over Italy in the Second World War, make you realize you’re not.

Angela Curran, Philosophy

Umberto Ecco’s The Name of the Rose. I’m a huge mystery fan; I gobble up all different sorts of mystery stuff. It’s an intellectual’s DaVinci Code. He gives an elaborate set of clues that you have to figure out. It’s a whodunit murder mystery in this 12^th century abbey, and William of Baskerville is a sort of stand-in for Sherlock Holmes. It’s a book about different ways of looking at the world; the coexistence of religion, philosophy, and science. The guy solves the mystery using science and philosophy and feels that this is not incompatible with his religion. It’s a lot of interesting intellectual history. It’s about the birth of modern philosophy out of medieval philosophy. There’s a great film version of the book with Sean Connery and Christian Slater. I like the Harry Potter books too.

John Weiss, Astronomy

Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman. I’ve heard rumors that Pratchett wrote 90% and Gaiman wrote 90%. It’s sort of this weird hybrid of both of them. Terry Pratchett, he has this way of twisting the English language around his little finger; he takes these common English sayings and makes them interesting. When I was writing my thesis I couldn’t fall asleep at night, thinking about the job market. I read an article that said you should read something funny when you couldn’t sleep. I would read Pratchett for a while and be out. Gaiman is also very good at language, but it’s more the stories. He tells wonderful stories.

Raka Mitra, Biology

My favorite book ever is the Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri. My family is from India — from Calcutta. That’s where Jhumpa Lahiri is from. She writes about second-generation kids. There are so many little idiosyncrasies in the book that are specific to how I grew up. The food that they mention is like what my mom made. The main character had a formal name and was called by his nickname; I have a formal name, but Raka is my nickname. I also really like Life of Pi by Yann Martel, the Red Tent by Anita Diamant, and the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

Connie Walker, English

All of Austen, but especially Persuasion, because it is the most emotionally thrilling of her books. And Cloud Atlas, which is a new book by David Mitchell. It’s technically brilliant – a wonderfully told story, and deeply interesting.

Bill North, History

I think the book that sort of made the biggest impact on me and that I’ve gone back to a couple of times is Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig. I like it both for the ideas, and how it talks about teaching and different ways of teaching — how we see or don’t see the world around us. The main character teaches rhetoric. He tells his students to describe a building in Bozeman, Montana. One particular student can’t seem to do it. There’s nothing to write about. “I don’t know how to write,” she says. He tells the student to choose a more specific topic. She says, “I still can’t figure out what to write.” “Write about this one specific brick.” She has too much to write. It was sort of my first encounter with philosophy of science. How do they choose the hypotheses they make? I liked the way it was exploring that choices are made.  Also at that time the idea of a motorcycle trip across the country appealed to me.

Ross Elfline, Art History

My favorite book is Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami. I have a nasty habit of changing my favorite book depending on what book I’ve read most recently. His prose is so flat and clunky — not flowery, and I love that. It harkens back to this sort of noir-ish style. I love the completely bizarre quality of the writing. There’s this deep engagement with the trauma of World War II in Japan that I find amazing. Another book that used to be number one for me is Possession by A. S. Byatt. It’s now a really shitty movie. Possession I like because it’s a book by a nerd about all of her nerdish passions. It’s an interweaving, or a sort of archival of things.

The match bursts into majestic flame; yellow and orange
cascades pirouette together and fill the basement with
a warm glow.

His frail fingers are bitten by the heat. Nibbles at first,
then a gnawing as the fire bristles in voracious hunger.
He feels his nails quiver
and his heart stop
as he casts the match onto the heap of pages.

The scores before him grin and twinkle before cackling
as the embers snap and chew up the inked paper:
quavers,
coffee stains,
tear drops.

She had unlocked his heart, and he poured out his music to
honor the key. But even its gracious gold rusted.
His compositions were destined for choirs of angels -
and they sang as if to bring the heavens to her.

But to her, his music only sang a dirge.

Covering everything from found futurism to unique design concepts, it’s my preferred libe break. Enjoy.

Beer is central to the social life of many a Carl. It is served in all sorts of social settings from large school-wide events such as Rottblatt, to small dorm room chill sessions. Usually this beer is purchased at Northfield Liquor, Firehouse, or on occasion, somewhere in the Cities. However, there has been a growing movement of students who are opting to make their own beer instead. While most of these operations are rather low key and occur in individual rooms, but, there is one group that brews outside the dorms doing so with creativity and a strong sense of community.

The Three Oaks Brewery started four years ago. Jake Kring (‘10) Travis Drake (‘10) and Colin Bottles (‘09) managed to work out a deal with some upperclassmen living on 4^th and College (formerly Otter House), to use their kitchen to brew beer and their pantry to ferment it. Kring says, “the arrangement worked out swimmingly for both parties involved,” as the freshmen had a place to develop their brewing skills and the upperclassmen received free beer in return.

Last year, Kring had the “cockamamie idea” of applying for school funding his venture. After a successful petition, the Three Oaks Brewery entered its current, more official status of operation, including about $900 of funding, a charter, and a page on the school website. (http://apps.carleton.edu/student/orgs/threeoaks/) The charter called for a number of different leadership positions that were filled by new brewers, and several students Kring had personally brought on board. These young men are still at Carleton and have successfully kept things running since his departure.

One of these brewers is Alex Heid (‘11) who is currently the brewery’s chief engineer and secretary. As Chief Engineer Heid is in charge of “the physical brewery and its function and development.” As Secretary he is in charge of the budget and works with the Brew Master on programming.

The current Brew Master is Joe Decker (‘12), who like Heid, first became a part of the Three Oaks Brewery last year. He brings a good deal of previous brewing experience and exposure to the table. His father brews beer, and Decker claims, “I’ve been into beer since I had my memory.” (Which was before he ever even sampled this beer.) Decker is also a native of St. Louis, the home of Budweiser, and “has a soft spot for the Clydesdales,” but admits that he prefers darker beers like stouts and porters. These are the kinds of beer that Decker and the rest of the Hill of Three Oaks team make and in the process they combine elements science and sustainability.

Science

Before the foam of a cool brew reaches your lips or even its final container, a number of scientific processes must first take place. To oversee these processes, Three Oaks Brewery has its own chemist, Cody Finke (’12). Kring approached Finke last spring because he is a Chemistry major and the brewers were in need of someone who could “care for their yeast”. Coincidentally Finke worked in a yeast genetics lab and happily accepted their offer. Cody took several 5mL samples from Kring’s beer during spring term.  He plated 100 microliters on a plate and let them grow for 2 days at 30 degrees Celsius.  He picked a pure colony from the dish and re-suspended it in 5mL of YEPD broth (a complete medium for yeast growth).  Next, he collected the yeast, analyzed it under a microscope to check for purity, and froze it at -80° C in glycerol. Two days before the yeast is ready, Cody uses a sterile toothpick to pluck a small amount from his freezer stock. He then streaks it on a YEPD plate to re-check for purity and to grow it in a large culture in liquid 2X YEPD media. He grows about 500mL of highly concentrated yeast.  The yeast used for beer is called PACMAN which is less alcohol tolerant than yeasts for wine or cider, but also very fast. With Cody on board, the “brewery will never have to buy new yeast saving money and will be keeping it local!”

Even though he is admittedly not a huge beer drinker himself, Finke explains, “My favorite thing is the science behind the brewing. I like understanding why natural processes work.”

Sustainability

The yeast, grown in Hulings, is not the only local ingredient used by the brewers. Satchel Kaplan-Allen, the brewery’s Local Ambassador, is in charge of relations with the Carleton and greater Northfield community. He points out how this fall’s High Water Pumpkin Ale was made with pumpkins from a local patch. Last spring’s Rottblatt Campfire Ale used juniper berries and spruce tips from outside of Nourse.

The brewers have plans to become even more self-sustainable and intensify their focus on local produce even more. On the horizon is an Iron Chef event, which is an opportunity for such initiatives. At this event the Pumpkin Ale will be unveiled and chefs will be challenged to prepare a meal that successfully compliments it. Kaplan-Allen wants to see if the event can “get sponsored by local growers providing meat, eggs, etc. If every ingredient came from 50 miles from Carleton, that would be something to be proud of.” There are not only possibilities of local growers getting more involved in the brewery but also possibilities of the brewers getting more involved in growing. Brew Master Decker hopes to plant hops in the spring making the brewery more self-sustainable.

Beer

The Three Oaks Brewery team tries to come together twice a term to “make full bodied tasty ales, match seasons abd local produce and to catch student interest.” This autumns’ beer was the “High Water Pumpkin Ale,” brewed at 4th and College, the original home of Three Oaks Brewery. Decker explains that the house provides all the physical essentials of brewing: “Sink, faucet and preferably a kitchen.” This past Fall, the actual brewing took place on the back porch of the house. Decker acknowledges that the cold Minnesota winter brings challenges because they “have to get water and wort to certain temperatures, 170° and then boiling,” during the brewing process.

The brewers provide the four essentials of beer: water, grains, hops and yeast, as well as other produce and seasonings. The Rotblatt Campfire Ale used spruce tips and juniper berries. Kring says that it “tasted like the Hill of Three Oaks.” Another beer, Decker’s favorite thus far, was last year’s Chocolate Pear Stout. Most flavoring does not come into play until the very end of the brewing process. After the more scientific elements comes what Decker sees as the most glorious part of the brewing experience. “The last five minutes of the boil is when you get to customize your beer. You add the spices and the aroma hops- the specific flavors of your beer, picking different grains and venturing away from recipes by making your own.”

The Three Oaks Brewery team has an appreciation for this process beyond just the science and steps. Kaplan-Allen loves how, “Brewing is a great way to set aside an entire day to be lazy, but be entirely productive at the same time.” Brewing combines elements of science and creativity for a purely non-academic, fun, and delectable product. Taste is the sense tickled once the beer in completed, but Kring (who plans to continue on brewing in California where he now lives) simply cites “the smell” of brewing as his favorite part. Here, Kring is getting at something that often is forgotten about the process. Amid all the complexity of flavoring and science behind it, the final ends are libations with aromas and flavors for the most basic of senses to relish within.

Year: 2012
Major: Cinema and Media Studies

Q: How would you describe your style?
A: I shuffle with my wardrobe. My style is always on the shuffle. I’m running for the Republican Party this year and I’m dressing for hope. I‘m putting on the Obama 2008 campaign posters all over my body, and I’m literally going to represent hope.

Q: How has it changed since freshman year? Describe your fashion evolution since arriving at Carleton.
A: I’ve decided to write several autobiographies, and my fourth auto biography will be titled “How to Belly Dance for Your Husband, “ and upon realization of my achievement before I die, I think its time for me to dress like a belly dancer.

Q: How do you feel about people calling you a hipster?
A: That’s my baby’s name.

Q: Being an international student from China, has Chinese culture affected your style in some way?
A: Not necessarily. I guess in essence Chinese culture in terms of couture is not a very imposing type of fashion. It’s not as fluid a trend as most of the international designers would define; it doesn’t go by season or by collection. Chinese fashion, especially women’s wear, is something more permanent. It’s self confined—only found in China and appreciated there. It might potentially be something influential in the designer world, but for me I don’t think I incarnate any of those aspects of fashion.

Q: I heard that you took a semester abroad in Paris. How would you say Parisian fashion affected your style?
A: I definitely fell in love with skinny stripes and the concept of black and white. To me, there’s no such thing as “edgy or Parisian chic.” I think what I agreed on with interactions with local Parisians is that I really agreed on minimalism and shuffling. Just a simple wool parka, skinny jeans and oxfords are perfect. Very minimal.

Q: Who is your favorite designer?
A:  Yves Saint Laurent.

Q: What are your favorite places to shop?
Oak on Bonds Street, in the Lower East Side and Monk on Bedford Avenue in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

Q: What was your favorite collection from New York’s Spring 2011 fashion line?
A: I loved Richard Chai’s collection but overall my favorite collection this year was Chanel’s haute couture line at the Grand Palais. It was an amazing show. Instead of the models having a standard runway they entered in the middle of the Grand Palais in Paris. There was a giant gold lion statue with his paw on a gold ball and the models entered the show through it. It was my favorite, incredible.

Q: How would you describe the fashion scene at Carleton?
A: Husbands and wives. Pilgrims and Indians.

Q: What are your most prominent fashion influences?
A: Marc Almond’s twitter, the Republican Party, Luke Burbank’s “too beautiful to live”, and Snacks the Cat

Q: What are you wearing right now?
A: I’m wearing a purple deep V-neck from TOPMAN and cut off jeans from Brooklyn Flea. My shoes are from Osborn Handcrafted. I love Osborn because it’s actually a fair trade fabric company with two sellers from New Jersey and they employ 28 people from Guatemala City. Everything they use is locally grown, organic and fair trade.

Q: And finally, the question that everyone wants to know, what’s with the booty shorts?
A: I love nudity!

The staff of the Carl recognizes that some readers may be unable to access the print version of the Carl. Perhaps they have religious beliefs preventing them from touching the Carletonian in order to take out the Carl. Perhaps they are bodiless entities which exist solely within the interweb. In either case, it is not our place  to judge.

May 7 2010 Carl

May 21 2010 Carl

Oct 8 2010 Carl

Sept 24 2010 Carl

As an added bonus, this makes it easier to cite the Carl in Endnote!

What’s the big deal with Schiller, anyway? Seriously: think about it for a minute. We’re lucky if we see him a handful of times in the year, and most of us will go through our entire academic career here at Carleton without ever coming close to touching this infamous bust—or one of the two busts, as the case may be. I’ve spent the past week or so trying to get as much input from as many students as possible about what makes this tradition so important (a big thanks to those who replied to my mass emails!). I hoped this would bring me closer to understanding this Carleton custom; in fact, the responses added to my bewilderment. People get upset when Schiller doesn’t appear for extended periods of time, it can be stressful to plan a showing, and yet the one thing it seems everybody agrees on is that if anyone tried to stop this tradition, students would NOT be pleased. Let’s put it this way: if the Carleton student body were in a Facebook relationship with Schiller, it would be labeled “It’s Complicated”.

And that’s not a totally outlandish idea. Not wanting Schiller to be left in the dark ages, Carls with some spare time on their hands have created (at least) four separate Schiller Facebook accounts. These Schiller profiles serve as a living archive of pictures, posted alongside student opinions and praise, and maybe like many other online relationships, are just another way for us all to feel close to Schiller, even though we’ve never actually met. I was friends with only one of these Schillers until about two weeks ago, and when I received a friend request from another Schiller, I hesitated. Do I need two imaginary Facebook friends? But for whatever reason, I realized it would have felt weird to say no—and apparently I’m not the only one who felt this way, because I’m certainly not these Schillers’ only Facebook friend. Yet despite his online popularity and great reputation, it’s hard for any one of us to pinpoint why he remains a necessary part of our campus life. Because no single Carl can answer the question, “Why Schiller?”, we devote this week’s feature to a collection of stories and opinions from various students about the history and mystery of our beloved poet, philosopher, historian, playwright, and bust: Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller.

There is little for a current Guardian to say about his job. It is one that requires a surprising amount of work, thought, and planning, and while it comes with no direct recognition, hearing people talk to you about your showings without realizing that you were the perpetrator makes the job worthwhile. Next time you talk to someone about Schiller, just think about the fact that you might be talking to a Guardian without even realizing it.

We have little else to say on matters regarding our current relationship with the great philosopher, other than that he is alive and well, resting calmly for his next presentation. We will however, note that if Poskanzer’s interactions with Schiller thus far are any indication of his presidential term, Steven G. Poskanzer is going to do very well here. The pictures we submitted with this article, along with the shaving picture from a few weeks ago, only scratch the surface of the fun approach Poskanzer has had with us. We have had a secret meeting in the Arb with him, code words, poetry recitings, obscure phone messages, emails full of literary allusion. He is, at once, both a smart and funny man.

For obvious reasons of security, the remainder of the article will focus not on where we are now, as Guardians, but what has come before us. We will attempt to demystify some of the legend and lore surrounding the bust, or, as is truly the case as of present, busts; as became obvious at Frisbee Toss, there are two distinct busts on campus, both of which have some historical claim to legitimacy. Both have actually been on campus for some time (ours since 1989 and the other since 1996), and while both have been simultaneously active before, one is often dormant for some period while the other is active.

Because the busts regularly sustain damage, President Lewis was willing to replace busts that were reported to be beyond recognition, each time with an exact replica of the original Schiller bust. In 1988, a bust from the line of originals was annihilated in a showing with the Pep band and all that was left was the nose. President Lewis replaced that bust with one of the two that is currently circulating at Carleton—the one pictured with Poskanzer on the cover of the previous edition of the Carl (first pictured in the 1989 summer edition of The Voice). In keeping with tradition, the bust that President Lewis bestowed upon students as a replacement in 1989 was of the same size and shape as all previous busts. This is the one that we now possess.

In 1996, reports of a heavily damaged bust prompted yet another replacement. On an iron bridge at the edge of the Arb a group called 85 Lost Sheep organized an extremely elaborate plot for the exchange. This time, seeing how much damage large unwieldy busts had sustained, President Lewis pragmatically chose a small Schiller bust to replace the damaged one, hoping its more convenient size would make it less likely to break. The damaged one that 85 Lost Sheep traded in was the “Imitation Schiller,” not the official bust that Lewis had given to students in 1989. You can see in the attached image that the bust traded for the small one had no shoulders and a stand attached directly to the head. This bust was placed in the Carleton Archives, where it remains today. The bust you may know from the Colbert Report is the small one that President Lewis gave to 85 Lost Sheep in 1996.

A few years later, during the commencement address in 2000, President Bill Clinton wanted his speech to make waves at Carleton. To spice things up, somebody gave him “Imitation Schiller,” which had already been in the archives for 4 years and was no longer in circulation.

Unfortunately very few people really know the path that the busts have taken throughout the years and the archival data is tedious to slog though. As a result, legitimacy is really established by the quality of the appearances that a specific Schiller makes.

Freedom can occur only through education.
-The Guardians-