Phoebe Christine Bush – Page 2

Weather or not, classes continue

One of the vans that transported students due to the extreme cold. Ohio Wesleyan did not cancel classes. Photo by Jane Suttmeier — One of the vans that transported students due to the extreme cold.
Ohio Wesleyan did not cancel classes.
Photo by Jane Suttmeier

By Caleb Dorfman
Transcript Reporter

A cold spell sent temperatures well below zero last week, and raised the question of which weather conditions would lead to cancelled classes.

According to Craig Ullom, vice president of Student Affairs, President Rock Jones consults a group of individuals from various departments.

This group includes members of administration and finance, Academic Affairs, Student Affairs, Health Services, Public Safety and Buildings and Grounds.

“Information considered by the group comes from various sources including the NOAA National Weather Service, local weather information sources, and the Delaware County Emergency Management Center,” Ullom said.

Ullom said the team decided that in this particular weather incident, while it was very cold, there was no risk to someone walking to class as long as they dressed appropriately.

“I know it was very cold, because I walk to work every day,” he said.

Jones said if classes were cancelled, then they would also have to cancel sports practices, rehearsals and any other student events on campus.

A weather advisory email from Cole Hatcher, director of Media and Community Relations, stated classes would be cancelled if a Level 3 Snow Emergency was called.

According to the Delaware County Sheriff’s Department, a Level 3 Snow Emergency is put into effect when roadways are too hazardous to drive on.

Emails from both Jones and Hatcher gave students and faculty advice on how to dress for the weather.

According to Jones, if this type of weather occurs again, the university would increase the number of vans transporting students around campus.

Jones said he would also like to see the vans run later in the day.

The vans, which were driven by student, faculty and staff volunteers, ran from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Tuesday, and from 7:30 a.m. until noon on Wednesday.

Temperatures on Tuesday dropped as low as 14 degrees below zero, with wind chill temperatures as low as 25 degrees below zero, according to the Weather Channel.

Junior Brandy Booth said she has lived in Ohio her entire life, and she has never experienced weather like this.

To cope with the cold, Booth said she “wore a lot of layers” and carpooled.

Women’s basketball looks to make a run at NCAC tournament

By Olivia Lease and Haley Cooper
Transcript Correspondent and Assistant Copy Editor

The Jan. 25 doubleheader against the Denison University Big Red had mixed results for the Ohio Wesleyan basketball teams.

In the women’s game, Denison edged out the Bishops at Branch Rickey Arena with a final score of 64-72.

Although Denison was up at the end of the first half the 33-26, OWU fought hard to come back.

The last ten minuets of the game were full of chair gripping scores that made it a four-point game, but OWU slipped up in the last two minutes of the game.

Among the high scorers for the game were juniors Kristin Henning, LaNiece McRae and Sarah McQuade, scoring 16, 11 and 10 points respectively.

McQuade, second in the NCAC in assists with 4.2 per game, said the team’s goal is to get into the top three or four spots in conference so they can have a better chance at making a run at the conference tournament.

“Personally, we all set game goals, and mine is 12 points and five assists a game,” she said. “That way I give my teammates the opportunity to shoot during the game, too.”

Sophomore Hannah Fedorka says her personal goals are to help her team win by making assists, run plays and score points when needed.

“I think the biggest thing that needs to be improved is our thought process,” she said.

“We need to believe in ourselves and believe we are the better team.”

The team is doing better than last year earning a 10-8 record overall, 5-4 in the NCAC.

“This team has a better chemistry (this year),” Fedorka said. “We work well together, we all have the same goals, and are striving to be the best in the league.”

In the men’s game last weekend, the Bishops defeated the Big Red 83-75.

Denison led by as many as 13 points in the first half, and despite a three-pointer by senior Taylor Reiger and a two-handed dunk from senior Reuel Rogers, they would hold on to that lead, ending the half at 42-36.

Things quickly turned around at the start of the second half.

Denison sophomore Darius White led off with a three-point shot, but that would be the end to the Big Red’s success.

Two students were escorted out of the game when they became rowdy trying to show their support.

Reiger scored to tie the game 47-47. Shortly after, sophomore Claude Gray scored another basket for OWU, putting the Bishops in the lead.

White added another shot, putting the pressure on Denison and increasing the Bishop lead 51-47.

“We started off slow defensively, but we picked it up in the second half which got us going offensively” said Reiger.

Later, senior Dre White scored nine consecutive points for OWU, giving the Bishops a double-digit lead, finishing off the run at 75-64 with 3:14 left on the clock.

White and freshman Seth Clark secured the game at the free throw line while the Battling Bishops continued to play solid defense.

“(We were) very good in the second half, the first half Denison was really good and we let them shoot some open 3’s but we responded very well” Head Coach Mike Dewitt said.

Gray led the Bishops with 22 points, White finished with 20 points, Rieger with 16 and Clark with 11. Rogers had a team high 11 rebounds, and blocked six Big Red shots.

The men’s basketball team’s next game is at Wooster on Wednesday, January 29, at 8 p.m.

Wooster is currently ranked second in last week’s Division III basketball poll on D3hoops.com.

Obama’s step is important, but only part of a long path tackling college sexual assault

By The Transcript Editorial Staff

The current epidemic of sexual violence on college campuses in an issue that is all around us, but is rarely seen and even more rarely discussed openly.

That changed last week, when President Obama took an unprecedented step in acknowledging the problem on Jan. 22, with the release of the report “Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action.”

The White House report, which declared that women in college are at a greater risk of sexual violence than anyone else in America, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise.

This is not a just an issue that occurs in a few colleges and high schools around the nation, or in faraway countries, or just women, but a public health crisis that affects every town and every university in the United States.

Most of the time the media, as servants of the public interest, fail to focus adequate attention to the topic.

If a study found that only 12 percent of terrorist attacks (or, based on their recent headlines, Justin Bieber DUI incidents) were being reported to law enforcement, CNN would be covering it every day; if studies showed 1 in 5 people were experiencing any crime at all and it could be connected in some way to exclusively African-American men as perpetrators, Fox News would be covering it every hour.

But reframe those statistics to their original context—college sexual violence—and the numbers only receive attention when they’re released in a study and announced by the President of the United States. Yes, individual incidents receive national press for a few days, but the overall issue and the culture continuing it are almost never brought up.

In almost every case, journalists are missing the forest for the trees, and by doing so we fail in our duty to serve the public interest and present the full spectrum of human experience, even when it is not what people want to be told.

As the editors of the independent newspaper and guardians of the public interest on this campus, we hope to avoid this oversight and focus on what really affects students on campus. Sexual violence is definitely one of those things.

It should also be noted that sexual violence is not limited to college campuses, but occurs with increasing frequency in high schools, in the home, in places of worship, in the military—everywhere in our society.

But as both students and journalists, it is college sexual violence that we must focus on primarily.

Throughout this semester, and into the future, we will shine a spotlight on this under-reported issue, using a variety of tools of the journalistic trade: investigative reporting into the frequency and results of sexual violence on this campus, coverage of OWU-related events to raise awareness, and more opinion pieces from our staff, both individually and as a board.

We also welcome letters to the editor and columns on the topic from our community’s survivor advocates with Counseling Services and HelpLine; from activists; members of the university administration; Public Safety and Delaware police officers; and from survivors themselves.

Pres. Obama aims spotlight at college sexual violence

By Spenser Hickey and Bre Reilly
Editor-in-Chief and Transcript Correspondent

One in five women attending college in the US experience some form of sexual violence, and only 12 percent of them report it.

While these statistics have been pointed out by activist groups for years, President Obama made national headlines when he referenced them in a video statement last week.

“I called members of my cabinet to the White House to deal with a challenge that affects so many families and communities: the crime, the outrage, of sexual violence,” Obama said in the video.

The cabinet members involved include Attorney General Eric Holder, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel, Education Secretary Arnie Duncan and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sibelius.

Vice President Joe Biden, author of the Violence Against Women Act, is also involved in the White House’s task force aimed at protecting students of all genders from sexual violence.

The task force has 90 days to make recommendations for colleges on how to prevent and respond to reports of sexual violence.

It will also work to increase public awareness of how specific universities handle cases and increase federal means of holding universities accountable.

“We’ve got to teach young people – men and women – to be brave enough to stand up and help put an end to these crimes,” Obama said.

“We’ve especially got to teach young men to show women the respect they deserve. I want every young man in America to know that real men don’t hurt women.”

The statement came after the White House Council on Women and Girls released a report titled “Rape and Sexual Assault: A Renewed Call to Action” which found that nearly 22 million women and 1.6 million men in the US have been raped.

“That’s totally unacceptable,” he said.

“…College should be a place where our young people feel secure and confident, so they can go as far as their talents will take them.”

At Ohio Wesleyan, the President’s statement was met with support from administrators and student activists.

Richelle Schrock, director of the Women’s and Gender Studies department, said that the creation of the task force is “a step in the right direction” and that the statistics cited are “a distressing reality.”

“I appreciated President Obama’s remarks in terms of showing support and solidarity with survivors when he stated that, ‘I have your backs,’” Schrock said in an email.

“This idea of ‘having the backs’ of survivors challenges victim-blaming narratives, which often predominate in our discussions of sexual assault.”

She also said she was curious to see if the task force would lead to increased funding for sexual assault prevention and awareness programs.

“Currently, many sexual assault awareness programs and organizations nationwide rely on funding from grants, which means their resources fluctuate on a yearly basis,” Schrock said.

Kimberlie Goldsberry, dean of students, said that any form of assault is “a really tragic thing” to experience.

“The only way we can try to rectify that is to continue to educate people and hold people accountable,” she said.

According to annual security reports provided by Public Safety (PS), at least 26 sexual assaults occurred on campus from 2008 to 2012, and all of them took place in student housing.

While the daily crime logs only list 11 forcible sex offenses – forms of rape or sexual imposition – this is not unusual.

As part of the annual tabulation, PS submits their list of reports to Counseling Services, the Chaplain’s Office and the Student Health Center.

These offices then add additional cases they know of where survivors were not comfortable going to PS, maintaining survivors’ confidentiality.

According to public records requests submitted to the Delaware Police Department, none of the forcible sex offenses reported from 2008 to 2013 as occurring on campus have led to a conviction or even a trial.

Six are listed as investigation pending and seven as exceptionally cleared, meaning no arrest was made even though there was a suspect.

Senior Claire Hackett, one of two campus campaign coordinators for the V-Day 2014 movement, said that sexual assault cases can be hard to prove without evidence collected by a rape kit.

V-Day is an international movement working to end domestic and sexual violence against women and girls.

Recent campaigns have focused around the statistic that one in three women will experience some form of violence in their lifetimes.

Hackett said that while only 26 cases were reported to University officials, sexual violence happens a lot more than people realize.

“You don’t realize how many women that you interact with (on campus) have been sexually assaulted,” she said.

Hackett said this was something that she’s learned through working in The Vagina Monologues at OWU.

While many participants have not survived sexual violence, “a significant number” have and benefit from the series of readings, which focus on women’s experience.

“It’s really important to the women who go through it, because it is empowering for them, especially if they’re survivors of sexual assault,” she said.

Both Hackett and junior Meredith Harrison, moderator of the Women’s House, said they agreed with President Obama’s statement that college sexual violence is a national issue.

“It definitely affects everybody,” Harrison said.

“I really liked that Obama addressed in his speech that it’s not just a women’s issue, it’s a men’s issue too and we need to be talking about how men can stop sexual assault.”

Hackett said that while sexual violence on college campuses is still a step in the right direction, it is one that primarily focuses on the middle and upper classes that have access to college.

Harrison added that women on Native American reservations also face a high risk of sexual violence, but that the statistics regarding college sexual violence are also “very high.”

“Something needs to be done,” she said.

“…Since I’ve been in college, there’ve been so many stories in the news and in the media about women in high school or women in college who have had bad experiences with reporting sexual assault.”

The past few years have seen a number of incidents where colleges faced federal investigation after they misreported crime statistics, in violation of the Clery Act, or pressured survivors into not reporting assaults.

The University of North Carolina, Penn State, the University of Southern California, Amherst, Dartmouth, Yale and Vanderbilt are just some of the colleges who’ve been accused of violating either the Clery Act or Title IX, a federal gender equity law with provisions to help survivors of sexual violence.

Hackett said that Ohio Wesleyan has a lot of things that support those who are survivors of sexual assault, but there’s always room for more.

“I think we could always increase the programming that encourages a safe environment for survivors,” she said.

“I think we raise a lot of awareness, a lot of consciousness-raising and have a lot of speak outs and marches and stuff, but I think we could be doing more for healing,” Harrison said.

She also said universities in general should expel perpetrators of sexual violence if they are convicted, as their continued presence on a campus can have “triggering” effects on the survivor.

“That is something no survivor should have to experience,” said Harrison.

Hello, My Name Is

By Margot Reed
Transcript Contributor

A big theme of college is the idea that you get an opportunity to recreate yourself to the image that you would like. However, we’re still at a malleable time in our life where we’re living in an environment where you are interacting with fellow students every day. These interactions can help or hinder your process of finding your own identity and self-worth. This photo series, titled “Hello, My Name Is,” tries to look at the way labels and the way people address us and how it affects our creation and preservation of self-identity. I went around Ohio Wesleyan’s campus and asked students to write down what is applied to them by others. These were some of their answers.

Some images contain profanity.

You're always so happy! — You’re always so happy!

"You're pretty enough that I didn't think you would be smart." — “You’re pretty enough that I didn’t think you would be smart.”

Volleyball snaps losing streak: Bishops beat Ohio Christian after losing 10 straight

By Zane Kieffer

Transcript Correspondent

The Ohio Wesleyan women’s volleyball team snapped a 10-game losing streak in a victory over Ohio Christian University.

It was the first win in over a month for the Bishops as they overcame a 2-sets-to-1 deficit to come out with the victory.

Ohio Wesleyan won the game by scores of 25-15, 19-25, 24-26, 30-28 and 15-11 on Tuesday, Oct. 22.

“Ending the losing streak was just what we needed going into the final weeks of our season,” said senior middle hitter Tamara Londot. “It felt good to finally finish a game with a win and not a close loss. Ohio Christian was a good team and we had to fight, so not quitting after losing two sets was key.”

Senior outside hitter Katie Fain said the victory gave the team a great sense of relief.

“A lot of the games we have lost should have been ours, but things just didn’t fall our way,” she said. “It gives us a lot of motivation to finish out the rest of the season on a good note and to continue to work hard in practice to hopefully beat Wooster and Kenyon and make it into the NCAA tournament.”

The Bishops have four games left before they begin the NCAC tournament, including two important conference games.

The players are hoping to carry the winning ways from this game into their last stretch of the regular season before the tournament.

“Some things I think we can salvage for the rest of the season is to not give up on each other, and continue to work hard and good things will happen,” Fain said. “For us seniors, I think to continue to give it our all is important because our time is limited so we need to play every day like it’s our last.”

With the senior leadership, the Bishops can beat their overall record from last year if they win the rest of their regular season games.

“Our goals as a team are to win out,” Londot said. “We only have four games left and all the teams are very beatable if we decide to show up and play.”

Swimmers young and old eager to compete

By Hannah Urano

Copy Editor

Coming off an impressive season last year, the Ohio Wesleyan men’s and women’s swim teams are diving in and training for their upcoming season.

Coach Richard Hawes said he is already optimistic for what lies ahead this season after a month of practice. This year’s team is the largest Hawes has coached at OWU.

“It’s exciting because the swimmers are excited coming in,” he said. “It was apparent even before the season started when we had more swimmers coming to practice (on their own).

“For a coach, that’s exciting to see because you don’t always get that.”

The team shares Hawes’ excitement.

“I think that this is going to be one of the most challenging seasons in terms of the amount of yardage and difficulty of our practices, but we should have a very fast team this year,” said senior captain Derek Smith.

Junior Matt Mahoney said this is the strongest team he’s seen during his time at OWU.

“I’m mostly excited about finally having a fast and big enough team to bring some serious competition to our conference this year,” he said.

Sophomore Heather DeHaas said she thinks the team’s biggest advantage is the range of swimmers in every event.

“We have strong distance, mid-distance swimmers and sprinters,” she said.

Smith said he sees the team’s size as an obvious advantage.

“I think our biggest asset this year is the amount of swimmers we have on the men’s team and especially the number of talented underclassmen we have,” he said. “This is the largest the team has been in the four years I have been here, and we only graduated two seniors on the men’s team last year and added five freshmen this year.

“I already know that some of them can go very fast, but I think that swimming for coach Hawes will make all of them faster.”

Hawes said he thinks the team will benefit from a combination of the upperclassmen’s experience and the skilled freshmen’s enthusiasm.

“The upperclassmen are certainly helping the younger kids and the younger kids are certainly pushing the upperclassmen because we do have talented freshmen,” he said. “Seeing them work hard motivates the seniors to continue to work harder.”

Freshman Emma Beale said the training is “fairly different” from her high school program, but she thinks the changes are helping her technique and strength.

For freshman Evan Snapp, the season has so far been a combination of “mental excitement and physical exhaustion.”

Unlike most OWU sports, the men’s and women’s swim teams practice together, making them function as a more cohesive unit.

“One thing I love about swimming is that your team quickly becomes a kind of family,” Beale said. “The OWU team is very supportive. I haven’t been here long, but I know that if I ever need anything in or out of the pool, I have lots of great people I can go to.

“I think this kind of atmosphere helps all of us be better athletes and students.”

In terms of training, Hawes said he is continuing a technique he implemented last season based on the University of California’s swim program.

According to Hawes, three practices a week focus on “muscle confusion.”

He said dry-land exercises are incorporated into these practices, as opposed to doing them after practice. The entire practice takes about two and a half hours.

Smith said getting back into the routine of regular workouts is an adjustment.

“As with every year, the area we need to improve in most will be dealing with the grind of the season,” he said. “Its not easy to go to practice six days a week, sometimes twice a day, and balance all our other responsibilities.

“But making sure we are doing everything that coach (Hawes) asks of us while keeping up with our other responsibilities, like school work for instance, is how we are going to get the most improvement.”

For the men’s team, Smith said one of their goals is to go undefeated in duel meets until they face Kenyon and Denison at the end of the season, the last two meets before the NCAC meet.

Despite their strong competitors, the teams are confident they will be able to improve their rankings at the end of the season conference meet. Mahoney said they also aim to make the Division III top 20.

“While winning is totally out of the question, I think we will be able to improve on last year’s placing,” Smith said.

Hawes said he is optimistic the men will be able to achieve their goals.

“I think on the men’s side we have a chance to move up one or two spots,” he said.

On the women’s side, senior captain Jen Erichsen said her main goal is to make sure the season is productive and enjoyable.

“I want to make sure everyone has fun and accomplishes their personal goals in the pool,” she said.

“Our team (women’s team) is pretty small compared to other teams, but I think that we will continue to grow in the future.”

What’s old is new again: Premier organist to play newly restored Gray Chapel organ

By Julianne Zala

Transcript Correspondent

On Oct. 25 and 26, Alan Morrison performed two recitals on the newly restored Klais organ in Gray Chapel. To commemorate the event, alumni and members of the Keller and Blanchard families appeared to hear the performances.

The Klais organ arrived to OWU in 1980; the organ had not received any restoration since, until a fundraising effort to improve and restore the organ began in September of last year.

The new renovations to the organ included a thorough cleaning of the entire organ, which involved the removal of all the original 4,522 pipes and windchests and the installation of an additional 122 pipes.

In addition, workers repaired any defects with the organ. The slider seals, which function to prevent the organ leaking wind when it exits from the windchests, were also replaced.

Once the cleaning process was finished, the 400-500 pound pipes were placed into the organ stop by stop. The term stop refers to the admittance of pressurized air into a set of organ pipes. Organ voicers made sure each stop spoke correctly at the proper volume, while other stops were made louder or softer, and others were completely revoiced.

Robert Griffith, an organ teacher at OWU, said there were, “five people who upfront gave seed money to get the project underway.”

“Most people were alums and former students,” said Griffith, who studied under Rexford Keller.

Most importantly, the new division of an additional 122 pipes, called the Blanchard Memorial Bombarde division, was added to the organ. The division is named after Dr. and Mrs. Homer D. Blanchard, who were both in the class of 1933.

Dr. Homer Blanchard began studying the pipe organ at the age of 13. Blanchard became a major proponent to acquire the Klais organ in Gray Chapel during his time teaching German at OWU in 1963.

After his death in 1988, his wife Gwen Blanchard established the Homer D. Blanchard Memorial Organ Recital Series Fund, which provides an opportunity for future performances on the organ. The family and friends of Dr. Homer and Gwen added the division, which includes two trumpet stops that will add a new voice to the organ.

University President Rock Jones opened the concert with a speech, detailing the history of the organ. He also recognized the family members of the Keller and the Blanchard families who attended the concert.

He then introduced the performer Alan Morrison, who has played the organ since he was a senior in high school, and is currently known as one of America’s premier concert organists.

Morrison graduated from The Curtis Institute of Music and The Julliard School of Music. He has played internationally in Canada, Europe and South America. He has been chosen to perform at four national conventions of the American Guild of Organists.

Morrison began the program with “Phoenix Processional” by American composer Dan Locklair. He followed with “Concerto in A Minor, BWV 593” by Johann Sebastian Bach, a piece that Bach transcribed after Vivaldi’s piece for the organ.

This was followed by “Ciaconna in B-flat Major” by Johann Bernhard Bach, which Morrison said to the audience was, “something [Bach] would have improvised while inspecting organs.” The piece also featured individual voices of the organ, while the previous two-piece served as ensembles.

Morrison then performed “Andante Sostenuto” by Charles Marie Widor, a French composer who composed the piece specifically for the Christmas season. The composition featured the strings and flutes of the organ. This was followed by “Scherzo, opus 2” by Maurice Durufle. Morrison described the piece as “a game of chase” that features the “lush strings and beautiful flutes of the organ.”

After intermission, Morrison performed “Five Dances” by Calvin Hampton, an American composer. Morrison said to the audience that the piece “works beautifully on this organ.” Morrison finished with “Variations on Sine Nomine” by John Weaver, an American Composer.

Morrison described to the audience that this piece was a “romp” of the tunes “The Saints Come Marching In” and “From all the Saints.”

Morrison closed the concert by recognizing those involved with renovating the organ. He described the process as, “such an overwhelming task” and “very labor intensive, a labor of love.”

Morrison said that the Klais organ, “has a lot of character,” and described it as “one of the best.”

Juniors split the spotlight at joint recital

Flutist Caitlen Sellers performed individually at the joint junior recital she shared with soprano Grace Thompson on Oct. 28. The two concluded their performance with a duet of Irish folk songs. Photo courtesy of Caitlen Sellers — Flutist Caitlen Sellers performed individually at the joint junior recital she shared with soprano Grace Thompson on Oct. 28. The two concluded their performance with a duet of Irish folk songs.
Photo courtesy of Caitlen Sellers

By Adelle Brodbeck

Transcript Reporter

Juniors Caitlen Sellers and Grace Thompson provided a professional performance featuring music from a wide range of renowned artists in their junior recital on Oct. 28.

Thompson, a soprano, sang songs from artists such as Mozart and Franz Shubert. Sellers played pieces on her flute from artists such as Benjamin Godard and Albert Roussel.

The performance began with Thompson’s series of songs, followed by Sellers’ performance on the flute, and concluded with the pair performing Irish folk songs by John Corigliano.

Sellers said she has been playing the flute since she was in fourth grade, about 11 years. Aside from a few small performances, this was her first big recital.

To prepare for the show, Sellers said she spent a lot of time practicing her pieces with her flute instructor, Nancy Gamso.

“On the actual day of the recital, I went running and did some yoga to prepare my mind and body,” she said. “Then I did a long warm up, thought through the entire performance, and went for it!”

Sellers said she had a difficult time deciding which songs to perform.

“There are so many fantastic and fun pieces,” she said. “I had some ideas before the semester started, and Dr. Gamso suggested a lot of pieces too. I honestly loved everything that I played, but I think ‘Kokopeli’ was my favorite.”

Thompson has had many experiences preforming before this recital. She has been singing for most of her life through choir in high school, voice lessons and her involvement with OWU’s female a cappella group, Pitch Black, but she said this was her longest recital to date.

Thompson performed songs in Spanish, French and German; she said she particularly enjoyed performing the Spanish pieces. She said the most difficult part was switching between different accents.

“Singing in different languages isn’t so hard anymore since I’ve been studying classical music for eight years,” she said. “It’s usually transitioning between the languages and getting yourself in the mindset for each given pronunciation in not very much time that’s tricky.”

In preparing for the recital, Thompson said she tried not to push herself too much.

“In the couple days leading up to your recital, don’t overdo your practice,” she said. “You don’t want to wear yourself down or psych yourself out. Just relax and get in the zone, and then give yourself a refresher when you’re preparing that day.”

Thompson said she and Sellers decided to work together partially because of their similar goals for their future music careers and because it is uncommon for instrumentalists and vocalists to have joint recitals.

“We thought it would be a nice change,” Thompson said.

Both performers agreed the overall recital was a success.

“I feel so good about how it went,” Thompson said. “Of course everyone always notices their own little mistakes, but really I couldn’t have asked for much more.”

“I was very nervous going in, but then the music hit me and I got really into it,” I hope the audience had as much fun as I did.”

Letter to Editor: Conversations about race shouldn’t be one-sided

By Adam Coles

Transcript Contributor

I am saddened that I have to write this letter to you today. In your Oct. 24, 2013 issue, you printed an editorial by Noah Manskar about racism.

In that editorial, Noah expressed the following thought: “I feel it’s not a white person’s place to write such a critique either—it’s our job to sit down, shut up, listen intently, and learn eagerly.” This thought is basically the expression of the idea that white people don’t have anything to say about racism, that our commentary isn’t important or relevant to the situation, and it is this thought that I find repulsive.

Noah’s point, that white people are often blind to racism and so should listen and learn about it, is a decent one and I respect it.

That said, I cannot believe that The Transcript, a newspaper based out of a university and an institution ostensibly meant to encourage education and intellect, would allow an editorial to go to print that straight-out claims that dialogue is bad and that one group of people have no right engaging a topic as important as racism.

Next time a serious topic comes up for discussion, I implore The Transcript to not permit an editorial to try and quash debate.

I welcome Noah’s core points, for they are well put, but I ask that The Transcript encourage the discussion next time, not attempt to smother it.