APRIL 7, 2011 • THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE SINCE 1881 • VOLUME 133, ISSUE 24
PHOENIX
Inside: SusCom recommends sustainability initiatives ‘Sucker Punch’ fails to deliver humor, substance Colleges responsible in addressing sexual assault
Increased security sought in preparation for Genderfuck and after assault on student
p. 3, 4
The Phoenix
Thursday, April 7, 2011 Volume 133, Issue 24
The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881.
Page
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Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
Spencer Ross swings for a pitch in the Garnet’s 8-6 victory over Washington College. Ross went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs.
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where print media seems to be dying. PAGE 8
In hip-hop, double standards still around
have Favorite TV episodes feature beauty, wit and susThe largest on-campus party of the year is pense
According to Eva, rapper Macklemore both fights and exemplifies the tension in the hip-hop industry over race and recognition. PAGE 15
Genderfuck to increased security
receiving additional security measures to ensure the safety of the attendants and the college community this weekend. PAGE 3
Alex sheds light on her favorite TV episodes of all time, and what made them so thrilling. PAGE 9
Sports
Punch’ lacks Student assaulted by teens ‘Sucker humor and empowerment on Mertz Field Men’s, women’s tennis Two students were physically assaulted at Though “Sucker Punch” aims to be a feminist action movie, it neither succeeds in breeze by Gettysburg the college last weekend by a group of teenagers whose motivations have been suggested as homophobic in nature. PAGE 4
promoting female empowerment, nor in being particularly entertaining. PAGE 10
Moolah! You’ve earned it, SusCom pushes to hire full- now how do you grow it? time director It’s never too early to start saving money Within the Strategic Planning process, the Sustainability Committee has been preparing a recommendation to increase sustainability initiatives on campus, including the creation of a full time staff position. PAGE 5
Living & Arts Danish photographer discusses art as tool for activism Jacob Holdt, famed photographer and activist, discussed contemporary racial issues in America through his art and personal experiences. PAGE 7
in a retirement fund, like IRAs or 401(k)s, and it’s much more effective than investing elsewhere. PAGE 10
Swattie to join professional comedians in Swatdown This Saturday, the men’s soccer team will host the Richmond Comedy Swatdown, a stand-up comedy night fundraiser featuring six professional comedians as well as Swarthmore’s own Tarit Rao-Chakravorti ’12. PAGE 11
Opinions
The Garnet men’s and women’s tennis teams dominated their recent opponents. The men smashed three straight teams (Muhlenberg, Gettysburg and TCNJ), winning 8-1 in the first two matches and 7-2 in the last match. The women’s team won matches over Gettysburg and Ursinus. PAGE 17
Baseball sees recent skid, hopes for playoff berth The baseball team (13-8, 4-3 CC) split with Gettysburg and lost a close game to rival Haverford before picking up a key win over Washington. The Garnet has its sights set on reaching the Centennial Conference playoffs. PAGE 17
With the playoffs approaching, Purkey recaps NHL season Sports columnist and hockey enthusiast Hannah Purkey summarizes some comical stories from the 2010-11 NHL season. Now, you can be caught up to the enjoy the upcoming playoffs. PAGE 18
Schools must lead campusProfessor to discuss es away from sexual vioIslamic religious dissimula- lence Major League Colleges and universities need to develop a 2011 tion safer, more productive culture for dealing Baseball season predicProfessor of religion Tariq al Jamil will with sexual discrimination, harassment discuss religious dissimulation, a Shi’ite and assault. The new Title IX guidelines tions
practice that allows one to lie about his or her faith in order to save a life, and the complicated relationship between this and heresy. PAGE 7
are a good first step. PAGE 13
Conference hosts college humor publications
After years as an absolute pacifist, Jon Erwin-Frank learns to see how intervention can be justified and necessary. PAGE 14
Princeton University’s humor publication “The Princeton Tiger” hosted the first National Intercollegiate Humor Conference where Swarthmore’s Spike Magazine was in attendance. The conference fostered community and hope between humor publications in an age
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The right reasons for intervention overcome doubts
The perpetual problem with public bargaining Danielle finds the difference between public and private unionization key in the Wisconsin labor battle. PAGE 14
Guest columnist Nick Harbist reveals his predictions for the 2011 MLB season. What teams does he expect to win each division and which team does he choose to win it all? PAGE 19
EDITORIAL BOARD Camila Ryder Editor in Chief Marcus Mello Managing Editor Menghan Jin News Editor Adam Schlegel Assistant News Editor Susana Medeiros Living & Arts Editor Dina Zingaro Living & Arts Editor Olivia Natan Opinions Editor Paul Chung Photo Editor Allegra Pocinki Photo Editor Julia Karpati Graphics Editor Peter Akkies Director of Web Development Eric Sherman Director of Web Development Jeffrey Davidson Editor Emeritus STAFF Navin Sabharwal News Writer Patrick Ammerman News Writer Sera Jeong Living & Arts Writer Steven Hazel Living & Arts Writer Steve Dean Living & Arts Columnist Alex Israel Living & Arts Columnist Maki Sakuma Living & Arts Columnist Ariel Swyer Living & Arts Columnist Aliya Padamsee Living & Arts Columnist Timothy Bernstein Film Critic Renu Nadkarni Artist Naia Poyer Artist Ben Schneiderman Crossword Writer Holly Smith Crossword Writer Tyler Becker Opinions Columnist Danielle Charette Opinions Columnist Eva McKend Opinions Columnist Jon Erwin-Frank Opinions Columnist Emma Waitzman Artist Ana Apostoleris Sports Writer Daniel Duncan Sports Writer Renee Flores Sports Writer Timothy Bernstein Sports Columnist Hannah Purkey Sports Columnist Andrew Greenblatt Sports Columnist Renee Flores Copy Editor Lauren Kim Copy Editor Susanna Pretzer Copy Editor Jakob Mrozewski Photographer Eric Verhasselt Photographer BUSINESS STAFF Ian Anderson Director of Business Development Patricia Zarate Circulation Manager GRAPHICS Julia Karpati Cover Design Parker Murray Layout Assistant CONTRIBUTORS Henry Kietzman, Rachel Killackey, Aaron Kramer, Anna Rothschild, Eli Siegel, Justin Toran-Burrell OPINIONS BOARD Camila Ryder, Marcus Mello, Olivia Natan EDITORS’ PICKS PHOTOS COURTESY OF: (clockwise from top left): prose-n-poetry.com menscience.com mcssl.com aspencountry.com nassaulibrary.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 Camila Ryder. 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 Camila Ryder. The Phoenix is printed at Bartash Printing, Inc. The Phoenix is a member of the Associated College Press and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. All contents copyright © 2011 The Phoenix. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
Softball team looks to get back on winning track The Garnet softball team (now 4-14, 0-4 CC) dropped a doubleheader to a tough Gettysburg squad, losing Game One and Game Two 15-5 and 8-2, respectively. The Garnet looks to snap its losing streak and come out strong in future games. PAGE 20
April 7, 2011
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events menu Today Cross-cultural dialogue through movement with Daniel Singh Director of D.C. based dance company Dakshina, Daniel Phoenix Singh, who performs in both the Modern and Bharata Natyam styles of dance, will be hosting a dialogue in Troy Dance Lab at 2:40 p.m.
Genderfuck to have increased security
Faculty lecture: Tariq al-Jamil Assistant Professor of Religion Tariq al-Jamil will be speaking about Shia Islam, secrecy and religious dissimulation in social practice in Kohlberg’s Scheuer Room at 4:30 p.m. Hamlet The Yellow Stockings Shakespeare Company will be performing the classic tragedy of Danish prince Hamlet in Bond Hall at 8 p.m. Can’t make it to this one? No problem. Additional productions will take place on Friday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. Tomorrow Asian-American student art show Head over to Kitao Gallery at 7 p.m. to view an exhibition of works done by Asian-American student artists. Refreshments will be provided.
Mr. Swarthmore 2011 LaSS is sponsoring the fifth annual Mr. Swarthmore competition in Upper Tarble at 8 p.m. Contestants from various student organizations compete in five events for the highly-sought after title and all proceeds will go to Women’s Way. Saturday, April 2nd 2011 Richmond Comedy Swatdown The Men’s soccer team will be sponsoring a night of stand-up in the “2011 Richmond Comedy Swatdown,” featuring six professional comedians and one Swarthmore comedian who will all perform on the same stage in Upper Tarble at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 3rd LGBTQ Liberation & Environmental Justice Come on down to the Women’s Resource Center for a discussion concerning homophobia, heterosexism and transphobia, in relation to racism, colonization and environmental destruction at 3 p.m.
Hip Hop Autonomy and the Industry At 4:30 p.m. in the Women’s Resource Center, this workshop will facilitate discussion of creative alternatives to the music industry as well as the hip-hop as cultural expression. E-mail submissions for the events menu to news@swarthmorephoenix.com
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Eric Verhasselt Phoenix Staff
This year, the Genderfuck party will be held for the first time in Sharples. Fifteen Party Associates and two Public Safety officers will be in attendance the entire night to ensure the safety of those in attendance. BY PATRICK AMMERMAN pammerm1@swarthmore.edu
Swarthmore’s largest party of the year, “Genderfuck,” will be enforced by new security measures this year to ensure the safety of everyone in attendance. Student safety at the party has been a growing issue and, just last year, resulted in a formal disassociation between the party and the Sager Symposium for Queer issues. According to Director of Public Safety Owen Redgrave, last year’s party resulted in seven alcohol related incidents that required ambulances and hospital treatment. This year’s Genderfuck will take place in Sharples, which will provide a more centralized party and allow a better monitoring of students leaving and entering the building. In years past, the party has taken place at three locations concurrently: Delta Upsilon, Olde Club and the Women’s Resource Center. This year’s Genderfuck will also be closed to
non-Tri-Co students, but students from other schools can still attend if invited by Tri-Co students. One of Genderfuck’s planners, Alex Weintraub ’11, said that conversations between the party’s planners, Sexual Health Counselors, ASAP and Party Associates (PAs) prompted this decision to move the party to Sharples. “There will be areas in this party on the ground floor where you can get a drink of water and food . . . where attendees can have a break from the party,” Weintraub said. He also added that the top area will be completely dry, giving students “a totally dry place where people can come and celebrate … so more members of the campus can contribute.” There will also be more PAs and public safety officers present at this year’s party. “There will be 10 [PAs] at least at any given time,” David Hill ’13, one of the two PA Coordinators, said. PAs will work in shifts throughout the night with a total of 15 individuals
April 7, 2011
acting as PAs over the entire course of the party. According to Redgrave, two Public Safety officers will be positioned outside Sharples and will work overlapping shifts throughout the night. PAs will be provided with additional support from members of the DART team, who will be putting up posters in Sharples and will be available throughout the night of Genderfuck to provide additional assistance to those in need. Dean Liz Braun and Hill both feel confident in the security measures the college has put in place. “We’ve had a very well-thought-out plan and security strategy for months now,” Hill said. Braun agrees that the party doesn’t require added concern because “we already had put in plans to increase the security of [the party].” Even in the wake of last weekend’s assault, Hill believes security for the party has already been aptly addressed. “Safety has always been the number one priority,” he said.
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Student assaulted by teens on Mertz field
Week in pictureS
BY PATRICK AMMERMAN pammerm1@swarthmore.edu
Justin Toran-Burrell The Phoenix
On Saturday, students, faculty and members of the community gathered amongst the cherry blossoms to welcome spring and commemorate Japan.
Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
Poet Kate Northrop read from several of her works and announced student prizes in poetry on Tuesday in the Scheuer room.
Paul Chung Phoenix Staff
Last Thursday, students gathered in Shane lounge to enjoy Vietnamese "Banh Mih" sandwiches at an event hosted by SAO.
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April 7, 2011
Last Sunday morning just after midnight, a group of teenagers violently assaulted a Swarthmore student and a University of Pennsylvania student. The incident took place on Mertz field. The two students were then taken to Worth Health Center by a Public Safety officer who responded to the scene to receive first aid from the nurses on duty there. They were then transported to Springfield Hospital where they spent the night under surveillance. Director of Public Safety Owen Redgrave has been involved with the ongoing investigation. “The call to [Public Safety] came from Worth Health Center at 12:30 a.m … Our corporal in charge of that shift happened to be in [David] Kemp and so he was on the scene at or before 12:32,” Redgrave said. Although they responded very rapidly to the scene of the assault, Public Safety officers could not find any sign of the perpetrators. The Borough Police were called as well and assisted in the search. “We had a fairly large number of law enforcement types combing the area,” Redgrave said. Reports filed by Public Safety and the police indicate that the assailants were a group of five to seven teenagers, one of whom was female and one who was possibly Asian. The two students were walking through Mertz field when they were approached by the group of teenagers. The teenagers then asked the two students to procure alcohol for them. “[The students] asked the kids if they were ‘Ville rats’ and if they were of high school age. That’s the only indication we have of any comments that were made between the groups,” Swarthmore Chief of Police Brian Craig said. According to the Swarthmore Police Report, the students first asked if the group of teenagers were “Ville rats” and they responded “No.” The students then asked if they were in high school. Immediately after this question, the perpetrators attacked the two students, knocking them to the ground and kicking and punching them repeatedly. An e-mail from Public Safety was sent out to the student body on Monday around 5 p.m. The e-mail provided a brief description of the incident, but included vague details regarding the actual conversation between the two students and the perpetrators; it also had discrepancies involving the location of the attack. The e-mail prompted concern from many students. “Students saw [that] the response from Public Safety — which is typically how they do things, you know, just the facts — was not what a lot of people on campus expected was needed at the time,” Dean Rafael Zapata said. Zapata, who was the dean on call when the assault took place, received several questioning emails from students who read Public Safety’s e-mail. Michael Duffy ’11, a Swarthmore Resident Assistant, sent another email to his hall on Monday, which
quickly circulated to other RAs and students around campus. In it, Duffy expressed frustration with Public Safety’s initial notification e-mail, including details missing from Public Safety’s notification such as the students’ overnight hospital stay and that both identify as queer and were showing signs of affection at the moment of confrontation. “I find it indefensible that the administration failed to report to all of you … that there is some possibility that they were targeted due to public expression of their sexual orientation. Issues such as these are always important and alarming, particularly in a community such as ours that places an emphasis on progressive and inclusive values,” Duffy wrote. “The primary purpose of that email was to inform my hall and others of what had happened, and to ensure that they be proactive and alert about safety,” Duffy explained later. According to Dean Liz Braun, the Public Safety message “was based on the best information we had at that time.” Both Braun and Zapata were aware that a follow up e-mail with more information would need to be issued to further inform the student body, but waited to consult with the victim before doing so. “We knew all along that a follow up was going to happen, but clearly the campus didn’t know that … we wanted to make sure that what we shared was something that the student was okay with,” Zapata said. Details about the student’s sexual orientation also were not brought up on the night of the assault or mentioned in the initial police report. However, in speaking with the deans, the Swarthmore student affected stated that he feared his sexuality was a reason behind the attack and asked that the student body be informed about it. “I really appreciated that he was willing to share that sort of information with me and really felt that it was important to relay that aspect of it to the community as well,” Braun said. Whether or not the assault constituted a hate crime is still unclear. “Our experience has been that, if they’re attacking with [sexuality] in mind, they make some comments related to that and there was nothing about that reported,” Craig said. Still, the victims have expressed to the deans that they thought their sexuality may have been a factor in what happened. “While there were no epithets hurled at them during that, [the victims] felt that that was the reason. They couldn’t think of anything else,” Zapata said. An investigation is still ongoing to find the assailants. There have been no promising leads yet and, as Redgrave pointed out, the absence of good descriptions of the attackers and lack of witnesses make the investigation much harder. “Those are typically the two leads that law enforcement can run with — or run fastest with,” Redgrave said. Public Safety and the Borough Police will continue to work together on the investigation.
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SusCom pushes to hire full-time director BY AARON KRAMER akramer2@swarthmore.edu As a part of the ongoing Strategic Planning process, Swarthmore’s Sustainability Committee (SusCom) has been preparing a formal recommendation of sustainability initiatives. The key components of the recommendation include a list of action item recommendations, a permanent budget line of $100,000 for energy conservation projects and a full time staff position of Sustainability Director. The action item list suggests broad measures to make the college more sustainable, including proposals like maximizing the use of locallygrown and humanely-produced food on campus, as well as installing more resource monitoring systems. Also included in the list is performing a costbenefit analysis of possible sustainability projects on campus. According to Nadine Kolowrat, Associate Director in the office of Corporate, Foundation and Government Relations, this is a big task best suited for the proposed Sustainability Director. The college recently hired Mckinstry, an environmental consultant firm, to perform a sustainability audit of the college. Mckinstry’s report mainly reduces to recommended changes in Swarthmore’s infrastructure and ways in which the college can make sustainability a more integral part of its culture, some of which are included in SusCom’s recommendations. Mckinstry noted that several straightforward capital projects could reduce Swarthmore’s energy expenditures by as much as 15 percent. Like SusCom, Mckinstry concluded that a Sustainability Director would be vital to Swarthmore’s continued sustainability efforts, in part by offering expertise and guidance to a fragmented environmental movement on campus. The Mckinstry audit is an example of the kind of detailed sustainability analysis that environmentalists on campus are looking for. According to Kolowrat, this needs to become a job for Swarthmore’s administration. “SusCom discussions have led us to conclude that a quick infusion of outside expertise would have less benefit to the college than hiring someone who is charged with prioritizing this work full-time,â€? Kolowrat said. A Sustainability Director would play an administrative role in SusCom and the Climate Action Committee. According to Camille Robertson ’13, a member of SusCom and Earthlust, a Sustainability Director would be most effective as a full-time position. “When Swarthmore commits itself to achieving excellence and dedicates the resources and staff to do that, we are incredibly successful,â€? Robertson said. “I would love Swarthmore to begin building an institutional cornerstone of sustainability starting with a full time position ‌ that could be a liaison among all the diverse sustainability groups but are restricted by time and expertise.â€? According to the recommendations of SusCom, “the most emphatic recommendation of the SPC ‌ was to create the full time staff position of Sustainability Director, who would chair SusCom, provide expertise, coordinate campus efforts and report to the external sustainability groups of which the college has become a member.â€? The proposal became stagnant after the economic downturn, but after recent reevaluations have been included in SusCom’s recommendations to the Strategic Planning Committee. The full-time, mid-level professional Sustainability Director would support, coordinate and provide expertise for college “greeningâ€? initiatives and communicate with the wider environmental action community. According to their recommendation, SusCom is unable to perform these tasks. SusCom believes that a Sustainability Director is necessary for Swarthmore to maintain its tradition of social responsibility and excellence in education. To many, sustainability efforts at Swarthmore
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are not sufficiently institutionalized. “A lot of the ADVERTISEMENT sustainability efforts on campus are fragmented,â€? said Jacob Phillips ’13, a member of Swarthmore’s Green Advisory. Graduate Studies Environmental Services, Maintenance, Facilities and other departments carry out sustainability projects. The problem, according to Phillips, is that there is little coordination among them. According to Phillips, the best example of sustainability inefficiency is Swarthmore’s compostOur premier education will keep you moving in the right direction. ing efforts. The problem is that there are just too many composting facilities and not enough collection. “Some of them are run by students, some by the administration ‌ As a result not enough bins are being emptied. This has led to creating smells and turning people away from composting,â€? Phillips said. In addition Phillips said that the “cost efficiency of bringing everything together is worth a single paycheck, especially when much of what sustainability does is save the college money.â€? Recently, colleges like Haverford, Bryn Mawr, Middlebury and Dickinson have established similar positions. Neil Leary, Director of Dickinson’s Center for Sustainability Education, has led a campaign of integrating sustainability issues into the college curriculum and has been coordinating student initiatives. According to Leary, Swarthmore should take on a more active role in intercollegiate environmental organizations, like the Pennsylvania Environmental Resource Consortium (PERC). A sustainability director would play a key role in communicating with outside organizations like PERC. Find out more by visiting As of now, no one is explicitly responsible for coordinating with off-campus groups at www.tcnj.edu/gs Swarthmore. According to Phillips, a student-run sustainOr call 609.771.2300 ability system also lacks accountability and reliability. “There is no guarantee that everything will be done. We’re all working around academic and extra-curricular schedules. When [sustainability efforts] become institutionalized, they become more effective,â€? Phillips said. Many involved in the discusADVERTISEMENT sion conveyed that, though important, efficiency should be a secondary concern. For one thing, there is practical limitation to considering efficiency. “SusCom is finding that monetizing the cost-saving effects of hiring a sustainability director is difficult, if not downright impossible,â€? Kolowrat said. According to Kolowrat, the college should consider that a Sustainability Director would improve the effectiveness of student sustainability projects and attract an environmentally conscious student body. In addition, the Director could act as a community leader in sustainability. “It would be part of a Sustainability Director’s job to make it easier for people who want to make choices that are more sustainable, both economically and environmentally,â€? 0 +% ( ( + * % ( + * &+() ) % &, ( )+ ! *) Kolowrat said. Both the Good Food Project 0 +#*. & # % ) %* )*) +* &() % ) &# () and Green Advisory drafted a letter to Rebecca Chopp, citing sim0 &+() ) % &( % # % + ) ilar arguments advocating the 0 +$$ ( %* (%) ') % &)*&% &( % / * &%) Sustainability Director position. To Robertson, the precise job of a Sustainability Director 6TLLDQ May 24–July 1 should remain open so as to 6TLLDQ July 5–August 12 bu.edu/summer allow students and community members to give recommendations. “We need [sustainability groups] to explain [what] their current abilities, capacities, assets and limitations are so a position can be created that best meets those needs and supports An equal opportunity, affirmative action institution. all of us,â€? Robertson said.
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arOund higher educatiOn
Obama approval rises among college students “The excitement and the energy and the sense of hope that he represented is something that young colWhile President Barack Obama lege students are more likely to keep has seen his national approval rate alive than people who have bills to tumble since the beginning of his pay, who are being more harshly presidency, his support among col- affected by the economy,� Ahranjani lege students stays strong. said. According to a recent poll by Obama’s fundamental role in Harvard’s Institute of Politics, sup- advancing policies that are important port for Obama among college stu- to college students — such as the dents has actually increased by nine repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell� and percent since October, bringing his the now-stalled healthcare reform college-student approval rate to 60 bill, which would allow students to percent — a figure markedly higher remain on their parents’ health insurthan the 48-perance plans until cent approval the age of 26 — rate Obama held play a big “... the sense of hope that also nationally for role in mainthe week of [Obama] represented is taining student March 28 in a support for him, something that young recent Gallup Penn Democrats college students are more President and poll. M a r y a m College sopholikely to keep alive ...� Ahranjani, a more Isabel Maryam Ahranjani Friedman said. law professor at However, 2010 A m e r i c a n American U. law prof. Graduate School University in of Education Wa s h i n g t o n , D.C., suggests that the enthusiasm graduate Dan Chinburg, who founded generated by Obama’s 2008 campaign the Penn Tea Party Branch while at has remained present in students Penn, thinks that “a lack of diversity in the type of intellectual views availmore so than anyone else.
able to studentsâ€? in college also plays points,â€? Moskowitz said. Looking to become the 14th presia role in the political homogeneity on dent to serve two full terms in office, college campuses. “College students ‌ don’t feel the Obama officially announced the start pain of big government policies yet,â€? of his re-election campaign on Monday via a video on his website. Chinburg said. The campaign race this time “Conservative ideas can’t be fully appreciated until a person is a tax- around will “be much more substantive than the p a y e r , â€? last one,â€? Engineering Terpeluk said, junior and Penn College “While there are still tremen- which will be to the benefit Republicans dous challenges facing the of the president Republican P e t e r country ‌ we’re moving in t i c k e t , Terpeluk said. the correct direction.â€? because a W h i l e deeper discus“there are Andrew Silverstein about some issues Penn Dems events director sion Obama’s poliwhere I’d like cies will show to see more that “they progress being made,â€? College junior Ben have been rejected by a majority of Moskowitz is overall pleased with the the American people.â€? College sophomore Andrew president’s performance thus far. A lot of the progress made under Silverstein, the events director for the Obama administration depends the Penn Dems, thinks that “while on “whether or not Republicans in there are still tremendous challenges the House are willing to work with facing the country ‌ we’re moving in Democrats to get something done, or the correct direction,â€? he said. “The soaring rhetoric of campaignwhether they decide to spend the next one-and-a-half years trying to stymie ing changes when you get to governObama’s agenda just to get political ment,â€? Silverstein added.
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Conference hosts college humor publications BY SUSANA MEDEIROS AND DINA ZINGARO smedeir1@swarthmore.edu, dzingar1@swarthmore.edu This past weekend, Princeton University’s “The Princeton Tiger” hosted the first National Intercollegiate Humor Conference. The conference included 14 colleges and university humor publications, who gathered to listen to guest speakers and comedians, compete in write-a-thons and explore the future of comedy and humor publications. College publications in attendance included, among others, Brown University’s “The Brown Noser,” Cornell’s “Cornell Lunatic,” University of North Carolina’s “BoUNCe,” Vanderbilt University’s “The Slant” and Swarthmore’s “Spike Magazine.” “The Princeton Tiger,” Princeton’s humor magazine, organized the conference largely through the efforts of Tim Matchen ’12, chief operating officer, and Jim Valcourt ’12, President. “The major goal of the conference,” Valcourt said, “is to create a college humor community, to network and have people from other colleges get to know each other, to expose people to the idea of doing humor as a career … and to have fun.” Editor-in-chief Myra Gupta ’12, commented on the competitive nature of the conference, where schools worked in separate and mixed groups to workshop articles. “It’s the Model UN of funny,” she said. In preparation, Matchen and Valcourt contacted dozens of colleges to participate in the conference. Once they discovered there was interest, they began to contact both publications in print and on the web, such as The Onion and CollegeHumor that might be interested in participating in the event. Immediately, CollegeHumor was keen on sending their Executive Editor Streeter Siedell to make a presentation and potentially recruit students. As the Executive Editor of CollegeHumor since 2005, Siedell joined the website when there were only seven or eight writers — a decade later it is a profitable company that rakes in 10 million in ad sales per month (by comparison, The Onion or Funny or Die rake in 3 or 4 million). At the conference, Siedell spoke about his struggle to find a steady-paying job in the humor industry, and offered advice to the conference delegates. “If you can deal with being weird, ruining your relationships and making no money, then comedy is the thing for you,” Siedell said. Also, Siedell shed light on the business side of humor and in particular, emphasized the precarious relations between comedians and their advertisers. “Yes, someone’s giving you money to make dick jokes, and it’s excellent, but at the same time you have to deal with the bad stuff ... there are people [marketing execs, advertisers] who like to work with comedy but aren’t really funny,” Siedell said. Working with advertisers — who often say they want to target the profitable 18-22 year old market, but don’t want to put faith in comedians to do their job — is a challenge. The purse strings that come with getting ad revenue often prove problematic; for example, only recently was CollegeHumor allowed to use the word “shit” on the website’s homepage. “You need them to get your paycheck,” Siedell said, “but you also need to stand up for your jokes.” As Siedell addressed the business side of humor in a post-college world, the rest of the conference sought to solve some of the financial problems that college humor magazines are facing now. In a meeting among representatives of the magazines at the conference, “The Princeton Tiger” introduced the idea of forming a humor coalition of college humor magazines to generate ad sales. Several humor magazines, though they receive funding from their respective college, also rely on print and web advertisement to stay afloat. Thus, the coalition would hope to convince advertisers to buy packaged placement in a variety of humor magazines rather than dealing with each separately. “We want to generate revenue for the coalition ... [and] spread awareness on college humor magazines,” Matchen said. Though many of the kinks still need to be ironed out, the hope is that the 14 conference delegates could serve as a test drive for what in a few years could be a national coalition for college humor publications. Many of the delegates expressed enthusiasm about “The Princeton Tiger’s” proposal. “[For] the complexities involved to get this thing started, the benefits far outweigh the challenges,” David Faulkner ’11, the editor in chief of University of Michigan’s “Gargoyle,” said. Editor of Yale University’s “The Yale Record” Dana Zhu said that if college humor publications “band together,” they’ll be “far more attractive to adver-
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tisers.” She commended the promise of the coalition and the bonds formed during the conference. “The idea of being a greater association and working together as a larger unit ... is really cool on a college level,” she said. Also, the coalition is considering creating a RSS feed that will compile the latest articles for display on individual publications’ websites in order to increase the traffic flow amongst the coalition members. “There is an audience for college humor magazines and we want to try to reach that market,” Matchen said. Currently, “Spike Magazine” does not feature advertisements, but plans to consider making a change with the hope that the decision would increase its operating budget. In light of this, Peter Liebenson ’11, co-editor of “Spike Magazine,” said, “We put out every copy of our latest issue and I’m still hearing from people who never got one, so we’re exploring how we might increase our circulation for next semester.” With the chance at the conference to compare “Spike” to other publications, the magazine is currently debating how it can incorporate more artwork and advertisements within its pages, as well as how it can increase campus awareness. “Aside from meeting some cool peeps, the chance to learn about how other magazines were put
together will keep us thinking about how we can improve [Spike],” Liebenson said. Timothy Bernstein ’13, co-editor, agreed. “It was a great opportunity to look at how other magazines were doing things and to see the comic sensibilities behind all of them.” Though he is graduating this spring, Liebenson feels optimistic about the conference’s future and its potential to “forge a community among college magazines.” Considering the future of the conference, Liebenson believes that two full days of events and workshopping would greatly improve the quality of the event. Sunday’s closing ceremony acknowledged both the struggles and triumphs humor publications currently face. “There’s still a place for print media and the existence of a magazine and there’s something nice about a magazine you can distribute on campus,” Matchen said. Even though many of the publication delegates maintain their own website, each distributed copies of their work at the conference with pride. In his lecture, Streeter underlined print’s promising and distinguishing feature: “Quality,” he said. “That’s what’s going to keep print media alive.” Disclaimer: Timothy Bernstein is a writer and columnist for The Phoenix. He had no role in the production of this article.
Crossword ACROSS 1. You save one, you earn one 4. Splitting it makes a big bang 8. Afresh 11. Maker of Sims, challenge everything 12. Indian or Pacific or Atlantic 14. Ancient Egyptian sun god 15. Mamma Mia’s music source 17. Amongst 18. Plant that adds flavor 20. Mild expletive 23. Increased 25. L in AFL-CIO 28. McClure of “The Simpsons” 29. Lake where Dracula swims? 31. “I am a ____ on the wind, watch how I soar” 32. Van Gogh cut off one 33. First man 34. 90 in Ancient Rome 36. AKA Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic 37. Expert 38. Torah teacher 39. De Janeiro 41. Jeremy Fritz as a prof. wrestler 42. Turquoise, amethyst, quartz, ruby 43. Affleck or Franklin 45. Sudden evasive action 47. What you’d use the end of a pencil to do 49. White or dark or red 50. Start 51. Unclogging devices 53. Equal in France 54. Refine 55. Bruce Lee sure knew a lot 58. Stereotypical ballet garb 60. “__ tu Brute?” 61. Relative you get through marriage 64. News & World Report or Weekly 65. ’96 Pulitzer Prize for Drama winner 66. What a naked mole rat wouldn’t do 67. Clip or Airplane
2. Approximately 3. _____ Dabba Doo! 5. Too, two, and __ 6. California drama that aired on Fox 7. Drink served at Herot 8. Muppet drummer of “Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem” 9. Card game involving slaps 10. Brando starred in “On the __________” 13. “Sam I __” 16. Sea between Greece and Turkey 18. Juno in Greece 19. Gigantic 21. Lady and ____ 22. Ophir, Nes, Granov, or Bichman 24. Midnight flight 26. Nervous system condition stemming from thiamine deficiency 27. Or, ore, and ___ 28. One might describe a “chick flick” as this
30. Exam for Spanish students 33. Bird in Uruguay 35. Network home of “Survivor” 38. Churchill said nothing in life is so exhilarating at to be shot at without this 40. Atom with net electric charge 42. Swanky event 44. A wing Belle is allowed in 46. Between Iraq and Saudi Arabia 48. D&D, for one 49. Most famous Gorgon 52. Seuss’ I Am NOT Going to ___ __ Today 53. Morays and electrics 56. “I can’t believe I ___ the whole thing” 57. 1 x 1012 59. Guy walks into a ___, ouch 62. Oh’s partner 63. “Me, __” – Muhammad Ali BY HOLLY SMITH
DOWN 1. “It’s so sad the way they hopped on ___”
April 7, 2011
For the solution to this week’s puzzle, see The Phoenix’s online edition at www.swarthmorephoenix.com.
THE PHoENIX
Living & Arts Favorite TV episodes feature beauty, wit and suspense swarthmorephoenix.com
Well, we’re getting close to the end here, loyal readers. I have only a f e w columns left, and I thought it was about Alex Israel time that I start wrapPencils Down, ping things Pass the Remote u p . Recently, I started thinking about my favorite episodes of television, and about what exactly makes an episode great. So here, in no particular order, I present my favorite television episodes of all time. Many are from shows that I love, but some are great episodes of otherwise mediocre shows. Without any further ado, I present to you, Alex’s list of the best television episodes of all time. (WARNING: Spoilers abound, so read at your own risk if you plan on watching any of these shows.)
ryline that so memorably ran off the rails, nothing mattered for the 40 minutes of “The Constant” but Desmond, Penny, their grief over their lost love and their incredible joy at reuniti n g after s o
tions for laughs. However, the show quickly pulled itself together, and by the end of its first season, “Community” had given the world
“Glee”: ‘Pilot’
“Doctor Who”: ‘Human Nature’ and ‘The Family of Blood’ many I’ve discussed these two episodes y e a r s . before in this column, and to me they A n y o n e didn’t represent a perfect confluence of sto- who Anna Rothschild The Phoenix along rytelling and acting. This two-part cry episode is beautifully written, but the with Henry real stand out quality here is the per- Ian Cusick and Sonya Walger during formances. The guest stars, in particu- their beautiful, heartfelt and tearful lar Jessica Hynes of “Spaced” and reunion has a heart of stone. Thomas Sangster of “Love, Actually,” are brilliantly cast, and Freema “The Vampire Diaries”: ‘Founder’s Agyeman wonderfully portrays how Day’ the lost, but still brave, Martha acts Throughout its first season, “The when she is forced to act by herself without the help of the Doctor. Vampire Diaries” proved that it was However, David Tennant’s perform- much more than a mere silly teenage ance is what transforms the episode vampire show with its solid acting, from merely well-written and well- breakneck pace and the smoldering acted to one of the most amazing sto- Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore. ries I’ve ever seen on television or The first season finale sustained the quality anywhere w h i l e else. This is ramping the first up both time that “‘The Vampire Diaries’ proved the pace Tennant that it was much more than a and the r e a l l y action. breaks out of mere silly teenage vampire show T h i s the goofy episode with its solid acting [and] persona featured with which breakneck pace.” several he had predeaths, v i o u s l y hints that imbued the Tenth Doctor, and showcases both the certain characters could be weredeep sorrow and the icy rage that lie wolves, a surprising kiss and a monbeneath the surface. After watching ster twist that established even more this episode, it becomes clear that his greatness for the second season. Not to magnificent performance as Hamlet mention that the final twist allowed viewers to witness the crazy was no fluke. badassery embodied by Nina Dobrev’s Katherine Pierce (and Elena Gilbert, “Lost”: ‘The Constant’ for that matter). “Vampire Diaries,” It should be noted that I was incred- for showing us Nina Dobrev is a ibly displeased with the ending of B.A.M.F., we are eternally grateful. “Lost,” but that does nothing to mitigate the achievement of this episode of “Community”: ‘Modern Warfare’ season four. Even though “The “Community” began with a rocky Constant” only peripherally included the original castaways of Oceanic 815, start, relying on archetypal characters and helped begin the time-travel sto- and somewhat clichéd sitcom situaTHE PHOENIX
us both the laughter-inducing sight of Carmen Electra dressed as a farmer and chewing on a piece of straw, and a truly moving flashback that shows how House (Hugh Laurie) lost both his girlfriend and the use of his leg, and in return gained a painkiller addiction. Plus, the episode’s medicalschool format allowed for quite a bit of House’s patented snark at a time when it was hilarious, rather than annoying.
‘Modern Warfare,’ one of the best half-hours on TV. The episode centered around a paintball battle that spiraled out of control, and quickly turned into a quick-witted, action-packed send-up of action movies that was as brilliant as it was surreal. From Abed (Danny Pudi) solemnly intoning “Come with me if you don’t want paint on your clothes” to Señor Chang (Ken Jeong) launching a “Scarface”-style paintball attack, to the characters throwing a few pointed insults at “Glee,” it was non-stop laughs. Now, if only the promised twopart sequel (featuring Josh Holloway!) can live up to the precedent … “Fringe”: ‘There’s More Than One of Everything’ I know that I’ve rambled on and on about “Fringe” in this column (and it got renewed! Yay! The TV gods have smiled upon us), and thus, I’ll be brief. This episode is great for two reasons: William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) summoning Olivia to the Other Side, which is revealed in the most absolutely jaw-dropping way possible, and Walter Bishop standing in front of Peter’s grave, thus revealing that Peter was, in fact, stolen from the other universe. Consider everyone’s mind officially blown. “House”: ‘Three Stories’ “House” disintegrated into a boring, formulaic medical procedural fairly quickly, but this first-season episode is absolutely top-notch. The episode plays with the series’ usual formula in a rewarding way, offering
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I am the first to admit that the majority of “Glee” is wildly uneven, oscillating between high-school farce and preachy after-school special. However, the pilot was an absolutely wonderful hour of television, snarky without being over-the-top and earnest without being preachy. The final musical number, “Don’t Stop Believing,” was catchy and danceable, and for the last time in the show’s history the characters actually behaved in a consistent fashion. If only the next two seasons could have been anywhere near as heartwarming and crowd-pleasing as that first glorious episode. “The Wire”: ‘Final Grades’ I saved the best for last. Now, you could argue that you could simply take any episode out of “The Wire’s” masterful fourth season and it would probably be better than any other episode of any other show, and you would be right. I picked “Final Grades” simply because, in ending the season, it perfectly embodies the show’s balance of absolute hopelessness and teeth-gritted perseverance. We meet Tristan Wilds’ Michael, who has dropped out of school and turned to dealing drugs on the corner, and even more heartbreakingly, we meet Jermaine Crawford’s smart, neglected Dukie who has left to pursue the same fate after presenting his favorite teacher with a parting gift. In the Major Crimes unit, we see Lester Freamon (Clarke Peters) finally demonstrate that murder victims are being hidden in boarded-up row houses, along with the frustration that the case could have been solved months ago if the city had continued to fund the department’s wiretaps. The final, heartbreaking storyline follows heroine addict Bubbles (Andre Royo, who can now be seen on “Fringe”) as he is arrested and attempts suicide. This episode summed up the frustration, hope, and desolation of a broken city perfectly; it simply has no equal. Alex is a senior. You can reach her at aisrael1@swarthmore.edu.
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Danish photographer discusses art as tool for activism BY SERA JEONG sjeong1@swarthmore.edu To introduce his lecture on social integration, Danish social activist Jacob Holdt boldly said, “On the first day arriving in America I was held at gun point and then raped by a black homosexual.” On Friday April 1, Holdt, a photographer, writer and lecturer, gave his fifth lecture at Swarthmore, though it was his first in over a decade. His introduction laid the foundation for his the lecture, which covered several contemporary racial issues and a inside glimpse of the violence that characterized life in underclass America during the 1970s and ’80s. Alexander Hollander ’12, organizer of the event, discovered Holdt’s photography on the Internet and admired the works’ artistic quality and their capacity to promote activism. Griffin Dowdy ’13, interested in the academic dimensions of Holdt’s work, assisted Hollender in bringing the artist to campus. Even though the the studio art and art history departments primarily funded the lecture, Holdt does not consider himself an artist. “I simply cannot see myself as an artist. I’ve always seen myself as what the Americans call it, a ‘social activist.’” Even the term “social activist” sits uneasily with Holdt, so he asked to be introduced as “just a vagabond from Denmark.” The lecture highlighted the importance of integration with others in society, and brought to the forefront the issue of ghettoization, which is the isolation of both social and ethnic minorities. Focusing on the discrimination against Muslims in Europe, Holdt compared the Muslims’ predicament to that of blacks in America. Also, he highlighted the issue of gay rights and argued that values of heteronormativity remain the norm in many European countries. For his message of social activism to appeal to students, Holdt relied on his humor, as he attempted to emphasize the life of glamour and adventure that is apparently attainable in social work. He considers a number of well-known figures to be his friends including Sapphire, author of the novel “Push,” which inspired the film “Precious,” and the late Anita Roddick, who is the founder of the Body Shop. Also, Elton John purchased one of Holdt’s photos taken in 1973. Humorously, Holdt said, “See, there’s money to be made in social activism!” Following his introduction, Holdt shared thoughts on his most well-known collection entitled “American Pictures,” which is a four-hour photographic documentation of racism, particularly the oppression of America’s underclass during the ’70s and ’80s. In 1971, Holdt arrived in
America with just $40, and the physical and sexual assault inflicted on him upon his arrival inspired him to go on a journey through the ghettos to explore where pain and anger on the streets of America came from. Holdt explained that his parents sent him a camera with the hopes of receiving proof of his experiences that he vividly described in letters sent home. Thus, he returned to Denmark with the 15,000 pictures that would come to form “American Pictures,” which became means of non-violent communication to help create social change. In addition, Holdt shared stories on how he became the first “anti-racist” member and webmaster of the Klu Klux Klan. He believes that members of hate groups such as the KKK are actually victims since many come from backgrounds of troubled childhoods. Thus, he feels these individuals are deserving of friendship and help. “I’ve only met damaged people, not hateful people. They just need a little help. If you treat oppressors with hate they will retaliate with more hate,” he said. Holdt helped the KKK financially by allowing members to sell his book, “American Pictures,” the printed version of his photographical documentary. Looking back, Holdt acknowledges the irony of the KKK supporting anti-racism artwork. “Life is just a joke! I got the leader of the KKK to sell my anti-racism book,” he said. In this light, Holdt believes the KKK are misunderstood, not as racist as they present themselves and should be considered a source of identity and community rather than a representation of the members’ abject racism. However, for some members of the audience the content of the photographs Holdt presented in his lecture were provocative and offensive. “He utilizes the content of sexuality, violence, substance abuse and other destructive acts of marginalized people to make a profit while never truly addressing and listening to those people he attempts to capture,” Taylor Tucker ’13 said, member of MULTi, the campus multiple heritage group. Moreover, in Tucker’s opinion, Holdt’s lecture on the continuing marginalization of ethnic groups, most specifically African-Americans, was unsubstantiated. “To literally see the ‘shock doctor’ tactics, PC Paint graphs that had no statistical analysis and support, and lack of understanding about the historical and systemic issues that perpetuate racism, classism and injustice in our society was disgusting,” she said. Moreover, Tucker feels due to Holdt’s perspective is inherently biased and lacking critical thought.“Jacob Holdt, as a Danish white male, acts and navigates these marginalized peoples with complete ignorance and without
Paul Chung Phoenix Staff
Jacob Holdt, Danish social activist, discussed the racism and violence that characterized life in underclass America during the 1970s and ’80s through his photography. any sense of his advantageous subjectivity that informs what he sees, how people act around him and what is available to him,” Tucker said. In his lecture, Holdt also noted the current dormancy of social activism as rallies that were once commonplace on college campuses have yielded to the largely passive and apathetic attitudes displayed by a large population of college students of this generation. Thus, Holdt argued in favor of regenerating social activism since he believes the activist mentality displayed especially during the 1980s can be applied to the marginalization of certain racial groups that still takes place today. Ironically, the last time Holdt visited Swarthmore he delivered his lecture to an audience of over 700 students. Last week, however, the audience included about 20 members, which supports Holdt’s belief that social activism has waned. “I didn’t realize that in the eighties he was big on the college circuit. [Holdt] was very surprised that I found out about him as a student at Swarthmore who had never seen his work [in person],” Hollender said. The lecture highlighted the need for different means of presenting social issues to college students in a generation where the youth are not necessarily inclined to rally and protest as Holdt once did two decades ago. “The word of mouth is dead. [Holdt] is kind of arcane at this point,” Hollender said.
Professor to discuss Islamic religious dissimulation BY STEVEN HAZEL shazel1@swarthmore.edu Professor of religion Tariq al Jamil will give a lecture titled “Hiding in Plain Sight: Shi’i Islam, Secrecy and Religious Dissimulation” today at 4:30 p.m. in the Scheuer Room. Provost Constance Hungerford asked al Jamil to share his sabbatical research on Twelver Shi’ism, the largest branch of Shi’a Islam, from a new methodological perspective for the benefit of his colleagues and students. Al Jamil specializes in medieval Islamic law within society, with a special focus on Shi’ism. Unlike other Muslims, Shi’ites believe that the Prophet Muhammad’s family and descendants have special spiritual authority over the entire Muslim community. Al Jamil has studied relations between Shi’ites and Sunnis, the largest Muslim denomination, as well as the social histories of Iraq, Egypt, Iran and Saudi Arabia. He received his B.A. from Oberlin College and later, his Masters and Ph.D. in religion from Princeton University before teaching at Swarthmore as an assistant professor of religion and the coordinator of the program of Islamic studies. At Oberlin, al Jamil struggled with THE PHOENIX
choosing a major, and although he took a variety of classes that he found fascinating, religion continued to turn up in his path. “I was interested in religion because I had taken a lot of different courses and I kept seeing religion as a subject matter that intersected many different interests of mine. I was interesting in many subjects … even in physics. I saw religion everywhere I turned,” al Jamil said. Swarthmore’s religion department considers the discipline as a cornerstone of the liberal arts education. Professor of religion Mark Wallace said, “Religious studies enables the development of crucial aptitudes — critical thinking, communication competence, interpersonal awareness and intercultural literacy — necessary for success in a global society.” During this semester, al Jamil is teaching “The Religion of Islam: The Islamic Humanities” and “Holy War, Martyrdom and Suicide in Christianity, Judaism and Islam” and he has pursued his passion with research, as well.“My interest in pre-modern Islam was because I had an interest in contemporary Islam and a genealogical impulse to trace the sources of contemporary issues
and to think in complex terms about how Islam ended up where it did in terms of social groups and politics,” al Jamil said. “I wanted to think deeper.” Specifically, his research focuses on pre-modern religious identity, the transmission of knowledge in Islam and women in Islamic law. The lecture will discuss the application of new methodological approaches to Twelver Shi’ism’s practice of religious dissimulation, or “taqiyya.” The majority of Shi’ites are Twelver Shi’ites, who believe in 12 divinely ordained leaders called “Imams.” Religious dissimulation, which is called “taqiyya,” is a Shi’ite practice where a Shi’ite can lie about their faith in order to save a life. Al Jamil challenges the traditional legal and theological frameworks used to discuss this religious dissimulation in Islamic societies and believes that the methods used fail to properly explain the practice of taqiyya in real social situations. “[I hope] to create a new way of thinking about these issues. Rather than go to conventional literature, I hope [students and scholars] think differently about religious dissimulation and think critically about the existing sources,” al Jamil said.
April 7, 2011
In particular, al Jamil will speak on religious dissimulation during the 13th and 14th centuries in Iraq. Much of the lecture will cover the four historiographical problems in a new methodological light. These problems include a severe lack of information available about the practice of religious dissimulation, and the existing information through the perspectives of different medieval authors is difficult to interpret. Additionally, al Jamil will examine the complex relationship between religious dissimulation and heresy. “I think what is most interesting is that when you think about secrecy you don’t think about secrecy as a strategy for both the safeguarding of information that can be damaging and the cultivation of power by withholding the secret from others,” al Jamil said. Along with updating colleagues on al Jamil’s work, the lecture will introduce a new topic to explore for students interested in Islamic or religious studies. “[Shi’ite Islam] is not a subject that I come into contact with very often in my courses, but [because] I am interested in world events, I hope that the lecture will both inform me and maybe even inspire me to study religion,” Claire Graham ’14 said.
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‘Sucker Punch’ lacks humor and empowerment dance hall in which she is a newly arrived virgin and indulges in withholding from its women the privilege the other female patients (their names ranging from of fighting back. Sweet Pea to Blondie) are employees. Such is the logic As disheartening as it is to see a film pretend to celThis is a 16-year-old boy’s wet dream preserved on of Snyder’s brand of female empowerment, in which a ebrate the very cause it delights in victimizing, the 35-millimeter stock. A salute to misogyny dressed up girl fantasizes about life as ... a hooker. central crime of which “Sucker Punch” is guilty is that as a sage of female empowerment by allowThe brothel is managed by the sadistic it is amazingly and shockingly boring. That a film so ing its abused young women to reciprocate Blue (Oscar Isaac, failing to intimidate), loud and busy could fail so completely in commanding just enough brutality to make it appear as Movie Review the asylum’s orderly in real life, who attention is a tribute to the extent to which its makers if everything has evened out by the end. To plans to save Baby Doll for a special mistook chaos for visual ingenuity. When a film’s subscribe to this would be to forget that the client called the High Roller, due to sequences become a trade-off between this and the perreclamation of control is just another part arrive in a matter of days. Soon enough, vasive nastiness of the brothel (and vice versa), the Rotten Tomatoes of the fetish. however, Baby Doll discovers that the prospects of success dim significantly. Rating: 20% Whose fetish, exactly? In this case, it erotic dances she is forced to undertake Nearly as damning is “Sucker Punch’s” complete would seem to be property of Zack Snyder, for the clientele help to transport her and absence of wit or self-awareness, from the pretension for whom “Sucker Punch” is the first the other dancers (one more forgettable of dealing only in character titles (“The High Roller” attempt at directing his own material; the film’s than the next) to yet another level of fantasy. or “The Wise Man”) to the refusal to treat its ludicrous screenplay was co-written with Steve Shibuya, though In this world, someone “named” the Wise Man premise with the slightest hint of tongue-in-cheek what scraps of story there are have been credited sole- (Scott Glenn) instructs the women, wearing consider- wariness (even “Inception” cracked a couple of jokes). ly to the director. To describe ably less than soldiers would be encouraged to wear, to The closest it comes is with several misguided those scraps with any measure carry out vague missions attempts at profundiof cogency is an arduous task. across a series of battlefields. ty; at one point, the Emily Browning is The film hazily parallels this Wise Man sends the Such is the logic of Snyder’s a nonentity as a arc to an escape attempt Baby women into battle young woman Doll plans to flee the brothel, with the reminder, “If brand of female empowerment, known only as even though said brothel does you don’t stand for in which a girl fantasizes about Baby Doll, commit- not actually exist and the something, you’ll fall ted to a mental implications of “escaping” it for anything!” That life as ... a hooker. asylum by a are left almost extraordinarily “Sucker Punch” might wicked stepfa- unclear. truly feel as if it conther following Snyder executes these tains any sort of the deaths of her interminable video-game sequences — which take important message is beyond comprehension, which mother and sis- place in a medieval castle, World War I trenches and a makes it the closest thing in the film to humor. ter. To cope with train car full of robots — with a stunning lack of coherWhere another director’s sense of irony may have the world ence, offering nothing beyond the sight of women in produced a couple of light moments, Snyder’s ironclad around her, Baby short skirts firing guns without a discernible purpose. grip on his material’s own self-importance strangles Doll re-imagines her The only redeeming quality they possess is that the what little pleasure might have been gleaned and surroundings as a longer they drag on, the longer “Sucker Punch” cannot affirms the status of “Sucker Punch” as the most mindhigh-end brothel-cum- return to its other states of ugliness, where the film bendingly joyless film in recent memory. BY TIMOTHY BERNSTEIN tbernst1@swarthmore.edu
Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/g1crf
Moolah! You’ve earned it, now how do you grow it? Earnings from on-campus and summer jobs can be put towards tuition or used as pocket money, but how Aliya Padamsee can we Money Matter$ devote a portion of it to invest in our future? Sooner or later we are faced with decisions as to where to put away some of our saved money and the best recourse is to have our nest egg grow and expand. We may think it’s early, but saving smart now enables us later to have enough for a down payment on a house, a rainy day fund, our wedding, our kids’ college funds and even retirement! In terms of retirement funds, the two most common options are Individual Retirement Accounts, more commonly known as IRAs, and 401(k)s. If you are a college student, self-employed or work for a company that does not offer 401(k)s, a Roth IRA would be your best option. If someone told you there was a way to earn tax free money for retirement beginning in college, would you turn it down? Any money you put into a Roth IRA grows completely tax free, which
means you won’t owe the government a single penny when you cash it out in retirement. Start saving while in college, because the earlier you start, the less money you will have to initially invest to reach the same goal. Why? It’s the power of compounding. 401(k) retirement plans are a better choice than IRAs because the contribution to a 401(k) is so much greater. The only drawback is that your employer needs to offer this plan, and you must be 21 or older. Unlike 401(k) plans that are offered by employers, you would individually choose an IRA program with a brokerage account that presented suitable annual fees and trading commissions. Setting up an IRA takes a little research, but simply requires downloading and signing application forms sent with a check to fund your account. Under the IRA program, you are only allowed to add $5,000 annually. The limit imposed upon 401(k)s is $10,500. When you also consider the potential for matching funds from employers as well as profit sharing contributions, the number can rise to $25,000. Conventional thinking is to put the money into an investment account, and have a fund manager “manage” our money since, of course, they are the money professionals who advertise exponential growth. Mutual fund managers are financial intermediaries who are set up to receive your money and then make investments with your money. However, according to Justin Fox from TIME, 66.21 percent of mutual
funds underperformed the average return of the stock market from 20042008. When I visited an esteemed financial institution in Boston as a high school junior during the college admissions process, I talked with one of the managers who proudly elucidated how his passive tax strategy group was linked to the performance of the S&P 500 index (index of the top 500 best companies), and how his goal was to stay within 0.2-0.4 percent of the performance of that index. I was shocked that their goal and mandate was not to handily beat but to stay averagely linked to the index. In simplest terms, you can’t afford to pay for fund managers that don’t earn their fees. If a fund has fees of two percent and only matches the market with its stock picks before paying those fees, then you’ll end up with a return that’s two percent less than the market’s, year after year. Although two percent may not sound like that big of a deal, it represents nearly a fifth of the market’s long term average return of around 10 percent. Put another way, over 50 years, a $10,000 investment will compound to $1,170,000 at 10 percent returns per year, but to only $470,000 at eight percent per year. For this investment decision,
clients are giving them a two percent management fee. Common sense is that if you subtract the 2 percent fee from the performance of their fund, which is +/0.2-0.4 percent of the index, you are guaranteed to underperform the index to which their fund is pegged. I wouldn’t mind paying a 2 percent fee for superior performance to double or triple the average, but to pay for underperformance is preposterous. When large, reputable mutual funds with at least $3 billion under management were charted against the S&P 500 over a 4-year spread, it turned out that many of the funds, such as Legg Mason Value Trust, Vanguard Windsor and Fidelity Equity-Income, underperformed the S&P by about 15 percent. So, watch out for ‘Assets Under Management,’ and if you have to pay a two percent fee, demand to see by how much the fund managers outperformed the broader US equity markets, in each of the last five years. It’s a crooked system when fund managers make their two percent regardless of whether they make or lose money for us. Their rhetoric is packaged as ‘risk-averse,’ but our returns are pegged to the indexes they track, so we yo-yo with every fluctuation of the markets while they masquerade as winners. Aliya is a first-year. You can reach her at apadams1@swarthmore.edu.
Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/vm1g8
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April 7, 2011
THE PHOENIX
Living&Arts
swarthmorephoenix.com
RewindingbacktotheirSwarthmoredays Alum: Galuh Wandita Soedjatmoko Class: 1988 Major: Sociology Anthropology
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Post-Swat Education: Master of Study in International Human Rights Law, Oxford University 2007 Her current profession: As Senior Associate at the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) in Indonesia and Timor-Leste since 2006, Soedjatmoko heads a program in each country where she designs and implements interventions in transitional justice in post-conflict context in Aceh and Papua, as well as at a national level in Indonesia and Timor-Leste. Transitional justice is a response to systematic or widespread violations of human rights. Specifically, ICTJ works to both redress and prevent severe violations to human rights by confronting legacies of mass abuse by promoting accountability and recognition for victims. The center also hopes to create just and peaceful societies supported by democracy. Whether she is writing or editing reports, working alongside victim organizations or traveling to head trainings or workshops, Soedjatmoko works to receive official acknowledgement by the Indonesian government of the human rights violations that occurred during the New Order regime (1965-1998) under Suharto, Indonesia’s second president. Her team believes the government must punish those most responsible, acknowledge victims and ensure that such individuals are no longer discriminated against. “Imagine if there was a regime change that led to Hitler’s fall, but then the German government continued to deny the Holocaust and discriminate against its vic-
tims. [It] sounds incredulous,” Soedjatmoko said in an email due to a 12-hour time difference in Indonesia. However incredulous such a situation may seem, it is a reality in Indonesia where the new continues to deny that 500,000 to a million people were killed in 1965-1966, and another one million detained for 10 years or more without trial. Challenges of her work: Transformations to peace, reconciliation and democracy in some cases happen suddenly, but in others, they make take place over many decades. “If you want to work in the area of human rights and justice, I think you need to be prepared for long distance runs and not short sprints!” Soedjatmako said. After working alongside victims of the 1965 atrocities, who are now in their late 80s, and even victims’ children who continue to campaign for justice, Soedjatmako feels inspired by their determination and commitment. “[The victims] have had to learn to pace themselves because the barriers to justice are many,” she said. Since human rights courts in Indonesia have produced a 100 percent acquittal rate for perpetrators of serious crimes ever brought to trial, the biggest challenge is confronting impunity. “For victims this is a deep disappointment, sort of an insult on top of the suffering they have experienced,” Soedjatmako said. Thus, the team learned to be creative and find other ways to continue to press for truth and justice. In light of the challenges of her work, she quoted Martin Luther King Jr., “The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” Path to her career choice: Soedjatmako was first exposed to human rights issues in Indonesia as a young woman when she worked on social justice issues in places that were often in the midst of conflict. Then, while at Swarthmore, she worked at the Domestic Abuse Project in Media, and later wrote her thesis on the general violence against women. Following graduation, Soedjatmako worked on reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues in Philadelphia. When she moved back to Indonesia, she worked as a
gender officer for Oxfam, which is an international confederation that works to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. Soedjatmako said, “I am not sure there was an ah-ha moment, but I was always attracted to people trying to make concrete changes in the face of injustice. So I followed my nose, my heart and lastly, my head.” However, Soedjatmako discovered the inspiration for a career focus on social justice issues at Swarthmore. Actually, she began her college career with the intent of becoming a painter and later changed majors quite frequently. She said, “Luckily at Swarthmore, there is room for intellectual exploration.” Exposure to political debates and social activism, courses on education and social anthropological, and specifically a class taught by Hugh Lacey on liberation theology, all “stretched [her] heart and mind,” Soedjatmako said. Her years on campus: Looking back, some of Soedjatmako’s fondest memories include musical theatre performances that she acted in and helped to organize, such as “Godspell,” “Hair” and “Jesus Christ Superstar.” In light of her other participation such as in the psychedelic a capella group called Effervescent Elephants and numerous dance performances, Soedjatmako believes that “having such a creative space and at the same time some pretty heavy duty learning was the best part of [her] Swarthmore experience.” Words of advice: Her time at Swarthmore taught Soedjatmako how to be an independent thinker and improved her writing skills, which she believes is “a very practical and useful skill to have.” Soedjatmako believes the college encourages students to be more politically aware and conscious about their choices, and said, “A Swarthmore education is a privilege and a gift not to squander.” For students looking towards their future after leaving Swarthmore, she said, “Follow your heart! Have fun, but also remember that the privilege of a Swarthmore education also brings with it an obligation to work for social justice.” TEXT BY DINA ZINGARO
Swattie to join professional comedians in Swatdown BY HENRY KIETZMAN hkietzm1@swarthmore.edu
This Saturday, April 9, the Centennial Conference Champion men’s soccer team will host the Richmond Comedy Swatdown, a stand-up comedy night fundraiser featuring six professional comedians as well as Swarthmore’s own Tarit Rao-Chakravorti ’12. Coach Eric Wagner first thought of the idea after hearing stories of assistant coach Ciaran Dalton’s brother Pat Dalton. Though he grew up in Swarthmore, Dalton currently lives in the Richmond area and is just getting started in the stand-up comedy business. In 1989, Wagner remembers the head coach he was working with had a friend who was a professional comedian. He invited him to campus for a fundraiser, and now Wagner has decided to do a similar fundraiser again. In brainstorming the event, Wagner consulted his players, including David D’Annunzio ’12 and David Sterngold ’12. “We got an email from Coach Wagner over winter break ... The first aspect we [decided to address] was the funding [allowing students to attend for free],” Sterngold said. “Dave D’Annunzio
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and I went in and proposed to the Student Budget Committee to get money from the Fun FUNd”. Since the majority of campus events are free and open to the public, the players felt that keeping the event free would encourage a larger attendance, after speaking with Dean Myrt Westphal. Hosted by the Fun FUNd, the event will be free for all Swarthmore students, while admission for staff, faculty and members of the community is $10 each. As the plans developed, Dalton, who will M.C. the event, gathered five of his fellow comedians for the show. The featured comedians include James Paulk, Jesse Thomas, Frank Genzano, Corey Marshall and Kenny Wingle. All but Genzano — who lives and works in Philadelphia — are from Richmond, VA. The six comedians offer a wide and eclectic range of stand-up for the event. Paulk describes his comedic style on his website as “insane and random, as much as it is genius and inciteful.” Genzano began his standup career at Helium Comedy in Philadelphia. Father of three-year old twins, Genzano explains on his website that his children as his main influences in his material, as well as his “marriage, fatherhood, husband-
hood and the hood in general.” Following spring break, the soccer team hosted a student comedy contest with the hopes of finding a student comedian to perform with the professionals. Athletic director Adam Hertz suggested the student comedy show, and immediately the soccer team as well as Pat Dalton, agreed that it was the perfect addition. Wagner, the Dalton brothers, statistics professor and faculty adviser Phil Everson, sports information director Mark Anskis and five soccer players were judges. “We had a lot of people giving us some input,” Wagner said. Wagner and the soccer team met with Rao-Chakravorti of Boy Meets Tractor and Cannizzaro ’12 of Vertigo-go in order to spread interest about the student contest to the comedy groups on campus. Since RaoChakravorti won the student comedy contest, he will perform alongside the professional comedians this Saturday. Rao-Chakravorti has performed in sketch shows before with Boy Meets Tractor, but is actually fairly new to the stand-up scene. “It’s one of the most important days of my life, probably,” Rao-Chakravorti said, “… along with my birth.” He joked that
April 7, 2011
the night will probably be one of the most memorable moments of Swarthmore history Through the event, the soccer team hopes to raise funds for their summer training trip to Greece. “We’re going to be playing professional youth clubs [in the area],” Sterngold said. However, most importantly, the team hopes to put on a fun and engaging event on campus. “It’s a big event. It’s something that we’re excited about, providing an opportunity on campus for students to have a great time. The fact that we’re sponsoring, promoting, and hosting it will help spread some positive light on the soccer program,” Wagner said. Rao-Chakravorti hopes that the show will be a success and a fun event before the Genderfuck party. Wagner scheduled the show from 7:30 p.m. - 9p.m. so that students can eat dinner, attend the event and still enjoy their Saturday nights. “We want it to be a big event; we want people to have a blast. Comedy is always better when there are more people there. Less chance that there will be crickets,” Wagner said. “Make sure that your face is securely attached before you come, cause you’ll literally laugh your face off,” Rao-Chakravorti said.
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swarthmorephoenix.com
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Part 1: Thursday, April 7 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Kohlberg 119
Multi week presents: Writing Workshop with Rudy Guevarra and Kehaulani Vaughn
Mr. Swarthmore
Come create narratives exploring multi-heritage identities in this fun workshop.
Friday, April 8th 8 p.m. - 10 p.m. Upper Tarble
Part 2: Friday, April 8 4 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Big IC Room
editor’s P I CK S By Susana Medeiros
Hamlet
with the Yellow Stocking Players
Sunday, April 3 Scheuer Room 4 p.m. - 5 p.m.
Quidditch Every Sunday 12 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. Mertz Field
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April 7, 2011
THE PHOENIX
Opinions
swarthmorephoenix.com Staff Editorial
Schools must lead campuses away from sexual violence Though there have been a few incidents of sexual harassment and assault made high profile on the national level in the past decade, these stories were not accompanied by a larger discussion of the culture surrounding sexual discrimination, harassment and assault on college campuses. Now, following the issuance of new guidelines under Title IX for the receipt of federal funding, announced Monday by Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, and the Title IX complaint filed against Yale last week, the country seems poised to begin a broad, much needed discussion about campus attitudes and procedures regarding sexual discrimination, harassment and assault. Sixteen Yale students — 12 women and four men — filed a formal complaint with the Office for Civil Rights at the Department of Education on March 15 following attempts to address their grievances within Yale’s system. The students’ allegations of Title IX violations primarily cite the university’s inadequate management of many incidents of sexual misconduct, including anonymous testimony about Yale’s unsatisfactory responses to specific cases of sexual harassment and assault. Currently, the Office for Civil Rights is conducting an investigation of the university, and no litigation is underway. Representatives will come to campus and speak to students and the administration as part of a “climate check”. At stake is Yale’s $500 million of federal funding, and the same could be true for any other feder-
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ally funded educational institution — to do from Yale’s perspective, which is school districts, colleges and universi- not to go to the hospital, not to go directly to police, but instead to conties. Though the Yale case is directly tact immediately the people who can addressing the hostile environment on deal with it in-house,” Hannah Zeavin, its campus, that environment is creat- one of the students who filed the comed and cultivated by its administra- plaint, said. When dealing with burtion’s treatment of reports of sexual glary, on the other hand, students are advised to call the police directly. harassment and assault. This discrepancy only furthers the Past issues have gone seemingly unaddressed, as seen in author Naomi stigma surrounding reporting sexual Wolf’s extremely public account of the assault, at the fault of the University. Yale administration’s stonewalling her Yale, in neglecting to respond to attempts to ensure that other students instances of sexual discrimination, harasshave the ment and suitable assault, mechar e i n nisms to Schools have a moral obligation to forces address provide a safe place to learn, and the negat h e i r tive sexgrievthe responsibility of addressing envia n c e s sexual violence lies with the college. ual ronment after she by failf a c e d ing to unwanted sexual advances from a professor as an provide consequences for misconduct. In an aptly timed press conference undergraduate. Biden and Duncan The group of students who filed the Monday, Title IX complaint cited several other announced a new set of guidelines for episodes which were not adequately complying with Title IX and respondaddressed by the administration, ing to reports of sexual assault. Schools must follow six steps: including a few horrifying and public immediate investigation, ending and stunts by fraternities. By failing to fully and satisfactorily preventing assault while addressing respond to these reports of injustices, its consequences, protection of the perthe university perpetuates a culture son filing the complaint, provision of that not only allows such actions to procedure for filing complaints includcontinue without the fear of repercus- ing those of sexual discrimination and sions but also makes the resources sexual violence in which both parties available to victims seem less effec- have the opportunity to provide evidence, use of the preponderance of evitive. In addition to the negligent practice dence standard (as opposed to higher of failing to respond to allegations, the thresholds of proof) and the notificaprocedures in place “[lay] exactly what tion of all parties involved of the out-
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come of the investigation. If a college, university or school district fails to comply with the new guidelines, they could lose their federal funding. For many colleges and universities, this funding makes up at least a majority of their research funding. But schools should have more than just a monetary incentive to comply with and go above and beyond the new guidelines — they have a moral obligation to provide students with a safe place to learn, and this means that the responsibility of addressing sexual violence lies with the college or university. “Schools have a responsibility to bring justice to victims,” Vice President Biden said Wednesday in a conference call with college and university presidents and the press. In the same call, Secretary Duncan emphasized the importance of education as a deterrent to sexual violence both within schools and outside their reach. The guidelines put forth are a much needed step forward in institutionalizing norms of prevention and adequate treatment of sexual harassment and assault, but, as Biden and Duncan emphasized, more than compliance is needed to make changes in the culture of discrimination and violence. In addition to ending their practices of hushing up incidents that could prove to be bad publicity, colleges and universities must change the environment of tolerance of discrimination and harassment based on gender and/or sexuality. Next week, an article will address sexual violence and assault and Swarthmore.
April 7, 2011
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Opinions The right reasons for intervention overcome doubts
swarthmorephoenix.com
Not too long ago I considered myself an absolute pacifist. Influenced by my mother, whose Quaker heritage informed a principled opposition to killing, regardless of context, I wholly rejected the notion of just war, going as far as to rationalize the superiority of a pacifist response to the Second World War. Inspired by Gandhi, Martin Luther Jon Erwin-Frank King and late 20th century social movements, I imagSensible Socialist ined near limitless possibilities for radical or militant nonviolence. The words of King, that “hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence,” became more of an unbending doctrine than wisdom applied to nonviolent protest in a specific democratic context. I had always retained some ambivalence. My father, whose firm faith in just war was rooted in his experience as a Jewish man growing up in the postwar period, consistently cited the Holocaust as an example of an ongoing atrocity of epic proportion, bound up in war, that not only merited but demanded a military response. Usually halfheartedly, I sometimes parroted arguments I had read about fascism’s internal rot and potential non-violent responses such as bombing transportation lines. Ironically, it was at nominally Quaker Swarthmore College that I came to question the merits of absolute pacifism. From discussions with an opinionated first-year roommate who rightly called my position naïve to reading about the terrible consequences of the world’s inaction in Rwanda, Cambodia and other locations of genocide, my college experience pushed me towards a better-informed endorsement of a relatively new doctrine in international affairs, the “responsibility to protect.” While I maintain that violent revolution is rarely an arbiter of peace or progres-
sive change, and political or economic interests almost never serve as legitimate justification for war, I have become thoroughly convinced by the arguments for the use of force to prevent genocide. The main idea is relatively simple: if peoples’ lives are imminently threatened by violence and outside forces have the capacity to protect them without risking commensurate or even significant loss of life, then those outside forces have a duty to protect. Context matters. Violent protest in a stable democracy might accomplish little more than begetting chaos and more violence, but protection of people at risk of genocide both saves lives in the short-term and contributes to the building of a moral world order. Conflating these situations under the umbrella of “violence” is perhaps the most serious error of an essentialist, absolute pacifism. In reality, the application of responsibility to protect almost inevitably poses daunting challenges to those with the force to carry it out. Slaughter of civilians may occur in a slow, diffuse and unpredictable manner. Both sides of a civil war might target significant numbers of civilians, requiring a costly, large and not necessarily effective peace keeping force to successfully protect people. In peacekeeping and genocide prevention, as in all international endeavors, leaders must employ careful cost-benefit analyses. Yet when effective protection is feasible and intervention poses minimal or insignificant risk to foreign armed forces, there is a moral imperative for action. Many critics of the great power intervention in Libya have dismissed the notion that the purpose of military action was to protect Libyan citizens from potential mass killings. They forget or downplay the fact that Qaddafi did not hesitate to use snipers and deadly force to crack down on protesters, even those attending the funerals of fellow dissidents. The few reports coming from those re-conquered and besieged cities in western Libya suggest a pattern of brutal and deadly crackdown. Ultimately, it may have been Qaddafi’s threat that he would show “no mercy, no pity” in retaking the rebel-held city of Benghazi that pushed world leaders to adopt the UN resolution that quickly brought the allied strikes that relieved the threat to that city. Like supporters of TARP and fiscal stimulus at home,
those who support intervention in Libya face the difficult reality that preventing catastrophe is often costly and unpopular but rarely pays political dividends. We will never know how Qaddafi’s forces would have carried out the capture of Benghazi and eastern Libya. Given the likely possibilities, that is almost certainly a good thing. Another common criticism claims that even if Qaddafi was likely to kill thousands of Libyans, nothing distinguishes the situation in Libya from that in numerous other countries throughout the world. Without the will or the resources to police the world, we cannot arbitrarily choose to intervene in Libya simply because unrest in the Middle East has become a salient issue in the media and in politics. While it may be true that recent events and media attention catalyzed action in Libya, it is not true that nothing distinguishes it from other countries with leaders prone to violent oppression. In Libya, protesters seized the eastern half of the country with relatively little fighting. The geography of the conflict has been relatively straightforward. The threat to Libyan people was not from marauding gangs of thugs or small bands of soldiers dispersed over a wide area, but form an approaching army. Coalition forces could relatively easily prevent the capture of rebel-head Benghazi by Qaddafi’s forces approaching from the west and south. Furthermore, the distinction between the government and the rebels is less ambiguous than in many cases. While they are certainly not a homogenous group and have no clear political orientation, the rebels almost assuredly do not pose any kind of large-scale threat to civilians in areas they control. Decisive international action to protect civilians in Libya and, as of Monday, in the Ivory Coast may represent a significant break from the excessive caution and inaction that allowed atrocities like those in Rwanda to take place. I believe this intervention was about more than just a great power grudge against a defiant strongman. As new crises emerge around the world, I hope world leaders will prove me right. Jon is a senior. He can be reached at jerwinf1@swarthmore.edu.
The perpetual problem with public bargaining There are scant moments in life in which I find m y s e l f bunkered in the same ideological trenches as FDR and S a m u e l Gompers. Danielle Charette This, folks, The Nascent Neoliberal is one of them. Like Roosevelt and the founder of the American Federation of Labor, I am skeptical of collective bargaining in the public sector. Throughout the Wisconsin budget blitz, many on the Left, including our POTUS himself, demonized Governor Scott Walker for his decision to halt bargaining-power for state employees. Under Walker’s deficit-reducing scheme, public workers will be forced to contribute 5.8 percent of their salaries to pensions and 12.6 to healthcare premiums. Despite the rush to liken Governor Walker to Darth Vader and bemoan a Labor letdown in the old stomping-ground of progressive legend Fightin’ Bob La Follette, I considered ordering one of those “I stand with Scott Walker” T-shirts. One, because I like online shopping. Two, because I agree with the 43-year-old Republican rookie. To be clear, I find provisions for private union rights first outlined in the 1935 Wagner Act to be staples of the American workforce. This stems from the well-documented clash between management and
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labor in the wake of the Industrial Wave. A sad saying left over from WWI is that young men had a better chance surviving the frontline than they did the West Virginia coalmines. For the private factory worker, the contracted carpenter, or the outsourced electrician, the employer serves to make a profit from his labor. If the employer’s wages or benefits are miserly, the workers have a right, under Labor Board policy, to bargain for a fairer share. This is the risk Mr. Scrooge takes when he decides to scrounge a living business. Regardless of the hoopla in the heartland though, the taxpayer is no Rockefeller. As Los Angeles Times columnist Jonah Goldberg chides, “Do you recall the Great DMV cave-in of 1959? How about the travails of second-grade teachers recounted in Upton Sinclair’s famous schoolhouse sequel to ‘The Jungle?’ No? Don’t feel bad, because no such horror stories exist.” Unlike the contentious, sometimes tragic events that launched bargaining rights in industry, President Kennedy’s 1962 executive order to lift the bargaining ban on government workers was purely political. Political scientist Daniel DiSalvo highlights that Kennedy’s maneuver on public unions was motivated to solidify liberal bastions in Wisconsin and New York. It worked. For 50 years. Aware that Republican majorities in both the Senate and general assembly would override their objections and strive to balance the state budget once and for all, the Democratic caucus did what any law-abiding posse would do: they fled the state. For those of us following the Midwestern mayhem, this prolonged road-trip felt a bit like a month-long viewing of “Little Miss Sunshine,” but without all the catharsis.
In the interim, undergraduates, labor ringleaders and liberal heavyweights like Jesse Jackson and Michael Moore flocked to Madison. Despite the “Era of Civility” that was supposed to dawn after the Tucson shootings, Obama titled Walker’s attempts at fiscal accountability “an assault on unions.” Mind you, Obama’s spending freeze on federal employees is more rigid than Walker’s plan. At the same time, the Madison mob dispersed effigies of Walker, daintily adorned with a Hitler mustache. I guess respectful words and political dignity make occupying a state capital a whole lot less fun. As the plague of protests caught fire from Kenosha to Superior, school teachers organized a string of “sick-outs,” reneging on their classrooms in order to shout in the streets, “We teach the children! We are the mighty teachers!” This sounds more like a Little League catcall than the wisdom of America’s educators. I’ve heard multiple pundits assert that the right to collective bargaining in the public sector is what separates modern man from slavery. This has an emotional ring to it, so few have paused for want of logic. In actuality, what separates police officers, teachers, and firemen from slavery is that they collect a paycheck — that, in the Lockian sense, their efforts are their property. Generally, public positions have been somewhat lower-paying, in return for heightened job security. Indeed, 24 U.S States have never legislated publicbargaining rights. Yet in the economic plunge, Wisconsin, which became the first in the nation to grant collective bargaining powers in 1959, found itself in a quandary. Wisconsin was bound to unionized workers who not only held assured positions but also the assurance of escalating pay-
April 7, 2011
checks — buffered by taxpayers without any such say. I am indebted to the many public school teachers who taught me about fractions, the French Revolution and filibusters. I am not suggesting that public workers dance in economic bliss. But under slavery, upward mobility wasn’t just hard, it was illegal. Comparing a reasonable healthcare contribution to forced labor is an insult to those whose lives were dictated by the cruelest institution this nation has ever known. Some Huffington Post commentators, obviously inspired by the Middle Eastern meltdown occurring a hemisphere away, commented on the remarkably “peaceful” nature of the protests, as if fanfare over budget cuts and firepower against bloody old tyrants are much the same thing. Other commentators insisted “Democracy is at work” in Madison. If this is democracy, James Madison himself must be experiencing some restless eternal slumber. My understanding of a republic is that votes matter. Elections matter. Elected officials matter. Should Gov. Walker be as dimwitted as the professors at University of Wisconsin-Madison say he is, he’ll surely be removed from office next cycle, his policies will be repealed, and the rest of America can go back to thinking that all Badger State citizens wear cheese-hats. In the meantime, though, Democratic state senators have an obligation to show up for work, not cost their constituents $400,000 for funding a legislature that wasn’t allowed to vote. Judges have a duty to read the letter of the law, not the astrology leaves that whisper delay tactics, rhetoric and snarky protest slogans. Danielle is a first-year. She can be reached at dcharet1@swarthmore.edu.
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Opinions
swarthmorephoenix.com
in hip-hop, double standards still abound My aversion to the majority of mainstream music doesn’t stem from any sort of music snobbery, but rather an inability to identify with its message. Most mornings I don’t wake up ready to pop champagne, hit the bar or feeling free, and autotuned versions of people screaming about whips, chains and “popping their booty” just don’t sit right Eva McKend with me. According to Eva Fortunately, due to the Internet, I have a plethora of alternative options. In recent years, through blogs and social networking sites, I have discovered artists like Jupiter Sunrise, James Vincent McMorrow, Regina Spektor, Kate Nash, Ida Maria, The National, Band of Horses and Wale. Most of the music I listen to is not hip-hop, pop or R&B but instead soft rock and indie acoustic. I connect with the raw vulnerability, the heavy use of string instruments and the authentic unaltered voice. Last weekend, I was unexpectedly introduced to Seattle rapper Macklemore, by way of one wrong click. While he doesn’t label himself as aware, he recognizes others might. “If you want to you can go and label me conscious but remember there’s a kid at a bus stop beat boxing whose life is going to be affected by what’s inside of his walkman,” he raps on his 2005 song “I Said Hey” off the album “The Language of My World.” A Feb. 9 article in the Seattle Times describes him as a “3-minute storyteller” with “conceptual songs that hook an audience by shock or heartstrings, and concentrate on a specific topic.” This is evidenced in the track “White Privilege,” where
Macklemore challenges his situated reality as a white MC. He believes while cultural appropriation is distinctly American, it doesn’t automatically absolve him of what he describes as “claiming” a culture that does not belong to him. Throughout the song he sheds light on the hypocrisy of white privilege arguing, “White rappers albums really get the most spins,” “Hip-hop is gentrified and where will all the people live,” and “We still owe ’em 40 acres, now we’ve stolen their 16 bars.” The song, like many of his others, is quite reflective and self-critical but even the rapper admits the very injustice of his popularity, “If a black MC examined race, there goes half their fan base.” Wellesley professor Michael P. Jeffries ’02, author of “Thug Life: Race, Gender and the Meaning of HipHop” makes mention of this double standard between white and black rappers. In a Guardian article “Grammys 2011: Eminem’s Rage is Towering but is it Righteous?” Jeffries noted that Eminem has been disproportionately rewarded by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He argued, “No black artist who is as publicly and consistently angry as Eminem” has attained nearly as much success at the long-established award show or in the industry in general. However, when thinking of the greatness of Macklemore, I wouldn’t exactly call him an appropriator. As Jeffries articulates in his book, “the narrative of black purity in hip-hop is a myth” that “thrives in the commercial sphere in large part because representations of spectacular, oppositional ghetto blackness are captivating and salable to consumers in a range of social milieus.” My attraction to Macklemore and a lot of white indie artists does not come without an awareness that many artists of color are not supported when they want to make similar music. One of Macklemore’s most compelling songs, “Otherside,” grapples with overcoming his serious drug addic-
tion, one that kept him dormant and unproductive for five years during the peak of his career. Assisted by the extraordinary production of Ryan Lewis, the confessional song is deeply moving. Macklemore warns his audience that “we live on the cusp of death thinking that it won’t be us” before testifying to his own battle with Syrup and Percocet. He even shares the grim reality of moving back into his parents’ home at the age of 25. “Otherside,” critically praised for its content and substance, is an impressive song but it is also a tremendous privilege. We live in a society that constructs and upholds a black masculinity not conducive to vulnerable expressions. Furthermore, the white corporate ownership of the mainstream music industry does not think it profitable to invest in black artists who refuse to dumb it down. Rather than cultural appropriation, this is perhaps the greater cause for concern — the homogeneous ownership of commercial artistic content. With the rising influence of the Internet, it will be interesting to see how much that power and control diversifies, if at all. When Macklemore was asked about the changing racial landscape of hip-hop, he revealed that 80 percent of the crowd at his shows are white. “My friends of color feel alienated from their own scene,” he explained of the growing reality of the Seattle rap community. Macklemore ultimately concludes this majority white audience is not necessarily a problem but instead something to watch and have a consistent dialogue about. I believe his reasoning is far too simplistic and does not engage the invisible privilege he claims to understand. This is not to say Macklemore must make constant apology for his race or his fan base but he certainly has the platform to engage and problematize the double standards that keep his friends at a distance. Eva is a senior. She can be reached at emckend1@swarthmore.edu.
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U.S. should send more non-military support abroad DYLAN R. MATTHEWS thecrimson.harvard.edu, Apr. 5, 2011
The United States government should be spending more money—a lot more money—helping people in other countries. On this much I agree with advocates of the war in Libya. Compared to other government spending, the Libya war costs a pittance. The operation required $600 million in its first week, a mere 0.016 percent of a budget totaling $3.8 trillion this fiscal year. But when compared to the $8.7 billion Obama’s budget sets aside for global health programs at the State Department and USAID, or the $1.1 billion total budget of the Millennium Challenge Corporation, it starts to look like a significant foreign aid program. Given that, it is worth asking whether airstrikes in Libya are an effective foreign aid program and, if they are, whether they’re cost-effective as well. If that $600 million isn’t actually producing results, then we shouldn’t be spending it. If there are other interventions that could do more good for the same money, we should spend the money on them instead. It’s hard to say, at this point, whether the Libya intervention is doing good in humanitarian terms. There is no doubt that Muammar Gaddafi was attacking his own people, and, as British Prime Minister David the PhoeniX
W. D. Cameron has said, there was reason to fear a massacre as Gaddafi closed in on the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. But we have to balance this averted catastrophe against the human cost of continuing Libya’s civil war. It is possible that by preventing the rebels from being crushed, the allied intervention will produce more casualties than a quick Gaddafi victory would have. The intervention’s long-term aftershocks also give reason to doubt its effectiveness as a humanitarian measure. Some political scientists, most notably the University of Texas at Austin’s Alan J. Kuperman, have argued that humanitarian interventions create a moral hazard problem. Rebels in other countries may take the Libya war as a sign that the US and NATO will support them if they launch an insurrection. It hardly seems like a win, in humanitarian terms, to encourage violent, likely-to-be-crushed revolts, rather than nonviolent civil resistance of the kind that succeeded in Tunisia and Egypt. This is not to say that the Libya intervention will be a net loss for human welfare. It could well end up helping more than it hurts. The point is that we are radically uncertain as to whether it will work. This is especially concerning given that the $600 plus million being spent in Libya could be devoted instead to interventions we know can work.
Over the past decade, a group of economists, centered at MIT’s Poverty Action Lab, have taken to using randomized controlled experiments to determine, with social scientific rigor, what bang-for-the-buck certain foreign aid programs get. The results are encouraging. PAL studies have shown, for example, that spending $100 on chlorine treatment for water sources in Kenya can prevent hundreds of potentially deadly diarrheal incidents. Meanwhile, $100 spent informing families in Madagascar about the benefits of education results in students attending school for a total of 40 additional years. The takeaway is that there are very cost-effective ways to help a lot of people in the developing world. Obviously, scaling this up would take work, but spending $600 million and knowing that one is producing 240 million more years of school attendance in Africa seems like a better choice than spending it to get whatever the results of the Libya intervention will be. More to the point, existing, largescale government foreign aid programs are showing results. To give just one example, AIDS research groups have noted that the GOP’s proposed $1 billion in global health cuts could stop AIDS treatment for a half million people, eliminate education and housing for 300,000 orphans, and keep 3.9 million people from receiving malaria
April 7, 2011
treatments. And there’s the rub. While a $600 million intervention in Libya can be launched without a hitch, the White House and Congressional Democrats will have to fight tooth and nail to preserve a similar level of funding for global health programs. The American political climate, it would appear, only allows humanitarian assistance when it’s pursued at gunpoint. This cycle is self-perpetuating. The Libya intervention has reversed momentum within Congress for defense cuts, meaning that debt reduction efforts will likely focus on programs for the poor at home and abroad rather than on waste at the Pentagon. So next time a choice like the one presented by Libya arises, we will have a well-financed Pentagon and emaciated aid programs, and once again the military option will look more attractive. The U.S. government should start taking the welfare of people abroad more seriously across the board. The fact that the world’s richest country spends so little of its resources preventing people abroad from sickness and death is a moral travesty of the first order. But taking the interests of people abroad seriously means investing in humanitarian endeavors that we know will work. We just do not know that about the Libya war.
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Sports
swarthmorephoenix.com
Men’s, women’s tennis breeze past Gettysburg BY DANIEL DUNCAN dduncan1@swarthmore.edu
The Swarthmore tennis teams absolutely dominated this past week, flying by several conference opponents. The women destroyed Gettysburg 8-1 and Ursinus 8-1, while the men took down Gettysburg and McDaniel by 8-1 scores, as well as defeating TCNJ 7-2. The women improved to 5-7, 4-2 CC, while the men’s record now stands at 7-6, 4-1 CC. In the match against Gettysburg, each individual woman had the Bullets’ number. The Garnet didn’t lose one singles match, led by Katie Samuelson ’14’s 6-0, 6-0 win in #5 singles. None of the Garnet singles players dropped more than three games in their matches. In doubles, Swarthmore took two out of three matches, led by Samuelson and Lia Carlson ’14’s 8-3 win. Luann Cignavitch ’11 and Kelsey Johnson ’13 also won their doubles match. On Tuesday, the Garnet took on Ursinus and flew
Paul Chung Phoenix Staff
Brooke Wilkins hits an overhead. Wilkins and doubles partner Stephanie Chia competed against Gettysburg on Tuesday. The Garnet defeated the Bullets 8-1.
past the Bears 8-1. The Garnet swept up the three doubles matches, with Samuelson and Carlson picking up an 8-5 win. Cignavitch and Johnson defeated the Ursinus doubles team 8-3. “The doubles teams we played were tough even though we won all three. They knew how to play the net — they were crafty with that,” Johnson said. In singles, Carlson picked up a 6-3, 6-0 win. Emily Rosenblum ’13 defeated her Ursinus opponent 6-0, 6-0. Johnson, who had an 8-2 win in singles, thought everyone played well in singles. “I think we were really aggressive,” she said. The men crushed the competition all weekend, starting with an 8-1 throttling of Gettysburg on Saturday. Like the women, the men waltzed through singles, winning five of six matches easily. Max Kaye ’14 led the way at #2 singles with a 6-2, 62 victory, while Max Bressman ’12 had the most dominant win at #4, defeating his opponent 6-0, 6-1. The Garnet swept the Bullets in doubles, winning easily at #1 and #2 before Seth Udelson ’13 and Anthony Collard ’14 fought their way to a 9-7 (2-0) win in extra games. On Sunday, the Garnet split into A and B squads, sending the A-Team out against TCNJ, while the B squad traveled to McDaniel. The teams may have been different, but the results were the same: easy wins. The Garnet, who are ranked eighth in the MidAtlantic region and on the verge of entering the national top 30, flew past TCNJ, ranked ninth in the Northeast, 7-2. Swarthmore again won five of six singles matches, led by Bressman’s fifth singles win in a row. The Garnet took two of three doubles matches, led by the duo of Kaye and Bressman. Collard and Udelson again had a fight on their hands, but came out of their match victorious by a 98 (3-0) score. Kaye said this was the key to the match. “[They] stayed extremely mentally tough throughout the whole match and pulled out a huge win which gave the momentum to us in singles play.” The B squad picked up a Centennial Conference win at McDaniel 8-1. The Green Terror had nothing against the Garnet, as Swarthmore took all six singles matches. Each Garnet player won in straight sets, led by Dan Park ’14’s 6-0, 6-1 gem. The Garnet also took two of three doubles match-
Justin Toran-Burrell The Phoenix
Max Kaye defeated The College of New Jersey’s Steven Fernandez in singles 6-2, 6-2. The men’s team, now 4-1 in the Centennial Conference, defeated TCNJ by a 7-2 score.
es, only dropping the #3 match. Malik Mubeen ’13 and James Wieler ’13 led the way, cruising to an 8-2 win. Kaye pointed out that the match “proved how solid our team is all the way through the lineup.” Bressman noted that “all of the freshmen are playing really well and everyone is starting to round into form.” He added, “We are usually a slow starting team and usually only start playing well towards the end, but we're getting into form quickly and have had good results.” The Garnet next take to the courts on Saturday, taking on Franklin and Marshall in a Centennial Conference match. The action starts at 1 p.m. for both men and women.
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Penn Park should have AstroTurf for field hockey BY ARI SEIFTER dailypennsylvanian.com, Apr. 5, 2011
Ever since my elementary school years, my mother has often implored me to follow an old family adage: “Take pride in everything you put your name on.” While pondering the potential addition of an AstroTurf field for the varsity field hockey team, the Penn administration should consider the same advice. If the AstroTurf isn’t part of Penn Park when it’s unveiled this summer, it realistically won’t be built any time in the near future. It’s time for Penn to either step up in support of field hockey or step aside. In 2004, Penn replaced Franklin Field’s AstroTurf with the softer, safer and more grass-like Sprinturf. That decision was a no-brainer because Sprinturf is now preferred for almost
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every sport. The notable exception is field hockey, where the faster-paced AstroTurf carpet surface is the overwhelming standard. It’s no coincidence Penn field hockey has struggled to compete in the Ivy League since winning the title in 2004. Penn coach Colleen Fink told The Daily Pennsylvanian that eight of the 11 Division I field hockey teams without an AstroTurf field are somewhere in the bottom 20 programs in the league. North Carolina coach Karen Shelton added that “nobody with a serious program plays on anything but AstroTurf or a carpet surface.” An AstroTurf field was part of the original plans for Penn Park, and while it’s still under consideration, Penn is leaning toward adding two Sprinturf fields instead. The utilitarian advantages of Sprinturf are compelling enough that
Penn might be entirely justified in scrapping the AstroTurf project. The two surfaces should have similar costs, and while Sprinturf fields are preferable for a wide array of campus activities — including varsity, club and intramural teams and student recreational use — AstroTurf would mostly be advantageous for just the 22 women on the field hockey team. Investing in field hockey won’t provide a financial return, and it won’t have any palpable impact on school spirit or alumni donations — but those aren’t the principal goals of Ivy League athletic departments anyway. As Athletic Director Steve Bilsky put it last fall, “You primarily have an athletic program for the educational value for the people who are participating.” But what kind of experience will the field hockey team have when it is
April 7, 2011
perennially struggling to compete in the Ivy League or even convince other Division I schools to play road games on the wrong surface? Until now, Penn hasn’t had a realistic alternative for an AstroTurf venue, but the final allocation of Penn Park will be a barometer of the University’s commitment to providing the program with an even playing field in Ivy League competition. Penn might be right to consider the bigger picture rather than cater to the needs of a few. But if the administration isn’t even prepared to provide a single specialized surface amidst the perfect storm of eastward expansion, then maybe Penn field hockey should go the way of ice hockey and be dropped from varsity to club team status. Ultimately, Penn should either take pride in the field hockey program or not put its name on it at all. The PhoeniX
Sports Baseball sees recent skid, hopes for playoff berth swarthmorephoenix.com
With two outs and no one on base in the bottom of the ninth, Haverford strung together three singles to tie the game. For the first three weeks of the season, Swarthmore battled to a lead again in the the Garnet baseball team appeared to be 11th, thanks to an RBI single from James cruising, scoring nearly ten runs per Beall ’11; however, the Haverford offense game as it seeks its second-straight struck twice in the bottom of the inning to Centennial Conference playoff berth. hand the Garnet a 7-6 defeat. However, Swarthmore hit its first rough The loss dropped Swarthmore’s patch of the year last week, dropping Conference record to just 3-3, and, with games to Gettysburg and Haverford only three full weeks left in the season, before rebounding with a crucial victory the team knows that every game going over Washington on Wednesday. forward could be do-or-die in terms of After sweeping Dickinson last week- playoff hopes. end, Swarthmore lost a tight 5-3 decision “[We are] definitely at a critical juncto Haverford on Tuesday, and split with ture in the season right now. The next eighth-place Gettysburg on Saturday, week will help decide where this season is winning 2-1 before taking a 9-1 loss in heading,” said leftfielder Rory McTear ’13, Game Two. On Sunday, the Garnet played who leads the team with 11 stolen bases. a rematch with Haverford and came with- “We need to treat every game as if a spot in an out of winning twice but ultimately in the playoffs is dependent on it, because lost 7-6 in 11 innings. at this point in the [year], one game truly “It’s a bad time to go into a slump,” can make or break our season.” head coach Stan Exeter said. “We played Hoping to turn a page in the story of great [on Sunday], we just wound up on the season, the Garnet responded to the the wrong end of the final score. It’s not challenge on Wednesday when the good, but we’ll get back [on track].” Washington Shoremen came to visit. This week features a two-game series Zach Weiner ’12 went seven strong, allowwith Washington that holds immense ing just one run; catcher Mike implications for Swarthmore’s playoff Waterhouse ’12 and designated hitter chances, in light of the recent slide. The Matt Lamb ’12 got three hits apiece, while offense returned to form on Wednesday, shortstop Spencer Ross ’12 drove in three pounding out 14 hits in an 8-6 victory. runs. Last Saturday’s doubleheader against Though the Garnet led 8-1 going into Gettysburg was one that the Garnet the top of the ninth, the Shoremen batted “expected to win,” according to Exeter, as around and scored five times, bringing the Bullets the game to came into the within two day with just runs. With “We’ve taken a few tough o n e one out and Conference the tying runs losses, but we’re [still] in a win and a 7-11 on base, overall record. position to make the playoffs, r e l i e v e r I g n a c i o a m e s and that is all we are focused JBernard Rodriguez ’12 ’11 p i t c h e d induced a on right now.” Swarthmore to ground ball Kyle Crawford ’12 a narrow 2-1 and a flyout to victory in stop the bleedGame One, ing and secure and luck appeared to be playing in the the badly needed 8-6 win. Swarthmore team’s favor, as a strange case of runner’s now stands at 13-8 on the season, with a 4interference stranded the tying run on 3 Conference record. third base in the final inning. With the tough week in the rear-view Rodriguez, Swarthmore’s most consis- mirror, the team believes that its level of tent starting pitcher this season, now play has remained high, and expects to sports a team-leading 2.32 ERA over 31 continue seeing improved results in innings to go with his three wins. He has upcoming games. Exeter called the one win in Conference competition and Haverford contest the best the Garnet had another outing in which he didn’t allow played all season, and chalked up the loss an earned run. at least in part to chance, saying, “You “I haven’t changed much for can’t come that close to winning and lose Conference play,” Rodriguez said of his without bad luck.” continued success. “I try to stick with “The [Haverford game] was a hard what has made me successful in the past loss, but I think it will only make our ... attacking the zone and throwing off resolve stronger,” said Crawford, who speed pitches for strikes.” received a no-decision for his eightDespite an uncharacteristically quiet inning outing on Sunday. “We’ve taken a offensive performance, the Garnet were few tough losses, but we’re [still] in a posijust a few innings away from dueling out tion to make the playoffs, and that is all the sweep on the strength of a dominating we are focused on right now.” first six innings from starter Neil Mejia “I hate losing, especially to ’12. However, a six-run Gettysburg explo- Haverford,” McTear said, “but the way in sion with two outs in the seventh inning which we played them cast away any put Swarthmore in a hole from which it doubt that we can compete [with] and could not climb, and the Garnet finished beat any team in the Conference.” the game on the wrong end of a 9-1 score. “It’s going to be a dog fight this year,” On Sunday, the team appeared on the Rodriguez agreed. “We’ve got to find any way to a bounceback against Haverford, which way to win.” as it carried a 4-1 lead into the sixth Swarthmore returns to action on inning behind the six-strikeout perform- Friday, going on the road for a 3:30 p.m. ance of Kyle Crawford ’12. A three-run rematch with Washington. On Saturday, homer off the bat of Fords’ centerfielder the Garnet will face its stiffest competiMatt Liscovitz tied the game at 4, but the tion of the year, as defending champion Garnet regained the lead on a solo home Johns Hopkins comes to Clothier Field run by second baseman Anthony for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for Montalbano ’12. 12:30 p.m.
BY ANA APOSTOLERIS aaposto1@swarthmore.edu
the PhoenIX
Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
Zach Weiner gets ready to throw a pitch in the Garnet’s 8-6 victory over Washington College. Weiner, now 4-1, pitched seven innings and struck out two batters.
garnet athlete of the week
April 7, 2011
Kyle Knapp fy., golf, temecula, ca.
What he’s done: the first-year most recently led the swarthmore golf team to a second place finish at the Rolling green golf club this past monday. Knapp shot a 77 after coming back from five-over par. he also led the team to a fourth place finish at the Wilmington university spring class, shooting a 75 in the first round and a 74 in the second on saturday.
favoRite caReeR moment: “definitely when the team broke the school’s 18-hole team scoring record.”
season goals: “to help the team win the centennial conference championship so we can play in the ncaa championship and the other is to individually win the centennial conference championship.”
favoRite golfeR: Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
pRofessional
“tiger [Woods] because it is so exciting to watch him play the final 18 holes of a tournament when he is in contention.”
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Sports
swarthmorephoenix.com
With the playoffs approaching, Purkey recaps NHL season It’s that time of year again. March Madness has come to an end so you might finally have time to get some work done now, right? Wrong. As I am sure all of you know, the NHL playoffs are just around the corner, so the playoff madness continues. Now it’s been a busy hannah purkey year, so I understand if you missed a few hockey The Purkey Perspective games this season; 82 games can be quite the time commitment. So just in case you haven’t been spending your free time (or that time you were supposed to have been working on your linear algebra homework) stalking hockey players’ Twitter accounts, here is a quick recap of some of the stories you need to know about for the 2010-11 NHL season to not embarrass yourself around the dip bowl at your Stanley Cup viewing party.
important pieces of information about hockey from this series. First, hockey players curse more than drunken sailors: players curse at each other, coaches curse at players, fans curse at anything that moves after having failed to drink away their team’s loss. Second, there really is no reason to worry about the other 28 teams not featured in this show, because the league really only consists of Sydney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin and those other silly people who always insist on being on the ice with them. Lastly, if the NHL let HBO edit together the footage of all their games, maybe some of the casual viewers of the series would actually tune in to watch games besides the Winter Classic.
story than Kessel getting a car in return for being the draft’s Mr. Irrelevant.
The Canadians are coming! The Canadians are coming! When Sarah Palin said she could see Russians from her house in Alaska, most took it as just one of many ridiculous statements that came from the VP candidate. But it turns out there might have been something to this statement. Except it wasn’t the Russians, it was really the Canadians sneaking around Alaska in another one of their attempts to steal an NHL franchise. This season has had no shortage of drama when it comes to the sale of the Phoenix Coyotes and the calls of Quebecers demanding their own team. At first it was just bringing more fans to a game between US teams than either of the actual Ilya Kovalchuk mistakes NHL for Supreme Court, teams did, but now they are applies for lifetime position actually building a new stateBefore games were even played, the season started of-the-art rink, just in case a out with a good old case of mistaken identity. An unrestricted free agent at the beginning of the season, NHL Ovechkin overjoyed at Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/5g05b team gets relocated there. forward Ilya Kovalchuk left the Atlanta Thrashers and new All Star Game for- Ilya Kovalchuk left the Atlanta Thrashers and then tried to NHL commissioner Gary was looking for a new job. But he seems to have mis- mat sign an exceedingly long 17-year contract with the New Bettman is getting desperate to breathe life into his midThe powers-that-be Jersey Devils. taken the New Jersey Devil’s Prudential Center for the west expansion teams, or to U.S. Supreme Court, and attempted to sign for the hock- in hockey decided that ey equivalent of a lifetime seat on the bench. NHL offi- the old All Star format needed a facelift this season. find someone with deep enough pockets to do it for him. cials were quick to correct the 27 year-old Russian’s Giving up hope of convincing the Eastern Conference that their Western equivalent actually existed and was NHL makes scientific breakthrough: Getting repeatedmishap by rejecting his 17-year contract request. not, as many ly hit in the head bad for health Instead, they insistIf there has been one story to come out of the NHL assumed, an elabed on only a 15-year orate April Fools this season that has caught national attention, it has contract. Of course, he Day joke, the NHL been about concussions. There have been a series of will still be paid $100 gave this midsea- players who took hits to the head this season and been million for those 15 son showcase its out with concussions for far longer than their fan bases years, which essentialown draft, and all were comfortable with. Paul Kariya has missed the ly makes it a lifetime the bells and entire season with post-concussion syndrome, the contract. So maybe he whistles that police were actually called to arrest Zdeno Chara in wasn’t so far off miscome with it. Two Montreal after his hit on Max Pacioretty and of course, taking the NHL for the captains were the league’s golden boy, Sydney Crosby, has been missSupreme Court; it chosen who then ing since the Winter Classic due to a concussion. appears hockey does Whether it has been players speaking out against took turns choosoffer lifetime appointing the rest of too-lenient suspensions or fans bemoaning the loss of ments. one of their favorite players, the press and NHL offitheir teams. The most mem- cials both have been busy dealing with the repercusHBO shows hockey orable thing to sions of the increase in concussions suffered by players players are the new come out of the this season. drunken sailors weekend was Alex To offer hockey fans Now that you have been caught up on the highlights Ovechkin’s and the other 99 perCourtesy of http://tiny.cc/y0upw delight in Phil for this regular season, you are ready for the playoffs. cent of U.S. television being So grab some friends and choose a team to root for viewers a glimpse into Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks, who won the 2010 Kessel picked last. He (from a completely unbiased position, I recommend the the NHL locker room, Stanley Cup, holds up the coveted trophy. decided to com- San Jose Sharks), because the road to the Stanley Cup HBO did a behind-thescenes mini-series of the Pittsburgh Penguins and memorate the moment by taking a photo with his cam- is about to begin. Hannah is a senior. You can reach her at Washington Capitals over the weeks leading up to the era-phone. The evidence of this act of kindness by Winter Classic. The casual viewer took away a few Ovechkin, of course, became a more widely circulated hpurkey1@swarthmore.edu.
Garnet in action Thursday, april 7 Softball at McDaniel, 3 p.m. Softball at McDaniel, 5 p.m. Women’s lacrosse at Wesley, 7 p.m. Friday, april 8 Baseball at Washington College, 3:30 p.m. Women’s track & field at Distance Night, 5 p.m. saTurday, april 9 Men’s track & field at New Jersey Invitational, 10 a.m. Women’s track & field at Osprey Invitational, 10 a.m. Men’s lacrosse vs. Franklin & Marshall (Senior Day), 12 p.m.
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Baseball vs. Johns Hopkins, 12:30 p.m. Men’s tennis vs. Franklin & Marshall, 1 p.m. Softball vs. Franklin & Marshall, 1 p.m. Women’s tennis vs. Franklin & Marshall, 1 p.m. Softball vs. Franklin & Marshall, 3 p.m. Women’s lacrosse at Franklin & Marshall, 3 p.m. Baseball vs. Johns Hopkins, 3:30 p.m. sunday, april 10 Golf at Glen Maura Tournament, TBA Women’s tennis vs. TCNJ, 11 a.m. Softball vs. Wesley, 1 p.m. Softball vs. Wesley, 3 p.m.
April 7, 2011
Monday, april 11 Golf at Glen Maura Tournament, TBA Tuesday, april 12 Softball vs. Penn St.-Berks, 3 p.m. Baseball at Muhlenberg, 3:30 p.m. Softball vs. Penn St.-Berks, 5 p.m. Wednesday, april 13 Women’s tennis at Bryn Mawr, 3:30 p.m. Women’s lacrosse at Muhlenberg, 5 p.m. Men’s lacrosse at Drew, 7 p.m.
tHe PHoeniX
Sports
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2011 Major League Baseball season predictions BY NICK HARBIST nharbi1@swarthmore.edu ‘Tis the season for baseball predictions and having read about a dozen online, I feel compelled to give my own rendition. I also want to see if I can do better than my roommate from last year, who wrote a few articles like this for The Phoenix. He famously predicted that trading for Cliff Lee instead of Roy Halladay would cost the Phillies the 2009 Worlds Series (quality call). But the Yankees did beat the Phillies so I suppose he had the last laugh. What are my qualifications for this endeavor? Well, I played baseball and I have an impeccable fantasy baseball record (fourth to last and second to last in my 2010 leagues, baby!). So without further adieu, here we go. Disclaimer: I am a huge Phillies fan. Does that mean I’m biased? Yes. Does that bother me? Have you ever met a Phillies fan before?
GUEST COLUMN
AL West: Texas Rangers The Rangers won the division handily last year and moved on to The Series before falling to the Giants. Their offense is top of the line with Josh Hamilton, Ian Kinsler, Nelson Cruz and off-season addition Adrian Beltre, while their pitching is acceptable, particularly in the far end of the bullpen. But the loss of Cliff Lee will sting, Colby Lewis and C.J. Wilson are in line for a bit of a regression and there is always the looming risk of Hamilton hurting himself. Still, that may be enough. The A’s have promising young starters and Brian Fuentes and Andrew Bailey make up perhaps the most formidable one-two finisher in baseball. They have no offense though, so there’s that. But having read “Moneyball: the art of winning an unfair game” by Michael M. Lewis, I have faith in Billy Beane to work some magic. The Angels were ten games behind the Rangers last year and they really didn’t do anything in the off-season to make me believe that they’re ten games better. Vernon Wells is a good addition and maybe Dan Haren or Scott Kazmir reclaim their old stuff. But I don’t see it happening. Since I only have so many words, I won’t waste them on the Mariners. Prediction: I like the A’s but the Rangers’ offense is too good. AL Central: Chicago White Sox The Twins won the division by six last year and everyone always seems to forget that they’re good. I did until I started writing this. Their starting pitching is somewhat forgettable with Francisco Liriano being the only one to jump out and their closer Joe Nathan is returning from Tommy John surgery. The offense is good with Joe Mauer at the lead, and Jim Thome, like the Twins themselves, gets no respect. But Justin Morneau is a big question mark and they may need him with the White Sox and Tigers nipping at their heels. I’m a huge fan of the White Sox signing Adam Dunn, especially since he no longer has to put on that charade he called being a fielder. His average on-base percentage differential dropped last year, which is disappointing since it means he is less underrated. But you can’t have it all, I suppose. The rest of the offense is good and the rotation is passable, with John Danks often being overlooked. The Tigers aren’t bad with Justin Verlander at the helm of the rotation and Victor Martinez returning behind the plate. Miguel Cabrera can rake and could win the AL MVP despite his off-season problems (legal issues aren’t funny, but taking a shot of scotch while being detained for a DUI definitely is). As one Tigers’ fan put it, “If everything goes right, we could win the division.” And that is more than the Royals and Indians can say. Prediction: The Twins get no respect and the White Sox win it by a couple. AL East: Boston Red Sox The AL East is stacked with the Orioles and Blue Jays being the worst, but still not that bad. In fact, they would make a run at the wild card if they played in the NL. But let’s move on to teams that have a shot. Manny Ramirez and Johnny Damon are decent acquisitions and Ben Zobrist is my pick for biggest bounce back player. That being said, David Price is the only starter that really catches my eye and their bullpen has more holes than Barry Bonds’ perjury defense. Plus no one in Florida goes to their games despite the fact that their team is fun to watch, and that makes me not want to pick them. The Red Sox played well last year even though they were decimated by
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injuries. Adrian Beltre and Victor Martinez are gone, but Carl Crawford and Adrian Gonzalez outweigh their loss by a lot. In fact, the Red Sox could have a historically good offensive season if they all stay healthy. This is a shame because if they do, that is all that will be talked about on “Sportscenter.” Their starting pitching seems iffy, but their bullpen is top-notch and you can still win it all with ok pitching and an insane offense (try the 2008 Phillies). Then there are the Yankees. They missed on every real free agent, including Cliff Lee to the Phillies, which couldn’t make me happier. C.C. Sabathia is a stud but the success of their rotation will depend on how well their recently signed veterans do. Of course by that I mean their rotation’s success will depend on what ace they buy off another team before the July 31st trade deadline. The Yanks’ offense is dirty, as always, but they will need Derek Jeter to rebound after a dreadful 2010. My guess is that he will, but not back to 2009 levels. If he doesn’t, the Yankees will have signed someone who can’t hit (.370 SLG) and can’t field to a minimum three-year deal. I already can hear a chorus of New Yorkers screaming incoherently at me for that last comment so I will just say this: Jeter is a hall of fame hitter, an extremely intelligent player, a great leader and an objectively poor fielder. Deal with it. Prediction: There is no way I can pick against Boston’s offense (looking good already at 0-4), but the Yankees will win the wild card over the Twins by a game.
on fans of Bill James and rational thought. The Cardinals looked ready to give the Reds a run for their money until Wainwright’s ulnar collateral ligament exploded. Without their best pitcher, prospects suddenly seem less good for the Cardinals. Everyone’s favorite vegetarian Prince Fielder and Ryan Braun provide the Brewers with a potent combination in the middle of their offense. The signing of former Cy Young winner Zack Greinke will bolster the starting rotation, but will it be enough to turn the Brewers from below .500 to division winners? Probably not. Once again, the Cubs are at the upper end in terms of total salary and once again will be at the bottom end in terms of success. That used to be funny, but now it’s just sad. The Astros are comprised of former Phillies rejects who played well together last year after a terrible start. I think they will finish in the middle of the pack. And the Pirates are the Pirates. At least you have the Steelers, Pittsburgh. Prediction: Dusty Baker boldly leads the Reds to another division title.
NL East: Atlanta Braves Finally, we arrive at the NL East. The Phillies won the most games in the MLB last year and in the off-season and transformed their rotation from filthy to legendary. If Roy Halladay, Cliff Lee, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels each have the same statistical season as they did last year (and there’s no reason they can’t), the Phillies starting four will have one of the top ten seasons in the history of baseball in NL West: San Francisco Giants terms of Wins Above Replacement Player (WARP). On the The Giants won it all last year and being the angry, bit- other hand, the Phillies offense became old, hurt and gone ter Phillies fan that I am, their success particularly infuri- in a hurry. Ryan Howard’s peripheral numbers are steadiated me. The sound of the DU leprechaun shouting “Cody ly declining; Jimmy Rollins and Raul Ibanez are aging and Ross: Best. Hitter. Ever.” now permanently is scarred into dealing with chronic injuries; Chase Utley is out for the my brain. For the record, Cody foreseeable future and Jason Ross is a sub-par hitter and a bad Werth fled to the Nationals (of human being for impersonating a course having written this, they good baseball player (joking). I immediately contradict me by gave the Giants much less credit starting off hot). But perhaps the than they deserved and now that greatest rotation ever should be I’ve had about five months to enough to carry them to the playcalm down, I will admit that they offs. were a very good team and worThe Braves are one of the least thy of winning the World Series. talked about contenders in all of Not much has changed for the baseball. Tommy Hanson, Tim Giants, but if they were good Hudson, Jair Jurrjens and Derek enough to win it last year, I Lowe provide the Braves with a assume they’re good enough to quality rotation that is supported win it again this year. in the back end by strikeout The Padres collapsed at the machines Jonny Venters and end of last year, which was a Craig Kimbrel. Dan Uggla’s shame since their unforeseen sucappearance and Jason Heyward’s cess was an interesting story. The progression will improve an loss of Adrian Gonzalez will leave already superior offense. Look for a massive hole in their offense the Braves to challenge the that cannot be filled by any of Phillies for the division title. The their off-season signings, and Marlins are gearing up for their their good, but over-performing Courtesy of phillysportscentral.com traditional once every seven starting pitching may regress. Second baseman Chase Utley, a five-time All- years run at the World Series, folTroy Tulowitzki, Gonzalez (the Star selection, is expected to lead the lowed by a fire-sale of their entire Carlos version) and Ublado Phillies into the 2011 playoffs. team. However, it won’t be this Jimenez are excellent, yet the rest year. The Nationals took steps of the Rockies are relatively unretoward being a real contender in markable. Still, they have young players that might the off-season by maliciously stealing Werth away from progress and a couple of new veterans that may benefit the Phillies and drafting top prospect Bryce Harper. Still, from a move to the NL. I’ll call them sleepers. To my they’re a couple years away. That leaves the Mets and amusement and the chagrin of LA, the typically high their massive Citi Field, which is dwarfed only by the spending Dodgers did not acquire a single big-name free Garnet’s own Clothier Field. The Mets have a plethora of agent, partly due to the fact that their owners are getting problems, the funniest of which is their involvement with divorced. They did the best with what they had, signing Bernie Madoff. At one time the Mets were Philly’s big overlooked free agents Ted Lilly and Jon Garland, but I rival, but are no longer worthy of such an honor. If they doubt that they have improved enough to beat the Giants. are not careful, the Mets may find themselves in the botI have no jokes for the Diamondbacks. They’re bad. tom of the NL East. They won’t win. Prediction: I’m sure the death threats will come (if anyPrediction: The Padres challenge once again, but the one actually reads this), but I’m taking the Braves over the Giants repeat. Phillies. The Phillies win the wild card by a few games after their yearly end of the season winning streak. NL Central: Cincinnatti Reds The Reds won the division by five last year and appear World Series Prediction: poised to do the same again this year. Joey Votto is a monThe Phillies win it all. Did you really think that I would ster and a full season with Edinson Volquez will help solid- choose anyone else? This may seem to contradict my NL ify their rotation. In addition, Aroldis Chapman and East prediction but it doesn’t. Utley should be healthy for Francisco Cordero will make the last two innings very dif- the playoffs and offense is less important in October than ficult for opposing hitters. I also love Dusty Baker and all it is in the rest of the season. The Phillies have by far the of his absurd coaching decisions. Last year he hit and ran best starting pitching and that gives them the best shot at with the catcher on first and the pitcher at the plate. Let the title. Still, the playoffs are so luck-dependent that it is that sink in for a second. Somehow that move actually anyone’s game once they begin. Check back with me in worked, which I suppose was the baseball gods’ little joke seven months and we shall see how well I did.
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swarthmorephoenix.com
Softball team looks to get back on winning track BY RENEE FLORES rflores1@swarthmore.edu The Swarthmore softball team continued Centennial Conference play this weekend, hosting Gettysburg for the inaugural StrikeOut Cancer game. The Garnet fell in the doubleheader 15-5 and 8-2. The StrikeOut Cancer game came about in collaboration with the American Cancer Society and the National Fastpitch Coaches Association to raise money and awareness for cancer research. The players sought pledges per offensive hit and defensive strikeout in the games on Saturday. The team was happy for the opportunity to raise awareness for an illness that affects so many people, joining colleges and universities across the United States in raising money to strikeout cancer. In Game One, the Garnet women managed to shut out the Bullets in the first two innings, blocking all runs. Outfielder Kate Smayda ’13 made the first move for the Garnet, with a lead-off single followed by a stolen base which put her in the position to score. Outfielder Kira Kern ’11 made the hit that scored Smayda on a Gettysburg error. However, Gettysburg made a strong comeback with two runs from three hits in the bottom of the second inning. Infielder Rose Pitkin ’13 and first-baser Danielle Seltzer ’13 teamed up to put two runners on base with no outs, and infielder Zoe Hendrickson ’11 scored Pitkin with an RBI single. Smayda recorded her second hit of the game, scoring Seltzer and restoring the Garnet to lead the Bullets 3-2. “We definitely could have been better at the plate, but we did play solid defense,” outfielder Nicole Aaron ’14 said. But the Bullets’ defense was even more dominating, as Gettysburg pitcher Lanie Parr would record eight strikeouts of Garnet batters. It was a back-and-forth game, as the Bullets managed eight runs from six hits in the third inning. And, despite starting the sixth inning strong with a homerun from infielder Krista Scheirer ’11, the Garnet posted only two more runs in the remainder of the game, while Gettysburg managed five more, taking the win 15-5.
Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Pitcher and infielder Jessalyn Lammerts waits for a pitch in the inaugural StrikeOut Cancer benefit game against Gettysburg.
Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Outfielder Samantha Bennett catches a fly ball in the Garnet’s game against Gettysburg. The Bullets came out ahead in both games, defeating the Garnet 15-5 and 8-2.
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Going two-for-two at the plate, Smayda led the Garnet women, recording an RBI and a run scored, while infielder Erin Curtis ’13 went two-for-three and recorded an RBI. “Although the outcome wasn’t what I had hoped for, the number of hits we got was great for raising money for the StrikeOut Cancer event. We came together as a team to support the cause, our friends, family and each other through sharing how cancer has had an effect on our lives,” pitcher Melissa O’Connor ’14 said. Game Two saw a defensive spike as O’Connor ’14 kept the Bullets from scoring until the third inning, when Gettysburg took the lead 2-0 with a two-RBI single. Aaron recorded a two-out double and run scoring on the next batter on a Gettysburg error in the fourth inning to bring the Garnet back into the game. Despite a turnaround in Garnet play, the final run in the bottom of the seventh was not enough compared to the two Bullets homeruns in the six and seventh innings, dropping the game 8-2. O’Connor pitched Game Two, keeping Swarthmore close to the Bullets, until late in the game when the Bullets
April 7, 2011
blasted the game wide open. O’Connor now holds a 3-5 record for the season in pitching. Aaron went three-forthree at bat, recording two doubles and a run scored. “We’re still coming together as a team, but we have a lot of talent and I think good things are going to start happening. I’m looking forward to everything coming together and having a strong end to the season,” O’Connor said. Due to inclement weather, the games against McDaniel were rescheduled for today. “I’m expecting the team to come out ready to fight hard against McDaniel so that we can win. I’m ready for our team to gain momentum and come out of the games on a positive note,” O’Connor said. In terms of the rest of the season, the team is hoping to make a return to winning play. “I am expecting to prove to our opponents this week that we are competitors. Although our record doesn’t look like much, we are going to fight for the playoff spot that we deserve,” Aaron said. “We are better than our box scores seem to show.” The Swarthmore softball team is set to travel to McDaniel today to play in a Centennial Conference doubleheader.
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