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VOLUME 136, ISSUE 1
TODAY: Sunny with no chance of rain. High 84, Low 64 TOMORROW: Sunny and hot. High 90, Low 70.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Sweet ’16: New class arrives
Sorority approval process moves College’s most selective class moves in, begins orientation week activities forward amidst controversy Kappa Alpha Theta chapter to open its doors in spring semester By AMANDA EPSTEIN Assistant News Editor aepstei1@swarthmore.edu The student group Not Yet Sisters (NYS) can finally claim victory. After several meetings and presentations this summer with Swarthmore’s administration, the sorority will be conducting its intake in the spring of 2013. According to Satya Nelms, the campus advisor for the sorority, shortly after NYS was approved to “begin the exploration process for bringing a sorority to campus,” an extension committee was formed with Nelms, Tom Elverson, Myrt Westphal, the leadership of NYS and herself. At the end of last spring semester, the committee selected a sorority — Kappa Alpha Theta (“Theta”). According to Swarthmore’s records, Theta was one of the original sororities at the college. It was established in 1891 as the Alpha Beta Chapter and maintained a steady presence on campus until the 1933 abolishment of “women’s fraternities,” as they were called at the time. The ban on sororities was preceded by years’ worth of protests that claimed that sororities were too central to social life on campus, as well as accusations of their exclusion of Jewish women. Sororities’ pasts at the college have their advocates now working to prevent the level of exclusivity usually associated with such organizations from presenting itself in Swarthmore’s new chapter. “[President Chopp, Dean Braun and I] worked to create a written agreement between the sorority and the college that would uphold the values, ideals and culture of inclusivity and diversity that lay at the foundation of Swarthmore,” said Nelms. According to Dina Zingaro ’13, a member of NYS, the sorority’s intention is to include, not to exclude women. “The sorority on campus will create a haven for students to connect through common experience, to learn from one another and to contribute back to the communities on and off campus,” she said. Although Kappa Alpha Theta will not be opening its doors until the spring, represenSee SORORITY, page 5
LEAH LEE FOR THE PHOENIX
First-years Hang Le, Htet Moe and Klarissa Khor enjoy getting to know each other while waiting for their train to Philadelphia as part of International Student Orientation. The Class of 2016 includes just over 40 international students from more than 20 countries.
Experienced cast gears up for orientation play Production teaches diversity, relationships, misery poker By JEANNETTE LEOPOLD Living & Arts Writer jleopol1@swarthmore.edu Last year’s Orientation Play featured cast members throwing handfuls of condoms into the audience. Those lucky audience members who got to snag a couple (“Yeah, I’m gonna use this tonight! Heh”) were fortunate enough to get a little reminder of the Orientation Play whenever they saw those condoms in their wallets over the course of the next few months. The question is: Will you be an audience member this year? Will you be fortunate
enough to laugh your butt off for two hours and collect whatever lovable treat the actors have in store for you at the end? Or will you be spending Saturday night alone in your room organizing your notebooks and physics flashcards? Only time will tell. The play traditionally features the infamous “Admissions Mistake.” The idea is that all freshmen are terrified that they alone are the not-smart, not-talented, not-worthy-ofthis-wonderful-college student whose name got mixed up with some kid who published a dissertation on the links between Shakespeare’s soliloquies and the number of times Einstein combed his hair. The point of the play is that there is no admissions mistake, and that even if you were never a sky-diving champion, you still belong at Swarthmore. For better or for worse. This year’s play has an enthusiastic, very
experienced set of actors and directors. The play is co-directed by Elliot Weiser ’13 and Patrick Ross ’15. Weiser has years of experience, and is best known at Swarthmore for his particularly memorable performance in 2011’s George Bernard Shaw’s “Farfetched Fables”. Unfortunately, Weiser was unable to comment, since all of his free time is currently spent editing the Orientation script. Ross, who was recognized for his brilliant performance as a sometimes sad clown in senior Erica Sands’ Advanced Directing Workshop piece in the spring, said that “2016ers should come see the show for two reasons: one, it’s hilarious and you’ll love it, and two, it’ll teach you more about Swarthmore than you’ll learn anywhere else in orientation. We get into diversity, sexual harassment, misery See ORIENTATION PLAY, page 10
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
NEWS LSE COMMITTEE IN PLANNING PROCESS
LIVING & ARTS “VISIONS OF ARCADIA” MUDDLED IN FOCUS
OPINIONS INHERIT THE WIND: OBAMA, THE ECONOMY
SPORTS Q&A WITH NEW ADA NNENNA AKOTAOBI
The Large Scale Event (LSE) Committee, which organized a popular performance by rapper Childish Gambino last semester, has already began brainstorming for next year’s concert. p. 4
A soon-to-close exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art presents dazzling art from multiple movements, but fails to cohesively express a true “vision of Arcadia”. The exhibit runs until September 3. p. 9
Columnist Danielle Charette challenges the President’s “inheritance” of the United States’ financial mess and calls for Obama to accept the shortcomings of his unsuccessful fiscal decisions. p. 13
Daniel Duncan interviews Swarthmore’s new associate athletic director, Nnenna Akotaobi, who hails from Grinnell College, where she was responsible for various diversity initiatives. p. 16
Visit us online at swarthmorephoenix.com
Send emails to editor@swarthmorephoenix.com
THE PHOENIX
Inside The Phoenix NEWS Construction wrapping up with start of school year
Various summer construction projects on buildings around campus ranging from Parrish Hall to LPAC to Hicks Hall are drawing to a close. PAGE 3
OC, Admissions shift to closed Facebook group for first-years
The Orientation Committee and Admissions Office have taken the helm of creating the Facebook group for each incoming class. Though the method seeks to provide organization and objectivity, it is not without its drawbacks. PAGE 3
you double down on, and which should you avoid? From shandies to pumpkin beers, Brew’s Clues has the answers. PAGE 7
OPINIONS
Instead of standing in that long line for a plate of pasta, make alternative meals that are tastier. Sera Jeong fills you in how to make everything from ice cream cookie sandwiches to Oinkmeal. PAGE 8
Wall Street failed because of its message (or lack thereof) and signature slogan “We are the 99 Perecent”. PAGE 12
While you were working on your tan, catching up on Hulu, or plotting to save the world, rising sophomores explored careers and pursued advenutre. Check out these profiles of what Swatties do with their first summer! PAGE 10
discussion of our role in society as Swarthmore students, discussing how it is our responsibility to connect more with the community at large. PAGE 13
Occupy at one: why the populist reform movement Sharples Shakeup: old favor- failed The Phoenix argues that Occupy ites make new flavors
Rethinking our rights and responsibilities as students Summer profiles of the class as the new year dawns Sam Zhang leads an important of 2015
The Collegiate Blog expands Tour guides answer our over summer, gains notice A recently formed group that aims questions, finally to provide high schoolers with a vast amount of information through a blog has been brainstorming new ideas over the summer. PAGE 5
LIVING & ARTS
You’ve probably been on an admissions tour. You’ll definitely see your share of confused groups following backwards-walking tour guides in the four years ahead. Now, Axel Kodat interviews tour guides on the funniest — and strangest — moments. PAGE 10
Breaking the ice: uncovering Q: What’s the difference RA training between class and fun? A: Before orientation even begins, RAs and many other volunteers are Plenty laying the foundation for dormitory success. Alli Shultes provides a candid look at orientation from the perspective of your RAs. PAGE 6
Summer’s over, but seasonal beer isn’t Brew’s Clues is back for the fall! This week, The Phoenix’s in-house beer resident Brad Lenox explains seasonal beers — which should
Many Swatties enjoy the summer as a chance to peruse some pleasure reading. But when classes begin, reading for fun often falls by the wayside. The first Bibliobabble of the semester offers advice for managing your time, course readings, and more. PAGE 11
Mars Rover inspires wonder ... and budget cuts
In the inaugural installment of his new column linking science with politics, Patrick Ammerman discusses how the Mars Rover draws attention to one of the most fundamental questions of existence: are we alone? PAGE 14
SPORTS Jamie makes his preseason soccer picks
James Ivey surveys his favorite European league teams and places his bets. PAGE 15
Kosmalski steps in as new basketball head coach
Landry Kosmalski, an experience coach and basketball player himself, will take over as head coach of the men’s basketball team. PAGE 16
Around
Campus
A guide to today’s campus events. Alumni Relations’ Ice Cream on the Beach 1-4 p.m., Parrish Beach First-years: you will soon learn that free food is essential at Swarthmore. The staff from the Alumni Relations Office will be distributing yummy ice cream treats. Stop by, cool down and munch on some dessert! Scott Arboretum Plant Giveaway 1-4 p.m., Cunningham House, Scott Arboretum Offices Are you a future botanist, are you looking to spice up your room or do you just want to get hold of something to make yourself feel more responsible? Regardless, stroll down to Cunningham House just past McCabe Library and view the Arboretum’s assortment of wildlife at one of orientation week’s most popular activities. Chair Massages on the Beach 1-4 p.m., Parrish Beach After all that running around from activity to activity, first-years — along with CAs, RAs and SAMs — are probably in need of a relaxing break. The Worth Health Center’s Wellness Program will be providing campus members with five-minute chair massages. Rubdowns are on a first-come, first-served basis, so be sure to get to the beach right after lunch! Job Fair 2:30-4 p.m., Sharples Dining Hall Unemployed, much? Hopefully, you won’t be after Swarthmore, but let’s not think that far ahead. Instead, worry about getting a job while you’re still on campus. Employers will be in attendance to offer valuable information about opportunities for student employment. With a wide array of campus jobs, it is important to hear from the employers themselves. Remember to turn in employment forms! Residence Hall Gatherings 10-11 p.m., Dormitory Lounges Meet your neighbors. Mingle. Enjoy. Non-first years included!
Swarthmore Phoenix The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881. MARCUS MELLO, Editor in Chief MENGHAN JIN, Managing Editor NEWS KOBY LEVIN, Editor AMANDA EPSTEIN, Assistant Editor ANNA GONZALEZ, Writer CHARLES HEPPER, Writer NEHMAT KAUR, Writer CHI ZHANG, Writer LIVING & ARTS STEVEN HAZEL, Editor ALLI SHULTES, Assistant Editor TAYLOR HODGES, Writer AXEL KODAT, Writer SERA JEONG, Writer JEANNETTE LEOPOLD, Writer ZOE WRAY, Writer GABRIELA CAMPOVERDE, Columnist AKURE IMES, Columnist BRAD LENOX, Columnist VIANCA MASUCCI Columnist KIERAN REICHERT, Columnist LANIE SCHLESSINGER, Columnist ELIZABETH KRAMER, Artist RENU NADKARNI, Artist OPINIONS PRESTON COOPER, Editor PATRICK AMMERMAN, Columnist TYLER BECKER, Columnist DANIELLE CHARETTE, Columnist HARSHIL SAHAI, Columnist
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SAM ZHANG, Columnist EMMA WAITZMAN, Political Cartoonist SPORTS DANIEL DUNCAN, Writer ROY GREIM, Writer JAMES IVEY, Columnist PHOTOGRAPHY JULIA CARLETON, Editor RAISA REYES, Editor ALLEGRA POCINKI, Photographer AKSHAJ KUCHIBHOTLA, Contributor NITHYA SWAMINATHAN, Contributor ZHENGLONG ZHOU, Contributor CROSSWORD PRESTON COOPER, Puzzlemaster WEB CONTENT ERIC SHERMAN, Webmaster ALLEGRA POCINKI, Web Designer COPY JOYCE WU, Chief Copy Editor SOPHIE DIAMOND, Copy Editor ALICE KIM, Copy Editor AXEL KODAT, Copy Editor JEANNETTE LEOPOLD, Copy Editor BUSINESS AXEL KODAT, Social Media
Coordinator ALLEGRA POCINKI, Project Manager CAMILA RYDER, Publicity Coordinator HARSHIL SAHAI, Business Manager GRAPHIC EDITORS AMELIA KUCIC PARKER MURRAY OPINIONS BOARD PRESTON COOPER, MARCUS MELLO, AND MENGHAN JIN TO ADVERTISE: E-mail: advertising@ swarthmorephoenix.com Phone: (610) 328-7362 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Direct advertising requests to Marcus Mello. The Phoenix reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Advertising rates subject to change. CONTACT INFORMATION Offices: Parrish Hall 470-472 E-mail: editor@swarthmorephoenix. com Phone: (610) 328-7362 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081
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Web site: www.swarthmorephoenix. com Mail subscriptions are available for $60 a year or $35 a semester. Please direct subscription requests to Marcus Mello. The Phoenix is printed at Bartash Printing, Inc. The Phoenix is a member of the Associated College Press and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. All contents copyright © 2012 The Phoenix. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be produced without permission.
P THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
News
Swarthmore Phoenix
OC, Admissions shift to closed Facebook group for first-years
Construction wrapping up with start of school year
Recent method seeks to usher in organization, yet met with concerns COURTESY OF FACEBOOK.COM
By ANNA GONZALEZ News Writer agonzal4@swarthmore.edu
In a change from years past, the Facebook page for the Class of 2016 has become an official, closed group controlled and monitored by the Admissions Office and the Orientation Committee and no longer created and maintained by incoming students or upperclassmen, changing how often and the methods by which new students use the group. Now, only members of the Orientation Committee and the incoming class may join the group, according to Eddie Montenegro ’13, who co-directs the Orientation Committee along with Ellen Sanchez-Huerta ’13. Students requesting to join the group must first be approved by a member of the Admissions Office. Leaders of student groups are permitted to advertise on the page and recruit new members. Montenegro explained that Admissions started the singular, official group in order to ensure that information circulated to new students would be objective. “We want to give the most accurate representation of what Swarthmore is really like,” Montenegro said. “There are a lot of facts and figures up for interpretation, and we don’t want people to misinterpret anything. This way, no one’s getting any false or subjective information.” This new closed-group method represents a shift from recent years, when upperclassmen could freely join the Facebook pages for the incoming classes, according to Phil Chodrow ‘12. Beginning with the class of 2014, Admissions created one official page, and students ran another, where upperclassmen participated. Incoming freshmen were encouraged by Admissions workers to join both groups. “Start-
It’s like fighting a hydra... Every time we answer one question, ten more spring up from where it came from. Marian Firke ’14 Orientation Committee Member
ing with [the class of] 2015, however, Admissions stopped this encouragement, with the result that many students were unaware of the student-run group,” Chodrow recounted. Orientation Committee member Marian Firke ’14 cited organization as the main motivation behind creating a singular, official group. “It can get confusing when incoming and admitted students are scattered across several groups, so having everything up and running before anyone was admitted made sure that all of the students would end up in the same group, together. I think the main issue was making sure that there weren’t three or four small groups of 50 admits each,” Firke elaborated. In Chodrow’s opinion, “This was a very poor move on the part of Admissions. The informal, upperclassmen-incoming freshmen interaction characterizing those student Facebook groups was extremely valuable to me, and to many others in the 2013 and 2014 classes. It was nice to get insight from non-scripted sources, to get to know upperclassmen before arriving on campus, and generally get pumped about Swat in an independent, student-run space.” Chodrow continued, “Admissions has announcements that are appropriately disseminated via Facebook, and so the Admissions page is a great idea,” but that he feels the ideal Facebook arrangement resembles the twogroup system of the classes of 2012, 2013, and 2014. Under both models, upperclassmen provide a constant level of support to incoming freshmen. “I’m not trying to step in too much or be an overwhelming force,” Montenegro explained, “just to give a general level of support, mostly with answering academic questions.” Montenegro, Firke and their fellow Orientation Committee memSee FACEBOOK, page 5
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
KOBY LEVIN/PHOENIX STAFF
The paths to Worth Courtyard have been repaved over the summer as part of a larger campus-wide construction process.
By KOBY LEVIN News Editor jlevin1@swarthmore.edu
Construction is either done or nearing completion on the multitude of projects across campus that broke ground earlier this summer. It is the first time major renovations have been undertaken since the Board of Managers reduced construction spending three years ago in an effort to protect Swarthmore’s endowment during the Great Recession. “This summer is the first summer bouncing back from a spell of just doing the bare minimum [construction work] to keep things going,” said Stu Hain, VP for Facilities and Services. “It has been a very active one for us, and we’re not done yet.” The projects vary in scale from a complete gutlevel overhaul of Worth Health Center to re-paving haggard patches of footpath around campus. Many were chosen with the intention of modernizing the way the College provides services, and most provide greater accessibility in compliance with the ADA. Worth Health Center, for example, has been reconfigured internally to support a greater focus on wellness — more CAPS rooms will be available and there will be a new training space. The two one-room additions at either end of the Center will augment the existing CAPS rooms and overnight stay spaces. The entire building will be more easily accessible for those in wheelchairs. Hicks Hall, another of the summer’s major projects, has also been reconfigured to keep up with the times. The renovated lounge and new computer classroom will cater to the modern student’s proclivity for collaboration, as will a new student group work space in the mural room
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featuring variable furniture configurations and computer resources. (The mural has been completely preserved during the construction process, though it is currently covered.) Two labs have also been added on the third floor, bringing the building onto par with the standards that had put the engineering department in danger of losing its accreditation from ABET, the governing body for academic engineering. LPAC was another building to receive a major accessibility update. According to Susan Smythe, ADA program coordinator, the lower level restrooms were not wheelchair accessible and accessible seating in the main theater was “ad-hoc at best”. While the latter of these was being rectified, Hain and Smythe saw the opportunity to correct what they saw as a design flaw in the main theater: they added vestibules outside each of the main doors, creating a “light and sound lock” (Hain’s phrase) that will eliminate the distraction previously caused when someone entered or exited the theater. LPAC is also in the process of receiving a new roof which, when completed in the fall, will become home to the largest “green roof” on campus. Perhaps the most noticeable of the renovations, for the moment at least, is the work being done on the roof of Parrish Hall. The scaffolding has been up all summer to allow workers to re-shingle the roof and replace metalwork on the domes, all of which date back to 1881. Of all the projects, this has perhaps been the most involved, owing to the immense age of the materials they were working with. There was one pleasant surprise, however: it appears that whoever put the roof on Parrish in 1881 worked assiduously, because the old-growth wood beneath the shingles was found in perfect condition, with the exception of a few spots, Hain said. Work will continue on Parrish and Worth Health Center through the fall.
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News
Swarthmore Phoenix
ORIENTATION IN PICTURES
LSE Committee in planning preparation for future events By CHI ZHENG News Writer czhang1@swarthmore.edu
ZHENGLONG ZHOU/PHOENIX STAFF
A first-year student in Mertz unpacks her belongs on move-in day.
LEAH LEE FOR THE PHOENIX
Amidst collecting students’ feedback, making plans for future events and deciding what to change, the Large Scale Event (LSE) Committee had a busy summer in order to “put on better shows, bring in better acts, and create a better night all around for Swatties,” wrote Paury Flowers, coordinator of student activities, in a campus-wide email. While the Committee organized a sensational performance by Childish Gambino in Upper Tarble last semester, its members encountered space limitations, an obstacle that must be solved for future events. According to Brennan Klein ’13, Chair of the Committee, location has always been a concern that the committee aims to answer. Besides a lack of seating in Upper Tarble, Flowers also pointed out in the email that the Lang Performing Arts Center’s (LPAC) immovable seating makes it difficult for audiences to dance. Many want the large scale event to “have a musical act who is rather well known, to be a safe and inclusive space to party, and (obviously) people want to dance,” she wrote.
Another aspect of the LSE the committee decided to change is its size. Klein stated that redundancy in the committee and lack of specificity in committee members’ positions reduced work efficiency, especially when booking artists. The LSE Committee is in charge of planning the large scale event, along with Worthstock, an outdoor music show that features live bands. Searching for and choosing artists in the summer, the committee generally aims to hold the large scale event in the fall semester, but venue and artist restrictions usually delay the event to the spring semester. For Worthstock, which has a fixed timing and locale (late April in Worth Courtyard), the preparation process is easier and Committee members begin contacting artists in January. Currently, the committee has already gotten in touch with over 50 artists and plans to provide a shortlist of three artists who will be voted on by the school for the LSE. The shortlist will mainly be based on both artist availability and popularity amongst students. Swatties have already taken to sending suggestions to the Committee on which artist to invite for this year’s LSE. “I have very high hopes for this year’s LSE, and I’m pretty sure that my peers will agree with my excitement,” said Klein.
The Collegiate Blog expands over summer, gains notice
ZHENGLONG ZHOU/PHOENIX STAFF
LEAH LEE FOR THE PHOENIX
Blog founders Hope Brinn and Steven Gu look to increase readership, incorporate multimedia By NEHMAT KAUR News Writer nkaur1@swarthmore.edu
NITHYA SWAMINATHAN/PHOENIX STAFF
Parrish Resident Assitant Michelle Ammerman (center) dines with her hallmates during MARACAS Dinner in Sharples on Tuesday.
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Senior year of high school can be a challenging and harrowing environment as students begin the college application process and attempt to piece together little nuggets of wisdom from various sources. Overworked and thinly stretched college counselors form the primary source of guidance, supplemented by sites like College Confidential, which must be ingested with a liberal amount of salt. The Collegiate Blog is a forum that allows students who successfully navigated college applications to directly share their knowledge and experiences with aspiring ones. When current sophomores Hope Brinn and Steven Gu started thinking of starting the blog last year (having just been through the process themselves) they aimed to create a platform that was accessible to students from every background, gender, race, religion, income group and nationality, and allow them the chance to easily access legitimate application-related information. Preliminary discussions about writers, logistics and content have led to the final creation: a blog that offers information ranging from the kinds of extracurricular activities and preparatory activities to participate in during college to extensive SAT and SAT Subject Test guidance list. Topics are outlined
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and followed by a thorough explanation of the actual college application, which includes the personal statement and interviews. The onslaught of readily accessible information continues with a section on financial aid and pointers to incoming college freshmen about everything from choosing majors and what to pack to eating habits at school. The blog opened for public consumption at the start of the college application season and received a remarkable number of hits within the first few days — over 2,000 — and then a 3,000 view leap between June and July. The Collegiate Blog has also received attention from admissions officers from various colleges wanting to share additional information, and even press coverage from the Wall Street Journal. As the popularity of The Collegiate grows by word of mouth and Google searches, Brinn and Gu are looking towards expanding the blog to include a mentorship program and changing the text-only format of the site to include more multimedia content. Brinn and Gu also hope to continue acquiring a diverse set of writers, which presently includes fellow classmates Joyce Wu and Michelle Yang. In Gu’s words, “The Collegiate is successfully breaking down the barrier between application related bloggers and their readers”. Joyce Wu is the chief copy editor of The Phoenix. She had no role in the production of this article.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
News
Swarthmore Phoenix
Sorority, continued from page 1 tives from the national organization will be visiting campus throughout the fall. This semester will serve as a time for women on campus to get acquainted with both the sorority itself and its sisters. NYS hopes that all women familiarize themselves with the organization, even if they have no intention of pledging now. A Facebook page was opened on August 15 that has already received considerable attention from both Swarthmore students and current Theta sisters alike. “There is a great sense of bridging the present with a piece of Swarthmore’s past that will open up possibilities and potential to share ... experiences for both current students and alumni,” Zingaro said. Julia Melin ’13, a founding member of NYS, explains that the sorority is a long overdue opportunity for the campus.
There is a great sense of bridging the present with a piece of Swarthmore’s past that will open up possibilities and potential to share. Dina Zingaro ’13 NYS Member “Those who choose to be a part of Theta will have greater opportunities for service and leadership both on campus and beyond Swarthmore, as well as the chance to experience female camaraderie, mentorship, networking and a strong female alumni network both nationally and internationally post-college,” she said. “Theta will have the ability to bring students together from all of our College’s niches.” After students stressed that women should be able to join regardless of financial reasons during NYS meetings last semester, the organization will work alongside Theta to try to “make it happen,” according to Zingaro. “[This matter] is very important to all of us,” she said. Kappa Alpha Theta, the first Greek letter fraternity for women, has over 130 chapters across the United States, according to its site. It is a member of the National Panhellenic Conference.
Stay connected Swarthmore Phoenix @swatphoenix swarthmore phoenix1881 Swarthmore Phoenix New website:
swarthmorephoenix.com THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
AROUND HIGHER EDUCATION
Drexel students travel to 2012 London Paralympics as part of class trip Nine Drexel University students will travel to London from August 31 through September 8 to see the 2012 Paralympic Games, as part of the travel-integrated course “Perspectives on Disability,” the fourth course in the Great Works Symposium 2012 Series. Students will attend the games at Olympic Park and meet with the various people involved in the event, including Paralympians, trainers and special Paralympic reporters. In addition to the games, students will get to see the iconic sights of London, including a boat tour along the Thames River, a ride on the London Eye, museum visits and a night out at the theater. Dr. Scott Knowles, an associate professor of history and politics in the College of Arts and Sciences, will lead the trip, accompanied by Dr. Stephen Gambescia, an associate clinical professor, and Dr. Kristine Mulhorn, associate professor and chair of the Health Administration Department, both from the College of Nursing and Health Professions. The students in the class, Claire Arnos, Wayne Cheng, Katie Delaney, Kyla Lafond, Katie Leis, Frederick May, Joleen Petroski, Ariel Pollak and Binod Yapa, are enrolled in a variety of majors ranging from biology to business to engineering. “I am so excited to be able to go and see some of the best disabled athletes in the world, along with the best adaptive sports trainers, coaches and researchers in sport and disability,” said Kyla Lafond, a pre-junior, who is pursuing custom-designed major specializing in disability services. “One of the best contacts that
I have made is a physical therapist Technology, Ethics, and Culture.’ who worked at this year’s Olympic I am really excited to see how my Games and will be working at the experiences at the games will conParalympic Games as well.” tribute to my understanding of this While experiencing the cultural area.” offerings of the city and the ParalymThe Great Works Symposium is pic games, students will continue to housed in the Center for Interdisparticipate in discussion sessions ciplinary Inquiry (CII) at Drexel. and conduct research for the course. The CII is home to the Great Works The course examines the concepts Symposium, the Custom-Designed of disability, including physical and Major Program, Honors travel-intemental disabilities, medical research grated courses and stimulating facand the advancing technology that ulty and student research focused on has changed what it means to be an interdisciplinary approach. CII disabled and the ethics of accommo- and Staffordshire University partdating those with disabilities. nered to make the travel-integrated Observing the Paralympics al- course possible. Staffordshire’s Faclows students to see first-hand some ulty of Health Sciences has a Centre of the theoretical concepts addressed for Sport, Health and Exercise Rein class and make connections be- search gaining the Centre a reputatween historical and contemporary tion for sport-disability work, makissues. It affords the participants ing the university an ideal partner an opportunity to pursue deeper, for the course. meaningful research that will inform their final project for the course. “The Great Works Symposium requires that students step out of their comfort level, as well as to research and present on a new topic or idea,” said Lafond. “My group’s research topic is ‘Adaptive COURTESY OF DREXEL.EDU Sports: A Perspective on London Olympic Stadium
Facebook, continued from page 3 bers respond to queries on the page each day about everything from placement tests to permissible dorm room refrigerator dimensions. “It’s like fighting a hydra,” Firke said. “Every time we answer one question, ten more spring up from where it came from.” Firke commented, “I feel like the freshmen this year are posting way more questions than we ever did.” She believes that use has gone up because of the guarantee of helpful answers from Orientation Committee members. “People are asking more questions because they have seen that the upperclassmen are very ready to answer them,” she said. This change may not be completely positive, as Firke noted, “A lot of the questions have concerned minutiae (such as bringing curtains, or how to hang things on the walls) that people in my year chose to either figure out for ourselves or else query on Google.” Besides asking questions, freshmen have debated political issues, shared interests, posted their essays and exchanged letters via a pen-pal system. The group also served as a virtual, all-freshman form of the Ride the Tide, where Early Decision students attempted to convince Regular Decision admits to pick Swarthmore. The group made a difference especially for international students, said Admissions Counselor Ruby Bhattacharya ’11. “I had the chance to meet with our admitted students in Asia and many of them said they decided to attend Swarthmore based on the community they saw in the Facebook group,” she said. “For most international students, the web is their only means of connecting with Swat.” Taking new friendships even further, some incoming students even engaged in Google+ chats and video conferences with an average of five or six participants. Incoming students such as Natalia Sucher ‘16, who participated in the Google+ chats, enjoyed the forum for social interaction provided by the group. “My favorite thing is
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being able to scope out the social scene and get to already see who my potential friends are,” Sucher explained. Montenegro, however, cautioned against the high levels of enthusiasm, idealism of the Swarthmore experience, and interaction he sees displayed on the page. “I feel like this year’s class is a lot more into it,” he said. “I love being at Swarthmore and everything about Swarthmore, but it is just another place where you’re going to be working really hard.” Firke expressed similar concerns about the heavy use of the 2016 Facebook page. She explained, “I worry a little bit about the amount that they are posting, only because it has given me the impression that they are doing very little with their summers aside from sitting at the computer and waiting for Swarthmore.” Montenegro echoed her sentiments, speaking of enjoying his last summer before college with friends from home instead of from the Facebook page. “Everyone’s really taking to the whole, ‘these are my best friends’ idea, and it’s a little off-putting,” he said. Firke affirmed, “It’s always nice to get in touch with new people online, particularly if you find you have things in common, but it was my experience that the people I messaged on Facebook before coming to Swarthmore were not the people I ended up being close friends with here.” She worried that the development of friend groups before arrival at Swarthmore could impede new friendships during Orientation Week and beyond, and that those who had not been as active on the page might feel alienated, which Firke saw occur in the 2014 group. “A few people felt that they didn’t ‘fit in’ with the people who were posting the most, and this made them worry unnecessarily that there wouldn’t be a happy niche for them here at Swat,” she said. Despite differing opinions over how best to conduct and enjoy the Facebook group experience for new students, all agreed that the group served as a helpful resource for incoming freshmen, and that the class of 2016 is certainly enthusiastic. “It’s great to see that the incoming class is so excited to get here,” Firke concluded.
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Living & Arts Swarthmore Phoenix
Breaking the ice with Swarthmore’s RAs By ALLISON SHULTES Living & Arts Assitant Editor ashulte1@swarthmore.edu As first-years, it’s easy think that the Swarthmore uncanny precision, in most cases — to the reputaexperience begins the instant you set foot on cam- tion of their dorms and fellow hall mates. Medeiros, pus, waving the plane/train/automobile that deliv- who described the stereotype of Alice Paul as “Cool, ered you to academic salvation off into the haze of chic and environmentally friendly,” noted she is Philadelphia. However, for the alphabet soup of up- also “Cool, chic and recycles occasionally.” Nathanperclassmen who facilitate the transition to Swarth- iel Lo ’13, an RA on single-sex Parrish 4th, says its more for the incoming class, behind-the-scenes reputation as somewhat quiet and antisocial is unwork begins days earlier, with workshops on every- deserved — after two years of living on the hall, he thing from alcohol awareness to coping with sexual likens himself a “Goofball extrovert who likes to do assault included in the training regimen. something wacky once in a while,” to the true nature Swarthmore’s 53 Resident Assistants (RAs) un- of his dorm. dertake the most rigorous of the student training As occupants begin to breathe life into dorm schedules, meeting with a myriad of representatives rooms around campus, RAs hope to facilitate their from resource centers, offices, and departments be- own unique hall experiences — and, most imporfore collaborating with Campus Advisors (CAs) and tantly, spend some time getting to know their resiStudent Academic Mentors (SAMs) to form a sup- dents. Richard Scott ’14, an RA in Palmer, plans to port network for their bright-eyed residents. include hall members in a yoga study break with There’s a lot to cover, and, as with most things, it Wellness Coordinator Satya Nelms, whose RA yoga takes a village. “It takes the support of deans, other was “The highlight of [orientation] week.” Lo hopes RAs, CAPS, Worth and the whole of many other to deliver fun and games with a Mad-Lib hall theme campus resources in order for even just a single hall and a competitive Bananagrams tournament. Lauto function effectively,” returning RA Sam Buchl ren Sanchez ’14, an RA in Mertz and Rhythm N Mo’13 said. “Learning how to synergize with these re- tion dancer, will help residents adjust to their hall sources, both in RA theme — “ Bust a training and ‘on-theMove” — with introjob,’ was probably the ductory dougie lesmost valuable perk sons, and Medeiros of being an RA [last will host a makeyear].” your-own-comic Buchl, along with study break. the 13 other returnThe RAs, howing RAs, found himever, can’t do it all, self included on the even when armed long list of resources with glue sticks and Seth Udelson ’13 throughout orientaboard games. “The Resident Assistant, Wharton EF dorm really is a shell tion week. With a full year of hands-on exthat residents can fill perience under their with their own enbelts — and, in Buthusiasm,” Udelson chl’s case, an additional summer spent as an RA for said, whose “Super Smash [Bros.] happy freshmen” students living on campus — the second-year RAs in Dana allowed for “organic hall life” to develop found their expertise to be in high demand. around the central lounge’s game station last year. “In many ways, it makes most of us feel old [to be Because of this, many RAs are itching to meet their second-year RAs], but it is a fun and exciting pros- residents. pect to share our perspectives with people whose “I can’t wait to see my residents across Parrish seats we filled just a year ago,” Wharton’s Seth Udel- beach and do a really embarrassing and public ‘mom son ’13, who worked on Dana basement last year, shout hi,’” Sanchez said. After years of nurturing her shared. “The ‘braintrust’ of perspectives within the twin sister and mediating conflicts that erupted in a returning RAs is really cool. In many ways, we do household of women, she’s ready for the challenge this job so that we can give back, and helping to and the new relationships her position will bring. guide first-year RAs through the job is a task we all While their easy demeanor and ice-breaking anrelish in.” tics may seem sure signs of confident Swarthmore First-year RAs aren’t without their own experi- upperclassmen, don’t let the smiles fool you. Oriences to draw on. Many were inspired to apply for entation for the upperclassmen is not without anxithe competitive position after having particularly ety, especially as the arrival of the first-years nears. standout first-year and sophomore-year RAs and, as “Sometimes I can feel like I’m on a first date, thinkAlice Paul’s Susana Medeiros ’14 noted, “It’s college, ing, ‘Will they like me?’ or ‘Am I being too loud?’ or so we all manage to come out with a few horror sto- things like that,” Udelson shared. ries that have prepared us… once you can tell your For others, the anxiety is less self-directed. “I’m residents that you’ve done half of the questionable just hoping people throw up on the right places on things you’re warning them against, they’re definite- my hall,” Medeiros said. (For first-years: the “right ly going to respect where you’re coming from.” places” include garbage cans and nearby toilets). The collection of juniors and seniors, while uniAfter surviving their week-long orientation, one form in its commitment to forging relationships thing seems clear to the RAs of David Kemp. “After and keeping residential charges safe, healthy, and several successful planning sessions this year, a felhappy, brings together an eclectic mix of person- low DK RA, Vienna Tran, smiled really big, and said, alities. From the gregarious and fun-loving to the ‘I think we’re a really great group, guys,’” Buchl said. conscientiously studious, RAs are matched — with “Each time, I smiled back. I think she’s right.”
OUTSIDE
the
BUBBLE
Made In America Festival
Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia September 1 & 2 In this two-day event, over 30 bands, including Jay-Z, Drake, Skrillex, and Pearl Jam, will fill the Ben Franklin Parkway with music. The Labor Day celebration will give a taste of Philly and of some of the country’s great musicians. For tickets, visit http://www.madeinamericafest.com/dancing!
Sometimes I can feel like I’m on a first date, thinking, “Will they like me?” or “Am I being too loud?” or things like that.
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Gauguin, Cézanne, Matisse: Visions of Arcadia
Philadelphia Museum of Art Ends September 3 This weekend is your last chance to see this exhibition, which examines the influence and appeal of Virgil’s Arcadia upon 19th century artists. As this Sunday is the “Pay What You Wish” day, be sure to book tickets in advance as the exhibition ends on September 3. Visit the PMA’s website for ticket information and time slots.
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Fashion Night Out
Love ’em or hate ’em: ice breakers abound
Center City, Philadelphia Joan Shepp, 1616 Walnut Street September 6, 6-11 p.m.
Delivering giggles and guffaws to dorm lounges near you, the silly questions and absurd challenges work wonders for tempering nervs
The fashion and shopping event of the year lands in Philadelphia. The event, spearheaded by Vogue and editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, will feature parties at all your favorite stores, including BCBG, Macy’s, and South Moon Under, with the Accessories Council Cocktail Party at Joan Shepp. Head on down to participating stores this Thursday, September 6 from 6-11 p.m. For more information, check out FNO’s website.
Verb + Subject Name Game: Everyone stands in a circle. The first person (generally the RA, SAM or CA) says and “performs” a verb starting with the first letter of their first name and then their name (e.g., I am often “Spinning Sam,” which I’ll say while spinning). The next person does the same thing and then performs the first person’s action and name. The third person performs her verb and name, the second person’s, and the first person’s. The cycle continues until the first person goes around and confirms everyone’s name and action. “I don’t even try to learn many people’s names without this game,” Buchl said. What-if: Everyone writes a hypothetical question on their card, e.g., “What if the zombie apocalypse happened tomorrow?” Cards are collected, shuffled and passed out, so people answer a new question (that is not their own) on the back of the new index card. Cards are then again collected and passed out, and one person begins reading the first question on the card in front of them. Instead of that same person answering the question with the answer on the back of that index card, the individual next to them will answer with their index card’s answer, and then proceed to reading their own question. It’s quite confusing to describe, but the way the questions and answers randomly line up at times can be priceless. A sample “answer” to the question above (on the next card over) might be, “Everyone in Swarthmore would start drinking,” which might actually have originally been the answer to the question, “What if the Inn finally opened?” COURTESY OF HEARTIFB.COM
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Living & Arts Swarthmore Phoenix
Brew’s Clues is back:
Seasonal beers and beer buying guide How to not get screwed at the store
Though it is often hard to see the connection in our modernized and industrialized society, beer is as much a product of Mother Nature as your favorite artisan bread or locally made cheese. The flashy cans, stainless steel brew kettles, and massive delivery trucks often obscure the fact that beer begins its humble journey in fields and valleys, sometimes closer than we even imagine. Like agriculture and hangovers, brewing’s history extends as far back as civilization itself. Pat McGovern, a specialist of biomolecular archaeology at the UniverBRAD LENOX sity of Pennsylvania who is best known in Brew’s Clues the beer world for his work with Dogfish blenox1@swarthmore.edu Head on their “Ancient Ales” line — including the excellent Midas Touch and the less than stellar Ta Hen Ket — has discovered and helped reproduce beer found in Egyptian tombs and Sumerian ruins. The degrees of separation between the cheap and plentiful ice-cold tall boys in our fridges and the Cradle of Civilization are thin and few. When humans decided to settle down, kick back and stop all that hunting and gathering nonsense, agriculture was needed to make sure that all these new homebodies wouldn’t starve. Some of the most important fruits of this early labor were the familiar cereal grains — members of the grass family like oat, wheat, corn and barley — which eventually found their way into both bread and beer. The benefits become especially apparent in the ice-cold winter months, since beer could be brewed during the harvest and last all the way until spring and, unlike water for a good few thousand years, beer was sterile due to the necessary boiling step. Without beer many of our distant ancestors may have died from water-born bacteria and would have enjoyed the crushing task of subsistence farming a whole lot less. But this column isn’t about history or anthropology, though both can be fun. That point is, beer has always been a part of the cycles of civilized life, harvested along with the other fall crops, stored in barrels all winter and enjoyed in bright spring afternoons. It is only recently that we have enjoyed access to most kinds of beer whenever we want. However, many brewers recognize the fact that not all drinkers want the same beers in every clime; imagine drinking a heavy imperial stout in the blazing summer sun. As many of you have noticed, the tap handles at your local watering hole change along with the temperature and hours of sunshine. Seasonal beers are one of the many things that make beer such a wonderful beverage, but there are some caveats to keep in mind before rushing off to the store. Though most barley-based beer is brewed year round, many craft brewers and even some of the bigger guys in the business, most notably Boston Beer (Sam Adams), offer seasonal varieties to fit the changing clime and pallets of consumers. These limited-time choices add exciting variety to your buying and drinking choices, spicing up (often literally) the normal barley/hops combination with unusual styles and ingredients. Summer Beers: Shandies Because we are still in the final throes of summer, we’ll begin with one popular example: the “summer shandy,” which is often found prominently on beer store floors or on bar taps from April through September. A combination of a lighter, sweeter beer — usually a lager like pilsner — and a fruit juice like lemonade, this traditional German style makes purists and beer snobs cringe. Common criticisms tend to run along the lines of: “How dare you adulterate beer with juice!,” “This is too sweet! I’m going to die.,” “There’s barely any alcohol in here!,” “I can’t taste at least four kinds of hops!” The snobs saying such utterly misguided things are wrong. Though shandies are not my preferred style, they are the perfect alternative to a Budweiser or similar no-frills lager on a hot summer day. The low-alcohol of shandies — running under five percent — usually keeps you from getting too dehydrated and lethargic in summertime heat. Moreover, its sweeter flavor profile and light body, or the “heaviness” of a beer, allow you to enjoy long drinking sessions like barbecues without feeling like you scorched your tongue with hops or guzzled a meal. For those interested in finding a shandy for the dwindling summer days, some of the easiest to find options are offerings from Leinenkugel’s, Shock Top, Saranac, Hoppin’ Frog out in Ohio and the Austrian company Stiegl. However, since this is a column about the craftier side of beer, a caveat is in order: Leinenkugel’s and Shock Top are brands created and owned by MillerCoors and Anheuser-Busch InBev respectively. Because my Golden Rule is “Drink what you like,” this should not be taken as an indictment or a condemnation of those beers, but consumers who intend to buy what they think is a craft beer (often at craft beer prices) should keep this in mind. Though there is no one, true “summer beer,” most breweries put out a lighter, sweeter, lower-alcohol version of their normal offerings — take Sam Adams’ Summer Lager as one example — or a completely different style that generally have these qualities. These can range from the ever-popular pilsner (like Troegs’ Sunshine Pils) to a light and flavorful blonde ale (Victory’s Summer Love) or the sweet and spicy witbier (Weyerbacher’s Blanche) or even Southern Hemisphere Harvest Fresh Hop Ale, which fermented on fresh hop cones with the summer harvest of places like New Zealand. However, because fall is right around the corner, a new crop of seasonal offerings will soon start appearing on store shelves and summer choices may be harder to find.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
One Worn Consignment not worth multiple trips Northern Liberties clothing shop fails to impress The Phoenix’s New York fashionista Once Worn Consignment Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars 910 N 2nd Street Philadelphia PA 19123 215.627.1122 oncewornconsignment.com Once Worn is located in Northern Liberties and has a small selection of consigned clothing for both men and women as well as trendy accessories. It is perfect for anyone looking for deals with basic, but mostly in search of vintage finds. My trip to Once Worn Consignment turned out to be a bit of a short lived roller coaster ride. You know, the ones in which you are a bit hesitant at first. It might not look as safe or promising as you are about to enter, but once you get in you find the first few moments of the ride a tad boring until you realize that they are only warming you up for the good part. But, sadly, when you are finally enjoying it you realize that it is over. Upon entering the shop, you are immediately encountered by the microscopic men’s section which is most definitely not to die for. I had thought that the shoes section of Once Worn would have been an “OH-MY-GODthose-are-actually-great-vintage-Ferragamos,” and the handbag section would have been more like “I-can’t-believe-everything-is-spotless-and-look-at-this-gorgeous-RebeccaMinkoff-morning-after-clutch.” Maybe I had too high of an expectation or maybe it was a bad day. Much of the clothing that is currently available is not up to season. While other stores have already prepared for the fall season ahead, much of the merchandise here does not reflect the weather to come ahead. The men’s section had jackets and buttondowns while the women’s tops section was mostly composed of tank tops and short-sleeve blouses far from the color scheme for fall. Unlike other consignment shops and thrift stores, Once Worn seems to attract an array of customers and from what it seemed, satisfied them all. It does not seem to aim to cater one specific style preference. Do not be fooled, though, there is a caveat emptor. I would only recommend this shop to those who wish to search for a thing or two for their wardrobe and not to those who are looking for a new wardrobe. As I said before, things started to get better as time passed. In the designer brand section, you can find clothing, shoes and handbags at fairly low prices. One impressive find included a Kate Spade magazine tote for your low price of $60. Although there may be great merchandise, do not be surprised if this section does not exceed one clothing rack. That being said, like the rest of the small business, every section is condensed. This disappointing downfall really had me questioning whether or not it was worth the hour or so long trip from campus. Although there are many complaints that could be said about the small consignment shop, according to a few customers, actually consigning your clothes here is a big pay off. Hearing this, I decided to try it out myself. I bought thirteen items, all for the fall, including sweaters and blouses, and I was able to consign ten of them. Once Worn states that if your clothing sells within 60 days of being on the racks, you receive 40% of the price for which it was sold. If not, you can choose to pick up your remaining clothing or donate it. A fine line in that agreement includes that the merchandise price is 20% less if it does not sell within the first 30 days. I am keeping my fingers cross that I’ll receive a few checks next month! All in all, this is a store that I would return to, but not definitely not run to. GABRIELA CAMPOVERDE Smart Swat Shopping gcampov1@swarthmore.edu
Fall Beers: Pumpkin Fall seasonals, moreso than their sunshiney counterparts, reflect the agricultural origins of brewing and the uniqueness of the East coast climate in their ingredients and styles. By and large, the most popular example of fall-style brew is “pumpkin beer,” often made with the mashed pulp of the gourd we associate so strongly with Pilgrims, flame-colored leaves and jacket-weather. These beers harken back to the frontier styling of early American brewing culture, a time when everything and anything around was tossed into kettles, through their use of these generally unusual ingredients. Unburdened by legal restrictions — such as the Bavarian Rheinheitsgebot, or purity law, that limited beer to barely — and under the pressure of material necessity, these early colonial suds were concocted from a variety of local materials that brewers in the Old World hadn’t even heard of yet. Gourds, like pumpkins, as well as adjuncts like molasses, provided the raw sweetness for fermentation and in place of hops — which were yet to be cultivated in the New World — pungent plant material like spruce and pin needles served as flavoring and bittering agents. Usually heavily spiced with things like cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg, these beers are hearty, thick, sweet yet utterly sippable. Usually leaning to the boozier side, pumpkin beers are the best fireside drinking companions, perfect for ever-darkening and cool evenings. These beers are, for good reason, extremely popular with consumers, often bringing in more revenue than all other seasonal choices put together and consequently almost every East Coast brewer worth their salt has put out their own take on the style. Because of my not-so-hidden envy of West Coast beer drinkers, I never pass up an opportunity to flaunt some of the East’s best qualities. The ubiquity of pumpkin beers in states like PA masks just how special they truly are. Some of the more enterprising and desperate members of beer-related sites like BeerAdvocate.com have been known to offer up huge amounts of beer and money to “trade” for pumpkin beers. Which pumpkin beers are worth all that trouble? Some of the best examples are Southern Tier’s Imperial Pumpkin, Weyerbacher’s Imperial Pumpking and Dogfish Heads wonderfully pungent but extremely drinkable Punkin’. Though I hate to be a tease, I do intend to get back to the “caveats” of buying beer two weeks from now. Until then, ease your troubled minds and enjoy yourself by picking up seasonal beers. Get them while they’re good.
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Living & Arts Swarthmore Phoenix
Sharples Shakeup: old favorites make new flavors
It’s the first week back! The health center is renovated, Worth courtyard is spruced up, and the first-years are wide-eyed and fresh-faced. But for all these changes, our old faithful Sharples is still serving up familiar fare. Some may welcome having food at their fingertips again, especially for those who survived the summer eating self-made meals ad nauseam. Others may be less swipe-happy and express exasperation with the fare (except you, freshmen. It’s barely been a week since orientation. Food-complaining privileges have yet to come into effect. Dining Services’ primary role is to prevent our deaths by starvation and malnutrition, not to indulge us with restaurant-quality cuisine, so just eat the food). Whether you embrace or bemoan the meal plan, here are a few suggestions to inspire imaginative eating and stymie grumblings about Sharples’ grub.
Pasta Bar Alternatives
Skip the pasta. As the infinite mainstay of Wednesday and Sunday dinners, pasta is not worth the lengthy line. Instead, hit up the main bar and put a twist on the rotating entrees.
Spicy Beef Salad
Source Ingredient(s) main bar grilled flank steak salad bar spinach leaves, bean sprouts, cucumber, carrots, peppers milk fridge lemon wedges wok bar soy sauce, sesame oil, chili flakes, pepper
Build-Your-Own-Brunch
Weekend mornings call for breakfast of champions and hangover helpers, i.e. bacon. Fact: college kids are not yet subject to cardiac arrest. Indulge while you can.
Oinkmeal
Top a bowl of oatmeal (found by the salad bar) with these sweet and savory accompaniments: sliced banana, maple syrup, cinnamon and bacon. Bananas and maple syrup can be found near the oatmeal; cinnamon is by the wok. To put the “oink” in your Oinkmeal, grab two pieces of bacon from the main bar, crumble, and sprinkle on top.
The Elvis
Who needs homefries and Egg Beaters when you can have breakfast of The King? A favorite of Presley, this sandwich will result in persistent rubberneckin’. Spread peanut butter on one slice of toasted bread, and honey on the other and fill with sliced bananas and bacon. Keep these babies out of the panini press so as to not kill people allergic to peanuts — you butter nut risk it.
Assemble salad ingredients on a plate, top with steak, and drizzle with lemon juice. Add condiments to taste.
Purple Salmon Salad
Source main bar salad bar milk fridge condiment bar
Ingredient(s) soy & citrus salmon spring mix, red onion, cucumber, crumbled feta cheese, olives lemon wedges dried cranberries
Combine spring mix, red onion, and cucumber slices. Top with crumbled feta cheese, olives, salmon and cranberries, then squeeze lemon wedge over finished salad.
Pot Roast Pocket
Source Ingredient(s) main bar pot roast deli bar pita pocket, lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese condiments mustard, jalapenos Drain juices from the pot roast. Then, stuff it into a pita pocket along with fillings and condiments of your choice.
Homebaked Hope’s Cookies Hijack
Tender and freshly-baked, Homebaked Hope’s Cookies are heavenly. Now try sandwiching Bassetts ice cream between them. Try one of these four flavorful ice cream sandwich combos.
Homebaked Hope’s Cookie Flavor Bassetts Ice Cream Flavor
macadamia & white chocolate
snickerdoodle
chocolate chip
oatmeal raisin
cherry vanilla butterscotch vanilla
coffee strawberry
peanut butter swirl mint chocolate chip
butter pecan rum raisin
Weekend Evening Nifty Fifty’s Fake-Out
Friday and Saturday nights see the lowest numbers of swipes at Sharples, and arguably the least desirable food options. Pickings may be slim, but ice cream and grill items are invariably available. Thus, weekends are perfect for recreating shakes and fries from Nifty Fifty’s diner, a popular 50’s-themed restaurant about 10 minutes from Swat (1900 MacDade Blvd.)
Milkshakes
Shake up Ice Cream Sundae Bar and make milkshakes by selecting a neutral ice cream and mix-ins from the Bar, then mixing vigorously with milk in a glass. Suggestions for Mix-Ins -peanut butter sauce & oreo crumbs -strawberry preserves & cinnamon toast crunch (from cereal bar) -toffee bits & pretzels (from deli bar), crushed
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swarthmorephoenix.com
Smothered Cheesesteak Fries
Hit up the grill, the one-stop LDL cholesterol dispensary, to create this Philly twist on a culinary classic. Source grill condiment bar
Ingredient(s) french fries, cheesesteak, old bay cheese whiz
Sprinkle fries with Old Bay. Remove bun from cheesesteak; cover fries with cheesesteak. Top with Cheez Whiz.
By Sera Jeong, Living & Arts Writer THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Living & Arts Swarthmore Phoenix
Visions of... Arcadia? By ZOE WRAY Living & Arts Writer zwray1@swarthmore.edu
“Visions of Arcadia,” on view at the Philadelphia Museum of Art in the Dorrance Special Exhibition Galleries through September 3, attempts to demonstrate the profound influence of Arcadia, as described by Virgil in his Eclogues, on French artists throughout history, beginning with Nicholas Poussin and concluding with Pablo Picasso and the Cubists. A few paintings by Russian and German expressionists add to the scope of Arcadia’s significance as well. The exhibition begins in a long hallway, a poetry-filled rabbit hole filled with quotes from Virgil’s Eclogues that transport us to the valley of Arcadia through Virgil’s original lens. On the other side, viewers supposedly find themselves submerged in visions of Arcadia spanning centuries after Virgil’s time. For Virgil, Arcadia was the name of a mythical valley in Ancient Greece populated by shepherds with a penchant for singing. These denizens couldn’t abandon all despair in their simple, harmonious existence, for Arcadia did not grant them immunity from mortality. But by and large these Arcadians sang, worked, and enjoyed both their time with others and solitary encounters with nature. With the exception of Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, none of the featured artists fully connect to Virgil’s ideas other than in the general sense of depicting idyllic places. Though the exhibition haphazardly plants a variation of the word “Arcadia” countless times throughout — an attempt to assert Arcadia’s presence with dubious success — the influence of Arcadia, and even its actual definition, remains muddled and contradictory. The exhibition posits some of its most spurious claims regarding the
Though the exhibition haphazardly plants a variation of the word “Arcardia” countless times throuhgout ... the influence of Arcadia, and even its actual definition, remains muddled and contradictory. featured paintings of Paul Gauguin, Paul Cézanne, and Henri Matisse, the three artists around which the exhibition is centered. The rooms following the Virgil précis are organized more or less chronologically, starting with Poussin,
Corot, and Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. Corot’s contemplative, serene man in his circa 1871 oil painting “Goatherd of Terni” reminds viewers most of Virgil’s Arcadia. Corot painted the canvas about forty-five years after he visited Terni, an Italian city north of Rome. Viewers look on with the depicted goatherd through the darkened foliage into the sublime golden sunset, and we feel as close to Arcadia as that goatherd. Corot’s paintings achieve a synergy when coupled with Virgil’s poetry seen nowhere else in the exhibition, and for that they stand out; all the other paintings seem confusingly disparate with Virgil’s ideas in comparison. Puvis de Chavannes’ 1867 “Peace” canvas, a public commission for the Second French Empire, reveals a bit of appropriation of the Arcadian theme to serve as a vehicle for civic cooperation and national unity propaganda. The scene shows a large group of nude and loosely dressed figures engaged in various tasks for the good of the community, with intent reminiscent of fourteenth century
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Franz Marc, “Deer in the Forest I”, 1913, oil on canvas
Sienese artist Ambrogio Lorenzetti’s Good Government fresco. While one may argue that harmony among a nation’s citizenry embodies a vision of the ideal, this viewpoint doesn’t speak to Virgil’s words, which made no mention of Arcadians happily managed by a bureaucratic foundation. The second room in the exhibition transitions to the work of the Neoimpressionists (also known as the Pointillists), who offered their own varying visions of paradise. Maximilien Luce’s 1892 painting Bathers at SaintTropez presents a tantalizing image with gracefully modeled nudes in an exotically colored landscape. The dots set the figures ablaze with an enchanting mosaic of countless hues placed side by side, giving their skin a fascinating, chameleon-like quality. It provides a titillating visual experience to viewers that makes it welcome for the pleasure of experiencing dazzling art. The third room intends to be the central focus of the exhibition, featuring the monumental canvases by Gauguin, Cézanne, and Matisse: Gauguin’s “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” (1898),
Cézanne’s “The Large Bathers” (1906), and Matisse’s “Bathers by a River” (1909-1917). Despite varying widely in composition and style, all three canvases share a similarly unsettling mood. Gauguin’s canvas predominantly employs dark, ominous colors in a montage of figures at various life stages, putting onto canvas that frightening mental Halloween hay ride when one sees his life flashing before his eyes. Cézanne’s “The Large Bathers” portrays an anything but idyllic landscape of bathers. The bathers have sketchy, anonymous forms with nondescript faces, their bodies covered with dirty patches of brown despite the fact they’re supposed to be bathing. One particularly curious bather on the far right has unusually masculine, robotic arms. The women emit a baleful aura similar to that in Picasso’s “Les Demoiselles D’Avignon”, a picture that may be as far removed from Arcadia as a scene of nudes can reach. Matisse’s further-abstracted “Bathers by a River” amplifies the effects of “The Large Bathers” to greater extremes, with nudes completely devoid of faces, curves, and feelings. There is no mix of pleasure and seriousness here like Virgil described in the Eclogues; instead there is only austere coldness. The following room focuses on Cubism, a movement that arrived on the heels of the Postimpressionists in the early twentieth century. Robert Delaunay’s 1910-1912 painting “The City of Paris” combines a Cubist rendering of the Eiffel Tower and a view of the Seine with the Three Graces in the middle. The painting towers over viewers in a symphony that combines the angularity of Cubism with the rich colors of Fauvism, a blend of precision and passion. The last room of the exhibition shows some German and Russian artists who focused on the importance of man’s harmony with animals. Franz Marc’s 1913 “Deer in the Forest I” and Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich’s circa 1911 “Our Forefathers” offer stirring insights on this theme. That theme, though, can only be shoehorned into the Arcadia label if we accept Arcadia as only meaning some halcyon realm. “Some halcyon realm”, a watered down definition that is less sweeping than what the exhibition posits but is the only one that gives the exhibition credence, reduces the power of Arcadia according to Virgil’s writings; he becomes just another link in the chain of writers and artists that expressed yearnings for a lost Eden. As a result, the modern artists featured lose their claim on Arcadia. If Cézanne envisioned Arcadia in “The Large Bathers”, then surely Auguste Renoir’s voluptuous bathers represent an Arcadian vision; so what made them unworthy for this exhibition? Claude Monet’s impressionist landscapes, which capture fleeting moments of beauty in time, should qualify as well. The breathtaking transcendental vistas of the American Hudson River School would also seem to offer an adequate interpretation of Arcadia. Myriad other paintings could pass this indulgent Arcadian litmus test as well, which points to the lack of clarity and justification in the exhibition. It seems more like an excuse to bring together an array of intriguing paintings, with an ambiguous Arcadia providing the precarious grounds for this compilation. The bottom line? Go see “Visions of Arcadia” for the pleasure of viewing some modernist masterpieces that won’t grace the East Coast again for who knows how long. The paintings on view are so mesmerizing, it’s no wonder that the curators, in their captivating presence, had trouble stringing together a justification for bringing them together.
COURTESY OF ARTCHIVE.COM
Paul Gauguin, “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”, 1897-8, oil on canvas
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
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Living & Arts Swarthmore Phoenix
What they did while you were at the beach Three summer profiles of the Class of 2015
By TAYLOR HODGES Living & Arts Writer ehodges1@swarthmore.edu The summer after a first year of undergraduate studies leaves students with several months of unstructured time. For those not enrolled in summer courses, this season allows for some escape from normal methodized learning and provides opportunities to seek out jobs, fellowships and internships in order to gain experience outside academia and pursue career interests. While many Swatties use their summers to travel, connect with old friends and read some books not on a syllabus, the following rising sophomores used their summers to sharpen their academic intent, live closer with nature, and simply take a breather and enjoy themselves. Steve McFarland, Political Science and Education Double Major This summer Steve McFarland was one of 48 students in the U.S. who had the opportunity to work as a Summer Academy Fellow at the Roosevelt Institute. The progressive thinktank has two other academies in D.C. and Chicago, but McFarland says he ended up in Manhattan because his “passion and dedication for figuring out the disparities in the American education system” fit best with the New York academy’s focus on education and economic development. McFarland’s work required that he attend policy briefings on issues within the spectrum of education and meet with speakers from various think tanks and other political outlets. He used these conversations and much of
his own research to produce a policy proposal that addressed summer learning loss — loss of academic skills and knowledge — in lowincome neighborhoods throughout Pennsylvania. His final product “demanded a funded mandate in order to provide summer enrichment centers” which would keep students’ minds active throughout the warmer months and “would lead to eventually curbing the educational achievement gap.” McFarland chose to attack the educational disadvantage in this manner because he wanted to provide a realistic solution to the problem and because it related to the other half of his summer work: working as a teaching fellow for the Partnership of Afterschool Education and teaching and developing curriculum for a neighborhood corporation in the Bronx. Both allowed him to give a face to the problem he was researching and allowed him to back up the statistics he included in his policy with first hand experience. Although he finished the policy for the summer, McFarland plans to expand it into an intensely detailed plan that he can present to local lawmakers. When asked how he thought his experiences this summer would affect his studies, McFarland said, “I feel that this summer gave me that clarity that I was lacking. Now I feel that I know what I’m looking for and I know what I want to accomplish. Studying PoliSci and Education no longer just means a bunch of papers, but feels more like an outlet to something greater not just after college but during it.” Rebecca Senft, Neuroscience Major Last spring, Rebecca Senft saw a posting in the Reserved Student Digest for an intern-
Orientation play, continued from page 1
poker, partying, romance, roommate relationships... You name it.” Alex Cannon ’14, who starred in the tri-co production of Sondheim’s “Assassins” in 2010 and is an orientation play alum, said that “everyone will tell you that it’s the best part of orientation.” Andrew Dorrance ’15, an actor in the show and a veteran of the LPAC mainstage from his performance as a no-longer-closeted gay man in the hit show “Company” last fall, said that the show will be full of pop-culture references. Guesses, anyone? Think Bieber will make an appearance? Think they’ll take a swing at the “Twilight” series, or maybe E.L. James’ erotic hit thriller “Fifty Shades of Gray”? The cast also includes the aforementioned Sands, an honors theater major; Daniel Cho ’15, an acting, singing, and dancing trifecta; Josh McLucas, who played a melancholy prince in the off-beat land of Burgundia in last spring’s “Ivona: Princess of Burgundia”; Abigail Henderson, a leading member of Swarthmore’s Shakespeare Troupe “Yellow Stockings;” Kimaya Diggs, a member of the hit-a cappella group Mixed Company and a sensation on the stage; and many, many more talented, wonderful students. The show is stage-managed by Supriya Davis ’15. Upperclassmen generally head back to campus early so that they can see the show, and the Lang Performing Arts Center Mainstage auditorium tends to be packed full. Older students laugh because they get the jokes, and incoming students probably laugh because it’s just plain funny. And because they get the jokes. Because there are no admissions mistakes, so the class of 2016 is probably pretty damn smart. Ross pointed out that the play has more value than just humor. He says, “Most of all, the play reminds us all how important it is to take care of ourselves and rest up at times. 2016s, upperclassmen and faculty and staff alike could probably do with that reminder.” So, should you go to see the Orientation Play? Those notebooks and flashcards can probably wait till later, right? And if it’s a time of day that you’re likely to be hungry, there’s unlikely to be anywhere nearby to get a bite to eat, so that’s not an option. Are there books to read, TV shows to watch, clothes to iron, boyfriends to call, reminiscing to do, calculators to polish and an upcoming school year to stress over unduly? Well... yeah. But the night of Saturday, September 1 should be a time of laughter, bonding and getting to know a great new addition to our school. Or, as Ross says, “If all else fails, you should come see the play because Orientation Week is dry and you have nothing better to be doing.” Show Date: Saturday, September 1st at 9:00 PM
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ship at Copper Cricket Farm. She was one of several Swatties to apply and was chosen along with another current Swarthmore student to spend the summer at the Virginia farm founded five years ago by two married Swarthmore alumni. Both had other jobs, but decided that they were more passionate about sustainable living and founded their farm with a dedication to farming without pesticide, fertilizer or genetically-modified seeds. “I come from upstate New York, an area full of dairy farms,” Senft said. “For me the internship represented an opportunity to get back to my roots in a setting very different from home.” On half of her working days, Senft did chores around the farm and the other half were devoted to harvesting and delivering the farm’s vegetables to its in-state customer base. “I learned so much throughout my stay at the farm,” Senft said. “I learned to respect our food and the energy and work required to grow it… I think before I was under the impression that I was striving to make my future life easy as possible. I discovered on the farm that ‘easy’ is not the same as ‘gratifying.’ In my studies and beyond, I want my life to be a meaningful experience, not merely a means to an end.” Jamie Burke, Physics Major Few can begin an anecdote with, “I got in an argument with a Canadian border patrol officer.” Burke spent the summer working for Overland, a company based in Massachusetts that sends high school students on outdoors trips throughout the Northeast and across four other continents. “When driving the trailer to pick up the Nova Scotia bike trip at the ferry in St. John, the trailer that I had contained bikes
that students were renting out from Overland,” Burke explained. “The border patrol officer insisted that, since Overland owned the bikes, they were ‘commercial property,’ and that I couldn’t cross into Canada without the proper paperwork. Having gone over this exact same bridge into Canada carrying Overland bikes twice before with no problems, I was confused, but decided not to argue too much. I went over a different border crossing five minutes away, and encountered no such problem.” Burke had gone on many of Overland’s trips while in high school and this summer decided to work for the outdoors company. The multiple roles he played at Overland, from maintaining bikes to taking groups out on their trips, proved lots of stories throughout the summer. “Once we were settled into camp and about to eat dinner, a park ranger came by and told us that we were under a tornado watch. Since there were no sold standing structures, we decided to get off the mountain, which involved me driving down the gravel road (which you are told specifically not to do), loading up the U-Haul, and then heading to the local high school to sleep in the locker rooms there.” While Burke says he definitely learned “some concrete useful skills,” he says that “working at Overland changed the way I approach group living.” He found that “there is almost always something you can help with, if you look for it. I might be picking ramen wrappers off the floor and being there for someone who just needs to complain about the number of hexagons they had to draw on their last Orgo homework.”
Tour guides answer our questions, finally By AXEL KODAT Living & Arts Writer akodat1@swarthmore.edu
As August ends, Swarthmore again awakens from summer’s relative calm to the surging crowd of returning and new students and the routine bustle and noise of college life. Next year, as summer begins, most students will again leave, and the campus will return to a state of partial hibernation. Yet even as the college passes through these cycles year after year, some things remain virtually unchanged. Students come and go, seasons evolve, classes end and grades are delivered, but the tour-guiding program trudges on — responsible, ultimately, for presenting the campus to the endless stream of prospective students eager to see the campus and learn about its quirks and charms. Every summer, waves of newly released high-schoolers anxiously immersed in the college process sweep the nation in search of a college right for them. The Phoenix’s Axel Kodat interviewed summer tour guides Steven Gu ’15 and Aileen Eisenberg ’15 about some distinctive aspects of the experience.
See TOUR GUIDES, page 11
CROSSWORD PUZZLE SWARCHITECTURE ACROSS 2. Patted with a cloth 7. Hawaiian dish 9. “Chicago” heroine 11. Arthurian isle 13. Boy 15. Crum-side twins 17. Long spans of time 18. Sugary suffixes 19. Demonstrate 23. Parrish neighbor 26. King of France 28. False geometric theorem 29. They come with ahs 30. Delta, United competitor (in short) 31. Piano cousin 33. Like the Liberty Bell 34. Chemistry suffix DOWN 1. Strongest suit 2. William’s mother 3. Facial feature 4. Dog’s treasure 5. No longer 6. Pickles 8. The original egg carton? 10. Video game producer 12. Cowboy’s effect 14. Seis menos cuatro
16. Limbo challenge 20. Sebelius department 21. Economist Mancur 22. King or Blue 23. About 35 ounces 24. To hell, it’s paved with good
intentions 25. Auction ender 27. Paddle 32. Army member BY PRESTON COOPER
For the solution to this week’s puzzle, see The Phoenix’s online edition at www.swarthmorephoenix.com under the multimedia tab.
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Living & Arts Swarthmore Phoenix
Tour guides, continued from page 10 What aspects of the college tend to upset parents the most? AE: There are some concerns that constantly resurface, such as a lack of air conditioning in the dorms and gender neutral bathrooms (that's a huge one). I think that, most often, families are overwhelmed by the amount of information that is being thrown at them, so they remain relatively quiet. SG: There are a few fans [of general neutral bathrooms] here and there each week, but a majority of parents (mostly parents) disapprove and find it odd. What difficulties do you often face as a tour guide? SG: Dealing with parents or students who are not interested at all throughout the tour. AE: I've had parental tantrums, but only a few of them, and mostly in regard to gender neutral bathrooms or pass/ fail first semester... Sometimes it can be frustrating when we try to represent and talk about the school, and feel "rejected" by families, but, then again, this is their process, their college search. What are some of the worst or most embarrassing experiences you’ve had on your tours? AE: I've definitely fallen on tours, and sometimes I'm speaking so much that I burp a little and have to catch my breath. SG: The worst experience I've had with a tour was when a mother on a tour was trying to guess my ethnicity on a tour when I mentioned that I will be taking Japanese next semester and then stopped my tour to ask my ethnicity to prove her daughter wrong in their guessing game. The daughter looked so embarrassed. Best? AE: Once when I was discussing security of our campus and the lack of blue-light boxes, a parent defended me in front of the group talking about how he had never heard of a blue-light box saving anyone's life. And my most recent tour featured a mother that joked with me about my hand (which is bandaged for a burn), and told the group to straighten out, or else I'd harm my other hand doing it for them. SG: I think the best/funniest tour experience I had was giving a tour to a group of Korean students from Seoul and how they were just a great group of students to give a tour to, but also how they really loved the big chair. We hung around the big chair for about 15 minutes of the tour. What are some of the strangest or most amusing questions you’ve been asked? SG: I think my favorite odd question I've received on tours is whether or not you can open windows in the dorms. That question and whether the college supplies toilet paper or students have to supply that themselves are probably the two most amusing questions I receive on a consistent basis. AE: “Does the Quaker matchbox exist, and are you in a relationship that is on its way to the matchbox?” I’ve also been asked how old I am several times (as in the adults thought I was 12 or 15...). Finally, what has been your favorite part of the tourguiding experience? SG: Meeting students who are really interested in the college. I think it's really awesome seeing some students’ faces light up on the tour or get excited by something you're mentioning about the college. AE: I really enjoy talking about the school and explaining why, for me, it is a good place to go to college. Having to articulate why different aspects of our campus are enticing or important has made me appreciate the school more. It's nice to see the various types of students that are considering Swarthmore, but more than that, I really do enjoy giving a tour in which I feel that I have successfully represented the college, both in regards to my experience here, and that which I have gathered from others.
Q: What’s the difference between class and fun? A: Plenty Back to school: The Phoenix bookworm is back with personal reading tips
After a long, hopefully rejuvenating summer vacation, it is time to answer the call of academia LANIE SCHLESSINGER and return to Bibliobabble the Swat eschless1@swarthmore.edu grind. Though the specific demands of our workloads may vary, we each face long to-do lists that include completing coursework, attending meetings and practices and maintaining the friendships we built at home and at Swat. For avid readers, these busy schedules present a sad question: when will I have time to continue working on that lengthy reading list? Whether your summer reading consisted of the classics you’ve been meaning to get around to, the best sellers everyone is talking about or trashy beach reads, it is hard to resist the feeling that pleasure reading ends when the school year begins. Of course, this does not need to be the case. Time is always a tightly stretched commodity. Just like the single box of pencils you assumed would last at least through the semester, it is hard to figure out exactly where your time goes, but there never seems to be enough left when you need it. Managing your time means more than figuring out how to check each task off your to-do list; it means becoming aware of your time distribution. It means knowing that your four hours in the library weren’t productive because you spent them watching “Matilda” and making flowers out of your skittles, and keeping yourself from repeating that mistake. There are hugely time-consuming, passive activities that we engage in naturally, such as eating, watching TV, perusing Facebook and shopping online. But there are activities that we have to force ourselves to get around to, even if we enjoy them, like exercising, reading and calling home. One of my favorite high school teachers taught me that the only way to force ourselves to do these activities is to schedule them into our days. Choose a good time to read, and then dedicate that period in your day entirely to reading. Don’t schedule anything during that time unless it’s urgent. Maybe you find time to read a couple chapters before class in the morning. Maybe you head to the amphitheater during your break between classes. Maybe you read for a half hour before bedtime and it becomes your sleep medication. Regardless of the time you choose, having
pleasure reading scheduled into a natural break in your day allows you to do it regularly. Regardless of how you fit personal reading into your life, it is important to recognize that it is possible to keep that piece of summer alive throughout the school year. Besides, you might consider this practice. In the rapidly approaching future, you’ll likely have a year-round job. The two or three weeks you take off each year will fall noticeably short of your luxurious one-month winter and three-month summer vacations. You will have to choose between honing your time management skills and giving up pleasure reading for fifty weeks out of the year. But there’s another solution. Fitting pleasure reading into your schedule, if it’s something you enjoy, is important. But you can also ease the transition from summer reading to school reading by learning to transform your school reading experience. Reading for school in college is not what it was in high school or middle school. It is full of room for interpretation and personal preference — whether to annotate, whether to take notes, whether to write down and explain major quotes. You can read for your college courses the way you would read naturally. Of course, there are some major and unavoidable differences between your personal reading and your class reading. You are required to read on a certain schedule. If you like to read an entire book in a few days, you may do so, but you run the risk of spoiling the book for everyone else. You also risk being so frustrated that you can’t share your brilliant but far too knowing comment that you combust. The other major difference is that you don’t choose the books you read, and you have no freedom to put them down, no matter how boring or miserable you may find them. Not choosing the books you read can be a wonderful thing, if you think of your syllabus as a reading list given to you by your older, wiser, scholarly friend whose opinion academics clearly trust. But on occasion, you may take a class you don’t love, and the result of that can be reading a lot of books you don’t love. To this problem, I can only say that I have a hunch it will be worth it in the end. Reading books you struggle through, either because the writing is impossible for you to understand or because it’s so boring that it makes you wonder whether you developed narcolepsy, is important. It is important in the way it is important for English students to suffer through math courses. This is something liberal arts students should understand. Exploring areas outside your academic comfort zone is vital to your education. It stretches your brain in new directions, and if done correctly, you return to your favorite spot a reinforced, more dynamic student. Reading plenty in your free time prepares you for the reading you do for class. It trains you to be a faster reader, but it
also builds your vocabulary so that you don’t have to constantly consult a dictionary. It gives you the practice you need to let your agile mind meet the author’s agile mind and have a conversation with him or her. Most importantly, it gives you the space you need to really fall in love with literature and reading. But reading plenty for class is also necessary. Recognizing the worth of course reading is uncommon among young students but mastered by many at Swat. It is course reading that teaches us the boring but helpful mechanics of understanding a novel. Learning to analyze the connections you see or recognize literary techniques enables you to understand the novel via a technical route. Course reading is so vital to my improvement as a reader that I actually worry about the upcoming years in which I won’t have it. If we are open-minded enough to see it, it is clear that private reading and course reading necessitate each other. Whereas your personal reading allows you to draw nearer to a novel, your course reading teaches you to delve deeper into it. The best readers can integrate these two styles, rendering their course reading and personal reading largely the same. It is at that point that students can ungrudgingly face the course load they signed up for. You should make time for personal reading, but you should also begin the process of transforming your course reading experience into one that more closely resembles the personal reading experience you became familiar with again over the summer. If you are looking for some personal reading recommendations, you can follow this column throughout the semester. The focus of this column is going to be the Pulitzer. I will go backward in time, reading the finalists for each year’s Pulitzer Prize for Literature, and then I will write about the winning work versus the other finalists. Be on the lookout for the 2012 review in a couple of weeks. Until then, happy reading, and welcome back to Swat.newly global endeavor? Clearly NASA has led the way in the hunt for habitable alien planets, but if funding for such programs is cut in this country, perhaps Europe or Russia will have an edge in resources and the United States will serve as a partner, or simply a contributor to an international space program like ExoMars. This is not to say that NASA will not still be a leader in what it does. The Hubble Telescope, and the future James Webb Space Telescope, are unrivaled achievements. The United States is also heavily involved in the International Space Station, which may be able to foster commercial space travel in the near future. Curiosity was a huge success without a doubt, but as the project comes closer to completion, it may mean a turning point for America’s space program, and time for NASA to decide how to utilize its time and funding in the future.
Devastating fire kills all 353 members of the Class of 2016 STEVEN HAZEL The Squashed Tomato shazel1@swarthmore.edu
While newly-admitted freshmen listened with rapt attention to the drone of Collection speakers and to the buzz of a swarm of satisfied mosquitoes, disaster struck. In a freak and unprecedented accident, all 353 freshmen dropped their candles at precisely the same time — 7:34 p.m. August 30, according to the Fire Marshall’s report — and the Scott Amphitheatre quickly burst into flame. In the initial moments of panic, an unknown voice in the crowd recalled the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire of 1911 in New York, in which 146 garment workers perished, as a possible model of how not to proceed. Witnesses, including President Rebecca Chopp, noted that she was impressed by the “intellectual curiosity and the dedication to social action — even in the face of grave danger” of the class of 2016. Chopp reportedly survived the inferno through a combination of sheer willpower and the intercession of Athena. Unfortunately, by 7:40 p.m. the discussion of the Triangle Fire seems to have led to a heated debate on the early 20th Century American labor movement, which gave the fire time to envelop the Scott Amphitheatre into an unstoppable curtain of flame stretching into the sky. “This unchecked inferno devoured the most qualified class in Swarthmore history,” noted Admissions Dean Jim Bock. “The firestorm claimed the lives of a cricket player, a state Tetris champion, a Shakespearean actor, a Pokemon tournament runner-up, and an America’s Got Talent contestant. Also consumed in the blaze were students from all fifty states and countries including Albania, Denmark, Micronesia, Mongolia, and a dozen more.” “I worked really hard for that Micronesia kid,” added Bock. As maintenance crews cleared the ash of the Scott Amphitheatre away, members of the Swarthmore community, from faculty to staff reacted with a mixture of calm and dignified mourning to the news. “Oh thank goodness,” declared Political Science Professor Cynthia Halpern. “I won’t have to do my first year seminar for another year. After two decades of teaching, how can they possibly still think I’d be interested in political theory? In light of what Dean Braun called a “serious and deplorable incident” in a school-wide email, a Collection will be held on Monday, September 3. Speakers — including counselors and representatives from many faith-based communities — will commemorate the occasion and help those gathered begin the healing process. After Collection, this year’s RAs will present a visual art collection “Remembering the Unknown: Freshmen Hall Decorations and Our Wasted Effort“ in the List Gallery. The exhibition includes such moving pieces as an entire set of Star Wars door signs. “I might not remember their names, but I definitely remember they’re Jedi aliases,” said an RA who wished to remain anonymous. “To be honest, the Han Solo over by the water fountain might have been swoop potential.” In the end, the administration is confident that the campus will heal and even grow stronger in the wake of this unfortunate incident. “Let’s try to remember, all clouds have a silver lining,” said Rachel Head, Director of Student Housing. “I’d like to remind the classes of 2013, 2014 and 2015 that this also means that you’ll probably get a better room in the next housing lottery.” “Of course,” Head quickly added, “there are never any guarantees.”
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
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Opinions Swarthmore Phoenix
Staff Editorial
We are all the 100%
Occupy at One: why the populist reform movement failed A few tents may remain in Zucotti Park. “We are the 99 percent” may still be a popular soundbyte. But Occupy Wall Street — the movement born of dissatisfaction with the American economic system that grew into a global call for change — has largely disappeared from public view, and its demands have gone unheeded in Congress. In short, what could have been an important element in the path to much-needed fiscal reform has failed. August 2012 does not mark the first anniversary of the movement — that comes in mid-September — but of the birth of its signature slogan, “We Are the 99 Percent.” The 99% refers to the vast majority of Americans who earn less than $506,000 per year, but what’s important about the statistic is not what it includes, but what it doesn’t: the wealthiest one percent of the country whom Occupy vilified as the root of our economic problems. New York Times columnist and Occupy sympathizer Paul Krugman, in a November 2011 piece, goes so far as to dub the concern at the movement’s heart “an issue of the middle class versus the elite.” This essentially amounts to a declaration of class warfare. But the real question to be asked is, how will a class war resolve our economic problems? Both liberals and conservatives can agree that the too-cozy relationship between irresponsible Wall Street bankers and the government was what drove us off the fiscal cliff in the first place. Occupy doesn’t dispute that. But they took it too far, suggesting that the entire American upper class — the one percent — should be punished for what went wrong. By heaping blame on the one percent, Occupy has fired the first gunshots, so it’s no wonder many are calling for the fighting
POLITICAL CARTOON: GUN CONTROL
In order to get out of this economic mess, we will have to work together ... We are all in this together. We are all the one hundred percent. to stop. First, division will not get the nation anywhere, and Occupy has served as more of a divider than a solver. Second, the vast majority of the one percent is completely innocent of anything Occupy should object to, except for the fact that they are the one percent. Contrary to what some “Buffett Rule” advocates would have you believe, most of the one percent do not take advantage of tax loopholes that allow them to pay zero or very low taxes. According to CNN, most of the one percent are business owners, doctors, lawyers or scientists — not Wall Street bankers and speculators. To be fair, many of the one percenters were key players in the events that led up to the financial crisis. But it is wrong to blame an entire demographic for the failings of a few. In order to get out of this economic mess, we will have to work together. Higher taxes on the rich probably have to be part of the solution, and public opinion certainly seems to shift that way. But it is wrong to say that the 99 percent may force whatever they want on a small segment of the population, simply because that segment is a minority. Occupy should have moved beyond the rallying cry “We are the 99 percent” and focused on the real issues at hand: how to reinvigorate the mired economy and find jobs for scores of the un- or underemployed. “We are the 99 percent” is not a fiscal plan, nor does the exclusion of the one percent provide any meaningful suggestion on how to fix things. Occupy has passion in spades, but passion alone cannot solve the complicated problems of the twenty-first century. Division, even in terms of ninety-nine and one, is not healthy. Not everyone will agree with the solution we eventually find. But at least everyone will be a part of it. We are all in this together. We are all the one hundred percent.
Another View
Occupy highlighted the importance of income equalization in the United States Occupy Wall Street has made several important contributions to the debate around economic reform. These include drawing attention to the unfairly low tax rates paid by many wealthy Americans, stressing the importance of education by declaring it a human right, and, perhaps most importantly, highlighting the income gap between the lower 99% and the top 1%. While income inequality was far from the source of the whole crisis, it remains a lead balloon hanging over recovery and prosperity for all Americans. In 2007, right before the crisis struck, the top 1% of the population made 23.5% of the earnings. The only other time in the last century when inequality was so high was in 1928 — right before the collapse that caused the Great Depression. While it is inappropriate to draw a causal relationship from this data, excessive income inequality has the capacity to prolong a recession by making the crisis hurt worse for the working and middle classes, while the upper class remains well-protected. Though it wasn’t the movement’s only message, Occupy’s advocacy of income equalization may affect real change. Figures like Warren Buffett now carry the Occupy standard in redistributive tax policy proposals, so that the rich will contribute their fair share towards social programs like the Affordable Care Act to improve the lives of all Americans. The next time a crisis strikes, Occupy’s input will make it more bearable for everyone.
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EMMA WAITZMAN/PHOENIX STAFF
LETTER, OP-ED & COMMENT POLICY Letters, opinion pieces and online comments represent the views of their writers and not those of The Phoenix staff or Editorial Board. The Phoenix reserves the right to edit all pieces submitted for print publication for content, length and clarity. The Phoenix also reserves the right to withhold any letters, op-eds or comments from publication. All comments posted online and all op-eds and letters must be signed and should include the writer’s full name. Letters are a minimum of 250 words and may not exceed 500 words. Opeds are a minimum of 500 words and may not exceed 750. Letters and opeds must be submitted by 10 p.m. on Monday, and The Phoenix reserves the right to withhold letters and opeds received after that time from publication. Letters may be signed by a maximum of five individuals. Op-eds may be signed by a maximum of two individuals. The Phoenix will not accept pieces exclusively attributed to groups, although individual writers
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may request that their group affiliation be included. While The Phoenix does not accept anonymous submissions, letters and op-eds may be published without the writer’s name in exceptional circumstances and at the sole discretion of the Editorial Board. An editorial represents the opinions of the members of the Opinions Board: Marcus Mello, Menghan Jin and Preston Cooper. Please submit letters to: letters@swarthmorephoenix.com or The Phoenix Swarthmore College 500 College Avenue Swarthmore, PA 19081 Please report corrections to: corrections@swarthmorephoenix. com Letters, corrections and news tips may also be submitted online to the paper by clicking “Contact” on the Phoenix website.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Opinions Swarthmore Phoenix
Inherit the wind: Obama asked for the economy
Danielle is tired of the President blaming his predecessor for the state of the economy As legend has it, Rip van Winkle woke up from a 20-year snooze to find America had won the Revolutionary War. Colonial portraits of George III were replaced with the humbler George Washington. Flip your storybook forward to 2012. The United States is still nodding toward its small-“R” republican roots, but the President keeps speechifying about his “inheritance.” Did something happen while we were asleep? No, the President isn’t the next in line for a country estate, yacht or gold watch. Mr. Obama inherited the world’s largest economy. That sounds like quite the family bequest, except when it’s rather inconvenient. You see, Barack Obama doesn’t like to talk about inheriting America’s Constitution, spunk, fireworks, diversity or enDANIELLE CHARETTE trepreneurial prowess — in other words, the good The Nascent Neoliberal stuff. What he insists he “inherited” was our fiscal dcharet1@swarthmore.edu mess. Check out the White House Press Office and do a simple search for the word “inherit.” The results are ubiquitous. Either David Axelrod put the word in front of one hell of a focus group, or the President is no longer aware that what he’s repeating is political prose, not fact. The term has so thoroughly seeped into the Beltway consciousness that it passes for reality. In this alternative fiefdom, huge deficits are patriotic, food stamps will “create” jobs and shovel-ready projects don’t really need shovels. When a trillion dollars in stimulus doesn’t pan out as promised, there’s always a predecessor to blame. Is there a bloodline connecting George W. Bush to Barack Obama? Has the sourpuss Queen Elizabeth II escaped Buckingham Palace and annexed the White House? In a speech on immigration in 2010, Mr. Obama announced “I just wanna repeat, I’m president, I’m not king.” Well, that seems pretty colloquial and clear. So why the hierarchal language, before and since? The obvious answer is that Mr. Obama’s democratic policies weren’t actually up to the task. When President Bush left office, unemployment was 7.8%. For Mr. Obama, that number has never dipped below 8%. The stimulus was supposed to bring unemployment to 5.6% by now. A trillion dollars later, the Keynesian emperor has no clothes. So why not point the finger at the last spendthrift ruler? Sure, those first few months in office must have been a rough. And if the American people had plucked an unsuspecting Mr. Obama from some Kansas field and dropped him in the Oval Office, I might give him a pass. At the very least, we might allow him a year or two of bellyaching over his challenging career shift. But, lest he have us forget, Mr. Obama asked for his job. He campaigned extensively for it. When the economy
If the American people had plucked an unsuspecting Mr. Obama from some Kansas field and dropped him in the Oval Office, I might give him a pass. bottomed-out in 2008, John McCain looked stupefied, while Mr. Obama was all calm, cool and collected. For that, he got the keys to the White House and a hefty responsibility, not permission to grouse incessantly about his Texan forefather. Mr. Obama isn’t a spoon-spooned prince who made a God-sanctioned climb to the throne. For those of us who still believe in meritocracy, he looked, back in 2008, to have earned the election. He seemed to think so too. “I think I’m a better speech writer than my speech writers” an audacious Mr. Obama told an aide. “I know more about policies on any particular issue than my policy directors. And I’ll tell you right now that I’m… a better political director than my political director.” Except the policies haven’t worked. At a time when households and businesses need a level of certainty about their tax and regulatory burden over the coming years, we instead have the looming federal cliff that could very well bring a second recession. As the Wall Street Journal reported, between January 2009 and June 2012, the average family lost $4,019 in real income. Even if you don’t count the losses until the recession officially ended in June 2009, median income is down $2,544. Bread and circuses — i.e. the War on Women, Ann Romney’s horse — won’t cut it. Things will improve if and when our leaders recognize that government doesn’t create jobs, entrepreneurs do. Right now, we’re stealing from the private sector to feed the public. At least the statist kingdoms of old erected beautiful palaces for their heirs. Today, we’ve got a federal system that operates with about as much efficiency as a DMV window fifteen minutes before lunchtime. It’s true, we suffer a famously unmovable Congress. But Mr. Obama didn’t inherit the Republican-led House, which swept the historic 2010 midterms in response to the President’s leftward push. Instead, the Mr. Obama lampooned these freshman congresspeople as intransigent rebels for daring to have a different interpretation of government. Surely some of the much-discussed “obstructionism” belongs to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who has neglected to enact a budget going on four years. Then again, Mr. Obama inherited Sen. Reid. Not to worry. While Congress has recessed — officially or otherwise — Mr. Obama pushed through 29 appointees. This came after the President regularly criticized Mr. Bush for Constitutionally-dubious maneuvers. Perhaps Mr. Bush endowed his successor with a few strategies? The executive branch has repeatedly acted on its own (apparently superior) accord, re-interpreting immigration law and Bill Clinton’s signature welfare legislation. Think ObamaCare will be monstrously expensive for your business? If you’re politically connected, grab a waiver. If not, what backwater notion of fairness do you subscribe to? Besides the Greek columns at the 2008 Democratic National Convention and all those so-called bureaucratic “czars,” America is known — or was known — as a Constitutional Republic. Who knows what the next guy will inherit.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Rethinking our rights and responsibilities as students as the new year dawns Any time rights and responsibilities are mentioned in the same breath, I think of the musty yellow booklets we took home every year in Fairfax County Public Schools. It was called Student Rights & Responsibilities, or SR&R, and it laid out the ground rules for how not to get expelled. It was boring. In the SR&R, responsibilities were things that we were required to do or not do, at the threat of punishment. Our laundry list of “responsibilities” included attending class and not abusing the computers, for example. I’d like to talk about a different sense of “responsibility,” though. When I say responsibility, I mean the sort of thing you can’t really achieve through making people sign a legal contract — the involvement, the engagement, and the trust that we invest in each other SAM ZHANG to make a community worth living in. To start off the Qualms discussion on something concrete, I’ll talk about how szhang1@swarthmore.edu rights and responsibilities pertain to diversity and multicultural activism on campus. When I hear a campus is “diverse,” I expect two things. One is the guarantee of safety for students who identify with groups that are traditionally disempowered. The other is to feel comfortable in this environment. It is pointless to strictly have the former without the latter. If I wanted a society that was utterly safe without regard for closeness or warmth, I’d choose to attend college in solitary confinement, which would guarantee equality under isolation, if nothing else. Another way to say this is that diversity can be split into issues of rights (basic safety) and responsibility (the experience of community). We’ve focused a lot on safety, and this isn’t bad. Our activists have made lots of progress in changing institutional policy. Any sort of official administrative positions or any American legal policies like Title IX and affirmative action are all results of rights-based activism. These are guarantees that certain institutions will act to protect minorities and mete out punishment when necessary. They are safety nets for the community in the event of major catastrophes, and they are very important safeguards. We can’t lead too strongly with rights activism, though. There is no guarantee that strengthening our rights will automatically strengthen our responsibilities. It will certainly help us from being undercut when we do form a community, but excessive focus on rights can actually be detrimental to the underlying fabric of trust. The trouble is that with such a small campus, it is too easy for the language of rights to bleed into more private spheres — and we end up expressing absolute political ideals when listening, give and take, and the intricacies of friendship may be better suited. The risks and consequences of becoming overbearingly rights-oriented are meticulously illustrated by Mary Ann Glendon in her book “Rights Talk.” Since I don’t have the book on me, I’ll relay an excellent recap of the book from an Amazon.com reviewer (“JNeely”): “Contemporary rights talk is separated both from the European tradition, and from the tradition of the founding fathers, not only in its simplicity, but also in its extreme individualism, absoluteness, insularity, and inarguability. American rights talk ignores the connections (logical and moral) that rights have with duties, it denies the social and communal aspects of people, and it rejects the need for rights to be limited according to various circumstances.” The result of extreme rights talk is a suffocatingly political campus, one where “individualism, absoluteness, insularity, and inarguability” edge out their more sensitive counterparts — community, compromise, openness and humility. I have heard someone describe liberalism as “erring on the side of compassion.” Applied to multicultural activism, “erring on the side of compassion” means a generosity and willingness to use the language of community and responsibility when it is unclear whether rights or responsibilities are the better path to take. Many intricate social problems will work themselves out if people morally engage with their community. We will not only be safer, but happier, as well. This goes beyond diversity issues. However, there certainly isn’t a magic button that causes people to want to engage more with the community. Glendon’s suggestion for how to go about increasing these intangible good qualities in communities is couched in promoting our “seedbeds of civic virtue.” These seedbeds include families, religious institutions, educational institutions, governments, the media and artistic institutions. By promoting these institutions, we can raise the overall health of a community. Is it as simple as that? It’s hard to say, especially on a campus as small as ours. The single biggest thing we can do, in my personal assessment, is to connect our cultural life with the greater Philadelphia region. If our seedbed institutions are too small, and we can’t overcome our addiction to the “American rights dialect,” then we should create as many conduits between our culture and Philadelphia as possible. After all, there is far more diversity in Philadelphia than at Swarthmore. It is a more practical, down-to-earth diversity, tried-and-tested in the streets of a real city. Maintain the idealism of Swarthmore College, but reinvigorate its stale political thought process with real-life experience. Go to Philly on weekends. That’s the biggest thing we can do. Simply walk through the streets, and absorb the culture. Eat a cheesesteak, chill at a park. Don’t do anything. Meditate. Read a book. Simply absorbing the energy from Philadelphia and bringing it back to Swarthmore will do wonders for our cultural milieu. It’s hard to say how, exactly, but there is a vivacity and relevance to life in the city that is extremely powerful, and worth bearing in mind, if not outright adopting. If I had to make columnist-type normative calls, I’d ask for more student events held in Philly, more community service groups (and community based learning classes) heading out to Philly, and more connections between our existing groups and their national or regional counterparts. We want to puncture the “Swat bubble,” and the rights talk that we use. The friction between our way of life and various Philly communities will provide us with grounding and real world experience. There are some hardcore Philly rats around campus, and if you ask around, I’m sure you can find some interesting tips about places to go. I have a very specific take on this issue — that going to Philadelphia will make our community more friendly and diverse — but I don’t think that’s the only strategy, or even enough on its own, so I cede the floor. Ultimately, I’d like to see greater community health result in more forgiveness for mistakes. There’s no community without a feeling that it is okay to take risks and make mistakes. A lot can be said for accepting the premise that other people can disagree with us, or even offend and hurt us, without losing an underlying sense of mutual respect. The flip side is that we also extend this faith to others, to trust that they will still respect us when we disagree, hurt, offend, and anger them in turn. It’s a sense of sportsmanship — an active desire to mend wounds caused by faux pas and cultural misunderstandings — because in the long run, these things don’t matter at all.
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Opinions Swarthmore Phoenix
Mars Rover inspires wonder ... and budget cuts
Science fans behold: new Phoenix column addresses issues intersecting science and politics Y o u couldn’t have missed it. Curiosity — NASA’s $2.5 billion dollar planetary rover that was years in the making — was an awesome demonstration of NASA’s engineering PATRICK AMMERMAN prowess, and Popular Science a reminder pammerm1@swarthmore.edu that there are still entire worlds left for mankind to explore. NASA’s ability to captivate the imagination and push what is thought to be possible, not to mention how they’ve advanced applied science fields of all sorts, has been amazing in the past half century. Yet, the investigation of Mars is beckoning in a new era of space exploration — and NASA’s role in this new era is far from guaranteed. Competition from other countries threatens to usurp NASA’s role in leading a decades-long study of the red planet. President Obama has praised NASA for the success of its Curiosity rover, and has gone on to say he thinks humans will be able to orbit Mars by the year 2030. But actions speak louder than words, and Obama has proposed that NASA’s Mars exploration program’s budget be slashed from $587 million to $360 million next year. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency, and its Russian equivalent Roscomos, have begun making plans to carry out their own exploration program, ExoMars, without the collaboration of the United States. Although NASA was one of the original partners of the program, budget overruns from their James Webb Space Telescope project and Obama’s proposed budget have heightened fears that they will have to pull out of the program entirely. Although the launch of the European and Russian program has had serious difficulties and delays, ExoMars plans to have two rover launches to Mars by the end of the decade.
Obviously, getting a rover as complex as Curiosity to Mars is no small matter, and its fruition was a result of not only a large amount of funding, but teams of hundreds of scientists collaborating on years of work, and with some of the rover’s equipment being provided by Spain and Russia. The rover Curiosity is the most advanced planetary rover ever built. It shares some elements with the two previous Mars rovers — Spirit and Opportunity — such as six-wheel drive, a specially designed suspension system that allows the rover to climb over obstacles keeping all six wheels on the ground, and mounted cameras that help scientists at NASA provide the rover with directions and target sites. The landing site, Gale Crater, was chosen by a team of scientists from a list of over 30 potential landing sites. The Crater has been shown to have exposures of minerals that suggest the crater likely contained water at some point in its history. The site was also chosen based on how easily Curiosity could be safely landed on it. Curiosity is unique in its ability to gather rock and soil samples on Mars, and then distribute them to different analytical instruments with which it is equipped. A gas chromatograph, a mass spectrometer, and a turntable laser spectrometer allow the rover to identify a range of organic compounds, as well as the ratios of different isotopes. Curiosity also comes equipped with an X-ray diffraction and fluorescence instrument, which are designed to quantify the amounts of minerals found in rocks and soils on Mars. Of all the equipment on Curiosity, this is only the tip of the ice cap (no icebergs on Mars!). It carries with it numerous other high-resolution cameras and more analytical equipment, including a device called ChemCam — a laser that can vaporize thin layers of material from Martian rocks and soil (this serves to both identify what makes up the target, as well as to illuminate an area that can be photographed using Curiosity’s telescope). All this equipment is designed first and foremost to provide clues as to whether Mars does or ever has had the ability to harbor life, according to the Rover’s page on the NASA website. This is the question that NASA’s multibillion dollar project has set out to answer, and the question that will hopefully keep future generations looking skyward. Such a discovery would fundamentally change the way we must look at ourselves in relationship to the rest of the universe. Yet, will the quest to find microbes on Mars whet American appetites for discovery the same way putting a man on the moon did in the 1960s? Curiosity certainly grabbed the
attention of a great number of people, but what will happen if the rover’s results come back inconclusive? What will happen if the rover finds no new evidence that there may have once been the potential for life on Mars? With NASA straining their budget to complete their current projects, and under the gun from America’s politicians to keep costs low, the balance in the global race to cultivate Mars may be tilting. Fifteen European countries are in negotiations, collaborating on plans to build what would be the largest optical telescope on earth, aptly named the European Extremely Large Telescope. The Telescope, which would be built on the mountain Cerro Armazones in northern Chile, would be able to collect at least twelve times more light than today’s largest optical telescope and could be used to search for alien planets and to study dark matter and dark energy. And recently, a Britain-based consortium of eight countries decided that what will be the world’s most powerful radio telescope, the also aptly named Square Kilometre Array (SKA), will be built in South Africa, with collaboration from Australia and New Zealand. This telescope will be able to detect radio energy from distant parts of the universe using a wide array of dishes (a square kilometer’s worth in this case). The telescope will be 50 times more sensitive and 10,000 times faster processing data than any other telescope on the planet, and will help to answer questions about the magnetism of the Milky Way and of other galaxies as well. This global effort of investigating the cosmos will help mankind advance what we know about the universe around us. However, NASA will first have to answer a question back on Earth: what role will the United States have in this newly global endeavor? Clearly NASA has led the way in the hunt for habitable alien planets, but if funding for such programs is cut in this country, perhaps Europe or Russia will have an edge in resources and the United States will serve as a partner, or simply a contributor to an international space program like ExoMars. This is not to say that NASA will not still be a leader in what it does. The Hubble Telescope, and the future James Webb Space Telescope, are unrivaled achievements. The United States is also heavily involved in the International Space Station, which may be able to foster commercial space travel in the near future. Curiosity was a huge success without a doubt, but as the project comes closer to completion, it may mean a turning point for America’s space program, and time for NASA to decide how to utilize its time and funding in the future.
LETTER FROM THE EDITOR Hello Swarthmore community, It is great to see all of your familiar faces back on campus, especially those of you in the class of 2013 (woohoo seniors!). I’d also like to welcome the incoming freshmen and congratulate you all for your acceptances and decision to spend the next four years of your life at Swarthmore. It truly is an amazing place that functions as a family and — as you can probably tell from your orientation activities — provides you with plenty of support throughout your college years. As a senior, I remember stepping onto campus and having a blast during orientation participating in a bunch of enjoyable activities. Orientation is certainly a time to meet your classmates, make friends, explore campus (careful: trees are labeled, not buildings) and think about which groups you want to join. Not to be subtle or anything, but The Phoenix is one of those many groups you can join. Throughout my three years on staff, I have interacted with plenty of faculty members, befriended many members of the campus community and constantly been updated about what is happening on campus. In short, I can say that The Phoenix has been my favorite extracurricular group at Swarthmore and I would like to encourage you to join our staff if you are interested. Despite how lame this letter may sound, we are really a fun group of people and we enjoy what we do: delivering news to the campus community. As a weekly publication, we provide opportunities for Swatties who have experience in everything from art to blogging to writing to photography to copy editing. In my opinion, one of the best aspects of The Phoenix is the training we offer across multiple disciplines. Unlike other publications on campus, we actually produce a product in print, which allows for positions in graphic layout. Our office has ten new iMacs with the latest versions of Adobe InDesign and Photoshop installed on them. If you are curious about graphic design, then you are more than welcome to join! In addition, we have spent many hours preparing for the upcoming semester over the summer. The print layout is brand spankin’ new and, if you have not seen it yet, I encourage you to visit our new website (swarthmorephoenix.com) and offer feedback. We are plastic and paper. You can check out job positions on our website, sign your parents up for a semester-long subscription and, last but not least, send in an application. Our social media outlets are also always open to more friends and followers, so don’t be afraid to friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or Pinterest. We really are friendly, no lie (#2chainz). With that said, I hope you enjoy flipping through this orientation issue. It was designed particularly for you, freshmen, so read up. Cheers to a jolly fall semester! Sincerely, Marcus Mello ’13 Editor in Chief PAGE 14
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THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
Sports
Swarthmore Phoenix
Q&A with associate athletic director By ROY GREIM SportsWriter rgreim1@swarthmore.edu
DD: What do you see as the role of athletics in an academic institution?
After the departure of associate athletic director Christyn Abaray, director Adam Hertz was left in search of a replacement. On July 30, he announced his choice: Nnenna Akotaobi. Ms. Akotaobi comes to Swarthmore from Grinnell College, where she was the coordinator for diversity and achievement in athletics, as well as the assistant coordinator for athletic facilities and event management. She graduated from the University of Denver in 2009, where she had a stellar run as a student-athlete as a member of the basketball team. Dan Duncan recently interviewed Ms. Akotaobi, who was kind enough to discuss her past work, studentathlete experience, and thoughts on her new job.
NA: Athletics and other co-curricular activities are an integral part of a students’ collegiate experience. They support an institution’s educational mission in helping students unearth and discover their potential in many arenas. I believe competitive athletics, in particular, can challenge students to reach their physical, emotional and intellectual potential and ways that they might not otherwise discover. Students are charged to do this while managing performance expectations, pressure, physical exertion, etc. Most importantly, Division-III athletic participation is a more balanced approach to allowing students the opportunity to continue their athletics careers while being extraordinary students and campus leaders.
Dan Duncan: Could you describe some of the work you did to increase diversity in athletics at Grinnell?
DD: Could you describe your experience playing basketball in college? Do you think there is a difference between the experience at the DI and DIII levels?
“One of the things that excites me most about working at Swarthmore is this institution’s support of diversity and inclusive excellence.” Nnenna Akotaobi: At Grinnell, I was primarily responsible for the retention of underrepresented studentathletes. I was charged with providing academic and social support for students from diverse backgrounds, as well as facilitating workshops and educational initiatives for studentathletes and athletic department faculty and staff. I also supported Grinnell’s coaches in reaching out to a broad spectrum of prospective student-athletes and advocating for Grinnell College. Many do not think of Grinnell as a bastion of diversity given its location in rural, central Iowa, but the institution is incredibly diverse. We did our best to communicate that message to prospective students and families who might not have otherwise considered Grinnell. DD: Is that something you plan to continue to work on at Swarthmore? NA: One of the things that excites me most about working at Swarthmore is this institution’s support of diversity and inclusive excellence. Adam Hertz certainly wants the athletic department to continue to excel in these areas; he has been the greatest advocate of continuing some of the work I did in Iowa on this campus. DD: When sports like tennis or swimming are not diverse in the “real world,” can colleges play a role in improving diversity in sports beyond their teams? NA: Some sports may not reflect the racial and ethnic demographics of the world, but the wonderful thing about diversity is that it is broadly defined. Beyond race, ethnicity and nationality, diversity can be one’s religious affiliation or socioeconomic class; it can be seen in gender identity and sexual orientation; its present in our political affiliations and creeds... the list goes on. College is one of the few environments where you get the opportunity to engage and learn in a diverse community. I wholeheartedly believe that athletics can also serve as one of these learning environments.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012
NA: The University of Denver (DU) is a relatively small Division-IAAA (non football) institution. DU is a very academically driven institution, however, there existed less of an opportunity to explore extracurricular activities outside of my academic and athletic obligations because of the time commitment that was required of us as students and athletes. This is one of the things I admire and enjoy the most about Division-III athletics; there exists an opportunity to balance all of the things your are passionate about if you choose to. DD: Does that experience have an impact on your career path and how you approach your job? NA: Absolutely! I was fortunate enough to have tremendous mentors and allies as an undergraduate student, many of them being administrators within and beyond athletics. Athletic administration was an opportunity to essential “pay it forward” and combine many of my professional interests: serving and supporting students and intercollegiate sports.
Preseason Soccer Picks It is wonderful how the new school year and the new football season just happen to coincide with each other. While you are trying to figure out your classes there are JAMES IVEY teams all across Out of Left Field the European jivey1@swarthmore.edu leagues trying to figure out how they want to play this season and what their objectives are. It is a new beginning for those clubs that were promoted and relegated, and it is a process of trying to take the next step for those teams that are already established in their league. It also signals the beginning of the fantasy league season where groups of people who really think they know about football try and budget to build what they think is the best team for the coming season and try to figure out who the best players will be. I only mention this because my team happens to be doing rather well at this early stage (the Premier League season only being two games old and all) but a good start is often a signal for later greatness unless you are an Arsenal or Bolton fan. Football is a great sport and it has such a large audience across the world that would vouch for it. The top leagues are littered with the great, the talented, and the hard workers that make football so much fun to watch. Each season great goals will be scored and hearts will be both gladdened and broken by a team’s performance in the league, the cup, or an international competition. Europe will send their greatest clubs together to compete for the Champions League trophy, which will give bragging rights to one club for the next season. But football isn’t all about the game or the progress of the competition; it is also about the back-stories and the gossip. What makes the Premier League the greatest league is probably, apart from the high level of football, the constant mind games, misbehaving players and transfer gossip as teams form and reform quicker than ever. The whole John Terry saga that took up the entire spring and summer, which had followed on from the Luis Suarez scandal, these problems provide a back-story to the games. It makes it more than just about football. It makes the games into something that matters even more, the Premiership might as well be a middle of the day drama that draws in those that have the time and energy to keep watching as more plot twists unfold. But this season looks set to be a great one. And Swansea’s strong start is similar to a donkey knowing how to surf, surprising. Swansea have proven that attacking football is both enjoyable to watch and a very successful strategy instead of the typical defensive football that most small teams seem to adopt in their first couple of sea-
sons in the Premier League. Though Swansea have lost Sinclair (he will go to Man City) and Allen, probably their best two players, they showed in their second game against West Ham that the philosophy is so ingrained in their play that losing their two best players should not be a stumbling block. Their choice of managers has been the most important factor behind their recent success. The Swansea board seems to pick great attacking managers with a degree of style thus never needing to rebuild the team or the club philosophy. Since Roberto Martinez they have hired Paolo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup who have all embraced the attacking, continental style of football that Martinez introduced to the club. Hopefully Swansea can keep going in this fashion for years to come and will give Wales a real taste of the Premier League. Chelsea happen to look deadly this season with a back in form Fernando Torres being given easy chances to score by his team mates, the trickery of Eden Hazard to tear open defences and a reformed style of play that revolves around the attacking talents of Lampard, Mata, Torres, and Hazard. Roberto Di Matteo has changed the culture of football at Chelsea through solid financial backing and a full post season to make plans, something that Andre Villas-Boas never got. But Di Matteo has managed to deal with internal conflict and to forge a new team with a new formation and style of play. Unlike the Chelsea of last year that based its success on a strong defence coupled with a very powerful forward in Drogba the new Chelsea seems weaker at the back right now but looks like they will dominate the ball more. It should be a good year for Chelsea but the big test will be their first match against one of the top five and to see how they step up against the biggest teams in Europe rather than mid table hopefuls. I really feel like there is time left before I bore you, the reader, to make a little prediction. I am going to take a gamble here and say that my favourite teams to go down are Aston Villa, who seem to have grown considerably weaker since Martin O’Neill left two years ago; Queens Park Rangers are a good candidate to go down as their transfer policy seems to be aimed at buying players who were good four or five years ago and seem to be at the end of their careers. The last team I would prophesise never making their current objectives is Liverpool who have been very disappointing and are trying to play passing football with two centre backs that are very uncomfortable with that style. Skrtel and Agger have suffered under this new system, which is a little confusing since last year they were very solid and Swansea under Rodgers was a defensively strong team as well. But this combination does not appear to be working at the moment for Liverpool so I can’t really see them getting Champions League this year or for a couple of years until they change their roster completely. All I can do is wait and hope that I have not just made a fool out of myself with these predictions, which I am almost willing to bet will now not happen just to spite me.
DD: Do you think there will be a difference between working at an East Coast school as opposed to one in the Midwest? NA: There will certainly be a difference in working at a college in a rural community and a college in a more suburban setting. I am looking forward to exploring these differences! DD: Finally, since all of us students are asked this on our applications to the college, Why Swarthmore? NA: Having come from a highly selective, liberal arts institution (Grinnell), it was important to me that my next professional experience was at a very similar institution that held similar values. I also enjoy engaging with this type of campus community and the diverse range of students that institutions that Swarthmore attract.
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Sports Swarthmore Phoenix
Kosmalski steps in as men’s basketball head coach By ROY GREIM Sports Writer rgreim1@swarthmore.edu
For the first time in 25 years, the men’s basketball team will begin its season without former head coach Lee Wimberly at the helm. Wimberly, who compiled a 184-417 record during his tenure, stepped down on December 5, 2011 due to health concerns, which elevated assistant coach Joe Culley to interim head coach for the remainder of the season. On May 4, 2012, Marian Ware Director of Athletics Adam Hertz announced Davidson College assistant Landry Kosmalski as the program’s next head coach. In a statement published by the Swarthmore Athletic Department’s website, Hertz said, “Landry stood out among an incredibly talented pool of candidates, demonstrating a keen understanding of the Swarthmore environment and a desire to lead a successful program while also participating fully in the life of the college. ” Kosmalski, who graduated from Davidson in 2000, is well accustomed to playing and coaching basketball at a small, liberal arts institution; Davidson, which is located in Davidson, North Carolina, has a student population of roughly 1,900. “I am a firm believer in the liberal arts, but even more than that, I recognize the value of being a member of a smaller campus,” Kosmalski said. “I have found you get more access to other community members in a more intimate environment, which makes for more meaningful, longer-lasting relationships.” Before he entered coaching, Kosmalski had a successful career with the Wildcats as a forward, averaging nearly 13 points and eight rebounds a game. Currently, he has the third most rebounds (877) and thirteenth-most points (1,438) in Davidson’s history. As a freshman during the 1996-1997 sea-
seeded Michigan 61-80 in the first round as Kosmalski tallied five points and five rebounds. “It all happened so quickly that many times over the years I have found myself wishing I could go back and do it all over again,” Kosmalski said. “The atmosphere was truly electric and took some time, too long in our case, to get acclimated to.” Although he was unable to return to the sport’s biggest stage, Kosmalski finished his college career on a high note, earning All-Conference honors during the 1998-1999 and 1999-2000 seasons. As a senior, he averaged 14.6 points per game and 8.9 rebounds per game, both career-highs. After graduating from Davidson, Kosmalski played professional basketball overseas, competing for Sweden’s 08 Stockholm Human Rights Basketball Club and the Sodertalje Kings. He finished his European career in 2004 with Valence Condom Castera RGB, a team based out of southwestern France. Later that year, Kosmalski returned to Davidson as an assistant under head coach Bob McKillop, currently the winningest coach in the SoCon. During a two-year stint, Kosmalski helped coach the Wildcats to a 26-5 conference record, a SoCon championship, and an appearance in the 2006 NCAA Tournament against 2nd-seeded Ohio State. Kosmalski then returned to Sweden as head coach for the 08 Human Rights developmental team, but it wasn’t long before he was back in America. On April 17, 2007 the Webb School of Knoxville, a private K-12 academy located in Tennessee, named Kosmalski as the head coach of its boy’s basketball team, a position he held for two years.
Curry’s departure was a setback for Davidson, but the Wildcats didn’t take long to regain competitive form. Last season, they recorded a 93-91 double overtime victory over Western Carolina in the SoCon tournament final to earn another berth to the NCAA Tournament. There they fell 69-62
son, Kosmalski was named Southern Conference Freshman of the Year by the media, a feat that only three other Davidson players have matched: Jamie Hall (1979), Stephen Curry (2007), and Jake Cohen (2012). Prior to the 1997-1998 campaign, Kosmalski received preseason All-Conference honors and the Wildcats were favored to win the North Division of the Southern Conference
During Kosmalski’s absence, Davidson experienced its greatest success in recent memory thanks to the arrival of Stephen Curry, the son of former NBA standout Dell Curry. Although he was away during Curry’s career, Kosmalski was able to observe his incredible talents up-close during the recruiting process. “Because he went to high school 20 minutes down the road in Charlotte, we saw him often and I had the pleasure to see him several times. He was small and thin, but even then, it was obvious that he possessed special skills and a unique confidence.” As a freshman in 2007-2008, Curry averaged 21.5 points game and was instrumental in leading the Wildcats to their second straight NCAA tournament appearance. The next year, Curry outdid himself, averaging 25.5 points per game as Davidson compiled a perfect 20-0 record in conference en route to another NCAA appearance. Led by Curry and point guard Jason Richards, tenth-seeded Davidson played Cinderella in a big way, as it reached the Elite Eight by defeating the Gonzaga Bulldogs, Georgetown Hoyas, and Wisconsin Badgers. In the fourth round, the Wildcats nearly upset Kansas, the eventual tournament champions, but fell 57-59 to the Jayhawks. After his junior year in 2008-2009, Curry declared for the NBA draft and was selected seventh overall by the Golden State Warriors. At the same time, Kosmalski was returning to his alma mater to coach under McKillop.
a lackluster campaign, the team ended on a high note, handling rival Haverford 91-80 at home in its most impressive game of the season. Although Kosmalski has had little interaction with the team so far, he has emphasized that the Garnet will likely have a more up-tempo look on offense, which has been a hallmark of Davidson’s program in recent years; before the game against Davidson, Louisville coach and basketball legend Rick Pitino complimented the Wildcats’ attack, calling it, “the Princeton offense on steroids.” This style, which emphasizes aggression and relies on a team’s quickness to generate points in transition, already appears to be popular with the players. “We have been slowing games down for most of my time here, so getting out and pushing the tempo will be a nice change and hopefully lead to easy buckets and more wins,” forward Will Gates ’13 said. “His explained coaching style did seem to fit with what we need,” center Eugene Prymak ‘13 added. “The prospects for the upcoming season definitely look better than they have for past seasons, as this whole program is committed to doing everything in our power to improve.” It appears that the Garnet is in the able hands of Kosmalski, who, despite his youth, has extensive experience in many different levels of the game. The new coach, coupled with a new look on offense, has the team excited for what could be its best season in a decade.
“The prospects for the upcoming season definitely look better than they have for past seasons, as this whole program is committed to doing everything in our power to improve.” (SoCon). After compiling a 13-2 record in conference en route to a 66-62 win over Appalachian State in the Southern Conference championship finals, Davidson earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 1986. The 14th-seeded Wildcats fell to Big Ten powerhouse and third-
“Landry stood out among an incredibly talented pool of candidates, demonstrating a keen understanding of the Swarthmore environment and a desire to lead a successful program while also participating fully in the life of the college. ” in the first round to the fourth-seeded Louisville Cardinals, who made it all the way to the Final Four. Now at Swarthmore, Kosmalski inherits a program that hasn’t had a winning season since his playing days at Davidson. Last season, the Garnet went 3-22 overall and finished last in conference as it showed flashes of brilliance, but often struggled to put it all together for the full 40 minutes. Despite
Athletics Events on Campus
Come support your fellow Swatties in the first games of their seasons! All games are at Clothier Field behind the athletic facilities.
Friday, August 31 4:00 PM Swat Kick Classic Women's Soccer vs. Misericordia University
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Saturday, September 1 10:00 AM Drew Tournament Field Hockey vs. Cabrini College
7:00 PM Garnet Alumni Classic Men's Soccer vs. Rutgers University in Newark
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Sunday, September 2 10:00 AM Drew Tournament Field Hockey vs. Mercy College
1:00 PM Swat Kick Classic Women's Soccer vs. Wellesley College
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2012