VOL. CXXXVII No. 19

Pomona students report buying and trading room draw times due to housing crisis

During room draw this past week for fall 2026 housing, students at Pomona College have reported trading and bidding for housing selection times — including thousand-dollar bids and internship offers. This follows the college’s decision to demolish the Oldenborg Center in May and subsequently reduce on-campus housing.

“I heard about a ton of instances of people bribing people — with money, with tickets to sports games, with internships,” Celeste Garton PO ’27 said. “Just the fact that that was even part of the conversation was ridiculous.”

Taking down Oldenborg, a 120bed language residence hall, is part of the college’s $125 million Center for Global Engagement (CGE) project to replace the dorm, dining facility and language center. CGE is set to open in fall 2028 and, once completed, will house 200 students.

In response to the reduced housing capacity for the next academic year, Pomona has begun restructuring existing residence halls. Lawry Court, initially intended to serve as an interim language residence hall, has now been opened to the broader student body for the fall 2026 term. Changes are also coming to Mudd residence hall, which has historically housed First-Years, according to Josh Scacco, the director of campus life operations at Pomona.

“Harwood was shifted to be Junior and Sophomore housing and Mudd was shifted to Sophomore housing. Wig, Lyon, and Blaisdell

will be [a] majority First-Year Housing throughout the two-year construction of the Center for Global Engagement,” Scacco wrote in an email statement to TSL.

The college also began adding more beds to dorms to meet housing demand. Many designated singles have been converted to

doubles, while doubles have been transitioned to triples, according to Scacco. Each spring, students participate in a room selection process in which they receive randomized time slots that determine when they can log in to the housing portal to choose their rooms for

CWPD and QCL see declines in sign-ups. Student employees say AI is to blame

Sign-ups at Claremont McKenna College’s Center for Writing and Public Discourse (CWPD) and Quantitative and Computing Lab (QCL) have declined significantly this academic year. Some student employees attribute the trend to students’ growing use of AI tools for academic support and say a continued lack of sign-ups may result in staff cuts.

This spring, the CWPD has only seen around 345 appointments, according to its sign-up portal — an approximate 50 percent decline in use compared to last spring, when the center received 700 student appointments, according to an email from Associate Director Chloe Ray sent to writing consultants last May. Several current and former student QCL employees confirmed the center experienced a similar decline in sign-ups.

Multiple sources confirmed that Ray said at a recent CWPD staff meeting that the current decline was likely due to students using AI tools for essay help rather than coming to the writing center, as well as professors assigning fewer essays in an effort to counteract AI use.

CWPD consultant Eleanor Lar-

son CM ’27 said while the decline in sign-ups from last year is significant, it should not be a demoralizing statistic.

“Coming from this huge peak, it’s a very significant downturn,” Larson said. “But that was also out of the ordinary for years prior, where, you know, ChatGPT didn’t

exist.”

Larson said the writing center must adjust to rising AI use and identify how it can now best assist students with their writing.

“It’s just about pivoting and

the upcoming semester. Time slots begin at 5 p.m. and cycle every three minutes until late that night, with a 15-minute break at the beginning of each hour. Students typically form roommate groups in advance, and the earliest time a group member receives determines when the entire group picks its room. This allows

Inside-Out program plans restructuring following Norco prison closure

Following a year of uncertainty regarding the program’s future, the 5Cs’ Justice Education Center (JEC) appointed a new interim director, Tessa Hicks Peterson, last month. Peterson has since initiated plans to pilot multiple new partnership models next fall for Inside-Out, as the program navigates reconstruction following the closure of its partner institution, the California Rehabilitation Center (CRC) — also known as Norco prison — in the fall. The JEC works to provide reintegration support for both incarcerated and formerly incarcerated individuals through Pitzer’s In-

side-Out program.“Outside” college students and “inside” incarcerated students take classes together, with inside students working toward a Bachelor’s of Arts degree through Pitzer College’s Pathway-to-BA program. Since the CRC announced its closure last year, Inside-Out classes have been held via Zoom.

Inside students currently participating in Pitzer’s Pathway-to-BA program are set to graduate on May 19 after fulfilling the 32-credit course requirement. They will then be relocated to other prisons in California, but they haven’t been told which facilities they’ll be transferred to, according to Peterson.

“It is a disturbing experience,”

HOUSING CRISIS: Pomona students sell room draw times

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This year, students said that dorm discrepancies became more obvious. With high-quality housing concentrated in a small number of residence halls, selection times carried greater weight, and students increasingly relied on coordination within their friend groups to secure desirable placements.

Tendo Lumala PO ’28 noted that the process quickly shifted away from a straightforward lottery. With a 7:43 p.m. selection time, he was not optimistic about his options and spent several days attending housing meetings with other students, trying to secure earlier time slots through informal arrangements.

As the process unfolded, Lumala stated that seniors with earlier time slots formed and reshaped groups, strategically adding members and swapping rooms to secure their desired housing.

Lumala noted that a larger network of friends at Pomona provided students with better housing opportunities.

“It’s not fair. The larger your social group is, the easier it is,” he said. But even when students secure relatively early times through friends, outcomes remain uncertain.

Georgia Stettner PO ’27 stated that she was unable to secure a four-person suite despite a friend with a 5:39 p.m. timeslot pulling her into a roommate group on the portal.

Stettner said the hectic pace of this year’s housing cycle was driven by the quality gap between limited suite-style dorms and an increase in less desirable forced doubles and triples.

“It just felt like a very tense emotional process,” Stettner said. “It feels unfair because there are such differences in quality of life. It seems to be a randomized lottery, but it leads to people doing sort of questionable things.”

As pressure intensified, students noted that the process extended beyond informal coordination to resemble a marketplace for housing

times.

“I had perhaps the most stressful three days trying to figure out what my housing would look like,” Lumala said. Lumala said he received a call from a first-year student on the day designated for rising seniors to choose their housing — which takes place two days before the freshmen draw — who said someone was willing to pay $4,000 for a prime

time slot. Stettner also said others bid for time slots, including offers of up to $2,500 or other incentives such as summer job opportunities.

“When you have such a stark difference between living in Sontag or Dialynas and living in something like a Clark double, that gets people really riled up and willing to do whatever it takes,” Stettner said.

As housing becomes more competitive and transactional, some students said the process has begun to erode the sense of stability and connection that residential life is meant to provide.

“I really do think that the beautiful thing about a residential college is the way that you can find and build community with people,” Lumala said. “And when you have a housing situation that specifically challenges that ability, it just fractures a lot of what Pomona is supposed to be.”

Issue 18 Corrections

An article covering the Caribbean Film Fest Short Film Showcase used a photo of the Caribbean Community Dinner, not the Caribbean Short Film, which did not accurately represent students involved in the story. This has been updated in the online version of this story.

An article covering the Pomona College Cognitive Science Major lottery system incorrectly stated that a request made to the Faculty Position Advisory Committee (FPAC) had been rejected. Requests are not accepted or denied, but receive a positive or negative recommendation from the committee. In the academic years 2023-24 and 2024-25, the FPAC forwarded a negative recommendation on the linguistics and cognitive science proposals and the administration accepted that recommendation.

TSL deeply regrets these errors.

Construction continues on Scripps Centennial Plaza Project, phase one set to complete in 2026-27 academic year

CHLOE KIPARSKY

CARYS HARDY

Scripps College is making headway on the initial phase of its Centennial Plaza Project, which is set to conclude during the 2026-2027 academic year. While students and faculty are excited by the project’s plans to expand Scripps’ dance program, some community members question whether this focus is the best use of the college’s resources amid lingering housing shortages.

The Scripps Facilities Department informed the student body on Thursday, April 16, that the 240 House, a residential space previously intended to be demolished, will be relocated to Foothill Boulevard to make room for the new facilities. With potential housing shortages next spring, students have expressed concern that using funds for housing should be prioritized over the Centennial Plaza Project’s new dance facility.

“To me, it’s exciting to see

Scripps invest in itself, especially for dancers at the Richardson dance studio,” Leah Gorence SC ’28 said. “But I personally would love to see more of that money go into financial aid or housing.”

The Centennial Plaza Project was introduced to the student body in October 2024. Located west of Scripps’ campus walls, the finished project will feature the new Carolyn Lake Dance Center and a second building designated as a “collaborative space,” which will house 30 faculty offices, 12 classrooms and five lab spaces.

The project will expand opportunities for dancers in an improved facility, as the current Richardson Dance Studio in the Vita Nova courtyard faces issues with limited dressing room space, as well as the HVAC and plumbing systems — according to Scripps Dance Professor and Department Chair Kevin Williamson.

“Although we love [the Rich -

ardson studio], and we’re grateful because it has a lot of history, we certainly can use some updating, especially when it comes to technology,” Williamson said.

As the Scripps dance program continues to expand, shows have grown to feature around 100 student performers and multiple choreographers. Williamson noted that the new Carolyn Lake Dance Center will provide much-needed rehearsal and performance space.

“We’ll be able to present dance in our own building and not always be reliant on Pomona or Garrison,” Williamson said.

“[This] means we can also facilitate interdisciplinary projects across the consortium and get more students involved with producing performance-like events.”

Amanda Forte SC ’29, a dance and politics double major, stated that she has to walk from Scripps to the Pendleton Studio at the Southern end of Pomona College

for class due to the current limited course offering. She hopes Scripps’ new dance studio will encourage more students to try dance by providing a high-quality studio space in a more central location.

“Having more space and availability is an incentive to bring more dancers into the program, which is great,” Forte said. “I think also, the walking distance would be way easier, [The Carolyn Center will be] right there and easy to access.”

The dance center will occupy Claremont Graduate University’s old art building lot which Scripps purchased in March, 2024, located on the intersection of East 10th Street and Columbia Avenue. Ainsley Oleson SC ’29 noted Scripps’ limited opportunities for expansion near campus due to lack of available spaces to develop, noting the impact the project may have on future housing availability.

“I’m concerned about where future housing expansion could realistically take place, given that this space is already being used,” Oleson wrote in an email to TSL.

She specifically pointed to the impacts the changes could have on students with accommodations who may require single-room which are harder to obtain.

Gorence said she is also concerned about finding housing after going abroad for the fall 2026 semester.

“I’m going abroad in the fall, and everyone going abroad with me is sharing something of housing anxiety,” Gorence said. “So I think it was upsetting to hear that they tore down housing without building a replacement first.”

Though Scripps said in its email that the college worked hard to preserve the 240 House, the email did not outline when, or if, it will be available as a residential space in the future.

Scripps did not provide a comment by time of publication.

TUTOR DeCLIN e: Cw PD and QCL face decreased sign-ups due to AI

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seeing where the need for us is going to arise,” she said.

A current CWPD consultant who requested anonymity due to their ongoing employment at the writing center said that a decline in sign-ups could indicate a need for future institutional change.

“I probably see the CWPD slimming back staff,” the consultant said. “It might be a wake-up call for the CWPD to think about where to allocate its resources.”

Multiple sources confirmed the QCL is facing similar declines in

sign-ups.

A former QCL mentor who requested anonymity due to potential backlash from the center said Associate Director Bhaven Mistry emailed them this spring about the pressure the center was facing due to a lack of sign-ups.

“He told me the QCL has seen a pretty significant drop in student demand due to AI, which has forced them to cut back on mentors and hours,” the source said. “It sounds like the program is under pressure and shrinking.”

TSL confirmed that around six students were removed from QCL

staff in total this past winter break, compared to one tutor last winter break. While the QCL previously sent emails to CMC’s student body advertising its hiring cycle by early January in 2024 and early March in 2025, the center has not yet put out a call for new mentors as of mid-April this year.

A current QCL mentor who requested anonymity to avoid professional retaliation said the students who continue to seek help from the QCL come in “not with problems with their homework, but problems with AI.” It is now “an expectation” for students

to come into walk-in sessions with questions about ChatGPT, according to the source. The current mentor said students’ increased use of AI makes it harder to ensure they truly understand the quantitative concepts, since they often just want to ensure that the responses they are getting from AI tools are accurate.

“We can do our best to say, ‘Hey, do you understand this? Can you walk me through this?’” the source said. “But some don’t really want to do that, and we can’t really force them to try to understand.”

Despite the significant de -

cline in sign-ups at two of CMC’s academic support centers, CWPD Head Consultant Georgia Evrigenis CM ’27 said she remains optimistic about the unique role student consultants play in providing mentoring services.

“AI is more likely to cater to what you want to hear rather than giving you constructive feedback and helping you grow,” Evrigenis said. “Every consultant has a unique voice, a unique perspective that they can bring in — AI cannot give you that.”

The CWPD and QCL declined to comment.

INSIDE-OUT: Program to continue despite CRC closure

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Peterson said. “They’re not certain what, where and how they will all land, but they will be finishing their bachelor’s with us before they get transferred, which is really important. We’re very happy that we were able to pull that together with them, and they’ve been working really hard to make sure that happens.”

Peterson is working to rebuild the Inside-Out program with other institutions following CRC’s closure. After former JEC director Romarilyn Ralston stepped down to teach prison education at UCLA, Peterson, the first Inside-Out teacher and director in 2018, returned as director. Peterson noted that she hoped someone new would take over, following her 18-month period that ends in June 2028.

“It’s a temporary role, and just was a bit of a band-aid in a moment where we really needed not to lose any steam and have someone who knew the program step in to help out,” she said.

Kenneth Butler, a formerly incarcerated Pitzer Pathway-to-BA Program graduate and Napier Fellow, was appointed as JEC program assistant in January. Butler won a Fulbright scholarship and has studied prisons in 14 countries worldwide.

Together, the two plan to pilot a program with the Male Community Reentry Program (MCRP) this fall, offering three in-person Inside-Out classes through Pitzer and Pomona. The MCRP is a community - based reentry program located in downtown Los Angeles that operates in partnership

with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR).

In addition, Peterson said the JEC will partner with the California Institute for Women (CIW) in Chino Hills this fall.

Derik Smith, literature professor at Claremont McKenna College and Inside-Out faculty member, underscored the value of continuing programs for incarcerated students.

“The Pitzer program has done many good things,” Smith said. “A lot of learning has been developed about how prison education can be advanced by private institutions, like the Claremont Colleges, through the work that has been done by [the] Inside-Out program at Pitzer.”

Though the prison closure poses challenges for the Inside-Out pro-

gram, Smith stated that, from his perspective, prison closures were ultimately a good thing.

“It’s unfortunate that a lot of that will not be available to some people within this system, but as I said, nevertheless, it seems to me that closing prisons is what we want,” he said.

The JEC will explore partnerships with universities that grant credits for incarcerated students toward pre-existing bachelor’s programs in the fall, and will continue to explore fundraising options to re-establish the Pathway-to-BA program in the future with adequate funding.

“In both cases, we aim to coordinate with other universities where these students are already taking classes … to ensure credits transfer in order to advance students

towards a BA,” Peterson said. Peterson said the JEC has also explored partnerships with programs across the Los Angeles area that also focus on formerly incarcerated individuals, including Starting Over Inc, Crossroads, InsideOUT Writers and The Reintegration Academy.

While the program continues to look for ways to expand and reach the broader community, Gutierrez said maintaining the opportunity for 5C students to take Inside-Out courses is important.

“We have options now. But I think for me, it’s very important to always keep in mind what this program is also giving our outside students,” Gutierrez said. “Of course, it’s an exchange … so having options to keep the program running is important, and I am pretty confident that we’re going to be able to.”

students picket Frary Dining Hall, protesting termination of cook Rolando Araiza

Around 30 students picketed the entrances to Pomona College’s Frary dining hall at 11 a.m. the morning of Friday, April 10 — chanting, holding cardboard signs and drumming on buckets. The demonstration, organized by the Claremont Student Workers Alliance (CSWA), encouraged 5C students to boycott the dining hall and advocate for the reinstatement of recently fired cook Rolando “Rolo” Araiza.

“You know, we’ve been fighting for Rolo for over two months now and we really do want to stay in solidarity with the workers.” CSWA steering member Kobe Leonor PO ‘27 said. “The school has not responded in a way that we’ve seen appropriate.”

Pomona terminated Araiza — a prominent union leader within UNITE HERE local 11 — on Jan. 29, months before the new union

contract negotiations were set to begin in June. Since then, CSWA has held rallies, created petitions and organized the boycott to draw attention to Araiza’s firing, which CSWA argues is an unjust action to weaken the union before contract negotiations. Pomona said Araiza was fired over workplace conduct policy violations, though administrators have not publicly disclosed specific details, citing employee privacy. In February, Araiza filed a formal grievance for wrongful termination, which the College denied.

Asking students to spend mealplan money at the other colleges, CSWA members said the boycott directly pressured Pomona to rehire Araiza.

“We’ve made it clear through petitions and rallies and other actions across Pomona that we understand Rolo’s firing to be a case of union busting and we demand that he be brought back immediately,” Elias Pluecker PO ‘28, CSWA steer-

ing member, said. ”However, just showing up and doing petitions and rallies doesn’t actually put real pressure on the school, and what today does is [put] economic pressure on the institution by costing [the College] money.”

According to Kai Chen PO ’26, the colleges track when students from other 5Cs swipe into their dining halls and require those students’ home institutions to reimburse them accordingly. Chen, a CWSA steering member, said that the boycott therefore diminished the funds Pomona received from the other 5Cs and signaled support for Araiza to the administration.

“There’s a large group of people who want Rolo back and see his firing as an injustice,” Chen said. “And that dip in the numbers in this one meal is a little taste of what student power is capable of.”

Students said that directing funds away from Pomona was

a way to work within the dining system to promote change.

“I think it’s really important that we as students use the tools that we have to ask our administrations to change their ways,” picketter Ukiah Halloran-Steiner PZ ‘27 said. “One of those ways is the power of spending money at other schools and diverting money from Pomona College. ”

The picketers’ noise drew attention from the surrounding Walker Beach, while many students entering the dining hall spoke with demonstrators.

“We’re not here to get in the way of anybody. We’re not here to harass anybody” Chen said. “But we’ve also had a lot of really good conversations in which when people learn what’s going on, they do want to go somewhere else.”

The boycott also gave those who may not be typically involved in student organizing a chance to support Araiza.

“I think people know what’s going on with Rolo and they want to be involved in at least a little way,” Isaiah Curtis PZ ’26, a CWSA member, said. “This is a good opportunity to do that.”

With a bucket and spoon in hand, Una Marie Lake SC ’29, although not regularly involved in CSWA, drummed loudly in solidarity with both Ariaza and other students, which she said helps draw more attention.

“I think you can do a lot of talking, but I think when you really start singing and yelling is when you can really get your message across in different ways,” Lake said.

CSWA aims to put collective pressure on the College until their demands for Araiza’s reinstatement are met.

“We demand that Rolo be brought back to work immediately, and I want the school to see and acknowledge what’s happening today,” Pluecker said.

Write like no one is watching

The first advice I received this year was: “You don’t matter.”

The line, delivered casually by professor Eduard Fanthome, initially shocked me. As he unpacked it, however, it started to make more sense. If I am not the center of the universe, and there is no invisible ledger tallying worth and consequence, then the imagined structure I had been orienting myself around starts to dissolve.

That was the first lesson I heard in an interview for “Office Hours for the Soul,” and arguably the advice that fundamentally changed my relationship to writing. Before I began this column, I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t know how I was going to make that happen. Fanthome reminded me that I can start wherever I want, because in the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter.

But if no one was really keeping score, then why was I writing like they were? I had been struggling with being overly critical of my own writing, but Fanthome’s advice convinced me to let go of the strict rules I had imposed on myself, and to write like no one was watching.

He’s right. Who cares what other people are going to say? No one is coming to smash my computer and stop me from writing. Logically, I knew that, but it took time to internalize. Knowing something intellectually and actually living like it are two very different things.

At first, however, I still wrote like someone was reading over my shoulder. Every sentence felt like it had to be approved by an invisible audience of professors, peers or future versions of myself who might cringe. Even when I tried to be honest, I could feel myself sanding things down before they ever reached the page. I was still writing like everyone cared and would be judging my every word.

In my second interview, professor Brent Armendinger told me to just “show up” and “work those muscles” — to play with language, to stretch what it’s capable of. After that interview, I had a million ideas of what to write my column about, but when I came back to the page, I felt the eyes of hundreds of campus readers looking over my shoulder. And once more, I produced a column that was an honest summary of my interview, but lacked the authenticity I wanted it to have. It was careful, and it made sense. But it didn’t feel like me.

That was the pattern I kept running into: clarity in conversation, hesitation in writing. I could hear ideas clearly when I was talking to people, but the moment I sat down alone, I started second-guessing what was “allowed” on the page. Allowed by who, I’m still not sure. But the feeling was enough to hold me back.

When I interviewed professor Lisa Auerbach, I gained even more clarity on my creative process. Auerbach, who had traded her iPhone for a pager, urged me to resist technology while writing. When I returned to the page that week, I had her words in my mind: “Get rid of your smartphone,” she said. “You’re not going to die.”

And so, for the first time — literally ever — I put my phone away while writing, took out a real paper notebook and finally produced something I liked: a poem that got published in a local literary journal. It was the most honest thing I had written in a long time. It felt real. It felt alive. For the first time, I wrote like no one was watching. The shift from fragmented thinking interrupted by tiny screens to sustained focus on being present changed the way language arrived for me. It stopped feeling like something I had to force and started feeling like something I could actually listen to. When I listened to myself instead of performing, my writing got better.

After that, I devoted myself to writing my columns for fun. I began asking different questions. Not “What will this sound like to someone else?” but “What do I actually think here?” How can I make these interviews about things that apply to my life — and hopefully the lives of others — instead of just profiles that summarize someone else in a neat and safe way? How can I write my columns like no one cares, and trust that that’s exactly what will make someone else care?

Since then, my writing has flourished. Not because more people care, but because I write without stopping to overthink how my words will be received. That’s why it’s time to say goodbye to “Office Hours for the Soul” — because I don’t need it anymore in the same way.

When I started this column, I think I was looking for someone to tell me that I was good enough to be a writer, so that I wouldn’t have to sit with the discomfort of authentic creation and the possibility of judgment. The professors I’ve interviewed this year have given me exactly what I needed to eradicate those feelings: encouragement, confidence and most importantly, a way of writing that forces me to get out of my own way and write like no one is watching.

Siena Giacoma PZ ’27 survives on endless cycles of caffeine, half-written drafts and lofty promises to finish that book tomorrow. Her cat, Olive, remains skeptical, offering judgmental stares in place of encouragement.

Five authors on making stories stick

Why do we retell some stories, while others are lost like tumbleweeds in time? What is it about great stories that compels us to tell them over and over again?

Pondering these questions, I turned to fiction writers as I believe they have the most intimate knowledge of what makes stories work — what makes them twist and turn the delicate machinery of our minds into new and unfamiliar shapes. At its core, my question is, “What makes a good story?” Now, equipped with a little more knowledge and a lot more curiosity, I have identified five key elements that make up a great story.

I first investigated Donna Tartt, author of “The Goldfinch,” “The Secret History” and “The Little Friend,” among other works. In an interview from 2014, Tartt described the weight of compelling characters, those who stay with us long after we have finished a book, and who feel true to life in their very human struggles within themselves and their communities.

“I’m always interested in the gap between appearance and reality — the difference between how characters present themselves, or try to present themselves, and the reality that lies beneath the carefully constructed social surfaces,” Tartt said. “Most people have a public self that they are anxious to display, and a secret self that they’re just as anxious to hide. The tension between the two selves is always interesting. So too is the never-ending tension between what people want and what they’re capable of attaining.”

The eternal tension between a person and themselves, I believe, is what makes characters truly compelling. I want to read more about the person who struggles with themselves, who resolves and unresolves the same issues, who is split by divided desires, who has competing allegiances, who wants two things at once. Where would we be without this beautiful exasperation?

I then consulted Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, whose works include “Americanah,” “Half of a Yellow Sun,” “Purple Hibiscus” and “We Should All Be Feminists.”

In an interview with UNESCO, she described the value of complete immersion in another world.

“[Fiction] has a unique power to take us into the lives and motivations of other people. It can help us understand those who are different from us. In a world where violence and conflict are becoming the norm, fiction has a role to play in bringing

people together,” Adichie said. This power of immersion is key to a compelling story, one that has real power beyond the confines of it’s cover. Good stories have the capacity to transport the reader into a vast array of circumstances, experiences and states of mind, cultivating a more perceptive and worldly reader who can better understand and empathize with a wider group of people. Any work that impresses understanding and empathy upon the heart of its reader is surely a work of great value.

Tennessee Williams, author of works including “A Streetcar Named Desire,” “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and “The Glass Menagerie,” was my next case study; he teaches us the lesson that we must embrace the personal.

With respect to his characters in “The Glass Menagerie,” he once said in an interview, “You must know or read that play came straight from my heart. The characters were shaped from my family. Amanda was my mother. And Laura — my beloved sister Rose. And Tom … well, Tom was me.”

Taking moments, characters, feelings from real life is often the most effective way of building a story that feels moving, that somehow touches the mind of the reader in a way that keeps them engaged and embraces the beautiful, idiosyncratic interconnectedness of the world. The characters that stick with us most are those that are unresolved, distinctive and irregular in that distinctively human way.

Next up: Vladimir Nabokov, author of “Lolita,” “Pale Fire” and “Laughter in the Dark,” among other novels, exalts the fictitiousness of fiction.

“Literature is invention. Fiction is fiction. To call a story a true story is an insult to both art and truth. Every great writer is a great deceiver, but so is that arch-cheat Nature. Nature always deceives. From the simple deception of propagation to the prodigiously sophisticated illusion of protective colors in butterflies or birds, there is in Nature a marvelous system of spells and wiles. The writer of fiction only follows Nature’s lead,” Nabokov writes in “Good Readers and Good Writers.”

There is something in Nature’s illusion that compels us to return again and again to fiction. As storytellers, we retell the same tales, each time discovering the story anew, experiencing and conveying once again the emotions and thoughts that accompanied our first reading, imagining ourselves as both the creator and the recipient.

As readers, too, we know that we are reading fiction, that the personas and voices and characters are constructed, and yet this falseness thrills us because we know that there is a puppeteer, an artist who has crafted the whole work down to the finest details. It is perhaps a manifestation of our desire to believe in the utter intentionality of our world. The best stories compel us to examine the originator, the form and the very constructedness of the work.

Last, I turned to Chinua Achebe, whose novels include “Things Fall Apart,” “No Longer at Ease” and “Arrow of God.” His take on fiction prioritizes multiplicity and abundance.

“If one didn’t realize the world was complex, vast and diverse, one would write as if the world were one little county and this would make us poor and we would have impoverished the novel. The reality of today … is and can be important if we have the energy and the inclination to challenge it, to go out and look for it. The real danger is the tendency to retreat into the obvious, the tendency to be frightened by the richness of the world and to clutch what we always have understood,” Achebe said in an interview with Conjunctions.

The eternal vastness of existence must be translated into fiction if we are to write stories that endure, that move us, that are fascinating and touching enough to be retold for centuries. By isolating elements, we necessarily cut ourselves off from the infinite possibilities and recombinations; the interconnectedness of the world renders it a thing that cannot be pried apart, and any work that tries to do so inevitably falls flat, like a cardboard cutout of life.

As Achebe warns against a fear of the world’s richness, uncertainty also makes for a great story. Grappling with things that are vast and unknown, I think, is what makes authors compelling to read.

Readers, too, grapple with these things, because writers are necessarily readers. This struggle with the confusing, grave and often inestimable nature of our world is so deeply human; seeing our own wrestling expressed in the words of another, in the voice and persona of another being, is like seeing a mirror in nature. It’s like walking through a forest and suddenly spotting a perfect reflection of yourself looking directly back at you.

Ava Chambers PO ’28 believes these elements should be taken with a grain of salt because literature is multifaceted.

starry Night Carnival: A new social scene for south Quad

The smell of popcorn hung heavy in the air on Parents Field last Sunday while students navigated through a maze. As the sun set across Claremont McKenna’s campus, students waited in line for henna tattoos, while others refilled paper bags with freshly popped popcorn.

Located at the end of the row of tented booths, the light maze was constructed from metal barriers covered with black tarps, illuminated by string lights poking shining across the black surface — illustrating the inspiration for this event, Van Gogh’s famous painting “Starry Night.” The maze’s exit pointed towards South Quad, with students entering on the opposite side.

Claremont McKenna’s South Quad Resident Assistants (RAs) hosted the first-ever Starry Night Carnival this past Friday, April 10. The event hosted booths featuring several 5C student artists selling everything from handmade jewelry to crocheted plushies.

“[The RAs and I] thought that we could do something a little bit different, [something] that has never happened before,” RA Pallavi Raju CM ’26 said. “So we were just kind of dreaming big.”

That mindset led Raju, along with fellow South Quad RAs Elizabeth Gutierrez CM ’26 and Desiree Galamgam CM ’26, to propose incorporating a light maze. Constructed by Joe Bender, an administrative assistant within CMC’s Department of Students (DOS), the maze was

accompanied by an array of student vendors, creating a broad carnival theme. Rather than replicating past quad-wide events, like movie nights or smaller community-building events, the team sought to create an experience that felt original and immersive.

Raju explained that each RA took on a different role in the planning process for the event. Galamgam focused on coordinating the student vendors and marketing, while others handled logistics, such as the set-up, equipment and layout.

“It wasn’t really easy to put up the event, but it was really easy for all of us to work together, because our styles really matched,” Raju said. “And so I think that that was reflected in that product really well, because it was so successful and we had a ton of people show up.”

Even with careful planning, the event was not without its challenges.

The lights ordered to fit the Starry Night theme and illuminate the otherwise dark maze did not arrive on time for the event as planned. The team scrambled to find replacement lights and were relieved when Diana “DT” Graves, the vice president of student affairs within DOS, supplied some of her own lights.

“This was one of those moments where I feel like DOS showed up for us, [which] was amazing,” Raju said.

Despite these setbacks, Raju emphasized how the help of the staff and the 10 volunteers, who worked on the maze’s setup, running the booths and the eventual maze takedown, was critical to the

event’s success. Beyond its logistical success, Starry Night highlighted the critical role that RAs play in fostering community amongst students living in different dorms. Events like these are meant to bring students together, especially during stressful periods of the academic calendar — such as April, the infamous season of thesis submission and finals preparations.

“Being an RA has such a huge impact on the community and the student body,” Raju said. “Our primary role is to be a community builder.”

This focus on community building is especially meaningful in the context of South Quad’s reputation.

Often perceived as quieter and less socially active than the rest of CMC’s campus. However, Gutierrez offered a different perspective.

“South Quad has the reputation of being quieter than the other quads; however, we still have a really rich community culture,” Gutierrez said. “Stark has a vibrant lounge life, and both Auen and Fawcett benefit from having small lounges on each floor, which encourages residents to interact with their floormates.”

Raju affirmed this idea, adding that she wished she had lived in South Quad for more of her time at CMC after finding such a great community there this past year.

“I think that even though people say, ‘Oh, South doesn’t have community,’ I think that even though the entire dorm might not interact with each other as much, we may actually have a tighter community than some of the big Mid Quad dorms, because they have so many people,” Rajus said.

At the same time, the Carnival reflected an effort to expand that sense of community beyond the smaller floor groups. By incorporating vendors from across the 5Cs in planning a large-scale event, the RA team aimed to create a space that would attract a wider range of students. According to Gutierrez, the response from vendors was largely positive, with many expressing satisfaction with their sales and overall experience.

“Ultimately, the goal of our event was to go beyond our individual dorms and make connections across South Quad but also across CMC,” Gutierrez said. “So, while each quad does have its own vibe, I do think that we all ultimately belong to the wider CMC community, which supersedes any labels we might assign to any one quad — this is what the South Quad RAs were ultimately trying to tap into.” CMC students echoed this message, affirming that they felt the Carnival brought the South Quad community together.

“For me, South Quad has always felt kind of cut off from the rest of campus, and I never really go there for events,” Presley Forster CM ’29 said. “Thanks to the RAs, I got to meet and chat with a few people from South, which was really great.”

Freedom First: Keith LaMar’s powerful spokenword performances return to Claremont

ANNABELLE JURUS

SYLVIE SIMMONS

“Even from death row, Keith has dedicated his life to teaching people how to live,” Frances Currie SC ’26 said to the audience.

On April 10 at 7 p.m., Currie and other student organizers from the 5C Prison Abolition Collective took the stage in Edmunds Ballroom to introduce artist and death row prisoner Keith LaMar at the fourth Freedom First concert taking place at the 5Cs.

After a brief introduction, the organizers played a video, narrated by LaMar and animated by another artist, which described the circumstances of his imprisonment. At age 19, LaMar had killed a man in self-defense. While serving his sentence for that crime, he was convicted of additional murder charges stemming from an 11-day prison siege, which he did not participate in. His incarceration began in 1989 and is set to end when he faces execution on Jan. 13, 2027.

As demonstrated in the video, LaMar writes descriptive spoken-word poetry from confinement about his experiences and hopes for the abolition of prisons. He often collaborates with musicians, combining his poetry with their unique jazz performances.

“Jazz is married to Keith’s spoken- word poetry,” organizer Oli Yoo SC ’26 said. “His words are elevated by the music, and this art moves people to action: to learn about unfair prison systems, to donate, to become involved in the planning for the next concert. This means everything to our friend Keith.”

LaMar is currently detained at the Ohio State Penitentiary, avidly campaigning for his freedom. He has spent 31 years in a solitary confinement cell the size of a small closet. However, his restrictions do not confine his work.

He now dedicates much of his life to both helping and educating others through art.

LaMar’s organization, Justice For Keith LaMar, raises money to cover LaMar’s legal fees and his creative, activist endeavors. Thanks to the dedicated work of the 5C Prison Abolition Collective, the Claremont Colleges have raised the most money out of all the institutions with which he has worked.

The 5C Prison Abolition Collective organizes structured campaigns and spaces, with the goal of reallocating the colleges’ resources to support the abolition of unjust criminalization systems, and devotes significant effort to advocating for incarcerated individuals. Working with LaMar’s campaign manager, Amy Gordiejew, students fight for justice for LaMar, working to share his story. Organizers Currie, Yoo and

Maria Riker PZ ’28, along with many other student members, collaborated with Gordiejew to bring LaMar’s show to Pomona once again.

“Every time I have watched these concerts, I have the same visceral reaction,” Riker said. “I was in awe at how many people showed up to watch and support. The collective energy in the room was incredibly moving.”

On the night of, the jazz musicians readied their instruments, prepping for LaMar to phone in at 7:30 p.m. — when the Ohio State Penitentiary permits him to make phone calls.

In the minutes leading up to LaMar’s speech, a captive student audience listened to student speakers from the 5C Prison Abolition Collective and Mary Valdemar, co-founder of Chicano Indigenous Community for Culturally Conscious Advocacy

and Action and co-chair of the Ethnic Studies Inland Empire Coalition at San Bernardino Valley College.

As the concert began, the organizers realized that the combination of Youngstown’s spotty cell reception and strict prison calling hours meant that it would require a couple of tries to get LaMar on the line.

“That is just a reality of calling in from death row,” Yoo said. “We can see the reality of how difficult conditions are to connect with people in solitary confinement for that short amount of time.”

Concert-goers were struck by these technical mishaps, which revealed the intense restrictions LaMar and other prisoners face every day.

“It showed that he is able to express himself right now only to the extent that those who control him allow him to express himself,” attendee Wilbur Moffitt PZ ’28 said. “Censorship of art is a censorship of activism.”

The musicians quickly adapted to the technical issues, seamlessly improvising emotive jazz pieces until LaMar could rejoin. Currie noted LaMar’s and the musicians’ persistence and commitment.

“It really puts into perspective how many constraints are forced upon him,” Currie said. “And yet, Keith and his team keep pushing forward.”

Once issues were resolved, LaMar immediately began his performance. His poetry was projected on stage, allowing attendees to feel the weight of each word as he spoke alongside the live music.

Beyond this benefit concert, LaMar’s activism has resonated with many across the nation — particularly with students. Riker was first introduced to LaMar through a high school book club and has since

visited him three times.

“He has played a huge role in my life, supporting me in hard moments, educating me constantly about what it means to be alive and how to make the most of the life we have been given,” Riker said.

Currie shares this sentiment. Through email, Currie and LaMar have struck up many thought-provoking conversations. Currie explained that hearing LaMar describe what motivates him to endure the confines of the prison system has altered the way that she views the meaning of life itself.

“Life isn’t about what happens to you but what you do about what happens to you,” LaMar wrote in an email to Currie. “It’s about your attitude and how you respond.”

Although LaMar’s fight for justice has now been ongoing for over 31 years, he has not lost motivation. LaMar, along with student organizers, emphasized the connection between his story and broader injustices — such as freedom for Palestine and justice for Diego Rios, a Claremont resident who was killed by Claremont police during a mental health crisis. LaMar believes in liberation that extends beyond his own case; he advocates for the idea that no one is free until everyone is.

“It’s so rare to hear the perspective of someone who has had everything taken from them by a state,” Moffitt said. “He had every right to resent the system that put him there, and he turned it into a message of love, hope and freedom.”

As his execution date on Jan. 13 draws closer, LaMar remains committed to expressing his love for music and art, and his solidarity with people who have been wrongfully convicted and all victims of the prison industrial complex.

Flea rediscovers freedom in the form of jazz in latest record ‘Honora’

Anyone who has surface-level rock knowledge knows about Flea. The fierce, energetic bassist and core member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers is one of the most influential and acclaimed musicians of our lifetime. Listening to any song by his band will make you wish you could master the four-stringed instrument yourself.

After four decades of composing some of the most powerful, influential and iconic bass lines in rock, Flea decided to reconnect with his childhood love for jazz in his first solo album: “Honora.” Growing up in 1960s New York City, he lived through the era where Bebop came to represent the cultural culmination of jazz as an autonomous art form. His stepfather, a jazz musician, often brought other musicians to their home for jam sessions. In his memoir “Acid for the Children,” Flea describes these jam sessions as ecstatic and life-changing.

“Honora” manifests Flea’s reconnection with his roots. He names the album after his great great grandmother, Honora. Born in Limerick, Ireland, she later moved to Australia. Honora was the only member of her family to survive a brutal famine, and she began working in a warehouse at 16. She spent the majority of her life working long hours in menial labor. In an interview where Flea shared the meaning behind the album’s name, he said, “her story reduced [him] to bare bones.” Although none of the lyrics directly reference Honora, she remains an inspiration for the

album. Stripped down to the most fundamental elements, this deeply personal record is about Flea’s love for jazz and his familial ancestry.

“Honora” is unlike any previous project Flea has worked on, but characterizing this album as his retirement from rock paints an incomplete picture. In many of the tracks, you can hear echoes of sonically powerful and ferocious time in the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The album’s second track, “A Plea,” is a seven-minute dialogue between the electric and the classical upright bass. You hear the narrator’s dual identities — a rock bassist and jazz bassist — in conversation. These identities are not separate, but converge to make up Flea. The beauty of this composition is proof that Flea doesn’t have to choose between these seemingly opposite musical traditions. It grabs your attention the moment you hear the thick vibrations of the instruments and keeps you on your tiptoes until the very end. Flea sings with heightened sorrow and passion, asking the listener to “see the God in everyone.” It can come across as a protest song, but in reality, it is a call for action beyond the political realm — a plea for kindness and compassion.

Listening to this album felt less like hearing Flea speak in an entirely new language and more like witnessing the realization of his music’s full emotional potential. In an interview, he said: “I’m just trying, as I grow, to go deeper and deeper

into myself and to ultimately love myself … and to love myself, I have to know myself.” Not only does he prove himself as a serious musician, proficient in bass and the trumpet, but as an openly affectionate person. He covers Jimmy Webb’s “Wichita Lineman,” turning this country song into a slow jazz ballad featuring Nick Cave’s woeful vocals.

Despite the range in songs, they all share a common allegiance to the jazz philosophy “less is more,” which was first popularized by Miles Davis’ words: “Don’t play what’s there; play what’s not there.”

When musicians reach a certain level of mastery, like Flea, overpopulating an eight-bar solo is not as impressive as playing with the spaces and silences between the notes. Flea,

coming from a lineage of great jazz figures, remembers to pause and let the space within songs ring loud. “Wichita Trials” feels simple but moving. His unique cover of the jazz standard ‘Willow Weep for Me’ features a duet of Flea on the trumpet and his producer, Josh Johnson, on the Moog synthesizer. It is simple, non-exhaustive and very atomic. The album features two other covers that are renditions of famous songs: Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You” and Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain.” In the first one, Flea reinvents Ocean’s vocals with equally moving solos on the bass and trumpet, supported by an atmospheric string section consisting of four violins, two violas and one cello. The latter is a shortened cover of Funkadel-

ic’s psychedelic-soul masterpiece, in which Flea replaces the guitar with a trumpet solo that still manages to emanate the same theatricality as the original.

For Flea, music is a sanctuary. Part of what makes this project a journey of self-love is the wide array of original compositions: from the fast-paced and stagy “A Plea,” to the slow, groovy “Traffic Lights,” which features Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. His multifaceted expression, illustrated in the integration of diverse subgenres, reflects the process of self-knowledge and discovery. My personal favorite track is “Frailed,” a ten-minute ambient instrumental resembling a Brian Eno composition. It is grounded in a pulsing beat composed of the electric bass and snare drums, over which a keyboard, viola and trumpet all interchangeably improvise.

The closing track, “Free As I Want To Be,” is where Flea takes complete liberty with his trumpet. It holds an eerily straight drumbeat accompanied by a furtive bassline, reminiscent of early Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea. When the groove gets interrupted by Flea’s horns, we get a Big Bang in the artists’ universe. Layered vocals repeatedly drag the line “I’m free to be what I want to be” as Flea shreds on the horns. The song culminates as his past and present musician selves mesh. Through this record, Flea found freedom. I believe he invites us to try the same.

Andrea Miloshevska PO ’28 believes this is one of the best records of 2026 thus far.

Pomona’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’ production revamps the regency era

Your high school English teacher did not prepare you for this. From April 9 to 12, the Pomona College Department of Theatre ran its production of “Pride and Prejudice” — but this version of the story definitely isn’t one you’ve seen before.

This play put a modern twist on Jane Austen’s classic novel, maintaining certain key elements of the story while heightening the tension — and the fun — to keep the Seaver Theatre audience on the edge of their seats.

“Pride and Prejudice,” written by playwright Kate Hamill and directed by Margaret Starbuck, is a stage adaptation of the 1813 novel of the same name. It tells the story of Lizzy Bennet — played by MaKiyah Turner-Hicks PO ’29 — a bold, independent young woman who navigates Regency-era marriage systems and finds herself falling for the stern Mr. Darcy, played by Nicholas Russell PO ’26.

It’s a difficult task to adapt such a famous novel into a play. Madison Prowda SC ’28, one of the show’s assistant stage managers, commented on the intricacies of adapting such a well-known play.

“I think with adaptations you have to change stuff, and you have to modernize it, so I really like that [playwright] Kate Hamill kept the key components of Lizzy and Darcy’s personalities and the buildup of the initial dislike and how that becomes a relationship later,” Prowda said.

“I think the key characteristics of the characters were saved but also emphasized for the comedic aspect of it.”

Producing a stage production of a slower-paced novel like “Pride and Prejudice” presents a distinct set of challenges. To translate the novel’s tone and charm onto the big stage, productions must make deliberate changes to make the story as engaging to watch as it is to read.

“Honestly, I think if you put the book onstage as it was, it would be very, very boring,” Prowda said. “Because there’s a lot of waiting, and a lot of ‘I wrote this letter to one person who wrote it to another person, and then they got back to me.’ But that’s not really fun [to watch], so in the play it’s ‘I heard it from the source directly; I ran into this person, and that’s when this happened.’”

The show emphasized the comedic elements of Austen’s masterpiece, keeping the essential storyline while cutting unnecessary parts to make the plot more digestible to a modern audience.

For many audience members, one of the most memorable aspects of the show was the elaborate costumes, which deviated from the historically faithful clothing described in the book.

“I love ‘Pride and Prejudice,’ and I think my favorite part of the adaptation was the costuming,” James Rietz PO ’28 said. “I liked that they

were a combination of the Regency era and modern. I thought that part was really well done.”

Unlike the clothing depicted in the original book, the costumes were colorful and fun, using different textures and fabrics to create a compelling visual landscape. Assistant costume designer Molly Grace PO ’28 reflected on the costume design process.

“A lot of what the director wanted was [the] silhouettes of the costumes to be time period specific, but [wanted the] materials and the way they’re constructed to be more modern,” Grace said.

While watching the show, it was clear that everyone involved had a great deal of love for all of the work that went into creating the final production. Grace, who attended a performing arts high school and had acted prior to college, decided to broaden her horizons in Pomona’s theater department by joining the costume design team, leading hair and makeup design. Alongside the costumes, hair and makeup played a big role in the show’s legitimacy.

“I had complete control and design over hair and makeup, so I was decently involved with the costumes but super involved with hair

and makeup, which has been really incredible and fun,” Grace said. “So much of costume design is how the actor moves in the space and what they imagine the character to be like. And when those two things come together well, it’s just so exciting to see.”

The team’s passion shone through as the show was tightly produced, with swift scene transitions, cohesive set designs and a consistent tone throughout the whole production. Whether you’ve never heard Jane Austen’s name in your life or whether you’ve committed the novel to memory, Pomona’s production of “Pride and Prejudice” was definitely a hit.

The L-Word: Quegger gets the last word for the last party of the semester

As soon as the Claremont-famous Quegger Instagram account announced its impending Friday night bash, anticipation spread through the air on Scripps’ campus. This Quegger — a traditional kegger party with a queer twist — promised to be one for the books.

This Scripps College tradition began in pre-COVID-19 times, but during the years of quarantine and social distancing, Scripps nightlife came to a screeching halt and Queggers quickly faded into history. In the past few years, however, the Scripps party scene has been making a vibrant revival, complete with two consecutive years of 1C-plus-guest Mardi Gras parties and Halloween ragers.

The Quegger is now the next event to make its resurgence. With around two per semester over the past two years, the party typically draws approximately 200 attendees from across the 5Cs.

This Quegger, in particular, was themed for “The L-Word,” a longtime Showtime series featuring the lives and loves of a group of lesbians and bisexuals in Los Angeles. Many students were longtime fans of the show and felt that the theme cultivated a safe environment for self-expression. The distinct early 2000s vibe has also been making a comeback this year, and attendees were not shy about rocking their low-rise jeans and babydoll camis.

As the night unfolded, more and more people took to the dance floor in celebration. The speaker began to experience some technical difficulties,

but remarkably, people stayed.

Part of why people frequent these events, as attendee Aria Pines PO ’27 described, is because they flip the otherwise patriarchal, frat-centric idea of a kegger on its head. The stereotype of a kegger calls to mind a frat party, with shirtless guys playing dice in the grass. While there is nothing wrong with this kind of event, it isn’t for everyone.

“A lot of the parties at the 5Cs are centered around straight hookups, and I think that the Quegger is centered around community and fun, and [hookups aren’t] the point of it,” Pines said. “I love dancing, I love queer people, and I think that that’s what the party scene should be about; I think we need more of this.”

One might assume that in a liberal arts environment such as the 5Cs, a space created for queer people wouldn’t be unusual — but some students remarked that outside of Scripps, these spaces can be harder to find than one might think. “I feel very lucky to be going to my second one this year. I think it’s a really fun time to be able to go to a function at Scripps. I feel like outside of the Queggers [the queer community] doesn’t really manifest super organically,” Mira Chenok, PO ’27 said.

Outside of the Queer Resource Centers at the other schools, events that cater to queer students are less common. When asked whether they felt the same level of support at the other 5Cs as they do at Scripps, student responses were mixed.

Black Visionary Fund uplifts student creativity at DAWN fashion show

A disco ball swayed gently in the wind, hanging above the red carpet as the audience hushed in anticipation. As the show began, students leaned forward, watching as their friends came strutting down the runway, draped in glimmering, earth-toned pieces. On Friday, April 10, the Office of Black Student Affairs (OBSA), in collaboration with the Benton Museum of Art, hosted DAWN: Blaremont Fashion Show.

The show consisted of 10 student-pioneered looks, designed from start to finish by a combination of student creatives Biruk Gizaw PO ‘26 and La’Nae Fernandes SC ‘28. The looks reimagined elements of the natural world, particularly through an anti-colonial lens.

“We wanted to build a narrative and also create pieces that would fit into the idea of Blackness without colonial influence,” Fernandes said.

“We were talking a lot about nature and spirituality, so we settled on the themes of nature and soul.”

Some outfits were inspired by the elements, such as wind and water. Other looks were inspired by astronomy, with one evoking the sun and another capturing the night sky. Each walk down the runway was prefaced by a short piece of spoken-word poetry, written by Gizaw and Fernandes themselves. The looks were modeled by Gizaw and Fernandes’ friends and fellow OBSA members, making the show a truly community-led effort.

“We wanted to make sure that there was Black creativity throughout every single part of the show,” Fernandes said.

Gizaw and Fernandes’ show was supported and funded through a Black Visionary Fund grant that OBSA awarded to Gizaw.

The Black Visionary Fund is a creative development program that funds and platforms Black students at the Claremont Colleges to pursue creative and professional projects.

BLAREMONT MAG, OBSA’s student-led publication, states that the program is built upon the idea that “Black creative vision deserves infrastructure, not just recognition.”

This fund creates space for students’ ideas to materialize, a fundamental aspect of developing a legacy of Black creativity on campus. Other student-led projects funded by the grant include music and film production, photography and content creation campaigns.

“I don’t see a lot of schools besides Scripps hosting these groups,” Dessa LaFont PO ’29 said. “It is specifically made by queer people for queer people, and so it makes me feel seen in another way that Pomona doesn’t really. And that’s part of the reason I come up to Scripps so often, I feel very accepted here.”

While queer spaces certainly exist beyond just Scripps College, some students remarked that they can be harder to find. The biggest takeaway from the night seemed to be the emphasis on building an uplifting community, where the queer community can celebrate, not commiserate.

“I love how we are able to bring queer people into a space and just be together in a really positive way. I feel like a lot of the time, the community between queer people

is kind of just wallowing, almost, about bad things that are happening, and I love how positive the Quegger is,” Pines said. While the Quegger did a great job of fostering community, Scripps still has a long way to go to get back to the spirit of pre-pandemic nightlife. Upperclassmen often pass on legends about campus culture before COVID-19. However, with increasing attendance at the Motley Coffeehouse parties and events, in addition to the creation of the Scripps 1C Event Planning Committee last year, the Scripps community is back. “Out of the 5Cs, Scripps is definitely the one with the least party rep, and to my experience, that has been proven true … But the Quegger [was] lit last semester, and this semester so far, there’s been

a couple of really good functions,” Ruby Costa SC ’29 said. In this way, Quegger reclaims the typical party scene — one that is not built for queer voices. Regardless of whether you’re queer or not, the Quegger is a comfortable space for everyone to exist without fear of being judged. Not everyone who attends a Quegger is queer, and not everyone who is queer attends a Quegger.

“I don’t feel threatened by [straight male attendees] at all, I feel like a lot of people here understand the vibe, and understand when they’re coming to,” LaFont said. “If anyone homophobic came, I think I would not be okay with that, but so far in my experiences, everyone who comes here is really an ally, or they’re gay.”

The Quegger is a chance for everyone to let their hair down and enjoy a night with a like-minded community.

AUDrEY BETWEEN FrAMES

‘Whisper

of the Heart’ and interior worlds

Each time I sit down to write an article, I am pulled back into a particular kind of excitement — one that absorbs you in adolescence when you first feel a spark of passion.

I remember spending hours on end writing stories on my dad’s iPad, not because there was nothing else to do, but because it felt like a necessity. I would forget the time of day and whether I had eaten lunch yet. Everything else in the world around me lost meaning until every idea was thoroughly explored, and every word was on the page.

“I think it’s important to have faith in the work that students do,”

Lydia Middleton, Director and Dean of Students of OBSA, said.

“We don’t need to give them a lot of oversight, just give them support and let them create. You can see the personal meaning that the projects had for themselves and for what it means to be a Black person creating on this campus.”

Middleton’s words rang true as the night’s celebrations unfolded.

The show began and concluded with performances from Earthtones — The Claremont Colleges’ all-Black acapella group on campus — which both Gizaw and Fernandes are a part of.

The group performed a moving rendition of “Stand By Me,” their legacy song. Gizaw has cited his experiences with Earthtones as a foundational inspiration for DAWN.

“[Being a part of] Earthtones gives me a strong connection to the Black community on campus,” Gizaw said. “It helped me find people [whom] I really relate to that I was able to connect to more strongly. Before Earthtones, I hadn’t had spaces to meet these people as easily.”

Gizaw’s experience with Earthtones highlighted the power of a creative community for Black students, motivating him to establish a similar space on campus for Black fashion designers.

“The main reason [for having an all-Black show] was [because of] my experience in Earthtones,”

Gizaw said. “I wanted to emulate that and have people see that there’s somebody willing to create these spaces for fashion design.”

The success of the DAWN show illustrates the importance of supporting Black creativity on campus, and the confidence and community institutional support can bring. When campus resources are allocated for student-led projects, creativity can flourish.

“Growing up in Minnesota, I never had a lot of Black friends or a strong Black community that I felt like I was able to go to for support or go to for resources,” Fernandes said. “Having this on campus space that is able to provide that funding and support and give us the space to be creative in the way we want to, and then also have the opportunity to share that creativity with all Black models and another Black designer was very surreal.”

“Whisper of the Heart” is my favorite Studio Ghibli movie because it accurately captures this feeling that seemed so profound. The protagonist, Shizuku Tsukishima, is utterly consumed by her own imagination, yet cannot bear to share any aspect of it with those around her. Her writing is whimsical and never-ending, but it brings about a kind of quietude that slowly turns to isolation.

At 14 years old, it often feels like no one will ever understand you, and that the further you wander into your own mind, the harder it will be to explain when you return. With no end in sight, one’s imaginative capacities become almost indulgent.

The creator, Hayao Miyazaki, is known for his magical realism, which uses serendipitous, dreamlike elements to highlight the richness of life itself. However, these features are intentionally left out of the beginning of the film.

That is, until Shizuku crosses paths with an antique shopkeeper who later becomes her writing mentor. He says she is like a geode: While something wonderful lies within her, without practice, she may never truly know what that something is.

When the shopkeeper describes Shizuku as a raw stone, he is more broadly referring to her selfhood. It is a metaphor about potential and access. Through working to become a better writer, she can learn to translate her interior world. She continues to sit with her work, she learns more about who she is and who she wants to become.

“Whisper of the Heart” captures the writing process in its entirety: from the fleeting spark of inspiration to the rigors of refinement. Yet, the writing process requires more of Shizuku than simply discipline. It

requires vulnerability. For me, the more I fell in love with my amateurish novel about a secret world filled with made-up radish people, the more I feared others reading it. Shizuku felt the same way. In letting the shopkeeper read her first draft, Shizuku sheds this loneliness and risks being known through what she creates. What he offers is not superfluous praise, but rather lengthy critiques of her writing. Realizing that her writing is not meant to remain untouched is a step she must take to become the writer she hopes to be. For a young writer such as Shizuku, this step is intertwined with the act of growing up itself, of learning that to be understood, you must first allow yourself to be seen by the world, even imperfectly.

During this formative moment in her life, she flirts with this idea of being known, as she is no longer content with the safety of being admired from afar. However, this transformation is not immediate; Shizuku continues to waver between the two extremes.

Her relationship with Seiji Amasawa, a boy from her school, captures this tension between the desire for self-preservation and the sense that this same preservation may be her greatest hindrance.

From the very beginning, Seiji attempts to win Shizuku’s interest but remains largely unsuccessful. Nevertheless, following a chance encounter in which Seiji shares his dreams of being a violin-maker, she lends a little bit of herself to him in return. On this night, she asks him to play his violin, but in return, he poses a condition: She must sing her writing alongside him.

There is something universal about this moment. We all hold a fierce and often private devotion to the things we create, the things we love and the interior worlds we spend years building. But during adolescence, this reality can feel unstable. We can feel alone in our devotion, not because those around us are unwilling to understand, but because these passions feel too particular and untranslatable.

However, when you inevitably meet someone willing to sit with you long enough to understand why you love something, these presumptions begin to unravel. In the film, Shizuku

and Seiji both learn that — like their respective passions — to know someone requires a commitment to vulnerability. This is one of the wonders of growing up: fostering a real connection with a kindred spirit. Suddenly, your peculiarities begin to feel less out of place in the world.

In the end, Seiji is called to Italy to study his craft. His devotion to something larger than himself inspires something in her, as she wants to do the same. However, this devotion and the distance between the two pull at her insecurities. While she celebrates him, she cannot help but see herself as still unpolished in contrast. Shizuku doubts whether she is good enough to be a witness to his talents and asks how she could encourage him from so far away.

Once you allow someone to see your interior world, you become achingly aware of how badly you want to be worthy of seeing theirs. However, this doubt is a vulnerability, and it stands as a testament to how far she has come. Left at a crossroads, she decides to strive towards becoming a professional writer, testing her skills just as Seiji is.

The movie ends with a symbolic moment: After months abroad, Seiji returns and takes Shizuku on his bike to watch the sunrise. The hill that they must bike up becomes too steep, and Seiji’s momentum begins to dwindle. Shizuku doesn’t wait to be brought to the top and instead jumps off the bike to push it. It symbolizes what they have both become together and as individuals.

“Whisper of the Heart” treats adolescence with profound seriousness; although we often render it trivial, it hardly felt that way in the moment. It is easy to look back at Shizuku’s age and see life as a simpler time when work seemed recreational and first love was amusing. But, at least for me, these initial memories feel a bit dishonest.

Miyazaki’s ability to wring his adolescent angst into a masterpiece assures the aspiring artist and growing adult that at some point they will be able to do the same. The film is a triumph simply because it encourages the creatively reserved to set their cherished ideas free.

James Talarico presents a winning strategy to progressives nationwide

RAFAEL HERNANDEZ GUERRERO

On Oct. 16, 1859, a group of white and Black men raided an armory in Harper’s Ferry, Virginia, with the intent of provoking a slave rebellion that would free all enslaved people in the United States. The leader of the rebels was a white man known as John Brown, a radical abolitionist who sought to destroy the institution of slavery by any means necessary. An evangelical Christian, he believed himself to be an instrument of God sent to Earth to end slavery in the United States. He was ultimately captured and executed on Dec. 2, 1859. When it becomes necessary for the marginalized classes to destroy the bonds that bind them to suffering under their oppressors, it is imperative to declare a purpose that places

the people first. Without first emphasizing the importance of equal fulfillment of the social contract across social classes, the fight for greater rights will fall into the hands of opportunists and the movement will always fail.

Currently, unsustainable economic conditions in the United States call for the formation of a broad working-class coalition aligned against billionaires whose interests have become paramount in the government. Progressives must push the Democratic Party toward the left, toward an agenda of wealth redistribution that would alleviate the great strain presently placed on working-class Americans. This is not an unrealistic dream — just look at Zohran Mamdani’s successful campaign in New York City. Moreover, it is imperative that

the Democratic appeal to working-class woes is adapted to regional contexts for the movement to succeed on a national scale. Candidates like James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for the 2026 Texas Senate election, provide an effective mold of progressive religious populism that reflects John Brown’s unwavering and faithful dedication to justice. The success of a progressive candidate like James Talarico in the Texas election relies on the campaign appealing to specific demographics of the American working class — in this case, the largely multiracial and religious Texas population. His victory provides an example to campaigns in many other regions in the United States and ultimately proves that the United States can overcome its present conservative challenges.

36-year-old James Talarico is renowned for framing his progressive stances around his Christian faith, while denouncing the Christian nationalist movement. Importantly, Talarico’s rhetoric places a special emphasis on working-class solidarity. According to him, “the biggest divide in our country is not left versus right but top versus bottom.”

Before becoming a politician, Talarico was a public school teacher on the west side of San Antonio, a predominantly low-income and Latino area. Current polling suggests that this year’s Texas Senate race is essentially a toss-up between Talarico and the Republican nominee, which is astonishing considering Trump claimed Texas by 14 points in 2024. Arguably, this polling speaks to current Republican unpopularity more than anything else. However, Talarico’s success in the upcoming midterms could prove that progressive agendas can succeed, even in areas that we typically think of as fundamentally conservative.

Talarico adopts an unadulterated form of economic populism that aims to place the fate of the nation in the hands of the masses, not the wealthy. Populism generally has a bad reputation as it is thought of as ideologically divisive, and has often been wielded as an authoritarian tactic. But Talarico’s style promises to demonstrate the utility of populism in modern political contexts. His populist rhetoric is not divisive or polarizing, as he clearly defines the enemy as billionaires — an identity that is a choice, unlike one’s skin color. At the core of Talarico’s beliefs is Christianity, and these foundational values that engender his progressive pro-working-class agenda. Talarico believes the ultimate act of “loving thy neighbor” should be exerted through politics. His broader platform focuses on reducing the influence of money in politics, alleviating the cost of living crisis, healthcare reform in the form of Medicare for All and increasing resources for public education, among other progressive policies.

Talarico’s greatest weakness is also one of his biggest strengths: He struggles to appeal to nonwhite voters as a white man, which pushes him toward this agenda of economic populism. His platform does not emphasize cultural or racial facets because he cannot claim to relate to the struggle of racial minorities. Yet, in order to win a state that is 60 percent people of color, Talarico emphasizes solidarity with the working class and supports it with his Christian faith, two things that are highly appealing to working-class, non-white voters.

As Trump and the Republicans’ popularity continues to decline, the possibility of Democratic victories in the midterms only increases. Candidates like James Talarico present a unique chance for progressives to help Democrats gain the upper hand in Congress and prove themselves as representative of working-class interests by actually working to reduce the political power wielded by billionaires if they win seats this upcoming election season. Unlike other times in American history when a relatively egalitarian economy was achieved, such as the Progressive Era of the early 20th century or the New Deal era, these outcomes cannot be achieved without uniting across racial minorities. The 2026 Texas Senate race is a pivotal moment: The outcome will determine whether the Democratic Party can forge a multiracial working-class coalition to counter the new Gilded Age of demagoguery headed by Trump. It is a crucial test of whether a progressive agenda can triumph outside of liberal strongholds — if they succeed in the midterm election, it will demonstrate that progressives can gain enough power to curb oligarchical politics at the national level. Christianity has been an impactful source of inspiration for important reform and radical change movements throughout American history; It is again time for those who seek change to pick up the torch and march onwards. John Brown and James Talarico represent very different paths toward addressing injustice, but they are driven by the same belief that a better United States lies ahead. Talarico’s fight lies in his faith, just as Brown’s did, and the success of his campaign could provide a playbook for progressive politicians to achieve widespread success in the future. Rafael Hernandez Guerrero PZ ’29 has decided to rebel and will instead break the 4th wall because he does not want to write an author’s autobiography.

In defense of the Mrs. degree

I remember the first time I heard a girl on campus say she was keeping her baby. It was just last year. The reaction was immediate and unanimous: “This is a disaster.” People spoke in lowered voices about how she’d “never be able to do what she wanted again,” about how she’d “messed up.”

She’s graduating this year and getting married. Last time I saw her, she looked happy. It was rather jarring. We all had been so certain that we knew how her life would go.

Antimotherhood attitudes certainly don’t come from nowhere. These ideas have come to inform the common understanding of what makes a woman’s life fulfilling. As a society, we’ve moved so far away from traditionalism that motherhood is now assumed to be incompatible with ambition and autonomy. This attitude is bolstered by the false claims that mothers are less happy than childless women and that earning a college degree only to prioritize family is somehow a wasted investment. A woman’s choice to pursue motherhood on her own terms should be recognized as a legitimate expression of empowerment, not a retreat from it.

GRACE RUTHERFORD found that parents report significantly higher levels of overall life meaning. Not only is parenthood associated with greater life satisfaction, but research also shows that individuals often experience regret over forgoing motherhood. Surveys of older adults consistently find that regret over not having children is both common and persistent, while regret over having children is rare and typically temporary. In comparing two studies, researchers found that roughly 4 in 10 childless older adults reported wishing they had children, whereas less than 7 percent expressed the opposite. If motherhood were truly the life-destroying choice it is often portrayed to be, these numbers would look very different.

Germaine Greer, one of the most influential feminist writers of the 20th century, wrote: “Housework, childcare, and shopping are not the activities that fulfill a human life.” Shulamith Shulamith Firestone was even more blunt in her book, “The Dialectic of Sex,” writing that “Pregnancy is barbaric … Childbirth is like shitting a pumpkin.”

This is not subtle messaging. These writers have framed motherhood as degrading, and this belief has become pervasive in the decades since these statements were written. Even when the language about motherhood is less shocking, the underlying claim persists: In the modern era, having children will make a woman worse off. But this is where the popular narrative breaks down. Across large datasets, mothers are not less happy than non-mothers. In many cases, they are happier. A 2025 cross-national analysis found that parents report higher life satisfaction than non-parents in the majority of countries included in the study, and other research has

The second piece of conventional wisdom is quieter, but just as powerful. Women are told that if they go to college, they must have a career. Otherwise, the degree is wasted. Another feminist icon, Linda Hirshman, put it starkly in “Get to Work”: “Women of privilege who choose not to work are undermining women’s equality.” Famous businesswoman Sheryl Sandberg wrote in her bestselling book “Lean In”: “When a woman leaves her job, it’s not just her loss — it’s a loss for all women.” Again, the implication is clear: Education must be cashed out in the labor market, or it doesn’t count. The problem with this assumption is that it reduces education to a purely economic translation, rather than recognizing it as a form of intellectual, personal and relational development that shapes a person in and outside of a career.

The point of obtaining a college education is not simply to maximize your income. It is a holistic experience that shapes many aspects of a person’s life. Going to college allows one to build social connections and expand one’s opportunities after graduation. College offers mobility and growth far beyond career building and academia. Attending college allows one to develop critical thinking skills and make more informed life decisions, which in turn compound within a family. Economists have been documenting this for decades. Children

of more educated mothers complete more schooling, have better health outcomes and earn more as adults. One estimate finds that one additional year of maternal education is associated with a 0.2 standard deviation increase in child test scores. Another estimate finds that each additional year of maternal education increases a child’s eventual earnings by up to 2 percent. A maternal college education would therefore increase a child’s scores by 0.8 standard deviations and earnings by 8 percent. Moreover, studies that track families over time show that children raised by highly educated parents, including stay-at-home mothers, go on to earn, on average, tens of thousands of dollars more per year than their peers. A woman’s return on the investment into her

degree is transferred, amplified and realized through her children. Her success isn’t measured by her W-2 but instead through the trajectories of the next generation.

Furthermore, a college degree does not just give you a job — it gives you autonomy. It means that if your relationship fails, if your spouse loses their job, if something goes wrong, you are not trapped. You can re-enter the workforce. You can support yourself. College changes the entire structure of the choice to stay home.

This assurance of security brings me back to that girl from last year, and to myself and to a lot of my friends who whisper versions of the same fear: What if I want this?

We are told constantly to delay. Finish school, build a career, estab-

lish yourself and then maybe think about children. But biology does not wait for perfect timing, and neither, it turns out, does happiness. The data does not say that motherhood ruins women’s lives. If anything, it suggests the opposite. Education offers an opportunity for growth for the woman who prepares to raise her children and take care of the home. Her degree becomes a kind of insurance, a foundation she can fall back on if needed. The real mistake is not the young woman who gets pregnant in college. The mistake is the certainty with which we all assume we know what will make her unhappy.

Grace Rutherford PO ’28 wants to be a stay-at-home mom and homeschool her children.

Aidan’s Crossword: Unoriginal Soundtracks

ACROSS 1. Cracked, as a door

Tangent

Statement that might be “humble”

Transportation tube for Mario

Fight away

Indian musical pattern

Wine “expert” 18. Album by 18-Across

Put on the company tab

Sound of a cartoon spring

“The Big Lebowski” director

Draws out

Album by 26-Across

Hawaii’s Pineapple Island

“Celebrity Jeopardy!” network 32. Arab bigwig

Old White House nickname 37. Pointed fingers at 41. Citrus drink suffix 42. Basilica benches 44. Apt rhyme of “fire”

45. Hole-in-one on a par three, e.g.

47. Album by 47-Across 51. Wrecked beyond

5. Wakes up 6. Star close to Venus? 7. Music player from 2001-2022

8. Bear lair

9. State tree of two different states

10. Rich French bread

11. Bones near the ulnae

12. FBI operative 13. Groups of troublemakers

19. Slightly 21. Brand of seemingly indestructible cell phones

24. Goes, as the flow

25. Use the bunny-ears method, say

Dot on a radar screen

Word before any of the words in the HOMES mnemonic

From the beginning

Eddie of men’s apparel

Biblical gift bearers

Doing nothing

Instagram ____s

___ and repeat 69. In case DOWN

Basilica benches

“We just said the same thing at the same time!” 3. Per unit 4. “Friday” singer Black

Issue 18 Leaderboard

In a perfect world, we could all live onIn a perfect world, we could all live on homesteads in rural Massachusetts, with warm sourdough on the table and cows grazing in our hundred-acre backyards. We could all become masterful homecooks, crafting fresh peanut butter, jelly and bread for our cosmically patient children.

From-scratch influencers, who have garnered a massive following over the last few years, tell us that this perfect world is already here — they are living in it, and so can we. Their home-grown messaging has seeped into our social media algorithms. On YouTube Shorts, viral influencer Bob Dickinson invites us into his rustic cottage, where he cooks exclusively with ingredients from his own garden. To Dickinson, store-bought items are a bleak byproduct of global consumerism, denying us the satisfaction of hand-picking rhubarb and fermenting sauerkraut. Like many other influencers, he laments the fact that home cooking is no longer prioritized in modern society. If we all just made time to bake fresh bread a few times a week, everyone in the world would be a whole lot happier.

ZARA SELDON star Nara Smith has filmed herself preparing a bounty of “quick little snacks,” including homemade buldak carbonara, Thai mango rice pudding and artisanal Dr. Pepper. She claims to make these “snacks” for her incredibly low-maintenance toddlers, who are apparently content with five-hour PB&Js. Hannah Neeleman of @ballerinafarms markets herself as a mother of nine who happily harvests all her food from her family-owned farm. She promotes a stay-at-home existence free from the shackles of capitalism, while ironically co-running a multi-million dollar business. When I come across their videos, Nara and Hannah briefly make me feel like I, too, could dip my homemade French fries in homemade ketchup. Then I remember that I’m a college student.

From-scratch influencers and MAHA proponents believe that they are letting us in on a secret. They perpetuate the idea that healthy, unprocessed food is a lifestyle choice, not a privilege, and anyone can attain it with enough dedication.

This priority shift attitude does not exist in a vacuum online. As part of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) program instituted by secretary of health Robert F. Kennedy Jr., 18 states have restricted the purchase of non-nutritious food and drink for people using SNAP benefits. In practice, these restrictions include sugary beverages, candy and packaged snacks. The goal of this initiative is to encourage SNAP recipients to “prioritize healthy food,” because using government benefits to buy items with low nutritional value is an affront to American taxpayers.

By characterizing clean eating as a lifestyle adjustment rather than a condition of socio-economic status, MAHA mirrors the entitled ignorance of online from-scratch culture. Its messaging willfully ignores the money and time required to eat a perfectly healthy diet, and instead places this burden on struggling Americans to make healthy choices. The food-based elitism that permeates both social media and political platforms villainizes the poor by using wellness rhetoric to cast poverty itself as a moral failure.

The internet’s most popular fromscratch influencers have a way of making impossible cooking routines seem effortless. Model and TikTok

Many from-scratch influencers portray themselves as modest homesteaders living off the land. They are strong proponents of family values and view their departures from mainstream consumption as simple and righteous. I’ve spent hours scrolling through their videos, and have never found a single mention of the privilege required to dedicate such exorbitant amounts of time to cooking.

Hannah Neeleman says that while her husband’s father is the billionaire founder of JetBlue, “he has never supported [the family] financially,” and that they attained their lifestyle through a love of work and creation. Nara Smith captions almost every one of the complex cooking videos she films in her giant modern kitchen, “#easyrecipe,” a meager attempt at accessibility that feels far too ignorant and ironic to be genuine. These influencers believe, or at least pretend to believe, that they are enlightening people to a new way of life, which anyone can reach if they put in the effort. The Make America Healthy Again campaign rests on a similar conclusion: People on SNAP are intentionally making poor lifestyle choices, so limiting food options will encourage them to change their eating habits and live healthily. Outside of promoting the brutally unrealistic MAHA program,

Republican lawmakers have also expressed significant hostility toward Americans receiving food stamps. Louisiana representative Clay Higgins tweeted that people on SNAP should “stop smoking crack.” He then instructed citizens to “wrap [their] heads around how many pantries you can stock with $4200 [per year] of properly shopped groceries.” In reality, the average family of four spends around $900 per month on groceries, which adds up to $10,800 per year. Former Florida congressman Matt Gaetz voiced frustration that hard-working Americans were funding social services for “people who could make a broader contribution and instead are couch potatoes.” Alabama senator and millionaire Tommy Tuberville said that young men on food stamps “should be working” instead. These comments reflect the bootstraps attitude that has shaped

the Republican Party’s vague and crucifying stance on government aid: Americans on public assistance are simply not trying hard enough. This way of thinking contains an incredible leap of logic. Curating a nutritious diet is more expensive at the average grocery store, so a practical initiative would involve expanding SNAP benefits so people can actually afford it. Instead, the Trump administration’s Big Beautiful Bill aims to cut benefits by $186 million over the next ten years. Thus, Americans on SNAP are somehow supposed to eat healthier than ever on a budget more limited than ever. Right-wing politicians expect the impossible, and still have the audacity to frame the eating habits of Americans — some living in poverty — as a lifestyle choice. People are busy, people are poor, and changing what you eat is therefore not as simple as being told to just, well, do it.

From-scratch influencers and right-wing politicians are, of course, not the same people. They operate on entirely different playing fields, yet both groups perpetuate an oversimplified notion of what it takes to eat in ways they deem acceptable and necessary. Reversing these attitudes will take active resistance. Calling out food-based elitism both on social media and in political rhetoric is not a solution, but it is an important step toward creating food standards that are grounded in the complexities of everyday life. When we see these videos on our pages, we must not allow ourselves to fall into the trap of unrealistic expectations. To “Make America Healthy Again,” we need to expand SNAP rather than gut its vital programs and blame average Americans for their struggles.

The Claremont Orientalist: White men at the 5Cs who only pursue women of color

“Ugh, look who just passed by.”

“Who?”

“The guy with the Asian fetish.”

“Which one?”

I wish this weren’t a real exchange I had with my friends. Unfortunately, there are too many white men on campus who share a reputation for exclusively pursuing women of color. I decided to interview five women of color across the 5Cs as anonymous sources to hear how they have been affected.

Student A, an Asian American woman, said that despite most interracial dating being generally unproblematic, there’s “a slightly disturbing minority of people who created a sense of campus culture [that makes] women of color feel a little worried or uncomfortable.”

This worrying behavior is often hidden behind good intentions, like activism or language learning.

“There’s a kind of man who goes to the language tables to try to find women of color and specifically target and flirt with them,” Student B, an Asian woman who attends the Japanese language table at Pomona College’s Oldenborg Center, said.

A group of white men frequents the table on a daily basis. When I asked Student B what prompted those men to learn the language, she said: “It’s 50-50. 50 percent anime, 50

percent pornography.”

One of the students wrote sexual phrases on the whiteboard. Another student approached her personally and told her that his type was specifically East Asian women.

“They’re trying to learn a new culture, a new language, and [language tables are] such a nice way to be surrounded by native speakers. But also sometimes I feel really uncomfortable,” she said.

Some women on campus involuntarily assist in white men’s language learning, including Student C. Student C, who is Latina, was romantically involved with a white student activist. When they first met, she was surprised that he pronounced her name correctly. Later, though, it became obvious that he was “really, really happy” about pronouncing it right.

After they’d spent more time together, he started speaking to her in Spanish, unprompted. “I would reply in English, and he’d be like, ‘No, why don’t you want to speak to me in Spanish? This is great.’”

“I just refused, because it was really bizarre, and it made my skin crawl,” she said. “He was so proud that he was speaking to me in Spanish, and it just felt so inorganic and off-putting.”

Similarly, Student A described how a white man’s interest in women of color is sometimes an extension

of his interest in “exotic” cultures.

“It’s just uncomfortable to be a part of that, to be a participant without really realizing it,” she said.

This is not an exclusively 5C phenomenon. But I do think part of it is particularly fueled by being at a liberal arts college. For some students, the 5Cs is the most diverse space they have been in; this can come with the desire to be more culturally aware.

Yet seeking cultural awareness can quickly border on a lack of awareness; students are prone to distancing themselves from their privilege, with whiteness being one example. And sometimes, women of color unwillingly become the vehicle away from whiteness.

“In the fragility of woman-of-colorhood at this time, I am always just hyper-aware and very protective of myself, especially in liberal arts environments,” Student D, a Black woman, said. “There’s not always a genuine air when I’m being pursued by people.”

Student E, an Asian American woman, noted that most of the white men who have approached her are politically progressive.

“Am I just a part of your agenda to fulfill how you think you should live your life, being this woke white man who can connect with women of color over difference?” she said.

This archetypal “woke white

man” has been present on our campus for a while.

In December 1990, the former 5C student publication “Harmony” devoted an entire issue to interracial relationships, interviewing 40 students. One article mentions how a white Pomona alumnus had, “through a relationship with an Asian American … extended his awareness to the Hispanic community and further to the anti-apartheid and divestment movement.”

It’s good to care about communities that are not your own, so long as you’re centering members of these communities instead of yourself.

Student C clarified that it’s valuable to have a wide range of students advocating for marginalized groups, but that “there’s this really weird element with [one of these men] where it feels like a white savior situation. He feels like he’s doing this for us, that “his” voice is so important in these matters,” she said.

To shed light on this phenomenon, where else to look but a text many of us have read at our time here, Edward Said’s “Orientalism?”

Said describes Orientalism as “an exclusively male province” that was conducted “with sexist blinders.”

He analyzes French writer Gustave Flaubert’s depiction of an Egyptian courtesan in his travel writings; what attracts Flaubert is not the woman herself but “what … she allows him to think.”

The Orientalist can now travel without leaving Claremont. For him, like Flaubert, a woman can be reduced to a tool for his own intellectual or moral flourishing.

Of course, self-growth is an important outcome of any relationship. But when it’s the driving force for getting to know someone rather than a side effect, and when only one person is responsible for educating another, it gets a little complicated.

Student C said that though you initially think these guys are genuinely curious about you or your culture, you later learn that it’s coming from “a self-gratifying angle.”

“It doesn’t feel totally reciprocal — it feels like they’re pushing all their wants and desires onto us,” she said.

A lack of reciprocity is glaring in these relationships. White men aren’t “other” to women of color in the way the women are to them. Their world, portrayed in books, movies and scholarship, is all too familiar. Meanwhile, women of color, in their perceived exoticism, are often tasked to be representatives for their race or culture.

“It’s lovely to have white men, or people who are very centered in society, recognize the beauty of women of color,” Student D said. “But sometimes it does feel like a form of fetishization or political performativity.”

Student D added that even in female friendships, Black women are often used as “social capital.”

Some people might see the interest in women of color as a sign of progress. From the outside, it looks much better than blatant discrimination, especially when it’s accompanied by commendable acts like language learning and leftist organizing.

But being fascinated with women of color is often paired with putting down white women, which, from a white guy, seems to be nothing short of plain misogyny.

Not to say that the fascination with — or frankly, the fetishization of — women of color isn’t a form of misogyny, either. Behind the pretense of flattery, fetishization strips someone of their humanity.

The appropriation of the identities of women of color isn’t just a “taking” in the abstract sense; women of color actually lose something essential in the process — their sense of being a complete self.

In most of my interviews, the concern over not being seen as a person came up.

“It makes dating people kind of scary. Do they like me just because I’m Asian?” Student A said.

“Even if I vibe with this person, I always try to think whether this person likes me because I’m Asian, or if this person likes me as a person,” Student B said.

“What parts of me are marketable or attractive to a subset of society, rather than me being seen as intrinsically who I am?” Student D said.

“Do they even really like me, or do they like what I could embody?” said Student E.

So why do these men seek connection with women of color in ways that make those women feel disconnected from themselves? Self-interest.

“Certain white people, especially at a place like this where it’s very diverse, can find non-white culture to be especially intriguing, because they want themselves to seem or feel more interesting,” Student A said.

But being a white guy obsessed with non-white women isn’t interesting anymore, at least to me. It’s not just harmful; it’s boring. What can never be boring is treating people like people and loving for the sake of loving.

‘We can’t talk about that here’: Stories of surveillance and censorship in higher education

It was a dark and stormy night when Alana Felton found herself locked in a closed, dark police station in Belarus. In the pouring rain, she was marched across a bridge into her apartment and forced to prove that she lived there.

A common misconception of higher education is that it takes place in an “ivory tower,” separated from the reality of human life. Unfortunately, there is often hostility toward scholars; in the United States alone, there have been discussions of banning American research projects involving Chinese scientists and of cutting funding for political reasons. I spoke with Pomona College professor Alana Felton and Pitzer College professor Emily Matteson to uncover experiences with surveillance and censorship in our own academic communities.

Felton works as the assistant director of college writing and as a lecturer in English, overseeing the Center for Speaking, Writing, and the Image (CSWIM). Felton received a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship and taught in Belarus from 2018 to 2019.

DM: What was your experience like being surveilled [in Belarus]?

AF: I was interviewed [by Belarusian national media in front of my apartment] and then a few days later

I got a call again at the university on my … phone. It was the police station calling me. I was very confused, like, why would you want to talk to me? …

I go to the police station. They take me in. I’m locked in the police station … no lights on, and they start questioning me. They claim — and I to this day have no idea if this actually happened — they claim that a neighbor saw the news story [with me] and called them, and said that I was lying about where I lived … I was like, where else would I [live]? I just moved here. They wouldn’t take my word for it. They made me walk in the pouring rain across a bridge and into my building and prove that I live there

… [A] female police officer goes in … walks all over my apartment, touches stuff, then barely says a word and leaves amidst all of this. I had called the embassy and no one answered the emergency line, so I was just kind of on my own … They would sometimes show up again and check that I was still there. [Checking in] is a fairly normal thing they did with foreign students, [but] what was alarming

was that I was accused of lying about where I live. Later, the American embassy sent me a box of [ESL pedagogy] books, one of which is, I kid you not, “Teaching English For Dummies” … to distribute to the teachers at the college. We had the books sent to the university under my [Belarusian] friend’s name … because they weren’t sure the people working the [university] desk would know that I worked there. But apparently this was a red flag; the dean of the university … was all panicked about it. He was like, “You can’t have stuff like that sent here. The [Belarusian] KGB thinks it’s propaganda and they won’t let me give it to you,” so it was held for a long time. And then finally they gave it to me, and I was like, “Well, I was just going to leave it here for everyone to use,” and they were like, “Okay, we’ll do that.” They put it in like a locked cabinet and no one could open the cabinet. So that was my introduction to being surveilled. There’d [also] be moments I’d

be on the train with a friend and I would bring up something political they’d be like, “We can’t talk about that here,” or they’d [turn] off their phones and then they would talk about it.

The idea of surveillance in academia might conjure a thrilling tale of evading government operatives and collecting data, but this particular reality is much more subtle. When academics are treated with suspicion, it breaks down trust and hinders research and education.

I also spoke with Emily Matteson, visiting professor of anthropology at Pitzer College, whose research focuses on abortion politics and activism in Chile.

DM: How have anthropologists responded to censorship?

EM: Anthropology News, which is an online magazine, [is] currently creating a new section called “Defunded” where they are [asking] for submissions from … scholars whose work can no longer be studied, shared or written about due to federal funding cuts, closures of

particular academic departments and different political attacks on various research subjects.

I’m an abortion scholar, and so, in the current moment, I’m always thinking about the ways that I present my work, how I talk about abortion. In cases where I’ve applied for various forms of funding, I’ve certainly had to get creative about the ways that I talk about the work that I’m doing, [such as] emphasizing … health and discussions of different rights … without using the language of abortion.

DM: Do you feel like surveillance and censorship have recently become more of an issue for most academics?

EM: I think that for many of us [researchers], we are not strangers to heightened surveillance or critique of some of the subjects that we study, but at this moment in time, there are a lot more roadblocks … when it comes to things like funding.

DM: Do you think censorship makes communicating your ideas or communicating with other scholars

more difficult since you have to talk about things in a more creative way?

EM: [Censorship] can create a limitation on understanding the actual work that’s being done and the importance of that research. It can be limiting in terms of finding connections with other people who might be studying similar subjects … Certainly, it’s a limitation in terms of the type of knowledge that’s able to be produced and what we’re able to do with that going forward.

These stories deal with broader issues, but they creep closer and closer to home. There has been no shortage of surveillance-related campus news; 5C Critical Mass’s teach-in about the recent use of ALPRs in Claremont, a recent TSL opinion piece and an older TSL news article point to the ways that surveillance has been used in concerning ways on Pomona’s campus. We must also avoid the trap of self-censorship and support the voices that share these stories in and around our communities, academic or otherwise. Perhaps the greatest enemy of all is complacency.

Pomona-Pitzer welcomes Dr. Danielle Lynch as new athletics director

On April 1, the new Pomona-Pitzer athletic director, Dr. Danielle Lynch, officially left her previous position at Haverford College to join the Hen’s nest. Pomona and Pitzer College initially announced her appointment last December, following a comprehensive national search led by both administrators and students alike.

Lynch brings over 20 years of administrative experience in Division III athletics, which impressed Brent Carbajal, interim vice president for academic affairs and dean of Pomona.

“We were looking for many things, among them a leader who understands the role that intercollegiate athletics can play in a liberal arts education, someone with both leadership acumen as well as the communication skills to advance the visibility of Athletics on campus,” Carbajal wrote in email correspondence to TSL.

Student participants in the hiring search — like Zaina Sayeed PO ’28, a member of the women’s lacrosse team — found Lynch’s impressive performance at Haverford exciting for the future of P-P athletics.

“We [student-selectors] saw the resume of each candidate, and then had a chance for a twenty-minute Q&A to get to know each candidate,” Sayeed said. “Coming from the East Coast, I know Haverford is a great program, so I hope those skills can translate here.”

Lynch’s road to P-P was marked by a variety of experiences in the field of athletics. She started as a hurdler at Rutgers, entered athletic administration at West Point and then moved to Susquehanna University.

“[At Susquehanna], I served as Associate AD, where I wore a lot of hats — compliance, Title IX, fundraising, game day management and impact programming,” Lynch wrote in email correspondence to TSL. “That breadth of experience really prepared me for the next step, which was becoming Director of Athletics at Haverford College.”

Drawing on what she has learned from past roles, Lynch hopes to build on P-P’s history as one of the leading DIII programs on the West Coast. As she settles into her new role, Lynch said she will prioritize introducing herself to the 5C community.

“Getting to know people is

my number one priority,” Lynch wrote. “I’ve been spending my first weeks meeting with coaches, student-athletes, staff and campus partners — listening more than talking. You can’t lead well without understanding the community you’re leading.”

Students such as Sayeed hope the new leadership maintains the active role in the community demonstrated by former athletics director, Dr. Miriam Merrill.

“I hope she can bring the same spirit Dr. Merrill brought in terms of competitiveness and passion,” Sayeed said. “I really appreciate seeing that fierce competitive spirit in my athletics director. A good athletic director should show up for their student athletes.”

This spirit is exactly what Lynch hopes to show in her first impressions at P-P. She looks to take up an active role for both athletes and the student body as a whole.

“I want [student-athletes] to know that my door is genuinely open,” Lynch’s statement read. “I’m not an AD who sits behind a desk — I want to be at practices, at competitions, in the spaces where you live your athletic lives.”

Beyond her presence at ath -

letic events and as a friendly face around campus, Lynch stressed her role as an advocate for her student-athletes. Lynch’s doctoral dissertation focused on the lived experiences of Black male professional athletes during social movements from 2013 to 2023, bringing an academic lens to her work with students.

“My research has shaped me as much as any job. That work changed how I see my role — I’m not just here to manage programs, I’m here to advocate for people,” Lynch wrote.

Although her title as athletic director may remain the same at Haverford and P-P, the transition marks a new opportunity to lead one of the country’s leading academic and athletic programs.

“The energy here is infectious.

These are remarkable young people who have chosen to do something incredibly hard — compete at a high level while pursuing world-class academics,” Lynch’s statement read. “Getting to support that journey, to be even a small part of what they accomplish here, is a privilege I don’t take lightly.”

Stags golf wins second SCIAC tournament, prepares for championship

On April 3, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) men’s golf team clinched a narrow threestroke victory at the SCIAC No. 2 Tournament. The Stags entered as clear favorites, ranked 4th nationally, but faced their greatest challenges against the relentless winds at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon.

“It was blowing 30 to 50 miles an hour the first day, which is taxing physically and especially mentally,” captain Jack Rende CM ’26 said. “It was close the whole way through. We were the heavy favorites going into it, and we

ended up winning by only a few shots, so it was closer than we wanted.”

After the first day ended in a tie with Cal Lutheran, CMS managed to gain a 6-9 shot lead midway through the second round. Things narrowed again toward the end before the Stags secured their three-stroke win.

The course contained a particularly challenging stretch from holes six through thirteen, where players hit shot after shot into heavy headwinds. First-year Samson Li CM ’29 described the mental toll of the tournament.

“After I teed off on the first hole, I realized that the condi -

tions were going to be tough out there,” Li said. “It was just a matter of whether or not we could stay strong mentally and just grind it out, because everybody’s playing the same course in the same conditions.”

Additionally, Sebi Aliaga CM ’29 described the difficulty of that specific stretch of the course.

“There’s about a three-hour stretch where you’re just begging to make par,” Aliaga said. “You just got to take [it] shot by shot, not worry about what happened on the last shot, or what’s going to be ahead of you. You just got to stay in the moment.”

Despite this challenge, Aliaga came away feeling good about how the team responded. The emphasis on staying patient carried over into how the team approached the round as a whole, teaching a valuable lesson to carry forward.

“I think the team really did a good job of staying in it mentally and committing to battling through a hard day,” Aliaga said. “It was definitely difficult conditions, but I was really proud of the way the guys stayed committed to their game plans.”

What makes CMS’s run this season particularly notable is how young their roster is. Firstyears and sophomores form the majority of the lineup, and players like Li and Aliaga have been appearing near the top of leaderboards all spring. The Stags came into the weekend undefeated against West Coast competition and reached a program-best fifth-place finish at a national tournament in Georgia earlier this year, which secured their current ranking.

At the same time, the team continues to balance golf’s inherently individual nature with a strong emphasis on collective identity.

“Golf is super unique because it’s an individual sport,” Rende said. “So, it’s really helpful when you can grab onto a teammate and feed off of each other’s positive energy. When we’re playing on the course, it’s helpful to

be competitive and build team [chemistry].”

This sense of connection has carried over into the course, helping the team stay composed in high-pressure moments throughout the season.

“Our goal has always been to win nationals,” Rende said. “But we’re trying to redefine success so it’s not just results-oriented. It’s about doing everything we can to give ourselves the best chance when we get there.”

CMS has now secured wins in both SCIAC tournaments this season and is well-positioned to win the conference title and compete at nationals. For Rende, in his final year, the end of the season carries extra weight as he reflects on his role in the team over the past four years.

“It’s just [about] trying to add a little bit of character and fun for the rest of the team and help everybody else feel as comfortable as possible,” Rende said. “For me, it’s hardest to balance the competition and the people management side of it.”

Under the grueling conditions at this tournament, CMS displayed resilience and promise. While the margins may have been slim, the tournament proved to be a valuable opportunity to build their confidence. Now, they can set their sights on the SCIAC Championship, set for late April in Santa Anita, and eventually the NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championships, looming in May.

Stags stun Sagehens, sweeping Sixth Street baseball

On April 13 and 14, the Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS) and Pomona-Pitzer (P-P) baseball teams met for their annual Sixth Street Rivalry game, split between P-P’s Alumni Field and Azusa Pacific’s Cougar Baseball Complex. With both teams closely ranked coming into the game — at 15th and 17th in the nation, respectively — the series was wrought with anticipation.

CMS got off to a hot start, scoring multiple runs in each of the first three innings of game one, eventually sweeping the series.

“I’ve never seen that group of guys so hype and just ready for it, with so much energy,” LF Bryce Didrickson HM ’26 said. “I know how much this weekend means to all of our guys. Just the fact that it’s the Sixth Street Rivalry brought everyone’s morale up; [we were] super pumped to get it going.”

CMS batters credited their pitchers for their preparation throughout the week. Throughout the week, the Stags utilized RHP Parker McGraw’s CM ’27 sidearm release and pitch mix, which resembles Sagehen starter Max Brungrabber’s PZ ’27, to help batters to prepare for what they would see during the series. On top of prepared batters, the Stags’ pitching staff also showed out, holding a Sagehens team averaging 11.2 runs per game to just 12 runs over all three games.

“You can tell as fielders, playing behind your pitcher, when your guy has confidence in himself and confidence in the fact that he’s better

than the batter in the box. More than any series, this weekend, I saw that in our pitchers,” 2B Carter Bennett CM ’28 said. As Friday’s game continued, CMS’s lead grew, culminating in a 17-4 mercy rule win after seven innings. Despite the large margin of victory, the Stags knew they couldn’t let up in the next games. They only had to look back to last season, when a Stags 15-4 Friday win was followed by back-to-back Sagehen victories that Saturday.

“We all knew that game one was the same [as last year] and that we needed to keep that going through the weekend,” 3B Rider Gordon CM ’27 said. “Last year, we thought that we were just going to do the same thing [as game one] and not need the same focus, the same energy. This weekend, we made sure to keep the same focus and the same energy.”

The Sagehens attempted to bounce back on Saturday. Despite losing both games, the Sagehens kept the game competitive, and P-P secured their first lead of the series in the first inning of game three, courtesy of a 3B Cooper Berry PZ ’27 home run. Despite the loss, Berry noted the unique aspects of the Sixth Street tradition, even calling it ESPN-worthy.

“It’s the best rivalry in sports,” Berry said. “It’s so cool how you go to school with these guys. I’m taking classes with guys on their team. We see them dining all the time — we know them. It makes it a whole other level of rivalry. There’s nothing like it in college sports.”

For CMS, Sixth Street means more than beating a SCIAC rival. It offers their classmates the opportunity to attend games. Since the Stags’ field is under construction, their home games — like the two Saturday Sixth Street games — have taken place at Azusa Pacific University.

“The most exciting portion of the Sixth Street Rivalry is that we get to play a game on Claremont campus,” Henderson said. “We don’t have a field [at the moment], so this is sort of the one game a year that we get to have home fans and friends that you see around school.”

Accordingly, Stags fans poured into Alumni Field, filling much of the limited seating and overflowing

onto the surrounding Pomona sidewalk. Buoyed by their ‘home’ fans’ attendance, everything went right for the Stags.

“That’s the thing about playing good teams, that you can hit really well, or you can pitch really well, but in order to beat a good team, you have to have everything click,” Didrickson said. “I’d say that’s what happened for us this week. Our offense and our defense came together, and we timed everything up perfectly.”

While the weekend proved disappointing for the Sagehens, Berry looks forward to a rematch. Given how the SCIAC typically shakes out — as both CMS and P-P remain

near the top of the rankings — he said there is a good chance the two rivals will meet again in the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

“We know that we’re going to see those guys again down the road, and we’re ready,” Berry said. “We want another shot at them.”

Before their rematch, both teams hope to take care of business against the final three opponents on their respective schedules.

This weekend, the Stags will travel north to take on George Fox in Oregon, while the Sagehens play a home-andaway series versus Caltech. Everyone will be keeping a close watch on the SCIAC standings, where the top five teams are tied at six league losses.