Ohio Wesleyan’s improv- isational comedy troupe, The Babbling Bishops, knows the business of being funny is more than just funny business.
After their recent trip to Chicago to hone their skills through improv workshops, the black t-shirt clad and barefoot “Babblers” are gearing up to put their new knowledge to practice.
Junior Andrew Rossi, also known by his troupe-given name “Attenborough,” explains that the Babbler’s annual trip focuses mainly on strengthening the skills of the troupe.
“Chicago is college for the Bishops,” said Rossi. “We go to be critiqued, to learn new methods of improv and to refine our form both individually and as a group.”
A fellow member, junior David “Pop Fly” Reitan, elaborated a little on what these workshops involve.
“While we were in Chicago we took workshops at the Improv Olympic Theater (iO),” Reitan said. “This is, I believe, our third or fourth consecutive year that we have been taking lessons there.
“We were under the instruction of Greg Hess, a guy who’s been in the biz for about 10-12 years and is part of two groups at iO, one of which, The Cook County Social Club, is revered as the best improv group in Chicago.”
In these workshops, the Babblers focused on their dynamic and how to better interact on stage.
“One of the big things we
worked on was reacting to and building with our scene partners, and not stepping on stage with a rigid plan of how the scene will go,” said senior Brock “Snake Hips” Schludecker.
The Babblers hope what they have learned from their workshops will allow them to better fulfill their purpose on campus. Rossi explained that the Babbling Bishops are fun; they give the campus a regular dose of original, improvised comedy.
He said they exist to entertain the campus and
to ensure the audience has as much fun watching the shows as they do performing and practicing.
Senior David “Jumanji Schonberg” Ordosch explained he had tried out for the Babblers during his freshman year, after attending the workshops they put on for new students. He enjoyed himself greatly, and wanted to join the troupe.
After not being admitted the first time he auditioned, he was inspired to work hard on his improv skills. He then came back the next year for auditions and
made the troupe.
Reitan expressed similar sentiments, and said he was impressed that people his age were able to get up on stage and do something like improv. After seeing the first show of the semester, he was hooked, and went to every show there afterwards.
At the end of the year, after the senior show, he made a pact with his friend to audition the next year.
The troupe strives to bring not only humor to campus, but also a stress relieving activity.
Junior Dave “Dunkaroos” Winnyk said the Babbling Bishops bring a “pressure release valve of humor” to the stressful college climate.
The comedy, however, does not end on the stage. Many of the Babblers have a deep attachment to comedy and what they do.
“Ever since I was a youngster, I loved comedy,” Winnyk said.
“From when I was super little, walking around asking grownups ‘ya wanna hear a joke,’ to memorizing my favorite stand-up routines to impress my high school peers, I love to make people laugh…I think comedy and laughter keep us from getting too down on what can a lot of times be a cruel, awkward, and uncomfortable world.”
Reitan explained that the Babblers are more that just an activity to him; they also connect on an emotional level.
“The most rewarding part of this experience is that I get to spend a couple hours a week with some of the most creative, fun, caring, quick-witted people I’ve ever met, that I’ve ever loved,” he said.
“I will be hard-pressed to find some other group like this one. In some ways I hope I don’t, in some ways I hope I do. To be a Babbler is to be part of 20-year history that is exclusive to OWU. I find that to be one of the most special things about my life to date.”
Overall, OWU’s improv comedy troupe is very dedicated to their work.
Their desire to bring humor to campus, coupled with their drive to maintain continued excellence in their performances, makes them a deeply committed and tight-knit entertainment group on campus.
Poetry reminds us to live intensely
Anthony Zerbe, through his performance of “It’s All Done with Mirrors,” encouraged his audience last Friday to “live deeply.” “It’s All Done with Mirrors” is a performance of a portion of poet E. E. Cummings’ work—both poetry and prose. This year it was part of the theatre department’s Performing Arts Series. In the talkback after the show, Zerbe said he strung the different poems and prose together to inundate his audience with Cummings’ imagery, without a clear narrative. Having read a lot of E. E. Cummings’ poetry, I appreciated Zerbe’s attempt to recreate the specific and unique feeling of Cummings’ poetry. Zerbe, in pointing out one of Cummings’ lines, “Damn everything but the circus,” demonstrated a main theme of his show. With a set of balloons and an occasional circus music track, he highlighted some of the more nonsensical elements of Cummings’ work. In focusing on an inundation of images and feelings, Zerbe sometimes lost his audience. Switching between poems as different as “may i feel said he” and “Humanity i love you,” Zerbe achieved two different effects from performing such varying work without much transition: he gave a large sampling of Cummings’ work, but the poems and prose sections lost a lot of their individual impact. Despite some of the more confusing aspects of Zerbe’s performance, he was able to play the varying characters of Cummings’ poetry with ease and good humor. He performed “may i feel said he” particularly well, establishing two distinct characters and capturing the audience in that moment. It was refreshing to hear from someone established in the world of acting. Zerbe told the audience how he loved his life because he lived in the moment. Bringing this aspect of Cummings’ life to the stage was a great reminder for me to enjoy the present.
Don’t worry, Dickens isn’t dead: Canonical author lives on at Beehive birthday party
Ohio Wesleyan students and Delaware residents gathered on Feb. 7 at the Beehive Bookstore on S. Sandusky St. to celebrate the work of Victorian poet and novelist Charles Dickens on his 200th birthday.
The celebration was an all-day affair for Dickens fans, according to Chaplain Jon Powers. Beehive provided free cupcakes throughout the day.
The festivities culminated in the evening when locals gathered to sing “Happy Birthday” to Dickens and cut a cake in his honor.
Some celebrated by enthusiastically reading their favorite Dickens pieces.
Others, like OWU graduate Leanne Williams, dressed up in traditional costume representing the Victorian era.
“My life motto is when you have the opportunity to dress up, you should take it,” she said.
The idea of a Dickens birthday celebration began with Powers’s love of Dickens’s work. “This began for me some weeks ago when I decided to re-read all of Dickens’ work for fun, and then discovered that today was his 200th birthday,” he said. “I spoke to Mel, the owner of Beehive, about the possibility of having a bit of a celebration at Beehive for (the) campus and the community, and she thought it was a great idea, so we decided to do this, an open ended, informal birthday party with cake (and) open time for anyone who wanted to share their favorite readings.”
Dr. Dennis Prindle, who read at the Beehive celebration, appreciates the modern fascination with Dickens.
“What’s so great about Dickens is that everything he wrote is online now and there are websites dedicated to Victorian life,” he said. “What little Dickens didn’t tell us about his life, his best friend later did.”
During one of the readings, the life of Dickens inspired the group to look up his will, which they found supposedly listed exactly what he wanted at his funeral ceremony when he died.
Dickens is noted for his classic and memorable works such as “The Adventures of Oliver Twist,” “A Tale of Two Cities” and “The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.”
Fiji searches for founding fathers
Four years after the doors of Phi Gamma Delta (Fiji) closed at Ohio Wesleyan, the fraternity has returned to restore the values it once held on campus.
During the mid-2000s Fiji’s numbers started to decline, and their members were straying from the values of the fraternity. In 2008, the graduates decided to close the chapter.
They worked in partnership with the university, knowing they could return in the future and re-establish the chapter with a values-based recruitment effort, according to Brett Pytel and Josh Moore, representatives of the International Headquarters of Phi Gamma Delta.
After presenting to a Greek Life Expansion Committee, it was decided that Fiji would return to campus Spring of 2012.
With the help of Pytel and Moore, the chapter will choose men to be the founding fathers of the chapter.The men chosen will have the unique task and opportunity to build the foundation of OWU’s reestablished Theta Deuteron chapter.
“The organizational structure, tone and presence at OWU will be determined by values, determination and motivation of each individual member,” Pytel said. “They will be responsible for becoming fully contributing members throughout the OWU community.”
The process of selecting the founding fathers will extend over six weeks.
During this period, interested men will have the opportunity to learn more about the organization, ask questions, hear about experiences from graduates and meet men that share the same interest of rejuvenating Fiji.
On March 8, the initial founding fathers will be chosen and pledged to the fraternity. The same evening a dessert reception called “Evening with the Fijis” will be held off campus.
“Everyone on campus will be invited to this formal event to help celebrate the return of Phi Gamma Delta to Ohio Wesleyan,” Pytel said. “The Fraternity will introduce the new men, give away their scholarships, philanthropy money and thank the entire campus community for being such gracious hosts.”
Because academic achievement is one of Fiji’s values, several academic-based scholarships will be available for students.
According to Moore, all the men who join Fiji and uphold at least a 3.0 GPA will receive a $500 Academic Achievement Award. There will also be scholarships available to those who don’t go through initiation.
“There is no commitment to join the organization or even participate in the recruitment process to be eligible to receive this scholarship,” Moore said. “The graduates from the chapter wanted to show their commitment to having a strong relationship with the university with their return and give back to the community at the same time.”
The next event will be an information session on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m.
Pytel said he was looking forward to reaching out to the OWU community and reaching out to individuals who thought they wouldn’t consider Greek life.
“Being a fraternity man is more than wearing a Fiji t-shirt,” he said.
Fiji’s sister sorority is Kappa Alpha Theta, which has an active chapter on campus.
Sophomore Sarah Hartzheim, a member of Theta, said she is excited to have the brother fraternity of her sorority on campus again.
“The Fiji recruiters have really impressed us by meeting with sorority chapters, coming to school events and being so enthusiastic about their recruitment,” she said. “I hope this will encourage all students in Greek life to support school events and the other chapters. We (Theta) definitely plan to really get to know Fiji once they’re back on campus.”
The Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity has over 7,700 undergraduate members on 140 campuses throughout the U.S. and Canada.
Other chapters in the region are located at the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University, The Ohio State University, the University of Cincinnati, Case Western Reserve University and Michigan State University, to name a few.
The Theta chapter of Fiji at OWU was founded on Oct. 25, 1869. Notable alumni include Charles W. Fairbanks (1872), Cecil J. “Scoop” Wilkinson (1917), Dr. Norman Vincent Peale (1920), Bob Bauman (1953), Douglas Dittrick (1955), Phil Meek (1959).
Transcript Valentines
To the best roommates ever, my wonderful Transcript Staff, and my lovely DG sisters.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
-Marissa
Welch 013,
Couldn’t have asked for better roomies. Love you all!
-Natalie
WoHo:My beautiful current and future housemates, please take this symbol of my undying love. You are the most beautiful group of feminist men and women I have ever met.
Love
always,
Suzie,
the Woodchuck,
and the man
in the basement
Dear Jim,
Dancing with you feels like magic.
Guess who?
Lois Lane, I love you.
-Superman
Families are like fudge, sweet and a little nutty.
IF House love.
-Rachel V.
I Dunkaroosed Up in Them Guts to find these words—there are just Jewmanji out there, and I wanted to be Attenborough. I love ya from your Snake Hips to your Sassafras and everything in between. You make my Pop Fly!
Ocelot
Love
Dear Transcript Staffers,
Your word counts rock!
Sincerely,
Your
Adviser
O: IF House
“I like my whole house!
My whole house is
great!
FROM: Fig
Baseballers train hard to increase win record
With the first pitch of the Battling Bishop’s 2012 baseball season just two weeks away, the team has been training tirelessly in the off season to have a successful showing.
Last season the Battling Bishops went 25-16, a winning record that Head Coach Tyler Mott hopes to increase this year.
“We will be just as good, if not better, than we were last season,” Mott said. “We are returning seven or eight everyday starters who are working hard to make sure this team succeeds to their fullest potential. We also have a lot of depth with our pitchers.”
Sophomore Sean Vollenweider said the team is bringing a lot of experience into the 2012 season.
“We are taking a step up from last year,” Vollenweider said. “We lost a few key players but we are returning the entire infield so we have a lot of experience which is key.”
Mott said the baseball team has implemented different off season training strategies that are a positive addition to the program.
“We’ve included workouts in the pool on Sunday, free swims to take advantage of the beautiful Meek Aquatics Center,” Mott said. “We have also increased the intensity of strength work outs. Overall the changes are definitely positive.”
Junior Brandon Sega said the off season has been very productive so far. The pitchers have been practicing pitch accuracy rather than velocity. The batters have also been getting a lot more swings in during practice to correct errors, Sega said.
Vollenweider said the off season practices are more intense and up-beat than they were last season. This gives the Battling Bishops a greater advantage going into the start of the season, Vollenweider said.
“We are mixing very well as a team, so it should be an exciting season this year,” Vollenweider said.
Mott said there are several freshmen who will contribute to the team’s success. However, he said he would like to see a little more consistency out of them.
Vollenweider said he is pleased with the freshmen’s performance so far.
“They all have great potential and quite a few should be able to contribute right off the bat,” Vollenweider said.
Mott said he would ultimately like to see the team get better every day. Team expectations are high and they would like to win the NCAC championship, Mott said.
The Bishop’s first game is on Saturday, Feb. 25.
SLUs reapply for housing
Last week each of the eight Small Living Units (SLUs) applied for renewal to return to campus as living options next school year.
SLUs are required to reapply for their house through the renewal process, which includes an application and a roster for the following year.
SLUs must also give a presentation about their mission statement and importance to the Ohio Wesleyan and Delaware communities to a panel comprised of faculty, Public Safety officers and students.
If a SLU makes changes to its mission statement, it must explain why such amendments are necessary.
These presentations took place on Friday, Feb. 10 from 1-4 p.m.
Junior Paige Ruppel said the renewal process is necessary because the presence of SLUs on campus is beneficial not only to those students in SLUs, but also to the entire OWU community.
“We account for a lot of the student programming that goes on (on campus),” Ruppel said. “Each house member must put on a program each semester as a requirement to live in the house, and with so many projects on campus, SLUs address a broad range of issues. With eight houses on campus, most everyone can find a cause of interest to them.”
Sophomore Martin Clark, secretary of WCSA, agreed with Ruppel on that idea.
“I feel that the SLU community is a great asset to the campus,” Clark said. “It delivers a valuable living experience separate from the fraternities or dorms. The SLUs hold many events throughout the year that help facilitate important conversation about various topics throughout different social groups on campus.”
Although enrollment is down, members of both SLUs and WCSA are not worried about the SLUs ever being unavailable as a living option.
Freshman Lauren Holler, a WCSA class representative, said if there is any debate over the necessity of SLUs on campus, she’s “never heard anything negative about (the SLUs).”
“SLU living is not for everyone, but some students really enjoy the concept of living in themed houses,” said Holler. “Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs believes that SLUs are an integral part of residential life at Ohio Wesleyan.”
Ruppel said she is not worried about the SLUs going anywhere.
“I think that the entire campus, including administration, realizes how valuable the SLUs are, so if there is any opposition, I have not noticed it.”
New WCSA officers work to trim fiscal fat
The accession of a new Wesleyan Council on Student Affairs executive body has brought several changes to the organization’s budgetary process in an effort to make it more efficient.
A primary instrument in this has been the installation of new software that allows WCSA Treasurer Marshall Morris to see in real time how much money is in the account of each individual student organization.
According to Morris, the treasurer and budget committee were not previously privy to this information. Requests to see an account balance for any organization was “all done by paper,” a process that took two days.
“Many of the budget requests that came before the committee were kind of allocated in the dark, not knowing how much money the club actually had,” Morris said.
The program was headed in part by the Financial Affairs office. According to Eric Algoe, vice-president for finance and administration, it was installed in the summer but there were some difficulties with its operation in the fall semester.
“There was a period of time in the fall when the accounts were not easily available online while we were implementing our new systems, but the accounting staff of the university met with the WCSA treasurer during that time to provide as much support as possible in making their initial allocations,” he said.
Morris said the software has made his job as treasurer easier overall.
“I really do like it,” he said. “I think it provides a more clear understanding of what the status of each club is. That protects us from over-allocating money to them.”
Morris also said he has experienced some difficulties with the program. Despite being able to view balances for individual organizations, he and the budget committee does not have permission to see how much money is in the aggregate WCSA account.
WCSA’s budget comes from the student activity fee, a flat rate of $110 paid by all students each semester; the budget committee can therefore make a rough estimate of the balance of the WCSA account by multiplying the number of currently enrolled students by 110. Morris said while this is helpful, he’d like the ability to know the exact amount of money he and the committee have to work with.
According to Morris, deciding balances he is allowed to see is entirely up to the administration.
“This was something so far above any student organization,” he said. “The students really didn’t have a say, but this is something they thought would help maintain accounts on their level. They have so many more accounts and stuff than I do. I was just granted one little sliver to help better accurately fund organizations.”
Algoe said the administration has “exercised almost no influence or control” over the WCSA account, only handling money transfers and ensuring “nothing illegal happens with the funds.” He was unaware the lack of permissions would be an issue for the budget committee since “the amount is very straightforward,” but it would be an easy problem to fix.
“It’s as simple as us adding one more line to the permissions of what they [the committee] can view using the online tool,” he said.
He added that there are some idiosyncrasies with the aggregate account at the beginning of the year, so the committee would need to be prudent in its actions during that time.
“The one thing we will need to work with the treasurer to understand is that the amount will fluctuate during the first few weeks of each semester as students enroll late or withdraw and have their fees refunded,” he said, “so it will be important to hold back around 10 percent from the initial allocation until the dust settles, so to speak.”
Furthering his efforts to make WCSA more “fiscally responsible,” Morris has also redesigned the budget request form student organizations use to solicit funds.
The new form requires an itemized list of each specific expense needed for any event or program. Instead of listing broad categories such as “transportation” or “lodging,” organizations must now determine how much money they need for each item within those groups.
“That’s what we need as budget committee to more effectively and accurately allocate funds to the club or organization,” Morris said.
According to Morris, the new form is “much more streamlined.”
“The previous one had a lot of things to get lost in,” he said. “This is the bare bones of what we need, and we only want the information we need.”
The committee recently granted People Regarding Individual Diversity Everywhere $3,000 to fund a trip to the Midwest Bisexual, Lesbian, Gay, Transgender and Ally College Conference from Feb. 10-12.
PRIDE President Anthony Peddle said he thought the new form made the request process easier.
“It helped us a lot to make sure we allotted enough for each specific thing,” he said.
Sam DeJarnett, vice-president of the Student Union on Black Awareness, disagreed.
“It’s very tedious,” DeJarnett said. “If you’ve never done it before it can be confusing.”
The budget committee recently granted SUBA and Sisters United $3,400 to fund a Feb. 25 event titled “Death of the Diva,” which the two organizations are hosting in conjunction with the Women’s House; the House of Black Culture; Black Men of the Future; and the women’s and gender studies and theatre and dance departments.
“Basically, you have to leave no stone unturned,” said Alexis Williams, former Sisters United vice-president.
In addition to the form, organizations wanting WCSA money must make a presentation of their request before the budget committee to decide if they will recieve funding.
Morris said the primary purpose of the presentations is to thoroughly inform the committee about what it will be funding.
“If we’re unclear on something, instead of granting them zero dollars we’ll ask them to come back,” he said.
Peddle said his presentation was casual and easy.
“We just presented the basic conference necessities, what we want[ed] to do at this conference and what we hope[d] to gain from it,” Peddle said. “It was just an informal conversation so they could learn more about it and make a better-educated decision.”
DeJarnett said her recent presentation for “Death of the Diva” went smoothly, but she has experienced difficulty with procuring funds in the past, especially with regard to SUBA’s annual Step Show.
“Since the beginning of Step Show there’s always been some difficulty,” Dejamett said. “I don’t know whether it’s the concept that’s difficult to grasp or just the allocation of funds in general, but there’s always some miscommunication. I find it weird that it was easy to get $3,400 from WCSA, but these organizations [SUBA, HBC, Sisters United, BMF] struggle all the time.”
In addition to ad hoc presentations for specific events, student organizations are now required to make annual funding presentations each semester, a process previously undertaken only once a year.
Peddle said these proffers do not require the specificity of those for single events.
“The ad hoc budgets are more specific and itemized, whereas the general budgets are more generalized and overviews of events,” Peddle said.
Morris said the committee uses the annual allocations they offer to organizations as a guide when hearing ad hoc proposals.
“If a club is consistently only doing supplemental funding, then we’re like, ‘This club’s not really on the ball,’” he said.
Sound-Off OWU: What was the worst event that happened to you on Valentine’s Day?
Weekly Public Safety Reports, 2/7/12 – 2/11/2012
–On Feb. 7, at 11:15 p.m., PS officers were dispatched to Thomson Hall on a welfare concern. The student was transported to Grady Hospital by Delaware EMS.
–On Feb. 8, at 11:45 p.m. Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity was referred to student conduct for an unregistered party following a routine safety check
by Public Safety officers.
–On Feb. 8, 11:58 p.m., an OWU student was referred to student conduct for alcohol prohibition.
–On Feb. 9, 7:36 p.m., Public Safety officers were dispatched to Stuyvesant Hall on a report of several individuals attempting to push the porta-toilet over. Upon arrival the perpetrators had left the scene after knocking the portable toilet over. Investigation is ongoing.
–On Feb. 10 at 4:45 p.m., Public Safety dispatched to 20 Williams Drive on a welfare concern. Emergency transport was not required.
–On Feb. 10, at 11:10 p.m. a Bashford Hall resident was charged with possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia.
–On Feb. 10, 11:40 p.m., two Bashford Hall residents were referred to student conduct for alcohol prohibition.
–On Feb. 11, at 2:10 a.m., Public Safety and Delaware City Police responded to a security alarm at the Beeghly library. There were no signs of forced entry. A search of the premises failed to locate the cause of the alarm.