Issue 2 by The Amherst Student

Photo courtesy of Leo Kamin '25

ARTS&LIVING 14

Modern Adult Problems: Joe Sweeney '25 reviews the animated comedy "Tuca and Bertie," writing that behind its absurdity is a story of fierce love.

Leo Kamin ’25 Managing News Editor

The King of DIII NIL: Alex Noga '23 tells the entrepre neurial story of Jack Betts '24E, a wide receiver who has secured over 35 NIL deals in a short eight months.

The Amherst Labor Alliance (ALA) staged a protest at a “Piz za with Trustees” event at the Inn at Boltwood on Thursday Sept. 8, disrupting the dinner and de manding better pay and work ing conditions for Amherst staff members.Theevent, which was attended by President Michael Elliott and chair of the board Andy Nuss baum ’85, was designed to allow specially-invited members of the student body to share their ex periences with a group of trust ees. Most of the protestors did not receive invites, but they were eventually invited to sit down with the board members to share their complaints.Theprotest began when mem

bers of the ALA walked towards the tent, brandishing hand-drawn signs and chanting, “Raise the wages! It's on you!” Conversations inside the tent dropped to an awk wardAfterhum.several more minutes of chanting by the ALA, Caden Stockwell ’25 gave a fiery speech condemning the treatment of Amherst staff members and de nouncing the business practices of individual board members. Protestors then spoke with El liott, before eventually joining the trustees inside the tent to air their concerns.Asprotestors joined the dinner, the confrontational atmosphere dissolved into the murmurs of conversation and ice clinking on glass.Thursday’s protest was not the first time that ALA — which was founded just last fall — has dis

According to member Angel Musyimi ’23, the ALA demands that the college raise staff wages, end the practice of denying “ca sual” employees various benefits, and eliminate the “toxic” work environment in Val that includes “people being yelled at by super visors and written up for small infractions.”

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on page 3

However,campus. the protest at the Boltwood represented an escala tion in ALA’s tactics — the first time they directly confronted members of the board.

Students Offer Advice Presidentto Elliott

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

One of the topics most fre quently mentioned by students was the importance of two-way communication between the ad ministration and the student body. They hoped that Elliott would both actively listen to student input and effectively convey the administra tiveOnresponse.thisnote, Leandro Arcos Roman ’24 advised Elliott “[t]o be as present on campus as possible. To find ways to constantly receive feedback (and act upon it) from the

Continued on page 4

Caelen McQuilkin ’24E, Liam Archacki ’24, and Leo Kamin ’25 Managing Features Editor, Senior Managing Editor, and Managing News Editor

OPINION 8

SPORTS 22

VOLUME CLII, ISSUE 2 WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2022 amherststudent.com

Three Stories Deep: Liam Archacki '24 reflects on why the sepulchral C-level of Frost is his favorite study space on campus.

Labor Alliance Protests at Trustee Dinner

“Michael Elliott can’t fix what he doesn’tThisknow.”was the phrase shouted at many a student entering Val for dinner this past Monday, when The Student sat in the foyer collecting advice and guidance for the new president.Elliott’s presidency so far, as he mentioned in an interview last week with The Student, has been dedicated to learning about the student body and its diverse per spectives. Reflecting a smattering of these perspectives, the responses received from students (via a Goo gle form) included specific poli cy-change requests, commentary on important campus issues, and general guidance on how best to lead the college.

In response to the ALA’s pro test, Chief Communication Offi cer Sandy Genelius pointed to a number of steps the administra tion has taken to support workers across the last year, including con verting many “casual” positions into full time roles, introducing salary increases for multiple sub sets of the workforce, and a 5 percent increase in pay for all em ployees on July 1 (a month when inflation hit 8.3 percent).

Musyimi, however, maintained that these steps were, in many ways, insufficient, and that the wages paid to Val staff were “not enough to live on, especially if you have a Thursday’sfamily.”protest also marked the first time that Elliott, who has been in office for less than two months, has had to directly con

rupted a major campus event and put the college’s leadership in an awkward position. They displayed banners calling for action during the 2021 homecoming football game and the 2022 City Streets festival — occasions when guests of note, such as the board, alumni, and admitted students were visit ing

The Amherst Labor Alliance staged a protest at a trustee dinner on Thursday, which President Elliott also attended.

>>Sept. 10, 2022 12:38 a.m., Charles Drew House

>>Sept. 9, 2022

>>Sept. 11, 2022 10:01 a.m., Emily Dickin son House ACPD took a report of vandalism after someone broke a window at the Emily Dickinson House.

>>Sept. 12, 2022 12:26 p.m., Garman HouseEnvironmental health and safety responded to a re port of the odor of gas in a residence hall. The odor was found to be exhast fumes from a vehicle run ning outside the building.

The college has relaxed some of its Covid restrictions and opt ed not to reinstate surveillance testing at this time, despite a recent uptick in Covid cases and some concern from communi ty members. The decision was announced in a Sept. 8 email to students, staff, and faculty in forming the community of the Covid protocols that would go into effect following Sept. 12.

Henry Bassett ’23 noted that

Also as communicated in the Aug. 5 email, starting on Sept. 19, the college’s Covid tests will no longer be administered by the Testing Center. Instead, in dividuals will administer tests and link their samples to an on

A CSA responded to a complaint of loud drum ming. Upon arrival, the drumming had stopped and no one was found in the area.

A community safety assistant responded to a noise complaint and found a small group of students in the common room. The noise issue

>>Sept. 11, 2022 12:08 a.m., Morris Pratt Hall

College Relaxes Covid Protocols Amid Uptick in Cases

5:24 p.m., Humphries House

POLICE LOG

>>Sept. 6, 2022

In the email, Provost and Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein, Chief Student Affairs Officer and Dean of Students Liz Agosto, and Chief Human Re sources Officer Kate Harrington acknowledged the increase in cases — as of Sept. 13, there are 44 active student cases, with 65 students having tested positive since classes started — and con cern of community members, but explained the reason for keeping testing voluntary.

sustainable long-term strategy— to individuals taking greater re sponsibility for protecting the health of themselves and those around them,” the email added.

line interface themselves, with the Testing Center only provid ing and collecting the test kits.

“The protocol changes below … reflect the increasingly en demic nature of COVID-19 and a gradual shift away from insti tutional management of com munity health—which is not a

News Sept. 6, 2022 – Sept. 13, 2022

ACPD conducted motor vehicle stop after observ ing a vehicle traveling the wrong way down a one-way street. A verbal warning was given to the operator, who did not see the signage.

1:52 a.m., Residence Hall

“While the College continues to provide a voluntary, robust testing program with both PCR and antigen tests available, top public health experts state that the highly transmissible nature of the omicron variant means that surveillance testing (and contact tracing) is no longer an effective means of preventing infection in a community,” the email stated. “Additionally, uni versal testing in the absence of symptoms, while very important in the early days of COVID-19 when infection posed a much greater risk to members of our community, is much less rele vant in a community like ours that is protected by vaccinations and boosters and in which treat ment is available for those who might become ill.”

The updated protocols loos ened some restrictions that were previously in place. KN95 masks remain required when entering, exiting, and getting food at din ing locations, as well as in in structional spaces, face-to-face service locations, the Testing Center, and the Health Center, but are now optional in all other spaces. Protocols surrounding building access, capacity limits, and visitors are as communicat ed in the college’s Aug. 5 email, with students allowed to have outside visitors in residence halls starting on Sept. 12.

>>Sept. 9, 2022

ACPD responded to a report of vandalism to a bicycle.

was resolved.

Yee-Lynn Lee ’23 Editor-in-Chief

Certainly not everyone is concerned about the spread of Covid, or takes seriously the guidance surrounding testing and other practices. In Hodges’ view, this only provides more reason for the college to enforce protocols at an institutional lev el, instead of putting responsi bility on individuals — partic ularly theyyouofwherebyfailingotherselvesindividualsimmunocompromised—tokeepthemsafe.“IkindofseethisasjustanwaywhereAmherstisdisabledpeopleatlargesaying,‘IfthereisanythingCovidmightbeabitmoreaconcern,itdoesn’tmatter,havetofigurethatout,’”said.

>>Sept. 9, 2022

A 911 unattended call was recieved by APD. They transferred it to ACPD. AC Dispatch contacted the caller and there was no need for service.

3:59 p.m., South Prospect St.

>>Sept. 8, 2022

A detective took a report of missing bicycle parts. This matter is under in vestigation.

>>Sept. 10, 2022 4:54 p.m., Boltwood Ave. ACPD conducted motor vehicle stop after observ ing a vehicle traveling the wrong way down a oneway street. A motor vehi cle stop was conducted and the driver was given a verbal warning.

While on patrol, a seargeant observed students carrying indus trial sized boxes of paper towels and bath tissue down College St. When they noticed the officer, they dropped the boxes and ran away. Items were then recovered.

The email concluded by en couraging all eligible communi ty members to get the recently FDA-approved bivalent booster, noting that the college will make a decision about whether to re quire the new boosters in the comingSomeweeks.students remain con cerned about the lack of sur veillance testing. Although the email stated that all community members are expected to take responsibility for testing when they are symptomatic, Sam Hodges ’23 thinks that certain pressures at Amherst incentivize students to not test when they feel“Peoplesick. feel a lot of pressure to go to class, … so even if peo ple have a bit of symptoms, they might try and excuse it away so they don’t have to miss out on coursework,” they said.

9:58 a.m., Noah Webster Cir.

7:41 p.m., Garman House ACPD took a larceny report after a student discovered parts of their bicycle missing. This mat ter is under investigation.

>>Sept. 10, 2022

11:05 a.m., Jenkins Hall

>>Sept. 12, 2022 4:05 .m., South Parking Lot

10:41 a.m., Hills Field A town resident com plained about loud music at the athletic fields. ACPD responded and the music was lowered.

he feels “much more in the dark about how much Covid there is on campus” under the voluntary testing system. He expressed ap preciation, though, that testing remains available for anyone who wants to take advantage of it.

A ACPD responded to a pre-fire alarm and found the cause of activation to be incense. The system was able to be reset.

>>Sept. 7, 2022

On the morning of Monday, Sept. 12, an email was sent to all students living on campus stating that, starting Sept. 14, residence halls would no longer have desig nated bathrooms for Covid-pos itive students. The decision was swiftly reversed later that day fol lowing student backlash.

This was the ALA’s ultimate goal — Musyimi said that past conversations with former Pres ident Biddy Martin did not yield sufficient results, and that Martin told them that any further chang es would have to come from the Board of Trustees.

Although the initial email did

After the protestors spoke, he stepped outside to speak with them.Musyimi said that Elliott’s main goal seemed to be to stop the pro test and to recast the discussion on “his terms,” avoiding confron tation by offering to meet the pro testors at a later date.

front campus activism.

The new policy would have allowed Covid-positive students to use any bathroom in their res idence hall as long as they are masked. The policy designated 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. as “mask-free hours,” times when Covid-positive students could carry out activities that re quire them to be unmasked.

Photo courtesy of Sofia Tennent '25

The protest began with students marching towards the Trustees event, chanting and hold ing signs. Afterwards, protestors went inside to share their concerns with board members.

News 3The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Editor-in-Chief

this point, there is no mechanism by which the ALA could more formally bring their complaints before the board or otherwise im pact its proceedings.

“[T]heremasked.”isstrong evidence that masks provide excellent protec tion from the virus and that there is now overwhelming evidence that COVID is not transmitted by aerosolized particles that remain in the air,” she wrote. “In addition, most students are choosing to move about their residence halls unmasked and we do not believe that this bathroom policy poses any greater risk of spreading the virus.”The announcement of the change elicited a strong reaction from students, some of whom took to the campus GroupMe to express their concern. One stu dent started drafting a petition against the new policy, and several noted that they had replied to the

Once inside, protestors were met with varying reactions from board members. Some seemed sympathetic to their cause, Musy imi said. She also said that many seemed uninformed about the labor issue on campus and sur prised by the protest.

Musyimi said that the board members were not as responsive as the ALA would have liked. She would have liked to have estab lished a direct line of communica tion to the Board of Trustees. At

Though trustees were not as re sponsive as she would have liked, Musyimi made clear that the ALA will continue to be active on cam pus until its concerns are met.

Continued from page 1

students as long as those students were

who had sent the original notice, sent another email rolling back the decision to implement the new“Eachpolicy.time

New Covid Bathroom Policy Reversed Before Implemented

we have introduced new COVID-19 protocols, we have heard a range of responses and understand that members of our community often hold di vergent opinions regarding what they believe to be appropriate measures,” he wrote. “We take seriously the objections that have been raised and we will not imple ment new restroom protocols at this“Instead,time.” Student Affairs staff will work with each hall to deter mine how best to designate the restrooms in a way that addresses health concerns while managing the availability and distribution of them in each hall,” he noted.

Following the announcement, some residence hall floors even discussed designating a bathroom for Covid-positive students them selves.Later that afternoon, COVID Project Manager Jerry Roeder,

email pushing back against the policy.“Ithink that people should be able to access the dorm bathrooms at any point in the day, whether they have Covid or whether they don’t have Covid,” Sam Hodges ’23 told The Student. “So for peo ple who don’t have Covid, if you don’t want to risk exposing your self for whatever reason, [the new policy is] not great. And if you do have Covid, what if … you’re sick [and] you sleep through the morning shift, like you can’t brush your teeth till the afternoon?”

fact that the event was intended for students to share their expe riences with the board, Musyimi convinced Elliott to let the group inside the tent to engage the board members in conversation.

ALA Protestors Dissatisfied With Trustees’ Responses

Elliott struck a different tone in a statement to The Student, writ ing that “the arrival of the Labor Alliance was in keeping with the spirit of the event,” which was “designed to offer trustees and students the chance to speak with oneMusyimianother.”pushed back on the idea that the protest was the kind of dialogue that the administra tion had in mind, pointing to the fact that only a select group of 125 students, which seemed to include CAs and some leaders of campus organizations, received invitations to the event. There was no infor mation about it sent out via the Daily Mammoth or posted on the AmherstEventually,website.pointing to the

not provide a reason for the shift, in an email statement to The Stu dent, Chief Strategy Officer Kate Salop noted “the increasingly en demic nature of COVID-19” and explained that the policy was in tended to alleviate the strain that designated bathrooms were put ting on bathrooms in certain resi dence“Withhalls.the move to isola tion-in-place, we were looking for a way to balance the demands on residence hall restrooms,” she wrote. “The use of COVID-pos itive designated restrooms was having a differential impact on residence halls depending on the number and distribution of re strooms.”Salopalso expressed confidence that “students could safely share a restroom with COVID-positive

Yee-Lynn Lee ’23

One trustee argued that large wage increases were not economi cally feasible for the college, while another claimed that specific la bor concerns were generally out side their purview as trustees. Yet another guaranteed to the protes tors that the labor issue would be brought up in the board’s meeting the following day.

Though The Evergreens is not yet open to the public to al low for continued preservation and stabilization work, tours of the Homestead, updated to incorporate a new interpretive framework that guides how the museum tells the Dickinsons’ story, have resumed.

“I’ve had folks who have been attending our virtual pro grams for the whole pandemic but had never been here before,” expressed Brooke Steinhauser, program director of the Emily Dickinson Museum. “And there’s

“I think it’s actually kind of wonderful that this year, the Homestead is opening, and there’s still work being done on systems in The Evergreens — there gets to be this slow unfolding,” expressed L. Stan ton Williams 1941 Professor of American Studies and English Karen Sanchez-Eppler, who for merly served on the museum’s board of governors.

Comprised of two houses — the Dickinson Homestead, Em ily Dickinson’s home for most of her life, and The Evergreens, a home built for her brother’s family upon his marriage — the museum has completely transformed since its closing in March 2020 through a resto ration project headed by Execu tive Director Jean Wald.

Over the summer, a worker installs the "bright wallpapers and carpeting" that have made the newly-renovated Emily Dickinson House noticably more vibrant upon its reopening.

The replicated wallpaper lin ing the space and the curation of pieces throughout the room helps visitors better understand what surrounded the poet when she wrote. “Dickinson forged her unique personal vision and her revolutionary poetic voice here in this place,” Steinhaus er said. The significance of this restoration, and the way it was carried out, exemplifies that of the rest of the house’s restoration over the course of the pandem ic.”

Kei Lim ’25 Managing Opinion Editor

Renovations were completed at the Emily Dickinson Museum over the summer, ahead of a reopening on Aug. 16 which followed two years of closure during the pandemic.

Emily Dickinson’s bedroom

News 4The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Photo courtesy of Emily Dickinson Museum

nothing quite like being in this space with Steinhauserpeople.”shared that the new tour aims to share more of Emily Dickinson’s voice and lan guage, walking visitors through the poet’s life in the context of the world around her. Acknowl edging her privilege growing up within a wealthy, white family in Amherst, it details the lives of all those who lived and worked in the house, including the family’s domestic servants.

The restored Homestead is furnished with period-accurate Dickinson pieces from the mu

The tour is also mindful about what stories matter to contemporary audiences and the messages it shares, evoking how this privilege afforded her the sanctuary to produce her volu minous poetry and leave the leg acy she Steppingdid. into the entrance

The Emily Dickinson Museum Reopens After Two Years

Photo courtesy of Emily Dickinson Museum

seum’s collections and set piec es from “Dickinson” of Apple TV+ — the show’s production team worked with the museum throughout its filming to portray the family’s story as authentically as possible, and gifted to it their antique 19th century sets, props, and costumes post-filming. In each room’s formation, every detail — from the selection of items to their placement in the space — was carefully thought out. Rooms were designed using hints to the space’s appearance in Emily Dickinson’s poetry and the family’s letters.

Continued on page 4

She spoke of the reopening with pride and wonder at the scale of what the museum ac

— where the bulk of her work was written — was restored pre-pandemic, in 2015, after the ceilings collapsed. The falling plaster proved to be a blessing when a small bit of wallpaper was found amid the debris; from it, the museum was able to re produce the rose wallpaper now plastered on the bedroom’s walls. The space was then furnished with her bed, a replicated writ ing desk that overlooks the cen ter of town, and other decor and objects that would have been in the room when she lived there.

filled with visitors constantly drifting in and out, their estate known to be a social center of the town. Now, visitors of the museum can see the poet’s home restored closely to how it ap peared during the time she lived and wrote there.

after two years, visitors will find the space is much more vibrant than before. What was once em bodied by plain cream finishes is brought into full color with bright wallpapers and carpet ing. The simple, almost dull, ambiance that once filled the parlor has been replaced with the liveliness of the past — the 1800s Dickinson homes were

After over two years of clo sure, the Emily Dickinson Mu seum opened up its newly refur bished doors on Aug. 16.

The South Parlor of the Dickinson household, where the family would entertain many prominent guests.

Emily Dickinson's bedroom, where she spent much of her time, includes replicas of her writing desk and one of her gowns.

A new addition to the greens of the museum is a garden filled with flowers that Dickinson grew or wrote about. Started af ter the pandemic’s onset and still in the works is a project aiming to rehouse and catalog the mu seum’s full collection contain ing an estimated 10,000 objects — ranging from chairs, to doll clothing, to Edward Dickinson’s wallet. A database containing photographs and descriptions of the full collection will be made publicly available upon comple tion of the project, set to occur about a year from now.

“We really are a place of con nection,” she said. “To connect people to Dickinson, but also to each other … Emily Dickinson touches people in places we’ve never imagined. And welcoming them back both in person and continuing to engage them vir tually, those are the things that I’m really excited about.”

Continued from page 5

Over the course of the pan demic, the museum pivoted to the virtual world and connected with a global audience it wasn’t aware was so prevalent. “The last two and a half years, pri or to reopening, we pivoted to this whole virtual world,” shared Steinhauser. “And we found that the world was really ready and waiting for Alongsideus.” the museum’s physical reopening, it plans to continue its virtual programs and maintain an accessible web site where anyone can learn about Dickinson, the museum, and upcoming programs. On the website, visitors can also en gage in a virtual exploration of the museum, containing images and videos of rooms in both the Homestead and The Evergreens, and text detailing pertinent peo ple, objects, and events in the Dickinsons’

Photo courtesy of Emily Dickinson Museum

Steinhauserlives.spoke of the mu seum’s global audience and the day of the reopening, sharing that a group of young people from Mexico and Hungary came together to be there for it.

Photo courtesy of Emily Dickinson Museum

The museum also plans to reconstruct the Dickinsons’

during the week.

complished in such a short time, highlighting her appreciation for the new tour. Back when she held her role on the museum’s board, it took around two years to fund the replica of Dickinson’s signature white dress that is now displayed in her bedroom. Now, in the same amount of time, the museum has been able to restore the entire Homestead, and im plement the comprehensive in terpretive plan — among a slew of other projects that have been carried out simultaneously.

News 5The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

New Renovations Improve the Museum Experience

carriage house and, later, the barn that once stood behind the Homestead. The museum also hopes to convert The Evergreens into a study center that Amherst students will be able to go to

Photo courtesy of Kevin Gutting/Hampshire Gazette

Multiple students also raised concerns about the conditions faced by Val employees and staff members more generally. Peterson said that Elliott should work to

“This will ensure better access to neurodiv./disabled students who aren’t able to be present at all times and eliminate unnecessary worries

Tim Carroll ’25 expressed his hope for Elliott to “to try to make substantive change and be more than just a glorified mascot… I don’t want the president to feel like a puppet who’s being controlled by the Board of Trustees… [he should] listen to students and implement changes that students want, not just twiddle [his] thumbs and talk about how great of a place Amherst is.”

Over the summer, Valentine Dining Hall announced that it would be partnering with special ty coffee roasting company Mocha Joe’s to provide coffee to students throughout the upcoming year. Mocha Joe’s, based out of Brattle boro, Vermont, is a “single origin, fair trade, community oriented, and ecologically conscious” roasting company that runs on 100% solar power. In addition to its environ mentally friendly practices, Mocha Joe’s also works with coffee farmers in Cameroon and other countries to support infrastructure building and career development.

“Amherst has been a hotbed of sexual misconduct for far too long,” said Matsuo, expressing their hope that the Elliott administration pri oritize the issue.

The Cole Assembly Room, or "Red Room," where President Elliott held a town hall on the false shooter alert that was sent out during first-year move-in.

Faith Omosefe ’26 noted their hope that the college “ensure that all international students receive the same [financial aid] packages as domestic students upon accep tance.”Laith Bahlouli ’25 said that it would be great to end pork- and alcohol-only entrees on the nights of Ramadan.Amidthe straightforward guid ance, at least one piece of student advice defied immediate interpre tation. Dylan Byrne ’24 warned Elliott, “don’t count your chickens before they hatch.”

Bajaj echoed these sentiments, while Tylar Matsuo ’24 suggested the installation of more electric ve hicle charging stations.

for students and their capacity to engage,” they said.

On September 12, Amherst President Michael Elliott, Chief of Police John Carter, Dean of Stu dents and Chief Student Affairs Of ficer Liz Agosto, and Chief Informa tion Officer David Hamilton held a town hall event with the Amherst Senate. They fielded questions from community members about the recent false shooting alerts that oc curred during orientation. Admin istration is currently looking into retooling their emergency response measures.

The Editorial Board

Wednesday through Friday each week from 9:30-11:30 p.m., it will be replacing last year’s food trucks as an alternative, later option for dining on campus. Takeaway Tues days, which feature treats for the campus community on Tuesdays from 2:00-4:00 p.m., similarly made its semester debut on Sept. 6, thus far featuring ice cream sandwiches and a Boba Tea station.

Valentine Dining Hall Introduces Mocha Joe’s Coffee

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college decision-making under El liott’s administration.

Other students wished for El liott to shift priorities regarding the resources on campus. Overwhelm ingly, they said that they would appreciate an administration that demonstrated specific and authen tic attention to the thoughts and desires of students.

News 6The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Students Outline Issues That President Elliott Should Address

Relatedly, many hoped that students would have greater say in

do that is to be on the side of the studentStudentsbody.”also pointed out many specific campus issues that they hoped would be addressed. For in stance, several students called for Elliott to take action on improving the college’s sustainability and cli mate“Itpolicies.isessential that Michael El liott prioritize environmental ac tion at the College,” said Nora Lowe ’26. “I implore the President to make climate-conscious action one of the defining characteristics of his term. For example, Amherst has already agreed to stop making new investments in the fossil fuel indus try. That is great. But what about the assets currently invested?”

AAS Hosts Town Hall on False Shooter Alerts

“I would like him to make the institution more democratic,” Langston Prince ’25 said. “Release the data on the endowment, [and] weaken the Board of Trustees.”

Late Night Dining and Takeaway Tuesdays Make Return to Val

“I have hope that Micha[e]l Elliott will listen to the students,” said Cameron Mueller-Harder ’22. “I know he needs to have the insti tution’s best interests at heart, but I hope he realizes that the best way to

“You have real power, don’t use it just to better the ‘financial portfo lio…’ invest in this community in stead of the donors,” said Kathleen Harris ’24E. “Care for the actual lives of the people here.”

studentMasebody.”Peterson ’23E echoed this sentiment, especially with regard to students of color, urging Elliott to “actually go through with their ideas.”“Listen to and act on the con cerns of students, continuously communicating to ensure that they are getting what they demand,” An nika Bajaj ’25 added.

ensure “better working conditions and pay for all staff but especially Val workers.” Bajaj also empha sized the hope that Elliott prioritize “workers’ rights for students AND AmherstSeveralemployees.”responses also noted that the new president could better support students by making im provements to accessibility at the college.“Streamlining the accommo dations process and modifying the college’s response to mental health crises to be less focused on insti tutionalizing vulnerable students,” saidPetersonBajaj. provided the specific recommendation that Elliott “im plement a no-penalty policy for accumulated absences for all classes on campus,” meaning that profes sors would no longer be able to pe nalize students’ grades for missing any number of classes.

Mammoth Moments in Miniature: Sept. 7 to Sept. 13

Late Night Dining returned to Valentine Dining Hall for the fall se mester on Wednesday, Sept. 7. Con sisting of late night snacks offered

Responses also expressed a de sire for Elliott to take an active role in creating change that responds to student concerns, rather than merely idly listening.

Other responses pertained to recurring issues that have been the subject of much activism over the years, as well as ways the college could become more equitable and inclusive in its practices.

Q: That segues perfectly into my next question, which is: What impact do you hope your thesis will have?

Q: And do you want to continue with this work after your thesis?

ering up] efforts towards communi ty-based education, but also to see how — because NCSSM is the first public boarding school ever made — how this was a wave that occurred in the South within the decade that fol lowed. And so it’s applicable to not just North Carolinian education, but really the whole southern education system. So it’s a very healing process, as well as very enlightening. And to be able to talk about this, as well as collaborate with people who’ve been to these types of schools, and also just, you know, all of us have been exposed to education in some way, shape or form. It’s been such a connecting experience.

Photo courtesy of EJ Collins '23

Students before going into the SAT would be like ‘I don’t understand why I have to take this test; I got a 1580 on the test.’ And so a lot of the time students there were very, very com petitive. And coming here, it’s more of a community-based experience, which I think me and a ton of other students — because we all come from relatively competitive backgrounds — haven’t necessarily been exposed to. And so [seeing] how private forms of education in grade schools, but also at the collegiate level, to see how these forms of education came to develop and came to be and how they were shaped, really sparked my interest. I was a chemistry major/biochemistry major, and during Covid, especially during the Zoom semester, I was like, ‘Okay, this is a really interesting time in education, we’re not in the lab, stu dents across the nation are on Zoom. Some students don’t even have the op portunity to have technology. Parents are trying to figure out how to balance their economic circumstances, as well as taking care of their children.’ And so it was just a very pivotal time for ed ucation. I thought, ‘Wow, all of these practices have led to this moment where so many people are question ing: What is education for?’ We just discussed this in [Lewis-Sebring Vis iting] Professor [of Education Studies Kristen] Luschen’s class “Politics of Education.” And so to have these ex periences, and these conversations at the school has really been eye-open ing, and even influential in deciding the path that I’d want to embark upon.

Read the full interview online at www.amherststudent.com

A: My thesis is looking at indepen dent schools and how they served as liberatory spaces in North Carolina going into the ’80s. North Carolina is a state that had integration practices that were similar to Mississippi and Alabama, and what’s really interest ing is how they shifted their model of education to be somewhat more progressive, but in the midst of that, it still became inequitable for Black and brown communities. I went to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics [NCSSM], which was an effort that was created by the state in 1978. Being right down the street from Duke University, as well as Malcolm X Liberation University, [which] shut down in 1973, that was the tension that sort of brought me to this topic, because I was like, ‘We have a tradition of Black radical education and just the general radical education, and it’s sort of been covered up in history.’ And so this thesis is basically looking at the the inner workings of how it was covered up, [and] how the state basically co-opted these forms of independent education in order to still push the agenda for discriminat ing against certain communities in the state.

Olufemi Vaughan, Charles Hamilton Houston ’15 Professor of Black Studies and History Stefan Bradley, and Lew is-Sebring Visiting Professor of Ed ucation Studies Kristen Luschen], as well as the Mellon Mays program, and the Black Students Union. And just all of the community efforts that I’ve been involved with on campus and the efforts that I’m getting involved with off campus such as the Black Alliance for Peace. And I’m thinking about how to incorporate this outside of the classroom, and thinking about thanking the communities within and outside of the institution in order to further the collective cause.

Features EJ Collins Thoughts on Theses

Q: Do you think it’s made you look back on your educational experience in a different way?

Q: How does it feel to write a thesis so rooted in where you come from?

A: It’s very healing. Growing up, I went to a total of 10 schools. I’ve been to charter schools — actually, one charter school — and I’ve been to public schools within … Mecklen burg County, which has had a history of redlining and resegregation. And so it’s very healing for me to not only discover the workings of the state to cover up this history, as well as [cov

Photo courtesy of EJ Collins '23

A: Coming to Amherst, I wasn’t real ly 100 percent sure on what to expect — going to NCSSM is a high inten sity environment, very competitive.

—Eleanor Walsh '25

A: I hope that this research not only exposes or brings to light the history of these traditions, but also serves as a stepping stone for people to be able to look back at their history in their state of education and be like, ‘Oh, this is why I’m looking at a school that was constructed in a hospital that opened in 1898.’ Right? And to see, ‘Oh, okay, my school doesn’t get this much fund ing, because testing scores are this low.’ And so they will be able to apply it not just to their own students or kids when they grow up, but to see the different ways that we can collectively

come together to come to a more lib eratory form of education and come to a form of education that isn’t nec essarily geared towards the job market or geared towards getting people … into positions that further push these these discriminatory practices.

A: Just a really large thank you, not just to The Student, because thank you so much, but also, [to] my advisors [Al fred Sargent Lee ’41 and Mary Farley Ames Lee Professor of Black Studies

Collins' reading notebook from third grade.

A: Absolutely. My mother was very much involved in my educational experience and at different schools I experienced different types of prac tices. And my mother always wanted the best education for me, even in the midst of our socioeconomic circum stances. And so it is definitely — go ing back through all six elementary schools, two middle schools and two high schools — a lot for me to look at each type of education in a differ ent way. Whether it’s, you know, the inequitable practices of a talent devel opment program in a public school, or how different practices within the school systems only reestablish the school-to-prison pipeline in very apparent ways and even sometimes disappearing ways. But it’s definitely caused me to look back at my experi ences. I currently have a book on my wall, actually — sorry, this is not show and tell, but … [Collins holds up book from his room]. So this is from third

Q: What is your thesis about?

EJ Collins is a Black studies and education studies double major. His thesis focuses on how North Carolinian independent schools served as spaces for liberatory education, how the state restricted those efforts in the ’80s, and the lasting impacts of those restrictions.

A: Yes, hopefully! I am currently ap plying to Ph.D. programs. Through the Mellon Mays undergraduate fellowship, I was able to start this re search ahead of time, as well as get a little head start as far as observing the process of applying to Ph.D. programs [while working on] the thesis. So I am hoping to go to grad school after this for Black studies, or Africana studies, or African American studies in order to do more research on how education and Black studies are inherently linked together, because a lot of the practices and the systems that have been formed to [distract us from] what the plight has been for us, as well as the impacts of capitalism ever since emancipation onwards. And so I’m very, very excited for, hopefully, grad school.

Q: Is there anything else you’d like to add, or make sure people hear?

Q: How did Amherst influence the direction of your thesis?

grade. And I know they don’t really do these practices anymore. So [this is the] Accelerated Reader test, and I used to love reading before going into the third grade. … But what they did is they had us read these texts, but then next to them, you see all of these per centages, they would have us take tests on these books. And so it wasn’t re ally like we were reading these books to, you know, have a discussion or to see how they link to contemporary times. And this for the longest time had me convinced that I wasn’t neces sarily capable of reading or interacting with reading. And so, like I said, it’s been a healing process. But I want to make sure these practices … come to a close, but also [that] the history of these practices are exposed. So people don’t have to be exposed to these types of discriminatory practices.

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Reflections From the Catacombs

While isolation allows us to focus on our work, or partake in a healthy amount of introspec tion, it’s our relationships with others, even the faceless shadows of the Catacombs, that ultimate ly assure us of the worth of our efforts.Somy stay in the Catacombs must always come to an end. I place the final touches on my as signment, collect my things, and head for the heavy metal door. As I ascend the winding staircase to the world of the living, I’m sure not to look back — I’m confident that my wits and my sanity trail just behind.

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But while I’m frequently the only living body in the Cata combs on a Sunday night — ex cluding the Sunday directly be fore finals week — I never feel entirely alone. The cubicle desks, my preferred haunts, are home to numerous messages and draw ings, which have been, one can only imagine, etched in extreme boredom by decades of Amherst students.These include the encourag ing (“U got this!”), the poetic (“The wood are lovely, dark and deep…”), the illustrative (in cluding an intricate rendering of a tree, courtesy of the Am herst Botany Club), the profound (“WE ARE ALL POT SMOK ERS”), and, all too frequently, the pessimistic (“You can’t do it”).

As the walls of the actual French Catacombs are lined with the bones of several million longdead Parisians, our Catacombs serve as the sepulchral home for the life’s work of not quite as many authors. A wasteland of ideas only occasionally scav enged by the intrepid researcher.

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And sometimes a little isola tion or a little silence is simply what you need.

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or problem-set solving makes the most sense to me in this sort of individual unreality.

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.

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But in the Catacombs, si lence is the highest law. The only sounds heard are the dull hum of the air conditioning and the occasional beeps which signal

When I think of the most sol itary place on the Amherst cam pus, I think of the Catacombs. For the uninitiated, “the Cat acombs” is the macabre name bestowed upon Frost basement's deepest level. It’s home to many, many books — and a select hand ful of dauntless studiers.

CaelenEleanorMcQuilkinWalsh

To the right of the cynic’s scribble, some later commentator has appended the word “Alone.”

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the shelves’ movement as they collapse together to open up one row and close another. A series of laminated yellow signs cau tions, “Check for people between shelves.” One can only wonder what grave incident preceded their addition, and whether the unlucky party dared break the one law — or simply accepted theirTimefate.is a concept with which the Catacombs are unconcerned. No clock chimes out on the hour. The room sits deep enough in the Earth to prevent the infiltration of any of the sun's rays. And sev eral black-and-white photos of the Amherst campus — the only sanctioned visual art in the room — secure the space’s sense of timelessness.Themorbid moniker “the Catacombs” may strike some as over-exaggerated — the room is just underground, after all. But it seems more apt when you con sider the primary inhabitants of the space: the books themselves.

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The space itself is a maze of poorly lit book shelving. The wall nearest to the front entrance and those perpendicular to the shelves are plastered brick, pockmarked by age. The back wall, bone-white, features many tiny perforations, presumably for some insulatory purpose. I find them concerningly reminiscent of the breathing holes one pokes into the temporary home of a birthday-gifted shih tzu.

The ceiling of the room (per haps glimpsed with your head thrown back in despair) is a scuffed gray. Just below it lies an exposed grid of ventilation pas sages, pipes, and wires, which at least suggests the Catacombs has little to hide.

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Now the kicker: This bleak, foreboding, downright creepy graveyard of thought is my pre ferred study spot on the Amherst campus.Theway I see it, there’s some thing perfectly fitting about do ing your coursework in such an unnatural environment. For a brief spell, you can remove your self from the technicolor social world of pleasant chatter and wide smiles, and escape into the Catacombs — where other peo ple don’t exist, time is inconse quential, and the only voice to be heard is the one inside your head. The gruel of essay writing

To that, another says, “bet,” and one more still, “PREACH!”

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With its pattern of varicol ored lines, the design of the car peting echoes the maze motif of the shelving. Luckily, the abun dance of well-placed “exit” signs assuage any fears of becoming hopelessly lost amid the literary labyrinth.Idon’t mean to give the im pression that the Catacombs are completely inhospitable. Some kind soul thought to line the front wall with wooden cubicle desks and pepper the outskirts of the labyrinth with a few group work desks. This might even make you think that person-to-person con nection occurs here.

And sometimes, down in the Catacombs, this is the con cern that interrupts my solitary page-flipping. Can I do it? Can anyone do it?

Democratic gubernatorial candidate Maura Healey, photographed here in Boston in 2016, stands a good chance of winning the general election this November.

Opinion 9The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Shane Dillon ’26 Columnist

mained on the ballot because she dropped out too late to have her name removed. Chang-Di az cited a lack of funding and momentum being a reason for leaving the race. Though she was originally contested, Healey has the energy, popularity, name recognition, and cash on hand to potentially win the governor ship.Healey would become only the second Democratic Gov ernor of Massachusetts since Michael Dukakis left office in 1991, with the first being De val Patrick (who served as gov ernor from 2007 to 2015). She would also be the first elected female governor of the Com monwealth, as well as the first openly gay governor of any U.S. state (she would share that title with Tina Kotek of Oregon if she wins her own gubernatorial race

Healey’s Republican oppo nent, Geoff Diehl, lacks both the name recognition and popularity that Healey can boast. Diehl has been endorsed by former Pres ident Trump, which will help him with far-right Republican voters in the state, but may harm his chances with more moderate voters. The more moderate Re publican who lost to Diehl in the Primary, Chris Doughty, may have had a better chance in the general election. Doughty could have been another Charlie Baker, who, despite being a Republican, is to date one of the most popu lar governors in the country.

Photo courtesy of Jennifer Cogswell

one who disagrees with him. At 51 years old, Healey is a spring chicken in political years. She has been all across the Common wealth — playing basketball with our future leaders, participating in call time with grassroots do nors, responding to letters from inspired youth, and not being afraid to discuss the significant issues facing Massachusetts’s fu ture. She champions investments in wind energy, expanding the child tax credit, and making West-East high speed rail con necting Boston to Pittsfield a reality.By strategically waiting for popular Gov. Baker to opt out, Healey is on her way to becom ing the Commonwealth’s next governor. She has a solid chance to break both the attorney gen eral curse that has plagued oth er gubernatorial aspirations and the decades-long Republican hold on the Governor’s office.

Many factors could have

According to polling before the primary, Healey led every candidate by a wide margin, ex cept for the hypothetical match up between her and Baker where a UMass survey had Baker tri umphing. She now leads Die hl by a wide margin in general election polling. She told me in a phone call over the summer that her campaign is centered around grassroots organizing and calltime, the only way to win a cam paign at heart and at the ballot box. Seeing that she garnered over 630,000 primary votes to Diehl’s approx. 148,000, she has a strong chance of taking the gov ernor’s seat back as a Democrat.

there this cycle).

shifted past election cycles in favor of the Republicans who trampled their attorney general opponents. These past candi dates may not have campaigned well. They may have been un popular at the time, and the po litical climate of the Common wealth previously looked more moderate. What makes this race different from earlier campaigns, however, is the national political climate and the differences in fundraising and name recog nition between the candidates eyeing the governor’s office this year. With Healey being the first openly gay woman to seek the governorship in a time when the rights of women and LGBTQ+ folks are at risk, representation may truly matter in this race.

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, Massa chusetts Attorney General Mau ra Healey became the Democrat ic nominee for Governor in the state’s primary election, winning with over 85% of the vote. Oth er primary wins included lieu tenant governor nominee Kim Driscoll who is currently the mayor of Salem, Massachusetts, who will appear with Healey on the first ever all-women ticket in Massachusetts history. Attorney General nominee Andrea Camp bell may be the first Black wom an elected to a statewide office. The auditor and treasurer nomi nees are also women.

Healey’s only contender, State Sen. Sonia Chang-Diaz, dropped out of the race months before the primary, but her name re

In contrast, Maura Healey is well-positioned. She has mini mal opposition within her own party, and she has several other advantages over Diehl. He has lost in a statewide election be fore; in the 2018 senate election, Diehl lost to Sen. Warren by around 24 pts. It does not look good to be a perennial candi date.Also, while moderate Repub licans like Baker, Mitt Romney, and Bill Weld have succeeded in attracting independents and on-the-line Democrats in past elections, Diehl is far from mod erate; Healey has the advantage of arguing that he is too much like Trump and alienates every

It is said that the party who holds The White House loses seats during the midterm elec tions. In a year where the na tional climate should be on the Republican’s side, the Democrat ic party stands a real chance of taking back the Massachusetts governor’s seat.

The general election is this November — please plan to vote, but if you live in a state where your vote may mean more, stay registered there!

While the state is famous for sending progressive firebrands to Congress like Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey and Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Massachusetts has a long history of electing Republican governors and lieu tenant governors to keep an eye on the heavily Democratic state legislature. Most other state wide offices have been held by Democrats while a Republican held the top Interestingly,job.

many Dem ocrats who have run for gov ernor and lost first served as attorney general in the state. The most recent examples are Martha Coakley in 2014, Tom Riley in 2006, Scott Harshbarg er in 1998, and Frank Bellotti in 1990, although other instances date back to 1966.

Mass. Insider: Maura Healey’s Bid For Governor

My personal interest in the royal family is probably due to their most significant PR event of the 21st cen tury — Prince William and Kate Middleton’s wedding — happen ing at just the right moment of my childhood. I was about nine years old and thought that Barbie movies were too babyish for me, but was still obsessed with the idea of prin cesses. My English had also finally gotten good enough for me to en joy English-language television. For weeks before the wedding, Hong Kong’s English-language channel seemingly talked about nothing else. I listened to royal commenta tors recount every aspect of their childhoods and love story, watched Kate Middleton impersonators try on wedding dresses, and learned that, according to a survey (which I’m sure was rigorously conducted), most British men would prefer to

In Netflix’s “The Crown,” the fic titious queen stands with her chil dren in front of a globe and points out where her husband, Prince Philip, is traveling on his royal tour.

Opinion 10The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

I am not British and have never lived in the U.K. or the Common wealth, but I do follow the royal family and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (now of Cornwall and Cambridge) on Instagram, and have for years. I am slightly embar rassed to admit this, but, to be fair, most of us follow celebrities in some capacity. Like the Kardashians, the royal family offers lavish displays of wealth, photogenic outfits, dramatic controversy, and a constant output of consumable content. This content mostly involves mediocre speeches and photo ops with happy children. It is not all that substantial or valu able. Often, it is laughable, tone deaf, or even harmful — again, just like the Kardashians. But more than re ality stars or Hollywood celebrities, the royal family has an extra hold on me because they are still everywhere in the remnants of Britain’s former empire.I’mfrom Hong Kong, a city that has a strange relationship with Brit ain. There were the Opium Wars, and the Treaty of Nanking, and more movements of trade, war, and em pire, after which a tiny island and peninsula in the south of China be gan to be overseen by governors sent over from London. This happened in the 1840s, but most families who currently live in Hong Kong have only been in the city for two or three

事頭婆個個揸住個兜

“All these are British Overseas Terri tories,” she explains, “and they have to be visited every once in a while, so they don’t feel neglected or for gotten, and don’t get any silly ideas like becoming independent.” By my parents’ generation, Hong Kong knew that its relationship with Britain had an expiry date, so there was never an awkward question of whether to fight for independence. For myself, things are even simpler, since the British presence in my city is a thing of the past, and therefore basically non-threatening and un problematic. The queen is a fairy

death announced on BBC radio (it’s probably clear by now that the prin cipal charm of the royal family lies not in their individual personalities, but in the antiquated practices that go along with them). This warm, fuzzy feeling of connection con tinued when I saw people related to my various interests commem orate the queen, like Formula One champion Sir Lewis Hamilton, knitwear designer Marie Wallin, and one of my favorite Instagram accounts, Old HK in Colour. This is not to say that the systems of oppression created by the British monarchy and perpetuated (or, at the very least, figuratively repre sented) by the queen don’t need to be seriously confronted, nor should they be ignored as part of her legacy. I cared about the queen as a megacelebrity, and I care about her death as the end of a symbolic continuity between myself and British Hong Kong. What I really experienced when I heard about the queen’s death was nostalgia. This deceptive feeling imagines a past that did not exist, but when so many of us are suddenly prompted to look back and romanticize to gether, it sure is fun.

generations and have never known a pre-British Hong Kong. For most Hong Kongers, then, there isn’t re ally a sense of the British having taken over “our land,” which means we could admire the queen’s color ful outfits without much underlying resentment.Thelast British governor, Chris Patten, left Hong Kong in 1997. In local retellings, it is much re marked upon that his daughter wept throughout the handover ceremony: She loved Hong Kong so much that she couldn’t bear to leave. Surely, the queen must have been weeping too! For she loved us so much that she gave us the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Elizabeth School, and Queen Elizabeth Stadium, not to mention everything else named after her various ancestors and de scendants. My grandmother rarely talks about the British, but whenever she does, she calls the queen by the loving local nickname of (“grandma at the head of things” or “boss lady”). On balance, there is a schoolchildren’s parody of “God Save the Queen” with the opening line (“every one is holding a rice bowl,” i.e., begging for money). I know these stories because my parents would tell me about them in moments of reminiscence, which is to say that despite the complexities of empire, there is a powerful force — collec tive nostalgia — at play.

Whenever anything happens with the British royal family, it seems that the inevitable question is, “Who cares?” But the fact is: We do care. On Thursday, Sept. 8, the day of Queen Elizabeth II’s death, The Stu dent’s opinion editors sent out their weekly email inviting staff to begin writing for next week’s issue. While we were told, as usual, that we could write about anything we wanted to, the email contained a subtle nudge for us to consider writing about the queen. Somehow, it feels like her death must be acknowledged, that a significant portion of the Amherst student population, in one way or another, must care about this piece of news. For this Amherst student, at least, the assumption is correct.

go to bed with a blonde, but wake up with a brunette (which is why Prince William was marrying a brunette, of course). The day after the birth of their first child, I was at the dentist’s, where I read newspa pers whose entire front pages were taken up by a photo of the royal couple with their newborn. As soon as I was allowed social media, I fol lowed Tumblr pages dedicated to cataloging the royal women’s outfits, shoes, and jewelry. Since then, I’ve watched countless documentaries and enjoyed all the fictional adap tations, like “The Crown” (2016-), “Spencer” (2021), and even the re grettable direct-to-TV movie “Wil liam & Kate” (2011).

Caring About the Queen Is Fun: A Hong Kong Story

tale figure from “once upon a time,” so whenever she shows up, it feels like a delightful surprise — some leftover fairydust. At school, for ex ample, when we would get change for our lunch, receiving a coin with Elizabeth II’s, or better yet, George VI’s face on it inspired envy, even negotiation and exchange.

Queen Elizabeth II was perhaps best known for her colorful outfits and her impressive hat collection, both essential qualities for her fairytale character.

Priscilla Lee ’25 Contributing Writer

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia and antiquesandteacups.info

I am not particularly emotional about the queen’s death. If I were at home right now, I probably would not go to the British consulate with a bunch of flowers or a handwritten note, as some in Hong Kong have done. However, I did spend an hour or so after the announcement re freshing the official Instagram pages and reading coverage. I watched the BBC announcement of the queen’s death so that I could feel a con nection — however illusory — to the people who heard George VI’s

Clooney 65

Half-___ (coffee order) Minecraft, e.g. "A good walk spoiled," per Twain* Man-mouse link Captivate Face-to-face exam ___ canto Magic word (not please) On an even keel Occupies, as a table Dallas inst. Kings and queens Pumpkin seeds Tempe sch. By way of Most popular major, briefly Rude dude Raindrop sounds LBJ biographer What the starred clues, at Amherst, hopefully do Keep ___ profile Houston pro Karate move Alan of "M*A*S*H" British medical org. Dundee denial Undesirable adjective of a term for the starred clues, at Amherst CNN reporter Octavia The "G" of LGBTQ+ Impassioned Of great worth Outdoor variant of an icy game* Loser to DDE Human rights lawyer "Semper Fi" soldier Sass What the cross country team does Proctologist, perhaps Put down

1DOWNBaseball's "Georgia Peach" Field of study What the starred clues are to Amherst, or competitive sky-diving and base-jumping? Bar-bowl tidbit "Mad Money" network ___ de Lyon (Paris railway terminal) Make ___ dash for Comfy shoe Wipes out Barnyard beasts Celestial spheres Pasternak heroine Like a performance,pitchyperhaps Adorned Key related to C Farmer's cart Praline nut Cyber-bucks Bodybuilder's pride World Cup sport* Games with aces and kills* Apple music players ___ (predictably)expected "I'm impressed!" Yellow Teletubby Prefix with center ___ off (intermittently) Inhaler target Author of Sympathizer""The Carter and Gwyn Miles away New Zealand pine Gendron, in name and title DVD player ancestors Actor Tamiroff Headey or Dunham Sci-fi princess Glimpse NATO cousin

Crossword | Sept. 14, 2022

1ACROSS

Sep. 7 The Amherst

Amusements

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Liam Archacki ’24 Senior Managing Editor

by Miles Garcia ’25

Red Herring: You’ve Got Mail!

by Isaac Streiff ’24

Amusements 12The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

“The Spread of Covid-Lite”

You are probably familiar with Green Room, the foremost stu dent-run theater group on campus. Starting this semester, though, it is no longer the only name in the game. Enter Ghostlight, a new stu dent theater group that promises audacious, experimental produc tions — beginning later this month with their student-written “Ghost light Triple Feature.”

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[have] come out of that combina tion.”Sass has directed Green Room productions in the past, as well as a radio play. This time, she said that she enjoys the creative control she has had over the process: “Me and my actors have really collaborative ly pitched how we wanted this play to go, what we want it to look like, what kind of props we want. And then me and the other [two] direc tors have really collaborated on the format of the triple feature …”

That creative freedom has thrilled her: “It’s been the best thing ever. It’s just so cool. Even though I wrote the play, every time we have rehearsal, it feels like I’m creating something new.”

Later this semester, Ghostlight has plans for two more productions: first, a monologue festival, which Vitelli is particularly excited about. He described the event as provoc ative and accessible to all students who want to be involved: “Students can come and just say, ‘Hey, this is a monologue or a short scene from either a movie or TV show or a play that I really want to put on.’ … [So it’s] a fun way for people to get involved with theater if they’ve

The Ghostlight Triple Feature opens on Friday, Sept. 30. Additional per formances will be held on Oct. 1 and Oct. 2.

Ghostlight’s first production lat er this month, “Triple Feature,” is a set of three student-written plays, performed back-to-back. One of the writers is Bianca Sass ’23, who is also directing her piece herself. Titled “Blackout,” her production follows two high school students watching a school play. One of them is writing an article about it for the student newspaper. The oth er, a lighting engineer for the show, begrudgingly accepts when he asks to watch with her in the secluded projection booth. Romance ensues.

I asked him what he would share with those who are interested in student theater at Amherst. “The more people involved in the theater community, the better,” he pro claimed. “Reach out to Ghostlight if you have a play you’ve written … or if there’s just a play you’re very passionate about, either directing it or acting in it!”

I spoke with Matt Vitelli ’24, one of the students who founded the group. He described Ghostlight’s mission as aiming to create a space on campus for people who are pas sionate about theater.

The Theater and Dance De partment also produces several plays and a musical each year, but Vitelli said that because of limited funding and faculty, those oppor

light’s student-written pieces are] larger, full-length productions.”

Vitelli hopes that Ghostlight will grow into an organization that is open to all, regardless of their experience with theater. “I’m hop ing in the future to get a bunch of activities going on each semester where people can just kind of dip their toes into theater — do it for a day, do it for a week, or something like that, and, you know, have less stakes for when they get involved with it.”

Eva Tsitohay ‘24 and PJ Smith ‘24 rehearse for “Blackout,” a play written by Bianca Sass ‘23 for the upcoming “Triple Feature” produced by Ghostlight, a new student theater group on campus.

But why does Amherst need an other theater group? “No one would ever say that The Student needs to be the only writing group on cam pus,” Vitelli said. “Maybe you’re interested in journalism, maybe you’re interested in creative writing. Maybe you’re interested in poetry, maybe you’re interested in academ ic journals, right? There should be outlets for all of that. Theater is very similar.”Vitelli spent three years being heavily involved with Green Room, acting in a number of shows and serving as the club’s artistic director last year. “I loved all the things I’ve done in that group,” he reflected. “And I had a great time doing the aterButthere.”henoted that there were not enough opportunities on campus for everyone interested in theater. “I counted the number of acting roles and tech roles and directing roles [in Green Room last year]: highest number we’ve ever had in the his tory of Green Room,” he said. “And even with the biggest season we’ve ever put on, we still didn’t have enough roles for everyone who tried out and wanted to be involved.”

Alex Brandfonbrener ’23 Managing Arts and Living Editor

Ghostlight: Amherst’s Newest Theater Haunt

tunities are inaccessible to many students. “They really have a focus on thesis-writing students, which of course is their primary mission, but it leads to the fact that there are not a lot of roles or ease of access for people to get involved with theater at that level,” he said.

Ghostlight isn’t just a second Green Room, though. Vitelli said that the group aims to embrace “forms of theater that Amherst students normally wouldn’t inter act with,” such as student-written theater. “On campus before now, the only student-written things you might have seen would be Green Room’s 10 Minute plays, which are super, super fun,” he noted. They just are smaller, more casual in terms of production. … [Ghost

Other atypical forms of theater that Ghostlight hopes to feature include small, intensive, black box-style plays, as well as plays in translation. For example, next se mester Vitelli plans to direct Niko lai Erdman’s “The Warrant,” a play translated from Russian.

Vitelli wanted to make some thing perfectly clear: “I would not classify our group as pushing back against Green Room at all.” He does not see Ghostlight as a “rival group” for Green Room. Instead, he said the two clubs should be amicable collaborators: “I’m hoping that peo ple who are involved with Green Room shows can be involved with our shows, and people involved in our shows can be in those shows.”

never tried it before or if they have, whatever level of experience [they have].” Ghostlight will then finish the semester with a play written by Miles Garcia ’25, a large production featuring 12 acting roles.

Photo courtesy of Bianca Sass '23

“A challenging thing about writ ing and directing a show is balanc ing how to effectively communicate my vision for the show and for the characters, while allowing the ac tors [to also] interpret the show in their own ways,” Sass explained. “And I think really cool choices

A second season premiered in 2021, followed by a third in July 2022, which wrapped up on Aug. 29.I’m going to use comparisons between “Bojack” and “Tuca And Bertie” to elaborate on the latter's central qualities. That being said, as much as I love

in real time, in-and-by your own hands — like a malnourished butterfly, too feeble to recover. You feel bad about telling your partner about all this because they’re having a tough time at work too, so you just don’t. In stead, you strike up a rapport with your “stall buddy,” because your daily pilgrimage to the bathroom is the only free mo ment you ever get. When you hang out with your stall buddy after work one night, you de cide it’d be good to introduce them to your partner, as proof that your life is semi-normal and semi-stable. In the course of conversation, however, some choice opinions of theirs reveal they are, uh, a poopy person (ev eryone seems nicer on the other side of the stall).

So now it’s off to the races:

budgetary committees, investor meetings, board examinations. You’ve never been in a position like this, and right away you see that it is grueling. But this is what you wanted, right? This grind toward a goal that is truly important? Right!

“Bojack Horseman” is common ly referred to as “the sad horse show”: it’s a dramedy about an aging, alcoholic, drug-addict ed, traumatized ’90s-sitcom star who ruins the lives of everyone around him and is also a horse. Why is he a horse? I don’t know — why is anything, anything?

Continued on page 15

“Bojack” myself, I don’t want to belabor the similarity between the two shows, not only because “Tuca And Bertie” is excellent in and of itself, but because the two really are very different.

Joe Sweeney ’25 Staff Writer

Photos courtesy of film-rezensionen

This melodramatic absurdism, which toes a fine line between irony and sincerity, is both the humor and the pathos of the show.On the whole, “Tuca And Ber tie” is much lighter. Again, it’s a show about best friends, and so I feel that it must be, to an extent, a show relying on tropes. Ber tie, a song thrush, is awkward, career-oriented, sweet, anxious, and generally a goofball in spite of herself. Tuca is a toucan, which is to say she is is unapol ogetically herself: brash, funny, and often sexually-driven. Many episodes are built around the ways their different personalities bounce off each other.

Admittedly, though, that bouncing is more explicit in sea sons one and two. By the third season, both the content and the form of their friendship hasAdult animation has had a resurgence, including cult hits such as “Bojack Horseman” and “Tuca and Bertie.” Joe Sweeney ‘25 reviews the latter, which follows two birds as they deal with modern adult problems.

adult animated series of the last decade. “Tuca And Bertie” has been met with similar praise; unlike “Bojack,” however, it’s had a turbulent production history. Released by Netflix in May 2019, the show was canceled in July of the same year, only to be picked up by Adult Swim in May 2020.

Has that ever happened to you? Something like it, maybe? For me, “something like it, maybe” is the essence of “Tuca And Bertie.” The arc I just de scribed concerns Bertie’s boy friend and perpetual side char acter Speckle (voiced by Steven Yeun). The show is an animated comedy for adults which centers around best friends Tuca (Tif fany Haddish) and Bertie (Ali Wong) trying to figure out their 30s in the big city of Birdtown. It’s called Birdtown because most of the characters in the show are, in fact, birds (although some are animate plants).

You’ve had a job for a while, but yesterday, you finally put your foot down. You’ve had enough of being exactly what people need you to be, at ev ery moment of every day. Your work matters to you; your ideas about your work matter to you too. There comes a time when speaking up is the only remedy for the aching pain you’ve in flicted upon yourself through your silence. So, just this once: You speak up.

Except the budgetary com mittee made a few cuts here and there … The investors are withholding their loan until a few key things get done … The board said this part isn’t very “on-brand” ... It’s beginning to seem like the thing you’re doing all this work for is really gonna suck. But something is better than nothing, right? Right … or maybe you just have to believe that so you don’t have a nervous breakdown.Alright, let’s really set the stage now. You’re doing the most important work of your life, but it’s important not for the reasons you wanted it to be, but because it’s your first experience watch ing your innermost dreams die,

Now your partner is kind of pissed at you. You don’t even have your stall buddy anymore — and you just can’t take it. So you go into work, burst into a megalomaniacal rant, and def

The show was created by Lisa Hanawalt, who worked as a pro duction designer and producer for “Bojack Horseman,” easily the most critically acclaimed

The foremost of these differ ences between the shows is tonal.

Tell me if this has ever hap pened to you:

And everybody loves it! They think your idea is fantastic! So fantastic, in fact, that you’ve been put in charge of making it a reality! After that sensation al meeting, your boss pulls you aside: “Say, [your name here], why don’t you speak up more of ten?” And you have no idea!

ecate on the floor. Because you just had to do it — but only be cause what you really want to do is go home and curl into a ball and never dream or care about anything ever again.

Arts & Living 14The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

“Tuca and Bertie” Satirizes Modern Adult Life

been well-established. The third season of “Tuca And Bertie” ex periments with both by sending each character into the world on their own and then seeing how they reconvene (form); how they reinvest in their relationship (content). In any case, there’s enough insanity in the world without having to worry about other people. In one episode, Bertie is devoured by a snake, and, continuing to go about her day-to-day life while protrud ing from its stomach, she makes broad gains at work because peo ple mistake her new intimidating appearance for the confidence she never had. Tuca gets a job as a river tour guide and has to train her duckboats (which are alive) by giving them an outlet for their aggression (she uses Bertie’s boyfriend Speckle as that out let, which results in him getting brutally stomped on — twice).

Instead, Bertie pulls out an imaginary “worry-vacuum” — think of one of those vacuums that is used for furniture, one that has a long tube that you hold the end of — and holds Speckle in her lap, softly working the vac uum over him, all while adjust ing the “vroom” sound she makes with her mouth to his prefer ence. No answers; only more love, in whatever shape it takes.

One of the strongest points of “Bojack” that has translated to “Tuca And Bertie” is a robust sense of visual comedy. There are so many scenes in “Bojack” that take advantage of its weird animal-human world to make a clever visual pun or gag. The world of “Tuca And Bertie” is alive with the same imagi nation. Giant snakes serve as trains for the city (there are reg ular snakes and train snakes). Crossing guards hold up traffic for a mama duck crossing with her children (there are peo ple-ducks and regular ducks).

“Tuca and Bertie” Balances Vulgarity With Heart

After his work fiasco, Speck le comes home in season three to the same apartment — feel ing distraught, and perhaps un forgivable. As viewers, it’s easy enough for us to see all he’s been through and expect an answer for it all: What are we supposed to do when love goes so wrong?

“Tuca And Bertie” takes “Bo jack’s” absurdity a step further by letting a free range of possibilities develop indiscriminately in its world. The casual excitement of these unbelievable developments feels very true to the spirit of weary eagerness of many young adults: “Oh God, another new thing? Is this supposed to have some sort of deeper metaphorical significance? All I know is that it’s stupid and annoying … Well, OK. I guess it’s a little fun too.”

It is the mark of a show that is deeply comfortable with itself; and what could be more worth watching, more worth waiting for to see what it has to reveal?

“Tuca And Bertie” has unerr ing confidence in its strangeness,

“Tuca And Bertie” is about fierce love: for the world and for your friends. Yet the show deep ly tunes itself into the ways our inner love is unfit for the out er world. And so, in its darker moments — the grief of a failed romance, or of failed intimacy with one’s parents — the show reveals a world in which the love we receive from others is unsat isfactory and disappointing. I’ll always remember one scene in the first season where Bertie, on the twilight side of love, looks up at her apartment window from outside. The art style has changed with the night: All the buildings are only outlines of themselves. The only solid thing was the light from that window, and as I looked up with Bertie, I thought of the warmth of her home and its comfort. But I also

Arts & Living 15The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

“Something like it, maybe” — if we’re lucky. The good thing is that we usually are lucky. More so than we might think, anyways.

“Family Guy,” “American Dad” — “Tuca And Bertie” rarely in dulges in vulgarity simply to be provocative. In contrast, the crudeness in “Tuca and Bertie” is a manifestation of the over flowing good feeling which is at the core of the show. In one ep isode, Tuca is trying to rebound from a failed relationship. She becomes implicated in a proph ecy: A chosen one will have sex with the entirety of a professional sports team (though the sport is professional raking, and all the athletes are middle-aged dads). She succeeds, thus freeing all who tried and failed before her of their eternal curse, which binds them to live in said profession al sports team’s stadium. If that sounds insane, I would admit to you that it is one of the season's weaker subplots. Yet its sim ple fearlessness — embracing a moment that other shows would portray frivolously — allows the show to transcend itself even in this rare moment of mediocrity.

Continued from page 14

In my own life, there are few things more valuable than looking for answers to questions like that.

Photo courtesy of film-rezensionen

wondered: Is this all there is?

making it a wonder for all to see. There’s a visual gag where Ber tie shrinks every time her mom makes her feel insecure. In a lat er episode, Tuca needs a surgery, and her surgeon — a mole who climbs inside his patients to op erate — gets lost in a hallucina tory dreamscape within Tuca’s uterus. To save Tuca, Bertie calls her mom so that she can insult her — thus shrinking her down to a size where she can climb into Tuca’s uterus and perform the surgery herself. Yes, relation ships are strange, and sometimes that sucks. But because of that very strangeness, they can help us in ways that we could never expect; ways that don’t make any sense. Ways that become pos sible because they don’t make any sense. And that is won derful, says “Tuca and Bertie.”

If I didn’t just make it clear, “Tuca And Bertie,” like many adult animated comedies, rev els in vulgarity. But unlike some of those other comedies — e.g.,

Tuca (Tiffany Haddish) and Birdie (Ali Wong) are roommates with opposing personalities. The show explores the interpersonal relationships and moral dilemmas that young adults face today.

Arts & Living 16The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

the ’80s than they are now, partial ly because of technical restrictions. To paraphrase Tippett’s own words, when he worked on “Jurassic Park,” he knew that the movie effects he had worked with for so many years were passing the baton to something entirely new. But Tippett reimagines those old days with heart and ap preciation for how animation has changed over the years, making the film feel just as much like a modern update as it is a loving recreation.

ing themes can barely be kept track of while trying to decipher what is even happening, could come across as too elliptical, especially given the lack of dialogue in favor of dreadful screams, gurgles, and cries of pain. This might be criticism or praise, depending on how you watch it, or what your preferences are.

Is it a reflection of our own world?

Is it a wretched time loop, doomed to repeat for infinity? If you end up watching the film for yourself, you’ll know whether Tippett’s vague ap proach speaks to you or not.

Photo courtesy of Stack Exchange

Visual effects artist Phil Tippett shines in his sophomore directorial project, “Mad God.” Miles Garcia ‘25 takes the reader through the lovingly crafted film, which features incredible practical effects and a transcendent story.

Regardless, “Mad God” is truly an accomplishment to behold. One mark of a good film is that it can not be summarized in words. The beauty, chaos, and fear inside “Mad God” demands to be watched on the big screen, and to be understood by sensory stimuli, not by logic.

The Indescribable Beauty of “Mad God”

meal. The music and sound design fill the characters with life, evoking emotion and physical reactions. At mospheric sound design elements add to the visuals and extend the world even further, as we imagine how much deeper we could dig to get to even more disgusting terrain. Tippett and his co-cinematographer Chris Morley create blissful, glossy exteriors that give a theatricality to all of the madness that ensues. The characters are often outlined with glorious white highlights. Complete with these stylistic flares, the uni verse of “Mad God” feels lived-in, as if I were another lonesome traveler who happened to find myself lost in these terrifying surroundings, emp ty ofThere’shope.

Some comparisons easily come to mind in the first few minutes of “Mad God.” Our generation might remember the stop-motion ani mation of “Coraline,” or “ParaNor man,” or Tim Burton’s child-friend ly works. But this film is something else entirely. This film takes the ten derly creepy designs of those movies and twists them, breaks their spines, singes their skin, digs out their or gans, and watches them bleed out with cruel curiosity. At the expense of the audience’s comfort, Tippett’s main goal is to disturb.

Miles Garcia ’25 Staff Writer

Other aspects of production are easy to miss, but still add necessary garnishes to an already delicious

The Death Star. The Temple of Doom. A near-apocalyptic Detroit. Jurassic Park. And now, after im mersing audiences in all those lo cations and more, legendary visual effects artist Phil Tippett takes us to another wholly original world in his second directorial effort, “Mad God.” In spite of the iconic visuals he has actualized in the past, the epic mastery of craft displayed in his latest film comes across as more stimulating and creatively unhinged than any of his previous works. The film uses stop-motion animation, live action, puppetry, and comput er-generated atmospheric blem ishes to give immense detail to the monsters trudging through the film’s hellish wasteland. There’s no aspect of “Mad God” that doesn’t feel like it took hundreds of hours of careful, laborious handiwork, to the point that when you see the words “Filmed on location in Berkeley, California, 1987-2020,” it’s barely a surprise.Claymation and stop-motion were a more popular medium in

The film follows a lonesome, unnamed traveler as he delves into a seemingly totalitarian landscape, whose dimensions unravel the fur

a deep sense of vastness, both in terms of design and story, at the center of “Mad God.” Enslaved humanoid mummies march up an unfathomably tall tower. The travel er strolls past giant monsters crying in pain as they secrete green waste into a vast chasm. Whenever we cut to a new scene, it’s difficult to discern how far in space we’ve been transported, or how much time has passed. The story, whose underly

ther the traveler digs underground. He makes his way through a vari ety of environments, searching for something on a map that falls apart as he goes on. The film takes many turns after this, revealing a lore that goes far deeper than the first act suggests. But for how strange and almost unfollowable the events may seem, for every 15-minute segment that doesn’t make any sense, there’s a beautiful moment of rare clarity that ties it all together.

Mostly this journey acts as an excuse for Tippett to show off his amazing character creations, and how they navigate their world. The corporeality of the film comes from Tippett’s use of tactile materi als whose textures can be felt, even smelled through the screen. These textures bring a concreteness to the world, as though it’s made of fossils from thousands of years ago, ani mal hairs dried with blood, murky organisms that probably mutated from decaying fleshy remains. One creature even has a massive under bite made with real human teeth.

It’s only by the end of this beast of a movie (which feels far longer than its mere 80 minutes) that ev erything begins to coalesce. But even then, it’s more of a feeling of completion than a definitive answer to any of the questions the film pos es through its world: How did things get this way? Is it post-apocalyptic?

Photo courtesy of uruloki.org

an overall enjoyable, yet slightly underwhelming film.

Cole Warren ’24 Staff Writer

Arts & Living 17The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

imal well-being that holds “Nope” together. By viewing Hollywood through the eyes of an animal trainer, the film uses the cruel and exploitative practice of ani mal actors as an introduction to the toxicity commonplace in me dia in general. Peele explores the self-centered nature of modern spectacle throughout the film, not only by displaying the disregard for animal safety during produc tion, such as when OJ’s insistence that his horse needs rest is ignored, but also by exploring how we re late to each other and ourselves through the media we consume (in one morbidly comedic scene, Jupe describes Gordy’s rampage by recounting the SNL skit about it, instead of his actual lived expe rience). Even the siblings’ attempt to capture the UFO on film results in abuse from enigmatic cinema tographer Antlers Holst (Michael Wincott), who seems more than willing to sacrifice his life and the lives of the Haywoods in order to create his own masterpiece. The

After the mysterious death of his father, reserved horse trainer OJ Haywood (Daniel Kaluuya) is forced to reunite with his fame-seeking sister Em (Keke Palmer), in order to resuscitate their dying Hollywood horse ranch. Soon enough, strange happenings begin to plague the siblings, such as their electricity randomly going out every Friday night, a cloud that hasn’t moved in weeks, and the sounds of screaming horses echoing across Agua Dulce. It becomes clear very quickly that all these events are linked to a single source: an extra terrestrial UFO lurking above the HaywoodIntercutRanch.with the discovery of this alien presence are the mem ories of the Haywoods’ neighbor, child star turned theme park ty coon Jupe Park (Steven Yeun), and the tragic end of his short-lived sit-com “Gordy’s Home” (star ring the eponymous chimpanzee,

Over the last few years, Jordan Peele has taken Hollywood by storm. That’s not a surprise; the actor-turned-director has proven himself to be one of the best come dians of his generation, and with the release of “Get Out” (2017), he established himself as one of the best writers of 21st century horror. Between “Get Out” and his soph omore film “Us” (2019), Peele has demonstrated an ability to create stylish, terrifying, and meaning ful films, without delving into the melodrama or hamfistedness of many other mid-budget indepen dent horror productions (looking at you, Ari Aster). With the release of “Nope,” an effects-driven sci-fi horror, Peele shows his ability to create memorable and creative blockbusters. But at the same time, the very spectacle Peele excels at creating often feels excessive — even coming at the expense of the film’s storytelling — resulting in

Gordy). The film opens with a shot of a blood-covered chimpanzee on a sound stage, and gradually reveals a murderous ape rampage, demonstrating to the audience that Jupe has lived his entire adult life knowing the dangers of Holly wood spectacle, and in particular, the consequences of exploiting wildYet,animals.unlike in many other hor ror movies, instead of running away from the mysterious UFO, both the Haywoods and Jupe ac tively seek out this alien creature in the hopes of turning a profit. Whether it’s the Haywoods’ de sire to capture their “Oprah shot,” a picture of the alien presence in order to save their ranch, or Jupe’s amusement park treating the UFO as if it were an animal performer at a circus, we soon see how the drive to create profitable content threatens the lives of all these characters.Itisthis indictment of com modifiable art that values specta cle and profit over human and an

Although this movie is cer tainly lacking compared to his previous films, Peele’s filmmaking ability, the great performances of the cast, and the astonishing spe cial effects still make this the most enjoyable movie of the summer. But by the time the credits rolled, burrowed in the back of my mind was the knowledge that this film was dangling from a precipice — and that, with a worse direc tor, would almost certainly have plummeted into mediocrity.

Don’t Say “Nope” to Jordan Peele’s Newest Film

Cole Warren ‘24 breaks down Jordan Peele’s new horror film “Nope,” criticizing the movie’s spectacle, antithetical to the film’s theme of exploitation in Hollywood, while still declaring it the summer’s best blockbuster.

desire for fame and fortune, Peele insists, does not only risk making art into a mere commodity, but ac tively harms those who create and consume

However,media.that message feels contradictory to the nature of the film, given that Peele revels in the spectacle that he has created in “Nope.” He isn’t wrong to do so, as his methodical attention to detail has resulted in a stylish and wonderfully shot film. In what is clearly his most “blockbuster” movie yet, Peele not only displays his directorial talent for creating suspenseful adventure scenes, but has once again displayed creativ ity by subverting sci-fi tropes in order to create what is probably the scariest depiction of a UFO abduction ever put to film. Yet, by the time the third act arrives and the mysteries of the UFO have been revealed, the movie grinds to a halt, replacing all the suspense and terror with an ac tion ending that mimics “Jaws” (1975), beat for beat. The seams of the movie become apparent, with characters acting completely irra tionally, the plot never unifying itself in a satisfying way, and an ending that contradicts the cen tral theme of the movie. If this is a film lambasting the malleability and shallowness of media spec tacle, why does it end on such a cliched note? The audience is presented with a movie that both repeatedly criticizes vapid media, yet expects us to cheer for a de rivative ending. Despite its pro fessed challenge to the toxicity of Hollywood, “Nope” never strays far enough from the mainstream to justify its own themes.

Photo courtesy of bethfishreads.com

if you’ve read the book already, because you know the ending, which the movie is more focused on. If you watch the movie first, you will know the ending but will be able to appreciate the detail of the novel and all the aspects that were not explored in the movie. Regardless of how you enjoy Kya’s story, on paper, the big screen, or both, you will love the character and feel invested in her success, which I believe makes for an in credible story.

outcome of the trial and the plo tlines, I think the most enjoyable aspect of the book is the level of detail in which it is written, as well as the development of the charac ters and relationships. The mov ie may be slightly less enjoyable

Despite all the ways in which I preferred the book, I still rec ommend the movie to anyone, whether you have or haven’t read the book. Somewhat unusually, if you are someone who is interest ed in both reading the book and watching the movie but haven’t yet done either, I recommend you watch the movie before read ing the book. While the movie’s audience is eager to know the

Arts & Living 18The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

So what exactly made this movie a success in my eyes? First off, the scenery and setting were breathtaking. It was impossi ble to imagine how expansive and beautiful the marsh and the nature described in the novel could be when reading, so I tru ly appreciated seeing it in the movie. Further, Kya Clark was sweet and charming, and I felt so many strong emotions toward

her throughout the story. Not to mention, the younger version of Kya (Jojo Regina) was adorably heartbreaking, yet strong and in spiring, seeing as she raised her self after overcoming the loss of her entire Despitefamily.allthese positives, however, I still preferred the book to the movie. As with many movie adaptations, I felt that the relationships and characters in general were less fleshed out than I would have liked. For ex ample, Kya and her brother Jody (Logan Macrae) supposedly have a special bond when they are younger, but I barely saw this in the movie, causing some later plot points to lose much of their emotional resonance. Another factor that differed in the movie was the balance between the dif ferent storylines. I felt as though the movie heavily focused on the romance between Kya and Tate (Taylor John Smith), as well as that of Kaya and Chase (Harris Dickinson). While these are im portant aspects of the novel, the murder trial, as well as Kya’s life in the marsh on her own and her professional endeavors, which are equally highlighted in the book, felt like side stories in the movie.Finally, what I most disliked about the movie was the way the murder trial was portrayed. Be cause of the level of detail with which it was explored in the book, I felt I had all the evidence I needed to believe, without a doubt, that Kya was innocent. In the movie, on the other hand, it felt more ambiguous and less obvious that Kya not only didn’t commit, but couldn’t have com mitted the murder.

Eren Levine ’24 Staff Writer

“Where the Crawdads Sing”: The Cinematic Marsh

When asked about my fa vorite novel, I often give Delia Owens’s “Where the Crawdads Sing” as my answer. The book is about a young girl living alone in a marsh who is accused of murder. I thought the book was a perfect mix of mystery, drama, and romance. As you can imag ine, I was thrilled when I heard it was being made into a movie, and I eagerly awaited its release for many months. After much anticipation, I am pleased to say the movie met or even exceeded my Iexpectations.wasinitially worried that, because I already knew the plot and remembered even the small er details quite well, I would not get as invested in the movie as I would have had I not read the book. Luckily, this was not the case at all. There was not a moment in the entire movie in which I was bored or wished it would move faster, besides when I was curious as to what would happen next.

Kya Clark (Daisy Ed gar-Jones) is abandoned at a very young age by her whole fami ly, left to fend for herself in the marshes of North Carolina. De spite her difficult situation, Kya’s fascination with the wildlife sur rounding her provides her with the excitement and knowledge to keep her going. Kya is involved in romances with two different suitors as she grows up, but when one of them is murdered, Kya is the prime suspect. The movie in terweaves her court trial with her coming-of-age in a suspenseful and heart-wrenching two hours.

The anticipated movie adaptation of “Where the Crawdads Sing,” a novel made famous by Reese’s Book Club, was released this summer. Eren Levine ‘24 recommends the film for fans of the book, as well as for those who have not read it before.

Original Art by Kyla Biscocho ‘25 墨

This piece was initally published in The Indicator’s 2022 issue “Break” and is presented here in colloboration with The Indicator. “

Curse my Tongue, I garble your Name. Sometimes I slip, like Oi! your erotic hollows , don’t laugh at me, boy We’re fitting together. 我要

好

你笑

Priscilla Lee ’25 The Indicator Staff Writer

lieve in me. , Truncate the hEavens, divide with • • • Se connaître on a bridge of feathers — I swallow nervously, Lover.

“I Broke My English”

The Indicator THE STUDENT

日我愛

我日夜都不住呼求

Draw it out. Pray, jazz with me. Pluck the hairy strokes and Trace calligraphy. Laisse en moi, l’amour, les lignes de la langue. Raise your palette, open your mouth, receive the Bread of my Breath, be

Arts & Living 19The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Λόγος σάρξ ἐγένετο, scan my pinking flesh, dented divots from my inky pen, no to drink. Excuse me, I play with babbles, singing your scribbles.

This piece was initally published in The Indicator’s 2022 issue “Break” and is presented here in colloboration with The Indicator.

I hate nostalgia. It’s a liar for tell ing me about how good things were back then. Conveniently leaving out every tear-stained argument and ev ery moment we let each other down. Nostalgia ignores every red flag we used to curl beneath, claiming that at least they kept us warm for a mo ment. They were real too. Forcing it down, the lump in my throat feels like a metaphor for every feeling I’ve ever 3.swallowed.I’mhurling every glass object in my room against the hard wood floor, polluting your heart with the implications of my own rage. Too much noise, too much silence, too much of it being too much. Melodramatic and un reliable, exaggerations of minor inconveniences. I can’t seem to stop searching for any reason to push you farther away from me, trying to find the words for

5. In the lifetime where the alarm clock never went off, I left the front porch lights on. Come home soon.

“

outgrown each other, I hope you know that despite every attempt to remind myself to forget, I can’t. De spite every fistful of cruel curses we threw at each other, I still find myself clinging to a feeling that you won’t be just another one that got away. Maybe you’ll be the one who finally teaches me how to stay. Or, maybe not. Maybe we won’t find each oth er in every life, but I hope you know that the life I got to love you in was the one that meant the most.

The Indicator THE STUDENT

“Flashbulb Memory and the Things I Have to Remind Myself to Forget”

being ungrateful enough to turn something good down. We’re never in the same place for very long, always loving each other at the wrong times like a bruise we can’t seem to stop pressing.

every possible detail of the song. Carefully curated music for ev ery moment, I’ve never known you to sit in silence. You talk for hours and I hold onto ev ery word. I’m not sure what it means that I can’t recall the song now, but I think what matters is that I remember how it made me feel as I walked away from it, down the stairs, and into the kitchen where I sat as you made Ibreakfast.hopeyou never forget who you were that summer.

September came and loosened Au gust’s grip, and while we may have

Arts & Living 20The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

2. I’m crying again, and you tell me we’re just kids and it isn’t that serious. “You take yourself too seriously,” you say, “we’re too

Original Art by Zoe Strothcamp ‘24

young for any of it to matter.” Sometimes I think about this, and I’m angry. Other times I wonder if you were right. Maybe if my mouth wasn’t full of blood from biting my own tongue; if I had tried to explain why I took myself so seriously, we could have made it work. What if your hands had been strong enough to pull me out of myself? I run it through my head constantly, adding up the “maybes” and “what-ifs” hoping they result in a new answer. I can’t seem to fig ure it out, but I was never very good at math anyway.

4. The alarm clock won’t stop ringing. Immediately after roll ing out of bed, you hit shuffle on a playlist to prod me to get up. “I love this song,” you say. I’ve heard it a million times and by this point I can predict what’s coming next. You cough it up immediately, unprompt ed — a thorough analysis and comprehensive explanation of

I learned about flashbulb memo ry in my senior year psychology class and I think that’s the only way I can remember us now. Brief flashes of red-hot memory that bring me back to who we were then. Maybe that’s all we were supposed to be — brief but impossible to forget.

Sofia Hincapie-Rodrigo ’24 The Indicator Staff Writer

I hope you never forget who you were that summer.

1. It’s a hot one, even for the South — the kind of summer where we are sticky with sun screen and smelling like a flurry of coconuts and careless adoles cence. I tell you I’m not jump ing off the cliff unless you’re at the bottom waiting for me. You don’t hesitate — you never do. Escaping the heat, I watch you dive into the lake, shatter ing the stillness it held. You did the same to me this summer. The first time I hit the water it brought me relief. In, out, and back in again. Off the cliff and into the lake, a routine we grew comfortable with. It was always like that. I’d plunge into the deep end for you. But I drew my last breath, August came and wrapped its fingers around Ju ly’s throat, and I don’t think I’ve exhaled since.

Hedi Skali ’25 Staff Writer

With a total of four goals and two assists in three games this week, Schwartz was named the NESCAC Player of the Week for her contributions to the Mam moths’ perfect start. Always humble, Schwartz gave much of the credit to her team, saying, “I couldn’t have done it without y’all [the team].” That support has shown on the scoresheet: Five other Mammoths have scored so far this season, and three players — Schwartz, Katz, and Deegan — have netted multiple goals. That team play has translat ed to a massive jump in the na tional rankings: the Mammoths climbed 14 spots in the United Soccer Coaches rankings, jump ing up to No. 4 (from No. 18) in the latest Lookingpoll.forward, the Mam moths’ next match comes against Tufts at Hitchcock Field this Sat urday, Sept. 17, where the reign ing NESCAC Player of the Week and her team hope to record a fourth win in a row. Kickoff against the Jumbos is at noon.

Sports

NESCAC Player of the Week Abby Schwartz '24 celebrates her goal against Middlebury with captain Alexa Juarez '23E, who assisted on the play.

Just three days later, on Sat urday, Sept. 10, the Mammoths hosted their first NESCAC game of the season, facing off against No. 23 Middlebury in an im portant early-season contest. The Juarez-to-Schwartz con nection landed the first goal of the game, after Juarez fought off three defenders and avoided the sideline to play a ball into the box for the team’s leading scorer

goals, it was not enough, and Amherst came out victorious, 4-3.Amherst's third opponent in five days, Smith College, proved to have a tougher defense than their previous two opponents. Thirty minutes in, the Mam moths had eight shots on goal but the score was still 0-0. Right after being subbed into the game, Deegan found herself in the per fect position to head in Katz’s flawless corner kick, scoring with her first touch of the day to make it 1-0. Schwartz then added to her goal tally yet again, doubling the lead off of a clean cross from sophomore forward Patience Kum ’25 after a beautiful display of passing from the Mammoths. The rest of the game featured a battery of shot attempts by the Mammoths — totaling 16 by the end of the game — but they were to no avail. A composed finish from Smith’s Riley McKenna brought the score to 2-1 with five minutes to go, but Amherst pre vailed in the end.

Schwartz, Junior Class Shine, Women’s Soccer Goes 3-0

hold on to her first shot on goal, Schwartz put away her own re bound to put the Mammoths back on top 2-1. Only two min utes later, Schwartz notched her second of the day, using all of her 5-foot-10 frame to tower over her defender and convert an incredible cross from Ella Johnson ’26 into a third goal for Amherst. While the Pride were able to score off a saved penal ty in the 61st minute, the Mam moths staved off their comeback attempt with goals from Sierra Rosado ’25 and Sarah Sullivan ’23, opening their 2022 account with a 5-2 win.

The Mammoths began their 2022 campaign on Wednesday, Sept. 7, against local compe tition, the Springfield College Pride. While Amherst domi nated the ball in the first half, Springfield held their own, and the Mammoths were unable to put the ball in the back of the net for some time. But after almost 43 minutes had elapsed, Abby Schwartz ’24 found (managing sports editor) Liza Katz ’24 for a clinical tap-in to open up the scoring. Despite scoring so late, right before the end of the first half, the goals did not stop com ing once they started.

to easily finish. Six minutes later, Katz got her second of the sea son when a saved set piece rolled to her feet outside the box for an upper-90 lob over Middlebury’s goalie. Nevertheless, Middle bury held its own, immediately scoring to start off the second half and drop the Mammoths’ lead to Thatone.wouldn’t last long, though. After the Panthers mis played a pass from the back, se nior Isabel Stern ’23 pounced on the opportunity and slammed the ball into the back of the net for the game’s third goal. A few minutes later, Schwartz showed off another element of her game by beating the last Panther de fender on the dribble and then passing the ball to classmate Ally Deegan ’24 for an easy finish in a two-on-one against Middle bury’s goalkeeper. With eight saves of her own, Mika Fisher ’24 played a key role in prevent ing the Panthers from making any legitimate comeback. While Middlebury scored two late

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

While Springfield immedi ately bounced back with a goal from midfielder Katie Vita, Am herst responded in kind. The move started with a beautiful ball in behind the defense from Alexa Juarez ’23E that found the feet of Schwartz. After Spring field’s goalkeeper was unable to

Though his portfolio has grown both by reaching out to brands and through companies contacting him, Betts concedes that “in reality, I did take it upon

Betts remembers exactly where he was on July 1, 2022, the day that the NCAA reversed its NIL policy: with his family in Colorado on their annual Fourth of July trip. Though he felt imme diate excitement at the prospect of partnering with local busi nesses in Amherst and the po tential to expand to the national level, the feeling was fleeting.

Crafting the Pitch (‘Applying’ for NIL)

His opportunity came by chance, via an Instagram direct message from LifeStyle Bands in early January this year asking Betts to be a brand ambassador for the bracelet company. After thinking it over with his parents, who are both lawyers and, ac cording to Betts, very practical thinkers, he accepted the offer, earning $50 from sales and $75 in merchandise (he was wearing one of the bracelets he received when he sat down for this interview).

“The process at first was real ly grueling,” Betts said. “I think my approach has been tailored and reconstructed close to 30 times — it’s all about learning from mistakes, because obvi ously I got denied and ghost ed a lot. But I didn’t let those instances dissuade me from trying to find success as well.”

Arriving in Atlanta and be ing surrounded by so many like-minded individuals, Bet ts describes himself as hav ing been “actually speechless.”

While it was primarily DI athletes in attendance, Bet ts relished the moments when he could teach others about NIL opportunities at the DIII level. Being a DIII athlete in what is a predominantly DI space, Betts said, “I use that as motivation to find my niche

“The reality kind of set in that I am a Division III ath lete in the middle of Western Massachusetts,” Betts said. “The likelihood of me getting [a deal] is close to zero, right?”

Continued on page 23

While the compensation was certainly gratifying, Bet ts’s most important realization from his first deal was that brands are indeed interested in reaching out to DIII athletes. After researching how he could acquire more deals, Betts de cided to dedicate his semester off to growing his brand, reach ing out to various companies for potential partnerships. His second deal came soon after in late January, and by early April, he had hit the 20-deal mark.

This rapid growth contin ued with his attendance at the first-ever NIL Summit in June, a three-day event in Atlanta, Georgia, attended by hundreds of collegiate athletes and includ ing keynote speakers like Tim Tebow. Betts, having learned about the event through social media, reached out to Amherst head football coach E.J. Mills for a nomination, who Betts said was enthusiastically on board.

Even with some of his unsuc cessful ventures, Betts says he has received a great deal of pos itive feedback from companies complimenting his organization and the professional demeanor he possesses at such a young age.

As a result, Betts did not act immediately. In fact, it wasn’t until half a year later, after Bet ts made the decision to take the second semester of his ju nior year off to be able to use his extra year of NCAA eli gibility at Amherst, that Bet ts broke into the NIL scene.

Last year’s decision by the NCAA to allow college athletes to financially benefit from their name, image, and likeness (NIL) set off a tidal wave of endorse ment deals for some of the coun try’s premier collegiate talents. While the bulk of deals have gone to athletes at high-visibil ity Division I schools in reve nue-generating sports like foot ball and basketball, the policy has also opened the door for Di vision III (DIII) athletes to profit in a similar way. And perhaps no one has taken more advantage of this change than Amherst’s own Jack Betts ’24E, who has been proclaimed the King of DIII NIL.

Photo courtesy of Jack Betts '24E

Sports 22The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Off the field, Betts, who is of Cherokee heritage, is an English major also working toward a certificate from the Five College Native American and Indigenous Program. Betts is a member of the Native and Indigenous Stu dents Association (NISA) and an e-board member of the Coun cil of Amherst College Student Athletes of Color (CACSAC).

The Student sat down with Betts to gain insight into his journey through the NIL space.

Jack Betts '24E, a wide reciever on the Amherst football team, has spent the last few months racking up NIL deals — he now has more than 35, including the brands above.

Jack Betts ’ 24E: The King of Division III NIL

Hailing from Dallas, Tex as, Betts, a wide receiver on the football team, has inked over 35 NIL endorsement deals total ing around $7,500 in cash and free merchandise. He is part nered with brands like AllBirds and Omaha Steaks, has been featured in publications like Business Insider, and traveled to Atlanta this past June to at tend the inaugural NIL Summit.

The Start of His Reign

mit is an honor in itself, but the [real] honor was being sur rounded by so many brilliant entrepreneurial athletes of all ages,” he said. “I met so many incredible people, but I also got myself into the minds of a lot of people, and so many people reached out to me afterwards.”

Betts says his network grew “exponentially,” as he met people like Chase Griffin, a quarterback at UCLA, and Rayquan Smith, a running back at Norfolk State University who Betts has since become close friends with and describes as the true King of NIL.

It was around this time that Betts earned his signature nick name: While reviewing Betts’s past work with other brands, a representative from a com pany proclaimed that Betts had become the King of DIII NIL. Betts, liking the moni ker, chose to make it his own.

Alex Noga ’23 Managing Sports Editor

myself to take that initiative and … become an entrepreneur of sorts” in the early stages of his journey. He meticulously crafted his pitch to companies, complete with a resume and individualized cover letter for each brand — al most akin to applying to a job. Betts has since created his own website to display his past expe riences and accomplishments.

Once the deals started to pile up and Betts began establishing a name for himself around ear ly March, he began connecting with other student-athletes who had a presence in the NIL space, growing his network and find ing new ventures to enter into.

“Having the opportunity to go to the inaugural NIL Sum

And expand he did. In August, Betts officially launched the Make Your Own Legacy (MYOL) Academy, an NIL education program with an inaugural class of 21 other athletes — the same number he wears on the football field as an homage to Deion Sanders. The name of the program is a reference to Betts’s mantra, one that he has written on his wrist tape, along with the names of his family members, before football games since his junior year of high school.

“It’s that type of impact and those types of results that keep pushing me to contin ue to do the work,” Betts said. “Personal success is great, but I was always brought up [be ing taught that] whatever you have, you want to ensure that you help other people.”

Sports 23The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

continue leveraging his platform to help others achieve success.

This desire to give back is perhaps even more admi rable than Betts’s work eth ic and entrepreneurial spirit.

“Being comfortable with the uncomfortable is applica ble in all stages of life,” Betts said. “Taking the leap is real ly the best advice I can give.”

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

“If folks are reaching out to me, asking for advice on the stuff that I’m doing, I think that really reinforces the no tion that the work I’m doing is being noticed,” Betts said.

Continued from page 22

Make Your Own Legacy

With this cohort of collegiate athletes, who play a wide variety of sports from schools all across the country, Betts has helped connect individuals with a wide range of companies, at times writing quasi-letters of recommendation. The overwhelming majority have already closed multiple deals, which motivates Betts to

In August, Betts started the Make Your Own Legacy Academy. The first class consists of 21 student-athletes from colleges around the country, a reference to the number he wears on the football field.

Photo courtesy of Jack Betts '24E

When asked about any ad vice he would give to a hope ful student athlete looking to break into the NIL scene, Betts gave a simple answer: Don’t be afraid of being uncomfortable.

As Betts started accumulat ing deals and building his rep utation, he began to hear from other student-athletes, particu larly in lower divisions, looking for advice to break into the NIL scene. The messages arrived at a high volume — at a certain point, Betts said that he received multiple DMs per day — and it was at this time that Betts real ly felt he was making an impact.

and to find and create … my own pathway to success.”

“I kind of wanted to be the one who breaks down that wall,” he continued. “I want ed to be that source of inspi ration for somebody else who might need that extra … jolt to make them take the leap.”

What began as an idea to distinguish himself from oth er athletes has since evolved into an approach that Betts can share with other athletes look ing to break into the NIL scene. Betts initially wanted to help other Indigenous athletes se cure NIL deals, and reached out to IndianSports.com — which he describes as “ESPN for In digenous athletics” — to con nect with other Native Ameri can athletes and leverage their NIL potential. He began with a series of Zoom sessions with around five to six Indigenous athletes, which he describes as being very successful, but he still had thoughts of expanding.

Betts sports a custom suit at the 2022 NIL Summit, com plete with a personalized Mammoth-themed lining.

‘Be Comfortable With the Uncomfortable,’ Says Betts

During his semester off, Betts had the opportunity to help vir tually every single person who reached out to him. However, he had an idea that would help even more people do as he had done: a formalized mentorship program for collegiate athletes.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

slotting a left-footed finish past White to silence the crowd and even the Acrossscoreline.thelast 20-odd min utes of the game, the Mammoths threw in everything they had in an attempt to salvage the win. Their final 10 minutes was by far the most dominant stretch for ei ther team all day. In a three-min ute stretch between the 83rd and 86th minutes, the Mammoths got off five shots, almost as many as they had in the entire first half.

With the win, the Mammoths are up to 2-0-1 on the season. They will face Manhattanville College Wednesday, Sept. 14, at Gooding Field at 7 p.m before their highly-anticipated bout against Tufts on Saturday, Sept. 17.

stringing multiple passes togeth er.

Still, the initial chances went Amherst’s way. Sophomore for ward Fynn Hayton-Ruffner ’25 forced the Middlebury keeper to make the first save of the game after 12 minutes of play, and classmate Ben Clarke-Eden ’25 followed him up with a header that sailed just left of the post.

In its first NESCAC matchup of the season, the men’s soccer team drew the No. 8 Middlebury Panthers 1-1 on Saturday, Sept. 10 at Hitchcock Field. The final score was surely disappointing for the Mammoths, given that they scored first, controlled the bulk of possession, took more shots, and came tantalizingly close to snatching a winner in the last 10 minutes. It was just the second game of the season for the Mammoths, who en tered the season ranked No. 2 in the nation by the United Soccer Coaches following a 2022 cam paign where they reached the NCAA Division III National Championship game and won 17 of their 22 matches.

But despite the onslaught, the ball refused to find the net. The most tantalizing opportu nity came with less than three minutes to play, when Okorogh eye found himself running free in the right side of the box. He cut the ball back for Murphy, who seemed to have a pointblank chance. The ball was too far behind Murphy, though, and as it rolled past him and out of danger, the tie held, bringing Amherst’s record to 1-0-1 on the season.

Valadez Bush ’25 led the way with a hat trick and two assists against the Terriers. Also on the scoresheet were Okorogheye, Andrew Barkidji ja ’23, Declan Sung ’24E, Hay ton-Ruffner, Eads Fouché ’25, and Ioannis Hadjiyiannis ’26. The final Mammoths’ tally was a Terriers own goal.

a header off a corner that was on target but saved by goalkeeper Bernie White ’23. The Mam moths entered halftime on track for a 1-0 victory, in what seemed destined to be a repeat of last season’s Amherst-Middlebury contests, both of which ended in one-goal wins for the Mam moths.The Panthers emerged from halftime determined to write a different story, though. They kept up the pressure, taking three times as many shots in the first 10 minutes of the second period as in the entire first half. This pressure eventually led to a Panthers breakthrough in the 67th minute. Following a spell of possession for the Mammoths and dazzling dribbling from Ada Okorogheye ’24 down the right side of the pitch, the Panthers won the ball just outside their own 18-yard box. Before the Amherst back line could adjust, the Panthers sprung a coun terattack, with Jordan St. Louis

Sports 24The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

No. 2 Men’s Soccer Ties Midd, Demolishes Thomas College

zero.Micah

Leo Kamin ’25 Managing News Editor

In the 29th minute, the Mam moths produced the first clearcut chance of the game. Aidan Curtis ’25 headed the ball into open space for Niall Murphy ’25. Murphy outran his defend er, setting up an one-on-one with the Panthers goalie. Mur phy was sure not to squander his opportunity. He slotted a low, right-footed finish past the goal ie to make it 1-0.

From the beginning, the match was bogged down in the midfield, as the two highly phys ical teams prevented each other from controlling possession or

However, the Panthers looked increasingly dominant after conceding, keeping the ball in the Mammoths’ half for much of the next 15 minutes. They had the best chance after the goal —

Niall Murphy '25 slides into a mob of teammates on the sidelines to celebrate scoring the Mammoths' season-opening goal against Mount Saint Vincent College on Tuesday, Sept. 6. The Mammoths went 1-0-1 this weekend, tying No. 8 Middlebury and beating Thomas College.

Whatever anger the Mam moths might have built up fol lowing the Middlebury game was unleashed on the unfortunate Thomas College Terriers the fol lowing day, Sunday, Sept. 11, in a game again played on Hitchcock Field. The Mammoths won 100, outshooting the Terriers 34-2 with 22 shots on goal to Thomas’

• Alexis Hopkins became the first woman ever drafted by an American professional base ball team for an on-field role when she was drafted by the Kentucky Wild Health Genomes of the Atlantic League, an offi cial MLB professional league partner. She is expected to be come the team’s bullpen catcher. Forty percent of the league’s ath letes have MLB experience.

high for questions of civil rights, capitalism, and justice around the world. This column will center the stories of those who continuously lose air time to their male peers and will ask questions of the society sports has

• BYU put out a statement claiming they have not found any evidence to corroborate the allegation that fans engaged in racial heckling or uttered racial slurs at an August home volleyball game against Duke, challenging the statements of multiple Black athletes on Duke’s team who started that a fan yelled the n-word whenever a Black player would step up to serve.•Women runners came together across the country to Finish Eliza’s Run, honoring Eli za Fletcher, a Tennessee school

In the past week alone:

In the first edition of "Front and Center," columnist Melanie Schwimmer '23 explains the rationale for the content she will cover going forward, and highlights the most important news stories in women's sports from the past few weeks.

Photo courtesy of Andy Miah

Stephanie Gilmore won her eighth World Surfing League title, besting Olympic Champion Carissa Moore to make surfing history with the most WSL titles held by a woman.

• Thirty-one current and former University of California Berkeley swimmers sent a letter to the UC Berkeley chancellor and other university leaders, calling on them to address the “toxic culture” within the highly regarded program in light of verbal and emotional abuse by Teri McKeever, the longtime coach of the women’s team.

Sports 25The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Thebuilt.stakes of one story are at an all-time high, as WNBA superstar Brittney Griner faces nine years in a Russian penal colony for bringing cannabis oil for personal medicinal use into the country. Every day, basketball legend Dawn Staley posts how long Brittney Griner has been wrongfully detained in Russia. In this column, I will join her: 209 days.

• Athletic departments are reviewing their policies about abortion and contraception in light of Dobbs v. Jackson Wom en’s Health Organization and the unclear nature of abortion rights nationwide. Departments are calling for NCAA guidance.

Introducing Front and Center: A Women’s Sports Column

• In a huge win for civ il and workers’ rights, the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team signed a new collective bar gaining agreement (CBA), run ning through 2028, that ensures equal pay with the men’s team. The agreement also ensures equality of fields, travel, accom modations, and coaching staff. Importantly, as stories of abuse come to light, the CBA cements a commitment to a safe work en

• 4.8 million people tuned in to watch Serena Williams’ final match, as she concluded her playing career and began the next chapter of her legendary life.•

teacher who was murdered on her morning run. Women are speaking out about safe running conditions, fighting back against harassment and abuse suffered on runs at all hours. Multiple Amherst runners joined in on the national movement.

The stakes of sports, particularly female and nonbinary sports, are incredibly

vironment.•“The Queen of Basketball,” which documents the story of Lusia Harris, the first woman officially drafted by an NBA team, won an Academy Award.

• Canada Hockey beat the United States 2-1 to take home gold at the Women’s World Championship and win-backto-back titles.

With this in mind, whether you are a die-hard sports fan, a casual viewer, a student athlete, or someone who believes sports play no role in their life whatsoever, this column is for you.Welcome to Front and Center. I am so glad you are here.

As students, scholars, and humans, we ignore sports at our own peril. We have created — and ingrained ourselves in — a $620 billion beast of an indus try, and it’s well past time to an alyze it critically, to center the athletes and sports stakeholders that mainstream media ignores, to investigate the way politics and sports intersect, and to un derstand the multitude of ways sports rules our lives.

Melanie Schwimmer ’23 Columnist

• Sue Bird played her fi nal WNBA game, as the Seattle Storm lost to the Las Vegas Aces in Game Four of the WNBA semifinals, wrapping a G.O.A.T. worthy career. The win sent the Aces to the Final against the Connecticut Sun.

After a string of lackluster years, the Amherst Football team is looking to rebound with a successful 2022 season. Their campaign begins with a home contest against NESCAC oppo nent Middlebury on Saturday, Sept.

“These guys have been excellent in terms of their approach to working hard every day.”

“We’vepractices.hadsome really good practices, we’re continuing to get better. The attitude, the ef fort, all those things have been outstanding,” Head Coach E.J. Mills said to Amherst Athletics.

“Just showing up on time, being at tentive, asking questions, and just putting your front foot forward and bringing the best effort you can — I think that’s what’s defined this team this season, and hopeful ly we can continue with that.”

DiPrinzio said one of the team’s main goals for the season is to em phasize taking things one day at a time on the road to the postseason.

The Amherst football team will start their season, a NESCAC round-robin, on Sept. 17 with a home game against Middlebury. Beyond improving athletically, the team hopes to leverage their team chemistry into more 2022 wins.

“My purpose is to make a connec tion with every kid, make them feel really special and valued in our program, and work incredibly hard to make them a better per son, student, and athlete. If you do those things, then I think at a place like Amherst, the results will come out,” Mills said.

While17. competitions are only starting now, the team’s 2022 preparation began as early as last spring. The group of around 80 players, including the new first year class, started playing to gether during mid-August pre season

“You wanna win a championship, because at the end of the day, the joy that that brings your young men and their peers, you can’t rep licate it. It’s absolutely priceless,” Mills said. “That’s always the fo cus.”

His job, Mills said, is to make sure each student-athlete grows holistically — not just athletically.

The football season, which con sists of a nine-game NESCAC sea son in which every team plays each other and contains no postseason tournament, will finish Nov. 12 with an away clash against arch-ri val Williams. But, before they can begin thinking of that match, the beginning of the season looms, with the Panthers the first team on the Mammoths’ schedule. Their first game of the season will kick off on Saturday at 2 p.m.

Nick Edwards-Levin ’25 Managing Sports Editor

Junior tight end Clay Zach ery ’24E echoed his head coach’s sentiments. “We’ve been work ing hard for three weeks now,” said Zachery. “We’re ready to go on this journey and build some thing special, brick by brick.”

Recent history for Amherst Football has not brought the onfield success the team has hoped for. Last season, the team had a re cord of 5-4 including multiple close losses — one of which came against rival Williams in a game where a Mammoth comeback attempt fell just short. In 2019, the team had a similarly disappointing 4-5 record. According to offensive lineman Nick DiPrinzio ’23E, this year has real potential to start a new era in Amherst football. “We wanted to have fun again,” DiPrinzio said. “The past couple seasons haven’t gone the way we wanted them to, but [during] this camp, I’ve seen a lot of energy, a lot of young guys stepping up, new role players. It’s been amazing to see.”

The team’s slogan for the year is accountability. Complete with matching wristbands, the group hopes to work together not just to improve individually, but as a team. “We always say, if you can’t be accountable for yourself, be ac countable for the guy next to you,” DiPrinzio said.

Sports 26The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Crank It: Amherst Football Looks Ahead to 2022 Season

Defensive lineman and team captain Flynn McGilvray ’23 said that this group is especial ly promising, both culturally and athletically. “We’re all great friends on and off the field, and have a great relationship with most of the kids on the team, and I think that’s extremely im portant in developing winning and championship culture,” Mc Gilvray said. “And I think that if we can use that to execute on the football field, then we’re gonna be in a very good place this year.”

Mills also emphasized the im portance of having fun as a group.

Golf

es. Captain Tommy Whitley ’24 and sophomore Teddy Freking ’25 rounded out the Mammoths’ scorecard for the event.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Day two saw a different Mam moth lead the team — reigning NESCAC Golfer of the Year and 2021 All-American Gihoe Seo ’25. She shot a 3-under 70 on the day, helping the Mammoths card a total score of 297 (+5) on Sun day. This was one stroke better than defending national champi on and tournament winner Em ory’s Sunday score and the best team round of the tournament. The Mammoths finished just three strokes behind the Eagles’ two-day score.

Mary Kate McGranahan '23 won NESCAC Cross Country Performer of the Week with her first collegiate win.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

On the men’s side, while team success didn’t come this weekend, individuals also notched standout performances. First-year Mark Vitels ’26 led the Mammoths’ scorecard in his first collegiate tournament, tying for 33rd place individually with a two-round score of 11 over par. He improved from recording a 79 on day one to a 74 on day two to move up 20 in dividual places. Classmates Paari Kaviyarasu ’26 and John Beskid ’26 put in two day scores of 12 over and 17 over to complete the top three Mammoth finish

Both cross country dominated their respective events this week end, with both teams finishing atop the standings of their respec tiveThemeets.Mammoths’

In a season-opening week in which the team played two games, the Mammoths went 1-1 in one non-conference game and one NESCAC

Cross Country

first-year class lead the way on the men’s side, with Henry Dennen ’26 re cording a time of 19:05.0 in the 6-km race. This was good for second overall in the first meet of his collegiate career and led all Mammoth runners. That blister ing time also meant Dennen was the top Division III finisher at the event, with the race-winner hail ing from Division II University of New Haven. Four more Mam moths crossed the line in the top 10, with first-years George Cahill ’26 (19:18.0), Aidan Gemme ’26 (19:27.2) and Thomas Stephens ’26 (19:31.1) coming in fifth, sixth, and seventh, respective ly, and (managing sports editor)

Field Hockey

Sports 27The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022

Men’s and women’s golf opened their seasons with a pair of twoday tournaments this weekend — the men’s team finished in 16th place out of 24 teams at Middle bury’s Nelson Invitational, while the No. 12-ranked women’s team placed second out of 14 teams at the Hamilton Fall Invitational.

Nick Edwards-Levin ’25 (19:42.3 — a personal best) finishing 10th overall. Every single Mammoth runner finished in the top 45 of the event standings.

The Mammoths will take the field for their next game on Sat urday, Sept. 17 at home against Tufts. The game will begin at 12 p.m. on Hill Field.

Around the Herd: Your Weekly Mammoth Sports Update

Liza Katz ’24 Managing Sports Editor

in a 3-1 defeat for Amherst.

First,contest.they traveled down Route 9 for their season opener against the Mount Holyoke Lyons — a game which they dominated from start to finish on the way to a 10-0 win. The Mammoths, ranked No. 11 in the nation going into the season, got the party going early, with Abbey Kays ’25 scoring just two minutes into the contest. She was closely followed by Muffie Mazambani ’24, Gwen Allen ’23, and Kat Mason ’25, who all net ted to balloon the lead to 4-0 af ter the opening quarter. Amherst never looked back from there: Two more goals resulted in a 6-0 halftime scoreline, before three third-quarter goals (from Natalie Hobbs ’23E, Jackie D’Alleva ’23, and Paige DiBiase ’25) made the Amherst advantage nine. A final tally from Maya Reiner ’25 off an assist from Bob Cooper ’23 put the cherry on top of the Mam moths’

For the women, individu al performances catalyzed their team success. On day one, Priya Bakshi ’24 led the way, shooting a 1-under 72 on the day to head the standings after play concluded. It was the best single round of her collegiate career to date. Joining her in the top 10 was teammate Jessica Huang ’25; the reigning NESCAC Rookie of the Year shot a 3 over 76, putting her in a tie for fifth after day one.

On the women’s side, it was the returners who shined. Senior Mary Kate McGranahan ’23 won the first race of her collegiate ca reer, crossing the line in 18:12.6 and averaging a 5:51.6 mile in the process. She was awarded NES CAC Performer of the Week for her run this weekend. Julia Schor ’25 completed the Mammoths’ one-two finish, finishing the 5 km course right behind her cap tain with a time of 18:45.7. Sophie Wolmer ’23 was the next Mam moth to cross the line, captur ing fourth place in 19:03.4. Two first-years rounded out the top finishers for the team, with Alli son Lounsbury ’26 finishing fifth in 19:07.7 and Daphne Theiler ’26 seventh with a time of 19:23.5 in their collegiate debuts. In total, seven Mammoths finished in the top 15 in an extremely successful weekend.

In the Sports section’s first in stallment of “Around the Herd,” we provide some quick snapshots of all the Amherst sports action you may have missed this past week.

Field Hockey won their first game of the season with a whopping 10-0 win against Mount Holyoke.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Afterwin.that steamrolling, the team faced a much tougher test in the form of national-No. 1 Mid dlebury. Playing their home open er on Hill Field, the Mammoths put up a fight against the Panthers in a tightly contested game. After Amherst went down 1-0 only a minute and 13 seconds into the contest, they had a steep hill to climb, but they clawed a goal back to tie the game at one by way of Mazambani, who slipped the ball past the Middlebury goalie after a pass from Mason. However, that would be the only goal the Mam moths would score all day. Two more Panther goals put the match out of reach, and the game ended

Men's golf finished 16th of 24 teams, and the women's golf team finished second of 14.

To close out the weekend, the Mammoths faced their most chal lenging opponent yet in No. 8 NYU. After a lopsided first set, the Mam moths tightened the gap in the fol lowing two, but the Violets proved too much in this contest, as they

Volleyball Splits Week’s Games, Puts Record at 2-2

CROSS COUNTRY

With their record standing at 2-2 on the season, the Mammoths will face Hamilton in a 7 p.m. start at home, looking to start their con ference schedule on the right foot.

Sept. 10-11: Hamilton Fall Invitational @ New Hartford, NY, 11 a.m.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Mike Schretter ’23 Staff Writer

Sept. 16: vs. Hamilton, 7 p.m. Sept. 17: vs. Middlebury, 2 p.m.

beat the Mammoths in straight sets 25-13, 25-22, 25-20. Chloe Chan ren ’24 led the Mammoths with seven kills, followed by Tilton and Trofort with five apiece.

Sept. 20: @ Babson, 4 p.m.

the Mammoths offensively with 13 kills, and Trofort recorded 11 kills of her own.

moths.Their dominance wouldn’t stop there, though, as they continued their success on the court in the second set, winning 25-20. The second frame was capped off by a kill from Thomas off a beautiful assist from senior setter Jaqueline Kortekaas ’23. The Mammoths finished off DeSales shortly there after, as the Bulldogs went out with a whimper — the Mammoths won the match via an attack error — suf fering a 25-15 defeat in the last set to lose the game 3-0. Tilton led the charge with 10 kills. Having not yet dropped a set on the season, Am herst headed into their next game at 2-0.Their next matchup was against Wheaton College, and unlike their first two games of the week, this one would be a grueling, back-andforth match. It didn’t start out great for the Mammoths, as they went down two sets to zero. However,

tum from their first game into this contest. They came out strong, and were able to use their chemistry to best DeSales 25-21 in the first set.

A ball-handling error by the Bull dogs allowed Sam Underwood ’23 to take full advantage and notch the kill that won the set for the Mam

FIELD HOCKEY

with their backs against the wall, the Mammoths came roaring back to take the third and fourth sets 2513 and 25-22 and force a winnertake-all fifth set. However, despite a hard-fought battle in the final set, Wheaton pulled away to win the set 15-8, sealing the match and handing the Mammoths their first loss of the season. Tilton again led

WOMEN'S GOLF

The 2022 season for volleyball started off on the right foot on Wednesday, Sept. 7, as the team dominated Westfield State Univer sity en route to a win in straight sets. The Mammoths got great con tributions from a variety of players, both rookie and veteran alike: An aya Thomas ’25 and Alexandra Tro fort ’26 put down eight kills each, while Caroline Tilton ’23 and Char lotte Rasmussen ’26 racked up six apiece. But the Mammoths didn’t only get noteworthy performances from their front-line players. Elev en digs from libero Katelyn Hama saki ’24 led the team defensively and helped the Mammoths put together a strong showing in their home- and season-opening game.

After handling their business in their first home game, Amherst traveled down to New York to play a three-game tournament this past weekend at New York University. Their first match of the weekend came against DeSales University on Friday, Sept. 9. Though the lo cation changed from LeFrak Gym nasium to the courts at NYU, the Mammoths carried their momen

Sept. 17: vs. Tufts, 12 p.m.

Sept. 17-18: @ Williams Fall Invitational, 1 p.m.

Sports 28The Amherst Student • September 14, 2022 GAME SCHEDULE

FOOTBALL Sept. 17: vs. Middlebury, 2 p.m.

VOLLEYBALL

WOMEN'S SOCCER

Volleyball has a season record of 2-2 so far this year. Their next game is against Hamilton on Sept. 16 at 7 p.m. at home.

MEN'S SOCCER

Sept. 14: vs. Manhattanville, 7 p.m.

Sept. 17: vs. Tufts, 2:30 p.m.

Sept. 14: vs. Keene State, 5:30 p.m. Sept. 17: vs. Tufts, 12 p.m.

MEN'S GOLF

Sept. 10: Little Three Championship @ UMass

Sept. 20: @ Emerson, 7 p.m.