Grinnell’s annual Festival of Trees event helps raise money for Drake Public Library. Photo contributed by Drake Public Library.

By MJ Old
oldmadel@grinnell.edu

Drake Community Library is hosting the annual Festival of Trees this Friday, Dec. 6, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Various community organizations have decorated holiday trees throughout the library, and community members can vote for trees through a donation. All funds raised go to the Friends of Drake Community Library, the organizer of the event. The Grinnell-Newburg Middle School jazz band will provide entertainment, and Santa Claus will visit with kids in the children’s area.

If you’re wondering how to receive top marks in this year’s Festival of Trees, the most important thing, according to Darke Public Library, is to be creative. Remember that a “tree” is really just a state of mind. Last year’s winner, constructed by the Grinnell Area Arts Council after-school program, was made entirely out of toilet-paper tubes. Other past trees have been made of drums, papier-mâché or books.

The Grinnell Area Arts Council after-school program, however, seems to be the group to beat. “The Arts Council tree usually does well because it touches so many kids in the community,” said Amy Blanchard, treasurer of the Friends of Drake Community Library. Involving children is a good strategy: they’ll force their parents to donate.

Having a theme can also help your tree stand out. A group of golfers called “The Hackers” contributed a tree last year covered in golf tees and lovingly referred to as, “Tee’s The Season!” A local knitting club known as Sit ‘n’ Knit has also been known to put their skills to good use. “One year they made hand-knitted hats and hung them on a tree branch,” Blanchard said. “They sold all the hats off the tree and that raised 800 dollars, so that was kind of a big year because they donated all the money to us. The hats were awesome. There were some that looked like animals, some that were just like regular hats.” This year, Sit ‘n’ Knit will be making bookmarks to sell at the event.

And of course, the safest bet to a win? Be rich. Each dollar, after all, is a vote. The average total money raised per year is between 300 and 500 dollars. Divide that over fifteen trees? You can do the math. “Some years we’ve had people in the library campaigning for people to give money to their tree. A twenty-dollar bill in the box really makes a difference,” Blanchard said.
Winning aside, the real purpose of the festival is to do good for the library and the community. Some groups go above and beyond. “There’s a group of women that run together in town and they are doing a tree that’ll be made of nonperishable food that’ll go to MICA, so that’s nice,” Blanchard said. “Last year they collected running shoes that they gave to the invisible closets of the schools in town.”

The Friends of Drake Community Library buy art for the library, such as the colored-glass pieces that hang from the ceiling, and the rainbow stacked ‘library’ sign out front. They also support the Archive and various online subscriptions. “We do things that make the library exceptional, over and above what their budget would be able to sustain,” Blanchard said. The library’s regular budget comes from the city of Grinnell.

Of course, 300 to 500 dollars is not enough for all of that. “The Festival of Trees is more of a community event,” Blanchard said. “It only pays for maybe half of one of the online subscriptions that we do. We get the vast majority of our income as Friends from our membership drive, which happens every December, and then the book sale and the bookstore.”
The generosity of the community and of Grinnell College (a dues-paying member of Friends of Drake Community Library) show in how lovely the library is all year round. “This is exceptionally unique for a community of our size,” Blanchard said.

The trees will remain in the library throughout the winter season, although voting is only open through Saturday evening. So, make sure to pay a visit on Friday or Saturday to have your voice heard. “If you see a tree you really enjoy,” Blanchard said, “put a couple dollars in the box. It makes the difference.”

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By Katherine Moody
moodykat@grinnell.edu

Two weeks ago, when temperatures plummeted well below freezing, all I was thinking about was how winter was the absolute worst. This week, with finals looming, all I can think about is how stress is the absolute worst.

I won’t lay out an argument for why stress is the worst because, unlike winter (which I guess a few weirdos out there enjoy), I can’t imagine anyone arguing that stress is good thing. However, a few Google searches did confirm my belief that stress is, in fact, the absolute, straight-up worst.

Stress is actually worse and more serious than I thought it was, and given my tendency to catastrophize, this is rather impressive. It turns out stress will kill you. Yes, my extensive research into the subject (reading four articles) confirms that if you don’t calm down, you will die.

Apparently prolonged exposure to stress can cause increased levels of cortisol which can lower immune function and bone density and increase blood pressure, cholesterol and heart disease.

Columnist Katherine Moody. Photo contributed

And if you’re thinking, “Well I’m only worried about a couple of papers—not the world ending, so I’m probably fine.” First, why aren’t you more worried about the world ending? Are you not paying attention? And second, even if you are only worried about papers, there is no distinguishing between stress from major and minor problems. Both, if chronic, have the same effects.

So, if you find yourself feeling chronically stressed, here’s what you do: do not do any research on the effects of stress. This will only stress you out more. I promise. All of the articles with titles like “Best not Sweat the Small Stuff, Because It Could Kill You,” and “If It Feels like Stress Is Killing You, That’s Because It Might Be…” were obviously written by psychos with the goal of stressing out (and, therefore, killing) their readers.

Instead, take the one piece of advice that the medical community agrees is the “magic pill” for stress: half an hour of moderate aerobic exercise. I’m absolutely sure this is the consensus because it wasn’t the answer I wanted, so I spent another 20 minutes looking for articles from reputable sources with a different, better way to reduce stress.

But it seems that if you are feeling stressed and worried about its effects (or even if you just want to feel better), then exercise is the surest remedy. While watching TV shows and reading might feel relaxing, inactive forms of relaxation are less effective in relieving stress.

However, if you are unable to exercise, or you are just dead set against it, there are some other things you can try to help you unwind. Smelling essential oils like lavender and sage can help you calm down, as can drinking chamomile or peppermint tea. Listening to music, socializing with friends, and watching cute animal videos on YouTube are all also good ways to combat stress. I’ve watched a video of penguins chasing a butterfly at a zoo in Japan at least 15 times this week, and I feel better after every time I watch it.

If, like me, you find yourself needing to work between penguin videos and want a caffeine fix to help you focus, it’s best to pick green or black tea over coffee. Both green and black tea contain theanine and caffeine, which, when consumed together, are supposed to prevent overstimulation of the nervous system and instead produce a “calm awareness.”

While finding time and different ways to relax is important, relaxation does not take the place of basic self-care like eating healthy and sleeping enough. Stress affects peoples’ appetites differently, but it’s important to make sure that you’re eating three meals a day and getting enough calories. Both calorie restriction and sleep deprivation can increase your chances of getting sick and can exacerbate the risks associated with chronic stress.

All in all, there are a myriad of ways to combat stress, which is good because there is a myriad of ways it can kill you. At the end of the day, just try to exercise, eat responsibly, sleep enough and find ways to relax that work for you. If all else fails, you can even try adopting positive thinking as a last resort.

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Photo by Ariel Richards.

By Kelly Page
pagekell@grinnell.edu

Any Grinnell student can recognize certain iconic images of the campus: the picture of the exterior of Burling on the Grinnell website, images of students walking through snow on the desktop of school computers or pictures of laughing students on promotional materials for the College. Photos of Grinnell appear in locations ranging from Instagram to the Des Moines airport. All of these images trace back to Justin Hayworth, who has been Grinnell’s content specialist in photography and videography for the past seven years.

Hayworth’s journey to his position as the College’s photographer began at a young age. He first became interested in photography when he was in sixth grade, inspired by his older brother who took pictures for his high school’s newspaper. By eighth grade, Hayworth said he had his heart set on being a photojournalist.

Hayworth said that a big part of what draws him to photography is meeting new people and learning about their lives. He also enjoys the ability to “go places that not everyone else gets to go and see things that not everyone else gets to see.”

Contributed by Justin Hayworth.

Having studied journalism at Kansas State University, Hayworth worked as a photographer for newspapers for fourteen years, including a position at the Des Moines Register. At the Register, Hayworth said he honed his skills through friendly competition, working side-by-side with accomplished photographers vying to take the best pictures.

However, the Register began laying off many of its employees, part of a larger trend of financial strain placed on newspapers in the internet age. Hayworth realized he needed to find a new job.

“The good and bad of deciding early in life what you want to do is sometimes you don’t have a plan B and I didn’t really have a plan B,” he said.

However, Hayworth found the job listing for his current position at Grinnell through a friend and realized that Grinnell was an environment he was excited to work in.

Contributed by Justin Hayworth.

“The idea of social justice and creating an environment where everyone could get an education really resonated with me, so I was like, ‘Sure, let’s give this a try’,” he said.

Now that he has worked at the College for seven years, Hayworth said one of the best parts of his job is being able to photograph the unique people of Grinnell.

“There’s never a shortage for interesting people doing interesting work. So, it really makes the job easy a lot of times in that it’s not hard to find those sorts of things … The real challenge is trying to find the time to capture all those different possibilities,” he said.

Hayworth said that his job at the College gives him a lot of creative freedom. He will receive general guidelines for images that the College needs but is able to interpret assignments however he wants.

This freedom enabled him to create an image that won best of show for a University Photographers Association of America competition. Tasked with taking pictures of Professor Charlotte Christiansen for an article about her deep space research, Hayworth brought Christiansen and some of her Mentored Advanced Project students to the Conard Environmental Research Area late at night and photographed the milky way behind them.

Contributed by Justin Hayworth.

“That picture was probably one of the best pictures I’ve taken since I’ve been at the College,” Hayworth said. A lot of work went into making the pictures turn out well: Hayworth said he spent several hours researching when the Milky Way is most visible in the night sky. “Once I did the research and knew what I needed for it to work, it was just a matter of me going out with the camera and being able to capture it,” he said.

A lot of Hayworth’s work is not researched and planned so far ahead of time, though, like a well-known picture of Gates tower with clouds and sunlight behind it that he took as he was getting ready to go home for the day.

Hayworth also often takes candid pictures of students around campus. He said he tends to start by finding places with good lighting, “and then it’s watching people and trying to capture moments, whether it’s someone studying really intently and you can tell they’re really engaged in what they’re doing, or they’re laughing as they take a break and they’re trying to blow off some steam, it’s just paying attention to people and watching for those short, fleeting moments that happen.”

Hayworth has extensive experience shooting newsworthy photos and moments on Grinnell’s campus, but his favorite photos that he has taken are much more personal.

He said, “Some of my favorite pictures are the pictures I take of my kids as they’re growing up and trying to capture that fleeting moment of them being children because it comes and goes very fast.”

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Offices for Elizabeth Warren, Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg are all located in downtown Grinnell. An office for Andrew Yang will soon join them. Photo by Isabel Torrence

By Tali Tesar
tesartal@grinnell.edu

As the Iowa caucuses approach, several Democratic presidential candidates are working to solidify their presence in Iowa by opening campaign offices in Grinnell.

Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttigieg have campaign offices up and running. Jill Biden was in Grinnell Sunday, Dec. 1 for Joe Biden’s office opening, and Andrew Yang will be here on Tuesday, Dec. 10 for his office opening. 

All four of these campaign offices are located in downtown Grinnell.

Professor Barb Trish, political science, said that not only do these Grinnell offices mean the campaigns have plenty of money, but, “It says a little bit about their vision of how long they’ll be around. You’re not going to sign a lease if you’re really worried that a week from now the campaign won’t be in place.” 

Co-chair of the Grinnell College Campus Democrats, Nat Jordan ’21, echoed this sentiment. “I think opening an office in a small town like Grinnell indicates they are going to be here at least through the Iowa caucuses,” he said. 

According to The Economist’s national polling average, all four of these candidates with campaign offices in Grinnell are among the top five highest polling candidates.

Additionally, Professor Trish noted the benefits to the campaigns of having an office. “Having a permanent, physical space is something that’s notable. It suggests that there is a place for people to get together and work. It signals to the broader community that there’s something of significance about the campaign,” she said. She added that as caucus time gets closer, “It’ll be really important to have a secure space.”

Jordan pointed out that these office spaces can be helpful for organizing. Though he said the Campus Democrats are remaining neutral and not engaging in campaigning for particular candidates, he said, “I think [the offices are] a good resource to send students [to] who reach out to us looking for ways to get involved in campaigns. We can just send them to that office, and there is almost always a person there during business hours, so you can just walk in and say, like, ‘I want to help.’”

Jordan also said that opening offices here in Grinnell might be reflective of campaign strategies for these candidates, saying that the attention from many high-polling candidates “speaks to the organizing potential that we have in Grinnell, both in terms of townspeople and students.” He said, “I think that this precinct is really important for a lot of campaigns, and in an era where people are trying to get college students involved and they think the young people are crucial to winning national elections, I think showing you can win young populations is important for future states.” 

However, Professor Trish said the concentration of offices in Grinnell might have more to do with logistics. “Depending on how the campaign organizes itself geographically, it just might make sense to be in Grinnell. Ideally, you want to be at the middle of the turf,” she said. Additionally, she said, “It probably says something about the availability of space too,” noting that Grinnell has the available storefronts to accommodate these offices.

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By Hannah Bentley
bentleyh@grinnell.edu

For the majority of students, the approaching winter break means finalizing class schedules for next semester, or maybe preparation for a semester abroad.

But for a select group of students, it’s also the very end of their time at Grinnell. This group of third and fourth-year students, graduating either early or late, will complete their undergraduate degrees by the time most students head home for a winter break.

When asked about what it has been like graduating at a different time than their same-year peers, Esther Hwang ’19 said, “I am involved with the Grinnell community but it’s not my priority.”

The first thing I noticed about Esther was their calm demeanor—something that isn’t typically prevalent when speaking with other students at Grinnell. This was something I picked up from all the students The S&B spoke with for this article: they were all calm and collected.

Hwang, who took a semester-long leave of absence to focus on their mental health, is on track to graduate December of this year with a bachelor’s degree in sociology. It was “exactly what I needed,” they said.

They used much of their time off to visit friends, work, and focus on their mental health.

“It felt like a nice buffer time,” they said, “because while everybody in my class was, like, stressing about post-grad I was like, I’m chilling, ‘cause I’ll still be in Grinnell for a bit.”

Like some of their graduating peers, Hwang plans to live and work in Grinnell in the spring after graduating this December.

Julia Dursztman, ’19, also plans to live and work in Grinnell after graduating this December. A political science major, she took a semester off to take advantage of an internship for the television show Late Night with Seth Meyers.

“Oh, yeah,” she exclaimed when asked if the internship was worth taking a break from Grinnell for, “the internship was amazing … it was just my dream.”

The internship even helped to shape what she wants to do for her long-term post-grad life.

After working in Grinnell during the spring semester, “I’m probably going to move home … which is in New York,” she said. “I’m going to try to work in television, probably, and have a bunch of side-hustles … I would love to work for Late Night again.”

Much like Dursztman and Hwang, Moe Sabai ’19 was able to gain a new perspective from taking time off.

Sabai, who took a medical leave of absence for one and a half years, said, “In terms of taking that break that I needed and thinking about what I want to do, I came back probably, like, a lot more, like, clear and, like, conscious about what I wanna do after I graduate.”
Because she took a year and a half off, Sabai was able to work full-time—a nine-to-five job—back home.

“I like routine,” she said, “When I came back to school I was really, like, on top of my things.”

In line with Hwang’s and Dursztman’s experiences, Sabai’s time off allowed her to take a step back and focus on herself, as well as to find what was truly important to her.

After graduating this December, she hopes to eventually find or create a career in which she is able to combine her interests in libraries, helping others, economics and data.
“Economics isn’t just about finance and making money,” she said.

She wants to do more with her upcoming bachelor’s degree in economics, something which combines different focuses to cultivate something that she, personally, is interested in.
Like Sabai, Hwang also wants to create a career that they love.

Although they plan on living in Grinnell during the spring, in the long term, Hwang says that “education is a big part of [my] future.”
They hope to eventually teach English in Korea, as well as to take on various creative projects.

When asked whether Grinnell prepared them for post-graduate life, I received mixed responses. Hwang said, “Grinnell prepares you for grad school, not life.”

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By Ben Mikek
mikekben@grinnell.edu

Grinnell students interested in health professions have a new opportunity to gain experience and a certification at the Mayflower Community. The program, which ran for the first time last summer, sees students taking courses, receiving practical instruction and then working with the community’s older residents to gain practice and experience.

“It was a fun time,” said Onyin Onuegbu ’23, who completed the program this month. “It has honestly widened my scope of practice and my knowledge in the health care field, especially in caring for the elderly residents.”

The second run of the program took place between Jan. 3 and Jan. 17. The course culminates in a certification exam—students who pass become Certified Nursing Assistants, or CNAs. Until now, the program has consisted of 75 hours of training, but according to Vickie Wieck, the program coordinator at Mayflower Community, this will increase to 90 hours this summer.

Contributed

Following the classroom time, students “do what’s called lab time, … where they learn the basics, CNA 101 skills. That’s hands-on, I’m there with them,” said Wieck. “We learn anything from making a bed to oral care, denture care, feeding [residents], moving them—all the skills that they would need when they come into the workforce.”

For many of the student participants, learning these health care basics is an important steppingstone to a career in medicine.

“Currently I’m a pre-health student. … I’m interested in health disparities and access to health necessities, so I figured a CNA is a good way to get patient interaction and … [to do] work with my hands instead of just reading and learning about things,” said Danielle Mydlo ’22, another student who participated in the program this winter.

Gretchen Schreiner ’20, who was among the first group of students to do the certification this summer, took advantage of the program by connecting it to her studies at Grinnell: “I went on to conduct sociology research on aging and dying at Mayflower this summer to suggest policy changes,” she wrote in an email to The S&B. “Combining this research experience with the CNA program allowed me to explore my interests in public health and holistic medicine, while also complementing my biology and sociology majors,”

All the interviewed student participants agreed that the program was a beneficial learning experience.

“[I learned that] you have to be careful, because these patients are fragile,” said Onuegbu. “You also have to give them your respect, because they have lived through life, they know more than you do. It’s all about humbling yourself and making sure that you have fun while you do it.”

For the Mayflower community, though, the training program is just the beginning of a longer process.

“[We have] 19 of the students that will now not only begin using their experience and increasing their opportunities for post-grad education and for educational opportunities, we also have a workforce,” said Kellie McGriff, associate director and administrator at the Mayflower Community. Once they have completed the program, students go on to work for Mayflower during their next few years at the College.

“They made it a requirement this time to work 16 hours a month [after the end of the training],” said Mydlo. “I used to work at the Grill, but now, most of my hours will be at the Mayflower; I think I’m going to work like 15 hours a week there.”

The Mayflower Community plans to offer the training course again this summer. Applications should be available during the spring semester. According to McGriff, about half of applicants are accepted to the program. The collaboration is handled at Grinnell by Mary Jane Shroyer at the CLS.

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Contributed by Steve Burnett

By Chloe Wray
wraychlo@grinnell.edu

Thinner than a single strand of hair, each thread of fiber-optic glass technology is “future-proof,” claims Steve Burnett, assistant general manager at Mahaska Communications Group (MCG).

Built and redesigned to transmit data, fiber internet offers a stark improvement in efficiency and reliability as opposed to its predecessor copper wire – installed nationwide some 60 years ago, copper wire originally only carried voice, but over the years has been retrofitted to carry data, albeit at slower, more unpredictable speeds.

Burnett and his team at MCG announced on Jan. 14 that the company would begin installing fiber in Grinnell this year, with an estimated start to service for some customers beginning in Nov. 2020.

Regionally based in Oskaloosa, IA, MCG is currently finishing the installation of fiber in Sigourney, IA along with the communities of New Sharon, Montezuma and Lake Ponderosa. Within the next few months, the company will begin their data collection and planning phase in Grinnell before installation occurs in eight separate neighborhoods one by one over the course of a two-year plan.

This announcement is a long time coming for the Grinnell community. Conversations around internet concerns in Grinnell can be traced back to 2014 “Connect Every Iowan” surveys initiated by then-governor Terry Branstad, whose goal was to assess broadband connectivity across Iowa and better distribute technological resources across the state. Monique Shore, systems administrator and digital collections specialist at the Drake Community Library, collected data for the project.

Rachael Kinnick, director of the Grinnell Chamber of Commerce, identifies the Connect Every Iowan campaign as an important moment for bringing up the issue of internet in conversations between the chamber and city government. Still, “I don’t know if we all thought internet and reliability of internet was on the radar as much as it came to light in those meetings,” says Kinnick, with regard to 2016 focus groups amongst business owners wherein the issue of internet came up in almost every meeting.

Thus, inquiries into better internet options began.

All this time, the city of Grinnell and most of its businesses have operated using Mediacom or Windstream, two services which utilize the copper wiring to transmit their internet data.

Kinnick highlighted the tendency amongst business owners to subscribe to both Mediacom and Windstream services at the same time – evidence of the technologies’ unreliability. When one connection goes down, businesses will switch to the other service’s router. This often becomes a hefty overhead cost for small businesses who rely on the internet. Windstream announced last spring that they too would move to install fiber after MCG first began its own initiative.

Kinnick says that the Chamber has not heard much from Windstream on their plans, but the company previously announced that their fiber installations would only be strung from pre-existing above ground telephone poles. MCG is committed to reaching the entire Grinnell community through the more costly installation of underground fiber where it is needed.

Shore confirmed that the Drake Community Library itself subscribes to both services – and is eager for the switch to fiber. For many people, the library is the only place in town with barrier-free access to the internet, and Shore hopes to better accommodate these needs via fiber. Similarly, the library becomes a place where residents will be able to test the download speeds over fiber internet before they commit to installing it in their own homes.

Both Kinnick and Burnett explained that part of the difficulty in bringing fiber internet to Grinnell sooner is that major companies do not find incentive in investing in small communities like Grinnell – especially when major groups like Grinnell College operate on their own private fiber network. As a regionally-managed firm founded solely to service the fiber needs of Musco Lighting Corporation, MCG has expanded to cover all of Oskaloosa while developing a business model catering especially to small Iowa towns.

“We don’t operate from the principle that everything’s decided on profit. Quite frankly, the owner of Musco operates from the business principle of what can we do for the community,” stressed Burnett. “What I want folks in Grinnell to know is that we’re there to serve them.”

MCG will open an office in Grinnell to manage the system and customer needs, and nine new positions will be posted for hire in the community.

Additionally, the company looks forward to becoming involved with the public schools and the College by successfully developing programs which teach students how to film, edit and produce broadcasts of live events like sports games or concerts to air on a local access channel.

“… We want to help make [Grinnell] a better place to work, live and play,” Burnett said. “I think it’s a great place now, but they’ve been trying for years to get someone to come to town and provide an upgraded internet service for the community and we’re excited to be able to do that for them.”

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Brenda Guan ‘20 drives a ball back at her opponent during a match.

Nadia Langley

langleyn@grinnell.edu

The women’s tennis team finished their fall season with an undefeated record of 10 wins and no losses. They shone in the ITA Midwest Regional Championships, sending two players, Sabrina Tang ’23 and Abby Nielsen ’21 into the singles quarterfinals. At the Midwest Conference Individual Tournament, the players again dominated, collecting five of the six individual titles. To wrap up the season, the team was ranked eighth in the region and 35th in the nation, the program’s first national ranking.

When asked to respond to the team’s rankings, Brenda Guan ’20 admitted it was, “nice to get that validation.” The team’s coach, Paige Madara, acknowledged the rankings as a huge accomplishment. “I’ve been believing in them, and I see that belief reflected in the way they carry themselves,” Madara added about her team. Tang referred to the rankings as “a good guideline,” highlighting the effort made by the entire team to reach this point.

Madara said the rankings were “a testament to the hard work they’ve put in every day.” She described the team as working extremely well together, both on and off the court. This year, four first years joined the team, growing their numbers to ten players. “The team came together really nicely,” Madara added. Madara said a goal was to be a close-knit team, which several players cited as the key to this year’s success.

Nielsen pressed the point that, “we got some really good new first-years this year and they helped unify our team,” mentioning the struggle they’ve had in past seasons forming a team due to injuries and lacking numbers. Besides the numbers, the talent is equally necessary, as Nielsen referred to their deep lineup. Tang mentioned the team’s work ethic, their daily practice and chemistry as a team when asked to what their recent success should be attributed. Guan reflected on her past three and a half years on the team and the growth she’s witnessed in her teammates, “The last two years have really been a build up to what we’ve been able to do now,” and admitted that the recent rankings would only push the team to work harder in the upcoming Spring season.

Women’s tennis will rematch with some of their toughest competition in the coming months. Madara pointed out that, “we will be playing a lot of teams that are either regionally ranked or nationally ranked.” She listed Lake Forest as an especially tough team, but revealed she was looking forward to “these opportunities to just keep playing against the best,” as the challenge is what ultimately betters her team. Guan said they “still have a lot to prove.” She referenced an especially difficult win against Bethel University, 5-4, and her excitement “to put more work in to really show that the win against Bethel wasn’t an accident.”

The women’s tennis spring season begins with their March 1 match against University of St. Thomas in the Bear’s field house.

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Lizzy Hinman, Harry Gale, Lily Fitzsimmons, Maddy Smith, Molly Stone and Zander Otavka, all class of ’20, live together in a house on Main Street are all heavily involved in theater at Grinnell. Photo by Ingrid Meulemans.

By Ingrid Meulemans
teuberab@grinnell.edu

Grinnellians living just north of campus should refrain from calling the police in response to disruptive noises. If you hear fragments of Defying Gravity or Don’t Rain On My Parade being shouted into the streets late at night, it’s most likely the inhabitants of 1221 Main Street, and not something to be concerned about.

Lizzy Hinman, Harry Gale, Lily Fitzsimmons, Maddy Smith, Molly Stone and Zander Otavka, all class of ’20, are very aware of their current volume level. As members of their self-described “Theater House,” this natural projection is part of the package. Friends since first year, the six all met one way or another in the complicated and overlapping channels of Grinnell’s theater department. Apparently, Hinman, Otavka and Stone had all joked about living together when they first met as part of the Neverland Players, and are overjoyed to see their fantasy realized.

“We have become one big happy family,” admitted Stone. “And I think what’s incredible is that we are all involved in theater. Five of us are majors and Zander is just heavily involved — an enthusiast if you will — but the great thing is we all melded together and the house really lent itself to that.”

After coming back from abroad, the group was overjoyed to find their dream house. Describing it as clean, welcoming, warm and homey, the housemates have loved and appreciated all that the house has brought to their collective dynamic. Instead of being a “Theater Only” house, 1221 has also become a sort of hub for professional sports viewing.

“So, what is nice about this house,” said Gale, “is that it is the perfect football house. Unless I am watching the Jets, which I have to watch in my room or else the environment gets toxic, Maddy and I will come back from class late on Thursday nights and watch the game. And whenever I have buddies over, I can listen to the game while making us our Totino’s pizza rolls or pigs in a blanket in the kitchen,” admitted Gale.

“Thursday night football is free on Amazon Prime!” added Smith, seemingly without being motivated by monetary compensation from the corporation itself.

Hosting and entertaining, it appears, are core values for the housemates. Smith and Fitzsimmons rave about the space 1221 Main provides for combining different social spheres. As a member of the varsity volleyball team as well as being a theater major, Smith understands the pressures that seem to exist between these two groups. As a result of this, she grabs on to any opportunity she can to host a dance party in the house’s living room.

The key to a good dance floor? Pushing the table into the kitchen. According to the housemates, the setup is perfect for both mingling and letting loose.

These soirees are assisted, however, with Otavka’s presence as a sort of bartender.

“I have been in the process of assembling a bar,” said Otavka. “I have a book of a thousand cocktails recipes, and I just like to invite friends over and have cocktail parties with my glassware and my fine spirits.”

According to the other five, it’s Otavka’s flair for hosting that makes this house truly their home.

“One night when we came back from Frozen 2,” started Smith, “Zander had his friends over for a cocktail hour. They were just sitting here in soft lighting sipping their drinks, and I was like, wow, this is home. This is our home.”

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By Wini Austin
austinwi@grinnell.edu

In the past two months, the 2020 Democratic primary field dwindled to twelve candidates as Julián Castro and Senators Kamala Harris and Cory Booker dropped out of the race. For their student supporters in Grinnell, the news was met with a mixture of frustration, disappointment and acceptance.

Rebecca Fox ’23 was president of the group Students for Kamala until Harris dropped out of the race on Dec. 3. Fox, who hails from Houston, worked on Beto O’Rourke’s senate campaign before diving into Grinnell’s political scene. She knew she wanted to get involved with a campaign and decided to support Kamala Harris after talking to the campaign’s local organizer.

Fox was struck by Harris’s policies, as well as the perspective she brought to the presidential race as a woman of color.

“I was interested in … a lot of her policies for rural America and rural Iowa, especially being here, her plans to prevent gun violence … and the fact that she’s a black woman running for president. … I think it’s something that we really needed,” said Fox.

As president of Students for Kamala, Fox worked at a phone bank, canvassed and hosted weekly meetings and tabling sessions on campus. Student support, however, wasn’t strong. According to Fox, only five or six people would usually show up to the meetings.

Fox remembers clearly the Tuesday in December when Harris abruptly dropped out of the race due to funding issues. She said that even the organizers in Harris’ Des Moines headquarters didn’t see the decision coming.

“It was disappointing. I’ve worked on campaigns before, but I’ve never worked on a winning campaign. It was discouraging to be on another one, especially of someone who I really look up to,” said Fox. “I got to see in person … how open she was to listening to everyone … so it was really disappointing to see that she is not going to be our president.”

Campus aversion to Harris, Fox believes, was due to stigma surrounding Harris’s legal career. The California Senator was formerly District Attorney of San Francisco and Attorney General of California. She came under fire during her campaign for enforcing criminal justice policies which many progressives argue were racist and ineffective, unfairly targeting people of color and raising incarceration rates.

After making peace with the conclusion of Harris’s run, Fox has committed to caucusing for Elizabeth Warren and is helping out with her campaign.

A month after Harris dropped out, Julián Castro suspended his campaign on Jan. 2. Castro was the secretary of housing and urban development in the Obama administration, and the only Latino candidate in the 2020 presidential race.

Oscar Buchanan ’21 interned with the Castro campaign last summer, after seeing the politician speak at the College last February. He was drawn to Castro’s focus on underrepresented and marginalized groups in the U.S. and saw Castro’s focus on policing and immigration issues as ahead of the curve in the Democratic field.

“He centers the issues around the people who have the least amount of voice in the process,” said Buchanan. “Even when he got questions like ‘How will this affect the middle class?’ He was like, ‘No, we also need to talk about the poor and the working poor, we need to talk about race and these issues that don’t get centered as much.’”

Buchanan spent the summer driving around Des Moines, talking to small businesses about endorsing Castro or hosting events for the campaign. Unlike many campaign interns, he was paid $15 an hour, in line with Castro’s call for raising the minimum wage.

When Castro announced he was suspending his campaign, Buchanan was surprised. “I expected him to stick in because a lot of what he talked about was the importance of pushing through it and sticking with it,” he said. “Candidates like him drop out before the caucuses, and then there’s never a record of that, yes, some people were willing to vote for this candidate.” According to Castro and Harris’ campaigns, the fate of their candidacy came down to financial struggles. But for many of the supporters of Harris and Castro, fundraising issues were a symptom of more structural obstacles.

“It’s nice that so many people of color and women were able to run, but it’s sad that they are the ones dropping out,” said Buchanan. “The comparison with Castro, Booker and Buttigieg–if you compare them based on experience, Booker and Castro would be more qualified. … The federal agency Julián Castro ran had more people in it than Pete Buttigieg had voters in his town.”

Buchanan wondered whether the Democratic nominating process hindered the success of candidates of color. “I think Iowa is part of the problem. … The first two states [to vote] are whiter and older than the nation as a whole,” he said.

In the wake of Castro’s exit, Buchanan has decided to volunteer for Bernie Sanders. As the smaller candidates drop out, many of their supporters are finding their way to the frontrunners, joining the majority of politically active students at Grinnell.

Allie Pearce ’20 and Oliver Willett ’21 co-lead Campus Democrats, a student group which has co-hosted and organized events with Democratic campaigns and candidates over the past year. Pearce has observed that, at Grinnell, students whose candidates have dropped out tend to realign with further left candidates such as Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren

“People like Cory Booker, Julián Castro and Kamala Harris, who ran on unity messages, were kind of overlooked in favor of these big sweeping ideas and bold change,” said Pearce. 

On the other hand, Willett sees the candidates’ exits as a positive sign. “I think it means progress, right? I mean we’re getting closer to a candidate and consolidating the field,” he said. “And there wasn’t much support with Castro and Harris.”

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Destiny Magnett ’22 introduces the SGA executive candidates for the 2020-21 academic year on Tuesday evening. Photo by Zoe Fruchter.

By Zoe Fruchter
fruchter@grinnell.edu

With the eyes of the nation on Iowa in anticipation of the 2020 caucuses, another election is taking form: the election of Student Government Association (SGA) executives for the 2020-21 academic year. Tonight in the Humanities and Social Science Center (HSSC), seven candidates (one student video-calling from studying abroad) outlined their platforms and campaign messages for three different executive positions: president, vice president of student affairs (VPSA) and vice president of academic affairs (VPAA).

Lana Katai and Amanda Weber, both ‘21, are running for the most senior position in student government: president. Katai and Weber both have extensive experience in student government; Weber is the current SGA Treasurer and Katai is the current All Campus Events (ACE) chair. 

Katai’s platform focuses on active representation for students surrounding three values: accessibility, transparency, and diversity and inclusion. Weber asserted her practical experience in SGA as proof of her commitment to Grinnell College students. Both candidates centered their messages around the role of president as an advocate for students in the often contentious relationship between the student body and the administration.

“Every year they’ve taken things away from us,” said Katai in reference to the administration’s closure of student organizations such as the Black Cultural Center. “[We need] an SGA that takes a stand to administrative decision before those decisions are made.” She positioned herself as an outsider candidate, willing to push the administration for students who have had enough.

Weber said that Student Affairs have “infringed on our [students’] autonomy” and referred to her extensive experience as proof of her ability to make “real action plans,” intimating a functionalist approach of working with the administration as opposed to Katai’s more impassioned rhetoric. Yet, she added, “I’m done just chatting; I want to act.”

The tension between students’ lived experiences and administrative policies featured prominently in most of the candidate’s talking points this evening.

“They speak at us, they don’t speak to us,” said Katai.

In the VPAA race, Charun Upara ‘21 promised to initiate “an actual, serious conversation with administration and faculty” about the workload at Grinnell. His competitor, Fernando Rodriguez ‘20 did not directly address the issue of the student/administrative divide but promised to stand up for pre-professional students, which he framed as underserved at Grinnell.

The VPSA race is the most crowded of all three contests, with three candidates running: Tucker Haddock, Amelia Zoernig  (the video-conferencing attendee) and Syamala Neeraja, all ‘21. All three students promised to advocate for under-represented students and help students take advantage of SGA’s resources to elevate their voices. 

Neeraja took a more macro perspective than others on her candidacy.

“I came to this school in a transitional period,” she said, referring to Donald Trump’s presidential election in 2016. She stated the College finds itself in another transitional period with the departure of College President Raynard Kington and pledged to stand up for students of color and minority students  who “are in trouble the most [during transitions] while being the most left out of these conversations.”

Zoernig was the only candidate to mention the importance of College students’ relationship  to the town of Grinnell. She also mentioned a plan to “overhaul our digital infrastructure.” Haddock wants to enable student leaders to help other students, not “surveil them.”

Around 35 students attended the forum. Attendees were given the opportunity to ask questions, and moderator Destiny Magnett ‘22 read pre-submitted questions. Queries focused on candidates’ attitudes towards the expansion of United Grinnell Student Dining Workers, methods of working with the administration, the ideal role of Student Educational Policy Committees (SEPC’s), working with those outside of their “immediate orbit” and the role of senators in SGA.

Current VPSA Saketan Anand ‘21 asked about the candidates’ ability to work together on policy as an executive board, highlighting the importance of cooperation and collaboration in a potentially divisive race. The candidates agreed on the centrality of these values to the SGA administration. 

“I hope that we all have a common interest that the decisions we make and the things we do are for the students,” said Rodriguez.

Indeed there is much more that unites these candidates than divides them. All but Upara have held previous SGA positions, all are involved in many different student and academic organizations and all are focused on standing up to an administration that they frame as disconnected from the daily lives of students. Yet, most of all, the students running for executive positions have immense respect for each other.

“This is one of the best races I’ve ever seen,” said Weber in reference to her fellow candidates. “I would be lucky to work with any of them.”

Voting for executive candidates begins online next Tuesday, Feb 4, and will continue until Feb 7.

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Aiden Gilbert ‘23 attempts to score against two players from the Knox Prairie Fire

The men’s basketball season is more than halfway over and despite being at a lower record than last season, the team still has high hopes for a postseason run. Before facing St. Norbert and Ripon College in a weekend trip to Wisconsin, men’s basketball captain Anthony Gulve ’20 shared what he thinks will be needed from the team in order to get into a good place in the playoffs. “We have eight more games and five of them are against teams either tied with us or ahead of us in the playoff standings,” Gulve said. “It is definitely going to be a rough stretch. I would say the biggest key is to win the three games that we are not playing challenging opponents, we have to win those if we want to go to the playoffs. Those need to be must-wins. And these other games where you could say we are ‘underdogs,’ we have to steal a few of them.”

The first night of the two-game trip will be against the number one team in the conference, St. Norbert, and according to Gulve, “In my three years, we have never won at their gym. Every year they are very good, it’s a really hard place to play because of the tough environment with a lot of fans and students.” The last time that Grinnell men’s basketball won in St. Norbert’s gym was in 2012.

In addition to being captain, Gulve ’20 is now the only senior on the team. Gulve explained how this is not too uncommon in college sports: more people leave as time commitments in other areas of their college experience demand more attention. “My grade began with six,” Gulve said. Then at the end of my first year, one kid transferred and then another person came back for one semester but later he also transferred. This past summer, two more left the team but they still go here. Just one of them, Jacob Leder ’20, left to focus on theatre and Noah Jacobson ’20 also left to focus on school and do track. The final senior, Jake Conran ’20 who started the season with us, decided to leave the team to focus on school, job applications and things like that.”

For Gulve, being the sole senior on the team included taking on most of the leadership tasks for a while during the off season. Gulve was appointed captain at the conclusion of last season but did not receive a co-captain to help alleviate the responsibilities until early October.

“Those past five or six months I was essentially doing everything on my own, so it was a lot to deal with school and planning for summer,” he said. “Being home when I was away from campus, I had two jobs, was hanging out with friends, and spent time with family that I don’t see too often, but I still had to remain connected. I was calling my coach every couple of weeks and reaching out to the new first-years. Leadership duties are definitely less when you are out of season rather than during season. The entire time I knew I would definitely get some help once the season got going.”

“Since I have been here, the team and I have set a bunch of goals and we have seemed to accomplish all the things we have set forth like leading the conference in scoring, getting people on the all-conference team and not losing games at home,” said Gulve. “The last thing that we haven’t done is either get first in-league to host the playoffs or win the postseason tournament. Just getting to the playoffs and getting one more opportunity to win it would be something special.”

Last year, the men’s basketball team lost in the first round of the playoffs to the eventual conference champions, even though Grinnell beat them twice in the regular season. “We kind of thought that we were better than them and so it’s sort of unfinished business. Gulve hopes that during their last few home games, student and fan support will remain strong and excited. “We have a lot of our home games during the break which is tough because we don’t get a whole lot of fans when all the students are gone. For these last couple of games, especially when we play St. Norbert, we need to find a way to get a bunch of students out at these games and hopefully get a crazy crowd.”

The Pioneers continue their season agianst St. Norbert Friday at 5:30 p.m. with the next home game Wednesday Feb. 5 at 5:30 p.m.

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Photos and quotes taken by Wini Austin [austinwi].

ELIZABETH WARREN

Anna Wilson ’22

“I think she’s very likable, that’s kind of my biggest thing. Of all of the candidates, I think she’s the most ‘for the people.’ I like Bernie a lot, but in all of his years in office, he’s never really been able to solidify and get things done, which I think Warren has the power to do. Plus, I would love to have a woman president, which is a big part of it.”

BERNIE SANDERS

Jasper Egge ’20

“Something that Bernie’s been saying that’s really important is this issue of voter turnout. The past few elections that have been won by Republicans are ones that have been won because young people just haven’t been going out to vote and I think Bernie can really generate the buzz around him to make people go vote. I also think the time has passed for these ideas like healthcare for all and free education. They aren’t ludicrous anymore; it’s pretty clear that these are things that we need, these are things that are implemented in countries all around the world that work, and he’s the person who’s saying we’re not going to compromise on these things, we’re just gonna do it.”

NOT SURE

Mary Dillon ’22

“I’m pretty torn between voting with my policy beliefs and voting with someone I think is going to be electable. I think it’s a big thing throughout the country. Other people I’ve talked to who don’t know who they’re caucusing for also feel the same way. I really like Elizabeth Warren and her policy positions, but I also think that she’d be more of a controversial candidate. I’m between her and Amy Klobuchar; she’s my favorite of the moderates and I’m from Minnesota. She’s done a lot of good things and I think she’s she’d be a really capable president.”

ANDREW YANG

James Lim ’22

“He’s one of the only Democratic candidates that’s solely focused on fixing the direct problem with our country, which I believe is the economy. … He’s directly focused on improving the lives of Americans, which is his whole idea of the trickle-up economy, which is starting with the people, and then everything else will fall into place. … He’s someone that I could really trust.”

PETE BUTTIGIEG

Henry Sanders ’23

“I support Pete because of his pragmatic approach to progressivism. Basically, he supports these policies that are bold and progressive and designed to do what needs to be done to help people in their everyday lives, but he also realizes that no matter how bold the plan is, it’s not going to help anyone if it doesn’t actually get implemented. … I think he can gain the support of the entire country, not just the half that traditionally votes Democratic.”

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By David Gales
galesdav@grinnell.edu

With the Iowa caucuses right around the corner, presidential campaign chapters at the College are gearing up for the culmination of all their hard work. Pete Buttigieg, mayor of South Bend, IN, Bernie Sanders (D-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) have particularly notable presence at Grinnell College. While each campaign has been tabling and canvassing for months, the past week has been busy for all of them.

While Warren’s team has taken the more traditional strategies of campaigning at the College to heart, such as canvassing, phone banking, and tabling in the JRC, they have also adopted a few other strategies that other campaigns at Grinnell have not. Ryland Rich ‘22, volunteer coordinator for Warren’s Grinnell campaign, has been hard at work preparing for the caucus.  “We’ve just been doing so many things, not only just tabling outside the JRC,” said Rich, but also [tabling] in the HSSC or just silently in Burling and things like that. I think that sort of presence is just showing people that this is a grassroots campaign, and there are so many supporters.”

Rich put particular emphasis on the communal organization of Warren’s campaign in Iowa. “The campaign and the club do a really good job of having little workshops and practices, like a weekly meeting.” Rich explained, “They’ll do practice one-on-ones with people where you can bring up things that have worked in the past or things that haven’t.”

Team Pete, on the other hand, is relying heavily on the relationships that students and community members have built with each other on their own. “The best part of Pete’s strategy is that it’s done through connections that already exist,” said MJ Uzzi ‘23, co-leader of Grinnell for Pete. “We depend on people that like Pete to talk to their friends and people that they trust, because we know that everyone has their own experiences. So, we’re doing relational organizing, which is the friend to friend social stuff this week.” Uzzi also added that Team Pete was rallying for a major canvassing effort this weekend, saying, “This weekend is a big weekend of action where we’re trying to knock [on] every door and just get people to the caucus in any way that you can.” 

The Grinnell team for Sanders is turning their attention outwards towards the town of Grinnell. Paige Oamek ‘20, an intern for the Sanders campaign, said, “We did so much work in the beginning on campus, we’re also able to lend a hand to what we call the field teams of the town of Grinnell, as well as the surrounding rural areas that are sometimes neglected by campaign staffing.” The national Sanders campaign, meanwhile, scheduled two events with Sanders surrogates at the College. “What we’re doing to gear up for the caucuses is helping put on those national events,” Oamek explained. “[Sanders] was scheduled to come last fall, and it was the exact weekend that he had his health scare.”

One aspect of the campaigns that each team seemed to agree on was the importance of the caucuses themselves. “The Iowa caucuses do have a huge effect on the outcome of the democratic field. And it really matters because sometimes they do come down to really close ties and things like that,” said Rich. 

“It really matters to go and vote. Be there.” Oamek stressed the importance of punctuality in arriving at the caucus. “One thing that we can do is make sure people don’t get shut out at the door as a first step. If they’re able to make it there … they’re able to make it in the room. So, show up early.” The caucus starts at 7:00 PM on Monday, and if voters arrive even slightly late, they may be barred from caucusing at all. And while each campaign wants as many people to caucus for them as possible, it’s important that their voters can get through the door first.

Uzzi also brought up the idea that the caucuses could be seen as a privilege: “It’s an opportunity that not many people are going to get,” she said. “I don’t know if everyone realizes what an exciting honor it is to be able to participate in this particular [caucus], because it’s so impactful for the rest of the country. Everybody’s watching us.”

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Photos by Gage Skidmore / Chuck Kennedy. Graphic by Andy Pavey.

By Andy Pavey
paveyand@grinnell.edu

Full time employees and student workers at Grinnell College have spent $5,792.77 on contributions to candidates for the 2020 presidential election as of the last period filing in December, with Elizabeth Warren leading her caucus competitors in donations, according to the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP), a nonprofit group that compiles and organizes publicly-accessible data from the Federal Election Commission (FEC).

In accordance with government policy, donors to political groups and campaigns must disclose their employer and occupation. This data is made available to the public and allows The Scarlet & Black to analyze the donations of people affiliated with Grinnell College. This list is by no means comprehensive, given that some donors may not have listed Grinnell as their employer. Data were cross-referenced between the original FEC and CRP reports to ensure that results are accurate. The overall average donation amount for College employees was $27.96.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has garnered the most funds from College employees so far, at $2420.57. Her average contribution amount was $36.67. Plagued by deflating poll numbers, Warren’s first-place finish in Grinnell donations reflects both her strength among the College’s progressives and her commitment to winning Grinnell come caucus night. Warren is well-organized in the area: 850 people turned out to a rally last November, and the campaign opened an office in downtown Grinnell last year. Warren’s strong showing in the race for Grinnell donations may hint at tighter competition between Warren and projected front-runner Sanders in Grinnell’s Ward 1 as they vie for left-wing votes.

Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg ranked second of the candidates still in the running for the Democratic nomination, nabbing $918.16, or 16 percent of total funds contributed by Grinnell College donors. Donations to Buttigieg averaged $22.39. The former mayor drew a crowd of 500 voters when he visited Grinnell back in December, but he was also dogged by climate protesters affiliated with the Sunrise Movement.

Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont had a middle-of-the-pack showing despite his increasing support from voters in recent weeks and Grinnell College’s progressive electorate. He received 6.9 percent of the total, or $403.84. In keeping with his campaign’s emphasis on small donations and grassroots support, Sanders’s average donation was $14.95, placing him just behind Buttigieg and Warren.

Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has been a consistent leader in the polls for the entirety of the race, has received just $365 from Grinnell donors, or 6 percent of all money donated. Just two people affiliated with Grinnell College donated to Joe Biden. The trend follows for fellow moderate Amy Klobuchar, who raised $285 from just two people at Grinnell.

Contributions to the race’s fringe candidates did not upset their outlier status. Businessman Andrew Yang, who told The S&B that he was “third among young people” during a campaign stop this month, has raised a scant $30 from two donors affiliated with Grinnell College. Tulsi Gabbard, a progressive who has yet to catch fire in the polls, also only received $30 in donations. Tom Steyer has not received a single donation.

The majority of donations were made through ActBlue, a fundraising platform for Democratic and progressive candidates and political groups.

Professor Barbara Trish, who taught a Special Topics course on the Iowa caucuses last semester, says technological innovation is one major factor that has increased small-dollar donations in the past few years. “[Technology] has allowed campaigns and organizations to digitally contact donors,” she said. “It also allows donors to easily make donations to the campaigns through portals, through ActBlue [and] through other things not available ten years ago.”

Despite divisive feelings about the candidates evident on campus, financial records show that party unity is alive and well at Grinnell. According to FEC data, President Donald J. Trump received no funds to speak of.

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Photo by Hannah Agpoon

By MJ Old
oldmadel@grinnell.edu

Several full-time campaign organizers are living and working in the town of Grinnell in preparation for the Iowa caucuses. However, many are restricted by their employers from talking to the press. Despite reaching out to employees of several campaigns in Grinnell, The S&B was mostly denied interviews about the life of campaign workers. Regardless, Elise Bargman ‘22, who is taking this semester off to pull 12-hour days door-knocking for Pete Buttigieg in Dubuque, spoke with The S&B about her experiences.

“Knocking on doors is probably the number one thing I spend the vast majority of my days doing, which is really fun,” Bargman said. “It depends on what neighborhood you’re in, because if you’re in one with a lot of Trump supporters you get a lot more door slams. But when folks are home and they have time to talk and they invite you inside, that’s fun.”

Bargman has met all kinds while door-knocking. She has talked to a man who answered the door wearing a Trump hat and threatened to call the cops, a woman who couldn’t caucus because of terminal cancer and a man with dental surgery on caucus day who had arranged for his friends to lead him to the corner of his chosen candidate. 

Campaign organizers don’t have much job security. Recently, organizers for Grinnell’s Kamala Harris and Julian Castro campaigns have lost their jobs, and at least one has taken a job with another campaign. Even if your candidate stays in the race, the focus shifts from Iowa to other early primary states until closer to the general election. 

“Organizing is very much a young person’s job,” Bargman said. “It is very hard work and pretty uncertain, and that works if you’re recently graduated and care about politics and want an adventure. It’s a lot easier when you’re not responsible for anyone but yourself.”

Bargman was an intern for the Buttigieg campaign in Grinnell over the summer, which was a different game than Dubuque in January. There, because of the small town and how early it was in the election season, she had no choice but to get to know the staff of other campaigns. 

“When it’s just you and one other person in the nearest hour radius on your campaign and there’s only one coffee shop in town, which there is in Grinnell, you’re much more likely to run into each other,” Bargman said. “I was actively friendly with a Kamala Harris volunteer and we hung out sometimes and worked next to each other and I still keep in touch with some of the Warren folks on Twitter.”

However, even in Dubuque, where every campaign has their own office space, organizers still know each other. On her first day, Bargman was having lunch with some other organizers and met some Biden people in a Chipotle. “They introduced me to the Biden staffers, and it was clear that he had a very friendly rapport with one of them. They joked back and forth, and it was fun and good to see that there was that company, that friendliness.”

The sense of community in Dubuque extends beyond campaign staff. LGBT students from the local high school, Hempstead, hang out in the Buttigieg campaign office. “It’s really meaningful to see them relax in that space and have it as somewhere, whether they’re volunteering or doing homework, to feel safe and included and part of something. One of the less tangible things that I like about the campaign is this sense of belonging that it’s cultivating.”

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By Maya Dru
drumaya@grinnell.edu

At a presentation on the Grinnell College campus, Poweshiek County Democrats co-chair John Grennan outlined the Party’s major goals for caucus night and spoke with The S&B about the unique challenges that face disabled Iowans looking to partake in the event. Photo by Maya Dru.

As Iowa ramps up for the primaries on Feb. 3, disability justice advocates argue the caucuses are not accessible to everyone and limit democracy in Iowa — and that the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) is not siding with voters when they should. 

A “primary election is inherently more accessible,” explains John Grennan, the co-chair of Poweshiek County Democrats. “Iowa is really eager to hold on to its first-in-the-nation-status.” If Iowa turns to a primary systems, more disabled voters can be involved in the process, but Iowa may become less distinctive as a first-in-the-nation contest. 

Unlike primary elections, caucuses are loud, bright and crowded. This makes caucuses uniquely inaccessible to voters with sensory sensitivities and disabilities. Bathroom breaks are often short and infrequent, posing extra difficulty for voters with mobility or digestive disabilities. Caucus participants are encouraged to “vote with their bodies” by moving with their candidate’s supporters. 

In Poweshiek County, voters must arrive between 6 and 7 p.m., and ideally, stay at the caucus for an estimated two hours. “6:30 to 7 is a privileged time,” Bethany Willig ’23 said. The time frame poses a particular barrier for some Dining Services employees, who will need to choose between working their shift and exercising their civil rights. 

According to the IDP, this year voters can submit an online form for accommodation requests. Moreover, all sites are ADA-accessible and do not allow food in the caucus (which would otherwise pose a threat to voters with allergies). 

Autumn Wilke, Grinnell College’s assistant dean for disability services, said in an email to The S&B that “The accessibility efforts, at least on paper, for this caucus and election cycle have exceeded those that I have seen in the past.” 

Disabled voters, however, say the IDP is not going far enough. Many take issue with the fact that the accommodation form went live only a month ago. While the Office of the Iowa Secretary of State estimates 300,000 Iowans of voting age have disabilities, the IDP reports that they have only received 150 requests. 

And until January, it was unclear for voters with disabilities where to submit their requests. The Iowa Democratic Party? Their county Democrat association? The venue of the caucus itself? The IDP demands that individuals must submit accommodation requests—not organizations. So when voters reach out to disability rights organizations, the organizations need to redirect the voters to the IDP. 

John Grennan maintains that the Iowa Democratic Party “hedged its bet” on tele-caucusing, where voters could caucus from home. This would allow disabled voters to more easily participate in the caucus. 

But the national Democratic Party rejected the Iowa’s tele-caucusing proposal, citing security concerns in late August. The IDP scrambled to make caucuses more accessible. On Jan. 13, Amanda Koski joined the Iowa Democratic Party as Disability Director. 

After tele-caucuses, disability rights advocates maintain that satellite caucus sites are the next best thing. Wilke notes that, for the first time, there will be satellite caucus sites, which can better serve Democrats with disabilities. 

For example, some sites will operate completely in American Sign Language. Others will specifically cater to individuals with disabilities who would benefit from caucusing with similarly-abled people at an independent or assisted living center. 

While the Mayflower Community, a local senior living home, agreed to be a satellite location for Poweshiek County, nearby county-level Democratic parties have struggled to find suitable venues. Often, Iowans with disabilities need to organize and advocate for satellite caucus sites on their own. “You’re putting the burden on people who already face burdens while voting,” said Grennan. 

Caucuses are notoriously complicated to run. While Poweshiek County Democrats expect around 1,000 attendees, they have not received training on planning accommodations. Given the lack of guidance from the state party, Democrats with disabilities depend on local officials’ discretion to create and enact accommodations. County organizations, for the most part, need to address accessibility one accommodation request at a time. 

“There is a bigger need than is being addressed,” asserts Grennan. As a county Democratic co-chair and caucus organizer, his goal is to get as many voters involved in the political process. “It’s an uphill battle,” says Grennan, “[but] we are hoping to make democracy feel possible.” 

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Graphic by Andy Pavey

By Kate Irwin
irwinkat@grinnell.edu

Political engagement can be difficult while balancing academics and can sometimes require personal sacrifices. Elise Bargman, anticipated ‘22, has taken a full academic year off from Grinnell College to continue her involvement with the Pete Buttigieg campaign. 

Bargman has an extensive history with the Buttigieg campaign. She worked as a volunteer over the summer and even turned down other plans because she felt so strongly about the work she was doing.

“I actually had other internship plans that I was going to do. I was going to be doing stuff at the Lesbian Herstory Archives in New York. … I decided whether I got the internship [with the campaign] or not, I was going to volunteer full-time,” said Bargman.

Even while studying abroad with the Grinnell-in-London program, Bargman continued to volunteer. Her campaign work impacted her cultural immersion and academics, but to her, it was worth it. 

“It’s sort of this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to live up to my values and put my money where my mouth is. I don’t want to come around to November … and have lifelong regrets that I didn’t do enough,” Bargman said.

Like Bargman, Mariyah Jahangiri ‘20 and Dylan Bremner ‘20 believe that their political work is a once-in-a -lifetime chance to be part of a political phenomenon. Additionally, all three students believe that their political work has introduced them to learning that extends beyond the classroom and furthers their academic experience.

Jahangiri has been involved with politics throughout this academic year. Until November, she was a co-chair of the Students for Warren group on campus. After switching candidates, she decided to come back early and volunteers whenever she has spare time.

“I think the main way [my involvement] has impacted my academics is not in the sense [of a burden],” she said. “If anything, it has aided in my understanding of organizing and social movements and the way politics works in this country.”

Jahangiri feels that political engagement is a supplement to her studies. As a sociology major with a political science focus, this volunteer work directly relates to what she is passionate to learn about. 

“Every time I’m in class I’m itching to not be in class. I want to be out canvassing,” she said. 

Bremner has been involved with the campaign since early January. He is in a unique position, as he is technically spending his semester doing off-campus research and will leave in February to study social movements in New York. However, this volunteer work will set him back by a couple weeks in his research.

“It’s a tough call to make because I will be behind in my plan, but it just felt worth it,” he said.

Many Grinnellians’ evenings will be affected by the caucuses next week. The caucuses will take place on Monday evening, and have the potential to impact homework, work, extracurriculars and potentially Monday night classes.

There is no set College policy or procedures for extracurriculars or classes during the caucuses. As Anne Harris, Head of Academic Affairs and Dean of the College wrote over email to The S&B, “Classroom attendance is the faculty member’s purview.”

According to Harris, professors can choose to not accommodate students for the caucuses, as per the Faculty Handbook. The handbook states: “The individual faculty member determines the policy for class attendance in courses and shall inform students of that policy.” 

“Faculty members carefully craft their syllabi and course sessions for their classroom communities, and they have the final determination in classroom attendance,” Harris wrote. 

Harris believes that civic engagement, even beyond the caucuses, is reflective of the College’s mission of social activism. However, she acknowledges that academics may take priority. 

“The College’s primary value is ‘Excellence in Education for Students in the Liberal Arts’ followed by a ‘Diverse Community’ and ‘Social Responsibility,’” she wrote. “We may have an instance where those faculty members who will be holding class on Monday evening feel that the educational mission supersedes the civic engagement of social responsibility. Or that civic engagement can be met in other ways. It’s worth a discussion!”

Professor Todd Armstrong, Russian, was faced with this issue. He teaches a Monday night class and cancelling the Feb. 3 session outright would mean losing a week’s worth of material. He chose to keep class on Monday and schedule a make-up session the next day for those wanting to participate in the caucuses.

“I didn’t want to encounter a situation where students were going to suffer because of their sense of responsibility to participate in the democratic process. And I would have offered the same, no matter what caucus was taking place,” Armstrong said.

“Since it’s one party, the College doesn’t take a position on one candidate or another. … We would not embrace a policy that would favor one side of the political spectrum or the other. There are two sides to this, whether you like one side or the other. There are conservative thinkers on campus, whether among faculty, staff or students. That can be a difficult position to be in because of that sense of [a] progressive [school], therefore we should all believe in the same thing.”

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