The Phoenix 10/21

OCTOBER 21, 2010 • THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE SINCE 1881 • VOLUME 133, ISSUE 8

PHOENIX

Inside: New group aims to help Swatties with fitting in Thinking about hipsterism in modern society Women’s soccer 5-2 in Centennial Conference

Where are the conservatives?

The Phoenix

Thursday, October 21, 2010 Volume 133, Issue 8

The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881.

Page

12 Olivia Natan Phoenix Staff

Members of the classical Cambodian dance troupe Khmer Arts Ensemble perform in LPAC on Wednesday.

News

It may seem easier, as well as safer, to travel in groups, but Jasper makes the case for considering traveling solo in some Eastern European countries. PAGE 9

Sports

Bak: Holocaust History and Memory,” opens today in List. Bak’s paintings are haunted by his experiences during the Holocaust.

PAGE 10

you were expecting the greatest pitching matchup in the last half century. Tim finds that the 2010 playoffs have proved conventional wisdom wrong. PAGE 18

Columnist Steve Dean concludes his threepart feature on technology by exploring the different opportunities for technologasms the internet offers. PAGE 11

The Garnet women’s soccer team is tied atop the Centennial Conference standings thanks to a six game winning streak. PAGE 19

The Barnes Foundation will be moving to a new location in 2011. The collection, acquired

by Dr. Albert C. Barnes, has been embroiled in a controversial battle since Barnes’ death in 1951. Should the artwork be moved to a more accessible location against Barnes’ wishes? PAGE 13

women’s cross country team finished third at the Seven Sisters Invitational.

PAGE 20

Garnet Weekend alumni Tim’s observations on playoff and family in autumn for New exhibit exposes college baseball storylines to Jewish history and culture Game one of the 2010 National League the first time A new exhibit, “The Paintings of Samuel Championship Series was exciting, unless

Parents and alumni will visit campus together for the first time at the new annual Garnet Weekend and Homecoming. PAGE 3

New group tries to help stuDiscovering the pleasures Women’s soccer in battle dents fit in A new group created by the deans’ office and technology has to offer atop Centennial standings CAPS hopes to help students still feeling out of place at Swat form niches of their own.

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Conservatives comfortable Cross country women third Barnes Foundation moving at Seven Sisters Meet in spite of minority status While conservatives only count for about 9.9 its famous galleries For the second consecutive year, the percent of the student body, conservative students say they don’t feel ostracized, nor are they uncomfortable with speaking up about their political views. PAGE 5

New consortium focuses on family, child development A new Tri-Co consortium on family and child development hopes to provide students with resources in the area, with the eventual goal of having a Tri-Co concentration or major in the subject. PAGE 6

Living & Arts

Opinions

The Swarthmore volleyball team improved to 6-1 in Centennial Conference play with a victory over Ursinus last night after a tough tournament in the Bay Area over break. PAGE 21

The debate continues: Sestak, Onorato, Lentz best Cheerleading as a varsity candidates for Pa. The Phoenix endorses candidates for the sport?

U.S. Senate, gubernatorial and 7th Congressional District races. PAGE 15

WRC joins discussions on When will it really ‘get betmodern hipster culture The WRC has been hosting a series of dis- ter’ for marginalized? cussions on hipster racism and sexism, the tendency within some elements of hipster culture to play off racist or sexist comments as being ironic. PAGE 8

Volleyball competes in Cali

The “It Gets Better” project, highlighted recently after a string of teenage gay suicides, ignores the complexities of media representation and institutionalized discrimination, Eva writes. PAGE 16

A recent court ruling determined that competitive cheerleading cannot be considered a Division I varsity sport. Hannah asks, what do cheerleaders need to do to receive recognition for their athleticism? PAGE 22

Men’s soccer reaches #1 despite second road tie For the first time in program history, the

EDITORIAL BOARD Jeff Davidson Editor in Chief Amelia Possanza Managing Editor Linda Hou News Editor Menghan Jin Assistant News Editor Miriam Hauser Living & Arts Editor Camila Ryder Living & Arts Editor Susana Medeiros Assistant Living & Arts Editor Dante Anthony Fuoco Opinions Editor Marcus Mello Sports Editor Victor Brady Sports Editor Jacqueline Small Copy Chief Olivia Natan Photo Editor Xingyu Zhang Photo Editor Julia Karpati Graphics Editor Eric Sherman Director of Web Development STAFF Jacqueline Small News Writer Quitterie Gounot Living & Arts Writer Isaac Han Living & Arts Writer Dina Zingaro Living & Arts Writer Steve Dean Living & Arts Columnist Jasper Goldberg Living & Arts Columnist Alex Israel Living & Arts Columnist Jen Johnson Living & Arts Columnist Maki Somosot Living & Arts Columnist Ariel Swyer Living & Arts Columnist Naia Poyer Artist Mark Chin Cartoonist Ben Schneiderman Crossword Writer Anna Shectman Crossword Writer Peter Akkies Opinions Columnist Tyler Becker Opinions Columnist Eva McKend Opinions Columnist Timothy Bernstein Sports Columnist Hannah Purkey Sports Columnist Andrew Cheng Photographer Paul Chung Photographer Eric Verhasselt Photographer Nick Brown Photographer Jakob Mrozewski Photographer Allegra Pocinki Photographer Morgan Bartz Copy Editor Stella Cho Copy Editor Renee Flores Copy Editor Madison Garcia Copy Editor Lauren Kim Copy Editor Daniela Kucz Copy Editor Pendle Marshall-Hallmark Copy Editor Catherine Meador Copy Editor Parker Murray Copy Editor Naia Poyer Copy Editor BUSINESS STAFF Patricia Zarate Circulation Manager Madison Garcia Circulation Manager COVER DESIGN Julia Karpati CONTRIBUTORS Ana Apostoleris, Samuel Clark, Daniel Duncan, Gail Engmann, Renee Flores, Aaron Freedman, Sam Lacy, Emma Waitzman OPINIONS BOARD Jeff Davidson, Amelia Possanza, Dante Fuoco, Camila Ryder EDITOR’S PICKS PHOTOS COURTESY OF: http://www.clipart.clipartist.net/clipartist.net /openclipart/art/halloween_pumpkin_xxl.pn g, http://tiny.cc/ct7qq, http://tiny.cc/rbsuo, http://tiny.cc/dzc6b TO ADVERTISE: E-mail: advertising@swarthmorephoenix.com Advertising phone: (610) 328-7362 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Direct advertising requests to Jeff Davidson. The Phoenix reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Advertising rates subject to change.

CONTACT INFORMATION Offices: Parrish Hall 470-472 E-mail: editor@swarthmorephoenix.com Newsroom phone: (610) 328-8172 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Web site: www.swarthmorephoenix.com

men’s soccer team has reached the top spot Great TV themes songs go Prevalence of pornography in the NSCAA Division III rankings. PAGE 23 beyond bland hipness Alex examines the TV theme song, look- likely to damage relation- Field hockey in playoff coning at what makes theme songs successful tention for stretch run and which theme songs have been most ships Thanks to a young and talented core and

Mail subscriptions are available for $60 a year or $35 a semester. Direct subscription requests to Jeff Davidson.

senior leadership, the Garnet field hockey team has placed itself in contention for a Centennial Conference playoff berth. PAGE 22

All contents copyright © 2010 The Phoenix. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.

effective. PAGE 9

The benefits may outweigh the risks of solo travel 2

Porn can objectify women, create false expectations — and in the end hurt our relationships, argues Tyler. PAGE 17

October 21, 2010

The Phoenix is printed at Bartash Printing, Inc. The Phoenix is a member of the Associated College Press and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

THE PHOENIX

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events menu Today Lecture by Samuel Bak and Lawrence Langer Cooper Events brings Samuel Bak, a survivor of the Holocaust to give a talk on his art and its depictions of the lives of Eastern European Jews after the Holocaust. Joining him will be Lawrence Langer, professor emeritus of English at Simmons College.

The talk will be in LPAC Cinema at 4:30 p.m. and serve as the opening reception for the List Gallery event “The Paintings of Samuel Bak: Holocaust History and Memory.” His paintings will be on display in the List Gallery beginning Oct. 21.

Tomorrow Quakers, Swarthmore, and the Underground Railroad Learn about how Swarthmore and its contributers were involved in abolitionism and the Underground Railroad in this walking tour. The tour begins in front of McCabe Library at 12 p.m.

Coming Out Week open mic nite Coming Out Week invites students to sing at the Open Mic Nite in Olde Club at 8 p.m.. Other events include a TGTF (Too Gay To Function) Paces party on Saturday at 10 p.m.

Saturday, October 23rd McCabe Lecture: Old media, new media, and what you should know about everything you read.

Glamour Magazine’s editor in chief Cindi Leive ’88 talks about the media industry at 1:30 p.m. in LPAC. Coffee and conversation with the President Have breakfast and a conversation with President Rebecca Chopp in Sharples from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m.

Sunday, October 24th Crum Regatta The Swarthmore tradition of floating down the crum inmakeshift “boats” will continue at 12:15 p.m. beginning at the Crum Meadow.

Swarthmore Fun Run Participate in or watch a threemile course around campus and the Crum Woods beginning at 9 a.m. at the Mullan Tennis Center.

Monday, October 25th An evening with film and video artist Leighton Pierce Experimental moving-image artist Leighton Pierce will present his works in various areas of the arts and visit the Advanced Production Workshop class. The presentation will be in LPAC at 7 p.m.

E-mail submissions for the events menu to news editor Linda Hou at rhou1@swarthmore.edu by Wednesday at noon.

tHe PHOenIX

Garnet Weekend invites alumni and families in autumn for the first time

BY GAIL ENGMANN gengman1@swarthmore.edu

Amidst the fall foliage, crisp autumn air and post-break excitement, this weekend, the college will extend its welcoming hand to those in its larger community and host hundreds of families and alumni. For the first time in college history, family and alumni have been invited to see the campus in the height of the fall season and bring back a real homecoming.

According to Stephen Bayer, vice president of development and alumni relations, the purpose of Garnet Weekend is to foster pride and spirit.

“We want people to realize the special nature of this place, in terms of academics, athletics and spirit,” Bayer said. Garnet Weekend will welcome families and alumni while the school year is in full swing and the campus is adorned with lavish fall splendor.

In the past, Swarthmore has hosted Family and Friends Weekend in the spring and a separate reunion weekend for alumni in June after the students have left campus. According to Bayer, the creation of Garnet Weekend came about for two main reasons. The first is that spring is an incredibly busy time for students and the program proved too hectic with everyone’s schedules. The second is that parents were beginning to request that they see their kids earlier in the school year. Bayer noted that having alumni also come this weekend allows them to see the campus while students are still here and see themselves in the students, which is a rare experience.

Janessa Esquivel ’13, however, disapproves of the timing.

“I think that it was weird that it’s only a week after Fall Break. If you went home for the week, you probably wouldn’t really miss your parents yet,” Esquivel said.

Esquevil said her parents will not be coming.

Dan Spagnolo ’13, however, said his mother, who did not come last year, will come this year since he was unable to go home during Fall Break.

Other students, like Nicole Cox ’12, don’t think the time will matter for students.

“I’m not sure what attendance will be like. I don’t think a lot of students have a lot of strong opinions about the weekend in general, so I don’t know if it will really be a big deal on campus,” Cox said.

Nevertheless, Bayer thinks this weekend is perfect since it coincides with the emergence of fall colors on trees around campus. “We take for granted the beauty of this place,” Bayer said. “And for the first time alumni will be able to come back and relive fond memories of walking through the Crum as the leaves are changing”.

The planning for this weekend began in the spring and, due to the nature of having less hectic schedules

in the fall, the organizers were allowed to be more creative in planning the events. Associate Director of Parents Programs, Melissa M. Pizarro, said she felt that she was given more room to breathe while planning this event. “It enabled us to be creative with programming, including fascinating faculty discussions and great athletic events,” Pizarro said.

The events range from academics and art to campus life, sports games and tours. Some highlights include the President’s reception, the pep rally, the McCabe lecture and the Crum Regatta.

On Friday evening President Rebecca Chopp and Dean of Students Liz Braun will welcome parents and alumni and answer any questions they may have about life and academics at Swarthmore.

It will also be a time for parents to meet professors and get to know the faculty. Chopp and Braun also continue their accessibility to the visitors throughout the weekend by conducting open conversations that will entail introducing members of the administration and demonstrating how they facilitate the student’s college experience.

Visitors to campus will also be encouraged to come out at the pep rally on Friday night.

The rally will include music, games and student performances geared at not only getting the student body revved up for an array of sport games over the weekend, but also showing

the visitors a taste of the Garnet spirit.

A McCabe lecture is also scheduled for this weekend. The event is already more popular than planned. With 400 visitors signed up to attend, the organizers were forced to move the event to LPAC. “We’re thrilled to have Cindi Leive ’88, who’s the editor in chief of Glamour magazine, with us,” Bayer said. “She’s a very dynamic, high profiled person, and we expect to have a large turn out.”

In keeping with tradition, the annual Crum Regatta will also take place this Saturday. Students have been charging the Crum waters with makeshift floats since 1972 and this year will be no different. Pizarro noted that boat submissions are still being accepted from any group of students who would like to register their floating device into the competition.

Prizes will also be awarded, including for best use of materials and best costume, and the organizers hope that the event will be a great time for everyone attending.

According to Bayer, this weekend will be a time to raise spirit amongst alumni and provide families with an opportunity to see Swarthmore’s inner workings. Bayer also encouraged students to get involved with the events by coming to lectures, picnics and sports games. This is a weekend that involves the whole community, which Pizarro is hoping will continue to grow throughout the years.

Additional interviews by Jacqueline Small.

garnet weekend Friday, Oct. 22 Faculty Talk: Atlantic History — A New New World?

11 a.m. in Scheuer Room Quakers, Swarthmore, and the Underground Railroad — A Walking Tour 12 p.m. in McCabe Faculty Talk: Small Talk — the Chemical Language of Bacteria 2:30 p.m in LPAC President’s reception 5 p.m. in LPAC Pep rally 9 p.m. in Tarble Pavilion

Saturday, Oct. 23 Breakfast with the President 8:30 a.m. in Sharples Sigma Xi Summer Research Poster Session 10 a.m. in Eldridge Commons

October 21, 2010

Faculty talk: Cellulosic Biofuels — Turning Plants into Gasoline 3 p.m. in Sci 1010 Faculty talk: Writing Nature — Digital Storytelling in the Crum Woods 3 p.m. in Sci 199 Picnic on the Beach 4:30 p.m. on Parrish Beach Christian Ttaize worship 4:30 p.m. in Bond Hall Culture night in Kitao 8 p.m. in Kitao Gallery

Sunday, Sept. 26 Swarthmore Fun Run 9 a.m. in Mullen Center Crum Regatta 10:30 a.m. in Crum Meadow Bagel brunch 12 p.m. in Bond Hall Student/alumnae soccer match 12 p.m. in Clothier Stadium

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News

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New group tries to help students fit in

Week iN pictures

BY JACQUELINE SMALL jsmall2@swarthmore.edu

Andrew Cheng Phoenix Staff

Sixteen Feet and John Hopkins’ comedy a capella group The Mental Notes perform on Friday the 8th.

Eric Verhasselt Phoenix Staff

Students hold a candlelight virgil for queer students who have committed suicide on Monday as part of Coming Out Week.

Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff

President Rebecca Chopp speaks on her advice and tips for writing at the Faculty Panel on Writing on Tuesday,

4

Swarthmore can be a place where quirky high schoolers hope to come into their own and make friends who have similar interests. For some, this becomes reality, but others are left struggling, unable to find their niche within the Swarthmore Bubble. Karen Henry, dean of the classes of 2013 and 2014, and Daniel Livney, a clinical intern with Counseling and Psychological Services, hope that a new group they are forming will help those who find themselves on the outskirts of Swarthmore. “There needs to be room for students like this, who find that this isn’t what they had hoped.” Henry said.

The group, which is unnamed, is geared toward first-year students, but will be open to anyone who feels left out socially. An e-mail advertising the group was sent to first-years, sophomores and juniors.

Henry said, “I’ve had the experience of being the first-year dean two years in a row, and I think that there are students who are struggling in silence over not feeling like they’re fitting in ... and as a somebody who’s trained as a therapist, I thought, I love groups, personally, and I think they can be very powerful.” She said she is concerned about those students who find difficulty in making social connections, and wants the group to help them.

She believes that for students who face these challenges, talking to people with similar issues can be very helpful.

Livney, who is entering his second year with CAPS, realized the power groups hold while working on his dissertation. “They can be a useful way for people to feel connected to one another, and to learn about what makes us all both different and alike,” he said in an e-mail.

“As an intern at CAPS, it's no surprise that I'm a strong believer in the value of individual psychotherapy. [But] I felt that there were things that could be done with groups more readily than with one-on-one therapy, and this was one of those types of problems.”

Though Speak 2 Swatties has run groups, workshops and events for the emotional and mental health of students, CAPS does not manage any. Most of the existing groups of that nature are managed by the dean’s office, and include the Swarthmore Wellness Advisory Team (SWAT Team), Acquaintance Sexual Assault Prevention (ASAP) and the Sexual Misconduct Advisors and Resource Team (SMART Team). Because of the deans’ office’s experience with coordinating these groups, Livney contacted Henry toward the end of the last academic year.

Henry said, “As the first-year dean, there are a number of students who always come to my attention. Either they come to my atten-

October 21, 2010

tion because they come to my office asking me to fill out forms because they’re interested in transferring or they come to my attention because they’ve been talking to other people, such as parents and RAs ... about their struggles.” Henry hopes that providing a place for frustrated or lonely students on campus will help them overcome the difficulty of connecting with new people.

The group, which will meet once a week for five weeks, will focus on helping the individual students learn strategies that have worked for other people, and discussing the specific difficulties the members feel they are experiencing. Its first meeting will be this week, but at press time, an exact date had not been set. Though the meetings will be closed for the privacy of the students, new members will be accepted after the initial meeting, if they express interest.

Henry said some upper-class students have contacted her in order to offer to act as resources for the younger students, but nearly all the people interested in being in the group are first-year students. So far, 11 people replied with “questions and interest,” according to Henry.

“We’re very happy with [the] response.”

The Phoenix approached eight first-years, none of whom said they would be interested in joining. Dan Cho ’13 said that he probably would not have joined such a group. “It might be helpful for some people, but I think it might have been kind of an awkward thing to talk about. I mean, what do you say? ‘Sorry, I’ve got to go now, I’ve got a meeting about making friends’?”

Will Hopkins ’11, an RA, liked the idea of the group, but had doubts about how successful it will be.

“I think it’s a great idea, but it seems like the sort of thing that I don’t know if all the freshmen would use it,” Hopkins said. “I think students who are already pretty outgoing are more likely to use something like that, so I don’t know if it would get the sort of people who are more likely to want more friends.”

Livney expects that the group itself will be a help for its members.

“Sometimes, just figuring out that other people are in the same situation that you are in, and also hearing ideas from other students about what their experiences are can be helpful. Part of the job Karen and I see for ourselves is to just help that conversation along,” he said.

Hopkins observed that the social atmosphere first-years are first introduced to might not be conducive to friendships for everyone.

“A lot of freshmen’s social lives are sort of arbitrarily assigned. You have your CA group, and you have your hall. [As RAs] we try to build hall life, but it’s great to have other things outside these semi-arbitrary groups that are designed to give students a chance to get to know each other.” tHe pHOeNiX

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Conservatives comfortable in spite of minority status academia has been home to a wealth of liberal ideas and individuals and a much smaller conservative represenTo say that conservative students tation. Generally, liberal arts schools at Swarthmore do not feel isolated have been known to attract more leftfrom the rest of the predominantly lib- leaning students. eral student body may seem contra“Institutions often replicate themdictory. But for conservative David selves,” Berger said. “There may be an Hill ’13, life at Swarthmore is not so unconscious way in which students bad. are attracted to liberal arts colleges “I really like this place. ... I’ve had because they get the sense that the facactually a lot of really good engage- ulty there is on the left and that’s what ments with people,” he said. “But they want.” sometimes when I get bored, I put on a So why would conservative stuconservative t-shirt ... and go debat- dents such as Hill and Vogel come to ing.”

Swarthmore knowing that they would In fact, though conservatives at be in the political minority?

Swarthmore are considered part of a “People here are smart,” Hill said. minority group, most students who “Back home, we have people that are identify with this political orientation liberal, but not necessarily educated do not feel ostracized from their peers about it, just as you often have ill-eduand are generally content with both cated conservatives – people who just their academic and social experience hold a viewpoint because they can at the college thus far. hold it, not because they can defend Ashley Vogel ’13 is another student it.” who says her views align closer to the Embracing the fact that he’d be in right end of the political spectrum. the political minority, Hill came to “I’m generally happy,” she said. “For Swarthmore in hopes of adding diverthe most part, the professors that I’ve sity to the left-leaning campus. He encountered have been very support- even discovered that admissions ive. They try to be as open-minded as accepted him to the Class of 2013 in possible and not just represent one part for “diversity purposes.” side.”

While college faculty has been This discrepancy between percep- found to be fairly liberal across most tion and reality is highlighted by campuses, the high caliber of the Assistant Professor of Political Swarthmore faculty may justify the Science Ben Berger. He has also come overall contentment of conservative to find that, while in theory, it seems students. logical to think that conservative stuAssociate Professor of Sociology dents are being ostracized in the Sarah S. Willie-LeBreton attributes Swarthmore community, in most of this trend to Swarthmore’s outstandhis classes, that is not an issue. “In ing reputation as a rigorous and highclassroom settings, it’s really not ly selective school. clear to me that students would ostra“[This] would more than compencize somebody,” he said. “Certainly sate for any anxiety that potential stunot in the classrooms, they wouldn’t dents had about it being a hotbed of do it.” liberalism,” she said. According to The missing presence of the College Willie-LeBreton, conservative stuRepublicans on dents who come campus may i n t o account for the Swarthmore erroneous peracknowledge the “In classroom settings, it’s disproportionception. Since really not clear to me that ate number of the coordinator of the group, students who students would ostracize identify Jacqueline as libersomebody.”

Bailey-Ross ’12, al, yet have faith is currently in knowing that Ben Berger studying abroad they will get a Assistant Professor in Russia, the superior educagroup has distion and not be of Political Science banded until furpenalized for ther notice. their beliefs in According to and out of class.

Natalie Litton ’12, president of the This rationale rings true for Josh College Democrats, this lack of an Satre ’13, who chose Swarthmore preorganized group of conservatives may cisely because he knew he’d be able to give the student body a false sense of engage with fellow students who the number of conservative students shared different views. A potential on campus. “I think there are more political science major, Satre greatly conservatives than we may think,” enjoys bringing right wing perspecshe said. tives to often one-sided discussions in Data on the proportion of conserva- class. “In my opinion, that’s what tive students at Swarthmore is not Swarthmore is all about — having available, but a study carried out by your opinions and being willing to The Phoenix earlier this week found back them up,” he said. that out of 92 randomly selected stuThe small 8:1 faculty-student ratio dents, 70.7 percent identified them- at Swarthmore may also play a major selves as “very liberal” or “liberal” role in attracting certain conservative and only 9.9 percent as “conservative” students. At larger institutions, faculor “very conservative,” while the rest ty may have less interaction with stuidentified as “middle of the road.” dents; at small liberal arts colleges, But this trend is not unique to faculty members, though most do Swarthmore. Historically, the world of identify as liberal, try to invest first

BY MENGHAN JIN mjin1@swarthmore.edu

THE PHOENIX

Courtesy of The Phoenix’s survey

The Phoenix collected 92 responses from a survey sent this past week to a randomly selected sample of Swarthmore students asking for their political orientation.

and foremost in their relationship with students.

“There’s a premium placed on collegiality, on fairness and ... no matter what our political beliefs are, on genuinely showing all of our students that one, they won’t be graded on their politics and two, that we see it as part of our obligation to have positive relationships with students,” WillieLeBreton said.

Most faculty members in the political science department agree that their role, especially in such a unique community as Swarthmore, is not to impose their political views on students, but rather to encourage intelligent debate in the classroom regarding all aspects of American and international politics.

“Faculty both tolerate and encourage other kinds of views to be aired on campus and to be discussed in classes — really free intellectual inquiry that’s broad-ranging. I’ve never gotten the sense that it’s been stultified or ... that kind of free inquiry is capped at Swarthmore,” Berger said.

Hill, a possible political science major, often finds himself playing devil’s advocate in class, but has nevertheless benefitted from expressing his opinions. “Having that other viewpoint, professors seem to like it,” he said. “I’ve had them thank me for being the other point of view.”

Professor of Political Science Richard Valelly has found the presence of conservative students in class, however minuscule, to be enjoyable. “I found that anytime I have smart conservatives, they feel, ‘Hey, this is my time to

October 21, 2010

shine,’” he said.

However, Litton, who chose Swarthmore specifically because she admired the unabashed nature of the community in its political views, found the opposite to be true — that conservative students do not speak up as often in class.

“I’ve heard that conservatives certainly feel as if they are outnumbered, which is true, but that they also feel like people aren’t interested in what they have to say or there’s an assumption that everybody is on the same ideological end of the spectrum and that everybody agrees,” she said.

Many of what contributes to this hesitation in speaking up, Litton believes, is an assumption among liberal students that everyone is on the same page, which then leads to the prevalence of one-sided conversations.

Vogel, though content, remains disappointed by the one-sidedness of discussions within her peers. “My hope . . . was that I would be able to meet all these people with all these different kinds of political backgrounds and of different political views. There isn’t so much the variety; it’s kind of onesided,” she said. “If I try to bring an alternate viewpoint in . . . people will just dismiss you. It’s actually a lot more hostile an environment than I had imagined from the beginning.”

Apart from a couple frustrations, Swarthmore for Hill, Satre and Vogel is not as unbearable as it may seem.

When asked whether he was nervous about the prevalence of liberals at Swarthmore, Satre replied, “I relish a challenge.”

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New consortium to study family, child development

BY AARON FREEDMAN afreedm1@swarthmore.edu

For some Psychology students at Swarthmore, it may be frustrating that no school in the Tri-Co offers a Child & Family Studies major or concentration.

However, this may soon change thanks to the newly formed Tri-Co Child and Family Studies Consortium.

The Consortium, currently in its initial planning phase, was created with the help of a Mellon Tri-Co Seed Grant applied for by faculty from Haverford, Bryn Mawr and Swarthmore. According to Swarthmore psychology professor Jane Gillham, the purpose of the Consortium is to “support a series of meetings/conversations about Child and Family Studies.” An informative e-mail about the group, sent to the student body a few weeks ago, stated that, “Interests of the group are wide-ranging, including cross-cultural perspectives, advocacy, approaches to research, inter-professional collaboration, and linkages between family, school, learning, and opportunity.”

Currently, the nascent Consortium is working on two main projects — speaker series and brainstorming sessions , as well as development of a possible Tri-Co Child & Family Studies major or concentration.

On the latter topic, students are enthusiastic. “I absolutely support the idea of a Swarthmore Child and Family Studies major,” psychology major Katherine Ernst ’12 said in an e-mail. “I think that it spans a fascinatingly wide range of academic fields, ranging from soci-anth to educational studies to psychology to history to political science, as well as being a valid stand-alone subject with which to create a major.”

Other students agree with Ernst’s sentiment. “I would definitely support

Swarthmore/the Tri-Co offering a Child and Family Studies major or concentration because it's a fascinating subject and can lend itself to very specialized job opportunities, like family counselor child psychologist,” Miriam or Goldstein ’13, a potential Psychology major, said.

Maya Marzouk ’13 also supported a Child and Family Studies program. “It would 100 percent definitely be my major.”

For other students interested in the Consortium and the possible Child and Family Studies major, the Consortium will be holding an open brainstorming session on November 2nd. And, on November 12th, an anthropology professor from Utah State University will be giving a lecture on child development at Haverford.

Still, many students, even those taking psychology, don’t know much about the Consortium yet. “I remember getting an e-mail a few weeks ago,” remarked Kyle Krainock the e-mail sent out to students about the Consortium.

Child and Family Studies majors are not common in most colleges and universities for undergraduates, especially those of Swarthmore’s size.

There are some notable exceptions, like the B.S. program offered by Gallaudet University, a university for the hearing-impaired in Washington D.C., and California State UniversityLong Beach.

However, many schools do offer Masters programs in Child and Family Studies, thus offering a postgraduate path for Psychology majors interested in the subject.

For now though, students who want to pursue child development in the TriCo will be limited to these few talks and programs. But, as the Consortium and interest in it grows, so will its offerings.

News iN pictures

Olivia Natan Phoenix Staff

On Friday the 8th, the Scott Arboretum, along with volunteers, planted around 150 trees in Crum Henge as a part of a TreeVitalize grant awarded to Swarthmore College and the Chester/Ridley/Crum Watersheds Association through the Delaware County Conservation District.

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Drug ring member sentenced at PSU ZACH GEIGER dailycollegian.psu.edu Oct. 20, 2010 A State College man received five to 10 years in state prison for his involvement in a local cocaine ring run out of his former gas station.

Greg Palazzari, 54, of 2243 Bristol Ave., was sentenced on three felony drug charges Monday, Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller wrote in an e-mail. Palazzari was arrested Aug. 21, 2009 at his former gas station, Greg’s Sunoco, 605 University Dr., after officers from the Centre County Drug Task Force surrounded the location.

After conducting a two-month investigation, police determined that Mario Rincon, 28, of 621 Elmwood St., sold the cocaine to Palazzari.

Palazzari bought an ounce of cocaine from Rincon every three days, according to court documents. Police said Palazzari sold about $50,000 worth of cocaine per month throughout State College.

The state’s request to seize control of Palazzari’s gas station was granted by Centre County Judge Bradley Lunsford in Sept. 2009.

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The two other men involved in the case — Rincon and his roommate, Curtis Vonada — were previously sentenced for their involvement in the drug trafficking operation.

Rincon is serving an aggregate sentence of 10 to 20 years, Centre County District Attorney Stacy Parks Miller said in September. He turned himself in on Aug. 25, 2009 after a four-day manhunt and was found guilty on one count of fleeing or attempting to elude an officer and five counts of delivery of cocaine, Parks Miller said.

Vonada fled following Palazzari’s arrest.

A former Centre County Correctional Facility employee, Vonada was charged with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance, felony conspiracy and misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance. In 2009 he pleaded guilty in exchange for one year’s probation.

An ounce and a half of cocaine, about $16,000 in cash and other drugs and paraphernalia were recovered from Rincon’s apartment.

The drugs seized from the apartment were valued at $37,000.

Spring ’11 Matriculation Deadline for most programs*: December 1—Final Deadline

Spring ’11 Non-Matriculation Deadlines: December 1—Priority Consideration January 7—Final Deadline

Apply today at www.tcnj.edu/gs graduate@tcnj.edu 609.771.2300 Applications will be reviewed until programs reach capacity or until final deadlines.

* Counselor Education applications will not be accepted after October 1. MAT Secondary Education programs admit for summer only.

Deadlines subject to change, check Web site for updates.

October 21, 2010

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Students drink more while abroad, study finds

BY ALEX NAWAR DAILYFREEPRESS.COM OCT. 14, 2010 Students who go abroad absorb every part of their adopted country's culture, including its alcohol.

A recent study conducted by researchers at U. Washington revealed college students significantly increase their alcohol consumption while abroad.

The study, which was published in the Psychology of Addictive Behaviors journal on Monday, examined the drinking habits of 177 UW students before and after they studied abroad.

UW researchers found that students reported drinking more because they observed other students in their study abroad program drinking more, and followed suit.

Students considered drinking

abroad an important aspect of cultural immersion.

Students who participated in the survey said they drank over twice as much than they normally did at home while abroad, which amounted to about 10 drinks per week, according to the study.

After returning home, they said they resumed their normal drinking habits of three to five drinks per week.

While the average student increased his or her alcohol consumption by 105 percent, students under the age of 21 increased their drinking by 170 percent, the study said.

Joseph Finkhouse, the director of institutional relations for Boston U's study abroad programs, said “students' behavior abroad generally reflects students' behavior at home.”

Finkhouse said the study only

‘Pink Party’ raises breast cancer awareness in PSU

BY ANITA MODI COLLEGIAN.PSU.COM, OCT. 19, 2010 While the guests seated around a rectangular table at the Tapestry Family Planning and Health Services’ Bellefonte office had heard of tea parties, no one had ever been to a “Pink Party” before Monday afternoon.

Tapestry Family Planning, a nonprofit organization providing family planning, sexual health, women’s health and community education services in four different Pennsylvania locations, planned four such Pink Parties this October—one hosted by each of its offices.

Women in the local Centre region were invited to partake in Monday’s Pink Party, held from 3 to 6 p.m., which featured a variety of activities designed to raise awareness about advancements in breast cancer research and prevention.

This is not the first year the organization honored Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with previous events including “complete busts” according to Natalie Ferrigno, outreach coordinator for Tapestry Family Planning.

“Last year, we had free clinical breast exams, but no one showed up,” Ferrigno said. “We decided to revamp the event and make it sound less scary. It’s essentially a breast cancerthemed open house for each of our four offices.”

This year, guests were offered free clinical breast exams and mammogram referrals and shared personal family experiences over cookies, pretzels and pink lemonade.

Tapestry Family Planning staff also gave a mini-lesson about six steps women can take to prevent breast cancer: learn your family history, learn your personal history, lead a healthy lifestyle, go for routine clinical breast exams, conduct monthly self exams and schedule routine mammograms. the PhoeniX

As a non-profit organization, Tapestry Family Planning does what it can to offer free exams and checkups to its patients — especially those without insurance, Ferrigno said. But as funding for a number of the clinic’s health programs and services has been cut recently, nurses are further stressing the importance of conducting regular self breast exams.

Geri Reeve, a representative of the Centre County Breast Cancer Coalition who attended the Pink Party Monday afternoon, said she identified her first lump when conducting a self breast exam when she was 28 and was soon diagnosed with breast cancer. Thirteen years later, she found another lump and was diagnosed again.

“My first thought was, ‘They’d made a mistake,’” Reeve said. “And if the first diagnosis is bad, the second one is devastating. But I had the same attitude going into treatment for the second time that I did the first—I had a daughter at home and I needed to survive.”

At age 60, Reeve now works with the American Cancer Society’s Reach to Recover group, Relay for Life and Strides for Cancer to emphasize the importance of self breast exams and early detection to women all over the nation.

The Pink Parties also served to promote the organization’s new outreach program, “Breast and Gynecological Cancer Awareness” designed to make women more aware of why routine procedures such as Pap smears and pelvic exams are necessary for maintaining sound health.

The clinic held its first Pink Party on Oct. 13 at its Philipsburg office, and plans to host two other events on Oct. 19 and Oct. 21 at its Huntingdon and Lock Haven offices, respectively.

The Pink Parties are free to attend, but women are encouraged to R.S.V.P. to the main office in Bellefonte beforehand.

showed the behavior of a small sample of students and could not be used to generalize the behavior of BU students while abroad.

Many of the more than 2,200 students who travel abroad through BU travel to places where the drinking age is under 21, he said.

“Our policy is that students are bound by the laws of the country that they're in,” he said. “We're not going to tell them that they can't drink, but we like to emphasize that drinking isn't necessarily part of the culture.”

While the BU study abroad program sometimes has rules about alcohol consumption in residences abroad, the program does not attempt to curb legal drinking in the host country, Finkhouse said.

Alice Boudes, a senior in the College of Communication who studied in Paris last Spring, said that there was no pressure to drink more alcohol because alcohol was readily available everywhere. “I think people were drinking about the same amount,” said Boudes.

However, instead of drinking a lot at once, students spread out their alcohol consumption over a longer period of time, she said.

Alexa Fernandez, a senior in the

October 21, 2010

College of Arts and Sciences and COM, had a similar experience when she was studying abroad in Sydney last fall.

“I guess I did drink more because I could actually go out to the bars and the program would provide alcohol at events as well,” she said.

Fernandez said that students seemed to be more responsible while drinking abroad, as they “would be going to bars, not parties.”

Both students agreed traveling abroad changed their drinking habits for the better.

“I learned to enjoy it,” Boudes said.

“My program actually had a wine-tasting event during which we got to learn how to drink, savor and recognize wine properly.”

Boudes swaid that binge drinking seemed much more common in students in Boston than in Paris, regardless of their legal drinking status.

“My bosses would bring beers to work and we would drink on the job,” added Fernandez.

“They have a ‘work hard, play hard’ lifestyle,” she said.

According to the study, Europe, Australia and New Zealand were the countries where students' drinking increased the most.

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WRC joins discussions on modern hipster culture

BY DINA ZINGARO dzingar1@swarthmore.edu In the 1940 and 1950s, hipsters were the black performers of jazz and swing music. “Hip” referred to forms of musical expression originated in African-American culture.

Though hipsters could be black or white, the term was later predominantly used as a reference to whites who were aficionados of jazz. Considered groupies and members of the Bohemian or Beat Generation, hipsters and their mellow, laid-back attitude were cool and “hip.”

Yet in contemporary subculture — whether from a fashion, artistic, or political perspective — the term “hipster” is difficult to define. Perhaps one imagines the most cliché conception of the hipster: meticulous hair, skinny pants and black-rimmed glasses. But what lifestyle choices, political affiliations, music preferences, and style choices clearly identify someone as a hipster? Without a resolved set of necessary characteristics, contemporary “hipsterism” seems to resist categorization.

Amidst the pool of writers addressing the subject, N+1 magazine recently considered hipsterism as a sociological trend in its Oct. 15 publication of “What Was the Hipster?”

Similarly, the college’s Women’s Resource Center considered contemporary hipsterism in an open discussion that focused particularly on hipster racism and sexism. Both hipster racism and sexism define humor inspired by the hipster trend of rejecting or mocking the mainstream because is it the “cool” thing to do. Thus, participants in either behavior will often joke or accept offensive jokes about people in the mainstream because it is the “in” thing to do. AJ Plaid, an online blogger for “The Cruel Secretary,” defines hipster racism similarly as “ideas, speech, and action meant to denigrate another’s person race or ethnicity under the guise of being urbane, witty, educated, liberal, and/or trendy.”

Along with web-only content, N+1 bi-annually publishes a print journal about politics, literature and culture.

Hoping to generate discussion about contemporary hipsterism, the magazine hosted a symposium at the New School in New York City in April 2009. Following the conference, articles, responses, and essays were published and printed in the pamphlet “What Was the Hipster?” In the preface, editor of N +1 Mark Grief describes the investigation as a means “to find out if it is possible to analyze a subcultural formation [hipsterism] while it is still happening, from the testimony of people who are close to it.”

Printed immediately after the preface, his essay for the conference, titled “Positions,” considers both the historical background of the term “hipster” and also proposes a variety of definitions of the contemporary hipster intended to spark discussion.

Referring to the work of Anatole Broyard, Grief considers the hipster as the black subcultural figure of the late 1940s. “Broyard insisted that black hipsterism was developed from a sense that black people in America were subject to decisions made about their lives by conspiracies of power which held a monopoly of information and knowledge that they could never possibly know,” Grief said. So, the “hip” reaction of the black community was to insist, purely symbolically, on forms of knowledge one knew before anyone else, and knowledge independent of experience — a priori knowledge.

Later in the 1950s, the hipster was a white subcultural figure inspired by “the desire of a white avant-garde to disaffiliate from whiteness,” and achieve the clichéd “cool” knowledge of the African-American community. Beginning in the 1980s, new subcultures such as the 1990’s “neobohemia” and “indie-rock” cultures, emerged as alternatives to the success of consumer capitalism. So contemporary hipsterism, which is defined by its rejection of the mainstream, emerges from a tradition of youth subcultures that tried to remain independent of consumer culture.

Yet contemporary hipsterism, according to Grief, is more complicated since it is defined as a subculture of people, but is currently quite dominant. Grief said, “The hipster is that person, overlapping with declassing or disaffiliating groupings — the starving artist, the starving graduate student, the neo-bohemian, the vegan or bicyclist or skate punk, the would-be blue-collar or post-racial individual — who in fact alights himself both with rebel subculture and with the dominant class, and opens up a poison-

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ous conduit between the two.”

Also interested in the contemporary hipster ideology, Women’s Resource Center housesitter Yena Purmasir ’14 organized the “Discussion of Hipster Racism and Sexism,” which occurred on Sept. 22. In addition to running open hours for the WRC, housesitters are responsible for facilitating weekly events. Having grown up in New York City, Purmasir witnessed a widespread hipster culture in her high school, and observed evidence of both hipster racism and hipster sexism.

In terms of fashion, music, or other lifestyle choices, Purmasir believes that hipsters are generally defined by their rejection of the mainstream. “Slowly, the hipster trend or ideology is also sort of becoming to mock mainstream things,” she said. Rejecting certain aspects of mainstream culture characterizes what is hip.

“Hipster racism and hipster sexism are the ideas that because we are so hip and cultured, we can say things about certain minorities and we clearly don’t mean them.

Whether you are from a minority or have a friend of a minority, you obviously are not a racist or a sexist, but you just are just making fun of people in mainstream who act in these certain ways,” Purmasir said. Though such humor is often considered harmless, if someone is no longer defined by or held accountable for what they choose to say, it becomes difficult to differentiate between what actually identifies someone as a racist or a sexist.

“Anyone can commit hipster racism or hipster sexism, but it has its roots in hipster culture, although I am sure that there are people who are identified as hipsters who do not engage in either behaviors,” Purmasir said. Neither hipster racism nor hipster sexism define the contemporary hipster. Instead, it is the general hipster ideology of mocking the mainstream that inspires these behaviors of endorsing potentially offensive statements for the sake of looking cool.

During the WRC discussions, the students considered a popular Facebook group, “I’m the boy. You’re the girl.

Make me a sandwich, or we don’t talk today.” On DailyCollegian.com, in March 2010, Dave Coffey noted the harmlessness of the joke and said, “Laughter itself is a natural reaction to a noted inconsistency.” He explains his laughter as a consequence of the irony of society since it considers itself socially progressive, yet women’s suffrage is less than one century old. Coffey’s casual approach to the potentially offensive statement is considered evidence of the hipster sexism trend.

c a r t o o n

October 21, 2010

b y

Such denigrating humor based on individuals’ assumptions leads to efficiency-based stereotyping. Society becomes assimilated to a mindset where such sexist or racist jokes are considered funny and thus become increasingly accepted. Individuals feel less and less validated in becoming angered or offended by such statements because as Purmasir explained, “it’s not hip and it’s not cool.”

Allison Roseberry-Polier ’14 attended the discussions.

“Whatever the intention is [of sexist or racist jokes], having this demeaning sense of humor does reproduce certain ideas. So, in that way, it can be harmful to have jokes that are quite offensive and demeaning because they are only reinforcing stereotypes,” she said.

While researching for the discussions, Purmasir noticed no shortage in pop culture of humor excused by “It’s ok, I don’t really mean it.” For example, at Amy Sedaris’ book signing in 2009 for “I Like You,” the comedian used the phrase “ching-chong” during an interview to jokingly describe an Asian colleague. On the online blog “The Society Pages,” co-author Dr. Gwen Sharp, who teaches at Nevada State College, believes the incident raises the question: “Who can claim the right to appropriate racist humor and use it in an ironic way?”

In this case, Sharp believes it is Sedaris’ status as a “hipster darling [that] surely buys her more ironic credit.” Her quirky persona gives her leeway to use the racist comment ironically; instead of showing outrage, people laugh, because to accept such jokes is the cool thing to do.

He considers the public uproar over Rosie O’Donnell’s use of the same phrase “ching-chong” earlier in 2006. Since O’Donnell lacked a cultural status of being cool or hip at the time, her actions received widespread criticism.

In considering hipster racism and hipster sexism, Purmasir joins N+1 magazine within the widespread debate on college campuses, online blogs, and in literary publications about the varied conceptions of hipsterism in 2010.

Is the contemporary hipster merely a “hip consumer” who understands consumer purchases — the right shirt or the right bag — within the familiar mainstream categories?

Does their rejection of the mainstream lifestyle make them possessors of knowledge and tastes that are increasingly hard to possess? Though hipsterism is an identifiable phenomenon, the specific exterior markers, lifestyle choices, and ideologies that identify someone as a hipster are complicated and ambiguous.

n a i a

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Living & Arts Great TV theme songs go beyond bland hipness swarthmorephoenix.com

Alex Israel Pencils Down, Pass the Remote

The television theme song is a tricky thing to get right. In less than thirty seconds (unless, of course, your show is on HBO) you have to successfully set the mood, even if you don’t plan on explaining the premise or introducing the characters.

Some themes succeed with flying colors, as anyone who can sing the entire “Gilligan’s Island” theme from memory, despite not being born before the show was cancelled, can tell you.

(Disclaimer: I can sing the entire “Gilligan’s Island”

theme from memory.)

Today, however, the TV theme song is something of a lost art. Gone are the days when everybody knew Gary Portnoy’s name, because he wrote the theme song to “Cheers.” Today, many of TV’s most popular shows suffer from bland, derivative theme songs — I’m looking at you, “Modern Family” and “Community” — that don’t tell you anything about their shows except that the creators are aiming for some sort of generic hipness. Which is really a shame, because these shows are the opposite of bland and derivative, and they should have theme songs to match.

The death of the television theme song, however, is not yet upon us. Despite the disheartening attempts at catchy themes found on network television, cable shows are increasingly embracing moody, atmospheric themes that capture the essence of the series. The most striking examples of truly artistic opening credits can be found on HBO (where, to be fair, credits go on for about a minute and a half, rather than being cut off at fifteen or thirty seconds, which gives the creators a whole lot more to work with).

While some HBO sequences are just not up to snuff — like the “Big Love” credits, which are inexplicably awful — the

opening credit sequences for “True Blood,” “The Sopranos,” and “Six Feet Under” are truly exceptional pieces of work. Each song, combined with the accompanying graphics, is richly evocative of its show’s setting and mood: Jace Everett’s “Bad Things” combines with images of death, decay, sex and religion to anchor vampire drama “True Blood” in the evangelical fervor of the deep South; Alabama 3’s “Woke Up This Morning” follows scenes of mob boss Tony Soprano’s daily life, to create a picture of a thug living a suburban life; and Thomas Newman’s creepily austere theme song combines with images of embalming and funerary rites to show the clinical side of death.

The best HBO opening theme, however, came from a much less popular show. Anyone who watched the Great Depression-set supernatural mystery “Carnivale” (which was sort of like “Lost” combined with “Supernatural” on crack) will no doubt remember the haunting opening credit sequence, which featured tarot cards blending with scenes from Depression-era life, set to Wendy Melvoin and Lisa Coleman’s gorgeous composition. The credits perfectly encapsulated both the mood and the subject matter that defined the show, and they remain the best opening credit sequence I have ever seen.

There are shows other than HBO shows that have good opening credit sequences, however. One of the most noteworthy is “Doctor Who,” the absurdly long-running British sci-fi series. The show’s theme song (besides being ridiculously catchy) has, with some minor alterations, remained the same for the over 30 seasons the show has been on the air. The “Doctor Who” theme song also holds the distinction of being the first piece of music to be composed and performed entirely electronically, without any instruments. This gives the song a futuristic feel appropriate to a series about a time-traveling alien, but without completely sapping it of feeling and fun.

Another much-lauded TV theme is that of AMC’s “Mad Men.” Now, I don’t really believe all the hype over the theme song for “Mad Men” — after all, it’s no “Carnivale” — but I will admit that the music is lovely, the imagery is great, and the theme song is in keeping with the show’s

general feel, which is one of a stilted 60’s middle-class life in which the only possibility for excitement comes in the potential for tragedy lurking around every corner. The theme encapsulates, for me, the central factor that keeps me from getting involved in this show; it’s beautifully done, slickly designed, and just a little too calculated and removed to be genuinely engaging. At least, that’s how I feel. “Mad Men” worshippers, feel free to start your barrage of hate mail at any time.

Of course, some shows eschew the traditional theme song altogether, instead starting a show with different strategies. The voiceover is particularly popular on the CW: “Gossip Girl” starts with the titular narrator (Kristen Bell) intoning, “And who am I? That’s the only secret I’ll never tell,” while “The Vampire Diaries” opening features the usually cute-and-cuddly Stefan uttering the extremely creepy line, “I know the risks, but I have to know her.” But the voiceover also appears at the beginning of one of the most successful franchises in American television history.

That’s right, I’m talking about “Law and Order.” When you’ve vegged out in front of enough USA L&O marathons, it becomes quite easy to remember that, in the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate yet equally important groups, and that these are their stories.

Of course, for some shows, even a voiceover isn’t concise enough. On “Lost,” a mood of mystery, dread, and the unexplained is created in the space of one swirling, drawnout note. Let me repeat that: one note. I take back what I said earlier about HBO having the best theme songs, because those whiners take a whole minute and a half to set their moods, while “Lost” does it in one note. The undisputed king of the TV theme has been crowned, and it didn’t even need a melody to do it. Now that’s why “Lost” was the best show on television. (Well, excluding that whole season finale part. And season three. Not to mention that episode with C.J. from “The West Wing”…)

Alex is a senior who can sing the entire Gilligan’s Island theme from memory. If you ask really nicely, she might perform it for you in Sharples one day. You can reach her at aisrael1@swarthmore.edu.

The benefits may outweigh the risks of solo travel Paris will still be there to visit when you’re older.

So will London and Rome and all of the other great cities in the European U n i o n .

Jasper Goldberg While I cerAround the World t a i n l y wouldn’t say in 70 Days no to visiting any of those cities, I would encourage you to consider visiting cities further east in Europe. Cities like Kyiv, Sarajevo and Prishtina that look and feel nothing like they did 15 years ago, and that will look and feel nothing like they do today in another 15.

Outside of the European Union, it’s possible to really see history in action and watch new cities rising out of the difficulties of the 20th century. Sarajevo, in Bosnia-Hercegovina, which survived a four year siege by the Serbian army during the 1990s, today has rebuilt its office buildings and markets, and today only a few bombed-out buildings remain. Similarly, the Serbian capital, Belgrade, has been transformed into Europe’s biggest party city, and many of the buildings that the United States and other countries to end the genocides of the 1990s have been replaced by cafes and new buildings as well. Georgia is also recovering rapidly from its war with Russia two years ago.

Less visible changes are also underway, as countries like Moldova and Turkey both

THE PHOENIX

considered major constitutional referendums. Although these cannot be seen like buildings, you will be sure to meet many locals eager to discuss the current political issues.

The biggest surprise for me during my three months of traveling was how social solo travel is. I had worried that it might be lonely to set off on a trip without knowing anyone. Instead, the last three months have left me starved for actual alone time.

Staying in hostels and using mass transit means that you will always be near someone who wants to meet you. It can be difficult for the first few days to be outgoing in a strange place, but think of it as being similar to arriving at Swarthmore as a freshman. If you were able to find friends and not eat alone at every meal your first week on campus, then you will be able to find friends at hostels and on trains. Plus, if you don’t like your roommates, you can always switch rooms, or even hostels.

Solo travel has also allowed me to experience far more than I ever would have traveling with a friend who could help keep me in my comfort zone. It gave me enough flexibility to decide one morning to go to Ukraine instead of Austria. Not needing to coordinate with anyone else means that you can enjoy a week of traveling with a French guy you met at your hostel across Kosovo and Macedonia, and then part ways amicably when the places you wanted to go differ, as I did in September.

It’s not easy to travel for months at a time, and obstacles like plane tickets, school and work make it difficult to travel outside of the country. I worked five jobs during the summer to raise enough money, and I probably won’t be able to do another trip like this for a long time. One way to make a trip more affordable if you choose to do a semester abroad is to take advan-

tage of travel funding the Off-Campus Study Office provides each student. Buy your plane ticket abroad a month in advance so that you can travel before classes, and you already will have dealt with the largest cost of travel.

If you can visit now, you will have the opportunity to watch modern societies being built. At times, I felt like I was watching moments from American history when the bus I was in passed rail workers tunneling through Turkey’s mountains to link the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas, and when it passed road workers building highways in Kosovo. In the past decade, both Georgian and Ukrainian reformers led nonviolent revolutions that brought democratically elected governments to power, and in both countries those democratically elected governments lost significant support in the last four years. If you are interested in more than museums, now is the time to see these places.

Solo travel is not always easy, and Eastern Europe contains particular challenges for travelers. To be sure, there are certain privileges that come with being a white male, but I also have met women who had traveled solo safely as far as from France to Israel by bicycle. Other women I met told me that they wore fake wedding rings to avoid unwanted attention or even found male travelers who were willing to pretend to be their “husband” when traveling in more rural areas.

I also met people of color who had traveled safely and enjoyably around Eastern Europe. Although usually the non-white travelers I spoke to had traveled without issue, too often they told me that they had been treated, at best, as objects of extreme curiosity. I remember spending a frustrating night with two men I met in Greece and an African-American traveler trying to

October 21, 2010

explain that he and I could be equally “American” and should both be allowed into a club. Though this was not the only time this American had a difficult time traveling, he told me that overall, he was having a fantastic time in Europe.

Language can also be an obstacle.

However, anyone reading this article has the extraordinary privilege of knowing English. Although most people over the age of 30 in the former-Soviet countries speak Russian, rather than English, most students today learn English as a second language. My lack of knowledge of the Eastern European languages was never an obstacle, as English has become the de facto international language. In any important situation, such as buying a train ticket or checking in to a hostel, someone will speak English.

Food and store items can be bought by pointing, and all of Europe uses the same numbers, meaning that you can say the name of the local currency — “lari” or “dram” — and write a number — “5” or “1000” — to agree on a price. Holding up fingers also works, assuming that whether you’re talking about 1’s, 10’s, 100’s, or 1000’s is already mutually understood. To be polite, I would recommend also learning how to say “hello,” “thank you,” and “goodbye” in the local language, at a bare minimum.

Travel abroad certainly is not easy, but if you can go, go! If solo travel makes you feel uncomfortable, plan a trip with a friend from home, or wait until you leave the country and ask other travelers you meet along the way if you can travel with them. Even if you decide to go solo, you will almost never be alone. Trust yourself and try going a little further East.

Jasper is a senior. You can reach him at jgoldb1@swarthmore.edu.

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Living & Arts

swarthmorephoenix.com

new exhibit exposes college to Jewish history and culture Germany, Bak and his mother managed to emigrate to Israel. There, he studied art at the Belazel School in Jerusalem. Since then, Bak, a self-described “wanWhen he was just a child, Samuel Bak’s best dering Jewish,” has lived in Israel, France, Italy, friend was shot before horrified neighbors, his body Switzerland and the United States. He currently left to rot in the street as an example to the rest of the resides in Weston, MA. His work has been internatown. Bak has had a personal relationship with tionally displayed and acclaimed. tragedy from quite a young age. His experiences History Professor Robert Weinberg, whose growing up in a Jewish ghetto in Poland have left research focuses on revolution and antisemitism in indelible scars on his psyche and dramatically Russia, suggested Samuel Bak to the List Gallery. He shaped his understanding of his own identity and first came across Bak’s art at a conference in Yad that of the Jewish people. Rather than let the trauma Vashem in Jerusalem and has great interest in Bak’s consume him, however, he has always turned to art work and life. “I hope the exhibition, lectures and as his witness in atrocity. Through painting, he has symposium will expose the college to the work of an transformed pain into a powerful expression of outstanding artist who blends history and personal human persistence. experience as well as provide insight into the world A selection of Bak’s work will be on display in the of East European Jewish culture and society that no List Gallery exhibit, “The Paintings of Samuel Bak: longer exists,” Weinberg said.

Holocaust History Bak is an incredand Memory,” opens ibly prolific artist today and continues who paints every until Dec. 12. Today, day. At the time this “I hope the exhibition, lectures and to open the exhibit, article was written, symposium will expose the college to the artist will give a the List Gallery joint lecture with staff was still in the the work of an outstanding artist.” long time fan and process of carefully Professor Robert Weinberg Emeritus Professor examining a large of English at number of paintings Simmons College in order to make a Lawrence Langer. final selection. “I Samuel Bak was born in 1933 in Vilna, Poland was looking for the images that had that universal (now Vilnius, Lithuania). When he was seven years kind of quality, that were rooted in Bak’s specific old, in 1941, the city fell under Soviet rule, only to be experience, but that could also have many meanoccupied by the Germans a year later. From a his- ings,” Andrea Packard, director of the List Gallery, torically prominent cultural and intellectual center, said. this city, known as the “Jerusalem of Lithuania,” Bak indeed offers the viewer many layers not just became a Jewish ghetto under Nazi rule. Its popula- of paint, but also of meaning. Drawing upon surrealtion of approximately 70,000 was decimated through ism, his paintings feature many odd juxtapositions executions, deportations, disease and starvation. and physical impossibilities. One painting, for When the city was taken over by the Soviets in 1944, instance, shows a tree trunk that is ruptured yet still there were only about 200 survivors. upright. In another, a man is practically smothered During World War II, Bak lost nearly of all of his by a giant pear closing in on either side of him as he previously extensive family. Both of his grandpar- peels a pear of his own. In yet another, two men ents were shot to death along with other Jews during attempt to play chess, but they are waist deep in the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. His father was water, helplessly drifting off. Betsy Lee, volunteer shot just days before the liberation of the ghetto. At outreach coordinator of the List Gallery, commented the end of the war, Bak’s only living relative was his on the plurality of interpretations that can arise mother. They had survived by taking refuge in a from looking at Bak’s paintings. “These are truly Benedictine convent when the Nazis liquidated the objects of questions,” Lee said. ghetto in 1943, and again the following year, when Bak’s painting style, unlike his combination of the Nazis forced children into a labor camp and images, is rather traditional and reminiscent of 19th Bak’s father devised his son’s escape. In 1948, after century techniques. His palette includes more bright several years in Displaced Persons camps in colors than one might expect in art that often depicts scenes inspired by the Holocaust or other genocides.

Still, it often sticks closely to earth tones and frequently calls upon colors that Packard describes as “burnt sienna” and “greenish blue.” Packard explained that, by restricting his use of color in a sense, the artist was able to unify what otherwise often looked like a very disjointed world. An excess of unusual color choices might have been a distraction from a major appeal of Bak’s work: his “inventive recombination of images.”

Bak himself has insisted on the fact that he is not just a “Holocaust painter,” and he is indeed much more than such a label might suggest. The trauma of the Holocaust does serve as the backdrop for much of his work. In a sense, even when it is not directly addressed, it is always haunting the canvas.

However, the questions and claims that are identifiable in Bak’s work have profound universal implications that anyone can engage with regardless of his or her personal background and even beyond the historical context of the Holocaust. “Bak’s paintings exhort us to persist in our commitment to create a world based on knowledge and ethics,” Weinberg said.

“There is a call to witness his experience, to understand and inquire into history...to recognize that just because the imagination itself is inventive does not mean that it makes up reality. Rather, it gives form to real things,” Packard said.

Juxtaposing destruction and order, somewhere between despair and hope, Bak’s work paradoxically Courtesy of www.puckergallery.com invites us to simultaneously gasp at the ever open wound of trauma and contemplate that pain subSamuel Bak’s “Serafim Aleph,” 2001

BY QUITTERIE GOUNOT qgounot1@swarthmore.edu

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October 21, 2010

Courtesy of http://chgs.umn.edu/.

Samuel Bak’s “Close Up,” 2003

limed. The exhibit will run until Dec. 12. Bak and Langer’s joint lecture will happen today at 4:30 p.m. in Lang Performing Arts Cinema, and will be followed by a reception. Bak will also participate in a symposium moderated by Robert Weinberg, “Vilna: Jerusalem of the North,” on Oct. 22.

Philly Weekend Guide Philadelphia Film Festival The 10-day event ends this Sunday, Oct. 24.

Try and catch screenings of short films, foreign and domestic films, like Danny Boyle’s “127 Hours,” “The Actresses” and “The Best and the Brightest.” The festival, which is presented by the Philadelphia Film Society, has also featured this year’s proposed Oscar contenders, like “Black Swan” and “Blue Valentine.” Check out their events calendar for locations and show times at www.filmadelphia.org.

Art of the American Soldier The National Constitution Center’s new exhibition displays 200 works of the over 15,000 paintings and sketches created by American soldiers from World War I to the current war in Iraq. The exhibition, which runs until Jan. 10, is free with admission to the Constitution Center, which is located on Independence Mall.

“Terror Behind the Walls” at the Eastern State Penitentiary Halloween is upon us (well, in a week or so) and Philadelphia’s infamous Eastern State Penitentiary opens its kooky and spooky, 11acre former prison for Halloween frights.

Terror Behind the Walls runs until Nov. 6 and boasts “Hollywood-quality special effects and lighting” as well as After Dark tours for the brave at heart. Visit www.easternstate.org/halloween/ for more information and tickets.

Other Halloween-themed sites include Longwood Garden’s Pumpkin Playground and Rittenhouse Square’s Rittenhouse Row Halloween Celebration.

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Discovering the pleasures technology has to offer There are moments in life when you learn or try something new and they cause a light bulb to flash in your head, illuminating new worlds of possibilities.

In the world of technology, these moments could be as simple as the time you learned how to right click on one of Apple’s buttonless mice (hint: hold the “control” key), or as comSteve Dean plex as your mastery of a Life Tips from new smart phone. In this final installment of my cola Dean umn’s three-part tech feature, I hope to shed some light on some other “technologasms” in the hopes that you can experience some of the wonderful benefits that our increasingly technological world has to offer.

Making life easier Get a Gmail account. Each comes with over 7.5 gigabytes of free storage, and given Gmail’s product management director Georges Harik’s promise to “keep giving people more space forever,” you can rest assured that you won’t soon run out. In addition to space, your free account with Google comes with many features that will make your life easier and better connected. Not only can Gmail sync with AOL Instant Messenger but it lets you physically call other phones for free. Few things are cooler than being able to type your phone number into your Gchat window and see your phone start ringing. And Gmail has a fun and flexible development staff that constantly updates the service based on user input, so new surprises are available all the time. These can include anything from an “undo” feature that retroactively un-sends emails to the “Gmail Goggles” that force you to solve math problems if you try to send any emails on late weekend nights — the assumption being, of course, that you may be trying to email someone under less-than-sober conditions.

Your technologasm from the use of Gmail need not occur solely in English, as Gmail supports many language platforms. However, there may be times when you receive an email in a language you don’t fully understand. Never fear: Google Translate (free for use at translate.google.com) far outperforms traditional translating programs. It relies not upon formal rules in grammatical structure, but rather upon an extremely complex algorithm that amasses thousands of authentically translated texts in order to determine the most likely translation of your content. The more translations available for Google to sift through, the more accurate its algorithm becomes.

After you’ve gotten Google to accurately translate all your Spanish homework (bad Swattie!), you can head over to our campus’s free citation service through Tripod in order to give Google its due credit (good Swattie!).

Saving Money When it comes to Google, the idea of multiple technologasms is not out of the question. I already mentioned that you can call anyone in the world from your computer using your Gmail account (for free in the US and Canada, and two cents per minute to call international landlines).

But the cost savings don’t end there. Your free Google account entitles you to photo sharing and uploads through Flickr, video uploads via YouTube and my personal favorite, Google Docs, Google’s response to Microsoft Office. Thanks to Google Docs, I have not had to purchase Microsoft Office software for years or worry about the threat of data loss from a crashed hard drive. Google Docs saves all of your documents (including PDFs, PowerPoint presentations, Excel files and more) in a well-organized online database that you can access from any device with a browser and Internet connection.

Even if you choose not to set up an account with Google, you can still engage in some technoloforeplay with some other free Google services, like Google Books and Google Shopping. Google has scanned over 12 million books into its online e-brary, all of which are accessible, whether in full or in part, to virtually everyone on earth.

Before you go out and buy a book, take the extra minute to check Google Books (books.google.com) in case they have already scanned it in for you. In the event that they have not, you can simply go to Google Shopping (shopping.google.com) and immediately find and compare

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the best available prices from hundreds of aggregated online shopping sites.

Even Google Shopping still sometimes misses out on a few nifty online gems. For a one-stop shop for virtually all your computing needs, bookmark Newegg.com, a computer hardware site with one of the best customer service reputations around. For extremely novel and creative technological gifts and gadgets, ThinkGeek.com will not let you down. Finally, if you are just looking for absolute rock-bottom prices (and free shipping!) on a wide array of techrelated products, don’t miss DealExtreme.com, a site with its own dedicated section to deals under two dollars.

Learning new things Of course, there’s more to life than communication, cost-effectiveness and consumerism; there’s also the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom for its own sake. One of my favorite sites is TED.com, dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.” It hosts yearly conferences in which some of the world’s most intelligent and influential people talk about new findings or trends related to technology, entertainment and design. Best of all, TED publishes videos of the talks online for all the world to see. Watching TED videos is the ultimate form of procrastination, because there’s never guilt attached (it’s pure learning, after all).

If TED inspires you to further pursue knowledge in a

given field, you may find AcademicEarth.org to be particularly useful, as it provides many free online courses and videotaped lecture series by professors in many universities. If your foray into Google Translate gave you a taste for a foreign language, visit LiveMocha.com for free interactive language learning experience in which native speakers even review your progress. Finally, if you have any burning questions that remain after all this new information enters your mind, WolframAlpha.com can probably answer them. Wolfram Alpha is an alternative to the standard search engine; it answers your questions rather than merely providing links to sites related to keywords. It does this by analyzing over 10 trillion pieces of data in order to find the most logical answer to your queries. It can solve math problems, tell you your state’s annual tax revenues or determine your blood relationship percentage to any relative of yours.

Thus concludes my column’s three-part look at technology. While you may not receive any further technologasmic recommendations from me, I encourage you to harness the power of the Internet and explore its myriad wonders for yourself, and when you do come across truly useful and interesting things, spread the love — share them with your friends.

Steve is a senior. You can reach him at sdean1@swarthmore.edu.

Crossword TENNIS, ANYONE? ACROSS 1. Annual athletic award 5. Leaves out 10. Period of time 14. NBA hall of famer Jerry 15. Apple devices 16. Air freshener scent 17. Apple device 18. Diminutive endings 19. Computer correction command 20. Nada 21. Nincompoop 22. Alan of “The In-Laws” 23. Bob Barker and Alex Trebek, for example 27. “Cheers” bartender 28. Pantry raider 29. Dr. Frankenstein’s workplace 32. Igor, to Dr. Frankenstein: Abbr.

35. Mythical nymph chaser 37. Fury 38. Be a role model 42. Sculpting medium 43. Apple devices 44. _____ late 45. _____ loss for words 46. Part of A.A.R.P.: Abbr.

47. _____ Lonely Boys (rock band) 49. 2003 Nicolas Cage film 56. St. Louis’s _____ Stadium 58. Trampled 59. Eden exile 60. Number after sieben 61. Oktoberfest souvenir 63. Bright thought 64. Inter _____ (among other things) 65. Rich cake 66. Scandalous gossip 67. Ones easily fooled 68. Group of experts 69. Merit badge holder DOWN 1. Member of the 1992 Dream Team 2. Old photo tint 3. Sacred song 4. Pay stub abbr.

5. Very little resistance 6. _____ ball soup 7. Like a trailer behind a car

October 21, 2010

8. Italy’s bottom 9. Sizzling sound 10. Sudden growth 11. Car titles 12. “_____ quote…”

13. Gas in diner signs 21. “Be Prepared” org.

22. Ad _____ per aspera (Kansas’ motto) 24. “Cómo _____?”

25. Despises 26. Black stone 30. He sang about Alice’s restaurant 31. Filling for a taco 32. Home to more than half the world’s population 33. Religious offshoot 34. The Titanic or the Queen Mary, for example

35. Truth, archaically 36. Count up 39. Waist size 40. Oil price-setting grp.

41. Mardi Gras wear 47. Big name in toy trains 48. Anxiety disorder 50. Play the role of 51. Howard of satellite radio 52. Hackneyed 53. Town near Swarthmore 54. Tinker to _____ to Chance 55. Not o’er 56. Sheep cries 57. Jackie Robinson’s alma mater 61. Popular fuel additive 62. Burn _____ crisp 63. Bouncers check them, briefly

BY BEN SCHNEIDERMAN

For the solution to this week’s puzzle, see The Phoenix’s online edition at www.swarthmorephoenix.com.

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Living & Arts

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­S wat­Style­Snapshot Name: Sarah B. Vogelman Year: 2013 From: New York City, NY Current Residence: Hallowell

she said. She also likes the utilitarian aspect of most New Yorkers’ clothing.

What She’s Wearing: “This is my dad’s old shirt and his letterman sweater from high school and this is my mom’s scarf — so none of it’s really mine,” Vogelman said. Vogelman is also sporting saddle shoes and Uniqlo jeans. Her jewelry is a collection of items that belonged to her grandmother and mother. Her earrings, which combine a white, ivory elephant and bronze triangle, are from Vermont.

From her carefully rolled-up, dark wash jeans to the small-checkered, pink button-down and letterman sweater, Vogelman’s look is the epitome of a collegiate chic. It’s at once put together and simple, but then she infuses her outfit with quirky accessories, like the saddle shoes and clock-printed scarf. She’s also particularly mindful of proportions by balancing out the oversized shirt and sweater with slim fit jeans.

How She Describes Her Style: “It changes, it definitely changes,” Vogelman said.

Currently, she’s been emulating her father’s collegiate style. “I think it’s more of a subconscious thing,” she said. “I always think about, when I wear something, like would my dad approve of this?” Vogelman is drawn to a combination of masculine and feminine aesthetics. “I do like [the androgynous look], whether it’s a conscious decision or not,” she said. “I think it’s just like a comfort thing for me mostly.” From over-sized men’s buttondowns to comfy sweaters, Vogelman tends to “stay more classic and simple than anything else.”

Fashion Influences / Inspiration: Since most of her clothes come from her parents’ closets, Vogelman turns to them for inspiration. “I think my dad has really a great eye for like fashion and cuts and lines and patterns,” she said. “My mom does too, but in a different way.” Her mother was an interior designer, so her aesthetic deals more with one’s “environment [and the] space around.”

Apart from her parents, Vogelman also takes inspiration from her hometown of New York City. “There’s intent behind what [New Yorkers are] wearing, no matter what it is, and I think that that’s the coolest thing,”

Where She Shops: “My parent’s closets,” Vogelman said, as well as her friends’ closets. She also enjoys Gap and Zara. “I don’t do a ton of shopping. I only shop for things that I really need,” she said. When she pilfers through her parent’s closets, she looks for comfortable, “soft” items like the cozy letterman sweater.

“Sometimes it has to do with sentimental value, like this sweater. I just love it because it was my dad’s letterman sweater,” Vogelman said. “I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if it was just a random person’s letterman sweater.” She looks for a connection to her clothes, which is why she shies away from frequently shopping at stores.

Favorite Item(s) in Her Closet: Besides the letterman sweater, Vogelman also loves her quilted Moschino bag and a Jean Paul Gautlier romper, both of which she scored for little money. Two summers ago, Vogelman interned at her friend’s mother’s PR sales company, which represents both designers. “I didn’t get paid, but at the end of the summer, I got this beautiful, red Moschino bag. I love it — it’s like my payoff after the whole summer,” Vogelman said. She also got the romper for less than $100 at a company sample sale.

Wardrobe Staples: Her gold bangles, button-down shirts (preferably her dad’s) and big sweaters are three main staples for Vogelman.

Never Leaves the House Without: “I never leave the house without something to tie my hair up with or my phone,” Vogelman said.

Do you think you (or a professor) have great style? Then submit a photo of you in your best outfit to cryder1@swarthmore.edu. Please include your name and contact information.

TEXT AND PHOTO BY CAMILA RYDER

A once-dying art form demonstrates its rebirth

BY ISAAC HAN ihan1@swarthmore.edu The renowned Khmer Arts Ensemble, a Cambodia-based troupe of dancers and musicians, has arrived at Tri-Co as part of the Khmer Arts event series. Hosted by Bryn Mawr College, the series seeks to enlighten the community about Cambodian classical dance and music. Khmer classical Dancing’s origins stretch as far back as the seventh century, when it was used as as method of worship in the Angkor Empire. The current form was performed in royal courts as a symbol of wealth and power.

As a result of its prominent place in the lives of royalty, the dance form was nearly destroyed by the communist Khmer Rouge regime in an attempt to eradicate all vestiges of the aristocracy.

During the Khmer Rouge genocides, about 90 percent of the artists and practitioners of Khmer classical dance were killed. Luckily, at least one of the elders of each of the four variations of the dance survived, and the dance form was able to survive through dance troupes such as the Khmer Arts Ensemble. “As an artist myself, I am inspired by the

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resurrection of an art form, an act that shows the courage and resiliency of artists,” Dr. Linda Caruso Haviland, director of the dance program at Bryn Mawr and one of the main organizers of the event series, said.

Elements of Cambodian classical dance represent symbols of rebirth. The four basic hand gestures represent images of the vine, the leaf, the flower and the fruit. These movements mimic the natural blossoming of the cycle of life, death and rebirth that occurs with the changing of seasons. “In order to appreciate Classical Cambodian Dance, one must understand its predominant artistic beauty, and it all starts with the hand gestures,” Sophiline Cheam Shapiro, primary choreographer of the Khmer Arts Ensemble, said on Wednesday, in an introduction to the dance at a master class for Tri-Co students.

The dance involves four important and prominent variations or roles that are often set against one another to form the narrative of a specific performance.

One role (neay rong) represents men, another (neang) represents maidens, the third (yeak) represents giants or ogres and the fourth (sva) represents monkeys.

Each variation has its own set of hand

gestures and movements that vary in rigidity and fluidity to contrast with each other to play off the narrative much like the different aspects of the characters in a story might mesh together in the dialogue of a play. In trying out firsthand these different roles at the master class, Akure Imes ’14 said, “There's this tension of body parts and it was really difficult.

But it was refreshing to stretch muscles you don't when you move normally.”

Shapiro, Khmer Arts Ensemble’s primary choreographer, attempts to mold the mythical and poetic aspects of Khmer dance into a drama based on the life of a giant who must resist the temptations of revenge and corruption that come with his new-found power in her most recent work “Lives of Giants.” The dance, which will be performed at Bryn Mawr’s Goodhart Hall tomorrow, seeks to continue the tradition of using the different roles, the elegant costumes, and beautiful music to mold narratives and further the exploration of an ancient form of art.

The Khmer Arts Ensemble is trying to raise awareness and support for Cambodian culture. Today, another master class will be offered at 4 p.m. in Bryn Mawr’s Pem Dance Studio. Tomorrow and Saturday, the troupe will hold special

October 21, 2010

Olivia Natan Phoenix Staff

The movements of Khmer classical dance mimic the cycle of life. classes in the Philly area for members of Philadelphia’s Cambodian community as well as any others interested in Cambodian culture. On Saturday the Ensemble will hold a Cambodian music demonstration and discussion, also at Goodhart Hall.

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Living & Arts

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Barnes Foundation moving its famous galleries

BY CAMILA RYDER cryder1@swarthmore.edu Since the Barnes Foundation opened its galleries to the public in 1961, professors, students, art lovers and tourists have flocked to the location in Lower Merion. The contemporary, avant-garde collection is far from humble, as it’s said to be worth over $25 billion, and has been embroiled in much controversy and legal battle since it’s owner, Dr. Albert C. Barnes, died in 1951. As the Barnes Foundation prepares to make its big, albeit controversial, move from Lower Merion to the new Benjamin Franklin Parkway building, many are flocking to the original building for one last look at the artwork in its original home. The estate will officially close its doors by June 2011 and the new building will open by January 2012.

To many, the Barnes Foundation is just another museum you visit while on vacation, just like you would go to the Philadelphia Museum of Art or the Met for the day. But the collection was intended originally to be utilized for an art institution, where students could apply for free and get the opportunity to see Matisse’s “The Joys of Life” or Renoir’s “Card Players and Girl” in the flesh. The move of the collection has sparked widespread debate. Is this going against Barnes’ will and intentions? Will the artwork become just a part of a large museum? Will the educational traditions remain the same?

Barnes, born into a middle-class family in Philadelphia, made his fortune through developing the antiseptic solution Argyrol. Barnes developed a love for art and acquired modern, eclectic pieces like Matisse’s “The Joys of Life,” Seurat’s “Models” and Van Gogh’s “Postman.” His personal collection consists of 181 pieces by Renoir, 59 works by Matisse,16 Modiglianis and 46 of Picasso’s works, to name a few.

“Its an amazing collection with some terrible stuff and some jaw-dropping stuff like Matisse’s ‘Joys of Life’ and ... Seurat’s [‘Models’],” Janine Mileaf, associate professor of Art History, said. Mileaf has brought many of her classes and alumni trips to the Foundation. “It’s idiosyncratic and that’s what’s great about it, because it’s not installed in any way you would see things installed in [any other place].”

Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/lmmv8

Vincent van Gogh’s 1889 “Postman” of Joseph Roulin is one of seven Van Goghs in the Barnes collection.

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It’s a collection unlike any other, as many pieces are distinct from some of the great artists’ famous works.

“He has a lot of pieces that are kind of unusual for the artist ... especially a couple of Van Goghs that were really peculiar but really interesting because they were different form the mainstream stuff,” Isabel Newlin ’13 said, who visited the Barnes at the beginning of the school year.

But when exhibiting his collection in 1923, Barnes was met with much ridicule from art historians and critics about his unabashedly idiosyncratic collection as well as Barnes’ decision to display the works in both a non-thematic, non-chronological order.

“Part of what he hated was the art establishment,” Mileaf said of Barnes’ dissatisfaction with the art world. “What he hated was it being interpreted in terms of a kind of master narrative of art history that went against his ideas about how art should be interpreted.”

Instead, Barnes created the Foundation to be an educational art institute where students could apply and take classes for free. The students ranged from artists to those simply interested in art itself.

Jay Raymond is a former student and faculty member at the Barnes Foundation, as well as a member of the Friends of the Barnes Foundation, and took classes at the Barnes in the 1970s with Violette de Mazia Barnes’ protégé and long-time Barnes educator.

Raymond described the classes and educational experience Barnes intended as quite unique amongst other typical ways of teaching art. “[The] first year was basically teaching people the fundamental ideas that [Barnes] had developed,” Raymond said. “In the second year, the class was split into three sections ... [and] was devoted to learning the visual traditions.” Barnes emphasized the importance of understanding and interpreting the painting or sculpture itself and rejected the common academic focus on the history of the artist, the society at the time and other historical and biographical contexts.

Understanding the “visual traditions” was essential, Raymond said, and educators taught that paintings could speak to the viewer and express themselves in terms “primarily of color, but also in light, line, space, composition and texture.”

For the period when Barnes was running the Foundation, the collection was mainly for students, though it was envied by museums and collectors.

Barnes’ will, written in 1942, stipulated that the museum would remain an educational institution, could be open a few days out of the week for visitors at a low price, and the collection was never to be loaned, sold or moved from the original building. Throughout the rest of his life, Barnes was vociferously defensive of his art never leaving the building in Merion.

As the Foundation passed to different presidents and with a shrinking $10 million endowment and the need for refurbishment, new leaders like former president Richard Glanton saw that there was a need for money. During Glanton’s term as president, there was a world tour of some of the artwork. The debate about moving the collection to a more accessible, public location began as well.

“The trend at the Barnes Foundation for about ten years now is to move away from what Barnes wanted to be taught and how he wanted the material to be used,” Raymond said.

In 2004, Judge Stanley Ott of Montgomery County Orphan’s Court allowed for the Barnes Foundation all of the artwork as well as furniture and wall decor to a new location on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway in Philadelphia by 2011. As emphasized in “The Art of the Steal,” it seemed as if Barnes will was entirely overlooked.

At the root of this long battle and history of the Barnes Foundation is the question of whether this move is good or not. Barnes believed that art should be accessible to people who want to see it and appreciate it, not just art critics or those with money. The Foundation is also in Merion, which is not readily

October 21, 2010

Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/w4g99

“Le bonheur de vivre,” or “The Joys of Life,” is among the 59 Henry Matisse works in the collection. accessible to those visiting the city.

“I understand the frustration that that causes, especially for people who come from out of town,” Mileaf said. It is not readily accessible, as reservations need to be made in advance. Mileaf also said that she’s “sympathetic” to the fact that art should be seen.

“Art shouldn’t be for people to keep to themselves.”

But Mileaf struggles, like many others, in being strongly opinionated on one side of the issue.

“It’s a shame,” she said about the move overall.

“I’m nostalgic about what it has been and that it will change.”

Newlin also expressed her dismay at the move. “I ... think when you take it out of its house, you disassociate the artwork from him,” she said. “I think that gives [the artwork] another of authenticity or helps make it a coherent collection.”

Raymond is much more vehement in his anger towards the move.

“It’s [a] serious tragedy,” he said. “It’s not just the loss of a beautiful place, it’s the loss of a very important set of ideas, as far as I know, unique in the world, and it’s been sold ... just to serve the tourism interests of Philadelphia. It’s a disgrace, it really is.”

The new building will keep the same dimensions, floor plan and set-up that Barnes had. They are also continuing classes that will be in rooms separate from the galleries (though Raymond mentioned that Barnes wanted classes to be taught in the galleries), as well as a cafe, a seminar room and an auditorium. All that will remain at the original building are horticulture classes and the arboretum that the estate sits on.

While Mileaf understands the argument of moving the collection to a more accessible location, she also worries that the aesthetics may be lost in translation and also feels that students, faculty and the general public should see the artwork at the building in Merion.

It should also be reiterated that all the artwork Barnes owned was within his private collection - a collection that he enjoyed for himself and wanted students to enjoy.

“It’s a type of collection that represents a lifetime and a way of thinking about art and it wasn’t just put together in a couple weeks or a couple months the way a lot of exhibitions are these days,” Newlin said.

“So much thought is put in [to them]. People spend their whole lives collecting.”

Whether or not you agree with the move to the Parkway building, traveling up to Merion before it moves is essential. Witnessing Matisse’s “The Dance II” mural or “The Joys of Life” in the flesh and at it’s original setting is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

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A Sunny Day in Glasgow

Candy Claws The Enchantments You’re cordially invited to:

The 38th Annual Crum Regatta Location:

Crum Creek Time:

Sunday, Oct. 24, 10:30 a.m.

Free food!

BBQ! Local music!

Farmer’s Market!

Olde Club Saturday, Oct. 23 10 p.m. - 2 a.m.

editor’s P I CK S

By Camila Ryder

Swarthmore’s 2nd Annual Fall Festival

Rhythmic Uprising

Film Screening Thursday, Oct. 21 4:30 - 6:00 p.m.

Lang Concert Hall

Swarthmore Co-op Saturday, Oct. 23 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

r e l a x a t i o n 14

October 21, 2010

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Opinions

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Sestak, Onorato, Lentz best candidates for Pa. Less than two weeks away, this year’s midterm elections are likely to greatly shape the next few years across the country.

The Phoenix has endorsed a candidate for U.S. Senate, Governor, and the 7th Congressional District: Sestak for Senate Joe Sestak, the Democratic nominee, offers the kind of rationalism, ambition and experience that a frustrated state and country need right now. His Republican opponent Pat Toomey, on the other hand, typifies the uncompromising small-government, tax-cutting conservatism that was the cause for our country’s distress in the first place.

Toomey has long had a wide lead over Sestak, but the gap seems to be closing — a recent poll from Public Policy indicates Sestak is up by one point (46 to 45).

Sestak — representative since 2007 for the 7th Congressional district, which Swarthmore is a part of — served 31 years in the Navy and attained the rank of three-star admiral. He is the most senior military veteran to ever serve in Congress, and was named the most productive House freshman.

Importantly, he has close ties to the college. Swarthmore students who have canvassed for him and worked in his office speak highly of him as both a Democrat committed to progressive policy and a person genuinely engaged with his constituents.

In turn, he supports the same kinds of issues that students at the college are interested in. He wants to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy; voted for the economic bailout; and has supported unions, abortion rights and gay rights issues.

On the other hand, Toomey — formerly a small business owner and representative for the 15th congressional district — is a hard-right conservative; Pollster.com, for instance, found that Toomey ranked more conservative than 97.9 percent of all U.S. legislators since 1995.

His uncompromising and staunch views would only exacerbate an already fragmented Congress — and, more importantly, hurt an already distressed country. He opposes abortion, embryonic stem-cell research and gay marriage.

Demonizing “big government,” Toomey has contended that cutting taxes for everyone will create jobs, contrary to what many economists say.

Toomey, like so many other Republicans now, simply offers inflated rhetoric. Only Sestak seems to have the rationalism required to rectify current issues.

For instance, Sestak’s call to rescind Bush tax cuts for taxpayers making more than $250,000 would shore up

Election information: • Absentee ballot applications for Pennsylvania must be received by your local county election board by 5 p.m. Oct. 26. Voter registration has already passed.

• Actual ballots must be received by 5 p.m. Oct. 29.

• Election day is Tuesday, Nov. 2.

tHe PHOeniX

money in a still-struggling economy and relieve unfair burdens on the middle class. Like other Republicans, Toomey adamantly opposes taking this measure.

Nevertheless, he bemoans the national deficit and places fault on Democrats — when, actually, current economic problems came largely from Bush-era trickledown economics.

This hypocrisy and inflated rhetoric is a pattern for Toomey. Sestak — rational, experienced, and passionate — offers the real kind of responsibility and engagement the country needs right now.

Onorato for Governor The gubernatorial race has been defined largely by the candidates’ approaches to taxes.

Tom Corbett, the Republican nominee and state attorney general, originally made a “no-tax pledge” but has been vague throughout the last few months on what exactly that means. His Democratic opponent Dan Onorato, however, has been more concrete.

For instance, as reported in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Onorato has supported an extraction tax on Marcellus shale drilling that he believes could bring money to repair state roads and bridges; restore the past two years’ 28 percent budget cut in state EPA budget; and shore up money for a statewide environmental program that seeks to preserve farms and restore old industrial sites called brownfields (the debate with building a soccer stadium in Chester centers on this very issue).

And still, Onorato — currently executive of Allegheny County — has shown a moderate nature that is reassuringly opposed to raising taxes in a few other areas.

Nevertheless, Onorato’s outlined plan for a shale tax offers the kind of concreteness that a struggling state strapped for money needs right now.

Admittedly, Onorato has received political donations from drilling interests.

But, as he criticizes, Corbett’s opposition to a gas severance tax illustrates that his laissez-faire approach, in fact, favors drillers, not taxpayers. Corbett has indicated this ignorance and disregard throughout the campaign, such as when he said in July that “the jobs are there ... But if we keep extending unemployment, people are going to sit there."

Corbett has been the favorite throughout, in many polls with a double-digit edge over Onorato. Recent polls suggest that the gap is tightening, but minimally so, with Corbett still at a 10-point lead.

Lentz for 7th Congressional District The best candidate for the 7th Congressional district is Bryan Lentz because he brings a degree of accessibility and engagement that his Republican opponent, Pat Meehan, does not. As a resident of Swarthmore and two-term state representative for Delaware County, Lentz has opened himself up during the campaign to various townhall meetings and, even, a casual visit to campus last month. He also maintained a connection with the college.

Meehan, on the other hand, seems unsure and removed. When it comes to debates, Meehan struggled greatly in one and, even, skipped a later one, claiming

Emma Waitzman for The Phoenix

that he would not attend if the third candidate, Jim Schneller, was also there.

Schneller, a tea party affiliate running under the American Congress Party, is on the ballot after Lentz’s campaign pushed to gather thousands of signatures for him in hopes of siphoning votes from Meehan.

While ethical questions have been

raised about Lentz’s campaign, he nevertheless is a pretty straight Democrat with solid stances on important issues.

He has called for a timetable in exiting from Afghanistan, repealing “don’t ask, don’t tell” and rescinding tax cuts for people making over $250,000 — all issues that Meehan, a traditional conservative, is opposed to.

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Letters are a minimum of 250 words and may not exceed 500 words. Op-eds are a minimum of 500 words and may not exceed 750. Letters and op-eds must be submitted by 10 p.m. on Monday, and The Phoenix reserves the right to withhold letters and opeds received after that time from publication.

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October 21, 2010

may request that their group affiliation be included.

While The Phoenix does not accept anonymous submissions, letters and op-eds may be published without the writer’s name in exceptional circumstances and at the sole discretion of the Editorial Board.

An unsigned editorial represents the opinion of the members of the opinions board — Jeff Davidson, Amelia Possanza, Dante Fuoco and Camila Ryder.

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15

Opinions When will it really ‘get better’ for marginalized?

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L a s t week Fort Worth City Councilman Joel Burns gave an i m p a s sioned plea to queer teenagers all over the c o u n t r y.

Fighting Eva McKend back tears, According to Eva the openly gay Texan urged suicidal youth to “stick around to make happy moments for themselves.”

Burns rattled off name after name of queer youth who have taken their lives in recent weeks, from Asher Brown, a Houston 8th grader who shot himself with his father’s rifle, to Tyler Clementi, a Rutgers freshman who jumped off the George Washington Bridge after learning his roommate had covertly filmed and streamed a sexual encounter Clementi had with another man.

Reflecting on the grief he felt as a harassed teenager, Burns emphasized that, with time, life gets better. He joins a choir of advocates and high profile celebrities in support of the “It Gets Better” project, founded by sex advice columnist and gay rights activist Dan Savage in response to the repeated suicides in recent weeks.

I am concerned about feeding young people this blanketed message of possibility. As author S. Bear Bergman poignantly asks, “What about the ‘It Sucks Now’ project?”

Bergman calls for a more grassroots remember asking a teacher in the 9th campaign that takes the agency away grade when exactly things were going from celebrities and gives the reins of to change. My well-meaning — power to young people on the front although in reflection probably very lines of oppression. “Give your video confused — teacher told me that by camera to a student; let them film junior year things were going to what life is like for someone tagged as improve. Although I was hopeful, I queer or trans or gender-nonconform- wasn’t naïve. I knew he was no soothing at their school,” Bergman said. sayer and I wasn’t altogether shocked “Send them to principals, PTAs, when in subsequent years, things school boards, legislators, religious were about the same.

If a tormented teenager creeps into leaders and let them see the physical and emotional brutality some of their adulthood, it is by no means a success if that miserable teen becomes an students are suffering.”

Although many may think it revo- equally dispirited adult. Our culture’s resistance to cellutionary that ebrating diversieveryone from ty is what is Anne Hathaway We shouldn’t wait for costing lives. to Perez Hilton This is why a is chanting “It people to be dead, groundbreaking Gets Better,” literally or metaphorically, show like this does not “Huge,” featurtranslate into to start sounding the ing a primarily any real change. plus-sized cast, As argued in the trumpets. could not last feminist blog beyond one sumfemmephane, “The message is wrong. Sometimes it mer season.

I want to believe that it gets better, gets better — but a lot of times it doesn’t. Emphasizing that things will but every institutional system in place improve upon graduation is mislead- has not given me reason to hold such a ing both to young folks struggling and belief.

There are a rising number of black also to people with privilege.”

Not very long ago, I was in high women incarcerated for crimes directschool. As a city kid, I cannot claim to ly linked to their role in assisting the know the experience of a queer teenag- criminal pursuits of their black male er living in a rural conservative cli- counterparts. What are white hegemate but I do know what it feels like to monic structures doing to challenge occupy the role of an outsider up the ill-fated reality of these black men against a considerable amount of entrenched in concentrated poverty? ostracism and degradation. As I was Furthermore, what are we doing to growing up, family members, mentors alleviate the stress on these black and influential educators would often women? Mainstream media managers tell me that it would get better. I are definitely not portraying them in a

holistic representation that honors them in all of their hues, hair textures and body types, certainly not in a way that would encourage the general market to begin to internalize their value.

We may believe that our society is progressive but in actuality little is being done to improve the social conditions of marginalized groups.

I want it to get better. I really do.

But I will not spout blind hope because popular media have decided that this is a marketable time to start focusing on those whom we usually push to the periphery. The problem with such an impromptu outcry is that it lacks pragmatic implications.

We shouldn’t wait for people to be dead, literally or metaphorically, to start sounding the trumpets. It will not alter the pitiful situation that racism, homophobia, sexism and ableism have created, nor will it erase our years of inaction. I will be the first one to say it gets better when networks decide it is worthy to profile the experience of students of color in independent schools, similar to their obsession with the lives of white elites. Or when a full-figured, darkskinned African-American actress like Raven Goodwin is able to play opposite someone like Michael Cera in a romantic comedy without the subject of her status as “other” serving as the central point of the film.

Until then, I, like Councilman Burns, will encourage my peers to stick around, if only because there is strength in numbers and perhaps together we can shed light on the injustices that plague our reality.

Eva is a senior. She can be reached at emckend1@swarthmore.edu.

Relax, and keep a little distance from technology television. It had metal tentacles sprouting from its temple — the television — and was fit It was the week before only for Seinfeld and VHS. I break. I had a paper and a may have complained, only a midterm and was looking to little. procrastinate.

“Hell,” my dad figured, “why I opened The Phoenix. do we need a TV when we live There, in the Living and Arts in New York City?” An unemsection, I saw a review of the ployed photographer on the recent picverge of ture, “The homeschoolS o c i a l ing his only “Hell,” my dad Network.” son has cerH a v i n g figured, “why do we tain luxuries. heard good he was need a TV when we But responses to right.

We the film, the lived in New live in New York title of the York.

City?” piece, “ That was ‘ S o c i a l another age.

Network’ At eleven, fails to meaningfully connect” our rent tripled. Unable to gave me pause. I smiled. And afford the gentrifying read.

Dominican neighborhood I I don’t “Facebook,” deliber- called home, we moved 200 ately. When I read there are miles and four hours North to over 500 million active users, Cooperstown, NY — a place spending over 700 billion min- with a lake and a Hall of Fame utes per month on Facebook, I and very few Dominicans. groaned from a place infinitely I missed the city. It was deep. decided I had to start going to Perhaps I should provide school. I soon discovered a lot some background. I was six of kids spent a lot of time starwhen my father gave away the ing at screens. Before there was

BY WESTON HONICKER whonick1@swarthmore.edu

16

“social networking,” there was instant messaging. I refused, on principle.

A couple years later, when MySpace and then Facebook eclipsed instant messaging, I continued to keep my distance.

People would ask me “Why not?” and I would say “Why should I? I have neither the time nor the interest.” And I still say the same thing.

High school ended and summer began. I was seventeen.

Two things were on my mind: getting out of small town New York and satisfying certain natural impulses — more succinctly: getting out and getting laid.

Yes, I said it. (I suspect I wasn’t the first). August rolls around and I feel more ready than ever to leave.

Right when I’m feeling a particularly hard spell of ennui, I receive an e-mail request to join a Facebook Group of Freshmen, 2013. It’s a kind of pre-orientation warmup. Sadly, the tension lasts all of five minutes. “Hell with it,” I say, and click.

A gray-blue screen appears, populated with boxes. Lists and lists and more lists — that’s October 21, 2010

what I’m being asked to create. Criterion Collection and A tear of sweat trickles Facebook devouring it all. down my temple. I give my tAnd I come to a realization, shirt a cool-down shake, using walking and breathing in the my pointer to stretch my collar. Cooperstown summer air.

This wasn’t what I expected. “Forget about it,” I say. “I still “How do I begin to list my don’t have time to waste thinkfavorite books and films?” I ask ing of things other people myself, and “where the hell do I might find appealing or attracfind my favorite quotes?” — a tive and never have.” (This last m i g h t y bit is not predicaexcerpted m e n t , from a motiindeed. I go vational Lists and lists and for a walk. speech — it’s more lists — that’s the truth).

The cool And I breeze ruswhat I’m being walk home tles leaves asked to create. and cancel and the sun my account. shines and Three hours warms without oppressing. Birds chirp and had elapsed.

If you have a laptop in front a baseball tourist spills ketchup on his distended jer- of you, close it. Turn off your sey-clad belly. His other hand, cell phone. Put away the iPod. sweaty, grasps a plastic bucket If you don’t have any of these filled with corn syrup. What he digital accoutrements, I salute does not see, he does not mind you.

Rise from your chair and and pauses for a gulp of air and breathe deeply. Pull back your a slurp of the syrup.

“Mmmm, tasty,” I comment, shoulders and stretch your wordlessly. It’s a beautiful day arms — it will feel good.

Take another deep breath. in the neighborhood. I keep walking, thinking about Look around, pause and listen, Shakespeare soliloquies and and go for a walk.

THE PHOENIX

Opinions

swarthmorephoenix.com

Prevalence of pornography likely to damage relationships What is pornography?

Wait. You think you know the answer, but you don’t.

Pornography is a relationship killer. It is a factor in fifty-six percent of divorce cases, according to the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.

That is sad.

So why should you care? What I mean is that Tyler Becker this is just not an issue most college students The Swarthmore think about. The day you Conservative get married may be years and years away.

And pornography has become accepted by many as a means of pleasure, just as viewing porn on the computer is what many people do: one in four Internet searches are for porn, according to a study by the Witherspoon Institute.

One of the problems is that porn is a habit-forming activity. If you watch pornography regularly now, it is likely you will do the same in the future. So when you are in a committed relationship, you probably will not be able to kick the habit.

According to psychologists, pornography can create expectations about sex and women that cannot be fulfilled in real life. And, if these expectations are not fulfilled, they can be detrimental to relationships.

A Time magazine article titled “The Porn Factor” (2004) states that “experts say men who frequently view porn may … have difficulty forming and sustaining relationships and feeling sexually satisfied.”

This is a precarious situation that nobody wants to be in (There is very minimal research about this situation. It is, however, far from the only problem

with viewing pornography). The availability of saying that viewing online pornography can have pornography with the click of a mouse is also con- devastating consequences now and in the future, so tributing to changes in the way men view women. something needs to be done to educate the public According to the Witherspoon Institute study, about the vice that is widespread pornography.

Some people turn off social conservatives like me “When male and female adolescents are exposed to a sexualized media environment they are more likely when we talk about “family values.” The nuclear to have stronger notions of women as sex objects.” family is, after all, becoming less and less of a realiThis contributes to the objectification of women and ty every day. But if we ever want to solve this probencourages promiscuity over ever committing to one lem of pornography, parents are going to have to take some role. sexual partner.

In the Time article referenced earlier, the writer When you enter into a committed relationship, this is not the kind of situation you are going to mentions an eleven-year-old girl who made a porn website because that was the “cool” thing to do. want. Viewing pornography may have that effect.

The spread of pornography has everything to do Parents need to make sure this is not what is going on with their children. with the hypersexualAfter all, the entertainization of our society. ment industry is not With more and more going to back off its sexpeople being exposed to Viewing pornography as much as ual promotion because pornographic material we do today is not good for us as sex sells. Parents must on the Internet, sex is counteract that. becoming part of every people. It is screwing up our But for those of us dimension of people’s view of sex. currently in college, lives. our first exposure to When you watch a pornography likely TV show, it is likely you will be exposed to something related to sex. It happened a long time ago. The only solution for all of may be a joke, a conversation, or a sexual situation. us, male or female, gay or straight, is to resist the In fact, sex scenes on television almost doubled urge to view pornography.

I am not a prudish person. In fact, until recently, between 1998 and 2005, according to a study by the Kaiser Family Foundation. This is the same period I had no problem with watching pornography.

But I came to realize that porn is not only during which pornographic material was exploding immoral; viewing pornography as much as we do all over the Internet.

Pornography is becoming so prevalent today that today is not good for us as people. It is screwing up you do not even have to seek it out anymore. And our view of sex.

So, I challenge you to try to avoid watching porn. with the impact it is having and can have on our lives, easy access to pornography may not be a good I know this is easier said than done, but you will come to realize it was the right thing to do. thing.

Tyler is a first-year. He can be reached at tbeckI am not saying that the government should outlaw porn or even place more restrictions on it. I am er1@swarthmore.edu.

Quaker values to be tested in development project tity of these new jobs is not yet certain, the college can act now to ensure that its quality is by putting strong protecAs this month’s Board of Managers tions in place before they sign a deal meeting came to a close, President and allow developers to build.

Rebecca Chopp reaffirmed Swarthmore While creating new jobs is a good College’s “deep commit- idea, especially with high unemployment to the Quaker her- ment rates, the hotel industry is notoriitage and values that ous for unjust labor practices. have defined our mission According to the United States and traditions” in her written invita- Department of Labor’s 2010-2011 “Career tion to participate in the strategic plan- Guide to Industries,” work in hotels is ning process. “demanding and hectic,” but earnings Among these central values are “generally are much lower than the social responsibility and “advancing the average for all industries.” The hotel common good,” ideals that all members industry has a disturbing record of of our community have undoubtedly exploiting and abusing workers with heard reverberpoverty wages, ating throughout especially in this this institution. economic recesAfter a brief While creating new jobs is sion. lull during the This developa good idea . . . the hotel ment recent recession, project, our college is then, presents industry is notorious for moving forward the leaders of unjust labor practices. with plans to Swarthmore lease its land to a College with a private developclear choice: act er who will build a hotel, restaurant, now and live up to our Quaker values of bar, retail space — including space for social responsibility or abandon our the college bookstore — and 80 apart- mission of “advancing the common ments on the fields between the train good” by allowing a private developer station and Palmer Residence Hall. The and operator to put profits before the main rationale for this project over the lives of hardworking people. From conpast 14 years has been economic revital- struction to daily operation, people ization for the Borough of Swarthmore working to build, clean, and run this and job creation. hotel deserve dignified wages, solid Though this development project healthcare benefits and a fair workwill be on college-owned land, the peo- place where they are respected. ple working in the hotel will be Labor law sets the ground rules for employed by an outside operating com- how workers and management can pany — not our college. While the quan- fight: workers have the right to strike

BY ADAM BORTNER ‘12 AND RACHEL GIOVANNIELLO ‘14

OP-ED

THE PHOENIX

and demonstrate while management wages and healthcare benefits. can intimidate and harrass workers to Furthermore, it is increasingly stanprevent them from organizing. Often, dard to implement neutrality agreethese fights get ugly. ments before the land is even developed One way for Swarthmore College to for hotels in both urban and suburban uphold its values is to ensure that the areas. For example, neutrality agreehotel workers are protected by a neu- ments are already in place for seven trality agreement. A neutrality agree- hotels in the Philadelphia area, all of ment is a legal document in which both which have been planned within the sides — the union and the management past three years.

— agree not to President fight.

Chopp has quotBoth sides ed 20th century voluntarily put One way for Swarthmore political philosoaside the aggrespher Hannah to uphold its values is to sive tactics they Arendt in have a legal describing ensure that the hotel right to use, givSwarthmore’s workers are protected by commitment to ing workers the freedom to make “setting the a neutrality agreement. their own deciworld anew and sion, and both aright.” sides agree to There is no respect whatever that decision is. If doubt that with skyrocketing unemworkers do not want a union, the union ployment rates and debilitating poverty, walks away. If the workers do want a Swarthmore’s neighboring communiunion, the management agrees to recog- ties are in peril. We hope that President nize it.

Chopp and the Board of Managers see A neutrality agreement helps ensure the Town Center West Development a fair workplace and a level playing project as more than a mere opportunifield for workers if they choose to speak ty for economic development but rather up about on-the-job abuses or exercise a means of potentially providing fairly their right to organize and bargain col- compensated, dignified jobs. lectively.

We hope that they will put Some members of our community Swarthmore’s values into action and set may claim that it is too early to ensure things anew and aright here in our coma fair workplace, but construction for munity by taking a first, no-cost step the project is expected to begin within and agreeing to these principles of fairthe next year. ness at this December’s Board of The likely developers and operators Managers meeting. are currently estimating the potential Adam and Rachel are members of the costs of this project, which will include Swarthmore Labor Action Project.

October 21, 2010

17

Sports Tim’s observations on playoff baseball storylines

swarthmorephoenix.com

When I wrote my two “MLB Predict i o n s ” columns earlier this year (if you m i s s e d them, I got every single thing I Timothy Bernstein right), p i c k e d Bullet Points Arizona’s Dan Haren to win the National League Cy Young Award.

My reasoning at the time was that since every line of reason pointed overwhelmingly toward Philadelphia’s Roy Halladay winning, it definitely wasn’t going to happen. Of course, Halladay is now all but assured to win the award, but I still happen to like my logic.

Baseball doesn’t have a monopoly on unpredictability over other sports, but is there another one that has allowed us to overanalyze every single aspect only to gleefully rip expectations to shreds?

Advanced defensive metrics let us know how many balls a team will convert into outs, projection machines like CHONE and ZiPS try to spoil the surprise of how our favorite pitchers and batters will

too good to be true ... well, here are a few popular ones from the postseason so far: Halladay vs. Lincecum: Matchup of the Century Finally, all of those references to Gibson vs. McClain that baseball writers have had in their back pockets since 1972 got to be used. Not as fortunate: the matchup itself turned out to be the worst-case scenario for something so insanely hyped. It wasn’t good enough to justify that hype (still being played, with each pitcher working on a perfect game through fifteen innings), not bad enough to be entertaining (10-8, with neither getting out of the third), just decidedly “eh.” Both pitchers went seven innings, struck out a bunch of hitters, gave up two home runs apiece, and had more balls squared up by the hitters than they had in the last month.

Lincecum ended up allowing three runs, Halladay four, and the Giants ended up winning. Decently pitched game, but after all that buildup … eh.

To add insult to the viewers’ injuries, FOX then brought out Mitch Williams of the MLB Network to do postgame analysis. Mitch Williams! I’m told the conversation went like this: FOX Executive #1: “So, for postgame coverage, I’m thinking … wait for it …

Mitch Williams.”

Photo courtesy of presentationvoice.com

San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum, also known as “The Freak,” outpitched Phillies ace Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series. perform in the coming season, and Baseball Prospectus has the nerve to tell us that our favorite team, the one we’ve been talking ourselves into all through spring training, will win 85 games and finish third once again.

Obviously, almost none of it works out, and not only does it not work out, but almost none of it looks anything like what the finished product will end up being. That’s why, when I heard from every baseball writer across the country that Game 1 of this year’s NLCS, which pitted future 2010 Cy Young winner Roy Halladay against the Giants’ ace (and two-time Cy Young winner himself) Tim Lincecum, would be the greatest pitching matchup in half a century, I made plans to do something else while that game was going on.

Sure, Halladay was just as good as advertised this year while Dan Haren got traded at midseason, but in general, those storylines in baseball that seem

18

FOX Executive #2: “The relief pitcher from fifteen years ago who blew the World Series and can’t put sentences together? Why would we use him?”

FOX Executive #1: “Remember how we couldn’t figure out who took those pictures of us at the Tijuana donkey show?”

FOX Executive #2: “When does he start?”

C.C. And Pray For The Kind of Rain That Destroyed Like Half of Brooklyn Last Month The thing I hate most about baseball: Brian Wilson’s beard. The thing I hate the second-most about baseball: that “too much rest” is a legitimate excuse for a pitcher, as in “since Roy Oswalt’s team has scored so many runs to support him, he’s been sitting on the bench for way too long, and it might take a while to get back into rhythm,” or “that pitcher had too many days off from

work. He’ll probably pay his team back by sucking.”

Turns out, that’s exactly what seems to have happened to C.C. Sabathia so far. Just like Halladay vs. Lincecum was supposed to be something we would tell our grandchildren about, the big workhorse* was going to be the only pitcher the Yankees would be able to count on during the playoffs. Instead, he was uneven against Minnesota and horrendous against Texas (lone bright spot: he did manage to remind us of the benefits of having a former tight end as a pitcher when he tagged out Nelson Cruz at home plate). C.C. attributed his struggles to being “too strong,” which apparently meant that since the Yankees were too much better than Minnesota in the Division Series, the nine days he went between starts threw his mechanics out of whack and, as a result, he couldn’t keep his pitches down in the strike zone.

Meanwhile, Andy Pettitte has given the Yankees two excellent performances and Phil Hughes one. The moral, of course, is that the more you hear of a “sure thing” in baseball, the less chance there is of it coming true. Unfortunately, that has yet to cross over to football, but one of these days the Bills will beat the Patriots and if I’m still alive by then, I’ll have the last laugh. *This is always, without fail, how C.C. Sabathia is identified: “workhorse,” because he throws a lot of innings and “big” because he’s “fat.”

Makes you wonder, though, what somebody like Rick Porcello, or some other pitcher who never goes more than five or six innings, would be called. What animal would represent a pitcher who doesn’t go deep into games? I’m thinking a ferret — it doesn’t seem like a ferret would have a lot of stamina or good secondary pitches.

Home-Field — Advantage?!

Two things for those of you watching baseball for the first time: one, those “Glory Daze” promos on TBS will eventually stop. They … they just have to.

Second, good teams do, in fact, often win in their own ballparks. The combined home record of all eight playoff teams this season was 413-238, a .634 winning percentage. As of Tuesday, the home team has gone 6-14 this postseason, with one of the division series — RaysRangers — featuring zero wins by the home team. Bottom line: as much as the crowd has been root-root-rooting for the home team, they just haven’t won. And you know what? It’s a shame.

The Key to Beating the East: Power Arms The same list of names was trotted out again before this year’s postseason: Josh Beckett, Curt Schilling, Randy Johnson, Justin Verlander, Fausto Carmona. Pitchers who have beaten the Yankees in recent playoff series by throwing in the upper 90s, racking up strikeouts and not relying on “finesse” pitches and hitting corners to get outs.

This was supposed to be the only way to beat teams like the Yankees and Rays, the ones baptized in the river of fire called the AL East. When Carl Pavano and Brian Duensing, Minnesota’s two decidedly non-power pitchers, got knocked around by the Yankees in the ALDS, the chorus grew louder.

But then a funny thing happened in Texas: two “finesse” pitchers, C.J. Wilson and Colby Lewis, armed with fastballs that rarely hit 90 on the gun

October 21, 2010

and who absolutely need to hit their spots in order to be successful, slayed the beasts of the East (the chances I’m the first to use that? Slim). In four combined starts against New York and Tampa, they have allowed a total of five earned runs (would have been even less if the bullpen hadn’t blown the lead Wilson left with in Game 1 against the Yankees), struck out twenty-two batters, and if they haven’t made the two best teams in the American League look foolish, they’ve come pretty close.

Photo courtesy of gvnews.com

Yankees lefty C.C. Sabathia delivers a pitch from the Yankee Stadium mound.

Meanwhile, “power pitchers” David Price and C.C. Sabathia have allowed fifteen earned runs in four starts this postseason. Either Wilson or Lewis will probably have to face the Yankees once more in New York, but for now, finesse just might be the new power.

The Umpires Can’t Possibly Be As Bad As They Were In Last Year’s Playoffs Uhhhh … yeah, so Glory Daze looks good, huh?* *When I was looking this show up on IMDb to see if I was spelling the name right, I saw that the guy who created it also directed the movie National Lampoon’s Van Wilder, except that it was listed as just “Van Wilder.” As if the distributors were trying to fool audiences into thinking they were seeing a biopic of a Dutch revolutionary or something. This begs the question, though: Has there ever been a title that puts a bigger red flag on the movie than “National Lampoon’s …” anything?

Imagine trying to take a movie seriously that has that at the beginning of its title. Not so easy. It doesn’t matter what the movie’s about, either: National Lampoon’s Rain Man isn’t winning any Oscars.

National Lampoon’s Shakespeare in Love? Forget about it.

National Lampoon’s Million Dollar Baby would have been about two broke slackers who find a talking horse with Chevy Chase’s voice and enter him in a bunch of races so he can psych out the other jockeys and win. Jenny McCarthy and Nicole Richie make cameos, but even that wouldn’t win the critics over.

Timothy is a sophomore. You can reach him at tbernst1@swarthmore.edu.

THE PHOENIX

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Women’s soccer in battle atop Centennial standings the entire ninety minutes of play.

“We’ve been happy with how we’ve played in these last [several games],” The Swarthmore women’s soccer Brock said. “But we also know that this team has certainly left its mark on the last stretch of conference play is really Centennial Conference this season. important and we have to continue to After October break victories over push to play our best each game.”

Bryn Mawr and Muhlenberg and a nonOn Saturday, the Garnet continued conference win at Stevenson, the its winning streak and took down Garnet came out of the weekend with a Stevenson University in a non-conferfive- game winning streak. The team ence match-up. Although the teams finds itself trailing only Dickinson in were tied at the end of the first half of the conference standings, a team that play, the Garnet came out quickly after Swarthmore defeated to open confer- halftime. In the 49th minute, Hannah ence play this year. The Garnet is now Purkey ’11 scored her second goal of 5-2 in Centennial play. the season with assists from Elizabeth Swarthmore overwhelmed the Owls Mills ’11 and Colombo. Ten minutes 5-0 and Mules 2-1, placing the Garnet later, Kirsten Peterson ’11 netted her not only in prime position to return to third goal of the season, giving the Centennial Conference playoffs for Swarthmore the 2-0 lead. The the fifth consecutive year, but also in Swarthmore defense remained rock contention to host the post-season tour- solid throughout the remainder of the nament. game, allowing only one shot that flew “We definitely have a lot of momen- over the crossbar in the last minutes of tum going into the end with these past game play. wins, which is what we need,” Ari “We’re playing quality soccer right Spiegel ’13 said. “I think under the lead- now and confident we can get results ership of our against anyone,” upperclassman Head Coach and coaches, we Todd Anckaitis “It is going to be a battle can absolutely said. “Stevenson focus all this is in first in the down the stretch, but we energy into winCapital Athletic feel confident in our ning the next Conference and couple games to we just went to chances.” come out of the their place, on Todd Anckaitis conference at the the grass, in the top. I think their wind, on their Head Coach guidance and our senior day and natural dynamic outplayed them attitude has from the opening helped us get to where we stand within whistle. It was a really solid all-around the Centennial.” performance for our team.”

Megan Colombo ’11 set two individAlso on Satur-day in a critical ual milestones over break, shattering Centennial match-up, the Mules the program records for career goals rebounded from their loss at and points, both previously held by Swarthmore to upset nationally-ranked Madeline Fraser ’94. After scoring two Johns Hopkins, dropping the Blue Jays goals in the victory over Muhlenberg a game behind Dickinson and and adding an assist at Stevenson, Swarthmore at the top of the Colombo was named the Centennial Centennial standings at the time.

Conference Offensive Player of the “[The] Muhlenberg/Hopkins result week ending October 17th. means we’re [in] the toughest conferStill on its longest winning streak ence in the country for women’s soccer since the team won five games to start ... we’re sitting in a good position tied the 2009 season, the Garnet has built for first this late in the season with the plenty of momentum heading into the head-to-head win over Dickinson, who final two weeks of the regular season. also [has one conference loss]. It is On October 9, the Swarthmore going to be a battle down the stretch, offense exploded against Bryn Mawr. but we feel confident in our chances,” Colombo scored the first three Garnet Anckaitis added, before Wednesday’s goals before Sam Song ’12 and Megan matchup with Ursinus.

Brock ’14 finished the rout. The five But on Wednesday in Collegeville goals are the most that Swarthmore for another Centennial Conference has scored this season. matchup, Swarthmore was unable to Last Wednesday the Garnet again find the back of the net as the Ursinus came out firing, this time against Bears snapped the Garnet’s five game Muhlenberg. The ball hardly entered winning streak in a 1-0 victory.

Swarthmore territory during the first Monico Oliveto scored a late first half of play as the Garnet built a 2-0 half goal for Ursinus off a free kick 13 lead behind two more Colombo goals. yards into the Swarthmore half, but Brock continued her offensive domina- despite the Garnet’s best effort to put tion, nearly scoring on several oppor- one behind Kara DiJoseph in the tunities in both halves of play. Brock Ursinus goal, the Bears defense would hit both posts and was also robbed on a not break. sliding save by Muhlenberg goalkeeper Passanante, Colombo, and Brock led Michele Toher. the Garnet attack while Mutryn and Colombo’s two goals came in a four- first-year goalkeeper Katie Sipiora ’14 minute span and she was also robbed combined to hold Ursinus to just the in her bid for a second consecutive hat- one goal. trick when Toher made a sliding save Swarthmore returns to action on on Colombo’s second-half breakaway.

Saturday to face the Gettysburg Bullets Aly Passanante ’14 hit the crossbar at 4:30 p.m. on Clothier Field in a critias well, as the Garnet controlled nearly cal Centennial Conference matchup.

BY LAYLA HELWA lhelwa1@swarthmore.edu

Andrew Cheng Phoenix Staff

Ariana Spiegel dispossesses Bryn Mawr midfielder Jilly Forde. Spiegel earned an assist as the Garnet defeated the Owls 5-0 from Clothier Field over October break.

Andrew Cheng Phoenix Staff

Megan Brock ’14 eludes Bryn Mawr defender Karina Siu. Brock scored her first career goal in the Garnet’s 15th consecutive win over Tri-co rival Bryn Mawr.

THE PHOENIX

October 21, 2010

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Cross country women third at Seven Sisters Meet With such success at the Seven Sisters, the team is fired up for the next couple of weeks as the runners head into the Centennial Championship meet.

For the second consecutive year, the Swarthmore “Four of the top five teams in the region are from women’s cross country team, ranked fifth in the the Centennial Conference. There’s a fight ahead, region by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country but I think our ladies are ready for the challenge,” Coaches Association, placed third overall in the Assistant Coach Mike Salem said. Salem feels the annual Seven Sisters team really stepped up Race Saturday at and showed what it is Vassar College. capable of at the Seven Swarthmore finSisters meet and added “We ran as best we could and I’m ished third with 56 that the team is looking happy with how we did. Finishing points overall, behind “to punch their ticket Wellesley (33) and to nationals.” He is third is a good accomplishment.”

Vassar, which finished confident that the team Hannah Rose ’12 first on their home will climb higher as course with 32 points. the Championship part Garnet first-year of the season begins.

Emma Saarel placed third overall with a time of “We ran as best we could and I’m happy with how 18:51 while junior Hannah Rose finished in tenth we did. Finishing third is a good accomplishment,” place with a time of 19:41.

Rose said.

Rebecca Hammond ’13 placed 13th with a time of “Our goal is to get as much of our pack to finish 19:37 followed by fellow sophomore Becky Painter in together as high as possible,” Rose added. She is 14th with a time of 19:54. Also finishing in the Top 20 thrilled with Saarel’s performances, which have led for the Garnet were Rebecca Woo ’11 at 20:00 for a the team in recent meets, but added that team needs 16th place finish and Stephanie Beebe ’13 at 20:08 for to place well overall as a group. an 18th place finish. Katie Gonzalez finished in 22nd The Garnet continues the season with a two-fold place at a time of 20:26. goal: to break into the top three at Conference

BY RENEE FLORES rflores1@swarthmore.edu

Championships, allowing them to move onto regionals and to run together as a team and finish races together.

The Swarthmore women’s cross country team is continuing to work hard to prepare for the final meets of the year and Rose is excited as she watches the team get into shape and come together as a group. The Championships are edging closer and the team is prepared to fight for their place at regionals and to look for a nationals berth as well.

The next step on the road to nationals is the Centennial Conference Championship meet in two weeks at Johns Hopkins.

The Garnet men ran at DeSales on the first Saturday of October break, finishing sixth out of 24 teams with a total of 159 points.

Bill King ’13 led Swarthmore with a tenth place finish overall with a time of 27:19 on the 8000 meter course.

Robert Fain ’14 followed in 17th place, 23 seconds behind King, while Jacob Phillips ’13 finished 20th overall with a time of 27:51.

Richard Scott ’14 and Chris Wickham ’11 also recorded points for the Garnet, finishing 56th and 58th respectively.

Kutztown won the DeSales Invitational with a team score of 92, while Centennial Conference rival Muhlenberg finished second with 111 points.

SaaC pep rally CroSSword PHINEAS’S PHEET ACROSS 7. Name of the tennis courts outside of the Wharton dorm 8. The first name of our athletic director 9. The _____ Center (building with indoor tennis courts and fitness room) 11. The name of the athletic conference in which Swarthmore competes 13. Number of laps it takes to run a mile on the outdoor track 17. The round the men’s soccer team hoas gotten to in the NCAA tournament the past two seasons 19. Current national ranking of the men’s soccer team (NSCAA ranking) 21. Acronym for the student-athlete committee on campus 25. Name of the men’s frisbee squad 26. Number of national championships won by the Swarthmore athletic teams 27. Number of full time trainers 28. Name of the tournament the women’s soccer team is the three-time defending champion of DOWN 1. Communal event Friday night 2. Last name of the current senior who set the Swarthmore record for most goals and total points 3. The team that won four of those national championships 4. The worst mascot on Earth (Haverford’s mascot) 5. The name of Swarthmore teams 6. Name of the pool 9. Last name of Swarthmore’s 2009 All-American swimmer 10. Color of the recently painted bleachers at Clothier Field 12. Against Division III rules at sporting events (the answer is not alcohol) 14. This women’s basketball player has the second most rebounds in program history 15. First name of the primary play-by-play broadcaster for Swarthmore athletics 16. Number of varsity teams at Swarthmore College 18. The free item given to everyone who attends the pep rally 20. Women’s coach who earned her 100th Swarthmore win this season 22. The number of Academic All-Americans and Rhodes Scholars in Swarthmore history (it’s the same number) 23. Last name of the most devout men’s basketball fan (faculty/staff) 24. Men’s coach who earned his 100th Swarthmore win this season

BY SAMUEL CLARK

20

For the solution to this crossword puzzle, see the sports section of The Phoenix’s online edition at www.swarthmorephoenix.com/sports.

October 21, 2010

THe pHoeNIX

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Volleyball competes in Cali 29 digs. Pezzola was all over the court, recording double digit kills (10) and digs (16). Coleman set up the offense The Garnet volleyball team had a with 35 assists. busy October break, facing six oppoFacing the Southern California nents in the span of a week. The women Intercollegiate Athletic Association defeated Centennial Conference foes leader Cal Lutheran, Swarthmore fell Dickinson and Muhlenberg before quickly in straight sets to the nationalheading to California for the Cal ly-ranked Regals 15-25, 16-25, 21-25. The Lutheran Fall Classic. match was closer than it looked. Coach Swarthmore ran its conference win- Harleigh Chwastyk said that the team ning streak to five matches and fifteen had Cal Lutheran on the ropes in the straight sets while taking down last set before slipping. Swarthmore led Dickinson 3-0 and Muhlenberg 3-0. in that final set 19-12 and 21-17 before Each match was an all-around team the Regals ran off eight straight points effort, with contributions from every- to close the match. one involved.

The usual suspects led the Garnet, Against Dickinson, Genny Pezzola with Santana providing 15 digs, helped ’12, Hillary Santana ’12 and Allie by Lambert’s ten. While the Regals didColeman ’13 led the way. Pezzola and n’t allow for much offense, Pezzola and Coleman paced the offense with 12 kills Montemurro still combined for 15 kills. and 26 assists respectively. Libero While disappointed to leave without Santana provided 12 digs to anchor the any wins, the Garnet learned a lot from defense. the experience in California. “What In the match with Muhlenberg, those two matches showed us is that Santana again led the defense with 19 when playing teams at such a caliber, digs. Sarah Lambert ’11 added 13 digs you can't let down for a minute. You while Danielle Sullivan ’14 had 10. have to walk onto the court wanting Coleman provided 19 assists to help blood and play hard for every single Maggie Duszyk ’14 propel the offense point,” said Brone Lobichusky ’14, who with her 12 kills. posted three solo blocks and 10 assisted The two victories propelled blocks in the tournament.

Swarthmore to 5-1 in the Centennial Montemurro added that the team Conference. The Garnet hasn’t dropped came together over the weekend. a set in Centennial play since falling “California was a really fun team bond3-0 at Johns ing experience Hopkins to open since we had the conference never been on play.

“I think that this trip such a long trip After the two before. We got to really helped us solidify conference victospend a lot of ries, Swarthrelationships and that is a time together off more traveled to the court as well great source of strength California to as on it.” compete in Cal This is imporfor us.”

Lutheran’s tourtant, Santana Hilary Santana ’12 nament the explained. “Last weekend of year we were October 16-17. able to attribute The team made sure to take in the a great amount of our success to our sights of the Bay Area but came ready team chemistry and with volleyball to play. being such an emotional and mental In the tournament, Swarthmore sport, it is important to feel great supdropped four close matches to port and love amongst teammates. I Chapman, Occidental, Whittier and think that this trip really helped us host Cal Lutheran. solidify relationships and that it will be Against Chapman, Swarthmore won a great source of strength for us the first two sets before Chapman won throughout the rest of the season, and the final three sets to claim victory. In additionally for seasons to come.” the match, the team was led by Kat On Wednesday, the Garnet extended Montemurro ’13 and Coleman while its Centennial Conference winning Santana and Pezzola combined for 27 streak to six with a straight sets win at digs on defense.

Ursinus.

The match against Occidental immePezzola recorded 12 kills and 17 digs diately followed, and the Garnet fell in in the victory, leading four players straight sets. After dropping the first with double-digit digs. Montemurro two sets, the team rallied in the third recorded 14 kills while Coleman was a set, refusing to give in. Swarthmore catalyst for the offense recording 46 forced several extra points before the assists.

Garnet fell 28-30 in that set.

As a team, Swarthmore recorded 48 Santana, Pezzola, and Lisa Shang ’12 kills and 72 digs. Sullivan was responled a strong Garnet defense, but sible for 10 of those kills and also postMontemurro’s ten kills just weren’t ed five service aces in the match. enough to finish the job.

At 6-1, Swarthmore is second in the Against Whittier, the Garnet again Centennial Conference standings. The led after three sets before falling in five. Garnet now move into the hardest part Swarthmore dropped the first set 23-25, of the conference schedule, facing three but won the next two sets 25-19 and playoff-caliber teams in Gettysburg, 25-20. The Poets came back in the Haverford and Franklin & Marshall. fourth set 25-13 before taking the fifth Swarthmore returns to Tarble set 15-9.

Pavilion against Gettysburg on The Garnet put up some monstrous Saturday at 1 p.m. As it is Garnet numbers in the match. Montemurro Homecoming Weekend, this will be the again led the offense with 17 kills while team’s Senior Match, honoring the lone Santana took care of the defense with Garnet senior, Lambert.

gARnet Athlete of the week

eMMA SAARel

BY DANIEL DUNCAN dduncan1@swarthmore.edu

the PhoeniX

fy., cRoSS couNTRy, SAlT lAke ciTy, uT.

WhAT She’S doNe: The first-year placed third overall out of 87 runners at the 29th annual Seven Sisters invitational on Saturday at Vassar college.

Saarel has finished in the top 10 in each of her four competitive races this year to lead the women’s team.

fAVoRiTe cAReeR MoMeNT: “Running with the girls on a beautiful autumn day after we placed first in our division at the Paul Short Meet [held at lehigh university] this year.”

SeASoN GoAlS: “To run the best i can for each race.”

fAVoRiTe blAck eyeS PeAS SoNG: Xingyu Zhang Phoenix Staff

“boom boom Pow.”

RecoRds And milestones field hockey

Sophia Agathis ’13 earned her 15th career assist in Saturday’s loss to Mcdaniel.

Sophia ferguson ’11 scored her 20th point this season in Saturday’s loss to Mcdaniel. catie Meador ’13 scored her fifth career goal in Saturday’s loss to Mcdaniel. devon Novotnak ’11 earned her 10th career assist in last Wednesday’s win vs.

Muhlenberg.

Allison Ranshous ’13 earned her first career assist in last Saturday’s win vs. dickinson.

MeN’S SocceR

david d’Annunzio earned his fifth shutout this season in Saturday’s tie at franklin & Marshall.

Morgan langley ’11 is first in division iii in assists this year through Sunday’s games.

Morgan langley ’11 earned his 25th career assist in last Tuesday’s win vs. Moravian.

Morgan langley ’11 earned his 80th career point in last Tuesday’s win vs. Moravian.

VolleybAll

Allie coleman ’13 earned her 400th career dig in last Tuesday’s win vs.

Muhlenberg.

Allie coleman ’13 earned her 1,100th career assist in Saturday’s loss to Whittier.

Maggie duszyk ’14 earned her 100th career kill in last Saturday’s win vs. dickinson.

Sarah lambert ’11 earned her 125th service ace in last Saturday’s win vs. dickinson.

Sarah lambert ’11 played her 100th career match in Saturday’s loss to Whittier.

Sarah lambert ’11 earned her 450th career dig in Saturday’s loss to cal lutheran. kat Montemurro ’13 earned her 450th career kill in last Tuesday’s win vs.

Muhlenberg.

Genny Pezzola ’12 earned her 900th career kill in last Tuesday’s win vs.

Muhlenberg.

Genny Pezzola ’12 earned her 1,050th career dig in Saturday’s loss to Whittier.

Genny Pezzola ’12 earned her 100th service ace in Saturday’s loss to Whittier. hilary Santana ’12 earned her 700th career dig in Saturday’s loss to cal lutheran. lisa Shang ’12 earned her 800th career dig in Saturday’s loss to cal lutheran. danielle Sullivan ’14 earned her 150th career kill in friday’s loss to occidental.

WoMeN’S SocceR

Megan brock ’14 scored her first career goal in last Saturday’s win vs. bryn Mawr.

Megan colombo ’11 scored her 27th career goal in last Saturday’s win vs. bryn Mawr to set a new program record.

Megan colombo ’11 earned her 66th career point in last Saturday’s win vs. bryn Mawr to set a new program record.

Megan colombo ’11 scored her 30th career goal in last Wednesday’s win vs.

Muhlenberg.

Megan colombo ’11 earned her 75th career point in Saturday’s win vs. Stevenson.

Megan colombo ’11 earned her 20th point this season in Saturday’s win vs.

Stevenson. elizabeth Mills ’11 earned her 30th career point in Saturday’s win vs. Stevenson.

Aly Passanante ’14 earned her first career assist in last Saturday’s win vs. bryn Mawr.

Ariana Spiegel ’13 earned her first career assist in last Saturday’s win vs. bryn Mawr.

October 21, 2010

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The debate continues: Cheerleading as a varsity sport?

Hannah Purkey The Purkey Perspective

Before fall break, my developmental psychology class discussed the use of concepts in the learning of language. The grouping of new objects into conceptual categories helps young children learn new words quickly. However, defining the boundaries of these conceptual categories can be difficult even for us much-older children. While the entire class agreed that a Solo cup and a coffee mug both fit under the concept of “cup,” there was more debate about the addition of the greatest

cup of all: the Stanley Cup. Things got even more interesting with the introduction of the conceptual category of sports. When the professor asked for some examples of popular sports, I was interested in which of America’s favorite pastimes would be thrown out first. Had baseball playoff fever overtaken Swat? Or would the start of football season be \foremost on students’ minds? After a short pause, the first sport offered up was … quidditch!

Oh, Swatties. I probably shouldn’t be surprised anymore, but really? It didn’t have to be hockey, or even a sport played here at Swarthmore, but a non-fictitious one would have made me feel better about Swat’s connection to the sports world. When I recovered from my shock long enough to return to the class discussion, which by this point had moved past Harry Potter and into more main-

stream sports franchises, I realized we were having more difficulty in defining what constitutes a sport than I would have expected. The debate over what a sport is, in fact, is being fought in arenas outside of psychology classes and has far-reaching consequences few would suspect from such a simple question.

Recently, the debate over the definition of a sport has centered on the recognition, or lack there of, of cheerleading as a collegiate sport. Last year the issue was put to rest, at least temporarily, not on an athletic field but instead in a courtroom. It started in 2009 when Quinnipiac University of Connecticut wanted to drop the women’s volleyball team and add competitive women’s cheerleading as a varsity sport to fulfill Title IX requirements that dictate gender equality in collegiate sports.

Members of the volleyball team responded with a class action suit against the school on the basis of gender discrimination. A judge ruled in their favor this summer, arguing that although competitive cheer may have a future, as of now “the activity is still too underdeveloped and disorganized to be treated as offering genuine varsity athletic participation opportunities for students.”

Quinnipiac is one of several schools that recognize cheerleading as a varsity sport, including schools like University of Oregon and the University of Maryland. A study of cheerleaders in these programs, published in the journal Social Problems, shows that a driving force behind the fight to recognize cheerleading as a sport is not a matter of Title IX requirements but a matter of respect. Cheerleaders at Delta State said they felt designated as second-class athletes, even though they were the only of the school’s teams to bring home a national championship. “I want it to be considered a sport so people can’t trash it,” one cheerleader said in the study.

Cheer cannot just be removed from the name of the sport; it also has to be removed from the goals of the programs.

Most of the cheerleaders that were interviewed express hope that NCAA recognition would force other athletes to rethink the typical stereotypes of cheerleading as “girly.”

Participants at the University of Maryland broadcasted their hopes for sports status with slogans such as, “Hold my weights while I stunt with your girlfriend” and, “Other sports use one ball, we use two.”

While the aim of garnering respect from other athletes is admirable, more changes need to be made to cheerleading to take it out of the realm of supporting other sports and turn it into a sport in its own right. Felicia Mulkey, the coach of the team stunts and gymnastics program at University of Oregon, seemed to think that a new name would be enough to give cheerleading a new start. “It was the perception of that word, cheer,” Mulkey said for an article in the New York Times. “Once people understand, you get a lot more fans and some of that perception goes away.”

While a new name might help with stereotypes of cheerleading, it is not the only thing that needs to change.

Anyone who has watched an actual cheerleading competition can attest to how physically demanding the stunts done by the teams are. Yet it is difficult for many to get past the emphasis on aesthetics to the real athletic showmanship. Cheer cannot just be removed from the name of the sport; it also has to be removed from the goals of the programs. While defining the concept of a sport is difficult, most argue that a main objective of any sports program cannot be the support of other sports, as cheerleading still does to this day. There needs to be more competitions within the sport and less sideline cheering for other sports.

Team gymnastics is an interesting idea for a sport, and as the judge in the Quinnipiac case said, there may well be a future for it in collegiate athletics. However, this future will never be realized without some serious changes to cheerleading programs. Competitive cheerleaders are athletes and deserve the type of programs that will allow them to be recognized as such, as long as it is not at the expense of other women’s athletics programs.

Hannah is a senior. You can reach her at hpurkey1@swarthmore.edu.

Field hockey in playoff contention for stretch run

BY ANA APOSTOLERIS aaposto1@swarthmore.edu Despite a 4-2 loss to McDaniel on Saturday, the 2010 Swarthmore Garnet field hockey team has already been a surprise success story. With a combined two Centennial Conference wins in the past two seasons and only fourteen players in a sport where eleven are on the field at once, it is not a stretch to say that expectations were low for the Garnet squad.

However, in the final two weeks of the regular season, the team finds itself in an unfamiliar position — looking to make a playoff run.

The Garnet’s six wins overall are the most that the team has recorded in a full season since Lauren Fuchs took over as head coach in 2008. With three Centennial wins so far, the team has tripled its total from last year and currently stands in sixth place in the conference. Five teams will ultimately make the championship tournament, but the remainder of the schedule is no walk in the park for Swarthmore.

After yesterday’s match-up with the Ursinus Bears, undefeated on the season in conference play, Swarthmore will have to take on Haverford, currently third in the Centennial Conference, Gettysburg, currently fifth, and an underachieving Franklin & Marshall team that was picked in the preseason poll to finish fifth.

These final few games will certainly test the mettle of the young Garnet squad, as playoff hopes depend on pulling out victories against these far more seasoned teams.

The loss to McDaniel on Saturday put the team in even more of a “must-win”

22

position against the cream of the Centennial crop — coming into Saturday’s game, the Green Terror was just 2-3 in Conference play and 4-7 overall, but they jumped on the Garnet early and scored four unanswered goals in the first half of play.

Catie Meador ’13, who scored one of the two Swarthmore goals on Saturday, said that Swarthmore was overwhelmed by the physicality of the Green Terror.

“McDaniel is a very physical team, so our main problem defensively … was that we were unable to adjust to this physicality, so we were getting beat to the ball and pushed off the ball, and McDaniel was essentially able to muscle their way [to the win].”

Swarthmore rallied in the final 35 minutes, keeping McDaniel scoreless and netting two on the backs of Meador and Sophia Ferguson ’11, but it was not quite enough to make up for the first half play. “We really needed a win against McDaniel to have a good shot at making the playoffs, but we definitely still have a chance,” Meador said. “Based on the way this season has been going for everyone in the Centennial Conference, I still think anything could happen.”

The team is aware of the precarious nature of its playoff position, but it also seems to know what it needs to work on in order to reach the next level. In order to respond to the shortcomings exposed

by McDaniel, Meador said that “in practice, we are going to be working a lot on how to deal with this physical style of play [as exhibited by McDaniel] and staying low over the ball, as most of the teams we will be playing over the next four games are also rather physical.”

Sophia Agathis ’13 has observed a

level of excitement and optimism about the season despite the tough finish.

“We’re really looking forward to these last couple of games,” she said. “They’re all very good teams, so we’ll have to play some of our best hockey of the season, but as long as we’re doing the little things right, there’s no reason why we can’t finish the season with a couple of wins.”

Fuchs agrees with the confidence abounding among her players. “We have improved and learned something, each and every game,” she said. “We will have to put everything together and make the most of our opportunities ... which I know we can [do].”

Before Saturday’s defeat, the Garnet had taken advantage in Centennial Conference play, winning back-to-back games in Centennial Conference play for the first time since 2007. On the first Saturday of October break, Swarthmore travelled to Dickinson and knocked off the Red Devils 2-1, thanks to two second half goals from Aarti Rao ’14 and Nia Jones ’14.

Four days later, Swarthmore shut out the visiting Muhlenberg Mules 3-0, as Katie Teleky ’13 scored twice and Jones scored again. Before Saturday, Jones had scored in four consecutive games.

Regardless of the outcome of this year’s playoff push, the Garnet has certainly turned a lot of heads in the conference and things only promise to get better. Four of Swarthmore’s five leading scorers so far this season are either firstyears or sophomores, and the team only has four seniors total. Agathis, Jones, Teleky, and Rao comprise a core of firstyears and sophomores whose play so far promises to make Garnet field hockey

October 21, 2010

extremely competitive in the next several seasons.

“We're all extremely confident in the future of this team,” Agathis said. “I think because we're a small team, we've all just stepped up and not used it as an excuse. In the next two years, we're going to really surprise some teams around the conference.”

As it stands, however, the Garnet women remain firmly focused on the present. Picked to finish 10 of 11 in the Centennial preseason poll, the team has already blown past all expectations and the squad is not content to settle.

Agathis displays a level-headed approach to the remainder of the season.

“We’re all just focusing on the little things we need to do to win games. We can’t get worried about how many teams we have to beat and who has to lose to whom. We just have to know that if we’re all doing what we need to do to be successful, the playoffs will come.”

“I believe anything can happen at this point,” Meador said. “We’ve already exceeded the expectations many people had for this season, so if we keep working hard, I think we’ll be able to pull off a few huge upsets.”

As for head coach Fuchs, who continues to shape the Swarthmore field hockey program with her excellent recruiting classes, the future is the furthest thing from her mind as she gears her team up for the stretch run. “We still have important games to play this year,” she said.

“I’m not going to talk about the future when we have four important games left here.”

Catie Meador is a copy editor for The Phoenix. She had no role in the production of this article.

THE PHOENIX

Sports

swarthmorephoenix.com

Men’s soccer reaches no. 1 despite second road tie

Photo courtesy of Jared Brown

Micah Rose, Roberto Contreras, Kieran Reichert and David Sterngold celebrate a goal. The Garnet is first in the Centennial Conference standings with three games to play.

BY SAM LACY AND VICTOR BRADY slacy1, vbrady1@swarthmore.edu While the rest of the campus was on October break, the Swarthmore men's soccer team picked up dominant wins over Ursinus, 3-0, and Moravian, 4-0, before settling for a tightly contested scoreless draw with Franklin & Marshall this past weekend.

When the clock struck zero on the second overtime period, the scoreboard at F&M’s Tylus Field said Swarthmore 0, F&M 0, but the Diplomats’ celebratory mood suggested a different score. The F&M game proved that the tactics and ambitions of the opposition have changed now that the Garnet has established themselves as a top team in Division III. Several recent opponents have packed in extra defenders to limit Garnet scoring chances in hopes of a draw. “The longer you go through the season undefeated and with a top ranking, more and more teams will go negative against you, playing eleven men behind the ball and only looking to score on the counterattack,” captain Micah Rose ’12 said.

Unlike in its previous tie with Gettysburg, which was 2-6 at the time, the Garnet was content with its level of play against F&M. “Against Gettysburg, we didn’t show up. At F&M, we showed up and created good chances, but got unlucky and couldn’t convert,” Morgan Langley ’11 said.

Head coach Eric Wagner noted that Langley, Fabian Castro ’12, Roberto Contreras ’12 and Micah Rose ’12 all attacked dangerously, but were turned away by the outstanding play of F&M goalkeeper Zack Zamek (7 saves).

Swarthmore’s David D’Annunzio ’12 made 3 saves to complete his 5th shutout of the 2010 season.

The Garnet's 2-0-1 October break pushed its record to 11-0-2. Despite the draw, the Garnet became the new No. 1 in the NSCAA Division III poll. It is the first time any Centennial Conference men’s soccer team has ever been ranked No. 1. In the D3 soccer poll, however, the Garnet dropped one spot to No. 3, behind Messiah and Dominican.

The Garnet is honored with the milestone ranking, but keep it in perspective.

“It’s awesome to get the recognition of being No. 1, but we want to be No. 1 in the last ranking. Until then, it doesn’t mean that much,” said Rose.

Wagner added that the ranking should serve as motivation for the team to continue it’s high level of play as the race for home field advantage in the Centennial playoffs heats up. “We’re still in the driver’s seat, but we’ve got our work cut out for us,” Wagner said.

The Garnet is 13 games into a season that they want to last 25 games, including two in the Centennial Conference tournament and six in the NCAA tournament.

Some younger players are seeing

increased roles as the Garnet try to get some rest for the upperclassmen who have logged most of the minutes. “As the season grinds on, depth becomes more important, and our depth is better than it has ever been,” Rose said.

Jack Momeyer ’14 has made the most of his increased opportunities. With goals against Ursinus and Moravian, Momeyer now has 3 goals on 3 shots in his rookie season. Momeyer stressed that the transition to his increased role is made easier by the skill of the experienced players like Langley.

“When [Langley] is in the game, it allows the rest of us more space and time.

We can take more chances on the ball because the defense knows they have to keep an eye on him,” Momeyer said.

Although quiet on the score sheet against Ursinus, Langley continued his torrid campaign against Moravian, scoring his eighth goal and earning his 11th and 12th assists. The senior continues to lead Division III in assists per game with 0.92.

The match against Ursinus on the first Saturday of October break was Swarthmore’s first contest after the Gettysburg tie. Just over 16 minutes into the game, Rose gave the Garnet a 1-0 lead with a laser from beyond the top of the Ursinus box. Kieran Reichert ’13 and Momeyer added late second half goals to secure the victory over the Bears.

Three days later against non-conference

opponent Moravian, the Garnet again struck early, this time just under five minutes into the match. After a turnover by the Moravian keeper, Langley gathered the ball in the box and played it into an open net for the quick 1-0.

Just ten minutes later, Langley set up the Garnet’s second goal with a through ball in the middle to a cutting Contreras.

In the final twenty minutes of the game, the Garnet scored twice more, with Castro dribbling in for a goal off a pass from Reichert. Momeyer capped the scoring, taking a Langley cross on the far side of the box and beating the keeper after the pass trickled through two Swarthmore forwards and two Moravian defenders.

Swarthmore is 8-0-0 at Clothier Field this season, but struggled on the road again Wednesday at Richard Stockton.

Up 1-0 early in the second half thanks to a Langley goal, the Garnet conceded the game-tying goal in the 65th minute.

The two teams played through a scoreless first overtime period before the Ospreys scored the game winner 1:11 into the second overtime.

Swarthmore outshot Richard Stockton 26-14 but couldn’t find a second goal. The loss is the team’s first of the season.

Swarthmore returns to Clothier Field this Saturday for a 7:30 p.m. match against McDaniel on Garnet Homecoming weekend for one of the team’s three remaining Centennial Conference matches.

garnet in action Tuesday, OcT. 26 Women’s soccer vs. Haverford, 7 p.m.

saTurday, OcTOber 23 Field hockey vs. Gettysburg, 1 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Gettysburg, 1 p.m.

Women’s soccer vs. Gettysburg, 4:30 p.m.

Men’s soccer vs. McDaniel, 7:30 p.m.

Wednesday, OcT. 27 Field hockey vs. Haverford, 4:30 p.m.

Volleyball vs. Haverford, 7 p.m.

Men’s soccer at Muhlenberg, 7 p.m.

GO GARNET!

tHe PHoeniX

October 21, 2010

23

Sports

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MEN’S SOCCER

Garnet Tops National Rankings

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FIRST no. 1 ranked Centennial Conference men’s soccer team

FIRST top-ranked Swarthmore team since 1990 men’s tennis Photo courtesy of Jared Brown

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October 21, 2010

THE PHOENIX