Letchworth menu caters to vast array of student needs

The two-and-a-half-year countdown is almost at a close with Letchworth Dining Hall scheduled to open in less than two weeks.

Located on the north side of campus, this much anticipated eatery contains entirely new facilities and the most varied options of any Geneseo dining hall, including a smokehouse, coffee shop, bakery and deli. According to Director of Culinary Operations and Executive Chef Jonna Anne, Letchworth’s Food Studio North will provide “a lot of different ethnic choices” such as Mediterranean, Italian, Vietnamese, Indian and Thai options. “We’ll be able to have focaccia, stromboli, to pasta dishes to pasta tosses––all kinds of food,” Anne said. Letchworth will also feature a myriad of options to account for any interest group on campus.

The gluten-free bakery Kasha has its own kitchen to avoid cross-contamination between food products. There is also a separate kitchen for the exclusively kosher Nevali and the all-vegetarian Arugula. “They are all unique small kitchens, which avoid cross-contamination and we will be producing great entrees at each of those…What’s unique is we will be producing vegetarian and vegan options within a kitchen that has never contained meat before,” Anne said.

When designing the layout and options for the new dining hall, Campus Auxiliary Services took student needs and opinions into account by speaking with various cultural groups on campus. They also spoke with the International Student Services and the Admissions Department to find out what foods would be in highest demand among incoming students. “We were looking for their insight of what future trends are. Admissions really helped us out with what the students now are going to look like,” Anne said.

According to Anne, CAS bought food locally whenever possible. Things such as pizza dough, sauces, vegetables and coffee are purchased in New York State. It also has a wide range of seating, from traditional plastic cafeteria chairs and tables to plush armchairs. There’s even a bar where students can watch chefs prepare their food at Chef’s Table, which will sell more expensive options such as lobster tail and strip steak. CAS also hired a new staff to run Letchworth. Chefs such as Matt Lott and Andy Zalar have extensive experience working at hotels and resorts. Chef Stephen Kingston was the Rochester Chef of the Year. Letchworth’s first event, “Turn up the Heat,” is scheduled to take place in November and will feature all spicy foods. Anne reports that CAS is also considering providing cooking classes at the Chef’s Table. CAS decided to expand Letchworth’s hours for “All You Care to Eat” dinner and brunch to account for the influx of students. “We know everyone is going to want to come here the first few weeks,” Anne said. Brunch will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. and dinner will be from 4-8 p.m. Other accommodations include a color printer, conference room and AV capabilities so people can view movies and presentations in the largest dining room. CAS hopes to open Letchworth the week of Sept. 14 and is holding a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Sept. 16.

Pride event sparks discourse between communities

At Pride Alliance’s bi-annual “Gay? Fine by Me” event, members of the LGBTQ-plus community opened up about their various experiences to create more understanding between themselves and the straight community. A panel of five people began the night by telling a story to the audience. The panel included Pride president junior Nikki Toner, professor of sociology Anne Eisenberg, chemistry department faculty member Daniel Jacques and graduate student Shay Phillips.

The stories ranged in subject, with each person describing a defining moment in their life.

“[The stories] were not necessarily a coming out story, but a story that brought us to where we are now,” Toner said.

Toner spoke about her entire life, but focused her story on seventh grade when she confessed to her friend that she had a crush on her. She described the pain it caused her when the school administration dramatically responded by moving her seat across the room, and how she was banned from speaking to her afterwards. She pretended to be straight for a full year after the incident due to the backlash she received from her school and the girl’s mother.

She also spoke of her life since then, and how her story relates to who she is today and her current goals.  She wants to work in guidance and help other people in her situation, so they do not have to feel as alone as she did.

“I basically told my coming out story and how it influenced me,” she said. “I’m the president of Pride because I want to reach out to people let them know that someone is here for them, unlike my own experience.”

Jacques talked about how his family of Jehovah’s Witnesses refused to stand by him when he came out and the pain it caused, while Phillips preached about the faults with the gender binary, and how members of the trans community have the right to retain their privacy in the face of invasive questions.

“You are letting people know that you want to show them support,” Toner said. “The straight people can relate to the experience … and the people who have lived through it themselves have a sense of community.”

After the panel spoke, they opened questions to the audience. The discussion that followed offered tips for coming out professionally amid other topics.

“Gay? Fine by Me is very attractive because we are telling our stories but at the same time we field a lot of questions … [the audience] is educating [itself] and we’re here to answer these questions,” Toner said.

She emphasized the turnout of straight individuals on campus, and believes the event is an opportunity for them to become more educated and supportive of the struggles of the LGBTQ-plus community.

Toner said the most important takeaway for the audience was that people should not make assumptions about others.

“If you jump to conclusions, not only are you going to make someone uncomfortable but you are going to miss out on a lot of what that person has to offer,” she said.

She added that she hoped the talks made it clear to other members of the LGBTQ-plus community on campus that they are not alone in their experiences, and that there are others willing and ready to support them on campus.

“I think of all the other people who didn’t get through the experience, and that’s why I’m here,” she said. “That’s why I do what I do.”

Kick back with a good summer read

For most college students constantly absorbed in textbooks and research, it’s easy to forget that reading can actually be an enjoyable, stress-free experience. So, with the semester at an end and spring in the air, it’s the perfect time to relax in the grass – or your bed – with a book.  

Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman

Leaves of Grass is considered one of the greatest poetry books in American history. Perfect for reading in short spurts between classes and meals, this book of 12 poems focuses on the beauty of the natural world. Whitman was a transcendentalist, and his appreciation of nature and emotion will brighten anyone’s spirit after a long, cold winter.

Birds of America by Lorrie Moore

This New York Times Book Review Book of the Year consists of 12 short stories by Moore, one of the most celebrated authors of modern times. Her stories create elaborate portraits of a variety of characters: from an impoverished ex-actress to a shy librarian, with anyone in between. The Goodreads review says, “In what may be her most stunning book yet, Lorrie Moore explores the personal and the universal, the idiosyncratic and the mundane, with all the wit, brio and verve that made her one of the best storytellers of our time.”

A Room With a View by E.M. Forster

Forster’s novel, first published in 1908, focuses on a woman’s journey as a series of chance encounters on a trip to Italy cause her to question her future. When two men court her, one English and one Italian, she is torn between the strict Edwardian society in England and the passionate life she finds in Italy. She makes a series of choices between social acceptance and daring love that still resonates with readers today.

The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone by Tennessee Williams

Williams’s first novel focuses on the decaying life of an aging American widow struggling to find purpose after her husband’s death. The author wittily narrates her aimless time in Rome as she slowly drifts into a relationship with a cruel male escort. According to Gore Vidal, The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone is “splendidly written, precise, short, complete and fine,” – perfect for a college student on the run.

The Last Summer (of You and Me) by Ann Brashares

Brashares, famous for her series The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, wrote this novel as a nostalgic testament to summer. It follows two sisters at their summer home year after year until their early twenties, and examines the various personal developments they undergo as they come of age on the beaches of Fire Island, N.Y. They have opposing personalities and react to similar circumstances in different ways, making this book relatable to any reader. She incorporates an old friend, Paul, adding a romantic love to their decades of sisterhood, and giving readers a chance to explore the various forms love can take.

Hillel members share Passover tradition

Hillel members celebrated the end of Passover at sundown on Tuesday April 22 with a pizza dinner at Mama Mia’s. Members of this club, along with other Jewish people on campus and across the world, celebrated the holiday by keeping kosher for Passover. Passover and the specific diet that accompanies it has historic and religious roots. It is a tribute to the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt, which occurred in such a hurry that they had to leave before the bread could rise.

“We remember the struggle of our people, but it also kind of relates back to now and humbles us because even if we aren’t struggling right now, there is someone who is struggling right now,” freshman Michal Zweig said.

For Ashkenazi Jews who are descended from France, Germany and Eastern Europe, going kosher for Passover is very restricting. The diet does not allow grains or any food that rises, corn, legumes or soy. This can be challenging in modern times, when variations of corn can be found in most packaged or processed items. In addition, year-round kosher rules prohibit eating dairy and meat together, shellfish or meat that is slaughtered inhumanely.

The holiday begins with a Seder on the first two days of Passover, intended for eating with friends and family and hearing the story of the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. On campus, Hillel organizes two Seders with help from Campus Auxiliary Services and the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.

“On top of the first two Seders, we also work with CAS to provide lunch and dinner every day of Passover,” senior Marty Rogachefsky said. “Students can sign up for it ahead of time.”

“Especially at times of the year like Passover, we feel kind of responsible for facilitating this for all Jews on campus – whether or not they participate in Hillel activities for the rest of the year,” Hillel president junior Justin Morris added.

Students have the opportunity to sign up for this service before Passover. Shipments include a variety of kosher for Passover foods, including meat delivered from a kosher butcher in Rochester.

About 70 students signed up for this service this year, only a fraction of Geneseo’s Jewish population.

“Hillel regularly corresponds with about 150 Jewish students throughout the year, but when you think of that being about half the Jews on campus, it’s kind of a struggle,” Morris said. “We hear after that people didn’t know how to go about getting kosher for Passover food.”

Considering the difficulties of being kosher for Passover on a meal plan and outside of a supportive Jewish household, many remain unaware of the service.

“I think it’s an adjustment just because the options here are slightly more limited than back home,” freshman Rachel Wilcove said. “Back home, a lot of my friends were Jewish so we could go through it together.”

Hillel works with CAS to make eating during Passover as easy as possible, but a setback commonly faced is misunderstanding of the culture.

“I think the biggest confusion is specifically what are the rules of what you can and can’t eat,” Wilcove said. “A lot of people think it’s just bread, but that’s not the case.”

Individuals honor this tradition in their own way. Some will eat only kosher meat while some eat what is provided on campus. Some use separate plates during this time of year and some do not, and Geneseo’s Jewish community honors each variation.

“Everyone is making their own decisions and keeping kosher to the best of their ability,” Morris said.

Workshop examines nuances of American humor

After writing a research paper last semester on the differences between American and international students, senior Dena Spanos said she began to notice both cultural and physical separations between the two groups on campus. “It seemed like the international students kept to themselves, and I wanted to find out if there was a cultural reason this happens,” Spanos said. “I found that it’s a cultural barrier – that the international kids do all flock together because even though most of them don’t speak the same language, they sort of bond over that ‘differentness.’”

Although Geneseo is a fairly diverse school, Spanos said that the student body has a tendency to group off by commonalities. She explained that while this is natural, it could pose problems for international students who are left out for cultural reasons.

Through her research, Spanos found that one of the biggest factors for this divide is the use of separate freshmen orientations for international and American students.

“Right off the bat, we separate them off,” Spanos said. “I think we could bridge that gap right away if we could just create a chance for international students to talk to American students at orientation.”

After writing the paper, Spanos’ interest in this problem led her to an internship with the International Student Services office, a department that she says suffers from a lack of support and way too small.

“I think it’s easy for people to just forget we have international students on campus – students who may need support in areas other than just academics,” Spanos said. “There are just certain things in our culture, some that we don’t even realize that we do, that can confuse international students who don’t understand or are put off by it.”

According to Spanos, one of those things is humor, which lead her to create a workshop on April 5 focused on the different facets of American humor.

“It’s interesting because comedy and humor is a mix between culture and language,” she said. “For example, a professor might make a joke in class and suddenly everyone’s hysterical, but the international kids are completely confused by why that was so funny – even if their English is fine.”

Spanos also explained that it’s not just American humor that poses this problem, but that all humor is very culturally specific – something she said language majors or people who have studied abroad will understand.

“That give-and-take is why I wanted to do the workshop,” she said. “All of my events are discussion-based, so hopefully everyone, American and international, can learn from each other.”

Spanos has also participated in the “speech buddies” course and has set up an pen-pal program for accepted international students – all of which she said she hopes will continue to grow and reach out to students after she leaves.

“The cultural exchanges I’ve seen so far have been awesome, and as a senior, it’s kind of disappointing to leave after seeing things go so well,” Spanos said. “My hope is that because of our success so far, this title will be passed down and the internship will remain here as a permanent program in the future.”

The interdisciplinary capstone: bridging science and humanities

As part of a series of humanities-related presentations, senior Greg Palermo’s Geneseo Recognizing Excellence, Achievement and Talent Day thesis attempted to bridge a gap between majors often competing for relevance and justification. As a double major in English and physics, Palermo has noticed animosity between the sciences and the arts, particularly regarding the legitimacy of humanities coursework and majors. His sassily-titled presentation “English and Physics are Totally Different, Right?” intended to point out the similarity of these majors and end the “academic tribalism” that pits different majors against each other.

“I’m making the case that [humanities] are more important and valuable than people think they are, and it’s the same relevance as the sciences,” Palermo said.

His presentation opened by discussing a crisis emerging in the humanities world, which is a decrease in its legitimacy. He points out that when people view it as an inferior major, it can be more than just an annoyance or petty competition. It can negatively affect employability and even funding for certain majors.

Humanities are “forced to justify the value and legitimacy of their work in a way the sciences don’t have to,” Palermo said.

To Palermo, the humanities are perceived to have two motives: to have a greater moral understanding of human nature and history and to appreciate the beauty and creativity of the greatest minds in history.

“The humanities are loftily removed from any sort of purpose,” he said. “It makes them more vocational and what I want to show is that none of these things individually are the adequate motivation to study anything.”

He explained a third, often overlooked facet of humanities: the skill set its majors receive in critical thinking and analysis.

“It’s humanistic study that’s engendering skills and giving you greater social awareness,” Palermo said.

A combination of these three aspects is a more complete definition of humanities, and Palermo asserts that the skills learned in majors such as English are useful and marketable.

“What we do all day isn’t just sit around all day and reading poems and reciting lines and saying, ‘Isn’t this pretty,’” he said.

In fact, he sees more similarities than differences between his physics and English classes.

“I want to close the disciplinary gap where there’s two people on two different sides thinking that what the other person is doing is completely unrelated to what they’re doing; in reality an English major uses algorithmic logic whether or not they are aware of it, and a physics major looks for patterns the same way an English major does,” he said.

He cited sources ranging from feminist authors, Newton’s Second Law and old Lamron articles, demonstrating the usefulness of interdisciplinary research and studies. His presentation is actually the forerunner to the book he is currently writing, which explores the similarities between English and physics as majors.

Palermo hopes to not only change the mental concept of arts and sciences as a dichotomy, but open doors to new interdisciplinary options, stating, “It’s not necessary that the frame will be interdisciplinary. It’s more that you can bring your background from one discipline to another.”

End Hunger Day expands education services

Alpha Phi Omega’s third annual food pantry on Sunday March 30 revealed a series of improvements and expansions. What began as a collaboration with Wegmans and Foodlink to provide food for impoverished people living in Livingston County has grown into “End Hunger Day,” an all-day event including an information fair, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits fair and New York State Health Insurance screening.

Senior APO member Sherry Leung began the annual food pantry as a sophomore after discovering a lack of volunteer work with local families.

“One of the biggest needs I kept seeing as I did volunteer work was families in need of basic things like food,” Leung said.

She started the initiative to get a $500 donation from Wegmans, which they gave to Foodlink to buy about 3,000 pounds of wholesale groceries. Individuals who signed in were able to take home enough food to feed a family of four for about a week, free of charge.

Town Supervisor William Wadsworth inspired Leung to expand the program last year, when he asked what long-term change would accompany this short-term relief.

APO added an information fair to the food pantry this year, which had tables from various services such as day care centers, social services, disability services and Catholic Charities.

They also had a SNAP Benefits fair, where attendees had the option of bringing personal information and going through screening to see if they could qualify for benefits. They could receive help filling out applications and see if their current financial status qualified them for more benefits than they currently receive.

According to Leung, the fair “provides for communication between potential SNAP recipients and SNAP.”

NYS Health Insurance hosted a similar service where people could see what free health insurance they qualify for and receive help going through bureaucratic “red tape.”

Students interested in this cause can volunteer at the event, but there are other ways to get involved.

“I think a lot of it – even at the very, very basic level – is volunteering at a food pantry,” Leung said.

Leung pointed out that very few people know what SNAP benefits are or they have misconceptions about them. They hope to reconstruct the negative opinions some people have about those who utilize these benefits.

To better understand the struggle that many face even with SNAP benefits, about 10 members of APO tried grocery shopping on the amount of money individuals with SNAP benefits receive: $36.94 per week.

This year, the snowstorm interfered with many people’s transportation to the event, resulting in only about 100 people coming instead of several hundred as expected. APO workers compensated by personally driving food both Catholic Charities and the Senior Rehabilitation Center as well as individual families.

Lots of leftover food remains, however, and another food pantry is in the works to be held in two to three weeks at the United Methodist Church on Genesee Street.

Geneseo Genealogy: Homestead grants hospitality to historical figures, legacy

If you were to wander through the Wadsworth Homestead, a three-story colonial home complete with a dozen bedrooms and six bathrooms, smoking room, parlor, engraved fireplaces, stables and a small library, you would find yourself encountering two centuries of American and world history. Your findings may include chainmail armor, antique rifles, a samurai sword, correspondence letters from former President Theodore Roosevelt, hundreds of books and letters and perhaps a secret passageway or two.

You would also come across portraits of every generation of the family, beginning with James and William Wadsworth.  In 1790, when the brothers arrived at Geneseo to assess the farming potential of the land, they completely changed the trajectory of the town.

The house they built in 1804 still functions today and has remained in the hands of the family for the past seven generations. The personalities who resided within it altered local and national history through their philanthropy and service.

On a local level, the family either built or donated land for dozens of buildings that are still in use today. Most prominently for us students, James W. Wadsworth, Sr. donated the land for the Normal School, which later became Geneseo.

Other contributions include the land for St. Mary’s Church, the Wadsworth Library, Hartford House, the War Plane Museum and the statue in the center of Main Street.

Wadsworth men have also held local office in town, from William Wadsworth, the first town supervisor of Geneseo, to William Starkey Wadsworth, the current town supervisor.

“We have a long history of working with the community to make the town a better place,” William Starkey Wadsworth said.

The family also has a legacy of military service and has served either in or during almost every American war. John Noyes Wadsworth was a militiaman in the Revolutionary War, and his descendants have served in the War of 1812, Civil War, Philippine-American War, World War II and the War in Afghanistan, where William Starkey Wadsworth’s sister Martha is a major in the Air National Guard. One Wadsworth by the name of Craig even served as a rough rider along with Roosevelt.

The house has served a number of functions over the past two centuries: first as a home by the family, but also as a meeting place, wedding venue, showpiece and retreat.

The most interesting time for the house, according to William Starkey Wadsworth, was the Gilded Age. The house hosted a variety of guests, including Roosevelt and Frederick Law Olmstead.

Today, William Starkey Wadsworth and his wife Louise act as town supervisor and Livingston County downtown coordinator, respectively, and dedicate their lives to the betterment of Geneseo and other small towns.

“It’s so great to work for the people of the community that have cared for us for so long,” William Starkey Wadsworth said.

The truly incredible part of the Wadsworth Homestead and its expansive history is how unnoticeable it is from the outside. Modestly located at the end of Geneseo’s Main Street, few would guess that this house hosted presidents and war generals, that it contains artifacts from ancient Egypt or documents from names such as James Madison, Martin Van Buren, James Monroe and Ronald Reagan.

“Something what’s inspiring about this house to me is that there are places like this all around the country,” William Starkey Wadsworth said. These “repositories of history” are hidden in small towns everywhere, and Geneseo is fortunate enough to have one of our own.

From Martha Blow Wadsworth, who challenged Roosevelt to an endurance race on horseback, to James S. Wadsworth, who was present at the Battle of Gettysburg, to John Blow – Martha Blow Wadsworth’s father – who represented Dred Scott in the court, members of the family are scattered throughout American history but grounded in Geneseo.

“The energy is here,” William Starkey Wadsworth said. “You can feel the essence of the people who have been through this house.”

Oxfam dinner serves up class, consumer awareness

On Monday March 3, students entered the Oxfam dinner expecting free food but left with a lot more on their plate. At the door, attendees were sorted proportionally into low, middle and upper-income categories, receiving cards with their “life story” for the event. Assignments ranged from a 10-year-old girl in Pakistan displaced by flood to a father of a family starving due to drought or a middle-class mom living in the United States – it all depended on the luck of the draw.

I was Fred, a Ugandan farmer displaced by government land grabs, unsure of how to find work or basic needs for survival.

Grumbling internally at my rotten luck, I took my seat on the floor, looking with envy at the “middle class” people in chairs and the lucky few “upper class” that were graced with finely set tables and comfortable seats.

This randomness emphasized that people cannot decide what life they are born into, dispelling the common thought that impoverished people are simply lazier than middle and upper-class ones.

My complaints and everyone else’s evaporated after the opening statements of the event.

The event began with the common statement of the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet: “We are here today because more than 2.5 billion people live in poverty. Nearly 870 million people suffer from chronic hunger. A child dies from malnutrition or a preventable disease every nine seconds. That’s 9,500 children a day.”

The room immediately became more sober and thoughtful. After some examples of socioeconomic shifts, students were ready to begin their meals, provided by Campus Auxiliary Services.

Upper-income people – those who earn above $6,300 a year – enjoyed salad, bread and butter, seasoned vegetables, a hefty serving of pasta and lemon water. Middle-income people, who earn $1,128 to $6,300 per year, ate a moderately portioned plate of rice and beans, with women waiting in the back of the line for men to receive their food first. The 50 percent of attendees in the low-income group, who earned less than $1,128 per year, ate about one cup of unseasoned rice.

“Poverty isn’t one separate issue. It is tied to socioeconomic class, race [and] what you were born into as an individual,” senior Jennifer Benson, a cohost of the dinner and resident in Putnam Hall, said.

After the meal, Benson and her cohost sophomore Travis Wheeler asked attendees questions about how they felt about the experience.

“I feel like having the discussion adds that extra level to the event,” Wheeler said. “It allows them to reflect and see our intent and purpose – that it’s more than just the food.”

Although many Geneseo students are considered middle class by U.S. standards, this dinner acted as a reminder that we are extraordinarily privileged compared to the rest of the world. If we did not want to eat our rice, we could put it aside and eat at Fusion Market right after; others do not have that option.

We also discussed how the simple actions we make could harm or help people around the world, such as where we buy our clothes and food. Shopping for fair trade and direct trade items or locally grown food or refusing to buy clothes from companies that use child labor can change the life of another person.

Another important result of the Oxfam dinner is perspective; many students talked about how they sometimes feel as if they are disadvantaged, but the dinner made them appreciate what they really have.

Benson pointed out that most students have the ability to buy a new dress for a weekend, but some families have to walk miles just to obtain water.

The Oxfam dinner’s intent, according to Benson, was “to show the full range of how hunger affects people,” and it fostered this awareness and encouraged lifestyle changes to all who attended.

Art enthusiast Lynette Bosch maps revelation in art, mind

Professor of art history Lynette Bosch first started going to art museums at age 10, and she never stopped. Born in Cuba, Bosch’s family moved to New York City when she was 8 years old.  Museums used to be free to the public, so her father would take her to different museums every weekend, where her love and appreciation of art began.

“I really grew up in New York City’s museums looking at art,” she said.

Thus, when she began her undergraduate studies as a commuter at Queens College, she majored in art history with minors in classics and comparative literature.

Bosch worked her way through college by working odd jobs and at a pharmacy, and any money that did not go to tuition or textbooks went to her annual trips to Europe.

“I paid for my own trips to Europe … every summer I would just take off and travel until my money ran out,” she explained.

She would choose her location based on the local art museums and exhibits, and go to different countries and cities each summer. Her first trip was to Rome, Paris and London, and future trips included Spain, Holland, Belgium and Italy.

After graduating from Queens College, Bosch worked full time in the fashion industry and later as a secretary at an engineering firm while earning her master’s at Hunter College in the evenings.

Although she received a scholarship to Princeton University to earn her Ph.D., Bosch still had to work three jobs while attending in order to pay her way through, earning a Ph.D. in Renaissance art and religion.

Since then, she has been a professor at several schools, including Tufts University, Brandeis University and Cornell University. She began working on Latin American art while at SUNY Cortland, curating exhibitions with Cuban-American, Mexican and Chilean artists.

“That soon developed into a whole field in and of itself,” she said.

This March, Bosch has a show opening at the University at Buffalo, starring Alberto Rey and including a book she co-wrote.

She has curated other exhibitions around the world, from Santiago, Chile to Boston, starring various Latin American and Spanish artists.

After years of travel and city life, Bosch chose to live in Geneseo, although she still regularly travels back to the Bronx and around the world with her husband.

“The city is not what I remember, and the longer I stay here the more I find myself thinking, ‘This is perfect,’” Bosch said.

Her favorite city out of everywhere she traveled, however, remains to be “Rome, always,” she said without any hesitation.

It contains artifacts from every art movement since classical times, especially her favorite era, the Renaissance.

“It’s a moment when the world was so hopeful,” she said.

Her current studies are much more modern. She is writing a book called The Mannerism Book that uses studies in the neuroscience field to understand visions and revelations, particularly in religion and art.

“I’m interested in the representation of visions, and I’m interested in what’s actually going on in the brain of someone who is in those states,” Bosch said.

The studies she looks at address brain patterns including those of Tibetan monks in a meditative state or nuns while praying. Bosch believes that a similar experience occurs in artists while they are creating.

“An artist in a creative zone is in touch with something beyond themselves,” she said.

Class Profile: Edgar Fellows examine the humanities through disaster

HONR 206/288: Humanities and the Experience of Disaster, an experimental course in the Edgar Fellows Program curriculum, offers students a creative alternative to HUMN 221: Western Humanities II, a required course. This four-credit class taught by associate professor of history Joseph Cope explores the traditional Humanities II course through a common thread of disaster and displacement.

“This course is basically a Humanities II course with a few slightly different texts or deviations from the humanities menu,” Cope said. “What I was trying to do was focus it around how various different great books engage with the problems posed by the human experience of dislocation and disaster.”

The focus adds clarity to a course that spans 500 years of history – an admirable feat that is not lost on his students.

“The idea of the common thread, especially in Humanities II, is very important … It gives a centralized purpose to the class,” sophomore Grant Kusick said.

The class is also unique with its open discussion format. The small class arranges desks in a circle and converses about the texts, a style very different from most traditional Humanities lectures.

As an Edgar Fellows class, the course is only open to those in the program, which adds another personal element because most of the students in the class have known each other since freshman year.

This course shares most texts with the original Humanities II, and Cope maintains that, despite the focus of a common theme, the course is not a radical or revolutionary experience. He has already taught multiple experimental and Edgar Fellows classes and served on the Edgar Fellows Committee for seven years.

Cope said he has taught classes in the past that “look at disaster from a historical perspective but also from an interdisciplinary perspective,” but this is the first time this class has counted as a western humanities core.

In fact, Cope only changed two texts from the original curriculum and added some additional readings. He said he wants to “keep in mind the overarching aims of the humanities classes in Geneseo, which is to give students a canonical understanding of these great books.”

His small changes give the class a more clear and modern focus. The group discusses not only ancient history but also contemporary disasters and displacements such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina.

“Contextualizing it with contemporary issues makes it easier to debate things,” senior Suraj Uttamchandani said.

The texts range from Voltaire to Sigmund Freud and help students “look backwards for answers,” according to Uttamchandani. Through these books and the class format, students are educated on the global, social and political contexts of various human disasters throughout history – which helps having a history professor for the course, Kusick said.

“We have a really great professor who makes sure we don’t get bogged down in a discussion that’s not relevant,” sophomore Sam Weinstein said.

Experimental classes are often used as a “laboratory” in which professors can learn along with the students and tweak a course before offering it full time, something Cope and his class agree improves the class.

Cope noted that it is difficult to turn an experimental class into a permanent one, but it is clear that this class has a lot of potential both within and outside the Edgar Fellows Program.

Make Your Mark! expands fundraising initiative essential to college’s vitality

Make Your Mark! began its fourth year on campus with a Valentine’s Day fundraiser, and a new overseer David Arduin ‘12.

A Geneseo alumnus and former Ice Knight, Arduin has a love for Geneseo and a passion for giving back to his school and community. He brings a new level of intensity to this year’s fundraiser.

“I’m from Vancouver; I couldn’t be farther from home,” Arduin said. “I went to school here and I work here and I love Geneseo … I’m really passionate about being able to give back to the school that has done so much for me.”

He hopes to expand the reach of the program, especially within the senior class, by creating a student philanthropy committee that helps organize this campaign.

“The purpose of Make Your Mark! is to give students an opportunity to give back to the school while you’re still part of the community,” Ardiun said.

Even though Geneseo is in the State University of New York system, only a portion of it is publicly funded. A good amount of remaining funding comes from private sources, especially donations.

Most on-campus activities benefit from these donations and Arduin has many of them represented in his committee. His mission is to remind students in various organizations of the funding that makes them possible and inspire students to give back to the Geneseo community.

In the words of senior Aaron Dorfman, president of the Class of 2014, this fundraiser is “an opportunity to express what we love most about Geneseo and to make sure future students get to experience the same things.”

Arduin speculated that at least 95 percent of the student body participates in an activities that exist because of private donations including internships, research grants, study abroad programs, varsity sports and scholarships.

Dorfman said he hopes that this year’

The 2014 campaign includes many events, the first of which occurred on Valentine’s Day in the Union, called #lovegeneseo. The others include: Countdown to Commencement beginning March 4; Senior Salute Days on April 2 to 4; and Thank a Giver, or Tag Day, on April 25. There are also Challenge Weeks, which begin Monday Feb. 24, in which organizations compete to raise the most funds in return for monetary prizes. The intent of these games is to encourage student donations and increase student awareness and appreciation of how much donations affect their time at Geneseo.

Arduin is adding one more change to the lineup: a toast to 2014. In this senior-exclusive event that will include a red carpet, catering and complimentary champagne, students will reminisce on their times at Geneseo. It will include a photo slideshow and speakers, and is “all about making them feel good about their experience,” Arduin said.

Dorfman said the event is “based on looking back at all the fond memories we had over the past four years,” and considers it “a great way to bolster senior spirit.”

Through these changes and new events, Arduin hopes that students will find inspiration to “give back to a school that has already done so much for them.”

Live Green Day engages students through demonstration

Live Green Day, an annual Geneseo event held by EcoHouse and Geneseo Environmental Organization, increases student awareness of how their daily lives influence the environment.

A number of organizations from both on and off campus held stations, including GEO, Campus Auxiliary Services, Oxfam, Geneseo Farmers Market and EcoHouse. Students had a chance to learn and discuss the small changes that can increase their sustainability and health.

President of EcoHouse sophomore Jason Phillips said, “It’s important to do the small things,” such as buying food from the local farmers market, using homemade cleaning supplies and possibly beginning a vegetarian or vegan diet.

This event helped students learn about not only these “small things” but also the resources on and around campus that can help incorporate these changes into your lifestyle.

“The intent is to teach students about local products and about what the campus is doing for sustainability,” area coordinator for EcoHouse and Wyoming Hall Elliot Zenilman said.

One interactive table taught students how to make cleaning products out of water and vinegar and allowed participants to take their finished product home for free. This method of cleaning is less wasteful, has no harmful chemicals and is actually cheaper than buying brand name products from the store.

Another table raised awareness for Swap & Drop Shop, a clothing exchange located in the basement of the EcoHouse. Through this program, students drop off clothes they no longer want and have the option pick up new clothes.

These events taught students that changing their lifestyle not only can better the environment but also their personal health in the process. By eating fewer chemically enhanced foods and using fewer harmful cleaning products, students decrease their exposure to cancer-causing substances.

By increasing awareness, those hosting the event are “try[ing] to have students look at their way of living from a new perspective,” Phillips said.

Senior Aaron Tomassini, assistant residence director of EcoHouse, said he hopes “just to bring awareness to the resources and opportunities we have on campus.”

The event featured speaker Kristin Skarie, who did not buy any new products for a full year. She discussed methods to decrease your carbon footprint through leadership and collaboration.

As Zenilman put it, “It’s important to be educated on what’s going on in the world.”

Community library merges history with accessibility

Wadsworth Library, located on Center Street in Geneseo, looks particularly ordinary on the outside: With red brick walls and colonial architecture, it’s the quintessential library of small-town America. But, in fact, Wadsworth Library holds over 150 years of history within its walls – a history that begins with its formation as New York State’s first public library.

In 1842, after years of advocating for state-funded libraries, James Wadsworth took matters into his own hands and opened his personal library, called Athenaeum, to the general public of Livingston County free of charge.

Wadsworth created this library for scholarly use, and its contents were almost entirely academic papers and resources as well as scientific specimens.

By 1867, the collection had outgrown the space allotted, and a new library was built. It was this new building that gained official recognition as a public library in 1869 by the New York State Legislature, and it is the building that functions as Geneseo’s public library today.

Over the years, grants, endowments and community service have kept Wadsworth Library thriving. Multiple plans for expansion and construction were made throughout the century, but the library was not altered until 1995, when an addition was put on for offices, children’s programs and increased shelf space.

“It evolved more into a community space,” said Anna Grace, director of Wadsworth Library.

With the growth of communication and technology, the library has risen to meet the evolving demands of the Geneseo community. When Grace began working at Wadsworth in 2001, the library only owned two computers and used paper cards and stamps to check out books.

The library has added more computers, wireless Internet access and a scanning checkout center since. The contents of the library have evolved as well; what started as only a book resource center now provides newspapers and magazines, audio books, CDs and even books that can be downloaded directly onto tablets.

“It really changed a lot during the past 10 to 15 years,” Grace said.

The library changed its inventory based on the development of new technology, adding cassettes and records and later replacing them with CDs and a DVD collection. In the 1970s and 1980s, the library loaned out pieces of art that patrons could hang in their homes for an allotment of time and return.

One of the most influential changes, however, was the collaboration effort recently made by libraries in Wayne, Ontario, Livingston and Wyoming counties. Started in 2002, this integrated library system has one shared database and simplifies interlibrary loans.

The potential for change extends into the future. The library is in the midst of a feasibility study to see if the town would think positively of adding a second floor to the space, and they have applied for a grant to install an elevator between the first floor and lower level.

Despite these new additions, the history of the library remains.

“I think this community is very aware of historic buildings and preservation, so I think the library building itself is very important to the community,” Grace said.u