Parents Coming! | Weekend has everything from magic to Marco Polo

Mike Ilardi Staff Writer

Lara Weissman Guest Writer

If you haven’t tackled your heaping pile of laundry yet this semester, now may be the perfect time. Parents are on their way to shower you with hugs and criticize your untidiness. But have no fear: there is a marathon of activites planned to keep your parents away from your room and out of your fridge.

Weird Science
Saturday, April 12, 1 p.m.

Crowds will gather inside Sander’s Auditorium on Saturday to view this year’s annual chemistry magic show. Science students, including chemistry and biochemistry majors, will demonstrate some of the mystifying and thrilling aspects of science. Past tricks have incorporated color changes, dry ice, liquid nitrogen and the explosion of fruits and vegetables.

“The main goal is fun! And of course any opportunity to blow things up in the name of science is a worthwhile endeavor,” said chemistry lab technician Jennifer Jackson. “We also try to let the parents know that we are learning here at Vassar as well. I’ve heard parents say, ‘Science wasn’t like this when I went to school.’ Perhaps they didn’t go to Vassar.”

This event will give students the opportunity to see things that they have never seen, satisfy their inner scientists and acclimate themselves with the chemistry staff and majors. Friends, parents and siblings are welcomed to join the fun.

ALANA FEST
Saturday, April 12, 12-4 p.m.

The African American/Black, Latino, Asian, Asian American, and Native American students (ALANA) Center’s annual festival will celebrate the facilities that it offers to Vassar students of color. Though the event takes place along the entrance of the ALANA Center, inclement weather may send the festival indoors to the College Center.

“In the past we’ve had student groups perform everything from spoken word, comedy to singing, dancing and drumming,” said Yuridiana Rojas ’08, student manager of the organization. “This year there will definitely be free popcorn and cotton candy, issues of IMAGES for students and parents to take and lots of delicious food from our local vendors.”
The ALANA Fest will allow its members to showcase their organization to their parents and will give those interested the opportunity to see what the ALANA Center is all about.

Blegen House and Bayit Block Party
Sunday, April 13, 12-5 p.m.

The Blegen House and Bayit communities will be holding their first annual block party at the dead end of Collegeview Avenue on Sunday, where there will be a variety of performances, featuring a lesbian klezmer band called Isle of Klezbos, many community vendors and tabling run by student organizations. There will be food from local restaurants such as Zorona.

Besides offering a good time, the organizers expect the Blegen-Bayit block party to foster awareness. “Blegen and Bayit are two small houses on Collegeview Avenue that serve as a resource to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transexual and Queer and Jewish communities, two fairly large contingents of the Vassar campus,” said Assistant Director of the Office of Religious and Spiritual Life Rena Blumenthal. “But sometimes students feel that because these houses are off campus, they are also off the radar. So one goal is to invite the larger community to come visit our houses and enjoy our little corner of the Vassar world,” Blumenthal explained.

This event aims to help facilitate interactions between people of different backgrounds and show the advantages of multiple organizations working together. “We have been working hard on this event so those who attend will have a great time at the end of parent’s weekend,” said Secretary of Vassar Jewish Union Rachel Silton ’09.

The Barefoot Monkeys Fire Show
Saturday, April 12, 8 p.m.

Haven’t you always wanted to watch people throw flaming devil sticks with mom and dad? The Barefoot Monkeys fill that desire with their usual presentation of feats of juggling, poi, acrobatics and balancing—all aflame—with an event that will also serve as a fundraiser.

“For us, the most important goal is simple: to have a great time doing something that we love, to put on a show we’ll be proud, of and with any luck, expose people to circus fire and maybe get them interested in learning more,” said troupe member Felicia Minchin ’09. “Also, this is our biggest fundraiser of the year. Attendance is free, but we pass the hat—ask for donations—at the end, so please bring your parents and give generously. Fuel isn’t cheap.”

Although the Barefoot Monkeys have been performing at Parents’ Weekend for years, the group guarantees a new experience for each performance.

“Everyone is so blown away the first time they see us. Even if you’ve seen us practicing on the quad on just a regular Friday night, you know that just one person doing fire is mesmerizing,” Minchin said. “But when there are huge groups of synchronized movements, everyone doing the same thing in time with the music, it moves to a whole new level.”

Jamnesty
Amnesty International Benefit
Saturday, April 12, 9:30 p.m.

Mix together Amnesty International and rocking campus bands and you get...Jamnesty, of course.
“This year’s focus is on the crisis of refugees of the Iraq War,” said co-Chair of Amnesty Rich Bellis ’10. “We’re hoping to help support an individual family of refugees rather than contribute to a large institutional fund.”

In addition to great music, there will be a number of ways for attendees to help the refugees—from simply learning more about the refugee crisis to signing letters and petitions addressed to legislators. Although the event will be free, Amnesty International is suggesting that each attendee donate $5 to the refugee cause. Bellis also announed that new Amnesty t-shirts will be sold to commemorate your night of jamming with your fam.

Save Darfur Raffle
Saturday, April 12, 12:30-2:30 p.m.

Vassar’s STAND, formerly known as Save Darfur, will hold its second annual fundraising raffle in support of the Darfur Peace and Development Organization (DPADO). Brooke Widman ’10 of STAND said that “with support from local businesses and venues, we have been collecting donations [ranging] from restaurant gift certificates to performance tickets to passes for recreational facilities, all of which will be raffled off at our event.”

Save Darfur was started four years ago by Lucy Robins ’08 and Sarah DePaolo ’08, who quickly formed a relationship with DPADO. They donated primarily to school scholarship programs that provide educational facilities for refugees. Continuing with Save Darfur’s original mission, Widman said that STAND donates 100 percent of its annually fundraised money to DPADO. “We feel its work and mission reflect our organization’s goals and ideas,” she said. Accordingly, all proceeds from the fundraising raffle will go toward this organization’s cause.

Recess!
Saturday, April 12, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Want to have a bit of athletic fun while supporting yet another good cause? Then come out to Noyes Circle on Saturday, April 12, when Vassar’s ProHealth organization will be hosting recess games such as kickball, wiffleball, ultimate Frisbee, Capture the Flag and more.

The purpose of the recess-themed event, according to ProHealth’s Jared Augenstein ’10, is to “raise awareness of [both] a healthy lifestyle...[and] a group called FaceAIDS, a non-profit group that raises money for Partners In Health Rwanda.”

In addition to the athletic activities, ProHealth will offer a number of arts and crafts activities such as tie-dye and finger painting. There will be music playing throughout the day, and there will be a free barbecue open to the Vassar community and its friends and visiting families. Members of ProHealth will collect donations for FaceAIDS and sell pins.

Marco Polo Lecture
Friday, April 11, 3 to 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, April 12, 12 p.m.

Over the course of Friday and Saturday, members and majors of the anthropology department will give three “Marco Polo” presentations on their research.

The first talk will be on Friday, April 11 from 3-3:30 p.m. in Rockefeller Hall 307, where Chrissy Lewis ’08 will present on language study and volunteer tourism.

Leah Weissburg ’08 will then present on her research experiences in the Belize Valley. Awarded the Catherine E. Montgomery Scholarship, which allows anthropology students to do fieldwork in Central America, Weissburg participated in a genuine archaeological dig with the Belize Valley Archaeological Reconnaissance.

Weissburg’s team worked in the “Caves Branch Rockshelter, which was situated several miles into the jungle outside of the city of Belmopan.” The site had “been used as a mortuary site for Mayan peasants during the Mid-Late Classic period (around 800-900 CE), only a century or so before the collapse of Mayan civilization.” She reported that skeletal elements from every age group were discovered, earning the term “‘bone salad.’” The trip, she attested, “solidified [her] decision to pursue archaeology as a career.”

The final talk is scheduled for 12 p.m. on Saturday, during which Talia Kostick ’08 will present on volunteer work at a children’s rehabilitation center in Mexico.