An analytics whiz kid who grew up idolizing the Capitals is now helping coach them — The Washington Post

 
Tim Ohashi’s amazing journey, writes , took him from “obsessing over sports as a kid in Bethesda to studying psychology and mathematics at �ֲ���ý to landing an internship and then a full-time job” with his favorite hockey team, the Washington Capitals.

Tim Ohashi ’11 is the hockey operations analyst for the Washington Capitals of the NHL. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/NHLI via Getty Images)

Ohashi is the hockey operations analyst, a multitasking job comparable to “an NFL quality-control coach,” Steinberg writes.

“I could have told you probably 20 years ago that this was exactly where I’d like to be,” Ohashi says. “I never in a million years would have guessed I’d be here.”

He got his gig the old-fashioned way, blanketing the team with resumes after getting a master’s in sports industry management at Georgetown.

And though he scored just one career hockey goal, in an 18-2 win for the �ֲ���ý club team, Ohashi has proven to be “a genius” in his work, says Jay Beagle, a Capitals center. “Statistically, he’s the best.”

Signs with a message of love to combat hate, and maybe start a conversation — The Philadelphia Inquirer

 
After the presidential election, Kate Haesche Thomson ’00 and Mark Thomson ’03 “had been alarmed by the stories” of harassment and intimidation, of the The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Some incidents were close to their home a few miles north of Philadelphia in Glenside, Pa.: “swastikas scrawled in bathrooms at Council Rock High School North and racist text messages sent to University of Pennsylvania students.”

Since then, the Thomsons have become a distribution hub for a phenomenon: the “Hate Has No Home Here” yard sign that had appeared in 29 states as of late December.

Kate Haesche Thomson ’00 poses with some of the signs that read “Hate Has No Home Here” in several languages. (Photograph by David Maialetti/Philadelphia Inquirer)

It started when Kate posted a Facebook note asking if anyone wanted one.

A “Hate Has No Home Here” sign, printed in several languages, stands in the Thomson home.

A few signs became a lot more, and at the time of the Inquirer‘s story, they’d handled local requests for more than 1,800 signs that now “dot the roads in clusters” in their community.

“It just blew up so fast,” Kate says. And as of Jan. 13, their number is more than 5,000 signs.

Putting a sign out or wearing a pin won’t stop hate, Kate says, but as a marketing consultant she knows that “exposing people to a simple, memorable message can help it stick in their minds,” writes Whelan.

Kate hopes the signs can help facilitate conversations. “Having conversations about what constitutes hate is progress. Feeling empowered to do more is progress.”

Practical and life lessons from a textile mill — South Coast Today

 
In an , anthropologist Caitrin Lynch ’89 described how she “shelved” her college-professor routine and “went to work in a textile mill” in 2016 to do research for her new book.

Caitrin Lynch is a professor of anthropology at Olin College in Needham, Mass.

As an anthropologist, Lynch’s “bread and butter” skill is “understanding how people make sense of the world they inhabit.”

Even so, Lynch’s mill year drove home “the value of immersing ourselves in new perspectives.” Regardless of “our formal education” or “our political orientation or family backgrounds, each of us would benefit from seeing the world through the eyes of people unlike ourselves,” she wrote.

Lynch learned practical skills and got the big picture, too, from “how to operate machines that move in mysterious ways” to “what it means for a business owner to keep a business alive when odds are against its survival.”

Radio Garden lets you tune into a world of global broadcasts — NPR

 
It was a throwaway mention, but kinda cool, when freelance journalist and radio producer Deepak Singh mentioned the �ֲ���ý radio station, WRBC-FM, in

Illustration by Marty Braun.

Behaving something like Google Earth, Radio Garden lets you spin the globe to tune into radio stations worldwide.

Singh writes: “I zoomed into the northeast part of the United States. And then a radio station started playing. On the bottom left side of the screen it said, ‘Lewiston, United States.’ This is about 30 miles from Brunswick, Maine, where I now live. On the bottom right side, it said WRBC. The �ֲ���ý College radio station was playing.”

(Note to readers: We loved the site but couldn’t get WRBC to play!)

Olivia Bell '19 laughs with her co-hosts as she delivers a promotion.

Katherine Schell '19 (right) trains new DJs Caroline MacClancy '20 (center) '20 and Robyn Moss '20 (left).

Chardon Brooks '19, Olivia Bell '19, and Katherine Schell '19 kick off their weekly show, "Hey, It's Us."

One way to really “see” �ֲ���ý is to start looking around after the sun sets — or in this case, underground. Beneath 31 Frye St. lies WRBC, �ֲ���ý’ own 120-watt FM radio station.

On Wednesday nights, Katherine Schell ’19 of Charlotte, N.C., Olivia Bell ’19 of Dover, Mass., and Chardon Brooks ’19 of Watertown, Mass., host their 10 p.m.–midnight show, Hey, It’s Us.

“I think it really cemented our friendship,” says Schell. “We all have different music tastes which are really cool to bring together. I think all of us had music as a big part of our childhood with our parents.”

Aspiring DJs from the Class of 2020 stop by during the segment to receive training on new radio software from Schell, who prepares them for their own shows. That includes Robyn Moss ’20 of White Plains, N.Y. and Caroline MacClancy ’20 of Northborough, Mass., who are eager to be trained for their show the following morning, The Birdhouse.

The student DJs still consult the CDs that occupy seemingly every available wall, but for ease of use, they often use digital means to queue up songs.

Moss and MacClancy decided to pursue a radio show after meeting a student from WRBC on Accepted Students Day this past April. “I want a place where I can just express myself,” says Moss.

President Clayton Spencer discusses her vision for �ֲ���ý at WRBC. Photographs by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College.

�ֲ���ý College President Clayton Spencer recently sat down with Alfred Russo ’15 and Jordana Gluckow ’16 at WRBC-FM to discuss a range of topics. In a relaxed and wide-ranging conversation, President Spencer answered questions about key initiatives at the college, how she thinks about organizational change, and opportunities for innovation and experimentation provided by Short Term.

Listen to the entire interview on , or to the selection of excerpts that we’ve curated below.

The restructuring myth

This past year, changes to student support services and college programming have some students believing that the college administration is undergoing a large and disruptive restructuring. Not so, says President Spencer.

The Student Experience

Top of mind for some students this spring are the departures of a few well-liked staff and administrators. How do personnel decisions intersect with �ֲ���ý’ sense of community?

The Campus Culture Working Group

This past fall, Dean of Students Joshua McIntosh convened the Campus Culture Working Group to conduct a comprehensive review of wellness education, monitoring and intervention, late-night weekend programming, standards and accountability, residential programs, inclusiveness, and orientation/first-year programs. How are students involved in this effort?

Purposeful Work

Purposeful Work is one of the distinctive �ֲ���ý initiatives that are manifesting themselves in myriad ways around campus. How does Purposeful Work fit in with the college’s other needs and priorities?

Improving Short Term

The college has made changes to Short Term by creating Practitioner-Taught Courses and “course redesign” opportunities. What’s that all about?

Does �ֲ���ý have a parking problem?

A parking study concluded there is plenty of parking at �ֲ���ý. Meanwhile, one of the WRBC hosts gets introduced to the idea of parking consultants, and a possible new career path.

President Clayton Spencer’s interview on student radio station WRBC-FM on Feb. 10 covered a range of topics: the obligation of a liberal arts college to help graduates get jobs; what responsible investing looks like in 2013; and �ֲ���ý’ relationship with Lewiston.

And lest those topics seem a tad stuffy for a student radio show called Chin Wags and Grab Bags with DJ Nosebleed and Friends, Spencer rose, or sank, to her host’s level as needed during the 75-minute interview.

Besides big-picture topics, Spencer offered responses to questions about the new �ֲ���ý Bobcat (“not unduly aggressive, but looks like he could handle pretty much anything”); her celebrity crush (Alan Rickman); and why she wanted to get the whole thing over with — so she could get  home to watch Downton Abbey.

“I think she’s actually kinda funny. She’s not a suit,” host Clay Baldo ’13 of Santa Fe, N.M., said to his fellow DJ, Corey Gingras ’13 of Eastford, Conn.

Here’s a brief video of the Feb. 10 event and, below, a selection of edited audio clips from the interview.

Audio clips

Spencer sums up her perspective on what creates a career. “All you need to figure out at any given moment is your �Ա�����gig,” she says. But, “you have to want to do it.”

Despite a long tenure at Harvard, �ֲ���ý was not her presidential “safety school.”

What sets �ֲ���ý students apart is their sense of “collective good,” the feeling of “intellectualism with respect that is among the strongest I’ve seen on any campus.” 

To the question of why, in 21st century terms, should someone go to a liberal arts college, Spencer says it’s about creating a valuable and productive sense of self in the world.

The best way to ride the tidal wave of technology is not to “muddle down the middle” but to “go to two different extremes.”

Working hard or hardly working? It’s no joke: The liberal arts education must address careers, Spencer explains.

More than any other, here’s the one quality that Spencer hopes every �ֲ���ý student possesses upon graduation: Authenticity.

Responding to a question from Annie Cravero ’13 of the campus organization �ֲ���ý Energy Action Movement, Spencer explains that responsible investing is about reconciling two important obligations.

The relationship between �ֲ���ý and Lewiston is “strong and growing,” Spencer says.

Host Clay Baldo ’13 (center) and fellow DJ Corey Gingras listen to President Clayton Spencer during her WRBC radio interview on Feb. 10, 2013. Photograph by Phyllis Graber Jensen/�ֲ���ý College.

Seabear, a band based in Reykjavik, Iceland, performs indie folk at 9 p.m. Monday, March 29, in the Benjamin Mays Center, 95 Russell St.

The concert is open to the public and admission is free. For more information, please contact this dray@bates.edu. The concert is sponsored by the �ֲ���ý College radio station, WRBC 91.5 FM.

Once the lo-fi solo project of Icelandic singer/multi-instrumentalist Sindri Mar Sigfusson, who was praised by Rolling Stone as the “Icelandic Beck,” Seabear is embarking on its first-ever North American tour.

Since the founding of the group in the early 2000s, Seabear has morphed into a rambling experimental/indie/folk septet. Joining Sigfusson are Gudbjorg Hlin Gudmundsdottir, Ingibjorg Birgisdottir, Halldor Ragnarsson, Orn Ingi Agustsson, Kjartan Bragi Bjarnason and Soley Stefansdottir.

The band recently released its second full-length LP, We Built a Fire (Morr Music, 2010). For this record, all members of the band had equal input in the writing process, thereby creating Seabear’s first real collective album.

While Sigfusson’s unmistakable voice remains the centerpiece on We Built a Fire, the new joint approach is reflected in songs like “I’ll Build You a Fire” where the whole band joins in on vocals. There is something instantly familiar about Seabear’s songs that resonates with fans and critics alike. Despite scant promotion and airplay behind their debut album release, 2007’s The Ghost That Carried Us Away (Morr Music), their songs and animated videos were a social media hit generating millions of plays on sites like YouTube and Vimeo. The band’s songs have subsequently been featured in the soundtracks of several television programs including Grey’s Anatomy and Gossip Girl.

For more information on Seabear, .

The Internet and digital music’s portability have transformed radio stations like �ֲ���ý’ , celebrating its 50th year of FCC-approved existence.

“People don’t listen to hear a specific song,” says publicity director Doug Ray ’10 of Pittsburgh. “They listen to find something new.” In that spirit, 10 WRBC jocks offer their suggestions, below.

Anamanaguchi “A high-energy mix of rock and hacked Nintendo game systems.” — Doug Ray ’11 of Pittsburgh

Animal Collective “Electronic group with a sharp ear for heavy pop beats, looping, magical sounds, and Beach Boys-esque harmonies all translating to incredible live performances.” — Peter Senzamici ’10 of Rockport, Mass.

Autechre “A beautiful sound spectrum ranging from robots taking lithium on one side to dissociative paranoia on the other.” — Bradley McGraw ’10 of Charleston, S.C.

Beach House “Baltimore indie duo with soft vocals and delicate instrumentation.” — Ali Vingiano ’11 of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y.

The Broken Beats “A Danish band that produces a wonderful rock-pop sound from the ’60s: like The Small Faces but faster with more modern sensibilities.” — Senzamici ’10

El Perro del Mar “Unique acoustic sound that is full-bodied and intriguing. One of the best female songwriters I know of.” — Griffin Peterson ’09 of Fairfield, Conn.

FM Belfast “Icelandic four-piece electro band that is impossible not to dance to.” — Peterson ’09

Good Night, States “Five Pittsburghers getting together with guitars, drums, and synthesizers to produce indie pop.” — Ray ’11

Health “A four-piece band combining genres of noise-rock with dance and electronica to make eccentric, original sounds.” — Vingiano ’11

Matt & Kim “A power pop-rock duo out of Brooklyn comprising only a synth keyboard and vocals (Matt) and drums (Kim).” — Vingiano ’11

Noah and the Whale “Hopelessly romantic and charming folk-pop with a feel-good sound beyond belief.” — Liz Rowley ’11 of Evanston, Ill.

Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin “A poppy Midwestern folk group that lifts you up on a cloudy day.” — Joe Cauteruccio ’10 of Boston

The Soul of John Black “Masterful combination of soul, gospel, funk, and hip hop with amazing vocals and slide guitar.” — Dan LaCasse, community DJ, of Auburn

Surkin “Parisian boy-wonder with a ’90s approach to electronic dance music.” — Rob Lindon ’11 of London

Yelle “1980s-style dance hits made for 21st-century French discotheques.” — Nelson Harris ’10 of Zurich, Switzerland

It’s official: WRBC just turned 50! If you live near campus, you can listen over the radio at 91.5 FM. The rest of world can check out a live webcast, read the station’s history and interact.