Phoenix October 5th 2017

Today in OPINIONS: Brittni Teresi From the heart of a Las Vegas Local A4, Editorial: The problem with promises A4

PHOENIX

THE

Field Hockey thrives under new coach

VOL. 144, NO. 4

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Making paper

Peter and Donna Thomas display book art in McCabe

October 5, 2017

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The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881

Volleyball players aim high by taking a knee

by Abby Young News Writer Last week at the women’s volleyball home game on Sept.

30 against Widener, most of the team knelt during the national anthem. Those who didn’t kneel held hands with their teammates in an expression of solidarity. Spectators were mostly activists and supporters; many of them were dressed in black and knelt in solidarity.

After the national anthem ended, the group returned to the stands, and president of the Swarthmore African-American Student Society Annie Slappy ’20 spoke words of encourage-

The week ahead

ment.

Slappy, who helped organize the spectators through a Facebook event, said that the players who knelt reached out to SASS for support.

“We couldn’t put it all on our players,” she said. “Any time anybody asks me to come to something like that, I’m going to do it.”

Prior to the team’s home game on Sept. 27 against Franklin and Marshall, the two players who started the protest, Emma Morgan-Bennett ’20 and Lelosa Aimufua ’20, released a statement outlining why they believed it was necessary to take a knee. In the statement, they

discussed how Trump’s incendiary comments about NFL players taking a knee feed into persistent racism in the United States and addressed questions of patriotism and peaceful protest.

Aimufua believes that the protest was a way to display her own political positions.

“Being a black woman is something that I think about in every aspect of my life … and so I want to say that the motivation behind this type of protest would be that feeling like my voice has constantly been silenced by American society,” Aimufa said.

Morgan-Bennett outlined four reasons why she decided to take

a knee: to support Colin Kaepernick’s original protest against the harm of police brutality on minorities; to condemn Donald Trump’s attacks on athletes of color; to make a gesture that she has faith in the country but wishes for people to recognize the differences of protection for people of color and affluent white male citizens; and finally, to promote solidarity and respect for veterans as she herself comes from a military family.

Both Aimufua and MorganBennett commented that, in addition to wanting to support Kaepernick and denounce Trump, they wanted to start a discussion of the intersection

between race and sports, especially at the college level. According to Aimufua, they spent a lot of time considering their statement and met with their teammates, coaches, and the assistant director of athletics.

Morgan-Bennett noted that these meetings contributed to what she views as one of the successes of this protest.

“We began a dialogue and opened a conversation about race, about activism, about the relationships between sports and black bodies on the court and on the field. Our entire team had a very meaningful and incontinued on page A2

Women’s varsity volleyball takes a knee at game vs. Widener

Thursday The Environmental Studies Program, Lang Center, and Art Department are coming together to host Imagine!

Art, Environment, and Social Change. The event will feature a three person panel including Ciara Williams ’16 Environmental Educator at Mural Arts Philadelphia, will discuss diverse ways bridges the arts, social change, and environmental themes.

The event will take place 4:30-6:00pm in the Scheuer Room.

An Anti-Racism Teach-in will feature 5 faculty offer different perspectives on the resurgence of white supremacy in Charlottesville and many other places; what makes for effective anti-racist action; and other topics. It will take place in LPAC from 6-8.

Friday Garnet Homecoming and Family Weekend will kick off on Friday and continue over the weekend with events ranging from open houses to tailgates. For a full list of the events see the Garnet Weekend webpage.

Saturday The Lang Center will host Hilarity and Political Commentary with Jenny Yang in LPAC from 8-10.

Sunday Student teams compete in the longstanding tradition of Crum Regatta to race using watercraft of their own creation.The event will take place in the Crum Meadow from 10:30-11:00am.

Tuesday The faculty lecture will be Christopher Fraga, Assistant Professor of Anthropology on “Becoming Contemporary: Art Lessons from Mexico City.” At 4:15-6:00 in McCabe.

Shelby Dolch / The Phoenix

On Saturday morning members of the volleyball team took a knee during the National Anthem in solidarity with professional athletes across the country.

With a new LGBTQ+ fellow, heritage celebrations such as Pride Month and Latinx Heritage Month, and the approach of its 25th anniversary, the college’s Intercultural Center has a busy year ahead.

For its anniversary, the IC has a program for each month.

This month, the center is highlighting 25 facts about the IC, which are posted in various places around campus.

For example, Fact #15, found in Wharton AB 1, reads: “At a certain point, Swarthmore’s admissions department began creating admissions brochures for specific populations, such as LGBTQ+, Asian, and Latinx prospective students.”

“Our goals this year are to continue to expand the visibility and reach of the Intercultural Center in order to advocate for identity-based groups to ensure marginalized [and] oppressed voices and perspectives are included in college-wide initiatives and decision making,” said IC director and dean of the sophomore class Jason Rivera in an email.

On Sept. 25, The IC had a kickoff event for Latinx Heritage Month, which runs from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Future events for the month include an a “Celebrating La Familia” event, a Moment of Silence and Town Meeting Observing Indigenous People’s Day, and a Breakfast, Latinx Documentary, and Discussion.

This past Monday, the IC had an open house for faculty, students, and staff that featured food from different cultures, music, and a chance to talk to each other and IC staff.

“I’d like to think the IC Open House … was very successful,” said Rivera. “I was especially

OneCard expands access, increases options

by Trina Paul News Writer

When the OneCard system at the college was launched in May 2016, it was implemented to create a single system that would enable students to have card access to most buildings on campus. Now, the OneCard serves as an ID, a key for more buildings on campus, a library card, and a way to access dining services on- and off-campus.

This year, the OneCard has expanded to grant students

access to all dorms as well as more academic buildings, such as Beardsley, Trotter, and Pearson. In addition, an email from Paula Dale in September announced that the Swarthmore Campus and Community store would be accepting Swat Points on the OneCard for snacks, beverages, and health and beauty products.

Now the OneCard can also be utilized at another dining service on campus: Paces Cafe.

“We no longer accept cash, but we take Swat Points (off-

campus points) and Garnet Cash. The change in accessibility has created a spike in sales and put pressure on our staff,” Ahmad Shaban ’19, Paces cafe director, said of the shift to Paces being on the meal plan.

While the OneCard has broadened dining options both on and off-campus for students since its implementation, some students note some drawbacks.

Adan Leon ’18 believes that the OneCard is only useful for Swat Points, or points that can be used at exclusive vendors in

the Ville.

“In terms of living off-campus [the OneCard] was helpful because I could use points at the co-op. If it weren’t for Swat Points, the OneCard wouldn’t be worth it,” Leon said.

Leon also finds the use of the OneCard by Public Safety for building access occasionally problematic. He believes these issues did not exist prior to the implementation of the OneCard and are a part of larger transition for Public Safety.

“When I came here in Fall

2013, Public Safety was very helpful and saw themselves as a service. I think [Public Safety] and its use [of the Onecard] is part of an overall shift towards security instead of service. For example, they don’t open the doors for students anymore.

Because they have a registry they can easily access electronically, they are now able to deny students’ access to certain places,” Leon said.

In contrast, Director of Pubcontinued on page A2

Revamped Paces Cafe hopeful for greater customer satisfaction

by Daniel Lee News Writer

Tomorrow will have a high of 300.93 kelvins, with a low of 290.93 kelvins. Who’s Kelvin?? What’d he do to get a unit of temperature named after him???

CONTENTS Campus news A1-A2 Arts news A3 Opinions A4 Campus Journal A5-A6 Sports A7-A8

Copyright © 2017 The Phoenix

by Reuben Gelley Newman News Writer

continued on page A2

Weather

Read more at swarthmorephoenix.com

IC celebrates 25th annivsary, hires new LGBTQ+ fellow

Gillie Tillson / The Phoenix

Easier OneCard access will make Paces Cafe more accessible to students.

For the past couple semesters, Paces Cafe has been rapidly changing its policies to be more tailored to the students. This semester, it has continued updating by increasing OneCard access, expanding its staff, and customizing its menu.

For instance, the second semester of the 2016-2017 calendar year saw the cafe introduce the OneCard as a new method of payment. However, the OneCard plan for Paces was unique in that they could only accept Swat Points — which are points used in the Ville — in bundles of $10.

Claire Conley ’20, a second-year short order cook, and other members of Paces saw that this was a problem because students were often forced to spend more money if they wanted to use their

OneCards.

“At the beginning of Paces last spring, [we] could only take Ville Points in bundles of $10. This led to a lot of frustration as not many people want to be forced into paying $10 if they really only want an Italian soda,” Conley said.

In response, Paces compromised with administration to introduce $5 bundles as well, but this put pressure on Paces instead. Conley said that in order for Paces to sell food last year in bundles of $5 or $10, food items had to be very overpriced or underpriced. However, Conley noted that the transition to the OneCard made the cafe much more accessible and popular to students.

Cindy Li ’20 is one such students who was attracted by the new OneCard option.

“I had never been to Paces un-

til last spring when they started offering the OneCard. However, I found it difficult to go often because I had to spend a certain amount of money each time,” Li said.

To make the OneCard more usable and appealing, Ahmad Shaban ’19, the head director at Paces Cafe, worked over the summer to make key changes to improve customer satisfaction.

“We no longer accept cash, but we take Swat Points (off-campus points) and Garnet Cash. This change is helpful because we no longer have to worry about the process of cash handling, and instead, we can focus on the operation. We are happy with this change because now more students can come to Paces and enjoy the beautiful space, the great food and drinks, and the continued on page A2

THE PHOENIX NEWS

PAGE A2

October 5, 2017

Protest, continued from A1 trospective conversation about race and racial politics within our sport, within our team and what we want to do with this,” Morgan-Bennett said.

She also hopes that taking a knee could potentially spread to other colleges in the area, sparking a conference-wide protest.

Head Women’s Volleyball coach Harleigh Chwastyk explained that the team has been addressing this issue for over a year by having discussions on diversity and identity in classroom sessions, small groups, and one-on-one conversations.

According to Chwastyk, the team also discussed each player’s opinions about Morgan-Bennett and Aimufua’s statement and the choice to kneel or stand for the national anthem.

“We talked about how we felt about it, individual choices, where people stood, where their opinions were in that moment and what they were planning on doing [during the national anthem], and how we could also show solidarity as a team,” Chwastyk said.

Outside of the team, the spectators who took a knee believe that it generated a conversation on campus about racial injustice.

“It’s a good way to call attention to injustices that have been occurring in the world,” said Lali Pizarro ’20, a spectator

who participated in the protests.

“I do think that it was powerful and it got people on this campus talking.”

Aimufua sees the protest as a success in part because it allowed for people to think about larger issues facing the country.

“What I wanted from the protest was for people to actually reflect on the status of the country and how … to make this country great, because I don’t think it’s great right now, and I think we can do so much better,” Aimufua said.

When asked why they decided to kneel specifically at Swarthmore, Morgan-Bennett said that regardless of the school they attended, they would have made the same choice because they felt compelled to follow their personal morals as black athletes.

“We are people who occupy both spaces on the court and also our own identities as black women … it’s not about an ideal place to protest,” Morgan-Bennett said.

Aimufua agreed with her teammate.

“We live here … it’s an important part of our lives … and our activism is also another important part of our lives,” she said.

Their activism is now closely tied to the fierce national debate about patriotism and first

amendment rights in relation to sports.

The debate has gotten more attention lately since late September when, at a rally in Alabama, Donald Trump made a series of inflammatory comments regarding Colin Kaepernick’s taking a knee during the national anthem to protest police brutality. After the rally and

following Trump’s tweets, the “Take a Knee” protest spread, including more players kneeling, linking arms, or raising fists during the pre-game national anthem.

Referring to these events and an op-ed published by the Daily Gazette this past Thursday, Slappy said that often, people will tell black protesters that

Shelby Dolch / The Phoenix

they are “ineffectual” or not “protesting in the right way.” “[It’s a sentiment] that further reinforces the [idea] that black people are only here for sports, and I feel like black people already feel that enough,” Slappy said.

She also commented that society judges black people almost exclusively by how hard they

work and their physical characteristics, which is reflected in how black athletes are expected to perform but not have a political voice.

“It’s time for us to understand that black bodies are fetishized, especially in sports. Because the fact that all of these things are happening in the world and football fans don’t feel responsible for it is a problem, especially since there is so much money and influence in athletics,” Slappy said.

Aimufua offered a way to understand her and her teammates’ gesture through established practices in organized sports.

“What kneeling for the anthem means is that in sports, if someone gets injured on the field, you take a knee, regardless if the person is on your team or the opposing team. Taking a knee is a sign of respect and acknowledgement that someone is hurt, and someone is down, and they need you to care, and take a breath, and reflect,” Aimufua said.

Aimufua and Morgan-Bennett’s full statement can be found on page A4 of this issue of the Phoenix.

Paces, continued from A1 warm, cheerful atmosphere that our staff creates,” Shaban wrote in an email. Paces has already seen a spike in sales this year after the adoption of the new OneCard plan.

Another notable change is that Paces hired an extra barista for every night to cut down the waiting time for food and drinks. Li and other customers said one of the main criticisms last year was that the orders were very backed up, and sometimes drinks and food would come out at totally different times.

“I know as someone who has worked some very busy shifts [that] the second barista is essential. Milkshakes are [difficult] to make, super messy and ingredient heavy,” said Conley. Hiring a barista also allowed other cooks to specialize in their own areas of food; this allows both drinks and

food to be ready more quickly.

Li also vouched for this improvement.

“The time for the food to come out this year is definitely faster compared to last year, but it’s still pretty slow. Also, Paces has only been open for several weeks this year so I think once the opening week crowd disappears in a bit, the food will come out even faster,” she said.

The last significant change is the menu itself. Paces wants to introduce more food and drink options. One way they are doing this is by serving vegetarian and vegan options. Paces also hired Henry Han ’20, an experienced former chef to help with menu decisions.

“He makes sure that everything is running smoothly each night, but as a former chef himself, he wants to talk with the

people that work at Paces about sprucing up the menu. I am super excited about this, because one of my favorite things that Paces does is specials,” Conley said.

These three physical changes focus not only on improving the customer experience but also the worker experience. Conley hopes that an increase in customers will bring in enough revenue to pay the workers more.

“Another goal is to eventually make a profit to the point where they can pay the workers and be independent of the college.

Right now our revenue covers the cost of food, but we don’t make enough money to pay our workers hourly wages,” Conley said.

Paces continues to take student feedback to help improve the experience. It will be exciting to see how the cafe will continue to change in the future.

Gillie Tillson / The Phoenix

IC Fellow, continued from A1 happy to see so many students from each class year interacting. Also, at one point, I looked over at the Fragrance Garden, in the IC Courtyard, and saw students, faculty, and staff interacting — some sitting on the grass and benches, some standing and mingling, and others swaying to the sounds of the music as they chatted with each other. It was a beautiful moment — one that I hope we can continue to recreate.”

Next year, Rivera plans to host a joint open house with the Interfaith Center and the Office of International Student Services in their new space in Sproul Hall. Joyce Tompkins, director of religious and spiri-

tual life, and Jennifer MarksGold, director of international student services, were present at the IC Open House.

Dean Rivera said that the IC could also improve on some missions, such as working more closely with student organizations.

“I don’t think we do this poorly now, but I certainly think there is room for improvement,” he said.

Cooper Kidd, the new LGBTQ+ fellow, will be working with organizations like COLORS, a group for queer students of color, and the Swarthmore Queer Union. He majored in sociology with a focus in stratification at the University

of Maryland at College Park, where he worked closely with the LGBT Equity Center. During his time there, he helped program a weekly support group for transgender students and one for students who identify as queer and Asian. This work motivated him to join the staff here, and he thinks this background will prove invaluable at the Intercultural Center.

“I feel that I am better able to offer logistical and functional support having had experience doing similar work to what students at Swarthmore do,” said Kidd. “In a similar way I feel that my personal experience also informs my work here as I know what it is like to be a queer person navigating college.”

In addition to working with the LGBTQ+ student organizations, Kidd will be a resource for students and will work with the Pride Month Committee.

Pride Month runs from Oct. 20 to Nov. 20. Kidd appreciates that the committee has been intentional about planning intersectional events, such as the Latinx movie screening.

“The foci that I have this aca-

demic year are around creating intentional programming that focuses on intersectionality and processes and practices that are more inclusive for trans students,” said Kidd.

Ignacio Rivera’s visit to campus on Sept. 8 provides one example of this intersectional program. Rivera (they/them/ theirs) is “a Queer, Trans, TwoSpirit, Black-Boricua Taíno … activist, writer, educator, filmmaker, performance artist, and mother,” as described in the email announcing their visit.

Rivera’s events on campus, “The Evolution of the Talk and Sexy Survivor” and “All of Me Poetry Performance,” focused on discussing these identities in the campus community.

One way Kidd hopes to help transgender students on campus is by helping the Self Study Action Committee streamline the name change process.

Kidd also wants to help students access queer-related events both on and off campus.

He took students to the Philly Trans Health Conference in early September and to Princeton University on Wednesday, Oct. 4 to see black queer female

writer Roxane Gay in conversation.

Just as the college has a new LGBTQ+ fellow, the IC has new interns, including five first-year students. As shown in a pamphlet distributed at the open house on Monday, they bring a diverse set of backgrounds and skills to the job. All the interns have office hours, available online at the IC website.

“I hope that I can not only use those experiences to help other people but that by hearing others’ experiences, they can help me figure out my own,” said Gene Witkowski ’21, one of the interns, referring to his experiences questioning his sexuality and his ethnic identity as a Haitian-American.

“I would love to say that I’ve been able to make somebody’s experience more inclusive, or make Swat feel more like a home to them, or at least make the IC feel more like a home to them,” said Witkowksi.

Dean Rivera echoed Witkowski’s goals, saying that the IC has done well in fostering a caring and supportive community.

“When I arrived at Swarth-

more in July 2016, it was clear to me that the IC was in many ways a home base for some students,” said Rivera. “I thought then, and still believe today, that it is incredibly important for students to have a space like the IC because I know how valuable it is to have something to connect to when you are a student — to have a space where you can feel comfortable being yourself.”

The IC has come a long way since 1992, when it was founded “as a result of student activism aimed at securing increased administrative support of, and commitment to, Students of Color and Queer students at Swarthmore College,” according to its website.

Back then, it only consisted of three student groups, according to Swarthmore’s website: the Hispanic Organization for Latino Awareness, the Swarthmore Asian Organization, and Action Les-B-Gay, which have since evolved into other organizations on campus.

Now, with a much broader array of organizations and a dedicated staff, the IC looks forward to an eventful year.

greater security on campus.

“Ultimately, the plan for OneCard is to have all campus buildings online. This helps reduce the number of keys, increases the security by being able to ensure doors are not left unlocked, and provides a way for students to keep track of multiple services in one, easy place,” Coschignano wrote in an email.

In addition, Coschignano sees the OneCard being tied into other systems, such as SEPTA, as well as the OneCard offering a more comprehensive set of

services in the future.

“We are still in the process of adding functionality to the OneCard program. As this evolves, students will eventually have “one card” that will keep track of a wide variety of services in one place,” Coschignano said. sxThe OneCard and its expansive abilities on campus indicate that it will continue to remain a part of the lives of Swarthmore students.

OneCard, continued from A1 Shelby Dolch / The Phoenix

lic Safety Mike Hill highlighted the increased access that the OneCard provides.

“Prior to OneCard, students would not be able to gain access after a certain time or would have to sign out a key from public safety; now students can study and work whenever they need to,” Hill stated in an email.

While the OneCard is viewed as beneficial to some and as an occasional annoyance to Leon, its capabilities can go beyond building access. The OneCard also has the ability to track the

movements of individual students, though Hill wrote that Public Safety does not do so unless in cases of emergency.

“In an emergency or a situation where there is a concern for the safety of a community member, the Director of Public Safety, in consultation with the Care & Concern Team, is authorized to review where an individual entered or swiped last,” Hill wrote.

Executive director of auxiliary services Anthony Coschignano hopes to expand the services of the OneCard to ensure

ARTS

October 5, 2017 PAGE A3

Forty years of paper: A Peter and Donna Thomas retrospective in McCabe Library

By Andi Cheng Arts Writer

Standing in a pool of golden afternoon sunlight with a gentle mechanical whir filling the air, visiting book artists Peter and Donna Thomas held up a single translucent sheet of freshly pressed paper. The crowd of students surrounding the artists passed around the dewy and pale pink sheet, silently admiring its fragile strength. On Monday, McCabe Library hosted Peter and Donna Thomas for a papermaking seminar. This demonstration served as a culmination for the Library’s ongoing exhibition, “Peter and Donna Thomas: The Work of 40 Years.” The show will be on display until Oct. 7 in the McCabe Library Atrium.

Old friends and collaborators, Peter and Donna Thomas have worked together to hone their craft for four decades. Their artwork centers on bookmaking, a multifaceted craft that combines papermaking, woodworking, bookbinding, illustration, printmaking, and a host of other arts and crafts skills.

As this dizzying array of requisite abilities sounds extremely intimidating, it is extraordinary that the Thomases work on every aspect of their books rather than outsourcing what could be viewed as more tedious tasks such as binding or papermaking.

“I think the fact that they’ve been making books for so long and that they do everything themselves is pretty unusual.

Most book artists focus on one or two aspects. Some book artists do every part of it, but there are very few that still do it that way. A lot of the time, they’ll hire a binder to do the binding for them, or a box maker to make the box,” said exhibition curator

Photo by Helen Huh

Amy McColl.

McColl was also impressed by the fact that the artists had taught themselves such an intricate and precise craft.

“But [Peter and Donna Thomas] are involved in every aspect and are largely self-taught. They did take classes but started out just with interest. It’s really kind of inspiring that they’ve been doing this for so long and have made their livelihood out of it.”

The Thomases cofounded a printing press, the Good Book Press, in 1977. This venture heralded the course their career would take over the next forty years. Soon after starting, their press printed several volumes of poetry. From the very beginning, poetry has played a huge role in the development of theme and language and serves as inspiration for a large proportion of their books. Many of the Thomases’ works combine poetry and

visual imagery to create a richer and more compelling narrative.

“Donna and I talk of ourselves as book artists, and that’s pretty much in contrast to someone being a publisher. Book artists make books like painters make paintings and sculptors make sculptures: to create an aesthetic experience for their audience,” said Peter Thomas.

Thomas believes that books have the potential to transcend the dimensional limits of other media like movies.

“The book has so many great potentials because of the fact that it is more than just 2-D or 3-D; it’s got the way that the 2-D and the 3-D combine with the story. It’s like a movie, but a movie is not physical. You can’t hold it with you. So the book has all these wonderful opportunities to express yourself as an artist,” said Thomas.

Many of their artworks not

only combine visual imagery and typographic content to tell a narrative, but also involve medium and even surface to enhance that story. Their work “The Alder” is based on a William Everson poem with the same title. The poem describes an act of destruction, of chopping down a tree to burn it, but this harsh utilitarianism is all but absent in the Thomases’ visual rendition.

Pale blue hues and sepia-toned browns underscored by rich blacks generate an aura reminiscent of standing in a clearing on a calm, crisp fall morning, watching the leaves at the edges of the forest around you tumble to the ground. Roughly bound between thick, golden-hued slabs of wood that the Thomases salvaged from a fallen tree, “The Alders”, as a monument to creation, itself contrasts Everson’s poem about destruction “As we have come to under-

stand Everson’s poem, through the process of creating this book, the poem’s alder tree represented for Everson his own lost potential. In the poem the poet fells an old and stately tree, but only to use it as firewood.

Everson was at the height of his career when he was working on this poem, and had recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Like the alder, he was cut down in his prime, no longer able to create the work he previously thought possible,” read an exhibition placard.

While Peter and Donna Thomas are undoubtedly committed to the quality of their work, they are not solely focused on individual projects and their own work. Committed to and passionate about bookmaking, some of their works have an educational component, spreading awareness of and teaching others about the techniques they

have amassed over their extensive career. “[Peter and Donna Thomas are] also really into papermaking, and [“Paper from Plants”] actually focuses on that,” said McColl.

“It features paper made from all different plants. You can see the textures, and in some cases, you can actually see the leaf as part of the page… [The book] also shows the technique.

[Peter and Donna Thomas are] very interested in sharing their knowledge that they’ve gained over the years, and how there are a variety of ways to make paper.

Usually paper is made from cotton rags, scraps of fabric; in this case, they’re using plant fibers. I think it’s an educational book in some ways, but it’s also a beautiful book.”

Photo by Helen Huh

Making music: first-years at Swarthmore

By Abraham Lyon Arts Writer An eclectic mix of classical, choral, jazz, hip-hop, and rock defines the Swarthmore music scene. The college offers many opportunities for musicians to perform and connect with others to play and produce music through the music department as well as several clubs and venues. The Swarthmore Gospel Choir, Chaverim, and WSRN all provide venues for musically interested students. Depending on the type of music, many firstyears are involved or working to get involved and develop their melodic talents.

Loud and Underground, a group founded by Dina Ginzburg ’18, focuses on engaging queer people, people of color, and/or women who are interested in making music. She was driven to found the group by her frustration with the Swarthmore music scene and the lack of an art

scene that allowed for creative collaboration and community.

“The scene is dominated by straight white guys playing guitar rock,” said Ginzburg.

Since its founding, Loud and Underground has hosted a costume cover show in Olde Club and a basement show in The Barn. Currently the group is planning to have a Trico Loud and Underground Mixer.

Additionally, the club will host a second costume cover show and hopes to add more events throughout the year.

Loud and Underground hopes to foster a culture in the music scene that creates a low barrier of entry.

“The idea is that you don’t need to be really good at playing an instrument to make cool and interesting music, and sometimes it’s even easier when you don’t know how to do anything to do it in a new way,” Ginzburg said.

Loud and Underground offers

an open and engaged community to people of color, women, and queer people interested in artistic and musical expression.

With a diverse and expanding music scene at Swarthmore, first-years are trying to determine where their talents and interests lie.

Cielo De Dios ’21 plays piano and composes. She is interested in joining an instrumental group but isn’t sure how to get involved. She categorizes her compositions as modern and is excited at the prospect of potentially working with other students to compose and perform.

“Most of the music groups I’ve heard of at Swat are a cappella groups which I’m not really interested in joining, however, if there’s any other kinds of music groups that involve instrumentals then yeah I’d be down to join,” said De Dios.

Lucas Barton ’21 is already involved with the college orchestra and wind ensemble

where he plays tuba. Aside from his performances, Barton enjoys composing various types of music for piano and tuba.

“Since I have no grand ambition as a composer my work is usually inspiration based.

Often, I’d find myself humming a tune I’d come up with and I’d sit down at the piano and think, ‘well what could I do with this?’

Eighty percent of the time the answer was nothing at all, but for the other twenty percent I would sit at the piano for a while and fit that tune into either a melody or bassline, which I’d return to later to add parts that were missing,” Barton said, describing his artistic process.

Rueben Newman ’21 studies and performs in a Music department chorus group. The group performs western music pre1600 such as Gregorian chants and madrigals. Reuben tells me there are other freshman in both groups, however the Music Department does not offer much

for those interested in music outside of the classical genre.

“I’m in the chorus, we’re singing Bach’s Magnificat, and I’ve joined a new Fetter Assembly that focuses on early vocal music,” Newman said.

Owais Noorani-Kamtekar ’21 is now part of the same small ensemble and has also joined the Jazz Big Band and the Swarthmore Gospel Choir. He first got involved with the Swarthmore music scene as a prospective student.

“When I first toured campus about a year ago, I learned of the existence of a small jazz ensemble, and I instantly became quite interested in Swarthmore.

Last spring, I came up and jammed with said ensemble, and because of my good experience I decided to commit,” said Noorani-Kamtekar.

Skyler Cornell plays guitar for his highschool band Swim Rest.

They write and perform original pieces that Skyler describes as

Kitao holds first ever first-year arts showcase

By Joe Mariani Arts Editor

Freshman cannot live in Worth, cannot be Residential Assistants, and they cannot even declare their majors. However, last Friday’s show at Kitao proved that they can be artists, and quite good ones at that.

Kitao, Swarthmore’s student run arts space, held their first ever first year student showcase.

Maral Gaeeni ‘18, an Art History major one of the students organizing Kitao this year, said the idea for the first-year student showcase came from a brainstorming session about how create more opportunities for first years to engage with arts scene on campus. The showcase was announced in a mass email to the class of 2021 and featured the work of seven first year students, some of whom are already involved with

organizing Kitao.

Gaeeni said that the show was a success and that the enthusiastic response of artists from the new class bodes well for the future of the Swarthmore arts community. Gaeeni noted that that the artwork reflected experiences students had before coming to Swarthmore.

“A lot of the pieces reflected the lives and experiences students had before coming to Swarthmore. We got to see the things and friends people left behind when they came here,” she said.

Sophia Moore ‘20, an Art History and Studio Art double major, who is also involved in Kitao, attended the show and was really impressed with the artist’s’ work.

“The pieces in the show were really good. Personally, I especially liked the photography and the drawings of ballerinas,” said

Moore.

Liya Harris-Harrell ‘21, one of the first year students whose work was featured in the show, enjoyed the show as well.

“I really liked the kitao gallery. I thought it was really cool how they asked for any freshman art all of the art there was so original,” she said.

Harris-Harrell used the show as an opportunity to work on one of her larger creative projects.

“The work that I submitted was something I made for a webcomic that I’m in the process of working on. It was mainly to like help me to figure out some character design elements for one of the main characters,” explained Harris-Harrell.

Another artist who made their Swarthmore artistic debut on Friday, Emma Ricci ‘21, said that the art scene at the college had so far exceeded her expecta-

tions.

“In high school I was very actively engaged in the art scene and coming to college I was afraid that I would not have that opportunity. However, I was completely wrong,” she said. “As soon as I got to Swarthmore, I saw that there were many ways to get involved with the arts and I am very grateful for the warm welcome that was extended to me from the entire community.”

Ricci believes Kitao allows students at Swarthmore to manifest their creative works within the campus community.

“I believe Kitao is truly making an impact on the community by offering artists the opportunity to establish their own voices and providing a creative outlet for students to showcase their work,” she said.

Ricci used her work to express her own feelings about her identity and background growing

up as the adopted daughter of Italian-Americans.

“I was born in China, I was adopted by an Italian-American family, and every year I travel to Italy to visit my family. This doubling is portrayed throughout my pictures, as about half of them depict my experiences in Italy and half of them depict my life in the US. The series of pictures I chose to display are multifaceted also in terms of their colors, subjects, sceneries, and tones. The message that I hope to impart to the public is to embrace diversity and to see beauty not just within ourselves, but also in other people’s differences,” she explained.

First year students just arrived at Swarthmore but they are already impacting the arts scene here, and not just at Kitao. The first ever bi-weekly poetry contest the Phoenix arts section conducted earlier this

jangle pop, alternative rock, and basement wave. The band is planning on visiting campus later this fall.

“My idea is to try to get them to play a live session on my radio show and do some interviews with members,” Cornell says.

Skyler’s radio show, “Free Cat Radio”, aims to play a large variety of music all tied together by some overarching idea. Skyler also noted that several other first-years use WSRN to play some original hip-hop and R&B. Austin Yanez’s ’21 show “Burnt Coffee” is just one example.

Other first-year students perform at Freestyle Friday held in the big room.

While only a sampling of how first-years are getting involved in the Swarthmore music scene, it will be exciting to watch what is created by the students’ with such wide-ranging talent and interest in original in the years to come.

semester was won by a first year student. When I arrived as a bushy tailed high school graduate way back in the fall of 2015, I happened to know several student artists and they were nearly all somewhat disappointed in the arts scene here. This is anecdotal evidence to be sure, but the positive developments at Kitao seem to suggest that the arts scene had improved at the college. Additionally, the Loud and Underground music collective, which seeks to give a performance platform to people of color and women, has probably also contributed to this.

Time will tell if these flowers of a vibrant arts scene that are beginning to grow will blossom into a critical mass of garnet virtuosos with great aesthetic senses.

OPINIONS

October 5, 2017 PAGE A4

I wish that my son could tell his own story, but he can’t, so I will try for him, perhaps to give courage to others who are in the grip of the illness that cut his life short at the age of 24.

LETTER TO THE EDITOR Judy Nicholson Asselin ’75 “It’s odd,” I mentioned to my then-18-year-old’s therapist.

“Nathaniel shaves with the lights out in the bathroom and the door propped open to let in a little light from the hallway.” The therapist’s eyes widened with sudden understanding and alarm.

“It’s BDD — Body Dysmorphic Disorder,” she blurted out.

The moment plays in slow motion in my head, locked in my memory. BDD? Never heard of it.

I had no idea what she was talking about, but it did not sound good.

As soon as we got home, I ordered Katharine Phillips’ seminal book about BDD, “The Broken Mirror,” and read it in one sitting.

When I finished, I knew this was the disorder Nathaniel had been suffering from since age 11 when he first became anxious, and that we were in for a rough ride. It had already been hard, and it got harder — much harder.

Our six-foot four, handsome, intelligent, and incredibly funny son was wrestling with an inner demon that I could not fathom and could hardly bear living with.

If it was torture for us, his family, it was unmitigated hell for him.

He hated his appearance and was convinced that his skin was defective — “hideous, disgusting” were the words he used. Yet he had a beautiful complexion, and by anyone’s standard, he was handsome. A shaving nick or a minor blemish would keep him

indoors for days, or he would cover them up with tiny pieces of bandage so that he could bear to go out. The focus was mostly his skin, but when he was younger, the worries had shifted: he thought the roll of flesh on his tummy was too pronounced (“But you are a growing boy!” I would say), the shadows under his eyes were too dark (“But everyone has them!”), his hair had to be just so (“Do you need all that gel?”). He compared himself with his younger sister, wanted to be her weight and keep up with her level of activity to satisfy an inner command. He was victimized by narratives in his head that dictated he cover up blemishes, exercise compulsively, or compete with his beloved sister.

There is no logic to BDD, so no logical argument or reassurance helped.

Nathaniel was the kind of kid growing up that other kids wanted to hang out with. Inventive, smart, full of ideas for games and imaginary play. He never lacked friends. His teachers loved him because he did his school work to perfection and participated fully in class. A natural athlete, he was an avid soccer player and later cross country runner. And sense of humor? He could mimic anyone and would leave us in stitches. Once he invented an on-the-spot musical that he sang on a family car trip to our endless amusement. He could even turn criticism into comedy. While out driving once, he said calmly, “Mom, it’s a source of great comfort to me to know that if you ever have an accident and lose an arm, you won’t have to change your driving habits.” I burst out laughing, but the message got through; I have been driving with two hands on the wheel ever since.

When he first became ill in fifth grade, it was as if a bomb had dropped from the sky and blown our delightful son into an alternate reality. He ran one, two, then three times a day, virtually stopped eating, and lost so much weight that he had to be hospitalized. SSRI medication helped, and from then on, he began seeing therapists regularly. The diagnoses ranged from anorexia to OCD to school anxiety to social anxiety to generalized anxiety disorder, but he didn’t get the correct BDD diagnosis until seven years later.

BDD, an OCD spectrum disorder, is more prevalent than many realize. Two to four percent of the population suffer from it, with the highest proportion among college age students, yet many mental health providers do not know of the disorder or how to treat it. Convinced that they are ugly, sufferers often get stuck in the mirror or avoid mirrors completely, compare themselves to others, skip social situations due to concerns about how they look, and spend hours trying to “fix” or cover up flaws that others see as insignificant or nonexistent. The focus is most often the face (nose, skin, hair), but sufferers can be paralyzed with concern about any part of the body. Not remotely like vanity, this crushing preoccupation with appearance can disrupt schooling, make employment difficult, and strain relationships. The suicide rate is the highest of any brain disorder — higher than for those with severe depression or schizophrenia.

Having a name for a brain disorder, sadly, doesn’t disarm the demon any more than knowing that you have diabetes improves your insulin levels. But it did lead us to skilled practitioners.

Drs. Katharine Phillips, Michael Jenike, Tamar Chansky ’84, and Marty Franklin all had their times with Nathaniel, trying to help his mind find the space and energy to combat BDD’s onslaught.

He tried various SSRI medications and many combinations of medications, which sometimes provided relief. Cognitive Behavior Therapy and Exposure and Response Prevention strategies — the gold standard of treatment — were only slightly helpful.

As he grew older and his symptoms intensified, he had to leave high school and earn his diploma from home. Some days he couldn’t leave the house, although he managed to work part time and found joy in coaching middle school cross country and teaching in an after-school program. By his mid-twenties, he was still living at home and could see no promise in his future. He watched his sister and friends go off to college, find partners, launch their careers. “BDD is my only companion,” he told me once. “It dictates my entire day, from the second I get up, until I go to sleep — the only time I get any relief. I would not wish this on my worst enemy.” He ended his life in 2011.

Very few people understand brain disorders, and even some people who knew Nathaniel didn’t fully grasp that his condition was not caused by faulty reasoning or an inability to face life’s challenges. Because BDD is under-recognized and underdiagnosed, my family and I have devoted much of our time to raise awareness and funds for research.

Recent fMRI studies at UCLA have discovered that the brains of those with BDD process facial images on the left side of the visual cortex instead of the right, like the rest of the population.

From the heart of a Las Vegas local I am studying abroad in Cape Town right now, but my heart is in Las Vegas. My mind can’t decide whether to cry or dissociate,

BRITTNI TERESI SWAT GLOBAL pretending that one of the worst mass shootings in the history of the United States did not just happen in my hometown. Maybe as a coping mechanism, but also out of necessity to feel closer to people back home, I can’t help but scroll through Facebook posts to ensure that my friends and family are okay and to read how people are responding to the tragedy. Yet, this only makes dissociation even more impossible and makes both tears and rage bubble up inside of me as I witness the way some non-Las Vegas locals are minimizing or misrepresenting the horrors that have occurred.

While I am scrolling through Facebook, searching for hope and reassurance, I can’t help but read posts discussing how this Las Vegas tragedy is “just another example” of the need for gun policy changes. People are posting how ashamed they are at how divided America has become and how the shooting is proof that the country “cannot be reunited.” Around me, I hear other college students discussing how shocking it was that the shooter was “anti-Trump.”

When people ask me directly how I am responding to the events, they hardly listen to my response before quickly changing topic, comparing the shooting to the hurricane in Puerto Rico or to human rights issues in India.

Instead of talking about the families who lost people they loved, people are talking about how all the bad events as a collective serve as proof that the world is coming to an end.

As a fellow student at a social justice-oriented liberal arts college, I feel it necessary to admit I completely understand why other Swatties and college friends are posting about and addressing the Las Vegas massacre in this way. It is part of a larger problem that is often too painful to acknowledge.

When tragedies such as these occur, it is impossible to figure out how to react to an attack of such magnitude. Therefore, people respond through politically aggressive social media posts.

Instead of conceptualizing the lives lost, it seems more productive to use the event as evidence that a political party is wrong or as an example that policies need to be changed.

This makes sense; the view that policy change should happen in light of an event that hurt so many is entirely practical. The problem, however, is when the tragedy itself becomes a political

The problem with promises Swatties love to make promises. Whether it is promising that you will go support your friend at their game, read over a classmate’s essay, or finish your

EDITORIAL

homework before midnight, we are all constantly making promises both to ourselves and to others. The problem is we aren’t very good at keeping them.

It is not that we are maliciously promising to do things that we know we cannot do. We genuinely think that we can do it all until we can’t. A combination of not wanting to say no to anyone and thinking that we can do everything has led most of us to overcommit.

It starts small, skipping one item on your to do list for the day, or promising yourself you will get it done tomorrow or this upcoming weekend. Maybe you get part of it done, but eventually something drops. This is usually at the very last second, not wanting to admit to ourselves before we have to that we misjudged what we could do. We send a

hasty apology note to the friend, classmate, or professor and move onto the next thing on our inevitably long to do list.

This overcommitment culture goes beyond just the student body population to the professors and the administration. Professors promise they will get your paper back to you next class, which turns into next week, or two weeks. The administration promises that the PittengerPalmer connector will be done by the weekend, when in reality it is going to take two weeks. This leads to ramifications across the college. There’s always someone else suffering the consequences of unkept promises.

This community needs to take a step back and do some selfevaluation. When we unintentionally make empty promises, it decreases the weight our promises hold in the future. As we slowly get accustomed to making excuses for our broken promises we also become accustomed and desensitized to seeing other people exhibit the same behavior. How can we fault our friends

for bailing on dinner when you bailed the week before? When you turn your paper in a few days late, it is only natural to accept it back a few days later than when the teacher originally promised for it to be back. It’s far too easy to condone these kinds of broken promises from the administration when we ourselves are so accustomed to doing it ourselves.

While it is extremely important for students to engage with the administration if we want to see any lasting change, it is unsurprising that students choose not to because of the way we fail to follow through. It is difficult to have a conversation to make an impact when both sides are accustomed to shirking responsibility when we inevitably overcommit. As we dive into midterms, we as a community should be conscious when committing to things, in an effort to practice self care and also change our expectations of promises in order to move forward collaboratively to enact real change.

game where support and grief for the victims are lost in the equation.

No one means to discount the humanity behind trauma. Everyone posting about or discussing the Las Vegas shooting is doing so with good intentions. It is because everyone wants to help that I feel the need to point out the impact of taking the humanity out of a tragedy.

At least in the immediate aftermath of a tragedy, there are so many more productive and empathetic methods of helping a community than using their suffering for political gain. Instead of posting about your disappointment in society, share a Facebook post letting the families and friends affected know that you stand with them in solidarity.

Restrain from comparing two disasters with one another because each community is affected by an event differently and has dif-

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The brains of those with anorexia show the same anomaly, suggesting that sufferers focus on tiny details of appearance and not the whole picture. More research will determine if this finding is causal or correlative, but it points to anatomical factors involved in BDD and suggests that visual retraining in treatment might help.

Genetics and social/environmental triggers also play a role, but the pathway of the disorder is not yet fully understood.

Brain-circuit-based therapies such as Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation, currently in wide use for depression, and Deep Brain Stimulation using implanted electrodes to stimulate areas of the brain — similar to the treatment used for Parkinson’s disease — may hold promise for those with severe BDD, but more research is needed.

If you think you may have BDD, or know someone who might

be struggling with appearance concerns that interfere with daily functioning, don’t hesitate to reach out to a therapist at the college health center. The International OCD Foundation website has a large section devoted to BDD where you can learn more about the disorder. If you want to read more about Nathaniel, the website Walkingwithnathaniel. org details our family’s journey more fully.

Nathaniel knew that after he died, we would wonder what we could have done differently.

“Please don’t,” he wrote in the letter he left us. “We were all doing the best we could and there is no regret in that.” No regret, but no silence and no stigma either.

Please spread the word about BDD, and get help for yourself or others who might need it. No one should have to struggle with this devastating illness alone. I know that is what Nathaniel would say.

ferent methods of coping. Reach out to anyone you can from a community through donations or kind words. Practice active listening to show you truly care about how they are coping with an event and how you may be able to play an active role in supporting them. Only after a community begins a healing process should the political implications be more broadly discussed and acted upon to create a better functioning society. What good is a political policy in ensuring security if society can not first come together to practice the compassion and empathy needed to follow that policy in the first place?

As for my home in Las Vegas, I can say I have never been more proud to be a Las Vegas local. The community is resilient, looking out for one another and practicing empathy in ways often not discussed. The day after the shooting, people waited for hours

to donate blood to the victims.

When a charity requested 80 air mattresses for family members with friends in the hospital, the donation request was fulfilled within hours. A donation fund website was created almost immediately to support those affected and vigils have been held for the community to stand together in solidarity.

These acts give me faith that the world is not coming to an end and that society is not as divided as we are often made to believe.

They remind me that compassion and community values are still a large component of societal ideals. However, a large part of this reassurance stems from remembering during events like these, that the first response must always be unification for healing before politicalization for change.

Statement on kneeling during Anthem Dear Friends, This past week, President Trump released several tweets chastising athletes who have not stood during the national anthem as well as those who have declined White House invitations. His blanket critique speaks to a reckless pattern of racist sentiment that now endangers the very diversity that America is built upon. Our country’s history suffers from the remnants of massacred Native Americans, enslaved Africans, discriminated against Latinx Americans, persecuted Muslims, economically marginalized Whites, and others disenfranchised by American society. Our own grandparents — some of whom are proud American military veterans — recollect stories of lynchings, church bombings, and police brutality. As young women, we fear a future in which our children will not come home for dinner because they have been assailed or shot in the streets simply for being black or brown.

We are patriotic Americans who value our freedoms to speak against injustices.

President Trump struggles to recognize that to be patriotic might at times also require dissent. Our Founding Fathers acknowledged that as much as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did.

Patriotism and dissent are not mutually exclusive; America’s greatness is manifest in love and equality for all, not hate and privilege. Thus, in solidarity with athletes and activists around the country who have taken a knee in hopes of addressing a long-standing and systematic pattern of racial violence aimed at brown and black people, we feel compelled to join this action. As black athletes, we especially understand the hateful perception of our bodies as valuable on the court, but disposable on the streets.

We invite all athletes and spectators to express solidarity with a movement that believes America can do better.

Trust in our love and faith

in our country. Trust when we question an America that does not afford all its citizens security and safety. Only when we address the disease of white supremacy and racial injustice, can we truly become, as our anthem states, the land of the free. Today we kneel because this sense of security remains unattainable for the average young brown and black person walking or driving in their neighborhoods; today we kneel to honor the brown and black lives lost to violence, and to remind ourselves that none of us can truly be free until we all are.

In solidarity, Emma Morgan-Bennett ’20 and Lelosa Aimufua ’20

Ready for Break

Campus Journal

PAGE A5 October 5, 2017

Ready for Break

ARTS FASHION FOOD LIVING PHILLY PROFILES ST YLES

10 days of Fall Break

The Cassowary strikes: into the woods with the bird club

For those of you staying on campus this fall break, 10 days of unstructured, minimal-obligation free time can come as a daunting realization. Sure, you can sleep in or watch trashy reality shows, or a fun combination of the both; but believe it or not, there’s actually a lot to do. By a lot to do, I mean I scoured Facebook for free-to-low-cost events and found at least one per day in or around Swarthmore. By “in or around Swarthmore,” I mean Philadelphia. Here’s what your week is looking like: Day 1: Thursday, Oct. 12.

“Chinatown Night Market Yè Shì” Suprise! You thought this calendar would start on Friday, but Thursday is the new Friday when you make the beautiful decision to take classes only four days a week (sorry underclassmen). To kick off your break, catch that offpeak SEPTA to Jefferson Station around 7 p.m. and head to 10th Street between Arch and Vine.

The host, the Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation, promises “an endless amount of food, arts & crafts, and entertainment that will keep guests going all night.”

Day 2: Friday, Oct. 13.

“Made in Philadelphia Fall Market” Embrace the season in Center City with friends at this all-day Dilworth Park event. Local crafters will be selling “art, photos, accessories and jewelry, skincare, glassware, wood craft and more.”

Treat yourself to some artisanal woodcraft! You worked hard this first half-semester!

Day 3: Saturday, Oct. 14.

“Hill Creek Farm Pumpkin Festival” Okay, now really embrace the season and befriend a person with a car to take a 30-minute ride to New Jersey. Before you skip reading about this day because no one ever reasonably wants to go to New Jersey, take note that it takes place on a farm.

You’ll feel like you never left Pennsylvania. This festival will likely be full of small suburban children and parents cooing at them to look at the camera, but where else can you find a pick-your-own apples, a giant Batman bounce house, hot fresh foods, live music, face painting, choose-your-favorite-pumpkin, pumpkin games (?), fresh goodies from the bakery, tractor rides, a playground, barrel train rides, free Whacky Duck racing, and gemstone mining?

Day 4: Sunday, Oct. 15.

“From Mali to America.”

A $15 student ticket won’t get you from America to Mali but it will get you “From Mali to America;” a new dance, drumming, hip-hop, spoken word show presented by Kulu Melew. This one-time-only show takes place at the beautiful Kurtz Center for Performing Arts, and will likely inspire you to update your Spotify playlist with beats beyond Mike WiLL Made-IT. Day 5: Monday, Oct. 16.

“Indian Food Festival” Plug into your favorite pod-

My introduction to Swarthmore Bird Club came several weeks ago during the beginningof-year activity fair. Wearing a full bird mask, Ben Schmidt ’18 writhed on his back, propelling himself in circles in front of Parrish Hall like the frontman of AC/ DC. While Schmidt was clearly fueled by a passion for birds so

Jasemine Rashid CJ Editor

cast and jump on NJ Transit to finally take that New York day trip you’ve been planning since orientation. Apparently, this event will make you interact with Times Square and all of its inhabitants which is never advisable — but, for this day only, there will Indian food. Like a ton of Indian food. Its description is nothing short of poetic: “Let your nose guide you through layers of spices while savoring wonderful dishes; surround yourself with incredible colors, lose yourself in music and enjoy the spectacular dances.” There will be over 50 local vendors and restaurants, accompanied by live music and dance. Sorry kiddos, this one is 21+.

Day 6: Tuesday, Oct. 17.

“Muhammad Yunus | A World of Three Zeros” Thought you were headed back to Swarthmore? Wrong. Buy that greyhound or megabus ticket ASAP and make your way to our nation’s capital to dismantle capitalism. Or, at least, to hear Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammed Yunus talk about dismantling capitalism. Yunus will present his new book and propose a call-toaction at my favorite bookstore, Politics & Prose. The talk starts at 7 p.m. and is free.99 but seats will be on a first come, first served basis.

Day 7: Wednesday, Oct. 18.

“Kali Uchis at World Cafe Live Philadelphia” And we’re back — Philly nightlife is a thing. Enjoy it with Colombian-American indie pop soulstress Kali Uchis, and have the chorus to “Tyrant” stuck in your head for the remainder of break.

Day 8: Thursday, Oct. 19.

“Gabrielle Union at the Philadelphia Free Library — We’re Going to Need More Wine: Stories That Are Funny, Complicated, & True” The event title says all there is to convince you to attend. Oh, plus it’s free. See you there.

Day 9: Friday, Oct. 20.

“Howl-O-Ween at the Ellicott City Historic District” It’s the 20th of Halloween, and there will be a literal parade of dogs dressed up in silly costumes for the occasion. From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. hang out with puppies that don’t belong to you and participate in donation-based events that will support the Houston SPCA’s hurricane efforts. One catch — it’s in New Jersey. Am I telling you to go to New Jersey to watch a halloween dog parade?

Quite possibly.

Day 10: Saturday, Oct. 21.

“Harry Potter Festival” The entire community of Chestnut Hill is transforming into the wizarding world of Harry Potter for a weekend. We’re talking literary events, Quidditch matches, and spellcasting tutorials. This annual celebration is always a fan favorite; head over to visitphilly.com for a much more robust Hogwartsian itinerary.

BONUS! Day 11: Sunday, Oct. 22.

Do all the work that you told yourself you’d finish by the first weekend of break.

by Willa Glickman CJ Writer

also not a natural early riser, and when no club members show up for walks he generally heads back to sleep.

But today, we grabbed several pairs of binoculars and descended into the Crum, Malawi leading the way and identifying the calls of blue jays as Schmidt kept up a constant stream of bird puns, which were generally met with mingled amusement and horror.

We came to a thicket of rhodo-

Photo by Willa Glickman/ The Phoenix

intense as to be impossible to manufacture, this exuberant piece of performance art was also part of a well-honed marketing strategy (which included a number of hand-drawn signs extolling the virtues of owls) that left the Bird Club with over 100 names to add to their already considerable listserv.

Curious about Bird Club’s appeal, I reached out to Sayed Malawi ’18, the club’s founder — who also spent a significant portion of the fair disguised as a bird, albeit a slightly more reserved one — and he agreed to let me join the club for one of their bird walks.

I met Schmidt and Malawi at 9 a.m. on the steps of the Martin Biology Lab on a clear Saturday morning, the first day of the year that felt like fall.

Malawi, a competitive birder before coming to Swarthmore, has observed over 500 species. He introduced Schmidt to birds and it stuck, and Schmidt now serves as second-in-command (officially speaking, he used to be treasurer, but admitted that these days he mostly has “soft power” in the group). The pair of friends are a study in contrasts — Malawi, with an affect that alternates between the comforting calm of a nature guide and a cutting deadpan, generally serves as the straight man to Schmidt, who has the ebullient and genteel manners of a man born to the wrong era.

Christine Lee ’18 and Richard Mobley ’20, two staunch regulars, were also in attendance, bringing the day’s group to a fairly average size, according to Malawi. Despite the club’s large email following it can be difficult to roust the casual bird enthusiast out of bed early on the weekend. Malawi is

dendrons and Malawi paused for a moment, making a “pishing” noise towards the underbrush.

“He doesn’t actually have a reason for doing that,” said Schmidt. “It’s just when he gets stressed out.”

Malawi paused wearily before explaining, “The real reason I’m doing this is to mimic a harassing call that birds make to alert each other about predators.” Nothing happened except a soft rustling of wind among leaves.

“That’s slightly embarrassing,” Malawi said.

After spotting several chickadees, we reached the Crum Creek, which prompted general reminiscences about the time the group forged the water to hunt for owls.

On this day, the area by the creek was short on birds, the stillness only disturbed by yellow leaves falling into the low water and a nearby grey squirrel. However, the group was unfazed, clearly enjoying being in the woods and each other’s company.

Schmidt mused, “If an owl saw another owl at 10 a.m., do you think he would say, ‘hey, you’re a real day owl?’” Mobley attempted to push him into the creek.

We continued on, passing a small stream, and Malawi identified an oven bird, which excited him. He explained that it is unusual because it resembles a warbler although it is actually a thrush, and that while it breeds here it will soon head to South America for the winter.

He described it as a “personable bird.” Over the course of the walk I picked up a number of bird facts from Malawi. I learned that blue jays appear blue because their feathers refract light from the sky, and on overcast days they appear

grayer. I also learned that birds are strongly drawn to water, and the backyard birdwatcher may attract more birds by setting out a birdbath than a feeder. I learned that hummingbirds, amazingly and adorably, make small, cupshaped nests out of spiders’ silk and lichen. I managed to spot a female cardinal through my binoculars.

We headed back to civilization around 10 a.m. to talk and fill out the day’s bird journal, Malawi noting that in the old days of bird club they would stay out much longer.

“You have a bad habit of saying everything used to be great,” said Schmidt. “Don’t sell yourself short.”

“Everything is great,” said Malawi. “I saw an oven bird. I’m happy.”

Sitting in the lounge in Martin, Malawi and Schmidt discussed why they’ve stuck with Bird Club throughout their time at Swarthmore.

Schmidt touted the benefits of spending time outdoors. “It’s really important for me to get out into the Crum,” he said.

“It’s a great way to deal with Swarthmore at the end of the day, and that’s probably true for more people than realize it. Two thumbs up.”

Malawi said that while he used to be driven by a desire to increase his life list of birds identified, these days he is more interested in sharing birds with other people, and takes pride in the complete bird novices that he’s been able to convert to regulars.

The competitive aspect of birding has always confused me a little — collecting bird sightings can seem like a somewhat acquisitive way to interact with nature — so I asked Malawi how he feels about it.

“I used to be more into that,” said Malawi, “and listing is a lot of fun. You make a game out of it. It can get to the point where maybe you’re sort of missing the point, where you’re just seeing birds for the sake of adding them to your list rather than actually watching them and getting to know them, but at the end of the day it’s still just a great excuse to go out and look at birds.”

Schmidt took a more philosophical approach. “I’ve heard that if you want to find somebody happy, find someone who collects things. If listing is like collecting without even holding the things or hoarding them, it seems like a pretty healthy way to be happy.

There’s certainly different ways to think about birding, and listing is not the only way to think about it, but it’s valid.”

My reservations resolved, I asked Malawi and Schmidt how they would describe the culture of Bird Club.

“Lowbrow,” said Schmidt.

“Yeah, that’s about it,” Malawi agreed.

Schmidt got serious: “The culture of bird club is very enthusiastic, and it’s very interactive.” He described a number of activities that the club offers its members apart from bird walks, including screening movies and

documentaries, bringing speakers to campus, birding in various nature preserves, and, the highlight, banding tiny saw-whet owls at the nearby Rushton Farms. But there’s also a distinct Bird Club attitude.

“There’s a real aspect of fun, a sense of humor, and that’s present in the way we communicate with our membership and the way we behave on bird walks — it’s a pretty chill atmosphere,” Schmidt said.

This aspect of fun was vividly displayed for me when I asked what Schmidt’s favorite bird is.

He explained his love for the cassowary, which is “just a very, very interesting bird” around the size of an emu that occasionally attacks people by stabbing them with “a long, deadly middle toe.”

He stood and began performing what I can only imagine was an extremely accurate cassowary impression, which involved holding a hand to his head to imitate a crest, wiggling his entire body, and occasionally flying through the air on one foot. At that precise moment a tour group walked by, and Schmidt, with a devilish gleam in his eye, increased the intensity of his performance.

“Huh. Look at that,” said the guide, somewhat uncomfortably.

“It’s great because they don’t know you’re a cassowary,” said Malawi once they passed. “You just look like a psychopath. Yeah, that’s Bird Club in a nutshell.”

However, over the course of the interview it became clear that while this wackiness is an important part of bird club’s ethos, equally central is a deep, serious love of birds and of bringing people together around them.

Reflecting on his bird antics at the fair, Schmidt said, “I think the reason we’re able to be that way at activity fairs is because we all legitimately want everyone to feel comfortable being a part of this club, to come on bird walks with us, to chat with us about birds.”

Malawi said that he was happy about their success at the fair, but he seemed personally pained by each person who signed up and wouldn’t ultimately participate, viewing it as a missed opportunity to give them something important.

“I don’t run around with the bird mask just because I think it’ll be fun to run around with the bird mask, though it kind of is,” he said. “Every person that I get on the email list, I wish I could just mind meld with them for them to understand how much I really want them to come to bird club.”

The room reacted with surprise to the evangelical fervor of this comment, but Malawi continued.

“I honestly think everyone in the world should be a bird watcher,” he said. “I think it’s for everyone. Birds are just the coolest thing, dude. They can fly!

There’s all these kinds of them, they all look different, they all have names. I love putting names to things. Everything about it’s fantastic.”

Reluctantly popping the swat bubble

by Dylan Clairmont CJ Writer

When referencing the Swat bubble, you’ll generally hear a mix of groans, scoffs, sighs, muted screams, and nails on chalkboards. Often seen as inhibiting, the Swat bubble stands for the sense that Swarthmore is, in many ways, a bubble. This wild, imaginative, ultra-liberal echochamber that we find ourselves in quite obviously differs greatly from the rest of the country, let alone the rest of the world. While it can be limiting to be in this bubble of sorts, for many it is a safe haven.

Christian Galo ‘20 however claims that this “liberal bubble” we find ourselves in isn’t quite

what it appears to be.

“While many conservative students on campus feel as if Swarthmore is very much a liberal echo-chamber, many leftist students have also expressed disappointment with what many of us believed would be a more leftist and politically active campus community. It may seem as if Swarthmore often tries to sell itself as a liberal campus with a vibrant activist community but that isn’t necessarily the case all the time,” says Galo.

While the Swat bubble has some obvious positives, such as a comfortable sense of security on campus, the bubble is generally looked down upon. Students validly feel that it’s easy to get

trapped in the day-to-day minutia of Swat and forget that a huge world exists beyond the Swarthmore train tracks. Many students are anxiously awaiting their chance to step foot in the “real world,” as if the past four years at Swat have been spent in some alternate reality where being nerdy is cool and being involved in 1,000 things is normal.

This fragile bubble doubles as a seemingly indestructible suit of armor for many, often allowing Swat students to feel uninhibited to be their true selves and not worry about feeling judged or unsafe. Green hair, tattoos, and piercings are all a part of the quintessential Swat experience.

People are free to dress as flashily

or conservatively as they wish, to present themselves as disheveled or as put together as they please, and to live a life that, outside of the bubble, might garner confused stares or muffled whispers.

“Personally for me, the bubble has not been as much about echo-chambers of political discourse as much as it has been about being open about my identity without having to care much about being accepted as a person because of who I like or what I believe in. At Swarthmore, I don’t have to try to figure out whether the person I am talking to is gonna think differently about me should I allude to my sexuality, religion, or ancestry,” says Galo.

Naturally, Swat has its imper-

fections and is in no way perfect Austria, Bhutan, Bolivia, Brazil, when it comes to protecting its Canada, China, Colombia, Cuba, students, but comparatively Swat Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Germany, really does a great job of providGhana, Guinea, Hong Kong, India, ing a safe, inclusive environIreland, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Lebament for students to live their non, Mexico, Mongolia, Myanmar, lives as they choose, so long as Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigethey aren’t hurting themselves ria, Norway, Palestine, Paraguay, or others in the process. It’s a Peru, Poland, Rwanda, South breath of fresh air for many and Korea, Switzerland, Thailand, a shock to even more, especially Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, the students who are coming Turkey, United Kingdom, Venezufrom generally more conservative ela, and Zambia. areas.

As fall break quickly approachIn the midst of the upperes, there is a mix of emotions on middle class Philadelphia suburb, campus. Almost everyone is in Swat is a unique amalgamation need of a break, and a good porof students coming from all tion of students look forward to stretches of the world. From the going back home and seeing famclass of 2021 alone, there are ily for the first time since the fall students representing Australia, Continued on swarthmorephoenix.com

THE PHOENIX CAMPUS JOURNAL

PAGE A6

Breaks large and small, a manifesto

by Leo Elliot CJ Writer

In this era of hard-won freedom from the inflexible, linear career paths that so chained the stonefaced baby boomers, a good friend is one who always shoots résumé padding your way. So perhaps I should have been delighted when I received two blue bleeps from my companion and your resident campus Arts Editor, Joe Mariani.

“Hey dude. CJ this week is about ‘taking a break.’ You wanna write about taking a year off?,” read the bleeps.

“Mmm. Probably better not to announce my departure to the whole school,” I thoughtfully responded.

But here I am, blabbing off into a thousand word quota. Part of me feels as though now might be exactly the right moment to bare it all in front of our Quaker-valued community. Maybe mine is a valuable voice right now, since I am taking quite a big break. After all, I will be having myself a rather sizeable slice of self-care this Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Eid Al-Fitr, and the Independence and Labor days. I have not quite wrapped my mind around the scale of the decision yet. In any case, limelight is not too bad with the EXIT sign right at your back.

I did not change my mind to Joe so I could rattle off personal issues, or even a scathing takedown of the administration or the culture it fosters. There are others who do each better, and have more reason to. So I will go ahead and deliberately obfuscate the gritty private-life bits, the big “why” of my taking a break. I don’t really have that answer anyways. As anyone who has taken time off from this lovely little brain-oven will tell you, there is no one reason.

I am explaining it in one way to my therapist, and another to professors, and giving my parents something in the middle. There’s a line about adventure for my younger brothers. I have a whole spectrum of reasons for friends, distributed according to position from dearest to least acquainted.

Bottom line: I started senior year feeling as though I had tried several times to get the hang of life at Swarthmore. And I haven’t yet.

So I am taking time to work and learn extra-bubble, and that’s all the pathos you’ll get off me. Back to the obfuscation.

There are big breaks, and there

are little breaks. Long breaks like mine, where its destination is so far off that you wonder if it’s just a horizon-esque trick, have no end in sight meaning no end at all. And following that thought is its alternative, that this is one of those off-the-cliff-of-theearth situations. Of course, the voyage does end and you arrive in trans-continental port ten pounds lighter and full of regret, three months wasted on card games, hard-tack, and rum when there was the whole open sea to ponder. And then there are the shortest of breaks. A break could be a meditative breath staring up the inner spire of McCabe. Just one cigarette in the Kohlberg courtyard — if you have the nasty habit. A trek with a friend to Science Center for coffee you could really do without but intimacy that you really couldn’t. At the outset of a rather large break, I am here to make the case for the other kind. The small kind.

I am not the only one who has problems correctly sizing and apportioning breaks. Really, it feels like a pretty endemic social problem at this college. It feels like we’re all talking about it all the time, all kind of recognizing at this point, it’s tough here sometimes. We don’t always know how to take care of ourselves very well. There’s the sense that if anyone ever bothered to pore through the Phoenix archive, they would find ample evidence that this is not a new problem. This quaker matchbox is a fire hazard, sometimes.

The friends of mine who I feel cope best here are masters of the break within work, and are bold and self-expressive in their choices. One seems to have decided that if they are going to be the intellectual powerhouse of a literature department one day, they’ll need to develop a taste in film. So in between crunching up theories of nation and globalization - all the other nations, I guess - they carefully select classics to pop in every third night or so. Another friend delights in the new arts of the internet age and, having learned the hard limits of life at Swarthmore, stows away time at the end of each day for quiet, happy shitposting. A third makes the long trans-crum hike to Media every single Sunday morning, hangover be damned, and has a built-in social calendar because of it. An invite to the walk is a special honor. These people are not the happiest people I know,

Strictly good advice Dan Bidikov CJ Writer

Dear Strictly Good Advice, I need to learn how to ask more direct questions. I no longer want to ask “Do you mind doing this thing when you get the chance?” when I am asking a basic thing; I would like to be able to ask “Can you do this please?” Do you have any advice for being confident, straightforward, and even a little indignant when I ask people to do things that they should already be doing?

Warmly, Alice

Hello, Alice, Thank you for the question.

Before we proceed, I should remind my readers everywhere — this includes you, Alice — that while at Strictly Good Advice we do our best to keep our standards as eponymous as possible, there are no relevant professionals involved in the making of this column. It’s just me. And even though I see no reason why you shouldn’t trust me, your life is your life. As such, you’d be wise to consult a relevant professional (which, I repeat, I am not) on any seriously consequential decisions you plan to take before or after reading this column.

Sorry, Alice, but in the case of your very special question I have one more disclaimer. I won’t be able to explain or account for your perceived lack of confidence in theoretically comfortable situations. Your question is wrapped up in a complicated problem of the human condition that goes back to the Greeks of antiquity, who spent some time trying to intelligibly account for what they called “akrasia,” or, very roughly, the human behavior of acting against one’s known best interests. In your case, you might even say you are not-acting

against your best interests. It is an interesting phenomenon that I am not confident in my ability to dissect — you could say it’s above my pay grade, if you’re the type to use a socioeconomically questionable idiom. So I will defer to the academic literature on any psychic insight or other self-knowledge you may be looking for. What I can offer you are some suggestions, specifically prescribed turns of speech or action that you may test in low-risk environments to see if they have potential to reduce your anxiety over the imperative.

First, let’s consider the circumstances that would force you into the kind of scenario suggested in your question. Someone has agreed to invest time and energy — n.b., not that much time or energy — in doing something at the request of you or perhaps a third party. It is not necessarily a favor, and the motivation for the request may not even have been yours. Maybe it is a co-worker who needs to sign your boss’s birthday card, or a family member who needs to give the dog fewer treats at the behest of the veterinarian. In any case, you are included in some kind of contract between people who somehow depend on other people and have got it in your head that you are responsible for making sure that this dependence is satisfied.

Some deadline for acceptable response to social stimulus passes and it seems like the obligated party is having trouble meeting the demands imposed upon them. So you start to think that it would be helpful to at least encourage this person to prioritize the trivial step towards meeting a social commitment a little more highly. You make a plan to do something and, here we have reached the critical juncture — you don’t do that thing. For some ancient Greek reason, you shy away from gentle, if decisive,

nor are they markedly more phor) to stay sharp and achieve productive. The masters of the more. Taking a break is not about break are not the ones who have health, breaks represent our the most footnotes, always have physical limits. We have to take the answer the professor wants, breaks. If you do not find a way or who buddy-buddy when the to take a break, the break finds a industries descend on campus. way to take you. They will happen Coping is relative anyways. The whether you want them to or not. ones who take coping seriously If you do not respect this law, it intend to live and they do not may not be a break in just your want this school to live for them. schedule, in the end.

Nobody I know here who copes So I will go back on my deciat all has not learned to find some sion again, and end the piece joy in the upkeep tasks. Laundry with a bit more confession. I have as regularly as you can, hygiene not been stellar in the breaksand dental care, cleaning the department throughout my time room, the program of flu-alleviat Swarthmore. I do not mean to ation that always involves some say that I have studied as hard as mix of home and pharmaceutical I possibly could, put academics remedies. Today I have received above all else, and managed my my first and last round of Swat time with the end of productivity plague of the year, and I find in mind alone. That is certainly myself reflecting on what I’ve not true. There are walks to seen better-copers do to heal. We Wa-Wa that were justifiable and do not learn to take breaks alone, spirit-raising. And there were and isolation is the best way to walks to Wa-Wa that I just did not forget to take any break at all. have time for and were also, in Sometimes, of course, these small the moment, spirit-raising. I did tasks must be treated as to-dos not take seriously, at any point to be crossed off, because we are here, the necessity of breaks. And busy people. We intend to be that if they are necessary, that we busy our whole lives, even those must be very careful, and caring, of us who are fighting the hard about them. fight against slender and even Without this sense of respect, I neoliberal notions of success. So found myself in a cycle that feels we must learn to take breaks, esvery pathological and just-me pecially the small ones. I certainly right now, but perhaps will sound have to. familiar. Arrive each semester So maybe taking a break could with a sacrosanct New Plan for be anything. Does this render the life at Swarthmore, carefully phrase meaningless? This is the forged in the anxious last week most common and most dull critof summer or winter vacation. icism of another term that stands Believe truly that a new approach in for all of this: self care. There will allow me to feel like myself are self-care thinkpieces that here without giving up any comvalorize conspicuous consumpmitments. Power through the first tion as the key to healthy indehalf of the semester, kicking old pendence. There are also self-care bad habits under the bed all the thinkpieces that remind us that way to midterms at least. Accrue intimacy, vulnerability, and care all kinds of positive and negative of the body are necessary aids reinforcement along the way, to any resistant subject. And, by construe both as confirmations the way, if you already think that to the Plan. Yet find by the time Foucault pops up everywhere finals come around that my knot with the power/resistance bit, has not miraculously unwound, one of his influential later books and I am exhausted, exhausted, is titled ‘Care of the Self.’ So the exhausted. Go home tired, finish mad Frenchman really is lurking up a late paper or two, and crash behind every corner, it’s not just hard. Then I crawl through winter your imagination. I think he may or summer break to the next have defended the thinkpiece had grand planning session. The big he lived to see its rise. vacations, by the way, are long All that aside, the phrase, “to breaks, the kind that lie to you, a take a break,” does actually hold a little bit. lesson for me that “self care” does What I wish I knew when I not. Self care seems receptive to came into this place was that all kinds of normativity about nobody was going to tell me to healthy and unhealthy life. And take a break. In a sense, that’s not then health becomes another true at all. Professors here, who link in the endless offerings to have seen the students rise-andproductivity. Four times a week at the Matchbox (gym, not meta- Continued on swarthmorephoenix.com

action and instead cling viscerally to your apparent social debts like a fart at the dinner table. I will now put this “fart” under the symbolic microscope so as to shift our focus from a perennial mega problem to a fun analogy.

If you’re about to fart at, say, the dinner table, you could recognize your options with a sense of urgency. You can retreat quickly into the bathroom and explain later. You can let it rip, convention be damned. Or, you can do nothing; this is usually referred to as “holding it in.” For reasons that are beyond the gastroenteric scope of this column, I do not recommend holding it in. Imagine if, like in the case of the dinner table fart, you had only three options available to you every time you were in a social scenario as conceived in the previous paragraph.

Say, almost arbitrarily, that your three options are as follows: You can spend time writing the most polite and least incriminating sentence that would give someone the impression that they should drop whatever they are doing, unless it is a child, small animal or fragile laptop computer, and tend to the basic task that involves you as specified by you. Don’t stop until you have a capital letter all the way to a period. Memorize if necessary and immediately repeat this sentence, out loud or in print, to its intended recipient. You can write down the first germane sentence that comes to mind. At your earliest possible convenience, repeat this sentence, out loud or in print, to its intended recipient. Or, you can hold it in. Grow queasy. Wriggle in discomfort. Leave some stone indefinitely unturned.

Scripting a conversation makes it a lot easier to carry out. Instead of paying attention to the words that you transmit in dialogue, focus on how well you project to the audience, if you are enunciating properly, the kind of accent

or simulated affect you should speak toward, etc. You are no longer asking somebody to do something. Instead, you are just delivering a convincing line in an audition, or a political oratory, or a commencement speech. You can return to the conversation after the successful delivery feeling less responsible, because it was not you but a one-line-only character, introduced and immediately exiled, who could possibly be suspected of “nagging” or “demanding” behavior.

I do that sometimes when I have to demand something that seems unnecessary for me, the person, to demand; it has worked worse than some hypothetical best option, and better than doing nothing. My point is not really that you can solve your social problems by indulging a theatrical impulse. Rather, my point is that when you’ve got a fart you can either let it out or hold it in.

There are a lot of reasons to, and means by which, you can let out a fart at the dinner table. And as I mentioned earlier, holding it in is ill-advised. The bottom line is that some of the sentences you’ve got to say in this life are going to feel a lot like farts. They are a natural consequence of normal life. They might produce a little odor or noise, they might not. They might cause you some discomfort, they might not. In the best case, you experience relief; in the worst case, you experience undue shame. In any event, whatever happens will quickly disappear into the unwritten history of human flatulence. If you study that history closely you will see that nobody ever suffered, long term, because they opted to let out a little gas.

In need of some strictly good advice? Send questions by email to strictlygoodadvice(at) gmail(dot)com, or by analog mail to the author at 500 College Avenue, Swarthmore, PA, 19081.

October 5, 2017

How to spookify your playlist Victoria Lee-A-Yong CJ Writer

Around again comes the seasonal dilemma: when I yearn for skeleton memes and colorful leaves, how can I maximize the spookiness of my Halloween playlist?

Take a break from your differential calculus class, because I’ve already done the optimization calculations; here are the best songs to pumpkin-spice up your spooky playlist!

“Thriller” by Michael Jackson We’re starting off with THE classic Halloween song that is guaranteed to get the party popping. Despite its ubiquity in the very essence of Halloween, “Thriller” maintains its timeless charm with its notorious chorus and infectious dance moves.

Come on, you can’t tell me you weren’t expecting this to be on here somewhere.

“Somebody’s Watching Me” by Rockwell While our generation may associate this song more with Geico commercials, the premise is actually quite frightening.

I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t want somebody watching me (I want my privacy).

“This is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas While any song from this childhood favorite would immediately put us in the mood for trick-or-treating, “This is Halloween” is a must-have for any fall activity. Whether it’s covered

by Panic! At The Disco, Marilyn Manson, or from the original soundtrack, it’s definitely not Halloween until everyone hails to the pumpkin song.

“Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show

“Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett

The Addams Family Theme Song

In a similar fashion to “Milkshake” by Kellis, “Monster Mash”

by Bobby Pickett will bring all the monsters to your yard to do a fun little dance. It’s quite interesting to see, actually.

Who can resist the overwhelming compulsion to snap along after only the first four notes of this harpsichord introduction to the creepy, kooky Addams family? The sheer power of this alone makes this song deserving of a spot on your Halloween playlist.

“Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr. (from Ghostbusters) Whether or not you happen to have a persistent ghost problem, you can still call on the Ghostbusters for all your Halloweeninspired needs.

I’m willing to bet actual monetary currency that nobody you know dislikes musicals. Plus, musicals where you can dance along to the songs? It’s no contest: do the timewarp again and again and again and again and again and

“Spooky, Scary Skeletons” by Andrew Gold [Extended Remix

by The Living Tombstone] For memelords everywhere, and for the rest of us who just love skeletons an abnormal amount, this song is an anthem.

May the skeleton war rage on.

“I Put A Spell on You” by Bette Midler (from Hocus Pocus)

“Nightmare on My Street” by Will Smith and DJ Jazzy Jeff

Disney’s “Hocus Pocus” will forever live in our hearts as one of the best feel-good Halloween movies to date. Don’t you think that makes it worthy of a spot?

Let the Fresh Prince and Jazzy Jeff take you through their experience with Freddie Kreuger in the scariest song on this list.

SPORTS

October 5, 2017 PAGE A7

Wade reunites with LeBron

By Tyler Pasko Sports Writer

This NBA offseason has been filled with ample excitement.

Blockbuster trades have occurred, new “Big 3’s” have been formed, and old teammates have reunited.

While the season’s outcomes are largely unpredictable, one thing is for sure: LeBron James is happy to have Dwyane Wade back on the court with him.

LeBron and Wade have been longtime friends, dating back to their first interaction at the 2003 pre-draft combine at which the two started talking while waiting to be examined by a doctor.

Wade referred to the moment in an interview with the NBA. “I was in there waiting on the

doctors to come in to see me for about an hour. He walked right in and they seen[sic]him. We kind of kicked it off from there. It’s just something that happened – there’s no way to really explain it.” That single interaction has stemmed one of the greatest duos in basketball history as well as a lifelong friendship.

The duos on court success started immediately when James became a member of the Miami Heat for the 2010-2011 NBA season. That year, the two dominantly marched their way past the competition directly into the NBA finals against the Dallas Mavericks. After establishing an early 2-1 lead in the best of seven games series, they ended up losing the title. One year later after

another dominant season, the Heat again found themselves in the Finals versus the Oklahoma City Thunder. Fueled by the prior year’s defeat, James, Wade, and the rest of the team stepped up their game. The extra effort paid off when they won four games to one, marking the first championship won by Wade and James on the same team. With a tried and true blueprint from the season before, the team found themselves in the finals for the third year in a row. After beating the legendary San Antonio Spurs in seven games, LeBron and Wade claimed their second NBA title together.

Because their success on the court has been so profound, much of what’s reported in the media

MLB Postseason preview

By Jacob Brady Sports Writer October is here, and with it comes the MLB playoffs, one of the most exciting times of the year. Last year saw an instant classic play out in the World Series as the Cubs rallied from a 3-1 deficit to win the World Series in extra innings in Game 7 and shattered a 108-year streak without a World Series title, the longest in history. Will the Cubs repeat as World Series champions? Will the Red Sox win for the fourth time since 2000? Will the Indians snap their 68-year streak without a title, the current longest active streak?

The American League

Cleveland Indians: The Indians, last year’s AL pennant winners, come surging into the postseason possessing the second best record in baseball, and tops in the American League. In one of the best storylines of this season, the Indians won a record 22 games in a row between August and September, cementing their spot atop the AL Central and all of baseball in the eyes of many. Jose Ramirez and Francisco Lindor led an offense that ranked in the top 10 in the MLB in most hitting stats (second in On Base Percentage and Slugging). The Cleveland pitching rotation was buoyed by breakout performances from Trevor Bauer and Carlos Carrasco as they posted the best Earned Run Average and

strikeouts of any team, along with the ever dominant trio of starter Corey Kluber, reliever Andrew Miller, and closer Cody Allen. With a pitching staff that deep, Cleveland looks poised to make a deep run in October, and they stand only 11 wins away from breaking that 68-year title drought.

Houston Astros: Jose Altuve has been the one of two or three of the best players in baseball this year. The leading candidate for American League MVP has led a team that until two years ago no one thought anything of, a team that only a few years ago had a payroll less than Alex Rodriguez’s salary, to an AL West top finish and a second seed in the playoffs. Dallas Keuchel, whose workload has been carefully managed all year, has put in a fantastic season a year removed from a wholly mediocre one (admittedly, he won the Cy Young Award the season before). It could be the year for the Astros to win their first-ever World Series title. They face off against the Red Sox in the AL Divisional Series, beginning today.

Boston Red Sox: There were high hopes placed on the Red Sox coming into this season as they traded for Chris Sale to bolster their rotation that already contained $217 million man David Price, now pitching out of the bullpen, and 2016 Cy Young winner Rick Porcello.

And while Sale has been masterful all season, leading the MLB

Weekly Crossword

Created by Alex Robey Solve online: http://www.cruciverbalex.com/36/ Across 1.

6.

Over-knight mail?

She succeeded Eleanor

10. Glance over quickly 14. “So ____!”

15. Entranced 16. Staff worker

in strikeouts, Price has struggled through injury while Porcello had a performance similar to, and maybe worse than, Dallas Keuchel’s last season. However, Drew Pomeranz, Eduardo Rodriguez, and Doug Fister have all emerged as solid members of the rotation, and that has helped to carry the Red Sox into the postseason as they’ve struggled with inconsistent hitting. They lost David Ortiz to retirement, and Mookie Betts has regressed from last year’s MVP-caliber season, but Andrew Benintendi has become a young star in left field, and the Red Sox will hope to get hot as they face off as against the Astros.

New York Yankees: No one thought the “Baby Bombers” would be this good this soon. But Aaron Judge has looked incredible at times, shattering the rookie record for home runs in a season. Luis Severino posted a sub-3.00 ERA in his first full season in the majors. Gary Sanchez posted a solid year after tearing up the majors with 20 home runs in 53 games last season. The Yankees have one of the best farm systems in baseball. They have star power coming out of the bullpen in Dellin Betances and Aroldis Chapman, maybe the best closer since Mariano Rivera. They’re poised to win now and win later, and they look to get that started off against the Indians after beating the Twins Tuesday night.

17.

18.

Sacred tribal pole Area conquered by

Alexander the Great 20. Progress 22. It’s right in the Py

thagorean theorem 23. Volcano center?

24. Sharp yank

about the two relates to just that. Perhaps just as interesting, however, is the bond that the two have established off of the court.

Wade and LeBron have been on countless vacations together and even this past month were featured all over Instagram for their combined off-season workouts in Los Angeles. Less well-known is the fact that Dwyane Wade was with LeBron the night that James proposed to his then fianceé, Savannah James.

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lebron said “I had D-Wade hold the ring for me all night because I didn’t want Savannah to accidentally bump against me and feel that I had the ring on me…When I asked for the ring, D-Wade looked at me and

The National League Los Angeles Dodgers: When the Dodgers were 9136, all anyone could talk about was whether or not they’d break the all-time record for wins.

Those folks who said no were surely in for a treat as the Dodgers went 1-16 over their next few games before a 12-6 “rebound” to finish the season 104-58, well below the record. Clayton Kershaw looks as good as ever, and they picked up Yu Darvish, the former Rangers ace, midseason.

Alex Wood has been a breakout star in the rotation while Cody Bellinger has lit up opposing pitchers almost as well as Aaron Judge. The Dodgers have the roster to advance to the World Series. But do they have the composure to go all the way?

Washington Nationals: Max Scherzer is one of the best pitchers in baseball. He’s the kind of guy you wish you could start everyday. He’s also the guy who could potentially make no starts as he deals with an injured hamstring. The Nationals do still have Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez, who have put up stellar numbers this season in the rotation. Add to that the hitting abilities of Bryce Harper, Daniel Murphy, Anthony Rendon, and Ryan Zimmerman, and you’ve got yourself a potential juggernaut in this postseason. Can they come together to win Dusty Baker his first title as a manager?

26.

27.

29.

33.

36.

37.

39.

40.

41.

42.

43.

45.

46.

Part of MIT: Abbr.

Rudely confronts Targets of pulldowns Lid decoration?

Rolls with rice Part of a nerd’s attire Finicky sort Utterly revolting Genesis creator?

Erstwhile Asian lake Time for giving up? ___ Moines Worldwide agcy. for

labor rights 49. Party bowlful 53. “Yours truly” alterna tive 55. Like some premium roasts 57.

Homer’s tale of Troy 58. Cantina platter item 59. It vies with Vogue 60. Not just plump 61.

Snowman in “Frozen” 62. Use a blowtorch, per haps 63. Four-time presidential

candidate Ralph

DOWN 1.

Web site, often 2.

River past Arles 3.

Poetic rhythm 4.

Cookie that may be stacked 5.

Losers’ requests 6.

“Training” garment 7.

“The ____ and the west

are mine…” (Walt Whit man) 8.

Realm of the dead 9.

Blemishes 10. Its capital is Castries 11. Double-decker checker 12. One with a fan club

said, “Are you ready?””.

Perhaps Wade’s wife Gabrielle Union said it best when describing Wade and James’ irreplaceable relationship. “If we played ‘The Newlywed Game’, I don’t know if I’d have more information on my husband than LeBron would,” she said.

While Wade and LeBron have proven multiple times that they are capable of winning an NBA championship, this year’s competition is fierce. Of course, the Golden State Warriors led by superstars Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant are a force to be reckoned with. In addition to the Warriors, however, are many improven teams that share the same goal of winning a title. For example, the Oklahoma City Thunder, who

lost to the Rockets in the playoffs last year, added superstars Paul George and Carmelo Anthony.

Furthermore the Boston Celtics, last year’s number one seed in the East, appear to be reinvigorated with the addition of Kyrie Irving to their roster by means of a trade that sent MVP candidate Isaiah Thomas and starting small forward Jae Crowder to the Cavaliers.

While the journey toward the ultimate goal of winning the NBA championship is arduous, I am confident that LeBron wouldn’t trade the opportunity to do it all over again with Wade for anything.

Chicago Cubs: The reigning World Series champs got off to a rough start.

The roster put together by wunderkind Theo Epstein was still intact, but they just couldn’t find their spark. Kyle Schwarber had a rough year after his World Series heroics. Jake Arrieta struggled with his command and velocity through the first few months before turning it around in spectacular fashion after the All-Star break. Schwarber, Anthony Rizzo, and reigning NL MVP Kris Bryant still combined to hit 90+ home runs. This is a team with a very high ceiling, but also a pretty low floor.

Their chances to repeat as world champions all depends on which of those teams takes the field against the Nationals come Friday.

Colorado Rockies: It’s rare for a team to have two legitimate MVP candidates in the way the Rockies have Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon, though if it’s going to happen anywhere, it’ll happen in Colorado (the high altitude has notoriously helped hitters pad their stats). And it’s even rarer for a Rockies team to have a top 10 ERA as a staff when they spend 81 games at Coors Field.

But manager Bud Black has done an exceptional job managing his pitching staff to do just that. The Rockies had only one pitcher, German Marquez, throw more than 150 innings, but they made it work with no real ace.

They’ll have to travel to Arizona to face the Diamondbacks Wednesday night.

Arizona Diamondbacks: Greinke rebounded for a 17win season with a 3.20 ERA to help propel the Diamondbacks to the first wildcard spot in the National League. Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen should be applauded for his midseason acquisition of J.D. Martinez, who hit 29 home runs in only 62 games in the desert. Paul Goldschmidt remains a perennial MVP candidate with a .297/.404/.563 slash line to go along with 36 home runs and 120 RBIs. Robbie Ray looks like he might just be the next Randy Johnson (just a tad bit shorter).

The Diamondbacks have great depth which might just give them an edge in the playoffs.

13.

19.

21.

25.

Parisian mother More, to Jorge Gold coin of yesteryear Another name for the

Higgs boson particle 27. Exacts 28. Kind of, in slang 30. Regarding, in a memo 31. You, poetically 32. Dubbed men 33. “House” costar Omar 34. Years past 35. Vaper’s item, informally 36. Withdrawal 38. Where captains go 42. Two-time presidential

first name 44. Charlotte-to-Raleigh dir.

My Predictions The Indians advance out of the American League after beating the Yankees and the Red Sox in the Championship Series. The Nationals beat the Cubs and then use their hitting prowess to overpower the Dodgers in the Championship Series. The Indians beat the Nationals in six games to claim their first World Series title in 68 years after last year’s heartbreaking loss.

46.

47.

48.

Covered in creeper Tenant’s form “Harry Potter and the

____ of the Phoenix” 49. Decem minus duo 50. Sci-Fi author Stephen son 51. Ancient Peruvian 52. Synonym for 24-Across 54. Exile isle for Napoleon 56. “Ideas worth spread

ing” online talk 57.

Japanese PM Shinzo 58. “Hamilton” creator

____-Manuel Miranda 59. Business add-on?

60. Poker decision

Answer to last week’s puzzle

THE PHOENIX SPORTS

October 5, 2017

PAGE A8

Field Hockey thrives under Coach Hannah Allison

Lauren Knudson/The Phoenix

Lauren Knudson/The Phoenix

By Elizabeth Curcio Sports Writer If you happen to be by the athletic fields on a Tuesday morning, you will most likely catch a glimpse of Swarthmore’s Field Hockey team starting their day off with a 6 a.m. practice.

It is this type of commitment that has contributed to their recent and unprecedented suc-

cess. Having won six out of their last 10 games, Field Hockey has already won more games this season than in any other since 2012. The Garnet’s success can also be attributed to their new coach, Hannah Allison, who brings a refreshing new coaching style and a positive outlook

for the team’s 2017 season.

Ellory Laning ’18 shared her thoughts on her new coach and impact she has already had, and will continue to have, on the program.

“I think that we’ve always seen ourselves as a strong and talented team, but Coach Alli-

son has dedicated a lot of practice time to helping us recognize where we break down and what has been preventing us from applying our strengths in games, which has greatly improved our play and helped us to connect and function as a united team,” she said.

Under Allison’s coaching, the Garnet have already won more Conference games this season than they have in the last four seasons. This newfound success must be attributed both to Allison’s coaching as well as her team’s ability to adapt and thrive under her new coaching style. This new coaching style focuses on the positives, creating a different team dynamic on the field. Instead of yelling when her athletes make mistakes, Allison tries to make each mistake a learning experience.

“I look forward to practices a lot more this season because I feel like I learn so much from them, as well as games. I think we just feel more confident playing our opponents this year

knowing that we have a shot at winning,” said Zelda Bank ’19.

The team have connected both on and off the field and all the players have really stepped up, especially the five firstyears. Chelsea Semper ’21, who already feels like she has grown as a player under the guidance of Coach Allison, thinks that the team can became a competing force in the Centennial Conference.

“I’m really excited to see the program continue to grow this season and gain more respect in our conference. I’m thrilled to be a part of the group that is positively impacting the Swat Field Hockey program and helping turn it into a team that shouldn’t be taken lightly,” she said.

Having always been supportive and communicative, the Field Hockey team is making major headway in their level of confidence and winning mentality that will help them become a team to be reckoned with. Lizzy

Stant ’19 gave some insight on a Centennial rival that she really wants to beat this year.

“John Hopkins! We had a tight game against them last year, and with our improvements over the past year we’d all love to bring them an even better game this year! We want to continue to improve in the conference and make other teams respect us and fear us! I believe in our ability to be able to do that this year more than ever before,” she said.

Field Hockey seems poised this year for their strongest season since 2012. With a new coach and new outlook on both practices and games, the team is set to grow and could be a solid contender in the Centennial Conference. While their much-anticipated game against John Hopkins is an away game on Oct. 14, Field Hockey faces Oneonta on Oct. 7 at 2 p.m. on Clothier Field.

FBI makes arrests in illegal NCAA Men’s Basketball recruiting

By Adam Schauer Sports Writer Even just a skim through the player bios on the Swarthmore athletics website quickly reveals a common trend, not only applicable to Swarthmore but all of NCAA Division III athletics. In response to the question “Why Swarthmore?”, almost every student praises the college’s emphasis on highlevel academics over athletics.

This past week, an unfortunate revelation about a widespread fraudulent recruiting system in NCAA Division I men’s basketball proved each Swarthmore student’s point all the more.

According to CNN, following the arrest of 10 coaches, executives, and advisers, the FBI debriefed their investigations into two related schemes to illegally convince highlevel recruits to attend certain

universities. In one, athletic guidance advisers bribed assistant coaches at the University of Southern California, Oklahoma State University, Auburn University, and University of Arizona to persuade recruits to hire these same advisers. These advisers also participated in the second scheme with sports brand Adidas, paying out cash to recruits to commit to certain universities, including the University of Louisville and the respective universities of the aforementioned coaches. Given the prestige and perennial success of these programs, the situation carries far more than just legal weight, at least from an athletic standpoint.

Apart from the FBI investigation and subsequent charges of wire fraud, bribery, and conspiracy, the controversy has also tarnished the reputation of the basketball programs at

the involved universities. All administrations and basketball programs have denied any involvement or knowledge of the fraud, fired the coaches involved, and continue to cooperate with authorities. Since many argued that the head coaches either had or should have had some awareness of the illegal actions, the scandal proved to be the last straw for legendary University of Louisville basketball head coach Rick Pitino’s famed tenure. With this fraud scandal under his authority as well as other scandals including a previous NCAA violation for hiring prostitutes for prospective recruits, both Pitino and athletic director Tom Jurich were placed on administrative leave, likely to be formally fired soon.

However, the greatest potential implication of this controversy has come out of

the growing pressure on the NCAA to impose the “death penalty” on the University of Louisville’s basketball program.

Although the “death penalty” has not been levied against any NCAA Division I program since SMU’s 1987 football season, the program’s current probation and culture of violating rules could merit the daunting punishment, which would indefinitely ban all men’s basketball operations and activities. With the school’s quick reaction and staff overhaul, this severe of a punishment seems unlikely; however, the program may not be able to escape its harrowed past. On top of that, the Louisville basketball program has been one of the most successful throughout history, particularly in recent memory. Therefore, the death penalty would not only punish the program, but greatly affect the finances of

the entire institution. The implications of the charges go far beyond the legal framework and have the potential to affect entire schools.

At the same time, apart from the illegality of the men’s actions, there are also immense ethical implications of convincing recruits to attend academic institutions for reasons other than their individual suitability.

Particularly at an academicallyoriented school like Swarthmore, the athletics department thankfully does not have to face the same financial pressures.

The ethical dilemma also adds to the ongoing debate over whether NCAA student athletes participating in billion-dollar industries should receive compensation apart from scholarships. Similarly, there are also debates taking place regarding whether collegiate level athletics have lost the true spirit of

the game, and have instead focused too heavily on performance, profits, and creating professional athletes. Although this issue is unlikely to resolve the greater debates, it serves as just another example for the advocates of the student athlete’s cause.

In the end, the implications and legacy of this narrative are still being written in the impending decisions to be made by the NCAA and the Department of Justice. However, the whole situation has undoubtedly left a mark on far more than the legal records of a few individuals, impacting the reputations of coaches, brands, programs, and even whole universities. Unfortunately, in this situation it would appear the poor decisions of a few will have tremendous implications for many.

Athlete of the Week: Marin McCoy Jack Corkery: What is your major, and what made you want to pursue it?

Marin McCoy: I am a biology major and have always really enjoyed learning about the way things work. I particularly enjoy learning about how the body works and understanding the various biological adaptations that animals have made over time to survive in their environments. While I enjoy all these aspects about biology, including the intimate relationship with the natural world, I find incorporating social justice into biological studies most compelling. If public health was a major option at Swarthmore, I would love to learn about how science can be used to stop injustices, systematic racism, and discrimination in our society.

JC: What appealed to you about Swarthmore when you were in the recruiting process?

MM: I really liked Swarthmore because it seemed to put a greater emphasis on academics than athletics. I wanted to be able to take advantage of all the things a liberal arts college has to offer, with soccer also being a part of my life. I really liked the emphasis Swarthmore put on social justice and I wanted to meet weird and quirky people.

JC: How did you feel when you set the school points record?

This past week, Junior Women’s Soccer player Marin McCoy won her third Centennial Conference Player of the Week award after scoring seven points in the Garnet’s two games. She set the program’s record for career points on Wednesday in a loss to Arcadia and tied the program record for goals in a win against Franklin and Marshall.

She has 13 goals and nine assists this year. The Garnet have a rivalry matchup this Saturday against Johns Hopkins at 4 p.m.

MM: I guess when I found out I was a little embarrassed. While I am sure my ego benefits from the limelight, sometimes I feel like it is unfair that forwards (those often scoring and assisting) get so much more attention over the midfielders and defenders. This record is without a doubt a testament to the opportunities that those teammates have created for me to finish. I am really proud of our team for creating so many scoring opportunities (53 shots in our last game!).

JC: You have a unique background not playing club soccer in high school, unlike most of your teammates, and you were also a three sport athlete in high school. How do you think your unique background prepared you for collegiate success?

MM: I think I avoided playing club soccer in high school for my own sanity. I was already beginning to get burned out of soccer, and I don’t think I would have been in the right place had I continued playing. I think having access to three different sports and all the coaches and teammates that came along with that really helped my enjoyment of the sport and the various aspects of different types of games. I also think that playing different sports might have given me a better field awareness, and it has possibly helped me better understand the sport from an analytical point of view.

JC: The team looks really good this year. What will the biggest key for success be going forward in the season?

MM: I think the key to success this season is continuing to play together as a team. When we play as a unit we are really, really hard to beat (and it’s super fun). I also think that when we score early, we are able to settle into our style of play, and if we can consistently do this we will have a lot more success.

JC: Do you have any goals, personal or team, for the rest of the season?

MM: Our team decided this season that we were going to focus on being present. This means that we don’t look up other teams, and we focus on playing our game regardless of the opponent. Personally, my goal this season has been to not regret the amount of effort I have put forth. It can be really hard to score goals while putting extra pressure on yourself. Instead, I try to focus on giving as much effort as possible and hope that this will help the team succeed.