TUESDAY • APRIL 8, 2014
CHICAGOMAROON.COM
THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO SINCE 1892
ISSUE 36 • VOLUME 125
SG amends election bylaws Raymond Fang News Staff On Wednesday, College Council passed two bylaw amendments and tabled a third regarding Student Government (SG) elections. The first amendment passed made it easier for students studying abroad through the University to run for College Council positions, and the second raised the number of petition signatures needed to run for a seat from 30 to 50. Petitions to run for SG positions became available on Monday, and campaigning begins on April 18. College Council Chair Mike Viola said that the amendment to allow students in University study abroad programs to run for College Council arose from a lack of upperclassmen running for seats. “We had difficulties getting third- and fourth-years to run, and reportedly study abroad has been a big factor,” Viola said. “When last year’s secondyears were running to be thirdyear reps, there were only two declared candidates for four seats.” The new bylaw allows students studying abroad through the University to select a proxy to represent them in the Council during the quarter they are abroad. Viola said that representatives can study abroad for one quarter, provided that they nominate a replacement for College Council by eighth
week of the quarter prior to their study abroad program. Students participating in study abroad programs that are not University-sponsored still may not run for College Council seats. Amendments to bylaws can be passed with a two-thirds vote by the Student Assembly. The other major bylaw change raised the number of petition signatures needed to run for a College Council seat from 30 to 50. Viola indicated that such a change had already occurred in practice for the 2013 College Council elections, but had yet to be changed in the bylaws. “The bylaw states that 30 signatures are needed to run for College Council. I don’t know where the discrepancy came from, but last year they asked for 50 signatures. I don’t know why the bylaw wasn’t followed, but we came to the conclusion that 50 signatures was better than 30,” Viola said. “You can get 30 signatures just by going to two classes, or one lecture, so it was almost too easy. So for someone running to represent a class of 1,500 people, you should be willing to talk to 50 of them. That passed uncontroversially.” A third proposed amendment, which proposed that College Council members be allowed three absences per quarter, two of which a proxy should be present for, was tabled for future discussion due to disagreements. Currently SG continued on page 2
SASA 101
Fourth-years Nishant Patel and Annie Pei bust a move at SASA’s 27th annual cultural show. SASA 101 featured performances by UChicago Bhangra, Raas, Maya, and PhiNix. Page 6. COURTESY OF JASMEEN RANDHAWA
Panelists talk feminism, race, social media Sarah Manhardt Associate News Editor Writer Mikki Kendall and ethnomusicology Ph.D. candidate Alisha Lola Jones discussed issues surrounding women, race, and social media in a panel discussion and conversation entitled, “Is Solidarity Just for White Women? A Community Conversation on the Role of Women of Color in the Feminist Movement” at the Office of Multicultural Student Affairs (OMSA) yesterday. Both panelists have backgrounds in social media as well as race and women’s issues. Mikki Kendall is a writer and
public speaker who co-founded the website Hood Feminism and coined the hashtags #solidarityisforwhitewomen and #fasttailedgirls. Alisha Lola Jones is a Residential Fellow at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture and a Ph.D. candidate in ethnomusicology. To begin the discussion, Kendall explained the origin of her hashtag #solidarityisforwhitewomen, which she first used in August in defense of another friend on Twitter. “#solidarityisforwhitewomen was a hashtag. It was not intended to be a definitive discussion of race and feminism and what-
Bangladeshi workers speak at SOUL event Felicia Woron maroon Contributor
Aleya Akter, Bangladeshi labor organizer (left) and Aklima Khanam (right) survivor of the Rana Plaza factory collapse, called for students to stop the University from contracting with manufacturing companies that ignore the safety of their factory workers. FRANK YAN | THE CHICAGO MAROON
On Monday Aleya Akter, a Bangladeshi labor organizer, and Aklima Khanam, a survivor of the collapse at the Rana Plaza factory in Bangladesh, spoke about their experiences in an event hosted by Students Organizing United with Labor (SOUL). The event aimed to raise awareness about the Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety and the University’s role in purchasing from companies that have not signed the accord. Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building, collapsed
in Savar, Bangladesh on April 24 of last year. It was the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, with a death toll of 1,129. On the day of the collapse, Rana Plaza workers were ordered to go to work under threat of being fired, despite rumors that the factory was crumbling. Within an hour, the building began to shake, and a machine fell onto Khanam, who had been working at the factory since January 2013. She was found 12 hours later and is still unable to work, but she has not received compensation. “Do the students want us to die in fires or building collapses, SOUL continued on page 2
ever…. We have to remember it started out of a place, yes of anger, but also out of protection,” she said. Throughout the conversation Kendall and Jones discussed the definition and implications of solidarity, the history of Chicago as well as their experiences in Hyde Park, and visibility and insults that come with their work. They both touched on their personal experiences, ranging from Kendall’s service in the military to Jones’ social experiments on Twitter. Kendall, who also frequently uses Twitter, discussed her experience as a black female on Twitter,
NEWS IN BRIEF 53rd Street shuttle adds new stops Yesterday the 53rd Street Express shuttle debuted a modified route that adds three new stops and departs from Harper Court instead of Ellis Garage. The shuttle will now stop at Ellis Avenue and East 53rd Street, East 60th Street and South Stony Island Avenue, and East 55th Street and South Lake Park Avenue in addition to its previous stops. The addition of these three stops was due to feedback from riders who listed those locations as high-traffic areas, according
where she receives many insults and threats. She described how she once changed her profile photo to a picture of a white male friend, leaving her name and handle the same. “I didn’t get any of the overnight slurs from my retweets. I didn’t get called any names…. It was actually sort of jarring, because I didn’t realize how much I had gotten used to a volume of ignorance,” she said. Kendall and Jones also focused on the power of social media in connecting people who need community. Kendall emphasized its accessibility and empowering WOMEN continued on page 2
to University spokesman Jeremy Manier. Manier said that the change in departure point for the shuttle from Ellis Garage to the Harper Court stop aimed to make the shuttle more convenient for those taking it to campus. Manier said the change “allows riders to arrive on campus in time to walk to most buildings by the top or bottom of the hour. It will arrive at Levi Hall [South Ellis Avenue and East 58th Street] at approximately 0:12 and 0:42 after the hour.” The shuttle will still wait for a few minutes at Ellis Garage, but wait time at that location has been cut down significantly. The 53rd Street shuttle runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays. —Ankit Jain
IN VIEWPOINTS
IN ARTS
IN SPORTS
Growing up, but not outgrowing » Page 3
My Big Fat Bleak Wedding: Thrones Returns with a Vengeance » Page 5
Hot streak continues as Maroons take three of four » Back Page
Little Maroon Nation » Page 4
SASA 101 » Page 6
Kalamazoo proves no match for Chicago in 7–2 contest » Page 7
THE CHICAGO MAROON | NEWS | April 8, 2014
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Additional amendments slated for discussion SG continued from front
College Council members can miss three meetings without sending a proxy. According to Viola, College Council is looking to amend other bylaws before the end of the
year. These amendments include introducing an election system to fill midyear College Council vacancies and altering assembly endorsement bylaws to allow slate and liaison candidates to endorse each other when running for seats.
Speakers commented on campus race relations WOMEN continued from front
effect, stressing the ideas that social media allows people to speak for themselves and connect to larger audiences. “I promise you 99 percent of people do not need to let you speak for them. They need you to give them a way to speak for themselves and be heard,” she said. On a local level Kendall discussed her thoughts on the relationships of University students to the
JAMES KAMLLEMBACH’S AND JAMES MACMILLAN’S
ST.JOHNPASSION SUNDAY APRIL 13, 11 AM AND 3 PM ROCKEFELLER CHAPEL | 5850 SOUTH WOODLAWN PRE-CONCERT LECTURE WITH BOB KENDRICK, PROFESSOR OF MUSIC, 2 PM AT 11 AM, KALLEMBACH’S ST. JOHN PASSION
We present the world première of James Kallembach’s St. John Passion, commissioned for this Sunday service, with the Avalon String Quartet, the Decani, and Kaitlin Foley, evangelist; Matthew Dean, Andrew Schultze, and Clara Osowski, soloists. Kallembach’s unique and moving setting interpolates texts from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Experience, Goethe’s Faust, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and Dante’s Inferno with the beloved St. John story. Free. AT 3 PM, MACMILLAN’S ST. JOHN PASSION
This concert features James MacMillan’s massive St. John Passion for large orchestra and double choirs. Performed by Rockefeller Chapel Choir and Motet Choir in partnership with Northwestern University Chorale, Bienen Contemporary/Early Vocal Ensemble, and Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra, with Evan Bravos, baritone, under the direction of Donald Nally. Tickets $20 online or at the door. Free to any student with school ID. Sponsored in part by the Doris Taub fund for choral music. Information at rockefeller.uchicago.edu
neighborhood community, in which she was born and raised. She criticized the expansion of the University of Chicago Police Department and the attitude of some students towards black residents. “We are home; this is home. I walked to that lake since I was little, I went to these schools, I played in these parks, and so when you have that moment when you pause and you maybe look at someone walking, they’re at home,” she said.
Factory worker told stories of abuse SOUL continued from front
or do they stand with the workers of Rana Plaza?” Khanam asked the audience. Akter also relayed her experience of working in Bangladeshi factories. She spoke about the verbal and physical abuse that workers endured. In 2006, she was suspended for 22 days after trying to organize a union; upon her return to the workshop, she was closely monitored and threatened by hired thugs on her way home every day. Upon phoning for help after the attack of a coworker, she was kicked, stripped of her clothing, and threatened with a knife, but she was able to make an escape. She said that despite Bangladesh’s 32 unions, conditions have worsened. She expressed her amazement at seeing $55 shirts in America: “Where are the returns?” she asked. “We do not see them.” Akter and Khanam also spoke about the Bangladeshi Accord on Fire and Building Safety, a legally binding independent agreement between over 150
retailers and several nongovernmental and labor organizations designed to ensure safe conditions in Bangladeshi workplaces. The accord provides its own engineers to inspect buildings, and if problems are found, it ensures that workers are not forced to enter the damaged buildings. The University of Chicago purchases from brands such as Jansport, a member of the larger VF Corporation, which has not signed the accord, members of SOUL said at the talk. According to third-year Daniel Villalobos, a SOUL member and organizer of this event, SOUL is asking the University to cut ties with any company unwilling to sign the accord. Villalobos said SOUL members have met with administration to try to accomplish this objective. He said they plan to raise awareness and pressure the University on this issue. “We are the ones making the clothes, but you’re the ones purchasing them,” Akter said.
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VIEWPOINTS
Editorial & Op-Ed APRIL 8, 2014
Growing up, but not outgrowing As college wears on, home becomes more difficult to define
Clair Fuller
Navigating Nuance After a very, very cold winter, I was extremely glad to escape the land of multiple polar vortices and return to my hometown for spring break. I spent the week seeing friends from high school, spending time with my family, and complaining about the overcast (but still 75-degree) weather until I was told to “check my California privilege” by someone spending their break on the East Coast. It was, all told, a restful
and enjoyable reprieve from schoolwork. Then, the day before my flight back to Chicago, I fucked up. I asked my mother if we could do laundry that night so I could pack clean clothes for my return. It was a normal request, but what I said was,“ Can we do some laundry before I go home?” I selfcorrected after a split second of awkward silence during which I realized that I was in fact currently at home—
“er, before I go back, I mean”—and my mother charitably did not bring it up. But still, the moment stuck with me. I am very lucky to have parents who I know will always be happy to see me when I return to their (my?) house. I am similarly fortunate to also have a wonderful community of friends and incredible opportunities here at school. In both places there are people who love and take care of me. In both places I feel safe and at home. This should definitely not be a thing that stresses me out and makes me feel weird, except it totally is. Perhaps it’s because this is a relatively new problem for me. It took me more than a year to start feeling really, truly
comfortable at UChicago, to feel like I had a solid support system, a place in the College community, and like I could navigate the CTA with relative confidence. During my first year, I took my homesickness as a sign of failure, thinking I should automatically be welladjusted and having the time of my life. I hated saying goodbye to my family at the end of every break. “Home” meant one very specific place, and it certainly wasn’t my dorm room. I’m doing much better now, by all accounts. Maybe it was getting more involved on campus or signing a lease for an apartment next year, or maybe these things just take time, but now I love the life I have found for myself here.
I still miss my family and my friends, and I will never, ever stop being snobby about how California is the best state in the country, but I feel at home here, too. And because I’ll be spending almost all of my time in Chicago and comparatively little in my parents’ house for the next few years, Chicago is the home that feels most immediately relevant to my life right now. That’s how it should be, right? You’re supposed to learn and grow in college. What I struggle with, though, is whether or not growing must also mean outgrowing. Returning to where I grew up makes it easy to fall into old habits and patterns of behavior, some of which HOME continued on page 4
Let “fun goes to die” die Negative expectations about winter quarter and student life only cultivate self-fulfilling prophecies Ellen Wiese Viewpoints Staff After reconnecting with friends after break, talk inevitably turns to the imminent stress of juggling course work, GPA, potential majors, and internships. This quarter, however, there’s a stock response to the impending work load: At least it will be better than winter quarter. The winter doldrums, now lifting, share some similarities with the beateninto-the-ground “fun goes to die” stereotype. In both cases, negative expectations create their own truth. There’s a strong undercurrent of a complicated, near-obsessive relationship with our stereotype at this school. Even if a visiting prospective student doesn’t bring it up, it seems like eventually someone will
vehemently assert that going to school here is fun—if you can escape the stereotype in order to find it. And that’s what people try to do— escape the stereotype. One of my housemates has said that she isn’t “that kind of UChicago student.” Setting aside the ambiguity of that statement, it seems a bit ridiculous to attend the school while simultaneously distancing yourself from it. Describing yourself as “quirky” long ago became somewhat passé, but most people are here because they identified with that label to some extent. Wouldn’t this all be easier if we hadn’t created these stereotypes, which we now try to escape, in the first place? I don’t think anyone would or could deny that the University of Chicago is difficult, exacting, expensive, and even soul-crushing
at times. But prematurely anticipating it to be like this limits us, and runs the risk of blocking the really great parts of college life from our view. I’ll be honest. The UChicago I fell in love with was actually UChicago in the winter, the snow-covered, lamp-lit, bitterly cold, horrendously windy, dark-mullionedwindows UChicago. The first time I visited as a prospective student, it was raining to beat the band; the next time, in late January, was the coldest I’ve ever been in my life—and I’m from Minnesota. And, perhaps because of these initial experiences, I found that winter quarter was a great quarter, contrary to many other narratives. Maybe the barren, snow-covered tundra between classes over the last three months reminded me
of home (where April just began with yet another blizzard), or maybe I’m just lucky that winter doesn’t affect me the way it affects many students. But part of it was certainly that I expected winter quarter to be worth the chill, stress, and all-nighters. Spring quarter is expected to be better—and already, people seem happier, more active, and more balanced. The sunshine and rising temperatures absolutely help, and it’s great that things are looking up. But if spring quarter is seen as great only in comparison to winter quarter, that necessitates a dynamic range of enjoyment over the course of the year that serves very little purpose besides clearly demarcating quarterly moods. The truly significant things— friends, classes—don’t change with the
weather, and dreading colder temperatures while exalting higher ones does more harm than good. Similarly, by anticipating that the stereotypical UChicago experience is negative, the unfortunate aspects of college become all but inevitable, and the expectations reaffirm themselves. It’s a problematic and destructive cycle that contributes nothing to campus life besides a particular brand of martyrdom. So as prospies begin to arrive, carrying as much hope as the spring, don’t drive them away with UChicago horror stories. Instead, let them start their own journeys here, free from the negative culture we have now. Ellen WIese is a first-year in the College.
Response to “No New Points” Former MAROON editor punches back The student newspaper of the University of Chicago since 1892 Emma Broder, Editor-in-Chief Joy Crane, Editor-in-Chief Jonah Rabb, Managing Editor
Nicholas Rouse, Head Designer Alexander Bake, Online Editor Ajay Batra, Senior Viewpoints Editor Emma Thurber Stone, Senior Viewpoints Editor Sarah Langs, Senior Sports Editor Jake Walerius, Senior Sports Editor Isaac Stein, Associate News Editor Sarah Manhardt, Associate News Editor Christine Schmidt, Associate News Editor Sindhu Gnanasambandan, Associate News Editor Clair Fuller, Associate Viewpoints Editor Andrew Young, Associate Viewpoints Editor Robert Sorrell, Associate Arts Editor James Mackenzie, Associate Arts Editor Tori Borengässer, Associate Arts Editor Angela Qian, Associate Arts Editor Editor-in-Chief Phone: 773.834.1611 Newsroom Phone: 773.702.1403 Business Phone: 773.702.9555 Fax: 773.702.3032 News: News@ChicagoMaroon.com Viewpoints: Viewpoints@ChicagoMaroon.com Arts: Arts@ChicagoMaroon.com Sports: Sports@ChicagoMaroon.com Photography: Photo@ChicagoMaroon.com Design: Design@ChicagoMaroon.com Copy: CopyEditors@ChicagoMaroon.com Advertising: Ads@ChicagoMaroon.com
Daniel Rivera, Grey City Editor Harini Jaganathan, News Editor Ankit Jain, News Editor Eleanor Hyun, Viewpoints Editor Liam Leddy, Viewpoints Editor Will Dart, Arts Editor Tatiana Fields, Sports Editor Sam Zacher, Sports Editor Sydney Combs, Photo Editor Peter Tang, Photo Editor Frank Yan, Photo Editor Frank Wang, Associate Photo Editor Alan Hassler, Head Copy Editor Sherry He, Head Copy Editor Katarina Mentzelopoulos, Head Copy Editor Ben Zigterman, Head Copy Editor William Rhee, Social Media Editor Ingrid Sydenstricker, Multimedia Editor Tyronald Jordan, Business Manager Nathan Peereboom, Chief Financial Officer Annie Zhu, Director of External Marketing Vincent McGill, Delivery Coordinator
The Chicago Maroon is published twice weekly during autumn, winter, and spring quarters Circulation: 5,500. The opinions expressed in the Viewpoints section are not necessarily those of the Maroon. © 2014 The Chicago Maroon, Ida Noyes Hall, 1212 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637
Emily Wang Viewpoints Contributor As a former editor of the Viewpoints section, I was extremely disappointed to read Benjamin Gammage’s piece, “Viewpoints Has No New Points” (4/4/14), not simply because it was so poorly argued, but also because it betrayed a profound lack of respect for the community to whom it was purportedly speaking. Gammage writes: “The Viewpoints section has rarely been a credit to the Maroon, being all too often filled with the smug pronouncements and imbecilic ramblings of cocksure college students who are inexplicably certain that their inane prattle deserves a spot in the best public forum this college has” (emphases mine). At other points in the piece, Gammage calls Viewpoints writers “seemingly illiterate” and “idiots.” The article is frustratingly illustrative of the sort of opinion that often gets passed off as presenting a thoughtful point while in fact being entirely devoid of any content other than disparagement. Casual disparagement is, contrary to what Gammage may think, very easy. True insight, on the other hand, is not. The article fails in every respect to achieve what it sets
out to do. While its basic premise—if you are dissatisfied with what is printed in the Viewpoints section, send in your own contributions—is reasonable (and nothing novel), the rest of the article is deeply antithetical to that supposed aim, and is revealing of many of the harmful attitudes among certain students, here and elsewhere, that foreclose, rather than foster, discourse. To examine, first of all, the reasons Gammage provides for why the Viewpoints section matters: Gammage cites an article from The Harvard Crimson and then proceeds to make assumptions, based on the publishing of this article, about Harvard’s broader student culture “of status and materiality.” Our Viewpoints section will also, argues Gammage, “present the prevailing opinions and debates” happening at UChicago (and perhaps will “confirm common suspicions” about our reputation). Gammage believes in UChicago exceptionalism, and the Viewpoints section is failing to show the world that we are “one of the last bastions of serious academic rigor and the life of the mind.” The belief in the so-called UChicago identity that Gammage espouses in this article, I suspect, is one shared by
more than a few students. But I think it gestures toward the sort of disturbing ego-warping that can occur when the administration’s determination to present a ready-made identity in order to attract students is then bought, wholesale, by some who end up attending. This prideful belief is then wielded, once here, not to unify, but to exclude. The true UChicago student—and this is some kind of intrinsic quality, according to this view—believes in the “life of the mind,” actively participating in rigorous, democratic debate and rejecting status and materiality (you know, unlike those shallow Harvard kids). Anyone who fails to live up to this standard—and evidently this includes most of Gammage’s peers who have written for Viewpoints—is contributing to the decay of UChicago’s exceptional status. Yet in spite of Gammage’s explicitly exclusionary and derogatory language, he still affirms his belief in the “Socratic maxim of shared engagement in discourse and dialectic.” Unfortunately, this envisioned “shared” discourse is a very narrow one. What Gammage has in mind is the opinion piece in which the points are laid out like signposts for POINTS continued on page 4
THE CHICAGO MAROON | VIEWPOINTS | April 8, 2014
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Little Maroon Nation
Newspaper speaks to, not for, College
Sports teams should engender communal spirit, not dismissal
Jenny Lee
Road to Joy Let me tell you about my cRuNk spring break: It was an easy, breezy 40 degrees, with just a few days of snowfall. The sun made a quick appearance for a couple of days, and I even got to be super stylin’ in my dad’s clothes since I’d only packed shorts and flip flops for my trip home. My friends were already back in school, so I was able to spend every waking hour with my dog! My nice professor also made sure we continued to receive a top-notch education by giving me readings and a paper to write over the break. I woke up to Facebook pictures of Miami and Cancun and Hawaii every single day. I opened Snapchats from friends who decided it’d be cool to send views of 85-degree weather to me. Someone actually sent me a postcard via snail mail from Greece. It smelled like heaven. That being said, I still had a better spring break than you did. Whether you went to Miami, Cancun, Hawaii, or all three—it doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter because you weren’t in Lexington, Kentucky during March Madness. It doesn’t matter because you weren’t at the heart of University of Kentucky basketball. It doesn’t matter because you didn’t experience State Street on the night that we destroyed Louisville (again) in the Sweet 16, or the night that Aaron Harrison stole my
heart all the way to the Final Four. It doesn’t matter because no Ultra music festival shindig (Who actually likes that stuff ?!) and no goddess-level tan could possibly beat what it feels like to scream the C-A-T-S chant with 50,000 of your closest friends. In Kentucky, basketball is more than just a sport—it is a culture, a family, a tradition, a way of life. In school, classes are interrupted or straight-up canceled so that students can watch UK games instead. Downtown, couches in the street are set up and ready to go well before any inevitable Kentucky win. If it’s game day, everyone dresses in blue and white, no excuses. If it’s not game day, everyone does so anyway. Clearly, I don’t expect that this level of hype could be recreated with UChicago athletics. However, it’s worth noting that the complaint that our athletic culture is negligible is pretty prevalent. The (extremely) tiresome jokes along the lines of, “We have a football team?� are not only painfully unfunny, but sad. “Bonding� over our lack of sports knowledge or, really, lack of interest, only goes so far—and by that, I mean it’ll get you a few resigned “likes� on Facebook. Actual school spirit, on the other hand, is significantly more rewarding than many students give it credit for.
I got to run through mile-long human tunnels at one in the morning. I got to stand on rooftops and sing songs with my fellow Cats fans. I got to set couches on fire and set fireworks off of couches. I got to take pictures with riot police and Three Goggle so hard that my hand started cramping. I got to cheer on my team with the rest of my entire state (except Louisville, because they don’t exist). I got to do all of this because a simple sport brought hundreds of thousands of strangers together. I got to do all of this because we let ourselves get caught up in the excitement and the cheesy cheers and the insane celebratory measures. Sure, UChicago athletics may not be of the same caliber as Kentucky basketball, but there’s something to be learned from UK’s school spirit. Even after Monday’s heartbreaking loss in the championship, thousands paraded around in the streets and celebrated a team we love and support, ring or no ring. It’s a shame that I had to wait until break to experience this type of spirit, excitement, and solidarity, but it’s a bigger shame that (basically) nobody at UChicago can. I’m not calling for burning couches and rooftop karaoke—just a couple populated tailgates and some pride for the place we now call home. Should the urge to burn couches and set fireworks out of a car ever arise, however, you know where I’ll be for next year’s March Madness. After all, who needs a beach when you can have the entire Big Blue Nation? Jenny Lee is a second-year in the College.
POINTS continued from page 3 the lazy reader who, while professing to desire wisdom, simply wants to be immediately validated or enraged in accordance to their own reified set of beliefs and principles. The pieces that he cites as being particularly offensive, helpfully described as “rambling stream of consciousness totally devoid of introspection or self-reflection,� are meaningful, and arrive at meaning in a way that may not be immediately legible to the reader who fears leaving their own comfortable patterns of thought. The article, finally, is indicative of broader misunderstandings within contemporary discourse about the purpose of the media. The role of a student newspaper is not, as Gammage erroneously presumes, to speak for the college community; it is to speak to the college community. Though that may appear to be a small difference, it is in fact an enormous one. Speaking for presumes a reader who is like you, and is therefore not interested
in a correspondence. Speaking to recognizes that you are writing to a frequently shifting audience comprised of individuals with vastly disparate experiences and belief systems, and hopes for a response in kind. Just as the Crimson’s publishing of “15 Hottest Freshman� cannot be abstracted and used to conform to some illusory conception of Harvard’s broader student culture (especially coming from someone who does not attend Harvard), the Viewpoints section does not speak for, or represent, the UChicago student body. No individual, nor group of individuals, can do that on behalf of the student body in its entirety. For anyone who has felt, or feels, discouraged by Gammage’s article (or other pieces expressing similar attitudes), please remember that there are so many others who are eagerly listening—so keep on writing. Emily Wang is a fourth-year in the College majoring in English.
Home need not be only one place HOME continued from page 3 I’m glad to have now left behind. I love my family and my hometown and I’m always grateful for the (increasingly limited) time I get to spend with them. But now I’m also always eager to return to Chicago, the place where I increasingly feel I am becoming someone I really, really like. This then makes me feel guilty—how could I ever want to leave my family and the place where I felt and still feel at home? But my guilt stems from a false dilemma, one that is constructed by my anxieties about adulthood. Of course I still have a home at
my parents’ house and of course they want me to feel like I have one in Chicago, too. The idea that I have to limit myself to feeling at home in one place is absurd. It’s said that once you grow up you can never go home again, but I find myself constantly going home, again and again, travelling between two places and groups of people I love. Perhaps what the saying really means is that, hopefully, you’ll one day have too many places to come home to. Clair Fuller is a second-year in the College.
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ARTS
Heartlandia APRIL 8, 2014
My Big Fat Bleak Wedding: Thrones returns with a vengeance James Mackenzie Associate Arts Editor “I’ve always hated the bells. They ring for horror. A dead king, a city under siege...” “A wedding.” “Exactly.” So say Lord Varys and Tyrion Lannister near the close of Season Two of Game of Thrones; this exchange represents one of the many cruel jokes of foreshadowing that George R.R. Martin weaves throughout his books, and which David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have adapted to the screen. That, of course, was back when Thrones viewers were still recovering from the untimely death of Sean Bean’s Eddard Stark, yet still naive to the true bounds of the show’s ruthlessness. Readers and viewers alike have since come to accept weddings as a universally bad sign. From the depressing politicization of Sansa and Tyrion’s engagement to the yelling-at-your-TVscreen foolishness of Robb Stark’s marriage, weddings have never been cast in a positive light in Martin’s world. Still, nothing could have prepared us for the infamous Red Wedding at the end of last season. I took a quick poll from my viewing party for this season’s premiere: Reactions to the Red Wedding included punching a wall, sitting in a dark room despondently for an hour, and taking a multi-month hia-
tus from reading the books. Then there was the guy who reportedly laughed hysterically at the grisly affair—but explorations on the range of psychopathy in real-life people, as opposed to fictional ones, are not within the range of this piece. The first episode does not disappoint us in our craving for blood and the malicious characters who spill it. Slaves are murdered and nailed to signs as warnings for Daenerys Targaryen as she continues her quest to maybe-eventually return to Westeros. Knights openly attempt to rape children in outland taverns. Cannibals rove unchecked in the North. But despite the flash and gore that is so pleasing to its viewers, the show continues to find the most success in subtler arenas. For the previously mentioned baddies, the most dangerous new character may be Oberyn Martell, the prince of the southern land of Dorne. Played by a quietly threatening Pedro Pascal (yet another in a long line of acting gems HBO has pulled from the rough), he adds a new dynamic to the politics of King’s Landing just when it seemed that the villainous Lannisters would lick their wounds unopposed. Like so many before him, he wants justice for past crimes against his family. He may have to wait: By now the line of those waiting for retribu-
Robb Stark mourned the loss of his pregnant bride and then died last season. What lies in store for the remaining Stark brats? ALICE XIAO
| THE CHICAGO MAROON
tion against the Lannisters is just as long as those who have been killed or ruined by trying. It was on this embattled Lannister clan that the premiere tended to focus, and on how they are adjusting to a new balance of power now that the war for control of the Iron Throne is essentially over (at least for now). Their power has
withstood all major challenges thus far, but they are left substantially weaker than before. Jaime Lannister’s fighting ability and standing are both diminished. His sister Cersei has become all but estranged from her family as her mental state becomes even less stable. Tyrion has one eye over his shoulder waiting for the inevitable backstab-
bing, and patriarch Tywin is the only man holding the whole enterprise together. Yet the most foreboding sign of all is that this young season is building to, you guessed it, a wedding. Whether the wedding of the bratty and cruel young king Joffrey Baratheon (of whom we saw surprisingly little in the season premiere) and the scheming
Margaery Tyrell ends in disaster remains to be seen; but so far disaster and death have come for Martin’s characters just as surely as the long Winter warned of in the Stark family words. Winter may have already come and gone here in Chicago, but our TV sets promise to be as cold as ever on Sunday nights all spring long.
Third-year stars in Ellie Lumme, local film critic’s directorial debut Robert Sorrell Associate Arts Editor April 2 through April 6 the Logan Theater played host to the 21st annual Chicago Underground Film Festival. This year the festival presented a slew of short and featurelength films from around the globe, including the premiere of one short film from local critic Ignatiy Vishnevetsky starring University of Chicago third-year Allison Torem. The film, Ellie Lumme, is Vishnevetsky’s directorial debut, and the next step in his career in film criticism for The Chicago Reader and The A.V. Club, and a year hosting Ebert Presents: At the Movies. Allison Torem has acted in plays throughout Chicago, and in 2011 made her film debut in Stephen Cone’s feature film The Wise Kids, a New York
Times Critic’s Pick in 2011. Torem and Cone came together again for Ellie Lumme, this time with Vishnevetsky at the helm. Ellie, which clocks in at 42 minutes, stars Torem as the titular Ellie, and Cone as the maniacal, desperate Ned. After meeting at a party, Ned enchants the 22-year-old Ellie with his indifference and biting sarcasm. But as their relationship progresses, Ned reveals himself to be something much darker than a jaded twenty-something. The interaction between Cone and Torem is charged and pointed, at first comedic and entertaining, edging eventually towards disturbing. The film, which was shot last spring along Division Street in the North Side, presents a dreamy, atmospheric tale, which loses all sense of time as it progresses further into the
puzzle-boxes of its characters’ subconsciousnes. Vishnevetsky, who described it at a Q&A after the screening as a “supernatural genre piece with all the supernatural parts removed” weaves visual cues– fingernails painted yellow, glasses lifted and drained–with a claustrophobic yet beautiful portrait of Chicago in shots that simultaneously ground and de-familiarize the viewer. I sat down to speak with Torem about the filming process, the psychological complexities of Ellie Lumme, working with Vishnevetsky, and the hardships of pursuing her art while being a student. Torem, an Interdisciplinary Studies in the Humanities m ajor, found an interesting parallel between her character and academic life at the University. She continues, “one of the ways I...
empathize with Ellie is that she talks the way I feel almost tempted to talk in some classes that I’ve had... my heart starts beating really fast when I raise my hand and then my voice lowers... That is who I become in a classroom sometimes, because of the environment that I’m in. But that’s not the environment Ellie’s in, it’s the environment she’s created in her head.” Torem has also been involved with theater and film production on campus. She has acted in Theater 24 and has worked on projects with Fire Escape Films, including the 48 Hour Film Festival that the RSO puts on each quarter. The on-campus theater and film communities, she says, offer a respite from the “hierarchical, ego crap in the professional world.” Vishnevetsky proved to be a masterful director in his first project. Torem
noted he is a “really openminded artist who also has a very strong, specific, and effective vision. But he’s also a really good collaborator. He will defer to someone who knows better than him in some way, and he created a fun environment. I had a lot of fun shooting this movie even though it was somewhat dark content and somewhat disturbing content.” Notably, Vishnevetsky did not show the script to film editor Shane Simmons before they started post-production, wanting the film to grow organically out of the footage rather than imposing his previous vision onto the project’s structure. Vishnevetsky confirms that Ellie Lumme will play other festivals but is not allowed to disclose any specifics as to when or where. In an e-mail he mentioned “One of the ‘rewards’ we
gave away when crowdfunding was the right to host screenings, so, once the film has done a few more festivals, we’ll be sending out packages to donors around the country to put together screenings of their own for the film.” Vishnevetsky also noted that he hopes to shoot “a crime thriller about the black market firearm trade in Chicago” over the summer, possibly involving Cone and Torem. Torem managed to complete the project while taking three classes, yet still found the experience exhausting. “It’s easier to just have to do a film or just be a student” she says. “When I’m on set and I think ‘this is part of who I am, I love this so much, I want to do this. This is exciting,’ it’s kind of hard to get motivated to read a book that night or the next day; it’s just hard.”
THE CHICAGO MAROON | ARTS | April 8, 2014
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the Sketch Arts, Briefly. SASA 101 Students flocked to Mandel Hall this past Saturday to attend class. That class was SASA 101, the 27th annual South Asian Students Association (SASA) Cultural Show. The evening kicked off with Indian cuisine from the Udupi Palace restaurant served in Bartlett Dining Commons, where plates were piled high with delicious portions of chicken tikka masala, stewed lentils, and gulab jamun for dessert. After attendees had eaten their fill they filtered into Mandel Hall for the performance portion of the evening. Not a single
Your Inner Fish
seat was open in the packed auditorium, and many people sat on the edge of the balcony with their feet dangling to get a better view of the stage. Following a short introduction by members of the SASA planning committee, there were performances by such organizations as Chicago Raas, Maya, and PhiNix dance crews, whose performances ranged from traditional, religious-influenced dance to modern Bollywood hits. The highlight of the evening was the Bhangra performance, a traditional dance originating in the Punjab region of India. The style incorporates the ideas and movements of Indian folk danc-
es as well as modern elements such as Western and Bollywood dancing. What followed was a dazzling display of athleticism, energy, and coordination as a horde of dancers dressed in green and blue saris entered onto the stage, jumping and spinning in an exuberant splash of color. In between each of the groups were small skits devoted to either informative cultural pieces about South Asian history or inside jokes about accents and overbearing relatives. All in all, SASA 101 proved to be among the most interesting intro classes the university has to offer. —Andrew McVea
Tiktaalik is slim and sleek— its flat, triangular head, punctuated squarely by two tiny, beaded eyes, grows into an elongated body both amphibian and fish. The creature’s fossil is a transitional skeleton, one that illuminates a previously suspected but never proven bit of evolutionary history: that some creature somewhere possessed traits both fish and tetrapod. Tiktaalik is a special wonder, as he marks a branch on life’s evolutionary tree that is in each of our pasts. And he is a particular wonder for paleontologist and UChicago Professor Neil Shubin, who led the team responsible for finding Tiktaalik in
river sediment rock formations on Ellesmere Island in the Canadian Arctic. Shubin’s book about the discovery, Your Inner Fish, serves as the outline for a three-part PBS television production of the same title, the first episode of which will air on April 9. As Shubin explained in a Q&A session after a screening of the first episode at the Logan Center, the television production was a new challenge for him, a far different thing from writing a book. “It’s a compromise you have to keep it interesting, because the thumb is hovering just over the remote and about to change the channel to the sports game,” Shubin said. In Your Inner Fish he de-
scribes Tiktaalik as the creature evolves, emerging as an animated graphic before the audience’s eyes. The show’s graphics are splendid and entertaining and, as Shubin expressed satisfactorily, accurate—scientists were directly involved in the design and rendering of the computer graphics. Neil Shubin is an exemplar of the scientist-educator-entertainer that has emerged out of necessity in our age, similar to Neil deGrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan. After an hour’s discussion and 20 minutes giving autographs, he was as energetic as ever. As if that were even a question. “Oh, come on,” he said with a grin. “It was a hoot!” —Taylor McDowell
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Members of SASA perform at their annual cultural showcase. COURTESY OF JASMEEN RANDHAWA
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THE CHICAGO MAROON | SPORTS | April 8, 2014
Kalamazoo proves no match for Chicago in 7–2 contest Men’s Tennis Zachary Themer
Maroon Contributor With the trees finally shaking off the lasting remnants of winter, making way for the warmth of spring, the Maroons are switching into the gear as they enter the heart of their schedule. This past Sunday, No. 30 Chicago improved its record to 7–6 as it visited and ultimately defeated the unranked Hornets of Kalamazoo College, whose own record dropped to 8–6. Kalamazoo provided a for-
midable challenge to the Maroon team, which recently beat top 20-ranked Cal Lutheran. The Maroons dispatched Cal Lutheran over spring break in a 5–4 victory—Chicago’s first victory over a team ranked above itself in over three years. However, the Maroons were able to weather the Hornets and bring home a victory by a score of 7–2. In doubles, the Maroons were able to establish an early lead by sweeping the three doubles matches to begin the day, as the tandems of thirdyear Deepak Sabada and
first-year Brian Sun (No. 1 doubles), fourth-year Krishna Ravella and fourth-year Zsolt Szabo (No. 2), and third-year Ankur Bhargava and secondyear Gordon Zhang (No. 3) claimed victories in their matches over the Hornets. “On a personal note, I had a tough match today against Kalamazoo, but I feel that I’ve been getting better as the season has gone along, just like the rest of the team,” Sabada said. He also plays No. 1 singles. In singles, the visiting Maroons were able to secure their
South Siders clawed by Bears, escape weekend with one win Baseball Russell Mendelson Sports Staff Although midterms still seem far off for Chicago students, the Maroons were faced with a big test of their own this past weekend as they headed down to Wash U for their first of two series against the Bears. Chicago (4–13) split two close games with Wash U (11–13) on Saturday but fell behind early the following day and never managed to put a significant dent in the Bears’ lead, leaving the weekend record at 1–2. In game one, third-year right-hander Anthony DeRenzo started for the Maroons, holding the Bears to four runs (three of them earned) on seven hits in six-and-one-third innings, with a strikeout and three walks. In the same contest, the Maroons found themselves down by one in the seventh. Firstyear pitcher Thomas Prescott led off the inning with a double. Third-year outfielder Edward Akers then reached base from being hit by a pitch. With one out, fourth-year infielder Dylan Massey singled through the right side, loading the bases for third-year infielder Kyle Engel. Engel drilled in a run with a hit, scoring Prescott and tying the score at four. This would be the last run of the game for Chicago, though, as the Bears scored twice in the next inning, capturing the victory, 6–4. Chicago didn’t start game two in the best fashion, as Wash U went up by three runs by the third inning. To add to their woes, secondyear pitcher Lucas Friss, the Maroons’ game two-starter, had to leave the game with an oblique injury in the third. Chicago’s relievers came through, quelling the Bears’ offense, allowing zero runs for the remainder of the game. “Luckily, stellar performances by our bullpen [second-year Mark Landgrebe and third-year Kyle Nitiss] allowed us to keep the Bears at four
runs. We closed the gap and ended up taking the lead and holding it for the win,” Friss said. The South Siders took that lead in the fifth inning after first tying the game at four— Prescott knocked in two of the three tying runs. Chicago moved ahead for good in the seventh when fourth-year outfielder Brett Huff singled, bringing in the eventual winning run. Prescott has contributed in a vital capacity as a first-year. “As a freshman, my main goal at the plate is to try and help the team win. With that in mind, I do not try to do too much at the plate,” Prescott said. “Just trying to stir up some momentum and contribute in positive ways is the goal, and I’ve been fortunate enough [as of ] late to do so.” Unfortunately for the South Siders, Sunday’s finale was not as close as the first two games, as the Bears retaliated in aggressive form, beating Chicago 12–1. Prescott saw the positives of the weekend’s games. “Our abilities to be clutch and come through in tough situations were key this series,” Prescott said. “I also cannot say enough about how strong our relief pitching has been. The guys have worked hard in the offseason, and it is most definitely showing.” Friss is confident about Chicago’s potential for the rest of the season. “Once we start consistently putting together good performances in pitching, defense, and timely hitting, our true talent will show and inevitably manifest in wins,” Friss said. “The bottom line is we are truly better than how we are currently performing, and we need to start putting everything together.” The Maroons will have the opportunity to improve their record at Dominican (13–8) Tuesday and at home against Illinois Tech Wednesday, both at 4 p.m.
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victories as Bhargava, Sun, Zhang, and first-year Peter Muncey (No. 6) were all able to defeat their Kalamazoo foes. Notably, Sun and Muncey cruised to victories as the former won 6–2, 6–1 while the latter also won impressively, 6–1, 6–1. While the Hornets certainly were a formidable opponent in their own right, the Maroons also had to deal with Mother Nature, as the winds proved to be a factor in a Sunday’s matches. “I beat a solid player today [fourth-year Peter Rothstein]
in some windy conditions,” Bhargava said. The Maroons continue their season this Friday as they take on conference foe Case Western here in Hyde Park. From there, Chicago begins to finish off its regular season play, which includes an integral match against conference rival Wash U and then gearing up for the UAA Championships in Altamonte, Florida the week of April 20. NCAA Championships will be held on May 12 in Claremont, California. For the Maroons, this is the
most crucial and exciting part of the season. “As a team, our goal is to make the NCAA tournament,” Sabada said. Bhargava expressed similar sentiments. “I am really looking forward to helping the team in the next couple of weeks heading into the UAAs,” Bhargava said. Don’t miss catching the Maroons at home this weekend, as they hit the courts against Case on Friday at 2 p.m., Coe College on Saturday at 3 p.m., and chief rival Wash U on Sunday at 9 a.m.
In the Chatter’s Box with Sarah Langs Kevin Tully is a second-year first baseman from Orland Park, IL. We chatted with him to get some insider info on the life of a Maroon athlete.
CM: Do you follow professional baseball? KT: Yes. CM: Favorite team? KT: White Sox. CM: Do you have any personal first base or catcher heroes? KT: I like Paul Konerko a lot. And Carlton Fisk.
COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS
Chicago Maroon: When did you start playing baseball? Kevin Tully: Tee-ball as soon as I could, probably kindergarten or first grade. CM: When did you know you’d play in college? KT: It was really last-minute. I always wanted to play in college, and I didn’t really think it was a possibility until a coach from UChicago reached out to me and said, “Would you be interested in playing baseball here?” CM: Were you always a first baseman and catcher, as you are now? KT: I caught and played first base when I was younger, and then senior year of high school I switched over to outfield. And then returned to first base and catcher when I came here. CM: What are the differences between playing in high school and in college? KT: In high school it was more rivalrybased, because I went to a Catholic Chicago high school and you knew a lot of the kids who played on the other teams. You played travel baseball with them and stuff, so when you played them, it was more trying to win conference and things like that. But in college, it’s just completely different. You don’t know a lot of the kids, and you go travel around to a lot of different areas and it’s more of just trying to reach the NCAA tournament, which is our ultimate goal.
CM: Do you have a favorite play to see on the field—either in your games, or watching MLB on TV? KT: Tadahito Iguchi made an unbelievable play in 2005 or 2006, where he just was running on a ball and barehanded it and dove on the same play. CM: This is something I’ve always wondered because I’m a huge baseball fan but have never played the sport at a high level: Is it different watching baseball since you play it at a high level? KT: Yeah, I guess. I mean, I think the way most people look at baseball, is just watch the plays and things like that. But, knowing how the game works a little more, I guess, I try to focus on where the players are going in certain situations and understanding the baseball game more and realizing why they’re doing certain things. CM: What’s it like being on the team here? KT: I met a lot of great guys. A lot of my best friends are on the baseball team. And it just makes some of the hard things at this school a little better, knowing that there’s guys in the same situation as you, juggling. CM: What do you think about when you’re out in the field? What’s on your mind? KT: You’re always thinking what do you do in certain situations. So if the ball comes to you, what are you going to do. If the ball is hit in the outfield, where are you going to go in your position. So you’re always thinking ahead.
SPORTS
IN QUOTES “I told you. I told you.” –UConn guard Shabazz Napier, in the final seconds of the Huskies’ national championship victory
Hot streak continues as Maroons take three of four Softball
The women’s softball team beat Beloit 3–1 in two doubleheaders on Sunday, increasing its overall record to 13–1. COURTESY OF UCHICAGO ATHLETICS
Jenna Harris Sports Staff The first weekend of spring saw the hot-starting Maroons (13–1) with two doubleheaders against Aurora University (10–8) and Beloit College (3–16).
After having their Thursday game cancelled because of bad weather, the South Siders suited up and hit the ground running on Saturday afternoon. Chicago took the first game 5–3. Standouts included first-year designated hitter Anna Woolery and
fourth-years outfielder Kaitlyn Carpenter and infielder Maddie McManus with an RBI each. The Maroons’ winning streak of 11 consecutive victories, however, was broken in the second game against Aurora.
“We just didn’t have timely hitting and ended up stranding 13 runners,” Woolery said about game two. “This loss hasn’t lessened our confidence in any way.” Second-year infielder Kathleen Kohm felt that the team could use the loss as
fuel. “After we split with Aurora, our team identified what it felt like to lose, and we all agreed that we never want that feeling again,” Kohm said. Third-year pitcher Tabbetha Bohac agrees. “I think it just gave us a reality check and just made us want to take it one game at a time and win each game and each inning,” Bohac said. This determination followed through to the following day in Chicago’s doubleheader against Beloit with massive victories of 16–1 and 9–3. Kohm attributed the win to the team’s offensive firepower, with four RBIs over the two games. “Our pitchers are incredible and just astoundingly amazing. As good as our offense is, we would not like to face our own pitching at all,” Kohm said. “They make the defensive job easy for us. Our outfield catches everything and anything that makes it to them, and our infield is so quick and has been making some great mental decisions
during stressful situations. Offensively, everyone is a threat. Everyone can hit the ball to the fence, and our speed gives us so much versatility.” This bodes well for Chicago, which was 9–5 at this point last season. “We actually don’t have a conference, so every game is extremely important for us, as they all influence our chances to make playoffs,” Bohac said. Kohm explained the complicated process of postseason qualification. “Each game counts in the primary criteria for making the NCAA tournament,” Kohm said. “Since we have to get an at-large bid, it is very difficult for us compared to other teams. We have to win as many games as we can against the best competition out there.” With a winning attitude, the Maroons look to face North Park University (8–8) at home on Tuesday at 3 and 5 p.m. “We just need to stay within ourselves, come out aggressive, and not leave runners on base,” Bohac said.
Men, women run over Aerial attack stuns Warhawks, foes at Haydon Invite Flying Dutch in 2–1 weekend Track & Field Derek Tsang Sports Staff In their first meet of the outdoor season, the Maroons defeated nine rival Illinois schools to take first place in the Ted Haydon Invite at home this past weekend on both the women’s (248 points) and men’s (198 points) sides. Running, jumping, and throwing in the wind, the women took the top prize in nine different events, and the men claimed six event victories. Second-year Nkemdilim Nwaokolo won the hammer throw and the discus, beating out the field in the discus by more than three meters with a throw of 40.09m. Fourth-year Jennie Porter won the 400-meter hurdles and ran the third leg of the winning 4x400meter relay team. The Maroons took the top four places in the 400-meter run, with firstyear Michelle Dobbs winning in 59.17 seconds. Fourth-year Elise Wummer (800-meter), second-year Brianna Hickey (3,000-meter), second-year Theo Kassebaum (100-meter hurdles), and first-year Jadylin Tolda (pole vault) also won their events as the South Siders finished almost 200 points ahead of second-place Concordia. Chicago took the top four spots in the 3,000-meter steeplechase on the men’s side, led by fourth-year Griffin Brunk. The Maroons had the most success in the longer-distance events,
Women’s Tennis with fourth-year Daniel Povitsky winning the 3,000-meter and firstyear Gareth Jones the 5,000-meter. Second-year Ryan Manzuk also ran away with the 400-meter hurdle win by more than three seconds. The 4x100-meter team—composed of first-year Won-Jae Rho and secondyears Jake Romeo, Benjamin Clark, and Zachary Jenkins—won a photo finish over the University of Illinois– Chicago, 43.47 seconds to 43.49. Predictably, another event winner on the men’s side was second-year polevaulter Michael Bennett, who won the pole vault at the NCAA Division III Indoor Championships in March. Coming off his national championship, Bennett has high hopes for the outdoor season. “Winning the title indoors has not changed my mindset,” Bennett said. “When the weather gets better, everyone, myself included, will be able to turn in some really big performances on the national honor roll.” The adjustment from indoor to outside didn’t seem to bother the Maroons. “Weather aside, it gets easier for almost every running event because they don’t have to deal with the tight turns of an indoor track,” Bennett said. “Jumping events, everyone needs to make adjustments for the wind now that we’re outdoors.” The Maroons compete this weekend at Chicagolands in Romeoville, IL.
Helen Petersen Maroon Contributor Third-year Megan Tang anchored the Maroons in their third place finish at the Midwest Invitational in Madison, WI this past weekend. Competing in the No. 1 slot for both singles and doubles, Tang finished the weekend impressively by losing only one of the six matches she competed in. The Midwest Invitational was host to a plethora of talented and highly competitive teams. Strength of schedule has been a staple of Chicago’s season this year, and this past weekend was no exception. The No. 12 Maroons (7–7) went 2–1, with wins over Hope (8–4–1) and UW–Whitewater (16–5). Chicago’s only loss this weekend came against No. 11 DePauw (13–4). Chicago entered the tournament with very specific goals in mind. “This weekend especially, we focused on each point independently. By not focusing on the score and just each point, it allowed us to relax and play more freely,” Tang said. This was evident early as the South Siders earned a hardfought win over Hope, 5–4.
The Flying Dutch grabbed momentum early, winning two of the three doubles matches to begin the day. Chicago was able to fight back, however, winning four of the six singles matches. Second-year Helen Sdvizhkov, at No. 3 singles, went down a set early to third-year Carli Capestany but came back to win in three games. Later that day the South Siders faced regional rival DePauw. Losing all three doubles matches proved to be too much for the Maroons to stage a comeback. The Tigers were able maintain dominance the entire day, beginning by sweeping doubles and finishing by winning four of the six singles matches. Fourthyear Meg Crowley and third-year Julie Wittwer were able to pull out wins for DePauw in both singles and doubles. Fourth-year Caroline Emhardt and third-year Maggie MacPhail’s defeat of Tang and first-year Tiffany Chen (8– 4) marked Tang’s only loss of the weekend. Chicago proved resilient, bouncing back the next day against UW–Whitewater to secure a third-place finish. A more promising showing of doubles play had No. 1 doubles duo Tang and Chen earning a close victory, while No. 3 doubles pair, second-
year Sruthi Ramaswami and third-year Maggie Schumann, were also victorious. This was the first time the Maroons had won the majority of their doubles matches at the tournament. “A turning point this weekend was when we got up 2–1 after doubles against Whitewater. That gave us a lot of confidence going into singles, which showed in our results,” Tang said. The Warhawks were never able to come back from their slow start, losing four matches, all in two sets. Ramaswami and third-year Kelsey McGillis earned decisive wins over their opponents 6–0, 6–1, setting a precedent for the rest of the day. The Maroons have played against the best teams in the nation and know what they need to improve on. “For the rest of the season, we want to continue working on being aggressive at the net in doubles, getting more first serves in, and converting at crucial points in matches,” Tang said. The Maroons are looking to finish strong at this Friday’s home match against Case at 2 p.m., which kicks off the last weekend of regular season play for the Maroons before they compete at UAAs.