winter term – The Oberlin Review

Scuba Diving Can Help People Deal with Physical, Mental Challenges

February 15, 2019

I must be the only 20-year-old who, when presented with the opportunity to travel to Goa, the party state of India, decided to spend it all several meters under water. Under the tutelage of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors, I underwent rigorous training and testing over the span of a week to become a certified Open Water Diver. I am now qualified to dive up to a depth of 18 meters (60 feet) when accompanied by a dive buddy or dive professional anywhere in the world. While scuba diving had already been on my bucket list — courtesy of elitist Bollywood films and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider — I also seem to be a part of the generation of “conscious travelers.” Traveling with purpose seems to...

Effects of Shutdown Ripple Through Oberlin

February 8, 2019

As Americans across the country navigated the effects and complications of the partial federal government shutdown last month, many Oberlin residents were attempting to manage the consequences and fallout right here in Lorain County. Oberlin City Council passed an ordinance Monday to extend its 2018 contract with safety net organization Oberlin Community Services and grant them $4,000 in extra funds to get them from February to March. The ripple effects of the shutdown continue to impact the...

Ashby Business Scholars Network Across the Nation

February 8, 2019

Students in the Ashby Business Scholars Program visited Cleveland, New York City, and San Francisco over Winter Term to learn more about career building, navigating the job market, and making connections with alumni while touring several companies, including Facebook and Google. The Ashby Business Scholars program, previously known as the Oberlin Business Scholars program, was established in 2003 by Bela Szigethy, and Stewart Kohl, both OC ’77, co-CEOs of the Riverside Company, a national private...

A Wandering Jew Goes to Washington

Justin Pelofsky, Contributing Writer

February 8, 2019

Filed under Commentary, OPINIONS, Recent Stories

It all began rather inconspicuously. In fact, at the height of the holiday season, the way it was announced seemed almost like a gift. It was as if the stubbornness of President Trump squeezed its way down the chimney, crept through the house, and placed the government shutdown gently at the base of the tree. Federal workers who work so hard throughout the year usually only get a handful of free vacation days. Quite honestly, they deserved a break. And sure, they suffered a slight sting at the reminder that they weren’t an “essential,” part of the Federal Government but it would have stung even more to have used up all their vacation days just to travel back to the town where they went to high school, engage...

Winter Term Playwriting Project Ends with Varied Performance at Cat

February 16, 2018

A student returns to her room with a body bag, having accidentally killed a professor as a result of her plan to get expelled from school. Divine beings or “winds” commiserate, as they recount their stories of human beings from their heavenly vantage point, or “views from above.” An elderly woman tricks a young volunteer into aiding her to plan a crime, hoping to get caught and incarcerated in order to escape a nursing home. These are three of the scenes that played out on stage at the Cat ...

Winter Term Changes Infantilize Students

Kameron Dunbar, Columnist

November 17, 2017

Filed under Columns, OPINIONS

Many students have not yet started the registration process for Winter Term, but many will find themselves amazed by the dramatic new changes implemented by the Winter Term Committee. Winter Term is one of the most unique facets of the Oberlin experience — a program that certainly attracts students to the College. Students can research, play, work, or pursue other activities to extend their learning outside of the academic course-load. Everyone around here knows that Obies run the gamut in terms of projects. From learning how to cook to surveying the Nile River in Cairo, Obies do it all. And we’re thoughtful about it. While some students use Winter Term as a time to recoup from the stress of college life, many of...

Capoeira Captivates Students

February 3, 2017

Student Composers Premiere Accessible, Enjoyable Electroacoustic Music

February 3, 2017

With the lights off and many audience members’ eyes closed, the speakers in the David H. Stull Recital Hall growled to life, unleashing a fizzing array of overlapping synth sounds. The various beeps and hums that followed comprised College first-year Fox Milenski’s “The Floor Shatters Beneath Me,” one of 11 pieces premiered Tuesday by students that took the TIMARA intensive course over Winter Term. Taught by double-degree senior Judy Jackson and Conservatory senior Hunter Brown, the course is...

Musicians Perform Winter Tours

Samantha Spaccasi, Staff Writer

February 3, 2017

Filed under ARTS, Features, Music

Many Oberlin students spend Winter Term taking classes, interning at a nonprofit or learning a new instrument. But for student musicians, January presents the perfect opportunity to go on a short tour, as several student bands did this year. College seniors Emma Blackman and Rob Jamner are members of Oberlin-based band Remember the Bees, which toured as a group for the first time this Winter Term. Three of the band’s four members, Blackman, Jamner and drummer Danielle Schneider, had never toured prior to their involvement in the band. Remember the Bees’ bassist, College junior Charlie Kimball, toured previously as a member of Existential Animals with Mark Moritz-Rabson, OC ’15, and Alex Tasker, OC ’16. During...

Alumna Welcomes Students Back

Thelma Morris, OC ’54

February 3, 2017

Filed under Letters to the Editors, OPINIONS

To the Editors: Winter Term has just ended. Oberlin was quiet, with few students on campus involved in research with faculty, bookmaking, writing, theater work and practicing an instrument. Many of you were engaged throughout the world in diverse projects. Many of you went home to think, reconnect or volunteer. Winter Term did not exist when I graduated from Oberlin in the ’50s. There were rare semesters abroad and a few academic exchange programs to take a handful of us off campus. We remained college- and curriculum-bound from September to May for four long years. Nowadays, each student is encouraged to develop a special project for three Januaries — projects which find you close to home or far from it...

Self-Insight Can Be Gained from Solitude

CJ Blair, Columnist

February 5, 2016

Filed under Columns, OPINIONS

Washington, D.C., is a metropolis of history, politics and tourism that has become one of the most popular residences of Oberlin alumni. Yet despite the draw that D.C. exerts on Obies, I felt out of place when I spent my Winter Term there studying invasive plants. While I left my internship with a wealth of knowledge about kudzu and honeysuckle, I found that I learned just as much outside the office on the weekends, when I explored the city on my own. It was in D.C.’s busy streets and museums that I began to understand how meaningful solitude can be in crowded places and decided that everyone should have the opportunity to try it. Since I would only be in the city for a month, I made a point to spend most of my da...

Performance Art Grapples with Girlhood, Grieving

February 5, 2016

For her final performance in the Winter Term Performance Art & Technology class, College sophomore Elizabeth Grooms filmed herself with Periscope, an app that allows users to livestream anything and viewers to leave comments on the video. She performed her installation alongside classmates at Storage art gallery on Jan. 28. Grooms’ project focused on how girls and women view themselves through technology. “I was filming a video of myself, and then people were commenting, but I wasn’t saying...