By David Edward Clark
Adrian Fenty addresses the Oberlin College community at this year's first Convocation. Photo by David Roswell.
Adrian Fenty ’92 opened this year’s convocation series with a talk on his efforts to reform the Washington, D.C. school system during his term as mayor. Continue reading
By Julie Garber
Photos by David Roswell
On October 10, 2010, Oberlin college students and the surrounding community collaborated in a way never quite done before. Similar to the traditional Day of Service event for freshmen, students came together in a joint volunteering effort. However, unlike the Day of Service, the “10/10/10” sites were all geared toward environmental sustainability.
The purpose of this event, which occurred worldwide, was to reduce carbon emissions in an innovative and more efficient manner. Instead of having rallies or protests demanding emission cuts, this event aimed to involve people in their communities in a “Global Work Party”. As explained by www.350.org, the brainchild of the event, such community involvement was meant to send the political message: “If we can get to work, so can you!”
Corey Harkins took the initiative to organize Oberlin’s 10/10/10 event. When asked what inspired him to bring this event to Oberlin, he enthusiastically explained, “I think service is so important in gauging our humanity. Service is what makes us human.”
The Bonner Center and the Resource Conservation Team, both of which provided equipment, advice, tools, and money necessary for the event, cosponsored 10/10/10. These service organizations show the countless ways that we can get involved in our community. The Resource Conservation Team, for example, gets students to volunteer in protecting the environment while taking their interests into consideration.
The event began at 1:00 p.m. About forty volunteers signed up through a pre-registration form, but many people just showed up to desk in Wilder Bowl and were sent to various sites. Although some site leaders came a little late, by 2:00 p.m., every site had people working.
Sites included Full Circle Fuels, George Jones Farm, and the Johnson House garden. Several students removed invasive species behind Kahn, while others audited energy at various locations throughout campus. One group, in particular, changed light bulbs in Wilder. Corey explained that changing 25 light bulbs would save about $4,000, even taking the price of the light bulbs into consideration.
A total of 7,347 people in 188 different countries participated in 10/10/10, making a huge splash and hopefully encouraging political leaders to work on environmental legislation.
By David Edward Clark
Photo by David Roswell.
Karl Rove spoke to a packed Finney Chapel on Tuesday. He focused on four major issues: the stimulus bill, increased government spending, increased national debt and healthcare.
By Shane Hisner
Photo by David Roswell.
Josh Ritter ’99 had everyone in Finney Chapel on his side Saturday night. The show was full of good songs, facetious one-liners, and remarkable showmanship—and that’s only accounting for bassist Zack Hickman.
The third installment of Oberlin College’s convocation series was a doozy. A blue-jeaned Marvin Krislov gave a brief introduction before Josh and his band played a full two-hour set.
To start things off, Ritter took the stage solo and under dimmed lights softly picked and howled “Idaho,” an ode to his home state. The rendition was no less than haunting—the kind of song that sets one to reflecting. Finney was motionless, dead silent.
Photo by David Roswell.
Photo by David Roswell.
Then the band came out. Sam Kassirer on the Steinway and the ‘01 graduate Hickman on the upright. Those bigger, fuller ballads swelled from the stage—songs like “Rumors,” “Wolves,” and “Kathleen.” Oberlin was clearly watching a trio that knew how to feed off of each other’s energy.
The concert ebbed and flowed all night. Every run of high-energy anthems was answered by a subdued, reflective psalm. Ritter trolled triumphantly about Kathleen only to cry longingly for Anabel Lee a song later. He left the nostalgia of “Me and Jiggs” for the desperation of “Lawrence, KS.”
Ritter’s ability as a lyricist truly makes his songs worth hearing, and Saturday night he put on a clinic in storytelling. The songs he played from his May release So the World Runs Away were perhaps the most intriguing—songs about mummies and archaeologists and polar explorers—but it was certainly nice to hear those good ol’ American folk tales that made Josh Ritter a name to know in the folk music community.
Ritter called upon charm and an array of concert tricks to keep things fresh from start to finish. In “Wolves,” he had crowd members howling at the moon. “In the Dark,” another Animal Years track, was appropriately played in a completely dark Finney Chapel. He even dedicated a new song, titled “Sarah” after the former Alaskan governor, to Tuesday’s speaker Karl Rove. Ritter sang over the laughing crowd. “I won’t forget the night we spent / when you stole my leather reindeer jacket.”
Hickman’s performance on the bass was something to marvel at as well. His sonorous rendition of Chris Isaak’s 1989 classic “Wicked Game” was a high point in the concert. He wooed the crowd all night with his impeccable style and stage presence. By the end of the show, one was left wondering what comes more naturally to him—his slick bass skills or his world-class mustache.
Probably the most impressive thing about Ritter’s performance was the fact that he brought the house down without playing many of his most popular songs. Perhaps even more impressive was the fact that a die-hard fan like me didn’t even realize these omissions until the day after the concert. Fan favorites like “Thin Blue Flame,” “Girl In the War,” “The Temptation of Adam,” and “Golden Age of Radio” didn’t even make the set list.
But it’s that time in his career now. He’s 33 and longer removed from his time at Oberlin than his energetic temperament would suggest. 2010 saw the release of Josh’s seventh album. Some songs are inevitably going to get skipped over.
Luckily, Ritter and his band won’t be long before they circle back around to our neck of the woods. They’ll be in Cleveland on November 15 at the Beachland Ballroom, a show that will conclude their North American tour. It would certainly be unreasonable to hold him to the standard of Saturday’s show at Finney, but, damn, anything close would do.
By Erica M. Lee
Professor Dan Chaon and Ishmael Beah ’04. Photo by David Roswell.
Bestselling author Ishmael Beah ’04 and Oberlin Creative Writing Professor Dan Chaon were Oberlin College’s first Convocation Speakers of the semester. Their latest books are, respectively, A Long Way Gone: Memories of a Boy Soldier and Await Your Reply.
Photos by David Roswell
Photos by David Roswell
Photos by David Roswell
By David Roswell
Photo by David Roswell
Karen Florini ’79 presented an optimistic yet realistic view into federal climate change policy last Thursday in Hallock Auditorium. Speaking in her personal capacity, she outlined how Washington can pass a climate bill in 2010. With confidence, she said that a bill could be passed this year, emphasizing that, “it is hard but there is real hope.”
She started by speaking about the obstacles to passing a climate bill. She first pointed to Senator Inhofe of Oklahoma and his friends such as Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, and their deep-pocketed partners, Fox News and the Chamber of Commerce; right wing organizations with vested interests in preventing a climate bill. She then spoke about the healthcare bill suffocating Washington, which is preventing anything from moving forwards.
“Cap and trade is dead, and we’re glad,” declared Florini, speaking broadly for environmentalists in Washington. She updated the audience on the Kerry-Boxer bill, which would have mandated a federal, comprehensive cap and trade system, saying it was stuck, with no hope of headway. It would have given a limited and diminishing number of permits to polluters, and allowed trade of these permits between firms.
In lieu of the Kerry-Boxer bill, a new bill, still in its very infant stages, is being co-written by Senators John Kerry of Massachusetts (D), Joe Lieberman of Connecticut (I), and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (R). The bill, still only an unreleased, ten-page document, calls for sector specific caps, beginning with utilities.
This idea has garnered broader support than previous climate bills, with positive responses from vital players, from Senator Baucus, chairman of the Senate Committee on Finance, to Mary Landrieu of Louisiana (D), who is one of the least environmentally friendly democrats in the senate (and supported by Louisiana gas and oil companies) and even some Republicans.
“If you’re anti-nuke, I’m sorry, get over it,” began Florini’s list of concessions environmentalists will have to make for this, or any other climate bill, to be passed this year, because, “it’s clear that several key Senators are going to need nuclear subsidies in order to be able to vote for climate legislation.” The authors of the bill are also considering offshore drilling opportunities for states to bring in additional revenue.
One of the big challenges for viable legislation is the future of the existing Clean Air Act. After an EPA inquiry found that greenhouse gas emissions pose a threat to human health, the EPA was required to regulate emissions. However, this ruling is being threatened, primarily by Lisa Murkowski of Alaska (R), who has issued a formal resolution of disapproval on the EPA’s endangerment finding. The finding is “a predicate to essentially all regulatory action under the Clean Air Act; if you don’t have a finding, you can’t issue regulations,” explained Florini. If the House adopts this resolution of disapproval, the Clean Air Act will never have regulatory power again. Fortunately, Obama will surely veto it, but the process is eating up time and energy, and diverting focus from the main issues.
Florini presented a laundry list of reasons for hope. Increasing technology, earth day initiatives, and better communication between political figures are all reasons for hope. The support from the Pentagon is also key in making change this year.
Another reason for hope is a bill that is already written. Susan Collins of Maine and Maria Cantwell of Alaska have introduced a cap and dividend bill, with a linkage fee for transportation fuels. This system will auction off permits for utilities to emit greenhouse gases. The revenue generated will be split into two, with 75% going to cash payments to the American people, and the remaining 25% being invested into green energy technology. The linkage fee for transportation will be added on to fuel prices somewhere along the supply chain; the price will be determined by the allowances under the cap.
After the talk, the audience was invited to ask questions. When asked about what scientists should be doing to push policy, Florini said there is no new science that needs to be done to prove to people that climate change is real. What should be done, she said, is a distillation of all of the information for the public down to three key facts: greenhouse gases trap heat, there are more greenhouses gases than before, and the gases are coming from people. However, she pointed out, “If there was a tablet from Moses that said, ‘Here’s how to do climate legislation,’ there would still be vociferous opposition.” When pressed about how environmentalists can win, she said, “We win by fighting.”
Florini ended her talk by outlining its take-home messages. “Climate legislation is hard, there is real hope, and get busy—now.”
By David Roswell
It’s Saturday night, nine-thirty. It’s Purim night at the ‘Sco, but we can’t tap into that Manischewitz, and it just doesn’t feel like a dancing night. There’s about a foot of fresh, perfect packing snow on the ground, and it’s still falling.
