Issue 7

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLVI, ISSUE 7 l WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 2016

Women’s Soccer Hopes to Ride Momentum Into Playoffs See Sports, Page 11 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

Journalist Speaks on Rural Inequality in India Kathleen Maeder ’20 Staff Writer

Photo courtesy of Takudzwa Tapfuma‘17

Students decorate mason jars as part of a self-care and contraceptive awareness crafts event in the Women’s and Gender Center on Friday, Oct. 21.

WGC Holds Reproductive Justice Week Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor The Women’s and Gender Center is holding “Reproductive Justice Week,” a series of events aimed toward raising awareness on campus about women’s reproductive health issues, from Thursday, Oct. 20 to Wednesday, Oct. 26.

Samantha O’Brien ’18, a student staff member at the WGC and one of the event series’ coordinators, said that the week’s focus was on educating students about subjects such as abortion and exploring the intersectionality of women’s rights with other forms of social justice.

“Reproductive justice is the concept of the intersectional framework for all forms of social justice needs being met,” O’Brien said, citing economic, LGBT, racial, criminal reform and immigration justice as necessary for increasing access to reproductive care.

The idea to have a week of events focused on reproductive justice came from Jesse Beal, the director of the WGC, according to O’Brien.

“Within my first two weeks here, there were a group of women in the WGC talking about

how they did not know what they would do if they got pregnant,” Beal said, adding that these students were unaware of resources offered by the college or by their health insurance plans.

“I’ve worked in other women’s centers, and that has always been a key part of women’s center programming.”

Beal also emphasized that “Reproductive Justice Week” was largely driven by students such as O’Brien, Carolina Vergara ’18 and Jessica Maposa ’17.

The week began with a screening of “Trapped,” a documentary about ways in which states’ laws that regulate abortion clinics affect abortion providers. The next day, the center held a crafts event for students to decorate mason jars and learn about self-care.

On Monday, Naomi Aberly ’85 gave a talk about reproductive justice on a policymaking level as part of the “AmHERst Alumnae Series.”

Aberly, an activist focusing on women’s health policy, spoke about her work in gaining political support for such policies. The Loeb Center for Career Exploration and Planning and Alumni and Parent Programs co-sponsored the event.

The WGC partnered with La Causa, a student organization focused on raising awareness of Latinx issues, and student-run public health group Project Salud for a talk on Tuesday by Lynn Morgan, a professor of anthropology at Mount Holyoke College. The event, titled “Health Disparities: Access and Women’s Health in Latinx Communities,” followed the theme of intersectionality and centered on the barriers to healthcare access, particularly reproductive health, that women in Latinx communities have traditionally faced.

The final event, “Grab and Don’t Go: Reproductive Justice is Racial Justice,” will focus on the ways in which racial and reproductive justice intersect, including topics such as the prison-industrial complex and child welfare. It will be held in the Multicultural Resource Center on Wednesday.

In an email interview, Chelsea Pan ’18 said that the events in “Reproductive Justice Week” were starting conversations that have rarely taken place previously and are “especially important,” given the upcoming elections in No-

Continued on Page 3

Award-winning Indian journalist Palagummi Sainath gave a talk titled “Inequality and the Rise of Rural Distress” on Oct. 19. The event, held in Fayerweather Hall, focused on the growth of economic inequality in rural areas of India, as well as the social implications of these trends. The talk was free and open to the public.

Sainath was introduced by Professor of Political Science Amrita Basu, who mentioned Sainath’s 40 national and international awards and his professorship at the Asian College of Journalism in Chennai, India.

Sainath first spoke about his early work in journalism. Prior to focusing on rural inequality, Sainath worked to uncover the trend of suicides among farmers in the countryside in India. According to Sainath, over 300,000 Indian farmers died by suicide between 1995 and 2014.

During the investigation, Sainath began to note the increase in inequality throughout rural India, particularly in relation to the use of water. He discussed several examples of this unequal water distribution, showing images of the luxurious apartment buildings in Mumbai and Chennai, including one that featured personal balcony pools for each resident.

“Not very far from all these buildings are how ordinary Indians actually get their water,” said Sainath, referencing the routines of much of the rural poor, who often devote hours of their day to obtaining water from various public wells.

Sainath went on to discuss statistics on economic inequality in India. According to Sainath, the top 1 percent of Indians own 53 percent of the wealth, compared to 37 percent in the United States.

While Sainath acknowledged that India is not the most unequal country in the world and that “South Africa is far more unequal,” he said it is important to look at trends in context.

“Brazil is more unequal, [but] it has been improving its condition,” Sainath said. “In India, it is the other way around — inequality has grown. Between 2000 and 2015 … in no country in the world did inequality grow faster than it did in India.”

Continued on Page 3

AAS Partners with TurboVote to Help Register Voters Shawna Chen ’20 Managing News Editor The Amherst Association of Students partnered with TurboVote this year to help students register to vote in the general election, holding a “Get Out the Vote” drive spanning from the last two weeks of September to the third week of October.

TurboVote is a nonprofit startup company that facilitates the registration and voting process for U.S. citizens. The TurboVote drive was inspired by a similar AAS-sponsored voter registration drive in 2012, said AAS Chief of Staff Paul Gramieri ’17. Over the summer, AAS President Karen Blake ’17 proposed the option of working with TurboVote again to the senate.

“After some discussion, we were able to partner with [President Biddy Martin’s] office and Student Activities,” Gramieri said in an email interview. “This was also a good opportunity for the AAS to provide an important service to students, as opposed to the college offering this service, since we were all elected to represent the students and their interests as it pertains to being a citizen of this college and a resident of our democracy.”

According to Blake, working with TurboVote was “fairly simple.” Through the partnership, TurboVote provided a personalized collegiate link as well as access to data analytics collected by the site.

“The service is comprehensive and streamlined, which made the registration process for students quick and easy,” Blake said in an

email interview. “The mission of TurboVote is general voter education. Therefore, even those who are not eligible to vote in this year’s presidential election can sign up for email or text alerts on [local or state] voting laws and elections in which they are eligible. In this way, the service is more inclusive than other providers.”

To promote this service, AAS tabled in Valentine Hall during dinner every Monday, Wednesday and Friday over the four weeks of the drive. Gramieri said that members of the Amherst Political Union, Amherst College Republicans, Amherst College Democrats and other affinity groups were also invited to table with senators.

Both Gramieri and Blake called the event a success. According to Blake, the drive enabled

AAS to help 258 students — nearly 16 percent of the student body — either register to vote or request an absentee ballot.

“Even those students who did not utilize TurboVote informed us that the tabling reminded them to take the necessary steps to [ensure] that they were eligible to vote,” Blake said. “Additionally, it was successful in that we were able to partner with other campus offices and student organizations, which is a huge goal this year for the AAS.” Though Gramieri acknowledged that AAS could have publicized the event by organizing more activities around the election, “Even registering one more person to vote would have been a success, since that’s one more person whose voice would have been heard during our elections,” he said.

News

Brian Royes Oct. 17, 2016 - Oct. 22, 2016

>>Oct. 17, 2016 8:53 a.m., Garman House An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding on the first floor and determined it was activated by steam from a shower.

10:11 a.m., Amherst College Police A student reported receiving unwanted messages via social media from another student. A report was filed with Student Affairs.

1:19 p.m., Tyler House Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in a third floor room and found it was caused by cooking and use of a candle. One hot plate was confiscated. The resident was fined $125.

1:40 p.m., Campus Grounds An officer investigated damage done to a college-owned vehicle. It appeared that someone kicked a fender, causing a dent. >>Oct. 19, 2016 3:50 a.m., Hitchcock House An officer observed a candle burning in a third floor room and discovered the resident was asleep. The candle was confiscated and the resident was fined $100 for the fire safety violation.

11:56 p.m., Jenkins Dormitory Officers responded to a complaint of loud music and issued a warning to residents. >>Oct. 20, 2016 9:05 a.m., Off Campus Locations An officer investigated a motor vehicle accident involving a college-owned vehicle.

11:45 a.m., Greenway Building D A resident reported the theft of a black Bluetooth UE Megaboom speaker from the first floor common room of building D. It is valued at $240.

6:15 p.m., Valentine Dining Hall An officer responded to a report of a man soliciting students for a class. He was located, identified as a part-time employee and was directed to stop his activity.

7:55 p.m., Greenway Building C A caller reported the odor of smoke on the first floor. An officer discovered a resident was using a candle in his room. It was confiscated and the resident was fined $100 for the fire safety violation.

10:11 p.m., Greenway Building D An officer responded to a complaint of loud music and issued a warning to a fourth floor resident. >>Oct. 21, 2016 3:22 p.m., Appleton Dormitory Officers and the Fire Department responded to a fire alarm and found it was activated by an attic smoke detector for an unknown reason.

4:52 p.m., Stearns Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in the basement and found it was activated by cooking smoke.

>>Oct. 22, 2016 12:31 a.m., Jenkins Dormitory An officer investigated a smoke detector sounding in a third floor suite and found it was caused from condensation due to a large gathering of people who were partying.

12:33 a.m., Greenway Building A An officer responded to a complaint of people shouting in a fifth floor room and discovered two people playing a video game. They were advised of the complaint.

12:49 a.m., Jenkins Dormitory While investigating a smoke detector sounding in a suite, an officer discovered an unlicensed keg. It was confiscated.

12:54 a.m., Greenway Building C Officers responded to a complaint of loud music in the kitchen between buildings C and D. Several students were located with loud music and the volume was lowered upon request.

1:58 a.m., Hitchcock Road An officer checked on a man who appeared to be sleeping in a car parked on Hitchcock Road. After checking on his well-being, he was allowed to leave.

2:08 a.m., Mayo-Smith House An officer checking Mayo-Smith after a registered party found evidence that hard alcohol had been available in violation of the party policy. A report was filed with Student Affairs.

8:38 p.m., Tyler House An officer responded to a complaint of people running through the halls and possibly breaking things. A large number of people were found at a registered party which was in progress.

No damage was found.

9:10 p.m., Tyler House Officers responded to several noise complaints and shut down a registered party. The volume of loud music found in several other rooms was lowered as well.

9:47 p.m., Morris Pratt Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in a second floor room and discovered it activated when soda was sprayed from a bottle and it hit the detector.

1:25 a.m., Hitchcock House While at Hitchcock House, an officer found evidence that hard alcohol had been available at a registered party in violation of the party policy. A report was filed with Student Affairs.

1:43 a.m., Lipton House An officer investigated a report of food found strewn around in a basement room and three holes made in the walls. A registered party had just ended. A report was filed with Student Affairs.

2:08 a.m., Lipton House While inventorying a found wallet, an officer discovered that a student had a fraudulent license. It was confiscated and the matter was referred to the Registry of Motor Vehicles.

Thoughts on Theses Department of Psychology

Brian Royes ’17 is a Psychology major. His thesis explores the relationship between black consciousness and stereotype threat. Royes attempts to use black consciousness as a positive force in academic performance to counter the decline that often accompanies stereotype threat. His advisor is Professor Allen Hart.

Q: Can you provide a brief overview of your thesis?

A: Most of the data on the relationship between black consciousness and stereotype threat is correlational, so my advisor and I wanted to push this one step further and see if we can establish a causal relationship by trying to manipulate black consciousness experimentally. This is what my research is about. Individuals will often internalize negative stereotypes, and by doing so, will hinder their academic performance on whatever they are focusing on. So my research tries to look at the opposite: can we help individuals focus on their positive experiences of blackness in order to help improve their academic performance and work against stereotype threat? By accepting ideologies of societal oppression, there arises an internal oppression as well, an internalization of the ideology that’s presented to individuals of color through social experiences and encounters — and, by doing so, work to reproduce the very system that is oppressing them. My research is aimed at finding ways to intervene and help end this.

Q: Why did you choose this topic?

A: I was inspired by my experience of studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. I’ve seen firsthand how individuals over there, particularly on college campuses, were actively creating atmospheres where black was viewed as powerful and blackness was being viewed as beautiful, so I wanted to create research that would parallel the uplifting characteristics of the movements I witnessed in South Africa and would be empowering to individuals who are trying to claim this sense of black excellence as an identity.

Q: How do you plan to manipulate black consciousness, specifically?

A: We would manipulate black consciousness by having individuals dwell on positive ideas of blackness as opposed to negative ideas and then testing to see if that decreases or does nothing to change the impact of stereotype threat. We want to, through a prompt, have individuals critically self-reflect on their experiences of blackness in society and in their upbringing that has made them think either positively and negatively of their sense of blackness.

Q: How do you view events like Amherst Uprising through the lens of your research?

A: Events like these have at their core the mission of challenging institutionalized oppression. Events like these attempt to shift the paradigm of oppression of people of color towards one that’s more uplifting. During Amherst Uprising, individuals of color had an open mic where they could voice their experiences and in a similar way that’s what my thesis is touching on — giving voice to people’s experiences of oppression, whether positive or negative. My hope is that giving voice to positive experiences of blackness can actually improve in a tangible way individual performance on tests.

Q: How does your identity as a minority inform or direct your research?

A: I’ve had to reconcile moving from Jamaica, the country of my birth, to America. I’ve had to confront and re-negotiate my sense of identity and self-worth based on how others around me viewed and treated me. I think my identity as a minority in America connects me to the sense of oppression and feeling out of place in predominantly white spaces and navigating these realms of perceived social power and has undoubtedly helped lead me

towards this type of research. In addition to viewing students in Cape Town who wear their blackness proudly and who are unashamed of being proud of their blackness and working to reclaim spaces for themselves, my own identification as a minority certainly helped spark my interest in this field of study and helped me to start looking at black consciousness.

Q: How do you think this type of research can be used by social psychologists, teachers or others?

A: Assuming that we find that performance can improve through a concentration on positive experiences of blackness, my research could provide potential intervention applications. I think this is pretty important, particularly because if we can, during middle school or high school, start getting individuals of color to start reflecting on their blackness in positive terms, this could provide a huge shift away from the internalization of negative stereotypes by youth in schools. And since school is a place where we start building relationships and gaining a stronger sense of identity, this would be a prime place to execute the applications of my research, but at the same time help increase academic outcomes in order to push back against inequalities that have perpetuated throughout the educational system for years.

Q: Do you think that your research could be extended onto women and other minorities?

A: I would hope so, but I do believe we have to look at this through a lens of intersectionality — where we define ourselves not simply racially or through gender or sexuality or any other form of identity, but through an intersection of all these forms of identities. But at the moment my research has only truly focused on blackness, or racial identity.

So sociologically, I want to say that my research would extend, but at the same I haven’t been able to prove that empirically just yet.

Q: What are the implications of your research?

What does this all mean?

A: I think that if we can show that black consciousness does indeed relate to academic performance, we can begin to target younger audiences in elementary, middle and high schools and begin the transition away from the dangers of stereotype threat onto a dwelling on black excellence. That could potentially have far-reaching implications into how children and adolescents negotiate their identities and see themselves, their potential and their own self-worth. It speaks towards a broader societal movement about how we see and treat people, and how they in turn achieve for themselves based on an awareness of these perspectives.

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

A: I love Professor Hart. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about the field, was instrumental in helping me figure out how to approach my thesis and how to navigate some of the more problematic areas of race research — overall, he’s just been incredibly helpful and insightful.

Q: What advice do you have to those who are currently considering a thesis?

A: Consider your motivation for writing it. Don’t do it to be that guy who’s always busy, but to really consider why you want to look at what you want to look at, because it will get stressful. Your undying interest in what you study will be what takes you a long way.

— Edward Rego ’19

News

The Amherst Student • October 26, 2016

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Reproductive Justice Week Promotes Awareness Continued from Page 1

vember.

“I thought the movie was effective in terms of highlighting the stories of different women who seek abortions and educating me on the current challenges that providers face,” Pan said of the documentary screening. She added that Aberly’s talk provided ideas for students interested in raising awareness of reproductive justice issues.

“Discussions around reproductive justice can often sound heavy,” said Kennedy Reed ’19 in an email interview. Reed participated in the crafts event. “I appreciated the mason jar painting because it was a fun and creative space to find support.”

O’Brien said that the events so far had a “decent turnout,” but that the students who attended were a “self-selecting audience” who generally shared similar views on key reproductive justice issues.

Some of the goals for this week were to make women aware of the reproductive health resources and choices available to them and to destigmatize conversations about abortion.

“People are [getting] used to people bringing up abortion loud and proud in an Amherst College setting,” O’Brien said, adding that the event organizers were “tentative” about potential backlash.

O’Brien and Beal also emphasized that the events were also intended to show that reproductive justice went beyond promoting the right to have an abortion and also includes the right to be a parent and to parent a child safely to adulthood without fear of harm.

According to Beal, the WGC will plan to

Photo courtesy of Takudzwa Tapfuma‘17

Naomi Aberly ’85, a political activist for reproductive justice, spoke about women’s health policy as part of the “AmHERst Alumnae Series” on Monday, Oct. 24. hold “Reproductive Justice Week” annually as one of the center’s “signature programs.” In the future, Beal hopes that the discussion around

reproductive justice will also turn to queer and trans individuals’ issues such as the right to parent.

“Regardless of how you feel about abortion, this is a hot topic, and we need to continue to educate ourselves on it,” they said.

Branches Program Returns with New Structure Jacob Gendelman ’20 Staff Writer

Branches, a social project which went through a trial period last spring, returned with modifications this fall for a year-long pilot. The Social Project Work Group, comprised of students who organized the program, announced the assignments of interested students to their respective “branches” via email over the course of last week.

The branches have been temporarily designated with the names of different colors. Each has one leader, around 50 group members and must plan and organize two campus-wide within the first semester.

Students in the Social Project Work Group have worked closely with the Association of

Amherst Students for the program’s implementation. Kyndall Ashe ’18, one of the program’s leaders, said that this year-long pilot will have a new structure to fix issues with last spring’s pilot.

According to an email sent out by the Social Project Work Group, Branches is “a new social opportunity that seeks to engage students from across campus by diversifying nightlife, schoolwide events and other social activities at Amherst.”

At the end of the initial Branches trial last spring, Ashe, Siena Koh ’18 and other leaders surveyed participants for feedback on the semester-long pilot program. The survey showed that students thought the branches were too large, lacked sufficient time to plan events and had inadequate attendance from their members. Additionally, students had little excitement about the

branches’ names and descriptions, which were predetermined and not chosen by each branch’s members. The leaders also noted that some branches had failed to plan any events.

The new changes to Branches this year are intended to address these issues. There will be six groups instead of five, and each branch’s member s will decide its name and description. Prospective members were also required to attend an info session earlier this year to learn about the program’s expectations, which include regular attendance.

In addition, branches will only have two leaders, one assigned before enrollment and one elected afterwards. The leaders of all the branches are part of a larger leadership committee rather than heading numerous smaller executive boards.

The program organizers hope that after this full-year pilot, the program will require no additional changes and eventually improve the social lives of all students.

“I love our community, and I want people to feel that we have more of a community,” Ashe said, adding that she hopes Branches will create friendships between people of different activities, genders and class years.

Students such as first-year Andrew Floersheimer joined the program with similar hopes.

Floersheimer “wanted to meet new people, take advantage of great social opportunity and be a part of a developing program at Amherst,” he said.

Branches leaders met last weekend, and according to Ashe, will host a Halloween party on Friday, Oct. 28 as the pilot’s kickoff event.

Sainath Talks Inequality Women’s Group Stages Val Sit Continued from Page 1 According to Sainath, this inequality has had far-reaching effects. For example, over 300 million Indians have been unable to seek health care due to high expenses, and the number of calories consumed by the average Indian has decreased from 40 years ago. Meanwhile, wealthy Indians are able to indulge in expensive “theme weddings” and live in gated communities.

Sainath’s talk was followed by a question and answer session, which covered topics ranging from the impact of social inequality to the policies of the Indian government. When an audience member asked why he decided to pursue journalism, Sainath pointed to his disinterest in working in academia.

“I do think my academic training as a historian made all the difference to the kind of reporter I became,” he added. “I value it.”

Both Basu and Philosophy Professor Rafeeq Hasan helped organize the event, which was sponsored by the political science and philosophy departments.

Hasan said that he found Sainath’s discussion of inequality in the real world relevant to modern American culture.

“Both the decisions our governments make about trade policies [and] the decisions we make about what to buy have huge global impact,” said Hasan. “So I thought it would be neat to have someone who’s thinking about these issues — not from a particularly abstract, philosophical sense, but from a very concrete sense.”

Basu, who specializes in the study of India, said that Sainath offered a significant perspective on India that differs from those typically presented in the United States.

“I think it’s important for students to learn about the side of India that isn’t as commonly covered in the news,” Basu said. “We hear a lot about India’s success story amidst economic growth, but not as much about the kinds of inequalities that growth has generated.”

Raina Chinitz ’20 attended the event because of her interest in “the intersectionality of different forms of inequality and injustice,” she said.

“I think it’s important to learn about struggles taking place all over the world to better understand how all of those struggles are connected with our own,” said Raina.

“It’s always empowering to be reminded that there are people working for social justice in every part of the world,” she added.

Sylvia Frank ’20 Staff Writer Amherst’s Women’s Group staged a “Val Sit” on Thursday, Oct. 20, in which women students occupied part of the back room of Valentine Hall to spread awareness and start discussion about male-dominated spaces on campus.

Along with sitting at tables in Val’s back room, which are typically used by sports teams, the group displayed posters with questions prompting students to respond.

Some of the questions included “What does it mean to be a woman in a male’s space?”, “Where do you feel unsafe on campus?” and “What spaces belong to men on campus?”

Some women who participated wrote that they felt “invisible,” “ignored” and “constantly watched.”

The idea for the “Val Sit” “was born out of discussions we had had in prior meetings, in which women discussed how women and men take up space differently on campus,” said Esther Isaac ’18, one of the leaders of Women’s Group. “One of the physical places that represented that disparity was the back space of Val.”

The goal of the group is to “help empower Amherst women and, as we advocate for intersectional feminism, help to advocate for other marginalized groups on campus and thus transform what Amherst really is,” said Isaac.

Originally, the women’s group planned to just sit in the back room of Val as they ate, but the event evolved into a more interactive activity. “It became less about the act of sitting and more about inviting women to take up the space and express their thoughts,” said Isaac.

“There was a really enthusiastic response from all of the women who came through and read and participated.”

“We wanted to hear women’s voices and we wanted the males that normally sit there to see the thoughts that women have,” said the group’s founder Yeva Berkovich ’18.

After sending out a school-wide survey during the spring semester last year, Berkovich found a large interest in the student body for the addition of a group for women. She started the group at the beginning of the school year.

“We have all these affinity groups for all kinds of identities … but there weren’t any groups for women,” Berkovich said, adding that she was surprised at the prevalent assumption that women “didn’t need a group.”

Opinion Maintaining Collective Memory Editorial As a print publication with nearly 150 years of history, the Amherst Student has a substantial archive of student writing.

The Student’s office and the College archives house stacks of aged books with every issue that came before this one and will grow to include each one that will come after. Though this routine does document our history, successfully navigating our records seems harder than one might imagine. For example, how does one approach finding all articles on Asian American identities, or all articles discussing sexual assault? There is not a clear-cut method in which a student can achieve this.

The archiving of each issue acknowledges the presence of our history, but this does not necessarily make that history and tradition accessible to students. There does not seem to be a cohesive narrative of what stories are actually being told here at Amherst.

The Amherst Student has the support of this long-term commitment to archiving, but many other student-run organizations do not enjoy this privilege. If we struggle to understand narratives within piles of history, where does that leave organizations that do not actively maintain an archive of some kind? In the moment, this oversight may seem non-critical — after all, there are upperclassmen who pass on their knowledge to underclassmen and theoretically, this chain sustains linear growth. Yet failing to leave an official institutional record behind becomes a problem when groups fall off the map for a year or two, sometimes more. How do students return to a group, even just a few years later, and remember what has happened before them? This becomes particularly unfortunate when it comes to the history of student affinity groups and campus activism. By losing track of the lived experiences of those before us, we lose momentum in dismantling problematic systems of power that exist within the institution of Amherst. How can we move forward to create progress without a clear understanding of what has occurred in the past?

For an example of the large scale benefits to keeping a detailed archival record, we can turn to athletics. Most teams foster deep connections with their alumni base, largely a product

of the strong presence of the athletes who came before them.

Athletic teams do have the benefit of effectively guaranteed support from the College and the leadership of people who are not students, whose time with the team often spans more than four years. Each team’s homepage on the athletics website is equipped with years of statistics as well as rosters featuring the names of the players who participated across decades. It’s easy enough for athletes to see who came before them thus creating the perpetuation of certain standards that will likely linger beyond the bounds of a single athlete’s career. This built-in institutional memory associated with athletics is a critical reason for its hegemony at our institution. Perhaps other student-led organizations could become similarly influential forces, without the aid of the College, if current leaders begin to do this same intensive documentation work. Student-led collection and documentation of memory will ensure progress that has already been forged will be maintained while also providing the tools necessary for more change.

To maintain better institutional memory within our student-led organizations, we must be able to conceive of a time past our own at Amherst. Four years after our graduation, the last year of students we attended this College with, will graduate. How can we be sure that we will care for the students who come after, with whom we share very little tangible connection? We must leave something behind for these people, to reduce the chance of our hard work being erased. The Editorial Board believes part of the answer is physical archives, but also the digitizing of those archives. It’s crucial that this imagined archive be accessible and easily navigated. This is not to argue that we need to be over-active alumni eight years out of college. This is not an issue of how much money we do or do not donate when we are old. What we need to pay attention to is the work we do now, in our moment at Amherst, and doing it with the mindset that our actions can and will affect students long after us. We need to work while imagining the connection we share with future students, or we risk eventually becoming the same disconnected alumni we so often criticize.

Let’s Start Talking: Rape and Male Violence Yevangelina Berkovich ’18 Contributing Writer Amherst students have done a great job promoting sexual respect and, what I like to call, consent-y sex. If consensual sex is an umbrella, consent-y sex lies underneath it. What does consent-y sex look like? We see the answer to this question all over campus, on posters, in presentations or even in class. It looks like asking for consent to begin a sexual act, asking for consent verbally throughout the act, and respecting the answers to those questions whether they are “yes” or “no.”

I think it’s great that people are starting to have and enjoy consent-y sex. I may even go as far as to say that consent-y sex is the best type of sex.

However, I also believe in the abilities of people to understand body language and other nuanced communication forms aside from the verbal “enthusiastic YES!” that we are taught to look out for.

Before consent discourse came to be, consensual sex existed. What I think efforts on campus aimed at promoting “sexual respect” have achieved is that more people who were having consensual sex before are now having consent-y sex.

What I don’t believe, however, is that these efforts have done anything to stop rape. I’ve had this feeling for a long time, but I could not pinpoint why. I asked myself, “Why are men continuing to rape women (and each other) when we preach sexual respect?” This was a very puzzling question to me until I thought about the concept of consent-y sex. I realized that sexual respect discourse targets people who already have good intentions and makes them even better. This, while great, does not do anything to stop those with bad in-

tentions.

What sexual respect discourse fails to recognize is that rape is not a mistake. It is not “forgetting” to ask for consent, or “misreading” someone’s body language. It is not having sex even without hearing one’s partner scream out “YES!” As I said before, consensual sex exists that is not consent-y sex. Rape, however, is a different story.

Rape is the violence that occurs when a man sees that a woman is saying no, screaming no, pushing, squirming or crying out in pain and continuing to “have sex with her” (I struggle to use even this terminology). Rape is the violence that occurs when a man “has sex” with an incapacitated woman. It is the violence that occurs when a man uses his gendered power to coerce a woman into “having sex,” whether by threatening the woman or offering her an incentive that she is often powerless to reject.

Rapists don’t care about “sexual respect” because consensual sex and consent-y sex are not sexy to them. They are often sexually desensitized by pornography, BDSM and other factors that they cannot imagine pleasurable sex without violence. Rape is about expressing gendered power and privilege through violence, and rapists find this acceptable because they don’t see women as people. Combatting men who rape should involve discussions of gender, sexism and violence, discussions that Amherst students simply fail to care about. We should discuss the types of behaviors that Amherst students themselves promote and how these behaviors contribute to rape culture.

Although I had hope for certain student groups on campus in the past, I no longer care about improving events such as ConsentFest. Al-

though they have done a great job promoting sexual respect and consent-y sex, it has been made clear to me that student groups that preach these topics do not care about stopping rape. According to them, and I quote, “there are certain predators that no preventative education will reach.” If they truly believe this, then I encourage them to stay out of rape discourse and instead continue to focus on promoting safe and consent-y sex between people who already have good intentions.

However, to me, the idea that we should give up on these “predators” (certain men in our community) is absurd. I encourage women who actually care about stopping male violence to join Women’s Group, a new group that acts as a space for women to discuss and plan actions that will contribute to our goal of liberation from male violence on campus. This group is meant to be intersectional and include all types of women’s experiences. We will discuss issues such as violence against women knowing that women of color, LGBTQ+ women, disabled women and other marginalized women have a variety of experiences with women’s issues. We have already made great strides toward making our voices heard, such as hosting our Women’s Group Val Sit, an event that created an opportunity for women to occupy a male space and share their thoughts and experiences on campus. We will only continue to have these types of discussions and events as Women’s Group continues to grow. Although this campus remains unsafe, there is now a space for those who want to address this violence. This space is for those who agree that the promotion and acceptance of rape and violence against women are unacceptable.

THE AMHERST

STUDENT E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editor-in-Chief Lauren Tuiskula Executive Advisor Sophie Murguia Managing News Shawna Chen, Isabel Tessier, Jingwen Zhang Managing Opinion Diane Lee, Spencer Quong Managing Arts and Living Gabby Edzie, Paola Garcia-Prieto, Alida Mitau Managing Sports Jason Darell, Nathaniel Quigley, Julia Turner Managing Design Gabby Bishop S TA F F Head Publisher Tia Robinson Head Marketer Sophie Currin Design Editors Justin Barry, Zavi Sheldon, Chloe Tausk, Yrenly Yuan

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The Amherst Student • October 26, 2016

Opinion

Sexual Respect: Let’s Be Better Than Decent George Long ’17 Contributing Writer “On Behalf of the Amherst Men’s Soccer Team” has been shared hundreds of times on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you’re a member of the Amherst community, you couldn’t have missed it because the President of the College kindly placed it in your inbox.

Despite all the attention, this article hardly deserves such enthusiastic praise. A claim like, “we have found success by valuing the ideal of doing the right thing even when no one is watching” puts on a façade that misrepresents how much work we still need to do to combat sexual misconduct on this campus.

At the outset, it’s important that I acknowledge what it means for me to write this as a man. At every level of this society, men speak on behalf of women and pretend to understand what women go through. I write these words intending them to represent my own experience as an Amherst College community member and student athlete. I write these words because I have watched as members of marginalized communities on campus are ignored time and time again while the members of other privileged groups are put on a pedestal. Since I recognize that the author of this article and reactions to it continue to downplay the experiences and existence of these communities, I feel compelled to help create a space for the voices of these marginalized groups to be amplified.

According to the Title IX Office, there were 58 incidents of sexual misconduct on our campus in 2014, and undoubtedly more that went unreported. The Huffington Post article asserts that Donald Trump’s conception of locker room behavior isn’t representative of the Amherst men’s soccer team’s locker room.

However, in our celebration of this article, we risk becoming complacent in combating the incidents of sexual disrespect and assault that still occur. The publication and spread of the article have the intended result of depicting Amherst in a positive light. It is the President’s job to present the College in the best

light to the general public, which she has done.

However, we must recognize the unintended consequence of minimizing just how rampant sexual assault is, the ways in which people occupy space on campus, and how much further we must go to address these issues.

The article provides such an idealistic view of sexual respect on our campus that it leaves our shortcomings as an afterthought. The author waits until the second to last paragraph to simply say that sexual assault must be taken seriously and commits just half of a sentence to acknowledge the imperfections. Our celebration of this article is excessive because the article does not sufficiently address the fact that sexual assault is a deep-seated problem not only on our campus, but on many others across the country.

I was surprised when I opened my email on Oct. 16 to see the subject line: “Student promotes decency in Huff Post.” Our Admission Office puts out materials each year meant to give prospective students insight into life at Amherst. Will our future Admission literature be emblazoned “Amherst: We Are Decent”?

It is comical that we’d congratulate ourselves, so enthusiastically and publicly, on being so decent at treating victims of sexual assault respectfully. Is this standard of mediocrity one we really want to set and hold ourselves to?

Even as we claim mediocrity, the article distracts us from the fact that vicious language like Donald Trump’s “locker room talk” actually exists. Three weeks ago, you could have asked any citizen of this country: “Do you think a presidential candidate would say that he’d grab a woman by the pussy?” Their immediate response would have been: “I can’t imagine that’s possible.” You might have followed up: “Do you think that more than half this country might condone a statement like that enough to still vote for said candidate?”

They would have said: “I can’t imagine that’s possible.” Of course we can’t imagine it’s possible, especially at a place like Amherst. I didn’t imagine it would be possible to hear a fellow student athlete use the word “nigger” in a joke or compare black men to mud, but prob-

lematic and ignorant language seeps into our culture here, and it is not confined to locker rooms. It is about time we wake up and realize that it is irresponsible for anyone in our community, especially those in positions of power, to pretend like these issues aren’t present on our campus and in our locker rooms.

An email sent out to everyone affiliated with the college, students, faculty, staff, alumni and parents, is a true indication of what’s considered important to this community. Elevating the voice of a privileged white male athlete perpetuates the silencing of continually marginalized groups. In this case, it especially silences the women who speak out eloquently and persistently on these topics. Amherst claims to be a place where every community member is valued and heard inside and outside of the classroom. The all-school email places higher value on the Huffington Post article because of the author’s social position.

The article was featured prominently on the Amherst website homepage to ensure the audience would include the most readers possible, including prospective students and other curious outsiders. Initially shared with the Huffington Post, a response to the men’s soccer article also appeared this week on the Amherst homepage. Focusing on just two perspectives on this issue sweeps it under the rug, stifling a deeper examination, conversation and opportunity for action throughout the community while further marginalizing other voices. It’s crucial that we overcome our inaction in ways that reach every corner of our campus. The onus falls on the administration to lead this charge.

So thank you, men’s soccer, for pointing out that this issue needs our attention. And thank you, President Martin, for proclaiming that sexual disrespect doesn’t have any place at Amherst. Pockets of conversation have begun to address the lingering shortcomings that our school continues to face. Instead of just patting ourselves on the back, let’s hold ourselves to a higher standard of accountability and create spaces where all voices can be elevated, heard and respected.

Do you have opinions about issues on campus?

Join the taff! s n o i n i Op

If you want to write for us, email squong18@ amherst.edu or dhlee19@ amherst.edu

Resisting Tourist Tropes and Valuing Indigenous Culture Maemaeolehua Matsumoto ’18 Contributing Writer When I mention studying abroad in New Zealand, most people think of hiking, mountains and beautiful scenery. In some ways, they are correct. However, these assumptions overshadow the colonial history of Polynesia and the struggles that indigenous people continue to face today.

Walking through the airport my first night here, I was greeted with a large sign of “Haere mai” (Welcome) in white text superimposed on a photo of pohutukawa flowers.

My cab driver, upon learning that I am Native Hawaiian, told me how proud he was of his culture and his people, showing me the pounamu he wore around his neck. I soon learned that the former encounter is much more common than the latter.

The core of Maori culture — and native culture everywhere — is always overshadowed by its selling points. “Kia ora!” (Hello!) and “Haere mai” are plastered on billboards and shop fronts everywhere, but there is no mention of tikanga, matauranga Maori, or, for example, the Tohunga Suppression Act of 1907, an act aimed to suppress Maori traditional healing methods and force Western medical practices on native communities.

The idea that there might be people who are suffering and struggling to live in this country is seemingly overshadowed by the fact

that New Zealand is home to such aesthetically pleasing landscapes. After all, how can there be problems in subtropical paradise?

While it is true that New Zealand is full of hiking and mountains and beautiful scenery, without understanding or acknowledging it’s oppressive past, visitors are merely trampling over culture and knowledge without batting an eye. I feel fortunate enough to have enrolled in Maori Studies courses during my time here so I can spend at least a few hours each week learning from tuākana and kaumātua through a lens other than that of Western misunderstanding.

Tourists from all over the world visit New Zealand, fall in love with the mountains and the lakes and (in some cases) end up making a life here. It’s not unheard of to travel here for vacation and end up booking a semi-permanent hostel bed before buying a house of your own and finding a job in one of the cities. Or, buying a van and forgoing the job to drive around the South Island hiking and sleeping wherever you see fit. Meanwhile, indigenous communities are struggling to feel relevant and to keep their culture alive in such a colonized and urbanized homeland.

In the face of a stunning natural environment, there is very little desire to be educated on the culture or life of indigenous individuals. Instead, there is a much stronger desire to take the perfect photo, climb

the highest mountain and post it all on Instagram that evening (before 8 p.m.!) with a location tag and @ whoever was present for the moment.

Part of the reason I left home is because I was sick and tired of the culture of consumption that lives there. I was tired of tourists who visited just to take sunset beach pictures; pictures that don’t tend to carry any cultural substance. Three months ago, I arrived in New Zealand, hoping to surround myself with cultural intelligence but, once again, found the exact same tourist tropes.

This time, instead of “sunset beach pictures” they were “sunrise mountain pictures” but they were still prevalent and popped up under any Google or Instagram search.

Don’t get me wrong, I love taking photos and documenting what is around me. I love hiking and being in the middle of the mountains or along the coast with little to no cell service, much less wireless Internet connection. However, aside from the plethora of photo opportunities and getting to know other exchange students, these activities fail to recall the history and culture of the ground beneath my feet and the ocean and the trees in my photos.

If a group of foreigners go tramping together for the weekend, they might notice the beautiful sights and the pretty sunsets and the mountainous landscape. However, if a local native person goes tramping, they

might notice the plant you use to calm anxiety, or the island in the distance that is the remnant of an animal and it’s quarrel with a powerful goddess or the stars that ancient navigators once used to make their way throughout the Pacific Ocean.

What’s disappointing is that even native knowledge is rare amongst native individuals today due to the stress of Western education over anything else. I know nothing in comparison to others my age who grew up surrounded by this way of thinking, much less my ancestors. Only generations ago, traditional ecological knowledge, a knowledge of the land interwoven with a knowledge of culture and life, was prevalent in native communities all over the world. Today, surrounded by the drought of colonization, this knowledge and those who hold it are much harder to find.

Three months ago, I arrived in New Zealand, hoping to surround myself with cultural intelligence, but instead was reminded of all the ways tourists are complicit in the ongoing oppression and commodification of indigenous peoples.

Until the end of November, I will still be here, hiking and talking to people and seeing more of this country. However, here’s to seeing more through an indigenous lens, understanding more and, as always, asking for more than just some pretty pictures out of this study abroad experience.

5

Arts&Living

Photo courtesy of Hunter Whitaker-Morrow ’17

Hunter Whitaker-Morrow ‘17 is creating a thesis that includes a film and an accompanying manifesto that draw on the conventions of Italian Neo-Realist film.

Whitaker-Morrow Will Wade Through a River to Create His Thesis Film Gabby Edzie ’17 Managing Arts and Living Editor Hunter Whitaker-Morrow ’17 is a Film and Media Studies and Sociology double major in the process of creating a film for his senior thesis. I had the chance to speak with Whitaker-Morrow about his Italian Neo-Realism shaded film this week, delving into the inspiration behind the project, the creation process and final curatorial goals.

Q: What form is your thesis taking?

A: So, it’s a film and a film manifesto that’s accompanying it. The theory behind it comes from fascist Italy and some of the subsequent Nazi occupation; it’s this film movement called Italian Neo-Realism. During that time, there were a lot of escapist films being made, because the fascist regime was putting a lot of creative control onto filmmakers at the time. They had methods by which you could fund films, but only if the films weren’t expressly anti-fascist. So, it became the mission of a lot of filmmakers, especially independent filmmakers at the time, to make subtle critiques of fascism. So, even though there were these limitations for what filmmakers could and could not put in the films, they still managed to find ways to do so. And one of the main ways was by changing, sort of, the technical limitations of what they were doing.

Neo-Realism specifically focused on a lot of long takes — there were very few cuts. They use all real locations and a lot of non-professional actors.

So if you have a shopkeeper in a Neo-Realist film, a lot of times that was actually a shopkeeper. And with the long focus, what that allows you to do is to see all these things happening in a sequence.

So, there will be a lot of real crowd scenes and stuff like that. The narrative can be kind of hard to follow at times, because it’s not given so much direction. It’s sort of moves around, depending on where the spectator, or the person who’s watching the film, has their gaze at that point of time.

I think a lot of people compare it to a stepping stone analogy. Watching the films is like crossing a river. So, you’re starting on one side and you’re moving to the other, but what matters isn’t where you end up so much as what you step on as you go through the process. You can even make missteps and fall into the water, pick up on small details that aren’t necessarily important at all.

I’m taking that and I’m trying to make a similar style of film, but with a depiction of modern

college life. So it’s going to be me filming on campus a lot of just what I’m doing most of the time.

And it’s interesting because Hollywood also has the same kind of creative pressure that the fascist regime did. Things won’t be made if someone high up doesn’t want them to be made. Even though it’s for economic reasons now, it still has the same output as a lot of escapist films.

Q: So the Manifesto will impose rules?

A: Yes. One of the limitations I’m putting in the manifesto is that all of the sounds have to be diegetic. So there’s no music on top of it, and any music will be produced from within the scene.

A: I would say it’s definitely tied into courses I’m taking. I’m taking a post-World War II global cinema course, and we started out talking about Italian Neo-Realism before moving though other cinemas — so, pretty directly applicable there. It also pops up randomly, like in my environmental anthropology class the other day, when we watched this documentary about sheep that had a lot of Neo-Realist tendencies, like long takes, overt dialogue and just letting things play out, so I got to talk about that to the class.

Q: So then, I’m guessing you’re shooting with a digital video camera?

A: Yeah, but I’m not using the highest quality cameras we have. I’m trying to use things I feel like I would reasonably be able to buy in the near future. And that comes from another film manifesto called “Dogme 95.” They have a lot of similar ideas in terms of Neo-Realism, but for different reasons. But one of them that I’m taking is that you have to use equipment that is reasonably within your means.

Q: Who are some of your favorite filmmakers and what films are you watching in preparation?

A: I think a lot of of my favorite filmmakers right now are actually people that I’ve been watching for my thesis. Vittorio De Sica who did “Bicycle Thieves” is one of my favorites. I consider “Bicycle Thieves” the paramount example of a Neo-Realist film. And then, there’s this guy Ramin Bahrani, who did a film called “Man Push Cart” that is also sort of Neo-Realist. I’m trying to incorporate some French new wave cinema and some Cuban cinema, so there are some people in that category as well. Chris Marker is another one.

Q: What else will be included in the Manifesto?

A: It’s first going to be a list of all these basic tenants, so no cuts within a scene, diegetic sound and things like that. And then, I’m going to explain each of those things and why they matter, because what I think I need to do in the manifesto, which “Dogme 95” doesn’t do, is link the actual technical reasons I’m doing something to the narrative reasons or what I’m hoping people get out of me doing that. I want to pass it out with small copies at the screening.

Q: Can you detail the filmmaking process thus far, or what you expect it to be?

A: The only thing I’ve filmed so far is one of my Smith classes where we were talking about Italian Neo-Realism, so I’m trying to incorporate some reflexivity.

The process, though, has mostly been me taking the time to sit down and think through points I want to hit or ideas that I want to reach. It hasn’t been anything too firm, but I have been being doing a lot of general story-boarding.

Q: How has the academic work you’ve done at Amherst led into this particular project?

A: I took an Italian Neo-Realism course while I was abroad in London, and so that’s when I first started getting into Neo-Realist film. Then when I got back last spring, I started making more film that was closer to that. I took an essay-film class with Professor Levine, and it actually had very similar pacing and things like that, so the work I made for that was pretty similar. I think my final project [for essay-film] is something I’m going to try to incorporate into my thesis actually.

Q: Who else is involved in the process?

A: Most of this is going to be by myself, which is interesting. I think that it would’ve been hard for me to get this level of subjective analysis of the everyday life of a student if I had used a student actor, so I’m filming myself doing a lot of these things. I’m not used to filming myself as much, but it is interesting.

Q: Is the project tying into any courses you’re taking right now?

Q: What have been the greatest challenges thus far, and what can you anticipate being challenging?

A: I think the greatest challenge that I’m going to end up facing is figuring out the stepping stones in the narrative. I know where I’m starting — I

have both sides of the bank, I guess — I just need to make sure that I put enough down so that you can get to the other side, if that makes sense. I know I have different types of shots that I want to film, but I need it to make sense going through all the way. So, just making sure the narrative is cohesive I guess, because it is so open-ended.

Q: Because you’re trying to stray from the confines of Hollywood film, do you think this is more of a personal project? Or do you want it to be something that’s very applicable to other college experiences?

A: I want it to be applicable to college experiences — but not on a ‘this is exactly what I’ve lived through’ kind of level, but on a ‘this is an actual human going through his everyday tasks’ level.

That’s something that I saw in “Man Push Cart.”

It’s about this Israeli immigrant who moves a breakfast cart around New York City in the mornings. I don’t have any sort of experience close to that, but it makes sense, and the struggle feels really real.

Q: Are you planning on showing the work, and if so, how are you planning to curate it?

A: Yeah, I would love to show it to as many people as want to watch it. I’ll probably put it online and then have a screening on campus. I could also just leave it up playing somewhere, because it’s going to be slow enough that you could just come in and watch part of it. So hopefully I can do something like that.

Q: Do you have fears surrounding this documenting your life and thus being too personal to show?

A: Sort of, but like I said, I did something like this for my final project [in the essayist film course] and it is a little nerve-wracking watching other people watch you, but at the same time, I don’t think there’s anything in there that’s going to change your perspective of me all that much.

Q: Anything else you want you want to say?

A: This is taking up all of my life. You asked what I’d been watching in relation to this. I think at this point anything I watch, regardless of what it is, I’m constantly comparing it. Like, “what is this doing that I don’t like? Or that I do like and that I should include?’

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • October 26, 2016

“Last Chance U” Considers Complex Personal Narratives in College Football

Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

“Last Chance U” follows the East Mississippi Community College Lions.

Austin Park ’17 Contributing Writer Most sports documentaries tend to be full of tired clichés and repetitive themes that can leave much to be desired for a viewer. Television shows such as “Friday Night Lights” and HBO’s “HardKnocks” seek to provide an inside look into the lives and struggles that those associated with the world of football endure. While the human drama that ensues in both shows proves that football doesn’t always provide a fairy tale ending, the viewer is slightly influenced to believe that everything just might turn out okay. Enter the Netflix Original Series “Last Chance U,” released this past

summer on July 29. The series follows the 2015 season of the East Mississippi Community College Lions, a junior college powerhouse located in the diminutive settlement of Scooba, Mississippi.

While junior colleges are typically a place where football players choose to play in order to further their exposure to high-level programs, EMCC has taken on a much more polarizing identity. As the title of the series supposes, EMCC is for the vast majority of players the last chance at Division I football aspirations, and thus, professional dreams.

The series picks up at the beginning of the season while the team is in the midst of a 24-game win streak, a product of the incredible talent that head coach Buddy Stephens began to recruit when he took the helm in 2008. However talented his players may be, Stephens’ recruiting tactics paved the way for problems of varying degrees to pervade through his roster. From dealing with abandonment issues and mental health concerns to pure self-doubt, the players of “Last Chance U” demonstrate that while opportunities may be unevenly distributed, not all blame can be placed on external forces.

One of the notable players at EMCC is Dacorius “DJ” Law, a running back who the coaches refer to as the best player in junior college football.

As is the case for many of the players on the Lions’ roster, Law is the victim of poor academic performance that disqualified him from college eligibility. However, Law’s failing grades in high school don’t come from a lack of intelligence, as he proves by making up 18 missed quizzes in one day. Com-

ing from a family ruined by crime and hindered by the pressures of being a teenage father, Law simply could not keep up with the constant hurdles of life. The team’s academic advisor Brittany Wagner (who takes on a Sandra Bullock-esque role a la “The Blindside” combined with Tami Taylor of “Friday Night Lights”) makes Law the focus of her attention for much of the show due to his massive potential. The in-depth look that the cameras give the viewer shows just how at odds players like Law are with themselves. The players are frequently filmed skipping class and blowing off assignments, well aware that their eligibility is on the line.

One of the main points of interest in the series can be seen in the battle for the starting quarterback position between Wyatt Roberts and John Franklin III. While any quarterback controversy is sure to lead to drama, this particular matchup could not be more intense. In one corner stands Roberts, an undersized yet effective passer. Roberts’ situation is very unique compared to those of his teammates. Standing no taller than six feet tall, he was cast off as too short to play Division I football and he seems to accept that reality. He constantly refers to becoming a regular student at Mississippi State after his two years at EMCC, despite pressures to walk on to their football program. In the other corner stands Franklin, a former highlytouted recruit from Florida State with rare athletic ability. Franklin unlike many of his teammates, has played at the Division I level, even though he elected to leave FSU due to their acceptance of Notre Dame transfer Everett Golson. Throughout

the series, Franklin acts as if he is above the team.

He expresses his attitude through his nonchalance towards his superiors and the camera crew. Even so, Franklin does not earn the starting position until Roberts gets injured midway through the season. And despite starting the majority of the games, Roberts’ situation presents the unfairness of life. After only one half of his first game starting, Franklin receives a scholarship to Auburn University, while Roberts is left to enroll at MSU as a student.

What separates “Last Chance U” from other sports documentaries is the incredible emotional attachment that I felt towards each player. Whether its defensive tackle Ronald Ollie using book money to buy headphones from the school store or DJ Law refusing to answer Brittany Wagner’s phone calls, I could not keep myself from becoming enraged, seeing so much potential wasted through what initially seemed like pure laziness and insubordination. The series reinforces that viewers of college sports can easily judge and make quick assumptions about players based on the publicized mistakes they make. However, to make such quick assumptions would be unwise. “Last Chance U” calls such assumptions into question as it follows many players that are no older than 20 years old and come from backgrounds and family situations that are unfathomable to the general public.

Due to its incredibly positive reception (90 percent on Rotten Tomatoes), “Last Chance U” was recently renewed for another season to be released some time in the summer of 2017.

The Six Podcast Series Guaranteed to Take Your Mind Off of Midterms

Graphic by Justin Barry ’18

Most podcasts are free and easily accessible through streaming services.

Paola Garcia-Prieto ’18 Managing Arts and Living Editor It’s midterms season, that time between add/ drop and finals season where you’re drowning in multiple “mitdterm” papers and tests. This period may seem endless, but on your commutes into town for Starbucks you can have a good laugh and maybe learn something from these podcasts.

NPR’s How to do everything: Mike Danforth and Ian Chillag have listeners send them questions via email or telephone and the pair do their best to answer it. The questions vary from scientific to life advice to just general things you didn’t know you were curious about. For example, whether TV and movie producers use actor’s real baby pictures when showing their character as a child. They bring in experts, such as Claire Dane’s mom, to answer the questions. You’re bound to learn a thing or two while laughing at their quick wit.

Serial: If you’ve only listened to one podcast, it’s probably Serial. If not, you should. From the creators of “This American Life,” the podcast, hosted

by Sarah Koenig has thus far followed events tainted by controversial legal issues. The first season follows Adnad Syed, a man convicted of his exgirlfriend’s murder. The second follows PFc. Bowe Bergdahl, who leaves his U.S. Army outpost only to find himself drowning in controversy. Both seasons rely heavily on interviews with the protagonists, individualizing them and thus leaving their guilt questionable, and ultimately up to the listener.

The agency granted to the listener renders it utterly addicting.

My Brother, My Brother, and Me: A very pop-

ular podcast that is also based on questions sent in by listeners, and also any funny questions they find on “Yahoo! Answers”. Hosted by brothers Justin, Travis and Griffin McElroy, this podcast will definitely teach you less but make you laugh until your stomach hurts. I started listening to this after hearing it be heavily recommended by the likes of Lin Manuel-Miranda and John Green, and I promise you will not regret giving it a try. (Warning: Do not listen to this while on the elliptical at the gym, you will laugh and fall and people will stare).

Refinery 29’s Strong Opinions Loosely Held: Many online sites like Buzzfeed produce a number of podcasts in their efforts to take over the Internet.

However, “Strong Opinions Loosely Held” hosted

by Elisa Kreisinger, was the only one of these Internet conglomerate podcasts that kept me looking for more. Episodes average around 20 minutes but each contains a ton of information on a variety of topics related to feminism. Kreisinger provides her own inspiration for the topic and then brings in a variety of audio clips of other people speaking on the issue as well as occasionally experts from music and movies. She prides herself on asking for smart women’s opinions on a variety of questions such as: “Are selfies vain? Do hashtags reflect something deeper in contemporary culture? Why is there pressure for young women to be effortlessly perfect?” If you’re a feminist, I promise you will love her way of exploring these questions from all angles, teaching you something as well as validating women’s experiences in the modern age.

Millennial: Megan Tan’s podcast gained a lot of traction during it’s first season as the relatable and comforting retelling of maneuvering through your 20’s in the 21st century. Tan, a young Asian

American woman, has a similar style to Kreisinger’s, however Tan is much more introspective and focuses on her own experiences rather than trying to answer a question for all women. In each episode Tan takes on a different aspect of millennial life and plays with it by analyzing it in her own life and interviewing those around her. In one episode titled “Moving Out,” Tan interviews two of her friends who moved back in with their parents in their 20’s and then interviews the parents. Tan acts as a sort of documentary narrator, expanding on the points that her interviewees made and posing rhetorical questions to the listener. Her topics range from asking serious questions about the millennial lifestyle to pondering on phenomenons like “Pokemon Go.” Not all her episodes are funny, but it’s guaranteed to make you think about what it means to be young in this day and age.

Dear Hank and John: This is a personal favorite, the podcast that got me into podcasts. Hank and John Green, who you may know as the author of “The Fault in Our Stars,” are brothers who began a YouTube channel in 2007 called “Vlogbrothers.” I use to be a big fan of theirs in high school and participated in the “Nerdfighter” community, but lost interest in their educational and funny videos when I got to college. I was talking with a friend about

this when he mentioned that although he felt the same way, he was addicted to their new podcast.

It is a “comedy podcast about death” where John and Hank give “dublious” advice to their listeners on questions they have emailed them and also update them on the news from Mars and John’s favorite soccer team, AFC Wimbledon. Even without being a long time fan of theirs, you can learn a lot from Hank and John who answer questions in a variety of fields (science, philosophy, dating) in their unique comedy style. I think of them as a more relaxed version of “My Brother, My Brother and Me,” but both sets of brothers are worth listening to when you need a laugh. For other YouTube fanatics I recommend “Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig” where Grace interviews a variety of Internet personalities in the least introspective way possible.

You may find that you do not have enough time to binge-listen to one of these podcasts. The best way to listen is on your daily commute, wearing headphones and laughing out loud as people on the bus/train stare. If that’s not your style, I recommend setting aside an hour to take a walk in the bird sanctuary or elsewhere where you can turn off your mind and listen to people teach you about things and try to make you laugh. It’s the most pro76948 ductive form of self-care I can think of.

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Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • October 26, 2016

Installation Offers Commentary on Amherst’s Gendered Spaces

Photo courtesy of Camila Dominquez ’18

Dominguez ‘18 curated the Alumni Gym, a historically male-dominated space.

Alida Mitau ’18 Managing Arts & Living Editor Camila Dominguez ’18 exhibited her art project “Pin Up” in Alumni Gym on September 30. The project was for her advanced art seminar on public art and social practice. She placed pictures of current female Amherst students over pictures of male athletic teams, and her installation remained in the gym for about a week, prompting lively discussion between athletes and non-athletes alike. A talented artist and art major, Dominguez’s work has already left its mark at Amherst, and she will surely continue to surprise and stimulate us with her art.

Q: How would you best describe this project?

A: For “Pin Up,” I collected over 400 group pictures of Amherst women and installed them in the gym. There are already hundreds of images lining the walls of the space, but they are mostly historical images of Amherst men’s teams. Of course, for most of the college’s history, women were barred from attending. If the original image was of a women’s team, I left an open space. By leaving the few images of women’s teams exposed, I hoped to create a very simple visual metaphor for Amherst’s history of exclusion.

Q: How did you originally come up with this project?

A: Last year, I was thinking about online image production as gendered work. Women create most of the visual content we see online. Women, especially women of color, have been excluded from participating equally in traditional “serious” media, yet our contributions to social media are frequently dismissed. The fact is that women’s creative output is frequently dismissed — sewing, for example, is never discussed with the same seriousness as drawing. I began to wonder if there could be an alternative reading of online social media profiles that gives some weight to “frivolous” and gendered phenomena like selfies. For my Marsh project last year, I turned this research into a conversation with my friends, and we came up with the idea of the installation together. It took almost a year to actually execute!

tices influenced your project? If so, how?

A: The class assignment that prompted this project was “a subtle disruption.” I’m in an advanced art seminar on public art and social practice, which are branches of contemporary art that treat social relationships as material for artwork. Social practice is related to conceptual art, so the final art “object” can range from an ephemeral event to something long-term, like the formation of a political organization like Tania Bruguera’s Immigrant Movement International. The final project is often very different from the static objects we generally associate with art. In my mind, the Facebook event page where I asked women to submit images and the interactions that happened through social media as a result are just as much a part of the project as the final installation.

Q: Do you think you began your project with an intention? If so, what?

A: I definitely intended to interact with the existing space of the Alumni Gym and the visual material that is already there. There was an explicit critique in the project, because Amherst was not built for or by women. Any time you interact with a space — in regular life or in art — you are confronting that reality.

Q: How do you think people responded to your project?

A: I was really surprised that people weren’t meaner! I thought people would HATE it, but people have been really nice, especially girls.

Q: What was the most challenging part of this project?

A: The biggest challenge was trying to pull off a massive installation in under a week. I collected, edited and printed around 400 images. I didn’t sleep.

Q: Where do you hope to see this project go in the future?

A: I don’t want to spoil anything, but I think the very simple “gender switch” aspect of the project is only the beginning of what the project can mean.

I am currently working on a bigger, semi-related project on athletics. I never played team sports, so I think the whole culture and the loyalty people have to their teams is very interesting. I’m trying to understand it.

Q: Do you think your other art projects or prac-

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

“Black Mirror” Returns For a Third Season of Tech-Driven Mind-bending

Photo courtesy of oanciaodiz.blogspot.com

“Nosedive,” the first episode, explores the absurdity of online social capital.

Gabby Edzie ’17 Managing Arts & Living Editor The following review features spoilers (prefaced with warnings).

On Oct. 21, “Black Mirror” returned to Netflix for a six-episode third season. The anthology series, conceived by executive producer and writer Charlie Brooker, was created in 2011, originally hosted

by Channel 4. In 2015, Netflix picked up the series, perhaps serving as the best platform for the anthology — viewers are encouraged to binge-watch the series or carefully take each episode, digest it and slowly prepare (unsuccessfully) for the next. The series lies at an addicting intersection of technological and psychological examination. Each episode, which is its own self-contained story — directed by a distinct, and always accomplished director and featuring a new cast of noteworthy actors — includes an element (or elements) of futuristic technology that frames the narrative. The imagined future each episode presents is rooted in our modern technological reality, rendering each episode particularly unsettling — in looking around our own bedrooms, we can see the roots of the fictional realities, yet it’s unclear how temporally distant they are from our own world.

Technology and the future are normally con-

sidered on grand sweeping levels. What impresses about “Black Mirror” is the show’s ability to fold these concepts into personal narratives, forging a more emotionally intimate experience for the viewer, despite only wedding us to each character for an episode. The feat is accomplished as Brooker both constructs narratives that simultaneously nourish the fantasy of the technology and the character’s personal development, employing a group of actors that is seemingly irreplaceable.

The alarmingly fathomable narratives wield human fallibility in a manner that renders each episode equally devastating and addicting. My favorite episode to date is from season one: “The Entire History of You.” The episode follows a marriage at a time where everyone has implants that allow their memories to be replayed — either in the privacy of their own eyes or projected into public places.

The replayed memories can be fast-forwarded, paused and deleted. I’m sure you can imagine how that would be in a marriage — ‘he said, she said’ quickly dies when the truth can be confirmed with the blink of an eye (literally). As the technological becomes trusted and depended upon, it betrays both the characters within the show and our own perceptions of modern technology. The technology comes to amplify the human fallibilities of the characters; the jealousy, mistrust and sheer sadness in “The Entire History of You” is put on display by the

technology, making it an imagined prop by which an emotional connection is fostered with the audience. The third season manipulates our knowledge of online social capital, cyber terrorism, virtual reality, assisted suicide, the military and eugenics. **Spoiler** In “Playtest,” the episode directed

by Dan Trachtenberg (“10 Cloverfield Lane”), the protagonist leaves home in search of some relief from a family plagued by the effects of Alzheimer’s.

While traveling the world, he runs out of money and must resort to an odd jobs sourcing mobile app. With the app, he finds (while residing in the house of a fling he met on a Tinder-esque app) a well-paying gig testing out a virtual reality console for a gaming corporation. During the test, the protagonist falls into a virtual reality rabbit hole in which his fear of Alzheimer’s converges with the unfinished game’s kinks. Threaded into the already complex narrative is the protagonist’s personality, one that both houses a charming quirkiness and a particular breed of American fallibility. The personal narrative is heart-wrenching: a young man falls to a homegrown agony while physically on the other side of the world and mentally in a foreign reality. The impact of the personal narrative is what renders the presence of the virtual reality so daunting, begging the viewer to start narrow and extend the conversation outwards. In fact, after finishing each episode, I began dwelling over the particular protagonist’s fate, only to turn to a friend to discuss the larger societal implications of such a technology. And the implications are always seemingly endless, rendering “Black Mirror” one of the most conversation-inducing shows I’ve ever seen. The series seems to always conjure up critiques of the supposed technological voids we perceive to exist in our lives. The show manipulates our conceptions of need and sufficiency, creating fictional technological advancements that only momentarily fill voids before erupting to seep beyond controllable boundaries, complicating both the lives of the characters, and our perceptions of modern technology.

Despite the various clichés that seem to fall into most tech-y sci-fi shows, “Black Mirror” remains fresh. It not only avoids the clichés of the genre, but from a general television standpoint, it plays with narrative forms that keep the viewer guessing. Because the episodes don’t narratively feed off each other (but constantly refer to one another with small Easter eggs), each has to be innovative in its own right. The show’s success is in large part due to the process of creation that arises from the collaborative nature of the show. The varying of directors

and actors makes it so it’s a show with “no rules,” as Brooker put it in an interview with Collider.com.

“That’s the great thing,” he said. “There’s so much freedom. […] We have no rules which means everything is a negotiation and a discussion.

The scripts often change quite dramatically when a director comes on board because they’ll have a particular vision that they want to realize and that we’ll get on board with.” Brooker added that assembling the series is “kind of like sequencing an album” — each episode belongs to each director, yet they all seem to fit into the “Black Mirror” identity.

This season, the show also sought to vary the mood of each episode — in the previous two seasons the tone seemed to solely hover around different levels of sullen. This season, Brooker said “you will get the absolute depths of despair, but you will highs, as well.” Let’s be clear: there are certainly more lows than highs, but they’re the type of lows that inspire conversation, rather than empty, Netflix-branded tears.

As a quick overview, this season you’ll see the work of several directors and writers, including Joe Wright (“Atonement”), Rashida Jones (“Parks and Recreation”), Dan Trachtenberg (“10 Cloverfield Lane), James Watkins (“Bastille Day”), Owen Harris (Kill Your Friends), Jakob Verbruggen (“The Fall”) and James Hawes (“Dr. Who”). You’ll undoubtedly recognize the season’s (notably diverse) actors, which hail from shows like “House of Cards” and “Game of Thrones.”

I’d struggle to choose a favorite episode, but “Nosedive” and “Shut Up and Dance” offered the most imaginable scenarios given our current state of technology. “Nosedive” was also structurally intriguing, as the episode’s climax comes at the very end rather than at the assumed narrative peak.

“San Junipero” is unique, as it slowly embeds you into the technology guiding the narrative, allowing you to become particularly invested in the protagonists’ personal lives before revealing the technology and inducing a shift in viewer perception. The most difficult episodes to watch were “Playtest,” “Shut Up and Dance” and “Men Against Fire.”

Regardless of which episodes you choose to watch and which order you choose to watch them in, I must stress, the show is not solely written for die-hard sci-fi fans. “Black Mirror” is far from a complete departure from reality, and amidst an increasingly saturated genre (although not completely related ­— think “Westworld” and “Stranger Things”), it’s the one mind-bending show you need to see.

The Amherst Student • October 26, 2016

Sports 9

Football Suffers Second Loss of Season, Falling to Little Three Rival Wesleyan Caleb Winfrey ’19 Staff Writer For the first time since 2007, when Williams defeated the purple and white 20-0, Amherst was shut out in a football contest.

The purple and white’s 20-0 loss against little three rival Wesleyan this past Saturday put Amherst’s record at 3-2 for the season. This is the team’s first multiple loss season since the 2012 campaign.

Wesleyan started its first drive at its own 23-yardline and marched 49 yards in eight plays as Mark Piccirillo completed a 31-yard pass to Andrew Mehr to help set up a 45-yard field goal by Ike Fuchs, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.

Later in the first quarter, Wesleyan marched from its own 39-yardline deep into purple and white territory. However, this time, Fuchs pushed the ball wide right on a 26-yard chip shot, keeping the Cardinal’s lead at 3-0 with only 1:58 remaining in the first quarter.

On the purple and white’s ensuing possession, Amherst quarterback Nick Morales ’19 threw his first of five interceptions in the game, and Wesleyan returned the ball 31 yards to the Amherst one-yard line. From there, the Cardinals punched the ball into the end zone, leaving the purple and white in a 10-0 deficit after 15 minutes of play.

The second quarter was marked by further futility on the part of the purple and white’s offense, with the team only mustering a paltry 10 yards of total offense. The anemic performance was capped off by Morales’ second interception of the half.

The Cardinals received the ball to start the second half and yet again cut up the Amherst defense in an eight-play, 27-yard drive capped by another Fuchs field goal, this time from 25 yards out, after a Wesleyan fourth-down extended the drive.

The purple and white tried to respond to

this blow and engineered a promising drive.

However, after crossing the 50-yard line and entering Wesleyan territory for the first time all game, the Cardinals picked off Morales for a third time.

Any hope of an Amherst comeback was quenched after Morales was picked off for a fourth time with 12:04 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Cardinals then drove 61 yards in four plays, and the drive keyed by a 58-yard pass play. Wesleyan closed out the drive with a three-yard passing touchdown and extended its lead to 20-0 with 10:16 remaining in the game.

Devin Boehm ’17 was the star of the Amherst offense with six receptions for 73 yards.

While the Amherst defense was put in tough positions due to the number of turnovers in the game, many players on the defense had impressive showings.

Andrew Yamin ’19 and Andrew Sommer ’19 led the Amherst defense with 10 tackles each, while Yamin posted three tackles for a loss, including a clutch five-yard sack. Niyi Odewade ’17 and Isaiah Holloway ’17 added a half sack each to the purple and white defensive effort.

“Anytime you lose, it’s disappointing, but credit to Wesleyan for playing four hard quarters of football,” Sommer said. “However, ultimately, our mission doesn’t change. We’ve still got to take it one game at a time, one snap at a time, and really work to be our best every play, and that mantra never changes, win or lose. Tufts is going to come in with some fire, they haven’t beaten us in a long time, so they’re going to bring the juice, but I know that our guys are going to step up to the challenge. We’ve really got a group with a ‘no-quit’ type of attitude, and I’m excited to see what we can do moving forward.”

Sommer and the rest of the Amherst football squad hope to demonstrate this “no-quit attitude” this Saturday, Oct. 29 at home in a family weekend matchup against Tufts (4-1).

Have you activated your Dropbox yet? http://dropbox.amherst.edu Amherst College provides Dropbox to students, faculty, and staff, but you must log in to activate your account.

Use it to: • store files, share, and collaborate, • request and submit assignments, • and join fully digital workflows.

More details at: https://www.amherst.edu/mm/526869

Amherst College IT • 413-542-2526 • AskIT@amherst.edu

Men’s Soccer Comes Back to Defeat Field Hockey Continues to Impress Wesleyan in Double-OT Thriller With Pair of Dominant Victories Delancey King ’18 Staff Writer Last weekend marked the final regular season matchup for the Amherst men’s soccer team, when the purple and white defeated NESCAC rival Wesleyan in double-overtime on Saturday.

The result marked head coach Justine Serpone’s 150th career win, and the purple and white now boast an impressive overall record of 12-1-1.

After outshooting Wesleyan eight to six and dominating the majority of the possession, Amherst was disappointed with the scoreless first half.

Wesleyan, on the other hand, was pleased with the scoreline and their first half performance as a whole. In the words of the game’s announcer, “If Wesleyan had been offered a tie at the beginning of this game, they most certainly would have taken it.”

Building on their unexpected momentum, the Cardinals came out strong in the second half.

Wesleyan took the lead in the 63rd minute, as Garrett Hardesty found a bouncing ball in Amherst’s 18-yard box and placed it in the bottom left corner of the net.

Amherst suffered another blow five minutes later, when Andrew Orozco ’17 received his second yellow card of the game. Orozco was sent off, and the purple and white were forced to play with only 10 men for the remainder of the match.

Making the most of the man advantage, the Cardinals increased their lead to two in the 75th minute of play. Jack Wolf sent a beautiful ball to Adam Cowie-Haskell at the top of the box, and Cowie-Haskell fired a shot into the back of the net.

As the final six minutes of regulation began, it looked as though the purple and white would suf-

fer their second loss of the season. Yet with only 5:46 left to play, defensive standout Rohan Sood ’17 began Amherst’s unbelievable comeback.

Sood collected a lofted ball from Bijan Zojaji ’20 in the Wesleyan’s 18-yard box and notched his first career goal in the one of the biggest moments of the season.

Sood’s goal marked a clear shift in momentum, and the purple and white managed to tie things up in the final two minutes of regulation.

Cameron Hardington ’18 found the ball in the midst of a chaotic scramble in front of the Cardinals’ goal and fired a close-range shot past the Wesleyan keeper.

The game headed into overtime, and once again, Amherst came up big in the final minutes.

With only three minutes left to play, Bryce Ciambella ’17 sent a beautiful long ball to Chris Martin ’17, who suddenly found himself in a two-on-one situation alongside sophomore Fikayo Ajayi.

Martin expertly drew the Cardinals’ defender and played a well-timed ball across the field to Ajayi. Playing it on goal, Ajayi himself looked ready to finish things off for the purple and white.

However, the Wesleyan keeper attempted a desperate slide tackle attempt and fouled Ajayi inside the 18-yard box. Amherst was awarded a penalty kick, and Ciambella stepped up to the spot to coolly secure the win with a well-taken strike.

A true testament to the team’s resilience and determination, this game will certainly go down in program history. “It was the craziest game I’ve ever played in,” Luke Nguyen ’19 said. “This team never gives up.”

The purple and white return to action on Wednesday, Oct. 22 for the team’s final conference matchup of the season, a home game against Trinity.

Meredith Manley ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst women’s field hockey team went 2-0 in the second to last week of regular season action, pushing their record to 9-1 over their last 10 games. The purple and white faced Smith and Wesleyan on Wednesday, Sept. 19 and Saturday, Sept. 22, respectively.

In a matchup with Smith on the purple and white’s home field, the team finished the game with a score of 7-2. Later that weekend, they obtained their 11th win with a score of 4-0 on the road in Middletown, Connecticut.

The purple and white were checked-in right away during their mid-week game. Amherst netted the first goal in just under seven minutes of play, as star senior forward Sara Culhane recorded her first of four goals for the game off of the rebound from an on-goal attempt from Mary-Margaret Stoll ’17.

After two good looks on net, first-yearHeather Brennan scored later in the half to double Amherst’s lead to 2-0. Staying heavily involved in the purple and white offensive attack, Culhane scored her second goal off an assist from Brennan and her third with the support of Stoll as the time was winding down in the first half.

This hat trick by the all-star senior is her third of the year, bringing her season total up to 22 goals, tied for the highest tally in the NESCAC. In the later part of the second half, following Smith’s first goal of the match, Caroline Fiore ’18 made it a 5-1 game as she gathered the ball right in front of the goal and ripped one past Smith’s goalie.

Brennan then went on to score her second of the contest with 17 minutes remaining in the game. Smith broke through the Amherst defense to score its second and final goal of the game before Shannon Tierney ’19 left the final mark on the scoreboard with a goal at the 3-minute mark. The final scoreline was 7-2 in favor of the dominant purple and white.

Following their rout of Smith, the purple and white faced Wesleyan on their home turf, playing in their competitor’s homecoming match. Even though the Cardinals’ record may not command respect compared to the rest of the NESCAC, all the hype behind this game, including the Little III rivalry, would make it a tough one.

Mary Grace Cronin ’18 scored the first goal of the game in a mere 46 seconds. She connected off of a pass that started from Tierney collecting a loose ball in the midfield, which she then distributed to Culhane, who found Cronin.

Cronin scored her second of the match as she used her acute technical ability to beat Wesleyan’s goalie and find the back of the net.

Culhane then increased the purple and white’s lead to an insurmountable three goals with only seven seconds remaining on the clock for the first half.

Matching Cronin goal for goal, Culhane struck again in the second frame, this time off of a penalty corner insertion from Caroline Feeley ’18. The final whistle blew at a score of 4-0.

As the No. 10 Amherst’s women’s field hockey team enters their final week of the regular season, they prepare for tough competition against NESCAC opponent Trinity this Wednesday Oct. 26 on Gooding Field at 7:00 p.m.

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • October 26, 2016

Volleyball Hosts Hall of Fame Invite Katie Bergamesca ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst volleyball team had an eventful week of play, with four straight matches throughout the weekend. They began the week the evening of Thursday, Oct. 20 and ending with two on Saturday, Oct. 22.

On Thursday, the purple and white hosted Regis College. Amherst easily handed the Pride a defeat with a 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-17) sweep. First-year Charlotte Duran had an impressive outing, leading team with 17 assists.

Duran was not the only first-year to step up during the match; Adelaide Shunk ’20 posted a team high three blocks.

On the offensive end, Nicole Gould ’17 smashed the ball for 10 kills, with Maggie Danner ’17 following close behind with nine. Asha Walker ’18 served up four aces in the winning effort. Hayes Honea ’19 remained a consistent defensive presence with 12 digs The following day, Amherst began its annual Hall of Fame Invitational, which consisted of three matches against non-conference opponents. Hosted in the purple and white’s own Lefrak Gymnasium, the Amherst women first took on Bridgewater State on Friday evening.

The Firedogs continued their win streak with another 3-0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-14) triumph. Gould was once again key on offense, registering 12 kills. Kate Bres ’17 supported Gould, dishing out 19 assists, while Duran and Walker added eight blocks each. Natsis, along with Honea, also provided two service aces a piece.

On Saturday, the Amherst women faced SUNY Canton and University of Massachusetts Boston. SUNY Canton was the purple and white’s first match of the day. Amherst remained hot and managed to sweep the Kangaroos, 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-1). Continuing her dominant offensive performance, Gould led the team with 12 kills, Annika Reczek ’18 provided a team high five blocks and first-year Candace Chung dove for a career high 17 digs.

Chung, Bres, Natsis and Kelci Keeno ’17 each contributed a single service ace in the victory over the Kangaroos.

Unfortunately, the purple and white was not unable to finish out the week undefeated.

UMass Boston ended Amherst’s streak with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-19, 14-25, 27-25) victory. Amherst managed to force a fourth set — pulling out a win after being down 2-0, however

it was not enough to put the purple and white on top. Once again, Gould paced the offensive effort with 14 kills. Reczek was at the net consistently, adding four blocks. Honea provided 22 digs and one service ace. Keeno and Natsis also added an ace each. Duran and Bres dished out 21 and 18 assists respectively in the losing effort.

Despite the final loss against UMass Boston, the team remained positive. “We felt pretty good about the weekend overall, but obviously would have liked to go 4-0” captain Bres said.

“UMass Boston is a solid team, and I’m proud of the fight we put up. We just were not able to close out the match. I think we’ve improved a lot as a team in the past week, and I think we need to continue build on that as we head into senior weekend and then the conference tournament.”

Home action continues for Amherst with a midweek match-up against Springfield College on Wednesday, Oct. 26. On Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29 the purple and white will close out its regular season NESCAC play against Trinity and then Wesleyan in Lefrak.

Photo courtesy of Amherst Athletics

Lauren Reppert ’19 averages 1.19 kills per set for the purple and white.

Spotlight on Club Sports: Women’s Rugby Concludes Fall Season at Home Jenny Mazzella ’20 Staff Writer This past weekend, the women’s club rugby team hosted Mount Holyoke for its final regular season game on Memorial Field.

Unfortunately, the Amherst women suffered a tough loss, with the game ending in a shut out. However, they gave a great effort and had their largest attendance thus far this year.

The purple and white entered the weekend coming off a big win. Last weekend, the rugby team had an away game against Brandeis University, which it won with a final score of 42-24.

Senior captain Karen Odidika led the way to victory as the high scorer of the game. Other standout performances included senior cocaptain Araceli Aponte who took some hard hits and first-year Benedite Dieujuste with her speed and strong tackles, scoring her first two tries for Amherst during this match.

The sport of rugby is often described as a combination of soccer and football. The goal of the game is to attempt to get the ball to the try zone, which can be achieved by passing backwards to teammates. To stop the opposing team, you must tackle the player carrying the ball. If tackled, you must let go of the ball. The sport, an extremely physical one, has been extremely popular on campus at Am-

herst for decades, but has never gained official varsity status.

This year, Liz Miller joined the rugby team as the new head coach. Miller has extensive experience with the sport and is a real asset to the squad. Miller played rugby in college and then recreationally in other parts of the country. Now, Miller is a first-grade teacher who continues to be connected with the sport by coaching the Amherst team. “It has been an immense pleasure working with the team so far and I am excited to see where the future will bring us,” Miller said in regard to her new position.

The change in coaching staff was not the only difference the rugby team faced this year. The team also switched leagues, moving into the New England Wide Collegiate Rugby Conference (NEWRC). This move has given the team an opportunity to play more similar teams, closer in both proximity and size to Amherst.

Although this past weekend wrapped up the regular season, the rugby team has a lot to look forward to. The team is still waiting to find out if it will be continuing on to intercollegiate playoffs in the coming weeks. Looking further ahead, this year, over half of the players on the team are rookies, which highlights how Amherst women’s rugby will continue growing in the upcoming years.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Bryce Ciambella ‘17E Favorite Team Memory: Winning the National Championship and celebrating with the team in 2015 Dream Job: Professional soccer player for Atletico Madrid Favorite Vacation Spot: Hasting of Hudson Something on Your Bucket List: Hike the Incan Trail Guilty Pleasure: When you’re cleaning your spoons and the water splashes into your face Favorite Food: Coconut shavings on pomegranate Pinkberry Favorite Thing About Amherst: Burger night How He Earned It: The purple and white went into overtime against Wesleyan in their only game this weekend. In extra time, Amherst managed to create a two on one after Ciambella played a ball to release Chris Martin ’17 and Fikayo Ajayi ’19. After Ajayi was fouled by the Wesleyan keeper, all eyes were on Ciambella when he found the net on the penalty kick, giving Amherst a 3-2 victory.

Nicole Gould ’17 Favorite Team Memory: Beating Williams at home this year Dream Job: Vineyard owner Favorite Vacation Spot: Santorini, Greece Something on Your Bucket List: Visit Australia Guilty Pleasure: Gilmore Girls Favorite Food: Tagliatelle Bolognese Favorite Thing About Amherst: My teammates and the New England fall How She Earned It: Gould keyed the Amherst women’s volleyball team to an impressive 3-1 record over a busy weekend slate of games due to the Hall of Fame Invitational. Not only did Gould lead the team in total kills over the weekend with an impressive 48, but she held the sole lead in kills in every one of the tournament games. This dominant display brought her season kills tally up to 190 and brought her average kills per game number all the way to 9.5. These numbers put the senior captain behind only classmate and fellow captain Maggie Danner on the team leaderboard in both categories.

The Amherst Student • October 26, 2016

Sports

Women’s Soccer Wins Final Regular Season Games, Looks to Playoffs

11

Forest’s Fast Take Forest Sisk ’17 Columnist Forest Sisk looks ahead to the beginning of the profession basketball season this week as he examines the cultural controversy around maximum contracts and so called “super teams” in the NBA.

Photo courtesy of Janna Joassainte ‘17

Midfielder Delancey King ’18 has made an impact this year with four assists.

Hayes Honea ’19 Staff Writer This past weekend, the Amherst women’s soccer team focused all of their energy into beating NESCAC opponent Wesleyan 2-0. This victory marks the eighth win in a row for the purple and white, giving them immense confidence as they head into the final week of regular league play and playoffs.

Unlike their other victories, Amherst did not score for the entirety of the first half. However, the team battled hard defensively to prevent Wesleyan — which outshot the purple and white 7-4 in the first half — from scoring.

First-year goalkeeper Erica Sanders was crucial to this defensive effort, notching seven saves.

“Chelsea [Cutler ’19] couldn’t be there due to a family event, but with the support and confidence from her and the team, I was so excited and proud to be in goal and to be on the field defending Amherst,” Sanders said.

In the second half of action, Amherst turned on the switch. Maeve McNamara ’19 assisted Emily Hester ’17 in scoring the first goal of the game at the 53-minute mark, giving the purple and white a 1-0 advantage.

“In the first half we played really defensively and lost sight of how we like to play,” Hester said. “We were playing too direct and weren’t able to build any kind of rhythm. The second half allowed us to reset and return to our style of play. We spent a lot more time in Wesleyan’s defensive half as a result.”

Not too long after Amherst secured the lead, Hannah Guzzi ’18 recorded her 11th goal of the season at 61:51 to extend the lead to 2-0.

Hester and Guzzi led the team with three shots on goal each, while Alison Neveu ’18, Ashlyn Heller ’17 and Sloan Askins ’20 each had one attempt on target. Guzzi’s ceaselessly aggressive pursuit has not only made her the team’s lead scorer, but has inspired her teammates as well.

“Guzzi is impossible to defend, and is so important to our team’s success,” Hester said.

“She’s quick, doesn’t give up, and has an incredible shot. It’s not only her shots that are vital to our success, but her determination too.”

The purple and white return to the field next Tuesday, Oct. 25, to host NESCAC oppo-

nent Trinity in their final league game of the season. Amherst looks to extend their already impressive winning streak to nine and carry positive momentum into the playoffs.

The purple and white went on to play its final game of the regular season on Tuesday afternoon, battling to a double overtime victory against NESCAC rival Trinity.

The first half of the matchup went scoreless, with the Amherst women dominating the offensive half of the field, putting up eight shots on goal and firing off five corner kicks.

After a scoreless first frame, both teams came into the second half with a renewed energy and Trinity scored the first goal of the match within 36 seconds of taking the field.

Amherst was ready with a response, however, as they fired off three shots in a row and tied up the game in the 50th minute with yet another goal by Guzzi.

The teams went on to trade goals, Hester ultimately tying the game with a solo shot that found the back of the net at 54 minutes. As the match progressed, the play got scrappy as the last half hour saw eight fouls between the two teams, five from Trinity and three from the purple and white.

As the match ended, knotted at two, and overtime began, the Amherst women entered with the offensive momentum. All three shot attempts in the first period of overtime came from the purple and white, and they kept steady possession, putting pressure on the Trinity defense. The purple and white couldn’t find the back of the net, however, and the Bantams forced a second overtime period.

The next frame was short lived, however, when Hester found classmate Masten for a goal under two minutes in to the suddendeath overtime period. Amherst came out of their senior night match victorious, which puts the team in second place entering the playoffs this coming weekend, Oct. 29. The purple and white are second only to Williams, the defending national champs, whose undefeated streak has been broken only by Amherst, as the Little Three rivals tied earlier this season.

The purple and white will face Connecticut College at home in the first round of playoffs.

The women will kick off at 12:30 p.m. against the Camels, this Saturday on Pratt Field.

Photo courtesy of Janna Joassainte ‘17

Maeve McNamara ’19 boasts four goals and three assists this season.

With the NBA season officially underway this Tuesday, Oct. 25, there is plenty of chatter from hometown fans either high on their hopes or bracing for another mediocre season. The national conversation, however, focuses purely on the rise of the “superteam”, The Golden State Warriors. The Oakland-based squad is the large favorite in Vegas and in the minds of all sports analysts.

They were largely regarded as the best team in the league last year, breaking the 1995-96 Bulls’ previously untouchable regular season record. They lost an unprecedented nine games in an 82-game season. Yes, that’s 73 wins out of 82. Ridiculous.

They would have capped this outstanding year off with an NBA title if it were not for the best player of all time having his best series of consecutive games in his career in the NBA finals. Not much you can do about that. How does the winningest team respond to this adversity? They sign the best free agent of the offseason market, forward Kevin Durant.

So how does this happen? How can a team as stacked as the Golden State Warriors sign a top five player in the league? These guys are professionals, after all; they only have 10 or so years to make their biscuit before they have to retire. Why waste years of your precious career making less coin than you could have otherwise? The true sportsman will answer, “Because he wanted to win it all, of course,” but the answer is that he didn’t have to.

Durant will be making just as much money ($54.3 million/2 years) with the Warriors as he would have anywhere else in the league. How is that possible? There is a salary cap, after all. Well, the NBA instituted this phenomenon called the “maximum contract,” often referred to as “max contract.” This stipulation prevents a player of any level or experience from making more than 35 percent of the salary cap. The 35 percent level is only reserved for seasoned veterans with consistent accolades to back it up, so most elite players negotiate around the 25-30 percent zone. This allows for teams to have three of the best players in the game, being paid in full, before even reaching the salary cap (let alone the luxury cap, which allows teams to pay even more with ensuing fines).

There are at least four players in Golden State that could be getting max contracts — Curry, Durant, Green and Thompson — but all of them aren’t. This is a direct result of the salary cap increase. Each year the cap bumps because the league’s revenue is consistently rising. It is more than good to hear that this revenue is being given back to the players by their organizations, as they are the ones who ultimately perform and generate intrigue. Trust me, there is nobody happier that all of this extra dough isn’t merely being used as napkins for fat cat owners to wipe the filet mignon off their faces. But it does create a further problem in

player salaries that allow for superteams to form in their wake. If a player is already under contract, they often cannot adjust their agreed upon salary to reflect the increase in cap level (did I just stumble upon gold, @AdamSilver?). This year, with an extraordinarily large bump in salary cap level, has created an especially scintillating market for free agents looking to cash in. I mean, for God’s sake, Mike Conley is the second highest paid player in the NBA at the moment. The point of the matter is that these increases allow for yearly opportunities to assemble a squad as audacious as the 2016-17 Golden State Warriors.

I’ve taken one economics course here at Amherst. I tallied an unimpressive B-, but I did, however, learn how a free market works.

Imagine an NBA void of all max contracts, but still with a salary cap. This is the ideal model of fairness, because in this market, players would get paid what they’re actually worth — not what the NBA is allowing them to be worth. I’m no friend of financial models, but I can hypothesize that under this free market, where a player is paid whatever percent of the cap that they are valued at, the Warriors would not be able to afford four All-Stars. Lebron James, the best player ever to bounce a ball on the hardwood, is currently being paid a little over $30 million, but if the free market were allowed to take hold, his salary would amount to as much as 75 percent of a team’s cap.

With this new season’s current cap, that would allow him to make $70 million per year.

With top talents eating up this much of the total allotted cash, teams would not be able to afford multiple All-Stars on a single roster. This is where the parity disappears. Despite all of my griping, this season will continue as scheduled regardless.

So how do we fans enjoy it? Well, I’m not going to lie to you, this regular season is going to be brutal.

The best teams will do the best and the worst will, well, you know. The painstakingly long season last year was only redeemed by the Warriors’ triumph over the 1995-96 Bulls and hometown interests.

For instance, I had fun watching the Celtics overperform under Brad Stevens with emerging stars in Isaiah Thomas and Avery Bradley, but nobody outside of the Celtics circle could give less of a hoot about that. So what is there to be excited about this year?

Watching the Warriors steamroll teams as they bid to break their own record? I’m sorry, but that just seems so 2015-16. If I could offer any advice to the NBA fan it would be to enjoy the game in its intricacies. By all means, root for your local squad to be the best they can be. Enjoy awesome passes, inspiring defense and young standouts, but don’t get your hopes too high on the parity and competition within the league — there won’t be any.

Sports

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

Junior Avery Wagman was a bright spot for the puple and white this weekend, going 4-1 overall and notching an impressive 3-0 record in doubles play.

Individual Victories Highlight Women’s Tennis NESCAC Performance

Nate Quigley ’19 Managing Sports Editor

The Amherst women’s tennis team concluded its fall season, with a mixed bag of results at the Middlebury Invitational. The tournament pitted the young and untested purple and white against NESCAC rivals Middlebury and Williams, as well as local opponent Brandeis University, and Amherst finished with an overall record of 1-4-1.

Saturday was reserved for singles action, with the purple and white taking on each of the three other participant schools in the standard six vs. six format. Amherst first faced off against archrival Williams, the reigning NCAA-runner ups, and the Ephs’ quality was too high for an Amherst team that sent out four underclassmen, as demonstrated by Williams’ 5-1 victory.

Jackie Calla ’17E was the lone member of the purple and white to register a victory, closing out her Amherst singles’ career with a commanding 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory on the number two court. On the third court, first-year Camille Smucker demonstrated her impressive potential, pushing her

opponent to a third set and losing a heartbreaking 10-3 tiebreaker.

On the other courts, Anya Itvensky ’19 came the closest to stealing a set from the Williams juggernaut, managing to force a first set tiebreaker on court six, which she narrowly lost. In the other matches, Kelsey Chen ’19 lost 6-1, 6-1 on court one, captain Avery Wagman ’18 lost 6-2, 6-0 on the third court and Camilla Trapness ’19 fell 6-0, 6-3 in the fifth slot.

Amherst suffered another setback when the team faced Middlebury, which had knocked them out of both the NESCAC tournament and the NCAA tournament last spring. The purple and white suffered the same fate on Saturday, losing five out of the six singles matches against the Panthers.

With no Calla in the lineup, Wagman, playing on court two, claimed the sole Amherst victory with an impressive 3-6, 7-5, 10-5. The rest of the purple and white’s lineup couldn’t muster anything against Middlebury, losing every other match in two sets furthering Middlebury’s reputation as Amherst’s bogey team.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

GAME SCHE DULE

WED FRI Men’s Soccer vs. Trinity, 3 p.m.

Field Hockey vs. Trinity, 7 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Springfield, 7 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Trinity, 7 p.m.

Amherst managed to bounce back from these tough losses to snatch a 3-3 tie from Brandeis.

With the its lineup almost completely different from the sixsome that faced Williams, the purple and white got contributions from players up and down the roster.

Megan Adamo ’17 contributed a win on the third court, finishing off Brandeis’ Olivia Leavitt 6-2, 7-6 (6). Meanwhile, the sophomore duo of Joanna Booth and Kelly Yang handily vanquished their opponents on the fifth and sixth courts with scores of 6-1, 6-1 and 7-6 (4), 6-1 respectively.

Amherst carried the momentum from this draw forward into Sunday’s doubles action, soundly defeating Brandeis 3-1 in doubles. Calla and Wagman continued their strong tournaments, winning 8-5 on the number one court.

Similarly, Booth and Yang built on their strong Saturday showings to put together a solid 8-4 win on the third court. The most comprehensive Amherst victory was reserved for the fourth doubles pairing of Adamo and Claire Carpenter ’17, which swept aside the Brandeis challengers 8-1.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios

SAT Men’s and Women’s Volleyball vs. Wesleyan, 12 p.m.

Cross Country @ NESCAC Championship, TBD Football vs. Tufts, 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer vs. Trinity, TBA Women’s Soccer vs. Connecticut College, 12:30 p.m.

The elation of victory was not to last, as both Middlebury and Williams had their way with the purple and white, each claiming a 3-1 victory.

However, even in the midst of these losses, the doubles pair of Calla and Wagman continued to shine. Playing on the number one court, Calla and Wagman put together matching 8-5 victories over quality opponents.

These victories meant Calla, whose collegiate career ended with this tournament, finished with a perfect 4-0 record this weekend. “I think the best part of the tournament was the last day when Jackie won all of her matches,” Wagman said. “It was Jackie’s last collegiate tennis match, so it was nice to see her end on such a high note.”

“I had a great two days this past weekend and it came from thousands of hours of practice,” Calla said. “I couldn’t be happier with the way I ended my tennis here at Amherst and will always hold these last few years close to my heart.”

Amherst begins its spring schedule when the team travels to California over spring break, and its first official game will take place on March 13th against Pomona-Pitzer.

Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios