Adelle Brodbeck – Page 2

Senior art students leave impression was ‘Happening’

“Cow Skulls” by senior Melissa Ward. Photos by Adelle Brodbeck

The vast diversity within the graduating class of Ohio Wesleyan Fine Art students was displayed for all to see this weekend at the Ross Art Museum.

The mixed media now exhibited in “Happenings” ranges from photography and paintings, to booklets and jewelry with each piece telling a distinct and unique story.

Senior Ha Le said she was most excited and honored to display her four portraits of family members.

“They’re the center pieces of the show and they’re hung on the wall right opposite to the entrance,” Le said.

“My parents are coming for my graduation so I can’t wait to walk them through the show.”

Another senior featured in the gallery, Melissa Ward, said she was thrilled to have five of her pieces shown.

She also said that she was excited to display a technique she has become “obsessed” with over the past year.

“I draw with a painted brush dipped in ink onto canvas,” Ward explained.

“I have a large un-stretched canvas drawing of cow skulls and a book created with the ink and canvas featuring an idea of dancing,” she said of her art presented in “Happenings.”

In order to prepare for the senior show, students formed a board with various responsibilities assigned such as Reception Chair, Executive-Installation Chair and Publicity Chair, among others.

Tasks involved fundraising for free wine, appetizers, and the musical accompaniment of student band Wahoo! Sam Crawford to supplement the opening.

“Besides actually creating the art works,” Ward said that she, along with most of the other students, were responsible for framing and displaying their pieces.

“I had a solo show at the Werner Art Gallery,” said Ward.

“And that helped me in prepping for the senior show because I had to have many of the same works finished and framed.”

Similarly, Le said that she put on an individual show earlier in February and framed many of her pieces for that.

“I also signed up to help set up the show,” said Le. “I have some art handling experience from the Gallery Management class I took last year.”

Le also said that she helped to fundraise and promote the exhibit across campus.

Across the 18 seniors that will be featured in Ross through May 11 each has their own vision and background behind their work.

Concise booklets with photos and statements of each individual student were available to make the exhibit easier to digest by spectators.

The booklets also featured a collective artist statement expressing the basis for “Happenings”:

“A celebration of our moments- both the ones that happened at Ohio Wesleyan University, and the ones that happen continually in our work. Though we say a bittersweet goodbye to our peers and professors, our art keeps the memory of our collegiate experience alive.”

‘People of Delaware’ comes to page seven

Ohio Wesleyan University junior and Transcript Reporter, Caleb Dorfman, created a Facebook page dedicated to the lives and stories of the people who reside in Delaware, Ohio.

He says he decided to document local people as a way to hopefully break down the wall between OWU students and Delaware citizens.

“This is my idea to connect students and residents of Delaware, to end that division,” Dorfman states in the description section of his page.

Since he created the page on March 31 Dorfman has posted over 20 photographs and quotes from people around the community; from barbershop employees, to baby-sitters. This page follows a recent trend that has been evolving over the past few years, beginning with blogger Brandon Stanton cataloguing eccentric citizens of New York City.

“Humans of New York”, or more commonly known as HONY began in November of 2010 and has only escalated in popularity since.

Since then, cities and towns everywhere have joined the bandwagon of publishing photos and snippets of interviews with citizens.

We, as the Transcript staff, have decided to dedicate weekly space to Dorfman’s documentation of the Delaware community.

One or two of these interviews and photos will appear as feature photos on the A&E page.

Male-centered films fail to challenge gender on screen

I’m not really sure when films about women teaming up to take down a man started to be seen as “girl-power” flicks, but they’re not.

In past years Hollywood has spit out films such as “John Tucker Must Die,” “The House Bunny” and a more recent creation that has caught my attention, “The Other Woman.” These films are being promoted as female-positive and are supposedly meant empower women, but are in fact doing quite the opposite.

“The Other Woman” is a movie that follows the story of three women who discover that they are sleeping with/dating/married to the same man and decide to “team up to plot mutual revenge on the three-timing SOB,” says the IMDb page.

The problem is that even though the message may be positive — women setting aside differences and working together to achieve a common goal — it is still male-centered. It is not empowering to women if all their thoughts, feelings, motives and ideas revolve around a man.

For some reason there is this widespread idea that the only way to have a supposedly strong female character is to pit her against men, to have her overcome some adversity caused by a man or to have her reject the other female characters.

In just under a minute, the trailer for “The Other Woman” already pits two of the female characters against each other in a physical altercation, accuses one of them of being a “stripper” based on her apparel and, in a joking manner, one of the characters says to another, “You don’t think you can take her?” in reference to the main woman discovering her boyfriend’s wife. I had to stop watching the clip after that.

One of the worst parts of films like “The Other Woman”, at least for me, is the type of press coverage they receive. A quick Google search of the film’s title pulls up articles such as “Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton are Hotter than ever for ‘Other Woman’” and “Kate Upton Dawns Bikini in New Clip from ‘Other Woman.’”

This coverage does nothing to promote the careers of the actors, directors or writers of this film; rather, the articles draw attention only to the positives and negatives of their physical appearances. This kind of objectification of females in film only adds to the gross overarching problem of misrepresentation in the media.

A film about three white, heterosexual, privileged women trying to get revenge on a white, heterosexual, privileged man is not progress for the mainstream entertainment business, an arena that desperately needs a reality check.

Global Grab: Still-missing MH 370, unrest in Ukraine, Egypt executions

The Issue: MH 370

On Monday, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak announced the missing plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean. The new confirmation came from Inmarsat, a British company that provided the satellite data, and from the British air safety agency, according to the New York Times.

Families and friends of the 239 passengers and crew on board have been alerted via a text message from Malaysia Airlines about their loved ones’ death, according to the Washington Post.

In recent days, there were reports coming from Australia and China about sightings of what was suspected to be the plane, but the reports proved false.

The Issue: The Ukraine

President Barack Obama is currently in Europe and trying to deal with the situation in the Ukraine. According to the New York Times and CNN, President Obama is trying to convene an emergency meeting with the G7, a group of finance ministers of seven developed nations. Members of the G7 include: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The G7 was formerly the G8, but Russia was expelled due to the Ukraine situation.

President Obama has made the statement, “Europe and America are united in our support of the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian people. We’re united in imposing a cost on Russia for its actions so far.”

According to CNN, both the United States and the European Union have imposed sanctions and travel bans to people who have links to Russian President Vladimir Putin and other senior Russian officials.

The Issue: Egypt

529 people were sentenced to death after the conviction of murder for the killing of a police officer. According to the Washington Post, this is the largest capital punishment case on record in Egypt.

The murder occurred during the rioting after former President Mohamed Morsi was ousted from power. Also, there was the attempted murder of two other police officers, along with an attack on a police station.

According to the New York Times, this verdict was the “latest in a string of harsh and speedy sentences against supposed Islamist supporters of the deposed president.”

Since the Arab Spring occurred three years ago, Egypt’s government has been unstable, and this sentencing is an example of the corruption that is going on throughout this country.

How Ohio Wesleyan met Josh Radnor

Josh Radnor, a liberal arts alum, spoke to Ohio Wesleyan students about his life as an actor, writer and director.
Photo by Jane Suttmeier

“Down-to-earth” has become one of the more contrived terms to describe celebrities, but still one that seems to perfectly encompass Ohio Wesleyan’s evening with actor, writer, director and advocate for kindness, Josh Radnor.

Best know for his role as Ted Mosby on Fox’s sitcom, “How I Met Your Mother,” Radnor’s appearance drew a large crowd in Chappelear Drama Center last Wednesday.

Audience members weren’t quite sure what to expect from Radnor, and as it turned out, Radnor didn’t quite know what to expect from himself. According to Radnor, in the past he had given a speech at a university and realized that the part he enjoyed the most was administering a question and answer session with the students.

Because his favorite portion of the evening is talking to students, Radnor explained that, “that is what these talks have evolved into, basically this is me saying that I don’t have anything planned, I don’t know what we’re going to talk about…something generally comes up.”

Freshman Caroline Paul said she didn’t come to the show with many expectations, and was told to attend by an avid How I Met Your Mother fan.

“I’m just excited to see what he has to say,” Paul said.

Another audience member, freshman Kristen Canda said, “My brother watched the show a ton so I’m kind of here to just say that I saw Radnor, I’m going to send him pictures to make him jealous.”

Canda also pointed out the lack information about the lecture’s subject matter.

“I have no idea what he is going to talk about, I mean I assume its going to be like his life story type of thing, like a biography, but I really don’t know what to expect at all,” she said.

Before delving into his discussion of transitioning from a small Ohio town to becoming an actor with seemingly endless opportunities, Radnor provided the audience with snacks that he had been given but evidently didn’t want.

“Are there any potassium-deficient people in the audience?” Radnor asked jokingly while handing a bunch of bananas to a student in the front row.

Radnor may not have intended it, but his talk eventually digressed into a sort of life advice session. The latter half of his two-hour discussion was solely dedicated to responding to questions from audience members, which largely comprised of inquires related to succeeding in the world of acting.

It was easy to see from the manner in which Radnor addressed student’s questions that he genuinely wanted to help students. His solutions came by providing students with anecdotes from his own life and career.

In response to a question of what has helped him most throughout his career, Radnor said, “My dad said something to me that I always thought was the best bit of advice that I’ve gotten; he said character doesn’t count in the short term, it counts in the long term.”

He advised the audience that the best way to “make it” is to be kind.

“It is a personality business, don’t give up your character for a short term gain, because you’re not going to get it back,” he said.

He also pointed to specific parts of his life that have helped him in the long term such as growing up in a small mid-west town that taught him to have a humble attitude, and attending a liberal arts school, Kenyon College, that forced him to explore various fields of study that a specialized acting institution would not have provided.

Sophomore Nicole Nitty, one of the CPB presidents, said there were extra available tickets to sell at the door, and some people who had bought tickets ahead of time did not end up attending the talk.

“I think (the event) went well, I’ll wait to see what people say around campus about it,” Nitty said. “I think people involved with the theatre definitely got a lot out of it.”

Radnor’s attitude and manner of hosting the event made it seem more like the audience was chatting with him over a cup of coffee at a small café, rather than sitting with 300 other people and watching him on stage.

“I’m just someone who loved the theatre and banged on the door until they let me in,” Radnor said.

Commentary: Spring into music

Whistle Peak. Photo: karatebodyrecords.com

Maybe I am getting ahead of myself here, but as soon as the sun comes out and the temperature gets anywhere above thirty, I leap into Spring mode.

One of the many ways I celebrate turning of seasons is through music. Here is a compilation of some of my top warm weather tunes.

“In a Boat on a Lake” by Whistle Peak – An all male quartet based out of a town near and dear to my heart, Louisville, KY, produces sounds that are simultaneously lighthearted and eerie with just the right amount of folk. This song in particular has head-bopping qualities that I always look for when the sun is shining.

“Instant Crush” by Daft Punk ft. Julian Casablancas – Featured on Daft Punk’s most recent creation, “Random Access Memories.” The Strokes’ front man’s soft enchanting vocals will be playing incessantly on warm night drives through my favorite parts of town.

“Head On (Hold On to Your Heart)” by Man Man – This group of Philadelphia gentlemen have been generating some of the weirdest and greatest music since 2003. Their latest album “On Oni Pond”, where this song debuted last year, features some of the most energetic and “pop-y” music Man Man has ever ventured to produce.

“My Song 5” by Haim – A trio of sisters that have exploded into fame within the past year have also created some of my all time favorite girl-power songs.

“The Look” by Metronomy – an album so fresh I can’t believe its been out for over two years. I will never tire of the perky and methodical beats from this English group.

A ‘liberal’ lesson in the pursuit of life

Zibby, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Jesse, Josh Radnor, stroll through campus. Radnor also wrote and directed “Liberal Arts." — Zibby, played by Elizabeth Olsen, and Jesse, Josh Radnor, stroll through campus. Radnor also wrote and directed “Liberal Arts.”
Photo from IMDb

A man sits in a dimly lit room bent over a piece of paper struggling to justify developing a relationship with someone who wasn’t even born until his sixteenth birthday.

He subtracts their ages, 35 and 19. He realizes that he had already graduated college when she was still in single digits.

He begins to give up, until he realizes that when he is 50, she will be 34, when he is 87 she will be 71, and suddenly the differences don’t seem so appalling.

The above scene is one of my favorites in Josh Radnor’s film “Liberal Arts.” There is no dialogue, barely any sound; just a man, a pen and a piece of paper.

But everyone in the audience understands exactly what the numbers mean and what is going through the character’s mind.

Although I was unable to attend Campus Programming Board’s showing of the film last week, being the connoisseur of flaky indie films that I am, I had already viewed “Liberal Arts” multiple times previously.

Jesse Fischer, the film’s protagonist, is a 35-year-old admissions officer who never quite let go of his alma mater. Zibby is a 19-year-old student attending said college.

When invited to revisit the campus to attend the retirement festivities of a beloved professor, Jesse leaps at the opportunity to step back in time.

I enjoy this film more and more at each viewing. “Liberal Arts” offers an epiphany unto itself that we should be quick to recognize as attendants of a small liberal arts school.

As I lay in a bed strewn with assignments and reminders of the deceivingly far-off graduation deadline, I sympathize with both Jesse and Zibby.

College is its own world where it is acceptable to break out into a game of hacky sack, or spend forty food points on ice cream and soft pretzels at one a.m. or exclusively use disposable dishes and silverware.

But college isn’t just about clinging onto the excuse of not yet being an adult. It is the one last “bubble” where it is socially acceptable to still not know who you are, or where you want to go.

And that freedom is very hard to give up.

It is easy to see why Jesse would want to relive his college years, and with a young intellectual who shares his taste for long walks through the campus of Radnor’s real life alma mater, Kenyon College.

Those who seek knowledge gravitate to arenas such as college. It is a place full of life, ambition and the pursuit of education.

Perhaps I am embellishing a bit, but “Liberal Arts” is a film that leaves me feeling more refreshed and energized to learn, and to care, and to embrace my state in life more than ever before.

It is the lines that Elizabeth Olsen delivers through the character of Zibby that give me a moment of “Woah, that makes so much sense.”

For instance in a final scene with Jesse, “I sometimes feel like I’m looking down on myself. Like there is this older, wiser me watching over this 19-year-old rough draft.”

This is a time and a place where it’s okay to not be a final copy.

Not just temperature, not just Ohio

The ever-popular water-cooler conversation topic of climate change may need to be updated.

According to, Laurel Anderson, associate professor of botany-microbiology at Ohio Wesleyan, there are multiple factors contributing to and generated from the alterations in the environment that have been overlooked.

The botany/microbiology professor presented her lecture on the global state of food and climate to a bright room packed with local Delawareans as the opening event for the annual Great Decisions Discussion Series Friday, Feb. 21.

Anderson’s talk covered topics from pollination and greenhouse gases to compost and what one can do to minimize negative impacts on the environment. She emphasized the idea that even though it can be easy to immediately localize environmental issues, these are global problems.

“There are many different types of changes that we’re seeing in our environment today,” she said. “We’re seeing changes in the atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels and changes in the water cycle.”

Anderson added, “These (changes) have some really strong effects on food, which I am going to equate with plants.

“I think a lot about how plants interact with their environment and how their physiological processes, like photosynthesis and water uptake help them cope with stresses in the environment. And really if you think about food carefully you’ll realize that even if you’re eating animal products, those animals ate something and those were plants.”

Throughout the 50-minute talk, Anderson related many prominent environmental changes to food production.

For example, Anderson said that between 1888 and 2012 the overall global temperature has risen 0.85 degrees Celsius. Higher temperatures globally have led to rising sea levels which can, and have already, affect production of healthy crops.

“Often when people think of sea level rise, they think of the movie ‘The Day After Tomorrow’ where this giant tidal wave engulfs New York City, and I’m actually thinking of something more insidious and harder to deal with. I’m thinking about salt water intrusion on crops.”

As Anderson revealed many direct effects of environmental changes on agriculture, she also introduced less-discussed points of how agriculture affects climate. For example, deforestation has increased in areas such as Brazil because of the increased demand for non-genetically modified soybeans.

Anderson also raised the point that one of the prominent greenhouse gases, methane, is produced in high quantities in the “guts of ruminant animals,” largely from cattle industries.

“The cattle industry is also associated with significant emissions of CO2 and deforestation,” she said.

To help decrease negative environmental changes, Anderson said the best things that one can do are not necessarily to drive less, but instead to “consider foods that have lower carbon and methane footprints (plants), support policies that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to replace old appliances with energy efficient models,” among others options.

And after all, as Anderson said, small actions are “the gateway drug” to making bigger changes globally.

Local theater loses heat and business

The new high-efficiency boiler recently installed in the Strand Theatre. Photo courtest of the Strand Facebook page — The new high-efficiency boiler recently installed in the Strand Theatre.
Photo courtesy of the Strand Facebook page

For the first time in its 98 years of operation, the local Strand Theatre closed its doors for an extensive period of time.

Manager Kara Long discovered complications with the theater’s heating system last Friday.

“When I went into the Strand on January 24 it was cold,” Long said. “So I called the HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) tech and he discovered broken pipes due to freezing.”

Since then, Long said they are still unsure as to whether the frozen pipes broke the boiler, or if the boiler malfunctioned and affected the pipes.

In order to get the theater up and running again, Long said a new high efficiency boiler is necessary.

The boiler alone has a five day installation time and will take even longer to get the building back to normal temperatures; thus shutting the Strand down and unable to screen films for about three weeks.

To compensate for the loss of business, the Strand has been reaching out to the Delaware community.

Messages asking for any and all donations to keep the historical theater running include those from their Facebook page and website: “We will really need your help rebuilding our bank account after losing three weeks of business and buying a new boiler,” and “Please know that tax-deductible contributions are not only welcomed but encouraged.”

The response to the closure of the local theater has been overtly positive with fans of the establishment posting statuses about their love and appreciation.

Promises such as “See you soon” and “You can count on us”, as well as hopeful encouragements, “Can’t wait for the re-opening” practically flood the theater’s Facebook page.

Ohio Wesleyan University students should not be forgotten in this community loss.

Junior Kelsey Caspersen recalls taking trips to the Strand in her spring semester, “I took Intro to Film with Dr. Hipsky, so I went and saw weekly movies there and I always had a great experience.”

“It makes me sad that I can’t eat their popcorn or be able to support a local business,” Caspersen added. “If I want to go see a movie it is so much cheaper [at the Strand] because they offer a student discount.”

So far donations to the Strand have amounted to $1,450, which will help to cover the cost of replacing the boiler, but not make up for the loss of income.

Senior Tim O’Keeffe mentioned the Strand could be missing an opportunity for major Valentine’s Day business if they cannot re-open by Friday.

Long said hopefully they will be ready to screen films such as “The Lego Movie” and “The Monuments Men” by Valentine’s Day weekend.

Caspersen also raised the point that if there is no accessible theater in downtown Delaware then people will likely go elsewhere to see films.

“They’re probably going to be spending their money at the theater in Polaris,” she said. “As it is the Strand already has a hard time getting big name movies, which we learned about in our film class.”

The Strand Theatre opened in 1916 and has not had complications such as these in over 28 years. As the manager puts it, downtown Delaware isn’t just missing access to a building, they’re missing a source of entertainment.

Actor’s death raises life-long questions

Phillip Seymour Hoffman, dead at 46. Photo from Wikimedia Commons — Phillip Seymour Hoffman, dead at 46.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons

The image Philip Seymour Hoffman left imprinted in my mind is his exceptional portrayal of rock critic Lester Bangs in the 2000 film “Almost Famous.”

With needle still in arm and evidence of drug abuse throughout his apartment, actor Hoffman, 46 years old, was found dead on Sunday morning.

According to the New York Daily News, Hoffman was discovered by friend David Katz. Officials suspect the overdose was caused by heroin injections considering the 70 bags of the drug found scattered around Hoffman’s apartment.

Hoffman was best known for his role in the 2005 film “Capote,” as well as his Academy Awards and Tony Award nominations. His ability to transform into enticing characters transports audiences to new worlds and isn’t that what art is all about?

In the aftermath of events such as these there arise two kinds of people: those who mourn the loss of a fellow human, and those who mourn the loss of an entertainment source. In the case of any death, those who care for the deceased usually experience a spat of selfishness. Especially when the death could be seen as self inflicted, friends and family may blame the deceased for “playing God” and removing themselves from the world.

Personally I see people blame celebrities for robbing us of their talents. In any case with celebrities it is not our place to criticize. We are unaware of the personal circumstances involved in the death. Particularly with Hoffman’s case, who had been clean for two decades, the overdose was most likely unintentional.

Other drug related celeb deaths, such as that of “Glee” actor Cory Monteith, not only raise awareness of the ever escalating drug problem in our society, but a question of why? Is there a high concentration of fatal overdoses within the world of celebrities because there is more coverage? Or is there a specific variable in that culture that pushes many actors over the edge?

We may not be able to answer why after 23 years Hoffman resorted to drugs but we can accept his passing, appreciate the performances that he has given us and not resent him for those he will not be able to.