Issue 6

THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

THE AMHERST

STUDENT VOLUME CXLVIII, ISSUE 6 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2018

Women’s Soccer Extends Win Streak to Seven See Sports, Page 9 AMHERSTSTUDENT.COM

Author Michael Lewis Speaks on Risks Within Trump Presidency

Natalie De Rosa ’21 Managing News Editor

Photo courtesy of Matai Curzon ’22

The Amherst College Police Department released its Clery Report for the 2017 calendar year. The document shows an increase in the number of reported sexual assaults, with 2017 seeing 12 incidents of rape compared to just five in 2016.

Reports of Sexual Assault Rose in 2017 Sasha Williams ’22 Staff Writer The recently released Clery Report for 2017 documents a rise in reported crime on campus, particularly violence against women offenses and sexual violence.

The report is mandated by federal law and compiles data from the Office of Student Affairs, Amherst Health Services, the Counseling Center and Amherst College Police Department (ACPD) to indicate crime statistics for each academic year.

According to the report, incidents of reported rapes on campus jumped from five in 2016 to 12 in 2017. Incidents of fondling increased as well, from three both in 2015 and 2016 to 12 in 2017.

Crime statistics for other types of sexual misconduct, such as stalking and domestic violence, showed no strong upward trend. 2015 saw six reported cases of stalking and six reported cases of domestic violence. In 2016, three cases of domestic violence were reported while none were reported for stalking. In 2017, the numbers increased slightly to four reports of stalking and eight reports of domestic violence.

In the wake of both the #MeToo movement and recent confirmation hearings for Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who has been accused of sexual assault, the national conversation regarding sexual assault has become more prominent. Most staff members and students whom The Student inter-

viewed cautioned against assuming that an uptick in reported crimes meant an uptick in committed crimes.

Laurie Frankl, Amherst’s Title IX coordinator, noted that it is difficult to assess how well these statistics represent the realities of crime on campus as well as whether this uptick in reported incidents indicate a significant increase.

“Statistics can be misleading regarding the relative safety of a campus,” she wrote in an email.

“Basing an evaluation on statistics alone would be erroneous.” Frankl said that progress on campus is a far more complex process than what the statistics represent. “It is the sense of community and the prompt bystander intervention and/or prompt reporting to the police that most effectively enhances safety,” she said.

Hayley Roy ’20, a member of the Peer Advocates for Sexual Respect, added that the increase in crimes may be due to victims feeling more comfortable reporting.

“I honestly would be surprised if it was because crime is increasing,” she said. “I think that it is because people are feeling more comfortable or have more agency to report, because they feel like people will have their backs.”

With resources such as the Title IX office, the Women and Gender Center and Peer Advocates for Sexual Respect, students have access to several avenues to seek support for experiences of sexual misconduct or assault.

Efforts by the Title IX Office and the Office of Sexual Respect Education are much stronger examples of Amherst’s commitment to the issue than the statistics, according to Frankl.

Amanda Vann, associate director of health education and sexual respect educator, said that she has seen notable difference in the Amherst community over the past five years. “Our campus now understands what sexual violence is more broadly and that it includes a wide array of behaviors, which makes us better able to understand how large the scope of the problem is and how to confront it,” she wrote in an email interview.

“From the data we have collected as part of the sexual respect and sexual misconduct surveys we have conducted on campus, we know that our students have an understanding of what sexual violence is and how they can both support survivors on campus and confront problematic and/or potentially sexually violent behavior,” Vann said.

“We have seen an increase in students willing to step forward to confront behaviors on campus.”

This fall, the Peer Advocates for Sexual Respect conducted 22 workshops on bystander intervention for the first-year class, with several more scheduled later in October. The Office for Sexual Respect Education will also be hosting resource tables in Keefe Campus Center to offer support to survivors through self-care skills and provide information to the campus community on supporting survivors in the current climate.

Acclaimed author and journalist Michael Lewis spoke at the college on Oct. 15 in Johnson Chapel. The talk, which was moderated by former chair of the Board of Trustees Cullen Murphy ’74, centered on Lewis’ most recent book about government departments within the Trump administration, titled “The Fifth Risk.”

Lewis is the author of over a dozen awardwinning books, including “The Big Short,” “Moneyball” and “The Blind Side,” and has been featured in various publications including Bloomberg and Vanity Fair.

Dean of Faculty Catherine Epstein introduced Lewis, praising him for his “knack for insight, wit and unexpected angles” and his ability for “crafting compelling narratives out of unlikely topics.”

Lewis began the conversation by sharing that he had visited Amherst only once before, when he was applying to the college as a senior in high school. He later found out he was rejected rejected.

“I feel like I’m in — they finally let me in,” Lewis joked.

Murphy then asked Lewis to explain the title’s meaning. Lewis responded by describing the transition period between the Obama and Trump presidencies, during which Obama officials prepared extensive briefings for the next administrative, only to have them ignored. In his book, Lewis examined those briefings and interviewed several government workers, including chief risk officers within certain departments. When interviewing a chief risk officer in the Department of Agriculture, Lewis asked what the five national risks of most concern were. The officer listed four, then said that no one had thought of a fifth risk yet.

“I thought of the fifth risk as all of those risks that we fail to imagine, and because we fail to imagine them we do not attend to them properly, and because we fail to attend to them properly they are the ones we have to worry about,” Lewis

Continued on Page 3

Speaker Series Explores Education Across Disciplines Natalie De Rosa ’21 Managing News Editor This semester, the Educative Studies Initiative kicked off its second interdisciplinary speaker series. The series, which hosted its first event on Sept. 27, invites speakers from different academic backgrounds to campus to discuss issues relating to education.

The series is the product of a proposal for an education studies major, which developed after an outpour of student interest in recent years. Though opportunities in education studies have been available through the five colleges, the initiative aims to provide opportunities directly on campus for students to study education.

Leah Gordon, visiting professor of education studies and the series’ organizer, said that the idea for the series sprouted from student desire to hear more academic perspectives within the field of education studies.

“Part of the idea launching the education studies initiative was that there would be ways to build intellectual community and excitement about the study of education on campus,” she said, adding that the series would allow students and faculty to discuss matters “both in K-12 and higher education and … concerns with diversity and equity issues.”

Gordon sees the interdisciplinary component of the series as a way to introduce students to the different forms that the academic study of education can take. While the series’ first

speaker of the year, David Fowler, discussed education from a historical perspective, Derron Wallace, who will speak at the college next semester, is trained as a sociologist.

American studies and English professor Karen Sanchez-Eppler, who is among the faculty and staff working on the proposal, sees the education studies initiative as a way to explore some of society’s most important issues in an academic setting. “[Education studies] sees a pressing social problem and makes it a curricular node,” she said, noting that educational inequality is a social justice cause that is receiving increased attention from students.

Beyond the support received from the Lewis-Sebring Foundation, events within

the series are also co-sponsored by a variety of departments across campus, including the Latinx and Latin American studies, anthropology and English departments, as well as the Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning.

“I wanted this to be a place where [the students] could see all of the exciting work going on in a range of disciplinary areas … so they see models of what the academic study of education looks like and how exciting and rigorous it is,” Gordon said.

Sanchez-Eppler also noted the ways that the education studies initiative will bring together different areas of study on campus,

Continued on Page 3

News Elijah Koome Oct. 1, 2018 - Oct. 14, 2018

>>Oct. 1, 2018 8:02 a.m., The Quadrangle Environmental Health and Safety responded to a report of a possibly sick animal. >>Oct. 3, 2018 2:06 a.m., Greenway Building C Officers responded to a noise complaint of loud music.

one was in distress. >>Oct. 9, 2018 12:11 a.m., King Dormitory Officers responded to an unauthorized party with alcohol and party policy violations.

4:26 p.m., Webster Circle An officer responded to an activation of a blue light phone and found no issues in the area.

9:13 a.m., 79 South Pleasant An officer responded to a re- >>Oct. 10, 2018 port of a past motor vehicle 6:06 p.m., Alumni Gym accident.

An officer responded to a panic alarm in a locker room >>Oct. 4, 2018 and found no cause for the 12:20 a.m., Mead Art Mualarm. seum An officer responded to a 7:59 p.m., Valentine Dormireport of an alarm sounding tory and found no cause.

An officer responded to an animal complaint and found 12:58 a.m., The Quadrangle the owner.

Officers responded to a report of a loud audio book >>Oct. 11, 2018 playing.

6:18 a.m., Orr Rink An officer observed a smoke 1:36 p.m., Churchill House detector covered and the An individual accidentally cover was removed. dialed 911 and there were no other issues.

4:49 p.m., Valentine Dining Hall 3:38 p.m., Jenkins DormiAn item was stolen from the tory Valentine coat room. It was An alarm was accidentally returned to its owner. set off in a third floor room by steam. >>Oct. 12, 2018 6:55 p.m., Webster Circle >>Oct. 5, 2018 Two individuals were asked 3:18 a.m., Merrill Science to move their parked, nonRoad electric vehicles at the Officers placed a boot on a charging station. vehicle that had an expired registration and a number of 8:36 p.m., James Dormitory tickets.

An office responded to a 911 call and found it was caused 5:12 p.m., Frost Library by an unknown issue with Officers responded to an the phone. alarm sounding on A Level and found no issues in the >>Oct. 13, 2018 area.

4:28 a.m., Cohan Dormitory An officer responded to a >>Oct. 6, 2018 report of damage to a rest12:39 a.m., Seligman House room pipe which resulted in Officers responded to a relarge amounts of water in port of an individual wearing the area. a Halloween costume and being a nuisance in the com- 4:31 a.m., Cohan Dormitory mon area. The individual was An officer located numerous gone on arrival. party policy violations including alcohol and the occur3:24 a.m., Seligman House rence of an unregistered Officers responded to a party. noise complaint and found no one in the area upon ar1:35 p.m., Valentine Dining rival.

Hall Officers responded to a re>>Oct. 7, 2018 port of a fake $100 bill being 12:56 a.m., Charles Pratt used.

Dormitory Officers responded to a >>Oct. 14, 2018 noise complaint and had to 12:05 a.m., Morris Pratt Dorask a student to lower the mitory music twice.

Officers ended a registered party with numerous party >>Oct. 8, 2018 policy violations including 11:22 a.m., James Dormithe presence of alcohol. tory An officer responded to an 1:36 a.m., Hitchcock Hall elevator phone that was Officers located party policy accidentally pushed and no violations including alcohol

Thoughts on Theses Department of Black Studies

Elijah Koome ’19 is an English and black studies double major. His senior thesis examines the memories of trauma portrayed in Kenyan literature. His advisor is professor of black studies and English Rhonda CobhamSander.

Q: What is your thesis about?

A: My thesis looks at memory and its representation in contemporary Kenyan writing. Basically, I’m trying to see how Kenyan novelists and poets try to represent memories and trauma resulting from past violence.

I think the big question right now is, “what is it that haunts the country and the people?” and I’m trying to say “secrets” or “silence” — that is what always comes back. The second thing I’m trying to look at is “what is it that makes people keep secrets in this country?” or, “what is it that leads to suppression?” My tentative answer to that would be state violence; I’m trying to make a point that state violence is a cause of trauma, and this trauma keeps coming back in this ghostly form.

Q: How are you researching for your thesis?

A: I’m looking at things from a literary perspective. I’m trying to see how artists and writers are trying to push back against this narrative of silencing and repression, and I’m trying to say that by writing books like this, [authors] are trying to kill this ghost and bring an end of this historical cycle of violence.

Q: Why did you choose this topic?

A: This topic grew out of a class I took in my spring semester of junior year, which was called “Research in Black Studies.” In that class, you’re supposed to come up with a long-term project that you work on for the rest of the semester. I chose a topic I called “Memory and Memorialization in Contemporary Kenyan History.” In Kenya, around 2007, there was violence after the elections, and there were all these writers, novelists and poets trying to respond to that violence, to capture that moment and to see different ways in which the trauma of that violence could be represented and healed. That really interested me because I come from Kenya myself, and I was in Kenya at the time, witnessing this kind of violence. After the class, I thought I should pursue this further, to make the prospectus I developed into actual writing, which is why I continued with this project.

Q: In your experience, what have been the best parts of writing a thesis?

A: I think it’s really amazing to write at length and think about material you really, really care about. You know, this is what makes your own work. For the first time, nobody is telling you what to do. You’re the one deciding what to do, which direction to go. You have your advisor, but most of the stuff is still your decision. So, I think for me, it’s very fulfilling, very satisfying, to know that I’m actually working on something that I’ve wanted to do for a very long time. And, the idea that I’ll have something concrete and lengthy at the end — I feel like that’s very motivating for me.

Q: What have been some of the most challenging parts?

A: One challenging factor is the fact that I’m not focusing on the U.S. or Europe, where there’s a lot of literature about this type of stuff. It’s very difficult to find secondary ma-

terial which has been written about Kenya in particular, especially as it relates to memory and trauma… You know, writing a thesis is trying to come up with something original; you’re trying to create something unique, to contribute to a conversation. And I think for me, another big challenge is finding that conversation, finding other people who are talking about this. It’s not a big debate, so I feel like I’m writing in a narrow space. And, for another challenge — I mean, writing itself is not easy. You have to spend a lot of time trying to come up with something to say.

Q: What are your hopes for your thesis in the coming months?

A: Well, of course, the first thing is that I hope to complete it! But, I think the big thing for me would be if my thesis is actually read and starts a conversation. I mean, it’s already doing that — I’m having lots of conversations with people who are interested in this material or people who have something to say about this topic, and I like that – but I think my end goal would be having this thesis trigger a conversation about memory and trauma in Kenya. That’s something I really hope this will achieve.

Q: When you have finished your thesis, what will you do with it?

A: You know, I haven’t really thought about that, but, as I said, I want to start a conversation. One way of doing that is making it available in the public domain, so that it could be available to Kenyan readers. So, maybe I might put it online, as some people do, or make some kind of online project — something of that sort. But yeah, I think my big hope is that it’s actually read in Kenya, where it’s most relevant.

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

A: The big thing that they must keep in mind is starting early. It is very difficult to start during the semester, so it’s definitely critical to start early. For me, I spent my summer here just reading theoretical texts about memory and trauma. Think about your topic early, start reading material early and know that during the semester, it gets really hectic because you have classes, jobs to apply to and other things. Another thing would be to keep in mind that this should be something you’re really interested in. If you have something you’re really passionate about, that is what you should write about. Don’t just write about anything. And, I think the final thing would be to make sure you’re contributing to a conversation, don’t just write something for the sake of writing. Make sure there are people talking about this somewhere and that you can make an original contribution about the topic you’re interested in. I think those are three things that I’d advise anyone who’s interested in writing a thesis to keep in mind.

—Ryan Yu ’22

5IF "NIFSTU 4UVEFOU t 0DUPCFS

News

3

Michael Lewis Discusses Importance of Government in New Book Continued from Page 1 said. Lewis’ examination of these briefings and the risks associated made him “feel like I needed a civics lesson … to know what these enterprises did.”

The book focuses on three departments in the federal government: the Department of Agriculture, the Department of Commerce and the Department of Energy. Lewis said that through his reporting he realized the importance of having bright and dedicated minds leading these departments, which he characterized as the invisible backbone of U.S. society.

In the case of the Trump administration, Lewis noted that Trump sought to fill those positions with the people who supported him unconditionally, rather than those with expertise.

“I talked to Steve Bannon and I asked how he could approach the government so irresponsibly, and he said, ‘We didn’t have anybody.

Anyone who knew anything wasn’t for us,’” Lewis said. He added that unlike past administrations, Trump has refused to hire anyone who disagrees with him.

Murphy also asked about a character in Lewis’ book that exemplified what a public servant should look like and what the government

does. While Lewis expected to meet people demoralized by government work, he said he realized that most people he encountered were passionate about their jobs and entered the field for specific reasons.

“I met people who had deep reasons for being there,” he said. “You ask someone at Goldman Sachs why they’re there, and you know what the reason is. But if you ask someone why they work with nuclear weapons, or why they work at the National Weather Service, you get really interesting answers about how they wanted to do this for a long time.”

Lewis demonstrated his hope in these public servants by sharing a story about a character who worked at the Office of Management and Budget and was able to see how money was funneled into the schools the public servant attended and the healthcare he had received as a child.

Through such an experience, Lewis said, those skeptical of bureaucracy realize that “not only should it exist, but the smartest people should be there.”

Murphy concluded the conversation on a lighthearted note by asking Lewis about his interactions with President Barack Obama. Lewis said he was “perplexed by how the world inter-

Photo courtesy of Natalie De Rosa ’21

Cullen Murphy ’74 interviewed author Michael Lewis about his newest book, “The Fifth Risk,” which examines three departments in the federal government. preted [Obama],” and consequently asked to write a profile on his daily life for Vanity Fair.

In that profile, Lewis explored everything from Obama’s decision to wear the same suit every day to his competitiveness in basketball.

The conversation was followed by a Q&A session, during which Lewis answered questions on the nation’s biggest risks, his interest in

sports and his thoughts on Amherst’s prestige.

Alex Chaffers ’19, who attended the event, enjoyed the event but hoped to hear more about Lewis as a person.

“I thought the talk was good, and he’s obviously a very smart person,” Chaffers said. “But I was surprised by how much of a Q&A it was. I wanted to hear more about his career.”

Education Initiative Highlights Interdisciplinary Research Continued from Page 1 pointing to the mixture of disciplines seen within the faculty and staff working on the proposal.

“I’m finding that from speaker to speaker there’s a lot of the same students who come to

[the events] and I hope those students are then going off and talking about the talks and how they compare to one another,” Gordon said.

The events are not just for students, but also for others across the greater Amherst community interested in educational research. Along with Amherst students, faculty within the five

colleges, graduate students and other community members have attended the events.

“I think building community with other scholars and thinkers in the five college area around issues of education and questions related to educational research was another of my goals,” she said.

The next event, “Staging Blackqueer Lives in Anti-Black Queer Times: Visual Possibilities, Poetics and Resistance,” will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 5:30 p.m. in Paino Lecture Hall. The talk will feature Durell Callier, assistant professor of educational leadership at Miami University.

Author Aatish Taseer ’03 Compares Amherst to India in Talk Khalid Mohamed ’22 Staff Writer In a lecture titled “We Shall Be a Country with No History — A Historical Awakening at Amherst College,” author Aatish Taseer ’03 spoke about his experience at Amherst and its relationship to modern-day India on Oct. 10 in Converse Hall. The talk was funded by the Croxton Lecture Fund.

Taseer was born in 1980 to an English-speaking Indian household and has written a memoir, titled “Stranger to History: A Son’s Journey Through Islamic Lands,” about being raised by a Sikh mother while estranged from his PakistaniMuslim father. He has written three critically acclaimed novels and is currently a contributing writer for The International New York Times.

In the lecture, which concerns his forthcoming book “The Twice-Born: Life and Death on the Ganges,” Taseer talked about his journey of selfdiscovery at Amherst — and his view of modernday India.

According to Taseer, “The glamour and prestige of college in America was self-evident to us in India …We went to America like the generation before us had gone to Britain. One went if one could — it was as simple as that.” “[Going to Britain, I] would have split my per-

sonality, but I didn’t go to Britain,” he added. “I came here to America, and as such I came at an oblique angle to a society to which I had no direct historical relationship. I was an ahistorical entity entering a society notoriously impatient with history.”

Taseer arrived at Amherst in the summer of 1999. He originally intended to attend college as a way to impress others, he said. This sentiment changed when he met Zack — a fellow student who was more interested in “reading books rather than drinking beer from colored cups and enjoying the nice weather.” It was in this relationship that Taseer said he realized the difference between “education that is ornamental versus education that is real.”

Taseer said his experience at Amherst aided his personal discovery of what it means to be Indian. Prior to making his education real — rather than ornamental — he said he was “more focused on not being unmasked rather than making an authentic core.” Before and during his time at Amherst, he said, he was just a bystander both at home and at Amherst.

This formation of an “authentic core” was influenced heavily by what he called “the minority section” of Valentine Dining Hall. During his time at Amherst, he said, the dining hall was selfsegregated — white athletes and wealthy students

would eat in the back room of Val, while students of color would eat near the entrance.

One day, Taseer observed the Black Students Union stage a protest by eating dinner in the back room, to the puzzled looks of fellow students. As an observer, Taseer saw how self-segregation gave a false sense of security. This event, he said, led him to change his relationship with the Indian subcontinent. According to Taseer, he did not feel entirely at home in India because of the rise of Hindu nationalism, whereas he felt America was more welcoming even though most of its communities are self-segregated as well.

After Taseer graduated from Amherst, he went back to New Delhi, where he lived for 10 years and translated ten twentieth-century Urdu short stories into English as well as Sanskrit literature. In response to a question about gaining an intellectual understanding of culture without an access to books, Taseer said that “the meeting of cultures wasn’t just in books, it was in music, film, radio, etc. The meeting of cultures happens on the ground, not in a room with a red carpet and five people.”

In July 2016, Taseer wrote an article for Wall Street Journal called “The Day I Got My Green Card,” arguing that India and America have “two fundamentally different concepts of nationhood and citizenship.” During the lecture, Taseer noted

that “somewhere I must have know I couldn’t stay in India, that in the country that was coming into being regardless of who was in power, there would not be room for me as a gay man of Muslim parentage.”

His intellectual interests are connected to this American quality, with his favorite novels authored by James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison and others from the rich literary history of black America.

Taseer said when he came back to America in 2016, “I found myself gravitating towards writers I had read in college. If before the black writers had revealed the tragedy of American life to me, they now validated my right to be here.”

“I think it’s an extraordinary body of literature, both essential and an affront,” he added later in response to an audience member. “This is what synthesis looks like.”

DJ Williams ’20 attended the event and said that Taseer’s depiction of America and the American college felt accurate, although it did have some faults.

“He implied that because he wasn’t from the US that he didn’t understand all of the social justice issues that were going on, particularly surrounding race,” she said. “I do agree that as an American I have experience with these issues, but I also don’t think that it’s accurate to say that because I’m from the U.S. that I saw everything.”

Got a tip?

Email eswislow20@amherst.edu, schen20@amherst.edu or nderosa21@amherst.edu to pitch story ideas or submit a tip.

Opinion THE AMHERST

STUDENT

Make America Vote Again

E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Turnout in local, state, and national elections in the United States has long hovered around a historical mean of 53 percent, since the introduction of the Voting Rights Act. This statistic, and perhaps more worryingly, the fact that never in the history of the United States has the youth voter turnout registered at over 50 percent of eligible voters, means that as a nation as a voting polity, we face a worrying dearth of investment in and legitimacy of our public elections.

This fact is compounded by the lackluster methods by which citizens of the United States go to the polls. The electoral college system has depressed turnout in nonbattleground states, with the five lowest states in terms of eligible voter turnout being Hawaii, West Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Not a single one of these states was listed as an official target in the campaign plans of the Democratic or Republican candidates.

Furthermore, in moving to a more granular level — that of districts for the House of Representatives — it can be found that competition for these 435 positions is at an all-time low. In the 2016 elections, fewer than 33 of the 435 House races ended with a margin of victory between the top two candidates of 10 percentage points or less. 74 percent of House races were landslides or uncontested.

Fixing this is a daunting, yet not insurmountable task. First, the implementation of second-round elections should be implemented in elections throughout our nation. This method of electoral process, in its most basic form, involves an initial voting stage wherein voters vote for their preferred candidate in the election. If, in this first stage of voting, one candidate does not receive a plurality of votes, the top two vote-getters then proceed to a second electoral contest.

This practice ensures that politicians and political parties build a broad, mandate-ensuring consensus across the entire political spectrum. Even in our twoparty political spectrum, the winning candidate in the last eight presidential elections has received an absolute majority only 50 percent of the time. Simply put, the leader of our nation in four of the previous eight elections had a majority of votes cast against them. In no other country that directly elects a single executive is this practice allowed, for runoff voting has been proven to create and maintain more stable democratic governments in the long run.

Second, a redrawing of Congressional districts is a

national imperative. In solving this national issue, the removal of redistricting powers from state legislatures is required, followed by the institution of fair redistricting committees so that our electoral maps better reflect the geographic distribution of our nation’s population, rather than dilute a particular political party’s voting base to the advantage of another.

Paradoxically, to implement these necessary changes, the onus is on the individual citizen to vote for these evolutions of public policy. To be clear, everyone has the constitutional right to vote, coupled with the corresponding right to abstain from voting in elections.

The Editorial Board of the Amherst Student encourages you, if eligible, to exercise this constitutional right, for it is not just a constitutional right but a civic duty.

The reasons for this are multitudinous and welltrodden. First, as was elucidated above, if we are to make elections fairer and more representative of the country as a whole, there needs to be a willingness to elect individuals who share this vision.

Furthermore, the Editorial Board reminds specifically the students of Amherst College that we are the citizens of this nation who will inherit the vast majority of the policies enacted by the politicians and officials that are elected. As a result, there exists a vested interest in the exercising of this civic responsibility.

However, more importantly, perhaps, by not voting, we reduce the legitimacy of our cherished democratic institutions and allow our politicians to operate with relative impunity. By not voting, we surrender to our institutions and departments the essential democratic check on their power and encourage them to exist without national and regional responsibility. By voting we exercise our fundamental right and duty to question the machinations of those who hold the reins of power in Washington D. C. and state capitols around our nation.

By voting, our governments govern with a real, rather than imagined mandate.

In the most recent national elections, a mere 55 percent of the voting age population of the United States cast a ballot for their preferred candidate. Regardless of where you stand on the political spectrum, this is a national, state and local issue, for in not voting we allow our democratic institutions to continue to serve the few, rather than the totality of our citizenry.

Four Things I Like and/or Don’t Like Jake May ’19 Columnist Last year, editors decreed that I was writing “too many listicles” and that The Amherst Student is a “serious newspaper.” So, this year I am trying to space out my listicles so that it will not be obvious that I am writing too many. After a few weeks of slaving over “real articles,” I feel I’ve built up enough clout to drop one of my beloved “Things I Like and/or Don’t Like” columns. Because as we all know, it is much easier to write a little about a lot of things than a lot about one thing. So, without further ado: 1. The Lack of the Southern Slam For grilled cheese day at Valentine Dining Hall, the Southern Slam (a “grilled cheese” sandwich with mac n’ cheese and pulled pork) has been replaced with a regular grilled cheese.

This makes me very sad. It’s not only that I loved the Southern Slam (which I did, a lot), but that the move to replace that sandwich out of the three just makes no sense. In my experience, it was always the Southern Slam that would run out before the other two options, Green Monster and Vermont Cheddar and Tomato. Why replace the most popular choice?

Furthermore, the Southern Slam was replaced with a plain grilled cheese. Now, I un-

derstand that some among us were eager to have a plain grilled cheese option on grilled cheese day. I suppose I can get behind that; however, it still makes no sense that we would have a plain grilled cheese as well as a grilled cheese and tomato. The only difference in these two sandwiches is a couple slices of tomato. Just take them off, or, if the tomato option were the one that were replaced, add some tomato from the sandwich bar. You may be thinking that I care a little too much about this ultimately unremarkable sandwich. Your thinking would be correct.

2. The New Science Center Last year, I wrote that I was worried about the new Science Center. I thought it was far too large, and would not fit in with the aesthetic of the College. I am writing now to retract this. So far, I have only experienced the New Science Center — the NSC, if you will — in a positive way. In fact, I have even begun to think that it works aesthetically; when criticizing its look last year, I didn’t take into account how close it is to King and Wieland, and to an extent the Greenways. This creates a sort of modern “wing” to campus, into which the NSC fits perfectly.

3. Discovering New Music Prior to this year, I suppose I hadn’t been actively searching for new music. Many of the bands I already enjoy have massive catalogues

(often of taped live concerts), so I rarely have to actually find something new. This year, I decided to actively search for new music, which has been such a joy. It is always thrilling in a way to discover something you really enjoy that you had never encountered previously. A great way to achieve this is to listen to WAMH (89.3 FM).

I suggest this not just because I have WAMH shows (I won’t even tell you the times to prove this is not a plug for me), but because no matter what show is on WAMH, it is always interesting to hear what type of music your fellow students are choosing to broadcast.

4. The Powerhouse It is a real shame that we don’t take advantage of the Powerhouse. It is a great space that should be used for weekend events, whether that takes the form of live music or a DJ’d party. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a cycle in place the last few years wherein a party would be planned, no one would go, and because no one would go people would hear that it was not fun, so no one would go the next time either.

Ultimately, this seems to have led to few parties being planned there. Hopefully, the next time a party is planned, students will make the most of it. If lots of people go and the space gets packed, it could be very fun.

Editors-in-Chief Nate Quigley Isabel Tessier Managing News Shawna Chen Natalie De Rosa Emma Swislow Managing Opinion Kelly Chian Diane Lee Managing Arts and Living Olivia Gieger Seoyeon Kim Managing Sports Connor Haugh Henry Newton Managing Design Zehra Madhavan S TA F F Head Publishers Joseph Centeno, Emmy Sohn, Mark Nathin Design Editors Katie Boback, Julia Shea Digital Director Dylan Momplaisir

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Opinion

Democracy’s Most Important Tool Brantley Mayers ’19 Amherst College Repubicans In President Dwight Eisenhower’s last speech as the leader of our land, he urged us all to preserve democracy and not let it become “the insolvent phantom of tomorrow.”

We must, in our current political climate, heed such a warning. Our most revolutionary political project, one spawned nearly two and a half centuries ago in Philadelphia, requires that its citizens engage in their own rule. With this requirement, we are tasked with taking our voices and arguments to the public square,

in an attempt to both preserve our own ideas and convince others of their merits. We believe, with much lament, that our society has moved away from such a practice, and instead has veered towards the type of emotionally-charged mob rule that our founders rightly warned against. This move has noticeable implications, turning classmate against classmate and turning political rival into moral enemy.

In order to move back towards a place that is fruitful for all, we must return to the traditions that are designed to allow a diverse country, with different backgrounds, ideas and experiences, to find an all-important common

ground. One of these traditions is, of course, voting a keystone of our democratic republic.

We doubt our pleas in this publication will do much to convince our fellow classmates to vote for our favored candidates. While we believe there have been numerous successes under the current government, namely in the economy, the judiciary branch and foreign policy, all of which motivate us to support GOP candidates this November, we also understand the position of the opposition quite well, which motivated millions across the country in both 2010 and 2014. It appears that this same trend will reappear in 2018, although that hinges on

5

one action: voting.

Regardless of political affiliation, state of residence or level of general interest in politics, we address each of you with a simple plea — vote. As we all grow older, the impetus falls on us to take the country in the direction we favor, and to preserve the ideals that make America a special place. While there are many things we can do to make our voice heard at all times of a political cycle, that voice is silenced without taking it to the polls in November. So, in the end, please do just that, as we all work to ensure our country fulfills its great potential, both now and in the future.

For the Millions Who Can’t, You Must Ben Gilsdorf ’21 Amherst College Democrats On Nov. 6, the nation will head to the polls for the first midterm election since President Donald Trump took office, with all 435 House seats, 33 Senate seats, 36 state governorships and thousands of state and local offices up for grabs. Voters across America will have the opportunity to not only reject the GOP’s agenda, but to replace it with one that is progressive, inclusive and representative of who we are as a nation.

The Republican Party now controls both houses of Congress and the presidency, and has cemented a conservative majority on the Supreme Court with the recent swearing in of Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Over the past two years, we have seen Republican officials work to drag this country backwards, instead of moving us forwards. They have undermined the Affordable Care Act, withdrawn the United States from the Paris Climate Accord, kidnapped children at the border and deported their parents, refused to take up any gun control legislation, banned people from Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, overseen a dramatic increase of the civilian death toll in the Middle East, weakened protections for student-loan borrowers and given trillions of dollars in tax cuts to the wealthy. They have repeatedly used their power not to lift others up, but to push them down.

Voting for Democrats this fall is not simply voting against the Republican Party and its platform. It is committing to an America not based on hatred and division but uni-

ty and progress. A Democratic majority in the House of Representatives will combat the Trump agenda by pushing for increased access to health care, reinstatement of environmental protections and a more equitable tax plan that makes the wealthy pay their fair share.

A Democratic majority in the Senate will protect the judicial system from the Trump administration’s radical nominees, and ensure that issues like a woman’s access to vital health care, LGBTQ+ rights and voting rights are protected. Democratic governors and Democratic majorities in state houses will fight for Medicare expansion, strengthen collective bargaining rights and perhaps most importantly, help draw the new congressional maps in the 2020 nationwide redistricting.

The slate of Democratic candidates who are running to make these majorities possible is more diverse than ever. A record number of Democratic nominees for the House of Representatives this fall are women. Deb Haaland of New Mexico and Sharice Davids of Kansas are running to be the first two female Native American Congresswomen ever.

Stacey Abrams in Georgia has the chance to become this nation’s first-ever black female governor. And there are four LGBTQ+ gubernatorial candidates nationwide, including Christine Hallquist of Vermont, who could become the first-ever transgender governor.

The Democratic Party is working to finally make the government look like the people it represents and uplift the voices of people from groups who have been, and continue to be, neglected in our country. As Ayanna

Pressley — likely to become Massachusetts’ first ever black Congresswoman — likes to say, “the people closest to the pain should be closest to the power.”

In many states there are ballot initiatives and measures whose effects will be felt much longer than the term of any politician. Massachusetts’ Question 3 could repeal protections for transgender individuals. Arkansas and North Carolina have ballot initiatives to tighten voter ID laws that will disproportionately affect people of color. In Alabama, West Virginia and Oregon, abortion rights could be further restricted at the state level during a time where they are already threatened nationally. Even in states that “always vote” one way or another, there are no partisan labels on ballot initiatives, and your vote there matters just as much as it does anywhere else.

Of course, it is sometimes hard to believe that your vote matters. Many of you will be sending in an absentee ballot.

Why, then, should you bother to vote, let alone vote for Democrats?

Here’s why.

Last year in Virginia, a House of Delegates election was tied, and a Republican candidate won because his name was picked randomly out of a bowl. The result of that race? A 51 to 49 Republican majority rather than a 50-50 split. In the 2008 Minnesota Senate election, former Democratic Senator Al Franken lost his Senate race against incumbent Republican Norm Coleman by 215 votes. A recount was triggered, 935 absentee ballots were found to have been wrongly rejected and Franken won by 225 votes. Many of those absentee ballots came from college students

across the country. You never know – this year it could be yours.

Finally, a discussion about the importance of voting would be incomplete without mentioning that voting has become more of a privilege than a right. Across the country, millions of people, predominantly people of color, are prevented from voting by strict voter ID laws, the disenfranchisement of felons or purging of voter rolls. Florida’s strictest-in-the-nation felon disenfranchisement laws mean that 10 percent of adult Floridians —over 1.5 million people — can’t vote.

The majority of the individuals affected are black, and as a result 23 percent of black Floridians can’t vote (something that could be overturned this fall if Amendment 4 passes).

Recently in Georgia, in a move reminiscent of the Jim Crow era, Secretary of State and current gubernatorial candidate Brian Kemp froze 53,000 voter registrations just weeks before election day. Although black people only make up 32 percent of Georgia’s population, they made up over two-thirds of the registrations frozen. And in states like Ohio, thousands of voters have been purged from voter rolls without any warning.

So on Nov. 6, we, the Amherst College Democrats, urge those of you who can to vote for Democrats from the top of the ballot to the very bottom. Yes, vote against Trump.

Yes, vote against those who think health care isn’t a human right. Yes, vote against those who don’t think that black lives matter. But also, vote for a sustainable future. Vote for equal pay for equal work. And vote for the America we deserve. For the millions who can’t, you must.

Brett Kavanaugh and the Myth of the Cool Girl Diane Lee ’19 Managing Opinion Editor In a scene in the movie “Gone Girl,” the protagonist (and antagonist) Amy explains the archetype of the Cool Girl: “Men always saying that as the defining compliment, don’t they? ‘She’s a cool girl’ … Cool Girls never get angry; they only smile in the chagrined, loving manner and let their men do whatever they want. ‘Go ahead, sh*t on me, I don’t mind, I’m the Cool Girl.’ Men actually think this girl exists. Maybe they’re fooled because so many women are willing to pretend to be this girl.”

I found myself thinking of this description on Oct. 6, when the Senate voted 50-48 to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Almost all of the female Republican senators sided with Kavanaugh, leaving Senator Lisa Murkowski as the only woman to break away from party lines.

Thus, senators Joni Ernst, Cindy HydeSmith, Deb Fischer, Shelley Moore Capito and Susan Collins officially became the Cool Girls of the Senate — they proved that they were willing to put aside any reservations they may (or may not) have about sexual misconduct and prove their worth to their party, the Boys’ Club. Alexis Grenell writes in a New York Times op-ed that the senators, who are also all white, “benefit from patriarchy

by trading on their whiteness to monopolize resources for mutual gain. In return they’re placed on a pedestal to be ‘cherished and revered.’”

Brett Kavanaugh and the Cool Girls, unfortunately, exist in the world outside of the Senate and this particular incident in our country’s history. And oftentimes, they exist together.

Despite Amherst’s efforts to create a positive culture around consent and sexual respect, it is a reality that these incidents still happen too frequently here. According to the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, one in five women are sexually assaulted in college, and 90 percent of victims do not report the assault. As past op-ed articles in The Amherst Student indicate, these incidents also often happen in male-controlled and dominated spaces; the erasure of the Socials have alleviated some of the gendered power dynamics in the past few years, but anybody who knows Amherst knows that mixers, parties and even formals privilege men, and male atheletes in particular.

Thus, it would serve women well to be in the good graces of these men. And there is no problem with that — some of my best friends are male athletes, and I attend mixers with teams often. The problem occurs when women entertain individuals that have been deemed assaulters, or at the least, creepy, by

other women. In our very small campus, it is no secret that women constantly warn each other about the men who they have heard are dangerous, those they believe are toxic or have touched us or our friends without permission.

So who are the people still hanging out with them?

It’s the Cool Girls, the women who claim that they do not care because these men “are nice to me” or “have never done anything to me.” They are women who remain neutral, silent and therefore, complicit. They trade in their willful ignorance in the hopes to achieve and maintain a certain social status.

Even more harrowingly so, I have personally witnessed women slut-shame, joke and laugh at instances of sexual assault, as if doing those things somehow protects themselves from the egregious acts that have been done onto other women’s bodies. Because a Cool Girl is “one of the boys,” and the other women are over-reacting.

This mindset is reprehensible – by giving perpetrators time and attention, women are further fueling the power that perpetrators use to victimize other women. Making light of a traumatic experience is cruel. Betraying other women is pathetic.

But most importantly, it is misguided to believe that if you align yourself with sh*tty men, it will exempt you from assault or

make you superior to other women, because it is not true. The Cool Girl is a myth. We live in a world where women’s bodies are still objectified and sexualized, Cool Girls included. Men who have no respect for one woman have no respect for women, period.

Athlete culture and social life is just one example that I use given my proximity and familiarity with it during my time at Amherst. My point is not to criticize those who participate in athlete social life — non-athlete men and the women that support them are certainly not exempt from misogynistic and self-serving behavior. The more pertinent message here is that we, women, must also examine ways in which we perpetuate patriarchy, sexism and misogyny, in hopes that we get a crumb. And more importantly, that the crumb is not worth it.

Furthermore, I want to make a disclaimer that the first and foremost responsibility of sexual assault goes to the perpetrator — men are utterly responsible for their behavior.

The simple fact is that no woman can or ever should take that blame. It is critical that male allies use their privilege to do the heavy-lifting.

That being said, it is about time that we each checked ourselves about the roles that we play in perpetuating a toxic culture and putting each other in harm’s way.

Arts&Living

“A Star is Born” Unexpectedly Overcomes Potential for Cliche

Photo courtesy of hit-channel.com

Bradley Cooper (left) and Lady Gaga (right) star in “A Star is Born”as musicians struggling to navigate the web of challenges that come with a career in music.

Hildi Gabel ’21 Staff Writer The decision to remake “A Star Is Born” was, frankly, questionable. Bradley Cooper’s directorial debut starring Lady Gaga and Cooper himself was a fourth take on the story after previous iterations in 1937, 1954 and 1976. The choice falls squarely in line with the recent Hollywood trend of cashing safe bets on nostalgic remakes.

The film itself is an age-old story of show-biz, with some new tweaks: well-established country-rock musician Jackson Maine (Bradley Cooper) happens upon Ally (Lady Gaga), a young singer in a New York drag bar, and asks her to tour with him. As the two fall in love, Jackson watches his career and life spiral due to substance abuse as Ally’s stardom skyrockets.

Prior to watching the film, I was determined that I would find a cookie-cutter cliche of the same story we’ve heard time and time again.

From the very start, though, the film proved me wrong. The film is so fluid and urgently palpable that it makes you forget how scenes are usually constructed — or that scenes are usually constructed at all. Any question concerning the need for yet another “A Star is Born” in 2018 is one the film can answer for itself: it is so wellmade that the repetition doesn’t matter.

The film demonstrates a deep love for musical exhibition. The directors recorded all the music live — to do otherwise would have squandered film’s unique ability to capture actions in real time. This choice thrusts the viewer into the lived experiences of the artists, highlighting the arduous work and nerves that go into performing in front of a crowd.

Lady Gaga proves once again that her voice has exceptional range, power and artistry. More surprisingly, though, Cooper delivers both a natural voice and competent guitar skills that make his portrayal of a musician believable.

The film uses these foundational performance scenes and cameos from several well-known musicians to embed the characters in the real fabric of the current industry; music is not just a thematic backdrop used to supplement the plot, but the actual substance of its scenes and story.

Impressive as the music is, the acting performances make this film. Lady Gaga and Cooper both throw themselves with complete commitment into their respective characters, and it is this fact which single handedly saves the movie from cliche. Lady Gaga proves herself to be a natural talent, completely believable as a young New York woman who sings at drag bars after her day job, embodying both complacence and a profound self-assuredness. There is complete credibility in her disbelief at the opportunities

that are suddenly thrust at her, which makes us believe her when she does fall in love with Jack.

Cooper also gives a tremendously heartbreaking performance as a jaded musician losing control because of substance abuse. The presence of alcohol and drugs in Jackson’s life are persistent throughout the film, and the constant strain on his persona conveys both the pain and the impossibility of shaking this disease. We see him floundering and helpless, inebriated and passed out on the couch, on the floor, in the bushes before his house and on stage while Ally accepts her first Grammy.

Cooper’s full commitment to the character’s struggle conveys the excruciating nature of such a spiral.

If there is any external culprit that acts a threat to their love, it is the industry itself. The film skillfully depicts the sinister underbelly of the modern music industry, showing how artists are commodified. The commercial agents who propel Ally to fame mold her into a specific vision of a millennial pop star, complete with orange-dyed hair, synth beats and glittering backup dancers.

All the while, the constant requests for autographs and performances isolate Jackson and contribute to his inability to be present in his own life. While in one sense the industry stands as a pillar of capitalism necessary for success, it is also portrayed as a coercive entity of corporate evil that abuses artists.

It’s impossible not to comment on the nature of the relationship between Ally and Jackson and the power dynamics that exist due to both their perceived age difference and imbalance in fame. In the beginning of the film, Jackson’s initial attempts to talk to Ally feel clunky and forward (such as his unsettling one-liner, “I just wanted to get another look at you”), and his nearly paternalistic support of Ally through her career can feel uncomfortable. However, I interpreted these facts of their relationship as a part of the story itself. It’s a relationship that never pretends to be easy, and the strained, imbalanced dynamics add onto the pile of other heavy issues the couple must contend with.

Near the end of the film, Jackson tells Ally: “If there’s one reason we’re supposed to be here, it’s to say something so people want to hear it.” Songwriting retains a near-mythic quality throughout the movie, and Cooper clearly takes seriously the integral idea that artists can genuinely communicate with the world, despite the potential undermining of sincere expression from the music industry. When Ally joins Jackson onstage for the first time, she belts out a song she’s written, overwhelmed and in disbelief that it’s her own words and voice soaring from her mouth. It’s one of the most electrifying

moments of the film, and it conveys the visceral power of expression like a lightning bolt.

This passion for artistry, which mirrors the love between Ally and Jackson, coexists next to the heavy darkness of their struggles. The human soul, the desire to love and the impulse to express oneself contend with so much in this film — illness, depression, regret, self-doubt

and commercial reality, to name a few. The movie takes on enormous emotional issues, and it would have crumbled without an intense dedication to the lives portrayed. “A Star Is Born” takes serious care in telling the story of a losing battle, and serves as a beautiful tribute to both the struggle and the valiant attempt to overcome.

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Arts & Living 7

“Wobble Palace” Explores Millennial Romance and Instability

Photo courtesy of Julian Raiford ‘21

In a panel at a New York film festival in the Metrograph Theater, director, writer and star of “Wobble Palace” Eugene Kotlyarenko discusses his recent Julian Raiford ’21 Staff Writer In this age of Tinder, political taboos and quarter-life crises, young adult romances are complicated. Director and writer Eugene Kotlyarenko attempts to dissect these trying times in his latest feature-film “Wobble Palace.”

Drawing upon his own experience in a failing open relationship during the 2016 presidential election, he invites viewers into a cinematic world depicting the discordant romance of one couple fighting over who will keep their eccentric L.A. home. Between the AstroTurf carpeted living room, the plastic baby doll decor and a green denim couch, the physical setting sets the tone of the film while representing the helplessly failing relationship of Jane (Dasha Nekrasova) and Eugene (director/writer Eugene Kotlyarenko). The film uses this central setting to explore the couple’s decision: to split their apartment for a weekend and see if they are able to make their decaying relationship work.

The story starts with the initial text exchanges between Eugene and Jane, where a budding romance appears founded on a mutual swipe-right attitude and shared Russian

heritage. The origins of this relationship are explored in the film through experimental editing, which incorporates traditional tracking shots of the individual partners alongside screen recordings of their first text messages.

Such an editing style underscores the stark contrast between the hopeless disaster their relationship has become and the candle in the dark their initial romantic spark once was.

This introduction to Eugene and Jane reads as a poetic homage to T.S. Eliot’s sentiment, “Our beginnings never know our ends!”

The disconnected, dreamlike flashbacks of Jane and Eugene’s early romance continue to flit through their current-day life, as the first half of the film portrays Eugene’s stay alone in their home while the second half focuses on Jane’s stay. The shift in storytelling style between the two halves reflects the vast differences between the partners’ aspirations and dissatisfactions. Eugene’s choice to spend his day on multiple Tinder dates before the onset of a depressive episode reveals a selfish side, motivated simply by instant gratification and ignorant of his romantic reality. Conversely, Jane’s day turns coldly existential, as she explores her worth as an artist who may be wasting her life in both her romantic and creative

pursuits. It seems the only similarities the couple shares in their days apart are agonizing over how to end the relationship and the truth of being the one who wants to keep their house.

The strength of this film lies in its ability to maintain a balance; a comedic tone offsets realistic dialogue that is sensitive to the highs and lows of lost love that nevertheless remains warmly remembered. Fondly referring to their home as “Wobble Palace,” Jane sums up this difficult duality best when she states, “That time in Wobble Palace is something I’d love to forget, but I know I never will.”

Despite the potential for the film to slip into an entirely depressing narrative, the comedic relief of “Wobble Palace” is pervasive enough to safely rule this film as a satire, even if it does jerk a few tears out of its viewer. In a scene featuring a brief flirtation between Jane and a skater boy (Jack Kilmer), the pair stare at a betta fish as Kilmer mansplains that two betta fish cannot survive in the same fish bowl.

Without a word being spoken, the viewer sees the realization dawn on Jane that this is an apt metaphor for her inability to survive in a relationship with Eugene any longer.

Despite providing lovely additions, the

symbolic intricacies of the film also serve as a potential future downfall for Kotylarenko’s writing. The honesty of the characters’ reflections feels like an unreproducible work — a one-hit-wonder for the filmmaker. The film is based on director and star Kotlyarenko’s reallife failing romance and the pre-breakup cold war between him and his former girlfriend.

Given the closeness to the director’s lived experience, one cannot help but worry that perhaps Kotylarenko’s success may prove to be limited to “Wobble Palace.”

Regardless of whether or not the film proves to be a one-off, it is a wonderfully indulgent and uncomfortably realistic creation that understands all too well the anxieties surrounding a break up.

Between experimental editing, color coded lighting, and satirized dialogues on art and politics, “Wobble Palace” has all the markings of a cult classic in the making. The thoughtful yet nearly surrealist narrative posed by the film provides a satisfying experience that leaves the viewer craving more of the beautiful nightmare Jane and Eugene have created together. After only a brief theatrical release in the Lower East Side Film Festival, “Wobble Palace” will be available on DVD on Oct. 23.

The Amherst Student • October 17, 2018

Arts & Living 8

“Venom” Bores Audiences Despite Tom Hardy’s Best Efforts

Photo courtesy of filmpost.it

Although Tom Hardy delivers a convincing performance, his efforts were not enough to save “Venom” from being poorly-paced and thoroughly confusing.

Mark Simonitis ’19 Staff Writer When I sat down in the theater to watch “Venom,” I fully expected to hate it. I resented (and still do resent) Sony’s attempt to launch its own Spider-Man spinoff movie without actually connecting it to Spider-Man himself. The trailers and marketing of “Venom” had left a sour taste in my mouth. In an interview with youtube channel ComicsExplained, Tom Hardy, whose presence in the movie convinced me to give it a try, had gone on record saying that his favorite 40 minutes were cut from the film. However, I didn’t hate “Venom.” I genuinely enjoyed Tom Hardy’s performance and the action was enough to keep me somewhat interested. Still, that was not enough to stop me from largely disliking “Venom” overall, as it simply has too much working against it.

Based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, the plot of “Venom” is a simple one: reporter Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) investigates disturbing rumors about the Life Foundation — think “Evil SpaceX”— run by Carlton Drake (Riz Ahmed) — think “Evil Elon Musk”. While sneaking into one of Drake’s labs, Eddie comes into contact with a black mass of goo, which turns out to be an alien symbiote named Venom (voiced by Tom Hardy). Venom bonds with Eddie, granting him enhanced strength, durability

and a monstrous appearance, all while manifesting as a voice in his head. Together, Eddie and Venom must learn to get along and put a halt to Drake’s plans.

It should be noted here that even this basic plot is nonsensical, rife with plot-holes, heavily reliant on clunky exposition, stuffed with inexplicable character motivations and just horribly cliched. One of the less spoiler-heavy aspects I can think of regards one of the main plot points of “Venom” — symbiotes apparently need to be perfect matches with their hosts to avoid killing them within a few days.

Eddie and Venom are one such pair, but the movie never describes why this is. Is it something to do with genetics? Maybe their personalities?

This gets even stranger when the symbiote manages to stay bonded to a random host for the entirety of a six-month time gap, yet moves on to a new host when an opportunity presents itself. Director Ruben Fleischer himself has even gone on record saying that this moment makes no sense.

The entire first act is an incredibly tedious and boring affair, especially since it takes almost 40 minutes for Venom to actually make an appearance in his own movie. Instead, we get to hear the cast deliver mind-numbing exposition that had me wondering if anyone sitting in that movie theater actually cared in the slightest. The second act does manage to pick up the pace, as Eddie and Venom get to know one another, and hilarity en-

sues. This is also when the action begins to kick off in a variety of sequences.

These range from a somewhat-creative scene where Venom must protect an uncooperative Eddie to a completely uninspired motorcycle chase and finally to a viscerally satisfying scene where we get to see Venom cut loose for the first time.

However, this then gives way to a third act that is incredibly cramped and unsatisfying, with a final fight that boils down to two extremely-similar looking masses of CGI goo battling it out. This becomes an even more unforgiveable pacing sin when one remembers how quickly the first act wore out its welcome.

Out of the entire cast, Tom Hardy is the only one who manages to be entertaining to watch.

He channels a paranoia and nervous energy that suits Eddie well, particularly after he bonds with Venom. Hardy also lands the few moments of actually intentional humor in this movie, particularly during the scenes where Eddie is learning to share a body with a ravenous alien organism that wants to eat everything in sight.

However, he has absolutely no chemistry with his love interest, Anne (Michelle Williams). She may get more to do than a standard superhero movie girlfriend, but she’s just not that interesting of a character. Just as unfortunately, Riz Ahmed is saddled with his role as a standard corrupt corporate executive, an archetype that we have seen played out thousands of times over the past sev-

eral decades.

Tonally, “Venom” is all over the place. It never seems to know what direction to take itself in, veering between serious, campy and ridiculously grim all at the drop of a hat. It definitely calls back to the age of 90’s/early 2000’s era shlock in that its more absurd moments rely largely on gross out humor, general crassness and as much brutal violence that can be squeezed under a PG-13 label.

Overall, it seems like “Venom” wants very much to be an R-rated movie, yet is constantly forced to cut away whenever Venom bites someone’s head off or the symbiotes’ body horror gets a little too extreme for a teen audience. I am not one of those commenters who argued that Venom is a character who can only be done with an R-rating, but it would have been the right choice for this particular movie.

As I said before, I don’t hate “Venom.” I would say that it’s a fine movie to stream or rent in a few months. “Venom” is just so fundamentally broken and boring that I cannot recommend that anyone actually pay to see it in theaters.

Honestly, I am frustrated that Hardy provides a few genuine flashes of quality in this otherwise disappointing movie. I would love to see him take this character into the mainline Marvel Cinematic Universe and face off with Tom Holland’s Spidey, but that does not seem to be in the cards. This sad fact only makes “Venom” even more frustrating and depressing to watch.

Sheck Wes Makes a Name for Himself on New Album “Mudboy” Hugh Ford ’20 Staff Writer In an article I wrote last spring about the releases from up-and-coming artists signed by G.O.O.D. Music, I reviewed two singles by Harlem rapper Sheck Wes. At the time of the article, then-19-year-old Wes was in the midst of his climb to prominence. His single “Mo Bamba” had just gone viral, charting on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaking at No. 31.

Then, over the summer, he featured on Travis Scott’s “Astroworld,” which itself debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and later accompanied Scott on his hugely popular “Wish You Were Here” tour.

It’s safe to say that this fall, the time was right for Wes’ commercial debut. On Oct. 5, Wes delivered “Mudboy,” a 14-track album released under a joint deal by Kanye West and Pusha T’s G.O.O.D. Music and Travis Scott’s Cactus Jack Records.

As a debut, “Mudboy” is an emphatic introduction to Wes as an artist, and the album is unmistakably one-of-a-kind. It is incredible, in a time when hip-hop seems increasingly homogenized, just how quickly Wes has broken the mold.

Perhaps it’s due to his unique voice which wavers between yelling and whispering or perhaps it’s due to his already-iconic “B**ch” adlib,

but the tracks on “Mudboy” — which includes no guest features — are instantly recognizable as Wes songs.

Wes opens the album with “Mindf**ker,” and immediately lets his cheekiness show through as he unexpectedly allows the instrumental to ride for almost a minute-and-a-half, only interrupting with the occasional adlib.

The risk pays off, as the dark DigitalNas instrumental sets up a great payoff with Wes’ verse. He vaguely details struggles with poverty and violence growing up in Harlem, dubbing himself a “Mudboy.” Throughout the song, he presents himself with an impudent bravado almost physically perceptible in the extreme emphasis he puts on the last syllable of each line.

And if “Mindf**ker” wasn’t enough of a personal statement, Wes follows it up with one of his biggest singles, “Live Sheck Wes,” which uses the themes of “Mindf**ker” but ramps the energy up to 11. The verses, which paint a surprisingly vivid picture of an irreverent criminal lifestyle, are capped by the iconic chorus of Wes screaming “Live Sheck Wes, b**ch, I’m dying Sheck Wes!” The song has the power not only to inspire empathy for Wes’ difficult upbringing, but also rouse an inescapable energy and feeling of liberation in his recklessness.

The next two songs, “Gmail” and “Wanted,” ride on the braggadocios coattails of “Live Sheck Wes.” Both have dark beats that sit just behind

the vocals and amplify the intimidation in Wes’ voice, as he yells in a whisper about selling drugs and being wanted by the police. On “Gmail,” Wes once again showcases his sense of humor as he brings the song to a halt midway through to explain his famous “B**ch” adlib.

Shortly afterwards, however, “Mudboy” begins to decline. On the three-track run of “Never Lost,” “WESPN” and “Kyrie,” it seems like Wes loses his purpose.

On “Never Lost” and “WESPN,” he attempts melodic rap, and with his voice, it simply does not work. While the tracks have some interesting moments and I applaud Wes for trying out different styles, the songs become monotonous.

On “Kyrie,” Wes struggles to recapture the magic of “Mo Bamba” with another ode to a basketball player. However, “Kyrie” falls flat and ends up sounding simply like an off-brand version of “Mo Bamba.” It doesn’t help the comparison that the two songs are right next to each other on the track list. On the other hand, maybe the arrangement is a blessing in disguise because after “Mo Bamba,” Wes seems to find himself again.

“Mo Bamba” does not require further praise in this review. It is by far the best song on the album. Wes’ energy is infectious, and his personality shines through to create an intense yet incredibly fun song.

The concluding section of the album is quite

solid. The highlight of the last few tracks is “F**k Everybody” purely because of its high-octane chorus, which boils down the “Sheck Wes attitude” to a single phrase. The only low point is the penultimate track “Danimals,” on which Wes brings back his awkward singing.

Over the course of the album, Wes repeatedly establishes his persona and charms the listener with his youthful irreverence. His soft yet forceful voice is unique in hip-hop right now, and with it, he brings a special intensity to the album. This effect however, is a double-edged sword.

The album suffers most when Wes tries to diversify his sound and emulate other styles.

Perhaps the solution lies in more varied production. Most beats on the album are spacey trap beats, which become somewhat forgettable after a while. The notable exception is the closing track, “Vetements Socks,” whose upbeat synths are a nice change of pace.

Overall, “Mudboy” is a satisfying debut that still leaves room for improvement. Although a great kickoff to Wes’ solo career, “Mudboy” leaves some questions unanswered. Can he vary his sound enough to keep listeners interested while remaining authentic? How well will he mesh with other artists on collaborations? Regardless of the answers, with cosigns from some of the biggest names in hip-hop, his future is all but guaranteed to be bright.

Sports 9

The Amherst Student • October 17, 2018

Undefeated Football Downs Colby With Balanced Offensive Attack

Volleyball Claims NESCAC Wins Against Rival Williams and Hamilton

Matthew Sparrow ’21 Staff Writer

Dan Papa ’20 Staff Writer

On paper, Saturday’s matchup between the 0-5 Colby Mules and the 5-0 Amherst Mammoths was a huge mismatch, and from the first whistle the gap in class between the programs was visible.

The Mammoths utilized their NESCAC-leading defense and an impressive outing from junior running back Biafra Okoronkwo to overpower the Mules, leading to a resounding 35-9 victory.

Amherst’s defense was tested early, as Colby drove into Mammoth territory with ease on the opening drive.

However, the Mules came up one yard short on a fourth-and-6 from the 34-yard line, and though the Mammoths weren’t able to capitalize on their first drive of the game, Amherst opened the scoring on its second drive thanks to a 70-yard run by Okoronkwo.

After holding Colby to a three-and-out, Amherst doubled its lead as quarterback Ollie Eberth ’20 connected with wideout James O’Regan ’21 for a 31-yard touchdown.

The second quarter was much of the same for Amherst. After the teams exchanged three-andouts to open the frame, Eberth found Bo Berluti ’19 in the endzone from five yards out for the Mammoths’ third score of the game.

After another defensive stop, Eberth drove Amherst down to the Mules’ 1-yard line before punching it in himself to extend the lead to 28-0.

Although Colby got on the board with a field goal right before the halftime whistle blew, the Mammoths took a comfortable 28-3 lead into the locker room.

Amherst showed no complacency at the start of the second half, as it took the Mammoths only four plays to go 89 yards, capped off by a 44-yard touchdown pass from Eberth to Berluti.

Colby finally found the endzone on its next drive, scoring its only touchdown of the game on a seven-yard throw from quarterback Matt Hersch to cut the lead to 35-9, but these were the last points of the game for either team. Amherst relied on its running game to kill the clock, with both teams stagnating offensively for much of the last two quarters.

The closest either team came to scoring came

After splitting last weekend’s matches against Tufts and Bowdoin, the volleyball team returned to its winning ways this weekend against stiff NESCAC competition.

On Friday, Oct. 12, Amherst dominated the visiting Hamilton Continentals and closed out its weekend with a rousing victory over archrival Williams on Saturday.

With seven games to play, the Firedogs are now 14-3, with a 6-2 record in the NESCAC, and are poised to make a strong push towards the postseason.

On Friday, Amherst welcomed the Continentals, who arrived on campus with a 1-6 record in league play, to LeFrak Gymnasium.

The Firedogs got off to a hot start in the first set, jumping out to a 19-9 lead.

Hamilton rattled off a run to cut the deficit to five points, but Amherst was able to close out the set with a 25-18 win.

Another quick start in the second set gave the Firedogs a 17-5 lead, which they would not relinquish, closing out the set with a 2513 win.

It took just one more frame to finish the match, with Amherst claiming a 25-22 edge in the third and for a comfortable straight-set win.

Junior Emily Kolsky led all players with eight kills 16 digs, while teammates Claire Dennis ’20 and Jamie Dailey ’21 each contributed seven kills of their own.

Charlotte Duran ’20 had a double-double, finishing with 26 assists and 10 digs. Junior

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Ollie Eberth ’20 has passed for 846 yards and rushed for 306 yards this year. late in the fourth quarter, when backup quarterback Nick Morales ’19 was picked off in the red zone by Colby’s Dylan James.

When the final whistle sounded, Amherst had secured its fifth consecutive win with a 35-9 victory.

Okoronkwo had a prodigious game on the ground, rushing for 185 yards on just 15 carries and scoring a touchdown.

Eberth had a great performance as well, totaling four touchdowns (three passing and one rushing) and completing 11-of-19 passes for 194 yards.

O’Regan and Berluti were his go-to receivers, combining for nine catches, 182 yards and three touchdowns.

On the other side of the ball, Andrew Sommer ’19 led the team with nine tackles, and Joe Kelly ’21 recorded 1.5 tackles for loss, including a sack.

With the victory over Colby, Amherst sits alone at the top in NESCAC standings, with Trinity, Tufts, and Williams in a three-way tie for second after both the Ephs and the Jumbos lost this weekend.

The Mammoths now enter the gauntlet of their schedule as they will travel to Middletown, Connecticut to square off against 3-2 Wesleyan on Saturday, October 20 at 1 p.m.

Men’s Tennis Players Stall Out in Semifinals of MIT Invitational Event Maeve Brammer ’21 Staff Writer This weekend the men’s tennis team traveled to Medford, Massachusetts for the final tournament of the fall season, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Invitational. The tournament, divided into two Flights, A and B in both singles and doubles. Each team sent the bottom of their ladders into the B division.

In the singles on Friday, Flight A saw Sean Wei ’21, Zach Bessette ’19 and Jayson Fung ’20 advance through their first several games but Kevin Ma ’21 fell to Brandeis’s Adam Tzeng. Flight B’s Damian Ruparel ’22, William Turchetta ’22 and Harry Foulkes ’22 advanced to Saturday with wins, though Jesse Levitin ’19 fell to Bowdoin’s Larry Zhao.

On Saturday morning, Flight A’s number four seeded duo of Bessette and Wei won both their matches, placing them in Sunday’s semifinals.

They defeated Wesleyan’s Adrain Roji and Marcus Sweeney and then Middlebury’s Stanley Morris and Nate Eazor.

Fung and Foulkes also advanced to the semifinals after winning twice on Saturday, against Noah Farrell and Peter Martin from Middlebury and Evan Fortier and Larry Zhao from Bowdoin.

The Mammoths also saw doubles action in Flight B, where Levitin and Ruparel advanced to semifinals after defeating Wesleyan’s Peter Anker and Andrew Finkelman.

Wei defeated Anupreeth Coramutla of Brandeis and Finkelman of Wesleyan on Saturday, securing himself a place in Sunday’s semi-

finals. Fung battled Nikhil Das of Brandeis and MIT’s Alex Cauneac, defeating both for his own place in the semifinals.

After surviving Friday, Bessette fell to Bowdoin’s Justin Patel.

Flight B’s Ruparel also won twice Saturday, beating first Evan Fortier of Bowdoin and then Tyler Ng of Brandeis.

Turchetta also advanced to the semifinals after beating Noah Reich and Jackson Kogan.

Harris Foulkes won his first game but lost in his second, falling to Calvin Chung of Williams.

Sunday saw four singles and three doubles play in both flights.

Wei started strong in the semifinals, defeating Wesleyan’s Peter Anker, but fell to Noah Farrell of Middlebury in the finals 6-2, 6-2.

Fung had lost to Farrell in the semifinals earlier Sunday morning 6-4, 6-2. In Flight B, Ruparel and Turchetta both lost their semifinal matchup.

In doubles, Bessette and Wei also made it to the finals after defeating Brandeis’ Kogan and Tzeng, though they eventually would lose to Carter and Lilienthal of Wesleyan.

Fung and Foulkes fought valiantly in the semifinals in Flight A but did not advance to the final. Flight B saw Levitin and Ruparel play through to the finals, but they fall to Middlebury champions Xiao and Samets.

The Mammoths concluded their fall with a weekend full of action. After a strong season, they will now take a well-deserved break and begin again in the spring. Their first game is March 10, in Orlando Florida in a spring-break trip match.

defensive specialist Candace Chung played an important role in the serving game, finishing with two of Amherst’s six service aces.

On Saturday, the Firedogs took on Williams, which sat just one game back of Amherst in the NESCAC standings when the match started.

The contest was competitive from the opening whistle, with both teams trading the lead early in the first set with the scoreboard reading 12-12.

However, Amherst scored the next six points en route to claiming the set 25-20.

The second set was all Williams, as the Ephs scored 19 of the first 30 points to lead by eight.

Though Amherst mounted a furious comeback, the Firedogs ultimately came up short with Williams evening the overall match at one set apiece.

In both the third and fourth, Amherst maintained leads from the very start to clinch the overall victory in four sets, the program’s third consecutive defeat of Williams.

Once again, Kolsky led the Firedogs with 14 kills, but she was supported by nine kills from Sophie Launsbach ’22 and eight kills from Daria Kim-Percy ’21.

Duran assisted her teammates 41 times and added 10 digs alongside Dennis, who added five blocks.

Amherst returns to action on Wednesday, Oct. 17 when it will host Clark University at 7 p.m. Next weekend, the Firedogs will host the Hall of Fame Invitational tournament on Friday and Saturday, during which they will take on Wellesley College, Worcester Polytechnic Institute and Bridgewater State College.

Women’s Soccer Wins Two Games To Extend Undefeated Streak to Nine Nat De Jonge ’21 Staff Writer Boasting a record of 9-1-1, the Mammoths entered Saturday’s contest against Colby as the No. 11 Division III team in the country. In both the game against the Mules as well as against Springfield College on Sunday, Amherst demonstrated the accuracy of such a high ranking with two dominating wins. In Saturday’s Senior Day contest against Colby, all six seniors — Caleigh Plaut, Morgan Machiele, Megan Root, Maeve McNamara, Eden Charles and Rubii Tamen — saw significant minutes after a pregame celebration of their impressive four years at the college.

The excitement from the opening celebration carried over into the first few minutes of the game, with the Mammoths dominating the early passage of play. Amherst’s efforts came to fruition in the ninth minute, when Kim Zhou ’22 notched the first goal of her collegiate career on a rebound that she fired homeover the Mules’ keeper. Although Colby managed to keep the Mammoths off the scoresheet for the next 60 minutes, the dam eventually broke in the 73rd minute, when sophomore striker Navva Sedigh tapped home a perfectly placed cross

from Maeve McNamara ’19. To round out the victory, Cassie Chin ’21 fired home a goal in the last minute of play to clinch the 3-0 win.

Colby was lucky to escape with only the threegoal loss as Amherst fired off a remarkable 26 shots on the Mules’ goal, with the visitors managing only a paltry three.

The second game of the weekend sent the Mammoths south to take on local foe Springfield College in a challenging, non-conference contest. The Spirits proved to be a more formidable opponent than the Mules, matching Amherst with nine shots on the afternoon.

However, a stout defensive performance from Amherst kept Springfield out of the back of the net. On the other end of the field, senior striker and captain Tamen netted both goals as Amherst emerged victorious with a 2-0 win.

With the two wins, the Mammoths now boast a record of 11-1-1 overall and 6-1-1 in NESCAC play, good for third in the conference.

Riding this wave of momentum, Amherst will look to extend its six-game winning streak on the road this Saturday, Oct. 20 against Little Three rival Wesleyan before closing out regular season play next Tuesday, Oct. 23 at home against Trinity.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Haley Roy ’20 has contributed two goals and two assists on the season.

10

Sports

5IF "NIFSTU 4UVEFOU t 0DUPCFS

Women’s Tennis Nabs First Overall and Three Semifinalists at NEWITTs

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Camilla Trapness ’19 made it to the semifinals of this weekend’s tournament and won the Coach Christine Davis Sportsmanship award.

Jake Grossman ’21 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s tennis team continued its impressive fall season at the New England Intercollegiate Tennis Tournament, which was hosted by local schools Smith and Mount Holyoke. Dominating all opponents, three Amherst pairings reached the semifinals of the doubles bracket, which led to an all-Amherst championship match, with topseeded duo Jackie Buzkin ’22 and Claire Evans ’22 emerging victorious. The tournament format saw each team face the other in one doubles match and two singles matches, with the winner of two matches emerging victorious.

Defeating teams from Colby-Sawyer College, Springfield College, Wheaton College, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), four Mammoth duos reached the quarterfinals. Maggie Owensby ’22 and Camilla Trapness ’19 handled Yashu Yang and Anna Kopituk of Colby-Sawyer with ease, cruising to a 3-0 victory by winning both singles matches and doubles. Buzkin and Evans continued their success in this fall season, dropping only 3 games total. Next, the duo swept Melissa Parrish and Rachel Ahlmeyer of Springfield.

Meanwhile, Kelsey Chen ’19 and Anya Ramras ’22 edged Wheaton’s Ines de Bracamonte and Connor O’Keefe 2-1, winning the deciding doubles match 8-4. Similarly, Catie Burkhart ’21 and May Zhu ’22 were able to defeat a duo from MIT 2-1 to advance to a quarterfinal against Chen and Ramras.

Buzkin and Evans cruised to another victory in the quarterfinals by a 2-1 margin over MIT’s Lara Rakocevic and Ashley Teng, with an impressive 8-4 doubles win proving to be the margin of victory.

After dropping their doubles match, Owensby and Trapness were able to rally for a victory by defeat-

ing Megan Guenther and Marina Zhang from MIT in both singles matches. In the matchup between Amherst pairings, Chen and Ramras came out on top 2-1 over the partnership of Burkhart and Zhu. Another all-Mammoths matchup awaited in the semifinals, where Buzkin and Evans took down Owensby and Trapness 8-0 in a winner takes all semifinal. Chen and Ramras didn’t even need to take to the courts in their own semifinal, as their MIT opponents defaulted the match.

In the all-Amherst championship match, Buzkin and Evans, who had entered the tournament as the top seed, ultimately prevailed over No. 3 seed Chen and Ramras by a score of 8-4.

Off the court, Trapness was honored with the Coach Christine Davis Sportsmanship award, given to a player who exemplifies grace, passion and commitment. In their nomination submission, Amherst coaches Jackie Bagwell and Benay Weintraub lauded Trapness for her selflessness as a teammate in mentoring younger athletes and volunteering her time to help with recruiting.

With such success this fall and the return of several key junior contributors in the spring, the future looks bright to Buzkin. “We are all really happy with the results this fall and are definitely looking to build on them in our spring season,” she said. “Beating Williams at home was probably my favorite moment of the fall season, and we are going to use that energy to work hard in the offseason and come out really strong during our spring break trip in the beginning of March where we will be competing against some tough out of conference teams.”

Amherst’s fall season is now over and the Mammoths won’t return to the courts until next March, when they will open their season on their annual spring break trip, this year to Florida.

Women’s Cross Country Finishes Seventh at Connecticut College Invitational Jamie Mazzola ’21 Staff Writer Amidst cold and rainy conditions, Amherst women’s cross country stepped up to the challenge at the Connecticut College Invitational this past Saturday, placing an impressive seventh with 232 points in a deep 25-team field. In a tight race, Middlebury took the team title with 67 points, while Dickinson College (72 points) and Tufts (82 points) finished close behind. Noting a significant improvement from the Paul Short Run, the team’s previous outing, head coach Cassie Funke-Harris said, “[Amherst] was only one point behind TCNJ this week after they beat us by over 100 at Paul Short.”

In cross country, team placement is heavily dictated by the performance of a team’s fourth and fifth runners. A small one-five split, the time difference between the first and the fifth and final scoring runner can be a strong indication of depth.

With a mere 51 second split, the Mammoths cut their one-five split from 1:53 at Paul Short by a factor of over two.

In the 307 harrier field, a season-high 10 Mammoths competed. Junior Kristin Ratliff paced the squad with a 22:34 mark over the 6k course to finish 23rd overall. Close behind, sophomore Ol-

ivia Polischeck placed 30th in 22:44. Senior captain Lela Walter (23:11) was next across the line for the Mammoths, placing 56th. First-year Eline Laurent (23:23) and sophomore Sarah Gayer (23:25) rounded out the scoring Mammoths, finishing in 65th and 69th place, respectively.

First-year Julia Doubson and junior Jenny Mazzella clocked times of 24:13 and 24:31 to finish 116th and 137th, respectively. In her first race of the season, sophomore Haley Greene ran 25:21 to place 183rd.

Junior Olivia Moehl (25:39, 199th) and sophomore Katie Crum (25:40, 202nd) finished neck and neck to round out the competing Mammoths.

“We are putting the pieces together when it really counts and need to keep that momentum and positive energy heading into championship season,” said Funke-Harris.

“We’re excited to get two more weeks of training in before the NESCAC meet,” added Gayer.

Next up, the Mammoths will head to Franklin Park in Boston, Massachusetts for the annual NESCAC Championships on Oct. 27. This competition marks the beginning of championship season, and it will be the last race for all but the top seven Amherst runners, who will continue on to the NCAA Division III New England Regional Championships, hosted by Bowdoin on Nov. 10.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Cosmo Brossy ’19

Antonia Tammaro ’21

Team: Men’s cross country Favorite Team Memory: Getting on the podium at cross country nationals Favorite Pro Athlete: Jimmy MacElroy Dream Job: Jedi Council Member Pet Peeve: Winter Favorite Vacation Spot: Barcelona, Spain Something on Your Bucket List: Winning a gold medal at the Maccabiah Games Guilty Pleasure: Moth memes Favorite Food: Warm vegan espresso brownies Favorite Thing About Amherst: Clark’s traps How He Earned It: Brossy finished second out of 402 harriers at this weekend’s Connecticut College Invitational Meet.

The Senior captain led his squad from the front, through wet and slippery conditions at Harkness Memorial State Park. With a mile to go, Brossy was in third place, but within the closing seconds of the race, he sped ahead of his Williams oppoent to snatch bronze. Brossy’ excellent finish helped lead the Mammoths to grab first place in the race overall.

Team: Women’s soccer Favorite Team Memory: Experiencing the Amherst/Williams rivalry Favorite Pro Athlete: Rajon Rondo Dream Job: Physician for the Boston Celtics Pet Peeve: Switching a song before it ends Favorite Vacation Spot: Amalfi Coast Something on Your Bucket List: Scuba diving at the Great Barrier Reef Guilty Pleasure: Nutter butters Favorite Food: Kale Favorite Thing About Amherst: How my professors are always available and take the time to get to know me How She Earned It: The transfer sophomore netminder from Lynnfield, Massachusetts by way of St. John’s University has impressed between the posts for the Mammoths in her first season. Tammaro has only allowed one goal her entire tenure over nine starts. Her six complete-game shutouts demonstrates her abilities on paper, but watching her diving saves confirms her worth. Tammaro has registered an exceptional goals-against average of 0.12 goals per game to go along with 22 saves.

Women’s Golf Claims Third at New York University Invitational in Season Finale Joe Palmo ’21 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s golf team traveled to Bloomfield, New Jersey this weekend to compete in the New York University (NYU) Fall Invitational at the prestigious Forest Hill Field Club.

The Mammoths completed their season with a third-place finish behind tournament champions and archrival Williams tournament host NYU, which finihsed in second.

After shooting 330 as a team on Saturday, Amherst sat in third place, 25 strokes behind the leader Williams.

The Mammoths shaved 12 strokes off their previous day’s total on Sunday, shooting 318, for a total of 648.

This wasn’t enough to overcome Williams (619) or NYU (630), but the solid outing did give Amherst a solid 37-stroke lead over fourth place Mount Holyoke.

The tournament saw seven teams and 43 golfers participate, with eight of those 43 competing for the Mammoths.

Leading the way for the Mammoths this weekend was Isabelle Ouyang ’21, with a 7877-155 performance.

Ouyang finished tied for second place overall and only a stroke out of first, a great performance for the sophomore to conclude her stellar fall season.

Close behind was Morgan Yurosek ’20, who shot an 80-77-157 to finish tied for fifth place.

Yurosek has been an important part of Amherst’s success this fall, finishing in the top 10 at all but one of the tournaments she has competed in.

Jessica Jeong ’20 and Katie Mina Lee ’22 had identical scorecards for the weekend, shooting 80 on Saturday and 81 on Sunday to finish tied for 12th overall.

Kate Weiss ’19, India Gaume ’22 and Lily Worden ’21 similarly put together strong

weekend performances, finishing in 14th, 16th and 17th, respectively.

The golfers were separated by a combined two strokes: Weiss shot an 84-84-164, Gaume logged an 82-83-165 and Worden scored an 86-80-166.

Rounding out the Mammoths lineup was Katie Rosenberg ’19, who finished tied for 27th and shot a 90-88-178 for the weekend.

Though Amherst failed to close out the fall season with a win, the program’s future is bright with not a single one of Amherst’s top scorers older than a junior.

The Mammoths will seek to capitalize on this wealth of young talent in the spring season, when the team will compete for both a NESCAC and national title, after qualifying for the NESCAC Championship by finishing in the top four at the qualifying event.

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Isabelle Ouyang ’21 finished tied for second among all golfers this weekend.

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Sports

Men’s Soccer Shuts Out Colby and College of Staten Island Over the Weekend

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The Mazzola Minute Jamie Mazzola ’21 Columnist Jamie disscusses the politics of NBA trades between players and teams in the context of Jimmy Butler’s demands for a trade away from the Minnesota Timberwolves

1IPUP DPVSUFTZ PG Clarus Studios

Fikayo Ajayi ’19 scored against Colby this weekend, bringing his season points total up to six, with four assists and the tally against the Mules.

Jordan Rhodeman ’21 Staff Writer The Amherst men’s soccer team put together an excellent weekend with two shutout wins against conference rival Colby and the College of Staten Island.

Saturday’s match against Colby doubled as the team’s Senior Day and the Mammoths celebrated their six seniors before kickoff.

The sixsome of Luke Nguyen, Fikayo Ajayi, Andres Pascual-Leone, Christopher Lewis, Sean Fitzgerald, and Will Cohen represented the Class of 2019 and are the last remnants of the 2015 team that won the program’s first national title and finished the season with an overall record of 18-1-2 and finished the NESCAC season with an unblemished record of 9-0-1.

Though this season has had its ups and down, Saturday’s festivities seemed to spur Amherst on and resulted in a 3-0 trouncing of Colby on Hitchcock Field.

Sebastian Derby ’21 scored the first goal of the game at the 18-minute mark, his teamleading sixth tally of the season. The shot came after a missed attempt by Fitzgerald, but Derby slid it perfectly into the net.

Five minutes later, Ajayi added to the Mammoths’ lead,, netting the goal off of a

spot kick.

Ajayi furthered his impressive offensive outing with a beautiful cross, which Ngyuen buried in the back of the net.

On Sunday, Oct. 14, the Mammoths returned to Hitchcock Field for another victory over the College of Staten Island, 4-0.

The nonconference win extended Amherst’s winning streak to six games, including four NESCAC games, which will be vital in determining playoff seeding.

The Mammoths built on the previous day’s victory to dominate Staten Island. In the first five minutes of the game, the team scored two goals, tallies that set the tone for the rest of the match.

At the 2:38 minute, Cohen recorded his first collegiate goal, while at the 4:38 mark, star first-year German Giammattei netted a goal after an assist 50 yards out from Ajayi.

Just before the halftime whistle, midfielder Nyguen scored his second goal of the weekend off a long throw-in from Bryce Johnson ’21.

In the twilight of the game, Dylan Steele ’21 notched another goal for Amherst, cementing the victory.

The Mammoths will travel this Friday, Oct. 19, to Wesleyan for a Little Three matchup at 7:30 p.m.

Field Hockey Captures Two Wins over Colby and Bates on Senior Weekend Sarah Melanson ’20 Staff Writer In an exciting, action-packed weekend, the Mammoths captured two wins at home against Colby and Bates, with the match against the Bobcats doubling as the team’s Senior Day. On Saturday, the Mammoths took on the Mules, and for the opening 57 minutes, the score remained knotted at 0-0. Colby’s Georgia Cassidy finally provided some offensive impact at the 57:46 mark of the game. Taking advantage of a penalty corner, Cassidy fired a shot from the top of the arc, which deflected off a defender’s stick and into the back of the net, out of the reach of goaltender Katie Savage ’19.

With the clock winding down, Amherst’s Laura Schwartzman ’20 found the back of the net on a rebound shot with just 1:28 remaining to force overtime. The Mammoths capitalized four minutes into the extra period to complete their comeback, with Franny Daniels ’21 scoring the golden goal off an assist from Schwartzman.

With little time to rest, Amherst returned to the field on Sunday to take on Bates. Before the game, the Class of 2019 was honored, with seniors Megan Shea, Shannon Tierney, Emery Sorvino, Debbie Newmark, Kendall Codey and Savage all receiving a warm round of applause.

As a class, this sextet boasts a record of 41-20, three appearances in the NESCAC tournament and fifth-highest team GPA in all of Division III in 2017.

This celebration motivated the Mammoths

to come out firing, as Schwartzman gave the Mammoths an early lead just 15 minutes after the first whistle, finding the back of the net off a rebound on a penalty corner. For her efforts against the Maine schools, which saw her tally two goals and assist for five points on the weekend, Schwartzman earned NESCAC player of the week honors.

Eager to get in on the action, Daniels scored her own second goal of the weekend, tipping a shot past the Bates goaltender on another penalty corner. This was Daniels’ 12th goal this season, which leaves the first-year phenom as the third-leading scorer in the entire NESCAC. The Bobcats did manage to cut their deficit a minute later, as Taylor Lough redirected a shot through Savage’s legs, but Natalie Hobbs ’22 restored the two-goal lead in the second half, adding her name to the scoresheet after tipping first-year Beth Williamson’s shot into the back of the net.

Although Bates fought hard to pull a goal back in the dying minutes of the game, Savage was more than equal to the task, denying any hopes of a Bobcats comeback. Coming away from the weekend with two wins, the Mammoths now stand at 4-4 in conference play and 8-4 overall, with just three games remaining in the regular season. Amherst will take on local rival Smith on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. before taking to the road for Saturday’s important matchup against Trinity, which currently sits one spot above the Mammoths in the conference standings.

In an era where superstars like LeBron James and Steph Curry already function as pseudogeneral managers in terms of their influence over roster construction, Jimmy Butler is taking the player-empowerment age of the National Basketball Association (NBA) to a different level.

Before diving into the Butler saga, though, let’s briefly step back to the summer before the 201718 season. Paul George sent shockwaves through the NBA when he warned the Indiana Pacers — his team at the time — of his intention to sign with another team after his contract expired. The Pacers responded by promptly trading him to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Weeks later, Kyrie Irving announced he wanted out of Cleveland, prompting the Cavaliers to ship him off to the Boston Celtics.

On the surface, Butler’s situation seems fairly similar. On Sept. 18, his trade request from the Minnesota Timberwolves was made public. His preferred destinations, according to the initial report, were the Los Angeles Clippers, New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets.

Butler also piqued the interest of teams like the Miami Heat and Houston Rockets, both of which crafted potential trade packages for the AllNBA swingman.

The Timberwolves, however, showed little intention to trade their disgruntled star, with the front office reportedly closed-off to discussions and head coach Tom Thibodeau publicly pleading for Butler to remain in Minnesota.

Thibodeau is the kind of guy where, after one look at him, you have a pretty strong pulse on with what kind of players he gets along well. Big, sweaty, loud and expressive, Thibodeau is a screamer on the sidelines; predictably enough, he prefers to work with, putting it gently, “passionate” players.

As days continued to pass without any real progress on a trade, Butler grew increasingly frustrated, and he doubled down on his efforts to force a trade. With the franchise finally open to and actively engaged in discussions, it seemed Butler would get his wish.

Still, deals continued to fall apart, and Butler grew more and more frustrated. His prior verbal attacks on the work ethic of young teammates Karl-Anthony Towns and Andrew Wiggins remained a prominent part of the discussion.

Watch one game, and you’ll see what Butler means about Wiggins. Possibly the most heralded number one overall draft pick since LeBron James, Wiggins plays with a distinct lack of defensive effort or offensive discipline.

Regular season Karl-Anthony Towns is elite.

His offensive numbers display impressive volume and efficiency, and his diverse skill-set is unprecedented for a seven-footer. Sure, his defense is suspect at best, but he’s not the only superstar who doesn’t play defense in the regular season.

However, in the postseason, where stars are expected to elevate their game, Towns has played a disappearing act and his numbers have decreased across the board.

If they were any other young stars, I would blast Jimmy Butler for the way he speaks to two franchise cornerstones, both signed to max contract deals. It’s hard not to empathize with a competitor like Butler, though.

Some general managers may shy away from a locker-room presence like Butler, but with Butler being a veteran brought in for his hard-nosed approach, I see why Thibodeau wants to keep him around so desperately.

This is the state of the Timberwolves, and it isn’t pretty. It’s no coincidence that Towns didn’t announce his supermax contract extension until after Butler’s trade request was publicized.

The Timberwolves reached multiple critical junctures with the Heat on potential trades, at one point even exchanging medical information on involved players. These discussions all had a common thread, however: at the last minute, Minne-

sota asked for more and the trade was called off.

With the Clippers earlier, it makes sense why Minnesota was hesitant to pull the trigger. Los Angeles did not want to surrender an approachinghis-prime Tobias Harris, but Harris was the essential ingredient of any trade on the Timberwolves side.

After all, if Jimmy Butler is worth a dollar, in the star-driven NBA, getting four quarters back is not a fair return. Tobias Harris isn’t a dollar, but he, especially when paired with other assets, comes significantly closer to approximating the value of a player of Butler’s caliber.

With the Heat, Minnesota had a deal involving one of Miami’s most valuable assets — Josh Richardson. A young swingman with excellent range and defensive skills, Richardson not only offers high value to the Timberwolves in terms of his ability, but he’s a perfect positional replacement for Butler. He can’t run an offense as well as Butler, but his youth more than makes up for that deficiency.

After all these failed trade discussions, even after initially claiming he would not attend preseason training or games, Butler showed up at practice last Wednesday. According to various reports by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski among other sources, Butler hopped in the scrimmage with the third stringers and beat the starters in full-court basketball. Directed at Timberwolves’ general manager Scott Layden, Butler reportedly yelled, “You f***ing need me, Scott. You can’t win without me.” He also allegedly engaged in a verbal conflict with Towns mid-game.

Clearly trying to prove a point, Butler left a crowd of speechless players and coaches after his victory in the scrimmage to do an interview with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols.

Admitting he may have stepped out-ofbounds in terms of his attitude, Butler spoke frankly with Nichols, laying out his issues with the team. While he wasn’t optimistic about the issues being fixed, he seemed to imply a willingness to work with the organization, should the Timberwolves fail to heed his trade request.

Per the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement, it would be virtually impossible for Butler to sit out contests in protest of his team affiliation, and he’d be at risk of losing significant money and interest from other organizations.

Even in the player empowerment era, Butler is helpless against a stubborn Timberwolves organization, especially Thibodeau.

Said Butler about Thibodeau: “And right now, I know Thibs, and he’s in there by himself. He locked his door, and he’s smiling, and he’s laughing. Thibs, I know you man. I know you. He’s like, ‘Yeah, I’ve got him back.’”

The Timberwolves are right. Even if he’s not at his happiest in Minnesota, Butler is worth keeping around. Remember, Minnesota was tied for third in the historically-loaded Western Conference last season before Butler went down with a knee injury, after which the Timberwolves fell to eighth place, only clinching a playoff berth in the very last regular season contest.

Butler’s high-intensity approach is exactly what the Timberwolves need to bring their young core to the next level, and Butler’s own high volume, efficient production will be essential for Minnesota to make the playoffs again.

In spite of his rawness, Butler’s teammates were reportedly inspired by what they saw at practice, and even Wiggins referred to Butler as “someone you want on your team.”

Butler and Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor have come to an agreement that the organization will continue to seek a trade, and Butler will play for the Timberwolves in the upcoming regular season games.

Through all these antics, Butler has not improved his trade stock. In fact, I’d argue it has fallen quite a bit. He did, however, remind the Timberwolves exactly why they need him.

Sports

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

The Mammoths have finished ahead of archrival Williams in two out of their three encounters this season, including a narrow win this weekend.

Men’s Cross Country Wins Connecticut College Invitational Over Williams Veronica Rocco ’19 Staff Writer Amherst eked out a close victory over rival Williams at Saturday’s Connecticut College Invitational, defeating the Ephs 72-76 in a 28-team field.

While the Mammoths had bested the Ephs once before this season at the season-opening Little Three Championships, the Ephs triumphed in the teams’ second matchup at the Purple Valley Invitational, at which the Ephs placed second and Mammoths came in fourth.

This past weekend’s meet was held at Harkness Memorial State Park, the site of the 2015 New England Regional Championships.

The course was generally flat, with some gradual inclines and declines, but rain during the race made the course muddier than usual, causing difficult footing for the runners and a slower course overall.

Leading the Mammoths once again was senior captain Cosmo Brossy, who placed second overall in the 402-person field.

Brossy stayed towards the front of the race, and with one mile to go, the senior sat in third place, 15 meters behind the race leader

from Williams.

Over the course of the last mile, however, Brossy surged towards the front, eventually crossing the line in second, an important finish for the team.

For his efforts, Brossy earned NESCAC player of the week honors as the top runner in the conference at the meet.

Behind Brossy, Clark Ricciardelli ’20E placed sixth overall. The two-time All-American sat back over the first half of the race, and gradually moved his way towards the front to contend with top athletes from several regions.

Next across the line was Tucker Meijer ’19 in ninth, who put together his best race of the season yet. The senior captain ran a well-executed race and was the highest placing third runner of any team in the field.

“Going into the race, we were really focused on just competing like how we knew we were capable of doing,” said Meijer. “After watching the women crush it, we were even more excited to toe the line.

“It ended up being a really good day overall, with a lot of guys setting season bests or PRs. It’s definitely an exciting step in the right

direction, but we still have our eyes set on NESCACs and then on nationals,” Meijer added.

The surprise of the day was Ajay Sarathy ’21, who took the lead in the race about two miles in. The transfer from the University of Pennsylvania ultimately fell back to 22nd place but was the Mammoths’ important fourth runner across the line.

With championship season fast approaching, Sarathy’s improvement bodes well for the team’s chances.

Coming across the line as the critical fifth and final scoring runner was Matthew Bradley ’22 in 34th place.

The first year ran a consistent race from gun to tape and his finish was essential in edging out the Ephs.

Juniors Estevan Velez and Spencer Ferguson-Dryden were the Mammoths’ sixth and seventh runners, finishing 39th and 44th, respectively.

Velez is having an excellent start to his cross country season and looks to play a major factor in upcoming races for the Mammoths.

Next across the line was Braxton Schuldt ’21, placing 83rd with classmate Jamie Mazzola ’21 behind him in 131st.

WED THU FRI GAME SCHE DULE

Volleyball vs. Clark University, 7 p.m.

Field Hockey vs. Smith, 7 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Wellesley College, 7 p.m.

Another pair of juniors was next across the line, as Ralph Skinner and Chris Stone placed 143rd and 150th, respectively.

Not far behind them was Will Merhige ’22 in 160th.

The final Mammoths in the race were Owen Daily ’22, who placed 208th, Jacob Silverman ’19 in 221st place, Billy Massey ’21 in 245th place and Lev Robertson ’22, who placed 339th.

“Today’s win was a big jump forward for our team but it was most exciting to see new faces step up and have awesome races, which made all the difference,” said Brossy.

The Mammoths were missing captain Kristian Sogaard ’19, who was unable to race due to a family commitment, but will certainly make his presence felt at the NESCAC Championships in two weekends after earning AllNESCAC honors in cross country last year.

Amherst is off until the NESCAC Championships, which will be hosted by Tufts at Franklin Park in Boston on Oct. 27.

The Mammoths seek to defend their 2017 title, at which race the entire Amherst scoring five earned All-NESCAC honors by placing in the top 14.

SAT Volleyball vs. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, 11 a.m.

Men’s Soccer Field Hockey @ Wesleyan, 7:30 p.m. @ Wesleyan, noon Women’s Soccer @ Wesleyan, noon

MON Football vs. Middlebury, 1 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Bridgewater State University 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer @ Brandeis University, 7:30 p.m.