Munition of the Week

Our MUNITION OF THE WEEK: THE FN HERSTAL P90 SUBMACHINE GUN

20061013-munition.jpgDesigned by the Belgian firearms manufacturer Fabrique Nationale de Herstal, the Project 90 (P90) Submachine gun entered service in 1994 to satisfy NATO document D/296 which called for the creation of a new personal defense weapon (PDW). The P90 weighs 6.6 lbs fully loaded, has a total length of 19.7’’ and a 50 round magazine that loads into the top, parallel to the barrel. It has a maximum range of 220 yards. FN Herstal’s submachine gun bridges an important gap between handguns and rifles. This is because of its ability to accurately deliver a special 5.7 x 28 mm cartridge that is capable of piercing standard Warsaw Pact body armor while remaining small enough to be utilized in close quarter battles. The P90 has been incorporated into several different organizations, including the United States Secret Service, the Peruvian Navy special Forces and the Singaporean Commandos. The P90 has been dubbed the “forerunner� of the PDW concept that has emerged in the last four to five years.

Community Meeting

By Kathryn Leahey

Greetings and salutations, fellow community members! After a two week sabbatical, your source of information on all things community meeting has returned. Yes, you may now collectively exhale. This week’s meeting proved no less engrossing than usual, even involving some controversy over our own beloved editors. First, however, our community engaged in our weekly batch of gratitude and notices. The much-coveted title of Community Member of the Week went to Hassan Rahmanian for his work on both AdCil and the Coretta Scott King Center search committee. Much of this week’s gratefulness was imparted by, to, or among CG. Melody thanked her FWSPies, and Hope thanked Hannah and Jessica for cutting her hair and letting her bitch. Melody was thanked by Antoinette for being the glorious Events Manager that she is. Hope also thanked Melody for taking her to my hometown, Chicago, at some point in the future, for the experience of getting out of Yellow Springs and wandering around her first real big city. Hope, I wish you much Windy City fun – write something on a wall at Gino’s for me. Levi B. thanked his roller coaster incident mates as well as Sarah Buckingham for her work on ComCil. Outside of the Dynamic Three, Meghan Pergrem, who was thanked by Erin Winter for her help with the Art Show, also thanked BAMN. Finally, Jean Gregorek and Jim Malarkey were thanked for organizing the poorly-attended but very moving Guantanamo Bay Teach-In last Thursday.

Next, twenty different town criers announced many things, most of which will have happened by the time this is actually read by anyone. Here’s what you ought to know: I am starting a Latin language and literature group. Likeminded, nerd-identified individuals may contact me via FirstClass. In other news, ComCil and AdCil are currently discussing highly important issues of the RAB and shared governance, respectively. Go to the meetings. Really, go right ahead. Those interested in becoming a CM, Record editor, C-shop manager, or Pennell House coordinator in the near future ought to get his or her application turned in as soon as possible. Speaking of Pennell House, the much-anticipated Art Show, which is taking place at Pennell House, is on Friday beginning at 8pm. Live music, performance pieces, and food will be provided for the more easily distracted of us. Saturday night will see a bonfire and the fire party as well as a late-night bike ride. Various other fire-related events will take place over the next few days, including a meeting entitled “Fire Up Your Crotch�, an examination of alternative menstrual health. On Monday, Anne Shine, a pianist from New York, will be performing a free concert at 8pm. Tuesday is the Black and Tan Dance, for which Melody still needs volunteers, especially anyone who knows how to make an ice luge. On October 19th, a day-long counter recruitment event dubbed the Uprising Tour will be taking place. October 23rd, Christian Smith from the ACLU will be on campus from 7-9 talking about higher education and the War on Drugs.

On a shocking note, everyone wanted money this week. Haruna proposed $200 for Japanese cultural events while Meghan asked for $400 for Pennell House activities. The strangely exact figures of $421 and $722 dollars were requested for a ceramics event and Fire Week, respectively. Seventy dollars is needed to reimburse the person who replaced the swing in front of North Hall, $150 to provide for the SOPP Community Day dinner, and $100 to bring the formerly mentioned ACLU speaker to campus. Melody wants $250 for Black and Tan while three separate people requested sums of $500, $200, and $150 to bring bands to various community functions.

Next, like ice in a blender, our community was Pulsed. Going into the proverbial smoothie of conversation this week were the topics of the now-infamous “Cowboys and ‘Indians’ Party� and the new look of the Record’s most popular item, the Declassifieds, a tasty combination that, no less, gave me a headache. When the party was first brought up, the notion immediately sparked a dialogue about the perceived division between upper- and underclasspersons here at Antioch. Our community members pitched such ideas for the remediation of the problem as chem-free socials for first and fourth years, interest groups, attendance of Thursday night karaoke bashes by all involved, a “Big Brother/Big Sister� program of sorts, and upperclassperson attendance of first-year Core Communities to aid in the understanding between classes. Dennie Eagelson simply asked third- and fourth-years to “assume that [firstyears] have some thoughtfulness before you jump their ass,� a sentiment surely echoed by many of my fellow freshies The only idea proposed that was criticized was the notion of the two groups actually talking to each other during meals. The notable lack of mealtime communication can be attributed to a disorder known as “Caf Anxiety� combined with general social awkwardness so prevalent here at our beloved school. After much conversation on the topic, CG thanked all involved for a productive and respectful conversation.

After many left, we then moved on to a topic that did not prove so productive and was not conducted quite as respectfully. Several community members expressed great concern over the reformatting of the Declassifieds section of the Record. Some accused the editors of shaming the community with their previous Letters to the Community, saying that they were taking their frustrations out on the wrong people. Foster countered the claim by telling those present that the section is simply “not bringing out the best in us� and that reactionary Declassifieds make the paper accountable for things that the writer would have otherwise been too intimidated to state publicly. He admitted that he realizes that the letters may have offended some, for which he apologized, but that he felt valid points were made. He also said that the current haiku policy may change soon if he and Luke find it ineffective. When asked why the haiku format was chosen, Foster replied that haikus are fun, short, and made people think about what they are writing a little more before it is published. Those who have a problem with the policy or anything else about the paper can bring it to RAB, a board that meets on Friday at noon in the Antioch Inn. When the letters and haiku were discussed at the last meeting of RAB, little problem was found with either. Until next week, Antiochians, Pulse among yourselves.

Uprising Tour

By Jessica Rapchik

On October 19, Antioch College will be host to Uprising Tour, a collective of individuals from around the country who are engaging in communicable dissent. Throughout their tour, which is aimed at Mid-West and Mid-Atlantic States, the collective will aim at advancing regional counter-recruitment efforts and linking the issues of war and military recruitment to corporate globalization and environmental sustainability. The Tour consists of student and non-student activists, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and musicians. At each stop, members of the Tour will organize and participate in workshops, trainings, public forums, direct education and outreach, all-out street protests, as well as concerts and other creative performances. Events will be held throughout the day, with a culminating musical performance in the evening. While the locations for the planned events and dialogues are not definite, more information will be available on campus in the upcoming week.

The itinerary is as follows:

12-1 PM Meet and Greet in the Caf

1.30-4 PM Separate group workshops: Local/Global Connections (discussing the connections between globalization and war and the local effects on the Rust Belt) and Organizing 101.

1.30-4 PM Affinity Groups and Campus Organizing and the Military-Academic Complex

4-5 PM Communities as Alternatives: Why Change Must Start at Home

6.15-7 PM Action As Theater

7-9PM The film Sir, No Sir and Iraq Veterans Against the War panel

9.30- late evening Special performances by Drive by Schiavo and RyanHarvey from the Riot Folk Collective (www.riotfolk.org)

The tour is not limited to counter-recruitment and it is highly suggested that all community members attend events of interest. The tour is coming to Antioch in exchange for an open dialogue and a place to sleep. They are attempting to share their experiences and knowledge with us and I think that it is only fitting to attend and begin to make connections that will facilitate a deeper dialogue and increase organizing potential in Southwestern Ohio.

Potluck for Choice Stirs Up Support

By: Jeremie M. Jordan and Bella Vilshanetskaya

On January 22nd of 1973 it was decided that banning the right to choose to have an abortion violates the constitutional rights of women. Thirty three years later, we are still arguing about it, but recently a change has come along.

On November 7th, the state of South Dakota will be deciding whether or not to outlaw abortion. Because our campus is peppered with wonderful women who believe in women’s rights, this past Friday, October 6th, there was a Potluck for Choice held in Spalt 007. Great effort was put in by the Womyn’s Center coordinators Beth Jones and Meredith Root. The 25ish guests in attendance were asked to donate at least one dollar to help support Planned Parenthood of South Dakota to fight this preposterous proposal. The food was reportedly yummy as well. On the subject of the ban, a student in attendance said, “The implications of the government putting laws on our bodies go far beyond one’s personal stance on abortion.� It’s not about babies, it’s about choice. Small people behind big desks shouldn’t be able to make our decisions for us. It is one of the goals of the Womyn’s Center to educate not only females, but the entire campus about issues concerning and affect- ing women today.
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Pro-choicers have their cake and eat it, too.
Photo by Kari Thompson

The abortion ban would outlaw all abortions other than the follow-ing circumstance: If the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother. Silly excuses such as other health concerns, cases of rape, and cases of incest will not be tolerated. (I wonder how the supporters of this law would feel if their twelve or thirteen year old daughter was sexually assaulted and got pregnant as a result.) To make sure that nobody is doing anything that they shouldn’t be, a doctor could face five years in prison for performing an illegal abortion. In February, the South Dakota Legislator passed the abortion ban with ease. In order to avoid a lawsuit that would cause the courts to endlessly rehash Roe v. Wade, pro-life supporters collected signatures and the ban was placed on the ballot. In the most recent poll found, 47 percent of South Dakota voters opposed the ban, 39 percent supported it, and 14 percent stand undecided. If the ban included exceptions for rape and incest, support would be 59 percent. If the pro-choice population dominates the results, the pro-life population will include exceptions for rape and incest and put the issue up for vote again. continued ….p13 The state of the Womyn’s Center of Antioch is not alone in this fight. Nationwide, over 200 potlucks have been held so far and more are being planned. Potlucks for choice are not the only opposition to the South Dakota abortion ban out there today. The holders of the potlucks want us to think of our sisters, our aunts, our mothers, our daughters (for those of us who have offspring), our cousins, and all of the other women in our lives and how this will constrict their rights. Abortion is not a method of birth control but it needs to remain a choice. The pro-lifers seem to be catching up to us; we need to find larger artillery. Perhaps the Record’s “Munition of the Weekâ€? can help us out with that. Just kidding, we don’t want to shoot them, we just want them to see it our way.

Bright pink armbands and their explanation were handed out at the potluck. Betty Friedan, a student at Wellesley, organized a facebook group called “I’m Wearing an Armband for Choice�. The group suggests selling armbands made of hot pink cloth at a suggested donation, the profits of which will go to the Planned Parenthood Action fund of Minnesota and South Dakota, to help educate the voters. Donations from the “Armband for Choice� and the Potlucks will be sent to:

PPMNS Action Fund
Attn: Allison F.
1200 Lagoon Ave.
Minneapolis, MN 55408

Personal donations can be sent to the address above as well. If the ban passes in South Dakota, the trend will waterfall through the rest of the country. Our beloved president supports this ban. How would he feel if he was pregnant? Mr. President would probably reply “I’m a man, I can’t get pregnant.� He would become a prolifer in a heartbeat if one of his precious baby girls got pregnant. First he won’t send them to war, next he will be protecting them from the world (more so than he already does). He is a man behind a big desk in a big white house who thinks he can control the choices of women, whose population he couldn’t begin to count (he can’t count that high). Educate yourself, so that you can know where you stand on every issue that affects you and those issues which you feel passionate about.

Freaks and Geeks

or Where the hell was everyone last Friday night?

By the cooperative council for a non-wack social scene
Photos by Kari Thompson

Last Friday night’s party had a slew of campus Freaks and/or Geeks crawling out of their respective crevices stashed throughout the dampest dungeons, and most studious corners of Antioch Campus.

Birch space was transformed into the middle school auditorium dance space of our dreams, and I personally found it hard not to revert to the pre-pubescent wallflowerish tendencies of my youth as my eyes were met with a bevy of familiar faces transformed into caricatures of S&M sex sluts, and D&D dorkbags. Special shout outs go to J Switlick- D.J. spinster extraordinaire for holding it down on the tables for upwards of 2 hours, and playing my hearts secret anthem- yeah, never mind all the posturing, this reporter is searching for a Real Love, just like Mary J. circa 1995.

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Megan Homewood & Whitney
Stark reveal surprising inner life

But was the party as Michael Khayat put it so eloquently “Lameo, same-o, no one to blame-o, just like taco bell- different party, same ingredients?� Or was it another shining example of the stylish debauchery which permeates the underbelly of our fine school? It’s kind of like the way people try purposefully to show up late to things so they won’t be the first ones there, but if no one comes, there is no party. It’s a dangerous cycle, people become disillusioned by the perceived sameness of Friday night parties, and numbers dwindle- yes loyal readers, skin will be bared, pelvises will be ground into each other in a rhythmic humpy fashion, first years will inevitably fall down, but just like vaginas- no two parties are the same. We need numbers, turn out, seriously what else is going on in our sleepy Midwestern hollow? It’s worth showing up if only to see Nate Love dance, and with a broom no less! I bet you’re sorry you missed that.

Some interviewees were more optimistic- or drunk, 2nd year transfer Shauna Pearson reminisced, “ I had a great time. Tequila was the devil, Jameson was like a sub-devil, but Tequila was actually Satan.� Other part goers were impressed with the effort put into outfits, Patrice Wyman remarked- “ Carrie had a sweet ass outfit, her glasses were fucking sweet… I got really shit faced.� It goes w i t h o u t saying shit faced was a theme last Friday night, I heard at least two tales of near death experiences. One party goer recalled- “A thump, followed by a red head on the ground.� And another terrifying tale of death defiance had a certain saran wrapped third year dangling precariously from a third floor window of North, before she was rescued by another heroic third year who was thoughtful enough to pull her back in through a second story window. Yes communityalcohol, plus irresponsibility equals blatant displays of stupid. It’s all right, you can hate me, I’m bulletproof.

For the name dropping portion of my article I will start with Wendy-Lynn Zeldin, resplendent in classy black dress and cute little bow- I have no words, other than: call me. James Kutil, creative as always was begging for a kick in the pants as he shook his cute little ass all over the dance floor, accompanied by Patrice “Gramma� Wyman who aside from being adorable was eerily reminiscent of the crazy cat lady I grew up down the block from. Meredith “lady on the streets, freak in the sheets� Root wielded a boa with uncanny expertise as she shook her shit with assassin like precision. First years Jeremiah and Riley impressively shined the dance floor with a rhythmic compulsion that’s still sending chills through my girly parts, and Walid- Oh Walid, who knew six simple words could drip like poetry from your lips and straight into my subconscious, when the world is silent I can still hear you saying “Can I roll up on you?� what a gentleman. Other notable guests included a goose, a rat-tailed sailor, and Captain Kirk, Chris McKinless’ nipples were unfortunately nowhere to be seen. Mariel Traiman had to say of the evening “ It was fun. People looked good. I got to make out…a lot.� Her positivity is always appreciated in the sometimes sea of emotive ambivalence, for example when questioned about his feelings on the evening Wesley “Danger� Hiserman had only to say: “The cigarette wasn’t worth 25 cents�.

Not to be forgotten were the 4 (by my slightly intoxicated count) women in lab coats. I had no idea Antioch’s pre-med program was so prolific, I felt like I was dodging speculums and bio-technology like Steve Lawry dodges direct questions from the student body… j/k. Please don’t shut us down. Basketball shorts, and domesticated animals on t-shirts were also in high style, Whitney Stark’s “I <3 Horses� t-shirt still stands out in my mind. Jelesia Clyburn coerced the night into a beautiful finish with her enviable music selection skills, and sent the Antioch freak and geek population stumbling drunkenly back to their beds, to rest their sweaty little heads on their bed bath and beyond pillows, and slip off into the dream world. I feel that a good party is truly revolutionary. Every time we get together and listen to the wisdom of top 40 hip hop and R&B jams, jump, spin, grind, and slink surreptitiously into corners to make out with fervent passionwe prove that we can transcend the bullshit. Every party is direct action- when we come together over the common goal of fun, when we dance in the face of adversity, when we showcase blatant displays of deviant sexuality and dissidence from the status quo of “college party culture� we become stronger as people, and as a community. Do not write off parties as “same shit, different costumes� embrace the silliness, and the opportunity to uphold a legacy of true radicalism- for every time a boy slips on a skirt, or some youngin’ gets their first taste of non-monogamy, every time someone finds themselves comfortable enough to dance like a spaz face with a group of co-conspiring spaz faces, we are truly (to quote Gandhi) “Be(ing) the change we wish to see in the world.� Riding off on my high horse into the sunset- this is the Cooperative council for a non-wack social scene urging you to stop being such a cynical shut in ass hole and come out and dance, cuz you might think you’re to cool for school, but you’re probably not. Except for maybe a couple of you.20061013-freaks2.jpg

Keri gregory looks for freakish slam dunk