Issue 23

VOLUME CLI, ISSUE 23

WEDNESDAY, April 13, 2022

amherststudent.com

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

Altered Housing Selection Process Elicits Student Concerns Liam Archacki ’24 Senior Managing Editor

Photo courtesy of Matai Curzon ’22

The AAS has voted to establish salaries for officials following the upcoming election cycle. Questions remain about whether the bylaw opens up avenues for other student groups to get paid.

AAS Passes Bylaw to Pay AAS Officials Eleanor Walsh ’25 Managing News Editor The Association of Amherst Students (AAS) has voted to establish salaries for AAS officials following the upcoming election cycle, as announced in an email to students on Friday, April 8. The new bylaw, proposed by Senator Cole Graber-Mitchell ’22, aims to boost participation in the AAS and make it more accessible.

OPINION

However, questions remain about whether the bylaw opens up avenues for other student groups to get paid.

The new bylaw will pay $15 an hour to all senators, executive board members, and at-large members on the Budgetary Committee and Judiciary Council. Officials will only be paid for mandatory, minuted meetings held by the Senate or any standing, constitutional, or ad-hoc committee of the AAS.

9

How to Make Challah: Cole Graber-Mitchell ’22 reflects on his Jewish identity, his connections to the Amherst community, and a very special loaf of bread.

Hours are capped at six hours a week, meaning officials can earn up to $90 a week. This money will come from the AAS rainy day fund, which the Senate can vote to use for any purpose they see fit.

“By paying people, we hope to make the entire AAS more accessible and inclusive to those who don’t really have spare time to get involved with student government without being paid,” said Graber-Mitchell

ARTS & LIVING

on one of his motivations for proposing the bylaw.

He hopes that low-income students who might otherwise spend their time working an on-campus job will consider running, which would also help diversify the Senate.

Ankit Sayed ’24 describes himself as someone who is able to run for Senate “almost exclusively because of the new

Continued on page 4

14

Compelling Concertos: Alex Brandfonbrener '23 reviews Saturday's orchestra concert with insights from Conductor Mark Lane Swanson.

SPORTS

Running from Tuesday, April 12, to Thursday, April 14, the 2022-2023 general housing selection process has taken a form different from both the process used since the pandemic began and the system in place before the pandemic. In no longer assigning group housing assignments or allowing students to receive selection times as groups, the new process has elicited concerns from some students trying to live in close proximity to their friends.

In a shift away from the Covidera system in which students ranked their dorm preferences as groups and were assigned their rooms by Housing Operations, this year marks the first time students are selecting their own rooms since the pandemic began.

In a March 10 email from Housing Operations, students were informed of their randomly assigned selection number, which determines the start time for the window in which they may choose their room, with lower numbers corresponding to earlier times.

The email also announced a notable change from pre-Covid years in the discontinuation of “time groups,” which had allowed students who wished to live near

Continued on page 5

22

An Ode to Coach K: Liza Katz ’24 reflects on her experience as a longtime Duke fan as the legendary coach heads into retirement.

News POLICE LOG

Staff Spotlight Pete Charron

April 3, 2022 – April 11, 2022

>>April 3, 2022 12:54 a.m., Seelye House A town resident made a complaint about noise at Seelye House. CSAs responded and asked students to lower the music volume.

is under investigation.

1:44 a.m., Seelye House A town resident made a complaint about noise at Seelye House. CSAs responded and ended the event.

>>April 9, 2022

8:33 p.m., Hitchcock Dormitory Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) took a report of a vandalized hand sanitizer dispenser.

8:36 p.m., Mayo-Smith House ACPD took a report of a glass fire cabinet that was vandalized. >>April 4, 2022

1:19 p.m., Hitchcock Dormitory ACPD took a report of a vandalized door and wall. >>April 5, 2022

4:56 p.m., Nicholls Biondi Hall An Environmental Health & Safety specialist removed a container of gasoline that was found inside of a dorm. Container was removed and secured with hazardous materials. >>April 6, 2022

10:55 a.m., Woodside Avenue ACPD took a past report from a town resident who reported a suspicious male posing as “Amherst College Security.” Matter

Frost Café Retail Supervisor

>>April 7, 2022

9:25 a.m., Robert Frost Library ACPD responded to a report of vandalism to an art installation.

10:00 a.m., Nicholls Biondi Hall ACPD responded to a 911/2111 hang-up from the elevator emergency phone. Upon arrival, no issues were found.

11:25 p.m., Residence Hall A ACPD took a larceny report from a student. The items were recovered the next day. >>April 10, 2022

4:27 a.m., James Hall An accidental 911 call came into dispatch. After speaking with the caller, there was no further assistance needed.

1:35 p.m., Campus Grounds ACPD took a report of property damage that involved a college-owned propane lamp heater. >>April 11, 2022

8:03 p.m., Merrill Science Center ACPD took a report of vandalism on the exterior of the Merrill science building.

12:32 p.m., Campus Grounds A sergeant followed up with a student about their property possibly being stolen. Items had been returned.

Pete Charron is a retail supervisor at Frost Cafe. He enjoys his position at Amherst for the connections with students and help he can give to the community. "The theme is to throw frisbees and spread love," he says.

Photo courtesy of Ziji Zhou '25

Q: When did you start working at the college, and what led you to work in Frost Café?

A: I started working at the college in September of 2013 through a temporary agency. Why? Realistically, out of need. At that point in time, I was balancing working on a business that I owned in town, and it was a perfect way to pick up some side hours during the night as I worked at the business during the day.

Initially, I was interviewed for and awarded the position here at Frost Café. When we opted not to open this location based on Covid protocols, I was absorbed into a role at Val[entine Dining Hall]. I never really was officially awarded that position [at Val]. I was more so serving in an interim role there.

So, when I moved back here [to Frost Café], it was more so a fulfillment of my initial position.

Q: What does a typical day in your work life look like?

A: It’s really quite nice. I come in at 2 p.m., touch base with Cam who works from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and we identify if anything needs to be picked up, restocked, etc. I sort of look over things, bring anything back down to Val or to the [Keefe] Campus Center and pick anything back up. I also put in any orders that may have to be put in, and then basically just serve the general community and customers at the Café.

Q: What did you do before working at the college?

A: I ran a retail store. My good friend and I opened up a brick-

and mortar business for disc golf, so we were disc golf entrepreneurs.

We did tournaments and we had a store where we had so many frisbees. It was a really enjoyable experience, but unfortunately not super lucrative and very difficult to keep up with. So unfortunately, after eight years of doing that and going into [disc golf] course design and development, in 2019 we closed the business. But it really gave me an opportunity to expand my interests and I learned a lot for sure.

Q: What do you like to do in your free time?

A: I play a lot of disc golf! I manage a disc golf team during the off-season, and I still direct tournaments.

I have developed and built a course in my hometown. It’s an 18-hole course with 36 baskets, and it’s open to the public. I work hand in hand with park and rec there to continue its improvements.

Beyond just assorted disc golf dealings, my life away from work is primarily characterized by time spent with my wife, Carli, and my stepson, Luca. We enjoy ... big surprise ... disc golfing together regularly — as my wife is an incredibly gifted professional player — but also hiking, playing basketball, tennis, gaming, and spending time with our three most incredible cats!

Q: What’s a fun fact about you that most people might not know?

A: I am an embarrassingly big fantasy football fanatic and play in over 13 multi-year leagues (dynasty leagues). As cringey [as] the

sport of football can be with longterm player health impacts and a disturbing track record on diversity in leadership, I still find myself in love with the sport. That love, along with a penchant for numbers and games, has kept me enamored with fantasy football for a decade now.

Q: What keeps you so enthusiastic and motivated at work?

A: I too spent time in college, and those were actually some really difficult years for me, so I recognize the fact that everybody’s in different places. I’ve always held really dear the idea of community, acceptance, and tolerance. For instance, one of the reasons why I love captaining a disc golf team is because it gives me an opportunity to have some influence. The motif of our team is about spreading love and appreciating the time that we have with one another and enjoying and being present in the moment: recognizing just how privileged we are to be here and to enjoy the time we have. So, in many respects, my approach to life is just feeling very blessed to even be here, on any given day, every single moment. I try not to take it for granted and I try to share that appreciation for the moment with others by recognizing that “Hey, even if you’re going through whatever it is that you’re going through, you’re here!” [I’m] just trying to be a force for good and spread that love because you really never know how down others may be.

—Sofia Hincapie-Rodrigo '24

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

News

3

College Hosts City Streets, Students Call for Labor Justice Ellis Phillips-Gallucci ’23 Staff Writer For two hours this past Sunday, the Greenway-King quad was animated with the spectacle of colors from over 145 flags, disrupting the usually desolate white tents usually decorating the campus. From Argentina to Mongolia to Zambia and Kyrgyzstan, the globally-themed spring event drew hundreds of visitors with its dazzling showcase of international emblems.

These flags represent the heritages, nationalities, and ethnicities of the student body, and are a testament to the diversity of identities in Amherst’s community which celebrated its annual City Streets festival this Sunday, April 10. Many members of the community welcomed it as a celebration of the college’s diversity and a break from classwork.

This year’s City Streets also represented one of the first campus-wide events with the new loosened Covid-19 protocols.

From 6 to 8 p.m., the hum of laughter and chatter echoed throughout the quad, accompanied by the aroma of Indian, Middle Eastern, French, Mexican, Nepalese, Moroccan, Taiwanese, and Cajun cuisine. Live music from student acapella groups, performing in homage to departing President Biddy Martin, and the Crocodile River Music Group provided a buoyant ambiance to supplement the games, food, and long lines.

“It’s a really good event to get people outside and get the campus more lively,” said Dickson Wafula ’22.

Brandon Ngacho ’24 remarked that “There are many strengths because it’s a nice time to be outside with everyone else and get to enjoy things you don’t normally enjoy.”

He also compared the event to last year’s, stating, “A day like today, it’s a bit packed into two hours, unlike last year where it was a little bit longer and with more variety of food.”

“It feels refreshing,” said Teddy Baraza ’23. “It should’ve been like this for months now because of the amount of cases, I mean, I’m tired of it at this point.”

“It feels nice to be here and stuff but we still have to remember that

we are in a pandemic and this being city streets means a lot of us international voices are being represented,” said Ngacho. “In America, things like this [relaxing of Covid-19 measures] are happening but everywhere else in the world isn’t necessarily the same which means it’s a blessing to be here.”

Wafula stated that “It also feels like it’s kind of a reward for how we’ve been following the rules for the past year.”

The Amherst Labor Alliance also used the event to stage a protest calling on the administration to provide employees with living wages.

The protest involved banners hung from various campus buildings and chalk messages written on walkways across campus, which expressed sentiments such as “Who matters on Amherst campus?,” “Amherst exploits workers,” “@ trustees, where’s the $ going?,” and “Living wages are a right!”In a follow-up Instagram post, the group urged supporters to promote their signs and demanded action be taken now to achieve living wages and benefits for Amherst workers.

“The main impetus was to draw attention to the unjust labor practices at Amherst College and build solidarity between students and workers on campus,” said Lev Robertson ’23E in a statement to The Student.

“The protest day was chosen because members of the board of trustees were visiting campus, as well as admitted students and those attending City Streets,” he added.

“We want our actions to remind people that members of our community continue to be exploited by the college’s structures and practices.

Workers across the college are integral to sustaining life on-campus and deserve fair labor conditions,” said Grace Cho ’23E. “The immediate goal was to pressure the administration to budget funds from the college’s massive $3.7 billion endowment to pay all their employees a living wage,” said Robertson.

Cho added, “As students … we are privileged to have the influence to effect meaningful changes on-campus, and we hope to promote student-worker solidarity.”

Photo courtesy of Caelen McQuilkin '24E

The college hosted its annual City Streets festival this sunday, celebrating the diversity of the student body and serving a range of delicious foods.

Photo courtesy of Caelen McQuilkin '24E

The Amherst Labor Alliance hung banners across campus on Sunday calling attention to the college’s labor practices and the need to reallocate funding.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

News

4

Potential Pay for Student Groups Still Left Unclear Continued from page 1 bylaw. Beforehand, I wanted to do Senate work and represent so many students but I needed to balance extracurriculars with work that paid, especially considering all the time that Senate puts in — it failed the cost-benefit check until now!”

According to newly elected AAS President Sirus Wheaton ’23, the AAS had discussed implementing salaries on a need-based system — for instance, with only students on financial aid receiving payment.

But Wheaton noted that it can be difficult to draw a firm line between who should and shouldn’t be paid — “With all those need-based things, it's like, ‘how do you determine what's need-based?’”

In addition to inaccessibility, the bylaw seeks to address the AAS’ larger issue with engagement by encouraging more students to run in elections.

During Senate elections in April 2021, only nine candidates ran for eight positions representing each of the Classes of 2022 and 2023. The Class of 2024 had an even smaller showing, with only seven candidates running for eight spots.

“There’s this really big problem where AAS is just simply not competitive,” said Graber-Mitchell.

“To the point where it's almost not democratic. And we're hoping that by paying people, we make it a more desirable place to spend your time. Because we really do ask a lot out of people.”

Senator Lori Alarcon ’24 echoed his sentiment. “People have been just let in, essentially — [there’s a] sense that they don't really have to campaign, they don't really have to earn votes. They just are names on the ballot and people don't really know them, and people don't know who they're voting for,” she said.

Senator Gent Malushaga ’25 thinks paying senators is particularly important because

“the AAS wields immense power in terms of funding and sponsoring initiatives on campus.”

“Giving AAS members a salary legitimizes the body and incentivizes more candidates to run, making elections more competitive and ensuring that those who ultimately do get elected are the best possible representatives of the student body,” Malushaga said.

Although the proposal passed, the vote was not unanimous. A handful of senators either voted no or abstained altogether.

Newly elected Secretary Jeffrey Ma ’24 voted no partly because he “felt that the specifics were unsatisfactory. Part of the issue was just the timing of this proposal: it was the last Senate meeting before elections began, so we had to either pass it then or wait another year.”

Ma also took issue with aspects of the cap placed on paid hours each week, as did other senators.

According to GraberMitchell, the cap was put in place in order to “ensure that people can't inflate meeting times to get extra money.”

Senators will not be paid for work done outside of meetings, which Graber-Mitchell called “an acceptable tradeoff for [the bylaw] to be legitimate and for the student body to know that we're not abusing our positions.”

Although the majority of the Senate preferred a six-hour cap to the proposal’s original fourhour limit, several senators, including Wheaton, opposed the change.

“Most people on Senate aren’t working six hours, ever,” said Wheaton. “Although there's all these stipulations to try to protect people from fudging the numbers, it's inevitably going to happen. And I do feel bad, because a couple of senators I know do work … more than six hours a week. It's just I feel most people aren’t. There’s already going to be pushback, because

it's like we're paying ourselves … Why make it all this?”

Concerns were also raised about how the bylaw would apply to other student groups.

Senator Kya Rincon ’22 expressed worry that the proposal could lead to the student perception that the AAS believes it works harder than other student groups.

Senator Gavi Forman ’22 felt uncomfortable about the lack of consultation with the student body about the proposal.

She noted that other student groups also make meaningful contributions to Amherst, but

“ There's this really

big problem where AAS is just simply not competitive, to the point where it's almost not democratic. And we're hoping that by paying people, we make it a more desirable place to spend your time.

— AAS Senator Cole Graber-Mitchell '22

”

that only the AAS controls funding.

Rincon abstained, while Forman voted no on the proposal.

Following the email announcing the new bylaw to the student body, many students had questions about what it would mean for other student groups seeking compensation.

“If this is a thing can groups like ACEMS [Amherst College Emergency Medical Services] get paid too?” read a message in the campus GroupMe AmherstBussin after the email announcement.

It is unclear if ACEMS would be able to receive pay through

AAS funding, because the AAS hasn’t defined what makes a student group eligible to be paid. Notably, the bylaw did not outline any distinctions for what other groups could be funded, nor did the AAS discuss the matter beyond acknowledging that it could come up in the future. “[In terms of ] dictating who should get paid or who shouldn't … I think this is definitely going to open up a lot of discussion and room for that,” said Alarcon.

Graber-Mitchell agreed, saying that he hopes the bylaw “starts to give student groups a little bit of leverage when they ask for money to pay their workers, because they can say, ‘Well, you are.’”

Students across campus are prepared to make the case for their respective organizations.

“Student theater generates a huge amount of work and is a huge commitment already,” said Leland Culver ’24.

“It might be too expensive for one club to pay everyone who works on every show, but if we could offer even a small stipend for roles like stage manager or assistant director, show photographer or costumer or set builder, that would probably help recruit people, reward those roles for the creative labor they do, and potentially open student theater, especially in tech roles, to more to lowincome students,” he said.

“I hope we do take the time to understand what we want other student organizations to be,” said Wheaton. “It basically is like, where is someone doing something they want to do and where are they servicing the student body … I think that’s the defining thing. Maybe these things have overlap, too.”

The college doesn’t yet know what the ramification of this decision will be, either.

“Having just learned of this issue, we are in the process of exploring it and, therefore, it's premature to comment,” said Chief Communications Officer

Sandy Genelius.

At the AAS meeting on April 11, senators brought up student concerns expressed since the email announcement.

Graber-Mitchell acknowledged the need to establish guidelines for which student organizations could be paid. Other senators brought up specific organizations such as ACEMS, but no conclusion was reached.

The senators also discussed need-based payment at length.

Newly-elected treasurer Dania Hallak ’24 referenced The Student Voices fund, which pays five staff members with demonstrated financial need using AAS funds. She proposed that the Senate consider a similar model, but Wheaton continued to advocate for paying all senators. “Who is Senate to say you’re not FLI [First generation Low Income] enough to get paid?” Wheaton said.

The proposal will likely be amended in the coming weeks, some senators say. Alarcon had voted no because, in its current state, the bylaw doesn’t account for undocumented students who don’t have work authorization.

“The bill didn't really have anything about people without work authorization, because I think people tend to forget about people who don't have documentation status,” she said.

Alarcon is actively working with Graber-Mitchell to amend the proposal to include undocumented students. After that issue is resolved, she thinks the bylaw “is going to change Senate forever in a really good way.”

Graber-Mitchell hopes it will make the Senate “a more professional and inclusive place.”

He hopes the Senate will continue to workshop the bylaw in years to come.

“There's a lot of room for experimentation here. And ultimately, that's what this is.

It's an experiment, an initial attempt at crafting a solution to some big problems.”

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

News

5

‘It Just Doesn’t Make Sense’: Students Speak on Housing Selection Continued from page 1 each other to form groups and select rooms at a time based on the average of their selection numbers. With this process, students were not made aware of their selection numbers, and only received a selection time after confirming their group.

While students under the new process can form a roommate pairing and select a room using the lower of their two numbers, no larger groups are permitted.

Students who wish to live in a group were advised in the March 10 email to delay their selection until the time slot assigned to the group member with the highest selection number — and therefore the latest time. Other advice included applying to a theme community or participating in the suite selection process, which provided students with selection windows based on averaged individual selection numbers among their groups.

In a statement to The Student, Dean of Students and Chief Student Affairs Officer Liz Agosto said, “The decision to not use time groups during this housing selection process was made to allow all students equal access to all of the available housing options while still maintaining the opportunity for students to choose to live in closer proximity to each other.”

Time groups contributed to inequitable distribution of housing

assignments in “advantag[ing] larger cohorts of peers in creating adjacent, insular blocks of assignments within a residence hall,” the March 10 email said.

Several students expressed dissatisfaction with this change to the housing selection process.

Annika Paylor ’24 explained that this system has created social difficulties for some students.

“You’re going to want to pick a friend with a [better] number, right? You’re going to try and find someone else even if you’re not as close friends with them. That could definitely create some tension,” she said.

Grace Cho ’23E, whose selection number is 510 out of 525 seniors, didn’t feel that asking her friends to wait for her selection window was a valid option.

“My friends got assigned numbers on the lower end of [the selection numbers]. I kind of have to wait and see what’s left for me,” she said.

Paylor remarked that students with accommodations can’t afford to wait for their friends’ selection windows.

“That’s honestly a very ableist perspective … Certain people just couldn’t live in Tyler or Seligman; the walk would be too much. Or you know how certain students with allergies have to live in dorms that have carpet-free rooms … So you have to guarantee that you can live in one of those dorms. And if you wait until the last pick, that’s not a guar-

Photo courtesy of Amherst College

Students looking to live in a group were advised to participate in the suite selection process or apply to theme communities, like Marsh Arts House, pictured here. antee anymore,” she said.

Gillian Quinto ’23 echoed this sentiment. “And for people with accommodations, they sort of have to choose whether they want to live together with friends, or exercise the use of their accommodations, which I think is f — ed,” she said.

Quinto expressed that the suggested alternatives to participating in the general housing selection process are not adequate substitutes for traditional group-based selection either. She pointed out that theme houses are not available to all students. “The only one I’m eligible for is the Zu [Humphries House]. I mean, I guess Marsh [Arts House], but

I’m not an artist,” she said.

Quinto also noted that applications for theme communities closed on March 9, a day before the March 10 email was sent out.

Some students predicted that the housing selection process could lead to a more fragmented campus next term.

“I think, if anything, [the new housing selection process] could create more division within the community because students aren’t able to spend time more casually, as they normally would, when they live around each other,” Cho said.

Quinto felt similarly. “The situation of having more people solo on floors — I don’t see how that’s

going to help floor engagement, community bonding, any sort of thing like that,” she said.

Paylor also expressed concern for student well-being. “Students who are socially isolated are significantly more likely to have mental health problems and on top of the lingering effects of the pandemic, it just doesn’t make sense,” she said.

In response to student concerns, Agosto stated, “The Housing Selection Process has many competing priorities; we look forward to working with students in the coming year to review and revamp the process to support their living and learning experience in the residence halls.”

Presidents Deliver State of the College Address Theo Hamilton ’23 Senior Managing Editor On Monday, April 11, President Biddy Martin and Association of Amherst Students (AAS) President Angelina Han ’22 hosted the college’s annual State of the College Address. Han and Martin spoke to an audience of students in the Cole Assembly Room, offering their impressions of what Han called “a year of transition” for the college, and describing

their hopes for the coming years.

After the pair of speeches, the address concluded with an opportunity for students to offer suggestions for next year’s budget and a Q&A with Martin.

The State of the College Address is an annual event that has been held since its creation in 2017 by then-AAS Senator Sade Green ’20 as her Senate project.

The event aims to increase communication between the administration, student government, and

broader student body in order to help create a more transparent college.

After AAS Vice-President Basma Azzamok ’22 gave some opening words on the importance of the address, calling it a space where the college can “come together to discuss what has been achieved this year and what we hope to see in the next,” Han gave her speech, which described the AAS’ potential to improve the college and highlighted some of

its most important achievements this year.

“I’ve been really excited by the work I’ve seen over the last four years,” Han said, before pointing out the particular importance of Senate projects in pushing senators to improve life for every student on campus. Han then gave credit to the AAS Senate projects that have taken shape over the last year, most recently Sirus Wheaton’s ’23 project to provide all students with free access to ze-

ro-waste laundry detergent sheets and Shreya Mathew’s ’25 project, which has given all students free Grammarly Premium subscriptions.

Han also described some of the ways the AAS has been working to correct institutional weaknesses this year. “We’ve realized there were a lot of gaps in how we’re supporting our communities,” Han said, adding that she

Continued on page 7

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

News

6

Lily Fang ’18 Talks Fast Fashion, Sustainable Alternatives Pho Vu ’23 Staff Writer On Friday, April 8, Lily Fang ’18 spoke to Amherst students over Zoom about fast fashion and sustainable alternatives. The event, which took place in Keefe Campus Center’s McCaffrey Room, was hosted by the Class and Access Resource Center (CARC) in hopes of addressing sustainable fashion as an accessible practice for low-income students.

Fang’s interest in sustainable fashion first developed in her teenage years, around the time when fast fashion brands like Zara and H&M gained massive traction. As a 13-year-old, Fang launched a blog called Imperfect Idealist, through which she quickly acquired a deep understanding of the ever-evolving world of the fashion industry.

Soon, the concept of “fast fashion” led to Fang’s growing awareness about consumerism and sustainability.

In 2018, Fang received summa cum laude honors while graduating from Amherst with a double major in mathematics and French. She said college “was a time where she learned the most about sustainability.”

The Phi Beta Kappa member is now a content manager at College Vine, where she utilizes her academic experiences to craft college admissions advice for high school students.

Fang began the presentation by asking everyone in the room what first came to their mind when they heard the phrase fast fashion.

One student said “SHEIN.” Another offered “Zara,” while others went with “Forever 21.”

“New turnovers as a season of clothing,” a student added.

“They’re all correct,” said Fang. “Fast fashion is a term coined by NYT [New York Times] in the 1990s to describe how Zara could take garments from design to stores in less than 15 days … Nowadays, the phrase often refers to the mass produc-

tion of cheap, trendy, and disposable clothing.”

Fang told the audience that she felt the need to emphasize the negative impact of fast fashion.

“Because of massive production and because of these trends’ cycles, we end up with 92 million tons of textile waste per year. A lot of the clothing that we think we’re donating to the stores actually ultimately ends up being dumped in the Global South. A couple of notorious spots are Chile’s Atacama Desert and Ghana’s Kantamanto Market,” she relayed. Fang displayed photos of these locations to emphasize her point.

Moving on, Fang presented the concept of “sustainable fashion” as a long-term solution to alleviate the environmental impact of mass-produced garments. In her opinion, the phrase represents an attempt intertwined with moral ethics: not only focusing solely on recycling materials but also providing a safe working environment for garment workers.

Fang emphasized that buying less, regardless of what brand, is the best alternative to fast fashion. She acknowledged that “a lot of us in this room may find it difficult, since shopping is a major social activity and a lot of places are depending on it.”

She advocated for a more DIY approach and encouraged students to experiment with mending their own clothes or seeing a tailor.

In addition, Fang suggested selling or swapping old clothing as the most sustainable means to getting rid of it. She described that students can use an Amherst-based local gift economy network on Facebook called Buy Nothing, in which members can either lend or donate their resources to those in need, to reduce textile waste.

Alongside low-cost methods, Fang thought it was helpful to demonstrate to listeners signs of sustainable brands. One of her top recommendations is Good

Photo courtesy of Lily Fang

In her talk on Friday, April 8, Lily Fang '18 spoke on the negative impacts of fast fashion, including excessive waste which is oftentimes discarded in the global South.

On You, a web database that allows users to analyze the impact that a brand’s products have on people, the planet, and animals.

As a final point, Fang encouraged Amherst students to heavily consider issues of fast fashion in their community, using their power and knowledge as global thinkers and leaders in navigating the world in a better direction.

The event ended with a 10-minute Q&A from partici-

pating students.

“I think it’s very pertinent that she [Fang] pointed out the impacts many [people] do not realize about fast fashion,” said Weston Dripps ’92, Director of Center for Sustainability. He reiterated Fang’s point about its cyclical nature: “There used to be high heels and now they’re short heels. If I have high heels, then I have to get rid of those short heels.”

Reflecting on Fang’s idea

of “perceived obsolescence,” which refers to “the peer pressure of trying to keep up with everybody else,” Dripps felt that, “there’s no reason why we have to fall victim to it.”

Ashanti Adams ’24 said, “My key takeaway [after the talk] is that, you can practice sustainability without trying to do every single thing and you can be from any background in practicing sustainable fashion. That's important.”

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

News

7

From the Red Room: April 11 AAS Meeting Updates Liam Archacki ’24 Senior Managing Editor On Monday, April 11, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) met for the ninth time this semester. The meeting was held in the Red Room, and its agenda included swearing in the newly elected executive board, a public comment, and on-campus checkins — which included a lengthy discussion of next steps after the April 4 bylaw that instituted salaries for AAS officials.

After attendance was taken, the newly elected executive board members were sworn in. President-Elect Sirus Wheaton ’23, Vice-President-Elect Jaden Richards ’25, Treasurer-Elect Dania Hallak ’24, and Secretary-Elect Jeffrey Ma ’24 recited the executive branch oath in unison, and officially assumed their positions.

Then, Judiciary Council ChairElect Alex Jabor ’23 recited the judiciary branch oath by himself, and officially assumed his position.

The Senate then heard a public comment from Sophia Harrison ’22, who sought AAS support for the efforts of Amherst Community Connections (ACC), a local organization that works with individuals experiencing homelesness in town, to help them secure long-

term housing. She asked whether the AAS would sign and disseminate a petition to the student body to have the college donate a parcel of land to ACC for the construction of an affordable housing unit. After asking several clarifying questions, the Senate agreed to vote on it over GroupMe after reviewing the petition outside of the meeting.

Then, after approving the previous week’s minutes, the Senate reviewed the Budgetary Committee (BC) discretionary funding recommendations and Senate project funding requests. Hallak presented the BC recommendations, with the largest requests coming from WAMH, women’s ultimate frisbee, and men’s ultimate frisbee. The recommendations totaled $14,178.58.

Sophie Sweeney ’23 requested $3,000 to buy plants for her campus garden Senate project, and Fareeda Adejumo ’23 requested $1,000 to provide food across three days during the reading period.

Both the BC-recommended total and the two Senate project funding requests were jointly approved in a Senate vote.

During the officer reports section of the meeting, Sofia Guerra ’22 reported on her meeting with Chief of Police John Carter about campus safety concerns. The meet-

ing primarily focused on the unmarking of Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) cars, delays in the arrival of requested Safe R-I-D-E cars, and adding more lights around campus. According to Guerra, Carter expressed regret for making the decision to unmark the ACPD cars without first asking students and said that the decals will be returned to the cars.

Carter said that he was unaware that Safe R-I-D-E had been experiencing widespread delays.

He advised that students whose car does not arrive should continue to call back every 10 minutes that the car is still not there. This, he said, ensures that there is a record of which drivers are not making it on time. He is also considering introducing an app to facilitate the Safe R-I-D-E experience.

Regarding the potential addition of lights around campus, Carter said that he is working with a contractor to add lighting to nearby areas that are not college-owned and to crosswalks. However, these endeavors are still works in progress.

Gent Malushaga ’25 asked Guerra if Carter explained why ACPD had unmarked cars in the first place. She responded that it was reportedly an effort to reduce police presence on campus.

Hallak expressed dismay at Carter’s apparent lack of awareness of student concerns, citing as evidence ACPD’s failure to respond to her own safety concerns.

With the floor opened to on-campus check-ins, Gavi Forman ’22 solicited interest in reigniting efforts to improve AAS engagement with the student body.

She referenced the recent bylaw to pay AAS officials as an instance in which not enough engagement was had with students.

While some senators suggested hosting weekly office hours, perhaps in Valentine Dining Hall, the discussion rapidly progressed to a heated back and forth regarding the implications of the bylaw.

Malushaga asked the Senate how student groups should go about requesting AAS funds for salaries. In response, Wheaton suggested that perhaps the college, rather than the AAS, should be responsible for paying the salaries of student organizations.

However, Cole Graber-Mitchell ’22 maintained the importance of establishing guidelines for paying salaries to student groups. He argued that deferring the decision to the college would reduce the power of AAS, and that the Senate should retain control of student money.

Hallak suggested that paying AAS should perhaps be based on financial need, rather than applying to all officials. She noted that increasing the accessibility of serving on AAS was a primary goal of the bylaw, and that funds could also be used to pay students with need in other student organizations.

Min Ji Kim ’25 agreed with Hallak, and questioned the standard that the AAS holds itself to regarding implementing salaries versus that applied to other organizations.

Malushaga responded that in addition to promoting accessibility, the bylaw also sought to legitimize AAS’ work and make elections more competitive, so he thinks that all officials should be paid.

Wheaton also maintained that all AAS officials should be paid, explaining that a need-based system might define need in a way that excludes students who would actually otherwise be unable to participate in AAS. Forman concluded by saying that the discussion might not have been necessary had the AAS engaged more with the student body prior to passing the bylaw.

The next AAS meeting will be held on Monday, April 18.

AAS President Discusses Progress in Community Support Continued from page 5 hopes the newly created Amherst Dreamer Committee, Sexual Violence Taskforce, and Reclaim Amherst Taskforce will help rectify some of these problems.

Beyond expanding the ways the AAS can support the college community, Han expressed excitement about revitalizing engagement within AAS, which Han said has been declining for years. Han explained that the Senate has been trying to reassess “what are the norms we want to keep and what are the ones we want to leave in the past.”

Already, Han said that “a lot more underclassmen [senators]

have been stepping up and speaking, which is really encouraging to me.” Han also said that she hoped the newly passed bylaw paying Senate members for some of the hours they work would further boost engagement.

Han also voiced her support for the Better Amherst Initiative, a student-led initiative aiming to increase the number of Amherst students who move on to find work that promotes meaningful change in the world. “We’ve seen how impactful students can be when we all come together,” said Han. “I’m very optimistic about this next cabinet,” Han said as she ended her speech. Afterward,

Martin took the stage for her fifth and final State of the College Address.

Martin emphasized the continued importance of the college’s mission, which prioritizes “inward growth” as a central goal of education, throughout her speech. “When people say residential college education will go away I just laugh,” Martin said.

“College is so much more than you can learn online — I think a lot of us saw that over the last two years.”

Speaking about the college’s response to the pandemic, Martin reflected that “I think we’ve done relatively well, but I’d like to acknowledge how hard it’s been on

all of you … you all have missed a couple of years of what college can be like.”

Looking forward, much of Martin’s speech centered around the college’s budget for next year, which is currently in the process of being composed and finalized.

“The most important thing to me and the senior team was the enhancement of the financial aid program,” Martin said. Beyond expanded financial aid, Martin identified increased staff salaries, augmented funding for faculty research (especially with students), and an expansion of the counseling staff as some of the college’s priorities.

After her speech ended, one

student asked Martin whether there were any parts of her time as president she would do differently now.

Martin responded that she wished many of the changes made during her presidency had happened more quickly: “Yes, we have more counselors. I wish we’d had more counselors sooner. Yes, the faculty is getting more diverse. I wish there had been more aggressive efforts earlier.”

There’s at least one thing Martin would not do differently: “Riding a horse [at the Bicentennial], that was fun. I got a fair amount of criticism for that but it was really fun. I’d do that again,” she said.

Op pinion

w

A Precedent for Pay

THE AMHERST

STUDENT E X E C U T I V E B OA R D

Last Monday, the Association of Amherst Students (AAS) voted to institute a $15 hourly wage for all AAS members, a change that will go into effect after the new election cycle. The AAS outlined three reasons for their decision: to provide compensation for student labor, to improve engagement with the AAS, and to increase accessibility for those who typically are unable to participate in organizations like the AAS. Though the new bylaw caps pay at six hours per week for officials and two hours per week for atlarge committee members, senators have expressed hope that it will compensate AAS members for the majority of their labor, which has previously been unpaid. The bylaw was also designed to encourage more students to run for office — hopefully ending AAS’ notoriously uncompetitive elections — and open the possibility of holding student government positions for those who could not otherwise afford to dedicate the many hours AAS requires without pay. Improving engagement and accessibility would, in turn, make the institution more representative of the student body.

The Editorial Board commends AAS’ decision, which we believe is a necessary first step to ensure that student groups receive compensation for the often huge amount of unpaid labor they do. The AAS has opened a pathway that other student organizations must begin to investigate. Student labor has monetary value, and financial need — the most common barrier to engagement with extracurricular activities — can now clearly be overcome.

Some student groups, like ACEMS, provide such vital services with such a high level of commitment that it is obvious that they should be compensated. There exists no clear-cut rule, however, for justifying compensation for any one particular group’s members, and it can be difficult to judge what groups, if any, really should be paid for the work that they do.

And yet, it is clear that many extracurriculars require an enormous amount of energy and effort from students. For example, affinity groups collectively expend massive amounts of time and energy on diversity work and play a crucial role in campus community building, especially by

helping support low-income and BIPOC firstyears on campus. Nonetheless, the fact that these activities come with no compensation makes them inherently exclusionary to those on campus who cannot afford to spend time on unpaid and uncredited labor. This is exactly the kind of accessibility issue that the AAS hopes to alleviate with its new bylaw — and if it works for the AAS, it should be a practice that is open to any club which thinks that it would seriously benefit from it.

We do want to acknowledge that extracurricular activities are extracurricular for a reason — many clubs on this campus are specifically meant to provide a more casual space for students to explore their interests and have fun outside of academics, and they should not function as jobs for students.

At the same time, it’s important to look around our campus, look at all the resources we have available, and ask: who are the students doing the labor that helps shape the Amherst community, what sacrifices are they making to do that labor, and how can we, the community, compensate or mitigate their sacrifices? Even beyond that, as the AAS so astutely noted in their email, paying students would encourage them to get more involved in on-campus groups and experiences.

Other forms of compensation already exist for some student activities, such as offering course credit for orchestra or jazz combos, but the AAS could formalize an approach centered on financial compensation, something which would dramatically increase accessibility without significantly changing the way Registered Student Organizations currently function. The AAS has taken a commendable step toward creating a more accessible organization. In doing so, they have created a precedent for other extracurricular groups to compensate members for their commitment. Now, we are calling on them to put that precedent to use with the rest of the student body.

Unsigned editorials represent the views of the majority of the Editorial Board — (assenting: 8; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 0).

Editor-in-Chief Yee-Lynn Lee Senior Managing Theo Hamilton Liam Archacki Editors-at-Large Scott Brasesco Sophie Wolmer Managing News Caelen McQuilkin Tana DeLalio Eleanor Walsh Sonia Chajet Wides Managing Opinion Kei Lim Dustin Copeland Tapti Sen

Managing Arts & Living Brooke Hoffman Alexander Brandfonbrener Aniah Washington Yasmin Hamilton Brianne LaBare Madeline Lawson Managing Sports Liza Katz Alex Noga Leo Kamin Nick Edwards-Levin Managing Podcast Sam Spratford Maggie McNamara Managing Photo Emma Spencer

Managing Design Brianne LaBare S TA F F Publishers Robert Bischof Ethan Samuels Digital Director Sawyer Pollard Social Media Manager Emi Eliason

Letters Policy The opinion pages of The Student are intended as an open forum for the Amherst community. We welcome responses 50-800 words in length to any of our recent articles and aim to publish a diversity of views and voices.

If you would like to submit a response for consideration, it must be exclusive to The Student and cannot have been published elsewhere. The Student will print letters if they are submitted to the paper’s email account (astudent@ amherst.edu) or the article response form that can be found on The Student’s website, by 8 p.m. on Saturday, after which they will not be accepted for the week’s issue.

Letters must bear the names of all contributors and an email address where the author or authors may be reached. Letters may be edited for clarity and Student style. The editors reserve the right to withhold any letter because of considerations of space or content.

Publication Standards The Amherst Student is published weekly except during college vacations. The offices of The Amherst Student are located in the basement of Morrow Dormitory, Amherst College. All contents copyright © 2022 by The Amherst Student, Inc. All rights reserved. The Amherst Student logo is a trademark of The Amherst Student, Inc. Additionally, The Amherst Student does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age.

The views expressed in this publication do not reflect the views of The Amherst Student.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Opinion

9

Seeing Double: How to Make Challah Cole Graber-Mitchell ’22 Columnist One of my favorite holidays is Passover. For as long as I can remember, I’ve flown from Minneapolis to Connecticut every year to celebrate Passover with my dad’s family. We spend a day cooking great food and moving tables so we can entertain dozens of people in my grandparent’s small living room. During our Seder, some of my family members read along in Hebrew, while others — that is, my entire immediate family — join in afterward with our Haggadah’s English translations.

Those memories have shaped me and my conception of myself. I feel Jewish because every year I observe a tradition that my dad, and his mom, and her parents, and so on and on, have observed.

At the same time, my Jewish identity has always been a little unsteady. I didn’t grow up the way that most of the Jews I know grew up. I didn’t go to Hebrew school or synagogue; I didn’t have a bar mitzvah. My immediate family didn’t celebrate any Jewish holidays beyond Passover and sometimes Hanukkah, and neither did most of my extended family. Any time Judaism came up in middle and high school, someone would remark that Jewish law said inheritance of Judaism was matrilineal. I would be left wondering what that made me, a kid with a Jewish-Scottish dad and a German-Italian-French mom.

I thought that college would be the perfect place to learn more about Judaism and embrace my heritage. Maybe I could start going to a synagogue, or celebrate holidays with other Jews on campus. I hoped to find a Jewish community at Amherst where I could finally shed my uncertainty about who I was.

The summer before my freshman year, I browsed through Amherst’s religious life website and the websites of local Jewish organizations to see what I

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Challah is a yeast-leavened egg bread that is braided and eaten on ceremonial occasions. could take advantage of when I got here.

But I never followed through.

Not because of some lack of resources at the college or in town; this article isn’t one of my many critiques of Amherst. I didn’t seek out Jewish community because I was scared. How could I fit in at a High Holidays service when I didn’t know the prayers?

I was so certain that I would be the odd one out at any Jewish event: the only person in the room with none of the shared experiences that link Jews together regardless of their home states or backgrounds. I would be the goyish Jew — or even worse, they might not think I was Jewish at all because of my patrilineal descent.

I’ve worked up the courage to reach for Jewish community at Amherst a couple of times, but I’ve never succeeded. In my first months here, I attended a Rosh Hashanah service in Chapin, but I felt out of place enough that I couldn’t go back. In my junior year, I tried joining one of the

Zoom services held by the Jewish Community of Amherst. I quickly realized that I was the only person there who wasn’t a member of that tight-knit community, and I left.

Part of my worries stemmed from my opinions on the Israeli occupation of Palestine. In high school, a Jewish teacher had become incensed when I indicated my disapproval of the Israeli government’s actions. Another student — not a Jew — said I was an antisemite. I knew that Jews hold a variety of opinions on Palestine because of opinion polling, my Jewish friends in high school, and common sense, but I was scared that I would be cast out of any Jewish community at Amherst because of my criticisms. (And in fact, ever since I spoke out in favor of Palestinian rights last spring and argued in support of the AAS’ email on Palestine, I’ve gotten dirty looks from a couple Jews on campus whom I’ve never even met.)

It wasn’t until this year that

I found a Jewish community where I really felt comfortable.

It’s an impromptu community, sprung up around semi-regular, highly informal Shabbat celebrations led by a Jewish friend of mine here. She usually invites a handful of people, but anyone who happens to pass by is encouraged to join. We light some candles, drink some wine, eat some challah, and sing some prayers.

I don’t know those prayers beyond their first phrases (which thankfully are the same as the Hanukkah prayers I know), and every time that we sing them I feel a twinge of anxiety when I drop out halfway through. It’s still hard for me to not run away from a situation that highlights a core tension in my sense of myself. But nonetheless I feel supported there, surrounded by friends who know how I’m Jewish and who, in many cases, had similar Jewish childhoods themselves.

A few weeks ago, I helped make the challah for one of these

celebrations. I had never learned how to make challah as a kid, and this was my second time ever trying. (The first time was a disaster.) We mixed the flour, egg, yeast, and water with our hands before letting the dough rise and braiding it into two loaves. Later, we tore the challah apart with our hands, said “Shabbat shalom” to each other, and ate. I felt more connected to my Jewish heritage in those moments than I ever had before.

I expect my quest to understand my relationship with Judaism to be lifelong. Last year, my final project for a course on the Jewish and Asian American experiences (“Model Minorities,” with Professors Bergoffen and Odo) was an oral history of my Jewish family. After interviewing my grandmother, my dad, and my sister, I realized that we had all struggled with Jewish identity and that the struggle never ended.

I still want to learn more

Continued on page 10

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Opinion

10

From Sore and Sticky Hands to Beautiful Bread Continued from page 9 about being Jewish: more of the customs and stories, more of the ritual prayers, more of the recipes. A part of me still wants some sort of Jewish fairy godmother to provide me with an ad-hoc, postsecondary Hebrew school education. “This is the prayer said over challah,” such a person would say. “And the holiday coming up celebrates this particular time the Jews almost died. Do you know that story?”

I’ve had friends and mentors who have filled similar, if less comprehensive, roles, such as my Shabbat-hosting friend.

However, I’ve come around to the fact that I’m the only one who can make this journey for me. There’s no doubt that it will be full of ups and downs, but I’m trying to remind myself to have courage. A beautiful loaf of challah begins not with perfectly formed braids but with hands sticky with dough and sore from kneading.

Photo courtesy of Julia Hartbeck

Challah is braided in a varity of ways, from this simple three-strand to more complicated six-stranded loaves.

Rants and Raves: Imagine You’re a Sea Turtle Alex Brandfonbrener ’23 Managing Arts and Lving Editor Imagine you’re a sea turtle.

Sea turtles lay their eggs in beaches during the night, and then leave. After 50 days (or so), the eggs are ready to hatch.

50 days after, the mother is long gone.

Most often, sea turtle eggs will hatch at night. But “Kemp's ridley” sea turtles hatch during the day. This species is sometimes known as the “heartbreak turtle.”

So imagine you’re a Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, hatching during the day. There’s no Mother Turtle waiting above in the sand, only the expanse of the beach.

And it’s daytime: there are birds everywhere, looking for small fish. Crabs also patrol the sand, looking for something small to eat.

The baby sea turtle emerges from the sand like a mummy. It is entering the world for the first time, blinking at the sun. As a comparison, I imagine a baby deer, born onto wobbly legs like Bambi. These turtles must make it to the ocean by dragging themselves along the sand with their flippers. It’s not even the way sea turtles normally move; they are built for swimming.

The turtles have to make it to the ocean, far and unknown.

With each push of a flipper,

Photo courtesy of krembo1

A Kemp's ridley sea turtle treks back towards the sea after laying eggs that will hatch in a few months.

they move one centimeter at a time. Those grains of sand are so much bigger to them, like pebbles on their scale. Slowly, slowly — slowly — the turtles approach the sea.

The thing I would be afraid of most is the crabs. A giant (on the turtle’s scale), scuttling, armored, clawed shellfish and the newborn Kemp’s ridleys: can you imagine it? I honestly can’t; it would be impossibly hard, easily traumatic.

Though on second thought, the birds would be scary too.

A big gull could snatch a turtle in one go. And then the turtle would be left soaring through the air, jailed by a hungry mouth.

Sea turtles are often at risk of predation, which is why the Kemp’s ridley is one of the most endangered species of sea turtle.

What it takes for the population to survive is as simple as making it to the sea. With each push of a flipper, they save themselves.

And soon, only minutes after being born, each turtle hits the foamy spray of the waves. They are cradled by the tide, pushed underwater to the future, like flowers opening to the sky.

I wrote this after watching a nature documentary clip on Facebook. It’s a distant, colonialist sort of pleasure that I wish I hadn’t enjoyed. And I find that it makes up a lot of the media the

American people consume and propagate across the globe: some horrible fear that’s too distant to imagine, that we force ourselves to endure regardless.

So I turn off my phone in these moments. It’s okay for the world to pass without being witnessed — And the turtles grow and thrive, swimming for the first time, making circles and loops, finding rest at night, taking off towards unknown corners of the ocean. Most sea turtles never return to their birth shores. But sometimes, they make the trip back to that starting place, to a safe place where they then lay their own eggs.

Photo courtesy of WWF

Sea turtles, once they hatch, never return to dry land except for when it is time for mothers to lay eggs. Most of their lives are spent here, in open water.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Opinion

11

Coping With Campus: Rodeway Hospital-ity Dustin Copeland ’25 Managing Opinion Editor Architecture is communicative at its core: a building, by its ornamentation (or lack thereof ), its arrangement, and each facet of its design, broadcasts to those who see it exactly its purpose. This is often simpler than it sounds: as a precept, communication through design means that houses usually end up looking like houses, factories like factories, and tombs like tombs.

Our campus looks quintessentially New England and undeniably academic: the rectilinear brickwork, shingled roofs, and picturesque quads advertise to us the prestigious and enlightened purpose which these buildings have imbued.

Designed space is therefore rich with cues as to purpose, suggesting how the space should be used. A building is therefore at its most fulfilled when its stated purpose aligns exactly with what it is actually used for. A house, for instance, should be divided into living spaces, kitchens, bedrooms and bathrooms; and adorned with couches and tables and bits of familial miscellanea — chargers, mail piles, soap — that are the result of living in that space. There is a unity to such a structure, where the architectural cues of the environment match perfectly its use.

This sort of unity is the basis of comfortable space, where knowledge about how the space is used is clearly broadcast to anyone who steps into it, whether they have ever been there before or not. “House” is a concept that many people are familiar (and comfortable) with, and having seen a house before makes assigning a comfortable and familiar narrative to an otherwise-unfamiliar space easy. This ease of learning-by-association about the particulars of a space is also a factor in design — hostility and inscrutability are often synonymous when it comes to building space for people.

When unity between pur-

pose and use, stated ideal and lived experience, is disrupted, spatial cues become more and more confused. What looks like a house, when it is obviously not being used as a house, is suddenly rendered less legible by how (or whether) the space is inhabited. Since lack of legibility is a barrier to familiarity, that discord between what I think should be familiar (a house) and how I read the space (not a house) creates a sense of strangeness, a vague wrongness about my lack of familiarity with a space built to be familiar.

I think this process works because of a general human impulse to narrativize the spaces we exist in. There is a story to a house: it was built one day, and thereafter it was lived in by people who used it and continue to use it as a house. There is a story to an office space, a factory, or a coffee shop that is equally easy to interpret, again building comfort by ease of understanding.

Interpretation is perceived knowledge (the best kind one can hope to have), and knowledge is key to familiarity and comfort because knowledge brings safety and assuredness in the social norms of a given space. Safety is therefore intimately connected to knowledge, so all that’s needed to create an unsafe space (in feeling at least) is to remove knowledge.

Abandoned spaces are therefore a perfect case study of architectural uncanniness. What was once an easily-interpretable and therefore safe space now has a viscerally-perceived temporality which begs for a narrative to be imposed upon it. The problem: there is no way to figure out exactly what that narrative is. The abandonment of a space is the shifting of a space from an inhabited space that is used for something known to an uninhabited one that is used for something horribly unknown.

Something must have happened to create the conditions for de-inhabiting, but what? And the more unexplainable the ge-

Photo courtesy of Emma Spencer '23E

The Inn's exterior is almost inviting, but something about it still seems closed. ometries, the more strangeness in appearance, the more pressing the questions become. Entering an abandoned space saddles me instantly with questions of when, of how, of why, that often simply cannot be answered by interacting with the space itself. Narratives break down in abandoned spaces because fa-

miliarity is denied. Even if one were to figure out (from patterns of rust or knowledge about the growth of moss or years stamped in building materials) the age of the building and the time of its de-inhabiting, it would be impossible to determine who left, or why.

Abandoned spaces are for

that reason uncanny. Entering one fills me with a tension, a stress that doesn’t exist in a coffee shop, an office building, or a house. Abandoned spaces are without unity, and therefore are less safe.

But abandoned spaces are not

Continued on page 12

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Opinion

12

Purpose and Use Fail to Harmonize in Isolation Continued from page 11 alone in disrupting interpretation. Even spaces that are not only designed to be familiar but are by definition inhabited can become uncanny and uncomfortable because of factors that go beyond design.

Take, for example, the Rodeway Inn. Visibly, the Rodeway is a hotel, with some of the markers of an abandoned space: the exterior doors aren’t really functional, the parking lot is largely deserted, there are no hotel staff behind the check-in counter, which is piled with testing supplies and devoid of characteristic computer monitors and tall-ish

chairs. However, it is also obviously inhabited, as on-call staff both monitor and supply the variably-sized collection of sick students which occupies some of the hotel’s rooms. The experience of getting Covid is thereby an exercise in unfamiliarity in this way, as one is forced to get used to living in a space which is inescapably removed from its original purpose.

But the strangeness of the Rodeway is deeper even than that, for not only is the Inn officially not in-business, it isn’t really an inn. The space’s primary goal is the isolation of its inhabitants, and its features, from meal bags to supervised

outdoor-time, are trademark features of a hospital.

At the Inn, there are procedures and guidelines for every aspect of living — even well-being is codified in scheduled Zoom calls (with, in my case, the nicest person in the world) and requests for time outside. The Rodeway is a medical facility dressed up as a living space, and while it succeeds absolutely in that purpose (I even had a pretty good time for most of my stay), it’s not exactly harmonious.

I felt an uncanniness in the room as soon as the hotel-looking door closed behind me. The trim was worn and the pillows were few, but the mirrors and

lamps were numerous, like it was an ex-hotel room dressed up to look like it was still in use.

The window-screen was bent at the corner just enough to make it very easy to pop right out of its slot, turning the once-barred hole into a doorway. Outside the door, at around noon, the hallway would be lined with paper bags, set in front of each blankfaced door that was a portal into someone else’s entire life, contained in the room. We had no key cards, so I had to prop the door open with that hoop-looking lock common to hotel doors every time I left the room to pilfer a bag of chips from the snack room (an exercise room, con-

verted with a folding table). The way I lived told me, for certain, that I was not a hotel guest. Why, then, did the place look so much like a hotel?

I got used to it, of course. Every decision made makes sense, and out of necessity, the Rodeway is probably the best solution to isolation housing that seems eternally useful. But it is eerie to live in. Its design is not directly opposed to what it’s used for, but the two chafe against each other just enough to produce a dissonant tone, to make the place seem just a bit uncanny. All that, on top of a foggy brain and an easy, constant exhaustion, means that getting Covid is super weird.

Photo courtesy of Dustin Copeland '25

An abandoned space in Edison, New Jersey. Why are those sheets there? Who put them there? What could they possibly be for?

Amusements

w

The Amherst Student Crossword | April 13, 2022 ACROSS 1 They may be checkered 6 Aperture setting 11 Audiophile's stack 14 White house?

15 Spanish white wine region, or a Cuban form of 13-Down 16 "Hold your horses!"

17 Reeves of "The Matrix' 18 Once more 19 Drag 20 Compulsory planning sessions, if you aren't graduating 23 Pot starter 24 Singer Kitt 25 27-Down is one of these 29 Get rid of 32 Professor 34 Add-ons to den, prom, and coy 38 Tile art 39 Timetable 42 "As you wish," to a spouse 45 Aviator Earhart 46 Chop-shop parts 47 Authorization 50 Off-menu offering, as in 53-Across 52 Bldg. units 53 Soup or salad 57 "Donkey Kong Country" platform 59 Kanye's second album, or trying to do 20A, 32A with 47A, and 53A with 39A on May 7, e.g.

66 Secondhand 67 Vitality 68 "I didn't do it!"

69 Surrealist Joan 70 ___ Gay 71 Most high schoolers 72 Penultimate Greek letter 73 Challenges 74 One of 7 percent of applicants to Amherst, informally

DOWN 1 Pokemon mascot's root word 2 Like fine wine 3 Ukrainian, for one 4 Author Morrison 5 "Semper Fidelis" composer 6 Overwrought 7 Hint at 8 The Mammoths or the Purple Cows, e.g.

9 Garfield's foil 10 Indian cottage cheese 11 Gregorian ___ 12 Bread, before baking 13 Saucy dance?

16 Vibratory sound 21 Bring about 22 A small something that goes in front of a pole, perhaps 25 East ___ (nation since 2002) 26 Japanese mushroom 27 Indian silk center 28 Judges' orders 30 The C in SOHCAHTOA 31 Prefix to 30-Down 33 Purge in Cambridge?

34 It's south of Kyiv 35 Dutch flower 36 "The Waste Land" poet 37 Penn and Connery 40 Cab caller 41 College event scheduler 43 King Kong, e.g.

44 Parks and ___ 48 Pastry-enclosed croquette 49 Phrases worth repeating 50 Ukr., once 51 Irked 53 Tuft of grass 54 "Wonderwall" group 55 Gestation stations 56 Start from scratch 58 He's not real 60 Actress Gershon 61 Tyler, the Creator's Grammy-winning 2019 album 62 ___ the line (obeyed) 63 Tabloid twosome 64 Prefix for present 65 Hatchling's home

Ryan Yu ’22 Editor-in-Chief Emeritus

Solutions: April 6

g Arts&Living

Creativity and Craft: ASO’s Compelling Concertos Alex Brandfonbrener ’23 Managing Arts and Living Editor On April 9, the Amherst Symphony Orchestra (ASO) performed its annual senior showcase in Buckley Recital Hall. Having been delayed from its originally scheduled date of March 5 due to a rise in Covid cases, the performance was the group’s first concert of the semester.

The concert — which featured solo performances from Majd Rouhana ’22, Hannah Goldberg ’22, Cece Hong ’22, Shuzo Katayama ’22, and Cameron Chandler ’20 — was about “the power of an individual to make their own statement,” said Music Director and Conductor Mark Lane Swanson, in addition to artistically expressing solidarity with Ukraine.

The feeling in the room was one of celebration and excitement, as the concert opened with Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, a dynamic piece with four movements that highlighted the coordination and patience of the group. The first movement was lively and upbeat, pulsing with a catchy melody. But despite the positive energy of Beethoven’s composition, I was struck by the restraint of the group, who employed careful articulation and purposeful changes in dynamics.

The second movement included a famous motif (sometimes sampled in movies and TV), but while I had indeed heard this melody before, the performance brought out emotions that were unfamiliar: a mournful feeling that resolved to curiosity — playfully. Again, the restraint of the orchestra shone in their unified, deliberate moments, which demonstrated a confidence that can only come from frequent practice.

The third movement presented a different sort of technical challenge, alternating between a quick and light waltz-like scherzo and a sustained, wide-sounding interlude.

As the tempo changed, the players made sure to bring out the unusual

shapes in Beethoven’s composition via cleanly executed arpeggios and attentive cues. The group managed to keep the music moving forward without falling into the trap of acceleration.

The fourth and last movement maintained the motion of the previous section, inserting a grinding, tense feeling of drama. For the first time in the concert, I experienced a feeling I have learned to love as a longtime ASO fan: the unmistakable “prickly air” that comes from a sizable group of performers, focusing so intently that their emotions feel tangible. The cleanly performed and impactful piece concluded with applause that lasted minutes, a sign of support and admiration from friends and family of the performers.

The “power of the individual” appears in Beethoven’s Seventh as a political force, historically tied to an artistic protest of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Swanson hadn’t intended for this connection, but stumbled upon it as a result of historical research: “I thought, ‘Wait a second.

Beethoven’s 7th was premiered at a charity concert to raise money for wounded soldiers who were repelling the Napoleonic invasion.’”

After the intermission, the political nature of the concert took center stage. Despite having been composed in 1864, the next piece’s title rings true in the events of today: “Shche ne vernal Ukrainia” (“Ukraine has not yet perished”), the national anthem of Ukraine.

It was a declarative march, played assertively compared to the Beethoven. Swanson grounded the music in the events unfolding in Eastern Europe, today and throughout Ukrainian history: “The story of Ukraine is really the individual standing up for people … It’s part of the Ukrainian spirit.”

The five featured soloists, who Swanson characterized as “the representatives of each individual in the orchestra,” each chose one of the pieces that followed. Each soloist played distinctly, reflecting their

personalities and artistic preferences.

Rouhana was the first to take center stage, performing the clarinet solo in Carl Maria von Weber’s “Clarinet Concerto No. 11 in F minor.” Standing out even against the sound of the whole orchestra, he flew through arpeggios with a poised calmness. Even in what seemed like a tough section, his articulation was precise and intentional. Swanson observed that “Majd has a kindness and a lightness, and a generosity of person, as a person. And it was fun to see that sort of sense of generosity come through in that piece.” I see that generosity in the varied quality of Rouhana’s performance, like moving water: some moments like playful splashing, other moments like a pressurized hose.

Conducted by Assistant Director Annierose Klingbeil, Mozart’s “Clarinet Concerto in A Major” featured Goldberg, also on clarinet.

Goldberg played with a confident and unwavering tone, expressing a quiet, resilient quality. Swanson agreed: “She’s a ‘deep-feeling’ person … And I think it was really a nice opportunity for her to just make a personal expression … but [the piece] is really deceptively difficult: the notes aren’t that hard, but Mozart’s all about color.” Goldberg made it look easy, too, a testament to her attentive playing.

Carl Reinecke’s “Ballade for flute in D minor” featured Hong on flute.

Hong played with a mournful and soulful affect, accentuated by moments of well-practiced, jesting, and jousting melodies. Swanson attributed her achievements to the piece and her skill: “She has a really wide range of expression in her instrument, and this piece was able to really showcase her in that.” I had the impression that Hong was carefully listening as well as playing, contributing to a polished harmony with the rest of the orchestra.

As for the next piece, Swanson noted that it was “a really unusual choice for [Katayama] to choose an opera aria to perform on trumpet

Photo courtesy of Alex Brandfonbrener '23

The Amherst Symphony Orchestra performed on April 9, expressing solidarity with Ukraine while showcasing senior soloists. with a big orchestration.” Instead of a virtuosic concerto that might have been more outspoken, it was “Marietta’s Lied” from Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s opera, “Die Tote Stadt” (“The Dead City”).

But Swanson did not disapprove of the choice at all: “He chose a song. He’s singing to the community on a trumpet … And also the song is about holding on to happiness, which I find really interesting.

So, holding on to happiness, singing to his friends — in a melodic piece, not a ‘show off piece’: that’s the thing.” Katayama’s playing was steady, clear and confident, imparting a reassuring restfulness tinged with longing.

The concert closed with Chandler, a longtime orchestra member and former teaching assistant, and his arrangement of “Stardust” by Hoagy Carmichael. Unexpectedly for the audience, Chandler cued in the orchestra himself, without Swanson conducting or anywhere in sight. To Swanson, it was “unfinished business,” because Chandler had wanted to perform this arrangement at the end of his senior year in 2020 before the pandemic hit. It was a fitting end to the concert: a unified orchestra, pushing their boundaries

into jazz, playing confidently and completely even without the guidance of their conductor.

But the orchestra was not the only thing backing up the solo performers. Swanson views the Amherst community as just as critical to “the individual power” of ASO: “You’re playing for your friends, you’re saying something to them personally, and that’s what I love about concerts at Amherst, which is unique: it’s a small community … and [the audience] may not even think they like classical music until they come. But when they hear their friends, they go ‘Oh, that was beautiful.’ [The students] are so supportive, and that’s what I love: support from the stage, support from the audience.”

Finally, I asked Swanson, “How would you ask your musicians to reflect on the concert?” He answered with a feeling of wide gratitude towards the players: “I would ask the musicians to think beyond the tremendous technical and artistic achievement that they've been able to accomplish … and to think about what that piece meant, what the works that you performed meant to you. How do they change your perspective on the world?”

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Arts & Living

15

The Legacies of The Notorious B.I.G. and Selena Piero Campos ’25 Staff Writer March marks the month the world lost two of the most influential artists of the 1990s: The Notorious B.I.G. and Selena. This year marked the 25th anniversary of remembering the life of Biggie and the 27th anniversary of honoring Selena’s memory. Both artists continue to influence hip-hop and Latin music today, despite their tragic deaths early in their careers.

Before he was known as The Notorious B.I.G., Christopher Wallace spent his early years in Brooklyn. Wallace was raised solely by his mother, Voletta Wallace, who had immigrated to New York from Jamaica. During his early years, Wallace hustled to alleviate the financial burdens of himself and his family, which eventually led to his imprisonment at the age of 17. In spite of his troubles, Biggie became a neighborhood sensation among residents of the Bedford-Stuyvesant area, who enjoyed the first freestyle performances of the future King of New York. His popularity eventually grew within Brooklyn, earning him the attention of The Source magazine, creating the possibility of a musical career. Producers like Sean “Puffy” Combs also discovered recordings of Biggie’s early tapes, leading to the creation of Bad Boy Records in 1992.

"Ready to Die," Biggie's debut album, came out in 1994, just a month after the release of "Juicy," his first single. “Ready to Die” was certified gold within two months of its release, before going quadruple-platinum by 1996. For many, “Ready to Die” marked the comeback of East Coast hip-hop after the boom of West Coast artists like Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, and Tupac.

Songs like “Big Poppa” and “Hypnotize” became radio hits that earned Biggie attention throughout hip-hop communities.

Although many of his hits were radio-friendly, Biggie did not shy away from the gangsta rap that reflected his early years before becoming the King of New York. Songs like “Everday Struggle,” “Machine Gun Funk,” and “Suicidal Thoughts” highlighted the realities of many

Photo courtesy of allthetropes.org

Photo courtesy of staticflickr.com

In memory of the lives of two influential music legends, Piero Campos '25 explores the careers and legacies of The Notorious B.I.G. and Selena.

Piero Campos '25 reflects on the impact both artists have had on his FLI and Latinx identity, as well as his bicultural heritage.

poverty-stricken neighborhoods like Brooklyn that often struggled with crime and drug use. For Biggie, rap became a way to voice his issues while also being vulnerable in the public’s eyes. Lines like “I’m livin’ everyday like a hustle. Another drug to juggle. Another day, another struggle,” emphasize how the burdens of poverty can lead to desperate actions in underserved communities. Despite vocalizing the harsh realities of urban life, Biggie also highlighted the positives of hard work and success.

His hit “Sky’s the Limit” highlights a journey from failure to success with lines like “Stay far from timid, only make moves when your heart’s in it, and live the phrase ‘Sky’s the limit.’” Today, Biggie’s legacy continues, with widespread appreciation of his accomplishments, earning him a posthumous spot in the Rock Hall of Fame in 2020 and recognition from artists like Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar.

Selena Quintanilla Perez, also known as the “Queen of Tejano Music,” revolutionized the Latin pop genre by combining pop and rock with cumbia, mariachi, and Tejano rhythms. Even 27 years after her passing, fans worldwide continue to pay tribute to the Tejano artist’s leg-

endary legacy.

A third-generation Mexican American, Selena Quintanilla Pérez did not grow up speaking Spanish.

Similar to Biggie, she faced financial struggles that led to her family losing their home and restaurant. At the age of eight, she began singing in English, gaining neighborhood attention. Her father, Abraham Quintanilla, decided that Selena’s potential could be realized if she transitioned to singing in Spanish. As a result, “Selena y Los Dinos” formed, a band starring Selena as lead singer, which opened the doors to gigs and concerts around Selena’s native Texas.

By 1988, Selena had released five LP albums, contributing to her winning Best Female Vocalist at the Tejano Music Awards in 1987.

She won the same award for nine consecutive years, which led to her signing with EMI Latin Records. In 1990, Selena released a single titled “Baila Esta Cumbia” that gained her attention across the U.S. and Mexico, before being certified platinum. The following year she released “Buenos Amigos” and gained the top spot on the U.S. Billboard Top Latin Songs chart, her first number-one single.

Moreover, her breakthrough album, “Entre Mi Mundo,” garnered phe-

nomenal popularity in Mexico and the U.S, going ten-times platinum and selling over 300,000 copies.

1993 presented more success for Selena as she released her album “Live!” which was named Album of the Year by the Billboard Latin Music Awards and was awarded the Best Mexican/American Album at the 36th Annual Grammy Awards.

Songs like “Como La Flor” became hits across Latin America with lyrics such as “Como la flor con tanto amor me diste tu, se marchitó me marcho hoy, yo se perder” (“Like the flower that with so much love you gave me, it withered, I’m leaving today, I know how to lose”) that speak to the loss of love. Other songs like “La Carcacha” are upbeat, appreciating an old broken down car: “Carcacha, paso a pasito no dejes de tamblear carcacha, poco a poquito no nos vayas a dejar” (“Jalopy, step by step don’t stop coming along, little by little don’t leave us stranded”).

Despite her passing, Selena continues to inspire and attract new waves of fans to the Latin Pop genre.

Her vibrant and confident style encourages many Mexican Americans to embrace their identities, regardless of cultural and language barriers.

Her bilingual and bicultural identity

resonates with many today and has influenced artists like Jennifer Lopez — who played Selena in her breakout acting role — Becky G, and Selena Gomez. Her achievements elevated Latin music to the mainstream market, continuing to open doors for new artists. Who knows what more Selena could have accomplished, but regardless, La Reina’s legacy will rule on for generations.

For me, Biggie and Selena represent two aspects of my identity.

Biggie’s music is an outlet that allows me to resonate with the struggles of being low-income. His lyrics paint the realities of living in a harsh urban environment by illustrating the vicious cycles of poverty that often get ignored by the media. Nevertheless, Biggie’s success story inspires me to keep on fighting for my dreams despite the barriers and inequities that many POCs face in today’s society.

Similarly, Selena is an artist that always reminds me of my Latino and bicultural heritage when I’m far from home. Whenever Selena is playing at a party, it allows Latinx students to showcase their heritage through dancing and singing. Biggie and Selena are reflections of my FLI and Latinx identity that allow me to feel proud of my roots and upbringing.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Arts & Living

16

A Balancing Act: “Everything Everywhere, All at Once” Miles Garcia ’25 Staff Writer Sometimes movies are like math or physics. The filmmaker’s equation balances the exposition of the first act with the catharsis of the third. A strong logistical backdrop of lights, VFX, and performance techniques add up to the dreamlike beauty of a scene. Through the chaos of writing and directing emerges something with heart and soul, something that had to be mined out of a mound of writer’s block and the experimental calculus of filmmaking. With their new film “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the writing/directing duo Daniels (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) seem to have solved the hardest equation on the chalkboard, with their work shown for all to see.

Their answer lies before the audience, boxed in widescreen and surrounded by googly eyes; their approach may be scientifically accurate, but it’s also one of the most hysterical experiences I’ve had watching a movie.

Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) can’t concentrate on one thing at a time, while her husband Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) distracts her from her business of running a laundromat with his idealistic and naive nature. Their daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu) can’t seem to find a way into her mother’s heart because of how busy Evelyn is, and how reluctantly she accepts Joy’s having a girlfriend. Plus … Evelyn may or may not have accidentally committed tax fraud. These relatively conventional dramatic setups are still full of Daniels’ trademark kinetic, visual force within the opening minutes of the movie: like when their camera zooms into a mirror as the reflection encompasses the entire frame. But it’s not long before Daniels bring us into an off-the-wall scifi multiverse adventure that spindles together the family’s drama with the fate of all of time and space, using a centripetal force whose dimensions, velocity, and exact molecular structure would require lesser filmmakers years of intensive study to master.

The Daniels don’t just accept this challenge — they welcome it, like it’s the cake and ice cream they’ve been waiting to devour. There are sequences in this movie that last less than five

seconds, but which must have had more work poured into them than a thesis student might have done in a whole semester. I’m serious. The elemental forces of filmmaking kick into overdrive when Evelyn learns how to transport herself between different universes. The cinematography and editing collaborate seamlessly to create outlandish transitions between realities, like the swap from an alternate Raccoon version of the “Ratatouille” storyline to the evolutionary history of a human race who has hot dogs for fingers.

The “Alpha Waymond,” an alternate version of Evelyn’s husband, teaches her how to gain skills from different Evelyns in the infinite multiverse, which leads to some of the most satisfying and hilarious fight sequences I have seen in movies from the past decade. Evelyn finds a universe in which she flips signs on a curbside professionally, so she uses those skills to fight off bad guys in her current universe, a scene accentuated by Daniels’ choice to cut between the parallel actions of both Evelyns. As another example, in order to activate and heighten the “random chance particles” floating between the multiverse, the characters have to do something so out-of-left-field that they can access their alternate selves. This means Alpha Waymond gives himself four equidistant paper cuts to achieve gymnastic skills, and Evelyn sniffs a fly up her nose to obtain the strongest pinkie fingers imaginable. Although these moments are terrifically appalling and unpredictable, they also fit perfectly into the ball of chaotic energy that Daniels use as the guiding tone for the entire film.

Alpha Waymond tells Evelyn that her mission is to subdue the most powerful being in the multiverse, a supervillain named Jobu Tupaki who has the unique burden of seeing all of the infinite multiverses simultaneously. Without spoiling anything, Evelyn soon realizes this supervillain might just be a misunderstood girl who happens to wield an overwhelming amount of power.

The film continues unspooling ideological, conceptual, and expositional threads at a just-slow-enough-to-bedigestible pace without sacrificing

Photo courtesy of Corri Hickson '25

The much anticipated “Everything Everywhere, All At Once,” directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Schienert, premiered on Friday, April 8. Miles Garcia '25 covers the twists and turns of the film, which is both a family drama and “an off-the-wall sci-fi adventure.” its infectious sugar-high vibes. And the exposition always feels more like a 7-year-old explaining their new cidea for a game of tag than like filmbros getting you to absorb deep philosophical lore.

But Daniels have clear reasons behind the apparent madness of the film. Their admiration for filmmaking shines through, not only in the sheer scope of the film’s construction but also in its warm references to film history: everything from the Wachowskis’ “The Matrix” to Wong Kar-Wai’s “In the Mood for Love” — appearing within seconds of each other.

I should mention, too, that this movie is very funny — in a low-brow way. Like, extremely stupid humor.

But just like the fastidious realizations of heady science fiction ab-

stractions, funny scenes like Evelyn trying to sit on Deirdre Beaubeirdre’s (Jamie Lee Curtis) buttplug-looking trophies as a means of activating the random chance particles come across with unmistakable tonal purpose.

Daniels’ unfiltered approach to filmmaking, in which everything is thrown at the wall and every action has a conscious or subconscious reaction, ends up putting their audience in the most vulnerable position — emotional investment. The gross-out jokes and tangible visual effects softened me to receive the climax of Evelyn’s development, as she obtains such absolute power that she discovers where she would most like to be, in all the multiverse. I believe that I am not an easy egg to crack — indeed, getting me to cry in movies

takes work on the part of the filmmakers.

But Daniels understand the secret ingredient, the hidden linking variable that allows them to pull off their high-wire act: love, in every corner. In the design, in the performances, in the story, in the concepts, and in the hearts of each and every one of the characters. They see the beauty in all things, in all of the “cosmic gumbo” (as Kwan put it in an interview) of humanity and the universe. This is a transitive property of film: laughing = crying = shock = yelling.

And in Daniels’ case, everything = everywhere = all at once. Pure cinematic maximalism, in favor of a pure and kind-hearted embrace. But that’s neither math nor science. That’s the movies.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Arts & Living

17

“Sur vivor” Season 42: Episode 5, Reviewed

Photo courtesy of besttvshow.mirahaze.org

Things have been heating up in “Survivor” Season 42, as the show reaches its final weeks. Vaughn Armour ’25 recaps the action of episode 5 and shares his predictions for the rest of the season.

Vaughn Armour ’25 Staff Writer On April 6, “Survivor” released a fantastic episode, jam-packed with moments that were both entertaining and crucial for the rest of the season. As the last episode before the tribes merge into one, the setup of this week’s episode will pay off very soon.

At the beginning of the episode, we learned that Tori is done with her Ika tribemates. She (shockingly) dislikes Rocksroy the most, but is generally just ready to turn on them for a new group of people. It also became apparent that there will be no tribe swap this season, as some fans might have expected. In the vast majority of “Survivor” seasons, the merge has been preceded by a swap, in which the tribe structure is maintained or a new tribe is added, with the players switching between them by blindly grabbing a buff from Jeff Probst. However, it seems that “Survivor’s” shift last season to smaller tribes and a shorter game length has

made swaps a thing of the past.

At Vatu beach, Mike debated whether or not he would activate his idol (which allows him to nullify all votes for himself or somebody else before the votes are read) if the other two phrases were said. He cleverly reasoned that since he would get the idol at the merge regardless, it might make more sense to keep the other two idol-holders from knowing he had it. After all, information is currency in “Survivor.” However, once Drea found Ika’s idol and said her phrase at the immunity challenge, he caved in and decided to activate his after all.

Surprisingly, Taku struggled in this challenge after a few weeks of dominance. Omar had been great at puzzles up to this point, but fell short in this one, leading to a huge initial deficit. During this time, Ika was able to secure victory. However, Jonathan did what he always does, and single-handedly willed Taku past Vati for second, keeping them from Tribal Council.

By this point, Jonathan has ce-

mented himself not only as the biggest threat in this game, but also as one of the biggest challenge threats in “Survivor” history. Colby Donaldson (season 2), Tom Westman (10), Terry Dietz (12), Ozzy Lusth (13), Mike Holloway (30), Joe Anglim (31) and Brad Culpepper (34) are all tied for the lead in single-season individual immunity (postmerge) wins with five. For Jonathan to win this game at his insane threat level, he’d likely need to break that record. With his performance so far, though, it’s hard to bet against him.

Along with his physical dominance, Jonathan is also a solid social player. Back at Taku beach, he was noticeably annoyed by Maryanne’s constant talking and screaming, but didn’t let that turn into an emotional response. (Other guys on that list, particularly Colby and Culpepper, likely couldn’t have done the same.)

Instead, Jonathan went spear-fishing with some of the equipment he won for the tribe, and caught a haul. He removed himself from the situation and actually improved his

social standing by doing it: an impressive feat.

Daniel’s spear-fishing foray produced fewer benefits. As one would expect, he wasn’t quite as adept at it as Jonathan, and didn’t end up catching any fish. He had also been sitting out of swimming challenges due to the shoulder he dislocated on the first day, so going swimming for hours was a bad look. His tribe mates had just worked hard in a losing effort without his assistance, so it was understandable that this angered them. Daniel has made a series of bad decisions that have continually hurt his social standing in the tribe.

When it came to the vote at Tribal, it was pretty much immediately down to Chanelle and Daniel.

Mike’s decision to activate his idol ended up being yet another good move by him, as it gave him his vote back, resulting in a 3-2 majority for him, Hai, and Lydia. Right after the challenge, Lydia was tasked with venturing to Shipwheel island with Rocksroy to face the same two-per-

son prisoner’s dilemma as before.

Rocksroy (shockingly) didn’t make a great first impression on Lydia, and neither of them trusted the other, so they both chose to protect their vote. This ensured that the 3-2 majority would hold — and also that either Chanelle or Daniel would leave after the vote. In the end, Daniel’s repeated missteps caught up with him, and he became the last castaway to be voted out before the merge.

Next episode’s preview revealed that we’ll be seeing the merge next week, which is fantastic news. The merge episode is typically the second most important of the entire season behind the finale, so next week will shape the way the whole rest of the game goes. The tribes are split evenly at four members each, allowing for endless rearrangement possibilities.

My prediction is that Ika and Vati will ally in fear of Jonathan and Taku by proxy, but it could go a million ways. April 13 can’t come fast enough!

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Arts & Living

18

“The Last Five Years”: Innovative and Invigorating Olivia Lynch ’25 Contributing Writer This past weekend, Mattea Denney’s ’22 senior thesis production of Jason Robert Brown’s groundbreaking musical, “The Last Five Years,” graced the stage of Kirby Theater. Featuring an expanded cast and innovative staging choices, the production shone with the cast’s creativity and undeniable talent in the face of such demanding storytelling.

In its original form, “The Last Five Years” is a challenging and emotional two-person musical that chronicles the five-year relationship between Cathy Hyatt and Jaimie Wellerstein. The show switches perspective between Cathy and Jaimie in each scene, with Cathy living the story in reverse and Jaimie moving forward chronologically. The characters present each scene independently, only sharing the stage for their wedding in the middle of the show.

“The Last Five Years” has always been one of my favorite musicals. After discovering the film in middle school, I would spend hours on YouTube watching clips from other productions.

I love the challenge of its narrative ambiguities, and it takes a talented set of actors to situate the audience in every scene and communicate the complexities of the characters’ love for each other. When I heard about this production — which starred Denney as Cathy and Sterling Kee ’23 as Jaimie — I was particularly excited to see how the musical would change with the addition of an ensemble cast (consisting of Luke Herzog ’24, Phoebe Mugford ’25, Lydia Silver ’25, Sebastian Son ’22, Annika Paylor ’24, and Alfred Kibowen ’23).

The standout star of the production was undoubtedly Denney. From the moment she sang the opening lines of “I’m Still Hurting,” the show’s first and most famous number, I was blown away. Her control of tone sounded professional,

Photo courtesy of Sterling Kee '23

Mattea Denney’s ’22 senior thesis was a reproduction of Jason Robert Brown’s musical “The Last Five Years.” Olivia Lynch ’25 reviews the play, which featured unconventional storytelling and a talented cast. and her acting was top-notch.

Cathy is a difficult character to play, requiring an actress to express a plethora of complicated emotions all at once. Her songs switch from hopeful to angry to sad all in a matter of seconds.

“Climbing Uphill” is a particularly challenging song that requires incredible breath control and range, but Denney’s rendition made it sound effortless.

When I watched Kee’s performance as Jaimie, I thought of the criticism received by Jeremy Jordan, who played Jaimie in the 2015 screen adaptation of the musical. Many saw Jordan’s portrayal as unlikeable and cold — pitfalls that Kee masterfully avoided. While Jordan may have Kee beat with his vocal strength, Kee nailed the characterization of the role. Hearing him sing songs like “Shiksa Goddess” and “A Miracle Would Happen” helped me, a longtime fan, appreciate Jaimie’s character

in new ways. In particular, Kee’s use of auditory emphasis highlighted Jaimie’s humor in a way that I hadn’t seen before. While Jordan’s Jaimie was cruel, Kee’s was sincere and funny.

The addition of cast members also improved the show’s entertainment value and storytelling, notably during songs like “A Summer in Ohio” and “The Schmuel Song.” In the former, Mugford, Son, and Kibowen played cast members in Cathy’s summer theater production.

Mugford’s performance in particular deserves praise for her creative impression of a snake and exceptionally high kicks.

In “The Schmuel Song,” Herzog took on the role of Schmuel, a fictitious character of Jaimie’s imagination whom he uses to encourage Cathy to pursue her acting career. Herzog’s performance provided a new dimension to the song and proved the strength of the ensemble as an

artistic choice.

Beyond the addition of an ensemble, the production made a few other untraditional choices with regard to the show’s staging.

In original adaptations, “The Last Five Years” saw Jaimie and Cathy entirely separated during their individual numbers. But in the movie adaptation, director Richard LaGravenese decided to stray from this tradition and include Jaimie and Cathy together in every scene. It seems that Denney’s thesis employed a similar technique. While some scenes starred Kee or Denney alone, many of them saw the two interacting. I think this choice definitely paid off, particularly for songs like “See I’m Smiling” and “If I Didn’t Believe in You.” The best use of this technique came during “I Can Do Better Than That.” Kee and Denney took center stage, sitting side by side as they simulated a car ride narrated by Denney’s gorgeous

voice. Allowing the two to perform this scene together showed off both of their impressive acting and comedic timing skills, and made more of an impact on the audience than if Denney had taken the stage alone.

However, I would note that the challenge of the show’s complex format got the better of the audience, with certain staging choices confusing what was already a difficult narrative structure. When I spoke with friends who had also seen the show, many noted that with limited knowledge about the musical coming in, they struggled to understand what was going on.

Regardless, “The Last Five Years” was a brilliant production full of talented people. Through their performances, the actors communicated the story’s sense of hope and reminded us that, in the words of Denney herself, “there are no happy or sad endings, just new beginnings.”

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Arts & Living

19

Photo courtesy of Piquels

Poetic Perspectives Ernest Collins ’23 shares two striking poems for this week’s edition of Poetic Perspectives. The pieces both feature themes of self-discovery and resiliency.

Masterpiece Today is only a fragment of your imagination, A fragment of your personality, A piece of the endless puzzle, And I am still trying to put my pieces together, And I have been working on this puzzle for 21 years, And sometimes it feels like an abyss.

7,770 days of pieces and I still haven’t pieced them together. And that’s okay.

Because if I had all of my pieces together, Then life wouldn’t be worth living.

I've learned to start on the outside.

Don't dig from the inside first, Work from the outside in.

Because you cannot finish the puzzle without the edges, Edges of sweet moments, that are shaping you into the masterpiece you will be. Shaping you into the person you will be.

The puzzle may seem to go for infinity, But it is quick, to say the least.

So sit back, Breathe, Relax, And don’t spend too much time contemplating every piece. Enjoy the moment, Embrace your dreams, Because we only get one opportunity to piece it all together. Only one opportunity to get it right.

A Walk The road feels longer some days.

My mind wanders, So I find my body meandering too, Above the gravel of crushed memories, Holding onto the hope of a serene view.

With dusted feet, A mind on retreat, Feelings of defeat, Sight resides as a treat.

I may walk, Shuffle, While the animals scuffle, I may talk, To vegetation that doesn’t speak back, I may listen, To the calls of a world that doesn’t know I’m listening, I may dream, But do I know what any of this means?

Sometimes.

Sometimes, I lie down, dehydrated, To slow a vessel that keeps moving, In a time that isn’t mine either.

All I can do is keep up.

With my heartbeat, The choir of tweets.

Just pick up my feet, One after the other.

And hope, That the view from there, Will hold more than what is here, I will still be holding on to the sights, That may not be so clear.

Knowing that with growth, Comes with the depths of fear, Of knowing the next dip in the path, Means an ascendance is near.

And sometimes, I have to just let go, And embrace the surroundings I know.

The road may feel longer some days, But I will keep moving, Returning to the Dionysian, Willfully this time.

Sp ports

After 3-0 Series Loss, Baseball Snaps Losing Streak Alex Noga ’23 Managing Sports Editor Playing in their second NESCAC series of the season, Amherst’s baseball team was swept at home against Hamilton in three straight games on Friday, April 8, and Sunday, April 10. They then picked up their sixth win of the season in a momentum-building 6-5 victory over Salve Regina University on Monday, April 11.

In contrast to their fast starts from the previous week, the Mammoths were sluggish coming out of the gates against Hamilton.

In the series opener against the Continentals on Friday, the Mammoths quickly fell behind 5-0 after the first two innings. After going hitless through the first three innings of play, the Mammoths responded with a three-run bottom of the fourth inning, with runs coming off a Ryan McIntyre ’25 RBI single and a Christian Fagnant ’24 two-run double, to cut the lead to two. However, the Continentals broke the game open in the following innings, scoring the next 11 runs of the game, including eight in the eighth inning, to take a 16-3 lead. The Mammoths were able to add one run in the eighth and three runs in the ninth, but it was too little too late as they fell by a final score of 16-7.

Sachin Nambiar ’22 started for the Mammoths and pitched 1.2 innings, allowing eight hits and five earned runs. He was credited with the loss, bringing his record to 0-3 on the season. Tyson Luna ’25 was solid in relief, allowing three earned runs over five innings while giving up just four hits and tallying four strikeouts.

Originally scheduled for Saturday, the last two games of the series were pushed to Sunday due to thunderstorms.

Hamilton jumped out to another early lead in the first game of the doubleheader, which was a seven-inning game. The Conti-

nentals scored the first seven runs of the ballgame, plating one in the first inning, three in the third, and four in the fourth. The Mammoths managed to score three runs of their own in the bottom half of the fourth inning, but the Continentals responded right back with three more runs in the fifth to extend their lead to 10-3. They managed to add on an additional three runs in the final two innings, while the Mammoths did not register a hit in the final two frames. The game ended with a final score of 13-3.

Nick Giattino ’24 got the start and was tagged with his second loss of the season, bringing his record to 2-2. He went four innings, allowing six hits and four walks with five strikeouts. Giattino allowed nine runs through his four innings of work, though only four were earned. Six of the Continentals’ 13 total runs were unearned, and nine were scored with two outs. The Mammoths finished with three total errors and were outhit 13-5.

In the final game of the series, a nine-inning contest, Hamilton repeated their early outbursts from the previous two games by jumping out to a 6-0 lead after the first three innings, scoring one run in the first, two in the second, and three in the third. The Mammoths battled back, however. They scored one run in the third off a Jackson Reydel ’23 RBI single, two runs in the sixth off a Jack Dove ’23 RBI single and a Fagnant sacrifice fly, and added two more in the eighth off a clutch Jack McDermott ’25 two-out two-run double to make the score 6-5 heading into the final frame. The Continentals added an insurance run in the top half of the ninth, and the Mammoths could not put together a rally in the bottom half, going down in order to cement their 7-5 loss.

Jacob Ribitzki ’24 started for the Mammoths and registered the loss, bringing his record to 2-2 on the year. He gave up six runs (five earned runs) on nine hits through

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

The Mammoths lost three straight games to Hamilton before beating Salve Regina 6-5.

6.2 innings pitched, though all of the runs allowed came in the first three innings.

The Mammoths had no time to dwell on their results, as less than 24 hours after the final game against Hamilton ended, they took on Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island. The Mammoths once again allowed their opponents to take an early lead, as the Seahawks scored a run in both the first and second innings. The Mammoths then got on the board in the third inning. Christian Limon ’24 led off with a walk, and Daniel Qin ’22 drove him in on an RBI double to cut their deficit in half.

After starting pitcher Ben Goff ’25 got out of a jam with two runners on and no outs in the bottom half of the third, the Mammoths took the lead in the fourth inning.

McDermott led off the inning with a single, but the next two Mammoths were retired via groundouts. With two outs in the frame, Camden New ’24 stepped up to the plate and launched a no doubt home run to left field to propel the Mammoths to a 3-2 lead. On the very next pitch, Jack Sampedro ’25

ripped a home run of his own to essentially the same spot as New’s for back-to-back homers on back-toback pitches, extending the Mammoths’ lead to 4-2. The Mammoths added two more crucial runs in the fifth inning, as an RBI single from McDermott that scored Jack Boyle ’25 and an RBI single from Dove to bring McDermott home brought the lead to 6-2.

The Seahawks fought back valiantly, adding a run in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings while the Mammoths failed to add any insurance runs, making it a one run deficit heading into the bottom of the ninth. Ian Donahue ’24 was called upon for the save. After hitting the leadoff batter, he shut the door on the Seahawks, getting a flyout, a groundout, and a strike out for the final three outs of the game.

Goff was stellar from the mound, going 6.0 innings and allowing three earned runs on seven hits, picking up his first collegiate win in the process. McDermott, who reached base safely in seven of eight at bats in Sunday’s games against Hamilton, went two-forfour with two runs and an RBI.

Donahue earned his first save of the season.

As has been the case for much of the year, the Mammoths scored their runs in bunches. All of the Mammoths’ hits and runs were recorded in three consecutive innings. In the other six innings, the Mammoths were held without a hit, and their only baserunner reached on a dropped third strike call. The Mammoths struck out 16 times, compared to just three for the Seahawks. They made the most of their opportunities, however, leaving just three runners on base, while the Seahawks stranded nine.

Now past the halfway point of their season, the Mammoths possess an overall record of 6-13 and are 1-5 in NESCAC play. Upcoming on the schedule is a home game against Western New England University on Wednesday, April 13, and a home three-game series against NESCAC opponent Trinity on Friday, April 15 (Pride Game), and Saturday, April 16 (Vs. Cancer Game). The Mammoths will then make the short trip to Chicopee, Massachusetts, to play Elms College on Tuesday, April 19.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Sports

21

Bye Bye ’Bos: Women’s Lacrosse Downs Tufts in OT Thriller Carter Hollingsworth ’25 Staff Writer Amherst women’s lacrosse started off their three-game week on Wednesday, April 6, against No. 11 Wesleyan in a Little Three matchup between two nationally-ranked teams. The Cardinals struck first in a low-scoring first half, scoring their opener midway through the first quarter. The Mammoths would tie the score with two minutes to go in the first quarter when Marina Bevacqua ’22 scored her eighth goal of the season, but they entered the second period down 2-1.

The second quarter held the same scoreline as the first, with Wesleyan striking first, netting two goals to widen the lead to three, but Fiona Jones ’23 got one back for Amherst, and the Cardinals took a 4-2 lead into halftime.

The second half proved much more fruitful for the Cardinals, as they scored eight goals in the third quarter and four in the fourth and locked down on defense, keeping the Mammoths from scoring at all. The game would end in a 16-2 loss for the Mammoths, and they headed into their second NESCAC match of the week hoping for more success.

But their second game was no easier than the first. Amherst traveled to No. 5 Colby on Saturday and

came back home with another loss.

Early in the game, Colby quickly jumped out to a 3-0 lead over the Mammoths, but Bevacqua put the Mammoths on the scoreboard when she converted a pass from Eliza Marcus ’25E with eight minutes to go in the first period to make it 3-1.

Going into the second quarter, the Mules had extended their lead to 10-1 before the Mammoths chipped into the growing margin. In the final three minutes of the half, both Lauren Friedman ’25 and Marcus scored to make it 10-3 heading into the locker room.

The Mules would go on to score six more times in the second half, while the Mammoths tallied only one, by way of Ali Astrachan ’23.

Amherst returned home with a 16-4 loss.

Some teams would be discouraged coming into Sunday’s pivotal game against No. 6-ranked Tufts, but not the Mammoths. They started strong, scoring the first goal of the game again from Bevacqua, and kept the game tight with tough defense.

But the Jumbos weren’t far behind, quickly evening the score before taking the lead on a free-position goal.

The two teams traded goals in the final minutes of the first quarter, as Becky Kendall ’22 tied the score at 2-2 with 30 seconds to go before the Jumbos answered with 14 seconds

left, leaving the game at 3-2 to end the quarter.

Jones opened the second-quarter scoring with a goal to even the game, and her classmate Sydney Larsen ’23 wasn’t far behind her, giving the Mammoths a 4-3 halftime lead. The Mammoths kept Tufts scoreless in the second quarter, the first time all season the Jumbos have failed to score in a quarter, thanks to the incredible goalkeeping of Caroline Stole ’24. Stole made her second start of the season in the contest, and made 15 total saves in the game, the most recorded by a Mammoths netminder since 2019.

Stole said of her performance, “I think that goalies get a lot of recognition for big wins but at the end of the day, this is ultimately team sport and I am so proud of every one of my teammates who left it all out on the field. It makes it that much more rewarding to win when we win together.”

And the team came together in a big way the second half, with the game on the line the whole way through. Larsen converted again to put the Mammoths up by two early in the third quarter, but the Jumbos would even the score yet again, with the score standing at 5-5 heading into an exciting fourth quarter.

Larsen got her third of the day to open the scoring, and Bevacqua

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Defender Colleen Mooney '23 tracks down a groundball. gave Amherst a two-goal lead with her second. But Tufts would not go down without a fight, again rallying with two back-to-back goals to tie the score. Kendall struck with only four minutes left in the game, scoring her second of the match, but the Jumbos were soon to follow, netting only 30 seconds later. Both sides’ chances in the remaining minutes were bested with fantastic defense and goalkeeping from both sides, sending Amherst into their second overtime game of the season. The Mammoths are 1-0 in overtime this season, with Friedman scoring the game-winner in their overtime victory over McDaniel College in Colorado on March 17.

The first overtime came and went, with the two teams going scoreless as tensions continued to

rise. But a second overtime was all Jones needed. She beat her defender with a fake spin move to her right, stepped around her, and fired, finding the back of the net for a golden goal that sent the Jumbos back to Medford with a loss.

After the game, Jones said, “We’re really excited about this win. It has been a tough season, but after [a] reset we came back stronger than ever.

We hope this [victory] sets the tone for the rest of the season because we’re here to win.”

Amherst will face Connecticut College on Wednesday, April 13, at 6 p.m. on Gooding Field, as they look to improve their NESCAC record against the Camels. They will then travel to Williamstown, Massachusetts, on Saturday, April 16, to play perennial rival Williams.

Men 0-2, Women 1-1 in Tennis’ NESCAC Play Leo Kamin ’25 Managing Sports Editor The men’s and women’s tennis teams sampled some of the toughest competition the NESCAC has to offer this past weekend. Both squads took on the Middlebury Panthers in Ludlow, Mass. on Saturday, April 10, before the No. 9-ranked women’s squad headed out to Williamstown and the No. 18 men returned home for matchups with arch-rival Williams Ephs on Sunday, April 11. The men’s team’s strong start to NESCAC play was interrupted by a pair of losses. The women went onefor-two on the weekend, beating the Ephs 5-4 and narrowly falling to the Panthers by the same margin.

Women The Mammoths’ matchup with the No. 8 Panthers began with doubles play. Amherst jumped out to a quick 2-1 overall lead on the back of a win at the No. 1 spot by Jackie Buzkin ’22 and Julia Lendel ’24. Mia Kintiroglou ’25 and Deliala Friedman ’25 dominated in the two-spot, winning 8-2. The Mammoths lost much of their steam in the singles matches, though. Friedmann sailed through her matchup, losing just two games, but the rest of the ladder struggled. Calista Sha ’23 and Buzkin battled back to force third sets in their matches, but neither could secure the victory. The Mammoths lost four of six singles matches, giving the Panthers a 5-4 victory.

The team sought redemption on Sunday, heading to Williamstown for a matchup with the No. 17 Ephs. Again, Amherst excelled in the doubles matches. Friedman and Kintiroglou secured a comfortable 8-4 victory; Amy Cui ’25 and Anya Ramras ’22 prevailed 8-5. The Mammoths needed to split the singles matches to secure victory, and split them they did. Bukzin won a breezy first set 6-1, but her opponent came back with a 6-4 victory in the second.

Amherst’s No. 1 player, and the No. 1 Division-III player in the Northeast Region, shut the door with a commanding 6-3 third set. Though the Mammoths stumbled in the second, third, and fourth spots, Friedman and Ramras won at the bottom of

the ladder, securing the 5-4 victory.

Men Middlebury proved a tough test for the Mammoths. Damien Ruparel ’22 and Sujit Chepuri ’25 lost 8-6 at the No. 1 spot. Kobe Ellenborgen ’25 and Micah Elias ’23 fell 8-5 at No. 3. Not all was lost — Harris Foulkes ’22 and Edred Opie ’25 won their matchup — but the Mammoths entered the singles matches needing four victories.

The Mammoths’ top player, Ruparel, lost handily, winning just five total games. Foulkes got things back on track, winning the second and third sets 6-2 after dropping the first 3-6. Chepuri fell 6-2, 6-1, meaning the Mammoths needed

all three wins from the bottom half of the ladder to carry the match.

Opie kept the hope alive with a win at the four spot, but Willie Turchetta’s loss at No. 5 sealed the Mammoths’ fate. They lost 3-6 overall.

The Mammoths returned on Sunday to host the No. 7 Ephs. Amherst again lost two-of-three doubles matches — only Ellenborgen and Elias prevailed. Opie was the sole victor in the singles matches, securing a comprehensive 6-3, 6-1 victory.

Among the rest of the team, Ruparel was the only player to win a set.

After the weekend’s action, the men are 6-6 and the women are 6-5.

The women host No. 4 Emory on Friday, April 15. The men face Skidmore at home on Saturday, April 16.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Sports

22

Blue Devil, GOAT: A Duke Fan’s Ode to Coach K Liza Katz ’24 Managing Sports Editor I spent the last 20 seconds of the GOAT’s coaching career sitting on a couch in the Cohan second floor common room with my head in my hands. While to some, the loss to bitter rival North Carolina in the Final Four was a fitting end to Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell tour, for me, it felt like I was robbed of something. With the team that we had this year, it felt like sending him out on top, winning a National Championship, was possible — and after Gonzaga bowed out in the Sweet 16, I dared to hope that it was actually possible. But UNC came in too hot, and just like they had a month earlier, the Blue Devils lost to the Tar Heels in a game that I’m never going to forget.

While we all know Coach K as the man who excelled at recruiting potential one-and-dones and coaching NBA stars like Kyrie Irving, Zion Williamson, and RJ Barrett in college, he came from humble beginnings. Coach K came into the program after coaching at his alma mater West Point for five seasons as a relative unknown, with no reputation and a huge amount of pressure. Before Coach K, Duke was relatively mediocre. They hovered around .500 every year in the ACC — a conference dominated

by UNC, Maryland, and Virginia — and had never won a National Championship. But Coach K changed that. While it didn’t start right away, after a few rebuilding years, Duke began having the kind of success that everyone loves to hate. The big moments were there — beating national-No. 1 UNLV in the Elite Eight in 1991, Christian Laettner hitting “the shot” against Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight, beating Michigan’s Fab Five in the 1992 title game — this is when Duke basketball became the Duke basketball we know today, and it was all due to one man, his coaching, and his recruiting prowess.

The man is so prolific that the lawn in front of Cameron Indoor Stadium, where students camp out for tickets (yes, camp out … that’s how much Dukies love their basketball

team, and that wouldn’t be the case without Coach K), is named after him.

But I’m no bandwagon fan: I’ve been living and breathing Duke basketball since before I knew what a basketball was. As the child of a mother who attended the university during those storied Laettner years, when the Blue Devils won their back-to-back National Titles in 1991 and 1992, it was only natural. I even dressed up as a Duke cheerleader one year for halloween … It’s not weird, I swear — let’s just say I was dedicated and move along, shall we? … In any case, my love for all things Duke basketball ran deep, and as I grew up, nothing really changed. Some of my earliest sports memories include taking the R train with my parents from my apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan to Madison Square Garden pretty much every year for Duke’s annual New York City appearance. It was those games that got me hooked. The times I spent watching players like Nolan Smith, Kyle Singler, and Jon Scheyer make their magic live and in person were some of the highlights of my young sports-watching days. This time resulted in me learning about the sport from my parents, who frequently had to stop and explain the rules of the game to me, as the years flew by.

And before I knew it, I was obsessed. When I was eight years old, I stayed up and watched the end of the 2010 National Championship. I was sitting next to my parents on the couch when Gordon Hayward’s shot almost ended our hopes for a title. I watched the players run onto the court in celebration. It was Coach K’s fourth National Championship, and his first since before I was born (2001) — a moment to celebrate.

A few up-and-down years followed, but the next flashbulb moment, for me, was the 2015 National Championship win. Coach K did as Coach K does, recruiting the number-one class in the nation, including future NBA players Tyus Jones, Jahlil Okafor, Justise Winslow, and Grayson Allen. They joined a team that included Quinn

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Mike Krzyzewski's final season as Duke head basketball coach ended in heartbreak.

Cook and Amile Jefferson — wiley veterans who are still some of my favorite players to this day — to form a squad that was just too good to lose. It was glorious. And after taking down Wisconsin in a backand-forth game where Allen put the team on his back, Coach K had his fifth title. Just another accomplishment to add to his growing list. I enjoyed every single second.

But it wasn’t until I started playing basketball myself, right after that title run, that the moments started to hit home for me. It was then that I began to notice the little things Coach K did that made him not just a great recruiter, but a great coach as well. During that title-winning season, after losing back-to-back games to NC State and Miami, he stopped the bleeding by deciding to switch to a zone defense. While many teams traditionally play a man defense, with every player guarding an opponent one-on-one, Coach K moved away from this style, choosing to have players mark any player that moved into their assigned area of the court while watching the ball.

Not many coaches would decide to do that, changing tactics so quickly, but he did. And it worked.

Two years later, in 2017 (one of the only years until I left for college that I wasn’t in attendance for the annual Duke trip to NYC), Coach

K notched his 1,000th career win, against St. John’s at the Garden. My mom and I were huddled around her phone watching the lead grow, and we knew we were watching history being made.

The man who made Duke basketball what it is was getting all the praise he deserved after hitting that milestone, and that has repeated itself upon his retirement. And it won’t stop with me. Although we never won another National Championship with him at the helm, those historic moments have stayed with me, as will the ones from this season. Yeah, we didn’t win a National Championship this year. It would have been nice, but it was almost poetic the way it happened. The celebrations and tributes from all of Duke’s ACC opponents this season. The first 20-point win at the Dean Dome against UNC. The losses to UNC at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Coach K’s last home game, and to Virginia Tech in the ACC Championship. It all built to the tournament run that we saw play out on our TV screens.

The man coached this team like a champion. He said his players grew up during the tournament run, and they did, battling hard for wins against Michigan State in the Round of 32 and Texas Tech in the Sweet 16, matchups that peo-

ple thought were going to be their undoing coming into the tournament. And while Gonzaga couldn’t handle the pressure, the Devils did, handily beating the Razorbacks after their upset win over the Zags.

But they couldn’t have done it without the adjustments Coach K made to the starting lineup, sitting star freshman Trevor Keels in favor of tough-driving sophomore point guard Jeremy Roach. And the adjustments he made to prevent the Carolina game from ever getting out of hand were tip-top. In the end, the Tar Heels hit their shots in clutch time, we didn’t. Simple as that.

The future of Duke basketball is in good hands: Coach K’s successor, Jon Scheyer, learned from the best, and has already assembled another number-one recruiting class for next year. It takes a special kind of person to build a tradition of that kind of success and reputation for a program, and he did it. Alas, all good things come to an end, and 40 years and five National Championships later, it seems like this is as good a place as any to call it a career. All this is to say thank you for all the memories — the ups, the downs, and everything in between.

My childhood wouldn’t have been the same without them. And even though we didn’t win, you went out like a champion.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Sports

23

Spring Fling: Track and Field Hosts Only Home Meet Violet Glickman ’25 Staff Writer For the first time since 2019, the men’s and women’s track and field teams took to Pratt Field on Saturday, April 9, hosting their only home meet of the year. Despite the ominous storm clouds overshadowing the day (and causing two rain delays), the Mammoths shone through.

Men The men’s 4x100-meter relay team, consisting of Henry Buren ’22, Matt Gelin ’22, Ben Bell ’24, and Theo Woodward ’25, dusted the cobwebs off the school record, which was set in 1970, with their time of 41.18 seconds. As if shattering a 30-year-old record by more than a second wasn’t good enough, the team now holds the second best time in this season’s NCAA Division III rankings.

In addition to the record-breaking success, several members of the team have now already qualified for New England Division III Championships. Eager to leave a lasting impression in his final home meet, Buren also took first

place in both the 100- and 200-meter dashes in 10.90 and 22.08 seconds, respectively. Junior Kelechi Eziri ’23 soared into first place in the long jump, setting a personal record of 6.80 meters. Gabriel dos Santos ’24 triple-jumped his way to first place as well, with a mark of 13.11 meters that bested his previous record, and Wilson Spurrell ’24 crossed the finish line first in the 800-meter event. The Mammoths also swept the 5,000-meter run, with Ajay Sarathy ’22 coming in first, closely followed by teammates Keon Mazdisnian ’23 and Theo Dassin ’24, both of whom ran personal-best times.

Over on Hitchcock Field, firstyear David Brown ’25 took first place in discus throw with his heave, which was almost three meters farther than his previous personal best. Brown said that he hopes to break the school record this season, and is “only two meters off [that record] following my mark on Saturday. I improved by several meters in just one meet, so I think I have a good chance [of breaking it].” Like many other members of the team, Brown loved the support the home meet fostered: “It was

really nice to have parents there, as well as the entire team and fans, and I definitely think it helped [my performance].” And in Coolidge Cage, the wins continued, with Troy Colleran ’22 dominating in the pole vault event, clearing 4.45 meters and qualifying for New England Championships.

Women The meet was also a success for women’s track and field, who claimed wins in nine events. Mary Kate McGranahan ’23 flew through the 3,000-meter steeplechase with a personal-best time of 11:29.22 that won her first place and qualified her for NEICAAA Championships.

In their first collegiate outdoor meet, the first-years dominated across the board, with nine qualifying for New England DIII Championships later this spring.

Julia Schor ’25 and Margo Pedersen ’25 finished second and third in the 800-meter run, earning top-20 DIII times nationally. Fellow firstyear Julia Zacher ’25 ranked in the top 10 nationally for her winning leap in the high jump, clearing the bar set at 1.67 meters with ease.

Photo courtesy of Slate Taylor

Alex Rich '25 won the 3,000-meter steeplechase.

Sidnie Kulik ’25 took first place in the 1,500-meter event with her time ranking in the top 20 nationally (notice a pattern here?). Eliza Cardwell ’25 joined several of her teammates in recording top finishes and top-20 DIII rankings as she soared over the 100- and 400-meter hurdles, taking first place and NEICAAA-qualifying spots in both events.

Eve Giancarlo ’25 tied the pole vault school record of 3.40 meters, which was set by fellow first-year Jordan Hecker ’25 only a week earlier. Sophomore Deb Thayer ’24 threw a personal-best 34.75 meters in discus, notching a first place fin-

ish and qualifying for New England DIII Championships. Also on Hitchcock Field, Bethany Martin ’24 took first place in the hammer throw with a mark of 41.07 meters.

With their home meet in the rearview mirror, the team’s next competitions are this weekend, on Friday and Saturday, April 15-16.

The team’s decathletes and heptathletes will travel to Williamstown for the Williams Invitational, while the rest of the team will be competing at Connecticut College’s Silfen Invitational. Events for both meets begin Friday afternoon and will continue throughout the day on Saturday.

Softball Bests Hamilton for Second NESCAC Series Win Alex Noga ’23 Managing Sports Editor The softball team repeated their strong opening performance in NESCAC play from last weekend, defeating Hamilton two games to one in a three-game away series on Friday, April 8, and Saturday, April 9. Now past the midpoint of the season, the Mammoths boast a 12-5 overall record and a 4-2 record in the NESCAC West division.

Although they had to travel over three hours to Clinton, New York, to battle the Continentals on their home turf, the Mammoths showed no signs of fatigue in any of their games, striking first in all three contests. They jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning thanks to a Dani Torres Werra ’25 two-out double that brought Rachel Lovejoy ’23

home. The lead doubled in the second inning when Megan Taketa ’23 scored on an Autumn Lee ’23 single up the middle. The Continentals responded emphatically, however, scoring one run in the bottom of the fourth inning and taking a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth off a tworun double and a subsequent RBI single. The Mammoths managed to bring the tying run to the plate in the seventh after America Rangel ’25 led off with a single, but they couldn’t scratch any runs across and the game ended with a 4-2 final.

Werra picked up her first loss of the season from the circle, bringing her record to 4-1. She pitched 5.2 innings and struck out five along the way, allowing four runs, though only three were earned. The Mammoths were limited to just three hits in the contest, while the Continen-

tals managed eight.

In game two on Saturday, it was the Mammoths’ turn to mount a comeback. They again got out to an early lead — scoring two runs in the first — but the Continentals evened the score in their half of the inning and then added three runs off a bases-clearing double in the second to make the score 5-2. Their lead was not safe for long, however. The Mammoths scored two runs in the third inning, cutting the lead to just one, as Lovejoy scampered home on a wild pitch and then Werra singled through the left side to bring home Lee. In the fourth, two sacrifice flies from Lee and Jess Butler ’23 gave the Mammoths a 6-5 lead. Taketa then tacked on another insurance run in the fifth with a sacrifice fly of her own that scored Devynn Wilderman ’25 to extend the lead to 7-5.

The Mammoths shut the door on the Continentals in the final frames, solidifying their come-from-behind victory.

Talia Bloxham ’22 started for the Mammoths and was superb from the circle. She went the distance, pitching a complete seven innings and allowing five runs, though she did not allow a single earned run.

She gave up nine hits and tallied two strikeouts, working herself out of jams all game to pick up her fourth win of the season and bring her record to 4-3.

In the rubber match of the series, the Mammoths flexed their muscles in a 13-3 domination that only needed five innings to complete.

They battled around the lineup in both the second and third inning, scoring five runs in the second and six in the third for an early 11-0 lead.

The Continentals managed to get three runs back in the fourth inning, but Werra put the exclamation point on the contest with a two-run homer in the fifth inning to make the score 13-3. Hamilton went down in order in the bottom half of the inning, mercifully ending the contest due to the five-inning mercy rule.

Audrey Orlowski ’23 got the start and picked up her fourth win on the year.

Looking ahead, the Mammoths wll make the short trip to Springfield, Massachusetts, to take on Springfield College in a midweek doubleheader on Wednesday, April 13. They will then look to continue their success in NESCAC play with a home doubleheader on Saturday, April 16, against a challenging opponent in Trinity, who is currently undefeated in conference play.

The Amherst Student • April 13, 2022

Sports

24

Amid Rain Delays, Men’s Lacrosse Back on Track Mike Schretter ’23 Staff Writer

After two 30-minute rain delays and a sloppy first half on Saturday, Amherst men’s lacrosse was able to get back on the right track after two straight losses with a 12-7 comeback-win over Colby. Coming into the match, only one game separated the teams for the sixth seed in the NESCAC standings, so Saturday’s contest was a must-win for both of them. (Head-to-head matchups are a critical tiebreaker when it comes to seeding in the NESCAC tournament.) Amherst now moves to 5-5 on the season and 3-3 in NESCAC play, while Colby dropped to 4-5 and 1-4 in NESCAC games.

The game started off well for the Mammoths, as they got a goal on their first possession of the day by way of a right-handed goal from Carter Tate ’22 off a pass from Matt Adams ’23. Colby quickly responded, however, with two big goals of its own. Amherst was able to pull one back with a goal from Connor Guest ’24, who scored in his fourth straight game to even the score at two apiece. But Colby again scored two unanswered goals to take a 4-2

lead in the second quarter.

This is when the first rain delay of the day halted the action, causing both teams to head to the locker room to regroup. After waiting the required 30 minutes, Colby hadn’t lost their groove, and the Mammoths went down 5-2 shortly after the teams returned to the field. But, with their backs against the wall, the Mammoths’ comeback began, starting with a goal from Brock Gonzalez ’23 with only 19 seconds to go in the second quarter to narrow the margin to 5-3 at halftime.

Amherst got off to a great start in the second half, maintaining their momentum from the first as PJ Clementi ’22 opened the second-half scoring at the 10:54 mark to make it 5-4. Tanyr Krummenacher ’23 then scored to tie the score at five all. Guest and Clementi then each scored their second of the day shortly thereafter — in what seemed like the blink of an eye but was actually about three minutes of game time, the Mammoths had turned a 5-3 deficit into a 7-5 lead. Undeterred by the scoring spree, Colby responded with a goal of their own at the end of the third to make it a 7-6 game heading into the final period. Clem-

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Faceoff specialist Nicholas Kopp '25 takes off on a fast break against Hamilton. enti credited the run to the team “play[ing] our brand of lacrosse really well — pushing transition, taking advantage of matchups, and pressuring on defense.” Clementi emphasized the importance of this style to the team’s in-game turnaround. “We always say if we play our brand of lacrosse we can control the pace and set the tone.

In the first quarter we sort of let them dictate the pace, but after the delay we knew we had a really good

game plan, and just had to execute it. Once we did that everything clicked, and we were able to put together a nice run on offense and play lockdown defense.”

This attitude was evident in their fourth-quarter play, as Amherst took over to end the game with a 12-7 win. It was all built on their defense creating chances on offense. Dylan Hsu ’25, Krummenacher, Clementi, Gonzalez, and Adams were the ones to take

advantage, capitalizing on their opportunities to widen the Mammoths’ lead. After surrendering five goals in the first half, Amherst only allowed Colby to score two goals the rest of the way, outscoring the Mules 9-2 in the second half.

Amherst travels to New London, Connecticut, for a 7 p.m. tilt against the Connecticut College Camels on Wednesday, before returning home to play archrival Williams on Saturday at 1 p.m.

GAME SCHEDULE BASEBALL

Wednesday, April 13: vs. Western New England, 4 p.m.

Friday, April 15: vs. Trinity, 3:30 p.m.

Saturday April 16: vs. Trinity, 12 p.m. (DH) Tuesday April 19: @ Elms College, 7 p.m.

SOFTBALL Wednesday, April 13: @ Springfield, 3 p.m. (DH) Saturday, April 16: vs. Trinity, 12 p.m. (DH)

WOMEN'S GOLF April 16-17: Vassar Invitational @ Casperkill Golf Club

WOMEN'S LACROSSE Wednesday, April 13: vs. Connecticut College, 6 p.m.

Saturday April 16: @ Williams, 6:30 p.m.

MEN'S LACROSSE Wednesday, April 13: @ Connecticut College, 7 p.m.

Saturday April 16: vs. Williams, 1 p.m.

WOMEN'S TENNIS Friday, April 15: vs. Emory, 4 p.m.

MEN'S TENNIS Saturday, April 16: vs. Skidmore, 1 p.m.

TRACK & FIELD

April 15-16: Silfen Invitational @ Connecticut College April 15-16: Williams Invitational @ Williams (Multis Only)