Swarthmore Phoenix, September 27, 2018

Today in OPINIONS: Jenny Xu on voting A5, Giorga Piantanida on being abroad A5, Laura Wilcox on financial regulations A6, Martin Rakowszczyk on living in Willets A6

PHOENIX

THE

Renée Elise Goldsberry Ash Shukla reviews

performance of “Hamilton” star

VOL. 146, NO. 3

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Athlete of the week

Meet Ali Barrata of Women’s Field Hockey

September 27, 2018

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The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881

How ‘Fall Worthstock’ Came to Be

J.I.D, EarthGang, AVSTIN JAMES to Perform in Worth Courtyard this Saturday Ganesh Setty, George Rubin Editor-in-Chief, News Writer

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his Saturday evening, artists J.I.D, EarthGang, and AVSTIN JAMES will perform at 7 p.m. in Worth Courtyard, following a last-minute change in artists. Henry Han ’20, who spearheaded the event now known around campus as “Fall Worthstock,” secured $60,000 from the Swarthmore Budgeting Committee this past summer. The event was organized in tandem with the college’s Office of Student Engagement.Han secured funding for the concert

through an SBC supplementary funding request this past summer. Because only a chartered student group can apply for supplementary funding, however, Han used the student group LaunchDeck, which provides resources for “personal development projects,” as a proxy for securing the funds. This process is not explicitly against the bylaws of SBC. Immediately after SBC allocated the funds to LaunchDeck, the $60,000 was transferred to OSE. According to SBC bylaws, if a single supplementary request exceeds 1 percent of SBC’s to-

tal operating budget of roughly $617,000, SGO’s Executive Board must vote to approve the request.

Chair of SBC Yin Xiao ‘20 said this was the first time the bylaw was invoked to his knowledge. He explained the committee’s rationale for approving such a large sum of money for a single event.

“Ultimately, it came down to ‘do you want a fall Worthstock or not?’ It became very obvious that if we don’t fund it, no one’s gonna fund it… so eventually most of the people agreed that this is gonna be good for the student body. [W]e do have the financial flexibility to allow this to hap-

pen, … so we said yes,” Xiao said.

He also noted that SBC eventually granted the request under the condition that OSE would work directly with Han to help with event logistics.

Xiao later mentioned five points that SBC’s voting body discussed during deliberations on Han’s proposal. These included whether it was a bad precedent to grant the money; the sheer size of the request; how much money would be left in SBC’s supplementary budget after the event; the fact that Han had filed the request through LaunchDeck; and finally, how the proposal was

itemized between talent, lighting, sound equipment, and food.

Regarding SBC’s remaining supplementary budgeting, Xiao insisted that it is very unlikely that SBC would come close to depleting their budget. Of SBC’s total $617,000 operating budget for the year, approximately $444,000 was distributed during spring budgeting this past semester. The remaining $172,000 was set aside for supplemental funding. SBC was left with about $110,000 after the dust settled at continued on page A2

The week ahead Thursday: 4:30 p.m. Progress in the Pipeline?: Women of Color Reflect on Academia. In Lang Center 112.

5:00 p.m. Tenille Campbell Performance: Poetry performance with Tenille K Campbell and discussion around her academic pursuits and how they intersect with her identity as an Indigenous person in the IC Big Room.

Friday: 5:00 p.m. Refugees and Empathy: Pooja Pradeep, founder of nonprofit Letters of Love, is coming to Swarthmore College to speak about refugees and empathy. The lecture will be held in Sci Center 101.

7:00 p.m. Blogger, author, activist, Cory Doctorow speaks in LPAC Cinema.

You should really go. He’s awesome.

Saturday: 12:00 to 6:00 p.m.Swift Entrepreneurial Summit: This summit is a chance to see how students have navigated financing and running their own businesses and provide opportunities to connect with other like minded individuals. Science Center.

Sunday: 5:00 to 6:30 p.m. SBC Weekly Meeting: SBC meetings to discuss budget-related matters and consider supplemental funding requests for the week.

Monday: 12:30 p.m. AMENA Block Party: Meet AMENA, Swarthmore’s Middle Eastern affinity group. The event features Middle Eastern food, great music and a chance to interact with the Middle Eastern community on campus. The event will be held on Parrish Beach.

Tuesday: 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.

Public Safety Clery Discussion, located in Bond Hall.

Wednesday: 4:15 p.m. Lang Opportunity Scholarship Info Session in the IC Big Room.

CONTENTS Campus news A1-A2 Arts news A3-A4 Opinions A5-A6 Campus journal A7-A8 Sports A9-A10 Read more at Copyright © 2018 The Phoenix

On Thursday September 20th, students, staff, and faculty gathered in front of Sharples where President Valerie Smith announced that Gil Kemp ’72 and Barbara Guss agreed to redirect their 7 million dollar gift to the college — which has grown to 9 million dollars since they pledged the funds in 2013 — to the renovation of Sharples.

O4S Holds Teach-in Abigail Young News Writer

On September 18, Organizing for Survivors, an advocacy group for survivors of sexual violence at the college, held a teach-in in Shane Lounge as part of their renewed activism for the fall semester. Mostly directed toward first years and other students who were not on campus last semester, the teach-in explained O4S’s core principles, history, accomplishments, demands, and goals.

It also featured a video of the rally in Parrish Hall last spring.

Most of the people in attendance were students, though there were some administrators present.

“We geared it toward people who didn’t really know anything about what had happened last semester, so my takeaway was mostly I still want freshmen and people who were abroad last semester to really know what happened so they can feel like they’re a part of it too because it matters. It’s important to everyone on campus,” Olivia Smith ’21, a core member of O4S, said.

At the beginning of the teachin, another core member, Morgin Goldberg ’19 explained the basic principles of O4S to attendees. These principles place an emphasis on transformative justice, which is a survivor-focused process that doesn’t rely solely on punishment.

“Transformative justice is kind of the heart of our movement. It’s talking about how we don’t just see one act of harm as fully dependent on the person who caused the harm. It’s about the greater systemic, societal problem and where we target our movement to change and continued on page A2

Working at Swat, Part II: The Work-Study Dilemma Bayliss Wagner, with Katie Pruitt News Editors

On September 7, Twan Sia ’21 posted a typical lost-and-found bulletin in the Swarthmore 2018-2019 Facebook group: “Hey y’all I just lost my wallet :(( … Responds to the name hammy and i would like him back [sic].”

Shortly afterward, he updated his post.

“Update: I’m a sophomore who is working 5 campus jobs (35-40 hours per week) in order to pay tuition. This morning I withdrew most of the money from my bank account to mail home to my mother, who is struggling to pay bills. I found my wallet, but several big bills are missing. If you took that money from my wallet, I want you to know that if this situation is unresolved, your actions will be felt by both me and my mother. I won’t be upset if you just return the cash. You are better than this.”

In the last 50 years, working one’s way through college has gone from an American ideal to an impossibility, The Atlantic reported in 2014. Though some colleges assert that the expected family contribution has not changed with rising costs, many struggle to pay tuition nonetheless. Sia’s post comes at a time when students on campus are grappling with the experience of being a student worker at the college: the United Undergraduate Workers of Swarthmore began publicizing their intention to begin a unionization drive in late August through Facebook, their website, and Voices.

“Beyond unfair pay ... undergraduate workers face many different issues specific to their workplaces, from unjust firing practices and unpaid training to uncounted hours. Uniting ourselves allows us to respond to

these issues, including fair pay for all student work ... An organized group of undergraduate workers can respond to workers’ needs in ways that no individual worker can alone,” the group wrote in a Voices post on Aug. 30.

During their mass training on Sept. 8, the group also expressed frustration at rising costs of tuition.

“It’s especially infuriating that Swarthmore has continued to pay the same wages, so wages have remained stagnant while tuition prices have hiked ... in the past few years,” Becerra said.

Colleges often include Federal Work-Study in financial aid packages, which is essentially a placeholder for earnings the student will make in a part-time, on-campus job. The student can use these funds however they choose, and if they don’t earn the amount allocated in the FWS grant, the school does not make up the difference. Though the college does adjust wages every few years — this year’s highest pay grade is $0.21 higher than last year’s — some students are dissatisfied with their compensation, such as Amal Haddad ’22, a work-aided student from Silver Spring, Maryland. “[To] freshmen, Swarthmore says, ‘We strongly recommend that you do not work more than 7-8 hours a week,’” she said. “I am used to working much more than that during high school and what Swarthmore pays is less than my county minimum wage is — my county minimum wage is $11.50. So Swarthmore’s telling me to work less hours for less money.”

Anna Garner ’19, who worked retail during the summer after her first year, said that she is satisfied with the school’s wages, but feels that there is a lack of resources for work-study students.

“I made $7.50 an hour working at a clothing store and I didn’t have time to be able to do my work or read a book or just like answer emails. And for that I’m really grateful that Swarthmore has accelerated wages and gives you jobs that allow you to do your [homework],” she said.

“But my biggest issue has not been the wages but on making sure that there are enough jobs and enough access for jobs for students on work-study.”

In a poll of 67 students sent out by the Phoenix on Sept. 17, 31.3 percent of respondents answered that they were unsatisfied with opportunities for employment at the college. JobX, an online job-posting and job application site that the school inaugurated last spring, was designed to facilitate this access for work-study students.

“We are committed to providing Swarthmore students, especially work-aided students, with meaningful employment opportunities that enhance their experiences on campus and in the classroom,” Interim Vice President for Communications Alisa Giardinelli wrote in an email to The Phoenix. “We believe the opportunities we offer are fair, consistent, and enriching to the overall Swarthmore experience.

The implementation of the JobX system is a part of our commitment to meeting the needs of our students.”

According to Director of Institutional Research Robin Shores, 45 percent of students at the college between 2014 and 2016 received work-study grants.

However, only 80 percent of work-aided students were employed by the college. Furthermore, both work-aided and non-work-aided students on the payroll — around 925 students each semester — worked 5.5 hours per week in 2014-2016.

This is a far reach from the aver-

age of 12.26 hours per week at the highest pay grade ($10.19/ hr) they would have had to work in order to generate the roughly $2000 per semester allotted for a work-study grant.

And as in Sia’s case, working more than 5.5 hours per week also often necessitates taking on multiple jobs. In addition to being a PSRF fellow, an I.C. intern, a peer tutor and a research assistant, Sia is also enrolled in 4.5 credits.

“I think the only reason why I’m working so much is because, I just, my parents are going through a really difficult time, one of my sisters decided to go back to school, my financial aid package dropped with the tuition increase,” he said. “From the beginning, I’ve been helping to support my parents, since I’ve been in college. But now that everything’s gone, it’s so much worse this semester, I’ve just had to work so much more than I normally would. It’s definitely annoying when people are like ‘Oh, why are you doing all that?’

It’s not by choice that I’m doing everything I’m doing.”

Yet despite the fact that he struggles with balancing all of his jobs, Sia is hesitant to advocate for higher wages.

“Obviously, getting paid more appeals to me. But you have to think about how sustainable that would be for the college.

I know everyone says, ‘Oh, we have such a big endowment, why can’t we afford to pay everyone a few more dollars,’ but I don’t think that from the school’s perspective … [that it makes] any sense. I would rather that they give the ability to work to more people than just afford to pay a couple well.”

Some members of UUWS, including Matt Koucky ’22, feel that what they see as unfair wages carry not only economic implications but social implica-

tions as well.

“I think the story about college is [that] it’s just this place that people go to because people are waiting to be in the real world,” Koucky said.

“For some people, maybe college is the transitory step to the real world, or this just feels like another phase of schooling, but for a lot of lower-income and underrepresented students at Swarthmore, college is this sacrifice and necessity to stake a place in the ‘real world’ and to know that they will have a living wage when they leave here and to know that they will have social mobility,” Haddad added.

“So this is the real world already for a lot of students.”

For Sia, he made this tradeoff in choosing to attend the college after briefly living on his own and working after high school.

“For me, my parents wanted me to go straight into the workforce after college. I’m here of my own accord,” he said. “Even if they were completely capable of paying ... which they’re not, they won’t. The college isn’t necessarily understanding of that.”

Complicating matters is that for some students, on-campus jobs are their only opportunity for employment. Renn Tan ’20 is a work-aided international student from Malaysia who works anywhere between six and 40 hours a week at a variety of jobs, including several at the Lang Performing Arts Center.

“The thing is that, as an international student, I’m not legally allowed to work off campus.

Unless they pay me in cash and don’t mention it, which I mean, how many employers are willing to do that?” Tan said.

Though Tan is satisfied with their jobs, they recalled comparcontinued on page A2

PAGE A2

THE PHOENIX NEWS

September 27, 2018

New SGO Reps Discuss Agenda for this Semester Magda Werkmeister News Writer

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n September 14, Student Government Organization President Gilbert Orbea announced via email that Robert Gunn ’20 and Patrick McAnally ’21 were elected AtLarge Senators and Ash Shukla ’22, Murtaza Ukani ’22, and Tyler White ’22 were elected Class of 2022 Senators.

The election saw low voter turnout with only 227 students voting in the at-large election and 188 students voting in the first-year election. Since fall 2015, elections have consistently seen turnout numbers in the 500s, with a spike in 2017 with 730 voters and a low point in April 2018 with 314 voters.

Though the trend of declining voter turnout rates has continued, the first-year election had a record 12 students running for office.

“It was a little bit disheartening to see that it was a very low

turnout but I think that that’s something we can hopefully work on this year,” Gunn said, who wrote in his platform about developing what he calls a “participatory democracy ethos” at Swarthmore.

Gunn is a transfer student from Deep Springs College, a two-year liberal arts college that stresses self-governance and is located on a ranch in rural California. The student body, which numbers 30 at most, controls and performs most of the administrative and ranch work. Gunn was the head of the Curriculum Committee, which reviewed current and potential faculty members.

Both Gunn and McAnally believe improving transparency will be crucial for SGO this year.

“I feel like people have raised concerns over what SGO was really doing to address certain problems,” McAnally said.

Increasing student engagement will also likely be a goal for

SGO this year.

“Making sure that there is student engagement so that we can find out what people really care about and making sure administration knows about those things as early as possible is really what is at the front of what we’re caring about,” Gunn said.

Concerns about the accessibility of different historically underrepresented groups to SGO have been raised in the past, notably by Josie Hung ’19, in a December 2017 article published in Voices after she resigned as copresident.

“Internally we want to be as transparent as possible ... to a variety of different viewpoints, and as active as possible in terms of going out to student groups, whether they are representing what would be called diversity groups or representing different pockets of the student body that might otherwise be disengaged from SGO work but actually are

affected by it,” Gunn said.

Gunn and McAnally both hope that students begin to see the power of SGO as an intermediary between the students and administration.

“SGO may be able to say, ‘We’ll compromise on this, this, and this, but at the end of the day, there needs to be this stuff happening for the students and hopefully the administration will see that as a reasonable voice that they’re willing to compromise with,” McAnally said.

Besides increasing transparency and engagement, the senators committed to address issues that have been brought up by recent student protests, such as alleged mistreatment of student workers and mishandling of Title IX cases.

Recently, organizers of the United Undergraduate Workers of Swarthmore have raised concerns about the treatment of student workers, specifically stu-

dents who work as Writing Associates, Sexual Health Advocates, and admissions hosts. Shukla feels that SGO ought to take a more active role in these discussions.

“What I would like to see would be SGO rallying for fair pay and fair hours for student workers,” Shukla said.

The effectiveness of the Title IX office and violence prevention education is also a large issue, especially in regards to recent protests staged by Organizing for Survivors.

McAnally and White believe that the issue extends beyond the limits of the Title IX office and that real change needs to occur in the culture surrounding sexual violence.

“Title IX should not be viewed as this federal law. It should be viewed as a mentality and a mindset that we’re constantly trying to be equitable towards the rights of people who are mar-

Pat Osowski, Beloved Sharples Employee, Leaves College Laura Wagner Managing Editor

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

Working at Swat, continued from A1 ing their wages to a recent graduate who had been hired back by the college to do the same job as Tan. “They got something closer to $15 per hour. I don’t think students should get paid the same amount necessarily because, no matter what, we’re students, they’re working adults, but something a little more in the middle ... between those two...

Yes, please, pay us more,” they said.

Wages are not the only core issue that UUWS’s members have discussed. Initial UUWS messaging focused specifically on the Writing Associates program at the college, as both Jissel Becerra ’20 and Will Marchese ’20 are currently WAs in training and came up with the idea of starting a union when they were hired.

During their first semester, WAs must take a pass/fail seminar, “Writing Pedagogy,” which includes working one-on-one with four to five students to edit multiple drafts of their course papers throughout the semester.

This is considered the course’s lab practicum. They also work one to three shifts in the Writing Center, for which they are paid hourly. The following se-

mester, they are given a stipend of $1000 for their work tutoring twice as many students.

“As a low-income student facing the many hidden and unexpected costs of a college education, having more than one job on campus is essentially mandatory for me. So I couldn’t help but be shocked and frustrated when I learned that, as a Writer’s Associate, I would have to undergo an entire semester’s worth of job training without financial compensation,” Becerra said in a video posted by UUWS on Aug. 17.

In an indirect response to these concerns, Associate Professor Jill Gladstein, director of the writing program, and Associate Professor Alba Newmann Holmes, associate director of the writing program, addressed these and similar concerns in an email sent out to all current WAs on Sept. 2. The email quoted from a proposal that a group of faculty members created in 2008 in response to dissent over WA compensation at that time.

“In teaching our students how to teach, mentor, and be mentored alongside faculty, we embody a central mission of the college: promoting ethical intelligence,” the proposal stated. continued online

Pat Osowski, a former Sharples employee beloved by many students, no longer works for the college. Osowski stated that she was terminated by Sharples management over the summer. The college’s Human Resources Department declined to comment due to the confidential nature of employment information. Osowski had worked at Sharples for 17 years.

“I started out doing pots and pans 40 hours a week,” Pat said.

“One day would be a twelve-

ginalized within their genders, within their sexes, and making sure there’s equality across the board and not just equality, but equity,” White said. “Organizing for Survivors is amazing. I think that we as a Swarthmore community should be supporting them more.”

A final issue that has garnered attention senators is the changes made to Essie Mae’s operations.

“People are generally very discontent,” Shukla said about the changes.

Gunn believes that SGO is an underutilized tool that students should take advantage of in order to bring about the changes they wish to see.

“I still do think that student government ... is probably the most effective force students have … to take their concerns … and put them into an organized way so that the administration can see it, can understand it, and can respond to it,” Gunn said.

ences at the school … Pat quickly became a crucial piece of that ...

It’s clear to everyone how much Pat loves her students, and I think part of that comes from her deep love for humanity. You can always count on her to bring a refreshing dose of honesty and kind-hearted human connection, Bloch said.

“It’s a rare and special thing to find someone who can engage with others on a real human level, whether it comes from empathy or just plain silliness. I think that as a species, we naturally remember people and moments like that, especially when it hap-

pens across boundaries of age, position, and background.”

Bloch’s fondness of Osowski is shared. 110 students and recent alumni signed a letter that Bloch wrote and sent to Human Resources to petition the college to rehire Osowski. As of publication, Human Resources had not reinstated Osowski.

Osowski said that what she loved most about her job was the students.

“I really love my students I love being to interact with them, being able to give them a hug if it’s a bad day … I miss all of that,” she said.

according to a June email from President Smith.

Regarding Ray’s presence at the teach-in, Goldberg wrote, “I think it’s important that deans and administrators do come hear from O4S and understand what our experiences of them have been ... To me, more importantly than hearing O4S speak or being able to say you attended O4S events, for all administrators, is to show that commitment through changing policy and practice as well as enacting personal/institutional accountability measures.”

Another administrator who attended the teach-in was the new Title IX coordinator Bindu Jayne, who joined the college on July 1.

Her new role is viewed as a potentially positive change on the part of the college.

“She seems really dedicated to transformative justice,” said Smith. She said that O4S is also working on getting a new Title IX liaison.

In addition to Jayne’s hiring and Ray’s promotion, Beth Pitts was moved to the office of general counsel. O4S had previously called upon Pitts, formerly the Associate Director for Investigations, to resign.

O4S has spoken out against this promotion, and at the

teach-in, O4S members said that this is part of what they consider to be a pattern of cover-up by the college.

“Swarthmore has done this in the past,” Smith said. “A similar instance happened in spring of 2013 ... It takes [the administrator] out of the students’ general view and out of their general resources, but it puts them in a lot power and is kind of like a promotion. It kind of protects them from our scrutiny and that’s really dangerous.”

While O4S has not hosted any other events since the teach-in, they are now looking for more ways to expand their core membership and create new priorities for the semester.

“Now we have some space and time to plan and not just be reactive,” Goldberg said. “I would say that [our goals are] getting the leadership down, as inclusive and comprehensive as possible, and also figuring out strategically what the priorities are for this semester.”

One priority that O4S has indicated is emphasizing diversity and inclusion. At the teach-in, they addressed challenging the mainstream image of a survivor who is a cisgender, straight, white female, and expressing the many identities of survivors.

“We’re trying to reach out to groups of students at the college who are marginalized in different ways, so that the decisions we make reflect the experiences of everyone who is thinking critically about sexual violence and the college’s responses,” said Goldberg.

We want to do outreach that is meaningful and avoids checking the boxes or tokenizing folks on the basis of their identities,” she added.

Despite changes on the part of the college that O4S views as favorable, they are still concerned with the accountability of the administration as well as effects on policy at the federal level.

“Swarthmore doesn’t exist in any kind of vacuum. I think we’re going to increasingly be realizing how Title IX policy here cannot exist in a vacuum when we’re thinking about Betsy DeVos and other changes to federal policy about sexual violence ... Title IX is not outside of patriarchy, white supremacy, capitalism, homophobia,” Goldberg said.

ist that would appeal to the majority of the student body, Orbea noted. When planning the spring Worthstock and LSE concerts, OSE has a student committee to make final decisions on the featured artist and other spending concerns. In the case of Fall Worthstock, Han said he chose the artist based on his own discussions with students and the results from past Worthstock surveys.

Han had originally applied to have hip-hop artist Ski Mask the Slump God perform instead of J.I.D and EarthGang, with AVSTIN JAMES as the opening act. On Monday, due to “mental exhaustion” after his threemonth tour, Ski Mask cancelled his performance at the college.

Han signed J.I.D. and EarthGang shortly after, with no additional cost incurred.

Han said his main intent for organizing the concert was to show the college that increasing the budget for the actual Worthstock in the spring would let the Worthstock Committee, the group of students and OSE staff

who plan the event, bring larger talent to campus. “... The overall plan is to use this concert and attendance to go to the school in the winter when they’re doing institutional budgeting, and try to argue for more budgeting for Worthstock. [H] opefully from then on, we’ll have a little bit of a larger budget,” he said, adding that even a marginal increase of $5,000 or $10,000 would go a long way.

The full budget for spring Worthstock and LSE ranges from $70,000 to $80,000, and is completely financed by the college, independent of SBC. On its own, the Worthstock budget ranges from $30,000 to $40,000.

In comparison Han’s event this weekend has a budget of $60,000, the majority of which is going toward talent, sound, and lighting equipment.

According to Han, last year’s survey indicated that students wanted rap and EDM artists, so he subsequently looked for artists from those genres and eventually settled on J.I.D, EarthGang, and AVSTIN JAMES by the begin-

ning of this week, although Ski Mask the Slump God was initially slated to be the headliner.

“What was the process through which we said ‘this looks like someone most of the campus wants?’” said Orbea. “By my knowledge, there wasn’t one.”

Nevertheless, Han’s second official application for SBC supplementary funding was approved after further deliberation by SBC and SGO. According to both Xiao and Han, SBC does not intend to fund this sort of event in the future.

Pending fall Worthstock’s success this Saturday, both think there should be a more established process to make a large fall concert happen in the future, with financial support directly from the college, separate from SBC. Fall Worthstock is registered as an all-campus dry event, meaning students should not plan on bringing alcohol into the concert.

hour shift ... from there I moved to the dish belt. I moved from the dish belt to the front of the house. In 16 years I’ve moved three places to getting to the job, to moving up, to the front of the house where I can actually interact with students and give them advice, a hug, a happy hello, anything to make your day better.”

Simon Bloch ’17 spoke about how Osowski was an integral part of his experience at Swarthmore.

“I grew to really love Sharples — it became clear pretty quickly that the meals and conversations I had in that building would shape my growth and experi-

O4S Teach-in, continued from A1 stop systemic rape culture and this culture of sexual violence,” Smith said after the teach-in.

Smith also described what transformative justice would look like in action at Swarthmore. “[It] includes removing perpetrators from power, keeping everything transparent so survivors can be in the know about what’s going on in their situation, and generally lifting up the support system of survivors, while also not making it so that survivors have to do all the work for themselves.”

Much of the work O4S has done centers around accountability from the college and the administration. Last spring, as reported in the Phoenix, O4S held a rally in Parrish Hall and later held an eight-day sit-in in former Dean of Students Liz Braun’s office during a period of increased student activism on campus. In mid-May, Braun resigned.

At the teach-in, O4S said that they consider Braun’s resignation a step forward, but they are still looking for accountability from other administrators.

One such administrator, Michelle Ray, attended the teachin. This year, Ray was promoted to “a new and expanded role as Dean of the Senior Class and Director of Case Management”

Fall Worthstock, continued from A1 the beginning of this semester.

“I don’t expect that we’re gonna even come close to running out of supplemental funding this year,” Xiao said. At the end of last year, SBC had around $90,000 left over from its supplementary funding budget, and SBC granted 90 percent of student groups’ budget proposals during last year’s spring budgeting period on average.

SBC passed Han’s final request unanimously, 7-0, with one abstention. Because it’s standard practice for the SBC Chair to only vote in the case of a tie, Xiao did not vote on Han’s final proposal for Fall Worthstock. The vote cast

by SGO’s Executive Board similarly passed by a wide margin, voting 6-1 in favor of the supplementary funding request.

Last spring, Han served as SGO’s Chair of Internal Affairs.

Because part of his responsibilities included appointing students to various committees, Han appointed the SBC members who eventually approved his supplementary funding request.

In total, Han has applied three

times to SBC in order to secure money for concerts. Han first applied last spring for $60,000 on behalf of the spring Worthstock Committee. SBC only allocated $10,000 toward last spring’s Worthstock. This past summer, Han submitted two separate proposals for a Fall Worthstock.

Han’s second Fall Worthstock proposal was eventually passed

by SBC and SGO. SGO President Gilbert Orbea said that executive board members were surprised that the first proposal for Fall Worthstock passed through SBC at all.

SBC approved Han’s first funding request in late July with a vote of 7-0. However, the Executive Board shot down the proposal within hours, saying it was an “irresponsible use of money,” according to Han. One of SGO’s main concerns when deciding whether to approve the funding proposal was the fact that SBC previously denied SGO funding this spring for a transportation initiative. Earlier this year, SBC was reluctant to give SGO $20,000 to fund a pilot

program designed to help lowincome students on financial aid with transportation costs to Philadelphia, said Orbea. SBC denied their request, but gave the group $4,000 to pilot the program, leaving the door open for more funding in the future, said Orbea.

“A lot of us on the executive board were blindsided by the fact that [Fall Worthstock] could’ve been railed through as quickly as it was, and that it was so unanimous of a vote, when it felt like we were by the skin of our teeth trying to get a third of that funding for, what I would consider, a cause,” said Orbea.

According to Xiao, SBC was hesitant to give SGO more funding since SGO had only used $25,000 out of its $50,000 budget last year. He also said SGO did not have a clear plan at the time for initiating the program. Orbea said SGO still intends to start the transportation initiative, and potentially apply for further supplementary funding.

The Executive Board was also concerned with the lack of a clear mechanism for choosing an art-

ARTS

September 27, 2018 PAGE A3

Renée Elise Goldsberry Discusses Impact of “Hamilton” Ash Shukla Arts Writer

R

enée Elise Goldsberry, Tony award-winner and former “Hamilton” star, energized Lang Music Concert Hall during her discussion panel on Thursday, September 20, and “An Evening with Renée Elise Goldsberry” on Friday, September 21. When she entered onto the stage of the concert hall for both events, Goldsberry immediately changed the atmosphere with her infectious optimism and exuberant love for life. Her tireless ardency and warmth enveloped the room for the entirety of her appearances. When she danced during breaks in her music, her movements came to her so easily and freely that she left her audience thinking, “I wish I could dance the way that she dances.”

On Thursday afternoon, a burst of applause shattered the relative silence in Lang Concert Hall as Goldberry entered the room for her discussion panel.

She then proceeded to answer a series of questions about her own experience as an artist, the impact of “Hamilton” on her life, and the lengthy series of challenges that has led her to her current accomplishments.

“I felt for the first couple of months that I was the weak link,” Goldsberry said of her own performance in her now canonized role as Angelica Schuyler in the original Broadway cast of “Hamilton.” With a profound frankness, she said that if someone had told her during those first couple of months that she would go on to win a Tony award for her performance, she would have laughed at them. Goldsberry went on to describe fame as being “confusing,” because of the inconsistent and unpredictable balance of public attention.

To illustrate her point, she recounted an occasion when an employee at a shoe store racially profiled her and treated her as inferior because she is Black, while children at the same shoe store were excited beyond belief to see Angelica Schuyler walking among them.

As for the impact of “Hamilton” on musical theater as a whole, she believes that the sung-through hip-hop musical has “definitely uplifted American musical theater,” and rebranded the genre as “sexy, not corny.” She attributes the success of “Hamilton” to the fact that it is “addictive like crack” — it appeals to viewers by presenting Alexander Hamilton’s story through contemporary popular music, and while it has undeniable value as entertainment, it also nourishes the brain with its depth of information. Furthermore, she sees Hamilton’s overarching strength as being its ability to bring people together regardless of their race, age, and other social distinctions.

On September 21 at 8:30 p.m., the completely packed rows of seats in Lang Concert Hall once again applauded profusely as Goldsberry walked onto stage and immediately began to sing a bright rendition of Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now,” accompanied by a band of four jazz musicians. As she sang and danced on stage, her rich voice and robust stage presence seemed to fill the dark room with radiant waves of optimism and kindness. It was difficult to imagine that Goldsberry had performed this same show, with the same energy, passion, and commitment, earlier that evening.

“We just want to be together right now,” she said into her microphone once the audience finished applauding. “You’re making me happy right now.”

Two themes that prevailed during the performance were the importance of representation in media and the impact of motherhood on Goldsberry’s life and career.

Immediately following her introduction, Goldsberry began to describe the inspiration that she takes from the poetry and life of Maya Angelou. Goldsberry recalled watching Angelou deliver a talk at the University of Houston when she was a young woman, and being “inspired, elevated, and amazed,” as she listened to the poet, memoirist,

and activist speak. Goldsberry stated that she didn’t know if she would even be on stage if not for the inspiration that she derived from Angelou. In honor of Angelou’s legacy, Goldsberry decided to “breathe life,” into Angelou’s poetry and sang the words to “The Human Family,” as the band accompanied her voice with a velvety background of jazz.

Goldsberry then sang “It’s Quiet Uptown,” a song from “Hamilton,” that portrays the Hamiltons’ reaction to the loss of their oldest son, and Bob Dylan’s “Lord Protect My Child.” She introduced “It’s Quiet Uptown” merely by saying that it was written about the loss of a child by a man (LinManuel Miranda, as we later learned) whose “dog was probably the closest thing he had to a child.” She stated that she often wondered how a childless man had been able to so perfectly capture the intensity of parenthood. “Lord Protect My Child,” immediately followed “It’s Quiet Uptown.” Before she began to sing the slow, soulful ballad, Goldsberry openly expressed her concerns for her son. She described him as sweet and caring, but she admitted to sometimes worrying about his future because of the frequent and systematic mistreatment of Black people — and especially young Black boys — in the United States.

The strength and power of Goldsberry’s performance came not only from her immense skill as a performer, but also because of the messages that she shared with her audience through the intimately personal medium of song. Goldsberry is simultaneously profound, funny, sassy, and, above all, thoughtful when it comes to her words and their conscious impact on those around her. Between her discussion panel and her performance, the closing line of “Human Family” ties together her thoughts on “Hamilton,” on fame, on diversity, and on motherhood: “We are more alike, my friends, than we are unalike.”

Courtesty of Justin Bettman

It’s unclear if the budget for “Room 25” was substantially larger than that of “Telefone,” however, instrumentals such as those for “Prayer Song,” “Window,” and “With You” are particularly lush and sound as if they were recorded live.

While the track is definitely an exercise in braggadocio, Noname drops a few telling bars: “I’m just writing my darkest secrets like wait and just hear me out/ Saying vegan food is delicious like wait and just hear me out.” Noname is aware of the personal nature of much of the record. By intertwining personal revelations with fun bars (and a dig at vegan food), Noname is able to engage the listener more deeply with her art without making them “work for it.” Nowhere is vulnerability more present than on the album’s closing track “noname.”

Lyrically, Noname grapples with the political, personal, and philosophical questions that resulted in her selection of the Noname monicker. While it isn’t overwhelmingly climactic or grand, “noname” feels like a fitting end to the album, tying things up nicely while affirming Noname’s artistry.

“Room 25” is a blissful, introspective, and wholly engaging commercial debut for the Chicago now LA-based MC. Lyrically and Instrumentally diverse, “Room 25” falters only occasionally where Noname lets songs end with a short verse and a chorus, occasionally leaving the listener pining for a more developed song. On the whole, however, this is a minor shortcoming which isn’t applicable outside a couple examples such as “Blaxploitation” and “Self.” Ultimately, “Room 25” is a great achievement and artistic evolution for Noname.

Hopefully her next full length effort will see her experiment further with the instrumentation and feature list. Until then, “Room 25” is a well crafted listen which will keep the listener engaged far past its short 34 minute runtime.

“Room 25” Review Max Gruber Arts Writer

Noname begins her newest project by reflecting on how listeners will view “Room 25” in the context of their own lives and concerns. Will it be be the album through which they “... question every god, religion, Kanye, b******?” While Noname offers several playful options, she clearly states that, no, this album is by her and for her. This first verse of “Self” sets the tone of “Room 25” as Noname is equal parts referential and introspective. Filled with captivating and sharp verses that are supported by some of the most elegant production of 2018 so far, “Room 25” is another excellent effort from Noname that deservedly claims its place among the strongest releases of the year.

“Room 25” is the successor to Noname’s 2016 mixtape “Telefone,” which proved to be the first point of exposure for many listeners unfamiliar with the Chicago MC. Although she generated buzz after a cosign from Chance the Rapper and a subsequent feature on the song “Lost,” “Telefone” would be Noname’s first full-length project. The mixtape was well received by many, and featured Noname’s unique, bubbly cadence alongside a number of her Chicago-based contemporaries such as Saba and Smino with diverse, sunny production handled primarily by Cam O’bi and Phoelix. The appeal of “Telefone” lay in its refreshing personality and in Noname’s own willingness to explore different song topics as varied as the blissful “Diddy Bop,” the contemplative “Casket Pretty,” or the heartbreaking “Bye Bye Baby.” It’s worth reflecting on

the successes of “Telefone,” as “Room 25” is an expansion of the same fundamental strengths found on that project.

In terms of its production, “Room 25” maintains much of the charm of “Telefone” while exploring a broader range of sounds and genre influences.

“Montego Bae,” which features Ravyn Lenae, has a Bassanova influence with a sharp bassline that complements both Ravyn and Noname’s vocals. This song’s instrumental changeup is particularly refreshing as it occurs halfway through the tracklisting.

While there are songs such as “Regal” and “Ace” which are relatively conventional for Noname as far as instrumentals are concerned, the track “Blaxploitation” is a unique moment on the album and in Noname’s discography. Led by an undeniable groove and peppered with numerous vocal samples, the track is both highly nostalgic and contemporary. On the one hand, Noname’s nostalgia is visible in her use of samples from the blaxploitation (a genre of films produced in the early 70s centered on black characters and communities) films “Dolemite” and “The Spook Who Sat By” and her lyrical references to “Superfly.” Her verses, however, deal with contemporary topics as well such as gentrification. At one point she raps about a scenario where the subject’s man moves to Wicker Park and their mother still lives on the Southside [of Chicago]. (Wicker Park in this context represents newly developed, gentrified neighborhoods as a whole.) She even raps about Chick Fil-a: “(Eating Chick-FilA in the shadows, that taste like hypocrite/.../Waffle fry my empathy, bitches just really lazy).”

Phoelix distinguishes himself outside of his production on several occasions throughout the record. His two vocal features are excellent, especially his sweet delivery on the hook of “Window.” “Room 25” benefits from its feature list,

as Noname again draws from the field of notable artists in Chicago. Familiar names like Saba and Smino are present on “Ace,” which feels like a lyrical playground as the three MCs take turns dropping quotables about their musical success.

PAGE A4

THE PHOENIX ARTS

September 27, 2018

Profiles in Art: Sebastian Dakey Esther Couch Arts Writer

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n the United States, most music classes focus on the fundamentals of music theory. Music education involves the practical discipline, namely how composers create music using composition methods, tuning systems, and musical notation. Musicology, on the other hand, is its undervalued sociological counterpart: the study of musical culture and history. Although it is a fundamental aspect of music, it is often overshadowed by technical elements of music.

Sebastian Dakey, an exchange student from Accra, Ghana, has conversely only been exposed to musicology. He has chosen to study at Swarthmore this fall semester in order to learn music theory for the first time.

“From age nine up to now, I haven’t had the opportunity to take music theory,” Dakey explained. “Here, I have the opportunity to take music courses and understand the theory behind what I do.”

During Swarthmore’s orientation open-mic, Dakey performed three songs: Beethoven’s “Fur Elise,” the theme song of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” and Scott Joplin’s “Maple Leaf.” An American music student may categorize the songs into relevant genres or critique each flat or sharp note, but will seldom consider the performance’s contextual background. In a culture in which a performer’s personal significance is minimized, it can be constructive to learn about an artist’s story, and through his story, Sebastian Dakey demonstrates how exposure to different cultures allows us to recognize a performance’s various intentions.

Dakey’s musical background is a result of various influences,

including religion. The eldest of six children, Dakey was introduced to the keyboard at age nine by his musician father. After learning the keyboard, he eventually joined the church choir.

“Religion definitely influences my music. My dad introduced me to music that was consistent to the Catholic tradition, and as a result, I do a lot of choral music,” Dakey said. In high school, Dakey was the principal keyboard and assistant choir director at a Ghanaian choir, Tema Youth Choir. He acted as full time keyboardist for two years, and had the opportunity to tour the United States for several weeks. After high school, Dakey was accepted and offered a full scholarship to Ashesi University. Upon matriculation, however, the lack of a music department made Dakey uncertain about his musical career at Ashesi.

“One thing that Ashesi lacked was the vibrancy of choral music, and I was skeptical if [the university] was the platform for me to grow my music,” he said.

“I then figured it was the opportunity to start something. That is how we came up with the program.”

On November 6, 2018, it will have been two years since his foundation of Ashesi’s school choir. One of the first concerts that the choir held was called “A Night of African Traditional Folk Music.” Before each piece, members of the choir read aloud the background of the song. Dakey articulated the purpose of the commentary: “In the olden days in African culture, grandmothers used to sing certain songs to the community. As a result, there are so many life lessons in each piece.”

This background in musicology allowed Dakey to place emphasis on intercultural connec-

tion, but he feels that this has resulted in a lack of technical knowledge. When asked about his enrollment at Swarthmore, he answered, “I figured it was high time that I understand and communicate in the music language. I feel that it is imperative to be here. Back home, virtually nobody is musically inclined; whatever you play, nobody can critique it. It’s important that you enhance what you do. Here, I’m a small fish in a big pond.

The impact I can make is limited, but the main purpose to acquire knowledge and improve what I can do back home. That is the link.”

Dakey later identified other links between the two cultures.

He said, “One thing that continues to surprise me is the appreciation that the community showed, and the feedback demonstrated that there is a place for choral music at Ashesi.

The impression I get here is the same. Either way, [music] provides an opportunity for you to come and listen to good songs and forget about academia for at least two hours.”

He currently has plans to utilize what he gains from his experience at Swarthmore back home for the choir: “It is an opportunity for me to learn theory and improve what I can do back home. Starting the choir was only the first step for Ashesi in creating a music department.

They will see the impact that it’s having and this will have contributed to the long time goal of starting the music department and having our chorus recognized internationally.”

“Getting into Swarthmore as an exchange student has been a dream come true,” Dakey concluded. “I’m really, really excited for the future.”

Emma Chiao / The Phoenix

Childish Gambino Provokes Thought in Philly Larkin White Arts Writer “This isn’t a concert. This a motherf****** church.” On Tuesday, September 18, in the 76ers’ Wells Fargo Center, backlit by an extravagant display of lasers, projectors, and screens, Donald Glover (a.k.a.

Childish Gambino) attempted to give the thousands of fans filling the arena an experience that could not be replicated by only the sound of his music.

“Did you know y’all came to the last Childish Gambino concert?” he announced during a short monologue after playing the first song of his set — a lively, unreleased song titled “Algorythm” off of his upcoming final album. “Put your phones away,” he said, attempting to sanctify the performance and ensure that the audience mentally focused on what was displayed right in front of them. “YOU bought tickets, THEY didn’t buy tickets.” Replete with a live band, striking visuals, and passionate dancing, the concert did not fail to amaze, yet the intention of Gambino’s more recent music (and his TV show, “Atlanta”) stood in stark contrast with an aspect of the concert perhaps best represented by the rowdy, white fan in a basketball jersey doing a wildly aggressive shoot (a dance move popularized by rapper BlocBoy JB) directly in front of where Gambino performed.

I myself am three-quarters white, and grew up in a majority-white environment in San Francisco, so my own relationship with rap confuses me. Yet in multiple artistic mediums I have been an avid fan of Gambino for a long time.

For whatever reason Gambino’s first album, “Camp,” is the only rap album from the last fifteen years that my dad owns and “Community,” where Gambino found his breakout acting role, was one of only a few TV shows that my little sister and I both enjoyed when I was younger. My interest has sustained throughout his transition from comedy, in both music and TV, to his more recent thoughtful and political work. So when

tickets went on sale in May, I bought one immediately. It happened to be the first concert I independently chose to go to, rather than my parents or friends bringing me.

The tour is titled “This is America” in honor of the highly political song and viral music video of the same name released earlier in the year. The opener for the show was popular rap duo Rae Sremmurd, made up of Swae Lee and Slim Jxmmi, a pair well known for making fun music with little meaningful content. Slim Jxmmi is one of a handful of popular rappers who have ad libs on “This is America,” suggesting that Gambino’s choice of them as an opener was an active pursuit of including more mainstream African-American rappers than himself. Gambino’s upcoming album has not yet been released, and as such the performance consisted of mostly his greatest hits.

His outfit for the evening was strikingly similar to that of the “This is America” music video: white pants, no shirt, and a small chain. Another similarity was his full-bodied dancing and intense facial expressions, staring into the camera with his body rhythmically rolling and writhing, he seemed almost possessed. Given the name of the tour and the popularity of the video, one can only assume these choices were intended to keep the ideas of the video in the forefront of the audience’s mind.

He followed up his short talk with a few crowd pleasers and a couple of mellow songs from “Awaken, My Love!” Another short break ensued during which, kneeling in an ethereal beam of white light he advocated the power of belief and prayer. In a somewhat cliché manner, Gambino told the crowd that they can do anything, describing the “little prayers” that got him where he is today.

The second half of the show immediately set the tone as more soulful and theatrical.

During “Terrified,” the two enormous screens behind Gambino displayed two hauntingly gorgeous, slow-motion videos

of him and an unidentifiable woman drowning in water, beset on all sides by explosions of red, orange, and yellow. For “Summertime Magic,” a hazy, looped video of an apocalyptic city street with palm trees passing by was played, reminiscent of the song’s new music video. He followed with a performance of an achingly beautiful unreleased song the internet has been calling “Spirits” — my personal favorite of the night. “We shine brighter in the dark,” Gambino called out during the chorus, advocating a message of the durability of human spirit as well as black beauty and excellence. As the small section of the stage that he occupied rose slowly several feet off the ground, the song finished with a repeated plea: “Oh great spirit, do you hear me? Do you love me? Can you hold me up?” His prayer to God fully realized the promise to the audience that they were attending church.

Breaking into the final song of the main set, the namesake of the tour, Gambino announced to what appeared to me to be a majority-white crowd that he just wanted to see them dance — a choice that seemed to be part of the routine, yet I was still taken aback by, given the song’s original message of criticizing the troublesome use and view of African-American culture by most (and especially white) Americans. In the white conception of African-Americans, police brutality and many other outlets of systematic oppression are often overlooked, and African-Americans are often stereotyped as hip-hop artists or athletes. In the context of the video, therefore, the viral dance moves’ essential connotation is that hip-hop culture as pop culture can distract from institutionalized racism, a distraction that can be relieving for Black Americans but when enacted by white Americans is an ignorant use of a culture that is not theirs.

Given the enormous amount of thought and intent put into all of Gambino’s latest work, from “Atlanta” to the “This is America” music video, to even how well engineered the con-

cert was, I was forced to wonder why he didn’t wait to tour until the release of his new album.

If this really is Gambino’s final tour then why not perform his final work? It initially seemed to me as if the message of his latest music was muddled and contradicted by what appeared to be pandering to a mass audience. This seemed exemplified best by the encore, which

consisted of ultimate fan favorites (“Sober,” “V. 3005,” “IV. Sweatpants,”and “Redbone”) to which the audience screamed every word. Yet after reexamination I realized the importance of Gambino’s presentation of the show as a church rather than a concert. Religion has a long and important history within the African-American community as a respite from the

difficulties of everyday AfricanAmerican life and, through his concert, he seemed to be offering up a similar respite consistent with that of the dancing in the “This is America” music video. The concert was a celebration of African-American culture, of spirituality, and in Gambino’s own long standing tradition, of himself.

OPINIONS

September 27, 2018 PAGE A5

Letter to the Editor: have given license to the worst elements in American culture and our body politic. If he wins, such people will be even more emboldened. Our nation will begin moving backwards undoing over 50 years of progress.”

Two years later, there is only one way to stop Trump’s march towards creating a dangerously authoritarian nation: to flip at least one of the houses of Congress, which means, no matter what our misgivings, we must vote to elect Democrats.

We urge everyone reading this letter who is 18 years or older and eligible to make sure they are registered to vote. We urge everyone who can choose where they vote to make sure to vote in their home district, as the local (Swarthmore) Congressional District as well as the Common-

On Flu Shots EDITORIAL

This Monday, Alice Holland sent out an email with information about flu shots. In the email, she stated that flu shots would cost students 25 dollars upfront to be paid either in cash, check, or billed to students account, and then those students could get a receipt to send to their insurance companies for reimbursement.

Swarthmore is supposed to be a cash-free campus, yet flu shots, a service almost all students should get, yet a financial barrier stands in the way for some.

The email noted that students with financial need could talk to the health center and get a fee waiver, but this cost still will create a burden to many students getting flu shots. Because flu prevention is most effective when rates of inoculation are high, Worth Health Center has a responsibility to make sure that students can easily get flu shots.

While many students have Swarthmore’s insurance plan and avoid this problem, many more students have private insurance. These students’ insurance plans typically covers flu shots and the reimbursement system creates a hassle for these students. Normally, when students go to the doctor’s office or a pharmacy, they give their insurance information up front and then are not charged for the flu shot. Worth Health Center is apparently unable to utilize this convenient system that makes annual vaccinations more easily accessible for students. Reimbursements take time, and 25 dollars is not a trivial amount of money. Many students, as a result of the backward system where students are asked to deal with the bureaucracy of their insurance companies rather than Worth Health center dealing with bureaucracy instead. As a result, students may wait to get a flu shot until they go home for fall

THE

T

wo years ago, many of us sent a letter to The Phoenix urging support for Hillary Clinton against Donald Trump. Sadly, many of the fears we stated in that letter have come to pass. We warned, “If Trump is elected he will remake the Supreme Court in ways that will permanently permit big money to dominate politics and voter suppression to grow in importance.” (And we didn’t even mention that Roe v. Wade would be on the chopping block.)

In the wake of Trump’s outrageous characterization of some of the pro-Nazi demonstrators in Charlottesville as “good people” and his claim that the 2900 dead Americans in Puerto Rico “never happened,” our fears about his racism appear understated: “Trump’s racism and misogyny

w

wealth of Pennsylvania’s Senate seat are both pretty secure for the Democrats.

Anyone who thought it wouldn’t matter whether Trump won in 2016 knows now that it definitely did matter. Think of how much more damage he could do if neither house of Congress flips. This is not the time for political purity — this is a time to hold back the tide of racism and fascism. Please vote as if our lives depended on it — they do!

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’64 ’64 ’64 ’64 ’64 ’64 ’64 ’64 ’64

Gavin Wright ’65 Meg Hodkin Lippert ’64 Barbara Edwards Banet ’64 Lydia Razran Stone ’64 Sharon Bertsch McGrayne ’64 Terese Loeb Kreuzer ’64 Peggy Colvin Tropp ’64 John C. Pollock ’64 Archer Dodson Heinzen ’64 Sue Zinn Eisinger ’64 Anne Cochran Sloan ’64 Peter Freedman ’64 (Rev) Janet Kelly Brown ’64 Kerry Kelly Novick ’64 Dick Barrett ’64 Bernard Beitman ’64 Bernie Banet ’64 Samuel M. Worthington ’64 Alan Feingold ’64 Nancy Nickerson Stassinopooulos ’64 Michael and Rickie Gross ’64 Andrea Hoff Knox ’64 Lila Towle ’64

PHOENIX

Ganesh Setty, Editor-in-Chief Laura Wagner, Managing Editor Keton Kakkar, Managing Editor NEWS Bayliss Wagner, Editor Katie Pruitt, Editor ARTS Nicole Liu, Editor CAMPUS JOURNAL Naomi Park, Editor Dylan Clairmont, Editor OPINIONS Shelby Dolch, Editor

PHOTOGRAPHY Emma Ricci-De Lucca, Editor LAYOUT Trina Paul, Editor COPY Dan Siegelman, Chief Editor BUSINESS Peem Lerdputtipongporn SOCIAL MEDIA Abby Diebold, Editor DIGITAL OPERATIONS Navdeep Maini

SPORTS Jack Corkery, Editor Max Katz-Balmes, Editor

break or put it off until it is too late, and they get the flu.

It is also important that students who, as Holland states in her email, are concerned about financial hardship can talk to the staff at the health center in order to get the fee waived. It would be significantly easier if those students were able to get it covered by their insurance upfront rather than having to go through the extra step of having to talk to a staff member.

Swarthmore should take the extra step to make flu shots easier and more accessible by finding a way to make flu shots a simpler choice for students by removing potential barriers.

Students should get flu shots, not only for their own health outcomes but to protect others from the flu as well, and the college should facilitate this process in any way possible.

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

Your Vote Matters When it Comes to Climate Change Climate change is not an issue that just occurred recently.

Adopted in 1997, the Kyoto Protocol, which urges all nations to reduce release of greenhouse gas, demonstrates climate change as a serious global issue that needs an immediate solution. 20 years later, however, the United States has taken a step back in history, halting its transition from fossil fuels to reusable green energies.

JENNY XU OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR On June 1, 2017, just a few months before the wildfires ignited in California and hurricanes devastated Texas and Puerto Rico, Donald Trump shockingly withdrew from the Paris Climate Accord, which would have superseded the Kyoto Protocol when

it ends in 2020. Two weeks ago Hurricane Florence devastated the Carolinas, resulting in the loss of 13 lives. The Washington Post reports that “climate change may cause more hurricanes to rapidly intensify.” No more statistics are needed to demonstrate the catastrophic result of climate change. It is harming the lives of people across the globe. Nevertheless, due to environmental regulations’ alleged potential devastation of America’s economy, the U.S. government refuses to combat climate change. As Hurricane Florence wreaks havoc in the Carolinas, the Trump Administration seeks to ease climate regulation on companies, allowing them to release methane, a potent greenhouse gas, into the atmosphere. We cannot stand by as the government con-

tinues to ignore the glaring problem of global warming. As the midterm election approaches, if you are a citizen of the United States, there is more to do than just recycling and composting in the fight against climate change.

At Swarthmore, I believe that most of us care about climate change — that in our daily lives, we all probably seek to reduce waste, such as sorting trash, taking the elevator less, using reusable utensils, etc. I applaud Swarthmore’s effort to become a zero waste campus. However, due to fossil fuel executives’ infiltration into Congress through lobbying, our efforts will be thwarted as the government continues to condone their pollution of the environment. Fossil fuels lobbies are precisely the reason for Congress’ inactivity on climate.

According to the New Yorker, billionaires such as the Koch Brothers, who made their fortune on fossil fuels, are directly affected by the climate change policies.

In 2008, Americans for Prosperity, a non-profit group funded by the Koch Brothers, devised the “No Climate Tax Pledge”, which is signed by a third of the House of Representatives and a quarter of the Senate currently in Congress. The “No Climate Tax Pledge” directly opposes climate change policies, and those who have signed the pledge will always vote against policies that may combat climate change.

The corrupt politicians and billionaires can neglect the rising temperatures and sea levels because of the wealth they have gained from destroying our planet. If we wanted to, many of us

could also ignore climate change, as we live in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where natural disasters are unlikely to affect our lives. However, climate change is directly affecting marginalized groups such as people of color and low-income communities all over the world. The U.S. government’s inactivity to climate change is an example of environmental racism. According to Politico.com, while the U.S. government responded in 10 days to Hurricane Harvey and aided Texas with 140 million relief fund, it sent out only 6.2 million to relieve the disaster in Puerto Rico, 45 days after Hurricane Maria landed. Even if the president calls the Administration’s response to Hurricane Maria “an unsung success,” statistics show that the hurricane has killed over

You Can Leave Swat, but Swat Won’t Leave You Last semester, my sophomore spring, I kind of messed up.

GIORGIA PIANTANIDA COLUMNIST Among drowning in my personal pit of sorrows, mental illness and body dysmorphia, I built huge barriers between all of my Swat friends and me. I convinced myself that going abroad would allow me to find myself without them, because I thought they were the problem. I convinced myself that Swarthmore itself and the people I had gotten to know there were the culprits for my mental instabilities and deep-rooted insecurities.

So, to put it lightly, I done goofed.

I had spent two years listening to people tell me that Swarthmore was temporary — it was something that happened to you for four years and then it was over.

Friends who had done a semester abroad swore that leaving allowed them to ignore Swarthmore as being an integral part of who they were, and they had never felt so free in their lives. So it was only

logical that I was yearning to leave after the year that sophomore slump had gifted me. But I’ve come to find that you can run as far as you want from Swat, but Swat will never truly leave you.

The friendships and memories you make there are invaluable and they should be judged as such, rather than replaceable and forgettable.

On July 14 of this year, I arrived in Brisbane with three luggages and a head full of dreams, but a sad, empty heart. I had been trying to rebuild myself and my life, my hopes and dreams, and I refused to accept anyone to whom I had attributed my downfall into those fantasies. I had already, even if hesitantly, let two Swatties in, and figured that was enough.

They knew my story — they would understand and were really all I needed.

But deep inside, I ached. I yearned for the friends I had been blaming for months, because finally, I was admitting to myself that perhaps they weren’t the problem. Perhaps that was me all

along. Never being one to admit defeat, I trudged on, ignoring the pangs my heart often felt when accidentally scrolling through pictures of more wholesome, fun times.

Being abroad is hard though.

I was supposed to figure out my budget, my studies and my trips all while working through my emotional turmoil, which was one of the toughest journeys I’ve ever embarked upon. I wanted my friends back, all of them, to be able to tell them how I felt. I wanted to be able to call them and tell them how poorly my day was going and how much I needed their support in that moment.

I eventually admitted to myself that I could no longer blame innocent people for my own issues.

I could no longer harbor anger or hatred towards people that had done nothing but try to lift me up during my worst moments. Perhaps, I needed that step back — perhaps I needed the fresh air to somewhat romanticize them, to be able to see through the smoke and mirrors my eating disorders

and depression had crafted for me.

I reached out after months of no contact, holding my breath for every second that I got no reply. But my heart was at peace, even if my hands were shaking. I knew I was doing the right thing for once.

Since that first text, I continued my immersive journey of selfhealing and self-improvement by trying to earn back the people I had always dearly loved. I knew the road would be tough, as it has been, and I knew it would require a lot of me, but I was also acutely aware of how deeply important it was. I also learned how wrong I was about being abroad.

When you leave Swat, a lot of people may try to convince you that part of you is gone. Well, perhaps not gone, but certainly stifled. They try to tell you that the people and memories you have from there are not going to remain as important as they once were because new friends have the ability to simply replace them. That, readers, is a lie. One way to explain it is the old quote, “Distance makes the heart grow

fonder.”

A different, and perhaps better way, to put it is by paraphrasing a part of a speech I heard during freshman orientation that has stuck with me all these years, “Swat does not only happen to you — you happen to Swat.”

You do. And that is why it’s impossible to let go. That’s why my heart lives and loves Swat even with all the pain I have endured because of it. It has given me so many hard lessons, but it has also, more importantly, introduced me to some of the best people in the world. My crew, my dudes, my loves. They’re the ones that gave me the strength to face all my insecurities and issues. They’re the ones that, through thick and thin, inspire me to be better than I was yesterday, every single day. Just because I’m now half a world away doesn’t mean our connection is severed. I would even argue it’s stronger. There’s just something immensely more dramatic about a friend that has the ability to turn your day around through a simple Facebook message that reads, “I

two thousand people in Puerto Rico and that the island may never recover from this disaster.

The outrageous discrimination of Puerto Ricans demonstrates how little the Trump Administration cares for the people of color.

As hurricanes intensify, the U.S. government under the Trump Administration will nevertheless remain indifferent to climate change, because the people in power will never be affected by its consequences.

However, it is not too late to combat climate change. As the 2018 midterm election approaches, the votes in our hands are the weapons that will replace the corrupt politicians with politicians who are willing to pass climate laws, such as the 100 percent clean energy bill, which will replace fossil fuel energies with

forgot to ask you how you are —- I don’t want you to think we forgot about you.” Or a group chat with a member in Copenhagen, another in Wisconsin and yet another in New York City, with hopes of a reunion stirring.

Being so far away, I’ve understood that Swarthmore has given me a family, one that I chose to walk away from and one that has lovingly welcomed me back with no hesitation. Swat has given me my people, a thing I can’t hope to find anywhere else.

I know college is hard and I know how easy it is to fall apart when things get tough and proceed to hate Swat for it, but this experience has shown me how backwards that thinking is. Truth is, I don’t hate Swat — I resent the difficult situations it makes me face. But I must recognize that every single one of those situations has also been accompanied by people who have become my family, no matter how far I travel from them. As ill-timed as this realization may have occurred, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

PAGE A6

THE PHOENIX OPINIONS

September 27, 2018

Ten Years After the Financial Crisis, We Shouldn’t Be Complacent About Regulations

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en years ago this month, the senior class at Swarthmore confronted graduating into one of the worst recessions in American history. The investment bank Lehman Brothers had just collapsed, setting off the financial crisis and the ensuing global economic contraction. By the end of 2009, unemployment reached 10 percent and real GDP had fallen 4.3 percent from its 2007 peak (Federal Reserve Economic Data).

LAURA WILCOX OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR In contrast, barring unforeseen disaster, the class of 2019 will graduate into a strong economy and tight labor market. Indicators of economic well-being such as the labor force participation rate, homeownership, and real weekly earnings have rebounded since the recession,

albeit slowly. In August 2018, unemployment among recent college graduates was only 2.2 percent according to Federal Reserve Economic Data.

Even though the class of 2019 will face very different economic realities than the class of 2009, the 10th anniversary of the financial crisis is an excellent opportunity to examine the work that still needs to be done to prevent another crisis. The current economic expansion shouldn’t lull us into thinking that it can’t happen again, or make us complacent about regulating the financial system. Instead, policymakers need to look at both risk factors that precipitated the 2008 financial crisis and new developments in financial markets that might lead to another crisis.

One of the major causes of the 2008 financial crisis was subprime mortgage lending,

including risky and predatory lending practices. This was largely enabled by deregulation of the financial system, such as the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999 and the failure to regulate the “shadow banking system.” After the financial crisis, some significant steps were taken to increase oversight on banks, such as the Dodd-Frank Act, which created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Additionally, the Federal Reserve began doing “stress tests” on banks to ensure that they could survive some losses. The Trump administration, however, is currently making troubling moves towards deregulation of the banking system, including unwinding some of the DoddFrank regulations on small and medium-sized banks earlier this summer. Since many experts believed that Dodd-Frank did not go far enough when it

was passed, it is worrying that the Trump administration is attempting to dismantle it, possibly increasing our vulnerability to another crisis. The Federal Reserve has also loosened some of its capital requirements for banks that are not “systemically important.” Having sufficient capital allows banks to withstand losses if there is a downturn. Together, these changes could enable more of the bad behavior and excessive risk-taking by banks that led to the 2008 financial crisis, so it’s worrisome that the government is walking back regulations on banks even though the economy is doing well.

Maintaining existing regulations, however, isn’t enough.

We also need to consider risk factors that didn’t exist back in 2008. According to the New York Times, the value of corporate bonds has risen from 16 percent

of GDP in 2007 to 25 percent of GDP in 2017 as companies take advantage of low interest rates to borrow. If the Fed were to raise interest rates significantly, companies may not be able to pay interest on their debt. Concerningly, student loan debt has doubled in the past decade, and is growing much faster than mortgage or credit card debt.

The student loan market is still smaller than the mortgage market, so widespread defaults would not have the same disastrous effect on the economy as the housing crisis, but heavy student loan debt could prevent consumers from making important consumption choices such as homeownership.

Experts also cite cyberattacks on the financial system as a growing risk for the economy: over the summer, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell told members of Congress that

the risk of a cyberattack keeps him up at night, while largely dismissing the risk posed by cryptocurrency. Banks are also worried about the possibility of cyberattacks. The New York Times found that the number of successful data breaches in the financial system has been rising since the 2008 financial crisis.

Of course, odds are that the next financial crisis will be caused by something that most people don’t regard as risky, just as many experts didn’t see the 2008 financial crisis coming. It may be that many factors coincide in unpredictable ways that create the conditions for a crisis.

The risk of another crisis, however, can certainly be mitigated by maintaining the sensible regulation enacted after the 2008 financial crisis, and paying attention to new aspects of the economy that could foment a crisis.

In Defense of Willets “I live in Willets.”

“I’m so sorry for you.” That’s the response I usually get. Mention my dorm and I get comments about never-ending noise, the smell of certain medicinal plants, and the lack of A.C. And to be completely fair, those are occasional issues that pop up.

But is living in Willets a reason to pity me? Absolutely not.

MARTIN RAKOWSZCZYK OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR I genuinely enjoy living in Willets and, though my perspective may be limited considering that I am both a freshman and also too busy to formulate too many complaints, I am more than willing to offer a qualified defense of my building.

As someone who has to sleep eight hours a night or else becomes incapable of expressing intelligent thought for the next 24 hours, the prospect of being assigned to Willets scared me. The only things I knew were that the administration tried to quash the name “Thrillets” and anecdotal reports that the building was taken off of tours due to reports of parents getting

contact highs. But the reality is somewhat different than the mythos this building has created. Is Willets noisy at night? No. Thursdays and Saturdays usually have a small amount of noise until 11 and on other nights, it’s quiet enough that I have not had trouble sleeping. Does it smell like what my 8th grade health teacher called “the Devil’s lettuce?” Sometimes. The smell, however, is never overpowering and not dissimilar to what can be smelled in, say, anywhere in downtown Philadelphia or even certain parts of Crum Woods.

As for the actual building, Willets is more than decent, despite valid complaints about the lack of air conditioning, which is also true of most dorm buildings, and the sometimes questionable cleanliness of the bathrooms. (PSA: please clean up after yourself if you wash your hair in the sink.) The rooms are spacious, and mine in particular has an amazing window view of the Scott Arboretum headquarters. Unlike Dana and Hallowell, my hallway does not look like the twisting labyrinthine residence of Minos and is is always clean.

The kitchens are functional and

SwatGraphics

the laundry works well. Mephistos’ lounge is a nice place to hang out with friends and play pool or just use an HDMI and play FIFA on the TV. But the best feature of the Willets building by far is its location: Willets is close to the classrooms of north campus. I can literally wake up at 8:20 and be early to my 8:30 class. According to my phone, I need to walk three minutes to go to McCabe, five minutes to Sharples and four minutes to Parrish Hall. I can be off-campus in thirty seconds and in Kohlberg in three minutes. I think it’s safe to say that perhaps with the exception of Parrish, no other dorm at Swarthmore has such a great location.

Of course, the reason Willets is (in)famous is its social life, not the building itself. I am not a party person. But even so, the life in Willets is the best feature of living there. As I wrote this, it is 10:30 P.M. and I am sitting in my lounge, surrounded by twenty people who are studying while eating food from Essie’s and listening to “Africa” by Toto. At any time of day, I can go somewhere and talk to a friend. From 8 A.M. Mephistos’ breakfasts to informal 1 P.M. lounge gatherings (re-

Andrew Zhu / The Phoenix

plete with homemade brownies) and 11:30 P.M. tea parties at my neighbor’s dorm, it’s hard to be lonely at Willets. Even so, whenever I want to be alone, I can go to my dorm and relax without too much noise outside. As a freshman, having nearly a quarter of my class share the same building as me is a plus and has helped

me make friends and integrate to campus life a lot faster than I would have in another building.

That’s not to say that Willets is a paradisiacal Eden where everyone is happy and all is good.

The third floor’s temperature is best described as “oven-like,” the laundries can be crowded, and there seems to be more ro-

dents than the level I find acceptable — which is none. But on the whole, does Willets deserve its reputation? No. It’s probably not the best dorm building, but is it an irredeemable hellscape filled with drunken frat bros stumbling in the hallways at 3 A.M.? Not exactly.

Swarthmore is no stranger to the goal of being environmentally sustainable.

The number of environmental groups on campus certainly reflects this.

The editorial board wanted to explore how all of the different environmental groups on campus interact with one other to improve sustainability on campus.

PAGE A7 September 27, 2018

Campus Journal ARTS FASHION FOOD LIVING PHILLY PROFILES ST YLES

The Sophomore Slu—I Mean Soar!

Dylan Clairmont CJ Editor

B

eing back on campus is super duper extremely weird.

A good weird mostly, after a summer at home that I most definitely plan on never doing again (sorry mom), but more than a good or bad weird it’s mostly just a weird weird.

That being said, it’s hard to discern which parts of coming back are weird because things have changed, and which parts are weird because they’ve always been weird because Swarthmore is just a weird place.

It has of course been nice to see the familiar faces, to get the wonton egg drop soup from Sci Bar, to run into professors (hi Atshan!), to order a spicy chicken and egg sandwich from the bar at Sharples, to get the gummy frogs from Essie’s, et cetera, but with that comes the awkward Sharples encounters in The Big Room, the tripping on nothing on McGill Walk, the hysteria of Essie’s and Paces and oh wait I mean Crumb Café, the half-smile I feel like I need to give to half the campus who I’ve had a single encounter with.

Ultimately, despite all the changes and the things that haven’t changed that I wish had, I think I’m excited for this year.

I think I kinda have to be. Being pessimistic equates to drowning here, and I can’t swim. (Hence the swim class that I have to take this semester since I failed the swim test last year.) Because of my newly adopted optimistic attitude, I have decided to dub sophomore year the Sophomore Soar. Gone are the days of misery poker, misery Pokemon, misery Bakugan, misery Neopets, mis-

ery Club Penguin (unfortunately, R.I.P.).

Being at Swarthmore, it’s extremely easy to dig yourself a hole and then plop yourself in it.

Sometimes you even make room for some friends and then those friends make room for friends and before you know it the entire school is ten feet under. I’m trying to actively stay out of that hole; I’m trying to, wait for it, soar!

That doesn’t mean that I’m not expecting roadblocks. It’s Swarthmore for God’s sake! I know that it would be foolish of me to not expect the usual awkwardness from Swatties who don’t know how to act in social situations, the difficulty from being booked from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. with no breaks and then needing to lug yourself over to McCabe and get started on work for the next 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. shift, the anxiety of needing to get lunch from 12:35 to 1:15 when all of Swarthmore is suddenly in Sharples. That being said, I think the very fact that I am aware of these roadblocks and know how to cope with them (somewhat) will make all the difference.

Last year was in many ways a shit show. It had high highs undoubtedly, but low lows as well.

I’ve told a lot of first-years this time around that while I’ve always loved Swarthmore, I haven’t always loved my individual experience with Swarthmore. I think so long as I’m able to hold onto my love and appreciation for Swarthmore—the brilliant professors, the beautiful scenery, the thoughtful friends—I’ll end up okay.

That isn’t to say that it can’t be hard to sometimes though. Even though I’ve only been through not even a full week of classes as I

write this, I’m already starting to look around at the beautiful space we inhabit a little less, staring at the nothingness on my phone to avoid making awkward eye contact with that guy who lived on my hall for half of first semester and who I spoke to twice at a hall meeting.

Seeing the signs of a slump already start to form is slightly disheartening, but I’ve spoken about this whole Sophomore Soar idea to just about everyone I know by now, so it’s more of a pride thing to see it come to fruition than anything at this point. Because I’m gung-ho about making sure that this whole Sophomore Soar thing pans out, I’ve made a small list of reminders to keep myself in the right headspace.

First and foremost for sophomore year, I’m really trying to be cognizant of where my energy is going and redirecting it if necessary. I think it’s very easy to get caught up in the minutia here, but there simply isn’t enough time in the day to give energy to everything and everyone. Already this year I have caught myself signing up for this thing that I just got e-mailed or that thing that was posted on JobX, but I’ve been stopping myself midway through and reminding myself that I’m already doing a lot and maybe that Sunday yoga class, while nice, isn’t exactly what I need.

Speaking of that, I’m trying to remind myself that nothingness is necessary. Not study breaks, not yoga, not movie nights, nothingness. Just laying in bed, maybe scrolling through Twitter, maybe catching up on YouTube, but besides that, doing, well, nothing.

And on the topic of nothingness, making sure that that nothingness is spread evenly through-

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

out the day. I can’t just grind for twelve hours straight before I get that nothingness, I need to sprinkle it in after my 2:40, and then again after an hour or two at McCabe, and then again after the next hour or two at McCabe.

Allowing yourself nothingness is one of the best things you can do for yourself. With that comes knowing when to stop. There’s always more work to do, that’s definitely something I’ve learned.

Because of that, you can go crazy if you just keep working until you’re “done” because you’ll never reach this elusive “done.” Trust me, I’ve tried. And failed. Every time. Giving yourself a manageable amount of work to do each day and staying on top of that is probably the best way to stay sane

here.

I think one of the ways that I’m really making an effort to stay sane is by genuinely trying to live a healthier life here at Swat.

It’s hard. Without my mom here to tell me to remember to eat my broccoli (and not just the heads), it can be really hard to not just eat hotdogs and french fries every meal. I’ve really been making an effort to reduce my hotdog intake though, and I’ve already been successful!

I recently had a wise friend tell me something that has made me come to appreciate vegetables more. As someone who if asked last year when I ate my last vegetable, I would give a confused look and say something along the lines of, “Maybe last...y-mo-wee-

yesterda-right now!” I was talking to my friend about how I just can’t eat salad because lettuce and spinach leaves don’t taste like anything, and my friend told me that that’s kinda amazing because they’re super good for you and they don’t even taste bad!

Ever since I’ve had one (1) salad.

Expecting more in the future!

Not sure if the vegetable anecdote relates to the article, but I don’t think that I could’ve written an article on the Sophomore Soar and not included it. I’m sure I’m forgetting other helpful tips and tricks to help get through the year, but part of the Sophomore Soar is knowing when to stop like I said, so I think I’ll cut it short before it gets uncomfortably lonely.

Swat Ed: First Inning

By P. Afdersex ’69

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

Senioritis? Not So Much…

Julius Miller CJ Writer

Six applications, two rejections, and one interview. The quest for employment on my end has been stressful to say the least.

Four weeks in, I can confidently say that senior fall has been my hardest semester. The classes I’m taking now aren’t that difficult, but the activities that constitute job hunting itself are what I’d consider to be a fifth class.

Reaching out to alumni, asking for referrals, resumé revision and cover letter construction, case prep work, etc. has started to blur into each other. Even in the days that I accomplish everything I set out to do, I still feel like I haven’t done enough. That feeling I keep noticing stems from that “never enough” mindset ingrained into every Swattie during their first year. Much like the Swat plague, you don’t know where it comes from but once it hits you it hits hard.

After the interview I had nearly twenty-four hours ago, I spent my Sunday morning looking at job positions on LinkedIn, Glassdoor, and Handshake. Jobs in fields that I have no interest in were all of a sudden very attractive to me. Countries that I hadn’t even considered working in started to seem reasonable to me. When I saw something in Copenhagen, I knew that I had gone too far. That whole process took several hours, but I still didn’t feel productive. As I reflect on where I’m at right now in my academic career, I also see myself

at an impasse between where I should logically be versus where I want to be. It’s the classic case of settling for security vs pursuing your passion.

I’m trying to go for a job where I can naturally pivot from the former to the latter, yet for some reason I feel that whatever job I obtain (if I do actually get one) won’t allow me to strive for my dreams on the side. The longer that I stay on that job, the harder it’ll be to walk away and that’s what scares me. That’s where my mentality is at right now, and as tediously repetitive as this cycle has been, it is nice having some semblance of a game plan. It’s also reassuring talking to other people in my year and discussing our prospective career paths.

Some of us have jobs already lined up for us after graduation, some of us are planning to go to graduate school immediately afterwards, and some of us just want to take a break from work altogether and just travel.

So far I’ve talked to five alumni who’ve graduated in 2018. They shared with me some of their fondest memories made during their final year, as well as what they wish they had done differently. Everyone had a similar theme of “documenting your last days.” One said to start journaling daily whereas someone else said to vlog your last month and Senior Week especially. At Sharples, an alumna told me to “go over the fence” whenever I find myself hesitating, which is hilarious to me because she’s always been risk-averse herself. I’m not

sure when I’m supposed to take those leaps, so to speak. However, I’m making an effort to try new things — writing in Campus Journal being chief among them, and serving on Swarthmore’s executive board for the National Society of Black Engineers.

I’ve spent more time working on securing the future bag than with the people who’ve become my second family. I’m hoping that by late February or early March that I can call my mother and father to tell them that their first-born will finally help put some food on the table. When I get my first check, you can bet that I’ll be ballin’… well, after paying my apartment rent, utilities, groceries, my own Netflix bill, student loans, and my parents’ finances. If there’s anything left, then I’ll splurge. The alumni I’ve talked to didn’t really have senioritis until late spring when they had already found their jobs.

When that period comes, I pray that I, along with all the other seniors, can find and revel in an untampered joy that no problem set, seminar, or discussion could ever take away. Friends who are younger than me always get frustrated whenever I lament how much I’ll miss them after I graduate, but it’s true. Trying to plan your future while neglecting the present is to throw away a gift.

Swarthmore as a whole has been pretty good to me and I hope I can start my senioritis sooner rather than later. The last thing I want to do is waste the potential to make even more memories.

Swat Ed is the Phoenix’s biweekly sex education Q & A. We accept all questions and they are kept completely anonymous. If you’re looking for medical advice or a diagnosis for that weird thing on your genitals, get in touch with a medical professional!

For everything else, email swatedquestions@gmail. com. Today’s subject matter includes food porn, pain during sex, and female-bodied anatomy.

My friend introduced me to these food porn videos where people eat and you can hear their eating noises. Since it’s called food porn, I was wondering if people actually get off to this stuff?

In general, the answer to the question “is there someone who gets off to this?” is yes.

I understand that most of the appeal of food porn videos is in the ASMR effects of the sounds made by eating. However, there is probably a small subset of people who find it sexually appealing.

Why does losing your virginity hurt?

This is a really good question. Firstly, by “losing virginity” you’re probably referring to the first incidence of penis in vagina sex. Although this is the commonly accepted (albeit heteronormative) colloquial meaning, it’s worth noting that virginity has different meanings for different people. Primarily, there are a lot of people who have active sex lives that don’t include PIV. But some people also prefer to define virginity loss based on enjoyment, not necessarily completing a specific physical act. In that case, you might define losing your virginity as the first time you both orgasm from sex, or the first time you have a mutually pleasurable experience.

On to the question of pain during first PIV. Popular culture emphasizes that this is a perpetually painful experience. I’ll start with the “popping cherry” myth. The “cherry” refers to the hymen, which is a piece of tissue that surrounds and sometimes partially or completely covers the vaginal opening. The tearing or stretching of the hymen upon insertion can cause pain and bleeding. There is still a myth that an intact hymen is a sure sign of virginity; this is not the case. Hymens can be stretched or torn through physical activity like horseback riding and gymnastics or by using tampons or masturbating.

So hymens tearing can be painful (for some people more than others). The other, potentially more problematic source of pain from first PIV is tenseness in the vaginal muscles.

Dryness exacerbates this, so using lube can take away that stressor. Pain from a hymen tearing is typically brief; tenseness can hurt for much longer.

The way to combat this is to make sure the partner with the vagina is relaxed and turned on; this is one of the many reasons foreplay is so important. Discomfort from tearing or stretching the hymen can be unavoidable, but no one should ever feel intense discomfort because they’re not relaxed or turned on enough. It’s preventable. Some things that can help: having an orgasm before penetration, having sex in a position that allows the receiving partner to relax their muscles completely, and especially extensive foreplay/cunnilingus.

Finally, a note about lube: it’s something many people benefit from, but it isn’t a substitute for foreplay that means you can go straight to penetration no problem. Relaxation and genuine physical pleasure are necessary.

What’s the optimal amount of time for sex to last?

This is something that tends to be an unnecessary source of stress for men; there’s a defi-

nite media-enforced idea that lasting for hours is the only way to be a good lover. An important thing to remember: men frequently finish quickly when they haven’t had sex in a while, with a new partner, or out of nervousness. It can be a source of insecurity, so commenting on it is unnecessary.

The reason that finishing quickly is equivocated to female dissatisfaction with sex is basically that many heterosexual interactions treat penetration as the ultimate act of satisfaction for both partners.

The majority of women are unable to orgasm from solely penetration; this means that they should orgasm during foreplay.

For most women, if they already feel satisfied from foreplay, the duration of intercourse doesn’t matter in the slightest. However, if there has been minimal, unfulfilling foreplay and short intercourse, women come away from the interaction unsatisfied. The moral of the story is that there is no optimal amount of time for sex to last — if both partners feel satisfied, you’re good. For some people, that’s three minutes; for others, it’s 40.

What is the G spot, where is it and is it really such an enjoyable thing for women?

The oft-mysticized G-spot is actually part of the clitoris accessible through the vagina.

The clitoris is not limited to the small external part at the top of the vulva; it is a large internal structure that surrounds the vagina and the G-spot is easily accessible just inside the vagina, on the side closest to the woman’s belly button. It has a different texture than the rest of the vaginal walls — it feels rougher. Some people with vaginas really enjoy G-spot stimulation and others do not; if your partner is really into it it can be very enjoyable for them.

As with all forms of intimacy, communicate with your partner about what feels best for them and work off of that.

PAGE A8

THE PHOENIX CAMPUS JOURNAL

September 27, 2018

A Friendly Message from the People Who Are Up Earlier Than You Thomas Dailak Pempho Moyo CJ Writers

T

homas: So I’m sure that some scientist somewhere has shown that different people have different circadian rhythms, and that’s all fine and good. But the same part of my brain that says to avoid sidewalk cracks says that getting up earlier is just objectively better. Why, you might ask? Well, you’ll have to power through the rest of this article to find out. On that note, let me tell you everything you’re missing out about mornings at Swarthmore.

Pempho: First, you’ll have to get up early, like 7:30 a.m. early not 9:00 a.m. early, which means that you’ll need to go to bed early — preferably 10 p.m., but 12:30 a.m. will do (not if you want to avoid bringing shame on your family). After which you’ll need to get ready for the day and have breakfast. After getting up at a reasonable time, getting ready, and having breakfast, you can now go do the most important part of your morning: appreciate it.

You are a Swarthmore student and we are known for our academics and our workload. Stop and appreciate the Swarthmore that isn’t flooded with students rushing to class (i.e. the ones who get up late) or with tour groups or with a dozen specs that are completely lost. There are very few moments at Swarthmore,

outside of the morning, that are enveloped in serenity (moments where you can stop and smell the roses or see your professor walking their dog). So appreciate this time. You only have four years at this Quaker institution and you should try your best to enjoy every moment (and every unique, one-of-a-kind sweatshirt) that you possibly can.

T: There’s also something to be said for what it’s like to work in the morning. There is an aura of tranquility, a sense of getting things done that pervades the campus. I know that whether I’m in the McCabe color room or Kohlberg Coffee Bar, I’ll have a chance to chat with my friends, but also a chance to get working before it all gets crazy. I give myself that time in the morning to sort out what I’ll be doing that day, and get a start on whatever I can for the next one. It’s my breathing room in the often hectic (and procrastination filled) Swat life.

P: I agree that working in the morning at Swat is best time to just breathe and plan out my day, but I also use the morning to spend time going over my notes, writing down any questions that I have, and trying to get ahead on a few of my many lengthy readings.

But every so often there comes a point in my morning where I just can’t seem to understand a single word of what I am reading. And rather than try to take a step back and go over the material that I do

You Need to Work

Alec White CJ Writer

10:30 am Deep Breath. In...Out...I’m in my head. Not where I want to be.

You just missed ANOTHER shot?

Is that your third in a row? Just stop shooting already you’re embarrassing yourself. I’m not running fast enough. He beat you down the court again. Run faster. Just got smacked in the face.

That didn’t feel good. Suck it up, that’s soft. You can’t call a foul on that. I was zoning out looking at my man and wasn’t helping in the middle. That’s on you. Yeah, no shit.

2:00 pm I’ve got an essay due at six. I look at the clock. Four hours until the deadline. You barely have anything done. You’re going to fail out of college and everyone is going to think you’re a joke. Shut up, I’ve got this. Don’t forget Physics due at nine. Damn, I had forgotten. And 2 current events due tomorrow. Fuck.

4:00 pm Two hours until the essay is due and I’m halfway through.

Physics is due in five hours, response in eight. I’ve still got time. Do you though? Yes.Don’t forget the hundred pages of reading you have to do by tomorrow, too. Shit.

5:51 pm I just barely got my essay finished. Now only about three hours left till physics is due. I don’t even want to think about reading.

7:41 pm I actually finished my Physics homework with time to spare.

Gotta finish that reading response, and find some articles to write about.

7:53 pm Need to check the discussion guidelines….4 pages?! That’s gonna take more time than I thought. Should’ve checked it earlier. I know are you going to be helpful or just rub it in my face? I think you know the answer to that. I have a meeting I need to get to by nine. Better get writing. You also have the Phoenix article to write. I know.

9:20pm

know, I simply turn to Thomas (thatsa me!!!!!!) and talk to him about anything but the readings.

And I do mean anything. There have been mornings where we have talked about trashy pop Italian songs (my favorite) only to digress and begin talking about what we think of Paces name change (not so hot) to planning out what we are going to buy at the farmer’s market come Saturday (so very many tomatoes).

Somewhere inbetween the upteenth trashy Italian pop song and our ongoing complaint of the missed pun on the Crumb Cafe, my readings start to make sense.

As much as mornings should be appreciated for the serenity and beauty they bring, they also are the time in my day where my confusion never lasts for very long.

T: In all seriousness, and whether or not it happens before 9 a.m., I hope that everyone here can find the time to just let themselves live. We push ourselves so hard and do so much that I think we forget how important it is to step back sometimes. I say this to the freshmen in particular, because it’s something that took me a while to figure out, but also to every member of this community: no one here works 24/7, you’ll run yourself to the ground if you’re not careful. We came here because we love what we do just as much as we love what we’ll become by doing it, if you lose that then why bother.

Ziri Marquez / The Phoenix

You’ve still got a paper to write. Really? I’m in a meeting.

That doesn’t change anything. I need to focus. You need to focus on your paper. Yeah but I don’t have time for that right now. You need to make time for that. Well I can’t until at least ten. You better get working after that 10:10 pm Gonna head home, I’m pretty hungry though. Sorry, you don’t have time to eat you need to work. Yeah but I won’t be able to work well if I’m hungry. Ok... your funeral. Fine, I’m not that hungry anyway.

11:45 pm Dang I’m really hungry now.

Well everything will be closed by the time you get to it. Way to think ahead. What do you mean?

I was thinking ahead? You can’t work well if you’re hungry. Screw you, you told me I needed to go do work. Because you did. I told you I needed food. Which you do now. I’m not here to be reasonable I’m here to keep you working. Well now what genius? I think that’s a YOU problem. Remember you still have an article to finish.

1:30am GET UP IT’S THE MORNING AND YOU DIDN'T FINISH! I’m up! Ew, was I drooling? What the hell? It’s still dark out. Yeah you nodded off. Screw you I thought it was time for class. I had to get you up. I’m obviously too tired to work, I’ll set an early alarm for tomorrow and do it before class.

That would be a good idea if you didn’t have 8:30 lift.

Dammit, I’m gonna need some coffee, then.

2:23am I’m too tired for this. This paper is horrible. I’ll get up at 6:30 do some work before lift and then finish the rest after lift.

Yeah that essay is horrible. Gee thanks. Anytime.

4:30 am Wake up. It’s 4 am why did you wake me up? You need to work.

No I need to sleep. You still have work to finish though. Which I can’t do properly without sleep.

If you say so…

6:30 am That’s the alarm. 5 more minutes. You need to work. I know but

I’m tired. You don’t have time to be tired. Ugh… I need coffee. You need to work. No I need you to shut up. But then you wouldn’t get work done. But at least I’d be happy. You really want to know what it’s like without me? Please.

You’ll regret this. I’m sure I will, now where’s my mug?

8:30 am Lift time, I can choke down breakfast and then speed through the end of my response before class…..Oh no response?

Great, glad I got out of my head.

10:27am Crap, I’m late to class. I shouldn’t have taken so long after the lift. I’m still not done with my essay, and I completely forgot about that other assignment due today… ugh.

1:15pm I’m ok. I just have to make it through this seminar, then I can go back to my dorm and sleep.

I’m going to need a gallon of coffee to get through this.

4:15pm That was WAY to long. Why did I sign up for three hours of

Swat’s the Big Deal?

Hannah Bartoshesky CJ Writer

College life has been a bit of a roller coaster for me. On my first trip to college (my previous college), driving across the state, I was “accidentally” left at a rest stop along the route. I got out to use the bathroom at a stop, and my parents drove off before I’d gotten back in the car. I was forced to borrow a stranger’s phone to call my parents to retrieve me (they initially thought I was pranking them until they physically turned around and realized I wasn’t in the back seat). I am happy to report that this year I stayed safely in the car for the entire journey. Although my year at a different college was a good one, I can confidently say that my second college experience, this time at Swarthmore, has started off on a much better foot.

So, why did I transfer? Was it because of the above traumatic experience? Was it because I’m such a masochist that I longed to dine at Sharples daily? Or perhaps because I wanted a community in which the standards for what constitutes awkward are much lower (see “swatkward”). No, personally I just didn’t align with the culture of my old school, and I wanted to pursue engineering, which my old school did not offer (small detail). Everyone’s transfer story is

unique, but generally the experience is about figuring out what you really need and want from a school, and, like our fair mascot Phineas the Phoenix, it’s all about new beginnings and rebirth. Long story short, I’ve enjoyed this fresh start at Swat — it’s been fun to relive the excitement of being a freshman without the stress of total cluelessness, and for those of us that were not excited by our previous schools, it’s a do-over.

Although all of us incoming transfers came from different schools, I’ve observed that we share many of the same opinions about Swat. For many of the transfers I’ve talked to, the first difference they mention is the strong student community. One enthusiastic transfer raved about how “everyone’s so nice!” I agree, and I’m a midwesterner, the embodiment of nice! I had thought coming to Swat would be initially uncomfortable — because although I’m technically a sophomore, I always feel the need to specify that I’m a transfer (lest people think I actually know things). However, despite my own self-consciousness, my experience thus far has been overwhelmingly positive. Where at my old school you could get a side eye for sitting at the wrong table, here I’ve actually made friends by eavesdropping on people’s conversations (not a technique I’d recommend, because

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

social norms, but it does work).

Swatties are certainly a unique group, but this may be part of what makes them so welcoming.

On a similar strain the community is very close knit. The campus is united in part by our small numbers, but also through a shared spirit of learning and curiosity. Fellow transfers were also impressed by the amount of academic discussion outside of class.

Ever get laughed at for trying to discuss political theory at a party? Not at Swat! While it is more academic than my old school, it was less so than some transfers expected. One transfer thought everyone would be “pretentious and outright nerdy … in reality, we

are brought together by a love for learning, but not everyone goes around quoting Plato.”

Not to sound like a college informational mailer, but the collaborative spirit so often flaunted

by Swarthmore is the real deal.

I’ve had numerous upperclassmen give time and advice to help me with everything from writing debates to survival techniques for Sharples dining.

One less-advertised difference about the school is the variety of activities students do in their free time. Fellow transfers were pleasantly surprised by the number of students that go into Philly to visit museums or concerts on weekends. And while the most popular

social activity is still the classic study group, it’s a pleasant surprise to find students doing more than partying on weekends as they do at so many other schools. Because of this, I’ve heard transfers call Swat parties “lame.” Fortunately, there is much less pressure here to go to parties than there was at my old school. Partying is popular, but not the center of social life.

Students here are also passionate, often for very specific issues.

This creates a much more active dynamic on campus. Students are engaged, and due to their involvement in extracurriculars, they appear to have a large voice at Swarthmore. Entering Swat, I

class on a Monday afternoon?

Anyway, time to head— where you going Pete? That’s today???

Dammit, ok yeah let's go.

7:35pm Finally done. I might as well get an early night. I need to catch up on sleep. No class until 1 tomorrow. But I need to make up that assignment I missed, and what do I have going for class this week? Need some help? ...No. C’mon you saw how your day went without me. Imagine a week. A month. Yeah but I wasn’t stressed! Why would I invite that back into my life? Because you need it. I don’t need as much as I was getting. That’s your opinion.

No, that’s my rule. If you’re coming back you need to dial it way back. I need to be able to deal with everything you’re giving me stress about. Ok…I don’t know if I can “dial it back” and still do my job effectively. We can work on it, but I need a regular schedule of sleep and food; my health lets me keep working. Ok, I can agree to those terms. But one thing is still true. What is that?

You need to work now. Ok fine what do I still have to finish?

was impressed by student-driven environmental efforts on campus.

While many universities put up recycling bins and call it a day, Swatties spend their afternoons voluntarily sorting refuse to collect data on our campuses waste disposal and dedicate time during orientation to reinforce sustainable practices in each incoming class.

One negative trait Swarthmore’s known for is its “stress culture”. While this can certainly be a negative, many transfers appreciate Swarthmore academic intensity. At my of old school, academics were somewhat secondary to social life and extracurriculars.

Here people are students before all else … but also no one sleeps.

The most peculiar observation I’ve heard is that Swat has “more mosquitos than expected,” according to a transfer from a very urban area. But when you live in an arboretum that’s par for the course. I’m skeptical that this is a significant factor in college choice for many students anyway.

These are things that really set Swarthmore apart, and though some of the details about community or friendliness may seem insubstantial or unquantifiable, take it from a transfer; these things matter. I’m not trying to say that Swat is the only school like this, but as a transfer from a school that is less like it, I urge you not to take it for granted.

SPORTS

September 27, 2018 PAGE A9

Recapping the Premier League Season So Far Ankur Malik Sports Writer

I

n a World Cup year, the usually never-ending summer break departs almost as quickly as it arrives. It is hard to believe that the World Cup final was played more than two months ago, and that the first six gameweeks of the 20182019 Premier League have already come and gone. With 20 clubs involved, each plays a total of 38 games in a season, facing each of their opponents twice: once at the opposing team’s ground and once at their own stadium. Six games in, the league table is beginning to take shape. How are the “Big Six” teams of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, and Tottenham Hotspur performing so far?

Liverpool is the early pacesetter, and the only team that still has a perfect record. In their first six games, they have scored an impressive 14 goals. Their forward line of Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mané, and Mohamed Salah is providing “width, pace, guile and goals” and is immediately firing on all cylinders, writes Phil McNulty, chief soccer writer at BBC Sport.

Liverpool’s glaring weakness last season was their defence. To solve the issue, Liverpool signed center back Virgil van Dijk from Southampton for £75 million and goalkeeper Alisson Becker from Roma for £67 million in the last two transfer windows. Both sums are world record fees for defenders and goalkeepers, respectively.

But the new men are justifying their hefty price tags, as Liverpool have only conceded two goals this season.

They have also become just the fourth team in Premier League history to win their first six games — no mean feat, considering the league was established in 1992.

However, there is still a long way to go if Liverpool want to set the record for the most games won to start a season. That achievement remains with Chelsea’s 2005-2006 team, who started that season by winning their first nine games.

Unfortunately for Liverpool, in the next two gameweeks, they play Chelsea away and Manchester City at home. Both these teams are tied for second place on 16 points, only two points behind Liverpool, and will most likely be fighting with Liverpool for the title. This means there is almost no chance Liverpool will still have a 100 percent record in two weeks time. In fact, they will likely fall from the top of the table, too. Nevertheless, they have had a better start than anybody would have expected, considering they only finished in fourth place last season.

As mentioned earlier, Manchester City and Chelsea are snapping away at Liverpool’s heels.

Like Liverpool, both teams have been free-scoring and solid at the back. Manchester City has the best goal difference of the three teams — their G.D. is 16, whereas Liverpool’s G.D. is 12 and Chelsea’s G.D. is 10. These are all very high, considering the season has just begun. In reality, these three teams are very closely matched, and it is still too early to predict with any confidence which of them is the championship favorite. The only certainty is that all three are genuine title contenders — but will the rest of the “Big Six” also factor in?

Tottenham Hotspur — also known as Spurs — are fifth, Arsenal are sixth, and Manchester United are seventh. Tottenham and Arsenal both have 12 points, while Manchester United only has 10.

Spurs and Arsenal haven’t had terrible starts by any means: they are averaging two points per game. In most seasons, if you average more than two points per game, you have a decent chance of winning the league. A few more wins and these teams will find themselves in contention. This is especially true when you consider that Arsenal have played both Manchester City and Chelsea already, while Tottenham have faced Liverpool.

Manchester United, on the other hand, are struggling. Even though they are only two points behind Arsenal and Spurs, United have had easier fixtures, only playing one of the weaker teams in the “Big Six,” Spurs, at home. Besides that match, the Red Devils have played teams that usually finish in the bottom half of the table, so they are definitely falling below expectations thus far. Their big players aren’t performing consistently enough — Alexis Sánchez has been particularly wasteful in possession, and Romelu Lukaku, United’s big, powerful striker, has missed too many clear-cut goal scoring opportunities.

At times, it feels like the players have given up on their manager, José Mourinho. Paul Pogba is United’s best player, but Mourinho’s relationship with him has become increasingly fractured. On Tuesday, Mourinho told Pogba he is no longer United's "second captain,” reportedly because of concerns about his attitude. When quizzed further on why, Mourinho simply stated: "I am the manager. I can make these decisions."

Mourinho has a history of falling out with the clubs he has managed, whether it be the owners and the board, or the players. That is why he has never spent more than three seasons at a club. Take Mourinho’s second stint at Chelsea — from 2013 to 2015 — as a prime example. Chelsea won the Premier League title in 2014-2015, but only four months into the 2015-2016 season, Mourinho was sacked, with the team all the way down in 16th place.

Former England player turned pundit, Alan Shearer, said at the time: “I’ve never known players to perform like they did last season and then be so bad now. It's unprecedented. I’ve never known a capitulation like it from a football club.” Another ex-player believed that “the players were not giving everything. There is no trust there, [the] respect is gone. Ultimately it is easier to change a manager than 22 players.”

In Mourinho’s first stint at Chelsea and in his time at Real Madrid, he also fell out of favor in his third year, but in those cases the broken relationships were with the owners and board. In light of his history, is it a coincidence that things seem to be falling apart in his third season at Manchester United?

More positively, United’s next two games are eminently winnable — they will play West Ham and Newcastle, teams that are battling to avoid relegation most years. If they win both, they will reach 16 points after eight games, which is a respectable tally. Arguably, they have to win because the games that follow could be the toughest of their entire season. After West Ham and Newcastle, Man United will play against Chelsea and Man City, both away from home. Winning either of those two games will be difficult, so it is crucial that United get more points on the board beforehand. Otherwise, they risk falling too far behind the leaders to mount a credible title challenge — after all, they are already eight points behind Liverpool.

At this point, it looks like they will be fighting to finish in the top four places this season. A top four finish is paramount for a huge club like Man United because it grants qualification into next year’s Champions League, the most prestigious continental club competition in Europe. Already, it looks like it will be a long season for them.

Two of the early season surprise packages are Watford and Bournemouth, who are in fourth (13 points) and eighth (10 points), respectively. Watford actually won their first four games, before losing 2-1 to Manchester United at home. Their standout performers have been José Holebas, the marauding left back, Roberto Pereyra, the clinical attacking midfielder, and Andre Gray, the pacey and skillful striker. Pereyra and Gray both have three goals, while Holebas has racked up four assists, the most in the league. Watford have finished in the middle of the table for the last few seasons, so their fans must be in dreamland at the moment. However, their next three opponents are tough — first Arsenal away, then Bournemouth at home, and finally Wolves away.

They are unlikely to do better than draw against Arsenal, and the games against Bournemouth

and Wolves — the latter sitting in a respectable 10th place — will be very closely fought. Expect them to drop out of the top five places in the next three weeks.

Bournemouth, also known as the Cherries, have also been exceeding expectations while playing genuinely attractive soccer.

Without question, their best player so far has been their left winger, Ryan Fraser. Only a handful of players in the league have been involved in more goals than Fraser — he has three goals and two assists. The question is whether he and the team can keep performing well. Shockingly, Bournemouth were routed by four goals to nil away to Burnley this past weekend.

Considering Burnley have been absolutely abysmal this season, languishing all the way down in 16th place, perhaps the Bournemouth players approached the game with a bit of complacency. They will have to cut that out if they want to return to winning ways.

Fortunately for them, their upcoming games are easier than Watford’s: they will face Crystal Palace at home, followed by Watford away, and finally Southampton at home. The first and third games are definitely winnable, not that they will be easy — I would expect Bournemouth to come away with a draw and a win from those two matches. The game against Watford is a mouth-watering tie,

and one that could go either way.

If somebody had told me before the season started that this would be a big match, I would probably have laughed. In reality, these two teams have been great to watch, and hopefully the match will follow in the same vein.

Overall, it has been a very compelling start to the season, and just six weeks in, there have already been plenty of shocking and surprising results. But then again, when has the Premier League ever been predictable? It is the most watched domestic soccer league in the world for good reason.

Crossword Solution

Champions League Group Stage: Europe’s Best Impress and Falter Francis Eddy Harvey Sports Writer

Until recently, the FIFA World Cup has been the premier soccer tournament in the world. The best players, the best teams, and the most memorable moments all make up the illustrious history of the World Cup. That was until the early 2000s, when a new tournament began to gain traction. Over the past decade, the UEFA Champions League has, according to some pundits, surpassed the World Cup as the tournament with highest quality of soccer on the planet. Because players no longer compete in their domestic leagues, both the chemistry and the quality of play at the national level have declined. Top players from around the world join European clubs, with the best players going to the richest clubs with the most accolades, rather than to their local clubs.

To qualify for the Champions League, teams must perform well in their domestic league, either winning it, or placing in the top four, depending on the league.

This format ensures that the best players in each league are playing each other at least once per year. Therefore, the Champions League stands out from the World Cup as it allows top

players to consistently challenge other greats, whereas the format of the World Cup only allows this every four years. The Champions League has a similar setup to the World Cup, consisting of eight groups with four teams in each group. Each team plays the other teams in its group twice, and the top two teams progress while the third place team is placed in Europe’s second tier tournament, the Europa League.

In the 2018 season, every team has only played once, which makes it difficult to predict how successful teams will be within their groups and throughout the tournament. However, some teams’ opening performances were very positive and signalled the start of potentially victorious campaigns, while other results were quite worrisome.

Of particular note is Group B, labeled the “group of death” for good reason. The group consists of Barcelona, Inter Milan, PSV Eindhoven, and Tottenham Hotspur. Barcelona, Inter Milan, and Tottenham are some of the largest clubs in the world, meaning their rosters are full of extremely skilled and expensive players. Barcelona has an especially strong roster headlined by perhaps the greatest player ever, Lionel Messi. Messi started the Champions League in style, scor-

ing three goals as Barcelona beat PSV Eindhoven 4-0.

The coveted Champions League trophy has evaded Barcelona over the last few years, but Messi, while addressing the Barcelona crowd prior to the Joan Gamper Trophy clash in August, made his intentions clear: “Although last year we won La Liga and the Copa del Rey, we all got stung in the Champions League. … We promise that we will do everything possible so that this beautiful cup returns to the Camp Nou again.”

With Barcelona penciled in as favorites to win the group, the real competition will be between Inter Milan and Tottenham for second place. When these teams met on Wednesday, Tottenham conceded two goals in the final five minutes to lose 2-1. They are scheduled to meet again on November 26, and, although a lot can happen before that date, Tottenham have recently looked off. Many attribute this to the fatigue of their top player, Harry Kane, who played deep into the World Cup as England’s captain.

Likewise, Inter Milan have underperformed in their domestic league, only winning three of their first six matches.

Prior to the start of the tournament, most groups looked straightforward with the favor-

ites expected to take their usual place atop the groups and dominate. However, after some major upsets of some of Europe’s biggest clubs, this may not be the case.

In Group C, Paris Saint Germain, the reigning French champions, lost their opening game to Liverpool 2-1. Despite losing, the scoreline was kind to PSG as the result did not reflect the nature of the match. Liverpool dominated the game and, had they been more clinical in their finishing, could have easily scored two or three more goals. PSG, on the other hand, failed to impress, accentuating the lack of competition in their domestic league, Ligue 1. With PSG at the bottom of the group, and Napoli drawing their first match against Serbian club Red Star Belgrade, the group remains open enough for PSG to climb back up.

The biggest upset of the round came in Group F, a group consisting of Lyon, Hoffenheim, Shakhtar Donetsk, and reigning English champions, Manchester City. Lyon scored two early goals and held on to beat Manchester City in Manchester. To put this result into context, Manchester City lost only three games at home last season in all competitions. The performance against Lyon was particularly troubling

for City fans, as the team has failed to impress in Europe in previous seasons despite continued domestic success. Although City will likely rebound and go on to the knockout stages along with either Lyon or Shakhtar, their European campaign is not off to a good start, and a few more losses could see them competing in the Europa League.

The other big names in football have not disappointed.

Manchester United, Juventus, Real Madrid, and Bayern Munich each won their opening games by at least two goals. Despite their struggles in the Premier League, Manchester United looked particularly good in their 3-0 win over Swiss side Young Boys. United fans will hope to win Group H, but with perennial European challenger and Group H foe Juventus adding Cristiano Ronaldo to their roster, this may prove to be a challenge.

Having won the last three Champions Leagues and four of the last five, Real Madrid will hope to continue to set records with another title, although this will likely be very difficult as star striker, Ronaldo, and head coach, Zinedine Zidane, moved on in the summer.

The Round of 16 matchups will be finalized in December and the first matches will be played

in February. As for realistic title contenders, Manchester United’s depth and consistency will likely cost them and result in an early exit, leaving the English hopes’ with Liverpool, who have won every game this season. With expensive summer signings Naby Keita and Alisson Becker already integrated into the team and performing at a high level, the 2018 finalists are a force to be reckoned with.

As for other big names, PSG will likely pull it together and make it through the group stage, only to lose in first round of the knockout stages to a more disciplined team. Bayern Munich will likely go far, but their aging squad will eventually fall, while Atletico Madrid will go further, but ultimately be undone by a more skilled team. Real Madrid and Juventus should make it to the semifinals, but my hope lies in Barcelona. With Messi getting older and young players such as Ousmane Dembele and Nelson Semedo improving, this may be their golden chance. Additionally, the chemistry between new signings, Philippe Coutinho and Malcolm, will continue to improve as will their defense. If all key players remain healthy, I see Messi making good on his promise and bringing the trophy back to Barcelona.

PAGE A10

THE PHOENIX SPORTS

September 27, 2018

A Thank You To Athletic Communications and Administration Ricky Conti Sports Writer

B

eing an athlete is fun. Getting to play your favorite sport in a competitive setting with some of your best friends is a privilege that not all college students get to experience. Sometimes it can be really easy to get caught up in the moment and forget to thank all of the people within Athletics that give us the opportunity to compete collegiately. There is a heavy amount of logistics and paperwork involved in operating an athletics program, most of which few people want to do.

Two particular people that need to be thanked for their work is Brandon Hodnett and Kyle Kondor of Athletic Communications. Brandon and Kyle are responsible for all things media and information related. Between just the two of them, they are responsible for all 22 athletic teams on campus. They single-handedly run all of the Swat Athletics social media platforms, making sure fans are up to date on upcoming games and Garnet wins. They are also responsible for updating the website, including posting rosters, box scores, and post-game writeups. One of their more vital roles is game-day operations. Brandon and Kyle ensure that every single athletics game is properly staffed with scorekeepers, on-field staff, and announcers.

Brandon is a drone-flying expert, and has several well-viewed drone videos on youtube. Kyle is specializes in graphics.

Another group of people that need to be thanked are Marie Mancini, Allison Hudak, and Christie Orgera from the Athletic Training room. Their office spends all day caring for athletes, helping us optimize our health on the field. They have done an excellent job of providing rehabilitation programs so that many athletes can recover and get back on the field as quickly and as healthy as possible. They have members from the office on-site at every single athletic event, providing undivided attention

for in-season athletes. In an effort to be more efficient with their work, their office has restructured their times in order maximize the number of athletes they can care for.

I can’t talk about thanking athletics without bringing up John Hatfield and Larry Yannelli of the equipment room. One of the less glamorous aspects of athletics, John and Larry make sure that uniforms are prepared and cleaned before and after every game, so that athletes never have to worry about their uniform on gameday.

They are also responsible for cleaning and sorting pins and towels from across every team on campus, daily.

Strength and conditioning is a huge part of the formula for finding success in athletics. Being able to prepare your body for the season and being able to take care of your body in season are vital. For that, we have to thanks Chris McPherson and Michelle Pifer in the Matchbox.

Chris and Michelle are well known for their no-excuses, push the limits mentality, which has clearly positively contributed to the recent surge in performance across many teams.

Chris and Michelle are responsible for creating sports-specific programs for each varsity team on campus, in addition to monitoring progress.

In the administration office, we have Adam Hertz, Nnenna Akotaobi, Max Miller, Marian Fahy, and Sharon Green. This office holds the entire department together, and supervises many of the people already mentioned. They dedicate their entire work day in and day out to making sure that the College is being properly represented through Athletics.

It is not just the athletes and the coaches, but also the many dedicated people working behind the scenes that make Athletics one of the strongest department on campus. There are plenty more people in addition to the ones that I have mentioned that help foster the excellence the College has built within athletics.

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

635 Days of Torture Finally End for Browns Fans Chris Licitra Sports Writer

I

f you took a journey back about 635 days, you would find the newest iPhone was the iPhone 7, the number one song in the country was “Black Beatles” by Rae Sremmurd, Barack Obama was the president, and the Cleveland Browns won their game against the, at that point, then-San Diego Chargers. Fast forward to last week’s Thursday Night Football Game, and you would find the newest iPphone to be the iPhone XS, the number one song to be “In My Feelings” by Drake, Donald Trump as president, and that the Browns actually haven’t won a game since that Christmas Eve game back in 2016. Well, the shame of this long winless drought was put to a stop when the Browns defeated the New York Jets by a score

of 21-17.

The Browns are notorious for being one of the worst, if not the worst, teams in the National Football League. Any average football fan can tell you this. The Browns have squandered first round pick after first round pick, haven’t had stability at the quarterback position for years, and haven’t put together a .500 season (a season where they have the same number of losses as wins) or better since 2012. However, the 2018 season is the season the Browns are supposed to turn it around, or at least improve upon their 0-16 season in 2017. There is a lot of excitement around the Browns this year. Excitement spurring from signing or trading for players like Jarvis Landry and Tyrod Taylor, to drafting first round picks Baker Mayfield and Denzel Ward, to the return of Josh

Gordon, to the signing of new offensive and defensive coordinators. The Browns even made an appearance on Hard Knocks, a HBO exclusive show that highlights a NFL team during their training camp. This season is supposed to be different.

In week one of the 2018 season, the Browns tied the Pittsburgh Steelers. In week two they lost to the New Orleans Saints 21-18 in a game where the Browns’ kicker missed two field goals and two extra points that would have arguable led the Browns to a victory. The 0-2 start to the season started to paint an all too similar picture for Browns fans. Then came week three where. tThe Browns played the New York Jets in a primetime game on last Thursday night. As the first half of the game was coming to a close, it seemed as though the Browns would once again be met with

the grueling realization of another loss, and an extension of the now infamous losing streak.

Even with all this new talent, the Browns looked to be stuck in their losing ways. However, something, that would be detrimental to most teams, happened near the end of the first half. Tyrod Taylor, the Browns starting quarterback, got injured, and in stepped the backup Baker Mayfield, the number one overall pick in the 2018 NFL draft.

Down 14-0 when Mayfield entered the game, the chances of the Browns pulling out a victory were not high. Mayfield, known not only for his physical skills, but also for his unmatched competitiveness, seemed to uplift the morale and energy of the team. In his first drive of the game, Baker led the team to a field goal. This made the score 14-3. Then came the

second half. The Browns came out of the halftime locker room playing with more confidence and excitement than they had the whole game. Their rookie, backup quarterback proceeded to lead the offense to four scoring drives, one of which included a two point conversion where Mayfield caught the scoringa pass, and he finished the game completing 17 of 21 pasees for 201 yards. The Browns completedfinished the second half outscoring the Jets 18-3, for a final score of 2117. The stadium, actually the whole city, was in a frenzy. The Browns had finally won their first game in nearly two years.

This is why they drafted Baker Mayfield with the first overall pick. The Brown’s franchise savior has finally arrived, at least that’s the feeling some people are having.

Mayfield, through all the

craziness the win brought, remained humble and focused after the game, praising his teammates, coaches, and the Browns fans. When asked about his thoughts upon entering the game, he said, “Don’t overthink it. Live in the moment. I have to command the offense. I have to command the team. I have to bring the spark and give us a chance to win.” He certainly brought the spark.

The Baker Mayfield train has left the station, and only time will tell whether it will land the Browns and their fans in the promised land or come to a screeching halt of losses after losses like before. One thing i's for certain though –, everyone will be watching the Baker show this weekend.

Athlete of the Week: Ali Baratta Max Katz-Balmes: What is your major, and what led you to pursue that area of study?

MKB: Talk a little about last week's overtime victory over McDaniel. How did it feel to score the game winning goal?

Ali Baratta: I haven't officially declared my major yet, but I am planning on majoring in either Chinese or economics. I started studying Chinese in middle school and really want to become fluent by the time I graduate!

AB: When the game came down to sudden death overtime I was motivated to score as soon as possible to end the game how it should, and not have to go to shootouts like last year.

We knew McDaniel would be coming out strong after tying the game in the end of the second half, so as a team, we made sure to stay calm, but also play with a high intensity level. Scoring the goal was such a relief and also very rewarding because it immediately ended the game and gave us the win we deserved.

MKB: Why did you decide to attend Swarthmore?

AB: When I visited Swat, I stayed with the field hockey team and immediately noticed that everyone I met was so welcoming, well-rounded, and interesting. I wanted to go to a school where I could learn from and be inspired by the people around me, and Swat seemed like just the place.

MKB: When did you begin playing field hockey?

AB: I started playing field hockey in second grade.

MKB: What is your favorite field hockey memory at Swarthmore?

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

Field hockey is off to a solid start this year. After finishing with a respectable 7-10 record in 2017, The team has opened the 2018 season at 4-4 and is on pace to surpass last season’s win total. The Garnet picked up their first Centennial Conference win of the year on Sept.

22 in a 3-2 overtime thriller versus McDaniel. After Swarthmore took an early 2-0 lead, McDaniel responded with two late goals to send the game into extra time. The Garnet, however, hung on for an important win through a sudden death goal from leading scorer Ali Baratta ’21.

Hailing from Reisterstown, Maryland, Baratta has scored four goals this season, including Saturday’s overtime winner. Her four goals in 2018 eclipse her three goal total from last season and place her as the fifth highest goal scorer in the conference. Baratta and the rest of the Garnet return to action Sept. 26, when they face Neumann in a non-conference game at Clothier Field, and again on Sept. 29, when they play defending conference champions, Franklin and Marshall, in Lancaster, PA.

AB: So far, my favorite memory is when we beat McDaniel last year for the first time in six years, and the seniors had their first ever conference win other than Bryn Mawr. But, I'd like to think that my all time favorite memory is yet to come. I feel really lucky to be a part of a growing team that is constantly working hard to improve. Hopefully, my favorite memory will come around the time when our team is able to prove how much stronger we have become in the past couple of years.

MKB: What are your personal and team goals for the season?

AB: Personally, one of my goals is to score more than one goal in a game, especially a conference game! Our team goal is definitely to move up in the Centennial Conference ranking and beat a couple more conference teams that we lost to last year.

MKB: Speaking of goals, you already have scored more goals this season than all of last season. What has changed in your game?

AB: As our coach always says, scoring goals in field hockey is about a specific mentality that can't really be taught or learned.

I definitely think we have been working really hard in practice to develop stronger goal scoring mentalities in our forwards. I also think that scoring goals comes from a connection on the field between yourself and the other players. We have also been working really hard in practice to develop stronger connections among the attacking players.

MKB: Do you have post-graduation plans?

AB: Nope, not yet!

MKB: What is one thing that you would change about Swarthmore?

AB: I do wish that there was a wider variety of food options on campus and in the Ville. Sharples meals can be a little repetitive. I love smoothies so it would be awesome if there was a good smoothie place in walking distance from campus!