Author Archives: Frankly Speaking

Meatless Mondays at Olin

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I encourage the student body to revisit the proposal for our dining hall to take part in Meatless Mondays. This program not only encourages people to start off their week with healthy food, but also presents a way for us to reduce our carbon footprint and conserve natural resources. Animal agriculture is an environmentally destructive industry, contributing to air pollution, water pollution, land degradation, and negative effects on biodiversity. The livestock sector generates 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the cars and trucks in the world combined [1].

I have no doubts that a shift towards a sustainable lifestyle is a challenge Olin students will want to face head on. The dining hall already provides us a selection of vegan foods on a daily basis, along with vegetarian proteins at the salad bar. They offer ‘faux meats’ at the burger station, along with all the toppings that you can get on a regular burger. We know the dining hall is capable of providing vegetarian options, and Meatless Monday would allow us to expand on the number of choices offered.

In implementing this program, Olin College would not be alone in its efforts. Brandeis University, Vassar College, The International Culinary Center, and dozens of other universities have launched initiatives encouraging students to participate in Meatless Mondays. If you believe in social justice or being good for the planet, I encourage you to Do Something [2].

Citations
[1] http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm
[2] https://franklyspeakingnews.com/2013/12/dumb-ass-social-justice/

Horoscopes by Drunk Editors

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Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20): Sandals and snow don’t mix. Boots were invented for a reason. Although boots and tall snow don’t mix well either, so you’re probably just screwed.

Aries (March 21 – April 19): This month we will lose an hour. You’ll need to work very hard to make up for this missed hour or work time or sleep time. Use your negative hour very wisely – you paid for it with a hangover in November.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20): See if any of the doors to the roof of your heart are open. Stargaze. Don’t get caught.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20): If there was ever a time to embrace Pass/No Record, now is not it. Good news, though – spring break is right around the corner. You’ll have an extra week to work hard.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22): If there was ever a time to embrace Pass/No Record, now is not it. Good news, though – spring break is right around the corner. You’ll have an extra week to work hard.

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22): You will have to walk to school, barefoot uphill both ways in the snow. And this winter is about to be Boston’s snowiest winter ever.

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22): When you see the bananas in the dining hall I bet all you can think of is the telephone. Use this as a reminder to call your family or reconnect with old friends. I bet they would love to hear from you.

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22): Stop. Stop procrastinating. Stop saying ‘no.’ Stop trying so hard. Stop not trying hard enough. Stop feeling guilty.

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21): Tennis balls are so perfectly round and fuzzy. They are fun to bounce. You can’t not smile when you’re holding a tennis ball. Next time you see one of these magical objects, make sure you give it its due respect.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21): You can convince them of anything. Remember, people used to think the Earth was flat.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19): You look like you need some ice cream. Guess what flavors the Dining Hall has? Peach.

Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18): BACK UP YOUR DATA! EVERYTHING WILL CRASH AT MIDNIGHT!

Horoscopes by Drunk Editors

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Aquarius (Jan. 20 – Feb. 18): You should probably re-measure that thing.

Pisces (Feb. 19 – March 20): Today is going to be the worst. Maybe you should get a new hat.

Aries (March 21 – April 19): If a Candidate comes up to you with questions, make sure that they know Olin Dining doesn’t have grapefruit spoons.

Taurus (April 20 – May 20): You know what you did, and so does the universe. You’re awesome.

Gemini (May 21 – June 20): Give up hope on that. No more partying for you.

Cancer (June 21 – July 22): Do you smell that across the hall?

Leo (July 23 – Aug. 22): Paint the town red. Crash a party.

Virgo (Aug. 23 – Sept. 22): You rule. Go look for pizza.

Libra (Sept. 23 – Oct. 22): Run! Hide!

Scorpio (Oct. 23 – Nov. 21): Don’t forget your towel.

Sagittarius (Nov. 22 – Dec. 21): Things may be unclear today. Bring an umbrella.

Capricorn (Dec. 22 – Jan. 19): Today will be almost perfect… for everyone else!

Faculty and Staff Describe Jobs

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Last month, we did a twist on our regular column. Instead of asking open ended questions to students, we had students submit and vote for questions that we asked faculty and staff. Three questions came out on top. You will find the responses to these questions in articles titled “Least Favorite Part of Olin,” “What You Do Saturday Nights,” and “Coolest Project You’ve Done.”

First however, we asked: What do you do at Olin?

Alyson Goodrow: Marketing

Peter Antognoni: Instruct in the Fabrication shops.

Rae-Anne Butera: Dean of Student Life

Alison Black: Assistant Dean of Student Life

Susan Johanson: Administrative support to Dean of Admission and Admission office in general

Jessica Townsend: Associate Dean of Curriculum and Academic Programs

Michelle Davis: Marketing

Drew: Muck about with robots

Sarah Spence Adams: Faculty Member

Oscar: Learn, sometimes I say useful stuff

Anonymous A: Work

Anonymous B: Admissions

Anonymous C: Teach

Anonymous D: (not specified)

A special thank you to our Faculty and Staff contributors for taking the time to answer these questions, and a super special thanks for all you do beyond that.

Least Favorite Part of Olin

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The open ended question for faculty and staff that received the most student votes was: What is your least favorite part of Olin?

Peter Antognoni: The commute (2.5 hr./day)

Susan Johanson: The lack of an ombudsman for staff and faculty.

Jessica Townsend: We’re all too busy all the time.

Drew: There are too many things to do, and not enough time.

Alison Black: I wish the Olin community was more diverse, especially in terms of race and ethnicity.

Rae-Anne Butera: I wish we had a snack bar/coffee shop. Maybe we should start one in OSL…. Would more students come up to OSL just to hang out if we did?

Oscar: The lack of diversity and will to engage this.

Anonymous A: People abusing “working from home”

Anonymous B: Lack of empathy or understanding of one another’s viewpoints. So many disagreements or struggles at Olin (and in the world) arise from two people with mildly incompatible views thinking the other is wrong, unintelligent, and being intentionally difficult. Meanwhile, we aren’t aware of the influence our own blind spots have on our actions, and the impact that we have on others based on our assumptions.

Anonymous C: When students remember to criticize parts of a course but forget to mention the good parts (on course evaluations, for example)

Anonymous D: Getting to know students personally. Y’all’s interesting.

What You Do Saturday Nights

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The second most popular Open Ended Question was: What do you do on Saturday nights?

Alyson Goodrow: Most recently, watch episode after episode after episode after episode of Homeland… or go out for dinner/drinks with friends, go on a date with my hubby, watch a movie, host 7 and 9 year olds for sleepovers, etc.

Peter Antognoni: I gather with friends and family to break bread, talk, watch content in our family projector room with the wood stove going ( or if left to myself just tinker in my machine shop :<)

Sarah Spence Adams: Sleep

Susan Johanson: Make and share supper and the evening with my husband, take a late walk with our dog, read, listen to music or the radio.

Jessica Townsend: Cooking dinner with friends

Alison Black: I’m usually on my couch reading, watching TV, and recovering from a long run/walk.

Oscar: Sleep

Anonymous A: Out for dinner, show, movie

Coolest Project You’ve Done

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This month, three Open Ended Questions were posed to the faculty and staff. The third question was: What is the coolest project you have ever worked on?

Alyson Goodrow: Redesigning Olin.edu. Hands down!

Peter Antognoni: Without a doubt volunteering with home building through Habitat for Humanity.
That’s where the saying “It is more blessed to give than to receive” comes alive!

Susan Johanson: It would have to be Project INTREX (information transfer experiments), an MIT-based project proposed to the National Science Foundation to put the entire contents of the MIT engineering library onto microfilm and microfiche, so it could be remotely accessed. At the time, we had no terminals, personal computers or internet – what an imaginative, remarkable idea!

Jessica Townsend: Testing rocket engines at Blue Origin.

Michelle Davis: One time I organized a headache sufferers art show to demonstrate the pain, suffering and visual auras that people with headaches experience, and to also show the creativity that can also accompany headaches. We received photos, prints, paintings and sculptures of people with spikes in their heads, dramatic visual apparitions and representations of the sense of isolation that people felt when experiencing an episode. It was very empowering for our patients (I worked at a hospital) but it also generated tons of attention for our headache treatment facility, which was my job as a PR director at the time.

Drew: PackBot! A mobile robot that’s fast, tough, easy to use and has actually saved people’s lives. I’ve worked on other great projects, but knowing someone didn’t die because of my robot is the best.

Sarah Spence Adams: Solving a really hard research problem with two of my first Olin research students. We worked together for many years to solve the problem, solving lots of other problems and including many other students along the way. It was an incredible journey and a highlight of my professional life.

Oscar: 1. Vibration-to-electric energy conversion using MEMS.
2. MIT microengine (a turbine the size of a dime).
PS: You asked for coolest, not most meaningful or important…

Anonymous D: Space, when it was new, when nobody knew just what would work & wouldn’t. You had to REACH — both with imaginings and with products — and only delivering counted. The fundamental P/F (NR just wasn’t) was launch and all that sci/pol stuff it took to get to the pad, then data & the satellite-filled world as we now enjoy it. I have lived in the best, most fun & challenging times, methinks & me hopes u feel the same at yours as you find your contributions.

Honor Board MadLibs

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Cases before the Honor Board are wide and varied. Topics range from personal differences and academic dishonesty to misuse of public materials. Above all, the Honor Board is a means for Olin Community members to work out their differences safely and confidentially.
Find a friend and fill out the MadLibs in the paragraphs below to learn about a past case.

This month’s MadLib is loosely based on an Honor Board case released Spring 2012 about lying to group members to avoid a meeting. You can read the original case, as well as several other abstracts, in the Honor Drive (\\fsvs01\StudentGroups\HonorBoard\Abstracts).

____________ (Name 1) and ______________ (Name 2) were working on a four-person group project for _____________(name of Olin class). In general, the dynamic of the group was ________________(negative adjective): group members often _______________ (past tense verb) during meetings, and frequently missed class work time. Shortly before one particular group meeting, __________ (Name 2) sent an email to the group saying that he would not be able to make it due to a conflicting _____________ (noun 1) for a group project in another class.

The next day, _____________ (Name 1) was talking to a friend, and it came up in conversation that the friend had seen _______________ (Name 2) ________________(imperfect tense verb) during the time of the previous night’s meeting. ________________(Name 1) later talked to ________________ (Name 2)’s partner for the other class, and learned that there had been no conflicting _______________ (noun 1) scheduled for the other class. _______________(Name 1), believing that _______________ (Name 2) may have lied about having a conflict, submitted a report to the Honor Board.
In an interview with the Investigative Team, _______________ (Name 1) explained that her goal was not to punish _______________ (Name 2), but to allow him to _______________ (verb) upon his actions and ______________ (verb) their effects on others. She also noted that the ______________ (noun) as a whole had not been functioning well, and no one had tried to initiate a discussion on improving team dynamics.

____________ (Name 2) was charged with violating the Respect for Others and Integrity clauses of the Honor Code. During a meeting with the Investigative Team, _______________ (Name 2) accepted responsibility for the charges and expressed regret for his actions. The Investigative Team _______________(past tense verb) the case to have merit for ______________ (plural noun), and thus sent the case to hearing.
As ______________(Name 2) accepted the responsibility, the hearing panel went straight to the ____________ (adjective) phase and decided ____________ (preposition) the following sanctions: a _____________ (noun) to _____________ (Name 1) addressing how his actions ________________(past tense verb) his group members, Professor _________________(Name 3) was asked to take the case into account in the grade given for the assignment, and _______________ (Name 2) was given a disciplinary warning.

What You Regret Not Doing

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Last month, we proposed the question: What do regret not doing? The following are your answers.

I regret not going to a Comic Convention with all my friends in high school. And now I’m at college here, and they’re at colleges everywhere else. – Jennifer Anderson

Going to Brazil/Insper this semester. – Anonymous

I regret not getting to know my professors better – while I am friendly with most of them, I don’t think there’s that one professor I’ll be rushing to see when I come to visit Olin after I graduate. – A Senior

I regret nothing. – Anonymous Chloe

Study abroad! Do it, even if you don’t want to. – Anonymous

Be out publicly (as gay) in college. College is an important time for building relationships, and hiding this from people can really hinder relational growth. That doesn’t mean I can’t still make amazing friends here, though! :) – Anonymous

Breaking the six week rule as a first-year. – Anonymous

Next month we are changing things a bit. An open ended will be targeted at Faculty and Staff, to be published in the December 2014 issue. Stay tuned for an email to submit questions.

Valuable Lessons from Summer

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This month’s short answer question was: “Describe the most valuable thing you learned this past summer.”

At Olin, the opportunity for interaction is handed to you on a silver platter. We’re in a world where you have to talk with your peers, which really greases the wheels of friendship. In real life, you have to make an active, forward effort to establish and maintain friendships – they won’t just happen to you. – Greg Eddleston

That PAC-Bayes is learning. – Anonymous

Just do it. Don’t wait for people to tell you it’s okay. – Anonymous

Some people are not worth your time, your energy, or your motivation – no matter how long you have known them or whatever loyalty has been established. Broken relationships require both parties to invest. But if you are the only one bowing your pride, you’re just going to be shoved further down as an ego boost for the other. It solves nothing and is not worth the tax on you. – Anonymous

If you put on a bathing suit and cover yourself in honey, no one will want to give you a hug, and everything around you will become sticky. (Maybe not the most personally valuable thing I learned this summer, but I don’t want anyone else to learn this lesson the hard way.) – Anonymous

You can always find something useful to do on your project. Most of the time, I would be waiting for an answer to a decision I’d made from my boss, but I found that even when I ‘had nothing to do’ there were a bunch of small tasks I could perform like sending emails or documentation, cleaning, etc. – Anonymous

Things can be traumatic without necessarily being immediately life threatening. Also, not all sexual assault is rape. Those two things have really changed the way I view my past and myself, and explain a lot about me that I had never understood. I spent a good portion of the summer in group therapy at a mental hospital, and heard a lot of people describe things as abuse that have also happened to me that I just considered part of life being unfair, or blamed myself for. – Anonymous

How to use git – correctly. – Anonymous

Being “busy” is just an excuse I use to put off things I don’t want to do. I realized that over the summer my self-imposed business of cooking, working out, reading, etc. was preventing me from doing little things like calling my sister. If I can’t make time for tasks as simple as that over the summer, how can I possibly thing that I will make time for it in “real life” later on? – Anonymous

Look out for next month’s short answer question: “What is one thing you regret not doing?”