Year: 2018

New Exhibition Breaks Boundaries with Photography

  By Hailey de la Vara, Transcript Reporter

Photography floods the walls of the Ross Art Museum, presenting a new exhibit that displays a tension between accuracy and uncertainty within a picture.

“Double Take: Precision & Ambiguity in the Photograph” provides viewers with an abstract experience by going against the traditional sense of a photograph.  The exhibit began on Oct. 18 and will be on display until Dec. 13.

Photographs have always been known to give a sense of reality to viewers, but the techniques displayed by the photographers show a contrasting objective.

The basis of the photos implicates a scene or a subject.  Most are constructed or framed to resemble something else. There are other techniques that the photographers use such as manipulating light and shutter effects which lead to complicating the viewer’s sense of reality.

For example, “Double Take” exhibits Harold Edgerton’s “Bullet Through Apple,” in which a bullet pierces an apple and creates a surrealistic scene that is more “real” than what a viewer would see without a camera.

The photographs range in dates from early 20th century to early 21st century, with a common historical theme.

Although the exhibit has only been open for two days, there has already been positive feedback.  Aimee Duckworth, a sophomore at OWU, voiced her experience after viewing “Double Take”.

“I really liked the pictures at the Ross because they represent that things in life are more than about what meets the eye,” Duckworth said. “It also made me think about how things in the world can be perceived differently for any individual and I find that very intriguing.”

Tammy Wallace, assistant director of the Ross, explained her excitement for the exhibit and why it was chosen to be displayed.

“The exhibit is faculty curated by Jeffrey Nilan, who is a professor of photography here at OWU.  There was a collaboration between the photography department and English department to interact both departments and show viewers both sides of the spectrum,” Wallace said.

Furthermore, the museum label states how Nilan grouped the images by formal properties, encouraging viewers to discover the elements that connect the groups.  The exhibit provides a challenge to consider the sense of artistry that was crucial to the capture of these photos.

 

 

Students fired up for OWU iron pour

Ohio Wesleyan University continues to offer unrivaled opportunities as being one of three schools in Ohio that bring together students and alumni for its biannual cast iron pour.

The cast iron event is the result of weeks of preparation and camaraderie between current OWU students, alumni and experienced metal-smiths.

OWU sculpture professor Jon Quick heads the iron pour and has been working on it’s development since its inception.

“The process is fascinating, there’s always more information you can learn about it and there’s a lot you can get from other schools when you go to different places and conferences. The body of information is just so immense, it’s always an adventure,” Quick said.

For both sculpture and 3D classes, the better part of a semester is spent preparing for the pour. Students are taught the process of mold making whether it be with sand or ceramic shell.

The process of making a mold requires an object or form to occupy a space in the mold before it’s coated in sand or ceramic shell. In the case of sand molds, once the sand hardens it’s split in two and the form in the middle is taken out leaving a negative space in the shape of the object.

The mold is put back together before cast iron is poured into the top, and after a short drying period, broken into two again to reveal the iron casting in the center.

The students that created molds are involved in every aspect of the process so as to experience creating your piece from start to finish.

The body of work casted at the pour not only includes the work of students, but the work of graduates and professors as well.

After a six hour preparation period, the fuel and iron is added to the top of the furnace to begin the heating process. Once the furnace is up to temperature, pieces of iron and additional fuel are gradually added through the top. As the iron melts, it collects around a tap at the bottom of the furnace. When enough iron is melted, the tap is opened and the molten iron flows into a ladle to be poured into molds.

Westin Short, a 2019 OWU alum has joined the group of graduates who venture back to Haycock Hall to take part in the time honored tradition. As a part of the pour crew, Short handles the iron directly and is tasked with filling the molds.

“You get to control the iron, you are the one making the art. The artists themselves make the molds and create the form, but the one who pours the mold is actually the one who puts in the substance and creates the art itself, we put the actual being in the body of it,” Short said.

The culmination of time and effort put into each individual piece of art as well as the prep for this semester’s iron pour can be described perfectly as a well choreographed team-effort.

Junior sculpture student Mo Meehan says,“ It’s really cool that we’re using a scrap material, it’s a relatively low cost to the students but it’s cool foundry experience. It’s pretty unique and not found at most other institutions or art departments.”

Phi Delta Theta at OWU suspended

The Ohio Beta chapter of Phi Delta Theta at Ohio Wesleyan has been suspended for three years, effective immediately, according to an email sent out by Dwyane Todd, vice president for student engagement and success. The “Phi Delt” house is being vacated, and the current occupants will be relocated to other campus housing facilities. The 32 active members will be designated as alumni members.

The decision was made following careful deliberation among  the fraternity’s international staff and officials, local alumni advisors, and University personnel.

According to Ohio Wesleyan president Rock Jones, numerous attempts were made to correct the pattern of misconduct, but to no avail.

“Numerous conduct meetings were held with members of the chapter’s executive officers in an effort to address concerns, but those efforts were unsuccessful. Seeing a pattern of misconduct and a declining commitment to the values expected of members, the decision was made by the national fraternity, the alumni advisors and the university to suspend the Ohio Beta Chapter for three years,” Jones said.

 

Climate change report explained by OWU professors

By Spencer Pauley, Managing Editor

sgpauley@owu.edu

Much is being made of the fifth assessment report that has come from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) regarding an urgency to limit our planet’s increasing global warming, professors at OWU have been studying the effects of an increasingly warming climate.

This report is drawing more attention than previous ones coming from the IPCC because it puts a date of 2030 to 2040 on costly changes to our way of living and focuses on what it means to have an overall 1.5 degrees Celsius warming of our planet. 

There’s a chance that our planet could increase temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius

As of now, our planet is at 1 degree Celsius over pre-industrial levels. The report says there is almost no way of avoiding 1.5 degrees at this time, and to keep it to that requires major efforts politically, economically and socially.

Professor of mathematics, Craig Jackson, is not confident that our planet will limit its increasing global warming to 1.5 degrees.

“I’m not optimistic and the reason why is because this is a really, really hard problem. It’s not the problem that can be solved by one or two or three powerful nations. Every nation has to be involved in this,” Jackson said.

Professor of botany and microbiology, Laurel Anderson, teaches courses that all deal with climate change in one way or another. She too is not optimistic of a limit of a 1.5 degree increase in temperature.

“We have the technology to make this change, but we lack the political will. I don’t think it is impossible, but we need to take a radically different approach to generating and using energy than we do right now,” Anderson said

Large issue may arise from a global warming of 1.5 degrees: food security, drought and floods, poverty and coral ecosystems. These problems can be even more devastating at an overall warming of 2 degrees Celsius.

Coral loss is a big issue currently because they are being threatened right now due to ocean acidification. With a global average of 1.5 degrees increase, the IPCC is expecting a 70 to 80 percent decline in corals worldwide. And if the planet gets to 2 degrees warmer, it could be up to a 99 percent decrease of coral ecosystems, which could cause mass extinction events.

“Corals are a huge part of certain ecosystems, they are the reef builders. These corals build the habitats for many other fish and drive huge tourism to places like Australia and various islands in the Pacific as well as fishing in many places,” Jackson said. “There’s kind of a domino effect on losing these corals.”

Geography professor Nathan Amador Rowley focused his research throughout his collegiate years on polar climate. With his background on polar climate, Amador Rowley has seen an increase in temperatures in the polar regions.

Amador Rowley teaches a class on climate change in the Geography department at OWU in which they look at the IPCC reports. Their papers come together on what we know currently regarding. Amador Rowley tells students that weather is happening day to day, climate change is a 30 year average.

“When we’re talking about climate change, one thing to keep in mind is that it’s not a specific event, it’s not a hurricane, it’s not landslides. This is a 30 year average,” Amador Rowley said.

Ohio and the midwestern states invest heavily in agriculture and in the short term are benefitting from this because farmers now can start growing crops earlier and harvest longer. Parts of midwest have 2 growing seasons which means more food, but this is only seen as a short term benefit. Over long term, growing season will grow northward. By 2100 this will not be the case anymore.

What may be confusing is that the increase of 1.5 degrees is not uniform, that number represents an average increase in warmth across the globe. Amador Rowley puts this in an example students may be more familiar with: OWU average GPA’s go from 3.4 to 3.5 but there can be more students with 1.0 GPA’s but are offset by the increase in people that have 4.0’s. The same thing is happening with our planet’s climate. So 1.5 is very global. The tropics are already hot so it won’t get much hotter, but the arctic is very cold so it’s easier to transfer energy outward.

“The magic number when it comes to arctic climate is zero degrees. Anything below zero degrees Celsius, you have ice. Once you’re above zero degrees, you start melting.” Amador Rowley said.

Amador Rowley also cautions people on the alarmism that comes with a rise in sea level Water expands when warmer. Coastal locations in the United States such as Florida are not close to Greenland but melted ice will increase water levels in between the two regions. However, it would take over 500 years for Greenland to melt and for Florida to be completely flooded.

“I’m not necessarily worried with sea level rise because Greenland’s melting, but yes, every little inch of ice melting matters,” Amador Rowley said.

PSA: Phishing Emails Targeting OWU

By Tiffany Moore, Online Editor

tpmoore@owu.edu

Phishing emails continue to find their way into student, faculty, and staff member inboxes at Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU). The biggest questions are who are they coming from and why haven’t we caught them?

According to Mike Rue, OWU’s IT help desk communicator, sometimes the culprit is never found. Phishing emails arrive on campus almost every day. People don’t always report them. In an interview, Rue said people generally send phishing emails either to gain access to an account, send spam from that account, or send out more phishing emails.

“They first acquire others email accounts to do their dirty work,” Rue said. “sometimes three to four emails to make it hard to track.”

When a phishing email is sent and reported, there are two routes that the university takes in tracking who it came from. One is to secure the users account that it was sent from. The other route is to block the web link that comes in the email. This only works if it’s on campus.

Senior systems and security analyst, Jason Cocks, says most phishing emails come from mail servers around the world. Phishing messages can be sent through text messages and social media as well.

Cocks says that there are two types of phishing messages, spear phishing and general phishing. Spear phishing is when the target of the message is individually selected for an attack, in which that target will have a specific reason for being attacked. In those cases, Cocks says they are typically targeted for their status or the information that they have. General phishing emails are sent out to a group of people in hopes to persuade at least one person to giving up their information.

Educating people about phishing emails is preferred over going through victims’ emails to find the origin of the phishing email, says Cocks.

“If there is official communication coming from the university through email there will always be contact information in that message,” Cocks said.

Life before and after Castro; why there’s no going back

By Tiff Moore, Online Editor and John Bonus, Transcript Correspondent

Mario Sanchez is never going back to Cuba, and he still has nightmares about being trapped in the communist country.

Sanchez has a unique perspective on life in Cuba before and after Fidel Castro’s communist takeover of the government. He attended law school with Castro at the University of Havana.
Sanchez was the son of a Cuban Supreme Court justice. Because of his father’s status in the government, he was able to live comfortably and focus on his education. However, this all changed when his father died. With no government pension from his father, Sanchez had to drop out of law school and get a job as a school inspector to provide for his family.

Around this time, Castro was beginning his rise to power. He drew inspiration from revolutions in countries such as Nicaragua, and decided that the only way to fight corruption was to overthrow
the government of Fulgencio Batista. After Castro’s takeover, everything changed for the people of Cuba, and the Sanchez family felt the effects almost immediately.

Dr. Michael Flamm, a history professor at Ohio Wesleyan University, said the Sanchez family could have been singled out by the Communist Party because of their connection to the Batista
regime.

“Since this man’s father was a Supreme Court justice under Batista, it’s possible that he was seen as someone who may be disloyal to Castro,” said Flamm.

Castro ended the public school system in Cuba as part of his plan to re-educate the people. That meant that Sanchez and his wife, Josefina, were both out of work. To survive, Sanchez took a job working at the Havana harbor.

It was while he was at this job that the infamous Bay of Pigs invasion took place, an attempt to overthrow Castro carried out by exiled Cubans sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency.
Whether you had experience or not, Sanchez said, everyone at harbors were given guns to fight off the attackers.

“They gave me a .45-caliber machine gun… They told me to shoot anyone who tried to get past the gate,” said Sanchez. “I had never used a gun in my life.”

After the invasion failed, Sanchez decided it was time for his family to get out of Cuba.

He applied for a visa to enter the United States in 1961. It was at that moment the Sanchez family became enemies of the state.
At the time, the Committee of the Defense of Revolution was watching everyone. The private buying, selling or trading of items was prohibited. To enforce this policy, the CDR took inventory of everything.

On April 29, 1962 Sanchez, his wife and two children arrived at the Havana airport with tickets for a one-way flight to Miami.

Everyone leaving the country had to be approved by officials at the airport to get on a plane. It was all going smoothly until it was Sanchez’s turn. He was stopped from boarding the plane because he had sold his car, a green 1951 Ford, instead of turning it over to the government.

Elsie, Sanchez’s daughter, still remembers hearing her brother screaming for their father as they sat on the plane without him.
Sanchez could not join his family in the United States until his car was in government hands.

Because of his family connections, Sanchez had a friend in the military who was able to track the new owner of the car. He bought the car back for more than he sold it and handed it over to
the government.

It was at this point that Sanchez realized he had another problem. During the complications at the airport, he ended up with his child’s passport and not his own. Without that passport, he would never be able to fly to America.

Fortunately, Sanchez had a cousin who was a pilot. He was able to arrange for another pilot to fly back to Havana with Sanchez’s passport and deliver it to him. He was finally able to leave Cuba, with only the clothes on his back and a single dime.

Sanchez arrived in Miami and met up with his family. He had trouble finding work, so one of his best friends invited his family to stay with them in Columbus. They have been in central Ohio
ever since.

Sanchez worked a couple different jobs in Columbus until he found what would become his career at Columbus Pest Control in 1965.
“In Cuba, I was afraid of bugs,” said Sanchez, “but I loved this job and driving to different cities in Ohio.”

Sanchez worked for Columbus Pest Control for 47 years before retiring in 2012. Sanchez has no interest in going back to Cuba, and refuses to travel there while it is under communist rule. However, his daughter Elsie feels differently and traveled to Cuba three years ago. She said she had wanted to go back all her life.

“People asked me why I wanted to go and just see destruction,” said Elsie. “It doesn’t matter, it is my land.”

Elsie is an artist, and went to Cuba through a program with other artists. She went back to her home, expecting it to be run down. However, the family that currently lives there took good care
of the house and fixed it to look brand new.

Elsie stood outside the house taking pictures and wanted to go inside. The family was hesitant at first because they did not know who she was. Elsie showed them a picture of her in front of
the house with the nanny who lived in the home after the Sanchezes left. The family then let Elsie in because they recognized the nanny. Once she was in the house, she could not believe how nice it looked.

After visiting her old home, she walked around the neighborhood talking to the locals. Some people told her, “This is hell, we’re hoping things change.”

Elsie said that if she didn’t become an artist she probably would’ve been a doctor. She received inspiration from her dad, who used to draw pictures at his job, and tried to draw what he drew.
She took night classes at Ohio State University, and it took 12 years to get her degree because she was working at the same time.

Elsie said her art is abstract. “I try to put all the emotion in the artwork without depicting anything.”

The Sanchez family still resides in central Ohio. While Elsie plans to travel to Cuba again soon, Mario said he “will never set foot in Cuba.”

Ohio Wesleyan, City of Delaware and Delaware County Show Collaboration with Entrepreneurial Ideas

By Kienan O’Doherty, Editor-In-Chief

A new chapter for the future has already been written for Ohio Wesleyan, the city of Delaware and Delaware County with the latest grand opening.

The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center at Ohio Wesleyan University (OWU) opened its doors for the first time to the public with a special ribbon-cutting ceremony. The center, which takes the place of the old Stewart Annex, was completely remodeled to provide a home for those that are looking to venture into the business world.

With an industrial and modern theme, the center includes two floors filled with offices, open presentation floors, and small rooms where people can brainstorm and expand on ideas.

One of those offices already has an occupant. Jack Foley ’22 is the founder of ReYuze Cases, a company that creates and sells cellphone cases made of plastic recycled from the streets, canals, and landfills of Haiti. He believes that the opening of the center provides a bright light for students seeking entrepreneurship.

“A lot of students can get internships with companies here, like myself,” Foley said. “For any student at OWU that has a business idea, it allows them to collaborate with not only people in Delaware, but also via the OWU Connection, and this building represents that. It’s connecting OWU students with the community and entrepreneurial spirit.”

The center also featured many other student-founded businesses throughout the center, including Sweet Lizabella’s, a toffee company founded by Elizabeth Knowlton ’19, which prides itself on using four ingredients.

During the ribbon-cutting ceremony, OWU President Rock Jones stated that the opening of the center is the first of its kind in the nation.

“We are not aware of another place in the country where city, county and university have come together on the university campus to do what’s happening here,” Jones said. “That is extraordinary, and it’s a reminder of the good fortune we all have to live in a community where the town and the county and university collaborate with one another, value one another, and want to create experiences with one another.”

The Delaware Entrepreneurial Center also provides a hub for residents as well, as City of Delaware Mayor Carolyn Kay Riggle sees more possibilities.

“Unfortunately, Delaware has been a bedroom community for quite a while,” Riggle said. “I would love to see more businesses stay here so that you’ll live here, [but] also work here and play here, so that we can offer everything, and I think this entrepreneurial center provides that opportunity.”

Author discusses his book on an instance of African-American athletic success during times of segregation

 

By Spencer Pauley, Managing Editor

sgpauley@owu.edu

 

Amongst the racial turbulence going on in Columbus, OH in 1968, an all-black school on the eastside was able to win state championships in basketball and baseball in the same year. This was the subject of OWU’s guest speaker: Author Wil Haygood.

Haygood is best-known for writing the book “The Butler: A Witness to History,” which would go on to be adapted into a critically-acclaimed movie. His newest book, “Tigerland,” is about East High School’s varsity teams winning state titles during a time when segregation was still prevalent in the U.S.. Haygood was 13 in 1968 when East High won two state titles. He talked about what he remembered from that time:

“My most vivid memories were of tanks that were circling the neighborhood and national guard troops,” Haygood said. “It was a scary time for little Wil Haygood; he wanted to be the man of the house, but when you hear shots in the night, that lead to nightmares.”

OWU graduate, Gregory Moore ‘76, proceeded to sit down with Haygood in front of the audience in Ham-Will and ask questions regarding his newest book. Haygood and Moore knew each other from when they both worked at the Boston Globe. Haygood talked about the difficulties and issues that the players and coaches had to go through as a result of the segregation at the time.

President Rock Jones also talked at the presentation, mentioning that one of the players mentioned in “Tigerland” has roots to Ohio Wesleyan.

“‘Tigerland’ features an Ohio Wesleyan graduate as one of the principal participants in that story. Coach Bob Hart who was the basketball coach at Columbus East High School,” Jones said. “Hart graduated from Ohio Wesleyan in 1949 after having completed military service in World War II.”

Hart’s widow, Millie Hart, and three daughters were present at the presentation and received applause from the audience. Also in attendance was the East High title-winning baseball coach, Paul Pennell.

Moore ended the discussion with Haygood with one final question: Out of winning a state title in basketball and baseball, which one was the greater feat?

“The greater feat to me would have to be baseball and here’s why: That was a game that not very many black americans played.” Haygood said.

Haygood did note that when the basketball team won in 1968-1969, they had also done so in the previous year, which he believes was a feat of its own.

“Tigerland” is Haygood’s 8th book published and is available now for purchase.

The 14th Amendment And It’s Modern Interpretation

By Maddie Matos A&E Editor mrmatos@owu.edu

The 14th Amendment received a new interpretation as Ohio Wesleyan University hosted a guest speaker for the annual Richard W. Smith Lecture series.

The speaker was Michael Les Benedict, who has a doctorate in history. Benedict is a specialist in constitutional and political issues regarding the Civil War era. Benedict works at Ohio State University as an emeritus professor.

The Smith lecture series is hosted by the Ohio Wesleyan department of history. The lecture is sponsored by the Richard W. Smith Endowed Fund in Civil War History, a fund that has been established in honor of former professor Richard W. Smith.

Smith taught at Ohio Wesleyan in the mid-20th century. He was popular among students, with several alumni returning to campus in support of the lecture and Smith.

Over 160 people attended the event, which was held in the Benes rooms in the Hamilton-Williams Campus Center.

University president Rock Jones and professor of history Barbara Terzian gave introductions prior to Benedicts presentation. Both Jones and Terzian expressed their enjoyment of the series and Benedict, with Terzian being more emotional.

“I have been really looking forward to this,” Terzian said. “He (Benedict) is my professor and Smith, my mentor.”

Benedict began his presentation with a discussion of how important the 14th Amendment is to history, and how it still impacts the United States today.

“It was a momentous event,” Benedict said. “It took a lot of pride on the southern states to agree to it.”

The amendment gives citizenship to all people born in the United States and allows the United States Congress to enforce this law. Through the passage of the amendment, African Americans and other minority groups became citizens and gained legal rights in society.

Benedict argued that the amendment established that it was the government’s job to defend rights.

“That is why we have government, to protect our rights,” Benedict said.

Benedict also discussed the role slavery had in the United States and the early days of the nation. Stating that the Constitution accommodated slavery and treated them like property, America was doomed to crack.

“The union could no longer endure,” Benedict said, quoting Abraham Lincoln.

Abolitionists were discriminated against, Benedict stated, with hundreds of protests and threats were made against them. The southern United States even went so far as to ban abolitionist literature and enforce the slave codes.

Benedict then discussed the beginnings of writing the amendment. He talked about early drafts of the document being proposed by different congressmen, including John Bingham, a representative from Ohio.

The presentation ended with a discussion of today’s implications the amendment holds. Benedict argued that the document made the United States Supreme Court more powerful than ever, an issue that continues today.

“Only now have we come to realize that the 14th amendment perhaps gives the court too much responsibility and gives us too little responsibility,” Benedict said.

The presentation closed with questions presented by the audience. Most questions were regarding the state of the Supreme Court in modern times and how citizens can have a voice in government. Benedict answered their question with a simple statement.

“Go vote,” Benedict said.

Author Comes All the Way from Italy to Give Presentation to OWU Students

By Spencer Pauley, Managing Editor

 

Fat and fascism, those two things don’t seem to go together at first, but author Karima Moyer-Nocchi proved otherwise with a presentation on Sept. 19.

Moyer-Nocchi’s presentation was specifically on the influence of food during the fascist era. She talked about how nostalgia is used in selling Italian food. She calls it a “gastronomic time-travel.”

“The indulgences for this gastronomic time-travel comes with a price. One that has us shovel seven, nine, and 11 dollars for a small bag of beans while seemingly similar beans lacking the romantic biography cost just one dolla,” Moyer-Nocchi said.

But the time these packages refer to is actually seen as a lowlight in Italian history: the Mussolini-runned era of Italy. Moyer-Nocchi traveled throughout Italy to talk with 18 women who lived during this era and asked them for their opinions on food and what it was like during that time. Her conversations with these women built up to her book “Chewing the Fat: An Oral History of Italian Foodways from Fascism to Dolce Vita.”

Moyer-Nocchi’s presentation also extended into Italy now and how they react to their history of fascism. Many Italians avoid bringing up the subject and it takes a toll on family life; they avoid discussions on it with their older relatives who lived during the Mussolini era.

“Families tend to not listen to their old people, there is a silencing going on.” Moyer-Nocchi said. “So when there’s a researcher coming into their house that wanted to hear their stories, there were finally family members around listening to their story and in the spotlight.”

Moyer-Nocchi is an author, but is also a tenured professor at the University of Siena, located in Italy. Along with “Chewing the Fat: An Oral History of Italian Foodways from Fascism to Dolce Vita,” Moyer-Nocchi is releasing a new book, “The Eternal Table: A Cultural History of Food in Rome,” in March, 2019.

Professor of health and human kinetics, Christopher Fink, introduced Moyer-Nocchi before her presentation. After it was finished he wrapped it up with some suggestions for student in the health and human kinetics field.

“This spring we’re going to be doing a project as well so if (food and fascism) sounds like something for you, you’ll have the freedom to use this for it,” Fink said.