Issue 4

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

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VOLUME CXLVIX, ISSUE 4 l WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2019

AMHERSTSTUDENT.COM

Gooding and Hills Fields to Undergo Renovations Sophie Wolmer ’23 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Zach Jonas ‘22

The renovation process for Gooding and Hills Fields will begin in late March, with an anticipated completion date before the fall of 2020. The fields serve a wide range of varsity and club sports.

Effects of Vaping Crisis Echo on Campus Sophie Caldwell ’23 and Amalia Roy ’21 Staff Writers With growing fear that use of e-cigarette devices such as Juuls can lead to respiratory conditions later in life, students are reevaluating the use of vape pens, e-cigarettes and Juuls on campus.

Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker, declared a public health emergency yesterday, announcing a four-month ban on the sale of vaping products. After conferring with medical professionals, Baker concluded that the danger to public health was too great to wait on banning vaping products.

Baker’s ban is currently the most far-reaching official response to the vaping crisis. Last December, Massachusetts increased the state-

wide age requirement for buying tobacco from 18 to 21, in part due to increased concerns surrounding vaping.

After hundreds of reports of vaping-related lung injuries, the Trump administration announced its plans to ban the sale of flavored e-cigarettes and nicotine pods on Sept. 11. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recently stated that over 530 people have experienced vaping-related lung injuries, and numbers are still increasing.

Eight people have died as of press time.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health directed 25,000 public health officials last month to report any cases of lung disease associated with vaping.

There are currently no confirmed cases of vaping-related lung dis-

ease in Massachusetts, though 61 cases are under investigation, five of which have been reported to the CDC. E-cigarettes release vapors by heating up a liquid solution, imitating smoking. These liquids often include substances such as nicotine, THC — the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana — or flavoring, among other substances. The negative side effects of e-cigarette use are often studied in the context of nicotine-infused or THC-infused liquid solutions, but studies from journals such as Radiology have also noted side effects from vaping without psychoactive ingredients.

Though Amherst does not collect data on vaping, other NESCAC school newspapers have conducted surveys on the preva-

lence of vaping on campus. A 2018 survey from The Williams Record found that 42 percent of students had used an e-cigarette at least once in their lives. A similar 2019 survey from The Bowdoin Orient found that 29 percent of the incoming first-years had vaped at least once before arriving at school, a 4 percent increase from the previous incoming class.

According to Emily Jones, director of Student Health Services at the college, vaping is “somewhat prevalent” among Amherst students. When students come to the health center with respiratory problems, Jones now asks whether they vape. Frequently, students answer that they have vaped recently or are currently vaping, she said.

Continued on page 3

Gooding and Hills Fields, which serve as practice and game spaces for multiple varsity, club and intramural athletic teams, will undergo extensive renovations beginning in late March.

Affected student groups will include varsity field hockey, varsity men’s and women’s lacrosse, varsity men’s and women’s track and field, ultimate Frisbee and other intramural sports.

The project, which will conclude just before the start of the fall of 2020, will be conducted in two parts. First, upgraded turf will be installed on Gooding Field. Second, the college will replace the grass on Hills Field with turf. Walkways and lighting surrounding the fields will be renovated as well. The construction will displace several Amherst athletic teams and the track and field throwing pits on Hills Field.

The pits will likely be relocated to Hitchcock Field, though the final details of the project are not yet planned.

According to Jim Brassord, chief of campus operations, the renovations will cost around $5-6 million and will be outsourced to Activitas, a civil engineering and landscaping company that specializes in athletic facilities.

“The project completed in

Continued on page 3

News Sept. 17, 2019 – Sept. 22, 2019

>>Sept. 17, 2019 11:04 a.m., Moore Dormitory A photo was stolen from the wall in the common room.

11:14 a.m., Residence Hall A A group of unknown people walked into an unlocked room to steal beverages and use the bathroom.

4:00 p.m., Porter House An officer responded to a report of an animal that was stuck. It left on its own. >>Sept. 18, 2019 12:04 p.m., Alumni Gym An individual reported a set of AirPods stolen from their coat pocket.

12:22 p.m., Merrill Science Building Chalkboards in classrooms were tagged with graffiti.

2:33 p.m., Jenkins Hall A keg was found in a residence hall room. >>Sept. 19, 2019 12:17 a.m., College Street Officers responded to a report of someone yelling and found no issues in the area.

A group was singing loudly. >>Sept. 20, 2019 10:04 a.m., Hitchcock Dormitory Residential Life staff

Sade Green ’20 Thoughts on Theses

reported a fire sign removed from the wall and a large hole in the wall next to the elevator.

11:17 a.m., Converse Lot An officer responded to a parking complaint and issued a citation.

3:14 p.m., New Science Center An officer took a report of theft from an unlocked office.

9:11 p.m., Valentine Dining Hall An officer responded to a report of a theft from an unsecured area. >>Sept. 21, 2019 1:43 a.m., Garman House An officer responded to a report of an unknown individual checking for unlocked doors in a residence hall. The individual left the area prior to the officer’s arrival. >>Sept. 22, 2019 1:57 a.m., Lipton House An officer responded to a report of an odor that resembled natural gas, and found no issues in the area.

6:22 a.m., King Dormitory An officer responded to a report of someone throwing rocks at a window and found it was someone locked out of the building.

Department of English

Sade Green ’20 is an English major. Her thesis is a collection of short stories with Black women as protagonists. Her advisor is Thirii Myo Kyaw Myint, a visiting writer in the English department.

Q: Can you tell me about your thesis?

A: I’m an English major, and my thesis is a collection of short stories that feature Black women as the protagonists. Having Black women as the protagonists was really important to me because growing up I was an avid reader. I loved to read Nancy Drew and “The Hunger Games,” but then I saw that all of these protagonists were white. I didn’t see myself in these books. While I saw myself in the qualities that they had — they were smart, brave, and funny — I didn’t see myself fully represented. I didn’t see my hair texture; I didn’t see my skin color. I always wanted to be an author growing up. When I got to college, I thought I want to be an English major. So when I became a senior, I was like “This is a great opportunity to create a book that I have always wanted to read.”

Q: What kind of research have you done so far for your thesis?

A: I’m actually starting my research right now. A lot of it is talking to friends, the Black women in my life.

While there are some identities and experiences that I do hold and can talk about, there are some that I can’t hold and I don’t hold, and I can’t speak to. What I’ve been doing is talking to friends trying to get their experiences about their identities, the ones that I don’t have.

Q: Have you begun writing?

A: I do have at least two stories outlined so far. The first one, I wanted to talk about themes or issues that Black women face. For example, colorism is going to be something I talk about.

One of the stories is about a protagonist who experiences colorism in her

family and her school growing up and then towards the end she ends up in a relationship where colorism affects whether or not they stay together. The second story is going to be a little bit personal because it is about me, but I just put another character on there. It’s about a Nigerian American and African American protagonist — I’m Nigerian and African American — and she kind of has to explore both identities and navigate both worlds. She doesn’t feel like she’s Nigerian enough because of the people she hangs around with. They both have Nigerian parents. For me that represents some type of healing to have one part that was taken from the continent and one part that is still there, and what does it mean to have both of those come together and it’s not until college until I really felt whole in that way.

Q: What is your favorite thing so far about working on a thesis?

A: I love this thesis because it’s really creative and I can create this whole world outside of the world I’m living in. That’s what I’ve really liked about reading and writing. It’s good to go through the stress of Amherst and you have all of these classes. I think of my thesis as a way to relax. I know that sounds weird but for me that’s how I get it done. I love writing so much so this is my down time to create all these new characters, to create a new world that is not my own.

Q: What has been the most rewarding aspect of your thesis?

A: I think it’s really amplifying the voices of Black women. I don’t believe in being someone’s voice because people have voices and the Black women in my community and all over the

world have voices and people are just not listening. What I want to do with this thesis is amplify their voices and give them a platform for the things that they have already been saying for years now, and people need to really start listening. Also the idea that there are so many people that have paved the way for me. Toni Morrison has paved the way for me. Nikki Giovanni, Maya Angelou, all these great Black women writers have paved the way for me and this is kind of an ode to them as well.

Q: Where would you hope to take your final thesis?

A: We’re trying to get published! It’s funny because when I had my first meeting with my thesis advisor, she was like — what are your goals? I said, “I want to create and book and get published.” And when she started talking about it, she made it seem more realistic than I thought it could be.

Q: Do you have any advice for students considering writing a thesis?

A: Do the type of thesis that you want. I know that sounds like basic advice but really make sure that it is the type of thesis you want to do in general. For example, I could have had an analytical thesis comparing different works. I was thinking that an analytical would be good for law school to show that I can actually argue a case. But I was just like, “Would you sit there for a whole year, would your passion be behind this?” I would find zero interest in that. I’m going to do what I’m going to do regardless of how it looks to people and I enjoy it.

— Syndey Ireland ’23

News 3

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Gooding Renovations Aim for 2020 Completion Continued from page 1 2007 was Amherst’s only artificial turf field at that time, and it was intended to serve a full range of sports,” said Brassord. “In the past 12 years, the needs of different sports and teams evolved. The field is no longer fit for the state of the practice of field hockey.”

The Activitas design lead, Megan Buczynski, also said that the project will give Amherst varsity athletic teams the facilities to compete with their peer institutions. The field hockey team in particular will benefit from the remodeling. “Currently, Gooding Field is the width of a football field and not a field hockey field, even though it is used primarily for field hockey. The current field is 12 years old, with the last Gooding Field renovation project completed in 2007,” Bucynski said.

To completely update Gooding and Hills Fields, Activitas will further separate the already distinct fields with a 15-foot change in elevation, fencing and netting.

The company will use ultramodern short-pile Astro-turf technology on Gooding Field that has no sand or rubber. Irrigation systems will also be installed on Hills Field. Both fields will be lit with 70 foot-candles — the preferred light for appropriate streaming events. Hills Field will be equipped with LED lighting.

Some other improvements include redesigned team areas along the western side of the field and new spectator seating along the eastern side of the field. Improved pedestrian walkways will be installed near the spectator seating to allow for easier access.

The college will also position a new scoreboard on the southern side of the field.

Despite the large-scale construction, however, Brassord said the renovation will not disrupt the day-to-day lives of students and faculty. “Construction is remote — not on the [main] campus — and we will take precautions to minimize the impact,” Brassord said. “There will be a period of time that Gooding Field

Photo courtesy of Zach Jonas ‘22

Renovation of Gooding and Hills Fields includes plans to install short-pile Astro-turf technology, new irrigation systems and new spectator seating, among other improvements. will not be available. During that time, we will be making adjustments in the schedule concerning the use of the fields to compensate for that.”

Director of Athletics Don Faulstick confirmed that teams that normally practice on Gooding Field will have an alternative practice space. In the spring, those teams are primarily men’s

and women’s lacrosse. Their dayto-day practices will instead take place on Pratt Field or other grass fields such as Hitchcock Field.

Due to the forthcoming decrease in available practice space, some students are concerned about the renovations.

“Hills Field is mainly where we practice,” said Olive Amdur ’23, member of the ultimate Frisbee

team. “It could cause problems if we don’t have a field. However, redoing the walkways may make it easier to access. Getting down the steep hill is often difficult.”

“It would be inconvenient.

We practice and play games there several times a week. I also heard that Pratt can get incredibly hot,” added Katie Hadro ’23, a women’s lacrosse player.

“A Juul Pod a Day (Doesn’t) Keep the Doctor Away” Continued from page 1

“Sometimes they get sick more often or they cough a lot,” said Dan Schlakman ’23, speaking about his observations of friends who vape.

Nicotine is an addictive substance, which often makes it difficult for those who vape regularly to stop. Vape juice can contain far more nicotine than a traditional cigarette. Juul Labs, which holds over 70 percent of the U.S. e-cigarette market share, sells pods of vape juice that contain the same amount of nicotine as an entire pack of cigarettes.

According to one first-year who, like others interviewed in this article, wished to remain anonymous for fear of potential legal and social repercussions, vaping became a way to cope with her stress. In March this year, she started vaping with disposable, single-use vape pens. As her vap-

ing consumption increased, she purchased her own Juul-brand vape pen. She currently vapes be-

“

When you get exposed to nicotine in adolescence, it actually does change the brain such that it does have more addictive potential in adulthood.

—Sarah Turgeon, Professor of Neuroscience

”

tween one-fourth to one-half of a Juul pod per day.

“Vaping was more accessible to me than substances like alcohol,”

she said. “It’s not a good way to channel your stress, but it’s how I channeled mine.”

Vaping is also a social activity for many students. A sophomore told The Student that he frequently vapes on the weekends with friends. Since he doesn’t own his own Juul pen, he doesn’t vape as often as many of his peers, so he isn’t as concerned about developing health issues.

Still, during athletic practices, he sometimes wonders if vaping may have diminished his lung stamina.

Another first year said that he started vaping at parties because all of his friends did. At the beginning, he didn’t vape frequently since he didn’t have his own vape pen, but once he bought a Juul, he vaped at least once a day and soon became addicted to nicotine.

Every time he developed a cough, he would worry that it was caused

by vaping, but he couldn’t stop using his Juul. He hated the feeling of being dependent on nicotine — and Juul pods are expensive — so he quit vaping two weeks ago. The first few days were difficult, but he recommends that anyone trying to stop vaping keep themselves busy.

He would support a vaping ban, he added; he credits having limited access to vape pods with helping him quit vaping.

Schlakman noted that he has some friends who will vape at all hours of the day, from the moment they wake up and immediately after class. He says they are often trying to find their next pack of Juul pods.

Professor of Neuroscience Sarah Turgeon said that no matter the delivery method, nicotine is a highly addictive substance. According to Turgeon, research has shown that early exposure to nicotine changes the way an animal’s

brain responds to nicotine as they age.

“When you get exposed to nicotine in adolescence, it actually does change the brain such that it does have more addictive potential in adulthood,” Turgeon said.

Though she has tried, the first year has been unable to quit vaping. She is concerned enough about the negative health effects to lessen the frequency of her vaping, but nicotine addiction serves as a deterrent to quitting. Still, she supports the Trump administration’s ban on flavored e-cigarettes.

“The teen vaping epidemic is scary, and it’s only getting worse because it’s so accessible now. It’s alarming that teens are getting into nicotine at such an early age,” she said.

Tyler Marovitz ’20 has also noticed the addictive nature of Juuls

Continued on page 4

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

News 4

LSAT Joins GRE, MCAT in Offering Digital Exam Meenakshi Jani ’23 Staff Writer After digital exams were introduced in July 2019, the Law School Admission Test (LSAT) will now be administered digitally in entirety in the U.S. starting in September 2019, eliminating paper exams. Pre-law students at Amherst and across the country will have to adjust to this new format.

The digital LSAT is administered on tablets provided at the testing center. Students taking the exam will use a stylus to annotate and select their answers. The tablet’s features include highlighting, flagging so that students can mark questions to return to and a timer with a five-minute warning.

While booklets or answer sheets

are no longer part of the exam, students do have access to a pen and scratch paper.

One major change in the format of the LSAT is that the writing section will now be administered separately from the multiple choice section. While the multiple choice portion is answered on the tablets in the testing center, students will have to do the writing separately, either on a personal device or somewhere else, like the library, using a computer that meets certain requirements.

According to the Law School Admission Council (LSAC), the writing portion will be proctored by a “secure proctoring software.”

Students have up to a year after their multiple choice test date to complete the writing exam.

The transition from paper to

digital testing began in July this year when half of all test-takers were required to take it digitally, while the rest took the traditional pen-and-paper exam. To incentivize students to take the LSAT on the day they piloted the digital exam, the LSAC gave students the unique opportunity to cancel their scores after seeing them. They could also sign up to take the test again for free.

According to Francesca Cicero, the pre-law adviser at the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning, the July test exposed some “bumps in the road” to this transition. While she is not aware of many Amherst students who took that test, she has heard from other pre-law advisers that the added benefits provided for that testing session led to an overflow

of students registering to take the test at later dates, such as in September or October. According to Cicero, after seeing their scores from July, a higher percentage of students than normal chose to cancel their scores and retake the test. As a result, testing centers could not sustain the demand and waitlists grew.

Cicero also noted other obstacles that students have faced and will likely continue to face during this transition, such as the stylus being imprecise and connectivity issues at some of the July testing centers. Students may not always realize that it takes three weeks for the writing score to be processed, Cicero added, which could impact their timeline for applying to law schools with rolling admissions.

Still, she considers these tech-

nical difficulties a temporary cost for an inevitable change. As the world becomes increasingly digitized, Cicero said it was just a matter of time before the LSAT went digital, and when asked whether she agrees with the change, she replied that she didn’t “see that there was any real choice.” She also said the new format “will really fit into the environment that students are already working in.” Students, after all, now use laptops in the classroom more than ever before.

Some Amherst students, however, do not necessarily think that the digital format will be easier to use. Audrey Cheng ’20, who took the paper LSAT in July 2018 and has been admitted into law school, said that students are more used to

producer of vape products, pulled many of its flavored nicotine pods from retail locations last year in response to widespread alarm over the rise of vaping among teens.

Juuls, however, are still readily accessible in the Amherst area, available at nine retail locations within five miles of Amherst College.

E-cigarettes emit a chemical aerosol, not just water vapor and nicotine as many people believe, Turgeon said. According to pulmonologists who have treated patients with vaping-related lung problems, in many cases patients have oils and fats from substances in vape juice built up in their lungs.

According to Jones, “it has never been a medical recommendation” to replace cigarettes with vape pens. Instead, she advocates other methods of nicotine replacement such as nicotine gum or patches.

Jones added that any student attempting to stop vaping should should seek help from the health center.

“We know so little about the associated risks [of vaping] — especially with the lack of regulation on the additives,” she said.

With eight recent deaths associated with vaping across the nation, a trend surging among young adults, students on campus begin to reconsider the health repercussions of the activity.

Continued on page 5

E-Cigarettes Create Cause for Concern on Campus Continued from page 3 among his friends.

“I have a friend who Juuls every day. He’s told me that when he’s tried to take a few days off of Juuling he would become irritable.

He had headaches, trouble concentrating and feels the need to Juul again,” says Marovitz.

Marovitz added that he doesn’t think e-cigarettes are a safe device, especially in light of the recent reports of related illnesses and deaths.

Public health officials in support of the ban have argued that the fruity flavors of vape juice make vaping more attractive to teenagers. A 2013-2014 report from the Food and Drug Administration’s Population and Assessment of Tobacco and Health found that 81 percent of youth and 86 percent of young adults reported that their first tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, was flavored.

In addition, 79 percent of youths aged 12 to 17 and 89 percent of young adults aged 18 to 24 reported that they used tobacco products because they came in flavors they enjoyed.

Juul Labs, the nation’s largest

Photo courtesy of Ecig Click

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

News 5

LSAT Goes Digital, With Mixed Reactions Continued from page 4 taking tests on paper and pointed to her teachers’ advice that it is easier to read on paper than electronically.

Her “eyes were falling out” after taking the three-hour paper exam, she said, adding that staring at a screen would be even more difficult.

“My first instinct is to say that paper is better,” Cheng said.

Jeremy Thomas ’21, who recently began studying for the LSAT, said that he “interacts differently” with paper than with a computer and hopes that having to switch between scratch paper and a screen will not negatively impact his score. He also prefers to read on paper. Still, because of the scratch paper, it “won’t be too difficult [for him] to adapt” to the new exam, he said.

John Kim ’20, who took the digital LSAT this past weekend, expressed a similar view, adding that he prefers paper and pencil but did not find it difficult to adjust. He acknowledged that many other students around the world are unable to purchase expensive devices and develop technological literacy, resulting in disproportionate advantages for students who have those privileges.

“The LSAT experience would have a greater chance of living up to LSAC’s stated expectations of a fair, unbiased test if they considered these factors,” Kim said.

Kim practiced for the digital test almost completely on paper and found that the most import-

ant skill to work on is not navigating the format, but rather developing test-taking skills like “master[ing] the different types of questions” and staying “composed under a strictly-timed environment.” As long as one employs these strategies, the new format should not have a major impact on one’s score, Kim said.

Cheng also noted that there are potential advantages to the digital LSAT. The ability to flag and easily move between questions on the electronic version will ease the difficulty of flipping back and forth in a paper booklet, allowing students to better budget their time, she said. She also cited saving paper as a benefit of the digital format.

Kim, too, showed some support, saying that the change could prevent cheating because it is impossible for students to work beyond the time limit or flip back to previous sections when they are not supposed to.

Several other standardized testing companies, including those that administer the GRE, MCAT, SAT and ACT, have already adopted digital testing formats. The SAT and ACT currently offer both digital and paper options, while the GRE and MCAT have gone completely digital. According to Cicero, it was inevitable that the LSAC would make this shift. She added, however, that the legal field is not known for quickly adapting to change and that the LSAC had some legitimate security concerns that prevented it from transitioning earlier.

Photo courtesy of Zach Jonas ‘22

As the LSAT begins to administer a new wave of digital exams, students will adapt to the shift in standardized test taking.

Opinion w

The New American Experiment Last Tuesday, Facebook announced plans to establish an independent “Oversight Board” by early 2020. The committee will handle matters related to content-moderation, taking CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s hand off the big red button that decides which posts get taken down and which stay up. This new governing body, which has been likened to Facebook’s version of a Supreme Court, will be comprised of 11 to 40 members and be able to overturn the company’s own content regulation.

Facebook’s Oversight Board is just the next installment in a long slew of attempts by social media platforms to monitor the content they host.

In February and March of this year, Big Tech companies like Facebook and YouTube were waging battle against anti-vaxxer content. In February, YouTube committed itself to demonetizing any antivaxxer messaging distributed on its platform. In March, Facebook decided to change its algorithm to make it harder to find anti-vaxxer content. The antivaxxer movement is predictably not pleased. The war between social media corporations and anti-vaxxers became a microcosm of the larger conversation around how to treat public sector issues (like censorship) when private sector companies are involved (like Big Tech).

The First Amendment essentially strips the U.S. government of any authority to restrict open expression.

In other words, the protection of free speech from the censorship of public governing powers is built in to the very foundations on which this country rests.

But there’s something the Founding Fathers did not see coming.

And that’s the enormous concentration of power that has developed in the private sector, specifically the tech industry. Big Tech refers to the conglomerate of companies — such as Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook — that have amassed exorbitant influence through their business models. Facebook and other social media platforms have taken on unprecedented roles as private companies: they have become public forums. In other words, Big Tech companies have transcended the boundary between the public division and private industry — this is where the problem arises.

The U.S. government is regulated by rules rooted in historical precedent and long-reigning values.

However, privately-run industries do not have an analogous set of standardized statutes rooted in history.

Instead, the business sphere was established in the vein of capitalism. However, as these companies accrue power to the point of encroaching on the public sphere, they enter a jungle of systematized checks and balances that they have never really encountered before — it’s culture shock. And unless they adapt, they may not

make it out in one piece. (Literally, some are advocating to break up these companies in order to curb their power.)

In a broad sense, tech companies switching up their algorithms to filter out certain content is a dangerously efficient form of censorship. For that reason, maybe Facebook does need an independent board to check its power. However, the question on who or what should be placed in charge of this regulation is still an issue ripe for debate. For some, it feels un-American to put your right to express your own opinion in the hands of another. But the overarching question about the safety and privacy of users still remains. The risk of Facebook and other companies abusing and misusing the data of its users is still high, and breaches in the past few years have shown how vulnerable our precious data truly is.

While the idea of an independent regulatory board may sound reasonable, its feasibility is another story.

Through the examples of the EPA and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, we have seen what happens when those connected within industries — coal executives, corporate lobbyists and advocates for big business — start “regulating” themselves. Even though Zuckerberg may commit himself to “preserving and protecting the board’s ability to exercise its independent judgement,” what will that really look like in practice? Will Facebook elect its own Oversight Board members? If so, that is already a touchpoint of vulnerability for Facebook executives to insert their own profit-driven biases.

Naturally, some advocates see government regulation as necessary to prevent future abuses of our data. However, the recent testimonies made by technology CEOs, including Zuckerberg, highlighted Congress’s lack of attention to the intricacies of data privacy and content regulation, both of which are critical issues for any user of these platforms.

Furthermore, passing legislation in a divided Congress has proven nearly impossible, especially when so much is at stake.

Ultimately, oversight should be a process that considers all of the parties involved, from government and corporations, to the consumers who use these platforms on a daily basis. By including all stakeholders in the conversation, we can develop a realistic regulatory process that works for consumers and protects them.

The emergence of these hyper-powerful tech corporations thus offers an opportunity for a new American experiment — navigating regulation while maintaining ethical values.

Unsigned editorials represent the Editorial Board (assenting: 6; dissenting: 1; abstaining: 4)

THE AMHERST

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The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Opinion 7

Let’s Reclaim Patriotism and the American Flag Tyler Marovitz ’20 Contributing Writer Our nation currently stands in a precarious position. There are serious issues across the country that require our immediate attention: a humanitarian crisis at the southern border, a rapidly changing climate and a presidential administration built on lies, scandals and shameless bullying.

With everything going on, it can seem like the United States has let us down — that there is little reason to feel proud of this country.

A lot of people, indeed people I know, find it difficult to feel patriotic these days. The word itself can carry a stigma. While patriotism simply denotes a “love of or devotion to one’s country” according to the Oxford English Dictionary, it has taken on a different meaning to many people.

The word “patriotism” today can carry connotations of xenophobia, racism and jingoism — indeed, an unflinching support for the country. That interpretation

couldn’t be further from the truth.

It is entirely possible — and necessary — to criticize our government if we are to be truly patriotic. Patriotism and open criticism of the government are not mutually exclusive. Even President Teddy Roosevelt understood the importance of scrutinizing our nation’s leadership. Roosevelt once said, “To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.” This reasoning applies to the rest of our government and every institution of power in this country.

Criticizing our government — demanding that it improve — is among the most patriotic things one can do. Doing so demonstrates a love for country, a desire to see each other uplifted and recognized as real human beings.

To be sure, many Americans do hide behind veils of patriotism

to conceal ugly attitudes. Still, racism, xenophobia and jingoism are not inherent to patriotism.

You can love your country and remain harshly critical of it.

Of course, there can be no requirement to love your country. This article should not be construed as a commandment to live and breathe patriotism at any given point. Just as we are free to criticize our leaders as we wish, we are also free to hold our country in whatever regard we feel appropriate. That’s the beauty of the First Amendment. But to refuse patriotism on the grounds of its misappropriation by some individuals is erroneous and misplaced.

Is it possible that the critics of patriotism have settled on the wrong word for their grievances?

Quite possibly. “Nationalism” is perhaps the word that these critics might be looking for. The Oxford English Dictionary defines “nationalism” as the “advocacy of or support for the interests of one’s own nation, especially to

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons

Patriotism is wrongly associated with nationalism, when in reality its true spirit lies in the balance between national pride and open criticism of the government.

the exclusion or detriment of the interests of other nations.” If nationalism hinges on prioritizing one’s own culture and interests at the cost of other nations, then racism, xenophobia and jingoism may well be byproducts.

Calls to preserve “American” or “Western” civilization are done always at the expense of non-Americans and almost always at the expense of non-white Americans. Consider President Donald Trump’s 2015 campaign speech, when the then-candidate called for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.” Consider Trump’s comment from January 2018 that the U.S. should accept more immigrants from countries like Norway and fewer from “shithole” countries like Haiti and other African nations. Consider the “send her back” chants at a North Carolina Trump rally back in July, directed toward Somali-American Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

Nationalistic sentiments frequently cast immigrants — especially black, brown and Muslim immigrants — as “others,” constructing an “us versus them” mentality. These are calculated, ethnocentric efforts to preserve some outdated conception of “American” or “Western” culture at the expense of other cultures.

Just as notions of patriotism can be a sensitive topic, the same can be true for the American flag.

We see it nearly everywhere we go — flying above city halls, baseball parks, airports and indeed, even Johnson Chapel. But many still have reservations about owning and displaying American flags, whether it’s found on a dorm room wall, worn on a T-shirt or used as a bumper sticker.

Just last year at Stanford, an administrator advised the Sigma Chi fraternity to remove the American flag flying above their front door, insinuating that the flag was an aggressive or intimidating symbol. The flag has garnered controversy at sports games, where athletes like Colin Kaepernick, Megan Rapinoe

and many others have refused to stand for the national anthem and the American flag. The reasoning is clear: why stand for a flag that has witnessed decades of social inequalities, police brutality and racial hostilities, among other things? To many, the American flag represents these shortcomings.

But must the American flag be inextricably tied to these shortcomings? Not necessarily. To be sure, our government should be doing many things differently in order to uplift people. There are legitimate reasons to resent our leadership for these failures. The flag, however, is not the appropriate target for these objections.

A great feature of this country is that the policy that can improve our lives is implemented not by abstract, untouchable entities, but rather by real people who run for office. Social, political and economic progress occurs in this country primarily through exercising the rights to speak, assemble, petition, publish and vote. These avenues are distinctly American.

Patriotism and the American flag are dissimilar in that the former can be defined more easily than the latter. More so than patriotism, the American flag allows for wide differences in interpretation. Surely, the American flag above Johnson Chapel flies for reasons different from those espoused by the white nationalist groups that flew the same flag in Charlottesville during the 2017 Unite the Right rally.

But patriotism and the American flag are alike in that they both offer recourse for individuals to demand better. Neither are so rigid as to exclude the millions of individuals across this country who strive for change. Despite the ways certain individuals choose to represent them, patriotism and the American flag should be seen for what they are: not exclusively as reminders of this country’s flaws, but rather as enablers for our future — symbols of opportunity for all of us to ask, organize and act for better.

Opinion 8

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Seeing Double: The Missing Ingredient Thomas Brodey ’22 Columnist Global warming seems to be an unstoppable trend. The United Nations estimates that we now have only 12 years to reduce carbon dioxide emissions enough to prevent a catastrophic global temperature increase of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius. Despite the dire timeline, scientific consensus and widespread awareness, global carbon emissions have continued to rise. So why have these arenas shown such limited success?

Scientists are not to blame. To combat the multitude of factors that cause climate change, scientists have developed an equally broad range of solutions. Carbon taxes, electric vehicles, renewable energy sources and other measures can help to stop climate change, so long as enough people and governments invest sufficient resources in implementing them.

But so far, countries and political parties haven’t done that. Nationalism, regionalism and short-term interests continue to sap countries’ motivation to collaborate on the climate crisis. Russia has refused to cooperate because of geopolitical rivalries, dependency on oil and the possibility that global warming will improve its own climate. Other countries like India have prioritized short-term economic needs because of widespread poverty and a more unstable government. Nationalists in countries like the United States have refused to acknowledge the danger, illustrated most clearly by President Donald Trump’s constant refusal to collaborate to address the issue. Many environmentalists have tried to appeal to these countries’ duties as global citizens, but with little success. Nor is there enough time to wait for more countries to adopt the values of liberals.

With the desperate timeline that climate change presents, we don’t have time to globalize the world.

Out of necessity, we must modify our plans to accommodate reality.

How, then, could environmentalists inspire this divided and myopic world we live in to take decisive action on climate change? They can do

so by tapping into one of the most basic human motivators: competition. The world’s leaders should present environmentalism less as a communal effort and more as a competition, where countries and groups strive to surpass each other in their efforts to stop climate change.

Historically, humanity’s biggest advancements have occurred in times of competition. One need not look farther than the Space Race to see how rivalry can spur individuals and nations to challenge the limits of their abilities, even when the tangible stakes are relatively low. Today, even relatively poor nations spend lavishly when hosting sports events or organizing military parades in an effort to flaunt their country’s greatness. Take Ethiopia, which planted 350 million trees in a single day in July 2019, not as part of a global initiative, but in an attempt to beat the previous record holder, India.

In a hypothetical “Earth Race,” towns and even households could compete via social media to minimize their environmental impact.

Wealthy neighbors could compare electric cars, cities could advertise their energy self-sufficiency as a source of local pride and Amherst and Williams could vie for the title of greenest college in Massachusetts.

Every person feels some connection

“Every person feels

some connection to a community, and any effective global movement to stop climate change must tap into that passionate allegiance.

”

to a community, and any effective global movement to stop climate change must tap into that passionate allegiance.

Marketing environmentalism as a competition would also make the enormous investment required to stop global warming appeal to the same groups which now most ac-

Photo courtesy of The Obama White House Archives

A global competitive spirit against climate change may encourage traditionally reluctant countries and figures to adopt environmentally-conscious goals. tively oppose it: right-wing nationalists. Slogans like “We are going to start winning again” and “America first” can be channeled in new directions, turning this rhetorical kerosene into fuel for a new, bipartisan environmental movement. Paradoxically, such a nationalist program would benefit not only the U.S., but also the entire world.

Previous attempts to curb climate change have failed to make much impact in the emerging world.

Nations like China and India often see demands that they comply with international quotas as little more than a Western attempt to slow their economic progress. But rebranding climate change as a competition rather than a mandate would provide the chance for a nation to unify itself, prove itself a rising power and compete with the West in an area where the latter may not necessarily have an overwhelming head start.

Even historic opponents of the West, such as Russia, might be interested in stopping climate change if it were presented as an opportunity to outperform Russia’s rivals, rather than being forced to imitate them.

One might object by saying

that countries and corporations are unlikely to take action based on something as vague and intangible as victory in an environmentalist competition. Yet this competition would not be merely symbolic.

When enough countries invest in renewable energy and sustainable consumption, green technology will become an increasingly valuable economic commodity. Corporations might compete to produce the most efficient solar panels, the best carbon sequestration methods or the cheapest artificial meat, because doing so will give them a leading role in the economy of the future. Even if a country refused to get involved in the competition, it could soon become enticed to enter the “Earth Race” because of the tangible benefits of entering the global market.

Competition must not go too far, of course. Scientific and economic collaboration among countries remains essential. Yet collaboration benefits all parties involved, so countries would be incentivized to collaborate for the sake of their own regional pride, as well as global necessity. International organizations

like the United Nations and the Nobel Institute could play a crucial role in motivating the competition through establishing new goals and prizes, while ensuring that countries’ desire to outdo each other serves the ultimate purpose of stopping climate change.

A spirit of friendly competition will not solve climate change alone.

To be effective, it must combine with effective policies and technological innovations. Still, a competitive framework would help ensure that even landlocked nations invest in preventing the seas from rising, that corporations obey the environmental measures passed by their governments and that even repressive dictatorships throw their full might into the effort. Competition already fuels action in the majority of the world. Perhaps the power source’s origin is imperfect, but it burns hot, clean and most importantly, fast.

[Note: readers should consider going to the Climate Strike this Friday, Sept. 27 at 10 a.m. on the First-Year Quad to support the kind of dramatic action needed to combat climate change.]

Arts&Living

Michael Winograd Plays Klezmer Music in Northampton

Photo courtesy of Seoyeon Kim ‘21

Michael Winograd and The Honorable Mentshn performed at Northampton on Sept. 18, delighting the audience with their bouncy, addictive tunes.

Hildi Gabel ’21 Staff Writer With purple lights running down the velvet curtains behind the band, Michael Winograd and The Honorable Mentshn, opened to an intimate crowd at The Parlor Room in Northampton last Wednesday. It took only seconds for the room to burst open with the lively rhythm and brassy trills of a genre based in tradition and innovation.

Winograd, the renowned klezmer clarinetist and composer, was touring work from his latest album, “Kosher Style,” released this June. Joining him on stage were Daniel Blacksburg on the trumpet, Carmen Staaf on the piano, Jordan Sand on the bass and David Licht on the drums, all of whom also play on the record.

Winograd is at the forefront of a core group of current musicians committed to klezmer music, a genre of primarily instrumental Eastern European Jewish folk music that has evolved and picked up new influences through centuries of history. Historically, klezmer careerists held respectable positions playing in bands on occasions such as wed-

dings, spurring the preeminence of dance songs in the tradition.

It was largely the wave of Jewish immigrants fleeing the pogroms of Russia at the turn of the 20th century who established klezmer in the United States.

The scene swelled in New York, gleaning influences from Yiddish theater, brass bands and popular music, before its listenership dwindled for about 20 years, starting in the mid-1950s.

Despite the fall in popularity, Winograd appreciates the 1950s style that fostered a grand sampling of klezmer album releases, and attempts to go back to that era in his experiment of “Kosher Style.”

“I really just wanted to jump back in that time,” he said in a phone interview. It’s a feat he admits is technically impossible but conceivable through the imaginative possibilities of composition.

The 1950s influence is clear on the album, which has a grand quality and is full of brass instrumentation and quick melodies.

However, “Kosher Style” is not only an album of the past — it invokes much of the present in its revivalism. After years of lying low, klezmer was brought

back on the map in the 1970s by the ferocious dedication of a Jewish American generation determined not to lose the genre.

With many older klezmer recordings destroyed during the World Wars, musicians reproduced old albums and transcribed music, setting a foundation that would carry klezmer into the 21st Century. In the 1980s and 1990s, musicians experimented with the genre at new heights and established a solid klezmer scene in New York once again.

Winograd entered the klezmer scene at this same period in the 90s. He started playing klezmer at KlezKamp, where he learned from older klezmer musicians of the 40s and 50s, and which proved to be greatly formative in his understanding of older klezmer tradition. Saxophone was actually Winograd’s first instrument, but he switched to the clarinet on a whim when the renowned clarinetist David Krakauer told him to try it out at a klezmer workshop.

After the workshop, he bought his friend’s childhood clarinet for around $5, he recalls. Winograd speaks now of the era of learning with affection: “I was the perfect

age for it, to be taking in everything that was going on and absorbing it. It was a pretty great time for music.”

As he ventured into making his own album, Winograd feels “It’s about inspiration, but it’s also about when you have the time to get it done.”

Finding the time seems an almost insurmountable hindrance for Winograd, considering the work he does arranging and producing music, helping lead some major workshops and festivals and simply making a living as a musician in New York. Winograd found a pocket of free time when a trip for a music project fell through unexpectedly several years ago.

He wrote over half of “Kosher Style” in those two weeks, then patched the rest together in the following months. In another serendipitous turn, five spots at the Brooklyn venue, Barbes, opened up in the spring of 2017, allowing Winogad to workshop his pieces at shows. He found another two weeks in the fall of 2017 to finalize the album at a family home in Connecticut. Finally, in November, he got the band together to rehearse their parts for four days

and then recorded the album in just three.

In Northampton, Winograd and his band played a range of songs off of “Kosher Style” and a few covers, including songs by the Epstein Brothers and Sam Musiker and Dave Tarras. Audience members hopped to their feet at the first song, linking arms and filling the room for “Bar Mitzvah Bulgar.”

Many pieces off of “Kosher Style” are dance songs with quick tempos, and the band would skip into them with a disarming casualness. After a short thread of stage banter, Winograd would start a riff, and suddenly the musicians would meet him there at impeccable tempo. Song after song featured runs, trills, various solos and Winograd running up and down the full range of his clarinet at breakneck speed, barely breaking a sweat.

With the community of klezmer musicians that has gathered in New York, has there been a resurgence in the genre? Both yes no. A Herculean effort of a small but dedicated cohort holds the scene together. In one sense,

Continued on page 10

Arts & Living 10

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Charli XCX Finds Herself and Her Sound on “Charli”

Natalie Beach, former friend of Caroline Calloway (above), revealed herself as Calloway’s ghostwriter last week.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The pop star’s latest ablum is a meditation on the future, both in its lyrics and musical style of synthed autotunes.

Hugh Ford ’20 Staff Writer Charli XCX is a peculiar pop singer. Since her major breakthrough onto the music charts with her earworm choruses on Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy,” Charli has fluttered around in music industry limbo, never quite reaching stardom, never quite fading into obscurity. Over the last decade, she has managed to stay relevant by crafting hits for

other singers like Gwen Stefani and Camila Cabello and dropping radio singles (remember summer 2017’s “Boys”?), but it seemed like her major releases would never be received with the same enthusiasm as her feature work.

Always a bit of a vanguard for mainstream pop, yet never venturing too far afield of its security, Charli couldn’t seem to find a proper audience for her music. Nevertheless, with “Charli,” her new album, Charli XCX’s moment may

have finally arrived.

On the new record, Charli bares it all. “Charli” is pure, shiny synth pop. She moves seamlessly from ballad to banger, bouncing off silvery production from fellow Brit A. G. Wells, the other mastermind behind the album. Together, Charli and Wells craft a pop album to take us into the 2020s — electric and futuristic, yet tender and vulnerable.

In this vision, Charli draws support from a sizeable roster of other rising pop stars including, Sky Ferreira, Lizzo, Clairo and Troye Sivan, among others. The ambition is sky high, and, at times, threatens to collapse under the weight of all the layered synths and guest features. Still, Charli’s narrow genre approach manages to hold “Charli” together to create a coherent yet unpredictable record.

From the beginning, “Charli” creates and draws you in to its own synthetic dream reality. “Next Level Charli,” the opening track, establishes the tone and sonic pallet for this world: futuristic and new, yet somehow nostalgic and familiar.

Charli imagines a late-night driving anthem that combines 80s-like synths with a punchy drum kit and an infectious, high-intensity chorus.

“Cross You Out” with Ferreira is a slow-burning breakup song.

Drowning in heavy drums, Charli and Ferreira try to free themselves with crescendoing vocals; however the hint of auto-tune just caps their pitches, not letting them break out of the emotional bonds of the song.

With the next track, “1999,” the album reaches its first bona fide radio hit. “1999,” which was released as a single in 2018, almost threatens to disrupt the direction of

the album. Nevertheless, the song is so high-energy and still hasn’t grown stale. “1999” finds Charli reminiscing about the 90s in typical millennial fashion. The song is fun and catchy, laden with 90s pop culture references. Charli brings Sivan along for the ride, who despite being only 24 (making him four years old in 1999), manages to keep up.

Sivan, whose 2018 debut album “Bloom” played by the numbers, is elevated by the bouncy production and matches the light personality of the song — he even intones a Michael Jackson-style “he-he.”

“Charli” doesn’t let up after “1999.” Instead, she ups the intensity with “Click,” a track pretty similar in braggadocio to GOOD Music’s 2012 song “Clique.” Charli’s version, however, is updated for the new decade. Saturated in auto-tune, Charli raps over industrial production in a euphoric dream-reality of flexing and friendship.

But as with any clique, “Click” is only as good as its weakest member.

In this case, it is Estonian rapper Tommy Cash. A remarkable beat switch is wasted on his verse, which drags down the rest of the song and sounds like a discount imitation of Keith Ape. With “Warm,” Charli and her guest performers regain their footing. “Warm” features the pop band HAIM, who fit right in over the airy, uncluttered production of the track.

“Warm” belongs to a set of soft, understated songs on “Charli” that also includes “Official,” a sweet, sentimental song about modern love and “February 2017,” another love song for the age, this time rooted in apology and reconciliation.

The real standout guest per-

formance on the album, however, comes from Lizzo on “Blame It On Your Love.”

Lizzo continues her 2019 hot streak with her playful, bubbly verse on this bacchanalian summer anthem. Despite only appearing briefly in a verse toward the end of the song, Lizzo packs a lot of personality into her bars and ad-libs, carefreely cracking and laughing at her own jokes.

Nevertheless, Charli is not to be outshined on her own album — least of all one with her name as the title. Following “Blame It On Your Love,” Charli reaches the high point of the whole LP, “White Mercedes,” another vivid ballad in the vein of “Cross You Out” and “I Don’t Wanna Know.” On “White Mercedes,” Charli returns to her 80s sentimentalities, romanticizing over melodramatic production. The homage, which may have sounded tacky in a less deft hand, is carried by Charli’s heartfelt expression.

Indeed, on “Charli,” she shows off her remarkable capacity to pull nostalgia into the present. The album closes with “2099,” again featuring Sivan. The sequel to “1999,” imagines the future of pop: full of synth and computerized noises and glassy processed vocals — a contemporary dream of a past consciousness of the future of music.

Perhaps that is what “Charli” is trying to capture, the ever-changing future of pop music smelted down and preserved in wax for the new decade. Perhaps in 10 years, “Charli” will sound outdated and amorphous. Perhaps we will look back on it fondly with our own future nostalgia. But for now, at least, it’s a pretty good record.

Winograd Delights with Traditional Klezmer Music Continued from page 9 communities for the genre to develop musically and reach audiences.

Notably, klezmer is still able to draw in young people who are interested in playing the music itself without being conscious of it as a revivalist effort.

But the fragile state of klezmer is also clear, particularly in seeing

how much rides on the musicians themselves.

Winograd spoke about how klezmer musicians have to take on multiple roles, simply in order to sustain a genre that has been built from the ground up.

“You can’t just be a performer; you have to be a teacher; you have to be a scholar; you have to be a composer,” he said.

“You get a scene of just highly developed, very worldly people, because they have to take on so much responsibility just to make music.”

Last week at the concert, I was struck by a multidimensional power in the music, which grew from a dedication for this revivalist music that maintains musical lineages of Jewish American

history, as well as from the dual presence of the 1950s era and the current moment’s trends. To say that I felt I had walked into a 1950s klezmer bar wouldn’t ring true.

Rather, it felt like I was listening to some of the best 1950s-influenced klezmer of the modern age in Northampton on a Wednesday night, and I was

wholly entertained. In music, the past doesn’t stay in one place. All too often, we pigeonhole art that deals with tradition as static and a chore to engage with, but it is contrarily presently compelling and always changing. With such great talent today, revivalism is as current as it ever has been and moving forward. It’s all there for us, but only if we listen.

Arts & Living 11

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Sherally Munshi’s Work Sparks Conversation and Thought Sylvie Palmer ’22 Staff Writer Sherally Munshi laughs as she tells us she was expecting an audience of undergraduates, not tenured professors, before she begins to present her paper, “The Courts of the Conqueror: Law, Infamy,and the Time of Redemption.”

Instead, she saw six law jurisprudence and social thought (LJST) professors, a curious faculty member from another department and myself, perched in a corner typing on my laptop. LJST chair Austin Sarat declared the whole audience “Just overgrown undergraduates!” in response. And so Munshi began.

The chandeliers of the Clark House seminar room glowed warmly in the late afternoon light.

The professors began annotating their copies of Munshi’s paper, scribbling until the margins filled up completely.

The minute Munshi ended her presentation, a fierce game of intellectual tennis between Munshi and

the Amherst professors broke out.

Each volley was marked by beautiful verbal topspin, and returned at the same high velocity with which it had been delivered.

Munshi’s presentation marks the first of a series of seminars to be hosted by Amherst this year on “Law’s Infamy.” As an associate professor of law at Georgetown Law, Munshi’s areas of expertise center around property law, immigration law and legal theory in the United States.

“The Courts of the Conqueror: Law, Infamy and the Time of Redemption” focuses on the 1823 U.S. Supreme Court case Johnson v.

M’Intosh, which held that private citizens could not legally purchase land from Native Americans.

She explained how the case has receded from popular memory, and with it the extraordinary violence captured in the property conflict. She described how the federal government’s power to assert itself over conquered people is not subject to judicial review, and how

“that power is not just rhetorically projected, but beyond the scope of legal redress and constitutional reevaluation.”

Through her research, Munshi traced the evolution of this exorbitant power to the Plenary Power Doctrine, which dictates that the legislative and executive branches of the U.S. government hold the power to regulate indigenous peoples, immigrants and people living in unincorporated territory.

Munshi articulated the unique relationship defined in this case between the U.S. government and the conquered.

Justice John Marshall wrote the opinion for the unanimous court decision of Johnson v. M’Intosh.

While he is most praised for his belief in the power of judicial review, in this case, Marshall remarkably argued that the Court is powerless to intervene.

Munshi described how the real power of Congress is to divide the world into insiders and outsiders: those who are protected by the

Constitution and those who are not. She quoted Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben to illustrate this point: “The paradox of sovereignty consists in the fact that the sovereign is, at the same time, outside and inside the juridical order.”

After Johnson v. M’Intosh reached the Supreme Court, Munshi said, it became clearer than ever that the United States would not engage or exchange with Native Americans as individuals, but rather as dependents of the state — despite how the Constitution’s stated protection of personal property and individual liberty.

She critiqued the government’s infringement on the rights of Native Americans to sell their own land as a “crisis of constitutional legitimacy, durability and desirability.”

Munshi spoke for about 20 minutes, quoting recognized legal and philosophical thinkers and showing maps to display the disputed land and statues of the relevant justices. She then invited questions

and conversation.

Professors jumped at the chance to question Munshi about her paper.

The professors seemed to be demonstrating precisely the kind of critical analysis they hope to see in their own classrooms, asking about the specific language Munshi used.

At a certain point, I had to close my laptop and watch this verbal sparring to fully internalize the nuances of the professors’ questions and counterpoints.

Although they interrupted each other continuously, they still came across as respectful of Munshi and of each other.

The excitement was palpable as the professors began smiling, clearly in their element.

And then suddenly, about an hour and a half in, everyone realized they had gone overtime in their excitement and stopped themselves short, thanking Munshi for her time and thought-provoking paper.

Oasis’ “Definitely Maybe” Remains Iconic After 25 Years Theo Hamilton ’22 Contributing Writer After its release 25 years ago, there are still very few albums that allow themselves to dream as unabashedly as English rock band Oasis’ “Definitely Maybe.” In a booklet released with the album’s 2014 remaster, lead guitarist Noel Gallagher said that he wrote most of its songs while “unemployed, in rented accommodations … living from one week to the next.” The dire conditions did not dampen his ambitions.

From start to finish “Definitely Maybe” rejects the possibility of settling for the everyday world around it, instead constantly leaping for the stars and quite often touching them. The formula worked, catapulting Oasis from nobodies into one of the biggest bands in the world — and the album still makes for a thrilling ride today.

The group wastes no time laying out their manifesto in the opening

track “Rock n’ Roll Star,” a song about trying to escape an uninspiring life in Manchester. This track manages to encapsulate the album both sonically and lyrically. In terms of sound, Oasis would later become known for being hugely inspired by the Beatles, but the music on “Rock n’ Roll Star” is much heavier than that reputation would suggest, mixing elements of punk and psychedelic rock from the 80s with a penchant for wildly over-the-top guitar riffs to create a five-minute blast of pure energy.

Lyrically, the song wastes no time in racing with the album’s all-consuming obsession with stardom. It only takes 90 seconds for Liam Gallagher, the lead singer of the band, to belt out: “In my mind, my dreams are real / Now you’re concerned with the way I feel / Tonight I’m a rock ‘n’ roll star.” By the time the song stutters and fades into silence, it’s almost impossible not to believe him.

The next highlight comes on

“Live Forever,” an optimistic summer ballad built on shuffling drums, punctuated by a searing guitar solo and dominated by the band’s yearning for the impossible.

Even in the face of setbacks, “Live Forever” remains cheerful, with Liam observing “Maybe I will never be / All the things I want to be / Now is not the time to cry / Now’s the time to find out why.” It’s not a complex song, but “Live Forever” makes the powerful argument that rock doesn’t need to be angsty to be inspiring, a message which seems just as relevant in the age of Twenty One Pilots, Panic! At the Disco and Bandcamp indie as it must have been in the time of endless Nirvana wannabes.

Starting with “Columbia,” the album springs into full stride with a torrent of excellent tracks. “Columbia” is a gloriously catchy mess structured around relentlessly spiralling guitars, “yeah yeah yeahs” and a firmly-rooted rhythm section. As fun as “Columbia” is, the

track is nonetheless immediately one-upped by “Supersonic.” Starting with pounding drums and a scraping guitar lingering along at an unhurried tempo, the song buries itself in layer after layer of self-confident euphoria, absurdist imagery and “Yellow Submarine” references to provide the album with a towering centerpiece.

When Liam Gallagher sings, “You could have it all / How much do you want it?” it seems clear enough that he’s already decided on his own answer, but the follow-up track “Bring it on Down” serves to settle any lingering doubts. On this simple, full-speed-ahead sprint of a song, Oasis expresses their disgust at the idea of settling for an exclusive status quo, singing, “You’re the outcast / You’re the underclass / But you don’t care because you’re living fast.” As they have already made clear, Oasis is unwilling to accept a prescribed outcast status.

Despite all the thrill of the album’s rags-to-riches story and the

undeniable catchiness of its best songs, “Definitely Maybe” still has its flaws. Most notably, Oasis’ infatuation with massive anthems and bored dismissal of everyday life make it difficult to find introspection in any of these songs. Although this often results in inspiring, shout-along songs, it leaves some tracks feeling curiously hollow and leaves the album, as a whole, somewhat one-note, an issue which isn’t helped by the band’s strict adherence to a standard formula of two guitars, bass and drums.

But even if it is an imperfect album recorded a full 25 years ago, “Definitely Maybe” is still worth a listen. By consistently combining catchy hooks with a fervent conviction that, regardless of what comes — political disappointment, social marginalization, general malaise — “We’ll find a way / Of chasing the sun,” Oasis created a record which still ripples with excitement today.

Simple? Maybe. Exhilarating? Definitely.

Arts & Living 12

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

“Hustlers” Takes Audience on a Thrilling, Risky Ride

Photo courtesy of Men’s Health

“Hustlers” is already receiving award buzz for one of its leads, actor and singer Jennifer Lopez, who stars in the film alongside Constance Wu. Alex Brandfonbrenner ’22 Contributing Writer It’s hard to call “Hustlers” a movie about stripping. Yes, the ensemble of characters is comprised of strippers at a strip club, most notably Constance Wu as Dorothy, the new girl in the club, and Jennifer Lopez as Ramona, both a motherly mentor and mafia leader.

But the cast spends little of the two-hour run time actually stripping. “Hustlers” doesn’t even put the “hustling” at the forefront — as Dorothy and Ramona scheme to swindle Wall Street investment bankers and steal their coin.

Rather, the film focuses on the friendship (and ensuing tribulations) between Wu’s and Lopez’s characters; in this regard, the film blossoms with help from both of its leading actors.

However, it’s hard to say that Wu fills her newbie stripper role in the movie with ease. Maybe it’s because she’s coming off of “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Fresh

Off The Boat,” both of which featured Wu in roles that are perfectly opposite to her part in “Hustlers.”

Yet, during the film’s most complex moments when Dorothy must navigate her complicated life, sometimes switching from working a minimum-wage job to popping champagne in an NYC penthouse and back within minutes, Wu shines.

On many levels, Lopez’s emphatic Ramona is the star of “Hustlers.”

Before the film, and even as the film started, I found myself anxious: how much would she be in the movie?

I thought it possible that JLo, the superstar that she is, could feasibly make up 20 to 30 minutes of the run-time, pushing the plot from behind the scenes.

This was not the case. Lopez is almost as present as Wu throughout the movie. And in all of her scenes — which start with an extended stripping sequence that shows off Lopez’s fantastic

pole-dancing abilities, cultivated from almost three months of preparation — Lopez’s Ramona is electrifying, exerting a gravitas over her fellow strippers. Her sway spreads to the multitudes of “bro-y” men whom she twirls on her finger — and the audience as well. It’s JLo, and she’s never been better.

Her superstardom accentuates her power in the film — our impressions of her mirrored by her authority in the film.

Lopez shows fluency and awareness in her scenes, from galavanting and having heartto-heart’s with Wu, to walking around the club with her entourage, pushing through glittery curtains montage-style (there is a lot of this) and even working at The Gap at one point, folding jeans.

Seemingly, she is responding to claims that she can’t act. Maybe it’s because she is, in a way, playing herself in this movie; regardless, she has never been better in any medium.

I’d like to say that the film addresses body positivity, race and the portrayal of strippers and sex workers; however, it falls short here.

At the film’s start, a scene features the full cast of strippers getting ready backstage, scantily clad and diverse in race and body type. As Wu walks the floor, also early in the film, a man calls her “Lucy Liu,” poking at Hollywood’s restricted portrayal of Asian women, especially in the mid-2000s, when the film is set.

Beyond this, diversity is only maintained by the continued presence and endurance of its diverse cast, which is still admittedly more than what many films today attempt.

Wu’s and Lopez’s characters are only strippers in name, and both refuse to cross the line into prostitution, even when times get tough. It’s hard to think of them as sex workers as they lavishly party in Ramona’s penthouse.

And by the time they start preying upon their victims, they

don’t really do any stripping. Instead, they’re businesswomen and masters of their field. The film draws connections between the type of theft these women do and the financial crisis caused by Wall Street firms in 2008.

Ramona defends her crimes in the film by asking Wu (and the audience) to look at where the endless bank accounts of their clients (or victims) come from: stolen money taken from the American people. Instead of khakis, suits and mortgage-backed securities, these women have Louboutin heels, chinchilla-fur coats and MDMA. Both steal, taking advantage of American’s modern corporate extravagance.

The only difference is, as Lopez says in the movie’s final moments, the men continue to get away with it. But “Hustlers” invites this political conclusion while maintaining its playful and joyous style, a seamless integration that makes the movie a serious contender for awards this year.

Sports Men’s Tennis Dominates Pair of Opponents in Fall Opener Henry Newton ’21 Managing Sports Editor In what is the team’s only dual matches of the 2019 fall season, the Amherst men’s tennis team scored two dominant victories against Hobart College and Colby-Sawyer College last Saturday.

With only one senior and two juniors on the team this season, the Mammoths will lean on their four first years extensively throughout the fall and spring seasons.

In the first match of the day against the Hobart Statesmen, Amherst jumped out to an early and convincing lead on the doubles courts, with all three Mammoth pairs winning comfortably over their opponents.

The top pair of Sean Wei ’21 and Harris Foulkes ’23 won their match 8-5. On the second court, Damien Ruparel ’22 and Marek Michulka ’23 scored an 8-6 victory, while the third court saw Kevin Ma ’21 and William Turchetta ’22 cruise to an easy 8-2 victory.

The singles courts were similarly drama-free for the Mammoths, as the Mammoths came within a single set of sweeping the Statesmen, with the only loss com-

ing on the second singles court where Ma fell in three sets. In fact, the Mammoths only dropped three sets against Hobart.

After all the matches were complete, Amherst walked away with an 8-1 victory.

The Mammoths then competed against Colby-Sawyer in their second match of the day.

On the doubles courts, the Mammoths were again unbeaten.

Between the three doubles pairs, the Mammoths only dropped two games out of 26 played.

This domination continued to the singles courts, where each competing team member for Amherst won their match handily.

Ma avenged his first match loss. Wei did not play against Colby-Sawyer, so Ma moved up into the first singles slot and performed admirably, defeating his opponent in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.

On the second through sixth courts, the Mammoths only lost one game, with four Mammoths sweeping their opponents 6-0, 6-0.

The Mammoths will play two more individual tournaments this fall, beginning next Friday when they head to Colby for the ITA Regional Tournament.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Sean Wei ’21 and the Amherst men’s tennis team were dominant against Hobart and Colby-Sawyer, only dropping three sets over 18 different matches.

The Roundup: All The Stuff You Missed In Sports This Week Men’s Soccer After trouncing the Merchant Marine Academy 5-0 on Wednesday night, the men’s soccer team matched up against the No. 15 Connecticut College Camels on Saturday afternoon. The Mammoths went down early in the first half when a Camel free kick whipped into the box, deflected off the outstretched mitts of keeper Bernie White ’22 and toward a waiting Conn College attacker, who buried it in the net.

The scoreline held until the last minutes of the game when, with just 76 seconds remaining in regulation, German Giammattei ’22 pulled in a diagonal long ball from center back Nico Kenary ’22 and slotted it home past the outstretched fingertips of the Camel’s keeper. In the overtime period, nothing differentiated the two sides and the match ended in a draw. The Mammoths return to action when they travel to Williamstown next Saturday to face off against the Ephs.

Men’s Golf At the Williams College Fall Invitational, Amherst shot an impressive score of 626 total over two days to finish 14th in a 25-team field against stiff competition.

Senior Nicholas Sullivan carded the Mammoths’ top score, finishing nine strokes off par to finish in the top 30 individual scores.

Jeffrey Herr ’20 improved on his second day to finish in 39th place, Brain Aslanian ’22 finished ten strokes better on day two and Will Lonnquist ’20 also improved on day two.

Nicholas Kumamoto ’20 rounded out the scorers for amherst with 168 total strokes.

Amherst returns to action when they travel to the all-important NESCAC tournament qualifier, which the team missed out on last spring. The event will be the final one of the fall season, although the team will return in the spring.

Women’s Golf The Mammoths finished fourth of 17 teams at the Mount Holyoke College Invitational on Saturday and Sunday.

Senior Morgan Yurosek carded a score just 12 over par in 36 holes to finish 13th, while Janelle Jin ’23 took 15th place, finishing just one stroke behind her captain.

Katie Mina Lee ’23 and India Guame ’22 finished tied for 29th.

Isabelle Ouyang ’21 rounded out the scorers by finishing 20th.

Amherst finished with seven fewer strokes on day two and just 15 strokes behind Middlebury.

Amherst is next set to compete at the Middlebury Invitational Tournament next weekend.

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Sports 14

It’s Not Just Desire and Dedication That Matter Henry Newton ’21 Managing Sports Editor

What is the narrative you most associate with high school or college football? The NCAA would have you believe (and they have conducted an effective propaganda campaign to this effect) that football is the great equalizer: a test of your skill, grit and fortitude, the winner decided by the person with the most heart, the most effort, irrespective of your upbringing and background.

Just look at one of the NCAA’s more recent, and more controversial, commercials, which aired during March Madness. The only line of the production states, after short vignettes depicting a “typical” student-athlete’s day, that “If you have the talent and dedication to succeed in school and in sports, we’ll provide the opportunity.”

There’s no mention of upbringing, where you lived, what high school you went to or how you got there. The messaging is clear: the only thing that matters is your talent and dedication.

Although nice to believe, and effective at perpetuating the NCAA’s particular brand of amateur athletics (we’ll set aside this dubious claim for a minute), this statement ignores the stark and hidden reality behind the opportunities that many colleges afford to these “naturally dedicated” individuals: where you come from and the resources that your school allocates toward athletics.

Football is perhaps the most prominent example of this trend.

Across the nation, standout private high school programs dominate the ESPN 300 list of top recruits, with many offering scholarships, huge sums of money toward athletics programs and facilities that rival or exceed most college football programs.

High schools like Bishop Gorman in Nevada, IMG Academy in Florida and Mater Dei in California throw tens of millions of dollars at their flagship football programs, providing athletes with the resources to better themselves and thrust their profiles into the top echelon of coveted recruits who are subjected to inquiries and offers from college coaches as early as middle school.

Bishop Gorman inaugurated a 41,000-square-foot facility in 2012 that was paid for entirely by donors and rivals those of Alabama, Clemson and Ohio State. IMG Academy recently embarked on a similar program.

Unsurprisingly, these schools dominate college recruiting charts.

And yes, to give them their due, many offer scholarships to deserving athletes who would otherwise not have the chance to attend. But many more pay full tuition, an investment by their parents and the communities’ investment in a future facilitated by the wealth and prestige of these institutions.

These dynamics play out not only in the rarified air of wealthy

private schools: the same phenomenon can be found in places as farflung as rural Iowa or West Virginia, where poor schools repeatedly get dominated by wealthier suburbs, where school and athletic budgets are higher, parents pay for individual coaching for their kid and schools invest in better equipment and rapidly-ballooning coaching staffs.

According to a recent New York Times article, in Iowa, suburban public high schools from Des Moines’ wealthiest suburbs have dominated recent state championships in all divisions (based on school size). High schools from the Des Moines urban area have a cumulative record of 0-104 against suburban Des Moines high schools.

About 75 percent of students at the urban high schools qualify for free or reduced-price school lunches, compared with around 10 percent in neighboring suburban schools.

If you believed the NCAA, the difference has nothing to do with the facilities or the wealth of the community. As they said, it’s down to the individual, “if you have the talent and dedication.”

You will be unable to convince me that the students in suburban high schools consistently “want it more” or naturally have more talent, drive and dedication than those students from some of the poorest high schools in the nation. The difference has to have something — whether that manifests itself in private

coaching, better facilities that improve athletic performance or better and more extensive coaching — in the wealth of the communities who these football teams represent.

Project Play, an initiative focused on youth sports from the Aspen Institute, found that youth sports participation rates are directly tied to the income levels of their communities they come from. Nearly 70 percent of children from families making more than $100,000 play sports. For families making under $25,000? That figure is cut in half.

In a sports culture that places an emphasis on winning at all levels, rather than development, that leaves many of those without the same advantages behind, taking away the equalizing benefits of scholarships to these universities and placing them in the hands of those who have had the best training and refining of their talents, as delivered by wealth.

The reason this matters? Because it’s clear, despite what the NCAA might say, that schools are in the business of winning, rather than developing. Yes, the NCAA and, say, the University of Tennessee will find a way to get you there, but only if you help the school win football games, score goals for the soccer team, make birdies for the golf team and win races for the track team.

The University of Tennessee is not interested in who you can become as an individual. They are interested in who you are as an athlete.

This is why the spirit of amateurism is dying at the highest levels of unpaid athletics. The games, matches, contests, meets, regattas are no longer about the forging of character against the crucible of athletics, as many colleges and universities put it when they began their programs in the 19th century. It’s about results, about winning, about the University of Texas beating the University of Oklahoma.

Kids from these wealthy high schools are reaping the rewards of a system designed to increase access to college. A win-first culture rewards your family’s wealth by giving scholarships to the best players, the fittest athletes, who, as seen above, almost always come from wealthier schools because of the opportunities they have been afforded.

So, this brings us back to where we all started, on high school football fields, with two athletes competing against one another for the opportunity of a lifetime. Your coaches from Hoover High School in Des Moines will tell you that the dimensions are the same, that there are 100 yards between the endzones.

You’ll look over to your right and see a kid from Bishop Gorman lined up next to you. You’ll both start to sprint.

The kid from Bishop Gorman will stop earlier than you.

Nick Saban will give him a scholarship offer, and you’ll be left standing there thinking, “What did he have that I didn’t?”

Volleyball Sweeps NESCAC Opponents on Difficult Maine Swing Connor Haugh ’21 Managing Sports Editor The volleyball team came away from their Maine road trip this weekend with an unblemished NESCAC record, despite two difficult matches against Colby and Bates.

The weekend kicked off Friday night in Lewiston, where the Firedogs battled Bates. Bates and Amherst were both undefeated six games into the season, and the Mammoths had only dropped a single set all season in an earlier win over Emerson College.

Bates, from the opening serve,

however, challenged the Firedogs.

Although the Mammoths won the first set 25-21, Bates took the second set after Amherst struggled to put together back-to-back points. Amherst then rallied from a 10-0 deficit in the third set to win 25-21, leaving the Bobcats in a do-or-die fourth set to protect their perfect record. Bates came out of the gate quickly, making a seven-point run early in the set and preserving their lead to force overtime.

The Firedogs, despite smooth sailing so far this season, were prepared for the fifth set. Amherst took seven of the first nine points of the

set, and the Firedogs ended victorious on a kill by Emily Kolsky ’20 set

by Charlotte Duran ’20.

The Firedogs then had a quick turnaround, as they traveled 50 miles down east to Waterville the next morning to face Colby and Endicott in a tri-match.

Amherst made light work of Colby, which only finished within 10 points of Amherst in the first set when they lost 25-17. Sophie Launsbach ’22 and Jamie Dailey ’21 both had 13 kills each and Duran had 34 assists.

Amherst’s match against Endicott, however, proved to be more

difficult. Heading into the matchup, the Gulls were ranked No. 6 in the New England Women’s Volleyball Association Regional Poll to Amherst’s ninth.

The Firedogs won the first set 25-22 after Cameron Hendricks ’20 killed the ball for the final point. In the second set, Amherst continued to dominate, and it appeared that the higher-ranked Gulls were folding under the might of the Firedogs, as numerous Endicott handling errors led to a 25-10 scoreline in favor of Amherst. Amherst, now in a sizeable lead, had to take just one of the following three sets, but the Gulls

showed great tenacity and took the match, handing Amherst its first loss of the season.

As Amherst looks to battle toward its second NESCAC Final — in just as many years after a 10-year drought — it will need to prepare a strong resume in conference play.

Playing Endicott, however, certainly may prove a valuable experience for head coach Sue Everden’s squad as they move forward and learn to respond to difficult opponents.

Amherst’s next matchup is against NESCAC heavyweights Middlebury on Friday, Sept. 25 in LeFrak Gym at 7 p.m.

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Veronica Rocco ’19 Returns to Running as Hitchcock Fellow

Sports 15

Views From Sparrow’s Nest Matt Sparrow ’21 Columnist Matt Sparrow examines the strange curse of gracing the cover of popular video game series “Madden,” and how many of the players who are featured repeatedly experience misfortune and failure, like last year’s cover: Antonio Brown.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Veronica Rocco ’19 will coach cross country (pictured) and Track & Field as the 2019-20 Hitchcock Fellow.

Kasia Krosniak ’21 Copy Editor The Student sat down with Veronica Rocco ’19, the 2019-2020 Hitchcock Fellow, for an interview. The Hitchcock Fellowship is offered annually to a graduating Amherst senior. The Hitchcock Fellow coaches two varsity teams and helps direct the intramural program. Rocco will be coaching both the men’s and women’s cross country and track and field teams. She also serves as a liaison to the Student Athletes Advisory Committee.

Q: Why did you decide to apply for the fellowship?

A: When I heard about the position as a first year, I was immediately super excited about it, because I’ve known since junior/senior year of high school that I wanted to be a coach. So when I heard about it, I knew that it was something I was really interested in pursuing.

Q: Why do you want to be a coach?

A: In high school, I really looked up to my coaches, and I really, really enjoyed running in high school and in college. Being around track and cross country every day would be a dream.

I’m really passionate about coaching on the college level because I think in college you have a unique opportunity to be coaching full-time and devoting your time to this one team.

Q: How has your experience been so far?

A: It’s been really great, and I’m really loving it. I really like working

with everyone on the cross country team and my favorite part is working with the student-athletes. The hardest part is figuring out what my role as a coach is, [because I was] teammates with the people that I’m now coaching.

Q: How has the adjustment from teammate to coach been?

A: Honestly, I’m still figuring it out.

I got a lot of good advice from my mentor through the United States Track and Field College Coaches Association female coaching mentorship program, Caroline Martin, and I also talked to Luke Maher who is the head coach at Conn [College] now … It’s a really great and amazing opportunity, but it’s also really difficult because I’m coaching student-athletes who are younger than me, but [whom] I also know really well as people … It’s definitely really hard and a unique spot to be in.

Q: Are you glad you did it?

A: Yes! I’m really glad I have this opportunity, because I really want to go into coaching long term, and I’d really love to be a coach at a school like this—a highly selective DIII-school — because I really enjoyed and valued my experiences as a student-athlete here. I was able to explore anything that interested me, and I really believe that all student-athletes should have that experience … I think coaching is really fun and unique because you’re interacting with 17-22 year olds on a near daily basis, and it’s really fun to be able to see them grow as people throughout their four years.

Over the past six months or so, one name has dominated NFL headlines unlike any other: Antonio Brown. Two days after being released by the New England Patriots, Brown announced on his Twitter account that he would no longer play in the NFL. That concluded a stunning fall from grace for arguably the best wide receiver of his generation, all in rapid succession, no less. However, there will be some who say that they saw the whole thing coming the minute that Brown was confirmed to be the cover athlete for the 2019 edition of the popular “Madden” video games series. The Madden Curse is a belief that whatever player is on the cover of the popular video game is doomed to have a terrible season, either due to injury, lack of performance, off-the-field issues or some combination thereof. In the 20-year history of “Madden” having athletes on the front jacket of the game, there have been an uncanny amount of misfortunes, mishaps and maladies have struck some of the best stars in football, with Antonio Brown just the latest to fall under the spell. In this spirit, I’m going to recount some of the more memorable players to fall victim to the Madden Curse, and why the Chiefs should think about putting the reigning MVP in bubble wrap.

to a few more productive seasons, he never quite matched the glory of his 1998 season.

Madden NFL 1999: Garrison Hearst The first player to appear on the cover of Madden was San Francisco 49ers running back Garrison Hearst.

After a number of so-so seasons to start his career, Hearst broke out in 1998 (the year on the video game is always one higher than the season in which it was released). He finished third in the NFL with 1,570 rushing yards, was selected for his first Pro Bowl and was honored with a Second-Team All Pro selection. Why is he on this list then?

Well, he broke his ankle on the first play of the game in the second round of the playoffs and complications in his recovery caused him to miss two full years. While he would return in 2001

Madden NFL 2017: Rob Gronkowski While there were numerous examples between 2004 and 2017 of players underperforming while manning the cover, I wanted to go with a more recent example. Coming off of two of the best seasons by a tight end in NFL history, Gronk immediately missed the first two games of the season with a hamstring injury and barely played in the next two. He started to pick up the pace over the Patriots’ next five games before a week 10 pulmonary contusion knocked him out of the next matchup.

He returned in week 12 against the Jets, but exited without catching a single pass due to a back injury. The Patriots shut him down for the rest of the

Madden NFL 2002: Daunte Culpepper Culpepper looked like a safe bet to put a halt to the Madden Curse.

If throwing for a league-leading 33 touchdowns and guiding the Vikings to a conference championship appearance in your first year as a starting quarterback doesn’t instill confidence, what would? Nonetheless, Culpepper struggled in 2001, passing for only one more touchdown than interception before a week 12 knee injury cut his season short. He returned fully healthy in 2002, only to lead the league in interceptions that season. In actuality, this is one of the most devastating examples of the “curse.”

Madden NFL 2004: Michael Vick Coming off a Pro Bowl season in which Vick’s running ability redefined what the quarterback position could be, the former No. 1 overall pick broke his right fibula during the preseason, causing him to miss the first 11 games of the year. He returned to throw only four touchdowns versus three interceptions later in the season. His career never regained its past glory.

year, and Gronk had to watch from the sidelines as New England came back from a 28-3 deficit to win the Super Bowl.

Madden NFL 2019: Antonio Brown This one speaks for itself. His 2018 season was actually pretty solid, if not below average by Brown’s lofty standards. He recorded 104 receptions for 1,297 yards and a league-leading 15 touchdown catches in his first 15 games. The final week of the regular season was where it began to fall apart.

With the Steelers’ playoff hopes on the line, Brown got into an argument with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and skipped out on practice all week long. Brown was benched for his behavior and requested a trade following the season. He was dealt to the Oakland Raiders after Brown protested a proposed deal to the Buffalo Bills on Twitter. He missed most of training camp dealing with his frostbitten feet and nearly retired because he couldn’t wear his favorite helmet.

Just when it seemed like Brown had turned a corner, an argument with his General Manager over screenshots that he had posted on his Instagram story of fines he had incurred while missing time, which led to his release.

The Patriots signed him and he played only one game before allegations of sexual abuse from two different women surfaced, leading to his second release in as many weeks.

In light of one of the worst cases of the Madden Curse yet, all eyes are now on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes to see how he responds to being the cover athlete for Madden 20.

Considering that Mahomes is leading the NFL in touchdown passes, passing yards and quarterback rating through the first three weeks of the season, it seems the curse has avoided him. Nevertheless, if there’s one thing that the Madden Curse teaches, it’s to always be mindful and never question its power, because you never know when it will strike.

The Amherst Student • September 25, 2019

Sports 16

Field Hockey Defeats Conn in Conference Matchup Tyler Marshall ’21 Staff Writer The field hockey team hosted Connecticut College for an early season NESCAC matchup on Saturday, Sept. 21. Both teams entered the day with an 0-2 record in conference play, but the Mammoths had an overall record of 3-2, whereas the Camels lagged behind with a record of 1-3.

A key reason for Amherst’s success in non-conference games this season has been its ability to get off to a fast start. In total, the Mammoths outscored their opponents 12-1 in the first half of their three out-ofleague games this season — so this was something they were looking to replicate in this contest. They executed the plan well, as Amherst dominated possession in the first half.

They outshot Conn 24-7 and had eight more corners than their opponents.

But despite controlling the game and having numerous scoring opportunities, the Mammoths just couldn’t break through in the first 27 minutes of play. Finally, with just under three minutes left in the first half, Natalie Hobbs ’22 found the back-left corner of the goal on a rebound to give Amherst a 1-0 lead. This was Hobbs’ fourth goal of the season; it tied her with Beth Williamson ’22 for the team lead in goals.

The Mammoths came out of halftime with a 1-0 lead and continued to dominate possession in the third quarter. The Camels were unable to record a shot in the third

quarter, with the score remaining 1-0 after 45 minutes of action. Amherst could not extend its lead any further, making for an exciting fourth quarter.

Conn had numerous chances to tie the game, but none were better than the one that came with just under 4:30 left on the clock when the Camels were awarded a penalty stroke after an Amherst defender used her body to prevent a goal from being scored. However, the stroke went wide of the goal, giving Amherst a 1-0 victory and its first NESCAC win of the year.

Sage Geyer ’22, Anna Agathis ’21 and Laura Schwartzman ’20 had strong performances in the midfield and played an important role in Amherst’s dominance in the possession battle.

Agathis and Schwartzman demonstrated strong leadership as they kept their teammates calm and composed down the stretch in a tight game. Williamson, Grace Johnson ’21 and Sophia Kaplan ’22 helped Emilie Flamme ’20 earn her third shutout of the season by maintaining a strong defense.

It was a good week for the Mammoths with another victory against Endicott College on Wednesday.

Amherst won this non-conference matchup with a score of 3-0. Hobbs, Williamson and Schwartzman all recorded goals for the Mammoths.

Amherst will be back in action on Wednesday at MIT before taking on Williams and Middlebury this weekend.

G A M E WED SCHE DULE

Field Hockey @ MIT, 6:30 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Anna Agathis ’20 played a central role in the Mammoth midfield against Conn College, linking play between defense and attack and marshalling the front lines of Amherst’s defense.

FRI

SAT

Volleyball vs. Middlebury, 7 p.m.

Field Hockey @ Williams, 11 a.m.

Men’s Golf @ NESCAC Qualifier

Men’s Tennis ITA Regionals @ Middlebury

Women’s Soccer @ Williams, noon

Men’s Tennis ITA Regionals @ Middlebury

Women’s Tennis ITA Regionals @ Middlebury

Football @ Tufts, 1 p.m.

Women’s Golf @ Middlebury College Invitational

Men’s Cross Country @ Purple Valley Invitational, 12:10 p.m.

Women’s Tennis ITA Regionals @ Middlebury

Volleyball vs. Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, 1 p.m.

Women’s Cross Country @ Purple Valley Invitational, 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @ Williams, 1 p.m.