Best Person to Share a Desert Island With: Michael Lapadot

Most Dreamed About: Katie Bonneau

Friendliest: Taylon Johnson

Most Likely to Have a CMC Building Named After Them: Alex Berman

Poppa Power Couple: Mark Munro & Erica Libby

Most Likely to Become a CMC Professor: Jake Petzold

 

 

Most Likely to #OccupyWallStreet: Dan Evans

Most Likely to Take Over the World: Dana Staley & Drew Oetting (together)

Best All-Around: Kevin Macpherson & Elena Davert

Most Nominated: Alex Wheatley

After the dinner, the Senior Class went across Foothill Blvd. to local piano bar Piano Piano, where the above mentioned winners enjoyed free drink coupons. But what were some category suggestions that didn’t make the cut? Here are some “more inspired recommendations coming from the broader Senior Class,” as Class of 2012 President Mary Doyle puts it:

Featured image credit goes to John Faranda.

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EVENTS

Friday, April 27

Noon: Scholarship Lunch at the Athenaeum

If you are the beneficiary of a scholarship here at CMC, take some time to stop by the Ath at noon to speak to and thank your benefactors. Besides, a free meal at the Ath is never a bad thing.

2:00 – 5:00 PM: Women and Leadership Alliance Negotiation at Pickford Auditorium

The Robert Day School is sponsoring this workshop for students and alumni. Participants will engage in a dialogue regarding negotiations, compensation, professional development, and social interaction. Alumni will be presenting and discussing all the topics, as well as role-playing various negotiation-based scenarios.

2:00 – 3:00 PM: Rose, Kravis, and Roberts Institutes Open House

Employees of the various institutes can come to hear alumni reminisce about redistricting, leadership, and environmental studies in years past.

2:30 – 4:00 PM: Speed Thesising Outside Bauer

Now that seniors have finished their theses, the alumni would like to see and hear about them. Come and pitch your thesis (if you can bear to think about it anymore)!  Email Meghan Grebing with your topic by tomorrow if you wish to participate.

3:00 – 5:00 PM: Open House at International Place, Chicano/Latino, and Black Student Affairs Offices

Come hang out with affiliated alumni and see where their degrees have taken them, be it domestic or around the world.

4:00 – 5:00 PM: Mi Casa Es Su Casa Reception

Swing by the Alumni Tent outside of Bauer to hear from alumni who may have lived in the same dorm room that you now occupy. If you want to, you can accompany alums back to their old dorms to relive and reminisce about some of their glory years.

9:00 – 10:30 PM: “Into Poverty: Living on One Dollar” in Pickford Auditorium

10:00 PM – 12:00 AM: RDS Speakeasy with the Winston Churchill Society in the Bauer Founder’s Room

Join the Winston Churchill Society for one of CMC’s finest traditions. Interact with professors and alumni over cigars, scotch, and a healthy amount of conversation. A non-smoking area will be provided for those who wish to avoid the smoke.

Saturday, April 28

8:00 AM: I Ran with Goldhammer

Consider this 5K around campus the unofficial Pirate Party warm-up.  Runners should meet at the Tiernan Field House on Scripps’ campus.

12:00 – 3:00 PM: Stag-a-palooza!

This is an alumni only event, but the Alumni Relations Office is looking for student volunteers who can work at the game and competition booths in exchange for a wristband to access food trucks. Email James Lippincott with your availability from 1pm to 4pm if you are able to volunteer.

2:00 – 7:00 PM: Pirate Party

A CMC classic.  Come out to Green Beach to soak up some sunshine and play pirate on the inflatable slides.  ”Please be respectful of visiting alumni…no water balloon attacks!” said Faranda.

9:00 PM – 1:00 AM: 5C Monte Carlo Party

Although this event is technically for alumni, students who are dressed up are invited to attend.  Just make sure you bring your ID.

Sunday, April 29

9:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Concours de Claremont Car Show

Have a thing for classic cars?  This is your event.  Wade Vaughn ’13 will be there showing off his 1966 Plymouth Fury III.

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TIPS AND TRICKS

1. Go to class on Friday. It may be warm and sunny out, but many alumni will be coming back to visit their favorite professors and classes. With all the alumni, it is more likely that your history class will turn into a story-telling session about your professor’s quirks and habits.
2. Be aware: Collins is closed for Saturday dinner. Plan ahead. Frary has pasta bar scheduled; Pitzer’s McConnell dining hall menu says it’ll be serving BBQ chicken.  We just might make it through.
3. Be a good host.  Be polite, share your campus.  If you see any alumni looking lost, make sure to introduce yourself and offer assistance.  Hey, you never know what you might have in common.

The official Alumni Weekend schedule can be found here.

I love this school. Coming here was probably the best decision I ever made. The great thing about Claremont McKenna is that it is not like anywhere else I could have spent these four years. It is fun and exciting, but it’s challenging me and pushing me towards my goals at the same time. In the end, I have learned, it’s the little things that count —  it’s the little things that make me look around several times a week, even nights before midterms, and think, “I love this place.”

It’s not just about the Athenaeum and the small classes, and the fantastic faculty. Here are 10 additional things that make me wish I could stay at CMC for a lot longer than four years:

1)   Snack and Tea

CMC loves feeding me; I love being fed. Every afternoon at 3:00, I have a platter of brownies, cookies, and rice krispies, and an array of tea facing me. And every night at 10:30, I am welcomed by the sweet, sweet smell of snacks like mozzarella sticks and pizza bagels. How do you say no to that?

2)   Subsidizing

Whether your friends want to go see Bon Iver or spend a day at Disneyland, get ready to pay half of what you would otherwise. Want to work for a non-profit this summer, but afraid you can’t because you need to make some money? CMC has you covered. What’s great about a small school is that we use our endowment to make sure that your four years here are about you doing what makes you happy.

3)   Pirate Party

Maybe it’s because it’s this weekend, but Pirate Party seems too quintessentially CMC to leave out. It’s an entire day of inflatable bounce houses, obstacle courses, burgers, and sunshine. It’s a day party to end day parties — and best of all, it’s during alumni weekend, so your fun never has to end.

6)   John Faranda

7)   Winston Churchill Society

Fine attire, fine drinks, and fine cigars — all enjoyed with the company of the finest professors and students. Winston Churchill Society is CMC epitomized. It’s a night of gallivanting in conversation with professors about their research, their classes, and their lives. Show up, mingle, and you might just learn a lot more from your professors than you can in just class time.

8)   Idea Night

They say it time and again on tours and brochures, but at CMC, your ideas matter. Here’s how I know: Every year, on the same stage as Condoleezza Rice, Robert Gates, and Dan Savage, CMC puts up its own students to talk about their own ideas. Whether it’s eating bugs, annexing Canada, or creating profitable philanthropic models, there’s a lot to be said about a school that will place you and your ideas on this pedestal.

9)    The Fountain

Everything about the fountain is a CMC hallmark. There is, of course, your freezing-middle-of-the-night birthday ponding and your run of the mill nice-day-dip-your-feet studying, but there’s no moment in a CMCer’s career (or so I hear) like Thesis Party. There is nothing quite like dancing in a fountain with your classmates, each of you clutching a school-sponsored bottle of champagne as you celebrate turning in your senior thesis, and with it, the most successful, happiest four years of your life.

10)    They send you a card on your 21^st birthday

Nothing screams “college” more. CMC cares, and on the momentous occasion of your full adulthood, they’re right there to celebrate with you.

You stand on the cusp of one of the most important decisions you have had to make yet. When you’re deciding where to be for the next four years don’t forget to think about what you want to remember from these four years, and what kind of people you want to be around. Then just trust me: Come to CMC.

Yes, you have to walk and stuff, and it’s totally worth it.

As you make your way toward Pickford Auditorium, a motley crew is surrounding the entrance, lingering on the stairs, and chatting on the balcony. The members of CMC’s theater association “Under the Lights” are sporting funeral attire, both appropriate and inappropriate, some are grieving, while others joke and argue in a wide variety of accents. Though much of the dialogue is between characters, every now and then an actor greets you or reins you into an animated conversation. And all of these interactions let you know from the beginning that this funeral service will be far from ordinary.

Steven Zima and Wade Vaughn performing a musical number.

After the audience members have taken their seats, the pall bearers enter with the casket, bagpipes play, and the grieving family trails the funeral procession. Father Seamus’ opening remarks are riddled with interruptions, outbursts, faux pas, and more than a few breaks from traditional funeral décor. The many small speeches and songs acquaint the audience with each member of the eccentric Finnegan family. Yet, there are still a few oddly heartfelt moments during the service that contrast well with the general dysfunction.

As the funeral service screeches to an unexpected halt, the Finnegan family lawyer attempts to steer it back toward its original course; he stands and invites all of the guests to proceed to Vinnie’s reception hall. The pall bearers exit and the rest of the funeral party leaves with the audience as they make their way to the Athenaeum. The entertainment never stops as the actors engage with you and carry on scattered conversations with each other during the short trek.

Once you arrive at Vinnie’s, a new group of characters is there to meet you and welcome you to Paddy Finnegan’s wake. To the left of the entrance there is an array of family photos on display, and just beyond that is a bar with Irish beers and spirits. Again, characters and audience members alike take their seats around the dance floor. While the dinner progresses, the actors sit amongst the dinner guests and play their parts during the slight intermission, adding energy and color to the meal.

Before long, the characters begin to recite toasts and limericks, perform songs and dances, and make sure to get the audience members in on the action. From group renditions of traditional Irish songs, to performances of more modern favorites, these actors transform dramatic subject matter into a hugely comical production.

Javed Jasani, Steven Zima, Wade Vaughn, and Michael Elhardt leading the funeral procession.

Director, Zeben Kopchak ’12 admitted that “it was a hectic, but enjoyable experience. It takes a lot of work to bring a production together and it was a real pleasure to see that happen.” When asked what he enjoyed about tonight’s performance, Wade Vaughn ’13 noted that “the best part of participating in the play is getting to interact with the audience members. There’s a lot of joy in making people laugh. Special thanks to Sanskriti Ayyer ’13 for singing with me on an empty casket.”

Overall the performance is much more than a show; it is an experience where you become one of the players. For a night of singing, dancing, excess amounts of laughter, and an unexpected plot twist, you won’t want to miss a performance that will keep you on your toes until the very end.

Haven’t signed up to see the play yet? Lucky for you, there’s still time! 

Sign up here on the CMC website.

Dr. Gates brought a particularly moderate approach to his political analysis, taking care not to explicitly deem any one political party or politician as “correct.” In his speech, he simultaneously derided the idea of military intervention in Syria, whilst bemoaning the slow and steady decline of NATO, an organization that he said, “was a huge factor in helping us stay safe in the Cold War.”

Photo Credit: William Vasta

Interestingly, Dr. Gates sees China as a potential ally, depending on how its decennial domestic leadership changeover pans out. As he puts it, “there is no fundamental geostrategic reason for China and the United States to become enemies, or for China to overtake the United States.” Dr. Gates did warn, however, that the United States’ actions in certain fields could be its own undoing. In a series of statements that excited each one of the Rose Institute of State and Local Government’s many employees that attended, Dr. Gates attacked the idea of partisan redistricting, praising California’s recent move to an independent and non-partisan redistricting process.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Dr. Gates’ speech was his elaboration on the leadership styles of the various Presidents that he has served under. When asked about whether it was tough to transition from President George W. Bush to President Barack Obama, Dr. Gates merely remarked, “Hey, I’ve dealt with both Carter and Reagan. The most recent Presidents were fine in comparison.” Dr. Gates went on to reveal some lesser known facts about these Presidents, blithely stating that Presidents Nixon and Carter had no sense of humor, and that the raid in Pakistan that killed Osama bin Laden was carried out without any hard evidence of his residence available.

Dr. Gates’ offered an extremely realist perspective of current events that could lead itself to a pessimistic view of the world around us. However, he took care to outline the fact that every issue has solutions. In the case of the United States, for instance, Dr. Gates felt that a move away from the partisanship and media bias that pervades our society could act as an instant cure for our domestic problems. Most inspiring, however, were his ending words; “we must learn to tell the difference between real and prescient information, and BS.”

The final vote was 10-1.  The lone dissenter was Vice-President Miles T. Bird, who took to his personal Twitter account to voice his complaints – tweeting “#teammiley.”

The concert will be held on Saturday May 5, the last Saturday before finals week. ASCMC President Aditya Pai ’12 justified the scheduling decision as being “beneficial to everyone. Finals week is stressful, and we feel that 115 decibels of pure, unadulterated teen pop would help ease tensions.” In order to reach the maximum number of listeners, the concert will be held on Pomona’s Walker Beach, with all speakers facing towards Honnold-Mudd Library.

In order to subsidize the cost of tickets to CMC students, ASCMC will be hosting the first annual Henry Kravis Leadership Auction, which will feature priceless CMC artifacts. Items up for auction include Jim Nauls’ caps lock key, Professor Brock Blomberg’s aviators, and Professor Ward Elliott’s fishing hat. The auction will be held at the Athenaeum this coming April 4, in lieu of the Robert Gates event.

MC for the Evening Will Kahn

All four years of CMC’s student body were represented on stage, and each were given ten minutes to make their case for a new, radical idea. The audience comment feed that backed the stage, allowed audience members to post live reactions to both the speakers and, more often, their fellow audience members during the presentations, making for quite the participatory show.

The live feed wasn’t without its faults, however. Elise Hansell ’15 noted the value and humor it brought, but was concerned about how much of a distraction it posed, stating “It could have been extremely distracting to the speakers and is probably not a good idea for regular Ath speakers.”

The night opened with a presentation by Jen Ringoen ’12 on the need for a new, unified Claremont-Mudd-Scripps mascot to replace the current Stag and Athena. Ringoen postulated that the confusing couple does nothing but reduce the quality of potential CMS apparel (which sports either a tame Athena or a mediocre-looking Stag) as well as create a division in the school between Stags as a men’s mascot and Athenas for the women. Ringoen’s solutions drew on essential elements of 5C culture, with possible new mascots ranging from the ubiquitous squirrels on campus to simply the Sae Bins, after Sae Bin Park ’12. The audience response system agreed, though some students proposed such suggestions as the Fighting Farandas, or the JIM NAULS DISNEYLAND TICKETS.

Sean McQueen Presenting on Humans Becoming God

Sean McQueen ’13 presented next on the idea of merging robotic technologies with the human body. McQueen focused on the idea’s possible implications, ranging from telekinetic communication to the potentially devastating issue of viruses and spyware. McQueen believes that humanity will either kill itself before reaching this level of technological advancement, or will simply need much more time to make this a reality.

Nadeem Farooqi ‘15 followed McQueen with a presentation on the race to explore and live on the Earth’s moon. Farooqi shared McQueen’s thought that humans will most likely extinguish themselves before managing to live on the moon, or beyond for that matter, but suggested possible success if the idea were couched in global cooperation. Farooqi took pains to distance himself from current Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich by pointing out the inherent flaws of Gingrich’s insular and self-driven approach to moon colonization. Farooqi spent a large portion of his time showcasing the current technologies that could potentially aid humanity in their quest for outer space exploration, focusing on new rocketry and shuttle programs.

Maz Zipperman Presents on Entomophagy

The final presenter, Max Zipperman ‘14, focused on the potential benefits of entomophagy or the eating of insects. Zipperman led the audience, which had thankfully finished dinner by that time, through a detailed analysis, showing that a majority of the world practices entomophagy in some form or the other. Zipperman also highlighted the hidden bugs in our food today, explaining that most chocolates and peanut butter products include a significant amount of insect parts. Zipperman concluded his presentation by offering the audience a taste of prepackaged insects, an offer in which few indulged.

Perhaps we will see these ideas sparking serious discussion in the future. I, for one, am looking forward to Chef Dave starting to serve up skewered crickets and grasshopper soufflé for Ath dinners and the CMC Squirrels playing Pomona-Pitzer in the newly constructed Ducey Moonasium.

Want more pictures from the event? Check out Caroline Nyce’s photoessay here. Be sure to check back in for the video of the event.

Savage, a nationally syndicated sex advice columnist and author, leads much of the public discourse surrounding LGBT civil rights and reproductive rights. He spoke at the Athenaeum on Wednesday as part of the Shifting Perceptions speaker series, which promotes inclusivity and dialogue on campus by bringing in prominent female, gay, and lesbian leaders.

Savage Love, the column that Savage is best known for in Seattle’s alternative newspaper The Stranger, began as a joke about 20 years ago.

“I was going to be a gay advice columnist that treated straight people and straight sex with the contempt that straight advice columnists had always treated gay people and gay sex,” said Savage, “I was abusive and nasty to straight people…and straight people loved it. They started sending me real questions…I started having to really answer them and look things up,” he said in an interview with the Forum.

Dan Savage (Photo Credit: advocate.com)

The focus of his speech at the Athenaeum last week was a more recent project called the It Gets Better Project. Eighteen months ago, Savage reacted to the reports of LGBT youth suicides by creating a YouTube video with his husband Terry Miller that addressed LGBT teens. The video aimed to tell those teens that while bullying from peers, parents and churches may seem bad now, it can and will get better once they get through high school.

In his lecture, Savage cited that ninety percent of LGBT kids face bullying for their sexual orientation and are four times more likely to attempt suicide than straight kids.

In the wake of their video, thousands of others added their own videos of encouragement to the It Gets Better YouTube channel. There are now 50,000 It Gets Better videos online, featuring testimonials from the “middle-aged gamer lesbian in the basement,” said Savage, to public figures like Tim Gunn and President Obama.

Savage described two main goals of the project. First, he wants to save lives. Savage said what saddened him most about these youth’s suicides was that they couldn’t “picture a future with enough joy in it to compensate for the pain they’re in now.” By projecting thousands of personal stories of triumph and joy in adulthood, the project tells LGBT kids that they can overcome the plight they may feel in school, at home or from religion.

In response, Savage has received hundreds of emails from LGBT youth expressing their gratitude. In his lecture, Savage told the story of a 15-year-old lesbian girl who tried to come out to her family but was met with threats from her parents to disown her and cut her off from their financial support. Forced back into the closet, the girl watched It Gets Better videos on her phone under her bed sheets in the middle of the night to find hope.

Second, the project aims to “force people to acknowledge LGBT kids and to reach out to them now when they’re living,” said Savage. He bemoaned the unsavory fact that the public generally takes notice of suffering LGBT kids only after one of them commits suicide.

Dan Savage With Some of the RAs. Photo Courtesy of Greg Zahner

It Gets Better helps to not only reveal supporters and role models for bullied kids but also send their messages to kids that have no support in sight. Acknowledging that he could never be allowed to visit high schools or middle schools to talk to kids about sexual orientation, this project allows him and others to speak to them “whether [parents and administrators] want [them] to or not,” he said.

The conversation also turned political on Wednesday night. When asked about the Republican primaries, Savage was uncompromising (lest we forget his neologism for Santorum; if you don’t know it, Google it).

“The Republicans have created a moronic base where only morons can now win elections…It’s a delight to watch as a Democrat, and I hope it continues,” he said in his interview, but later cautioned, “The American public re-elected George Bush—don’t put anything past us.”

Savage also discussed the recent debates over contraception and the transvaginal ultrasound bill. He told women in the crowd that ultra-conservatives “hate you and your NuvaRing as much as they hate me and my boyfriend, because we’re both having non-pope-approved sex.”

In a candid stroke of brilliance, he urged women to turn Virginia’s transvaginal ultrasound bill on its head by taking ownership and then photographs of their vaginas and projecting them on large congressional buildings in the state’s capitol, or even on Governor Bob McDonnell’s house itself. “They [supporters of the bill] want to have a good look at your vaginas,” he said, “but they’re also scared of them.”

Looking for more of Dan Savage’s work? Apart from his sex advice column and the Savage Love Podcast, Savage’s books include The Commitment and The Kid, among others. He will also have a television show on MTV this spring called Savage U. The show will follow him as he visits university campuses across the country to have open and honest discussion on sex, sexuality, and relationships. The premier airs on April 3.