Issue 5

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLVI, ISSUE 5 l WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 5, 2016

Women’s Soccer Goes 2-0 on Week See Sports, Page 10 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

Copeland Colloquium Focuses on Guns Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor

Photo by Sarah Wishloff ’19

AAS President Karen Blake ‘17 (right) speaks to Genevieve Narcisse ‘19 at the AAS’ first “campus-wide tea time” on Sunday, Oct. 2. The AAS welcomed 12 new senators on Monday, Oct. 3.

Students Elect 12 New AAS Senators

Kathleen Maeder ’20 Staff Writer

The Association of Amherst Students held elections to select senators from the classes of 2017, 2019 and 2020 on Sept. 28.

The senators elected to represent the class of 2020 are Jordan Edwards, Greg Franklin, Sade Green, Billy Jang, Natalia Khoudian, Lauren Knight, Daniel Njoo and Jenine Shepherd. Two students from the Class of 2018, Fernando Lopez and Phillip Yan, were also elected. In addition, Samuel Wolansky ’17 and Mohammed Ibrahim ’17 were chosen as write-in candidates, since no senior student campaigned for senate.

According to AAS Secretary Silvia Sotolongo ’19, the two write-in candidates were contacted shortly after the election to accept or decline their election. Both Wolansky and Ibrahim decided to accept.

“I am very surprised by the fact that I won,” said Ibrahim in an email interview.

According to Ibrahim, he was written in as a candidate after students jokingly shared memes on the class Facebook page, using an image of Ibrahim from the college bike share program’s

advertisements.

“I think it will be an experience and an opportunity to learn and do something different in my last year here,” Ibrahim said. “Also, there are certain decision making processes I look forward to taking part in and hopefully influencing.”

Ibrahim also said that he questions whether or not his election accurately represented the views of his entire class, since he does not know how many people voted.

Abbas Shah ’18 and Areej Hasan ’18, members of the AAS Election Committee, noted a decrease in the number of students running for senate and lower voter participation.

“We really had to convince people to run and fill the seats,” said Hasan, who has been the committee chair since last year. “A couple years ago, there would be 20 to 30 first-years running for eight spots, but in the recent years it’s been around nine to 10 for the eight spots. And for upperclassmen, it’s been either less people running or the same amount.”

Prior to last week’s election, the AAS had numerous vacancies in the senate. In order to vote on certain issues, such as budgetary re-

quests, the senate is required to meet quorum, and vacancies and frequent absences in the past made it difficult for the senate to conduct its weekly business.

Following this election, there will no longer be any vacancies in the senate. However, there is still concern regarding the student body’s opinion of the AAS, according to Shah.

“I think there is this misconception that the AAS is powerless, it does nothing on campus and that conversely, ironically, it takes up a lot of your time,” said Shah.

According to Hasan, the apparent lack of interest in the AAS may partially stem from the 2014 controversy surrounding the election of the AAS President. A former AAS president elected in the spring of 2014 faced criticism for exceeding the campaign spending limit of $45 to purchase posters. A new election was held in the fall of 2014, in which Tomi Williams ’16 was elected president.

Hasan said that this scandal may have contributed to disinterest in student government among current students.

Continued on Page 3

The Copeland Colloquium, a biennial event featuring lectures, discussions and other events, will be held this year with the theme “The Social Life of Guns.”

The main event of the colloquium will be a conference titled “The Symbolic and Material Construction of Guns,” which will be held in March 2017. Researchers from various institutions across the country will present research on this topic at the event. In addition, the Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought department’s lecture series has adopted the theme “Guns in Law” and will invite speakers specializing in the topic of the colloquium.

The theme proposal was submitted by a group of faculty members from a variety of academic departments, including anthropology, political science and sexuality, women’s and gender studies, that met for regular discussions on the subject of violence over the past two years.

“Over the course of those conversations, it became clear that we were sort of concentrating our questions around material aspects of violence and that there was interest in the group about the gun in particular,” said Professor of Political Science Andrew Poe, one of the colloquium organizers.

According to Poe, the colloquium will extend these discussions in the form of interdisciplinary “broader conversations” about the role of guns in society and culture.

“There’s this well-known cliché, popularized by gun advocates, that ‘guns don’t kill people, people kill people,’” he said. “It was our thought that really, something might be changing in American culture, in gun culture and in how guns are produced and used that might actually make that cliché invalid.”

As part of the colloquium organizers’ aim to bring outside voices to campus, four fellows from other institutions will be conducting research at Amherst with the sponsorship of a faculty member.

“When I read about this year’s focus, it was obvious to me that I needed to apply,” said Chad Kautzer, one of the four Copeland fellows, in an email interview. Kautzer, an assistant professor of

Continued on Page 3

Four New Student Members Join Mascot Committee Audrey Cheng ’20 Staff Writer The co-chairs of the Student Traditions Committee selected new student members to the Mascot Committee on Sunday, Oct. 2 after an application process that ended on Sept. 27.

The Mascot Committee is comprised of students, alumni, faculty and staff. With the exception of Association of Amherst Students President Karen Blake ’17, the nine students in the committee are part of the Student Traditions Committee. According to Alejandro Nino Quintero ’18, the committee’s co-chair, returning members had planned to select three new members but accepted four due to high interest.

The Mascot Committee formed last semes-

ter after Cullen Murphy ’74, chair of the board of trustees, released a statement in January that said the college would stop using Lord Jeff, the college’s former unofficial mascot, in its official communications. The announcement came in the wake of Amherst Uprising student protests last November.

Because Murphy said that the official mascot would not be selected “by decree” and instead called on students and alumni to form a group to facilitate the process, the statement provided a mandate and general framework for the committee, Nino Quintero said.

Shortly after the statement was released, the Student Traditions Committee and Alumni Executive Committee began to meet to discuss the process of selecting a new, official mascot.

They formed the Mascot Committee, which

consisted of five student members at the time.

The committee, which used to be under the jurisdiction of the AAS, has since branched out and filled many seats with at-large members.

Harrison Haigood ’18, the committee’s other co-chair, said the committee is making the process of mascot selection as robust as possible in order to avoid criticism.

The committee will gather the opinions of a wide range of students, alumni, faculty and staff, said Nino Quintero. It plans to host events to raise awareness of the process, and will meet with campus affinity groups, sports teams and publications.

“Our goal is just to facilitate the community-building and make sure we’re as transparent and engaging as possible,” Nino Quintero said.

One of the central aims of the committee

is to remain objective. While each student on campus will have a vote, the committee will also consider the opinions of alumni, Nino Quintero said. In collaboration with the the math and statistics departments, the committee has decided to hold a final ranked vote in order to reach a consensus while avoiding runoff voting.

Once the process to submit new mascot ideas opens, the committee anticipates approximately 100 submissions, according to Nino Quintero. Through preliminary votes, it will narrow the submissions to about five choices.

The final vote is scheduled for March 2017, and a final choice must be made by April. The official mascot will be launched during homecoming next year.

News

Phillip Pang Sept. 27, 2016 - Oct. 3, 2016

>>Sept. 29, 2016 7:19 p.m., Book and Plow Farm An officer investigated a man observed entering a greenhouse during hours when the farm appeared closed. It was discovered the man had permission to be there.

8:10 p.m., King Dormitory An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in a basement room and found it activated when a resident smoked marijuana. The resident was fined $100 for the smoking violation.

8:16 p.m., King Dormitory While investigating a smoke detector sounding in a basement room, an officer discovered the resident was in possession of marijuana and a glass bong used for smoking. The items were confiscated and the matter was referred to Student Affairs.

>>Sept. 30, 2016 12:22 a.m., Quadrangle Road A vehicle obstructing the roadway on the main quad was towed.

11:58 p.m., Seelye House Several callers complained about loud music at a registered party.

Officers attempted to reach the party sponsor by phone but were unsuccessful. Upon arrival, officers found loud music and hard alcohol present which is a violation of the Option One party policy. The sponsor could not be found. The alcohol was confiscated and the event was shut down.

>>Oct. 1, 2016 9:10 p.m., Greenway Building D While in Greenway D, an officer observed that a resident was burning a candle in their room. It was confiscated and the resident was fined $100 for the fire safety violation.

9:12 p.m., Hitchcock House Officers responded to a noise complaint and found a group of students playing a drinking game on the second floor. The activity was stopped and alcohol, including hard alcohol, was confiscated.

11:02 p.m., Hitchcock House Officers responded to a noise complaint and found loud music coming from the common room where a party was registered.

The volume was turned down. A second complaint was received shortly after and officers returned.

They found that the event had ended.

>>Oct. 1, 2016 11:40 p.m., Hitchcock House While responding to a noise complaint at a registered party, officers discovered that there was evidence of drinking games and an excessive amount of alcohol, including hard alcohol, was available in violation of the Option One party regulations.

11:42 p.m., Mayo-Smith House

A town resident complained about noise from a party at Mayo-Smith.

The party sponsor could not be reached by phone. Upon arrival, officers found violations of Option One party regulations and shut the event down.

>>Oct. 2, 2016 12:13 a.m., Mayo-Smith House Officers responded to a noise complaint at a registered party and found violations of option one party regulations. The building was overcrowded, an excessive amount of alcohol was available including hard alcohol, there was evidence of underage drinking and the party sponsor could not be located. The event was shut down.

12:28 a.m., Wilson Admissions Office An officer on patrol found two people attempting to climb onto the roof. They were identified as students and warned about their actions.

1:50 a.m., Hitchcock House An intoxicated student was found urinating in the hall on the second floor where a party was taking place. He was fined $100 for the behavior and will be charged for the clean up.

2:47 p.m., Jenkins Dormitory A resident reported the theft of a mounted boar head. It is valued at $200.

3:02 p.m., Newport House An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in the basement and found it was activated by cooking.

6:27 p.m., Greenway Building C Officers investigated smoke detectors sounding on the second floor and found that they had been activated by use of the kitchen.

8:53 p.m., Fayerweather Hall An officer investigated a possible violation of the Student Affairs office no-contact order between two students. The matter was referred to Student Affairs.

10:21 p.m., Mayo-Smith House An officer responded to a complaint of noise at a registered party and issued a warning.

10:34 p.m., Mayo-Smith House While addressing a noise complaint, an officer discovered three bottles of hard alcohol, in violation of the Option One party policy. The alcohol was disposed of.

11:14 p.m., Mayo-Smith House Officers responded to a second noise complaint at a registered party. The event ended. >>Oct. 3, 2016 12:28 a.m., Merrill Science Road Officers responded to a report of three intoxicated males. They were located and evaluated. No further assistance was needed.

Thoughts on Theses Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought

Phillip Pang ’17 is a Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought major. His thesis explores the shaping of Asian-American identity through language and the power of language to alter the concept of self in society.

His advisor is Professor Martha Umphrey.

Q: Can you give me an overview of your thesis?

A: I am studying the development of AsianAmerican identity through periods of civil unrest in the 1970s, 1990s and the 21st century, but the majority of my work will hinge on language. How do we identify and recognize ourselves and others through language, and where in hate speech and denigrating language is the power to harm?

What changes do we make or attempt to make in language through social movement? For example, what meaning is there in the adoption of the term “Asian-American” as self-referential, or the erasure of the term “Oriental” from government language? There is a power in language to build and to shatter worlds, and I want to explore that as much as I can.

Q: Why did you choose this topic?

A: There are a lot of things that led me to this moment, but the largest was researching affirmative action last fall at around the same time that the Amherst Uprising happened. I had already begun to see that Asian-American positions on affirmative action are quite fragmented despite referencing the same history of deep marginalization in the United States, and when Uprising happened, there was this surreal moment of realizing that none of the voices around me were coming from people who looked like me or shared similar experiences to my own. I realized that as the son of immigrant parents, I am very disconnected from Asian-American history, yet I have to face its legacy every day, and that automatically sets me on the back foot when speaking about race and identity.

This thesis is an attempt to understand myself, in a lot of ways — how I have been built up, almost without knowing it, through the law and language and culture of this country.

Q: Why did you choose to study these specific time-periods?

A: Well, these are really specific times in AsianAmerican history with regards to language. The 1970s really brought along the phrase “model minority” and “Asian-American.” But in general, the ’70s were a time fraught with protest and civil unrest, particularly anti-war movements against the war in Vietnam, which really sparked a wave of Asian-Americans entering political dialogue for the first time. I chose the 1990s next because that’s when critical race theory became mainstream. So a lot of good texts that I’m using on this subject were written in the ’90s. It really marked a major time when hate speech on campuses was analyzed — particularly because college campuses were becoming much more diverse at that time. As for the 21st century, I’ve just really been inspired by the student movements happening on college campuses around the country. Like I said, my interest in this subject was really sparked by Amherst Uprising here on campus, so I really want to understand this 21st century moment of civil unrest and its attempt to prevent tragedy.

Q: How do you think Asian-Americans internalized, through language, a sense of being the “model minority?” How did this type of language change how Asian-Americans viewed themselves?

A: In some ways, I believe we latch onto it. Asian culture tends to value an “If you work hard enough, you can achieve anything” type of attitude, and this seems to be quite similar to commonplace American cultural values. So Asian-Americans really attached themselves to this sense of “model minority” in hopes of assimilating into the general

society. However, there is this disconnect because harmful language such as “Jap” or “Ching” were used to create this sense of non-belonging in the Asian-American [community] that really forced them to try to legitimize their very existence. If someone calls me an “Oriental,” I have to work to justify myself and prove my existence as an American, or even a person, before the dialogue can continue.

Q: How do you compare language used against Asian-Americans to the language used against other minorities?

A: In many ways, it is the same. It always references a sense of non-belonging — of not being American or American enough. If I’m told over and over again that I don’t belong here, I’m going to start believing it. To a large extent, Asian-Americans, like many other minorities, are also pressured to act in certain ways. For Asian-Americans, the concept of “model minority” is one we joke around with playfully within Asian-American communities, but this language undoubtedly has placed greater pressures to work harder and to be “models.” In many ways, it’s hard to separate words from actions — they are very intertwined. And this unfortunately is a reality for minorities of all kinds.

Q: How does your own identity as an AsianAmerican inform or direct your research?

A: For Asian-Americans, we occupy now this inbetween space, where we’re not really part of the norm but we’re not truly part of the marginalized groups in many respects either. It’s a confusing place to be, and I understand in certain respects what that means. Being Asian-American basically helps inform my research because anything that I personally have questions about through my own experiences, I can use that as a starting point for my research.

Q: How has your relationship with your advisor developed throughout your thesis?

A: Professor Umphrey is in large part the reason I became an LJST major. For me, it means a lot, and I’m really grateful for the fact that Professor Umphrey is really open. She’ll take my thoughts and walk me through more theoretical understandings, but at the same time point me back towards other sources. For me, I have this vast source of knowledge at my disposal, which is really great to have. But more than that, she’s the type of professor who, if you’re writing a thesis with [her], makes you feel as if you can actually accomplish what you’re trying to do. In a lot of ways, she lets me take my ideas in whatever direction I want and makes me explore that to its limits — and it’s been really reassuring, seeing another person have that type of confidence in you.

Q: What advice do you have to those considering writing a thesis?

A: I’d say to them that don’t think at all about writing a thesis just to write a thesis. You’re going to get burned out. It’s really hard to fill out a hundredplus pages on something that you’re not particularly interested in. You shouldn’t do it to graduate with honors or to have something on your résumé.

Those aren’t good reasons to write a thesis. If you find something that you’re really passionate about — something that makes you want to go to the library to read up on it, that makes you want to talk to people about it, the kind of subject that keeps you up at night — if you find that, then you have a thesis.

— Edward Rego ’19

The Amherst Student • October 5, 2016

News

3

Colloquium Discusses Role of Guns in Society Continued from Page 1

philosophy at Lehigh University, will arrive at the college in January to start his research.

“As a Copeland Fellow, I will be able to expand on this work in my book project, ‘Good Guys with Guns: Whiteness, Masculinity, and the Politics of Sovereignty,’” Kautzer said. “This book will provide a new framework for understanding the social significance of firearms.”

Copeland Fellow Jennifer Yida Pan, a PhD student in English at the University of Chicago, has already arrived. Pan said that the theme of the colloquium related closely to her own research interests in firearms and literature from the 18th century to the present.

The final two fellows are Nathan Shelton, a PhD student in sociology at the University of Wisconsin and Alex Young, who recently received a PhD in English from the University of Southern California.

The colloquium also includes weekly lunch discussions for college faculty and researchers in order to “motivate faculty to engage in an interdisciplinary conversation that might be of interest but outside their basic areas of specialty,” said Poe. Pan said that she has enjoyed these discussions so far, describing them as “incredibly stimulating.” She added that they may help shape her dissertation.

Photo courtesy of Takudzwa Tapfuma ‘17

Jennifer Yida Pan conducts research at the Center for Humanistic Inquiry on Monday, Oct. 3. Pan is one of four Copeland Fellows who will conduct research at the college on the colloquium’s topic, “The Social Life of Guns.”

College Plans to Hire Visiting Education Studies Professor Jacob Gendelman ’20 Staff Writer The college will hire a visiting education studies professor to teach for three years starting in the fall of 2017, said Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein in an email on Sept. 29 to a group of students who actively promoted education studies at Amherst.

According to Epstein, Charles Lewis ’64, a lifetime trustee of the college, agreed on Sept. 26 to fund the position, which will be called the “LewisSebring Professor of Education Studies.” Epstein said Lewis has an interest in “educating educators.”

He also funds the Program Director of Careers in Education Professions Robert Siudzinski, who is in charge of the Ed Pros Fellowship program.

Professors Karen Sanchez-Eppler, Hilary Moss and Ron Lembo are on the search committee for the visiting professor, with Sanchez-Eppler as the chair. Epstein said the committee will look at multiple departments for professors interested in education studies.

The professorship comes following numerous student and faculty proposals for education studies at the college. Students first informally asked for an education studies curriculum in 2013 during a dinner at President Biddy Martin’s house.

Moss said that because of the students’ interest,

she and Robert Siudzinski co-taught a course called “Imagining Education Studies” last year.

Students in the course studied the college’s curriculum and researched education studies at other liberal arts colleges. After finding historical evidence that the college’s mission statement includes education studies, the students compiled their research into a proposal, which they presented to the Committee on Education Policy and formally submitted to Epstein. Epstein sent this proposal to Lewis before he decided to fund the professorship.

In the proposal itself, students argued that the college should hire a visiting education studies professor. According to Moss, the students wrote that the college is an outlier in that it does not of-

fer education studies classes. They also said that Amherst students were already pursuing education studies research and other related projects.

The proposal culminated with a call for a visiting professor, which was approved by Epstein.

Epstein, however, said that it is unlikely that Amherst will have an education studies department any time soon. She said there may be a program or a concentration within a department, but the structure of that program would then depend on the department under which it was listed.

Anna Vuong ’18, who took “Imagining Education Studies,” said she envisioned an interdisciplinary education studies department, with crosslisted classes.

Student Affairs Addresses Incident of Bias

Senators Join AAS

Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor

Continued from Page 1

“That seems to be the chronological marker for when interest in Senate died down,” she said.

According to Shah, the AAS is planning to change students’ opinions and to increase involvement with the student body through outreach events. Such events include “all-campus tea times,” the first of which was held the evening of Oct. 2 in Frost Library.

“There have also been talks of reducing the amount of senators per grade,” said Hasan. This may limit the effects of absences, he said, allowing the senate to reach quorum more frequently.

“It’s not really a fully fleshed idea, but it just reflects that people recognize that there is a problem, and people are proposing solutions,” Hasan said.

Chief Student Affairs Officer Suzanne Coffey sent a campuswide email last Thursday addressing a widely shared Facebook post about alleged incidents involving racial bias on campus. In her email, Coffey reminded community members of the college’s processes for responding to “incidents of bias and disrespect.”

“In all cases, students who believe that they have been subject to offensive behavior or that the Honor Code has been violated are consulted about their experiences and given options for how the college should be involved,” Coffey wrote. “Staff from the Office of Student Affairs can and do take a range of measures — formal or informal — in order to reduce conflict, repair injury and improve the quality of life within the community.”

ShoYoung Shin ’19 wrote the Facebook post on Sept. 24. In the post, she described an incident in which a white student made racially biased comments in her sociology class, as well as another

Picture this:

YOU

incident involving a tense conversation between a white male student and a group of Asian students in front of Seligman House. Shin said the student confronted the group and made statements suggesting that students of color on financial aid should be thankful to him, since he paid full tuition.

Shin said that the post had received more attention than she had expected and that many alumni have contacted her in response to the post.

According to Shin, the incident came to the attention of staff at the college, including deans with whom she has been in contact. Dean Gendron, the director of conduct and community standards and associate dean of students, has communicated with Shin about her options in responding to the incident, Shin said.

When reached for comment via email, Coffey said that she was unable to discuss the specifics of the incident, but that the college was working toward “creating an inclusive environment” through several avenues, including the resource centers for students, the Task Force on Diversity and Inclu-

As a photographer for The Student!

sion and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Norm Jones, the college’s chief diversity and inclusion officer, said his office would provide a statement, but had not provided one by press time.

On Sunday, Oct. 2, the “Dialogue on Race” discussion centered on students of Asian heritage and their experiences on campus. Professor Jyl Gentzler, who organizes the discussion series, made this issue the focus of this week’s discussion after she became aware of the incident, Shin said.

“Many participants, myself included, noted that this was the first institutionally sponsored racial dialogue on Asian-Americans,” Alex Liu ’19, who attended the dialogue, said. “Even when discussing Asian-American race relations in private and with friends, dialogue can hit a wall, as discrimination against Asian-Americans is wrongly perceived as not being as prevalent or harmful as discrimination against other minorities.”

Shin said that she hoped that in the future, the college would be more open in dealing with incidents like these as well as the “tough conversations” that follow.

Contact astudent@ amherst.edu for more info

Opinion

THE AMHERST

Amherst’s Changing Social Climate Editorial Critiques of social life at Amherst are nothing new. From the demolition of the Socials to various changes in party policy to the current glaring lack of diverse options, the search for solutions to the problems surrounding social life on campus has reached a new climax. It’s evident that the college experience extends beyond the academic and academically-associated extracurricular sphere. To hinder, rather than nourish, a portion of Amherst life that is undoubtedly crucial to the formation of meaningful relationships is unrealistic in today’s collegiate social climate. As students continue to navigate the new set-up of the social scene, it’s crucial to maintain a balance between the goals of safety that the administration, police officers and students all share with the social needs of the student body. The editorial board urges transparency and collaboration in a necessary reassessment of party policy at the college.

We recognize, of course, that it is crucial to consider the side of the administration and Amherst College police in this assessment. Safety is the main priority in any situation, and this is of course a noble goal.

However, restrictive regulations and confrontational encounters only further provoke dangerous behavior that make students look for creative solutions to evade strictness. We do not envy or blame the police officer tasked with breaking up a party on a Saturday night. But, we do urge increased transparency and acknowledgement. If students knew the police officers that were coming to check on their party, they would not feel intruded upon and likely treat them with more respect. More importantly, a clear understanding of the direct goals and details of the College’s party policy would help students follow these guidelines.

When a party is shut down, the reasons behind such action are seldom clearly explained to students, and they then only walk away confused and unprepared to conduct a future social gathering on campus.

If students were permitted to be appropriately involved in the formation or editing of the party policy, they would be undoubtedly more willing to follow it. There are gaps between student and administrator perceptions when it comes to partying, which result in misunder-

standings when it comes to actual implementation.

The flux of Amherst’s drinking culture in part coincides with the altering of campus social spaces. The spaces in the triangle seem to be more heavily policed than the suite-style spaces in Jenkins (and previously the Socials). However, students are making an effort to forge a more inclusive and diverse social scene. The areas in which parties are not likely to be shut down due to heavily-enforced noise regulations aren’t conducive to larger more inclusive parties (and are more likely to result in overcrowding). If larger spaces, like those in the Triangle, continue to be so hyper-controlled, gatherings will be forced become smaller, and thus more exclusive. In fact, the only large, accessible space on campus is the Powerhouse — a space that is only available to be registered by one group at a time, a space that can only be filled by an unrealistic number of people and a space that hinders spontaneity due to the reservation process and other logistical hurdles. If spaces like the triangle can be registered for events, parties in those spaces should not be shut down for seemingly unexplained reasons. An adequate assessment of party policy must include consideration of the current availability of physical spaces on campus.

From a health and safety perspective, the hyper-policing of student social life can lead to unsafe drinking practices. It also hinders the formation of trust-based and dependable relationships among the student body and the administration and college police. Particularly in today’s tense political and social climate, the forging of such relationships is crucial.

After years of attempts, it’s clear that there is no easy solution to the College’s stance on parties. The detriments to an inadequate party policy are evident, however. By imposing stringent restrictions on student social life, students will inevitably turn to new and potentially dangerous measures. Students need a party policy that recognizes that partying does occur on college campuses, still continues to prioritize safety and transparency, but acknowledges how these goals interact specifically on our unique campus.

Going Green, Safely Brian Zayatz ’18 Contributing Writer “Looking for a different angle on the election?” an email headline asked you on Oct. 3.

Well, lucky you, because you have the opportunity to hear five young journalists who are (probably) all voting for Hillary Clinton come give it to you, Thursday evening in Johnson Chapel! Five young journalists whose publications haven’t covered the largest prison strike in U.S. history, whose collective coverage of the 2016 election doesn’t stray much from Trump-Bad-Clinton-Good, are here to give you one hell of a diversity of opinion on this coming election. Valid and important as their coverage may be, I doubt you will find a ‘different angle’ at this event. Such a promotion for this event is symptomatic of the lack of political imagination or critical thought that goes into mainstream media coverage of the election, and by and large, the election itself.

I’m not writing to tell you why Hillary Clinton shouldn’t be our next president. She absolutely should. To justify this statement would be redundant and not worth publishing, and insulting to the intelligence of Amherst students. I’m also not even going to write about why she’s still not a good candidate — that has also been done more thoroughly than is worth repeating. However, saying that I believe Clinton should be the next president is not the same as saying you and I should vote for her. If you can afford not to, I highly recommend that you don’t, if only as a meager protest against such limited political imagination.

After Clinton won the nomination, many of my liberal friends seemed to have forgotten that running against Satan does not automatically make one Jesus Christ. As we on the left wiped tears from our eyes and let our Bernie buttons and stickers retire to the desk

drawer of forgotten dreams, we faced a choice: Wholeheartedly back the party that had pretty openly sabotaged our insurgent populist campaign, or explore the hinterlands of third party politics.

Don’t get me wrong, the Green Party is wacky — another well-documented fact I won’t go into here. Jill Stein is a big proponent of the sacredness of voting, which is a luxury we can’t afford this year. However, if you care about challenging a two-party system that gives us a crisis-based choice-less decision that forces us further down the road of neoliberalism every four years, we must vote strategically. That means, in states that are already strongly aligned to one candidate, voting for Jill Stein.

In an electoral system in which not all votes are equal and only votes from contested states really matter, there’s significant room in safe states, like Massachusetts, for voting for the Green Party without risking any of Clinton’s electoral votes.

For those of us registered in deep blue or deep red states, our votes can be used to show the level of dissatisfaction with a deeply flawed electoral and party system. It is a quiet but potentially potent message to the Democratic party elite that the left will not be silenced by the politics of crisis, a formula that proves an easy win as the Far Right gains momentum. Of course, if you are registered in a contested or swing state, or one that’s even remotely close (look at polls in your state), vote Clinton.

A recent Mother Jones (note: the moderator of the “different angle” discussion is from this publication) report on the first presidential debate described this election as a referendum on two competing versions of reality.

This is certainly correct — however, what the author does not acknowledge is that liberalism is its own incredibly murky lens through

which to view “reality”. The Trump universe is unprecedented in American politics, but liberalism is an ideology like any other and thus not necessarily representative of objective reality. Sorry liberals, but in objective reality (if there is such a thing), there is no “greatest country on Earth”, no multiple choice test that will guarantee if a refugee is a human and not a terrorist, and no reason to think that we will not face catastrophic climate events if we don’t immediately and drastically cut fossil fuel consumption.

Everyone rushes at the low-hanging fruit of taking Trumpism to its logical conclusions, but the same courtesy is not extended to Clinton specifically and liberalism in general. On most issues, liberalism is jumbled, yet some much more than others. Police reform is a big one: some strategies put forth by the Clinton campaign align well with abolitionism, such as use-of-force policy and ending the schoolto-prison pipeline. Others dump money into police departments for things like body cameras or into the courts to investigate incidents after cops have already killed someone. Other positions of hers are a bit more coherent, but still confusing. She loves entrepreneurs, believes no one should go into debt at a public university and has repeatedly rejected Sanders’ universal healthcare proposal for “strengthening Obamacare,” a magnificent melange of private firms, public options and best of all, compulsion. Considered together, liberalism’s apparent aimlessness begins to make sense: Clinton’s notable desire to be all things to all people fits well with liberalism’s policy of making everything available for sale or as a right in an age of increasingly global capitalism, blurring the line between government and corporation. Aldous Huxley predicted our choices in this year’s election

Continued on next page

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The Amherst Student • October 5, 2016

Opinion

5

Fighting America’s Stunted Political Imagination Continued from previous page remarkably well in his 1947 foreword to his novel, “Brave New World,” which is worth quoting at length: “We have only two alternatives to choose from: either a number of national, militarized totalitarianisms, having as their root the terror of the atomic bomb and as their consequence the destruction of civilization (or, if the warfare is limited, the perpetuation of militarism); or else one supranational totalitarianism, called into existence by the social chaos resulting from rapid technological progress … and developing, under the need for efficiency and stability, into the welfare-tyranny of Utopia.” If neither of these options sound compelling to you, I hope you will agree that voting Green Party is a small but necessary step towards broadening American political imagination and discourse and ending this perennial dilemma.

One could argue that the same effect could be achieved by voting Libertarian, but Gary Johnson is nothing but a greatest hits CD of bizarre Republican bungles. The man believes in eliminating minimum wage, complete inaction on climate change and supports the TPP and Citizens United. I’m all for libertarianism in the abstract, but rushing into the kind of deregulation that American self-proclaimed libertarians espouse would only further shift power from a political to an economic elite.

“Libertarians” love liberty so much, they don’t care how unequally it is distributed.

All this said, there are numerous other issues you should care about that have been fully eclipsed by this farcical presidential race — for Massachusetts voters, there is a ballot question on charter schools that makes a compelling case for student success but further privatizes public schools; another to legalize marijuana; and of course, every U.S. Repre-

sentative seat is up for grabs. But most impor- what they do. But you, third party voter, you actually be impacted by such a horrific event. tantly, we shouldn’t confine our politics and should know better.’ I would be inclined to say Come November, let’s vote strategically, with political expression to the ballot box. What that American voters deserve a Trump presi- the big picture in mind — that means thinkis most frustrating about the Green Party’s dency, if the pool of American voters looked ing locally, stopping Trump, and, wherever it 76948 insistence on the sanctity of the vote and the anything like the ocean of people who would is safe to do so, going Green. importance of rejecting “lesser-evilism” is that it distracts from more important political expressions. The question we must ask, then, is whom we want in power when 1 the change that starts at the bottom reaches the top. In the immediate fuLow fees can mean higher returns for you. ture, the answer is easy.

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A Compulsory Identity: What are Middle-Easterners?

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Mohamed Ramy ’18 Contributing Writer “I didn’t choose Colgate University because it’s white-dominated,” I told a friend. I said this because I, an Egyptian, an Arab, a Middle-Easterner, would not have been comfortable in a space with lack of representation and an implied obligation to answer an endless stream of questions about my region. She laughed awkwardly, asked if I was afraid of white people and said that I look white. I was instantly confused and wondered why she said what she did. She knows where I’m from. Yes, I am white-passing, which is a privilege I must recognize, and so are many other Middle-Easterners, who should recognize that too. I cannot claim to know what it is like to be immediately cast as the “other.” However, when I say my name to the mirror, I am instantly reminded that I am not white. When I get dirty looks for speaking my mother tongue, Arabic, in the streets, I am reminded that I am not white.

Interestingly, I discovered that what she said was true according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It defines a white person as “a person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa.” I was perplexed when I learned this because I have never thought of myself as a white person — and neither would any other Egyptian. People in my country are of various shades, and my family has members of different skin tones — I would never call my family “white,” especially because I don’t have any ancestry in Europe. I read more and came to learn that in the early 20th century, Middle-Easterners fought in court to be labeled as white instead of Asian in order to escape discriminatory immigration laws such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. Some other minorities tried to do the same. To be white was to be better and labeled as healthier.

Now, let me be explicit: that was over 100 years ago! Times change, and similar to how the American government set up a new category in 1997 to recognize Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders, I would like to suggest that it would be beneficial to revisit the definition of white and the U.S. stance on Middle-Easterners. Thankfully, other ethnic minorities have witnessed improvements in their treatment by the government as well as by the white American population — that does not mean that these minorities do not suffer from discrimination or racist comments. However, Middle-Easterners are a hidden minority in the U.S. (and on this campus) because, classified as white, on paper, we appear no different than the blue-eyed, blondehaired individuals of Scandinavian descent. “As a consequence, [we] are ineligible for affirmative action policies and other remedial benefit systems,” says Mr. Tehranian from the University of Utah. He importantly adds, “On the street, individuals of Middle-Eastern descent suffer from the types of discrimination and racial animus endured by recognized minority groups. And, unlike most minority groups, we have endured increasing levels of vilification and demonization in recent years, especially in the wake of the war on terrorism and the 9/11 attacks.”

This form of discrimination manifests itself in different ways. I was once asked by a white American acquaintance where I was from. “Cairo, Egypt,” I responded with a smile. He started applauding me, and I was astonished — why was he clapping for me? “Well, there aren’t a lot of Egyptians around here.” Excuse me. Let me break this down: in his eyes, I was one of the “good ones.” Why aren’t there a lot of Egyptians here? Why aren’t there a lo t of Middle-Easterners here? Are we not smart enough? Are most of us jihadists and don’t have time to volunteer in New York? Or is it just that you’re afraid of our mother tongue? Or is it that opportunities are

not given to us because we might be sly and are inherently dangerous? I don’t think I’m reading too much into this — my reading feels moderate at most. Most recently, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, a white man killed his neighbor, a Lebanese, because he was a “dirty-Arab.” When I was volunteering at Bellevue Hospital Center over the summer, a Polish patient shooed me off when he learned I was Egyptian. “No, no, Arab, Sand N—. Leave me,” he mumbled as he made a hand gesture.

It is not just discrimination on the streets or in the workplace. The media is horrible to us.

Many minority ethnic groups and races have seen greater representation in media — and hopefully will continue to see this trend — and yet, I recently heard about and watched the trailer of “The Gods of Egypt” (2016) featuring nearly an all-white cast. When Hollywood chooses to cast a Middle-Easterner or Arab, it usually chooses to present men as sexually frustrated jihadists and women as oppressed and veiled. If Americans think that my region only has people like that, then I pity you. Even worse, “American Sniper” (2014) offered me a premiere screening of my fellow Arabs being shot and killed.

(I really can’t think of an Egyptian movie portraying the slaughter of Americans, Europeans or anyone during a war. I may be completely wrong.) The movie amused many of my American friends and was hailed by one of them as a patriotic movie. I guess there is no other way to resolve conflict except by invading countries and often killing civilians. Look at Iraq now. The U.S. solved everything.

People do not care about the Middle-East.

They only care about its politics and “exotic” cuisine. They only care about lumping in millions of people in this country with a group that swallows them up whole. The ignorance in this country is sometimes unfathomable.

Barack Obama just hailed Shimon Peres, for-

mer Israeli prime minister and president, and compared him to Nelson Mandela. People did not say much — in fact, some people didn’t even know it happened. I do not wish to speak ill of the dead, and so I will speak only of facts: Peres oversaw the 1996 Qana Massacre, called Palestinians “self-victimizing” and displaced them, and established the first illegal Israeli settlements in the northern West Bank. I will add that, as a defense minister in the 1970s, Peres urged “settlement everywhere,” which became his slogan. To top that off, secret South African documents reveal that Israel under his guidance offered to sell nuclear warheads to the apartheid regime. I’m sure people still respect him for certain reasons. But let me put this bluntly: You have a libertarian presidential candidate who does not know what or where Aleppo is.

He jokingly said that he was having an “Aleppo moment” when he couldn’t name his most influential foreign leader. These people represent the U.S. to the outside world. This is what I hear from the U.S. government and some U.S. citizens: Middle-Eastern lives don’t matter unless they’re going to benefit you.

I have thought long and hard about why I chose to write this article. I do not mean to shame anyone. I do not mean to hijack current social justice movements about black lives or gender equality. I am writing it because I do not want to identify with my colonizer. I do not want to identify with people who screwed my region and then blame me for it. I do not want to identify with cultures I am unfamiliar and unattached to. More importantly, I chose to write this to give us visibility, to expunge pervasive narratives, and to declare that I refuse to have my culture whitewashed. Also, I hope this provides incentive for our admission office, or any office for that matter, to stop making me select “Other” every single time I have to fill out certain documents.

Arts&Living

Photo courtesy of g3ekarmy.com

Marvel’s newest Netflix series is about a bullet-proof African-American man surrounded by strife. It confronts real issues about racial inequality.

Luke Cage Brings Complex, Relevant Social Commentary to Marvel Kevin Zhangxu ’20 Contributing Writer “Marvel’s Luke Cage” is Netflix’s latest film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and while it may not be the best, it is definitely the most important. At times unpolished and rough with repetitive dialogue, the show begins at a slow and steady pace. Its structure is similar to that of “Jessica Jones” and “Daredevil”. However, Luke Cage (played by Mike Colter) is the exact hero our current political climate so desperately needs.

“Marvel’s Luke Cage” delivers a plot driven by complex social commentary on a topic that no other mainstream show has touched: blackness. An emblem of black masculinity with literal bulletproof skin, Luke Cage underscores the vulnerability of black lives created by showrunner Hodari Coker’s shocking imagery and character development set in the microcosm of the world, Harlem. Although viewers may recognize Luke as a key secondary character in “Jessica Jones”, the emotional depth achieved by the intertwining stories of “Luke Cage’s” main characters matches, if not exceeds, the heart-wrenching feelings brought by “Jessica Jones” or any Disney movie ever. Violence and corruption run rampant in Harlem as city councilwoman Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard) and her cousin Cornell “Cotton Mouth” Stokes (Mahershala Ali) attempt to maintain Harlem’s African-American status quo through bribery, blackmail and extortion. Initially, Luke actively tries to stay under the radar, and his past is explored through thoughtfully placed flashbacks. However, when evil finds it way into Luke’s barbershop job and his community, he is forced to take matters into his own hands. As conniving and complex as Cottonmouth and Mariah seem, they fall short as antagonists and are often portrayed as goofy, dull-witted henchman. On the other hand, the character Misty Knight (Simone Missick) prevails as an excellent detective and comrade to Luke, working to protect Harlem from both Cottonmouth and Mariah. As Cottonmouth and Mariah covet more power and thirst for influence and fortune, Misty must piece together the crime puzzle that is scattered over Harlem.

Unfortunately, “Marvel’s Luke Cage”

stretches itself in too many directions and combines too many genres. Thus, the show’s boundless ambition proves to be its critical flaw. At first, the focus of the plot is constantly shifting, and episodes can fluctuate between a story about Luke’s childhood, a political drama revolving around Cottonmouth and Mariah and a police procedural from the perspective of Misty. Yet, “Marvel’s Luke Cage” ups the ante a few episodes in, attaining a sharper focus. With its divergent storylines, the story eventually m an i fe s t s into a co-

herent and unforgiving narrative: the struggle between Luke being perceived as a threat or a hero.

Brimming with confidence, “ M a r v e l ’s Luke Cage” stands unafraid to embrace its distinct voice in capturing the spirit and essence of Harlem. From its unmistakable set pieces to its distinguishable hiphop soundtrack, the music in the series augments Luke’s inner and outer struggles.

Mike Colter instills a sense of still bravado within Luke, making him a powerful character

w it h

little self-doubt, and he is able to display hidden depths to a character that tends to be quite reserved. Luke remains at the epicenter of a twisted Blaxploitation genre, centered around whether he can survive in a system wishing to see him vanish. Even when it becomes increasingly apparent that Luke is bulletproof, everyone furiously scrambles to discover other means of hurting him. Set in an atmosphere inundated with dread and hopelessness, “Marvel’s Luke Cage” tackles and displays the i m p o s sible standards set u p o n peo-

p l e o f color. Despite all the good Luke may have done, the instant he arouses suspicion, the entirety of New York City’s police force attempts to murder him. Despite the solid alibis Luke may disclose, he always remains a suspect or person of interest. Despite who he tries to be, the past and the present stall his journey towards being a hero.

Luke is an extraordinarily good man who resides in an extraordinarily cruel world. The symbolism within the show is blatantly obvious — as if the audience needs an explanation as to why the world needs to see a bulletproof African-American man walking through a hailstorm of bullets. Nonetheless, “Marvel’s Luke Cage” seeks to dig deeper under the viewers’ skin. The beige-green, bullet-ridden hoodie Luke wears, is a tribute to the death of Trayvon Martin. A suspicious prison experiment, comparable to that from “Deadpool”, takes advantage of unsuspecting and innocent volunteers.

Moreover, Misty may be overwhelmingly

smart and dedicated, but she carries no real power and is unable to seek justice within a corrupt judicial system. Cottonmouth and Mariah’s grand yet possibly delusional visions of Harlem are torn down by the actions of a racist police force. Cottonmouth and Mariah have seen the stacked odds, and they shatter the laws that chain t hems elves to their past and transform the system, b u t t h e y l o s e t h e i r moral compass along the way.

Luke Cage may be a flawed man within a flawed show. Nevertheless, Luke feels more real than any other Marvel character brought to life on screen.

After everything he has seen and experienced, Luke still tries to be the hero of his own story. His indestructible black skin helps him survive, but what makes Luke Cage a superhero is his unrelenting fortitude — his efforts to try and try again as the world he lives in gives him no reason to.

Photo courtesy of serialcrush.com

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • October 5, 2016

“A Seat at the Table” Celebrates Self-Love with Perfectly Light Production

Photo courtesy of youknowigotsoul.com

The album is Knowles’ first since 2008.

Evan Paul ’18 Staff Writer The Knowles’ sisters are all about surprising their fans. This past Friday, Sept. 30, Beyoncé’s younger sister Solange Knowles released her first full-length album since 2008 and her first musical effort since 2012. The album was a double release, complete with a digital album booklet that included all of the album’s lyrics as well as artistic photos featuring Knowles and other models.

If I had to think of one phrase to describe Solange’s new album, I would say: Tangible Black Girl

Magic. Everything about this album is art. From the way the lyrics are presented in the digital booklet, to the photos that accompany the song titles themselves. So what makes this album so magical?

I think it’s the accessibility. Before, Solange’s work was so overproduced it was hard to listen to for a long time. Now, however, we as listeners can come to a central meeting point with Solange and her work, and sing, cry and dance along with her.

Solange is also using her album simultaneously as a creative outlet, and an example of radical self love. “You got the right to be mad,” Knowles says in a track titled “Mad” that features Lil’ Wayne. Explicitly telling listeners that it’s okay to be upset isn’t something you see very often in mainstream music. Knowles goes even further than this though, and uses her album as a piece of activism. At a performance in 2015 for HBO, Knowles revealed that her album would feature a song entitled “Rise.” This song is the album’s opener, and takes inspiration from the protests following the unjust killing of black people by police, particularly in Ferguson and Baltimore.

My favorite thing about Solange’s album is how delicate it sounds. Compared to “True,” her 2012 EP and “Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams,” her 2008 full length album, the production is much lighter. Don’t get me wrong, “A Seat at the Table” is still synth heavy and far from lo-fi, but

the difference between her newest effort and past efforts is quite apparent. Knowles explicitly stated on her twitter account that “A Seat at the Table” is meant to “provoke healing & [a] journey of self empowerment.” I suggest you listen to this album when times are at their hardest. Listening to it will be the pick-me-up you need. It may even remind you to love yourself as you are.

Best Track Titles (because, yes, they are that good): “Don’t Touch My Hair” “Interlude: I Got So Much Magic, You Can Have It” “Interlude: Tina Taught Me” “Borderline: An Ode to Self Care” Best Tracks: “Interlude: Tina Taught Me”: Perhaps Frank Ocean started a trend when he included clips of his mother giving him advice about being true to himself on his most recent album, “Blonde.” On this interim track, Tina Knowles’ voice proudly states: “There is so much beauty in being black.”

She then goes on to say there’s nothing wrong in being proud to be black. Maybe we hear it a lot on this campus, through our lifting up of one another. But, I would argue that you can never hear

it too many times. And hearing it from Beyoncé and Solange’s legendary mother? Well that makes it even better.

“Weary”: On this track, Solange voices the feelings that so many of us go through on a daily basis. “I’m weary of the ways of the world” she sings.

What matters most about this song is that Solange captures what is so hard to put into words, that out of body feeling that sometimes arises from being unable to cope or understand the horrors around you. She says: “I’m gonna look for my body yeah.

I’ll be back real soon.” This song makes you think, yes, but it also reminds you that you aren’t actually alone. Even Solange Knowles is thinking about these things.

“Don’t Wish Me Well”: “They say I changed.

What a pity if I stayed the same.” Once again, Solange captures those transitional moments perfectly in her lyrics. At it’s core, I believe “Don’t Wish Me Well” is about leaving that person who has never let you evolve as a person. I love this song, because instead of saying, “forget you” to the person holding her back, Solange says she’s “going all the way. But I’ll leave on the lights for you.” I like that she leaves the opportunity for who she’s singing to to join her in the future, when they’re ready.

“Lights Out” Director David Sanberg Follows James Wan’s Classic Style

Photo courtesy of film-rezensionen.de

“Lights Out” is a horror movie centered around a mother who is possessed and the effects this has on her family, paralleling the experience of mental illness.

Youngkwang Shin ’19 Staff Writer “Light Out” is a movie directed by David F. Sandberg in the style and tone of horror’s most marketable voice, James Wan. Wan’s two “Conjuring” movies may easily be the most influential horror movies to have graced the screen. The “Conjuring” movies are variations on the same tune, that of preternatural terror creeping into the insignificant but secure enclosure of a middle class suburban home. The demon grasps God’s powers within these mortgaged walls, and acts in mysterious ways. The exorcists, the family and the audience have no choice but to untangle the mystery through a dark glass, a glass that can fracture at the demon’s and director’s will and kill a character or two to maintain the tension in the room.

What’s most interesting, however, is the weakness of any overarching plot and the absence of any resonant theme. The “Conjuring” movies refuse to partition time for psychological insight; torment is the only game in town, and Wan’s filmography features a vicious line-up. Unsurprisingly, Wan has won an imitator in the form of Sandberg, who even goes so far to hire Wan as a producer to inherit and feature every fault and achievement of the contemporary horror superstar.

The movie concerns the fractured family of Sophie, Rebecca and Martin. Sophie is the mother of the latter two characters, and Rebecca is Martin’s half-sister who has run away from home. Sophie is struggling with an unidentifiable mental illness, one that involves an imaginary

friend with whom she enthusiastically carries out nightly conversations in her room. Unfortunately, the walls of the house are too thin and these conversations have unknowingly drained Martin of sleep and safety. What’s more, someone gruesomely murders Martin’s father in a mannequin warehouse and leaves not a trace behind for the law to track. Upon learning about her half-brother’s troubles, Rebecca returns home with her boyfriend with the intention of removing Martin from their increasingly unstable mother. But disturbing and inexplicable events conspire to keep the family together, and Rebecca realizes it is not stability but survival that is at stake.

There is a solid parallel between Sophie’s relationship to the imaginary friend and Rebecca’s relationship to Sophie. The ineffable tug of proximity at which the rest of society leers with distrust. Just as Sophie is unable to stop talking to her friend, Rebecca is unable to abide by due process when an evil from the shadows threatens to consume the family whole. It is a point of convergence for the two characters that should result in a beautiful irony where it magnetizes and repels them with equal magnitude, but it isn’t. The family feud can only be interesting in concept because of the movie’s faith in Wan’s formula. According to Wan’s formula, inter-character conflict can only be a gloss to color and texture the pauses between the screams. Unfortunately, horror movies are just that: horror and movie. One cannot be so feasibly cordoned from the other, and the craft of one inevitably affects that of the other.

Sandberg’s film is an impatient scribble of a first

draft, designed with gaping discontinuities to accommodate the scenes of horror. Even at its best, the movie feels like an exercise in wringing hearts rather than ringing art.

But how good is it at scares? It’s surprisingly difficult to say. I watched the movie with a number of friends, and excluding the one who professed frequently that he’d much rather watch “Finding Dory” for the third time, the others appeared genuinely frightened by the shocks the film delivers. Without a doubt, there are sequences in the film that pick the best fruit of Wan’s garden.

Wan’s strengths have been his workings of the immediate geography of the movie. He keeps his locations walled off and relatively small, with the camera constantly giving gaze to certain furniture and other objects in order to give the audience an impression of where things are in relation to other things. The camera always takes its sweet time at corners and bends to nurture the anticipation of the scare, from where the sequence branches into several possibilities: a scare, a fake-out that is sometimes just as scary as a scare, a fake-out followed by a scare. The scare is differentiated from the rest of the buildup by the stark intrusion of noise not native to the plot, usually in the form of screeching strings. Sandberg mimics all of these traits well, particularly in one sequence involving writings on the wall near the end of the film.

But there is an inherent problem in Wan and Sanberg’s organization of their films. The sequences are organized like songs are in a rock album. The beginning and ends of each sequence are very explicit. The room darkens, the music

fades or the characters begin moving very slowly to signal the beginning, and the aforementioned branching paths of fake-outs and scares tie the ribbon on the jump scare gift basket. What’s more, it’s a handy way to organize a horror film and pace the scares in a constantly engaging fashion. But a rock album is organized in such a way to call attention to recurrent themes and other musical patterns. The album, physically and not, exists to lend unity to the hard work of the many sessions. Implemented here, however, it only does more to lay bare the ultimately shallow and narrow repertoire of the whole enterprise.

This is a problem that could’ve been avoided by an injection of more “movie” into the horror. The repetitive techniques of each sequence could’ve perhaps served to highlight the destructively circular nature of the interpersonal attractions at play: how one must endure the same terrible nights over and over again because one cannot sever her empathy for the other person.

It is an idea, among many, that could’ve saved the movie from being so thoroughly characterized by its emptiness. Emptiness may not be a fair judgment, considering the amount of work that went into such a production and the minute-tominute engagement factor, but once the movie has left the screen, there is not much that’s left in the viewer’s mind, either. It’s a polished film that does not risk the dirt and mud and grease of worthwhile insight, and perhaps it’s all the more cleaner for it. But it is not better for it, and the only ones disappointed will be fans left wanting more.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • October 5, 2016

“22, A Million”: Bon Iver’s Latest Album Teeters on Experimental

Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

The album includes single “33 “GOD”.”

Hugh Ford ’20 Contributing Writer Coming off of a lengthy hiatus, Bon Iver released their first album in five years on Friday, Sept.

30. The album, titled “22, A Million,” has been highly anticipated following the release of singles “22 (OVER S∞∞N),” “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄⚄” and “33 “GOD”.” Over the course of their career, Bon Iver has received critical acclaim for their first two albums, “For Emma, Forever Ago” and “Bon Iver, Bon Iver,” winning the Grammy for Best New Artist in 2011.

Bon Iver, lead by singer, songwriter and producer Justin Vernon, has apparently continued to change and evolve over the past five years. “22, A Million” represents a step forward and into the experimental for the indie/alternative/folk band.

Complete with cover art filled with enigmatic symbols and a track list of similarly confusing song ti-

tles, “22, A Million” stands as an album of mystery for listeners. The album draws on influences from Bon Iver’s past work, as well as past collaborators such as rapper Kanye West and electro-pop producer James Blake.

The album begins with the song “22 (OVER S∞∞N).” The intro is slow and minimalistic. The main underlying beat is a steady hum, and Justin Vernon’s vocals drive the rest of the song. Also complementing Vernon are brief interludes of horns and soulful cries. The theme is very ethereal, recalling some of Bon Iver’s previous work, but the vocoded background hum brings a fresh element to the song. The album begins on a slow, relaxing and somewhat melancholy note.

Immediately, the tone changes with “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄⚄.” “10” is much more intense, with a strong, driven drumbeat. Vernon’s vocals sound relatively similar, but the overarching forceful melody filled with distortions is radically different. The song recalls Kanye West’s album “Yeezus,” a heavily avant-garde and similarly stripped-back album that Vernon himself worked out, providing vocals and producing.

The next song, “715 - CRΣΣKS” brings back the slower more somber tone to “22, A Million.” In “715,” Vernon’s vocals are heavily vocoded (another Kanye influence that Vernon has adopted throughout his career). The song is particularly beautiful, done mostly in a capella and alternating between a soft tone and one of anguish.

The fourth track of the album is the last single,”33 “GOD”.” The song begins with the delicate singing of Justin Vernon. The song incorporates more elements including strings and high-pitched

vocals. Towards the end it also brings in a strong beat. “33” is a very complete song overall and one of the best on the album.

Following “33” is “29 #Strafford APTS.” “29” is another song reminiscent of some of Bon Iver’s old work, using acoustic guitar as a background. One interesting element of the piece, however, is the broken bits of audio, which bring a more experimental element to the song.

“666 ʇ,” the next song, begins slow and builds to a maximalistic high. Vernon’s vocals (as always but especially in this song) are beautiful. The background builds to a complex multilayered beat that delights the ears.

“21 M♢♢N WATER” follows. This song is slow paced and somewhat ambient. It also builds to an intense, experimental section that floods the listener with raw sounds. In fact, its outro may be the most experimental section of the album. Building on “21 M♢♢N WATER,” is “8 (circle),” which transitions from experimental into more traditional sounds of steady strings, slow drum beats and clear, (mostly) unaltered vocals from Justin Vernon.

“8 (circle)” continues the pattern of building to a more intense back section. It also includes a brief bridge of particularly sonorous singing and a background chorus. It touches briefly into the experimental with audio glitches and distortion. The closing to this song is also beautiful, complete with added horns and continued work from the chorus, ending abruptly on a pitch-altered cry. “____45_____” is a much more relaxed song, despite the theme of being caught in a fire. The sound is very warm and resonant. With strings and some acoustic banjo (maybe mandolin?), the song also incorporates a few naturalistic sounds.

While this song does not really stand out, the simplicity of vocals and bubbling instrumentals actually do create a strong song.

The 10th and last song of the album is “00000 Million,” a pretty acoustic and traditional-sounding song. It seems to mix in an element of mainstream country into the “folktronica” of the album. “22, A Million” ends on a melancholic sound, and the conventionality of “00000 Million,” in contrast with most of the rest of the songs, grounds the album and ends it nicely.

Overall, “22, A Million” is a really beautiful album. If you liked Bon Iver’s previous work you will probably like at least a few songs from this project.

The album really pushes the boundaries of Bon Iver as an artist, which I feel like fellow electropop/folk artist, James Blake’s own 2016 album “The Colour in Anything” failed to accomplish. This album has highlights including: “10 d E A T h b R E a s T ⚄⚄,” “33 “GOD”,” “666 ʇ” and “8 (circle),” but you would be hard pressed to find a weak point in this album. The album can get a little bogged down and it is easy to get lost in the mystery of it all — which might be the desired effect. However, the more experimental sections of the album feel organic and unforced. Indeed, Bon Iver’s reputation as a genuine and innovative artist should continue with this album. “22, A Million,” a relatively short album, with only 10 tracks and a runtime of under 35 minutes, is definitely worth a listen. Fans of it may also want to listen to James Blake’s “The Colour in Anything,” which was released earlier this year, and Francis and the Lights’ debut album “Farewell, Starlite!,” which was released for free on Sept. 24. Bon Iver features on both albums.

Overall rating: 9/10

“Atrocity Exhibition” Advances the Sounds Developed in “XXX”

Photo courtesy of wikimedia.org

Danny Brown’s latest release “Atrocity Exhibition” features his signature fast-paced, penetrating vocals and booming sound, following his earlier releases suitably.

Kevin Feeley ’19 Contributing Writer Danny Brown’s fourth studio album “Atrocity Exhibition” dropped on September 30 of this year, and it may be the most aptly named album of the year. Brown’s eccentric, piercing voice is as present on each track as it has been in the past, and the album itself recalls many of the same sounds present on his second studio album, “XXX”. A noticeable change, however, is the feature list. Kendrick Lamar, Ab-Soul and Earl Sweatshirt all guest star on the stand-out single “Really Doe,” a riding, aggressive anthem which should be played at any and all pre-games everywhere. The song is blatantly a challenge to all of Brown’s haters, with each verse hanging on the line “I wish a motherf*cker would,” followed by Kendrick’s classic mid range voice belting the chorus “I ain’t boomin’; that’s a g*ddamn

lie.” Brown and company clearly put their opponents in place. The choice to have Earl Sweatshirt rap the final verse is certainly an interesting one.

Most would put Kendrick in the obvious celebrity of the features, as the finale, but Brown places Sweatshirt at the end. This is oddly reminiscent of ASAP Rocky’s track “F*ckin Problems,” where Rocky places Kendrick at the anchor slot after Drake. Kendrick was still up and coming at the time, having just released his first solid album, and Rocky wanted to let Lamar have the last word even though Drake was a much bigger star. Now Brown does the same on “Really Doe,” making one wonder about the future of Earl Sweatshirt.

The rest of “Atrocity Exhibition” can best be described as the feeling one gets while listening to a plane crash, in a way that’s both captivating and repulsive. The album opens with “Downward Spiral,” which uses a driving blues rhythm that often

overpowers Brown’s vocals. It aptly leads into “Tell Me What I Don’t Know,” a track that feels like a spiritual rock song. Brown chooses to go with a lower pitch, slower pace for his vocals, so that the entire song blends together. This is in stark contrast to his typical style, which is often blaringly contrasted with the beat. He interchanges styles throughout the album, but as the tracks progress, he becomes vibrantly aggressive in both tone and beat. The blaring horns coupled with Brown’s fastpaced, high-pitched rapping on “Ain’t It Funny” disorients the listener and feels like the audio equivalent of doing cocaine, especially with the dramatic crash at the end. This leads excellently into “Golddust,” which could be named “Ain’t It Funny Pt. 2.” Other “bangers” on the album are “Pneumonia,” “Dance in the Water” and “When It Rain.” These three booming, speedy tracks are split up by “From the Ground,” a slow, soft track

that discusses Brown’s feelings for his city and his thoughts on where he would be without his fame.

He appropriately has Kelela sing the delicate chorus on this track, which is staunchly contrasted to the lyrics themselves. The entire song feels like a break from Brown’s aggressive style, and gives the listener a chance to catch their breath before plunging them back into the loud, fast beat of “When It Rain.”

As for content, “Atrocity Exhibition” shares quite a bit with “XXX”. Brown, when you can keep up with him, discusses party life, Detroit violence and his own personal struggles. However, the content is quite secondary when it comes to Brown, and it is often incredibly difficult to keep up with his absurd pace. He hits all the content marks he set on “XXX “and increases the pace and violence on many of the tracks, a fitting addition to his discography.

The Amherst Student • October 5, 2016

Sports 9

Football Reaches 21 Game Win Streak, Defeats Bowdoin 31-10 Caleb Winfrey ’19 Staff Writer Amherst starting quarterback Alex Berluti ’17 helped to lead the purple and white to a 31-10 victory over Bowdoin with his 187 passing yards and pair of touchdowns on Whittier Field in Brunswick, Maine in Saturday afternoon’s NESCAC matchup.

With the win, Amherst extends its win streak to a program-record 21 games, improving to 2-0 on the season. The purple and white are now victors of 11 straight games against Bowdoin (0-2) since 2006.

After back and forth possessions to start the first quarter, the Polar Bears got the ball deep in their own territory. After a penalty that pushed the hosts back nine yards, on a second and 19 play from its own 12-yard line, Bowdoin’s quarterback attempted a deep pass down the sideline that was picked off by sophomore safety John Rak at the Bowdoin 45 yard-line.

This set up the purple and white’s second drive of the game for Alex Berluti who found his brother Bo Berluti ’19 for a nine-yard gain on first and 10, before standout sophomore running back Jack Hickey rushed for 13 yards on second down.

After a 22-yard touchdown pass to Hickey was called back following an illegal block, Alex Berluti found Devin Boehm ’17 in the end zone to give the purple and white a 7-0 lead. Amherst doubled its lead with 53 seconds remaining in the opening quarter when Alex Berluti found Bo Berluti for a 29-yard touchdown pass to give the visitors a twotouchdown lead.

To begin the second quarter, Amherst drove deep into Bowdoin territory before Alex Berluti threw an interception on second and 10 from the Polar Bears’ 21-yard line.

Bowdoin marched to a six-play, 21-yard drive that resulted in a 25-yard field goal that set

the score at 14-3.

The teams exchanged punts on their next two possessions before Rak nailed a 20-yard field goal as time expired in the second quarter to give the purple and white a commanding 17-3 lead at the intermission, a lead that would prove to be insurmountable.

Coming into the second half, Amherst jumped to extend its lead to 24-3 with 5:45 on the clock in the third quarter with a two-play, 50-yard drive that saw second-string quarterback Nick Morales ’19 hit Boehm for a first down, before connecting with Bo Berluti for a 39-yard touchdown pass.

The purple and white tacked on seven more points on a two-yard rush by Hickey as

the visitors opened their lead up to 31-3 early in the fourth quarter. Bowdoin responded, however, by finding the end zone for the first time that day, making it 31-10 in favor of the purple and white.

On offense, Alex Berluti led the passing game with two touchdowns and a 77 perecent completion percentage, while Morales threw seven-of-10 for 102 yards and a touchdown.

Hickey once again led the rushing game with 63 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, while senior Raheem Jackson added 43 yards on nine carries. Bo Berluti and Boehm led the team in receiving with three combined touchdowns.

On defense, Rak led the purple and white’s

efforts with seven tackles, while Andrew Yamin ’19 added five tackles. Jack Barrett ’19 made an impact, adding a sack and forced a fumble, while Niyi Odewade ’17 and Markel Thomas ’18 also each notched a sack on the Polar Bears.

“Both teams played hard, but our execution was definitely superior,” Brantley Mayers ’19 said. “It was a great team win. Now it’s time to correct our mistakes and work hard this week to prepare for a very good Middlebury team.”

Amherst will be back in action against Middlebury (2-0) next Saturday, Oct. 8. Kickoff is slated for 1:30 p.m. at Alumni Stadium in Middlebury, Vermont.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Alex Berluti ‘17 keyed Amherst to a near-flawless offensive performance, throwing for 187 yards and two touchdowns.

Women’s Golf Finishes Second Overall at Williams Fall Classic

Men’s Soccer Suffers First Loss of Season, Still Goes 2-1 on the Week

Scout Boynton ’20 Staff Writer

Delancey King ’18 Staff Writer

Amherst women’s golf traveled west this weekend to compete at Williams’ home course.

In a field of 17 teams, the purple and white placed an impresive second. Though the team fell to Williams by 13 shots, Amherst beat out other NESCAC competitors such as Middlebury (fourth, 641), Hamilton (sixth, 674), Bowdoin (13th, 705) and Bates (15th, 802).

The match was played at the 5,819 yard, 71-par

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Zoe Wong ‘18 shot an 18-over-par 160, good for a 13th place finish.

Taconic Golf Club course in Taconic, Massachusetts.

The purple and white finished the first day in third place, behind traditional NESCAC powers Williams and Middlebury, shooting 318. They improved by 11 shots on Sunday, scoring 307, to displace Middlebury and take the second spot on the podium. Over the two days, Amherst shot 625, edging out third place New York University by one shot (626).

All five Amherst golfers contributing to the team score placed in the tournament’s overalltop-20. Captain Jamie Gracie ’17 jumped an impressive 18 places between Saturday and Sunday to finish in fifth, improving from an 82 to a 72, just one over par.

“Everyone has played well this year, especially the first-years who have started really well,” Gracie said. The talent in this year’s firstyears is both evident and incredibly impressive, as Morgan Yurosek ’20 placed sixth with 155 (79, 76), Emily Young ’20 tied for 13th with a score of 159 (79, 80) and Jessica Jeong came in 20th by shooting 161 (79, 82).

The fifth team competitor, captain Zoe Wong ’18 came in 18 above par with a 13th place finish (81, 79, 160). Individual competitors, Katie Rosenberg ’19 and Maggie Schoeller ’19 shot 163 and 170, respectively.

Though the team has finished behind Williams each of the past two weeks, the real test comes next weekend when they compete for the NESCAC championships at Middlebury’s home course. This will be the second annual NESCAC Women’s Golf Championship, played in conjunction with the Middlebury College Invitational. Excited for next weekend, the purple and white hope to defeat archival Williams for a triumphant first-place finish in the tournament.

It was a busy week for Amherst men’s soccer, as they competed in one non-conference matchup and two NESCAC games. The week began with a nail-biter against the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Wednesday in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

After a scoreless first half, the Engineers took a lead over the purple and white in the 56th minute of regulation. Amherst gave up a free kick about 25 yards out from their goal, and MIT’s Ryan Stuntz capitalized on the set piece. His shot bypassed Amherst’s wall of defenders and snuck past Lee Owen ’18 into the lower left-hand corner of the net.

The situation looked dire for the purple and white, as MIT held onto their one-goal lead heading into the 85th minute. Demonstrating incredible resilience, Amherst managed to tie things up with 5:15 left in the game.

Justin Aoyama ’17 drove a ball into the box and found the head of Andrew Orozco ’17, who tallied his second goal of the 2016 season.

Taking advantage of this momentum, the purple and white took the lead two minutes later, when Chris Martin ’17 and Bijan Zojaji ’20 found themselves in a two-on-one situation. Martin played a beautiful ball to Zojaji, who found the inside of the near post.

Although Amherst was able to grind out the win against MIT, the close call left the team a little shaken heading into Saturday’s game at Tufts. The purple and white once again struggled to find the back of the net, and they suffered their first loss of the season, with Tufts coming away with the 3-0 victory.

The Jumbos put Amherst under pressure immediately, creating two quality chances

within the first 14 minutes of regulation. Lee Owen ’18 came up with some big saves to keep the purple and white in the game.

The first goal came in the 17th minute, when Tufts’ Gaston Becherano found the rebound of a shot that had been deflected by Owen. The Jumbos increased their lead to two before halftime, as Matt Zinner drove the ball past Owen and into the bottom left corner.

The final goal came with only 4:36 remaining in regulation. Tufts’ Gavin Tasker found Nathan Majumder, who rifled a shot into the back of the net. It was undoubtedly a disappointing result for the purple and white, but they had an opportunity to recover the following day at home against Bates.

Determined to take control early, Amherst took the lead in the 21st minute. Martin found the ball just inside the 18-yard box and volleyed it past Bates’ Robbie Montanaro. A mere four minutes later, Bryce Ciambella ’17 extended Amherst’s lead to two. Ciambella received a pass from Rohan Sood ’17 and sent a shot just under the crossbar from 20 yards out.

The purple and white tallied two more goals in the second half to finish off the Bobcats. In the 63rd minute, Sam Malnik ’18 collected a ball at the top of the box and beautifully placed the ball in the lower right-hand corner of the net. Weller Hlinomaz ’18 had the last goal of the day in the 69th minute. From the top right corner of the box, he ripped a shot past the keeper and into the left side of the goal.

The purple and white now boast a record of 7-1-1 overall and 3-1-1 in NESCAC play.

They return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 5, when they will take on non-conference rival New England College.

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • October 5, 2016

Men’s Tennis Competes at ITAs Nate Quigley ’19 Managing Sports Editor In the team’s first competitive action of the season, Amherst men’s tennis demonstrated their immense potential this past weekend at the ITA Regional Championships. The purple and white had four participants in singles action, all four of who made the round of 32, and three doubles teams, two of which made it all the way to the Elite Eight.

In singles action, three of the team’s four entries were seeded, with Anton Zykov ’17 garnering the number two overall seed and both Oscar Burney ’20 and Josh Marchalik ’20 managing top-15 rankings. Zykov, Burney, Marchalik and Jon Heidenberg ’19 all easily swept aside their first round opponents, with Burney’s 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory the only one that went to three sets.

Heidenberg was the first member of the purple and white to bow out of the competition, losing 6-4, 6-3 to Brian Grodecki of Williams. The other three members of the purple and white marched on to the round of 16, with both Zykov and Burney handily winning by identical scores of 6-1, 6-1. Although Marchalik was pushed to a first-set tie break by Rohan Shastri of Williams, he managed to win the tightly-contested tie break 7-5 and slammed the door on Shastri in the second set for a 7-6(5), 6-2 win.

Marchalik and Burney both kept the momentum rolling for the purple and white in the next round, as the two promising firstyears both defeated opponents from Bowdoin.

Zykov’s run in the tournament ended, however, when he lost to Deepak Indrakanti of Williams in a 6-2, 6-2 affair. Meanwhile, Burney’s impressive run was cut short in the Elite Eight, where he fell in a 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 heartbreaker to Michale Arguello, Brandeis’s eventual runner up.

Marchalik kept winning though, as he defeated his quarterfinal opponent by a score of 2-6, 7-5, 7-5, a victory that brought him all the way to the tournament’s semifinals. There his magical run came to an end, when the eventual tournament champion, Lubomir Cuba from Middlebury, downed Marchalik by a score of 6-2, 6-2.

On the double’s courts, the purple and white also faired incredibly well. Each of the team’s three entries for the tournament entered as a top-15 seed and, as such, each was awarded a first-round bye. Although the team of Nathan Kaplan ’20 and Jayson Fung ’20, fell in their round of 32 match to a MIT duo, the other pairings of Burney and Zach Bessette ’20 and Zykov and Marchalik dominated their matchups, posting victories of 8-3 and 8-1 respectively.

The two remaining Amherst teams continued their dominance in the round of 16. Bessette and Burney notched a second consecutive 8-3 victory, this time over a team from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, while Zykov and Marchalik advanced after toughing out an 8-6 over Wesleyan’s number 12-seeded duo of Lyon and Roberts.

The quarterfinals proved to be the limit of Amherst’s doubles teams’ ability, as both pairings ran up against NESCAC foes, opposing pairs that proved to be too good for the young purple and white duos. Zykov and Marchalik fell 8-2 to the eventual champions, Wolfe and Jiang from Bowdoin. Bessette and Burney performed slightly better; only losing 8-4 to the eighth-seeded team from Williams.

The team looks to improve upon last weekend’s dominance when they travel to Dartmouth College this coming weekend, where they’ll participate in the three-day Dartmouth Tournament.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Cameron Clark ‘20 Favorite Team Memory: I’ve just enjoyed bonding with my teammates and getting to know them during my first month of college.

Favorite Pro Athlete: Jordan Spieth Dream Job: Not sure yet, I hope to find out while I’m here!

Pet Peeve: Slow golfers. There’s nothing worse than really slow golfers.

Favorite Vacation Spot: Pebble Beach, California Something on Your Bucket List: Visiting all seven continents or all 50 states Guilty Pleasure: Iced Chai from Frost café Favorite Food: Steak and potatoes Favorite Thing About Amherst: I came from more than 1,700 miles away, but I already feel at home.

How He Earned It: First-year Clark has helped the golf team to some of its best results in recent history. His standout play culminated this weekend with a first place finish at the NESCAC Qualifier tournament.

Clark carded a 139 two-day score, just one stroke ahead of Trinity’s runner up.

Sara Culhane ’18E Favorite Team Memory: Beating Tufts Favorite Pro Athlete: PK Subban Dream Job: A job Pet Peeve: Sitting inside of booths Favorite Vacation Spot: Maui Something on Your Bucket List: Live in Los Angeles Guilty Pleasure: Skillet cookie Favorite Food: Sushi Favorite Thing About Amherst: Tied between Claire Carpenter and the Greenway Clothespin How She Earned It: First-team allNESCAC forward Culhane impressed this weekend for the purple and white, scoring six of the team’s last eight goals, including a hat-trick performance against Tufts to propel Amherst to a 2OT victory. This was Culhane’s second hat-trick performance of her career. She currently leads the team with an impressive .776 shots on goal percentage and is tied for first in the NESCAC with 14 goals. Her 30 total points rank her second overall in the competitive league and she has tallied three game winners so far this season.

Women’s Soccer Climbs up NESCAC Standings With a Perfect 2-0 Week Hayes Honea ’19 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Anton Zykov ‘17 made deep runs in both the doubles and singles brackets.

Women’s Cross Country Places 12th at Competitive Paul Short Invitational Mary Grace Cronin ’18 Staff Writer This Saturday, the Amherst women’s cross country team traveled to Lehigh University to compete against the largest pool of competition they’ve faced yet. The purple and white managed to beat out 30 other teams to place an impressive 12th at the Paul Short Invitational, which featured east coast schools from all divisions.

Amherst returned to the Paul Short Invitational for the first time since the 2014 season, where they cruised to a stellar fourth place out of 40 teams.

First-year sensation Katherine Treanor continued to lead the purple and white across the finish line, finishing her run with a time of 22:01 to earn her 34th place out of 373 runners.

Junior Nicky Roberts followed only 11 seconds after Treanor to earn 46th place. Roberts has seen a steady rise in her performance this season, and managed to cut her time on this course by six seconds since her last appearance at Lehigh.

The third point scorer for Amherst was senior Savanna Gornisiewicz, who has built her college career on unwavering consistency. She finished with a time of 22:36, good for 88th place.

The rest of the Amherst point scorers were

pivotal to the team’s success and showcased the purple and white’s talented veterans. This included, in order of their finishes, Cara Lembo ’17, Veronica Rocco ’19 and Tess Frenzel ’17.

Amherst will compete next Saturday, Oct. 8 in the James Early Invitational at Westfield State University.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Nicky Roberts ‘18 ran a 22:12 race and finished in 46th place overalll.

The Amherst women’s soccer team went 2-0 this weekend, taking down NESCAC rivals Tufts and Bates. These league victories were crucial in boosting the purple and white’s place in the NESCAC standings, propelling them to second place, just behind rival Williams.

Amherst opened the Tufts game with a strong start. In just the ninth minute, Maeve McNamara ’19 placed the ball just over the Jumbos’ goalkeeper’s head to give Amherst a 1-0 lead — a huge edge in the pivotal awaygame tilt.

The purple and white continued to put the pressure on the Jumbos, and, just six minutes later, Hannah Guzzi ’18 notched Amherst’s second goal off a corner kick from teammate Delancy King ’18.

After scoreless back and forth for the remainder of the first half, Guzzi came out strong in the beginning of the second half. In the 66th minnute, she scored her second goal of the game, her sixth of the season.

The purple and white were unable to hold Tufts to a shutout. Taylor Koscho from the Jumbos was able to sneak one past keeper Chelsea Cutler ’19 in the 68th minute, which made the score 3-1. However, due to solid defense and five impressive saves from Cutler throughout the game, Tufts was unable to move the score line any closer.

Just one day later, Amherst faced another NESCAC foe, Bates, at home. The purple and white immediately asserted control of the game, when, in the very first minute, King crossed a beautiful ball to Emily Hester ’17 who connected and knocked it into the back of the net.

Not too long after, Guzzi got her third goal of the weekend powering the ball past the Bobcat goalie. In the remainder of the first half, Amherst stayed on the offensive; out-

shoting Bates 15-1.

In the second half, the same was true.

Guzzi almost scored yet another goal, but the shot was deflected by Bates’ goalie Sarah McCarthy. However, the deflection landed right at the feet of Rubii Tamen ’19, who knocked the ball into the back of the net, increasing the lead to 3-0.

The purple and white return to their home field next Saturday, Oct. 8, when they take on NESCAC rival Hamilton. They look to defeat the Constitutionals and extend their unleague unbeaten streak to a very impressive four games.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Rubii Tamen ‘19 notched her first goal of the season against Bates.

The Amherst Student • October 5, 2016

Sports

Volleyball Impresses in Weekend Homestand Against Conference Foes

11

Forest’s FastTake Forest Sisk ’17 Columnist Forest Sisk previews this fall’s MLB playoff matchups.

Highlighting each team’s potential strengths and wesknesses, he paints a compelling picture of why each American should tune in to watch their national pastime.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Hayes Honea ‘19 led Amherst with 42 kills over the weekend’s matches.

Katie Bergamesca ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst volleyball team put on a dominant performance in LeFrak Gymnasium this weekend, finishing the two-day tilt with a 2-0 record.

In its first game of the weekend, the purple and white took on Colby. The Mules proved no match for the Amherst women who took the contest in just three sets (25-18, 25-13, 255), making short work of their opponents in the final match.

Continuing her dominant season, Maggie Danner ’17 was an offensive force, providing a team best 12 kills in the winning effort.

Kate Bres ’17 remained solid throughout the match, leading the team with 14 assists. Mia Natsis ’18 was tough at the net finishing with three blocks.

Hayes Honea ’19 and Kelci Keeno ’17 anchored the defense with 18 and 12 digs respectively, while Kate Antion ’18 also lent a hand in sealing the purple and white win with two service aces.

Amherst continued NESCAC play the following day with a match against Bates. Once again, Amherst stormed the court and swept the competition (25-14, 25-18, 25-14). Dan-

ner continued to be key on offense, tallying 11 kills.

Additionally, Danner and Annika Reczek ’18 put up a strong defensive front against the Mules, with three blocks each. Bres paced the team with 26 assists, while Honea had a stellar defensive performance, diving for 24 digs.

The sophomore also tacked on four service aces to hold off the Bobcats.

Nicole Gould ’17 and first-year Emily Kolsky also contributed on the offensive front with eight and six kills respectively. With the undefeated weekend, the purple and white improved to 9-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play.

“We had a great sense of urgency as a team and didn’t let either Colby or Bates knock a game off of us,” Natsis said. “These two sweep wins will definitely put us in a great place for NESCACs and I’m proud of my teammates for stepping on the court and taking care of business.”

Action will continue for the purple and white this Friday, Oct. 7 with a conference game on the road against Connecticut College. On Saturday, Oct. 8, the Firedogs will finish the weekend on the road at Springfield College for a tri-match against Endicott College and host Springfield.

Men’s Golf Qualifies for Spring NESCAC Championships with Third Place Finish Nate Quigley ’19 Managing Sports Editor This past weekend, the Amherst men’s golf team traveled to the picturesque Ralph Myhre golf course at Middlebury and returned with a third-place team finish as well as an individual win from first-year Cameron Clark. The team’s strong performance at the NESCAC championship qualifying tournament guaranteed them one of only four spots in next spring’s official championship, which will be hosted by Williams.

The purple and white entered the weekend knowing that only a top-four finish would bring the team to the promised land of next spring’s championship. Bearing these highstakes in mind, Amherst turned in a strong team total of 294 on Saturday, good for third place after the dust settled and all the scores had been tallied up.

Led by Clark, who shot a course-low twounder-par 69 on Saturday and was supplemented by sub-80 scores from the rest of the team, the purple and white ended the day with a one-point lead over host Middlebury and just a three-point edge over then-fifth-place Bowdoin.

Amherst managed to hold on to its slim lead over both Middlebury and all other challengers on Sunday, with strong efforts once

again from every single member of the team.

Clark shot a 70 for a two-day total of 139, besting Will Rosenfield of Trinity for the individual title by a single point.

The rest of the team chipped in quality rounds as well, with Liam Fine ’17 shooting a 74 for a weekend total of 147 and Jack Burlison ’19 improving on Saturday’s 75 by notching a 73 on Sunday for a total of 148. Additionally, Dan Langa ’18 (79, 75) and Cole Vissicchio ’20 (77, 77) both shot 154 over the course of the weekend.

After all the rounds had been tallied, the purple and white ended up eking out a onepoint victory for third place over Middlebury by a score of 586-587. More impressive, though, was the fact that Amherst finished only a single point behind the joint top-qualifiers, Williams and Trinity, two programs which have long held sway in the pantheon of NESCAC men’s golf. Indeed, the purple and white even managed to finish with a lower Sunday score than both schools above them, with the Sunday score of 292 tied with Middlebury for the day’s lowest round.

Amherst returns to the course one last time during the fall portion of the season this coming weekend, when the purple and white travel to Mamaroneck, New York to take part in the Manhattanville/NYU Fall Invitational on Oct. 7 and 8.

Well, it’s October again. Month number 10 brings us sweater weather, marks the onset of autumn and births the MLB playoffs. After 2,428 baseball games, the 2016 Major League Baseball regular season has come to a close — that’s a lot of innings. Thanks to the new wildcard system pioneered back in 2012, there are 10 teams who have earned the right to compete for the World Series trophy. The American League saw its divisions conquered by the Boston Red Sox, Cleveland Indians and Texas Rangers with two teams from the AL east competing for the wildcard berth: the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. The National League is entering the Washington Nationals, Chicago Cubs and Los Angeles Dodgers in the bid to get to the dance. The New York Mets and San Francisco Giants will play for the right to take on league-best Chicago Cubs.

The Boston Red Sox are poised to make a deep run in the World Series race. Their bats have been red hot, much like their sox, all year. Four of the nine starters in the All-Star game were Red Sox (David Ortiz, Mookie Betts, Xander Bogaert, Jackie Bradley Jr.) and all have kept hitting well with a possible exception in JBJ, who has had a colder second half of the year. The main questions concerning the Red Sox chances of winning it all center on their pitching. Rick Porcello has overachieved this season and now finds himself in the Cy Young conversation, but supposed ace David Price has had a down year. Price has also struggled in playoff baseball, so he will be looking to turn the corner on October ball. If he and the bullpen can keep opposing hitters at bay, look for the Red Sox to win their fourth title of the 21st century.

The Cleveland Indians have a tall order in the divisional series against a fierce Red Sox team that several MLB executives are picking to win the AL. They have also run into some poorly timed injuries to key players. Their starting rotation boasted the second-best ERA (4.09) in the league, but Danny Salazar, Carlos Carrasco and Corey Kluber are all dealing with injuries. Salazar will likely pitch, but hasn’t yet returned from a forearm strain at the beginning of September.

Carrasco is done for the year with a fractured hand — tough to pitch with one of those. And Kluber will be good to go, but left Monday’s start with “groin tightness.” The team as a whole managed to win 94 games, so they’ll still be a handful for anyone in the league.

The American League’s top dog — the Texas Rangers — were only five wins shy of the coveted 100-win mark. Despite finishing 28 games over the .500 line, the Rangers have only outscored their opponents by eight runs. Their strong record was mostly upheld by an excellent record in one-run games. The Rangers won .766 percent of the time in one-run games, posting a 36-11 record in these contests. Though that high of a win percentage in close games shows how clutch this team can be, it also reveals that we may think they are way better than they actually are. Baseball is a game of numbers more so than almost any other, and these numbers prove precarious for Rangers fans.

The Blue Jays and Orioles only have one game to buy their way into the playoffs. The Jays were one of the best teams in baseball, but have gone through a rough final stretch of the season.

They’ve split their last 50 games and went 13-16 in September. The good news for them is they have the foundation to be great. The bad news is they aren’t doing it. Key parts of the lineup are batting under .200, so the likes of Russell Martin and Melvin Upton need to pull out of their slumps if they want to survive the Orioles on the Oct. 4 matchup. The Orioles are an interesting bunch. They are the best homerun-hitting team in the league. Mark Trumbo crushed 47 of his own, Chris Davis and Manny Machado nearly missed the 40-mark, and three others have sent

more than 20 out of the park. The team seems to be not well-rounded enough to have consistent success over a period of time, but playoff baseball does not require that of a team. If the Orioles can exert their power and have somewhat of a formidable rotation, they could surprise some people.

You can’t begin to talk about the National League without first mentioning the Chicago Cubs. It seems as if this could finally be their year.

It has been 108 years since the Cubs last won a World Series and 71 years since they even got to the show, both of which are record droughts.

Their offense is certainly to be grouped in with the league’s best, but they make their biscuit through pitching. Their rotation possesses Jake Arrieta, last year’s Cy Young winner, and Kyle Hendricks and Jon Lester, the league’s top two finishers in ERA. They are truly stacked. You don’t win 103 games without some highly functioning top talent. If the Cubs don’t break either of those records this year, it will go down as yet another disappointment in the Chicago Cubs historical timeline.

The Washington Nationals, like the Cubs, were cooking this year. Young talent in Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg, new acquisition Daniel Murphy and a career year out of Wilson Ramos had led the Nationals on a blistering pace through most of the season. Just like Cleveland, Washington has been infested with injury bugs — don’t worry, the white house is all clear. Harper has been slumping in large part due to a persistent left thumb injury, Strasburg won’t be ready for another week or two because of a flexor strain and catcher Wilson Ramos’ excellent year came to a close as a result of torn ligaments in his knee.

Will the rest of the D.C. squad be able to make up for their ailing stars? We will find out in their opening series against the Dodgers.

The Los Angeles Dodgers said goodbye to their long-time announcer Vin Scully. He has been with the Dodgers since 1950, back in their Brooklyn days. Considering how well-liked Scully was to the Dodger faithful, you better believe they will be playing this playoffs for Vin. As influential as a cause can be behind a sports team’s efforts, the Dodgers will have a hard time winning it all this year. However, their biggest studs, Puig and Kershaw, are returning to the squad at the right time. With those two playing their best ball and potential Rookie of the Year Corey Seager continuing to crush both sides of the game, the Dodgers are a force to be reckoned with.

The New York Mets and San Francisco Giants will meet Wednesday night looking to punch their NL wildcard ticket. The Mets are without their two best pitchers, while Bumgarner is pitching — and hitting — as well as he ever has.

This makes a one-game playoff difficult, but not impossible. Beyond their showdown, neither of these teams seem particularly up to the challenge of taking down the far superior Cubs. The Mets can thank this east-central injury bug plague for rendering their team almost unrecognizable to last year’s team that saw them to the World Series. The Giants can only thank themselves. They had the best record in baseball prior to the AllStar break (57-33), and promptly followed that up with the second worst record from there on out (30-42). A struggling bullpen and an unimpressive offense bear no good signs for the Giants moving forward.

No matter the degree of your personal sports fandom, playoffs are always an exciting spectacle. Baseball, although slow and long, has splitsecond moments of exhilaration that juxtapose against its otherwise tortoise gait. The warring nature of a seven-game series; home field, away field; these series can sometimes shape into a Homeric epic. The game itself also has fundamental roots in American history. It feels almost like a civic duty to tune in to a baseball game.

Sports

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Junior Caroline Fiore helped lead an Amherst defense, which conceded only three goals in last week’s action and earned a shutout against Bates.

Field Hockey Dominates in 3-0 Week, Downs Two NESCAC Competitors Meredith Manley ’18 Staff Writer This past week, the Amherst women’s field hockey team performed exceptionally well, meeting and perhaps exceeding the team’s high expectations for the season. Despite a full week, including away matches at both the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NESCAC-rival Tufts, followed by a return home for a match-up against Bates, the purple and white remained dialed in, and the result was an unblemished 3-0 record for the week.

They began with a midweek matchup against MIT on the Engineer’s home turf. Both teams created some good scoring opportunities in the first half, but neither was able to penetrate the other’s defense and find the back of the net until the second half.

In the attacking third of the field, Elizabeth

Turnbull ’18 found the stick of Sara Culhane ’17, who got a quick shot off, regained possession of her rebound and then scored. Amherst took the lead at the 53-minute mark.

Continuing to charge forward, Culhane was at it again in front of the Engineer’s cage and managed to record her second goal of the match, a tally which ended up being the deciding margin in the contest. MIT’s Rachel Rotteveel kept the game at a one-goal deficit, as she scored her team’s one and only goal of the game with three minutes remaining on the clock. The game finished at 2-1 in favor of the purple and white.

Amherst then traveled to Tufts on Saturday, Oct. 1. Tufts got on the board just five minutes into the half, when Gigi Tutoni slotted one into the Amherst goal. However, Amherst evened the match 50 minutes into the game, when Culhane notched her first goal of the game. Tufts again took the lead, but were not able to clinch the win

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

GAME SCHE DULE

in regulation as Culhane scored yet another goal, this time off of a pass from Mary Grace Cronin ’18. This tally ended up being the last goal scored in the game, as neither team could break the 2-2 deadlock.

The first 15-minute overtime passed by without a goal scored for either side. After obtaining the advantage off of a foul in the second period of overtime, Turnbull dished a passed to Culhane who scored her third and winning goal of the game in the 91st minute. The game marked Culhane’s second hat trick of the still-young season, and brought her goal tally on the season to an incredible 14, three of which have ended up as game winners.

“The Tufts game was so back and forth, with so many close calls, and winning a game the way we did felt amazing,” Cronin said.

On Sunday, the purple and white faced its third game of the week at home against Bates.

Cronin capitalized off of a corner insert from Kendall Codey ’19 to give Amherst the early lead.

A mere 10 minutes later, Shannon Tierney ’19 fed a ball to Mary Margaret Stoll ’17, who increased the goal advantage over Bates to two. Caroline Feeley ’18 scored the final goal of the match in the last minute of the game. When the final whistle sounded, the purple and white had earned a 3-0 victory.

“This weekend was really pivotal for us as we approach the midpoint of our season,” Cronin said. “To get two really important conference wins at this point in the year means so much for our postseason aspirations.”

The purple and white now own an overall record of 7-2 and stand at 3-2 in the NESCAC. Amherst returns to action this Wednesday, Oct. 5, at Connecticut College at 5:00 p.m. Later in the week they’ll take on Hamilton at home on Saturday, Oct. 8 starting at 11:00 a.m.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

WED FRI

SAT

Men’s Golf Field Hockey @ Conn. College, 7 p.m. @ Manhattanville/NYU Fall Invitational, TBA Men’s Soccer @ New England College, Men’s Tennis @ Dartmouth 8 p.m.

Tournament, TBA

Women’s Cross Country @ James Early Invitational, 11 a.m.

Field Hockey vs. Hamilton , 11 a.m.

Volleyball Women’s Soccer @ Conn. College, 7 p.m. vs. Hamilton, noon

Men’s Golf @ Manhattanville/NYU Fall Invitational, TBA

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Men’s Tennis @ Dartmouth Tournament, TBA

Men’s Cross Women’s Tennis Country vs. Williams, 1 p.m. @ NEICAA Championship, 12:30 p.m. Volleyball vs. Endicott @ Springfield College, 1 p.m.

Women’s Golf @ Middlebury Invitational/NESCAC Championship, 1 p.m.

Football @ Middlebury, 1:30 p.m.

Men’s Soccer vs. Hamilton, 2:30 p.m.

Volleyball @ Springfield College, 3 p.m.