Monthly Archives: February 2010

Righteous Babes Rock Finney

By Charlie Landsman

Photo by David Roswell.

Ani DiFranco and her band, following solo artist Erin McKeown, performed on Wednesday night at Finney Chapel to a less-than-full house. Those who did not come to fill empty seats missed a truly memorable show.

A young, tattooed woman dressed in a sleek pants suit took the Finney Chapel stage on Wednesday. The edges of a tattoo protruded up past her V-Neck. “Who is she?” I thought, as she strapped on a beautiful pearl Les Paul guitar. Little did I know I would soon be downloading the provocative, hard-hitting music of Erin McKeown on my iTunes.

Erin McKeown. Photo by David Roswell.

Her first song, an edgy rockabilly tune about cowboys and cocaine, allowed her to show off her technical Travis-picking guitar style and catchy song-writing ability. McKeown’s voice was polished and had a lot of character; she had such a charismatic stage presence that she made a show out of tuning her guitar. She evidently loved to perform and the audience hung on her every word, even when she poked fun at Oberlin. “I wanted to go [here],” said McKeown, “[instead], I went to Brown.”

This unknown talent interacted with the audience like a seasoned veteran. “Since you all applied to Brown, you know that it’s in Providence,” she said before her second song, “I wrote this tune about a strip club in Providence called the Satin Doll. I’d go with a fist full of one dollar bills and hope that the ladies would saddle up to me. They never did.”

McKeown’s lyrics were very provocative and a tad profane, perfectly suited to Oberlin’s audience, who loved every minute of it. The songs off her new album, Hundreds of Lions, frequently referred to strip clubs, drug and alcohol use, and S&M. At one point, a crying baby interrupted her performance. “There are children in the audience?” She said, “Oh Shit! Oh well, I’m just going to do what I had planned on doing.”

McKeown closed her half-hour opening set with a classical American guitar version of Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” and got the all of Finney Chapel to sing along. This badass chick-rocker exemplifies the label that signed her, Righteous Babe Records.

After a short intermission, Ani DiFranco took the stage. She looked very fidgety and a tad uncomfortable at first. Her voice was soft-spoken but still engaging. She started her set with a few newer tunes that went almost unrecognized by the audience. “It’s only going to get weirder and more bitter from here,” she said.

Photo by David Roswell.

DiFranco prefaced each song with a story. One song she wrote about her newborn baby, another she performed at Pete Seeger’s birthday party. In the middle of her set, Difranco played a fast-paced protest song condemning nuclear power. “I wanted to play this song at the Republican National Convention,” she said, “but I had no one to ask. I have to befriend some Republicans.”

At the end of the night, DiFranco played a few up-tempo songs requested by the audience. Seemingly out of nowhere, “the freaky guy in the blue jump suit” danced his way around Finney chapel, and surprisingly, inspired everyone else to get out of their seats and into the aisles. Difranco played a double encore and finished her show with the song 32 Flavors, an audience favorite.

DiFranco is not the world’s greatest singer. She doesn’t have the smooth tone and effortless picking of Erin McKeown. Instead, her guitar work is harsh and staccato. However, while listening to her performance in the beauty of Finney chapel, I didn’t care one bit. Her songs are drenched in personal experience, and her lyrics elevate her art. The haunting dissonance of her music combined with a precise rhythm had me tapping my toes while simultaneously on the verge of tears. One thing is certain: Ani DiFranco is not a pop artist. Her inspiration comes from deep within herself. Though the audience was overwhelmingly female, her lyrics were universal and were spoke to everyone in attendance.

A word of advice to Ms. DiFranco: don’t wait another 17 years to visit again. Come back whenever you’d like.

Ladysmith Black Mombazo Fills Finney to the Brim

By Daniel Fryland

Photo by Sook Hyun Jang.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo filled Finney with a message of peace, love, and harmony as they performed their beautiful a capella compositions on Tuesday.  Joyous dancing accompanied warm vocal chords and rhythms before a captivated, packed audience.

Eastwood Kindergartners.  Photo by Sook Hyun Jang.

I arrived at Finney Chapel early–but not early enough.  Along with a group of other students hoping to see Ladysmith Black Mambazo, I was turned away at the doors.  After some scrambling and begging, I managed to get inside just as Marvin Krislov took the stage following a short performance by students of Eastwood Elementary School.

President Krislov thanked the Eastwood students for their efforts to raise money for children in Haiti.  He then proceeded to “date himself,” by recommending that we “acquaint [ourselves] with Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s records.”  Since Joseph Shabalala formed the group in 1960, they have recorded more than 50 albums, as a group and in collaboration with others like Paul Simon and Josh Groban.

Finally, the nine current members of the band took the stage.  Joseph led the band into the first song, which had a call-and-response form with soft, sweet vocal harmonies that instantly awed the audience.  During the first song, Joseph gestured and danced while the rest of the band remained stoic.  As the performance went on, the band warmed up, and moved into choreographed dances.

Joseph Shabalala talking to the audience.  Photo by Sook Hyun Jang

Joseph Shabalala introduced his band, which started in 1964 when he had a dream in which he heard a choir singing the most beautiful chords he had ever heard.  Following this dream, he gathered together friends and family members and taught them the harmonies he had heard.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo sings isicathamiya music—the traditional music of the Zulu people.  The style is characterized by sweet, warm vocal harmonies with a high lead voice, accented by a percussive feel and vocal rolls.

Ladysmith Black Mambazo sings isicathamiya music—the traditional music of the Zulu people.  The style is characterized by sweet, warm vocal harmonies with a high lead voice, accented by a percussive feel and vocal rolls.

The band displayed powerful cohesion while on stage.  Besides the incredible precision of the harmonies and rhythm, the band’s dances nearly always involved some interplay between singers.  Often, a singer at one end of the stage would perform a dance move, which was subsequently repeated by each member of the band in order down the line.

Thamasanqa Shabalala leading Ladysmith Black Mamabazo. Photo by Sook Hyun Jang.

Joseph explained the bond between members of the band by saying, “Ladysmith Black Mambazo is a family.  In my group, I have four sons—the future of Mambazo,” before introducing his youngest son, Thamsanqa Shabalala as the leader of the next few songs and stepping offstage.

The choir performed a capella and played endlessly with sound.  For a singer, one’s instrument is one’s own body.  Ladysmith Black Mambazo certainly understood this and manipulated their positioning as a way to alter and experiment with their sound.  During one song, the band stepped back from their microphones, their voices fading, until they were singing without amplification.  Then, as the band stepped forward again, their voices gradually crescendoed through the speakers, returning to their beginning volume.  Creating a similar swelling effect, the band also bowed low as they sang only to stand up straight again, jumping and kicking into the air.

Joseph came back on stage to introduce the next song and give us a translation of the words. “The following song says, ‘I miss the place I grew up.  The mountains are beautiful and the birds are singing sweet music,’” he said before stepping off stage again to let Thamsanqa lead.  In keeping with the mood of the lyrics, the song evoked a feeling of not-quite-mournful nostalgia and included bird calls from one of the band members.

During another song, the singers were all crouching and facing to their left, when the rightmost singer turned around and delivered an aggressive kiss to the cheek of the singer behind him—knocking his fellow performer over.  The mood was light, however, and Thamsanqa responded by half-singing, half-whispering “Hey guys, no kissing.  No kissing in the church.”

 

 

After this segment of the performance, the entire band stepped offstage briefly.  Joseph began the next song while offstage and then entered with the band as the song transitioned from the introduction to the main body of the song complete with playful, joyful dancing.  As the song came to an end, the band continued to dance, the energy having transcended the boundaries of the music.

Gradually, the dancing subsided, and Joseph began the next song, singing, “Come along, come along, come along to kiss me” in a voice full of yearning.  Gentle crescendos were reminiscent of waves gently receding and lightly breaking on the beach.  The song was overflowing with emotion, and the bass voices physically resonated in my chest.  I felt as if I were in Joseph’s dream in 1964—hearing the voices of a perfect choir.

Following this astounding performance was an intermission, during which the audience was encouraged to visit the merchandise table.  The audience took the opportunity to stretch out after sitting in Finney’s packed pews, and at the end of the intermission, the seating was much less cramped.  The intermission had been announced just at 8:30—the scheduled ending time of the event according to the posters.

However, one of the singers soon returned to discuss South Africa’s hosting of the World Cup this year, inviting the entire packed Finney to “stay with me.” He then surprised us by initiating a singing competition between the audience and Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The audience willingly learned the song, and after several repetitions of the two short sections, the song ended with a sustained chord from the audience.

The playful nature of Ladysmith Black Mombazo continued, as they joked about whether or not the participation of women in the audience counted as cheating. They then continued with their set—including the band’s song “Homeless,” which was written and recorded in collaboration with Paul Simon.  As the song ended and the audience applauded, Joseph knelt down as if in prayer.  This humble expression brought forth the feelings of sorrow and suffering always present in the face of global poverty.

Photo by Sook Hyun Jang.

To raise our spirits after the sobering tone of “Homeless,”  the next song was powerfully upbeat and provided members of the band with an excuse to dance.  One at a time nearly every member of Ladysmith Black Mambazo stepped forward and danced until Joseph called for audience members to join the band on stage.  Several students and community members lept onto the stage, dancing in unison to the beat of the music and the rhythmic clapping of the audience.

After this song, Ladysmith Black Mambazo left the stage.  A long, intense standing ovation called one of the singers back to explain, “We are going to leave the stage.  The show is finished.” The audience, however, was not ready for the concert to end, and successfully called the entire ensemble back for one more song.  The song was introduced as the song that they will sing at the World Cup, and featured warm, gentle chords with a powerful bass.

This time, the concert truly had come to an end.  In parting, Joseph Shabalala called out, “We love you so much.  We will miss you.  Stay in peace, love, and harmony.”

We Are Oberlin: Feminists. A Review of Intimate Apparel

By Sasha Schechter

Intimate Apparel was Hall Auditorium’s first show of the semester, directed by faculty member Caroline Jackson-Smith and written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage.

The evening was filled with stunning performances by the entire ensemble, emphasized by the brilliant set and lighting designs.  The set was made up of five different locations, on three moving platforms and two stationary areas.  Each location was home to one of the protagonist, Esther’s (Heather Harvey ’11) clients or friends – a distinction that is hard to make both for Esther and the audience.

The platforms and people on them would move to and from Esther, occasionally leaving her alone on stage with no location around her.  Literally and metaphorically, Esther’s network of people would come and go throughout the timeframe of the play.  This function of the set wonderfully enforced Esther’s constant loneliness and need for human connection.

While that part of the play’s message was clearly portrayed, another was not.  This show proved to be difficult to perform in an environment like Oberlin.  At a school that is so focused on strong character and progressive thinking, it’s hard to imagine accepting a female character written to be as weak and desperate as Esther is.  I think this conflict – between what the reality of the script is, and what the ideal at Oberlin is – showed in Harvey’s character choices.

Harvey created a strong, determined Esther against sophomore Ralph Johnson’s striking performance as her chauvinist husband.  The contrast of the two strong beings never fully clicked with the overarching theme of the play; since Esther’s desperation was subdued, audience members were left grasping for clear-cut answers as to why such a strong woman would let herself end up in such a self-deprecating situation.  Regardless of Esther’s character details, the show brought Friday night’s audience to its feet at the end of the show.

The acting in this production was solid and polished; there wasn’t one character on stage that the audience couldn’t understand or relate to.  Lisa Brown ’11 (Mrs. Dixon) was particularly memorable; she fit the character so well and managed to entice the audience in the handful of times she was on stage.  Similarly, Billy Ferrer ’12 (Mr. Marks) offered an honest and vulnerable performance that added subtle levels to the overall plot.

Samantha Boyd ’11 (Mayme) and Atty Siegel ’12 (Mrs. Van Buren), both friends and/or clients of Esther’s, performed with Harvey in vastly different ways that presented the complete spectrum of Esther’s social life to the audience.  These two characters are so vital to understanding Esther’s personal struggles, and Boyd and Siegel worked separately but together to showcase them flawlessly.

The production was, overall, very strong.  Regardless of the small issues with interpretation, Intimate Apparel was a comprehensive period piece.  It was informative, entertaining, and heartfelt.  The bar has certainly been set high for the rest of the semester’s main stage productions.

When Love Isn’t So Simple: Betrayal

By Sasha Schechter

Betrayal, written by Harold Pinter and directed by faculty member Paul Moser, opened in Little Theater last weekend.  The show starred Emma Walton ’10 (Emma), Donnie Sheldon ’10 (Robert), and Josh Christian ’10 (Jerry).

Harold Pinter is a Nobel Laureate, and is certainly one of the most influential playwrights in recent history.  He wrote Betrayal in 1978 based off of real-life experiences, and it is considered to be one of his greatest works.  Paul Moser directed this senior honors project spearheaded by Emma Walton.

To an actor, Pinter’s neutral dialogue acts as a bare canvass, on which he or she can create a character that best suits their acting style.  In this production, Robert’s subtle, sinister ways combined with Jerry’s awkward guffaws and mixed with Emma’s nervous-yet-cool composure to create a production that toyed with its audience’s emotions and built suspense in a play that is written to move backwards in time.

The set was sparse, made up of rehearsal cubes and block furniture; there were limited props, no liquid in the liquor bottles, and the lighting design was straightforward ‘up’ and ‘down.’  While the simplicity highlighted the story and the acting over everything else, the lack of liquid in their drinking glasses made it difficult to gage just how much the characters were consuming.  It was hard to imagine how they weren’t intoxicated to the point of not functioning.

Perhaps there were a few too many drinks consumed, or an overabundance of awkward guffaws, but neither of these things managed to make me dislike this production.  The actors showed remarkable skill in portraying their characters, and, despite having read the play only a few days before seeing it, they managed to keep me on the edge of my seat to the very end.

Sheldon’s performance as Robert had so many levels that he never seemed to run out of information to share with the audience.  He used every moment on stage – from the way he sat in his chair, to the way he raised a drinking glass to his mouth – to relay more information about himself and the story.  His character choices provided rich subtext to the plot, and he elicited a broad range of reactions from the audience.

Walton, who chose this play as her honors project, showed a thorough understanding of the production’s structure and overall intention.  With no visual indication that time was moving backwards – only a note in the playbill – the audience would have been lost if not for Walton’s skilled capacity to lessen her character’s knowledge from scene to scene.  The audience looked to Walton for confirmation of what we should or shouldn’t know from scene to scene, and she never let us down.


Christian’s Jerry was simultaneously adorable and slimy.  We never knew just how to feel about him, and if at any point his character seemed clear cut, he would do or say something that made us doubt his intentions.  In particular, any time a game of squash came up, Christian’s eyes would bug, and keep the audience in a frenzied guessing game as to whom he would actually play squash with–Robert? Or perhaps Casey?–and what exactly playing squash means to these people.


Sheldon, Walton, and Christian worked together to create tangible tension, evident in every word.  Between Pinter’s writing and the hard work put into this production, Betrayal was a down to earth show that glorified action over technology and design.  It was a breath of fresh air amongst flashing strobe lights and projector screens. Honors projects like these show the strength of the department’s training and of the students’ work.

From Terrorism and Beyond: Bridging the Israel/Palestine Divide

By Rachel Bouer

lib.utexas.edu

Thursday evening, Hallock Auditorium was full of different sides of the same story. Exemplifying this were the speakers, Kobi Skolnick and Aziz Abu-Sarah of Israel and Palestine, respectively. They shared their different stories, mutual hopes, and future plans with students, faculty, and staff, some of whom are part of either the Oberlin Zionists or Students for a Free Palestine. The stories of Skolnick and Abu-Sarah filled the room with a warm glow that lessened the burden of the falling snow outside.

The evening began with an introduction from Oberlin Zionists co-chair, Sam Kleinman, who explained that both speakers had “turned from hard-line positions to peace activism.” Abu-Sarah was involved with a radical wing of the Fatah Youth movement in Palestine at the same time that Skolnick was an Israeli soldier and settler in the West Bank.

“What is normally known in the media is that [Skolnick and I] are strongly known as enemies. At one point in our lives we probably were enemies,” Abu-Sarah said. “But today we are here together not just as partners but as friends.”

Aziz’s Story

Following this meaningful note, Abu-Sarah walked around the auditorium stage and told his story beginning in his childhood days in Bethany, a small town outside Jerusalem.

“If you grew up there, there is no childhood,” he said. By the time Abu-Sarah was seven years old, the first intifada, or uprising, had begun.

He described the confusion and questioning of his childhood in this chaotic time.

“When you’re seven, you are trying to understand what’s going on,” he said. “Who’s ‘them’ and who’s ‘us’ anyway?”

Despite his lack of attachment to the conflict, Abu-Sarah encountered serious concerns often. He said that he and his friends threw stones, not out of violent intention but merely the search for entertainment. However, this could lead to shootings from the Israeli military, which ended the innocence of the game.

When Abu-Sarah went to school each day, he had one thing more important than his books to bring with him. Each day he had to pack an onion, whose chemical properties can counteract the effects of teargas.

Though this was going on around him, Abu-Sarah said he was still able to live in a “bubble”  where it seemed that all that was bad would happen to others while not happening to him. Unfortunately, reality struck a few years later during Ramadan. The Abu-Sarah family woke up early to eat their pre-sunrise meal and then returned to bed, only to be interrupted moments later by Israeli soldiers who eventually arrested and took Abu-Sarah’s older brother for further interrogation.

Meanwhile, his family did not know why he was taken or where he was. After 18 days of agonizing waiting, the family heard that he had been arrested for throwing stones and would remain in prison for the following year. After his sentence, Abu-Sarah’s brother’s health had declined sharply due to poor prison conditions and brutality immediately following his arrest. Days after his release, Abu-Sarah’s brother passed away at age 19 in a Jerusalem hospital.

This devastating loss was the impetus for Abu-Sarah’s greater involvement with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Unlike his actions today, his first response at the time was one of anger, bitterness and violence.

“The idea of peace and reconciliation seems like such a stupid idea in that moment,” he said. “I felt it was my duty and my reason for life to get revenge; if I’m a good brother that’s what I have to do.”

In order to use this emotional response in an active way, Abu-Sarah decided to get involved with politics. By age 16, he was writing twice or more per week for a newspaper in Jerusalem.

“The articles were about how we should never compromise or talk to the enemy,” he said.

By the time he finished high school, Abu-Sarah said he was “so radical” that he refused to listen during the mandatory Hebrew classes his school offered. Ironically, because he had to then learn it later to get around the city and eventually go to college, Abu-Sarah stumbled upon his first ideas for peace.

He attended an ulpan, which is a Hebrew school for incoming Jews to Israel. Abu-Sarah was the only Palestinian in the class, and he went in with the plan of simply learning the language and leaving. He thought, “I’m not going to talk to anyone, I don’t like anyone here.” However, the simple nature of the class frustrated this strategy.

“You have to work in groups so they force you to have conversations about who you are, where you are from, what you like,” he said. “As you start having those conversations something starts changing. You start figuring out something kind of weird and strange— you have some stuff in common.”

Abu-Sarah explained that this brought down some of the walls he held between him and Israelis in general. He explained that before you really get to know someone from the other side, you “dehumanize” them.

“[You think to yourself,] they’re not as ethical and moral as we are. It’s true we do some bad things too, but our bad are a little less bad,” he said. “It’s therefore ok to kill them, ok to wish them ill. After you get to know them that argument doesn’t really stand.”

For Abu-Sarah, it was initially nothing monumental that brought him closer with his Jewish classmates, rather his love of country music. Over time, these realizations grew from casual conversation to startlingly deep insights. “Our blood color is the same, our tears are as bitter, and our pain is as personal.”

Kobi’s Story

Like Abu-Sarah, it took Skolnick a while to reach such an understanding conclusion. His background also began with a strong community and a mistrust of the other side. Skolnick grew up in as an ultra-Orthodox Lubovitcher, or someone who practices a specific branch of Hasidic Judaism.

Skolnick explained that this lifestyle had many boundaries.

“The education system was very strict,” he said. “I first watched TV when  I was 14 and first read the newspaper when I was 16.”

In this sheltering environment, Skolnick was introduced to ideas from others who were reflecting on their lives and roles in their religious communities. One weekend, he met a friend who introduced him to a new philosophy of Judaism, Kahanah. It entails a much more militaristic view toward the Israeli Palestinian conflict than most other Jewish philosophies.

“If Palestinians use violence, we should show them we can use violence as well,” Skolnick said. “It was definitely a sense of empowerment.” After learning and studying, Skolnick and his friends took to action.

“We ended up in Hebron city. We’d go to the streets in groups of three or four… and throw stones at Palestinian cars. Every other weekend I was doing that because it was something new and fun,” he said.

Skolnick continued his ultra-religious education at a Yeshivah high school in a settlement in the West Bank. His life consisted of occasional violent acts, but they did not stand out as noteworthy at the time because it was just “part of [his] day.”

Upon turning 18, Skolnick joined the Israeli Army for his mandatory service. After basic and advanced training, he was in the same city of his rebellious youth, Hebron. However, it was not full of the fun and games he had experienced as a child.

“I was starting to see that training is not like getting shot in real life,” he said.

As he paced through the same streets he ran down as a child, he frequently encountered Palestinian children throwing stones. One occasion brought the horrors of the conflict into sharp focus for Skolnick. A large stone nearly hit his head, but if it had he “would not be here today.” The normal response to such action would be to fire rubber bullets; however, loading rubber bullets is time-consuming so Skolnick had a minute to reflect. In that time, he realized that what he was witnessing was not normal.

“I looked at those kids who were seven or eight and I realized I was there a few years ago. I started to realize something was wrong here and I needed to think about it,” he said. “From that moment on I started asking questions.”

Soon after, tragedy struck Skolnick’s life as well. One of his closest friends was shot by a Palestinian gunman during the Second Intifada. His friend was survived by his wife and five children, with one more on the way. Skolnick decided to live at their settlement with them, where he became an elementary school teacher.

Not long after, a gunman came into the school and shot at the children, some of whom were wounded or killed.

After working to save as many of the children as possible, Skolnick noticed that the now-dead gunman was not past age 17.

“I thought to myself, if we could do something that wasn’t fighting or talking about this, if we could just play basketball together or something, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Not that we would be able to live happily together in peace, but if we met somewhere else, would that take place?” he said.

After this, Skolnick began his career as a peace activist, by looking to answer questions about the origins of such hatred and violence.

If we bring people together and create a new perception, something will change,” he said.

“Showing People We Are All Human”

The pair met a year-and-a-half ago in the United States and since then have been doing activist work in Israel and Palestine. Abu-Sarah explained that they saw the greatest need for peace work among the youth population. Since then, they have traveled to 1,000 high schools per year, reaching approximately 30,000 students in Israel and West Bank.

They speak with the students about the other side and ask them for their perceptions, which usually are “not positive” due to media influence, Abu-Sarah explained.

One other project they have started involves Israelis donating blood to Palestinians wounded by Israeli soldiers and Palestinians donating blood to Israelis. Abu-Sarah said this received much criticism from the media.

“They said, ‘how could you do this? You are donating blood to the enemy!’” he said. “But it is better to donate your blood to the enemy than spill it on the ground.”

In order to accomplish these tasks, something different needed to be done.

“There are Arab groups and Muslim groups that work for peace and Jewish groups that work for peace but it is hard sometimes to get them to work together,” he said. We need an alliance of Arabs and Jews and Christians to show that we can do projects together and we can dialogue together.”

Though both men have since faced difficulties in their families and communities about their work, this does not outweigh the benefits of their actions.

The evening ended with a story by famous Israeli author Amos Oz as told by Abu-Sarah which exemplified his and Skolnick’s ideas and intentions for their peace work.

The story relates the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to walking by a building on fire. When one sees this, they have three options. First, they could run away because the issue does not involve them and they want to save themselves and their families so they choose to ignore it. Second, one could create a committee to investigate who is to blame for the fire and by the time have convened, all of the people in the fire would be dead.

The third option is to take a bucket and throw it on the fire. If you don’t have that then you fill up a cup with water and throw that on the fire,” Abu-Sarah narrated. “If you don’t have that you get a spoon. You fill it with water and throw that on the fire. Don’t think I’m naïve to think that actually a spoonful of water could put out a fire of a building, but imagine if enough people would carry their spoons and would decide to do something to put out the fire. If everyone does the little thing they could do then fixing that mess over there is not that hard.”

Stevie Wonder and Bill Cosby Update

By Erica M. Lee

christybharath.wordpress.com

Oberlin College intends to have Stevie Wonder and Bill Cosby grace the Litoff Building opening, although contracts have not been signed.

Without a signed contract, Oberlin College cannot officially release the news.  However, “We do anticipate that Stevie Wonder, as well as Bill Cosby, will be with us that weekend,” wrote Marci Janas, Director of Conservatory Media Relations, in an email.

“Stevie Wonder has communicated to members of the Oberlin College community his intentions to participate in our celebrations during the weekend of the Litoff Building’s opening,” wrote Janas.

Some Very Personal Piercings

By S.

It's like this, but down there. From youngisthantimes.wordpress.com.

Genital piercings generally evoke one of three reactions—a whimper and look of horror at the thought of metal in personal parts, a series of questions, or a smile followed by, “That’s hot, can I see?”

A little bit of well-placed metal can look dangerously sexy and can cause anything from the lightest brush of lace across your personals to deep, hard, and fast thrusting to feel new, different, and extremely pleasurable.

So, for anyone wondering, where? how? why? and for some of you considering adding a little more excitement to your body and your love life, here are the basics on the most personal of piercings.

Some types of genital piercings are more common than others because of the wide range of body shapes and contours.  No one’s personals are structured exactly the same, so every piercing is slightly different. When working with something this intimate, people need to work with their own form to come up with an arrangement that flatters their body and causes them pleasure. That said, here are some of the more common places to pierce, and what they are known for.

Piercings for the Pussy (for female-bodied people)

The Clitoral Hood- is the most common female genital piercing and reported to be one of the most pleasurable. Because the overwhelming majority of women are not physically suited for an actual clitoral piercing and don’t want to risk damaging such precious nerves, hood piercings are a safe and beautiful way to focus on what may be the best nerves in her body.

Hood piercings are generally vertical, with the ball of a bar bell resting on the clit as the metal goes through that thin and delicate piece of skin covering just above. For some women, this extra bit of stimulation in such a sensitive spot can bring them almost to climax from walking, or sliding on that black lace thong before going out for the night, but for many women, the placement just helps to add a little extra pleasure when playing.

A lover of mine adored the feeling of a vibrator placed lightly on the ball of the piercing so she could feel the vibrations running through the metal. She also joked, “No man has ever not been able to find my clit since,” as the beautiful jeweled tip highlighted where she wanted a tongue most.

Hood piercings can be horizontal, or rings instead of barbells, depending on what the wearer wants in looks and sensations, and what her anatomy allows. Not all women have large enough or separated enough hoods for this to be an enjoyable or lasting piercing.

The Triangle- adds extra stimulation to the clit, but unlike the hood, rests behind the clitoral nerve bundle. Most women are not structured to have a triangle, as it needs a clit that can be pulled away from the body for a piercer to pierce behind. This is also a piercing that needs to be done by a true professional, because it goes between lots of incredibly important nerves. But, for those suited for the triangle, it allows for full circle stimulation.

The Christina- is a symmetrical surface piercing where the outer labia meets below the pubic mound. This is a piercing generally done for looks, not pleasure, because without longer dangling jewelry, it doesn’t stimulate any high nerve areas. It can look tantalizingly sexy, and there is the satisfyingly naughty feeling of having something placed in your personals.

The Fourchette- is a piercing placed at the lower labia at the base of the vaginal opening (the skin on the ass side of the vagina opening, or female guiche). Depending on how deeply this piercing is placed, there may be one ball of the bar bell resting just inside of the vagina, with one ball outside and visible when she bends over and spreads her legs (a position we should all look our best in). Because this is an area greatly different from vulva to vulva, not all ladies are suited for this piercing, and it falls in different places for those who are.  When everything works out well, though, the fourchette can add that extra bit of stimulation during the first thrust of penetration, and with large enough jewelry can hit a male partner’s tip with some new sensations.

Other- there are countless other piercings and piercing combinations individual to each ladies’ anatomy, including many inner and outer labia piercings. As a general rule, if you can pull away skin and pinch it, you can pierce it, but because of the variability of genital piercings, you should defiantly work with a professional to find something that suits you.

Piercings about the penis (for male bodied people)

The Prince Albert- is the most common male genital piercing, pleasuring the penis from new and exciting angles. The PA runs through the urethra and out through the frenulum (through the hole in the top and out just under the head, or just inside the juncture of the foreskin for uncircumcised men). This piercing stimulates the inside of the urethra, a place with a high concentration of nerves that can be extremely pleasurable. While the PA looks extremely painful, the actual hole of the piercing is going through a very thin amount of skin, and a skilled piercer will avoid the sensitive nerve bundle under the ridge of the penis.

The Ampallang and The Apradravya- are more difficult, but still pleasurable head piercings. The hole is made respectively horizontally or vertically through the head of the penis, requiring a long bar bell (often well over an inch). While the recovery time is longer and there is often more pain associated with these piercings, they can still be highly pleasurable for everyone enjoying them. They also are pretty high on the “fuckin’ bad ass” scale.

Foreskin Piercing- if you have one, you can pierce it. This is a fairly easy piercing, known to cause hardly any pain and to heal quickly. Virtually any part of the foreskin can be pierced, although there is a risk of the piercing ripping. This piercing can also be highly pleasurable, depending on placement, as the metal rubs against such crucial nerves.

Other- espically with the male anatomy, piercings are like porn—if you can think of it, somebody has done it, and it’s on the Internet. Practically any part of the male anatomy can be pierced. From the less painful scrotal skin piercings, to the in depth through-scrotum piercings, to surface piercings lying above the juncture of the shaft and the pubic bone, or the guiche behind the scrotum and before the anus, all have their own pains and pleasures.

Sex With Piercings (is pretty amazing)

One of the biggest myths about personal piercings, is that you have to wait for months after getting one done before you can try it out with a friend. In reality, most piercers will recommend easing into things based on comfort. Some piercings take as long as 6 months to fully heal, and it would be ridiculous to expect abstinence for that long. Most people I know were back in that latex saddle within the week, just proceeding with caution and protection to keep everything clean and uninfected.

After the first few weeks of healing is up, piercings can make sex better than ever before. Like all things, you should check in with your lover and make sure that they are comfortable, but a little bit of metal in no way means that you can’t fuck as rough as you want. If the ball is pressing deep in to her clit, she may be enjoying it, not writhing in pain, and it is that extra tension and pull of a deep thrust that uses a P.A. to its fullest. Also, with lube, and smooth, rounded jewelry, piercings are no excuse not to wear condoms—Play safe, kids.

To Pierce at Oberlin—unfortunately, there are no professional and specialized genital pierciers within walking distance from your dorm. However, Nate and Tyson at Body Anthology in Amherst, are some of the cleanest and most professional genital piercers in Ohio. With extensive experience in genital and unusual piercings, they err on the cautious side and will make sure that you are safe, and happy, helping you with one of the best decisions you can make for what you keep in your pants.

Xoxox

New Housing Process Explained

By David Edward Clark

ResEd explains new housing selection process to current RAs.

ResEd has restructured Oberlin’s housing selection process, which will take place later this semester.  Students will now choose groups before they are assigned appointment times; at the appointment times, students can sign up for any type of housing that they qualify for.  Students can also watch as specific rooms are being taken live on Google Docs.

Students will register as groups or individuals from March 8th to the 19th.  The new housing selection itself will occur in Peters on the weekends of April 17th-18th and the following 24th-25th.  Students will be notified of their appointment by email and by boards listing all appointment times placed in each residence hall.  To better predict the number of returning students for fall semester, the College will now require students to complete their housing selection before allowing them to register for classes.

After students have registered as singles or groups, appointment times will be assigned based on the number of semesters in residence.  For groups, the number of semesters in residence is averaged among the students.  Semesters in residence include any approved academic leaves (study abroad), though personal or medical leaves do not count.  Both individuals and groups are entered into the same lottery for appointment times within their semesters in residence.  Groups can have as many as eight students.

In previous years, lottery numbers based on semesters in residence had been assigned to students prior to grouping.  Appointment times were made based on the average of the group’s lottery numbers.  This led many students to play a numbers game by finding roommates with low number in attempts to get preferable housing.  “Lottery numbers became too great an influence in student’s decisions on whom they wanted to live with and how they wanted to group because they were trying to position themselves,” said Tyson, who hopes the new system will encourage students to live with friends.

This year, all College housing will be available to students at the time of their appointments, given that the students qualify for the specific types of housing. Students must have four semesters in residence to qualify for village housing, and those who desire a program house must complete an application and be accepted into the program before their selection.

In previous years, the on campus housing had been split into separate processes.  “It was too categorized,” said Tyson.  The process for choosing singles was separate from that of groups, and village housing was separate from traditional.  Once students chose a process, they had to stick to it, and if their type of housing was taken before they chose a room, they had to enter another process.

If groups arrive to find their choice housing taken, they can split up in any number of ways.  For instance, a group of four that wanted a village house can decide to choose a traditional quad, two doubles, a single and a triple, or four singles.  Because the group splits up  and chooses rooms at the same time, students can choose two doubles right next to each other, or four singles on the same floor.  The only kink in the splitting process would come if members in a group had different numbers of semesters in residence.  In that case, those students with the lower number of semesters may have to return to choose housing with those students who share the same semesters in residence.

ResEd has also made efforts to limit the number of double booked rooms.  In the past, “Double booking was a problem, especially in the highly sought after housing,” said Molly Tyson.  This year, ResEd will use Google Docs to instantaneously show when a room has been taken and will enter each student’s selection directly into the housing database.  During lunch breaks and between days, ResEd will audit the placements to double check that there has been no double booking.

Another benefit of Google Docs is the ability to share room statuses with students.  “We’re using the Google Docs as a convenience tool for students to know what’s available and what’s not,” said Tyson.  Students will be able to access the document ResEd will be using online so they can keep their eyes on their top choices and know what’s left before they even arrive to choose.

Lastly, students will choose their meal plan at the same time they choose their housing.

Students will have the chance to ask ResEd questions concerning the new process during forums held between March 8 and March 19. There will also be an on-campus housing fair Wednesday, March 10th from 7 – 9 p.m. in the Root Room. Throughout the event, raffles will be held for flex points and gift cards, and there will be two grand prizes.

Funkin Free Par-tee

By Gossip Girl

Photo by Sybil Levine

9:22pm: Gunther and Scrappy Doo have been convinced to turn off the Greek marathon and start getting wasted.

If you’ve never had a shower beer, you have never lived.  Try it, kids.


10:44 pm: Scrappy Doo decided to drink strong mixed drinks while playing the James Bond Drinking Game.  El Mistako.

James Bond Drinking game did us all in.  Just pick ANY Bond film and drink when he makes a pun, when he shoots, gets shot at, or anything explodes, and any time he is outrageously misogynistic.  You will get Gunther levels of drunk in no time.


11:23pm: Starting the night off right. Headed over to Sco. Gunther has had a Four Loco and several other beers, so clearly it’s time for fat hot jams.


11:38pm: There’s a line to get in! Impressive.

If you want to have a party, and you also want to promote something, take a lesson from Dave Clark and Erica Lee.  There was a crowd at the ‘Sco on a Saturday for the first time in a very long time.


11:47pm: Free beer is good idea number one. Nothing is more Oberlin than Pabst in my mouth, my belly, and on my shirt.

A short list of other good ideas would include getting Baba Fats and the Funkin Donuts onboard to entertain and also to promote the event with free entry to people who commented on the website.  Those people brought their friends who had to pay, and Fearless and Loathing probably raised a fair amount of money as a result.  Are you taking notes?  You should be.


12:11am: This party is great, but the city is alive tonight.  On to fraternize with Jocks!

Union street was glowing.  People were walking around and it was nice out.  Is anybody else excited for this spring when there will be crowds of people out and about?  I know I am.


12:55am: Absolutely impressed with the swim party. They are exclusive, so they never overfill a room. They are not stingy with the brews, and there is always dancing.  There is also usually some skin showing.


12:56am: The party across the way from that one was also awesome. Oberlin is alive tonight.

If there are several parties in the same Union Street house, you should always pop between them.  I’ve never managed it, but taking an entire party across the hall to another party could be fun.  Anybody wanna try?

If you want me to know about your party so I can come judge you, feel free to email me at rockandroll@fearlessandloathing.com