OCTOBER 28, 2010 • THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE SINCE 1881 • VOLUME 133, ISSUE 9
PHOENIX
Inside: Judge discusses drinking and the law on campus Editor in chief of Glamour gives McCabe Lecture Women’s volleyball shuts out Gettysburg 3-0
Fraternity Membership on the Rise In the last two years fraternity membership at Swarthmore has risen from five percent of males to 11.8, raising questions about the potential prevalence and make-up of Phi Psi and DU culture at the college, p. 5
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The Phoenix
Thursday, October 28, 2010 Volume 133, Issue 9
The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881.
Page
18 Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Over 800 fans cheer on the men’s soccer team for Saturday night’s 4-0 victory over the McDaniel Green Terror.
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and exiting through doorways. PAGE 9
Invited by DART, Judge Stephanie Klein lectured to a small number of students Monday night about the consequences of drinking and using drugs. PAGE 3
“The Producers” on Friday, Oct. 22. Reviewer John Oh called the company’s version a “phenomenal production.” PAGE 9
defense and last in the AFC Local theater takes on West The San Diego Chargers find themselves ‘The Producers’ Judge warns of alcohol- Brook’s The Swarthmore Players Club debuted their last in the AFC West. Tim asks, how can a related offenses rendition of Mel Brook’s famous musical team keep losing when it’s the best on both sides of the ball? PAGE 16 Cindi Leive tackles Twitter Chat weighs in on strategic and journalism planning Editor-in-Chief of Glamour magazine Cindi
In a fireside chat on Monday, President Chopp and Dean Braun talked to students about the structure of strategic planning. PAGE 4
Leive ’88 spoke as part of Garnet Weekend. “Would Walter Cronkite Have Tweeted? Old Media, New Media, and What You Should Know About Everything You Read” looked at the changing scope of journalism. PAGE 10
Fraternity population rises significantly in recent years Exploring language through Both fraternities on campus, DU and Phi Russian science fiction Psi, have seen about 50 percent increases in membership and diversity in the past two years. PAGE 5
Distinguished translator Marian Schwartz discussed her translation of Olga Slavnikova’s Russian science fiction novel 2017 at a lecture on Monday, Oct. 25. PAGE 11
Women hope for playoffs after three straight losses After three consecutive one-goal conference losses, Swarthmore is on the outside looking in at the 2010 Centennial playoffs. The Garnet needs a win on Saturday and help from around the Conference to make it. PAGE 17
Field hockey prepares to conclude successful year The Garnet field hockey team concludes the 2010 season on Saturday at Franklin and Marshall. Swarthmore has tripled its Centennial win total from last season. PAGE 19
So let’s root, root, root for Deer culls will reoccur durthe San Francisco Giants Philadelphia offers a cul- Hannah has five reasons for everyone to ing winter break cheer for the San Francisco Giants in the In an effort to control the deer population in tured but spooky adventure 2010 World Series. PAGE 19
Crum Woods, a second annual public deer cull will be held at the college over winter break. PAGE 6
Living & Arts
Looking for Halloween activities? Columnist Jen Johnson explores Philly’s holiday haunts, from “Terror Behind the Walls” to pumpkin picking to Day of the Dead food. PAGE 12
Opinions
Experiencing culture shock in Parisian paradise Turn to journalism, not Paris may seem like an idyllic study abroad location, but Maki finds that in reality, the skewed news, for information city has its share of problems, from dirty streets to poor student living conditions. PAGE 8
The upcoming Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert rallies, while likely providing deft political commentary, should not be confused with essential journalism. PAGE 14
Life and death converge in Parliamentary democracy Eastwood’s ‘Hereafter’ Clint Eastwood’s new film movingly offers better representation examines the effects of death on human experience but suffers from a lack of subtlety. PAGE 8
Alleviating the awkward encounters at doorways Ariel notes that Swatties are often too polite, which is demonstrated perhaps most strongly in our inability to navigate social interactions surrounding entering
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Peter argues that fringe parties are better represented in some European countries’ parliamentary system than the fragmented winner-takes-all system in the U.S. PAGE 15
Sports First in offense, first in
Garnet drops Bullets for first time in program history The Swarthmore volleyball team defeated Gettysburg for the first time in 29 tries on Saturday, securing a berth in the 2010 Centennial Conference tournament. PAGE 20
Corrections FROM THE OCTOBER 21, 2010 ISSUE: The article titled “Conservatives comfortable in spite of minority status” wrongly attributed the title of Ben Berger. He is an Associate Professor of Political Science. The photo caption below the article titled “New exhibit exposes college to Jewish history and culture” misspelled Sefarim as Serafim. For these and any other mistakes we may have unintentionally made, we extend our sincerest apologies.
October 28, 2010
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 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 Emma Waitzman 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 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, Sam Lacy, Sera Jeong, John Oh OPINIONS BOARD Jeff Davidson, Amelia Possanza, Dante Fuoco, Camila Ryder EDITOR’S PICKS PHOTOS COURTESY OF: bfeedme.com, ourtuts.com, arabicdrum.co.uk, groovyvic.mu.nu 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 Mail subscriptions are available for $60 a year or $35 a semester. Direct subscription requests to Jeff Davidson. The Phoenix is printed at Bartash Printing, Inc. The Phoenix is a member of the Associated College Press and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. All contents copyright © 2010 The Phoenix. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
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events menu Today Greening the Rust Belt: Urban Agriculture and Food Security in Detroit and Philadelphia A panel of five activists and businessmen from Detroit and Philadelphia will be discussing the challenges they have faced with their cities’ green movements at 4:15 p.m. in LPAC. The event is free and open to the public.
Judge warns of alcohol-related offenses
Acupuncture: The Beauty of Traditional Chinese Medicine Dr. Yong Ming Li, licensed acupuncturist, lectures on the ancient Chinese art of acupuncture and its influence in the West in at 4:30 p.m. in Kohlberg 115. Tomorrow Halloween study break with Dean Braun Enjoy treats and pumpkins at Dean Braun’s house (Hallowell House, 405 Elm Avenue) from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. There will also be performances by a cappella groups and the Mariachi Band. Vampire Energy Fallapalooza Stop by Parrish Beach anytime between 3:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. to join the Green Advisors in celebrating fall and saving energy with pumpkin carving and apple bobbing. Cooper Event: Soldedad Barrio and Noche Flamenca The Cooper Foundation brings to campus award-winning Soledad Barrio and Noche Flamenca, Spain’s most successful and authentic flamenco touring company. Their performance will begin at 8 p.m. in LPAC.
Saturday, October 30th Wind Ensemble concert Come to the Lang Concert Hall at 8 p.m. to listen to the college’s Wind Ensemble perform a variety of music selections. “Darbouka Day” workshop with Joseph Tayoun Drum with accomplished percussionist Joe Tayoun during this free workshop at 3 p.m. in the LPAC Boyer Dance Studio. Monday, October 25th Lecture: Social Justice and Systems Change Edgar Cahn ’56 will talk about his experience in social justice work in SCI 199 at 4 p.m. Cotton and Race in the Making of America by Gene Dattel Independent scholar, Gene Dattel, will hold a lecture discussing themes relating to the cotton industry from his new book, “Cotton and Race in the Making of America: The Human Costs of Economic Power” at 4:30 p.m. in Kohlberg 116. E-mail submissions for the events menu to news@swarthmorephoenix.com
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Paul Chung Phoenix Staff
Judge Stephanie Klein speaks to students about what she has learned as a judge of many alcohol-related cases.
BY JACQUELINE SMALL jsmall2@swarthmore.edu Students generally do not see Judge Stephanie Klein under pleasant circumstances, but on Monday night several students went to hear her speak about alcohol and drug use among college students. DART hosted the event in Science Center 199, in order to help serve as a resource for Swatties to learn about possible penalties for drinking and using drugs. DART intends on bringing several speakers to discuss similar topics over the course of the year. Klein oversees the trials of people from this court district who are arrested or given citations for violations such as underage drinking, public indecency and disturbing the peace. She pointed out that public indecency and disturbing the peace are just two of many crimes which may occur as a result of binge drinking, even if the accused is of legal age, and warned that violence and sexual assault may also be consequences of intoxication. The judge frequently referred to her two daughters, who are pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees, and said that they would want her to tell Swarthmore students just to drink responsibly. “I can’t tell you to drink responsibly because if you are under 21, drinking is against the law, so telling you that would be violating my oath of office,” Klein said. Klein expressed concern over increasing rates of binge drinking and related tragedies. “You kids, you worry me something fierce,” she said, mentioning several statistics. She told the audience that 1,825 college students
died last year from alcohol related incidents, including drunk driving. “I’m asking you to think about the consequences of your actions,” she said. She said that she believes binge drinking has become much worse over the course of the last generation. She said that during her own college years, drinking was legal for her and her classmates, but “[she has] no recollection of classmates being senseless or passed out from alcohol.” Klein told students she had no idea about what caused the change in the drinking culture, but said it might be related to the increased pressure on students, due to the economy and changing nature of the workforce. She said that while it is important to “blow off steam,” being safe and making good decisions is more important. About 30 people attended the question and answer session, which Tom Elverson ’75, alcohol education and intervention specialist, said was somewhat disappointing. “ I ... had hoped for 50 [students to attend], but there was a fireside chat about Strategic Planning at the same time ... I was very impressed that DU’s entire pledge class came, though, and there were also members of Phi Psi there.” Isaac Epstein ’14, a DU pledge, said in an e-mail that it was “‘strongly recommended’” that pledges attend the talk, and noted that several members of the fraternity are DART members as well. Epstein, though, did not attend the lecture because he had a class at the time. Elverson, who oversees the DART Team since Kelly Wilcox left for NYU Abu Dhabi, said that this year, they plan to bring speakers from “all over the alcohol treatment and judicial
October 28, 2010
world.” Upcoming lecturers include a drug and alcohol counselor at the University of Pennsylvania, a detective who deals with alcohol and drug related crime, a social worker and a chief of police. “I think it’s good to bring people from all sides to campus,” Elverson said. Elverson knows many of these potential speakers through his contacts as the interventionist and counselor here. “I’ve really wanted the DART Team members to be leaders in and of themselves and they really have, Claire Almand [’11] and Phoebe Hansen [’12] especially are doing a great job, but what I do help them with is getting speakers.” Elverson said he enjoyed the talk and thought it was well done. “My personal goal was that it be informative, educational, and a different perspective, and all those things were met. It was a beginning, and we could absolutely enhance it in the future, but I thought it went well.” Almand, a coordinator of DART, said in an e-mail, “Judge Klein's lecture had a lot of great information in it, and we learned a lot about how the legal system works. Unfortunately, [she used] the law as a scare tactic to prevent underage drinking. This, in my opinion, is not an effective way to help Swarthmore students make intelligent decisions about alcohol. But Judge Klein did give students good advice when she said to think [for] more than a few seconds about choices they make.” The lecture was scheduled for shortly before Halloween, because historically, Halloween parties have the largest numbers of students hospitalized or cited for drinking.
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Chat weighs in on strategic planning
Week in piCtures
Braun, who heads the committee on “Missions, values and goals” along with Vice President for On Monday, President Rebecca Community and College Relations Chopp, Dean of Students Liz Braun and Executive Assistant to the and history professor Timothy President Maurice Eldridge ’61, also Burke talked with a group of about discussed community. 20 students about the process of Braun said that since most peostrategic planning, an evaluation of ple surveyed in a previous study Swarthmore’s goals for the next had almost identical perceptions of seven or eight years, that will occur top values and missions for in the next two years. Swarthmore, including academic Chopp began by giving an rigor, diversity and inclusiveness overview of the structure and time- and a sense of community, the group line of strategic planning.The will mostly talk about goals. process is composed of three levels “What we’re really going to [be] of organization. First, four commit- most focused on is the goals piece, tees focused on different topics will because that’s the thing that I think perform the bulk of initial explo- is evolving,” Braun said. “Do we ration and discussions. These com- have the right support systems in mittees are “Evolving missions, val- place? ... Do we have the right ues and goals of a Swarthmore edu- things identified to make sure stucation,” “Knowledge, teaching, and dents have what they need to be suclearning,” “Admissions, access, and cessful at Swarthmore and when affordability,” and “Alumni engage- they leave Swarthmore?” ment and development.” Overseeing Leadership, lifestyle, globalizathem will be the Strategic Planning tion and wellness are all issues Council. Braun said her These five group hopes to committees will talk about. be composed of “As demo“What we're really going a mix of stug r a p h i c s to [be] most focused on change, what dents, faculty, staff, members are we doing is the goals piece, of institutional here institubecause that’s the thing tionally to realresearch and members of the make sure that I think is evolving.” ly president’s we're promisoffice. Liz Braun ing inclusiveFinally, the ness so that Dean of Students steering comwe're really mittee, which making sure contains only that students faculty, staff, members of institu- feel like their individual identities tional research and members of the are confirmed, but they also feel president’s office, will be overseeing like a part of a larger community?” all of the process. Braun said. Names of committee members, as After the three gave their presenwell as other resources about the tations, students asked questions process, can be found at about and gave suggestions for http://sp.swarthmore.edu/. strategic planning. The issues will be explored from Several students raised questions now until February. A drafted plan about specific topics such as the the will be done by September 2011, and lack of classes in areas such as the proposal will be discussed by Middle Eastern studies and the board and the community again. Swarthmore’s plans for environA revised plan should be done by mental sustainability, but because December 2011, and the results of the committees have not begun strategic planning will be imple- meeting yet, there were no answers. mented by spring 2012. Chris Geissler ’13 asked about After Chopp’s overview, Burke the role of the tradition. talked about the committee he will “There are certainly many ... hidhead — “Knowledge, teaching, and den ways in which this Quaker learning.” ideals are part of our culture,” “There's somewhat of everyday Geissler said. “Might you speak planning that goes on all the time ... about this balance between having but those are all kinds of things that Quaker roots, but not Quaker, and address maybe the best a small how we’re being affected by Quaker part,” Burke said. “The big ques- traditions, but not visibly so, and tions I worry about all the time ... how we want this to be a visible part are about whether the things we of campus?” chose to teach or end up teaching Chopp compared Swarthmore’s are helping you with your careers.” Quaker traditions to other commuBurke mentioned various topics nities around the world and their the group may discuss, including morphing traditions. the broadness of curriculum in com“Even though sometimes the ... parison to other institutions, the original language and rituals disapteaching styles of professors, the pear, we still find the values transdiversity and adaptability of staff ferred.” Chopp said. “I think that and the relationship between tech- it’s a wonderful thing to look about nology and the classroom. traditions and values.” BY LINDA HOU rhou1@swarthmore.edu
Oliva Natan Phoenix Staff
Students race to the finish line with their makeshift devices at the annual Crum Regetta on Sunday.
Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
Nobel Prize laureate George Akerlof and Institute for New Economic Thinking Robert Johnson gives a talk about questioning the foundations of economics on Monday.
Eric Verhasselt Phoenix Staff
Nick Palazzolo and Melissa Zheng take food at the QSA Coming Out Week Parlour party on Thursday.
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October 28, 2010
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Fraternity population rises significantly in recent years BY MENGHAN JIN mjin1@swarthmore.edu In recent history, Greek presence at Swarthmore has been, to say the least, sparse. But a rise in membership of both fraternities — Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi — in the past two years may resuscitate Greek life as we know it today. Just last year alone, the proportion of male students in fraternities at Swarthmore spiked from 5 percent in the 2008-09 academic year to 11.8 percent. This year’s pledge classes seem to be following the same trend. In Phi Psi, the new pledge class consists of 18 students — an increase of four pledges from last year; in DU, the pledge class increased from 17 pledges last year to 18 this year. Previous years past have seen pledge classes of as low as five and nine. “DU definitely has grown in my time there,” David Dulaney ’11 said. “My pledge class was the start of the … last four years of rather large classes.” During his freshman year as a pledge, Dulaney was among roughly 30 DU brothers. Now, including the new pledge class, numbers have reached 55. In the next house over, total membership at Phi Psi will spike to 49, including the current pledges. And of the active brothers, just five from the pledge class of 2007 remain. In the 1950s, fraternity presence at Swarthmore was not meager; in fact, there was a total of seven fraternities on campus. But due to a mixture of declining interest and financial insolvencies, the fraternities slowly dwindled to two. And though several incidents in the past have put the fraternities at Swarthmore in a negative light, members have been working hard to quash these connotations. Engaging in community service work and joining the DART team are among several of the initiatives they have taken over the past couple years. “They are working hard individually and together to change their image,” Associate Dean of Student Life Myrt Westphal said. “They don’t want to be seen as irresponsible party people.” These changes, Westphal believes, seem to be attracting more people who want to be part of a positive organization on campus. Not only have DU and Phi Psi increased in size over the past couple years, both fraternities are also attracting a more diverse group of pledges. Like Westphal, most brothers see this trend as a response to the move of the Greek system at Swarthmore out of a stereotypical fraternal atmosphere. “The image of our Greek life has changed and is changing for the better,” said Phi Psi pledge Jake Benveniste ’13. “It’s not necessarily a place that the rumors say they were.” Traditionally, DU has housed mostly baseball players, while Phi Psi usually consists of lacrosse players, but in recent years, both fraternities have experienced a shift away from the homogeneity of the usual athletes to a better mix of non-athletes and athletes. “It’s become a much more eclectic group of people that have a much wider range of interests and things that they do outside of Phi Psi and that they do for the school and for themselves as well,” said Vice President of Phi Psi Joe Spagna ’11, who himself is not an athlete. Phi Psi Pledge President Rakan Nimr ’12 estimates the current group of Phi Psi brothers to be 80 percent athlete and 20 percent non-athlete. “This split may not seem that serious, but … a few years ago, there may have been one non-athlete in the fraternity,” he said. THe PHOeNiX
DU has experienced a greater split. Currently, out of the 55 members of DU, 30 are athletes and 25 are non-athletes. “When I came in, it was a baseball frat with some other people in it, and now it just [is a frat that also] has baseball players,” DU President Adam Koshkin ’11 said. Koshkin accredits DU’s rise in membership and diversity to the success of the Rush Director, Matt Lamb ’12, in recruiting prospective members during rush last year. “He was very competent and did a great job pulling everything together,” Koshkin said. As Rush Director of DU, Lamb was responsible for organizing the entire rush process, including fundraising, planning events and allocating funds. With the help of some other members last semester, Lamb was able to bring together the largest pledge class ever to enter DU. “The immediate increase is clearly due to the successful rush process,” Lamb, abroad in Prague, said in an e-mail. “DU has become a much more diverse fraternity than in the past ... [and] we are really conveying the positive aspects of brotherhood. Students are starting to understand the strong bonds and friendships that we get through the fraternity process.” It is the campus’s growing awareness of the social benefits of being in a fraternity that Nimr attributes to the rise in membership and diversity at Phi Psi, though physical improvements in the house could have attracted some new pledges. “A lot of students want to be a part of something and to find a sense of camaraderie with their peers,” he said. “This is definitely the reason I pledged a fraternity at Swarthmore, and it seems to be catching on more and more every year.” And for most pledges, this rationale rings true. “You build strong friendships with the brothers,” said DU pledge Isaac Opoku ’14. “I’m not in yet, and they already treat me like a brother.” An international student from Ghana and a non-athlete, Opoku found his experience rushing DU extremely rewarding, for he not only bonded with brothers from both DU and Phi Psi, but was also able to meet people outside of the frats through connections with his brothers. “I feel more at home here at Swarthmore because I have more friends. I generally didn’t think I’d have so many friends,” he said. Apart from being a home on campus for some students, the fraternities also guarantee a social scene for the brothers as well as for the whole campus community. “It’s not meant to be this exclusive thing,” Spagna said. “It’s meant to be something where we hope that everyone feels comfortable always coming down to hang out whenever they want.” Though incidents with the fraternities on the social front have surfaced in the past, Westphal is not worried about increasing fraternity members on campus. “As long as they continue on this path of being contributing and responsible members of this community, I think it’s fine,” she said. From these increases, the two fraternities can only grow from here, Koshkin said. With more members will come more funds, more events and potentially even more prospective members in the future. For now, though, this change will have little impact on social life within the house. As Koshkin said, “Frat life will go on as it always has.” October 28, 2010
News iN BrieF Five cars broken into in the Ville and on campus, valuables gone On the morning of October 21, between six and seven thirty, five cars on and near campus were broken into, and several items that were inside the vehicles were stolen. Three of the cars were in Bond parking lot, one was located in Cunningham lot, which is near the arboretum’s office, and one vehicle was located near the business district in the borough of Swarthmore. Three of the cars belong to Swarthmore students, one belongs to a Public Safety staff member, and the one in the Ville belongs to a borough resident. Expensive coats, a calculator, books, a shoulder bag and a small amount of money, totalling about three dollars, were taken from the cars. For the victims of the crime, most of the cost will be replacing their broken windows. Because there was no attempt to start the cars, Public Safety does not suspect that there was any intention to steal the vehicles themselves. Owen Redgrave, director of Public Safety, said that people should hide their valuables. If they must be left in cars, and close their
windows and lock their doors. There are no known witnesses, but in an announcement in the Reserved Students Digest, Public Safety urged anyone who has information about the crimes to come forward. Redgrave, however, is not optimistic about successfully catching the thief. “Very, very few people are caught in these kinds of situations where we don’t have any witnesses,” he said. Redgrave also said that when cases like this are solved, it is usually through other means, such as catching the criminal in the act of another crime, or someone turning in the thief in order to receive more lenient sentencing for his or her own crimes. Public Safety and the local police are working on the case together, and they believe that one individual or group is responsible for the break-ins. Redgrave said that this is very out of the ordinary and that usually there are five or fewer events like this per year, including in the summer. By Jacqueline Small
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Deer culls will reoccur during winter break BY LAUREN KIM lkim1@swarthmore.edu The college, in its second consecutive process of deer population management, will host a public archery hunt and cull in the Crum Woods during the winter break. The Pennsylvania Game Commission approved the cull last winter. Factors influencing the decision were such instances as the 2003 Natural Lands Conservation and Stewardship Plan for the Trust and Continental Conservation filing a report detailing the overabundance of deer. A research-based monitoring program by Roger Latham, former biology professor, will help inform the needs for further population control measures in future years. “The monitoring program will be long term and will monitor the effects of deer population management on indicators of forest ecosystem response. Indicators include key plant and animal populations, plant functional groups, native plant species diversity and forest vertical structure,” said Jeff Jabco, co-chair of the Crum Woods stewardship committee and director of grounds and coordinator of horticulture at the Scott Arboretum. The annual deer cull is to be a continued project. The continually increasing number of deer in the Crum Woods, along with increasing damage to plants, makes deer population regulation necessary to maintain the balanced ecosystem. “Given current conditions it is likely that the deer will have to be culled continuously over the next several years with some likely breaks along the way, depending on what the monitoring tells us,” said Maurice Eldridge ’61, vice president of college and community relations and executive assistant to the president, in an e-mail. Ethan Bogdan ’13, however, questioned the effectiveness of the culls and the humaneness of the practice. “If there were ever a question of the “humaneness” of hiring sharpshooters to “harvest” our campus deer, the
Olivia Natan Phoenix Staff
Hunters will be able to enter Crum Woods as a part of the deer cull this winter. fact that we are now inviting local bowhunters to fire on the creatures recreationally should raise a definite alert,” Bogdan said in an e-mail. “It’s only around half the time that these arrows actually kill their targets; the rest of the deer must endure lasting wounds that are aggravated every time a protruding shaft snags on some bush or branch.” The CWSC looked into alternative options for maintaining the deer population. Some of the other possibilities discussed included introducing natural predators, con-
trolled hunting and contraceptives, but each of these alternatives entailed health or safety concerns. “It is commendable that the Crum Woods Stewardship Committee has nominally taken the time to consider alternative options, but it has yet to take a serious look at the valid science proving that immunocontraceptive vaccines can significantly reduce deer populations in habitats not unlike the Crum Woods,” Bogdan said in an e-mail. Bryon P. Shissler, president of Natural Resource Consultants, said that neither the Food and Drug Administration nor the Environmental Protection Administration approved contraceptive techniques. The CWSC also looked into implementing mitigation techniques such as using fencing and repellent to narrow down the deer’s space. However, it was decided in 2009 that the cull would be the most effective method to maintain a balanced ecosystem, or an “effective localized tool for reducing deer populations,” according to Shissler. Licensed professional sharpshooters from preapproved deer hunting sites will participate in this procedure. There should be minimum traffic in the Crum Woods during this time. Regulators have taken care to ensure that participators shoot only when they are standing on a relatively elevated point compared to the target, and when there is a clear line of vision. Shooters will also be required to hunt from tree stands, away from trails, and at least 50 yards from inhabited buildings. The hunt will also be in the early morning and later night hours. “Safety is of the utmost concern and many precautions will be taken to ensure a safe cull if the college’s application is approved,” Jabco said in an e-mail. “Human safety is ensured by shooting only when there is a clear line of vision and by using a backstop that is provided by the shooter’s relative elevation.” Additional reporting by Linda Hou
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October 28, 2010
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around higher education
Students experimenting with dumpster diving BY MARK PRICE THETRIANGLE.ORG OCT. 22, 2010 CHARLOTTE, N.C. Dumpster diving is far from a fad with UNC Charlotte students, but 20-year-old Kaitlyn Tokay and her friends say it's catching on. A self-described community activist, she began digging through grocery store trash bins in May and blogging on Facebook about the “perfectly good” food she found, cooked and ate. It was meant to be a month long experiment, to expose society's continued wastefulness, even in a recession. But five months later, Tokay is still at it, only now she's part of a team. And as for her blog, readership is at 1,600 and growing. “It has been an eye-opening experience to see not only what we throw away as a society, but how it can be used, with some imagination,” says Tokay, a junior majoring in communication studies. “I decided to make it a lifestyle habit, and to perpetuate it. A lot of friends were amazingly grossed when I told them about it, but others say they admire it.” Tokay and many other Dumpster divers consider themselves freegans, practicing a form of environmentalism based on minimal use of resources. Rescued food, hand-medown clothes and found furniture are all part of the lifestyle. Volunteerism is big, too, and Tokay does that by sharing her found food with the homeless, sometimes working with a program that serves meals on the streets of Charlotte. Freegan or not, grocery stores maintain that Dumpster diving is a form of trespassing. Food Lion, for example, not only “strongly discourages” digging in Dumpsters, but says it will “take appropriate action as necessary to prevent this activity.” Grocery stores note that there are compelling reasons food is deemed unfit, including damage, exposure and being past its “sell by” date. Some store chains solve this dilemma by donating whatever they can save. Last year, Harris Teeter gave 539,000 pounds of food to Second Harvest Food Bank, rather than see it go to waste, store officials said. Tokay and her peers realize they're considered a nuisance, which is why they only come out at night, between midnight and 4 a.m. Most work in teams, with one in the trash bin, handing out the loot to someone waiting on the outside. Tokay typically works with several people, including Stephanie Braun, 23, a social work major who is also president of the UNCC Earth Club. Braun considers Dumpster diving a form of recycling, and has been on outings with as many as four people. “We’re college students, so we’re already up at midnight, at coffee shops or doing our homework,” says Braun. “It’s really like going on a scavenger hunt, and it’s exciting, because you the PhoeniX
never know what you’ll find.” Or whom you’ll meet. Tokay once had the wits scared out of her when she stumbled onto a homeless man who was already in a Dumpster, looking for a meal. And another time, she and Braun were diving and heard that dreaded “beep, beep, beep” sound that garbage trucks make when they're backing up to something. “I was terrified that I was about to be dumped into a garbage truck,” Tokay says. “Then, we realized that it was someone who was going to dump trash into the Dumpster.” Awkward, indeed. “I didn’t know what to do, so I got out of the Dumpster holding a bunch of bananas and offered the driver one. They didn’t know what to think.” Jacob Hanks, 22, is a recent UNCC grad who is among Tokay’s partners. He's been at it longer, though, having started last year after hearing about it from a friend who had been Dumpster diving in Portland, Ore.. There have been occasions when he’s gone with as many as seven people, creating a kind of party atmosphere. And at least once, he ran into another team of students who were complete strangers. “They came up after we were already there and joined in. We split everything,” says Hanks. He says he gets most of his meals these days from trash bins. “There is an abundance of stuff. We’ve had times where we found enough food to fill up the entire kitchen floor, including pastries, packaged cakes, shrink-wrapped barbecue ribs and a lot of bread.” Among Hanks’ observations is that Dumpster divers tend to be more active in the fall and winter, because the colder weather is “natural refrigeration.” He says they also tend to eat better, because they find fruits, vegetables and meats that struggling college students can seldom afford. He and other Dumpster divers contend that much of this food was tossed out unnecessarily due to health regulations. The USDA concurs, noting the country has no universally accepted system for food dating. In fact, it says on its website that many products should still be safe after the sell-by date, if handled properly and kept at the recommended storage temperature of 40 degrees or below. Tokay says she's living proof, having never gotten sick from eating items found in the trash. “Just because a product says it's out of date on June 2, or whatever, doesn’t mean it's gone bad exactly on June 2. A lot of times, they're still good.” Tokay says she learned frugality from her mom, Edna, who homeschooled all seven of her kids. “We grew up eating discounted food from various stores, and my mom grew a lot of our vegetables.” Edna never Dumpster dived, though, and doesn’t plan to. However, she is not going to pass judgment on her oldest child's new passion.
“That’s a tricky question for a mother,” she says. “Kaitlyn is exuberant and high energy. She makes people tired just talking to them. My only advice to her is not to be alone, late at night. I want her to be safe.” Kaitlyn acknowledges that she did go out alone the first couple of weeks. “The first time was really gross,” she says. “It smells like rotten food and jumping into a big metal container is scary: broken glass and all. A lot of emotions were running through my head, but I guess I was more excited than scared.” Tokay says she now goes four times a week, and has gotten used to the feeling of watermelon and cottage cheese sliding down her pants legs, and rotten vegetables in her shoes. She also has gotten used to a new way of cooking that depends on what-
ever was found that week in a trash bin. Lately, she’s been cooking a lot with flax oil, after finding an entire case. “One bottle was broken, so the store just threw out the whole case.” Her refrigerator is brimming, including 2 pounds of kosher beef, 8 ounces of organic pea shoots, and 5 pounds of strawberries that she’s turning into smoothies using a blender found in a trash bin. “I have no idea what this is,” she says, holding a can with the label torn off. “It will be a total surprise when we open it.” To date, only one failure has resulted from these experiments. “Fruit and rice,” she says. “I cut up apples and put in white rice. It didn't taste horrible, but it wasn’t my favorite.”
Stuco brief
StuCo plans Sharples initiatives StuCo received suggestions from students about using meal points in the Ville, more diversity in bagged lunches and more local foods. StuCo will look into contacting the Vice President of Finance, Suzanne Welsh, to find more information on the possibility of using meal points in the Ville. They will also look into seeing if Sharples can be more transparent in the content of their food and give percentages of the local and organic foods served. Phoenix access to student e-mails Editor in Chief Jeff Davidson ’12 and Managing Editor Amelia Possanza ’12 visited StuCo asking for a re-vote on the decision that refused the Phoenix’s request to send weekly digests to all the students. Davidson and Possanza noted that the digest would spread news faster and further and allow students to opt out of the weekly e-mails. StuCo voted to not recommend to Dean Liz Braun to give the Phoenix e-mail access to all students. They did vote to send out a campus wide email promoting the Phoenix’s website. Breakfast update Sunday breakfast will begin at 10 a.m. as opposed to 11 a.m. next semester. Based on survey results, many people are interested in being student workers at that time. Bike Share The Bike Share program has been halted for the past month but will start up again on Nov. 1. StuCo Vice President Deivid Rojas ’12 said that he will try to bring someone in to repair the bikes. Television repairs StuCo plans on following up with contacts to get cable to televisions in dorms as soon as they can. Meeting with President Chopp StuCo addressed a future meeting
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with the Board of Managers in December possibly with globalization as its theme. A fireside chat with Chopp will be held Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Scheuer room. Academic support, faculty and course diversity meeting The council will co-host the meeting with the IC/BCC coalition and will allow students to give feedback on what factors of academic support needs to be addressed. The meeting will take place on Friday at 7 p.m. They hope to gain more opinions from students to present to the deans at an upcoming meeting. Bathroom update StuCo will post bi-monthly updates about their agenda in bathroom stalls. They will outline short-term and longterm goals of the council to continue their transparency to the student body. Halloween study break with Dean Braun Dean Liz Braun is hosting a Halloween-themed study break at her home on Friday from 3-6 p.m.. The Swarthmore Mariachi Band and a capella groups will perform. Various treats will also be served. Alumni Council Alumni council members will hold an event in Sharples to talk to students. Suggestions for the topic of conversation may be geared towards StuCo’s current goals and their own experiences at Swarthmore to enter conversation on academic support and course diversity. Haverford forum for Swarthmore Haverford has offered to create an online forum for Swarthmore. It would be a place for the student body to participate in discussion boards. Members of StuCo will find out more information about the forum and form an opinion before any decision is made.
By Gail Engmann
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Experiencing culture shock in Parisian paradise French foyer, a hostel for students and “young professionals.” The description made me anticipate wireless Internet access, a private bathroom and at the very least hangers in the closet. There was none of the above to be found in the unfurnished room wherein I was supposed to reside for four months in the glamorous French capital. My foyer was apparently at the bottommost echelon of the cheap housing hierarchy in Paris. In other foyers, residents could access the Internet and use the toilet in the comfort and privacy of their own room. Instead, a sorry little sink in the corner of my room stood for the semblance of a bathroom. The actual public bathroom and shower itself is little more than a single industrial, windowless cell shared by both genders. Once when the shower light had stopped working, maintenance’s homeopathic remedy consisted of wrenching out the bathroom light to replace the one in the shower, judging from the wires hanging from the ceiling. In our foyer, Internet access is only available in the common room and its functionality is completely unpredictable. Otherwise two PCs of similar Internet capacity are available, which also carry sluggish operating systems derived from a bygone era. There is a single mouse shared between these two technological relics. These days, the mouse has vanished into thin air, just like our last hopes for contact with the rest of the world through the Internet. Our foyer also has a magnetic tendency to attract the presence of various broken objects outside the entrance every other week. The first time was a broken television set, followed by a dismantled computer hard drive and then a smashed mirror. An ever-observant friend noted the positive correlation between the passage of time and the degree of destruction incurred by each respective object. “It’s a form of catharsis,” he commented. “I can imagine sexually frustrated Frenchmen passing by and launching themselves at [insert-object-of-the-week-here] every day.” Apart from the usual housing woes, the dirtiness of Paris never ceases to amaze in its full grimy grandeur. It sends me reeling how much animal excretion, litter and used cigarette butts have flooded all the otherwise pleasant streets in this city. Concessions have inevitably been made for its status as a big city, but having visited my fair
share of cities all over the world, the sheer density of dog litter here is so far beyond compare. A rule for survival in Parisian streets is to watch the ground like a hawk, a preventive measure against taking any embarrassing steps in the wrong direction. So far, I have luckily managed to avoid this mishap by developing a strategy of smooth sidestepping and swerving while going about my daily business. In terms of spatial dimensions, Paris seems to be a relatively miniature city, at least smaller than other global capitals. Natives swear to have walked from the farthest point of the west to the east end of the city in no more than three hours. With a population of over 9 million (and growing), Paris’s land area is approximately 2700 square kilometers, yet has a density of 3550 people per square kilometer. The city feels disproportionately over-populated based on its size, lending it an air of mild claustrophobia that I can never quite shake. Paris also lures impressionable ingénues looking for le fun with a neverending and debilitating schedule of concerts, parties, raves, gallery openings, exhibitions and plays. While initially I had been energized by the countless nightlife choices at my disposal, soon I could no longer keep track of all the bons plans for the weekend and couldn’t figure out how I could possibly pencil them all into my planner, much less finance most of them. Overwhelmed by too many possibilities and missed opportunities, going out with friends had become both a chore and an obligation in Paris, which only worsened my cultural impasse further. Living in Paris is not the same as visiting it. Just like every veteran of culture shock, I have had to reconcile these quotidian disappointments with the city’s more stereotypical enchantments. There are occasional culture shocks that grate on my nerves, but no longer as electrifying as before. Sitting outside a café while grumbling to a friend one day, I arrived at the realization that all the best — and the worst — stereotypes of Paris are true to some extent. There we were, enjoying our espresso shots and croissants while serenely watching passersby, with the sun warming our faces but with endless complaints about Paris clouding our minds. The beauty of Paris could never be more paradoxical than that. Maki is a junior. You can reach her at msomoso1@swarthmore.edu. Naia Poyer The Phoenix
“Paris is overrated!” screamed the T-shirt slogan splayed across the chest of a hip Paris denizen who had just walked past me in the street. My first month in Paris — the honeymoon period — was decidedly over. Paris is perpetually stereotyped as a pictureperfect study abroad destination. Set against a cineMaki Somosot matic backdrop of cenSmall But Classe turies-old architecture and culture, the stereotype of Paris is no less than that of a paradise, with all its lights, cafés and roaming lovers. In pop culture, the city exists as the ultimate urban symbol of sophistication and cosmopolitanism, a global fashion and gastronomic capital always on the cutting edge. Endless hordes of tourists arrive every year in order to actualize the Paris of their dreams and imagination. For Francophiles like me, there seemed to be nowhere else better in France than Paris to spend my semester abroad. It was the pinnacle of French culture, wherein the majority of intellectual life and artistic output was concentrated. Committed to my perfect Parisian dream, I was willing to swallow even the deadliest of inconveniences just for the sake of living it up in the City of Lights. Upon my arrival, I was immediately enchanted by Paris for all the stereotypical reasons. I embraced the café culture, the buzzing nightlife and all the new cultural discoveries that presented themselves for the taking. The fashion and food was impossible not to catch on to: I increasingly wore neutral colors in accordance with the Parisian color palette, on top of consuming croissants and baguettes with real coffee everyday. People-watching while strolling along the banks of the Seine quickly became one of my new favorite activities. Because I considered myself a Francophile, more or less familiar with French culture, I scoffed at the possibility of serious culture shock ever interfering with my experience. As my first month in Paris ambled on, the steady avalanche of inconveniences and grievances forced me to reconsider my glorified first impression. Case in point: the less-than-ideal living situation. The first hurdle for a student living on a budget in Paris is the sometimes dubious nature of lodging. Touted as the world’s most expensive city for real estate, 500 Euros per month in Paris pays for a room in a
Life and death converge in Eastwood’s ‘Hereafter’ BY ISAAC HAN ihan1@swarthmore.edu Even as we live, we think about our deaths. Perhaps it is because death is the inevitable conclusion of our days. Or maybe death compels us by its mystery because, in taking those around us, we are left in a state of emptiness that we seek to refill. This very theme of death and what happens in the afterlife is what “Hereafter,” the most recent movie by Clint Eastwood that is generating Oscar buzz as the awards season slowly creeps toward the center stage, examines. The movie follows three characters haunted by the grasp that death and the afterlife have on our present world. The first story is about a Parisian news reporter, Marie Lelay (Cécile de France), who during a vacation on a tropical island, gets swept up by the sudden tidal waves of a tsunami and has a near-death experience in which she experiences the place of the “hereafter,” the place where you go when you die. After the incident, she becomes disconnected from life as she tries to
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understand the mystical nature of the from the pharmacy with medication for afterlife. his mother, Marcus is killed in a car acciThe second story follows the trials of dent. Jason attempts to deal with the loss American George Lonegan (Matt Damon), of both his brother and his mother, who a clairvoyant who is trying to escape his must go to rehab, and struggles to reconpast work as a mystic communicator with nect with the life that he lost. the “afterlife” and “nowlife” without the These three parallel stories work presence of death. After a brain surgery together to examine the transcendental gone wrong during his childhood, in link that death has with life. Each story which he passed in and out of shows a different side of the life, he was left with an uncantheme, but all are about how Movie Review humanity obsesses over ny ability to communicate with the recently dead and serves as death. By splicing together Critic rating: 8/10 an intermediary between the these vignettes about death, dead and the loved ones they the film poetically captures Rotten Tomatoes left behind. Upon realizing that the very sentimentality of Rating: 51% a life that dwells on death is no death and loss. As a result, it life at all, he tries to escape his is not only an examination of abilities and to experience the joys of life, death, but also an embodiment of the sadmainly through an Italian cooking class ness that death brings. Scenes of Marie’s and listening to Charles Dickens novels experiences in the tsunami, George’s before he goes to sleep. unsuccessful attempts to escape the loneliThe third story is of British twin broth- ness and isolation brought on by his gift ers Marcus and Jason (Frankie and and Jason’s close run-ins with death creGeorge McLaren), whose lives have been ate the very gritty, melancholy taste that defined by their mother, an alcoholic and death can bring. heroin addict. One day, while returning Although meaningful in its depiction of
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death, the film suffers from too many forced circumstances that lack the subtlety that would enhance the emotional impact of such a movie. For example, Jason tracks down George after the death of his brother, but in a way that lacks credibility; Jason, without clear emotional motives or enticement, is compelled to explore the world of clairvoyants through random Google and Youtube searches. These searches introduce him to George, but this turn of events just seems too circumstantial and therefore less genuine. Such instances that lack clarity or seem random are interspersed throughout the film. As a result, the film is less effective than Eastwood’s other films. Nevertheless, Eastwood directs a powerful film about death and the importance of moving past it for the sake of living a full life. In spite of situational errors, the movie adequately captures the very morose, sentimental quality experienced by personal loss. The movie still succeeds in being a manifestation of that age-old lesson that even in the face of death, life must go on.
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Alleviating the awkward encounters at doorways There is a lot of politeness at Swarthmore; politeness floats through the air around campus, mixing on occasion with the delicate whiffs of intellect and congealing into rabbits. Rabbits, however, are not what today’s column is about. Rabbits are quiet, keep to themselves, and on the whole present very little trouble of any kind. Ariel Swyer They’re really not at all Let’s Be worth talking about and Serious ought to be immediately dropped from this discussion. I’ve already forgotten why anyone brought them up in the first place. Today’s column will henceforth be completely free of rabbits and retain a clear focus on its mission to coherently, logically and in a refreshingly straightforward manner comment upon a very serious problem that affects the school at large. The problem is one of doorways. Swarthmore students have an extremely difficult time with them. This, of course, has nothing to do with the widely propagated myth that we at Swarthmore are in the habit of being ‘awkward.’ We at Swarthmore are ridiculously functional, normal people; it just happens that, as was mentioned once, we are also very polite. This quality often manifests itself in an almost fanatic tendency to hold doors open for one another. This leads to a variety of complications, par-
ticularly when two people arrive at the same time. Here there is, inevitably, uncertainty about who will be allowed to hold the door open for whom. The process begins with both players standing two feet away from the door and staring at it uncomfortably. This is followed by a short period of staring at each other uncomfortably, and then back at the door uncomfortably at which point there will be an exchange of “oh,” “er,” “um”, “hmm,” etc. Eventually someone will dive forward assertively and open the door, creating a fork at which it must be decided whether the door-opener or door open-ee will enter first. If the door opener allows the other person to go through first, that person has to apologize, and then sometimes the door holder apologizes vaguely in reply, and then they both apologize to the door and thank various unassociated people on the other side. And then of course there is the situation in which one person arrives at a door and must decide whether the person behind them is close enough that the door ought to be held open for the second person to catch. If the second person is too far away and the first person holds the door, then the second person has to walk more quickly which causes the first person to apologize, forcing the second person to provide simultaneously gratitude, reassurance and sheepishness. When more than two people meet at a doorway, there’s no hope. In those cases someone has to take the mature approach and simply climb through a window. This situation is clearly due in part to our excessive politeness, but even more so to there being something strange about the magnetic fields around our doorways. This is a definitive and rational conclusion, which I have just made up. Regardless of the causes, however, things
are in a desperate state and the doorway issue must be addressed. A bit of thought will render it apparent that there is only one sensible solution: the immediate installation of traffic lights in every entryway. In this same spirit of making life less vague and more maneuverable, perhaps there could be arranged a general increase in signage around campus. It is an oft commented upon fact that the trees are labeled and the buildings are not, and we could certainly begin by moving all the labels on the trees to the buildings so that people would often make comments such as, “I’ll meet you in Chamecpris Pisifera (False cypress) 107.” This would undoubtedly serve to simplify things substantially. However it would only be a start. There could further be instated a system of arrows telling baffled Swarthmore students exactly which direction they should walk to find the solution to a variety of problems. Can’t decide your major? An arrow would point you to first floor of Crataegus Veridis (Green Hawthorn). Need a working printer? Magnolia Grandiflora (Southern Magnolia) is fairly reliable. General existential collapse? Go to Acer Palmatum (Japanese Maple). As an extra convenience, people could be labeled with their name, dorm and a list of places in which passersby might potentially have met them. (Joe: Wharton — French class, mariachi band, fencing, knitting club, young polka aficionados, tennis.) All of these proposed changes would make life monumentally less complex and I move to set up a committee for this purpose without delay. First meeting to be held at the top of Quercus Bicolor (Swamp White Oak). Ariel is a first-year. You can reach her at aswyer1@swarthmore.edu.
Local theater takes on Brooks’ ‘The Producers’ BY JOHN OH joh1@swarthmore.edu The Players Club of Swarthmore is a community theater group that started in 1911, featuring actors from Swarthmore, Media and Philadelphia. The Players Club has featured seven main stage productions and additional avant-garde productions, but for their 100th season, the Club debuted their rendition of Mel Brooks’ hilarious and famous musical, “The Producers.” “The Producers” follows Max Bialystock (David T. Wills), a former big shot Broadway producer, and Leo Bloom (Brendan Sheehan), a jaded accountant with dreams of Broadway. After absentmindedly devising a theory that an unsuccessful play could make more money than a hit one, Bialystock and Bloom embark on a hilarious adventure to create the worst play ever written. In their attempts to write a bad play and find the absolute worst directors and actors, the duo ends up with a beautiful Swedish actress looking for fame, a Neo-Nazi with an obsession with his pet birds, an outrageously flamboyant director and his children and a Broadway hit “Springtime for Hitler.” Players Club director Darrin Peters’ version of “The Producers” was comedic, light-hearted yet touching, and riotous. Watching the play with no concept of the storyline, I thought the character parts were overdone and exaggerated. But as the play continued, I realized that the comedy stemmed from the character’s overly exaggerated, quirky traits. Pianist and conductor Richard Lewis did an excellent job in keeping the music together and matching it with the musical. Considering the size of the orchestra and the availability of instrumentalists, the music was well played and synchronized.
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“I really enjoy playing the music with everyone. It’s also extremely entertaining to be watching the musical happen alongside the music,” Joanne Cheng, a trumpet player, said. Most of the orchestra members are volunteers and their rehearsals began only two weeks before the plays debut on Friday, Oct. 22. Wills’ characterization of Bialystock was spot-on and what he lacked in technical singing ability, he made up for with enthusiasm and energy. Sheehan had a terrific voice and great versatility on stage as is demanded by a character such as Bloom. “I have played this part before, but the second time around with Peters is better and more explosive,” Sheehan said. “Everything lined up perfectly as well; the connection between David’s part and my part have meshed, not to say the least for our relationship as friends.” Sheehan has been involved with music since his junior year of high school. For both Wills and Sheehan, it is their second time playing their respective roles. The beautiful Ulla, played by Carie Sharre, also had an excellent voice, which was masked early on in the play by how well she interpreted and portrayed the innocence of the naïve woman from Sweden. The connection made between Ulla and Leo Bloom played a large part in the comedy of the entire play. Roger DeBris, played by Sean Murray, was a hit on stage both as his character and as Hitler in Bialystock and Bloom’s production of “Springtime for Hitler.” One of the greatest moments of the play was when DeBris and the rest of his boys, other ensemble members, came down and samba’ed around the whole auditorium. It was an engaging way to interact with the entire audience and throw in more comedy.
Overall, I applaud the work and effort put into the musical resulting in a phenomenal production. Despite its long history, the Players Club of Swarthmore is a small community theater and “The Producers” is a broadway hit. Given that it’s difficult to perform a famous musical, Darrin Peters did an excellent job. Audience members Ann & Ken Rosen
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agreed by saying, “This show was hilarious. The timing of the comedic elements was perfect.” It was their first time watching “The Producers.” “The Producers” will continue playing through the weekend of Oct. 28 - 31 and Nov. 4 - 6. The musical takes place at the Players Club of Swarthmore on Fairview Drive, just off of Chester Road.
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Cindi Leive tackles Twitter and journalism
stories and publishing unconfirmed rumors, and rumors becoming more prominent than truth. “Trying to beat the Internet at its own game — Glamour magazine is one of the most celebrated going for speed at the expense of all else — will women’s magazines in America, having won more never work for print journalism, especially at magthan 170 journalism awards, reaching more than 12 azines. We must invest in the things we can do best: million readers each month and outselling more delivering truth and trust and a new, fresh look at than 98% of all magazines on the newsstand. Behind the story,” Leive said. it all is Editor-in-Chief Cindi Leive ’88 who visited Despite her possible nostalgic bouts for old campus last Saturday and became the first female school media, Leive feels delighted to work in the alum to speak for the McCabe Lecture Series. contemporary communications business where Beginning in 1986, the annual McCabe lecture is technology has allowed her to connect more easily a memorial for Thomas McCabe ’15 and features a with her readers. speaker who is a distinguished member of his or her In September 2009, Glamour decided to address career. Leive is one of the most successful women in body confidence by publishing a photo of an her field. In 2008, Forbes named Leive the “Most undressed woman with a curvier figure. Within Powerful U.S. Fashion Magazine Editor,” Crain’s hours of the print issue hitting the stands, positive New York Business put her on its “Top 40 Under 40” comments exploded online about “The Woman on list in 2002, and Gotham magazine named her one of Page 194,” and the image on glamour.com received the most powerful women under 40 in N.Y. over one million views. Entitled “Would Walter Cronkite Have Tweeted? In response, editors of Glamour have committed Old Media, New Media, and What You Should Know to featuring a wider range of models than has hisAbout Everything You Read,” Leive’s lecture posed torically been the case and also kicked off their the questions: “What’s going on with [social media] “Body by Glamour” campaign to encourage a these days? Is it broken — can it be fixed? What does healthy body image. “This incident rid me of any the shift from stone tablets to second-by-second residual print editor trepidation I might have had blogging mean for journalabout the wild and woolly ism?” world of the web and made With the rapid growth of me forever, I think, a communication technology, believer,” Leive said. “We must invest in the things magazines must learn to In her work with we can do best: delivering embrace all things digital International Women's and find new ways of doing Media Foundation truth and trust and a new, things. For example, along (IMWF), Leive also fresh look at the story.” with its print publication acknowledges the growth and website, Glamour has of digital media as a “godCindi Leive ’88 become an iPad app, a book send” for reporters in series and is present on parts of the world such as both Twitter and Facebook. China, Kashmir and Yet, in a contemporary era where there are seven Kenya, where officials are hostile to the press. Walter Cronkites on Twitter and the New York At Swarthmore, Leive worked as both a Living Times has more Twitter followers than actual print and Arts editor for The Phoenix and as a Writing subscribers, Leive questions the effects of such Associate. “The experience of being at Swarthmore change on standards of journalism. — of being in a culture that encouraged curiosity Longtime CBS anchorman Walter Cronkite, once about the world, encouraged asking questions and voted the most trusted man in the nation, earned his encouraged a very open approach to other people reputation with his honest, accurate and unbiased and to finding out about the world — was really reporting. For Leive, she misses such a culture that important,” Leive said. “recognized that at best, journalism could and must After graduation, Leive pursued a career in pubbe the pursuit of truth and that even when enter- lication at Glamour as an editorial assistant where taining, is not just entertainment.” she worked alongside publishing legend Ruth Specifically now, she worries about the death of Whitney. During Whitney’s tenure, the magazine creativity resulting from over-reliance on electronic deserted its “white glove” days and developed into a communication, the spreading of newsstand and magazine that, just like its readers, valued both subblogosphere conventions, such as paying sources for stance and style. During Leive’s 11 years at the magBY DINA ZINGARO dzingar1@swarthmore.edu
Nick Brown Phoenix Staff
Cindi Leive ’88, Editor-in-Chief of Glamour magazine, spoke about the changing world of journalism as part of the McCabe Lecture Series. azine, she worked at various positions and later served as editor-in-chief of Self magazine before returning to Glamour as its editor-in-chief in 2001. “[Leive] embodies a lot of ideals of service, journalism, activism in her community and the world around her, and I think those are really great things, and she totally brought them to light in a fantastic way in her lecture,” McCabe Society copresident Allison Gantt ’13 said. In the lecture, Leive’s specific concern about the rise of Google’s search engine interested Gantt’s copresident Emily Bryant ’12. “We must be very careful when deciding what information merits publication. Her topic was extremely relevant for a college audience,” Bryant said. In regards to her title question, “Would Walter Cronkite have tweeted?”, Leive answers “yes” and nearly every editor, publisher and news junkie she asked agreed. Even The Nation’s Victor Nevasky ’54 said, “Although I don’t yet tweet myself and, therefore, probably don’t know what I’m talking about, I have always thought that Walter Cronkite’s sign off — ‘And that’s the way it is’ — was the first tweet.”
Courtesy of: http://tiny.cc/fs5zu, http://tiny.cc/cdcct, http://tiny.cc/fbf55, and http://tiny.cc/b7h1f
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Living & Arts
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Exploring language through Russian science fiction BY SERA JEONG sjeong1@swarthmore.edu Russian Science Fiction is an atypical literary genre that is not generally seen on the New York Times Bestseller list. However, contemporary Russian literature is garnering much attention and has become a main part of distinguished translator Marian Schwartz’s work. On Monday, Oct. 25, Schwartz read from her translation of “2017,” a science fiction novel by Olga Slavnikova. The Russian Section of the Department of Modern Languages sponsored the event. Schwartz studied Russian at Harvard and Middlebury College’s Russian School. “Russian literature got its hooks in me at a very early stage,” Schwartz said and while she gained fluency after three or four years, she is adamant that she is “not bilingual”. Schwartz began the event by reading two passages from “2017.” The first passage was partially read in Russian, which allowed listeners to hear Schwartz’s proficiency in the language. Throughout the evening, she gave information on the details of literary translation of Russian writing. “2017” is a literary science fiction novel set in a dystopian future. Writer and critic Slavnikova won the Russian Booker Prize for her novel in 2006. The
novel is set a century after the 1917 Russian Revolution and the plot follows a gem cutter, Krylov. “2017” is one of Schwartz’s most recent translations, but she describes the contemporary novel as “densely plotted, densely written” and “puzzling.” These aspects of “2017” are some of the reasons why Schwartz had a challenging time translating the novel. Schwartz cited problems she faced with 2017, such as Slavnikova’s use of condensed grammatical forms of Russian language. A single word in Russian may have to be replaced with a whole clause in English. The opposite can also be true. Schwartz explained English has specific words due to its Latinate, Germanic and Anglo-Saxon origins. She gave an example of a phrase literally taken from Russian, “eye looking as if [it had been] paralyzed.” A more logical English translation would be “glazed eye.” However, the greatest issue lies in being able to know and recall these specific words. But Russian is an intrinsically difficult language to translate into English. While Russian is highly inflected, English is not. “English depends on proximity to hold concepts together…[in Russian] you know if there was a feminine noun
[previously] and there hasn’t been another feminine noun since, and then it says “she” that’s the [noun] it refers to. But in English we don’t have that, it requires much more proximity,” Schwartz said. Schwartz’s explanations on linguistics gave attendees greater understanding about the process of translation. “As a linguistics major, I found the ideas about Russian and its differences to English really fascinating,” Benjamin Schwartz ’13 said. Structural differences between Russian and English novels are another challenge translators face. Schwartz observed that Russian and English “aesthetics are diametrically opposed.” While Russian has the aesthetic of excess and high drama, English has the aesthetic of understatement. Hence, Schwartz advocates that Russian novelists trim their writing of description for the purposes of English translation. Schwartz herself did not translate 2017 from the original Russian version, but from an edition Slavnikova cut down by 15% for the Western sensibility. Schwartz felt that the English translated version of “2017” “improved it tremendously…I liked the book before and I love the book now.” She also feels these modifications are necessary for translations to stand independently,
rather than shadow the original text. Her approach is trying to recreate, not literally translate, the original text. Sound and other aesthetic qualities must be emulated. “If it is funny in Russian, it should be funny in English,” Schwartz said about maintaining similar emotions and qualities in her translations. “If you think the narrator is smart in Russian, they should be smart in English.” Despite the difficulties, translated texts appear to be important in shaping the English language with “new words, new structures, new approaches” said Schwartz. Host Professor Sibelan Forrester said it was pragmatic to invite Texas-based Schwartz to Swarthmore as the translator was in Philadelphia for the American Literary Translator Association Conference. Forrester also intended to stimulate interest in a course, “Russian and Eastern European Science Fiction in Translation,” to be offered in the spring. While some Swarthmore students have had an introduction to Russian literature through reading works by Fyodor Dostoyevsky, many have not dabbled in contemporary Russian novels. “We don’t know that much about contemporary Russian literature…here was a chance to look at something really contemporary,” Forrester said.
S watStyleSnapshot Name: Tayler Tucker Year: 2013 From: Phoenix, AZ Current Residence: Dana What She’s Wearing: “I’m wearing an Urban Outfitters top, my jeans are from the Gap, and both my shoes and my belt are vintage,” Tucker said. Tucker’s belt is actually her mother’s that she “stole” and her lavender knitted scarf and green peacoat are from Gap. “The shoes are vintage Cole Haan that I got off Etsy,” she said. Tucker’s style is impeccably polished with a vintage edge, and this outfit is the perfect example. From her classic peacoat with its vibrant green hue to the leather loafers, lavender scarf and polka-dot blouse, Tucker plays with color and proportion well. How She Describes Her Personal Style: “I would describe my personal style as pretty simple, pretty comfortable and a lot about lines,” Tucker said. She’s less interested in how patterns mesh or flashiness, as she puts it, but rather focuses on the “overall fit and line” of the clothes she buys. “I look for quality materials,” she said. “I’m actually allergic to 100% polyester.” Tucker also looks for investment pieces. “I look for things that I think will build my wardrobe after college,” she said. “Definitely now I’m starting to think about that and the fact that I’m going to be so poor when I leave here.” Fashion Influences / Inspiration: “I just kind of see people around campus and pick up on different things that are great,” Tucker said of her affinity for “street” style or fashion. While there isn’t a celebrity or anyone who she tries to mimic in his or her style, she does find her dad as a source of inspiration — a common thread in recent Style Snapshots. “[My dad’s] definitely become much more … preppy with his style, so I definitely sort of look to him for [inspiration],” Tucker said.
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Though Tucker doesn’t follow designers now, she used to enjoy checking out designers like Chloe, Burberry and Helmut Lang. She also occasionally browses The Sartorialist. Where She Shops: Tucker mainly shops at Zara, Gap and Urban Outfitters. If she does dabble in some online shopping, she visits Etsy, the website that sells mainly handmade or vintage items that include clothing, accessories and arts and crafts. Tucker loves finding vintage items on Etsy, as she hasn’t found many good vintage stores in Center City, Philadelphia, but she also loves the handmade clothes and accessories people sell on the website. “I have a lot of handmade scarves because one of my friends sells [them] on Etsy,” she said. Favorite Items in Her Closet: “I would say my black wool sweater [and] my black trench coat are my favorite items,” Tucker said. “They’re just perfectly modern, nice lines, nice fit and perfectly utilitarian.” Fall is in full swing, and the perfect item for this season is the trench coat. Whether it’s khaki or black like Tucker’s, it’s become a quintessential item for cooler weather. Besides the trench coat, Tucker also recommends that her wardrobe staples include “a good pair of dark wash blue jeans and a good pair of brown leather shoes.” Never Leaves the House Without: “I never leave the house without my phone and a blue pen,” Tucker said. “I always have a pen on me.”
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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
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Living & Arts Philadelphia offers a cultured but spooky adventure
swarthmorephoenix.com
Though borough Halloween activities are geared towards a younger demographic, Philadelphia and its suburbs offer plenty of ways to enjoy the holiday. The college’s proximity to agricultural portions of S o u t h e a s t e r n Pennsylvania means that corn mazes and hayrides — haunted or not — as Jen Johnson well as pumpkin patches In-town, Off-campus and apple picking are just a short drive away. If you have access to a car and are inclined to head west, the Marlborough Valley Corn Maze in Kennett Square (1081 Wawaset Rd.) offers hayrides (haunted or regular), food, a petting zoo and pumpkin picking, as well as 8.5 acres of corn to lose yourself in. To the north, The Bates Motel at Arasapha Farms in Glen Mills (1835 Middletown Rd.) offers a haunted house, a corn maze and hayrides. Other upcoming events of note, on theme or not, include Michelangelo Pistoletto’s restaging of his “Scultura da Passeggio — Walking Sculpture.” In the original staging of this modern art installment, Pistoletto unfurled a giant ball of newspaper through the streets of Turin, Italy. If you are near the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday, stop by — the event is free and open to the public, and begins at 1 p.m. If you will be driving near the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Saturday, you may want to check the museum’s website to avoid unexpected detours. Also inhabiting the performance art realm (though in a more typical Halloween way) are The Martha Graham Cracker Cabaret Halloween Extravaganza on Saturday, Oct. 30 from 9 p.m. to 2 a.m. at MarBar (40th and Walnut) and BRAT Productions’ production of “Carrie” at Underground Arts at the Wolf Building (340 North 12th Street, entrance on Callowhill), which runs until Nov. 7. Tickets for “Carrie” are available through bratproductions.org or at the door, and ticket prices vary depending on the show. Only individuals 21 years and older will be admitted to Martha Graham Cracker’s cabaret; tickets are available online at brownpapertickets.com and cost between $12-20. In the world of gastronomy, next Tuesday, Nov. 2, upscale Philadelphia Mexican restaurant Xochitl (408 S. 2nd St.) will offer a five-course Day of the Dead menu with a “Heart and Soul” theme. The main course is beef heart tacos. The fixed-price menu costs $45; reservations are recommended and available through OpenTable.com. (This particular meal is not recommended for vegetarians.) On the same day, in University City, Jose Garces’ Distrito (3945 Chestnut St.) will be having its own Dia de los Muertos celebration, offering DJ-ed music, face painting, and street food-style snacks from 2:30 p.m. until dinner, when a special tequila dinner will also be available. Also celebrating more in the style of El Día de los Muertos are the Mütter Museum and Philadelphia’s Mexican Cultural Center. The former will be serving traditional fare and offering sugar skulls for decoration, in addition to providing an artist’s talk and other entertainment. The museum is located at 19 S. 22nd Street, between Market and Chestnut Streets. The latter will be displaying an altar in the Bourse Building (111 S. Independence Mall East — the location of the Ritz at Bourse Cinema where the Philly Shuttle stops) from Friday the 29 through Nov. 10, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. This year, the altar is the product of four prominent local artists; drop by if you’re in Old City. The main Halloween event every year in Philadelphia is undeniably Eastern State Penitentiary’s haunted prison tour, “Terror Behind the Walls.” Opened in 1829 by the Quakers, the Eastern State Penitentiary became a model for 19th century prisons around the country, and even garnered a visit from French political philosopher Alexis de Tocqueville. As its title suggests, the penitentiary was designed with the goal of reforming criminals, instead of merely punishing them with incarceration. Unfortunately, the prison model’s heavily stressed technique of solitary confinement drove more than a
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few prisoners mad. The penitentiary was finally closed in 1970, and reopened in 1994 as a museum. Decay not threatening, the structure has been left to time and the elements, creating a haunted house setting that’s hard to beat. To get to the Eastern State Penitentiary (2124 Fairmount Ave.) via SEPTA, take the Media-Elwyn train to Suburban Station. From there, you can walk the mile up to Eastern State by turning north/right on 20th or 21st Streets, or, pick up the 33 Bus (the direction should say “Venango Loop”) at JFK Boulevard and 17th Street, get off at 20th and Fairmount, and walk one block west to 21st Street. Keep in mind that, while the event is open from 7 p.m. until midnight on Saturdays, the last train back to Swarthmore leaves Suburban Station at 11:10 p.m. on Saturdays. If you find yourself with no car and no train to bring you back to Swat, your best public option is to pick up the 48 Bus at 23rd and Fairmount heading in the Front Street & Market Street direction, get off at Market & 15th, and take the Market-Frankford Line from 15th Street Station to 69th Street Terminal. At the terminal, transfer to the 109 Bus, which will bring you back to campus. If you do find yourself at 69th Street Terminal late at night, be prudent. If you drive, know that parking at the prison is tight; Park & Ride information can be found on the museum’s event website, Halloween.easternstate.org. Tickets cost $20-$30 and should be purchased ahead of time on the website. Students visiting the Terror Behind the Walls attrac-
Courtesy of Google Maps
tion will receive $5 off admission on Nov. 5 and 6, the last student nights of this year’s season. Admitted wimps of all ages should consider themselves forewarned. Little known fact: Because the Eastern State Pen is a 501(c)(3) organization, you can write off half of the price of your ticket on your income taxes. Jen is a junior. You can reach her at jjohnso4@swarthmore.edu.
Crossword TRICKY (Hint: This puzzle will really scare the “Boo” out of you!) ACROSS 1 Club wielders’ club 4 It’s also called the “way car” 9 Cubist Juan 13 ____-Au-Prince 14 Souls: sp. 15 Bygone Italian coin 16 ___ bat 17 Clairvoyants 18 Part of a Latin 101 conjugation 19 e-buddy 22 Pat down 23 Fine 27 Buffalo Bill’s headwear 30 Laments 31 _____ coli (anatomical part) 33 Prefix with function or practice 34 1913 Sigmund Freud text 38 Frontiersman Daniel 40 [gasp] 41 “To Kill a Mockingbird” recluse 45 Fitness personality Richard 49 Greeting in Qatar 50 Obama daughter 51 Secret scribing…or a hint to this puzzle’s secret 56 It’s universal: abbr. 59 It’s a crowd 60 Anatomical part named after the Latin for "grape" 61 Zero to Federer 62 It’s good at filing 63 Some social security recipients: abbr. 64 ____ and anon 65 Japanese drinks 66 That to Juan DOWN 1 Factory output? 2 New York City’s mayoral mansion 3 Verify 4 Wine container 5 Hebrew leader? 6 One born after WWII, familiarly 7 Garment in Gujarat 8 Ancient Jewish ascetic 9 I’d be ____ 10 Edge 11 “This American Life” Host Glass
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12 Coll. Entrance exam 13 Like some Cheetos 20 Good gift for an avid reader 21 ____ de plume 24 Panda fare 25 Santa ___, CA 26 Dial-up alternative: abbr. 28 Cosine of zero 29 “I Am Spock" autobiographer 30 Contorts 32 “____ Real Monsters,” Classic Nickelodeon fare 34 Greenish-blue 35 Opus ___, organization featured in The Da Vinci Code 36 “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” singer Terrell 37 Frame 38 Owies
39 Arm supporters, for short 42 Cloak’s partner 43 ___-di-dah 44 Over-acts 46 Kalamata and Picholine, e.g. 47 “_____ Five” 1980 film starring Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin 48 Soap operas, essentially 52 Listen: Hebrew 53 Star ____ 54 Are in the past 55 Philip V and Juan Carlos I, por ejemplo 56 Cordoba chant 57 Mo. that starts next week 58 “All About _____” 1950 winner for Best Picture BY ANNA SHECHTMAN
For the solution to this week’s puzzle, see The Phoenix’s online edition at www.swarthmorephoenix.com.
THE PHoENIX
Opinions
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Staff Editorial
Turn to journalism, not skewed news, for information
At first, it may not seem a likely as much as network news anchors and occasion: Two men famous for making reporters, according to The Pew fun of politicians along the campaign Research Center for the People & the trail are the very ones holding rallies Press. In a similar vein, newspapers have in Washington D.C. this weekend. But that is precisely the point for Jon drastically lost profits and circulation Stewart and Stephen Colbert, hosts of in recent years, most precipitously “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert since the recession, just as the blogosphere and Internet have exploded. At a Report.” This Saturday at the National Mall, point with over 500 million Facebook Stewart will hold “The Rally to users, roughly 50 million tweets per Restore Sanity” — playing off conser- day, and an ever-increasing growth of vative pundit Glenn Beck’s recent blogs, it’s clear people want informa“Rally for America” — “countered” by tion immediately. People are turning Colbert’s “The March to Keep Fear to skewed blogs of “citizen journalists” Alive.” Already, the rallies have creat- instead of informed political analysis; ed a national and international buzz. 140-character tweets over 800-word About 150,000 people are expected to articles; Facebook posts rather than show up to the actual event, while in-depth investigative pieces; one other places in the country will have rumor instead of three reputable satellite viewings; internationally, in sources. Such immediacy becomes dangerfact, over 800 places in 67 countries are ous when people begin trusting news planning to screen the event. that is quick and O s t e n s i b l y, oftentimes subthe rallies offer jective, guided a fresh dose of What can best fend off by an opinion humor in a midrather than an term election political extremism — for informed considseason that has these elections and eration of all been full of holsides. What’s low conservabeyond — is a return to dying isn’t news tive rhetoric trusting journalism. but, rather, jourand Democratic nalism — objecdefeatism. Some tive reporting, even say the rallies may excite Democrats to vote in a accurate accumulation of facts, preway that politicians such as President cise writing. Of course, Stewart and Colbert are Barack Obama and Bill Clinton have not managed to do, according to a not journalists by the traditional stanBloomberg article from this week. dard, and they aren’t deluded enough Obama appears to recognize the to believe they are. As commentators importance of Stewart; last night, he and entertainers, they provide deft, became the first sitting president to satiric commentary on politicians and appear on “The Daily Show,” presum- pundits that is smart and sharp — a ably as a way to appeal to younger vot- blessing today considering O’Reilly and Beck’s popularity. ers. While Stewart has primarily a libBut the rallies’ presence and popularity underline an even more power- eral audience, he does not rant liberal ful point: People today are gathering views, nor does he solely attack the their news differently, turning largely right. Moreover, Colbert’s satire of to commentators and pundits — pundits such as O’Reilly empowers us comedic or serious, liberal or conser- as viewers to doubt cable newspeople vative — oftentimes over professional who we have complacently embraced and trusted. journalists. Stewart and Colbert, then, do not AskMen, a men’s magazine, named Stewart as the most influential man of inherently create a problem. But a 2010, just as Time named Stewart as problem does arise if and when people “America’s most trusted newscaster” begin trusting them as the sole source in an online poll last year, as reported of information, especially with an issue as heated and important as these by CNN. In recent years, for example, Fox midterm elections. Stewart specifically claims that his News has continually outshone ostensibly more journalistic stations such rally is meant to counter an upsurge as CNN. In August Fox News had an in extremism from both the left and average viewership of roughly 1.8 mil- right. But what can best fend off politlion while CNN averaged just under ical extremism — for these elections 500,000. “The O’Reilly Factor,” and beyond — is a return to trusting “Hannity” and “Glenn Beck” made journalism, wherein objective, accuthe top three cable news programs — rate and accessible reporting empoweven though their idea of “news” can ers readers to make their own assessbe boiled down to weakly supported ments rather than recycle those of conservative commentary masquerad- like-minded pundits. After all, Stewart and Colbert — ing as “truth.” On the liberal side, shows such as “The Rachel Maddow like commentators both liberal and Show” and “Countdown with Keith conservative — fail to recognize certain stories and differing perspectives Olbermann” are popular. In a shift noted over the past three because of their opinion-driven focusyears, people have begun citing cable es. If a liberal-minded viewer only gets commentators as people they respect
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Emma Waitzman for The Phoenix
news from watching a program such as “The Rachel Maddow Show,” they will undoubtedly become more liberal. In turn, watching “The O’Reilly Factor” as a conservative will further crystallize conservative tendencies. This reinforcement of polarization can be found, too, in the skewed, often inaccurate gathering of information on blogs written by citizen journalists without a code of ethics (who, of course, could never write blogs if it weren’t traditional publications covering them). Real journalism is meant to be a watchdog on government power and corporate corruption, a voice for the
silenced people, an objective presenter of the facts that we as citizens should know and need to know. A journalist’s strength is defined by not offering an opinion because it forces him to clearly present to the public all facts, all perspectives of a story. This strength shouldn’t be read as weakness, just as loaded commentary shouldn’t be confused with journalism. Yes, it is a positive that news is not dying. But we desperately need to recognize that if future journalists fail to remove personal opinions from their reporting, there is little hope the public will be able to distinguish fact from fiction.
Letter, OP-eD anD cOmment POLicy Letters, opinion pieces and online comments represent the views of their writers and not those of The Phoenix staff or Editorial Board. The Phoenix reserves the right to edit all pieces submitted for print publication for content, length and clarity. The Phoenix also reserves the right to withhold any letters, op-eds or comments from publication. All comments posted online and all op-eds and letters must be signed and should include the writer’s full name. Letters are a minimum of 250 words and may not exceed 500 words. 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. Letters may be signed by a maximum of five individuals. Op-eds may be signed by a maximum of two individuals. The Phoenix will not accept pieces exclusively attributed to groups, although individual writers
October 28, 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 editorial represents the opinion of the members of the Opinions Board: Jeff Davidson, Amelia Possanza, Dante Anthony Fuoco and Camila Ryder. Please submit letters to: letters@swarthmorephoenix.com or The Phoenix Swarthmore College 500 College Avenue Swarthmore, PA 19081 Please report corrections to: corrections@swarthmorephoenix.com Letters, corrections and news tips may also be submitted online to the paper by clicking “Contact” on the Phoenix website.
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Opinions Parliamentary democracy offers better representation swarthmorephoenix.com
With the midterm elections coming up next week, now is a good time to reflect on the role of the presumed star of the elections, the Tea Party movement and how it compares to extreme political movements and parties in European countries. In most European countries, extreme parties exist and have much more Peter Akkies formal representation Social Thoughts than the Tea Party does and will in the US because the Tea Party is not an official party. Precisely because the Tea Party is not an official party, in practice its appearance does not offer voters with a broader choice of political views but rather a more polarized one between strongly conservative and “other views.” In most European countries, on the other hand, extreme political movements have the ability to officially become political parties and therefore enrich the political spectrum rather than diluting it, as in the United States. Almost all European states — with the exceptions of France, Switzerland and some of Europe’s microstates — use a parliamentary system of government rather than a presidential system that countries such as the United States and France use. Since parliamentary systems tend to be more proportional and less likely to feature winner-take-all elections — with the U.K. as an exception — voters in parliamen-
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tary systems in practice have a wider choice of parties and political views. While the Tea Party is a relatively recent phenomenon in the United States, there have been similar fringe movements in Denmark, Belgium and The Netherlands since at least the beginning of the decade — and they’ve had representation in parliament. In Belgium the separationist New Flemish alliance has a plurality in parliament. While the most extreme party has been boycotted by most other parties, it nevertheless has seats in parliament and therefore some political power. (Sadly, as a result of these shifts of power Belgium has not succeeded in creating a government since mid-June, leaving the previous government in charge for the time being.) The Danish and Dutch right-wing anti-immigration parties now “tolerate” the government, meaning that they will support it on key issues and will not vote in favor of early re-elections on issues where the tolerating party and the ruling parties disagree. The concerns of supporters of these extreme European parties now dominate the political agenda. Because of the parliamentary systems in most European countries, fringe movements have been able to register as formal political parties, whereas in a presidential system such as in the United States this is almost impossible to do. It’s unlikely that an official Tea Party would win enough of the winnertake-all races to get much representation in the Senate, let alone win a presidential election in two years’ time. Regardless of whether one disagrees that the concerns of the extreme parties in Denmark and The
around higher educaTion
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Toomey stronger candidate for Senate To the Editor: Menghan Jin’s article “Conservatives comfortable in spite of minority status” (10/21/10) was true: Right-leaning Swatties are a resilient breed. However, it’s an interesting irony that The Phoenix — in the same issue that its cover bemoaned, “Where are all the conservatives?” — recorded such a one-sided ideology through the Opinion Board’s political endorsements. Let’s focus specifically on the endorsement of Joe Sestak, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, this wasn’t so much a cheerleading for Sestak’s accomplishments as a smear of the “other guy,” Republican nominee Pat Toomey. In a period of 9.6 percent national unemployment, I want to hear how Sestak will heal the economy. Democrats bemoan the shipping of American jobs overseas yet have no intention to lower the corporate tax rate, currently at an astronomical 35 percent (40 percent when state rates are factored in). To compare, the average European Union corporate rate is 24 percent. Toomey suggests 25 percent for the U.S. Can we seriously criticize Toomey for worrying over the deficit when Congress, with Democrats as the majority, adjourned early to circumvent proposing a budget? The college’s Student Budget Committee wouldn’t allow this, but it’s OK for Congress to leave trillions up in the air? The Board also decries Pat Toomey as “formerly a small business owner.” Since when has running a small business been reason to oppose a candidate? Most concerning, the endorsement makes a cursory remark about how Toomey exemplifies the “tax-cutting
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Netherlands are the most pressing matters for politics to address — and I strongly disagree — at least the supporters of these parties have been able, in practice, to vote for a party they identify with. In contrast, in the United States Tea Party voters risk being heard but not officially represented. The result of the differences between, roughly speaking, presidential and parliamentary systems is that in most of Europe extreme parties enrich the political spectrum and allow voters to choose a party that represents their views on a much broader set of policy questions. In the United States, on the other hand, the choice for some midterm elections is now between a moderate Democrat and a strongly conservative Republican backed by the Tea Party. It’s important to emphasize that I do not endorse or support any of the extreme parties that I have mentioned; in fact, I consider many of their ideas repulsive. Yet it is in the democratic interest of us all that such movements exist and that voters have a real choice between different political views, rather than a forced choice between two parties of which neither one comes close to representing one’s vision for the country’s future. In the end it remains painfully obvious that the winner-takes-all system with its flaws is not going anywhere. But when you vote on Tuesday, keep in mind that if you lived in a country with a parliamentary democracy, chances are that the green Republican or the anti-immigration Democrat in you would be represented much more accurately than in the polarized U.S. Congress. Peter is a junior studying abroad in London. He can be reached at pakkies1@swarthmore.edu.
conservatism that was cause for distress in the first place.” Economists, however, make the case that the Great Recession emerged from the collapse of the housing bubble, fueled mostly by predatory lending. Perhaps deregulation played a role, but it’s true that it wasn’t until the Democratic Congress of 2006-2008 that subprime mortgage delinquency rates jumped to 25 percent. Sure, The Phoenix can tap-dance around “Bush era trickledown-economics” in the hopes that the ghost of Reagan will be enough to keep some Swatties in ideological lockstep, but is this wise given that half of Americans see Obama as responsible for the gasping economy? If The Phoenix wishes to argue tax cuts drove the train-wreck, it must substantiate such claims. Using George W. Bush as a perpetual punching bag isn’t enough. Apparently voting for Toomey is a bad idea because he would exacerbate a “fragmented Congress.” But with Democrats gripping a stronghold, who is logically responsible for the fragmentation? The last zinger is the accusation Toomey is a “hard-right conservative.” Perhaps at Swarthmore “conservative” is synonymous with “wrong,” but what about the recent Gallop poll in which 40 percent of respondents identify as conservative, compared to 20 percent who identify as liberal? Let’s engage in facts and economics. Such are the nuclei of a healthy debate. Conservatives here are more than some bizarre adaption of the Swarthmore species, some evolutionary oversight. Jin was right — it is fun to be a conservative at Swarthmore, mostly because current Democrats are making the discussion much too elementary. Danielle Charette ’14
Election research goes beyond surface BY KATIE SULLIVAN collegian.psu.edu, Oct. 25, 2010 I was in sixth grade during the 2000 presidential election. We followed the campaigns and the controversy in my history class, and in the process we learned the basics about voting and how the government functioned. Following election day, my friend came to school and said her mom voted for George W. Bush. When I, a young product of a fairly Democratic family, asked why, her explanation was simple: Bush was way cuter than the frumpy Al Gore. Thank you, parental unit, for aiding in the election of one of the greatest presidents of all time.Not.Four years later it was like déjà vu when John Kerry’s Frankenstein-ish looks lost him the vote of a Pennsylvania housewife. Even at age 12, something about an adult voting based on the politician’s looks irked me.But now, 10 years later, on the brink of my 22nd birthday, I hear of people voting based on ridiculous criteria. Which politicians’ spouse dresses better? Who has the funniest ad campaigns? Eniemeenie-minee-moeing the names in the voting box. The reasons are endless, but no one is less pathetic than the other. Mid-term elections are coming up in exactly eight days, and though this is not the presidential election, it is no less important. The representatives elected on Nov. 2 will dictate the future of Pennsylvania and the nation for the next four years. Votes should be based on policy, along with economic and social agendas, rather than which candidate looks better in a three-piece suit, or skirt for that matter. Don’t know much about the candidates?The remedy to this epidemic of people who vote without candidate criteria is simple: Take 10 minutes each day to look up each congressional, gubernatorial,
October 28, 2010
state legislature and country representative candidate. Research one or two candidates per day. Write down three things you support about their political platform and three things you disagree with. Next Monday, the night before the election, make a decision. Know who you are voting for going into the booth. When you are about to pull the lever or touch the electronic screen, don’t think about who looked better in their campaign ads, but rather who you actually believe will bring positive change to Centre County. It’s easy. Just yesterday I spent the afternoon in a small room with 15 student editors and one congressional candidate after the other.To prepare for the question and answer session, I went on the candidates’ Web sites and researched their beliefs, supported policies and endorsed bills — no self-respecting journalist wants to look like an uneducated idiot when speaking with a potential political official. After questions about education, health care and civil rights, the editorial board made its decision about who to endorse. It only took me a few minutes before each candidate arrived to make a relatively informed decision about who to lend my support.You don’t need to be a journalist, political activist or news junkie to cast an informed and important vote. You just have to be a United States citizen who cares about the direction this country will go.In a world where everyone’s whining and moaning about the economy, the war, health care and everything else there possibly is to complain about, this is our chance to get our voices heard through local representation. You might have a thing for gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato’s smiling dimples, or you may want to looks deeply into his opponent Tom Corbett’s blue eyes. But please, please, base your vote on something a little deeper than the politician’s exterior.
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Sports
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First in offense, first in defense and last in the AFC West Before they played the Patriots last Sunday, I hadn’t watched a San Diego Chargers game this entire season, but it wasn’t for lack of interest or awareness. The East Coast Bias that West Coast sports fans are obsessed with (but totally exists) has never stopped the Chargers from being a Timothy Bernstein national story. Over the past year, they were Bullet Points famous for the severing of ties with running back LaDainian Tomlinson, one of the franchise’s most beloved players. They were famous for the contract disagreement with star receiver Vincent Jackson — Jackson believes he should make a lot more money, while the Chargers disagree. They were famous for the wave of analysts and prognosticators who have once again proclaimed them to be the favorite to represent the AFC in this year’s Super Bowl. And going into last Sunday, they were famous for becoming the NFL’s very own Riddle of the Sphinx — what kind of team has the greatest offense and defense, but a record of just 2-4? So that’s the angle I had going into the game against the Patriots: to see in person just what kind of team had managed to turn a league-best offense (yards per game amassed) and league-best defense (yards per game allowed) into third place. Sure, stats won’t always tell the whole story, but two wins? I even went
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Chargers QB Philip Rivers leads the NFL in passing yards this season. Rivers threw for 336 yards in Sunday’s 23-20 loss.
in with a little bit of a rooting edge — if the Chargers managed to put things together against New England, all the better for the Jets—and some optimism. Like I said, the story of the Chargers goes coast to coast; they start slow every year, then rip off some massive winning streak that puts them in the driver’s seat of their terrible division. More than that, it seemed like the stats and the record couldn’t stay this far apart for much longer—offense and defense are important, right? To say that the Chargers’ offense made “mental lapses” in the first half would be like saying that the Gulf had a little oil in it. I’m not talking about the usual blown assignment or drop by a receiver who took his eye off the ball; they had plenty of those, too. I’m talking about the sorts of things that you see every three or four years, like the fake-to-third-then-throw-
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to-first play in baseball that fools a base runner just often enough for pitchers to keep trying them. In the first half alone, there were two of the “It’s been three weeks, and this still pops up in my nightmares” variety. The first one occurred when the Chargers got the ball back following a Patriots touchdown (scored following a Chargers fumble) and faced a 3rd-and-2 from their own 28. Quarterback Philip Rivers play-faked, then completed a pass over the middle of the field to undrafted rookie Richard Goodman, who slid down with the ball in New England territory, got up, and tossed it to the ground in exuberance. There was just one problem: nobody touched him. In college, going to the ground with the ball means the play is over. In the NFL, going to the ground untouched means that the play is still going. Patriots safety James Sanders immediately dove onto the ball and recovered it while Rivers made the first of many passive-aggressive parent “I’m not angry, I just want you to know that what you did was wrong” faces that would be featured throughout the game. The second one occurred on San Diego’s next drive. Rivers had brought the team to the New England 32. On first down, he threw a screen pass to fullback Jacob Hester near the right sideline, but the ball bounced off of Hester’s hands for an apparent incomplete pass. There was just one problem: since Hester had been behind Rivers when he attempted to make the catch, the pass was considered a lateral and, when it hit the ground, a fumble. For a split second, everybody stood watching the ball until linebacker Rob Ninkovich dove on the ball and remained on the ground for several seconds…without being touched. After realizing that San Diego had completely lost interest in him, Ninkovich stood up and began to run until he was finally pushed out of bounds at the San Diego 8-yard line. Head coach Norv Turner then made one of many “You’d think I would be pissed right now, but my face is made of wax” expressions that he’s featured during his career. Yet Tom Brady, even with his team receiving gifts from the Chargers like they were being courted for marriage in the antebellum South, was unable to put this game out reach by halftime, and New England only led 13-3 with a total of 38 yards on offense. San Diego’s defense, the best in the NFL, was living up to its reputation: they neutralized the run, got after Brady, and bottled up the deep threats. So, for that matter, was the offense, which had racked up about 170 yards in the first half (in keeping with the theme of this game, both of San Diego’s lines destroyed the Patriots’). The paradox was starting to make sense. When the second half started, the Patriots began to find a rhythm, scoring ten points on consecutive drives. This is how, with a little over 11 minutes remaining, Philip Rivers was sacked at his own 28-yard-line to make it 2nd-and-15, and the Chargers, who hadn’t lost a game by more than one score all year, found themselves in danger of suffering a blowout that might make the San Diego fans sound like they actually cared about what was going on in the game. 23-6 Patriots. Except that isn’t how the paradox works; San Diego does not get blown out. At 2-4, they’re simply too good, or maybe just good enough, to look like they came up just a little bit short. If the East Coast Bias has kept you from following the Chargers, consider what happened next to be the Cliffs Notes. Facing 3rd-and-15 from the 28, Rivers decided that now would be an appropriate time to take control of the game. In eight plays, he gave San Diego their first touchdown when he found Antonio Gates in the end zone for his first catch all day. When their onside kick attempt was touched inches ahead of the necessary ten yards it needed to travel, they scored again in about three minutes. Now it was 23-20 New England with about four minutes left. On fourth-and-inches, Bill Belichick elected to try to pick up the yard, which would effectively win the game, by running the ball over the left side. You might remember that Belichick made a similar decision late in a game against the Indianapolis Colts last year to pass on fourth-and-two, a decision that backfired, cost his team the game and created a minor Armageddon in the greater New England area. Leading up to that play, the Patriots had already passed for 360 yards and were facing a pass defense ranked 14th. On Sunday, the Patriots had rushed for a little more than 50 yards and October 28, 2010
were facing a run defense ranked 4th. Factor in that the Chargers could more or less count on a run and … yeah. Loss of one. Chargers get the ball back with a chance to win or tie. They don’t get blown out. So on 3rd-and-10, Rivers hits Antonio Gates for eight yards, they call timeout with 28 seconds left, and now the story is going to have a new ending. Kris Brown comes out for a very makeable field goal, the
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New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick has won three Super Bowls in his eleven year tenure with the team.
Chargers’ immense talent will have finally overcome their mistakes, and redemption will be the song sung throughout the land of San Diego (which of course, in German, means …). The paradox will become a thing of the past, and the Chargers will be well on their way to that 10-game winning streak that will win the division. The ball is snapped. Yellow on the field immediately. Luis Vasquez, a second-year guard who has started every game since being drafted, is called for the false start. Five more yards, and suddenly the afterthought on the way to overtime becomes 50 yards and a little bit dicier. Still, this is California in October, almost like kicking in a dome, and Brown has made 18 of 50 yards or more in his career, and they made the stop on fourth down, and they’ve come all the way back and ... Off the right crossbar. No Good. Game over. “I don’t think we gave ourselves a chance in this football game,” said Norv Turner, but that wasn’t quite right. His team had given itself every chance in the world, with a few from the Patriots thrown in for good measure, and had thrown them all away. With Turner, it is always hard to tell whether a burning frustration, an intolerant rage at the way his team is playing, lies well — concealed or is simply nonexistent. San Diego newspapers will once again call for him to show more anger, to show some fight, and one bad columnist might even suggest that he try to put a “charge” into the Chargers. He won’t, of course, and maybe that will be okay; there’s no telling how few wins will be needed to win the AFC West, and 10-6 still isn’t out of the question, as crazy as that might sound. With the Chargers, there always seems to be just enough time. Not that things didn’t get a little easier to understand once I had seen it for myself. The Chargers gained twice as many yards as the Patriots, their defense played mostly lights-out, and they brought it down to the last play. On Monday morning, I checked the updated rankings. First in Total Offense. First in Total Defense. Record: 2-5. The paradox lives. Timothy is a sophomore. You can reach him at tbernst1@swarthmore.edu. THE PHOENIX
Sports
swarthmorephoenix.com
Women hope for playoffs after three straight losses BY VICTOR BRADY vbrady1@swarthmore.edu
After Swarthmore’s disappointing loss to Lebanon Valley on September 4, head coach Todd Anckaitis was frustrated by the team’s inability to find the back of the net. Swarthmore had taken 23 shots and dominated play, but a late first half goal by the visitors had stood as the lone tally in the 1-0 loss. Anckaitis explained that approximately every 10 shots should translate to one goal and that the team needed to become more aggressive finishing in the offensive third. Tuesday night’s loss to Haverford, dropping the Garnet to 7-7-2 on the year, 5-4 in Centennial Conference play, was nearly a mirror image of that early September match. In the Garnet’s regular season home finale, Haverford scored a late first half goal and despite taking 20 shots, the Garnet failed to find the back of the net in a 1-0 loss. Tuesday’s loss is the third consecutive loss for Swarthmore in Centennial Conference play after a season long five game winning streak, dropping the team from first to seventh in the conference standings. Despite the recent losses, Swarthmore is still in a position to qualify for the Centennial Conference playoffs, though the Garnet does not control its own destiny and needs significant help. In addition to needing a win against Franklin & Marshall on Saturday, Swarthmore needs McDaniel to defeat Haverford and Gettysburg to beat Muhlenberg to conclude the regular season. Haverford has lost just once to McDaniel since 2001 and Gettysburg hasn’t defeated Muhlenberg since 2005. After last Wednesday’s loss to Ursinus, Swarthmore hoped to rebound on Saturday in the team’s Garnet Weekend and Senior Day game against Gettysburg. But the Bullets came out firing, scoring a 13th minute goal on a penalty kick after a challenge from Alexa Ross ’13 in the box. Ten minutes after halftime, Gettysburg made it 2-0 as Casey Attanasio lobbed a shot over the head of goalkeeper Katie Sipiora ’14, who came in at halftime for Swarthmore. But pressuring after going two goals behind, Swarthmore struck twice in quick succession to knot the match at two. Kirsten Peterson ’11 put the Garnet on the board with her fourth goal of the year on a drive from 25 yards out. Just two minutes later, a Laura Bolger ’11 free kick hit a Gettysburg head in traffic in the box and found the back of the net to level the game. After a scoreless first overtime, Gettysburg needed just 22 seconds of the second overtime to find the game winner. Rachel West and Attanasio ran a counter attack into the Swarthmore half and West’s cross found Attanasio unmarked in the Swarthmore box. She directed a header past Sipiora for her second goal of the game. Gettysburg took just three shots on goal for the match but all found the back of the net. tHe PHoeniX
Swarthmore dominated play but just couldn’t find the game winner. The Garnet outshot Gettysburg 21-10 on the match. “Ursinus and Gettysburg both came out with more energy than we did, which was the deciding factor in each game,” Aly Passanante ’14 said. “It was frustrating to know that we technically outplayed both teams and didn't get the results we were looking for, but we've put those games behind us and we're ready to come out strong this week.” Elizabeth Mills ’11 knows that the team has the talent to compete with the best teams in the Centennial, but believes that increased individual confidence will lead to greater success. “We, this season, have an unprecedented distribution of individual skill and game sense and we all recognize this talent within each another. The key to our success is recognizing this talent within ourselves,” Mills said. “Our ups and downs this season have shown us that the final score depends a lot more on our confidence and intensity than the quality of our opposition,” Mills added. Swarthmore hoped to rebound against Haverford on Tuesday, but an organized and composed Fords defense held the Garnet at bay all evening. Having lost to Haverford 3-0 last season, Swarthmore entered Tuesday looking for revenge. But despite taking 11 shots on goal, the Garnet was never able to score as the Haverford defense bent but never broke. The Haverford backs consistently cut off through-balls and frustrated the Garnet forwards and midfielders, and though Haverford managed just four shots on goal, their first beat Marie Mutryn ’12 after the Garnet defenders failed to clear the defensive box. Megan Colombo ’11 led all players with six shots, two of which were on goal. “In the past [several] games, we have struggled to find a rhythm offensively. Being one of the top teams in the Centennial Conference, opponents always try to bring their A-game when they play us and that puts a lot of pressure on us to perform well,” Peterson said. The leadership of Peterson and her fellow seniors, who have won Eastern College Athletic Conference championships in each of their first three years with the program, has helped to keep the team focused despite the struggles in the last week. “The seniors have been great about keeping us focused on the game ahead of us. We don't want to ignore the past [several] games, but we need to keep moving forward to prepare for Franklin & Marshall. The seniors have helped us realize that when we're working hard and playing our style, we're a strong threat to any team we play,” Passanante said. Swarthmore concludes regular season play at Franklin & Marshall on Saturday at 3 p.m. Haverford and McDaniel and Gettysburg and Muhlenberg play at 1 p.m. Saturday. With a lot of help, the Garnet may still have everything to play for in the season finale.
Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Megan Brock attacks the Haverford defense Tuesday at Clothier Field. The Fords defeated the Garnet 1-0, pushing Swarthmore to the brink of playoff elimination.
RecoRds And milestones field hockey
Sophia Agathis ’13 earned her 15th point this season in Saturday’s loss to Gettysburg.
Men’S Soccer
fabian castro ’12 earned his 30th career point in Saturday’s win vs. Mcdaniel. fabian castro ’12 earned his 15th point this season in Saturday’s win vs. Mcdaniel. Morgan langley ’11 is first in division iii in assists and assists per game through Sunday’s games. Morgan langley ’11 scored his 10th goal this season in Saturday’s win vs. Mcdaniel. Morgan langley ’11 earned his 35th point this season in Saturday’s win vs. Mcdaniel. Morgan langley ’11 earned his 85th career point in Saturday’s win vs. Mcdaniel. Morgan langley ’11 earned his fifth career assist in Saturday’s win vs. dickinson. Morgan langley ’11 is third in division iii in points per game through Sunday’s games. Morgan langley ’11 is sixth in division iii in total points through Sunday’s games. kieran reichert ’13 earned his 15th career point in Saturday’s win vs. Mcdaniel. kieran reichert ’13 earned his 10th point this season in Saturday’s win vs. Mcdaniel. noah Sterngold ’14 scored his first career goal in Saturday’s win vs.Mcdaniel.
VolleybAll
Allie coleman ’13 earned her 300th career kill in last Wednesday’s win vs. Ursinus. Allie coleman ’13 earned her 1200th career assist in Saturday’s win vs. Gettysburg. kat Montemurro ’13 earned her 500th career kill in last Wednesday’s win vs. Ursinus. danielle Sullivan ’14 earned her 200th career dig in Saturday’s win vs. Gettysburg.
WoMen’S Soccer
kirsten Peterson ’11 earned her 40th career point in Saturday’s win vs. Gettysburg.
October 28, 2010
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Sports Garnet bounces back, to host Centennial tourney swarthmorephoenix.com
BY VICTOR BRADY vbrady1@swarthmore.edu Last year’s 1-1 tie at McDaniel left a bitter taste in the Garnet mouths. It was the first time that McDaniel had earned a point against Swarthmore since 2005 and the game was played in heavy rainfall. By the 78th minute, the field conditions were unplayable and the game was called, leaving the cold, wet and muddy Swarthmore players to shower and make the long trip back from Westminster. On Saturday, in the men’s soccer team’s Garnet Weekend match, Swarthmore dominated McDaniel from start to finish, blowing away the Green Terror by a final score of 4-0. Saturday’s win was Swarthmore’s first victory with a No. 1 national ranking. The Garnet reached the top of the National Soccer Coaches Association of America rankings for the first time in program history last week the day before last Wednesday’s loss at Richard Stockton. “We need to not get distracted by anything,” David D’Annunzio ’12 said. “I think that we were very caught up in the rankings and how everyone else was doing before we lost. Now that we’ve lost and have that monkey off of our back, we can just focus on the next game. At this point, there is nothing bigger than our next game.” Coming off its first loss of the season, Swarthmore was eager to return to the friendly confines of Clothier Field. In front of over 800 fans packed into the garnet and grey bleachers, the team put on a show, scoring three goals in a 10 minute span during the first half to gain control of the match. Morgan Langley ’11 scored his teamleading 10th goal to open the scoring 27 minutes into the game, as he dribbled around McDaniel keeper Zach Nibbelink and slid in a shot from the left post. Fabian Castro ’12 made the score 2-0 just three minutes later, taking a Langley feed and beating Nibbelink to the right. Langley and Castro connected again seven minutes later, as Castro sprung Langley on a breakaway with a bicycle-kick in the midfield. Langley calmly carried the ball in on Nibbelink, touched the ball right as Nibbelink slid out, and buried the ball in the open net for his second goal of the game. “Saturday’s win against McDaniel restated our trust in each other and confidence in the way we play the game following two unfavorable results,” said Roberto Contreras IV ’12, a catalyst in the Swarthmore midfield. “We need to continue to build off of this trust and confidence for the rest of the season.” Noah Sterngold ’14 scored his first career goal off of Castro’s second assist of the game and the season. Coach Eric Wagner was more impressed by the team’s defensive performance on Saturday than the offensive outburst, as Swarthmore rebounded after surrendering two goals for the first time all year. “We were better defensively than offensively on Saturday. Getting the shutout was critical for us coming of the match at Stockton,” Wagner said. Swarthmore’s performance Saturday built off of the team’s performance last Wednesday, a performance that the players
describe as strong despite the result. “Stockton had a rare combination of size on set pieces and speed on the counterattack,” said Contreras. “Given that we dominated the whole game this meant that we had to stay switched on at all times, we just happened to fall asleep and we just didn’t have the best luck. The loss to Richard Stockton was actually some of the best team ball we have played all year.” Wagner noted that despite the disappointment after the first loss of the season, there was renewed commitment among the players toward the big picture, the Centennial Conference and the season as a whole. “The team realized that we have a job to do and we are a good team, and now we know that we can be exposed and can’t take anything for granted,” Wagner said. “Even the next day in training, the attitude was really, really positive and energetic and definitely recommitted to the season,” Wagner added. McWelling Todman ’14 and Geli Carabases ’14 each made their season debut in Saturday’s win, with Todman playing significant minutes at forward and Carabases debuting in the back line. “The experience was somewhat dreamlike. Having been injured for a long period of time, I felt a great deal of personal satisfaction and pride at being able to step onto the pitch with Garnet across my chest,” said Todman, the son of Swarthmore’s record-holder for most goals scored in a season, with 20. “I am incredibly thankful that I was given the opportunity to play, especially given the strong alumni presence at the game, including my parents,” Todman added. After improving to 9-0-0 at Clothier Field on the season, Swarthmore returned to the road on Wednesday, Prior to Wednesday’s contest, Wagner said, “We need to play our good game on the road, like we did early in the season at Johns Hopkins. We are capable of it but we really need to just get another good win on the road.” The Garnet did just that yesterday at Muhlenberg, defeating the Mules 1-0 thanks to a Langley goal, his 12th of the season, early in the 2nd half. The match featured the top two scorers in the Centennial Conference in Langley and Muhlenberg’s Cody Antonini, but Antonini was held in check until midway through the second half when he directed a header off a corner just wide. After going down 1-0, Muhlenberg pressured for the final 42 minutes of play but was unable to get an equalizer thanks in part to the stellar defensive play of John Pontillo ’13 and Pierre Dyer ’12 as well as the goalkeeping of D’Annunzio. D’Annunzio finished the match with six saves. With the victory, Swarthmore clinched the Centennial Conference regular season title, earning the right to host the Centennial Conference tournament next weekend. Swarthmore concludes the regular season at home on Saturday vs. Haverford. The Garnet will honor seniors Langley, Gage Newman ’11 and Philippe Celestin ’11 prior to Saturday’s contest. Swarthmore has won six consecutive matches against Tri-co rival Haverford.
“Saturday’s win against McDaniel restated our trust in each other and confidence in the way we play the game.” Roberto Contreras IV ’12
Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Morgan Langley eludes Timothy Wineke of McDaniel on Saturday. Langley scored two goals and added an assist in Swarthmore’s 4-0 win.
Garnet in aCtion SatuRday, OCtObeR 30 Cross country at Johns Hopkins, 11 a.m. Field hockey at Franklin & Marshall, 12 p.m. Volleyball at Franklin & Marshall, 12 p.m. Women’s soccer at Franklin & Marshall, 3 p.m. Men’s soccer vs. Haverford, 7 p.m. 18
October 28, 2010
tHe PHoeniX
Sports Field hockey prepares to conclude successful season swarthmorephoenix.com
BY ANA APOSTOLERIS aaposto1@swarthmore.edu In the final week of the 2010 fall athletic season, the Swarthmore Garnet field hockey has nearly reached the end of its best season in years. The winners of six games and three Centennial Conference matchups thus far, the 2010 squad is the school’s most successful since 2007 and was in playoff contention until this final week. The season will close with the finale in a series of games against top teams in the Centennial Conference. After falling to Ursinus last Wednesday, the Garnet dropped a 2-1 nailbiter to Gettysburg on Senior Day this past Saturday. Yesterday, Swarthmore lost to Tri-co rival Haverford by a score of 8-1. The team concludes the year at Franklin & Marshall Saturday. In the Garnet’s Senior Day matchup — during which Swarthmore’s four seniors Katie Ashmore, Sophia Ferguson, Devon Novotnak, and Hadley Roach were all honored for their contributions to the program — outstanding defense and goalkeeping by the Swarthmore kept the game close even though the Garnet was outplayed offensively. The teams were tied 1-1 at the half before Gettysburg burried the gamewinner just minutes after halftime. Ferguson scored the team’s lone goal against Gettysburg and again against Haverford, finish. Ferguson played passionate, relentless and inspired field hockey in her final two games at Clothier Field.
Regardless of the outcome on Saturday, however, even against their toughest opponents. “Even in games where we haven’t come out with a Tallarico spoke of the team’s success in Conference and non-Conference games as the biggest surprise of the sea- win, we have really kept it close and brought the level of son. “Our team is in a rebuilding year and with only 14 competition up. Expectations weren't that high for us players and we have certainly made a name for our- from other teams, so its even better that we are scaring selves,” she said. “We set realistic goals at the beginning some top level teams,” Novotnak said. Tallarico points to an October 9 win against Dickinson of the season and for the most part have accomplished them. It is really great to finally make [noise] in the as the highlight of the season. “Dickinson has been a strong team in the past Centennial Conference.” and it was amazing to Novotnak, a four-year finally beat them. We midfielder, agreed with were down at the end of Tallarico’s assessment of “Even in games where we haven’t the first half, but came the season. “I think the come out with a win, we have really back to win the game and cohesion of this year’s it truly was a team team has been a welcome kept it close and brought the level effort.” and pleasant surprise. Team effort has been There is some incredible of competition up.” the name of the game for talent on our team that Devon Novotnak ’11 the team all year. has been more visible “Anyone can pick up a this season as our play is stick and play, even when more fluid and effective. Overall, its a different game that we’re playing and real- they’re done [with their college career],” said Novotnak, who will play her last game in garnet and white on ly fun to see in action,” she said. Novotnak has witnessed years of rebuilding in her Saturday. “What will actually be the hardest for me to let previous three seasons and is excited that the team was go of is the team and the group as a whole. You spend four able to take important strides forward this year. years putting effort and emotion and dedication into a “Shaking up the conference a bit has been really great team that does the same for you. It’s something to be this season,” said Novotnak, who also added that the proud of, but also something that's hard to find and hard team maintained a tenacious and competitive attitude to replicate.”
Let’s root, root, root for the San Francisco Giants S a n Francisco G i a n t s announcer D u a n e Kuiper had it right. This Major L e a g u e Baseball season for the Giants is best Hannah Purkey described as The Purkey Perspective “torture.” In fact, being a Bay Area sports fan is pretty much summed up in that one word. And yet, torture has never been so much fun. The Giants defeated the Phillies last week and are now facing the last obstacle between them and World Series rings: the Texas Rangers. Without an East Coast team in the series, most baseball fans have shrugged this World Series off as a fluke. But the World Series is too much fun to miss out on as a baseball fan, even if your favorite team was not invited. So here are five reasons why everyone who is tuning in to the Fall Classic without a horse in the race should jump on the bandwagon and cheer for the Giants. 1. Support the quirky and fight the standardization of baseball. The Yankees write into all of their player contracts strict requirements about appearance. Hair must be kept short, and no facial hair is allowed. Things in San Francisco are done a bit differently. The unofficial playoff slogan for the bullpen has been “fear the beard” as many of the team’s relief pitchers have stopped shaving. Brian Wilson even dyed his beard jet black to look more intimidating. How do you like them apples, Yankees? Whether it is a pitching ace that looks like he skateboards to the park everyday, a first baseman that believes wearing women’s underwear brings the team good luck, or a closer who the league actually fined for wearing shoes that were too colorful, the Giants are not THE PHOENIX
afraid to let their freak-flags fly, both on and off the field. With a team full of such quirky personalities, you can’t help but want them to win. 2. More interviews with Brian Wilson. I can’t stress enough how great of an invention the live sports interview was. Even if you don’t especially like sports, you have to love post-game interviews
Photo courtesy of masslive.com
Brian Wilson celebrates after striking out Shane Victorino to end Game 1 of the NCLS.
with athletes. If you need proof, just watch the interview with Brain Wilson, the closer for and supposedly most coherent quote-giver of the Giants after the Giants clinched the pennant last weekend. When asked what he wished to say to all of the fans, Wilson, staring straight into the camera and in a manner that can only be described as channeling old westerns, responded: “I hope all of you guys are going absolutely ballistic. We are going to get on a plane tomorrow. And we are going to join you. Fact.” Wilson became a bit infamous with reporters
after he gave an interview last year from his house in which a mysterious man scantily clad in a leather outfit and facemask walked directly through the shot. Wilson feigned ignorance and refused to recognize that anything out of the ordinary had occurred while the interviewer proceeded to go a bit crazy. You are always in for some excitement with Wilson, whether he is stepping on the mound or up to a microphone. 3. You never know who the next hero will be. Giants Manager Bruce Bochy described his own team as a “bunch of misfits.” Brian Sabean, the General Manager of the Giants, has taken years to build up one of the best pitching staffs in the MLB. But when it came to offensive power, Sabean mostly picked up players that other teams didn’t want. Some of these last-minute additions from players on waivers have become essential parts of the Giants’ offense. Take Cody Ross for example. In August, Florida decided they didn’t want him and put him on waivers, allowing the Giants to claim him. Last week, he was named the National League Championship Series MVP. And nobody was as surprised as he was. “Two months ago, I thought I was going home and I'd be watching people celebrate on the field from my couch, thinking about my next round of golf. And now here I am.” And the best part about it is that Ross’s story is by no means unique on this team. Burrell was picked up after Tampa Bay designated him for assignment and then became a clubhouse leader for the Giants. Andres Torres in his 13-year career had never been a regular MLB player before this season and now has earned the leadoff-hitter spot and become an invaluable member of the Giants’ defense at center field. The Giants’ rookie of the year candidate and clean-up hitting catcher, arguably a major reason why the Giants have done so well in the second half of the season, spent the first half still in the minors. While they may not fit in on any other team, these players have found a home in San Francisco and a team where they can play their best.
October 28, 2010
4. No one thought they could. The Giants have been the underdogs all season, and that is just fine with them. “People have been underestimating us a lot,” Wilson said. “But that’s just fine. You don’t want to be the No. 1 seed. You want to be the underdog. And that’s been happening every series.” Now they find themselves in the World Series in a match-up nobody saw coming. If the Giants do win the series, it will be on the back of one-run wins and come-frombehind victories. With the Giants, games are guaranteed to stay interesting right up to the last strike. 5. They will do anything to win. You can say that the Giants don’t have enough offensive power or enough playoff experience. But the one thing there is no doubt that they have in excess is heart. Full of players who see this as their best or only chance at winning a World Series ring, this team will do anything to win, no matter how unorthodox. Bruce Bochy did not hesitate to leave his highest paid pitcher off his 25-man roster in favor of a 21-year-old rookie that was pitching better. In the last game against the Phillies, the Giants’ starting pitcher got taken out of the game with no outs in the third inning after both benches cleared in an almost-brawl. In the following bullpenmarathon, Bochy used not one but two of his starting pitchers, including Tim Lincecum after he had thrown 100 plus pitches the night before. The Giants’ allhands-on-deck approach to the playoffs will either end with one final champagne celebration or a trip to the hospital for most of the team due to exhaustion-sickness. Whether you have watched every game or never even knew the Giants were a baseball team, take my advice and tune in to support the Giants as they try to finally bring a championship back to San Francisco. Even if you have not watched any of the postseason thus far, having the Giants in the World Series guarantees that this final match up will be the most entertaining yet. Hannah is a senior. You can reach her at hpurkey1@swarthmore.edu.
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Sports
swarthmorephoenix.com
Garnet drops Bullets for first time in program history
Eric Verhasselt Phoenix Staff
The Swarthmore College volleyball team celebrates during Saturday’s match vs. Gettysburg. The Garnet was 0-28 against the Bullets all-time before Saturday’s win. BY RENEE FLORES rflores1@swarthmore.edu The Swarthmore volleyball team had never defeated Gettysburg. Sporting a 0-28 all-time record vs. the Bullets, the Garnet had won just one set since Centennial Conference play began in 2003. But on Saturday, the team celebrated Garnet Weekend and senior day with a resounding 3-0 victory over visiting Gettysburg in three straight sets 25-21, 25-23, 25-16. With the win, Swarthmore earned its second consecutive trip to the Centennial Conference playoffs. The Garnet’s offense was strong all afternoon, totaling 46 kills and eight service aces in the three sets. Kat Montemurro ’13 and Genny Pezzola ’12 recorded 27 of the 46 kills while first-year Maggie Duszyk added eight kills. Setter Allie Coleman ’13 set up 41 of the 46 kills. Defensively the Swarthmore volleyball team was led by Pezzola, who recorded 13 digs in the match, and senior captain Sarah Lambert, who posted 11 digs. Coleman, libero Hillary Santana ’12, and Danielle Sullivan ’14 combined to record an additional 27 digs. Saturday’s match was the penultimate home contest for Lambert, who was named the MVP in Swarthmore’s Garnet Classic earlier this season. “She’s the backbone of the team. She’s a consistent power on the court. She’s also a lot of fun,” said head
coach Harleigh Chwastyk. “She is a huge asset to the team, not just on the court — [Lambert is] a great leader off the court as well,” Coleman added. In recent years, Swarthmore began to make the series more competitive. Two years ago, the Garnet took 22 points in two of the three sets and last year, Swarthmore earned 20 points in two of the three sets. On Saturday, the Garnet took the next step, fighting its way to victory and honoring Sarah Lambert’s last year in garnet and grey. The sets were close but the team maintained its confidence and positive attitude throughout play. “We knew that [Gettysburg] was coming into this thinking the match was under their belt, but there were times when I took a step back and knew we were going to win,” Coleman said. “Our talent level offensively is high, which is not a primary focus [in training], but the first-years brought size and talent [to play this season],” Chwastyk said. “[The win against Gettysburg] was a long time coming. It means we’ve cleared another hurdle.” The Garnet has said throughout the year that the team hadn’t played to its capabilty, but everything came together in Saturday’s win. “We’ve had a lot of disappointing matches, but we were very close to our highest level of play [against the Bullets] — our best so far. We can continue from there,” Coleman said, sights set on the
“[The win against Gettysburg] was a long time coming ... we’ve cleared another hurdle.” Harleigh Chwastyk Head Coach
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final week of the regular season and the Centennial playoffs. On Wednesday vs. Haverford, the Fords took the first two sets before Swarthmore won the third set 25-23. But Haverford responded in the fourth set to claim the match 25-20, 25-19, 23-25, 25-19. The two teams combined for 163 digs and 105 kills. Santana led the Garnet defense with 20 digs and Montemurro led the
Garnet offense with 14 kills in a rematch of one of last year’s Centennial Conference semifinals. The Swarthmore volleyball team returns to action for the regular season finale at Franklin & Marshall on Saturday. The game is scheduled to start at noon. With a victory, the team would earn the third seed in the upcoming conference tournament.
Garnet athlete of the week
October 28, 2010
allIe ColeMan soph., VolleyBall, palo alto, Ca.
What she’s done: the sophomore recorded 41 assists in the team’s first-ever victory over Gettysburg and has the fourth most assists in program history.
FaVoRIte CaReeR MoMent: “My favorite team career moment was our win last saturday over Gettysburg. an individual career moment I’m proud of was in our game against Bryn Mawr [this year]. We were neck and neck in the last set, but we went on a 7-0 run, and I got four aces to end the game.”
season Goals: “to be the best defensive team in the Centennial and to win the Conference tournament.”
Best halloWeen CostuMe: Olivia Natan Phoenix Staff
“I was a jelly fish in middle school. I had an umbrella with streamers. It was great!”
the PhoenIX