NOVEMBER 3, 2011 • THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE SINCE 1881 • VOLUME 134, ISSUE 10
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PHOENIX
Inside: College plans to increase offset credit purchases Zapata accepts position at Providence College Women’s soccer heads to conference semi-fifinal
Sisters?
A group of students is putting together a proposal for a sorority in order to establish equality, female camaraderie and an inclusive space for women on campus. p.7-8
The Phoenix
Thursday, November 3, 2011 Volume 134, Issue 10
The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881. EDITORIAL BOARD Amelia Possanza Editor in Chief Menghan Jin Managing Editor Marcus Mello Managing Editor Adam Schlegel News Editor Patrick Ammerman Assistant News Editor Preston Cooper Living & Arts Editor Reem Abdou Opinions Editor Tim Bernstein Sports Editor Allegra Pocinki Photo Editor Peter Akkies Webmaster Eric Sherman Webmaster
Cristina Matamoros The Phoenix
The ITS Academic Technology team recently hosted the 2011 Academic Tech Fair in Scheuer Room on Monday. New technologies ranging from web video galleries to pen display graphic tablets to 3D printing were showcased.
News
with all sorts of vanilla. PAGE 11
more is counterproductive
different genres and styles represented. PAGE 11
Sports
Student and alumni composers music to Lang IC Director Rafael Zapata Twenty-fourbring alums and ten current students showcased their musical prowess in to leave Swat a concert last Saturday, which saw many Rafael Zapata, Assistant Dean and Director of the Intercultural Center, will be accepting a position at Providence College this January, leaving behind a long career of supporting diversity at Swat. PAGE 3
Sam Zhang explains why reinstituting Quaker values at Swarthmore would be only superficially beneficial for minority students. PAGE 16
How to handle the aftermath of a one-night stand Vianca Masucci tackles what hap- Game-winning goal sends Carbon offset credits now pens after your ephemeral party ro- women’s soccer to playoffs mance ... and the do’s and don’ts of a Emma Sindelar’s score in the final minutes cover 91% electricity use subsequent encouter with your partner. Swat’s investment in carbon offset credits have increased dramatically since the school started buying them in 1998. These credits will potentially offset 100% of the school’s electricity use by next year. PAGE 4
against Haverford gave the Garnet a playoff berth as well as a bye through the first round. PAGE 17
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Opinions
Swat deans and students prioritize wellness Humanity hits the seven bilA new array of activities and administrative policies this semester address what lion mark: how to deal some feel is a growing need to improve student wellness on campus. PAGE 5
Living & Arts Mixed Company builds on success, attracts new talent
Mixed Company, one of Swarthmore’s coed a cappella groups, held a performance last weekend in Lang Concert Hall. The group has admitted four new first-years this semester. PAGE 9
Must we make a friend of horror, Colonel Kurtz?
In honor of Halloween, Nolan Gear explores a variety of contemporary films in the horror genre. PAGE 9
‘Let them eat cake,’ she says ... and melted ice cream If you like ice cream, Lauren Kim has a new confection for you: ice cream meringue
With the world population reaching seven billion people this past Monday, The Phoenix suggests the ways in which we can approach the issue of our overextended resources. PAGE 14
False God: Reagan and the Republican primaries
Sam Sussman dispels the notion that Ronald Reagan should be an idealized figurehead for a party that is continuously failing to unite under one candidate for the primaries. PAGE 15
Tackling inequality in US educational opportunity
In addressing the American achievement gap, Danielle Charette analyzes what solutions are possible in the current political climate. PAGE 15
Occupy the Polls: a modest theory of political change
Peter Gross provides a critique of the Occupy movement and offers a proposition for meaningful change — getting to the polls, voting and impacting politics in hopes of producing tangible results. PAGE 16
Why Quakerism at Swarth-
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Volleyball beats Fords, then falls to them in playoffs
It was one and done for volleyball in the playoffs, as the Garnet fell in four sets to Haverford, a team it had just defeated four days ago to end the regular season. PAGE 18
Men’s soccer misses playoffs
It was a devastating end to the season for the men’s soccer team, as the Garnet’s 2-1 loss to Haverford ensured that they would be on the outside looking in for this year’s postseason. PAGE 18
Underneath it all, racial politics dominate NBA lockout
With the season delayed by at least a month, fans are holding the players responsible. However, the power dynamics at play between a largely white ownership and a largely black workforce reveal a much more complicated situation. PAGE 19
Corrections
STAFF Koby Levin News Writer Chris Nam News Writer Sera Jeong Living & Arts Writer Steven Hazel Living & Arts Writer Chi Zhang Living & Arts Writer Brad Lenox Living & Arts Writer Nolan Gear Living & Arts Columnist Jen Johnson Living & Arts Columnist Lauren Kim Living & Arts Columnist Vianca Masucci Living & Arts Columnist Susana Medeiros Living & Arts Columnist Johnny Taeschler Living & Arts Columnist Naia Poyer Living & Arts Artist Tyler Becker Opinions Columnist Danielle Charette Opinions Columnist Olivia Natan Opinions Columnist Peter Gross Opinions Columnist Shimian Zhang Opinions Columnist Harshil Shai Opinions Columnist Sam Sussman Opinions Columnist Sam Zhang Opinions Columnist Emma Waitzman Political Cartoonist Ana Apostoleris Sports Writer Paul Chung Photographer Simone Forrester Photographer Cristina Matamoros Photographer Elèna Ruyter Photographer Holly Smith Photographer Julia Carleton Photographer Justin Toran-Burrell Photographer Renee Flores Chief Copy Editor Sophie Diamond Copy Editor Conor Heins Copy Editor Taylor Hodges Copy Editor Margaret Lawlace Copy Editor Brian Lee Copy Editor Vija Lietuvninkas Copy Editor Shashwati Rao Copy Editor Allison Shultes Copy Editor BUSINESS STAFF Business Manager Ian Anderson Advertising Manager Paul Chung COVER DESIGN Amelia Kucic Background photo by Allegra Pocinki CONTRIBUTORS Victor Brady, Amanda Epstein and Yi-Wei Liu OPINIONS BOARD Reem Abdou, Menghan Jin, Marcus Mello and Amelia Possanza EDITOR’S PICKS PHOTOS COURTESY OF: (clockwise from top left) justfood.coop myveronanj.com iwishyelpwashere.wordpress.com scottshephard.com 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 Amelia Possanza. 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 Amelia Possanza.
FROM THE OCTOBER 27, 2011 ISSUE
The Phoenix is printed at Bartash Printing, Inc. The Phoenix is a member of the Associated College Press and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.
In the last issue, the photos used on the front cover were attributed to Koby Levin, when Paul Chung, Allegra Pocinki, Holly Smith and Justin Toran-Burrell actually took them.
All contents copyright © 2011 The Phoenix. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
November 3, 2011
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Events Menu Today Demonstrating Culture and Politics in Global Urban Space: The Case of Hong Kong Dr. Helen Siu, Professor of Anthropology at Yale University, will be hosting a lecture regarding the multi-ethnic social and political dynamics of Hong Kong following the 1997 handover in Kohlberg 226 at 4:30 p.m. Hosted by Friends of Taiwan.
IC Director Rafael Zapata to leave Swat
Tomorrow Levy Hideo: A Room Where the StarSpangled Banner Cannot be Heard Levy Hideo, winner of the National Book Award for Translation and known as the first American novelist to write in Japenese, will discuss his experiences, and discuss one of his recently published translations. The event will be at 4:30 p.m.in McCabe. “Company” Opening Night Swarthmore’s fall mainstage musical, Company, will have its opening night in LPAC’s Pearson-Hall theater beginning at 7 p.m. This 1970 musical has been considered a landmark in American musical theater. Two other performances will be given on Saturday. All are free and open to the public. O-Dang: Korean Street Food Bar Join Han in celebrating the Korean culinary tradition by gorging on delectables such as fish soup, scallion pancakes and spicy rice cakes in the Danawell trailer at 9 p.m. Saturday, November 5 Meat Day The Good Food Project is hosting its annual Meat Day event, featuring pulled-pork sandwiches from a pastured, hormone-free local pig alongside a panel discussion of sustainable food production and consumption (non-pork eaters can enjoy turkey and steamed vegetables). Sandwiches will be handed out at 5 p.m. and the panel discussion will open at 5:30 p.m. in the Science Center Commons. Sunday, November 6 LaSS Dodgeball Fundraiser The women of LaSS are hosting a dodgeball event to raise funds for the Alzheimer’s Association at the Lamb-Miller Fieldhouse at 12 p.m. Each entrant should bring $4 to support the fight against Alzheimer’s Disease. Monday, November 7 Stories From the Struggle Against Mountaintop Removal Founder of the Keeper of the Mountains Foundation Larry Gibson as well as former West Virginia Secretary of State and Swat alum Ken Hechler 35 will be speaking of the disastrous ramifications of mountaintop removal coal mining in Bond Memorial Hall at 7 p.m. Email submissions for the events menu to news@swarthmorephoenix. com.
Justin Toran-Burrell The Phoenix
Rafael Zapata, long-time Assistant Dean and Director of the Intercultural Center, has announced that he will soon be leaving Swat for a position at Providence College.
By Amanda Epstein aepstei1@swarthmore.edu After almost 10 years of serving as Assistant Dean and Director of the Intercultural Center, Rafael Zapata will be leaving Swarthmore College in January 2012 for a position as Chief Diversity Officer and Associate Vice President at Providence College in Rhode Island. During his time at the college, Zapata has not only worked to form powerful collaborations between different groups on and off campus, but has also developed and enriched the Intercultural Center (IC) and served as a mentor as well as an advisor to many students, according to Dean of Students, Liz Braun. “His contributions have been numerous ... But his ability to bring people together to do really amazing work is one of his greatest strengths and something we have all benefited from,” Braun said. Established in 1992, the IC was created in order to secure administrative support of and commitment to students of color and queer students at the college, according to the center’s official website. Since Zapata’s arrival, the IC has grown to include groups for South Asian, multiracial, international, Muslim, low-income and first-generation college students. “When I started, there were four groups affiliated with the Intercultural Center ... there are now fourteen,” Zapata said. According to the dean, since the beginning of his career at Swarthmore, the goal has always been to establish
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a community in which people can both share their commonalities and reach across cultural, geographical and social lines to exchange ideas and experiences. “[Zapata] has created a space where students are able to thrive, where they are able to explore different facets of their identities, and where they are able to think critically about ways in which they can connect across lines of difference,” Braun said. Zapata’s close interaction with students has also contributed to the betterment of the community, according to Braun. Co-President of Swarthmore’s Asian Organization (SAO) Kevin Li ’13 can attest to Zapata’s constant attention to the advancement of a diverse and communicative campus. “During my time here at Swarthmore, there have been very few people that I have worked with as much as Dean Zapata, and of those people, there have been even fewer who have made me feel as welcome as he did during my tenure as SAO Executive Board member and later as the SAO’s co-president,” Li said. “Dean Zapata has made it a point to always be available to us when we needed his help.” According to Li, Dean Zapata took it upon himself to guide him and his fellow board members through the process of putting a SAO event together when he first joined the board. His commitment to the organization was vital for the advancement of SAO’s mission within the college. Still, Zapata’s work has not just created a diverse and understanding community within the college; he has also broadened the impact of these conversations and exchanges by making them
November 3, 2011
accessible in communities and organizations outside of the college. “It was never just for us,” Zapata said. “We did our best to represent our diverse constituents and in every case to the degree possible, we did complimentary events in the local community.” Providence College, where Zapata will become the Chief Diversity Officer, has approximately 3,900 students, making it more than twice the size of Swarthmore. However, the college has fewer students of color and international backgrounds than Swarthmore, according to Zapata. “They have been honest in their assessment of their need to create an environment that students, faculty and staff of all backgrounds will want to be a part of ... I am excited to be involved in that process. It’s about reshaping the institution so that it can be a place in which students can not only survive, but thrive and leave with an experience that they can reflect on and be proud of,” Zapata said. Zapata acknowledges that he will miss the place he has called home for the last 10 years. “I’m going to miss folks here ... But I think that there’s no better way to leave a place than to be sad,” he said. “I never anticipated being here this long, but there’s a reason I stuck around ... We did some good things, and we had a good time while doing them too.” Braun will be forming a search committee composed of students, staff and faculty alike by the end of the semester to find a dean that will continue to develop the Swarthmore community in the successful way Zapata has since 2002.
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Carbon offset credits now cover 91% electricity use
Week in pictures
purchases have increased to 12,000 megawatt hours, 91% of the campus’s electricity needs. Thayer said that he No one wants to produce carbon hopes to see the percentage rise to 100% emissions. For some, their environ- in the next year. Even if that goal can be achieved, mental impact is intolerable; for everyone else, purchasing heating and though, the college will still be producelectricity, a major source of carbon ing carbon emissions. “Energy efficiency and energy conemission, is a financial burden. The process of achieving carbon neutral- servation is definitely more important ity, however, is not a rapid one. The (than purchasing carbon offset credhigh price and relative unavailability its,” said Clara Fang, Swarthmore’s of the technology needed to achieve Environmental Sustainability Coordicarbon neutrality makes it a slow pro- nator. “The credits don’t actually reduce cess. In the meantime, the college has ad- the amount of energy, and we are payopted carbon offset credits as a means ing additional money for them,” she of minimizing the environmental im- added. According to pact of the carThayer, Swarthbon emissions more pays a it cannot avoid. $.00102 per kiloThe credits repSomewhere more watt hour preresent electricelectricity from mium on top of ity produced the cost of the without emisrenewable sources is electricity. It sions through purchases the being provided. technologies like credits from wind turbines. KC Cushman ’12 Clean Source, Anyone can pura company chase them and Earthlust member that produces a subtract the suscombination of tainable electricity they have financed from their car- wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermal energy in the midwest region. bon emissions. The credits only offset the college’s The offsets pay for a company to put sustainable energy onto the national electricity emissions, not its natural electrical grid and give the payee credit gas footprint. Natural gas and electricfor having created that energy. “While ity together give off 98% of the college’s the electricity delivered to Swarth- emissions, according to Fang; electricmore’s outlets might not be coming ity alone gives off approximately 58%. Fang responded to the concern that directly from renewable sources, purchasing carbon offset credits means carbon offset credits would allow the that somewhere more electricity from college to increase its carbon footprint renewable sources is being provided from electricity without seeming any to the power grid,” said KC Cushman less “green” by noting that the col’12, a member of Earthlust, an envi- lege’s electricity purchases are on the decline. ronmental isShe resues group on sponded to campus. another con“[The credEnergy efficiency and cern, that the its] can be purenergy conservation is college was chased by end users who do definitely more important “buying out its responsinot have the [than purchasing carbon bility” to the wherewithal to environment put up a wind offset credits]. with the credturbine or the Clara Fang its, saying “we location to dehave to take velop a solar Environmental responsibility field, but who n o n e t h e l e s s Sustainability Coordinator to reduce our energy use. want to conJust offsetting tribute to carbon reduction,” said Ralph Thayer, Di- it is not solving the long-term problem; rector of Maintenance for the college we have to avoid emitting.” Earthlusts’s website, however, and a co-chair of the 2010-2011 sustainnotes that there are benefits inherability committee in an email. The college’s program of purchas- ent in the purchase of offset credits. ing carbon offset credits began in “In addition to putting less carbon 1997 after a lobbying effort by student into the atmosphere, [the purchase of groups, led by Earthlust, pressed the credits] will support the renewable encollege to join the fight against global ergy market, especially in the current economic climate when investment in warming. The college bought its first credit renewable energy technologies is way the following year, worth 175 megawatt down, thereby making an important hours, or about 2% of the campus’s elec- impact in terms of leadership as well tricity needs at the time. Since then, as ethical responsibility.”
By Koby LEvin jlevin1@swarthmore.edu
Allegra Pocinki The Phoenix
Swat alumna Autumn Quinn ’04, member of Google’s Release Management Team, discusses how her history major has benefited her career.
Holly Smith The Phoenix
Ben Ellentuck and Ben Hattem perform at the comedy group Vertigo-go’s Halloween show.
Julia Carelton The Phoenix
Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha performs poetry from her book “Love Cake” in Bond Memorial Hall.
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THE PHOENIX
News Swarthmore deans and students prioritize wellness swarthmorephoenix.com
BY CHRIS NAM knam1@swarthmore.edu
Paying attention to student wellness — the elements of which include emotional comfort, social well-being, and healthy academic performance — has become a niche at this college over the past few years. This year, first-year orientation revolved around an assemblage of wellness activities, school-wide interest in organizations promoting such activities has skyrocketed, and even the college’s official website has a separate section for student wellness in its various forms. The past few months have heralded new developments in these quarters of life at Swarthmore. Arguably, the most high-profile of such events over the past few weeks concerning student well-being was the Dialogue on Student Life, held on October 25 in the Scheuer Room. Jointly hosted by the Dean’s Office and Student Council, the event was aimed to facilitate a conversation concerning “a number of student questions and concerns … related to student social life including party permit policies, treatment of party associates, and general issues of civility and community responsibility related to student actions at and following parties on campus,” according to an email sent from Student Council and the Dean’s Office to the student body two weeks ago. “We at the Dean’s Office and Student Council felt on many levels that student concerns over the general status of their lives on campus were on the rise, which convinced us that an opportunity for students and faculty to collaborate and talk about possible solutions would be really helpful,” said Liz Braun, Dean of Students. Braun mentioned that the enforcement of a longstanding policy requiring registered parties to be over by midnight from Sunday to Thursday, and the new cleaning fee implemented for social events held at Paces Café were two specific concerns that led to this dialogue, a conversation that Braun described as being very fruitful. “It was really great to have a conversation in which
we could hear a diverse range of student perspectives, and with that said, we will forward the points that were raised throughout the conversation to the Deans’ Advisory Council, with whom the Deans will work to see if we can possibly revise our policies,” Braun said. The Deans’ Advisory Council is a group of faculty, staff, and students — which include both students appointed by the Student Council Appointments Committee and members of Student Council — who will work with the Deans systematically to plan and implement the revision of many school policies. Braun also mentioned the appointment of Satya Nelms, the new Wellness Coordinator, this fall as an integral part of the orchestration of wellness activities at the college. Nelms, who works as part of Student Health Services, has assumed the mantle of managing the school’s various wellness resources, ranging from the Student Health Advisory Council (SHAC) to the Student Wellness Awareness Team (SWAT). According to Braun, this appointment was due to multiple points of information, such as students’ increased usage of Swarthmore’s Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS), that bespoke the usefulness of a Coordinator who would gather student opinions and information on activities concerning wellness into a cohesive whole. SHAC is a group of students appointed by Student Council and Student Health Services that provides leadership and opportunities for student representation concerning student health. SWAT is yet another group devoted to providing hands-on workshops and lectures to assist students in managing their own emotional and mental well-being. Another initiative that has slowly but surely seized the attention of the Swarthmore community is the Coping with Anxiety and Stress by Learning Mindfulness Meditation (CALMM) group, a new program offered by CAPS that formally began last Monday. The CALMM group is a six-week initiative headed by Post-doctoral
Clinical Fellows Heejin Kim and Diane Shaffer that provides students with the opportunity to learn how to mediate the stress of daily life at Swarthmore through meditative exercises. “In the last few years, the amount of student usage of CAPS has increased dramatically,” Dr. David Ramirez, Director of CAPS. Ramirez reported that 156 appointments with CAPS had been made in the last week, which reflects a steady rise in students seeking counseling support. “After active intentional reflection on our part concerning how we could enhance our services, we decided to provide this program as a new resource for students,” Ramirez said. Ramirez credited the Deans’ Office for giving “tremendous support” throughout the formation of this program. Besides the CALMM group, which currently consists of eight students, CAPS has expanded its services this year to students by increasing the number of offices and hours available for student counseling. CAPS has also begun working more closely with the Deans’ Office in issues of academic counseling, and Post-graduate Clinical Fellow Patricia Fischette has also worked with the Health Center to respond to cases of sexual assault. “The Health Center, CAPS, and the Deans’ Office have been attempting to integrate our activities so that we can better offer our resources to our students,” Ramirez said. Even besides the numbers, students from all over campus consider CAPS as an invaluable asset in maintaining emotional wellness. One first-year student, who chose to remain anonymous, said, “I went to see CAPS because I was having a few personal issues and my CA [Campus Advisor] told me it’s a valuable resource to that end. I thought the experience was very helpful in relieving stress and it convinced me to go again once or twice more afterwards.” While CAPS preserves its values as a source of confidential counseling for students, this transition towards a more streamlined, effective resource is surely a welcome change for all involved.
Judith Butler Judith Butler November 7, 14 and 21 Bryn Mawr College
Judith ButlEr, philOsOphEr and gEndEr thEOrist, will dElivEr thrEE lEcturEs at Bryn Mawr cOllEgE On nOv. 7, 14 and 21, at 7:30 p.M. Judith Butler. European graduate school, www.egs.edu/, photograph by hendrik speck, www.hendrikspeck.com/, source: www.flickr.com/photos/hendrikspeck/
Seating is available in thomas Great hall for live simulcasts of Judith Butler’s Flexner lectures. thomas Great hall accommodates 300 guests and seating will be available on a first-come, first served basis.
Nov. 7
Examines how the right to appear challenges certain conceptions of the public sphere, and why gender and sexuality are crucial for thinking about what counts as public, and whose actions are considered political.
Nov. 14 “Bodies in Alliance & the Politics of the Street” Offers a way to think about political mobilization that does not stay restricted to the specific interests of a given identity.
Seating in Goodhart hall for the Judith Butler Flexner lectures has been reserved. Stand-by seating may be available on lecture nights. Seating in Goodhart Hall: Will-Call and doors open at 6:30 p.m. Ticket holders will be seated until 7:20 p.m. Open seating in Goodhart Hall will begin at 7:20 p.m. for reserved seats that are unclaimed. Unclaimed seats will be filled at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.
“Gender Politics and the right to Appear”
Nov. 21
“toward an ethics of Co-habitation” Butler argues that without the right to appear in public, populations become precarious, deprived of legal recognition and enfranchisement, but also subject to social and psychic forms of injury.
www.brynmawr.edu/flexner 11165_BRMA_Butler_SwarthmorePhoenixAd_v1.indd 1
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Around Higher Education
Bryn Mawr responds to attack against non-co-ed schools By Rayna Allonce biconews.com, Oct. 29
On October 10, 2011, Vicky Chu, a student at Wesleyan University, wrote an article expressing her opinion on women’s colleges that was not very well received by many members of the community. Chu transferred from Bryn Mawr to Wesleyan and cited her experiences at the Mawr in the article. During the period when the article was posted on The Wesleyan Argus website, members of the extended Bryn Mawr community as well as alumni and current students at other institutions commented on the article. Many critiqued the article’s broad generalizations of women’s colleges. The article was later removed from The Wesleyan Argus’s website with an apology from the editorial staff and a response from the author in which she apologized for the sweeping statements and stood by her convictions of the value of a same-sex education. Current Bryn Mawr students’ responses to the article range from apathetic to furious. “At first I was really annoyed by the fact that somebody could broadly describe everything about Bryn Mawr from her experience, which was not something I recognized from my experience at Bryn Mawr,” said Roselyn Appenteng ’13. “She had generalized it to such an extent that it sounded like everyone had had those experiences, which is not true,” said Appenteng. “I was a little angry because I felt like she was completely misrepresenting the realities of women’s education, but at the same time I don’t think she would lie in this article. So, even though she might have perhaps exaggerated the truth, we have to give some credit to what she has to say,” said Isabelle Wozniak ’15. Chu held fast to the truth of her experiences in her response to the comments on her first article. “Perhaps I was one of an unfortunate few at Bryn Mawr to witness
events like this on a regular basis,” said Chu. However, many argue that this does not give her the liberty of generalizing and applying her personal experiences to an entire population. “Whatever experiences she did have, whatever they may have been, she generalized it to all of Bryn Mawr and I think that was what got people so upset about the whole thing. She assumed that her experiences, which seem like they were pretty atypical at Bryn Mawr, were in fact the norm,” said Hannah Rossen ’15. Micaela Houtkin ’14 believes that Chu’s words were a consequence of an attempt at sensationalism. “I think she was just trying...to make it an article that people would want to read, and so she sacrificed the accuracy of an actual Bryn Mawr experience,” said Houtkin. Other students responded to the article with both anger and good humor. Samantha Lopez ’13 Created an event on Facebook called “Wear your Baggy Sweatpants,” a reference to a line in the article that stated that students at women’s colleges wear baggy sweatpants to class every day. Baggy Sweatpants Day was Oct. 26 and the last available number on the event page was listed 563 attendees. Lopez said she had a negative response to the article and thought it misrepresented the Bryn Mawr Community. She said she had a “little bit of outrage,” but decided to go a humorous route with her response. “I thought the sweatpants would be funny. Not necessarily falling into her stereotypes, but [wearing sweatpants] kind of in an empowering sense, and I thought it would be really cool and really informal, pick up a [D to the P] sign and take pictures with them if you want” said Lopez. D to the P signs were available in the Campus Center and a few pictures of sweatpants-wearing Mawrtyers made their way to Facebook. Mostly, students believed that Chu did not give an accurate representation of what an all woman’s education
Study: Facebook use correlated with lower GPAs By Alex Diantgikis dailyfreepress.com, Oct. 31
While a recent study suggests social media sites are detrimental to student performance, many Boston University students say Facebook and other sites are not distractions. According to The New York Times, the study, conducted by Lock Haven University, found that students spend an average of 106 minutes on Facebook per day. The researchers, who surveyed 1,839 students, found those who use Facebook for social activities such as chatting and status updates are correlated to lowerGPAs while those who use it informatively by sharing links correlate with higher GPAs. BU graduate Amy Bennett-Zendzian, a teaching fellow in BU’s Writing Program, said in an interview that while students believe they can multi-task, they often let Facebook distract them from their studies. “Much as I enjoy it, I’d say Facebook can be detrimental to anybody’s time management, not just students’,” she said. “A number of studies have shown that most people greatly overestimate their own ability to multitask.” To prevent social media and the Internet from interfering with her studies, College of Arts and Sciences freshman Cherie Pereira said that she separates herself from her technological devices. “If I need to get serious studying done, I go to the study lounge without my phone and computer. It’s definitely a distraction, but sometimes Facebook breaks make studying seem a little lighter,” Pereira said.
is like, and why a student would choose to pursue one.“I don’t think [what she said] is accurate in the sense that that’s what women’s education is like. I have yet to walk into a bathroom and have dirty tampons all over the floor. I would definitely say that everyone’s chanting ‘death to the patriarchy,’” said Wozniak. “I think that by attending a women’s college you’re making a statement that you see the value in women’s education. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you hate men. It means that you want to improve women’s position in society.” Chu stated, in both her first article and in her response to the posts on her first article, that same-sex education is no longer relevant and that same-sex institutions do nothing to inspire or reinforce greatness, drive, or determination that wasn’t already present in an individual before attending a same-sex institution. Many Bryn Mawr students disagree. Wozniak said: “[Women’s colleges] are completely relevant. We have yet to see a female president, women are completely underrepresented in the top tiers of business, and the only way that we’re going to be able to reach those goals is by proving that we have what it takes. I think part of that is having a strong education, one that will prepare you for the rigors [of the real world].” “I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think that a women’s college is no longer relevant,” said Hayley Burke ’15. “I think the environment and the sense of belonging and sisterhood that we experience at Bryn Mawr is something I couldn’t get from a co-ed school....and being in a place where I feel more comfortable to pursue academics, I think, it makes it worthwhile. Obviously the majority of our student body is a very driven, goal oriented, positive group of people, but I think Bryn Mawr gives us the resources and motivation to pursue that PhD in math, or go to grad school, or invent that computer program. Together those two factors are what get the women that go these colleges to these high up positions.”
Pereira said that Facebook also serves as a useful tool for her English class, which created a group to share information, discuss assignments and express “mutual misery” over paper deadlines. “Facebook is so easy and fun that it really takes advantage of the human tendency of poor impulse control, which is always worse when we’re tired or hungry,” Bennett-Zendzian said. “When we’re well fed and well rested, it’s a lot easier to limit distractions and focus on important tasks, but the stresses of student life can make that a lot harder.” “My study habits aren’t the best,” said Ishaan Puranam, a freshman in the College of Engineering. “For me, [Facebook] is a major distraction, but honestly, everything [at school] is.” Many students said they use “SelfControl,” an application that allows the user to block websites such as Facebook on their computers for a specified period of time. “When I’m on Facebook, while doing schoolwork, I’m usually doing something that doesn’t require all of my attention and usually nothing really happens on it unless I actively write on people’s walls,” said CAS freshman Tori Moore. “When I have to do something serious, I use this app that blocks Facebook.” Although the application blocks students from online distractions, students said they would not solely blame websites such as Facebook for their procrastination. “It’s great for writing papers,” said College of General Studies freshman Sarah Lawson. “I think the app helps get the work done, but doesn’t necessarily have any direct relation to the grade received.”
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November 3, 2011
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Living & Arts
Students push to establish Greek life for women Absence of sororities on campus breeds sense of inequality
By dina zingaro dzingar1@swarthmore.edu
In his introduction to “Swarthmore College, An Informal History,” James A. Michener ’29 wrote, “It seemed to me, from the first day I stepped onto the campus, that Swarthmore was unique in the high regard it paid women.” Since its beginning, the college has enlisted the participation and support of women, which, according to Michener, has kept the college vital and thriving. However, according to three women on campus, the contemporary absence of sororities signifies a void in the voice of the female demographic, whether in the social scene or in opportunities for bonding, mentoring and networking. In the upcoming weeks, Julia Melin ’13, Callie Finegold ’12 and Olivia Ensign ’12 will complete their proposal for Swarthmore’s first sorority since the campus ban in 1933. Few are innocent of typecasting the college sorority girl, especially with films such as “Legally Blonde” and “House Bunny” posturing a skewed and stereotyped blond who demonstrates a nearly obsessive affinity for the color pink and is generally a superficial party girl. Yet, as a space exclusively for women, what could sororities potentially offer students if one dares to consider the possibilities beyond pink tees and kegs? An informal history According to Richard J. Walton’s “Swarthmore History, An Informal History,” in the early 1900s, sororities dominated social life amongst the Swarthmore women and about 85 percent of the female students belonged to a house. Despite protests that the women excluded suffered, it was not until 1933 that the undergraduates voted to abolish them. In 1891, the first national Greek-letter fraternity for women, Kappa Alpha Theta was founded and later followed by five other sororities including Delta Gamma, Phi Mu, Chi Omega, Pi Beta Phi and Kappa Gamma. The six Lodges were completed in 1928 with the original function of serving as women’s sorority lodges. From 1921 until 1953, when President Frank Aydelotte served as President of the college, his hope was to create “a more democratic social life” as he believed that Swarthmore should be “a college and not a social club.” However, under President Aydelotte, the Women’s Student Government Association (WSGA) called for the abolition of women’s fraternities by 160 to 108 votes. Both the Men’s Student Government Association (MSGA) and WSGA preceded the contemporary Student Council, which was created as a companion in 1937. Leading the movement against sororities on campus, Molly Yard ’33 explained her fight to abolish the system in light of the discrimination against Jewish students. Following the outcome of the first vote, some alumni objected and the Board of Managers then agreed to allow a year to pass before a second vote, which ended up sustaining the first vote. Thus, sororities at Swarthmore came to an end in 1933. However, in “An Informal History,” Walton does question why men’s fraternities were “never viewed as unhealthy influences to the same degree.” Although their influence has waxed and waned, the men’s fraternities have maintained a presence on campus since their start in the 1890s. Alcohol Education and Intervention Specialist, as well as the advisor of both Delta Upsilon and Phi Psi fraternities and also a DU brother, Tom Elverson ’75 speculates about the reason for this attitude towards sororities, but not towards fraternities. “If there were male double standards going on, I’m not sure,” Elverson said. Although, Elverson confirms that the fraternities were not completely without traces of discriminatory practices or controversies. Beginning in 1948, members of Pennsylvania Kappa — a Chapter of the national Phi THE PHOENIX
Kappa Psi fraternity — grew concerned with the ability of other Chapters to prevent pledges from becoming fraternity brothers, especially if this power was used for racial discrimination. Therefore, in 1963 Pennsylvania Kappa surrendered its charter and later became Phi Psi. Elverson believes that even within Swarthmore’s own fraternities, there were certainly traces of discrimination.
Paces, Olde Club, DU and Phi Psi as the dominant party venues, about 50% of campus parties are on male territory, which Melin believes fosters a gender imbalance in the campus social scene. If sororities were hosting parties in their own houses on the weekends, Melin believes it would encourage students who may not feel completely comfortable at a party hosted at fraternity house and do not frequent those venues to explore the social scene on campus. On the other hand, Katherine Ernst ’12 considers the role of sororities in the college’s party scene very differently and questions their positive impact. “The benefits [offered by sororities] would be outweighed by sororities’ negative social impact in the form of competitiveness for inclusion, increased levels of drinking and the like.”
An imbalance in the social scene Considering the ongoing ban from 1933, Julia Melin ’13 said, “This 73 year ban is now obsolete, especially for a school that is plenty diverse and has plenty of leadership on campus that is diverse.” Founded as a co-ed institution, and particularly under the abolitionist and suffragette Lucretia Mott, Swarthmore and its lack of sororities vexes some of See SORORITIES, p. 8 the female student body. “It’s an equality issue. We are not the progressive and liberal institution that we say if we are not meeting the needs of women on the same level that we are meeting the needs of men,” Melin said. President of Swarthmore Feminists Lisa Sendrow ’13 agreed and said, “Just considering the fact that we have fraternities for men, we should have sororities. Why should men have something that women do not have on campus?” Similar to fraternities, sororities offer women friendships and connections with other students, opportunities for leadership and networking that Swarthmore women are not abl to benefit from. University of Pennsylvania’s primary advisor for the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) Larry Moses explained that the networking opportunities offered by Greek life is “phenomenal,” and as a Allegra Pocinki The Phoenix member of Phi Beta Sigma himself, Both being fraternities, Phi Psi and Delta Upsilon remain the only two Greek he continues to benefit from frater- organizations on campus. nity connections. In light of establishing a community of trust, sharing of values and learning about differences, Elverson detailed what he refers to as the “edict of a fraternity.” The central focus of a brotherhood, as he explained, is the “established connection to one another as a male and what values we share, where we support one another, what interest and what diversity do we have that we could learn from one another.” Though the fraternities on campus host more social events than any other organizations, Elverson maintains that fraternities do not merely offer a “social joining,” but instead a spirit of brotherhood. Therefore, in light of these benefits of Greek life, the lack of sororities is an equality issue, especially in light of Title IX. Swarthmore’s Title IX, the Statement of Equal Opportunity, declares that the College is committed to “the principle of equal opportunity for all qualified persons without discrimination against any person by reason of sex, race, color, age, religion, national origin, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, medical condition, pregnancy, disability or any other legally protected status.” With the thriving fraternities on campus, Elverson said, “Under Title IX, if you have fraternities, shouldn’t you have sororities?” With a Greek life sans sororities, some believe that this lack of female voice strikes a clear imbalance in the social scene. “The administration needs to realize that the social scene or environment is just as important or more important to a student’s well being than academics,” Melin said. With November 3, 2011
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Lack of sorority presence yields potential for change Continued from p. 7
permit them to deny any student the opportunity to New opportunities, new concerns join a Chapter . Currently on campus, the College However, Sendrow exoffers two organizations exclusively plained that for her, the for women: the Ladies Soiree Society Greek life’s ability to turn (LaSS) and the Women’s Resource Cen- down applicants characterter (WRC). By offering female students izes them as exclusive. For an organization solely for women, LaSS her, the current members seems to offer the closest group on cam- of fraternities on campus pus to a sorority. Although LaSS holds are usually “involved in annual and well-attended fundraisers athletics and fulfill the jock such as Mr. Swarthmore, without a spec- role on this campus … and ified space or housing, the group has do not have body image islimitations; for example, they had to uti- sues.” Thus, she feels wary lize the Phi Psi fraternity house to host that if a sorority worked their all-campus party — LaSS Prom — similarly in judging people last spring. on their appearance or perAnother organization on campus, sonality, the group would the WRC provides a safe space for all be denying and rejecting women at Swarthmore and works to fos- particular women the opter a community of women from diverse portunity for sisterhood. backgrounds. However, many female In response, Melin arstudents do not believe that the WRC can gued for the need for more adequately compensate for the lack of confidence in the comsororities. Melin explained that as a dry passion and abilities of space and only open on the weekdays, Swarthmore women. She there are limitations to the accessibility said, “These are the womand opportunities for the WRC to fulfill en who are going to be of a particular role. the future and will be the For Olivia Ensign ’12, the WRC would leaders in this country in not be replaced by the sorority since it’s many different fields and “a crucial resource to women on cam- if we don’t have enough pus” and instead, the sorority would respect for ourselves and “offer a separate space for women from enough confidence in the all groups on campus to come together women on campus to create and strengthen the female community an inclusive environment, at Swarthmore. Although her relation- whether it’s a sorority, club ships with friends from home who have or sports team, then I think joined sororities and her continued we have a long way to go questioning of popular negative sorority with a number of issues on stereotypes, Ernst said, “Sororities are campus and not merely soassociated with meanness, pettiness and rorities.” cliquish exclusivity.” In her experience, For Melin, to associthe term “sorority girl” conjures the im- ate sororities with unfair age of a college student who is concerned exclusivity and judgment primarily with her physical appearance based on physical appearand that of her sorority sisters, who are ance and to remain uncritiAllegra Pocinki The Phoenix all engaged in excessive partying and cal of fraternities in this Olde Club, now the campus hub for diverse musical performances, once housed a sorority before sowhose primary focus is life as a sorority same way, is insulting to- rorities were banned in 1933. member rather than as a student. wards women. Elverson described the pervasive, “The problem here is told to join Hillel, if you are Asian you students, faculty members, and Deans — national view of Greek life as the white that you are either saying that men do are told to join SAO, if you are interna- proposed the possibility of Greek life for Anglo Saxon, rowdy and testosterone- not judge in the same way, but women tional, you join i-20. But what is there on Swarthmore women. The three students charged males of the 1978 film “Animal do, or you are saying that men do prac- campus for women to come together?” hope to work alongside the administraHouse” for fraternities and the provoca- tice inappropriate recruiting practices With a campus where students are al- tion to engineer a sorority that will be tive and party-hard sorority sisters. or treat people unequally, but that wom- ready fragmented into various organi- able to preemptively avoid possible conSimilarly, Melin believes in a stigma en cannot do that,” Melin said. “Either zations, Melin believes that a sorority troversial hazing practices or unfair exattached to sorority sisters thrived way, you are putting women down.” possesses the potential to bring female clusivity that characterize Greek life at from the fear of being “stereotyped as students together from all of the Col- colleges nationwide. unintelletual, elitist, and the frivolous Change in the future lege’s niches. “A community can be anything you party girl.” Unfortunately, she believes “Having a sorority at Swarthmore According to Elverson, who meets want it to be as long as you shape it a that such typecasting discourages many where women come together and bond is with the heads of the fraternities weekly, certain way,” Melin said. Swarthmore women on campus from even expressing not mutually exclusive from an inclusive both DU and Phi Psi are “very open” to has the ability to have something for interest in such organizations. school,” Melin said. With a draft in prog- the idea of sororities on campus. Both women that is shaped with values that Acknowledging the frequency with ress, Melin, Ensign and Finegold hope to DU President and a Dean’s Advisory reflect Swarthmore’s values, just like which he hears create a cultur- Council member Matt Lamb and Phi Psi what is being done with the fraternities the word “exally diverse so- member Ian Anderson ’14 are working on campus. The same thing can be done clusive” associrority that will with the women to help draft the pro- for women.” Another supporter in the When you get to Swarthated with Greek be in alignment posal that will reflect a range of campus administration of sororities, Elverson life in his work with Swarth- voices. For Ensign, this open dialogue believes that any sorority would have more you are automatically at UPenn, Larmore values. Al- and collaboration is essential. She said, to be “diverse and inclusive,” which he sorted into a group . . . But though friends, “It is important that a wide cross sec- professes as his approach to advising ry Moses said, “ F r a t e r n i t i e s what is there on campus for the three col- tion of the campus is consulted in form- both fraternities as well. and sororities laborators come ing the goals and visions of this sororIn a similar tone, Rose Pitkin ’13, a were founded women to come together? from varying ity. Swarthmore is such a unique place member of the softball team and interupon the idea cultural and and thus, any sorority established here ested in the possibility of a female athlete Julia Melin ’13 that people of social back- would need to fit into the wider Swarth- sorority, reflected on the possibility of a similar likes, grounds that more culture.” Swarthmore sorority. She said, “I think backgrounds they hope will When presented with the idea of pro- that having a big community like that and cultures come together to share that jumpstart the sorority’s diversity. spective sororities, Dean of Students with a sense of responsibility towards a interest in a group setting.” So, even Melin said, “When you get to Swarth- Elizabeth Braun remains “open and sup- group could be a very empowering thing, though some label the Greek life as elit- more you are automatically sorted into portive” of young women’s interests on but it would have to be done well.” ist, Moses asserts that though fraterni- a group: if you are black you are told to campus. On Tuesday Oct. 27, Julia Melin Ian Anderson is the Business Manager ties and sororities do have selection join BCC, if you are Latina, you are told ’13, who is a member of the Dean’s Ad- for The Phoenix. He had no role in the systems, Chapters’ constitutions do not to join Enlace, and if you Jewish, you are visory Council — which consists of four production of this article. 8
November 3, 2011
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Mixed Company builds on success, attracts new talent For thousands of years, music has been a way in which humans communicate with one another. From the simplest wooden instrument to a priceless, delicately hand-crafted violin, people have sought to create and perfect ways of making music. Yet the simplest instrument of all, the human voice, is perhaps the most beautiful. A human’s vocal range is one of the greatest among animals, from the highest soprano to the lowest baritone. Like many other animals, including birds, humans can bring their voices together to create harmonies and melodies. To start off the Halloween weekend, beginning at 8 p.m. last Friday, listeners arrived in Lang Concert Hall to hear a gathering of voices. Mixed Company, a Swarthmore a cappella group that includes men and women, performed to a rapt audience for more than an hour. They were joined by Counterpoint, a women’s group from Bryn Mawr and Haverford, who performed three songs in the middle of Mixed Company’s setlist. A cappella is a particular musical style derived from Italian — the phrase “a cappella” literally means “in the way of the church”. During the Renaissance, the term a cappella was used to signify the kind of choral, all-vocal singing done in church as compared to singing accompanied by instruments. Today, a cappella can be used to describe any song, performed alone or with a group, that does not include any instruments other than the human voice. Often, a cappella groups are associated with college organizations — one of the first a cappella groups was formed at Northwestern University in 1906. Mixed Company draws many at Swarthmore. “I decided to join Mixed Company because I was in a co-ed a cappella group in high school, and I really like the versatility that a full
complement of vocal ranges can support,” said Kimaya Diggs ’15. Given its relatively small student population compared to other colleges and universities, Swarthmore is teeming with a cappella and choral groups that perform a wide variety of musical styles. Chaverim, a co-ed, tricollege group, specializes in world music. Essence of Soul is a co-ed group at Swarthmore that focuses on music from the African Diaspora. Grapevine is Swarthmore’s all-female group, while Sixteen Feet is an allmale group. As the first co-ed a capella group on campus, Mixed Company represents a middle ground, as all genders are represented, and is open to any kind of music. “I wanted to be in a group that was not pigeonholed stylistically,” said Steven Barrett ’13, a tenor. “That eliminated Chaverim and Essence of Soul in my mind. You’ll probably never see the former singing a Jackson 5 song and certainly never hear the latter singing ‘The Finnish Drinking Song,’ but you may have seen Mixed Company do both. So, I suppose what makes Mixed Company most distinct is that it is the most indistinct.” In addition to the wide variety of music it performs, Mixed Company also allows members to write and arrange music, and typically four of the songs for a performance will be songs that members have newly arranged themselves, about half of each performance. “Overall, we try to balance our set list for a given concert; in other words, we try to have a number of upbeat, poppy songs, intermixed with slower, perhaps more ballady, music,” Barrett said. Mixed Company usually has about a dozen members, evenly divided between sopranos, altos, tenors and basses. New members audition in the fall, and this year, four new first-years performed alongside returning members in this October concert. The group practices together weekly. Some members enter with plenty of experience -- and
didn’t expect to sing in college at all. “In high school, I sang in a jazz a cappella group with five other people, and I grew up singing trios with my sisters, so I’ve always loved a cappella,” Diggs said. “Weirdly enough, I came to Swat 100% sure that I wasn’t going to do college a cappella — I’d actually been swearing that I would never do it since I was in tenth grade. My hallmates signed me up to audition for [Mixed Company] without telling me, and after going to the audition I became more openminded about it.” However, others enter new to a cappella. “I was never in any music group before Mixed Company,” Nora Kako ’15 said. “I loved to sing at home, just around the house, but I never joined the choir at my school or sang in a musical. I thought college would be the perfect place to try out singing in a more legitimate form.” On Friday, Mixed Company performed a number of songs, including some that featured first-year singers as soloists, as well as songs by more experienced members of the group. From a rousing version of Coldplay’s “Viva La Vida” to a thoughtful cover of James Taylor’s “Carolina In My Mind” the concert covered the musical spectrum. “I really enjoyed all the songs in our concert, but I think my favorite song was ‘Don’t Know Why,’” Barrett said. “I think it was the most musically intricate and challenging of all the pieces we did. I really enjoyed singing it. Not to mention, we had a stellar soloist, the lovely Kimaya Diggs.” Mixed Company will perform at the planned a cappella jamboree which is typically held every semester in the Lang Concert Hall, and features back-to-back performances of all of Swarthmore’s a cappella groups. “We definitely try to have variety, to keep it more interesting for the audience,” Kako said. “I hope students [on Friday] were reminded how much fun [Mixed Company] is, or were introduced to a cappella in a new and engaging way. Mostly, I just hope everyone enjoyed it!”
In one of the most memorable scenes from “Apocalypse Now,” Marlon Brando, shrouded in shadow, hisses out (amidst other drug-fueled demagogic babblings) that “Horror has a face . . . and you must make a friend of Horror.” Brando’s Colonel Kurtz (and at this point in his career, Brando’s Brando) is crazy. Like, really Nolan Gear crazy. But he’s got magOui Oui Wiseau netism in spades, and the question lingers. Well, I’ve missed Halloween by three days (a biweekly column pretty much forecloses the possibility of perfect timing) but I feel some compulsory obligation to write about Horror, especially since a certain TV columnist in last week’s Phoenix, after summarily slamming recent silverscreen scare-fare, had the audacity to insinuate that television may be taking over the ghouls-and-gore market. The problem is that this aforementioned columnist, however misplaced his faith in the telly may be, is absolutely right about the Hollywood Horror machine, which of late seems to produce naught but schlocky carelessness-cum-commodity (“Paranormal Activity 3”). Over Halloween, “Paranormal 3” brought home significantly scanter bacon than did “Puss in Boots” — which, earning over $34 million, actually scored the highest Halloween weekend ever. Truly frightening. Further substantiating the creative poverty of domestic Horror is the highly lucrative, highly lazy and highly cynical system of the remake. Scary movies for which contemporary critics go gaga are increasingly foreign releases: “[Rec]” (2007), “The Orphanage” (2007), and “Let the Right One In” (2008), among others. Acting on some insatiate hunger for tastelessness (and perhaps, ahem, money) American directors proceed to shamelessly and artlessly remake these films. “Quarantine” (2008) is a remake of “[Rec]” and “Let me In” (2010) is . . . well, pretty intuitive. If J.J. Abrams
or somebody does “The Orphanage” in the next couple years, I may stop watching movies — I might even start watching television. So as much as I’d like to instigate a “Media Columns War” — I’ve been meaning to all semester — Horror is neither a necessary nor remotely sufficient raison de guerre. To defend the past couple years’ output would be to fight a losing battle, a short and silly one at that. Instead, I’d like to ask why Horror still fascinates, long after its tropes have become so ostentatiously recognizable as to coalesce into self-parody (the “Scream” franchise says it all) — and whether there’s any profit to being a Horror junkie. Which actually (confession) I’m not. I love “Alien” and tolerate “The Evil Dead,” but most Horror leaves me with a strange taste in the mouth. On Monday, to “prepare” for this column I watched a recent gem called “House of the Devil” (Ti West, 2009) which despite its terrific cinematography I can only kinda sorta recommend, so disturbing was its culmination: satanism, bloodletting, and pizza. Strange taste indeed. So why do we continue to watch those things that most alienate, terrify, and disgust us? More significantly, why do we endeavor to collaborate in the processes of dehumanization necessary to the “slasher pic,” or the infinitely more alarming “torture pic” — processes whereby senseless murder becomes sensorial stimulus, and corpses become somehow more assimilable to our enjoyment than their living counterparts? I mean, the reality is that at the movies, it’s all fantasy — the semblance of life, the semblance of murder, the semblance of survival. But why, then, are horrific fantasies so resonant? Stephen King, in a fun but rather frivolous essay straightforwardly entitled “Why We Crave Horror Movies” contends wink-winkingly that “we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better.” Elaborating with giddy disingenuity, King says that “I like to see the most aggressive of [scary movies] — “Dawn of the Dead”, for instance — as lifting a trap door in the civilized forebrain and throwing a basket of raw meat to the hungry alligators swimming around in that subterranean river beneath.” Well I guess I find this funny enough, but thorough-
ly unsatisfying — and not merely because I wish to preserve my sanity, to sequester it from a world where Wes Craven, Rob Zombie, and George Romero knowingly play zookeeper to some dank and gator-infested dungeon six feet underneath the American psyche. A collective “Id” in need of diversionary meat strikes me as pretty fatuous. No, what I find unsatisfying, or perhaps just extremely unsettling, is the idea that the particular misogynies and sadisms of Horror cinema are pacifying rather than provocative — that they actually quell rather than catalyze fantasy — that the unspeakable “Human Centipede” (2009), for example, soothes the sociopath. I don’t know how seriously to take King’s essay, yet either way I’m at a loss — because in the end people pay to watch (and to own, and to share) “Human Centipede” and “Hostel.” I cannot hope to meet Mr. King halfway with a comprehensive rethinking of Horror’s entrenched fascination, so instead I will end in defense of my favorite scary movie, Nicholas Roeg’s “Don’t Look Now” (1973). In the first five minutes, John and Laura Baxter (the inimitable Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie) lose their daughter Christine, who drowns in a pond outside their family home. What ensues is a ritualized acting out of grief, the supernatural constantly reminding the Baxters of what they’ve lost, refiguring Christine’s death with visual repetitions (a child’s ball floating in the canals of Venice, glimpses of a red mackintosh similar to the one Christine wore when she drowned). Avoiding ghoulishness, the ghost story in “Don’t Look Now” is more the telling of a present haunted by pasts and futures — how grief and death circulate about, and exceed, moments of the everyday. It is very possibly the most beautiful Horror movie ever made. Can we forgive an entire genre its manifold dehumanizations when it occasionally catalyzes human emotions beyond rage and fear? Well no, probably not. But I do want to suggest that Horror — in seeking to interrogate outside the parameters of normality and naturalism — provides a very powerful way of viewing our families, our homes, our pasts and futures, our exhilarations and especially our losses, as fundamentally exceeding ourselves.
By steven hazel shazel1@swarthmore.edu
Must we make a friend of horror, Colonel Kurtz?
THE PHOENIX
November 3, 2011
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ITS showcases the future of academic technology
web video galleries, is also a new technology that closely relates to people’s everyday life. People can create different catalogues and, under each catalogue, can collect all kinds of web resources, like videos from YouTube, Vimeo and Blip.tv. “It takes the vid3D Printing, Mobile Devices in the Classroom, Web Video Galleries, Pen Display eos across the web and brings the videos together into one place with one commenting Graphics Tablet, Cinematic HD Video, New Tripod, eBooks, Moodle Q&A Booth, Open area.” Michael Kapper, a web UI (user interface) specialist at the college, explained. Source Electronics Projects … Do these terms sound familiar? This aggregation of relevant information helps build discussions on specific topics. On Monday afternoon in the Scheuer Room, the annual Information Technology And with the convenience of sharing the video content on social networks, the Miro Services (ITS) Academic Technology Fair displayed these nine fascinating new tech- community ensures timely updates to the audience. These advantages make this technologies that broadened participants’ horizons and nology indispensable for academic discussions at gave faculty and students new ideas about teachthe college. ing and learning processes. ITS, the Language ReBerger said, “I also liked the Miro community source Center and the Library arrange this fair video display. Miro seems as if it could help faceach year to raise awareness about the emerging ulty as well as students to gather all kinds of online technologies and help students and faculty alike video content that’s relevant to a course’s subject take advantage of the resources. matter, stimulating discussion and new perspecE-Books and the new Tripod provide patrons tives on the course material.” with a larger platform for resources’ searching. In fact, almost all of the new technologies are deAccording to Sarah Hartman-Caverly, a serials signed to facilitate the process of acquiring, keepand electronic resources specialist at the college, ing and understanding information. Judith Voet, a the school library has subscribed to a total of 45,000 senior research scholar who taught biochemistry new collections of e-Books through the vendor eat the college, found the 3D printing technology Book library EBL. These new sources can be read extremely useful for biology and chemistry teachonline through the vendor’s browser application ing. She believes that people can make models of directly or off-line by downloading the e-Books proteins by using that new technology and it can to portable electronic devices. Along with this inmake the model easier for students to understand. crease, the tri-college library catalog, tripod, will 3D printing is a technology where three dimenbe updated in the spring semester. Spencer Lamm, sional objects can be printed by specially designed Digital Initiatives Librarian, said that the new printers. Z Corporation, which exhibited the maTripod can be used to search for both articles and chine at the fair, explained how the printer works books, but in the old one, people can’t search for arin its introduction brochure. After a 3D CAD file ticles. It also includes facts on authors, dates, subis imported into a special software — ZPrint — the jects and other materials that will make the whole software slices the file into cross-sections that can research process faster and more efficient. fit in the printer. Associate professor Benjamin Berger of politiThen, as the brochure explains, “The printer Cristina Matamoros The Phoenix cal science department, came to the fair and comcreates the model one layer at a time by spreading mented on the potential contribution of the new Members of the Academic Technology team display new monitors. a layer of powder and inkjet-printing a binder in catalogue system. “I loved the new Tripod platthe cross-section of the part.” The same process is form. It should help students who are beginning a research project to get immediate repeated until the model comes out. This printing technology has become increasingly results across different databases instead of having to try their searches in many dif- popular and the most successful architecture and engineering companies use it in the ferent databases trying to find one with good results. I’m excited to use it for my own process of designing and project delivery. research.” Technology will never stop bringing people surprises and new concepts. It is imporBesides the creation in the library, Miro community, an online community with tant to be ready to learn from these emerging ideas and put them into practical use.
by chi zhang czhang1@swarthmore.edu
DORM DIVE by Sera Jeong
Separating Sleep from Socializing First-years Rebecca Senft, Molly Feldman and their roommates Jessie Bacha and Paige Stover occupy this uniquely configured Wharton quad. Typically, first-year quads comprise of two singles branching out from a double. However, a month into the semester, the girls converted the double into a lounge and study area and each of the two singles into double sleeping rooms. The girls, who are relatively early sleepers and risers, wanted the sleeping rooms behind closed doors. “Drawing the lines between sleeping and socializing made us more communal,” Senft said. Feldman welcomed the change for different reasons. “I grew up never studying in my bedroom so having my desk and bed in the same place [felt] weirdly disjointed,” she said. The current Thanksgiving and Halloween decorations lend a seasonal atmosphere to the room. Halloween and fairy lights hang from the ceiling, while miniature pumpkins line the windowsill. “Its kind of like a kindergarten classroom in here in terms of decoration,” Senft said. The main room has a homey
atmosphere as the girls have divided it into distinct kitchen, relaxation, dining and study areas. Comfortable arrangements are helped by the furniture; Bacha brought the table and lamps, Senft brought the futon and the guys living in the 3rd floor quad donated their desk chairs. Whilst Feldman prefers the greater availability of space, Senft favors the interaction of Quad life. “You get to know more people and make connections so it’s more social than if you live in a double.” Feldman enjoys the company of their guys’ quad neighbors. “It’s the ultimate sibling relationship. We’re the responsible older sisters and they’re the fun younger brothers,” Feldman said. And according to Senft, “they’re a constant source of entertainment.” The social aspect of the quad allows the girls to host friends in the room rather than the hall lounge and host specs on their futon. Despite these comforts, there are usually no more the three residents in the room at any given time. “We’re never here,” Feldman confessed. A proud admission statistic of being the only freshman from Rhode Island, Feldman knew no one else matriculating, except a fellow spec whom she met last year. Both of the specs stayed overnight while visiting Swarthmore in another AB Wharton quad. Lo and behold, Feldman and her co-spec were assigned as roommates. “It was a dream come true,” she said.
Allegra Pocinki The Phoenix
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November 3, 2011
THE PHOENIX
Living & Arts ‘Let them eat cake,’ she says ... and melted ice cream
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There are two common customs back home in Korea involving actions that are paradoxically related to the context in Lauren Kim which they Collegiate Confections are made. Some people enjoy eating hot, steaming bowls of noodles (or roasting marinated bulgogi beef) during the peak of summer. And others tell me, “Ice cream tastes the best when eaten during the winter.” This second point I’ve never really agreed with, but I’m never one to turn down ice cream, so I eat it year-round. Swatties are really creative with the way in which they eat their ice cream. From a melted ice cream combination soup (using a bowl of hot water underneath a bowl of different ice cream scoops) to ice cream floats in different fruit juices, I’ve seen quite an array of different personalities and styles. I would personally love to buy a blender to make ice cream smoothies, but if only I had the time and weren’t too lazy to get some good ingredients … (At least you’ll know what to get me for Christ-
mas now). And of course, there are the ice cream cakes in all their rich, cold and creamy glory. This is, of course, until they melt and become rich, cold and creamy goo. As my great friend and blockmate and I always say to each other, why can’t one enjoy ice cream in this form? The sweet taste is still there, and it’s only the shape that’s gone away. But for those who simply cannot eat ice cream in its liquid phase, I suggest this “cake.” Melted ice cream is a must in this recipe, but the end product will (hopefully) not have any traces of the gooey form. It’s a really simple recipe, and hopefully even simple enough to be used for study breaks. The only real trick is to really work at the sugar and egg whites until they become as light and fluffy as whipped cream. And I cannot emphasize this enough: if there’s one life skill that I really got out of baking, it’s to avoid overworking any procedures. It’s usually better to add less of an ingredient than more, mix less than to over-mix and create unnecessary “heat” in the dough and certainly add less of (or use healthier alternatives for) the sugar and oils if you feel they are unnecessary. The procedure with the egg whites and sugar, aka making a meringue, certainly involves thorough mixing, but you can’t get greedy with the process. Once the mixture starts to resemble whipped cream, you have to stop before you overwork the meringue and it sags back down into a liquid.
The Recipe for Vanilla Ice Cream Meringue Cake Ingredients: 1/2 cup vanilla ice cream (the smoother the better; you can substitute with any other ice cream flavor) 2 to 2 1/2 tbsp. butter 1/3 cup white sugar 6 egg whites 1/4 cup all purpose flour
Instructions: 1. Melt the vanilla ice cream and butter together in a bowl in the microwave for about 45 seconds. 2. Beat the sugar with the egg whites thoroughly until the mixture forms stiff peaks (when the mixture becomes creamy enough to stand on its own). 3. Take 2/3 of the egg white mix and mix gently with the flour, just until you can no longer see the dry flour grains. 4. Add in the remaining egg white mix and the ice cream mix, and mix gently. 5. Line a baking tin with a baking sheet (or use an aluminum baking tin) and fill about 3/4 of the way with the mixture. Bake at 360° F for about 30-35 minutes. (Prick the center of the cake with a toothpick;
Makes about two 8” x 8” brownie tins’ worth of cake. So, get this meringue part right, and you’ve basically finished 3/4 of the work. The rest of the recipe calls for some light mixing, and then the oven finishes off the job. If you are like me, you might have been surprised to see ice cream going into something that gets baked at high heat. But it was not until only a few years ago that I learned that ice cream in its initial stage involves frying the raw ingredients together.
Call me ignorant, but all that matters to me is that there is a method to this madness, and the ice cream making process works. As it should for this cake as well. I mean, after all, you get to have both your cake and ice cream and eat them too. Lauren is a junior. Please submit any recipes you would like to share with Lauren for her to try out for her next column by e-mailing her at lkim1@swarthore. edu.
Student and alumni composers bring music to Lang BY BRAD LENOX blenox1@swarthmore.edu
On Saturday evening, October 29, student and alumni composers, singers and musicians gathered for a recital, which began at 8:00 p.m. in the Lang Concert Hall. The Swarthmore Department of Music and Dance, Alumni Relations Office and Council and The Friends of Music and Dance at Swarthmore College jointly hosted the 2nd Annual Student and Alumni Composers Concert, which featured collaborations and original pieces by 24 alumni and ten student composers. Deborah How ’89 began the evening by introducing the variety of performers and composers attending the recital, noting that they ranged across a wealth of styles, from a cappella to modern classical. The first performance was a collection of three songs in the Sacred Harp tradition, a form of sacred choral music which originated in the southern United States. Becky Wright ’11 added to the introduction by describing elements of the tradition. Eleanor Glewwe ’12 further described Sacred Harp as “a cappella in four parts. Singers sit in a square facing each other. It’s a participatory tradition, so it is rare and odd for Sacred Harp singing to be done on stage in front of an audience.” Sacred Harp tunes and texts date from the 18th century, but the tradition, as Glewwe notes, is a living tradition. “The songs we sang at the concert were all written in 2011 by recent Swarthmore alums who sang Sacred Harp at Swarthmore.” This included “Contrition” (2011) a piece by fellow performer Becky Wright. Wright first became interested in composing at Camp Fasola, a sacred harp singing camp in 2009, and cites A.M. Cagle and the Denson brothers, early 20th century sacred harp composers, as influences. The composer added, “One of my compositions is set to be published in a new book of shape-note songs,” the musical style sacred harp falls under, “within the next year.” The original compositions of the evening included sev-
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eral styles, encompassing a variety of instruments and instrumentation, featuring traditional orchestral alongside less traditional pieces like political folk songs — in the vein Woody Guthrie — such as “Getting Off On the TSA” (2011) by Lisa Wildman ’84. “Open and Syncher” (2011) was a piece composed by Alejandro Sills ’13 for piano four-hands, which he performed with fellow composer Ben Kapilow ’13, who himself had a solo piano feature. Also notable was “Bronze Age” (2011) an ambient/experimental composition that included mandolins, door hinges and zithers, composed by David Barnes ’88. Barnes, who began composing as a first-year at Swarthmore, described the evolution of his personal style. “Initially it was various types of progressive rock music, then becoming more experimental, incorporating found object percussion and eventually an entire ensemble of selfdesigned industrial percussion instruments.” The latter trend of experimentation is evident in “Bronze Age,” a piece that Barnes notes is his most recently finished piece in the genre. “I compose primarily by recording direct to computer using acoustic and electronic instruments, adding layer after layer, and then doing extensive editing and sound design,” he said. Elizabeth Mountford Corson ’92 composed with Gabrielle Daniello ’92 and Jeanine Crow contributed to the evening’s diversity with their folk song, “Bats in the Belfry” (1997). The piece blended vocals with soprano saxophone (also played by the composer), as well as guitar. Ms. Mountford Corson, when asked about her story as a composer, said, “I can’t say I thought of myself as a composer until a month or so ago when Debby How got in touch with me about participating in the concert on Saturday.” Though she has only written two songs of her own, Ms. Mountford Corson added that she was very pleased with the recital. “Perhaps by next year,” she said, “I’ll have another one ready to share.” Later in the evening, Dr. Mark Alburger ’79 presented his composition, “The Inner Circles, Op. 199” (2011), performing the percussion section of the piece. Each of the
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pieces for movements corresponded to a planet in our solar system as well as a month, for example, “I. Sun [January]” as listed in the event program. Alburger described his inspirations, saying, “I’ve been influenced by music ranging from ancient to contemporary, as well notions derived from art, drama, literature, nature, philosophy, politics, psychology, and science. Igor Stravinsky, George Crumb and Philip Glass have been particular influences.” A prolific composer, Alburger performed his 150th Opus for his 50th birthday benefit concert with the San Francisco Composers Chamber Orchestra. Though many of the feature composers have not been as prolific as Dr. Alburger, the juxtaposition of styles, experience levels and instruments created an evening of celebration for composition and performance of any kind. Moreover, the event not only highlighted the long tradition of music and the strength of the department at Swarthmore, but also the varied ways in which music can speak and shapes student lives far after graduation has commenced. Those looking for more information can visit the website of the Swarthmore College Music Alums, www.swatmusicalumns.org. The site includes audio recordings of alumni compositions, as well as directories for Music Department alumni and students.
New on Swat[Pop]Rocks: S.978 Jail time for Streaming By Cindly Luu ’12 swarthmorephoenix.com/blog 11
Living & Arts
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How to handle the aftermath of a one-night stand T h i s past week I got a load of questions about how to deal with a onenight stand. (Thank God for that Halloween party!) SpeVianca Masucci cifically, I got quesMissing Parts tions about how to deal with bumping into your one-time lover post-sex. So, instead of ranting on about some random shit, I decided to dedicate another column to pleasing you, the readers. Sex is a wonderful, wonderful thing. To me, it is one of the most wholesome acts that two (or more, or less) people can partake in together. Actually having the sex is something that is so effortless. Yes, technique and performance anxiety can be a nagging bitch. Once your bodies get going, however, you melt into a glorious concerto of ten shades of pleasure. But, what happens after the grand symphony is over? The same feelings that make sex this sweaty philharmonic phenomenon are responsible for the feelings that make it super weird later. The sex itself is not the culprit here, but sexual intimacy is the reaper of all things awkward. There’s no reason for it to be grim in its nature though. It’s totally normal to feel a bit uncomfortable if the dude who ‘did you doggie’ last Saturday suddenly appears behind you in the Kohlberg coffee bar line. So, don’t freak! Take two deep breaths and break the situation down as follows: Intimacy: I always dedicate a bit of my spiels on one-night stands to this topic. When you have mutual nub rub with someone, remember that you are touching, tasting, smelling, seeing, feng shuing, etc. their most private and intimate areas. Your
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partner is inviting you to meet their feel angry, sad, self-conscious, hurt or sexual selves — the deep, dark naughty insufficient and, ultimately, makes them school teacher inside. Because of this, dwell on that encounter. That’s no way sex comes with this sense of intimacy to pay someone back for vacuuming whether you want it or not. your vag. Regardless of how things end Once you have engaged in a sexual re- (as long as all the sex was consensual), lationship with someone (whatever that always give your guy or gal a little wave entails), there’s no need to brush it off as if you see them around campus. a purely physical fix. Most people recogPrivacy is also a key part of respect. If nize that casual sex is used to satisfy a you travel out of the bubble to find some carnal craving. But, many don’t also re- extracurricular lovin’, then this is not alize that we, as intellectual beings, also such a big deal. But, if your one-nighter hanker for a lil’ intimacy, too. It is, after is a fellow Swattie, respect his/her right all, the brain that holds the title of ‘big- to some discretion. There’s no reason for gest organ in the body.’ Feeling close to everyone and their momma to know evsomeone is a major sexual driving force. ery intimate detail of your introduction Those oneto anal sex nighters in the DU are just as bathroom. much about Like I always say to my friends, if Yeah, sure, pounding your you know what someone’s junk share the mind exploits mound as tastes like, the least you can do is with your the meat close budm o u n d . acknowledge that they exist later. dies, if you So, be conare so inscious of clined. But, this moI think it’s mentary emotional intimacy when you inappropriate (though very entertainsee your past partner at Sunday brunch ing) when I hear about the size of some and how it can be (or not be) affecting dude’s apple-headed monster from a them. friend of a friend of a friend of a friend who defeated the great beast. This school Respect: is way too small and the grapevine way Even though they are not your life- too intricate for you to go around being long lover, your short-lived companion the fountain of forking folktales. deserves all the respect you would give to someone who is. Whether the circum- The confrontation: stance was good, bad, awkward, superIf your one-nighter is a Swattie, it is califragilisticexpialidocious, drunken, inevitable that you will see them again. life-changing, regrettable or whatever, Be a mature, respectful adult and acit is your obligation, as a willing partici- knowledge them. Say ‘hello’ or make pant of a sexual experience, to be civil polite conversation. If you can talk to with this person later. randos from stat class about your extenFirstly, it’s bad sex manners to ig- sive presidential stamp collection and nore or act callous towards that partner. your Thanksgiving weekend, you can Like I always say to my friends, if you definitely do the same for someone who know what someone’s junk tastes like, you’ve seen naked (or have been intithe least you can do is acknowledge that mate with in some other way). You don’t they exist later. The worst way to convey have to become their next BFF, but keep the “I don’t ever want to sleep with you a casual acquaintance, at least directly again” message is cut them off totally. after the incident. It’s not too hard to That doesn’t free someone from the brief make small talk, but it makes a big difrelationship you shared. It makes them ference. If the subject of your night of passion comes up and you feel weird talking about it, don’t be awkwarded out. naia poyer Dan Savage, my hero/idol/forever-unrequited-love, gives the best advice for talking to your casual sex companion post-smash. He advocates the “laugh it off method.” What this entails is, very basically, casually acknowledging that it happened, laughing a bit, maybe throwing in how you felt about it, and then changing the topic. Something like, “Hey, yeah that was wild night,” *small casual laugh* “I really had fun. That whole night in general was great. The music that they played at Paces reminded me of the time I fell off a building …” And so on and so forth. Feel free to cater the speech to your own experience. If the subject of continuing the relationship comes up; be honest about how you feel. As Americans, we are taught polite dishonesty is the way to escape awkward encounters with your lovers. This is an especially popular tactic on Swat’s campus. However, leading someone to believe something that is not true can be just as damaging as telling them the hard (or soft) truth. Tell your partner the truth about what you want. This could even be slipped into the “laugh it
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off” speech. (“Yeah it was fun, let’s do it again sometime” or “Yeah, it was fun, but I don’t have time for anything too serious now. Biochem is killing my personal life and general will to live.”) Also, don’t be afraid to be the one who asks for a second date. If you really dig the person, take a chance on asking for a round two. A casual sex partner can never become just a regular partner without one person taking the chance at asking. You never know. If you find that you cannot deal with these unpleasant after-intimacy encounters, then be upfront with your partner about all of this before you have sex. If you find pleasure in being a sadistic ass, refrain from one-nighters. Spare the world (and any potential partner) from your cruel narcissistic torture. We get it--you love yourself more than Jesus loves children and you don’t care about how anyone else feels as long as you got what you wanted. There are fetish websites for you--look there, not on the Paces dancefloor. Conversely, if you have really thin skin and find that a partner potentially ignoring you or being cruel is emotionally damaging, one-nighters are not for you. You never know how a stranger will treat you in the end, so avoid taking the chance of having a bad experience. Committed casual sex, like a friends with benefits situation, may be a better option for you. Continuing the love: After you jump over all the awkward hurdles, you may find that you land right into a relationship that both parties are interested in developing. If this is the case, have a conversation about what you both are looking for in said relationship. This is especially important to talk about after casual sex because each partner makes lots of assumptions about how developed or serious the relationship actually is (or will be). Regardless of what you both want your relationship to become, it is important to realize that you may want to take a couple of steps backward in the relationship. You skipped right to the dessert (custard cream pie, anyone?) and you may want to savor the appetizers before continuing. Give yourselves some time to chat and get to know each other. Casual sex gives you a momentary feeling of security and intimacy, but these feelings can have very shallow roots. Important things like trust, respect and communication must be firmly established to continue the relationship, whether it is intended to be a casual one or something more defined. The key is to get to know one another, so that you can build that mutual security. That’s the in and out of coping with a night of in and out. Rendezvous of the brief variety have the potential of being sexually satisfying and emotionally nonthreatening. All that you need to do is be a responsible, respectful sexually active adult. When someone swallows your load, the least you can do is swallow a bit of uncomfortableness later. Be respectful, practice safety, and have fun. Vianca is a junior. You can reach her at vmasucc1@swarthmore.edu. You can submit your questions and inquiries anonymously at www.swarthmorephoenix.com/sexedquestions. All submissions will only be read by Vianca. THE PHOENIX
Living & Arts
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Swarthmore Real Food Festival Sponsored by The Good Food Project at Swarthmore College and Swarthmore Sustainable Table Events run from Saturday, Nov. 5 at 10 a.m. to Sunday, Nov. 6 at 9 p.m.
Drama Board Presents:
COMPANY Friday, November 4 at 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.
editor’s picks
By Allegra Pocinki HAN Presents:
Oh, Dang! Korean Street Food Bar Danawell Trailer Friday, Nov. 4 at 9 p.m. (bring $2)
Levy Hideo: A Room Where the Star-Spangled Banner Cannot be Heard Friday, Nov. 4 at 4:30 p.m. McCabe Library 13
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Opinions
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Staff Editorial
Humanity hits the seven billion mark: how to deal October 31, 2011 wasn’t just another Halloween — it was also a day chosen by the United Nations Population Division to symbolically mark the birth of the seven billionth person. Yet even more frightening: it is predicted that we will hit the eight billion mark in 14 years. Now this might be the moment to celebrate our triumph, our ability to not only survive but also to proliferate. It could also be the moment to commence a high-pitched wail of “apocalypse!” But perhaps it is also the moment to accept this demographic milestone, step back and ask ourselves how to move forward. The head of the United Nations Population Fund, Dr. Babatunde Osotimehin, wrote in the annual State of the World Population report, “Instead of asking questions like, ‘Are we too many?’ we should instead be asking, ‘What can I do to make our world better?’” Sustainability, as it has played out in long-standing debates on our swelling rate of consumption, is a key concern for humanity. And while conservation is often conceived of as a largely moral issue with no utilitarian imperative (we can survive, albeit just barely, in squalor), it remains that in order to deal with a growing population we must also deal with the environmental repercussions of that growth. So what can we do? We’re an ever-expanding species that needs to inhabit the same space with very limited resources. And not only do we fear an insecure food supply, as “Wealth of Nations” philosopher Adam Smith warned, but we must also relentlessly confront snowballing environmental challenges that threaten our water, earth, and atmosphere. For starters, we should take heed of out parents’ mantras about taking shorter showers and leaving less food on our plate (further, be wary of our portions). We should plant a tree, drive less and buy local. We should use energy-efficient lighting, watch less television and buy in bulk. Most importantly, we should reduce, reuse and recycle, essentially tipping our hats in the direction of the Green Advisors — Swat’s resident eco-conscious community builders. But emphatically reciting trite maxims that promote eco-friendliness might not drive home the message that we are a species which must now cope with our upward position on a steep growth curve that doesn’t seem to be leveling out any time in the next century. However, we are at Swarthmore, and it seems almost too much to ask to keep up with our readings, get problem sets done on time and hug a tree. But the importance of being young, educated individuals comes to fruition when we have the opportunity to exercise our activist tendencies. Accepting that seven billion (and counting) human beings inhabit a finite Earth is to also accept the idea that every one of us must bear the burden of humanity. Continued enjoyment of our very basic luxuries requires that we also make a continued commitment to ensuring that those luxuries last for as long as possible, making the aforementioned ingredients of environmental responsibility anything but trite.
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Emma Waitzman The Phoenix
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. Opeds are a minimum of 500 words and may not exceed 750. Letters and opeds must be submitted by 10 p.m. on Monday, and The Phoenix reserves the right to withhold letters and op-eds received after that time from publication. Letters may be signed by a maximum of five individuals. Op-eds may be signed by a maximum of two individuals. The Phoenix will not accept pieces exclusively attributed to groups, although individual writers
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Opinions False God: Reagan and the Republican primaries swarthmorephoenix.com
Whew! Anybody else have whiplash from the Republican presidential primary? Republican voters, desperately throwing themselves Sam Sussman into the Sussing out the Anybody Substance But Mitt project, are cycling though candidates like drunk Swatties go through Paces hook ups. Strong opposition to Romney, who signed health care reform that made Massachusetts the state with the most insured citizens, was clear from the get-go. Wishy washy liberals who use government to help people have no place in a GOP primary. Romney allergies set off a fierce “I’m not Mitt” race. The GOP at first turned to Michelle Bachmann, who convinced voters that no matter how terrible her severe migraines were, they would never prevent her from being properly homophobic. But Michelle ran into trouble when she tried to explain how the routine HPC vaccine — which prevents cervical cancer — leads to mental retardation. Whoops. OK, back to the real race. Next was Rick Perry, the Texas Governor famous for shooting a coyote on his morning jog.
Wow, can you imagine what he’d do to Iran? But just as the GOP base finished blushing its way through Perry’s first debate performances (in which he drew vociferous applause for his record use of the death penalty), it discovered that the Governor had allowed the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at public universities. It was as if, in the eyes of the GOP base, the Texas Cowboy’s face melted into the cheery grin of Ted Kennedy. Now, Herman Cain has taken the lead in the “I’m not Mitt” race. There’s no way to tell how long Cain will last, but, if patterns continue, it won’t be long. The force driving the primary windmill was evident in last month’s debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Debating in a space dedicated to Reagan’s legacy with answers framed by the eerily biblical “What would Reagan do?”, the problem of the Republican primary was abundantly clear: the GOP base is comparing the present candidates to a man who never existed. Not even Reagan would win the Republican nomination today if he had to be compared to … well, Reagan. The Reagan described by today’s GOP is a mighty tax cutter who shrunk government to unleash what he termed “the magic of the marketplace.” On social issues, this principled conservative stood for ‘traditional family values’ — banning abortion and reinstituting school prayer. Oh, and did I mention that he singlehandedly brought the Soviet Union to its knees? Why shouldn’t today’s candidates be compared to this Conservative Champi-
on? For the same reason I shouldn’t compare prospective love interests to Dominique Francon: the deified Reagan never existed. The real Ronald Reagan raised taxes in seven of his eight years in office, including the largest peace-time tax increase in American history in 1982. For all his anti-government rhetoric, government spending actually increased under Reagan, and the deficit tripled between 1981-89. Reagan accumulated more debt than every president since 1900 combined. These deficits were necessary to win the Cold War, right? Nonsense. No legitimate social scientist believes this selfserving Reagan-centric narrative today. Insofar as the Soviet Union’s collapse can be explained by military pressures, those tensions can be traced to the USSR overstretching itself in Afghanistan, not attempts to keep up with the U.S. Moreover, the ‘Reagan-did-it’ narrative misses the complexities of Soviet society that, for reasons entirely unrelated to Reagan’s military buildup, crumbled in the late 1980s. Well, at least Reagan stood for social issues, the GOP base might say. Wrong again. While religious appeals figured prominently in Reagan’s campaign rhetoric, Religious Right leader Paul Wychman recalls that, “Immediately after Reagan was elected, the administration announced that its social agenda would have to be postponed for several years.” Reagan refused to push for either the Human Life Statute of 1981 or the Family Protection Act of 1981, both of which would have outlawed abortion. More interestingly, as Governor of California he signed the most liberal abortion law in
the country. Beyond this, I’m particularly interested in what today’s immigrationphobic GOP has to say about the 3M illegal immigrants to whom Reagan granted amnesty in 1986. So what happened since 1989, when Reagan left office with a moderate approval rating of 53%? In the mid-to-late 1990s, the GOP had no answer to Bill Clinton’s strategic triangulation, which co-opted GOP agenda items like welfare reform and a balanced budget and coincided with robust economic growth. The GOP lacked prominent national leaders — how many of you remember Bob Dole? — and essentially no constructive policy suggestions that Clinton had not already claimed as his own. Clinton’s only flaw seemed to be a deficit of character, epitomized by the Lewinsky affair. The GOP desperately sought a figurehead around whom the party could unite. Reagan, who withdrew from public life in 1994 after announcing that he suffered from Alzheimer’s, was the perfect option: not only a harbinger of personal likeability to contrast with the weaseling Clinton, but also clearly free from criticism, given his health. Beginning in the late 1990s the GOP built its political image around, and projected its increasingly rightward values upon, a romanticized image of the former President. So here we are, a primary frozen by nostalgia. I have to say, I feel for these candidates a bit. They already look bad enough on stage next to each other. Why add the false Reagan god to make them look even worse? Sam is a junior. He can be reached at ssussma1@swarthmore.edu.
Tackling inequality in US educational opportunity While politicians bounce economic statistics around like beach balls, America is not in a playful mood. I wholeheartedly subscribe to the exceptional nature of the American dream. I believe Horatio Alger, who wrote of plucky protagonists who always seem to make it in America, Danielle Charette still deserves more than a disgusted eye-roll. As The Nascent Neoliberal a conservative, I maintain that the springboard to American success is equal opportunity, yet I am forced to admit that, after researching public education prospects in this country, I’m rather uneasy. American children born after the 1950s are met with lower prospects of educational mobility than other Western nations. Economic status in the U.S. tends to be a more accurate forecast for education outcomes than in, say, Sweden. Since the 1980s, public school reform has become a political preoccupation and a justification for unfathomable Department of Education spending, yet most of that funding has been absorbed into the number of teachers and teachers’ salaries, with scant improvements. A half-century ago, bright, motivated women escaped society’s otherwise stifling career options by becoming school teachers. Certainly there are still many wonderful teachers, but as other career options have blossomed for women, the general quality of teacher-forces lags. I don’t regret women’s broader options for a moment, but I do yearn for quality. At the same time as many women have strayed from the classroom, complicated home environments and disadvantaged demographics have ticked upward. Inspiring teachers are needed more than ever, yet are less plentiful and less welcomed.
For this reason, I am a proponent of programs like Teach for America, which floods needy school districts with phenomenal young teaching talent and generates 70 percent of its funding from outside of the federal government. Incredibly, almost a fifth of last year’s graduating class at Harvard applied to TFA. Unfortunately, many in politics chat about the bright-eyed idealism of TFA-styled programs, yet maintain an unflinching loyalty to teacher’s unions. Most of the Obama Administration’s reform-minded “Race to the Top” efforts were swiftly blockaded thanks to this pesky bureaucracy. Now, in order to apply for state-level “Race to the Top” funds, there must come a “buy-in” from teachers, essentially negating the spirit of innovation. In today’s economy, job prospects are particularly terrible for recent teaching certificate earners. With an eye on protecting existing teachers, their salaries and their pensions, unions keep engaged 20-somethings far away from the chalkboard. This year’s hubbub in Wisconsin brought teachers’ unions to the forefront, prompting Paul Krugman to comment that kids in union-hot Wisconsin significantly outperformed those in the rough-and-tumble Texas K-12 system, implying that teachers’ unions really do deliver the educational goods. Curiously though, black students in Texas score better than blacks from the Badger State. In summary, Wisconsin holds a superior statistical average, but is failing minority groups on a grander scale. The education gap between groups is nothing new, nor is it shocking given the disadvantages particular minorities have faced over U.S. history. Yes, gaps close over generations, but a child of Upper East Side attorneys presumably receives greater support and resources than a child of a poor, single parent immigrant in Detroit. Disturbingly, the per capita income for whites is 76 percent higher than blacks and 101 percent higher than Hispanics. The National Review reports that the income disparity between whites and Hispanics is greater than the financial difference between New York and West Virginia.
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November 3, 2011
Quite often, the left places these numbers at the foot of structural racism. Yet if we control for race and compare white and black college graduates with the same test scores and credentials, the difference all but vaporizes. Conservatives tend to focus on individuals’ upbringings, meaning the importance of family life and early school quality in cultivating success. A sleek charter school for 16-year-olds is most likely too little too late. The rise of teachers’ unions has been closely aligned with skyrocketing education budgets, but more money has done nothing but lubricate our educational drain. In my home state of Connecticut, where teachers are the highest compensated in the country, we pay $200,000 for the average K-12 experience of a Hartford Public School graduate. All this, and only 30 percent of students meet basic goals in math. That’s far more than is spent in Greenwich, despite that town’s notorious reputation for having some of the highest property taxes in the world. Solutions are debatable, but I’m a fan of the work of James Heckman, who suggests that school intervention should place a premium on behavioral skills, not just cognitive ones. Students from difficult neighborhoods may not enter the classroom with the best reading aptitude, but step one is fostering basic cooperation and respect. There is evidence to suggest that students can learn social bonds much faster than cognitive skills, and proper social behavior is just as vital in the labor market as intellect. Furthermore, Heckman says government must target students who are truly on the educational margins. That means the Feds should get out of the universal preschool market for suburban tykes and actually zero-in on the disadvantaged. I, like many conservatives, advocate for school choice. The American dream that conservatives are always harping on about may be a broad, umbrella-like topic, but it is also painstakingly specific. Outcomes will differ in a free society, but the romantic pursuit of happiness clearly calls, at the very least, for equality of educational opportunity. Danielle is a sophomore. You can reach her at dcharette1@swarthmore.edu.
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Opinions
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Occupy the Polls: a modest theory of political change
Peter Gross The Principled Progressive
I don’t think it would shock you to learn that public disgust at the political system is at a record high. In the space of this discontent, two movements were born: the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street. They are not equal, and unless there is a serious course shift in tactics, only one of them will have a lasting impact beyond bending the political conversation to their concerns. Unfortunately, the one that looks to have a lasting impact is the Tea
Party. On the face of it, it would seem that Occupy would leave a bigger mark than the Tea Party. Its popularity vastly outweighs that of the Tea Party. Occupy’s potential political coalition includes much broader segments of the population than the narrow band of the far right wing that comprise the Tea Party. So why at this juncture will the Tea Party come out on top? The answer can be found by looking at how the two movements differ in their attitudes towards voting. The Tea Party found success in a multitude of ways. Its first major triumph was unleashing a torrent of anger toward elected officials at town hall meetings during the August Congressional recess of 2009. This outpouring of rage shifted the political conversation towards public discontent with the still unpublished Health Care Reform bill. It was one of the first chinks in President Obama’s formidable armor. The Tea Party didn’t stop there, though. It instead turned its sights towards electoral politics in a profoundly brilliant way. It started running and supporting Tea Party candidates in Republican primaries across the country. It targeted incumbents that were
insufficiently supportive of their cause, like Bob Bennett of Utah and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska. It supported up and coming politicians like Marco Rubio and Rand Paul against establishment types like Charlie Crist and Trey Grayson. Tea Party activists were all over the place, doing unsexy, grueling, under the radar work to support candidates steeped in the Tea Party ideology. In many cases their efforts fell short. However, in races all over the country — from high profile congressional races to state house contests — they took to the primary process like a fish to water and molded the Republican Party in their image by working to elect candidates that were philosophically in tune with them. And then they started to shape the country to their liking by carrying these same candidates to victory on Election Day. Tea Partiers all worked in different ways to make sure this happened, but the single most significant way the Tea Party impacted the American political system is that they turned out to vote when the other team didn’t. Sure, they wore funny hats, engaged in direct action protests and made a lot of noise, but ultimately they successfully made the transition from shifting the conversation to substantive electoral results by voting in larger numbers than their opponents. They made change happen by electing people who supported their goals. Occupy Wall Street is doing very little of this. Occupy might have shifted the political conversation in a fundamentally important way, but it doesn’t seem to have any interest in electoral politics whatsoever. Its attitude toward the broader electoral sphere can be summed up by a largely “A Pox on Both Your Houses” attitude of disengagement. According to large swaths of the Occupy movement, the most meaningful way they can bring about change is through the physical occupations and in the conversations they are having at the consensus-driven General Assemblies. The problem is General Assemblies and occupations alone cannot bring about change. Words and resolu-
tions might create a political philosophy; occupations, marches and the police crackdowns that follow might also bring media attention to the cause, but those are only a few of the components needed to bring about the true change that a movement like Occupy so desires. The way to make a lasting impact is to have a majority (or supermajority, in the case of the consensus driven Senate) of elected officials in tune with the demands of the people making public policy for the 99% instead of the 1%. The only way to get those sympathetic officials into office is by voting. But accusing both parties of corruption and being unreceptive to the people is not an excuse to disengage from the voting booth and the electoral process. If Occupy feels the parties are unresponsive, then they must make them responsive. Run primaries against Democrats (and Republicans!) that support policies counter to the movement’s goals. They don’t even need to win the campaign every time to get results. Blanche Lincoln in Arkansas was merely threatened by a primary and as a result moved significantly to the left during the remainder of her time in office. If that doesn’t work, Occupy can form a third party and attempt to topple the two-party system. This might not be as glorious or immediately satisfying as toppling a corrupt regime by occupying a public space while working towards a broad national consensus for the path forward, but it is far more likely to produce results. After all, we cannot build a consensus of the entire political system, or the entire nation: it’s simply too large. The way we resolve differences is through the act of voting. Democracy is hard. Change through voting is slow and tedious. It takes time, and a whole lot of concentrated effort, but it happens. To make a lasting impact, we must Occupy the Polls. Because all the yelling and screaming about the oppressed 99 percent won’t make a difference if the only people that show up on Election Day are the 1 percent. Peter is a junior. You can reach him at pgross1@ swarthmore.edu.
Why Quakerism at Swarthmore is counterproductive
Sam Zhang Sticks and Stones
Here’s a true story: once when the guy in front of me forgot his ID card in the Science Center café, I bought his gum for him. It cost a dollar. Someone said sort of sarcastically, “Oh look, Quak-
er values in action.” I didn’t think about that much since it happened last year, but having read Ben Goossen’s letter to the editor about reinstituting Quaker values on campus (“The State and Future of Quakerism at Swarthmore,” The Phoenix, October 27, 2011), I was inspired to write about why institutionalizing Quakerism in the way that he suggests is well-intentioned but counterproductive to the ethical life of this college. I’m grateful to Goossen for his letter about reinstituting Quaker values on campus. And while I disagree with him, I appreciate the unapologetic candor of his piece. What is the difference between embracing “Quaker values” and individually recognizing peace, equality, simplicity and diversity? There must be a cultural bloodline of some sort, little patterns of
thought and ways of life that are passed expectation is placed upon us. How did Quakerism, a peaceful and quiet religion, on. Yet Swarthmore as an institution ap- come to breed a Puritan perfectionism? Without perfectionism, the culture of pears remarkably clean of culture. In general, students who don’t know each Quakerism (and by extension, Swarthother are polite and wary of offending more) risked being swept away by cultural diversity. After one another. all, there is a differTake Temple ence between QuakUniversity as a Serving as a cultural ers living in a mulcontrast, where a ticultural society guy fist-bumped customs check is and a multicultural me on the elevaa difficult identity Quaker society. tor for wearing Having moved from the same shirt for Quakerism. the fringe of white as him. Displays Christian society to of unrestrained excitement are taboo here. I often hear the center of multiculturalism, Quakers the question, “Are you on crack or some- have subtly redefined themselves as the thing?” And with a certain edge, “Why border guards between the Christian and multicultural worlds. With an impeccaare you so happy?” This reticence is a Quaker legacy. An ble record of diversity, Quakerism is the innovation of Quakerism was to turn the most legitimate heir to this position. Serving as a cultural customs check “reverence for the inconspicuous” from Christianity into an aesthetic in its own is a difficult identity for Quakerism. On right — steeple-less meeting houses in- one hand, elite Quaker institutions such stead of churches, patient acceptance as Swarthmore have become more ininstead of evangelism and silent prayers sistent on their “values”, as their legitiinstead of sermons. As written on Quak- macy depends on the continued support er.org, “Simplicity persuades one to af- of the Protestant establishment. On the firm, not to flatter or overplay words or other hand, it cannot so openly endorse emotions, and to avoid extravagance and Christian ideas as to alienate the minority student population. It views itself paraphernalia.” To transform restraint itself into an as a negotiator who works on behalf of aesthetic is a Sisyphean task. When the minority groups to lower the cost of culability to accept praise with humility tural entry into mainstream Christian becomes praiseworthy in its own right, society. The assumption that minority stureceiving a compliment becomes a test. One’s performance on this test can lead dents want to assimilate is patronizing to more praise, and then more tests in in its own right, let alone that we should turn. The unbearable weight of perfect be grateful for their assimilation. In
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fact, the institution may use the rhetoric of compassion, but ultimately it is a decision whose provenance is in the Admissions and Alumni Relations departments. Ben’s letter confirms this sense that Quakerism has a fundamental public relations appeal. He writes, “A larger role of Quakerism is important at Swarthmore for two reasons. First, it will continue to set Swarthmore apart from other liberal arts schools in the country ... Second, it will more consciously attract students whose values are aligned with this mission.” The sociologist John Murray Cuddihy writes, “The cultural credit-rating system ... works on the principle of impecuniousness. It helps, even if we are not ourselves victims, if we can ‘claim relationship with’ accredited victims.” In other words, Swarthmore buys cultural capital from “accredited victims” to fuel its identity as a compassionate institution with Quaker values. This is incredibly bad for me as a minority at Swarthmore. What a Swarthmore degree confers about a white Protestant is self-sacrifice, integrity, and well, Quaker values. But what a Swarthmore degree confers about a minority student is a desperation to trade in his or her most sacred voice — the voice of testimony — in exchange for temporary material and social comfort. In the spirit of Quakerism, I quote e.e. cummings: “I will not kiss your fucking flag.” Sam is a sophomore. You can reach him at szhang1@swarthmore.edu. THE PHOENIX
Sports
swarthmorephoenix.com
Game-winner sends women’s soccer to playoffs BY ANA APOSTOLERIS aaposto1@swarthmore.edu
The Swarthmore women’s soccer team spent an entire season playing close games – winning nailbiters, losing heartbreakers, bending but ultimately never breaking. Sitting just above .500 weeks ago, the Garnet ended the season on a tear, winning five straight en route to the third seed in the 2011 Centennial Conference playoffs. Postponed twice by snowy weather, Swarthmore finished the regular season on a high note, besting rival Haverford on Monday evening by a 2-1 score in a classic down-to-the-wire match. Alexa Ross ’13 opened the scoring in the 8th minute with her first goal of the season, but the Garnet were held off the scoreboard for the rest of the first half and much of the second. With just over ten minutes to play, Haverford’s Sarah Andrade scored her third of the year to tie the game at one – however, Swarthmore refused to give up the momentum, as first-year star Emma Sindelar ’15 netted her eleventh goal of the season for the game winner with five minutes on the clock. “For all practical purposes, this was a playoff match in our minds,” said head coach Todd Anckaitis. “We knew that one goal may not stand up, [but] my team responded incredibly well…[we] played smart in the final two or three minutes to finish out the game and not give them another chance to get momentum back. That’s what the playoffs are like.”
“It was very exciting to beat Haverford. That’s a program history. Megan Brock ’14 started every game huge rivalry, and to do it for our senior year was re- this season and put up admirable offensive numbers, ally special,” said Hannah Deming ’12, who played the second to Sindelar in most categories. Ari Spiegel ’13 has provided stalwart defense all last regular-season match of her career on Monday. For the Garnet, the playoffs begin on Saturday. year and was honored with the Conference’s DefenThe team will travel to tournament host Johns Hop- sive Player of the Week Award in the final week of the season. Goalie Marie Mutryn kins to take on the second-seeded ’12 recorded an impressive Gettysburg Bullets in a semifinal 1.07 GAA in 16 starts. match. A 3-2 overtime loss to the “Playoffs often come down Bullets on October 9 was the last We know we can to which team will fight to defeat the Garnet suffered during compete with any team in the very end, pretty soccer or the regular season. Amber Famigletti ’14 expects the conference ... and are not. We showed ourselves on Monday that we can do just the team to learn from past mishoping to show that [in] that and are excited about the takes. opportunity to play this week“When we played them the the tournament. end,” said Brock, who will see last time, we came out slow and Megan Brock ’14 the first postseason action of didn’t have a great first half,” her career. said Famigletti, whose four goals “We know we can compete and ten points rank third on the with any team in the conference and are hoping to team. “In the second half we came out a lot better…We show that as we head into the semifinal.” The Championship tournament kicked off on had an unfortunate mistake in overtime and they scored. The sting from that game is close to us, [and] Wednesday, as #4 Haverford defeated #5 Franklin & we need to come out really strong in the first half like Marshall 3-0 in the first round. The Fords will play first-seed Johns Hopkins on we didn’t last time.” Like most of the season, Swarthmore will be rely- Saturday afternoon before the Garnet face Gettysburg ing on key players to come up in big spots in the play- at 7:00. The final is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at 3 offs. Sindelar’s eleven goals rank third on the all-time single season list, and her 25 points put her fourth in p.m.
Courtesy of Cristina Matamoros and Rehana Omardeen
The Garnet, pictured in an early-season match against Dickinson and dressing up this week on “Tacky Tuesday,” ensured a first-round bye on Monday with a win over Haverford.
GARNET IN ACTION SATURDAY, NOV. 12
SATURDAY, NOV. 5
Cross country at NCAA Regionals Held at DeSales University, 11:00 a.m.
Swimming at McDaniel, 2:00 p.m. Centennial Conference Semifinal Women’s soccer vs. Gettysburg @ Johns Hopkins, 7:00 p.m.
THE PHOENIX
Swimming at Franklin & Marshall, 2:00 p.m.
November 3, 2011
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swarthmorephoenix.com
Volleyball beats Fords, then falls to them in playoffs by victor brady vbrady1@swarthmore.edu
Prior to Saturday’s regular-season finale between Swarthmore and Haverford, the matchup for the first round of the 2011 Centennial Conference tournament was already set with the Garnet and the Fords both in the playoffs, with no chance to secure a first-round bye. But with home-court advantage for this first-round matchup up for grabs, the latest installment of the rivalry did not lack significance. For the second consecutive meeting, the Garnet knocked off the Fords on the road, this time by a 3-1 final. With two consecutive victories over Haverford, Swarthmore has its first winning streak against their Main-Line rivals since winning six in a row from 1993-95. Having previously dropped three five-set barnburners during Centennial play to the top-three seeds in the Conference tournament (Johns Hopkins, Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg respectively), Swarthmore was able to close out the Fords in four sets with three of the four decided by three or fewer points (25-22, 23-25, 25-15, 26-24). In the victory, Hillary Santana ’12 broke the program single-season record for digs (505) and Allie Coleman ’13 set the program single-season record for assists (964). Even more impressive is the remarkable transformation that the program has seen over the past four years. In the fall of 2008, the Garnet recorded a total of just six wins
against 19 losses. In 2011, with the first-years from 2008 now seniors, the Garnet ended the regular season with a total of just six losses against 23 wins. “The leadership from the upperclassmen when this year’s seniors were freshmen was really focused on changing the nature of the team,” head coach Harleigh Chwastyk said. “I think that those leaders instilled this desire in our 2012 seniors and they really carried it all the way through their four years.” Having played the Fords just three days ago, the Garnet entered Wednesday’s rematch with renewed focus. “We have to know what our strengths are and improve on the few things that we struggled with on Saturday,” Chwastyk said. The Garnet didn’t lack for motivation prior to Wednesday’s rematch. “We still have a fire and desire to win,” said Kat Montemurro ’13, who had 14 kills on Saturday. “We know this is for a spot in the playoffs and we have to keep winning to keep playing.” Added Maggie Duszyk ’14, “I think that it is good that we recently played them because we know what we need to improve on. We want to keep winning.” But Wednesday was simply Haverford’s day. The fifthseeded Fords upset the Garnet in four sets to eliminate Swarthmore. Haverford put eight on the scoreboard in the first set before the Garnet scored. A late run cut the deficit to 21-23 before the Fords were able to close out the first set 25-22.
Set number two saw more of the same as the Fords opened up a wide 17-10 advantage before the Garnet went on a run of their own to level the set at 22 on an Coleman kill. But again the Fords won big points down the stretch to win the set 25-23. With their playoff life on the line, the Garnet quickly opened up the third set 7-3 and never lost the lead. The Fords closed to 11-12 before the Garnet took 10 of the next 13 points to gain a commanding edge and finish the set off 25-16. In a remarkable fourth set in which neither team led by more than three points at any point and which saw 17 ties and seven lead changes. Tied at 14 apiece, the team’s exchanged the next 14 points to draw level at 21 with neither side leading by more than one. Three consecutive points by the Fords set up match point. But Swarthmore was able to recover the match at the death with three consecutive points thanks to two Haverford attacking error. But with the match leveled, Haverford won the next two points to close out the contest 26-24. Of the eight sets played between the two teams in the last week, six were decided by three points or fewer. Montemurro led the Garnet with 16 kills and a .325 hitting percentage. Genny Pezzola ‘12 led the team with 24 digs and Coleman handed out 36 assists in the match. Swarthmore will await their ECAC selection with first round matches of the eight team tournament scheduled for Wednesday.
Men’s soccer misses playoffs by timothy bernstein tbernst1@swarthmore.edu
“It was a feeling of failure,” Roberto Contreras ’12 said of the locker room mood on Monday night. The Swarthmore men’s soccer team, last year’s Centennial Conference champion, ensured that they will have to wait at least a year to get back to the playoffs. Falling to Haverford 2-1, the Garnet (11-6, 5-4) officially failed to qualify for the postseason. “We had high expectations this year, with so many starters coming back from last year’s team,” Contreras said. “And we didn’t meet them.” Nineteen minutes into the game, the Fords (9-6-1, 5-4) jumped out to a lead on the sixth goal of the year from star forward Rettig y Martinez off an assist from David Robinson. Although the Garnet took ten shots in the first half to Haverford’s two, the hafltime score was 1-0. In the second half, Haverford controlled the ball more than it had early on, but didn’t add to their lead until 30 minutes into the half, when forward Ford Bohrmann made it 2-0 off an assist from Tyler Freeman. In the game’s 76th minute, midfielder Jack Momeyer ’14 added his third goal of the season, an unassisted score on Haverford goalkeeper Nick Kahn that drew the Garnet within one. “It was a cross from the left side, and the ball
bounced back in front of me,” Momeyer said. “There were a couple of defenders on the line, but it snuck between them and went in.” Swarthmore could only get one more shot off the entire game. In the final seconds, a last-ditch attempt by forward David Sterngold ’12 sailed wide, and with it the Garnet’s hopes of a playoff berth. Goalkeeper David D’Annunzio ‘12 tried to maintain a positive outlook. “We’re obviously disappointed,” D’Annunzio said. “But there will be [the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) tournament] coming, and as a senior class we want to go out winning. The key is coming back together and being on the same page, to go out there and play and not think so much.” At times, this edition of the Garnet appeared to measure up to the 2010 team that lost one game the entire season. Swarthmore raced to a 5-0 start, outscoring opponents 18-2 in that stretch. After that, however, the team went just 6-6 the rest of the way, and while it still outscored the competition overall 16-12, cracks were showing. The first one came in a 1-0 loss to Stevens that gave first-year goalkeeper Brian Schaake his first career shutout. That was followed by a 2-1 loss to Dickinson, and suddenly Swarthmore had already exceeded its loss total from the previous year in early October.
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“Last year, when we had chances, we were able to follow through on them, and this year we didn’t do that,” Contreras said. The Garnet rebounded over fall break to reach a high-water mark of 10-2 with an October 12 win on the road in Scranton. Next, however, the team lost four of its next five games, including a three-game losing streak for the first time in seven years. Included in that three-game streak was another inauspicious milestone: a heartbreaking 3-2 double-overtime home loss to Richard Stockton that marked the first time since 2008 that Swarthmore had suffered a defeat at Clothier Field. In the end, though members of the team tried to emphasize the season’s positives, the lack of anyone specific that deserved blame and the fact that there was still more soccer to be played, the sense of failure that Contreras described is hard to escape. The team will now look to the future and hope that it is brighter. “Coach [Eric Wagner] said it was time for all of us, including himself, to reflect on what we can do better, “ Momeyer said. “Our ECAC participation will be telling if we’ve given up on the season or will go out there with character and continue to prove themselves. “For non-seniors, [he said] this was the perfect time to build for next year, the time where you respond to adversity and bounce back.”
Paul Chung The Phoenix The Garnet, pictured here earlier in the year, fell to Haverford on Wednesday in the first round of the playoffs.
Garnet athlete of the week
November 3, 2011
Emma Sindelar
FR., SOCCER, SALT LAKE CITY, UT WHAT SHE’S DONE: Sindelar’s game-winning goal against Haverford on Monday gave the Garnet a first-round playofff bye. WHAT THE MOMENT MEANS: “It means a lot that I was able to get that goal for my team to put us in a great spot for the playoffs. It was a perfect [pass] and I’m so glad it went in because getting that win was a big deal for all of us.” WHAT SHE WANTS TO DO: “We are excited to go the Centennial Conference playoffs. We are focused and ready to meet Gettysburg on Saturday. We want to win!” A TV SHOW SHE CAN’T MISS WEEK-TO-WEEK: “NCIS.” Simone Forrester The Phoenix
THE PHOENIX
Sports Underneath it all, racial poltics dominate lockout swarthmorephoenix.com
Since the NBA locked TV network to announce that he was finished summon- black labor force as inherently unworthy of the right to out its players on July 1, ing owners to state their pleas to him and decreed that complain about the system. the question people seem it was to be Miami Heat where he would spend the next The decreased visibility of Stern and the owners durto be asking more than any six years of his basketball life. The message of “The Deci- ing these negotiations makes it all the easier for them to other has been, “How could sion” from the league’s elite to the owners was simple: We go after the faces of the NBA and indict their greed as the this be a race issue?” It’s al- are the demand, we call the shots now and we will play cause of all these problems. The players, for their part, ways asked the same way: where we want to play. could not have responded worse; two weeks ago, Kobe rhetorical and with just One year later, the owners have shown that the mes- Bryant, Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce reportedly interenough combativeness be- sage was received, and that they recognized “The Deci- rupted a productive negotiation on the division of baskethind it to hint that the per- sion” as the apex of a movement that needed to be curbed ball-related income to abruptly break off talks on behalf son doing the asking has an immediately. The NBA was ruled by a small group just as of the union, a move decried as a sabotage of the first real waiting for you. it was supposed to be, only it was LeBron and his friends, progress the two sides had made. Timothy Bernstein argument How no American sports not them, who were at the top of the mountain. Then there was the union’s “Let Us Play” Twitter Bullet Points league has been more ethBut there is a dark side to having so many high-profile campaign to rally public support for the players, an atnically inclusive and color- players when the time comes to ask for more, and now tempt that got somewhat derailed when Denver Nuggets blind than the NBA, how the system begins to work in the owners’ favor again. No forward Kenyon Martin tweeted his wish that his detracthere are more black front-office executives in basketball other league has an icon phenomenon like the NBA. It is tors would “catch full blown Aids and Die!” The public than anywhere else, and how no sport has effectively pro- almost non-existent in the recently locked-out NFL, con- was unmoved. moted so many black athletes to the world to the point tained almost exclusively to several quarterbacks, none The real problem with “Let Us Play” is the same one that many could wait out the lockout playing in Europe of whom could be described as “bigger than the league.” that has been plaguing basketball players, particularly or Asia because of the crowds they would draw. With those few exceptions, football players had no the superstars, throughout this entire process: the perAll of which is true, but distracts from the larger real- trouble identifying as a single class during the lockout, ception of unearned entitlement. They have been unable ity: that this lockout, at its core, is a power struggle be- disenfranchised workers risking their livelihood and to advance past the racial fiction of the lazy, undeserving tween the owners and the players. And when the narra- their long-term health every week while still being forced workers partially because of the nature of their sport and tive of that struggle is of a group that is 95% white trying to essentially live year-to-year. The trade-off for having the opportunities it provides for the team concept to be to tighten its grip on a labor force that is 85% black, the only a few athletes rise above the rest in name recogni- overshadowed by individual stardom. better question is, “How could this not, on some level, be tion was that when the players’ union cried solidarity, Although the NFL is another predominantly black a race issue?” league (though less so), the nature of football For years leading up to this work stopmakes it much more difficult for one player to page, the NBA has, in one indirect way or rise above his team’s play, and when it does another, taken steps to deal with an image happen, the player in question will usually be that threatened to become too black for maina white quarterback. What’s more, NBA playstream acceptability. When Ron Artest and ers do not have the built-in sympathy cards Stephen Jackson went into the stands in Dethat football players possessed during their troit in 2004, the NBA dramatically strengthlockout, namely the issue of playing with ened the fines and punishments to instigators non-guaranteed contracts (which, to many, of on-court fights. When Allen Iverson began justified their salary complaints) compoundwearing too many white T-shirts and fitted ed with the recent emphasis on just how viocaps in 2005, the league responded with a lent a game football really is (it is worth wondress code. When players like Kwame Brown dering how popular support during the NFL threatened to create an influx of poorly conlockout, almost unanimously in the players’ ditioned, poorly developed high-school gradcorner, would have been allocated had the uates straight to the professional level, the collective bargaining agreement expired one NBA made sure that everyone coming into year earlier after 2009, when the economy the draft had to have at least a year of college was still reeling but the focus on concussions under their belt. had yet to gain the kind of momentum and atCollectively, hidden under the euphetention it did during the 2010 season). mism of the “thug culture” that needed to be The last thing Stern and the owners want eradicated, these steps read like a prolonged is for the lockout to become an overt race isattempt to put the largely African-Amerisue — a perspective which, were it to become can workforce in its place. They could play popular, would undoubtedly mobilize supbasketball and make their money, but they port for the players. Yet it is hard to ignore were going to do it within the framework the the fact that race-baiting sound bites like the Courtesy of Zimbio.com league and the owners would create for them. controversial analogy from journalist Bryant In each case, through the ineffective protests LeBron James’ “Decision” to sign with the Miami Heat was the last straw for Gumbel, who compared the commissioner and complaints, the players adhered and David Stern (l.) and the owners, who recognized that a power shift had occurred. to a “modern plantation overseer, treating framework held. NBA ‘men’ as if they were his ‘boys,’” play The difference is that this lockout is a right into their hand. Gumbel never explicwhite-collar problem, not a blue-collar one. The money it was believable. The NBA players’ union, with all of its itly turned his invective into an extended metaphor for on the line is the kind of money that will decide who is icons, has a problem there. slavery, choosing instead to refer to the players as “hired going to be in control of the league going forward, and for Because icons, particularly black icons, face their own hands.” a long time, even though the players controlled a major- special brand of criticism, backlash, and a near-inevitaNonetheless, someone with his experience in public ity of basketball-related income (a contentious point in ble desire from fans to tear down the men they once in- perception should have no trouble understanding that the new negotiations), there was little question which dulged in building up. Not to mention that complaining even the most indirect comparison of a multimillionaire side was running things. White men manipulated the fi- about anything is off the table forever. The NFL owners to slavery will result in “woe is me” backlash twentynancial future of their black employees for their ultimate wanted to demolish the players’ union just as badly as fold, serving only to cancel out the altogether reasonable financial gain, and that was just the way things went for their NBA counterparts do now, only this time the nar- point about the commissioner’s pattern of abject condegeneration after generation of players and owners. rative isn’t about greedy old men trying to become even scension. “If he’s saying NBA players are slaves,” reads Except that this generation of players has the chance richer at the expense of a mostly nameless set of players. the most popular comment on a ProBasketballTalk.com to write its own narrative in a way their predecessors Instead, to large numbers of people, it is about entitled thread dissecting the incident, “bring back the plantadidn’t, and this is where the league’s system has worked athletes, whom they know for a fact have it all, who some- tions and I’ll sign right up.” against itself. One of the great successes of the NBA un- how have the nerve to ask for more. If this sounds more than a little sinister on the part of der commissioner David Stern, one that was as much a The world has gotten to know the faces of the NBA to Stern and his owners, it should. They are not encouraging calculated decision as it was a happy accident, has been a degree greater than those of any of the other Ameri- popular opinion to turn against the players, but nor are its ability to turn certain players into global superstars can sports, and feel no sympathy for them. LeBron, Kobe, they preventing unfair conclusions from being reached. and household names by marketing individual players Wade, Carmelo and others have become the straw men By capitalizing on latent anti-black sentiment to genermore strongly than the league’s elite teams. who shouldn’t dare cry poverty in an age of 9 percent un- ate support for his side, the commissioner has shown that It was a strategy that proved successful beyond the employment. the icon strategy will work out for him after all. His suleague’s wildest dreams, but it also served to make cerThe racial politics of the lockout fall in line with a perstars will continue to sell tickets for him, appear on tain athletes bigger than the league itself. The superstars long history of African-American labor movements that billboards for him, create ratings for him, and likely do who have entered the NBA in the past decade are the failed to gain support from the populace. Whether it was it all for less money when the dust settles on this lockout. ones who watched Michael Jordan rise to this level twen- the struggles of black railroad workers to become legitiHopefully, for LeBron James’s sake, he’ll enjoy his ty years ago, and it taught them that control over their mized in the early 20th century, the discrimination that time in Miami, since getting there may have cost the playcareers is there for the taking. The owners’ framework, kept many black laborers out of powerful unions for de- ers a chance to run the NBA for years to come. which had been starting to show cracks, shattered com- cades or a million other examples in between, there is too Tim is a junior. You can reach him at tbernst1@swarthpletely last July when LeBron James hijacked an entire strong a precedent for an American public that views the more.edu
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November 3, 2011
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Men take third, women finish sixth at championships BY timothy bernstein tbernst1@swarthmore.edu Beat Hopkins. Finish third in the conference. These words have echoed around the Swarthmore men’s cross country team like a mantra. Throughout the year, the team has taken every opportunity to state its goals for this season: To defeat rival Johns Hopkins, and to come in third in the Centennial Conference Championship Meet. On Saturday, Swarthmore delivered on them. Fighting through an early snow storm that hit the Northeast with a rare October snow, the Garnet men placed third in the conference championships, an 8-kilometer race hosted by Dickinson at Big Spring High School in Newville, Pa. With a total of 110 points, Swarthmore finished behind overall winners Haverford (19 points) and the host Dickinson (46 points). The team’s total was good enough to narrowly defeat Hopkins (114 points) for their best finish since 2004 (they have finished third five other times in the program’s history). The Garnet had placed fourth in last year’s championships. Jacob Phillips ’13, who has led the way for the Garnet all season, once again finished first on the team and tenth overall in the race. His time of 27:34.9 was Swarthmore’s best individual performance since Lang Reynolds ’05 won the race in 2003. The next-best Swarthmore finisher was Aidan Dumont-McCaffrey ’13, who came in 20th with a time of 28:13.3. Robert Fain ’14 (28:44.8) and John McMinn ’13 (28:55.7), who had both missed time with injuries, came in 31st and 35th respectively. “We were very happy with coming in 3rd and beating Hopkins, another nationally ranked team,” McMinn said in an email. “Due to injury and other reasons this was the first race in a while that we had all of our top runners running in the same race, and the
fact that we’re a mere four points better than Hopkins Katie Gonzalez ’12 (40th/26:28.1), Margret Lenfest ’12 (51st/26:47.6) and sophomore Emma Saarel ’14 showed just how important each runner was.” Additional Swarthmore finishes were Jonas Op- (52nd/26:49.7). “It was a challenging meet, the conditions of the penheimer ’15 (43rd, 29:21.7), Stuart Russell ’14 (38th, 29:40.1), Chris Wickham ’12 (41st, 30.00.7), Richard race being as tough as they were,” Gonzalez said in Scott ’14 (42nd, 30:05.9), Jorin Schug ’15 (60th, 30:23.5), an email. “But we came in feeling very strong and had a lot of really great perforAlec Toro ’15 (79th, 31:28.9), Henmances.” ry Ainley ’12 (83rd,31.38.0) and For the Garnet, the snow addErick White ’15 (87th, 32:21.7). The overall winner of the It was a challenging meet. ed an unexpected dimension to the challenges they would face. race was Jordan Schilit, a juFrick, the women’s top finisher, nior from first-place HaverBut we came in feeling described the experience of racford, with a time of 26:52.8. Schilit beat Dickinson’s Dylan very strong and had really ing in a snowfall. “It’s like driving in the dark Straughan (26:58.9) by just over great performances. with one headlight, not knowsix seconds, to lead his team to Katie Gonzalez ’12 ing where you’re going and feelthe conference title. ing your tires slip out from unThe Swarthmore women’s der you,” Frick said. cross country team finished “It’s very, very unfamiliar sixth out of ten teams in their conference championships, a 6-kilometer race also at terrain, and your body’s not acclimated to it. I remember coming off the starting line and not being able Big Spring High School. The team finished with 166 points, finishing 21 to look forward because of the snow falling in your points behind fifth-place Gettysburg. Melissa Frick ’12 face. It really came down to being a race about feeling where you were.” led the Garnet by placing 22nd with a time of 25:38.9. Johns Hopkins finished first with 43 points, fol“I’m happy with how I raced,” Frick said. “I’m not a cold-weather person by any means, so for me it was lowed by Haverford (52 points) and Dickinson (69 a success. I’m really hoping I can improve my confer- points). Dickinson’s Taylor Ludman won the overall race with a time of 23:43.0. ence standing in regionals.” “Every member of our team put 110% effort out Head coach Peter Carroll was pleased with his team’s ability to overcome playing shorthanded. The there,” Lenfest said, “and as our coach said the night Garnet women’s team was without seniors Jen John- before, racing is about focus and we are lucky to have son ’12 and Hannah Rose ’12, as well as junior Rebecca this opportunity to show it. We now also have a truly epic story to tell about the time we ran in a blizzard!” Hammond ’13. The two cross country squads now turn their at“We were without three of our top runners in this race,” Carroll said. “I’m proud of the way the women tention to next weekend, when they participate in the NCAA Regionals at DeSales University in Center Valrallied, and the people who had to step up did that.” Following Frick was fellow senior Stephanie Beebe ley, Pennsylvania. The meet is scheduled to begin at ’12 in 35th place (26:07.1). Other high finishers were 11:00 a.m.
Jacob Phillips (left) finished 10th overall in the men’s 8k, while Stephanie Beebe (top right) and Melissa Frick (bottom right) led their team to a sixth-place finish. THE PHOENIX
November 3, 2011
Courtesy of Hannah Rose
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