Swarthmore Phoenix, October 4, 2018

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Japan: pearls of Heisei Period

October 4, 2018

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The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881

With “God and the Gay Christian” Event, A New Period for Campus Christian Groups Begins Caleb Limmer News Writer

O

n Tuesday, September 25, at an event organized

by Swarthmore Progressive Christians, Matthew Vines, a prominent evangelical advocate for LGBTQ+ rights in Christianity, gave a talk to roughly 100 students and adults about the position of LGBTQ+ individuals in Christianity and the theological arguments for an LGBTQ+-affirming interpretation of the Bible and Christian teaching.

The event’s sponsors included

The week ahead

the Interfaith Center, Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Religion Department, the president’s office, the Sager Fund, and Partners in Ministry.

The event, called “God and the Gay Christian,” came at the beginning of a new academic year – after a time of significant change in Christian communities on campus.

Last year, the college’s funding for Swarthmore Christian Fellowship, a campus student group with ties to the national evangelical association InterVarsity, was withdrawn just days after a piece

published in Voices by Eduard Saakashvili ’17 brought its discriminatory policies toward LGBTQ+ members to light. A couple months later, Swarthmore Progressive Christians, a group which is LGBTQ+-affirming and has at least one LGBTQ+-identifying student on its leadership team, was reborn.

“Really what we’re trying to do is to be an open space for anyone no matter where they are in their spiritual journey to come read the Bible with us, have discussion [and] dinners with us, and to come explore the messages that are in

the Bible with us,” T.J. Thomas, a leader of SPC, said of the group.

Soon after SPC was reborn, some of its members began trying to arrange for a visit from Matthew Vines.

“I had just recently read [“God and the Gay Christian”, Vines’ book,] for Professor Atshan’s Gender, Sexuality, and Social Change class ... Another student in the club had read it ... and we decided that we should bring Matthew Vines here, so I was really looking forward to this discussion,” Nora Shao, a member of SPC, said.

The Preacher

Matthew Vines, who spent two years at Harvard College before leaving to examine LGBTQ+ issues in Christianity, is originally from a conservative Christian family and church in Wichita, Kansas.

“My second memory in my life was me asking Jesus to come into my heart,” Vines said at the event.

“I was three years old.”

Vines said that, where he grew up, LGBTQ+ people were universally considered wrong. “[LGBTQ+] identities were associated with shame, disrepute, and people continued on page A2

O4S hangs banner in front of Kohlberg Hall to protest Kavanaugh

Today Gallery Walk + Reception: Crafting National Memory in the Wake of 9/11 4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.

McCabe – 2nd floor lounge Extern Program Orientation 8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Parrish 159 Required to get an externship!

A.R.E. Host Training 7 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Hicks Room 211 Friday Free Cookies!

Friends Historical Library Open House 10:30 a.m. – 4:30pm How to Sew 11 a.m. – 1:30 p.m.

Parrish West Parlors Learn how to repair buttons, zippers, mend ripped seams, and more!

2022 Art Show!

7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Kitao Gallery Pub Nite!

9:00 p.m. – 12:00 a.m.

Wharton Courtyard Saturday Psi Phi Phuntime 7 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Kohlberg Room 202 Celebrate nerd culture.

Setting the Precedent Party 10 p.m. – 2:00 a.m.

A party collaboration between the Tri-Co’s Black student organizations.

Monday Swarthmore College Study Abroad Fair 10:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.

Upper Tarble How Drugs Made War and War Made Drugs Lecture by Peter Andreas ‘87, Brown University Monday, October 8, 2018, 4:00 p.m – 7 p.m.

Wednesday Tak Club 9 p.m. – 10 p.m.

Kohlberg Room 114 Play a board game inspired by a fantasy book!

WEATHER the bare-backed barback in the bear bar’s back bar barebacked with a bare bear who was also a barback back there

CONTENTS Campus news A1-A2 Arts news A3-A4 Opinions A5-A6 Sports A7-A8 Read more at swarthmorephoenix.com Copyright © 2016 The Phoenix

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

College data show a gender gap in various subjects Bess Markel News Writer According to a Swarthmore Institutional Research compilation of the class of 2018, four different popular majors have a disproportionate amount of students identifying as men. These statistics do not come as a surprise to many female Swarthmore students in these fields. Many feel that it is intimidating to take classes in these majors because of the gender divide.

In the class of 2018, 40 students majored in mathematics; only 11 of them identified as women. In computer science there were 25 women graduates, making up 35.7 percent of the total 70 computer science majors. Economics was the most popular major with 84 total students; only 31 of whom were female. In response to The Phoenix’s request for data on racial diversity among majors, the college has said that they do not collect race demographics.

This gender gap has left many students who do not identify as male feeling out of place in STEM classes.

“I have felt out of place in my math classes since freshman year, and I still do, because of the gender ratios. It seems like such a little thing now, but I remember being in Math 28 [honors linear] my freshman spring, and I wouldn’t wear dresses or skirts to class because I didn’t want to call attention to myself or to what was making me feel out of place.

On the track I was on in math until after Math 35, there were only ever three other girls in my math classes,” Emily Barranca ’19, a senior mathematics and computer science double major, said.

The data reflect a larger nationwide gender gap in certain STEM fields. By comparison, 20 percent of Harvard’s math majors do not identify as male. Other elite institutions also have this gap with 28 continued on page A2

Waste Characterization Study Highlights Poor Trash Disposal Practices Joshua Forde News Writer

On Friday, Sept. 21, the Zero Waste Working Group held their annual Waste Characterization Study, where bins of gray, green, and blue surrounded a tent with a table on Parrish Beach. Volunteers sorted Swarthmore’s trash, recycling, and compost into their respective categories from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Volunteers, Green Advisors, and staff sorted the waste further into their subcategories while listening to music. They also weighed each of the categories to find out the percentage of waste that could be diverted from the trash.

A study conducted last year found only 15 percent needed to go to the incinerator. 53 percent could have been composted if sorted correctly, while 32 percent could have been recycled.

This event is a part of a greater movement at Swarthmore to become a more sustainable campus.

Swarthmore Zero Waste, a sustainability-driven student group, aims to integrate sustainability further into the Swarthmore culture. Green Advisors and other students who are involved in small sustainability initiatives are united under SZW to divert waste from going to the incinerator.

Through different projects around and off campus, SZW aims to make the campus and the greater Swarthmore and Chester communities greener. One such project includes working with the college’s event and party planners to steer their meetings toward

making zero waste. They also are planning trips to the Chester incinerator to expose students to the reality of what happens to Swarthmore’s waste.

“We here at Swarthmore can produce all the waste we want. It gets sent over to this incinerator in

this low-income community with other waste areas as well,” Tiffany Wang ’21, a Green Advisor and SZW member, said. “That affects the air quality of the community.

The Green Advisors went to visit the incinerator during our training and it smells bad. I would not want

to go home and have a bad smell wafting over to my home at all.”

Swarthmore College as a community intersects with the wellbeing of another community. The focus of Swarthmore Zero Waste is to shift the culture of the campus towards actions that reflect

thoughtfulness about the greater Chester community and earth that is affected by Swarthmore’s waste.

Residents of Chester, a predominantly black community, inhale damaging and cancerous waste daily from the incinerator. continued on page A2

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

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THE PHOENIX NEWS

October 4, 2018

Campus Christian Groups, continued from A1 who were ‘not like us,’” he said.

But in college, Vines encountered a social environment in which LGBTQ+ people were regarded as perfectly normal people, and he soon discovered something about himself.

“I had gotten to the point where I really felt like [LGBTQ+ issues] [were] an issue of justice and human dignity, and something that Christians absolutely should be advocating for ... Only at that point could I then ask myself whether or not I might be gay. And I was not pleased with the answer — which was obvious as soon as I was willing to ask the question freely — because suddenly all the most important relationships in my life were in jeopardy. I didn’t know how my parents would respond — how all of our friends from back home would respond. And I also didn’t know whether I’d ever really be able to find a church that I could feel truly safe in, and where I could feel accepted for who I was.”

Vines dedicated the majority of his presentation to addressing six biblical passages that are often used to support a religious moratorium on homosexuality: Genesis 19 (the story of Sodom and Gomorrah), Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 1 Timothy 1:10. Making frequent use of the context of these passages in biblical stories as well as the precise meanings of the original Hebrew and Greek words, Vines argued that the common conception that these passages prohibit homosexuality and same-sex relationships is misguided.

Vines also repeatedly referenced conversations he had with his father about the meaning and interpretation of those pas-

sages, sharing his father’s journey through the tensions in Christianity regarding homosexuality from intolerance to skepticism to acceptance.

The Swarthmore Experience The Christian community at Swarthmore College has been no stranger to these ongoing tensions in the faith. As alluded to earlier, on November 19, 2017, Voices published an exposé of Swarthmore Christian Fellowship’s policies toward LGBTQ+ members. The piece, by Eduard Saakashvili and entitled “Swarthmore Christian Fellowship Has a Sexuality Problem,” publicized the SCF policy that bars LGBTQ+ students from holding leadership positions in the organization. It also brought to light the stories and pain of some LGBTQ+ people who had been involved with SCF. The article’s publication prompted an outpouring on campus of frustration with SCF and of support for LGBTQ+ students.

Only a few days after the exposé’s publication, the college withdrew its funding from SCF for not meeting the standards of its non-discrimination policy.

As for Swarthmore Christian Fellowship itself, which remains an active student group on campus, the withdrawal of funding has not deterred its policy that openly LGBTQ+ individuals cannot serve as leaders in the organization.

“Because part of our identity as an organization is to be a place that teaches a ... traditional Christian morality that’s based in scripture, I think it’s important for us to preserve that and have that in our leadership. And I think that by having people in positions of leadership who disagree with those teachings and are not leading by

example ... that would be counterproductive to our purpose as a group: to be a space that’s helping people in living out traditional Biblical morality,” said Tim Greco, a leader of SCF. Nor, for that matter, can straight individuals who affirm LGBTQ+ individuals (by, for example, supporting same-sex marriage) become leaders of SCF. “We require leaders in SCF to affirm that the Bible teaches that sexual activity outside of the context of marriage, which is between one man and one woman, is against God’s will and that they will live a lifestyle consistent with this belief,” Naomi Bronkema, another leader of SCF, said.

Indeed, it seems unlikely that SCF’s anti-LGBTQ+ policies will ever change. In order to become a leader of SCF, one must sign a statement of faith that includes support for SCF’s positions and policies regarding LGBTQ+ issues.

Then, only these leaders, can consider whether to change the policy.

In the view of Swarthmore Christian Fellowship, there is an important distinction between “identity” and “practice.” In their view, being gay, lesbian, or bi is acceptable as long as one doesn’t have any homosexual relationships.

“I also think it’s important to clarify that we don’t restrict anyone’s ability to be a leader based on their sexual orientation — it’s the personal choices that they make about how they’re going to live their lives and what sort of sexual ethics they’re following,” Greco said.

“Our policies are that leaders cannot be in a romantic relationship that is not between a man and a woman,” Bronkema later

clarified.

It is unclear what SCF proposes gay or lesbian individuals do if same-sex relationships are off limits. The only clear possibilities would be refraining from romantic and/or sexual relationships for their entire lives or engaging in heterosexual relationships that do not align with their sexual and/or romantic orientation. Similarly, it would seem that bi people, under SCF’s teachings, could only engage in heterosexual relationships.

Another region of ambiguity in SCF’s policies is its stance toward others included in the LGBTQ+ community.

Speaking about SCF’s policies toward trans and non-binary individuals, Greco said, “I don’t think that’s ever come up.”

“The issues highlighted in our leadership policies were included because they have historically caused issues and harmful divisions within SCF and the Christian Church as a whole. However, this issue is absent from our leadership policies because historically it has not come up during leadership selection,” Bronkema added in a later e-mail.

Inter-Christian Relations Despite their opposing policies, relations between SCF and SPC seem, for the most part, to be cordial.

Several of SCF’s leaders attended the Vines event. While they declined to say much about their views on Vines’ argument for the inclusion of LGBTQ+ individuals in Christianity, they expressed appreciation for the talk.

“I thought it was very interesting — clearly well thought out,” Tim said.

“I think it was good because it allows us to have a better view of

what SPC’s views are — because I think those were a little ambiguous to us,” Matt Lucker, a third leader of SCF, added. “I personally just wanted to have a productive conversation with people from SPC just to solely learn, but that wasn’t able to occur until the Matthew Vines Event. I have his book on my desk, and I’m going to read it, because I never got to read it beforehand.”

For his part, Thomas, the SPC leader, defended SCF’s right to remain a student organization.

“I mean as long as they’re not funded, I believe that [SCF] can be on campus. I mean, they have the freedom to worship as they wish, and it is not my right to tell them that they can’t,” he said.

Yet tensions remain, and members of SPC were direct in their opinions about SCF’s policies toward LGBTQ+ individuals.

“My first real experience with SCF would be the [Voices] article.

That was a shock, and I was very surprised to find out that a requirement to be a leader in the organization was you had to sign a statement of faith from InterVarsity – I was just very shocked, and I was angered,” Thomas said.

“I believe that any group or organization that refuses to sign the school’s non-discrimination policy should be defunded.”

Nora Shao, a trans lesbian who is also a member of SPC, was more forceful.

“If there were a way for me to make sure that they couldn’t meet on our campus, I would make that happen,” she said.

A New Chapter While change will doubtlessly continue to occur, the Matthew Vines event is symbolic of a new period in the history of Christian

student groups and the discussion of Christian theology at Swarthmore College.

This chapter may well produce greater cooperation and understanding, at least between the SCF and SPC. Two early signs of this possibility are evident from Matthew Vines’ visit. Firstly, although the event was organized by SPC, at least five members of SCF attended Vines’ talk. Secondly, SCF leaders, along with leaders from many other campus faith groups and Swarthmore Queer Union, were present at a leadership workshop run by Vines before his public presentation.

Additionally, Vines’ visit coincides with a course offering from the religion department called “Queering the Bible.” The announcement last winter that this course would be offered in the fall 2018 semester triggered a protest from a conservative Catholic organization called the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property, who came to campus bearing signs that read “Swarthmore College: STOP Attacking God.” Once they were publicized, the reaction against SCF’s policies toward LGBTQ+ individuals was swift. Notwithstanding Newman Catholic Ministry, the defunding of Swarthmore Christian Fellowship and rebirth of Swarthmore Progressive Christians now leaves two main Christian groups at Swarthmore College — one funded by the college, one not; one LGBTQ+-affirming, one not; both operating as student groups on campus.

dents feel more welcomed and supported in these male-dominated fields. Many female and nonbinary students find these programs incredibly welcoming and a great support system.

“I think it’s really cool they have a support system where all women can come,” Ayaka Yorihiro ’20, a CS 21 Ninja, said. “It’s harder for women to accept that they are really good at CS and to realize that they are at the same level as men, even though they feel inferior.”

Barranca echoed that statement, saying that the W+ groups have been integral to her experience in these departments.

“The student-run W+ groups have really helped me to surround myself with positive, like-minded,

and supportive people who have experienced and are experiencing the same things I am.”

According to Barranca, there is a lot of pressure on her as one of the few female mathematics majors.

She has learned that she needed to balance out other people’s expectations and assumptions.

“I also spent a long time resenting that I would never just feel like a mathematician; I was always going to feel like a female mathematician,” said Barranca. “But part of me has learned that it’s really important that I don’t ignore this huge part of my identity. I’m going to be a female mathematician because I identify as female, and I’m going to be a mathematician, and I shouldn’t deny that, but being

female has nothing to do with my career prospects and ambitions.”

Bayer has been working with the Federal Reserve System to come up with a national plan that aims to address the lack of racial and gender diversity in economics.

She notes that the Swarthmore economics department is actively working to change this gap.

“Our department is piloting a new peer-support program for introductory economics this year.

Professor O’Connell, our department chair, has been instrumental in getting the program up and running, and colleagues around the college have been really helpful as well,” said Bayer.

The program is modeled after different support systems such

as the computer science department’s Ninja program and the math department’s Pi-rate program, and aims to offer more resources to first-year students.

“Our program selects and trains awesome student economists to serve as Visible Hands in Economics who assist Econ 1 students in section-specific clinics and in weekly study halls. The study halls offer a welcoming environment for students to do homework and aim to promote community-building among women and underrepresented minority students in economics,” said Bayer.

All W+ groups are registered on the Swarthmore clubs page and welcome new members throughout the year.

effectively made it more convenient to sort your waste. In 2016, the first Waste Characterization Study surveyed the waste channels (trash, recycling, and compost) and found that 68 percent of the survey waste was directed toward the incinerator, 11 percent to compost and 21 percent to recycling. In 2017, 59 percent of the survey waste went to the incinerator, 22 percent went to compost, and 19 percent went to recycling.

However, of the waste in 2016, only 19 percent needed to go to the incinerator. 47 percent could have been composted if sorted

correctly, while 34 percent could have been recycled.

Students can do more to be mindful of the waste they produce and where it goes. Some general tips how to be more mindful is to focus on developing small habits like turning off a light when you leave a room, turning off the water when you’re done brushing, or asking your residential Green Advisor which things are compostable or recyclable.

“Zero Waste … is not just a physical goal, and this is my personal belief,” Vanessa Meng ’19, SZW founder and Green Advisor,

said “For me, it is not about getting to absolute zero in terms of what we use because that is impossible, but rather reshaping and rethinking our value system and how we actually connect with our material goods around us.”

The Zero Waste Effort on campus includes Swarthmore Zero Waste as well as Environmental Services, the Office of Sustainability, the Zero Waste committee, the Sustainability Advocates, and the Green Advisor and President’s Sustainability Research Fellowship programs, but still requires the cooperation of the whole cam-

pus in order to divert 80 percent of waste from going to the incinerator to either recycling, composting or repurposing. Small initiatives like Terracycle, which recycles waste that cannot normally be recycled, contributes further to the greater impact. Awareness surrounding sustainability grows every day and evidence of this can be found in conversations across campus or in memes shared on social media.

Gender gap, continued from A1 percent at MIT, 26 percent at Yale, and 15 percent at Brown.

Computer science lecturer Sara “Scout” Sinclair believes that this represents a lingering notion in our society of which fields are appropriate for women.

“For many decades our society has viewed computing as a masculine thing, and children have been socialized accordingly. In the earliest days of computing, it was considered ‘women’s work’ — maybe because it involved typing, and only secretaries typed — but that changed somewhere in the 60s and 70s,” Sinclair wrote in an email.

Economics Professor Amanda Bayer has researched this gap, as well as strategies to close it. She

believes diversity is vital to enhance the field of economics because there will be more unique perspectives and diverse schools of thought.

“The economics profession includes disproportionately few women and members of historically underrepresented racial and ethnic minority groups, relative both to the overall population and to other academic disciplines. The lack of diversity negatively affects the discipline, constraining both the range of issues addressed and the capacity to understand familiar issues from new and innovative perspectives,” Bayer said.

The college has created several “W+” field specific groups to help make female and non-binary stu-

Zero Waste, continued from A1 During the first-year orientation for the class of 2022, the Zero Waste Sustainability Kick-off set the tone for incoming students about Swarthmore’s initiatives for sustainability and their goal of achieving zero waste. Swarthmore distributed reusable plates and cups and Green Advisors distributed bamboo reusable utensils to facilitate the transition. Also with the inclusion of the waste stations around campus, the three bins for trash, recycling and compost, and signs that help people sort, people are able to divert waste from going to the incinerator easier.

“It has definitely improved since the implementation of those tripartite bins with the blue bin, the green bin and the black bin, especially with the one in the Science Center, with the frowny face and the big stop sign on the trash,” Nicholas Anderson ’20 said. “I see people cleaning out their Sci containers to recycle. So I think that’s pretty good. But I also know that a lot of people would just throw it away. It can be a hassle to have to clean them out before you recycle.”

The waste station expansion over the summer break 2018 has

ARTS

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Japan: Pearls of the Heisei Period Carrie Jiang Arts Writer

I

n the past few years, I have traveled to Japan multiple times, and every time was a wonderful experience. The country, which neighbors China, has a culture that is so similar to mine, yet so different sometimes.

Even though we share the same cultural roots, the extremely friendly Japanese people, clean and tidy cities, and well-preserved religious temples are the best new experiences of my trips.

Renowned for its diverse breeds of deer, Nara is a place full of lively scenery. In the Nara Park, I was surprised to see lots of deer calmly walking among people, occasionally asking for food by gently poking people with their antlers. They have become a part of the religious temples around them, and thus they can be offered full freedom and equality in that environment.

We are now in Kyoto, one of the oldest cities in Japan. Lots of traditional religious temples are well-preserved and welcome countless travelers everyday. The famous Fushimi Inari Taisha (depicted in the photo) leads people to the worshiping grounds for god Inari with the classic decoration of red wood torii paths. Rows of red wood torii built among deep forests have the power to make worshippers calm and devout.

The train in Mountain Arashi near Kyoto is known for its extremely slow pace and natural environment.

It provides the passengers with the experience to fully appreciate the scenery surrounding the train. I have seen lots of delicately old trains in Japan, many of which run slowly across the beautiful landscape — a good balance for overwhelming city life.

I took this photo in one of the busiest business streets in the Dotonbori district of Osaka. People from all over the world come here to experience Japanese modernity.

Hanging high in the air, colorful store brands mix with exaggerated Japanese characters.

The delicious food and snacks that were served along the streets introduced Japanese culture to me in a very striking way.

My trip to Japan will always stay with me. The beautiful onsen, delicious sashimi, people wearing kimonos, and natural landscape are one of my greatest traveling memories. I look forward to visit more parts of the country in the future, deeply exploring the familiar and charming culture.

“The Handmaiden”: Deception, Sensuality, a Masterpiece Shane Jung Arts Writer

“The Handmaiden” is a 2016 Korean film by Park Chan-wook that premiered internationally at Cannes Film Festival, where it was highly anticipated and met with resounding critical acclaim. Many consider Park Chanwook to be the filmmaker who put Korean cinema on the map for an international audience during the digital era. His most famous work is the visceral and tragic “Oldboy” (2003), which boasts a gritty and lurid visual style and an equally traumatizing and unforgettable story to match. However, whereas “Oldboy” was a deconstruction of the revenge genre as a part of Park’s Vengeance Trilogy, “The Handmaiden” is an exploration of the con artist heist genre, filled with deception, double identities, plot twists, sexuality, and love.

The film is set in 1930s Japanese occupied Korea and is based on Sarah Waters’ novel “Fingersmith,” which is set in Victorian

England. The story begins with Sookee, played by Kim Tae-ri (“Mr. Sunshine”), being sent to work as a handmaiden to Lady Hideko, a young woman living under the suffocating surveillance and control of her uncle who wishes to marry her and inherit her family fortune. However, it is later revealed that Sookee is a con artist working with one of Hideko’s suiters (The Count, played by Ha Jung-woo from “The Chaser”) to coax Hideko into falling in love with The Count and running away with him from her uncle. The Count then plans to drop Hideko off at a mental asylum after marrying her and inheriting her fortune.

That is as far as I will go with regards to the plot.

As for the rest of the story, nothing is as it seems, no one is really how they appear to be, and the plot takes many twists and turns that put “The Usual Suspects” to shame as the narrative revisits past events through different perspectives, each revealing more than the last. Park

is a magician as he misdirects the audience at every turn with incredibly fascinating and bracing cinematic sleights of hand that reaffirm and reexamine the power of cinematography, editing, language, exposition, and story structure.

Besides the story, the craftsmanship on display is inarguably masterful. There is a powerful emphasis on set design and costume design in the labyrinthine estate as the film’s tight composition overflows with luscious dresses, jewelry, furniture, and other symbols of wealth. It’s a beautiful film to look at. But as the beauty and exquisite nature of the film’s many objects and trinkets wears thin, one begins to sense the feeling of artificiality and emptiness in the air.

Everything is surface level. In a sense, the characters mirror this superficiality as they thrive off of deception, lies, betrayal, and material desires, but only at first. As more and more is revealed about the characters, the story gains considerable depth, and the visu-

al splendor of the film becomes secondary to character, emotional connection, and intimacy.

Along with the visuals, the score evokes the same sense of beauty and virtuosity as it sweeps and swells, perfectly edited in tandem with the images during key moments of the film, making the plot twists and revelations hit that much harder and the moments of truth, freedom, and triumph shine that much brighter.

Like the rest of Park’s films, viewer discretion is advised as the images, sounds, and subject matter of “The Handmaiden” are definitely not for the squeamish; there are several explicit scenes containing eroticism, torture, pornography, and suicide. It is worth noting that the film’s display of lesbian sex, which also exists in Waters’ novel, has been scrutinized by the queer community in the same way that 2013’s “Blue Is the Warmest Color” was; the author of “Blue Is the Warmest Color” herself was displeased with the film adaptation, stating that the sex scenes were “a bru-

tal and surgical display, exuberant and cold, of so-called lesbian sex, which turned into porn, and made [the author] feel very ill at ease.” And as many have criticized “Oldboy” for its overindulgence in the violent and the perverse, “The Handmaiden,” at first glance, can be misunderstood as a film fueled by male fantasy, especially regarding its respective sex scenes and their relation to the theme of pornography in the film.

However, unlike the author of “Blue Is the Warmest Color,” Waters has embraced Park’s interpretation of the subversive sexuality explored in her novel and how it remains “faithful to the idea that the women are appropriating a very male pornographic tradition to find their own way of exploring their desires.” The film is about liberation. It explores sexual liberation, national liberation, and female liberation. It makes sense, then, that Sarah Waters would intend for the women both in her novel and in the film to use these “porno-

graphic traditions” as a means to break free from the confines of male fantasy, manipulation, dominance, and the prison-like estate itself from within.

“The Handmaiden” was one of the best films of 2016 and possibly even of the decade. Being a foreign film, it was overlooked by many, and it truly is a shame that most would need to watch the film with subtitles. However, “The Handmaiden” is an unforgettable art house film despite cultural and language barriers as it speaks to universal ideas and emotions. If you’re not a film enthusiast or are predisposed against foreign cinema, “The Handmaiden” will change your mind. If you like plot twists, romance, Korean pop culture, great acting, brilliant artistry, heist movies, dark comedy, fashion, complex characters, or anything else I may have missed, you will love this movie. “The Handmaiden” is available for viewing on Amazon Prime and through the library system.

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THE PHOENIX ARTS

October 4, 2018

Cory Doctorow’s “Walkaway”: Diagnosis Through Science Fiction Rachel Lapides Arts Writer

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t a college like Swarthmore, there is often a divide between STEM fields and the humanities. So, it was unusual when on Friday, September 28, a reading and discussion was advertised to both the computer science and English departments, two seemingly disparate areas of study. Science fiction author Cory Doctorow had arrived to discuss his most recent novel, “Walkaway,” a work that uses the pedagogical benefits of fiction to explore the consequences of present day technology and its political problems.

In his talk, Doctorow described his near-future, hard utopian novel as a “diagnostic” tool of the current state of technology in modern day society. While doing this, he explained difficult concepts of economics and algorithms with imaginative and understandable analogies, a theme echoed in his science fiction writing in general. As he read, he gesticulated, looked around furiously, acted out characters, and connected with his audience. Doctorow’s informal, progressive language and dynamic reading left both the computer science and literary sides of LPAC Cinema laughing and snapping in agreement. But underneath this effective performance, the words themselves were less persuasive. For a discussion hosted by the English department, little was said about the book as a literary piece, and this lack clearly showed in the quality of the writing of the section he read. Rather, the function of the novel is both political and experimental, which should be taken into account whether or not one chooses to read it.

As someone who is struggling with “for loops” in Intro to

Computer Science, I found most of the conversation digestible and compelling. “Walkaway” is a novel that explores the results of technology we already have, and Doctorow presented philosophies on these outcomes.

One engaging theory was that of guard labor and distribution equilibrium response — the idea that the cost of guarding wealth will eventually be more expensive than redistributing that wealth in the form of public goods in order to quell discontent. Technology, Doctorow contends, decreases the cost of guarding wealth. As data mining and surveillance become easier and cheaper, big companies have exponentially more information about those being surveilled. These dossiers of personal information enable authoritarian regimes to exert more power over individuals at a lower cost. One gruesome example he gave was that of an authoritarian regime hacking the Skype account of a dissident to locate his friends and murdering them, enabling a system of quelling discontent which, Doctorow argues, leads to less wealth redistributed in the form of public goods.

The presentation was surprisingly politically focused, with refreshing new ideas and takes on how to move forward.

As an activist himself, Doctorow focused on reality more than science fiction. He cited the lowering standards of monopoly laws as a catalyst for tech powerhouses like Google and Facebook’s enormous power. He raged against Margaret Thatcher’s support for a deregulated, free market economy and her usage of the phrase, “There is no alternative.” This language, he claimed, was a “political trick” to make “people stop thinking.” Doctorow himself explored alternatives through science fiction. For ex-

ample, he discussed the computation debate, an anti-capitalist idea of using programming and code to control the values of goods — the antithesis of the free markets of Thatcher. While this idea had long been dismissed as impossible, with no computer advanced enough to work for a whole nation, Doctorow claimed that modern day corporations, such as Walmart, use computers to allocate resources and positions on a much larger scale than even some countries. In a work of literature like “Walkaway,” Doctorow can explore concepts like a computational market.

Many science fiction works are presented as dystopias from the far future, wildly removed from our own world. Doctorow’s books, however, are what he calls “hard utopias.” He redefined this important vocabulary of science fiction; “utopia is not where nothing goes wrong. That would be bad engineering,” he said, winking at the engineering students in the audience, claiming that a true utopia has the ability to fix these problems. In this way, “Walkaway” is not a dystopian novel, but an “optimistic disaster.” Contrary to conventional ideas on crises, Doctorow cited a history of people coming together after disasters. He argued that the narrative of bad behavior in bad times has been constructed by those in power who are so worried that people will riot, that the masses are policed to the point of actually creating these riots. Doctorow argued that this cycle was “based on shitty fiction.” Instead of perpetuating this idea with another dystopia, he argued that the way to move forward is to elevate the stories of people coming together, so that works like “Walkaway” are mode of activism and progress as well as works of literature.

He focused on the present, em-

Atziri Marquez / The Phoenix

phasizing that science fiction is “not prescriptive or predictive,” but “diagnostic.” He compared his novel to a petri dish, making a small model of the problems of the world. In addition to his activism for fair copyright and technology laws, his writing itself can be viewed as a political work, making commonplace and normative the stories about the good of people during disaster, and revealing troublesome truths about reality.

Despite the interesting subject matter of the discussion itself, I found Doctorow’s actual writing to be less engaging.

Some images were interesting and intriguing. He often used the literary technique of defamiliarization, where mundane activities like drinking coffee were described through alien

terms (such as “percolation” and “mouth membrane”), creating many fun plays on language.

But this relies on cleverness, as did the rest of his writing. Sentences had an artificially intellectual feel, arranged in crafty ways or with witty word choices, delighting in its excessiveness like in this description of people’s relationships as “lingering interpersonal upfuckedness.” These, and other phrases like “some dipshit can’t follow instructions,” also displayed a self-indulgence in Doctorow’s text. To be fair, the passages of Doctorow’s reading were the only part of “Walkaway” I was familiar with. But in the pages he chose, I was disappointed by his nondescript characters and setting.

Ultimately, Doctorow’s new-

est novel and his discussion are less about the artistic qualities of fiction, but its philosophical function as an exploration of alternatives. Mostly plot based, the best parts are the premise and its message, while the characters and language suffer.

Much more interesting is Doctorow’s insights into technology’s effects and its effects on class and political issues. Doctorow enlivened the audience, encouraging college students to use their skills in literature, computer science, or other specialties in what he called the four forces of change: coding, law, markets, and norms. I left the discussion more informed of my own relationship to technology, and more frighteningly, its relationship to me.

Local Writers Address Gun Violence and the Environment

Reuben Gelley Newman Arts Writer

In a reading at Villanova on Wednesday, September 26, novelist Elise Juska and poet Brian Teare read to a packed room of students and faculty from recent work that interweaves the personal and political.

Although the readings were excellent, there was little evident connection between their subject matter, as Teare’s poetry focuses on his place in a changing natural world and Juska’s prose addresses gun violence with realism and compassion. A poet myself, I was more excited by Teare’s work, but Juska’s work was very powerful as well.

Juska began the reading with a section from her most recent book, “If We Had Known.” The novel, set at a rural Maine university in the aftermath of a mass shooting, follows various acquaintances of the shooter as they react to the violence.

Juska thought of writing the book ten years ago, after reading an interview with the Virginia Tech gunman’s creative writing teacher, who was disturbed by his morbid writing and alerted school authorities to no avail. “If We Had Known” focuses on Maggie Daley, a professor in a similar position, who wonders whether she missed the signs with Nathan Dugan, the shooter, who was in her class years before the crime.

Juska alternates between chapters that follow various characters, including Maggie, her daughter, Anna, and an acquaintance of the shooter’s, Luke. The section from which she read followed Luke as he learned about the shooting, and she created a pitch-perfect tone that seemed realistic for a teenager just trying to lead a normal life.

She began: “What he remembered most about his English class freshman year was Meredith Kenney. She was the kind of student Luke could never be.

The kind who always raised her hand in class and seemed to genuinely care, and somehow this made her seem admirable instead of annoying.”

Nathan was also in this English class, and Luke posts about the shooting on Facebook, recollecting Nathan’s strange mannerisms and isolation from other students. He posts partly in the hope that Meredith will comment, and she doesn’t — but then, as things do on social media, his post goes viral.

That use of the internet of the ways Juska makes the book relatable to readers both young and old. In the Q&A later, she said she actually workshopped chapters on Luke and the other young characters with her students — and it shows. I especially loved how she read an emoji aloud as “horrified emoji face.”

But this is serious stuff, and Luke — like the creative writing teacher who later sees his post — irrationally wonders if he could have done anything to stop the shooting, such as being friendlier to Nathan, who had wanted to go hunting with him.

In a stunning image, Luke wonders if that rejection was just “one more tiny moment, added to an accumulation of tiny moments. Like the volcano he’d made in seventh-grade science, how each ounce of vinegar you dripped through the hole in the top brought the whole thing a notch closer to blowing up.”

And on that suspenseful, emotive note, Juska ended her reading. Teare, who I’d read during Professor Nathalie Anderson’s first-year seminar “Philadelphia Poets” last year, and who had given a great reading at Swarthmore during that class, took the stage.

Teare did not disappoint, engaging with the audience and presenting beautiful and challenging work. The poems he read, often long and fragmented, focus on the complex relationship of self to nature in the 21st century.

That positionality came across beautifully in the first poem, “Star Thistle,” which closes his fourth collection, “Companion Grasses.” The poem is both a moving elegy for the poet Reginald Shepherd, who died in 2008, and a diary of Teare’s hikes on Atlas Peak,

a mountain in northern California, and Teare read it with evident emotion.

It’s a long poem — eight pages — so it’s hard to get a grasp of when read aloud. That’s still true on the page, where the fragmentary two-line stanzas are filled with confusing syntax and only punctuated by commas and colons. The poem begins: He died & lamplight That night brought out against fog its grid of gambits, Each street a perfect winter Dissembled : pure effect

But there are easier, more evocative lines that stood out to me when hearing it: “how spring undoes the year like a knot,” for instance. And on the whole, the poem juxtaposes Shepherd’s long battle with HIV and cancer (the “he” above is Shepherd) with Teare’s hikes, on which he encounters the star thistle, an invasive species that prevents anything else from growing there. Teare ends the poem on a tender, contemplative note: from star down to thistle it’s all the same : still firm in the ground, today it breaks in my hand, bad mourning that this summer flowers the life only destruction makes possible.

Here, the environmentalist stakes are clear: the star thistle’s life depends on the destruction of other plants. As Teare explained in the Q&A, he writes his poems on repeated hikes, and it was through that process that he learned about the thistle’s invasiveness and wrote this poem 10 years ago.

He quipped: “Now I’d be thinking more from the star thistle’s perspective” — because it, too, is just trying to survive.

Teare’s other poems were probably more accessible, though no less rewarding. “Sitting River Meditation,” from his

forthcoming book, “Doomstead Days,” stood out with the fascinating line “I like to put my mind where two worlds meet and agree to disagree.”

The Q&A afterwards was also illuminating. Juska answered questions about writing teenage characters — “the more I write, the farther away I go from my own life,” she said — and discussed the reception to “If We Had Known.”

The book is important for its continued relevance, and she said she’d heard from teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, where the Parkland shooting occurred last fall. Although they said that they hadn’t seen the signs,

“If We Had Known” still had a powerful impact. I really admire this direct connection to those involved in mass shootings, but equally admire how Juska makes the book relevant and important to everyday readers.

Not all millennials and college students are as activist as some survivors of the Parkland shooting, but gun violence affects us all.

Teare discussed, among other things, his education. An uneven undergrad student, he said remembered little about the English survey course he took except reading Gerard Manley Hopkins’s poetry aloud. The unusual rhythm and sound of Hopkins’s work had a lasting impression on him and informs

the current musicality of his verse. “[It was] like being inside the bell when the bell’s ringing,” Teare said — and he didn’t even do the reading beforehand.

(Sound familiar?)

Teare’s own reading didn’t have quite that much of a transformational effect on me, but its musicality and its concern with the self in the environment is inspiring, and will certainly inform my own poetry.

And fellow Swat bookworms, in those rare moments that you can read for fun, check out https://www.brianteare.net and http://www.elisejuska.com/ to learn more about Teare’s and Juska’s work.

OPINIONS

October 4, 2018 PAGE A5

Trump vs. The World

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don’t think I’ll ever forget the moment I realized Donald J. Trump had won the 2016 presidential election. It was the morning after, because I had forced myself to go to bed at about 10 p.m. the night before, right around the same time Pennsylvania and Florida started turning blue.

I remember pulling out my phone, still in a post-sleep state that kept me from remembering the events of the night before. And I will never, ever forget seeing the news notification on my screen announcing Trump’s presidency.

It immediately felt surreal, and the feeling stayed with me that whole day, starting with going to Arabic class and seeing people either tear up or be unable to put together phrases they had previously so easily composed.

I felt like the U.S. was alone in that moment — the first and only country that was about to be led by a sketchy businessman. But time has shown me that it’s simply not true — the U.S. is not exceptional in its 2016 electoral decisions. The U.S. is not the only country in the world that has elected a politically polarizing figure with questionable attitudes and morals.

Going to swim practice right after the electoral results came out involved non-stop chatter about it until my coach declared the topic

was over and we had to get in the water, even if the practice ended up being one of the most mediocre of the season, each and every single one of us having other things weighing on our minds.

I will never forget that day. After that day, I not only almost lost faith in all political science, which may be why I’m a peace and conflict studies major now, but I also began to question all media outlets and what we were being told was the ‘truth’. And let me tell you, it’s exhausting to live that way — constantly questioning everything. But what made it all worse was the feeling that the U.S. was the only country that had elected such a politically questionable outsider.

Since that election, I have done my fair share of traveling and encountering new cultures. When I started, I had the belief that Trump was a stand-alone politician — a politician with views that only existed in the U.S. and could never be found anywhere else. But today, I know that that is not true.

Despite popular opinion, Trump is just the biggest and most observed, but there are leaders in politics like him everywhere, and many of them are in power as well.

I would even say that Trump himself is not the first of his kind, but rather the only one that has been able to gain power in a country as imposing as the U.S. Italy has never been a very po-

litically powerful country. Yes, we fought in both world wars on the wrong side, but think about it — we dropped out as soon as we realized that we were on the losing side. Italy has always been, for lack of a better word, a follower on the international political stage. On the national political stage, however, things are worse. In many areas, the mafia is in charge through some nefarious means, nepotism is rampant, and the people in charge are even more outwardly racist and sexist than Trump has ever been. For example, the leader of the party that is currently in charge, Matteo Salvini, has said that he believes Italy needs a ‘cultural cleansing’. He also decided to partner with another man, Silvio Berlusconi, a businessmanturned-politician who was Prime Minister several times over the course of 20 years and is currently banned from politics due to being found guilty of money laundering.

One other not-so-fun fact is that he was well known around the world for his ‘ways’ with women — he had what he referred to as ‘Bunga Bunga’ parties, which were basically huge orgies, and was accused of having sex with a 16 yearold girl when he was at least 70. If that’s not enough, he also owns a soccer team, AC Milan, and there’s a video of him asking one of the players when he can meet his wife because he heard she was the most beautiful one, and, well, “I’m

just an old man, you know?”

Once I read up on this, I took some comfort in knowing the U.S. is not alone, but that may be because my pending dual citizenship is in the U.S. and Italy, and if both my countries have similar political turmoils, maybe we’ll be okay.

Well, in coming to Australia, I was hoping to get away from such politics. I wanted to be in the country where environmental preservation was a top priority and where political scandals were scant heard of. Boy, oh boy, was I wrong.

Here, the prime minister is Malcolm Trumbull. Oh, wait. No, it’s not — it’s Scott Morrison. Trumbull was prime minister when I first arrived in July, but has since been replaced by Morrison. First of all, a prime minister in Australia is supposed to serve for eight consecutive years, and not a single one has done that since 2007. Since then, six people have stepped up to the challenge, and all but one, thus far, have failed. Although, to be fair, Morrison has only been in power since August 24. Now, when I first got here, there were talks of taking down Trumbull, until one day, the Parliament did. The Aussie parliament called a meeting and tried to vote him out of power, but was unsuccessful. Then, like three weeks later, they did it again, and this time succeeded, but the person who had actually called for the re-vote didn’t win, outdone by

THE

GIORGIA PIANTANIDA SWAT GLOBAL

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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

Morrison. And to be honest, I’m still confused as to what the actual ins and outs of this situation are.

However, they make me feel a little better.

I know that right now, the political climate in the U.S. is bad.

But honestly, all those people who argue it’s so much better abroad are lying to you. It’s a mess everywhere. Whether you go to beautiful and dreamy Italy and have to deal with the mafia and a creepy, old, powerful, lying man, or, as I

like to think of him, the beta version of Trump, or if you go down under, far away from American politics where you have to deal with a government fraught with questionable morals and everchanging leaders. Trump is not a stand-alone incident, the only imperfection on the political map that the world has constructed.

He’s merely the loudest, most orange one of all — who happens to be in charge of one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Privilege, Entitlement, and Elitism: The Kavanaugh Debacle EDITORIAL

(Content Warning: Brett Kavanaugh, mentions of sexual assault) Last week, with the eyes of the nation upon her, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford challenged a man up for a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the United States.

For survivors and allies on campus and around the country, Dr. Blasey Ford’s emotional testimony and Judge Kavanaugh’s angry, aggressive, and, at times, fiercely combative response brought up intense emotions. The National Sexual Assault Hotline received an “unprecedented” increase in calls during the hearings; on campus, Organizing for Survivors hung a

banner calling for transformative justice in order to prevent “more Kavanaughs.”

Judge Kavanaugh is not far removed from institutions like Swarthmore. As he reminded us (over, and over, and over) during the hearing, he went to Georgetown Prep. And Yale. And Yale (again, for law school this time).

Facing a panel of eleven Republicans (all white men) and ten Democrats, Judge Kavanaugh cited his work ethic, his educational pedigree, and his resume credentials, imploring us to recognize that of course he hadn’t done this. After all, he went to Yale. What went unspoken in Judge Kavanaugh’s testimony was his appeal to his

own privilege.

“Captain of the varsity basketball team. Got in Yale College.

When I got into Yale College, got into Yale Law School. Worked my tail off,” he told the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Kavanaugh could not have done what Blasey Ford accused him of.

After all, he did go to Yale.

Swarthmore works to prepare students for elite careers in fields including politics, government, and yes, the judiciary. We pride ourselves on our reputation and our pedigree, while simultaneously trying to downplay our own elitism.

“We’re the quirky liberal arts college! We’re so passionate about

what we’re studying! Look, an engineering department!”

We glide over the fact that we continue to be need-aware for international students; that students are routinely unable to attend Swarthmore due to financial constraints; that we still privilege legacy students in admissions. In short, we pretend that elitism, and the sense of entitlement it accompanies, don’t exist here.

But it does. So does sexual assault. Institutions like Swarthmore, Yale, and other prestigious colleges foster the behaviors that create Brett Kavanaughs: a sense of privilege that allows graduates to forgive themselves for any conduct.

Kavanaugh’s supporters asked for his conduct to be forgotten because he was “only 17.” And yet, when we look at Kavanaugh’s judicial record, we see what they really mean: he was “only 17,” and wealthy, and male, and white.

Kavanaugh supported mandatory minimum sentences, including those for underage offenders, which impact people of color significantly more than white people.

In a country that is over 60 percent white, 65 percent of prisoners serving life without parole for non-violent offenses are Black.

While serving on the District of Columbia Circuit Court, he denied a 17-year-old undocumented woman the right to an abortion.

In doing so, he added her name to the growing list of women who will be forced to live with the consequences of Brett Kavanaugh’s actions. Not on that list? Brett Kavanaugh.

This is what unchecked and unevaluated privilege can do. As an institution, we have an obligation to look at our own practices and ask ourselves if we are creating, or encouraging, Brett Kavanaughs.

The college must hold its students accountable for their actions and work to make a stronger community, one that asks the question: who is forgiven?

Why You Should Go to Mary Lyon Breakfast RUNZE WANG OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

I wondered about the food at Swarthmore after I was accepted. I asked some upperclassmen about their impressions of campus food, and I searched comments and complaints about campus food online. It seemed that quite a lot of people didn’t like the food here. But for me, I didn’t really care about the taste of food; I love everything besides cheese. However, when I first learned Sharples opens at 10:00 a.m. on Sundays, I was astonished, fearing I would begin my Sunday hungry. When I learned that I was assigned to Mary Lyon, I became even more nervous. I didn’t want to walk 20 minutes to buy sandwiches and coffee at Science Center Coffee Bar and then spend another 20 minutes to go back, even though I knew it was the only place to offer Sunday breakfast as early as 8:00 a.m. on campus. When I learned that Mary Lyon has a nice breakfast room, I felt better. I now know I have another choice for breakfast on weekends. Weekend breakfasts at Mary Lyon is a great choice for those who get up early on weekends. It provides delicious breakfast, and it’s a place to socialize.

I ate my first breakfast at Mary Lyon last week. I could use my meal plan to eat there, so I didn’t need to prepare extra cash. This was quite convenient. Then, I wrote down my order. I ordered an omelet with mushroom and tomatoes. Then, all I needed to do is wait. Finally, my omelet was done.

I ate it and chatted with some friends who were also eating there.

There are many choices at Mary Lyon breakfast. For example, there are omelets, pancakes, and juice.

The food here is of great quality, although this service is run by students here.

I prefer to eat at Mary Lyon instead of Sharples because it saves time. On Saturday mornings we

have morning shuttles, so I only need about seven or eight minutes to go to Sharples. We don’t have morning shuttles on Sundays.

Walking to Sharples isn’t that easy, because the distance from Mary Lyon to Sharples is long. Typically, I need around 15 minutes to walk to Sharples. But if I choose to eat at Mary Lyon, I just need one minute to go to the breakfast room.

What’s more, the breakfast here begins at 9:00 a.m., and I can enjoy my breakfast an hour earlier.

I’m curious about why it’s hard to find a place to offer breakfast as early as 7:30 a.m. on weekends.

Maybe there’s no such need for it, as some love late-night parties and find it difficult to get up early on Sundays. Perhaps the cost to open Sharples earlier on Sundays is prohibitive. I don’t have a perfect answer now. I find almost everyone gets up later, eats later, studies later, and sleeps later on weekends. Even libraries are open at 10:00 a.m. on weekends. Probably this is a major difference between high school life and college life. As a freshman, I have to accept this difference.

I care about weekend breakfasts because it’s my only chance to enjoy breakfast. Time isn’t that abundant on weekday mornings.

After I wake up, I need some time to get out of bed. I check emails and Facebook. I can’t do anything else, just because I’m still too sleepy to think about more complicated stuff. When I use up that grace period, I have to get out of bed, no matter how unwilling I am.

I just randomly pick my clothes and recheck whether I’ve put my assignment in my bag. After that, I wait for the shuttle. When the shuttle arrives at the Tunnel (the nearest shuttle stop to the back door of Sharples) or Parrish West, I often find I have only 20 or even 15 minutes left. Luckily, the breakfast at Sharples is quite predictable. I don’t need to worry about what to eat. But the drawback is that the

only goal of breakfast on weekdays is to prevent me from feeling hungry. I have more free time on weekends, so I can fully enjoy the breakfast. Before I came to Swarthmore, my weekend breakfasts were usually the best breakfasts of the week. Now, Sharples doesn’t have anything special on weekends. But the breakfast room at Mary Lyon still provides me with a unique weekend breakfast experience. From cashiers to eaters, everyone here lives in Mary Lyon. So, I’m more confident to chat with them, asking them about their feelings of the past week.

When I’m eating at Sharples, I find nearly everyone to be strangers.

So, I’m a bit shy to socialize with them. I just eat quietly alone and leave. Such difference differentiates weekend breakfasts at Mary Lyon, making them the best breakfasts on campus for me.

Mary Lyon is the most remote residence hall. As you can imagine, the remoteness has caused many inconveniences. Before commuting between Mary Lyon and more central parts of campus like Parrish Hall or the Science Center, I always ask myself whether what I do is worthy of the time. But Mary Lyon’s remoteness also makes it unique. We have Garnet shuttles and a nice breakfast room. There are also fewer parties here, making the nights quieter. I don’t fully understand Swat’s housing lottery system, but I believe residents of different dorm halls have different personal qualities. Sometimes the dorm halls are full of party lovers who don’t go to bed until 2:00 a.m. or even 4:00 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, while residents at some dorms are nerdier. I love the atmosphere at Mary Lyon. More importantly, I love its breakfast room. It provides great food and a place to socialize.

Photos by Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

PAGE A6

THE PHOENIX OPINIONS

Jess King is a Candidate to Watch ROBERT ZIGMUND OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

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hen one thinks about progressive politics, it is likely that rural Pennsylvania is not the first location to come to mind. That is exactly where we should be looking this election season, however, to Lancaster, PA — in Jess King’s campaign for Pennsylvania’s 11th District of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The nation watched in surprise this past spring, when Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez defeated Rep. Joe Crowley in the Democratic primary for New York’s 14th District. Crowley, a tenterm incumbent, was defeated by nearly 15 percentage points.

The Crowley campaign spent 17 times as much money as the Ocasio campaign, but this victory demonstrated that for once, money isn’t everything in politics. We are seeing the impact of this victory more clearly as general elections approach, drawing increased attention to similar progressive campaigns across in the country, such as Randy Bryce of Wisconsin, vying for Paul Ryan’s former seat— a race that recent polls suggest is a toss-up. I believe that we have another shockwave opportunity, and this time, one not

too far from campus.

Among King’s pledges, one stands before the rest — the promise not to take corporate or PAC money. Among progressive campaigns, this has proven itself to be a major selling point, as it means that megadonors or wealthy hedge-funds never even get the chance to influence the candidate or the campaign. Given the fact that a New York Times poll found that a majority of Americans feel that money in politics is a serious issue that requires a “complete overhaul” of the campaign finance system, it is important that we do not understate the excitement that a grassroots-funded campaign can generate. King’s campaign is funded by small, individual contributions, unlike that of her opponent, incumbent Republican Lloyd Smucker. As the Center for Responsive Politics notes, Smucker is almost entirely being funding by PACs and corporations, especially insurance companies and party leadership organizations. This grassroots method of fundraising sends a signal that King will be responsible to her constituents, not corporations.

King’s campaign does not merely use the grassroots to

SwatGraphics

gain traction — it is completely built around it. King holds regular town hall meetings to engage with voters and to allow for a comfortable public space where people can voice their concerns. Smucker, however, has not held a single town hall during this campaign season.

The failure to engage meaningfully with voters sends a clear message that Smucker feels so confident in his likelihood of victory that he does not even need to hear the voices of potential voters. The lack of engagement with voters from Smucker also suggests that he fears the extreme disapproval from constituents that he would face in a public forum. If you do not feel as though your voice matters to a candidate, I believe that it is incredibly unlikely that you will feel any substantial motivation to vote for or support them. On the other hand, demonstrating that, as a candidate, you actually care about the voice of the people is much more motivating and invigorating.

Of course, a campaign is nothing without a platform.

Rejecting the fear tactics of the right-wing, King embraces a solidly progressive platform.

On health care, she pushes for a single-payer system of

Medicare for All, under which everyone would be insured, affirming healthcare as a human right. Conversely, Smucker was a major proponent of the “American Health Care Act,” a piece of legislation that threatened to remove the protections of the Affordable Care Act, and would have removed healthcare access from a significant portion of the population. King supports Wall Street regulation and modern restrictions on money in politics She supports the full reinstatement of the Voting Rights Act, a crucial piece of legislation that offered safeguards against the mass voter-suppression efforts we are seeing from the Republican party. In addition, King’s platform is locally centered. She understands the importance of agriculture to Lancaster, and as such she has vowed to support and introduce legislation that will use antitrust powers to ensure that local farmers are able to make a living without being smothered in the shadow of the corporate monoliths, such as Walmart, that have overtaken their regional production.

Smucker, on the other hand, supported the July 2018 Farm Bill, which would have incentivized mass-scale farming and

October 4, 2018

reduced funding for conservation efforts, PRI notes. The legislation that Smucker supports is directly harmful to his constituents, while Jess King’s platform will uplift them. As a whole, King’s platform is one of racial, social, and economic justice. It is in the best interest of the people of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and the nation itself, for her voice to be heard in the halls of Congress.

It is worth looking at the unique circumstances of her campaign and her district. The 11th district is somewhat tricky to predict. The district itself is technically “new” — having been redrawn and renumbered after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that the current districts were gerrymandered.

We do have some analysis from the Cook Political Report, however, a non-partisan institution that examines the leanings of political districts. They have marked the 11th district as a +14 partisan lean to Republican.

While this should be taken as a sign of a Smucker victory, newly released polling results beg to differ, with Public Policy Polling showing a nine point difference between the candidates, with Smucker leading. While this gap can seem insurmount-

able, it is worth noting that a single-digit gap with more than a month until election day is a hopeful sign, considering that this is a heavily red district.

The King campaign has a chance to overcome the odds in a Republican-leaning district of rural Pennsylvania. Despite the influence of PACs and corporations, the endorsements of Senator Bernie Sanders, the AFL-CIO, and Democracy for America demonstrate a unified progressive political backing. Her progressive campaign platform and grassroots activism makes her a true populist.

By supporting King, not only do we reject the corporatist, ultraconservative policies of Lloyd Smucker, but we also go a step further: we send a message that there is another way — a way of social, racial, and economic justice. A way for all of us, no matter where we come from or what we look like. The struggle for this justice can seem impossible at times, but hope remains nonetheless. Let us be that hope. On campus, interested individuals can participate in phonebanking sessions for the campaign every Wednesday from 5-8 p.m in Kohlberg 116.

SPORTS

October 4, 2018 PAGE A7

WWE Recap: The Road to Super Showdown!

Kevin Liao Sports Writer

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his Saturday, World Wrestling Entertainment will hold its Super Showdown event, its first pay-per-view to be broadcasted live from Australia. While not necessarily in the same vein as other competitive sports in terms of unpredictability — match outcomes are decided in advance — what’s also known as ‘sports entertainment’ provides just as much enjoyment as its major-league counterparts.

Rather than focusing on the final score, competitors in professional wrestling focus on telling a story to the audience, getting the fans engaged, while extraordinary athletic maneuvers keep crowds on the edge of their seats.

Thus, instead of simply feeling like witnesses to an incredible moment, wrestling fans have the opportunity to be a part of the moment. With that in mind, here are some of the top narratives headed into this Saturday’s event.

First, the main event — a wrestling term describing the headlining match — of the payper-view is the culmination of WWE’s blood feud, centered around perhaps the most wellknown wrestler in history, the Undertaker. Regarded by the wrestling community as a living legend, the Undertaker has gained international notoriety for a number of reasons, including The Streak (a 21-0 winning streak at WrestleMania, professional wrestling’s biggest event each year), in-ring accolades (17 championships, and a WWE record 101 pay-per-view victories), and even memes (throwing Mankind off Hell in a Cell in 1998). Even his signature gong is enough to throw fans into a frenzy, as they know when ‘Taker’s music hits, chaos and beatdowns are not far behind. The Deadman,

as he’s also known, is essentially WWE’s equivalent of the Grim Reaper — one can never outrun him, they can only face their fate and hope to survive.

On the other side of the ring is another face recognizable to most wrestling fans, even those who only watched in their youth — Triple H. Throughout a career spanning over twenty years, The Game, as he’s nicknamed, has performed a plethora of characters, including his current role as corporate honcho, blending perfectly with his business job as WWE’s Vice President of Talent. Over the course of his career, much like the Deadman, Triple H has dominated the WWE, winning countless titles and defeating a slew of challengers, sometimes to the point of redundancy.

However, the rivalry between the two men didn’t truly kick up until 2011, around WrestleMania 27. Trying to avenge his best friend, Shawn Michaels, who had been forced to retire after losing to the Undertaker at WrestleMania 26, Triple H had challenged the Deadman to a match at the following Showcase of Immortals. The Undertaker accepted, and at Wrestlemania 27, the two fought in a no-disqualification match, where the Deadman escaped with a close win after forcing Triple H to submit. Refusing to admit defeat, the Game demanded a rematch, and at the subsequent Wrestlemania, the two squared up again. With some interference from Shawn Michaels, who had been named special guest referee, Triple H almost pulled out a win, before the Undertaker managed to overcome the odds and emerge victorious.

Even standing at 0-2, though, Triple H believes he still has unfinished business with the Undertaker, wanting to settle the score once and for all at Super Showdown. In what’s being

billed as their final confrontation, however, the Game isn’t coming empty-handed, as Shawn Michaels will be in his corner for support. the Undertaker isn’t coming unprepared either, bringing his storyline brother Kane in his corner to reunite another one of wrestling’s most powerful teams — the Brothers of Destruction. The potential comparisons and narratives are endless — the Boss versus the Reaper, D-Generation X versus The Brothers of Destruction, two legends vying to be the face of a bygone era — but it all boils down to one thing: two grizzled veterans duking it out one last time.

From two former stars to the current leaders of the business, we move on to the next major match on the card — The Shield against the trio of Dolph Ziggler, Braun Strowman and Drew McIntyre. On paper, The Shield, composed of Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose, seem to have a surefire win. Formed as a trio years ago, and currently featuring both a world champion (Reigns with the Universal title) and a singles champion (Rollins with the Intercontinental title), the group seems to have the edge both in terms of talent and chemistry. But digging a little deeper makes the outcome seem like far less of a forgone conclusion.

First, their opponents are far more dangerous than the statistics might indicate. Dolph Ziggler was the Intercontinental Champion before Rollins, actually beating him for the title this past June before losing it back to Rollins at SummerSlam in August. Ziggler is also a two-time world champion and eight-time singles champion, making him every bit as accomplished, if not more so, than any member of the Shield.

For Drew McIntyre, by contrast, his strength is the progress and growth he’s shown since his

return. When he first left WWE in 2014 to wrestle on the indie circuit, he was essentially a comedy act, used as little more than a jobber — a term used to describe a wrestler who consistently loses. Since his return though, McIntyre has gone a complete change in personality, destroying almost every opponent in his path with ruthless aggression, including both Rollins and Ambrose. In addition, the chemistry between Ziggler and McIntyre has been phenomenal, as the two not only captured the Raw Tag Team Championships, but defeated Rollins and Ambrose in a tag title match as well. If anything, their bond might be even stronger than the Shield’s.

Finally, and perhaps the most glaring threat to the Shield’s success, is Braun Strowman. If the Undertaker was WWE’s equivalent of the Reaper, Strowman is their version of Thanos — nothing, and no one, could prevent the aptly-named Monster Among Men from laying waste to everything in his path. From an ambulance crash to being thrown off the stage to getting crushed in a trash compactor, Strowman has survived it all, shrugging off any attack as a mere annoyance en route turning his opponents into human ragdolls. With the perfect combination of speed and brute strength, Strowman is almost like a human cheat code — able to withstand almost anything, and able to destroy almost everything. In his most recent match against Roman Reigns for the world title, it took former UFC fighter Brock Lesnar interfering to even force a no-contest. Now with even more incentive to destroy Reigns, as well as the other members of the Shield, Strowman might be unstoppable.

Meanwhile, for the Shield, the cracks are beginning to show in a once impenetrable surface.

Though the three men have re-

peated time and time again that they have been brothers since day one, the deep tensions between Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose can be traced back to Monday Night RAW on June 2nd, 2014.

It was that night that the Shield, fresh off destroying rival faction Evolution — comprised of Triple H, Randy Orton and Dave Batista — shattered for the first time. As Orton and Triple H, the remnants of Evolution, confronted the Shield, Rollins betrayed his brethren, attacking Reigns and Ambrose and joining Evolution to lead a new corporate faction known as the Authority.

After long feuds between all three men, fueled by their desires for the world championship, Ambrose and Rollins re-formed the Shield in August 2017. It wasn’t easy — even after three years, and with a common enemy in mind, neither man trusted the other, and it took multiple beatdowns for the two to finally join forces.

Reigns would join the two in October, creating what would be the first of two Shield reunions. Unfortunately, this reunion would be brief — Reigns would miss a month of action with an illness, while Ambrose would suffer a triceps injury in December, dooming the faction to be quietly written off by the end of the year.

The second, and current, incarnation of the Shield arose this past August, when Ambrose, returning from his injury, joined Rollins in ambushing Braun Strowman. The Monster Among Men had been attempting to defeat Reigns for his world title, but the Shield intervened, powerbombing Strowman through a table. Since then, the trio have ruled the roost — at least, until Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre stepped up to challenge them.

But even four years after Rollins’ initial betrayal, the tensions between the three men are still palpable. Right now, the pres-

sure and questions seem to all be mounting on one member in particular — Dean Ambrose. Out of all three, he’s passed up the most for the group — giving up months of his career, and even championship opportunities.

After being the first in the faction to hold a singles championship, Ambrose has been forced to look on as his brethren flaunt their titles in front of him. The Lunatic Fringe, as Ambrose is also named, has proven himself to be just as good, if not better, than his counterparts, as he defeated both Rollins and Reigns for the WWE Championship in 2016. Nevertheless, he has thus far remained humble, giving up personal gain for the unity of the Shield.

But for all his sacrifices, at least within the recent incarnations of the group, Ambrose has gotten almost no gratitude.

When he was sidelined with his tricep injury, Reigns simply went right back to vying for personal glory, challenging for the Intercontinental and Universal Championships. Rollins, Ambrose’s tag team partner when the injury occured, straight-up replaced Ambrose, first with Jason Jordan, then with Finn Balor, making it seem like Ambrose was little more than an interchangeable piece. For all the sacrifices he’s made, and the absolute lack of recognition from his supposed “brothers,” The Lunatic Fringe might just be through with ‘seeing the greater good.’

These stories, amongst countless others, will reach their climax at this Saturday’s event, when the competitors step into the ring to lay it all on the line. If you want to see how everything goes down (or if you just want to procrastinate on your assignments), just turn on the WWE Network this Saturday, kick back, and enjoy!

Exploring Club Sports at Swarthmore: Fencing and Ultimate Jacob Brady Sports Writer

Note: This author is a member of the men’s ultimate frisbee team In recent years, Swarthmore varsity athletics teams have begun to attract attention on the national stage. But one aspect of the Swarthmore athletics department that often gets overlooked is the important role that club sports play in the lives of hundreds of Swarthmore students. The club sports program at Swarthmore has grown in both size and prominence over the past few years under the supervision of Max Miller, the Assistant Director of Athletics for Recreation and Wellness. It now includes six teams: men’s ultimate frisbee, women’s ultimate frisbee, men’s rugby, women’s rugby, men’s badminton, and coed fencing. Soccer also operates as a de facto club sport, although it is officially a student activity group.

Many club sports athletes are former high school athletes who perhaps were not able to, or didn’t want to, compete at the varsity level at Swarthmore. Many are former varsity athletes who simply weren’t able to maintain both their varsity athletics and academic commitments. Many love being able to represent their school and love to be able to compete. And in many cases, such as fencing, people’s desired sport simply doesn’t exist at the varsity level.

“Being a club sports athlete at Swarthmore is really great because the experience is what you make of it. Because [fencing] is a competitive team, we have the benefit of getting to face other schools, but at the same time get to still have flexibility in both attending and organizing practices,” said Sajal Akkipeddi ’20, one of the captains of the fencing team.

Fencing has had a good year recruiting new talent so far this year.

“We have a crop of about 15 freshmen, and are in the middle of getting them up to speed with basics to get them ready for the first tournament at the end of October. We have grown from a club with barely half-full squads to

full squads and change this year, which is pretty awesome,” said Akkipeddi.

Many club sport athletes do choose to dedicate a significant portion of their time to their sport. On most days of the week, you can expect to see disks flying over either Cunningham or Mertz Field. These are the telltale signs of ultimate frisbee practice, that of either the “Earthworms” men’s team or the “Warmothers” women’s team. Both names are anagrams of Swarthmore and perhaps speak to the slightly quirky nature of both teams. And if you happen to be walking around campus after midnight on a Thursday, you might want to keep your eyes peeled. Both teams play a variant of golf known as “frolf” (frisbeegolf) in the early Friday hours with “holes” located at various points around campus. But at its core, frisbee is filled with dozens of dedicated athletes who commit up to five days a week to practice, and often more to voluntary lifting. Unlike in varsity sports, there aren’t punishments for being late or missing practices (except for running sprints). Participation in all activities is completely voluntary. But people show up everyday because they are committed both to their teammates and to the sport they love.

Chief amongst them are captains Max Franklin, Sam Gardner, and Rye Buckley. On any given day, one can expect to see the captains in the gym for a morning lift, before heading out into the fields for afternoon practice. They combined to help lead the Garnet to a 3-3 finish at their first tournament of the year two weekends ago. “[This] is the best we’ve done at that tournament in my time here, with wins over Rowan, Stevens Tech, and Shippensburg,” said Franklin.

The fall season for ultimate is generally a tune-up of sorts with the primary focus being that all players get touches and are able to play at a high level come the competitive spring season. As with any college athletics program, roster turnover and loss of seniors can

Courtesy of Without Limits Ultimate

present a major issue, but Franklin doesn’t foresee that being a huge factor this year.

“It’s always hard to lose seniors, but with all our new players, it definitely hasn’t been crushing to the team. By and large, our freshmen are coming in with at least some previous experience, so they’ve been learning very quickly,” said Franklin.

The women’s ultimate frisbee team had an even more impressive result as their first tournament of the year, as the Warmothers were

crowned champions at the “Jersey Devil” tournament. They also competed this past weekend in Virginia.

“It was a real confidence boost when we actually won the [Jersey Devil] tournament, which I think fed into the team spirit this past weekend, when we went to a tournament eight hours away in southern Virginia. It was a great opportunity to see how much our new players are already improving, which is really exciting,” said Gillie Tillson, one of the Warmothers’

captains.

Both teams have aspirations to compete for a spot in nationals, which takes the top sixteen teams across the nation. Last year, the men’s team finished eighth at the Ohio Valley regional tournament, which is one step below nationals, while the women finished fifth in their regional tournament.

With regards to other teams that have gotten off to fast starts to their seasons, women’s rugby played against Neumann this past Saturday and won all three of their

matches. An article highlighting rugby’s endeavors this fall will be forthcoming.

While Swarthmore club sports don’t always receive the same attention and glory that other teams do, they are filled with athletes who love to compete, love to work hard, and love to represent their school out on the field. For all, club sports represent an opportunity to enrich their time here at Swarthmore and to find a team and a community.

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THE PHOENIX SPORTS

October 4, 2018

Life as an International Student-Athlete Joseph Barile News Writer

S

warthmore boasts a diverse student body, full of students with all sorts of talents, interests, and backgrounds. Although only 1640 undergraduates are enrolled at Swarthmore, 53 countries are represented at the college. Along with the distinct student population of Swarthmore comes a multitude of 22 diverse varsity athletic teams, 10 of which have an international student on the roster. Life as both an international student and athlete at Swarthmore is unique. Despite being few and far between, the international student-athletes at Swarthmore have stories as interesting as any here on campus.

Photos by Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

Ankur Malik

Christine Ayoh

Ankur Malik ‘21 is a sophomore golfer who says that the answer to the question “Where is home?” is a bit complicated. “Although both my parents are Indian, I was born in London and have never lived in India,” says Malik. “Having grown up mostly in Singapore, I would call that home, especially since my parents are planning to stay there. I get to go back every six months during breaks.”

Malik is an example of someone who discovered Swarthmore through sports. Malik, who wanted to play competitive collegiate golf, spent every summer in his high school years playing tournaments in the U.S., given that many coaches do not know about the level of play abroad. International prospective athletes are not afforded the same luxuries as domestic prospective athletes. At a small school like Swarthmore, coaches have limited recruiting resources.

Sometimes coaches will travel to tournaments in California to see players, but mostly, it’s the athletes who pursue contact with coaches. As an international student, this usually means visiting the United States to attend showcases in the area of their desired college. For Malik, a long flight from Singapore to the United States was required to just put himself out there. Then, there was the matter of choosing what tournaments to attend.

“My parents and I didn’t really know which tournaments to play and how to structure my summer schedules, [so] we used a college golf advisor to help us,” Malik says. “That was how I found out about Swarthmore.”

Swarthmore golf has meant a lot to Malik in the one year he’s been at the college. “When I first arrived at campus my freshman year, I already had a great group of guys to hang out with and get advice from,” reflects Malik. “Those friendships have only grown since then.” Without the golf team, Malik feels as if he would have “too much free time,” if that’s possible at a school like Swarthmore.

Christine Ayoh ‘21 is a thrower for the women’s track and field team at Swarthmore. For Ayoh, home is Lagos, Nigeria, where she gets to return every Christmas and summer. Ayoh first learned about Swarthmore through family. “My dad went to Wharton, so he’s very familiar with the area,” says Ayoh. “He always talked about Swarthmore, and when the application process rolled around, I did more research and decided to apply.”

Ayoh went to a boarding school in New Jersey, where she first tried throwing shot put in order to meet an athletic requirement set by the school. “I wanted to try a sport I’ve never done before and the options were track and field, softball, and lacrosse,” remembers Ayoh. “I’d played softball before and lacrosse confuses me, so sophomore spring I decided to join track and field.”

In Nigeria, Ayoh played everything from soccer to softball. For her, the main difference between athletics in the states and in Nigeria is the level of dedication and structure of practice.

“At home, there wasn’t really a lot of structure,” Ayoh said. “We would just play the sport until time is up and not focus on improving certain skills.”

At Swarthmore, Ayoh believes that practices are catered to the individual and do really well at helping everyone be the best they can be.

However, there are some challenges with being an international student athlete. “I guess people back home don’t understand my sport,” Ayoh said. “And my parents can never come to a meet.”

However, being a thrower has enhanced Ayoh’s Swarthmore experience. “All my memories are good ones so far, but my favorite has to be at the concert last Saturday when all the throwers wore matching fake ‘Supreme’ shirts,” says Ayoh. “I like everyone on the team and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have met them without throwing.” She pauses. “I also like having something to do other than class on this campus.”

Harry Nevins ‘22 is a first-year men’s soccer player who has helped the Garnet win six of their first ten games. When Nevins has been healthy, he has started every game, anchoring a Swarthmore defense that has contained offenses from Muhlenberg and #11 Franklin and Marshall. While Nevins was familiar with the United States before attending Swarthmore, home for him is London, England.

“Although I was born in New York, I have lived a majority of my life abroad in London,” says Nevins.

“I often visit family back in the U.S. and travel back to our family home in New York a couple times a year for vacation.” Nevins’ family moved to London for work –– it was there he attended the American School of London.

When asked about how he knew of Swarthmore, Nevins pointed to its academic reputation. “I knew that Swarthmore was one of the best colleges in the U.S. and what I was in the recruiting process, I jumped at the opportunity to attend the [recruiting] camp,” remembers Nevins. “This was one of the first schools I looked when I started the process but I fell in love with the campus right away.”

As with many college athletes, Nevins started playing sports at a very young age. In fact, at age 15, Nevins was in the academy system of Southampton FC, an English Premier League Club. At Swarthmore, Nevins may not experience the quality of soccer of an English academy. Overseas, youth academy players, like the ones at Southampton, all have aspirations of signing professional contracts and eventually making the first team.

Quality of play is not the only difference between American and English soccer.

“Living in England, soccer was the only sport played,” says Nevins. “It’s a way of life and I grew up playing the beautiful game from grassroots.”

Soccer is certainly not the only prevalent sport at Swarthmore. It also could not be accurately described as a “lifestyle”, but Nevins says a few months at Swarthmore has taught him many things: “Playing soccer at Swarthmore teaches me how to balance.

It’s an incredible opportunity to be a student athlete here and I’m very thankful. I’m learning to be more organized … [to] interact with a variety of people, and make relationships with professors and students.”

Field Hockey Continues Centennial Play Elizabeth Curcio Sports Writer

Fall athletes have a little less than a month left in regular season play. Having returned to Swarthmore in the middle of August, these athletes have put plenty of time and hard work into their respective sports. Swarthmore’s field hockey team is full of these fall athletes who hope to improve upon their record from last season. The field hockey team started off the season strong, winning their home opener against Widener and began conference play

with a 3-2 record. They proceeded to drop their first two conference games to Dickinson and Ursinus but went on to beat McDaniel 3-2 in an intense game that went into overtime. Their most recent conference game was against Franklin and Marshall and resulted in a 2-0 loss for Swat.

While their current record is very similar to their record at this time last year, the team’s statistics have improved. Last year, they averaged 1.53 goals per game,but this year the figure has risen to 1.7.

While they have seven games left to play before their regular season

ends, these statistical improvements indicate they may be able to extend their season a bit longer, with a playoff appearance possible .

Senior Riya Garg ’19 shared insight into how the field hockey program has changed from her freshman year to her senior year: “Over the last three years, our program has gotten better at adapting to our opponents. We try to not only know the game, but to also know the other teams and their tendencies.”

Garg and the other three seniors on the field hockey team have not

Kenji Yoshii

Harry Nevins

only seen the program change and adapt over the course of their four years, but they have also been major contributors to the improvements in the program. The team has also improved under the guidance of second year coach Hannah Allison. When the seniors were first-years, the team went 0-9 in conference and 4-13 overall. With seven games remaining, the team boasts a higher win total this year than in their entire 2015 season.

Garg shared her team’s goal for the season: “Our current team goal is to place higher in our conference than we achieved last year.

Kenji Yoshii ‘20 is a baseball player from Tokyo, Japan, who feels lucky to be able to go home every summer and winter. Yoshii is another person who heard about Swarthmore through his parents. “All I knew was that it was a small liberal arts school with an amazing education, but actually coming here showed me it was a whole lot more than just that,” says Yoshii.

Yoshii began playing baseball at age three, casually playing catch with his parents. However, as soon as he saw MLB games playing on his TV, Yoshii’s fascination really took off. “I’ve loved the game ever since,” says Yoshii.

Getting recruited to Swarthmore was difficult for Yoshii. “Although I had the chance to be in the U.S. for a summer to play in tournaments and showcases, it was a lot hard try to meet coaches and getting them interested in seeing me play,” said Yoshii. “Especially since I only had a couple of chances to play in front of them.

When a coach would be interested me and wanted to see me play again, I couldn’t just hop on a plane for a showcase.”

Baseball at Swarthmore has been valuable to Yoshii. The overall transition was smoother than he expected. “I haven’t had any difficulties being an international student athlete at Swarthmore,” said Yoshii. “Of course, I had trouble adjusting to the culture and whatnot, but my teammates have been supportive and accepting of me, something I was extremely worried about before coming to campus.” Additionally, according to Yoshii, baseball is a lot more laid back in the U.S. “We have a lot more freedom playing the game,” said Yoshii. “In Japan, practices are a lot longer, and coaches put a lot more emphasis on discipline. The freedom we are given here allows us to have so much more fun playing the game.”

Yoshii’s favorite memory at Swarthmore, by a long shot, is winning the Centennial Conference championship at home last spring. He states, “Not only coming from behind and winning that game, but to be able to do it in front of hundreds of our fans was absolutely incredible.”

We have some of our tougher games behind us, so the rest of this season will be very telling for our placement.”

Field hockey’s seniors are not the only grade contributing to the team’s current .500 record — one of their freshmen, Marion Carr, recently scored three goals in a game against Neumann, recording field hockey’s first hat trick of the season. She also leads the team in goals this season with five.

When asked about her adjustment to collegiate level field hockey Carr responded: “The college game is faster, more physical, and

comes with higher expectations so it’s definitely been a challenging adjustment. Having teammates who are helpful, supportive, and encouraging has really helped with the transition.”

Swarthmore’s field hockey team has built a stronger and better program thanks to the hard work of their dedicated athletes. With only seven games left in the 2018 season, the team looks to improve their record and finish the season strong with each game they play.

Their next home game, at Clothier Field, is October 13th against Johns Hopkins at 12 p.m.

Athlete of the Week: Ethan Witowski Jack Corkery Sports Editor

This past week, the Swarthmore men’s soccer team battled out two big Centennial Conference matches. On Sept. 26, they pummeled Ursinus 5-1 for their largest winning margin of the season.

They followed up this big performance with a 2-2 draw against defending conference champions Franklin and Marshall on Sept. 29.

The Garnet received numerous key performances, with the scoring distributed among seven different players across the two contests. One of the top performers across this past week was Ethan Witkowski ’20. Witkowski, a junior from LeRoy, NY, scored a goal in the contest against Ursinus and added an assist in the game against Franklin and Marshall. The Garnet currently sit fourth in the Centennial Conference rankings and look to improve on their four-game undefeated streak with a big away game against rival Johns Hopkins this Saturday.

Jack Corkery: What is your major, and how did you choose it?

Ethan Witkowski: I chose to major in economics because it includes a wide range of technical and social areas of study.

JC: What led you to choose to attend Swarthmore?

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

EW: I transferred to Swarthmore from the University at Buffalo following the discontinuation of many athletics programs at the university, including men’s soccer. I chose to attend Swat because of the support I received from everyone I interacted with in the application process, especially my teammates and the coaching staff.

JC: What is your favorite Swat Soccer memory?

EW: My favorite memory so far is the team’s celebration after Ben Lau’s game-winning goal against Muhlenberg for our first conference win of the season.

JC: What is your favorite class at Swarthmore?

EW: My favorite course at Swarthmore is Economic Development with Professor O’Connell.

JC: If you could, what would be the one thing you would change about Swarthmore?

EW: I really wouldn’t want to change anything; I am very grateful to be able to attend this school. I want to give thanks to the athletic training staff and the Career Services Office for all of their help in the short amount of time I’ve been here.

JC: Do you have any post-graduation plans?

EW: Yes, I am working towards a career in consulting.

JC: Do you have any personal or team goals for the remainder of the season?

EW: Our goals are to compete in conference playoffs and earn a NCAA Tournament bid.