Swarthmore Phoenix, November 15, 2018

Today in OPINIONS: Hannah Watkins and Daria Mateescu on sex positivity A5, Giorgia Piantanida on misery poker A5, Robert Zigmund on midterm elections A5

PHOENIX

THE

Athlete of the week Meet Lizzie King of Women’s soccer

VOL. 146, NO. 9

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Visions of London Photo Essay

November 15, 2018

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The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881

HiveBike Generates Buzz by Bringing Bike Sharing to Swarthmore Tiara Tillis News Writer

M

ost Swatties are no stranger to the Willets hill, missing the shuttle, or living off campus.

With each of these experiences comes an intense walk — unless you have a pair of wheels on your side. For those who do not, Swarthmore’s new startup, Hivebike, wants to tackle these everyday issues through dockless bike sharing.

In the spring of 2012 and

The week ahead

2013, Swarthmore implemented a bike share program through McCabe that allowed students to rent out bikes, but ran into problems with management of the bikes and maintenance. Since then, there has been silence around bike sharing programs on campus — until a group of engineers created Hivebike, a dockless bike sharing program that uses geofencing — the use of GPS to define a geographic boundary — and QR code technology on existing bikes around campus to track

and provide a new biking experience for the Swarthmore community.

The Hivebike team consists of the creator, Hunter Lee ’19, an engineering major and computer science and statistics minor, and his team, David Chang ‘20, Letitia Ho ‘19, Temba Mateke ‘21, and Nathan Moreno-Mendelson ‘20. They used their combined knowledge of people’s travel experiences across campus, the many abandoned bikes all over Swarthmore, and Lee’s summer in China to cre-

ate Hivebike which they hope to have running trials of in Spring 2019.

While in China during Summer 2016, Lee experienced and used a wide variety of technologies from QR encoded credit card systems and vending machines to dockless bikes, the source of Hivebike’s creation.

Dockless bike sharing is a craze that has taken over China and, slowly but surely, has popped up all over cities in the United States. As Lee experienced the ease of dockless biking in Chi-

na, he thought to himself, why not bring that experience to Swarthmore?

“I was just going there for fun, but what I came back with was my mind blown by certain technologies in terms of how much it changed how people live. One thing was the bike. Everywhere you go in China, you see people riding these orange and yellow bikes that have the dockless biking technology. No one thought they would work at continued on page A2

PsiPhi Organizes Annual Pterodactyl Hunt

Thursday Sharples Harvest Dinner 4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

It’s the best meal you’ll eat in Sharples all year. Features local foods.

Sharples Dining Hall Friday SGO Diversity Committee Town Hall 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

The SGO Committee for Diversity and Inclusion is holding a community town hall for students hoping to voice concerns and ideas with respect to diversity and inclusion at the College.

Kohlberg 228 Saturday Wind Ensemble Concert 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

The Swarthmore College Wind Ensemble, directed by Andrew Hauze, presents their fall program. They will be performing pieces inspired by folk songs around the world, including works by Percy Grainger, Chen Yi, Frank Ticheli, and Darius Milhaud.

Lang Music Concert Hall Sunday SBC Weekly Meeting 5:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m SBC Committee weekly meeting to discuss budget-related matters and consider supplemental funding requests for the week.

Sharples Room 209 Monday Lang Center Low Income/First Gen Summer Funding Information and Panel 4:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Scheuer Room Tuesday Transgender Day Of Remembrance Candle Light Vigil 9:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Occurring annually, Transgender Day of Remembrance is a day to memorialize those who have lost their lives as a result of the hatred or fear of transgender and gender nonconforming people and brings attention to the continued violence endured by the transgender community.

Parrish Porch WEATHER Thankful that we don’t have to think of a witty weather forecast next week!

CONTENTS Campus news A1-A2 Arts news A3-A4 Opinions A5-A6 Campus Journal A7-A8 Sports A9-A10 Read more at swarthmorephoenix.com

Photos Courtesy of Nara En / The Phoenix

PsiPhi held their annual Pteradactyl Hunt on November 10th, which was rescheduled after inclement weather on October 27th.

New Global Studies Minor to be Offered in Fall 2019 Joshua Forde News Writer In spring 2019, Swarthmore will offer a new interdisciplinary Global Studies minor. Associate Professor of Political Science Ayse Kaya and Associate Professor of French Carina Yervasi, in collaboration with other faculty members, spearheaded the movement to make this minor a reality at the college. The minor hopes to start admitting students to its new intro class that will be offered next year.

“Global Studies is about the ways in which we consider the global,” Professor Carina Yervasi said. “An important point that we made when we put together this proposal was that Global Studies focuses not just on globalization, but global processes. When we put it together, we were thinking about the idea of global processes, global systems, global phenomena, the relationship between local and global.”

In the future Global Studies program, students will be able to take an intro class to Global Studies, which will give them the broad sense of how global processes and systems impact the world as well as the local culture. The student can then focus in on a specific culture in their sophomore plan, which outlines a set of courses that they will study in their next three years. The student proposes core courses that they will take, as well a language to fulfill the requirement of the minor. This pairing, called a Pathway, differs from a concentration in that the student will develop a question to explore through different courses. In their senior year, the student will then write a reflection on the discoveries made in the program that presents what continued on page A2

Russian Literature Professor Emily Frey Wins Big on Jeopardy!

Veronica Yabloko News Writer Last week, yet another member of the Swarthmore Community graced the “Jeopardy!” stage. Earlier this month, Professor Emily Frey, visiting assistant professor of Russian literature, won four rounds of “Jeopardy!,” earning herself $64,503. Professor Frey’s first competition aired on October 30 and her last on November 2, though, in fact, all four shows had been filmed on August 22nd in Sony Pictures Studios.

This comes after Rebecca Rosenthal, class of 2020, participated in “Jeopardy!” last April in the College Championship, making it all the way to the semi-finals. “[The] main thing I did was just watch a lot of episodes of ‘Jeopardy!,’” explained Frey. “That was partly because I have a little baby, and she was not yet four months old when I got the call. So I thought, ‘What could I do to prepare for “Jeopardy!” while I have this baby?’”

Frey also watched documentaries in preparation for the competition, memorizing every world capital. But recalling facts is not enough to win at “Jeopardy!,” Frey warned. Being good at trivia in a familiar setting versus in front of an audience can make all the difference.

“A lot of it has to do with speed, I think. The buzzer is a huge part of it and I knew that, but I didn’t know how true that was going to be,” said Professor Frey. “80 percent of the clues are buzzer races.

Another thing that really matters is fatigue,” Frey added. “It’s because they film five episodes in

one day.”

Frey, however, was not fazed by the audience. Her experience as a teacher, she said, accustomed her to performing in front of large groups and answering questions on the fly. In fact, Frey heard from Alex Trebek that teachers and lawyers always do the best on the show. Frey specified that her experience with languages helped her too. Knowing the root of words and how they relate to each other, she explained, helped in many of the categories.

According to Frey, having a liberal arts education — she attended Amherst College as an undergrad — also helped her excel in “Jeopardy!” “It’s a show that really rewards liberal arts knowledge, I think. There aren’t many categories that come up on things like science, and when they do, they tend to be things I remember from taking two courses in chemistry when I was an undergrad. It does tend to be things like knowledge of history and languages.”

Professor Frey was also taken aback by the charisma of the other contestants. From her first meeting with the other contestants, she was pleasantly surprised by their energy and optimism. Alex Trebek, too, was exceedingly charismatic and welcoming, even approaching Professor Frey for some tips on Russian pronunciation.

“He was just a really charming storyteller,” Professor Frey mused.

“My husband [Assistant Professor of Math Noah Giansiracusa] was in the audience and he said ‘I would just love to have a dinner party and have Alex Trebek there.’

He’s just that kind of guy.”

“He loves to talk to the audience and answer questions from

the audience, and one thing that happened in almost every game is there would be someone standing in the audience saying ‘you are the national pride of Canada!’

And he’d have to say something different every time, he just gets told that so often!”

At the same time as Frey was preparing and competing on “Jeopardy!” she was also becoming a mother. Frey found out she was pregnant the same day she auditioned for the show, and when Frey competed on the show, her daughter was only five months old.

“It was such funny timing, I auditioned for “Jeopardy!” in New York, and I thought I was so nervous — my stomach was just in knots; but then it didn’t go away after the audition, and I found out I was pregnant with my daughter on the day of my “Jeopardy!” audi-

tion. And then I got the call when she was three months old, so the timing was all so related between “Jeopardy!” and my daughter, so I think it will be really cool to show her that later.”

Being a new mom competing on “Jeopardy!” certainly had its challenges, though. Frey feared that she might not be able to compete in the show, having just had her daughter a few months prior.

“When I got the call, my husband and I thought, can we actually do this? There’s a stereotype of moms having ‘mom brain’ and being so forgetful and not being able to do anything and I just thought, ‘Alright, if Serena Williams can do this, I can do it too!’

It was sort of my first step in feeling like a person again,” she said.

Frey was met with overwhelming support from students, former students, and even former teach-

ers. Her friends on Facebook who were also moms showed her a great amount of support.

“On Facebook, that’s been the main response that I’ve gotten from my friends who are moms: moms can do anything! Way to show them that we are more than just one thing.”

More than anything, though, Frey felt lucky, not only to have gotten as far as she did, but also just to have been on the show. Frey won three games in a row, losing narrowly in her fourth game.

“It’s just so much fun. It feels like skydiving. Every time, I felt like the earth had dropped out from under me. It’s just so unlike anything else you ever do in your life. I can see how it would be kind of addicting.”

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THE PHOENIX NEWS

November 15, 2018

Hivebike, continued from A1 first, but they did. I came back and thought that maybe I could try something at Swarthmore,” Lee said.

Hivebike received unanimous approval for funding of $3090 from the SGO executive board on October 28, 2018. SGO was enthusiastic to be a part of a program that they felt was well thought out and demonstrated

student needs.

“We were enthusiastic to fund the program because it’s among the most thought-out programs ever brought to SGO, with a fully-functioning prototype, and it has the potential to be a big [quality of life] improvement for students on campus,” SGO President Gilbert Orbea ’19 wrote. “SGO has the

funds, the people power, and the enthusiasm to give life to this project and we’re thrilled that Hivebike wants even greater collaboration ... this bikeshare program serves demonstrable student need. There’s no reason you can’t fund it and every other great idea that’s out there, which is exactly what SGO has been doing.”

With the dockless bike sharing program, Lee wants to implement technology similar to what he used in China, which allows the bike users to unlock, lock, and park the bikes wherever they would like.

“Instead of having to leave it at a dock, imagine being able to unlock it on the bike itself.

There would be a lock going

Emma Ricci-De Lucca / The Phoenix

through the wheel that is like a circular lock. Add some GPS, cellular, and Bluetooth technology, and you have a very smart lock that you can lock and unlock anywhere you please using your phone, but we want to go beyond that,” said Lee. Rather than buy new bikes to apply this technology to, Lee wanted to utilize the many abandoned bikes found around Swarthmore’s campus.

“More than 90 percent of the time, bikes remain idle on campus and at the same time, there are too many bikes. For many reasons, students leave their bikes behind. There are at least 60 bikes in Pittenger’s basement and ML has bikes that have been there for years.

It’s a problem that facilities, residential communities, and PubSafe want to address, so we are trying to solve the problem comprehensively, so instead of buying new bikes, we figured, ‘Why not use the ones just lying around?’,” Lee said.

The Hivebike team has worked for over a year to produce a fully functioning prototype which includes the actual bike and a free app that is used to unlock, lock, and track the bikes, called Taiga.

According to Lee, Hivebike will be controlled and accessed through Taiga. The app will be geofenced and every bike will have a QR code that you have to scan to unlock and lock the bikes. It is going to be connected to your Swarthmore email, so you need the swarthmore. edu address to use it. If you unlock a bike, it will be in “ride” mode, so they will know when and where everyone is using a bike. The system will not allow you to check out another bike until the previous one is locked and returned to the geofenced boundary of the campus.

The app, along with the actual use of the bikes, will be a

free service for the Swarthmore community; however, students will be held accountable for abuse of the service.

“It will be free, thanks to sponsors at Swarthmore. But we will keep accountable those who abuse our services, including stealing or intentionally mistreating the bikes and parking outside the geofence,” said the Hivebike team.

While dockless bike sharing has increased in popularity in U.S. cities and even been implemented at college campuses such as Vanderbilt and UIUC, there have been instances of mistreatment, vandalism, and theft that have caused concern and failure with many companies and communities.

Hivebike has acknowledged the possibility of such dangers, as previously stated in the SGO email, but believe they can successfully implement their program into the Swarthmore community. As of now, the Hivebike is in what Lee called the “trial” phase, but the Hivebike team is still making efforts towards bettering the program for the future.

“We want to see if students appreciate the idea, and we really want students to get more involved in the service by renting out their bikes and being a part of the operations,” Lee said. “We hope to have 10 bikes ready by the time students get back next semester. It is going to be a lot of trial and error, but I’m looking forward to working with the community, so that we can get their guidance and create a program that benefits all of us.”

In just a few months, Lee and his team’s creation will be available for the Swarthmore community to try. The Hivebike team is hopeful that the bike sharing program will extend beyond next semester.

Global studies, continued from A1 their Pathway is and what they learned from reflecting on their initial sophomore plan, as well as their successes and failures.

“This all started when Ayse Kaya … came to see me to say that there are a lot of students who are interested in doing Global Studies,” Yervasi said.

Previously, students at Swarthmore could take Global Studies-related courses from existing departments at Swarthmore. Examples of such are internationally-focused political science courses or specific literature or arts courses such as “European Cinema” or “Asian Art.” Students could even create a special major in Global Studies, if they chose.

However, there existed no organized program to pursue an education in Global Studies until now. In the future minor, students will be able to pair these courses together to further explore the question proposed in their sophomore plan.

“In the future, I really hope

that the program will be able to offer different regional and topical areas of study for different people to dive into. I think that’s something that a lot of other Global Studies programs

offer and it’s really interesting and useful because Global Studies is such a broad category that is necessary to narrow down and study what they want to study and do it with specific-

Crossword by Ziv Stern Across:

1 - Move out 7 - Med. insurance groups 11 - Hosts of SwatTank: Abbr.

14 - Asylum seeker 15 - The Emerald Isle 16 - Suffix with meth- or eth17 - Country founded beneath LPAC? 19 - Doc to protect company secrets 20 - White supremacist’s imaginary “race” 21 - Eggy prefix 22 - Where the rain stays mainly in the plain, in a song 24 - Musician Cat now known as Yusuf Islam 27 - 2012 Best Picture Winner 28 - San Fran Train 29 - Gorge donated for the Crum Creek?

33 - Boxer Muhammad 34 - Takes a load off 35 - Charlemagne’s domain, for short 36 - X-Men villain 38 - Stank 42 - French friend 43 - Jorge ____ Borges 44 - Magnetite or cinnabar, e.g.

45 - Isle given to Ware Pool?

49 - Turing who cracked the Enigma 50 - The Queen of the Night sings a notable one 51 - Sleeveless shirt 53 - Makes money 55 - Rd. 56 - Mandel of “America’s Got Talent” 60 - SO 61 - Donor of the potential additions to Swarthmore campus in 17-, 29-, and 45-Across 64 - Tolkien’s Treebeard, for one 65 - ____ after 66 - Spotted cat 67 - Time piece?

68 - “Drat!”

69 - Grassy hills

Down:

Down: 1 - ___ cava (path to the heart) 2 - Neighbor of Mex. 3 - Metropolis 4 - Agog 5 - Reznor of Nine Inch Nails 6 - 65-Across, poetically 7 - “Good _____!”

8 - Industry that might use 11- and 43-Down 9 - URL ending 10 - Meeting: Abbr.

11 - Bird found underground, maybe 12 - Stripe of Roy G. Biv 13 - Get support from 18 - Disney channel star with half a first name?

23 - Comic strip segment 25 - Like an ivy-leaguer, stereotypically 26 - Unbreakable Kimmy of TV 28 - [POW!] 29 - In the style of 30 - Load, as dice 32 - Greek name of Mars 34 - 18-wheeler 37 - Pester 38 - Filled with red pegs in Battleship, say 39 - Some think it means “Lots of love” 40 - Epoch 41 - Home for cubs, or Cub Scouts 43 - Light found underground, maybe 49 - Greek & Roman god without a namesake planet 52 - “Drat!”

54 - Kernel 57 - Ululate 58 - Part of the pkg.

59 - Swelled heads 62 - N.C.A.A.’s Cavaliers 63 - Theologian who opposed Luther

ity,” said Arunima Shiney-Ajay ’20.

Student interest in Global Studies motivated Kaya to create a program and brought the idea to Yervasi.

Photos courtesy of Karin Nakano

ARTS

November 15, 2018 PAGE A3

Visions of London Max Gruber Arts Writer

I

f we decide that, at its core, photography is most fundamentally concerned with capturing light, then a trip to London, that city of perennial grayness, presents a unique challenge. In my experience, the effect of London on the photographic eye is twofold. Firstly, by routinely operating under flat lighting conditions, the eye is drawn to beautiful or compelling natural light wherever it can be found. Secondly, the pervasive and frequent absence of this light forces the eye to investigate form. Fortunately, London’s forms are varied and fascinating. Much of my formal interest in London lies in its architecture. The juxtaposition of the city’s new construction against its rich architectural heritage prompted a sense of discovery and of place unprecedented in my previous travels.

“A quiet underpass near Southwark station” “An apartment complex in Southwark, near the Tate Modern”

“An evening view of Peckham from a rooftop” One of the greatest assets of my camera was to undermine any inclinations I might have had towards a structured or planned sequence of viewing. The camera clashed directly with the efficient route, producing a navigational algorithm all its own, one which substituted traffic information and mass transit stops for serendipitous encounters. These photographs, then, are not the result of a meticulous scavenger hunt meant to give a complete vision of the city. Instead, they are a collection of those examples of light and form which captured my attention as I walked Regent’s Canal, clambered to the roof of a Peckham warehouse, and circuitously wound my way to the Tate Modern.

“A repurposed warehouse in Peckham”

“An apartment complex overlooking Regent’s canal in Camden”

Something which might seem notably absent in these images of the British metropolis are its inhabitants. In many respects my trip to London was a highly interactive, highly human experience. However, I find the images of my time there to be a quieter, more personal dialogue between myself and the space. In between doses of the mythologized “life abroad” I ended up producing images that appear to my eye closer to home. Maybe unfamiliar circumstances compelled me to seek familiar results. Or, maybe, I was looking to take something — a bit quieter, more intimate — with me.

“An evening view of a street near Regent’s Park”

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THE PHOENIX ARTS

November 15, 2018

Love Letters: A Play About the Intimacy of Separation Larkin White Arts Writer Content Warning: Alcoholism, hospitalization, sex, suicide/death, mentions of sexual assault “I don’t think there are many people in the world who have had the benefit of such a friendship with such a person.” This weekend in Olde Club, Cassandra Stone ’20 and Shail Modi ’21 will take the stage as they perform the touchingly intimate two-person play “Love Letters,” the story of the lifelong correspondence between two childhood friends.

“Love Letters” (by A.R. Gurney) begins with a birthday party thank-you note and continues throughout the messy and divergent lives of Melissa (Stone) and Andy (Modi), culminating in their mid-60s. The play unfolds exclusively through letters recited by the two actors, yet Stone and Modi still manage to use the tiny stage to the fullest. The two never touch and rarely look at each other, the play emphasizing both the physical separation throughout their lives and the love and support that keeps them coming back despite the separation.

Neither of the two leads has much prior acting experience at Swarthmore, nor have the two crossed paths before “Love Letters,” but the production staff de-

scribed their audition together as “electrifying.” The play is directed by sophomore Josie Ross, a prospective theater major who has been involved in theater since high school, both acting and directing.

I interviewed her about the play and her experience directing.

“Technically,” Ross explained to me, “the playwright calls it an event rather than a production.” Traditionally, the staging of “Love Letters” has consisted of two actors sitting at a table going through their letters in a binder and reading them out loud, but Ross and the production staff have worked hard to inject the spirit of theater and performance into the play.

Ross emphasized the collaboration required to make the play possible. For every scene and every beat (the smallest divisions of action and dialogue within a scene), she would come up with as many different interpretations and ways of performing as possible, then work with the crew to see what they could do. The two roles have historically been played by two white actors, but since the two Swatties in this weekend’s production are people of color, they looked at the story from a more contemporary lens than the white, upper-middle class narrative that has traditionally been established.

The performance will take place in Olde Club to cater to the

Thank U, NEXT! Dylan Clairmont CJ Editor

In a drunken haze, I heard God. God was a women indeed. And Her name was Ari. It was Saturday, November 3, 2018, the same day that Pride Month was holding their RegGAY-ton party. Reg-GAY-ton, at least for some, was a night to end all nights. There was hype surrounding the party in a way that many Swarthmore parties don’t often get — or deserve, for that matter. The party was meant to be hot, sensual, and, above all else, it was supposed to have good music.

Just when Swarthmore students were somewhat buzzed but still present enough to appreciate her artistry, Ariana Grande’s surprise release “thank u, next” started to play. Grande starts the song with some lines that pay homage to some of her infamous exes, with the lyrics: “Though I’d end up with Sean But he wasn’t a match Wrote some songs about Ricky Now I listen and laugh Even almost got married And for Pete, I’m so thankful Wish I could say, ‘Thank you’ to Malcolm ’Cause he was an angel”

But don’t be mistaken. While Grande gives a shout out to her exes in “thank u, next,” the song is clearly written to her, for her. This is seen most clearly in the lines: “Plus, I met someone else We havin’ better discussions I know they say I move on too fast But this one gon’ last ’Cause her name is Ari And I’m so good with that” Yes, Ari! The self-love aspect of the song has really resonated with people.

This, with the anthemic chorus repeating “thank u, next (next!),” has people rallying behind Grande and relating to her in a way that is hard to come by with pop stars.

Beyond all that, however, the coincidence of the timing is too beautiful for me to not suspect that she tailored this for us specifically.

The implications are clear: already buzzed, already in anticipation, our expectations for Reg-GAY-ton was subverted by Grande, who absorbed it for herself.

It seems impossible that Grande’s releasing her most vulnerable, most organic, most truthful single at the same time a significant subsection of (drunk) Swarthmore students across campus were at their most vulnerable,

tiny cast and intimate feel of the story. The popularity of Olde Club as an event venue was a bonus in Ross’s eyes since it added a sense of familiarity to the set. The set, designed by Yoshi Nomura ’18, is made of two simple raised platforms, each containing the world and lifetime of its character. A bed connects them; two legs rest on either platform, though the design of the bed is split down the middle as well, metal frame on one side and wooden frame with backboard on the other. Scattered love letters cover the floor around their platforms.

“One recurring idea that I keep on seeing is how they’re forced to be together,” stated Ross in describing the set. “How these two people through their different … lives are constantly pushed together but are constantly pulled apart, and I think the scenic design really lends itself to that.” At its core, the story is about the deep bonds that form from growing up with someone you love and the way those bonds can create a lifelong relationship that defies the impracticality of physical separation.

The “Love” in “Love Letters” refers here to both romantic and platonic love, often simultaneously, and the theme of romance that is never truly able to come to fruition permeates the play. Yet Ross explained how she thinks that

college students could also see the story outside of this romantic lens. She described coming across research showing how people who live together for more than two years form deep, lingering bonds: for many college students, this is the first time they have lived with people, other than their families, in this proximity. “We use [these] people as touch bases for the rest of our lives,” she said. “And so I think it’s going to be really interesting for people to see this show and then … figure out who in their lives, specifically on this college campus or in their families, are people they can continue to go back to.”

most organic, most truthful (for better or for worse) could be a coincidence.

Despite the fact that the timing of the release made way too much sense in regards to Swarthmore’s community (or, again, at least, a select subsection of it), Grande’s releasing “thank u, next” was unexpected, as her last album “Sweetener” isn’t even three months old yet. Generally, artists will take one or two years between records to make sure that their current effort has enough time to go through the single releases, the

music videos, the concert, etc.

That being said, it appears as though Grande ignored the rules and decided to simply say, “thank u, next!” to the “Sweetener” era.

The release date for the new album (aptly named “thank u, next” just like the single) has not been given yet, but Grande tweeted recently that she is almost done with it, so it will presumably be out sometime within the next month or so.

The release of the single itself was preceded by rumors and drama. If you’ve been following the

Photos courtesy of Josie Ross

right accounts on Twitter, you’d know Grande has had a rough past couple of months. Since the release of her last album, “Sweetener,” she has suffered the highprofile loss of her ex Mac Miller, whom she had dated for two years, and the equally high-profile break up of her engagement with Pete Davidson.

Based on the personal nature of “thank u, next,” we may expect that Grande will touch on these topics in other songs on the album. Grande hasn’t been shy to speak about serious topics in her past albums. “Sweetener’s” closing track “Get Well Soon,” for example, is composed in memory of the Manchester victims from the bombing at her concert in the summer of 2017.

There are many routes Grande could’ve taken with this single.

She could’ve gone with the classic and understandable CeeLo Green route of “FUCK YOU,” or the somber and scarily honest Taylor Swift route of “Dear John” or “Back to December.” Grande, however, decided to triumphantly celebrate and thank her past. Rather than pettily dramatize her post-engagement breakup, she came out singing, earnestly, “I’m so fucking grateful for my ex.”

It seems like the tone of this has really struck a chord with people,

as the song has absolutely become a cultural phenomenon. “thank u, next” marks a breakthrough in Grande’s career. In terms of success, it is poised to become her first ever Billboard Hot 100 number one single. The song also now holds the record for the fastest song to reach 100 million streams on Spotify, reaching the feat in 11 days to beat out “Shape of You’s” 15.

At Swarthmore, “thank u, next” has also been culturally significant. It has been all over the “Swarthmore Memes for Quaker Teens” page. Posts with the lyrics, “One taught me love, one taught me patience, one taught me pain” have been garnering incredible amounts of likes. In terms of personal anecdotes, I’ve heard it being played in Sharples at peak lunch hours and referenced more times I can count (usually followed by, “Her mind!”).

It is clear that “thank u, next” is a significant roadmark in Grande’s career. I am personally extremely excited to see where she decides to go next. If it’s anything in the vein of “thank u, next,” I’m sure she’ll have a career-defining album on her hands. In the meantime, Grande has both Swarthmore students and the rest of the world singing, “thank u, next!”

Julian Randall '16 Stuns with Debut Poetry Collection

Reuben Galley Newman Arts Writer

Even the cover of “Refuse,” Julian Randall’s debut poetry collection, makes a bold statement: the title is in sharp black letters against a stormy sky, with a winged black boy in the foreground, seemingly struggling to fly.

This stunning image by the artist Jeff Manning leads perfectly into “Refuse’s”’s first poem, listed in the table of contents as “Icarus,” but reading “Icarus Imposter Syndrome”” in the actual poem. Clever stylistic details like this occur throughout the book, and the form of the poetry melds with content.

“Icarus,” inspired by the Greek myth of Icarus and Daedalus, is a deeply moving interrogation of race, fatherhood, death, and storytelling; its long lines and lack of punctuation add to its frantic, angry energy. Randall writes:

For the longest time I could not make it out of a poem alive This one is no different I was conceived as a fable It is always the way of such things…

But if Randall (or, to be more accurate, his persona) “was conceived as a fable,” he refuses to be reduced to one. The persona that populates these poems survives even though “it seemed as if there was nowhere that death was not a question of autoplay.”

“Palinopsia,” the poem in which that line appears, is one of many poems in “Refuse” that grapples with Randall’s experience in wealthy, predominately white institutions of education — in this case, Swarthmore.

The haunting poem chronicles a speaker who “didn’t want to leave the room,” whose “ending” — failing out of college — “seems obvious.” Randall continues:

At the time this seemed inconsequential, I was going to die anyway. You have to understand; every day someone was leaving, I blinked and the copper levitated out of the skull, back to the barrel…Next to the stream of people like me dying there were emails that read “Checking in, “Absences,” “Graduation?” But the videos were all connected, an electric rosary, every new saint stained an iris.

Clearly, the speaker is deeply depressed by police brutality against black men: note the despair and fatigue in “you have to understand, every day someone was leaving” and the devastating double meaning of “copper” as a bullet and a cop. In comparison, graduation is inconsequential, particularly given the emptiness of the letter that said told the speaker he wasn’t going to graduate, which “used the word ‘Regrets’ 8 times.”

Randall read “Palinopsia” — among other poems from “Refuse” — at the college on October 26. Like all his poems, he read it powerfully and emotionally, captivating the audience. Hearing it as a student here myself, with the obvious association to Swarthmore, I was struck by how the deeply personal voice of the poem contrasted with the callousness of the institution the speaker attends.

But Randall, ever the inventive poet, expertly and bitterly parodies the letter in a poem titled “Regrets,” where he takes the voice of “The Committee on Academic Affairs” writing to a “Senior at __________ College.”

Among other hard-hitting lines, the Committee writes that “we are sorry to see this inconvenience of your skin.”

Zooming out, “Palinopsia” exemplifies Randall’s extensive formal innovation. He writes three erasures of “Palinopsia,” putting most of the poem in light gray typeface and letting choice words and phrases connote their own meaning.

He writes a series of poems in the form of academic abstracts related to Black Studies with embedded chilling childhood anecdotes. He writes in the ghazal and the pantoum, forms adapted from Persia and Malaysia, respectively; he takes inspiration from the rapper Nas to write a poem in a form called a Golden Shovel. In that poem, titled “Intimate Soliloquy” and available online in the Michigan Quarterly Review, he uses a line from “New York State of Mind” — “I never sleep because sleep is the cousin of death” — and uses each word as both the words that end each line and, in reverse order, as the words that begin each line.

And I haven’t even discussed the poems that relate to Obama’s presidency, those that investigate bisexual desire, or those that discuss multiracial identity; the scope of “Refuse” is astounding. Randall’s mastery of craft is something all writers can aspire to — I’ve greatly

enjoyed writing under the constraints of various forms in Professor Nathalie Anderson’s poetry workshops — but his clarity of voice is rare indeed, and has deeply personal stakes.

Randall declares midway through the book that “there’s blood on the ground, no time remains so I’ll lay it flat: I am Black and Dominican and Bisexual,” but that’s only after writing “my tongue is a refuge for secrets.” And because poems are stories, because they are true in their fiction, we know that Randall has kept secrets from us, but that he has simultaneously revealed the complexities and importance of his identities.

In his bio, he describes himself as a “Living Queer Black Poet from Chicago,” and he writes in the acknowledgements how he owes “an unpayable debt” to Swarthmore’s spoken word collective OASIS, his “first writing community.”

“If I am clear on nothing else,” he continues, “please know that I owe Philly Youth Poetry Movement nothing less than my life.”

That might be as good a purpose of poetry as any other: to support, to hold close, to affirm life. And even as “Refuse” interrogates politics, history, sexuality, biracialism, and racism in America, it might just do that:

ending with the brilliant refusal, “until death do I part / from the life I have tarnished with my living.”

In closing, read this book. It’s been deservedly recognized by the poetry community, winning the the 2017 Cave Canem Prize for a first book by a black poet of African descent, but it deserves an audience even from people who “don’t like” poetry. You can order the book online from the University of Pittsburgh Press, and you can also view many of Randall’s poems in online journals, such as in The Adroit Journal, Up the Staircase Quarterly, and Heart Online.

OPINIONS

November 15, 2018 PAGE A5

ROBERT ZIGMUND OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

A

cross the country, millions of voters headed to the polls on November 6 to cast a ballot in this year’s midterm elections. NPR notes that voter turnout was the highest for a U.S. midterm election since 1966, with 47 percent of eligible voters making their voices heard. Democrats had been expected to take back the House, but some hopefuls were placing their bets on a potential Senate flip, with key races across the country. Three such examples include Florida, Arizona, and Texas. In Florida, Democratic hopeful Bill Nelson was challenging Rick Scott, a race which requires a recount. In Arizona, Krysten Sinema won a Senate seat as a Democrat (albeit not a particularly progressive one), something that hasn’t been done in 30 years. Of course, many progressives were looking hopefully to Texas, where Rep. Beto O’Rourke was taking on Sen. Ted Cruz and his PAC political machine. While some on the left may be disappointed with the results in Texas and other key progressive races, I believe that these midterms create a very strong roadmap for 2020, especially when we look at several key races. At the same time, I believe that a close analysis of county and state level dynamics this election season serve to disprove and discredit the conventional belief that centrist,

or even right-wing, Democrats are necessary to beat Republicans in red states. Progressives demonstrated their value and power in this election.

The outcome was more or less as expected. The Democrats retook the House of Representatives, and the Republicans held on to the Senate. There are still a number of House races still uncalled, with the Guardian noting that, at the time of writing, the Democrats have picked up 32 seats, with 10 still undetermined, for a majority of 227-198. There is more to this election than just the surface numbers, however.

We will start in Texas, where Beto O’Rourke sadly failed to oust Sen. Ted Cruz. In one of the most consistently red states in the nation, a truly progressive candidate came within three percentage points of victory. Yet, the most encouraging information comes not from the state-wide data, but at the county level. In Harris County, which voted 58-41 for Beto and is home to the city of Houston, voter turnout was nearly twice that of 2014, and came close to meeting 2016 levels, according to data from the New York Times. In Tarrant County, which houses Fort Worth and is considered the last consistently red city in the state, Beto O’Rourke received a majority of votes. O’Rourke was beating or tying Cruz in many historically red, conservative suburbs. These are encouraging signs, and show the power of a progressive message,

especially in “red-states.”

Moving to Florida, we look to the Senate and gubernatorial races, where recounts have begun to determine the true victor. In the race for governor, Andrew Gillum, a progressive, had lost by only 35,000 votes, in a race with eight million ballots cast. Gillum has revoked his concession as recounts go forward, and it is entirely within the realm of possibility that his opponent, Republican Ron DeSantis, has actually lost the election.

Gillum is an inspiring candidate who ran on a platform that emphasized criminal justice reform — as such, he was a major proponent of Amendment 4, which authorized the restoration of voting rights to felons in the state. In the Senate race too, Bill Nelson is only 13,000 votes behind his opponent, Rick Scott. While Florida is typically considered a swing state, it is encouraging to see the possibility of two Democratic victories in the coming weeks. Florida went to Trump in the 2016 election, and had Rick Scott and Ron DeSantis won outright, I would have been very concerned for the implications for the 2020 election, as that would demonstrate a significant failure of the democratic process to reject right-wing policies. However, given the fact that the races have gone to a recount, and that 1.4 million ex-felons have regained their right to vote in the state, due to a ballot measure that was passed as part of the election, it is much less clear that

Fold On Misery Poker GIORGIA PIANTANIDA SWAT GLOBAL

If someone had asked me, prior to my arrival at Swarthmore, what the worst game to play with friends was, I would’ve responded with Monopoly. After all, the number of relationships it has destroyed must be immense. But then I got to Swat, and I realized that I was incorrect — the worst game to play with friends is Misery Poker.

In all fairness, Misery Poker is often regarded as a Swarthmore staple, much like pasta bar hate and the plethora of social justice groups scattered around our campus. Without it, Swarthmore just wouldn’t be Swarthmore. And in a lot of ways, that’s true. But that does not mean that it is a healthy or smart game to play in an environment that’s already fraught with stress and need for greatness.

Misery Poker is not a means for success, whether that be academic

or otherwise. Misery Poker, in the end, becomes a brittle crutch upon which many of us rely on not only to fit in, but also to pretend we are effectively dealing with our emotions. It comes out like a weak cry for help that no one responds to because we’re all too busy with our own problems, constantly competing for the title of having the worst problems instead of hoisting each other up in an environment that naturally tends to stress and poor mental health.

As first years, many students enter Swat eager and wide eyed, excited to experience all that they believed made Swarthmore unique. Maybe some look forward to the freedom that is granted to them, some the chance to finally study something they have a shred of interest in. Whatever it may be, excitement and happiness tends to coat the initial first year experience as everything appears so new and foreign. But as Swarthmore wears on and easily

achieved good grades begin to feel like a thing of the past, it becomes difficult to hold on to that positive energy. There’s a reason why the first month or so at Swarthmore feels immensely different for the whole campus — the energy from the freshmen is somewhat contagious. But then nights start earlier, and the sun shortens its journey across the sky slowly but surely, and students need a new outlet.

Assignments pile up at an unreasonable rate and Sharples seems to stop serving anything one can actually look forward to, which is the perfect time for Misery Poker to stroll in and take the honor of becoming a favourite past time.

“I have four assignments, three essays, and a problem set due Friday.”

“Well I have three problem sets, a group project and two labs due Thursday, plus my club meeting today is going to take three hours.”

“Oh really? I have two hour practice every day this week, plus

THE

A Stepping Stone for Progressives

w

PHOENIX

Florida will be as close in 2020.

With that, many new voters who have been exposed to the horrors of the failed criminal justice system in the U.S., opportunities for a Democratic outright victory look more plausible.

In Georgia, Stacey Abrams has refused to concede in her gubernatorial race against Brian Kemp, who, as the Secretary of State, had removed hundreds of thousands of voters from the rolls prior to the election.

While many good candidates lost, excluding the results of recounts, the turnout and support across the nation demonstrates that the conventional wisdom of the Democratic establishment does not hold. That conventional wisdom states that in order to beat a Republican in a red state, you have to run a Democrat with Republican policies. In Texas, Georgia, and even Mississippi, where the Democrat and Republican candidates are headed for a runoff election, progressive candidates got far closer to beating their Republican opponents than any centrist or right-wing Democrat in recent memory. The fact of the matter is that “I’m better than the other person” is not, and never will be, an inspiring message. We need candidates who bring a message of hope and are willing to fight for meaningful change, not about simply towing a party line or listening to focus groups. We need candidates who are motivated by more than money or power,

and are truly passionate about the issues that they run on. These candidates ran on November 6, and they came extremely close to victory. These races counter the traditional logic of the party leadership, and should serve as a call to action for 2020. It is worth noting that incumbent Democratic candidates that lost their seats this election were overwhelmingly centrist, such as Senator Heidi Heitkamp, who had to take time to decide whether or not to vote against Brett Kavanaugh, well after all of the information about

him came forward.

Moving forward, we should begin to see presidential candidacy declarations this upcoming spring, in preparation for debates in the late summer of 2019, and primaries beginning in January of 2020.

Now is not the time to rest, it is the time for action. This midterm served as a testing ground for progressive policies, and it has demonstrated that they have power, and so do we.

an hour lift. On top of that I have four problem sets, five essays, two group projects, and a lab all due tomorrow at midnight.”

Conversations like these seem to crop up everywhere on campus, and they tend to end with the group admitting defeat and telling the one person with the ‘hardest’ week they have won. Won what?

The honor of having the most responsibilities that week? What kind of win is that?

In our perpetual use of Misery Poker, we tend to glorify the stress that’s an inevitable factor of our experience at Swat and encourage the sadness and frustration that so often accompanies it. This in turn leads to many students feeling as though they need to beat each other in terms of who has the most on their plate, leaving little to no room to actually enjoy and appreciate their precious time in college, rather opting to vilify the institution for the way it’s making everyone miserable. That’s not to

say Swat is perfect — it’s far from perfect. But it’s not the enemy either. There must be a reason why we all ended up spending four years getting our education here over anywhere else.

Perhaps the competition that Misery Poker fosters is trying to make up for something. Perhaps we as a student body are desperately trying to make up for the lack of academic competition the academic culture at Swarthmore sponsors. So to make up for that void, we all buy into a different kind of competition, which can quickly turn dark. It can too easily destroy the motivation and drive some have because it demands too much of their time and mind in order to win. Maybe in this case, winning isn’t worth the price.

Misery Poker, in any and all forms, sucks. It’s absolutely the worst game in the world. Sometimes, it works to exacerbate depression and anxiety since it feeds off the sadness and stress of stu-

dents. The more sad and stressed a student can make themselves, the more they win the game. Unfortunately, by the same token, they also work to deteriorate their mental health, which is easily hidden in a culture that eggs on such behaviour. We can’t spend the rest of our time at Swarthmore demeaning the school, because once we walk away from it we’ll regret all the times we wasted there being miserable over temporary problems as opposed to focusing on bettering ourselves. It’s not an easy game to step away from, but the best we can do is collectively try to focus on the best parts of our days, without competition and judgement, and work to cultivate an environment in which the positive vibes the freshman infuse during September stick around all year. Because college is hard enough without having to compete for the worst experience out of everyone.

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

Swat Takes: Sex Positivity What We Talk About When Let’s Talk About Sex We Talk About Sex

“Swat Takes” is a curated conversation between two atuhors about a contentious topic. If you would like to submit an article or an idea, email editor@swarthmore.edu. Have a reponse to this week’s Swat Takes? Submit a letter to the editor.

HANNAH WATKINS OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

DARIA MATEESCU OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Content Warning: Mentions of Sexual Violence If sex is so good, why is it so often bad?

This is an enormous question, and I have no delusions about my ability to answer it comprehensively within a few pages of a school newspaper. Much ink has been spilled on the topic, and it would be pathetically prideful to presume I have more ability to answer it than the dozens of trained feminist authors who failed to create a complete account of it within the span of an entire book. Given that, my aim is not to answer the original question but to complicate the question itself and approach it in light of the historical context that surrounds it, a historical context that has led me to believe that an unabashed embrace of sexuality disregards women’s material existence.

Sex-positivity is not merely a positive attitude toward sex. It is an ideology, and ideologies do not arise or manifest in vacuums of academic theorizing. They are

grounded in history and lived experience, and it is not the feat of argumentation as much as complication that I hope to incompletely achieve. To that end, I hope that a complication of sexpositivity may illuminate the reality that sexual liberation is not liberating for all, and that it is harmfully negligent to presume otherwise.

What tenets does sex-positivity hold as an ideology? We may find some answers in the history of feminist approaches to sex. A positive suggests a negative, and though this sex-negative is often connoted to mean some misogynist notions of female purity, such an assumption is at least somewhat ahistorical. It was not purity politics to which sexpositivity responded, but actually the emergence of Dominance Feminism and anti-pornography feminism in the 1980s.

Sex-positivity, as an academic tradition of feminist thought, is a response not to patriarchy but to a certain feminist view on patriarchy. And it is this exchange of arguments amongst feminists, rather than between feminists and those who “slut shame,” that

constituted the Sex Wars.

It is hard to identify the exact date that the Sex Wars commenced, but given that arguably the most crucial issue of the Sex Wars was pornography, one possible date is January 1977, when a group of feminists in San Francisco held the “Women’s Centers Conference on Violence Against Women” and soon after founded the organization “Women Against Violence in Pornography and Media.” Among the many voices of the anti-pornography feminist movement emerged Catharine MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin. In her seminal text, “Toward a Feminist Theory of the State,” MacKinnon writes: In contemporary industrial so ciety, pornography is an industry that mass produces sexual intrusion on, access to, possession and use of women by and for men to profit. It exploits women’s sexual and economic inequality for gain.

It sells women to men as and for sex. It is a technologically sophisticated traffic in women.

She continues: the liberal defense of porcontinued on page A6

Sex activist, relationship coach, and educator Allena Gabosch defines sex positivity as “an attitude towards human sexuality that regards all consensual sexual activities as fundamentally healthy and pleasurable, and encourages sexual pleasure and experimentation.”

The term was originally coined in the late 1920s by educator Wilhelm Reich, but expanded in use during the sexual revolution of the 1960s and the feminist movement of that era. Since its introduction, the concept has informed the efforts of people and communities across the world to create healthy sexual cultures.

While we strive on campus to utilize sex positivity in our language, I would argue that treating sex positively as a concept is not enough: we have to look at our experiences to judge whether our culture is truly healthy.

The question of whether sex positivity is beneficial is an absolutely massive one, and the answer changes based on demographic and location. For that reason, I’m going to focus specifically on our population here at Swarthmore. Although students all have the common denominator of attendance at this

college, we come from extremely different backgrounds, and our experiences of sex positivity are wildly different and much less predictable than other traits.

For young people, our education about sex depends on multiple factors: our school’s sex education, our internet and porn exposure, and our friends’ and parents’ knowledge and comfort in discussing this topic. In America, we have wild fluctuations in our public school system’s teachings. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia mandate public schools teach sex ed; only 20 states require that information taught be medically accurate — with varying definitions of medical accuracy. Private schools, which are disproportionately represented at Swarthmore, set their own standards. In general, American parents don’t do a good job of communicating with their children about sex: a 2011 study by Planned Parenthood and the Center for Latino and Adolescent Family Health found that while 92 percent of parents talked to their children about sex or relationships, only 60 percent had discussed birth control. Conversations tend to focus on the risks and dangers of sexual activity, not how to create a positive experience.

With that information in mind, it’s fair to assume, and as a SHA, it’s been my experience that people on campus arrive with very different levels of education. The basic consent and safe sex education provided by the college during orientation is helpful but, like parental conversations, tends to focus on risks and dangers, not the actual building blocks of healthy and positive relationships. I think it’s fair to say that the content our school puts out is sex-positive, and that our campus in general does a good job sticking with that definition. On the surface, our sex culture is sex positive by the definition given above. I would argue, however, that we have interpreted sex positivity the wrong way. In the way we approach it, sex is treated as a means of social capital and a public action, measured more by the attitudes of our peers than our own experiences. To create a sex culture that is truly sex positive, I would argue that we need to stop asking the question “Do we treat sex as a topic positively?” and move toward the question “Do we experience the act of sex positively?”

Let’s expand on that. A big problem with American sex culture is that it excessively continued on page A6

PAGE A6

THE PHOENIX OPINIONS

What we talk about, continued from A6 nography as human sexual liberation, as depressions […], is a defense not only of force and sexual terrorism, but of the subordination of women.

Sexual liberation in the liberal sense frees male sexual aggression in the feminist sense […] pornography participates in its audience’s eroticism because it creates an accessible sexual object, the possession and consumption of which is male sexuality, to be consumed and possessed as which is female sexuality. In this sense, sex in life is no less mediated than it is in art. Men have sex with their image of a woman.

Before writing this book, MacKinnon and Andrea Dworkin had crafted the Antipornography Civil Rights Ordinances.

They began by representing Linda Boreman, who performed in pornographic films under the pseudonym Linda Lovelace, in the charges she brought against her ex-husband, who had violently beaten and raped her into performing her scenes. MacKinnon and Dworkin, after also meeting with Gloria Steinem, used the case to bring charges against many more pornography producers on the ground that pornography was a form of violence against women. They lost the case but made themselves the most public leaders of the anti-pornography movement.

In 1979, MacKinnon wrote the book “Sexual Harassment of Working Women: A Case of Sex Discrimination,” which served as among the first, and certainly the most important, legal claim for considering sexual harassment to constitute a form of sex discrimination. This text was, and remains, a grounding theory behind the work of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the organization charged with enforcing civil rights law in workplace discrimination. In 1986, MacKinnon served as cocounsel for Mechelle Vinson in Meritor Savings Bank v. Vinson, the case that established, to quote then-Justice Rehnquist, “when a supervisor sexually harasses a subordinate because of the subordinate’s sex, that supervisor “discriminate[s] on the basis of sex.” MacKinnon’s 1979 book remains amongst the most cited legal texts and serves as the dominant framework for our current understanding of sexual harassment and the unique type of workplace harm that it causes.

As for her work beyond sexual harassment and pornography, in 2000 she represented Bosnian women in the case against Radovan Karadžić, the Bosnian Serb war criminal who presided

over Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War. Kadić v. Karadžić created the legal claim for rape as an act of genocide in the Bosnian-Serbian war and resulted in the plaintiffs being awarded $745 million. MacKinnon argued that, in a genocidal context, ethnicity- or religion-based forced prostitution and forced impregnation qualify themselves as acts of genocide.

And yet it is MacKinnon against whom the tradition of sex positivity positioned itself.

So what makes MacKinnon, as well as other radical feminists, fall on the “wrong” side of the sex wars? Some answers may be found in the type of sentiment that rendered her supposedly most famous quote, in fact, a cruel and perverse misquote, “all sex is rape.”

MacKinnon never argued for such a statement, so why would someone say she did? Well, what she did argue was that sex can serve as a mechanism for female subjugation and oppression, and that notions of a completely freewilled sexual encounter are negligent to the reality that many women do not, in fact, have the completely unbridled autonomy to freely will sex. In “Toward a Feminist Theory of the State,” MacKinnon also writes, “Male dominance is sexual. Meaning: men in particular, if not men alone, sexualize hierarchy [...] if violation of women is understood as sexualized on some level — then sexuality itself can no longer be regarded as unimplicated.

Nor can the meaning of practices of sexual violence be categorized as violence not sex.” She continues, “Sexuality, in feminist light, is not a discrete sphere of interaction or feeling or sensation or behavior in which preexisting social divisions may or may not be played out. It is a pervasive dimension of social life, one that permeates the whole.[...]

Dominance eroticized defines the imperatives of its masculinity, submission eroticized defines its femininity.” On consent, she writes, “the appearance of choice or consent, with their attribution to inherent nature, is crucial in concealing the reality of force. Love of violation, variously termed female masochism and consent, come to define female sexuality, legitimating the political system by concealing the force on which it is based.” I will not explicate these quotes, mostly because I have little faith in my own abilities to say anything on the topic of sex more eloquently than MacKinnon, and would prefer to entrust her with her own words. I will only remark that similar views were shared by many of the radical (and sup-

SwatGraphics

posedly villainously sex-hating) camp.

In her “Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions,” Josephine Donovan writes, “Sex (and, as other radical feminists urged, love) is sold as a magical experience that is supposed to justify otherwise dreary lives. Instead, it functions as an opiate keepìng women from thinking about their overall condition.” The Marxist connotations of this statement are deliberate. Marx’s famed quote, “Religion is the opium of the masses” is not a blanket statement about the evilness of all religion. To borrow from Andrew McKinnon’s (no relation to Catharine) analysis in “Opium of the People’: Expression, Protest and the Dialectics of Religion,” Marx’s 19th century context understood opium as a once primarily healing medicine which had been adulterated and become overprescribed to children.

Opium was not merely a soporific to distract the masses from their oppression, as has often been misread from Marx’s quote.

Opium’s capitalist commodification had made it into a source of physical harm where it had not been before.

Given the complexity of opium as metaphor, the complexity of religion as metaphor also abounds. Perhaps a more accurate interpretation is Theodor Adorno’s, namely that, “[Religion] is cheaply marketed in order to provide one more so-called irrational stimulus among many others by which the members of a calculating society are calculatingly made to forget the calculation under which they suffer.”

Religious suffering and opium abuse are what McKinnon (not MacKinnon) calls “expression of” and “protest against” capitalism.

Their consumption is beneficial to the capitalist enterprise in that it is lucrative, but they also mark a distinct attempt at protest through escapism.

So what is all of this to say about sex? Well, maybe it’s time to return to our understanding of sex itself. If neither religion to Marx nor opium to 19th century British proletariat signified inprinciple harm, merely that they had been “cheaply marketed” by capitalist enterprises, we may situate sex similarly. If Donovan is right, and sexual liberation has functioned as a patriarchal distraction from oppression, as a way of forgetting the “calculation under which they suffer,” we ought to thoroughly re-examine the embrace of sexual liberation. One can find meaning for life and comfort for the afterlife in religion. One can find release from excruciating physical pain in opium. One can find intimacy

November 15, 2018

Let’s talk, continued from A6 and bodily pleasure in sex. One ought to practice religion without harsh and unfair judgment, one should have the right to be prescribed painkillers for one’s pain, one ought to have sex without shame. Does my agreement with those statements hinder my ability to offer a thoroughgoing critique of how all of those “goods” are practiced, supported, upheld, manipulated, and used to strengthen systems of power?

No. I wish to consider sex in its true practice and exchange and production. Can notions of sex be extricated from our notions of how sex ought to be produced pornographically? Do consumers of porn not replicate sex in the image of sexuality as they visually perceived it? Do college students not exchange sex in modes that mimic social hierarchies, and in systems where nonchalance signifies power? Do women truly have the power to say “no,” and if not, what does that mean about those times we say “yes”? I do not mean to suggest that every single sexual act is burdened by these implications of power. Queer sexuality for one operates in a unique position both thoroughly interior and exterior to a heteropatriarchal conception of sex. I accept the anecdotal account of a college student from a “feminist” household and “feminist” community that she orgasms regularly, has never experienced coercion into sex, and finds personal satisfaction in pursuing men in similarly objectifying ways to the way men pursue women. But I can also speak for myself, and can refer to the perverse sexual liberation I sought out at the ages of sixteen and seventeen within a community of Eastern European boys for whom violence in all capacities was the rule and not the exception. If by the time I reached my current age I had slept with more men trained in military combat by order of the Russian and Ukrainian compulsory military service than men who had ever heard of the word “affirmative consent,” where does that leave my supposed sex liberation? Nor is it true that my trauma derives from my transgression of a purity, for that was never something I was afforded. Romania is regularly named Europe’s sex capital, and Romanian women constitute both the largest percentage of sex workers and sex trafficking victims in the EU, overwhelmingly in non-Romanian states. My hypersexualization in the Western gaze was granted prior to the upholding of my purity. Sex was not what I was denied, but was what I was demanded to perform.

If I can assert that in my closcontinued online

promotes performativity. In other words, it presents a heteronormative, penetration-centric script through porn and the media. Young people experimenting with sexual activity feel pressure to be good at sex and desirable as partners, so they follow that script as closely as possible to create a close-to-pornographic experience for their partners.

This creates a number of problems. Firstly, porn is male-centric, so a lot of those activities, even activities that are supposedly women-centric, do nothing for women physically. Secondly, it engenders an obsession with being desirable, rather than feeling desire. Thirdly, it creates a false standard for sex with metrics that have nothing to do with genuine sexual satisfaction. A few examples of those metrics include duration of intercourse, physical attractiveness of partners, and various body part dimensions. As a result of all of this, a person might hook up with an attractive person and report to their friends that they were hot, the encounter was exciting and passionate, and they did a certain sex act considered especially exciting. By the standards of our sex positive culture, that sounds like a great hookup.

But all too often, reflecting seriously on how that encounter felt ends with it falling short of its outward expectations.

There are three questions I use to measure how genuinely satisfying or pleasurable a sexual experience is. The first is “Were you present in your own body?”

This sounds like a strange one, but the concept of spectatorship is an important phenomenon that manifests a lot. It essentially means that during sexual activity, you look at yourself not from within, but from a third person perspective, imagining what your partner is seeing. The script I discussed earlier pops up here: people imagine what a porn star or an “ideal” partner would do, then act like that person would. Sex then becomes a performance, not a participatory experience. Besides spectatorship, people also experience a sort of bodily shutdown: they look at the ceiling and disassociate, and whatever stimulation they are experiencing ceases to feel any more sexual than if someone was just poking you in the arm repeatedly.

The second question is, “Were you attracted to your partner?”

This seems like a no brainer, but it’s genuinely surprising how often people report hooking up with people they judge to be desirable in a social sense: based on the opinions of their friends

or peers, not on their own attraction. Hooking up with someone who you don’t feel genuine physical attraction toward results in a sort of mechanicality: foreplay is just an artificial way of creating the necessary tumescence or lubrication to insert tab A into slot B. The third question, which is the tough one, is “Did you experience the same level of pleasure that you do from masturbating?”

This might be the most important metric of all, especially for female-bodied individuals. Masturbation involves no performativity or social pressure; it’s personally tailored and genuine. No one fakes an orgasm to themselves. The male-centric script emerges here again, with its abundance of information on male orgasms and absolute dearth of applicable techniques toward female orgasms. A 2015 study by the Institut français d’opinion publique of 1,039 representative American women found that 95 percent had had an orgasm from masturbating, and 83 percent described their orgasms from masturbation as achievable “without difficulty”.

Those numbers are comparable to male masturbation and orgasm rates, but heterosexual women report orgasms in only 11 percent of first hookups, 16 percent of second or third hookups, and 67 percent in relationship sexual events. Orgasm rates for men stay steady at 85 percent for gay and straight encounters whether among hookups or established relationships. The ultimate conclusion from those statistics is that the male-centric script is standing in the way of equal satisfaction — not some unknowable complexity in the female body.

I’m not trying to place blame on groups or individuals here, or argue that we should stop supporting our friends for having sexual relationships. I simply think that in order for us to have positive, pleasurable sexual experiences, we need to throw away the script. We need to stop judging ourselves and our partners by what the media or our social circle portrays as the best, and judge our experiences by how they made us feel.

We need to create a culture of sex positivity that has nothing to do with what our peers think and everything to do with how we feel with our partners. Talking about sex positively is not enough. We need to experience sex positively.

Campus Journal

PAGE A7 What do you meme???

ARTS FASHION FOOD LIVING PHILLY PROFILES ST YLES

What do you meme???

The Genealogy of Memeology Dakota L. Gibbs CJ Writer

T

hroughout mankind’s short history one question has permeated, evolved, and perplexed all kinds of human and non-human thought: memes? (acceptable pronunciations: mēm, may-may, mem, mīme, mr. mīme, mem-buh, and/or saw-wee ay own-lee hah-viv ah cahn-t ohpen-err) But, how does one describe meme? How does one engage with meme? How does one measure meme? In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights, or cups of coffee?!

Meme is not as clear as it seems to be or as it presents itself.

Some games, like “What Do You Meme?”, might have you believe in the modern classical notion of a meme as “a humorous image, video, piece of text, etc, that is copied (often with slight variations) and spread rapidly by internet users.”

Although this definition captures the spirit of meme, it has two major problems. First, it locks us into a post-internet time that is both limiting because memes existed way before the internet age, like snails versus knights, and classist, as not everyone has access to internet. Secondly, it puts too much emphasis on the thing itself, meaning the physical representation of the meme.

Memes are not just images, videos, or pieces of text, they are a wholeness of experience that incorporates context, culture, creator, audience, tertiary audiences, and meta-references of other memes or cultural ideas wrapped into singularity with the intent to offer up and extend ideas, notions or other kinds of shared experiences with other people. This idea is better explained by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “an idea, behavior, style, or usage that spreads from person to person within a culture.” The important idea here is that memes have or had a purpose: a sharing of ideas, behavior and culture. As English ethologist, evolutionary biologist, and author Richard Dawkins explains, “Memes (discrete units of

knowledge, gossip, jokes and so on) are to culture what genes are to life. Just as biological evolution is driven by the survival of the fittest genes in the gene pool, cultural evolution may be driven by the most successful memes.” Memes are not in culture, they are culture, specifically they are they stage in which cultures clash, morph, mix, vie, die, and evolve.

But things got hella muddy, yo, when the interwebs emerged.

Originally, these early internet memes were very much deeply in “engrained” in “lived” “experience” of mostly Western “first world” “cultures.” For example, let’s take a look at the classic yet not forgotten “True Story.” This meme was used in Rage Comics (Ripperoni) from the early 2000s and utilized a cartoonized Neil Patrick Harris holding a wine glass saying “True Story” often put at the end of the comics to convey that the contents of this comic either really happened or “it really be like that sometimes.” But these early memes separated themselves from their rage comics roots to represent certain ideas: Me Gusta is associated with feelings of pleasure, and the Troll Face is usually associated with assholes.

This separation ushered in a new era of memes we will dub The Bottom Text era, more commonly viewed as the modern meme format. This era used pop culture images and stock photos that represented some sort of idea or feeling.

The biggest characteristic of these memes were that there were always two lines of text — a bottom text and a top text. The top text is usually expository to the original idea or feeling while the bottom usually held some sort of punchline related to the top line.

Examples include the relatable and accurate One Does Not Simply…, which takes from the iconic Lord of the Rings’ scene of Boromir’s “One does not simply walk into Mordor,” but the irony is that is exactly what happens, and the topical and apt Brace Yourself (Rip In Peace Californians) takes from Game of Thrones’ Eddard “Ned” Stark asking one to brace

themselves because of an anticipated event. These memes actually provided a character-defining aspect of membership: iteration.

Often the bottom texts would be changed to fit different situations.

Over time, we saw memes blending and borrowing punch lines from other Bottom Text memes.

Thus in an almost paradoxical way, the distinction between the meme meaning or as the kool cats say nowadays, the memeing, and the meme object began to blur and shift. This era began the shift of memeing from the thing itself, the images, to a more intangible culture of contexts and layers.

But in 2007, with the invention of YouTube, we saw a new cultural shift in memeology: the viral video. From Evolution of Dance to Go Blah, and Charlie Bit Me (and its remix and trap remix, and yes they in fact “slap”), viral videos bursted on the scene, like the latest Smash ultimate character you’re “totally” going to main, with fresh and original content. Here again we see the notion of iterability as these videos often got spliced into new content or remixed. YouTube personalities arose shortly after, and with these personalities came cults and fandoms in meme culture. This forgeda new relationship between the creator and the audience. No longer are memes aimlessly wandering on-the-line separated from their creators and/ or “intended” purpose. (Also shout out to Vine).

Okay this article is getting too long, so we’s gon’ get to good stuff.

Online, you’ll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy than social media timelines.

Remember when I said memes had a purpose? Yeah, me neither.

Anyways, social media in general jumpstarted our usage and evolution of memeage. Memes are created just as fast as they are forgotten. We’ve gotten so good at memeing that it has lost its “memeing.”

Let me reiterate (there it is again), memes were meant to spread social behavior and cultural ideas. However, now memes can’t even last as much as the fla-

vor of a juicy fruit gum. Hence, any lasting shared experience from these memes seem to not have any real lasting impact. This evolution pushed a new kind of counterculture within memes, know as our modern-day shitposting and normie memes (If I have to explain what a normie is, well, I got some bad news for ya’). Shitposting tends to be very niche and stands either as a direct criticism and commentary on meme culture — culture in general, usually having ironic and mocking undertones — or they are just weird postings devoid of any deeper meanings fully accepting and recognizing that memes have lost their memeing, but that never mattered anyways.

However, there has been a recent development memeology evolution, one that incorporates all the iconic themes of memes but adds so much more and destroys so much: Can’t-Opener-ism.

Can’t-Opener-ism, also known as can’t opener memes are a subbranch under the wider Dakotaisms (honestly, Dakotaism has too many layers to go in depth), which pushes the limits of the defining meme aspects. Can’t Opener-ism actually began two years ago in the Swat Summers page, when a student lovingly asked for a can opener. The “Creator” commented the famed last words, “Sorry I only have a can’t opener.” This original comment had a mixed reception, however, it was not well appreciated by the student. Adverse reactions to Dakotaisms helped perpetuate its continued use and influence.

Soon after this original incident, this same student continually asked for things all summer long of which the Creator would comment the Can’t-Openeristic phrase. Each time it become more and more incoherently related to the item being asked for but instead attached itself to the question itself: asking for something. It seems like Can’t Opernism evolved past its initial stage of being mere Dakotaism but branched into its own entity focused on bring attention to the question and hence attention to call for help. However,

in a weird double move instead of being helpful Can’t Opernism as done only the opposite more less calling attention to itself and not toward the call for help. This double move is locally known as The Curse of the Can’t Opener or The Can’t Curse, where in which when the Can’t-Opener-istic phrase is found the original content of the post gets washed away.

It was not before long that others would join in, too. In the first Swat Summer’s page the Can’tOpener-isms were mostly kept at a minimum, popping up here and there only by the Creator. However, in a few cases the Can’t-Opener-istic phrase began to be used by others besides the Creator, and in rarer cases by the poster themselves. The years that followed the usage of Can’t-Opener-isms have been relatively active but always died down by the start of the school year.

Can’t-Opener-ism is usually restricted to Swat Summer pages, however during the 2018 page, the Can’t-Opener-ism began to catch on more than a meta-relevant Pokemon on community day. It is unclear whomistive was the first one to use Can’t-Opener-ism outside of the page, however, once it happened, the Creator knew there was no turning back.

Eventually, Can’t-Opener-isms evolved past their initial usage and soon became their own meme genre. The construction of the Sorry I only have a can’t opener Facebook group serves as a bridge between the Can’tOpener-ism’s meme genre and usage, as the page itself harbors the Can’t-Opener-isms, but the page can also be used in the comments to Can’t Openerize. As the Can’t=Opener-ist phrase gets used over and over again, it loses its funny factor (the funny factor is a complex mathematical formula for calculating the funniness of a meme, the formula goes F = OC + C + (-1*R^2) - NX; where F is Funny factor, OC is original content-ness, C is for context and culture, R is repost, and NX is net exports, usually negative at least in the domestic US ), but in its overuse almost

becomes expected and ironically or rather paradoxically funny?

So what is a can’t opener? This is a serious question not only in the minds of the can’tees or can’ts, also known as the followers of Can’t-Openerism, but in the mind of the Creator too. They are not sure what exactly it is or what form it takes. Perhaps it is more an intangible internet object that has captured or even ushered in its own zeitgeist. Maybe it is more of a panoptic object people can use to impose their personal power, showing that no one is safe from the can’t curse. Perhaps it is actually a physical object that manifests itself in the material world, and this deep and rich metaphysics and lore are but mere speculation. The Creator has made known that they have designed what a can’t opener would look like and function as, however, the patient is still pending. They have also stated that they have begun conceptualizing a model for can’t opener 2.0. Or most likely, the Creator means it literally in stating that they literally only have a can’t opener that is all that they own.

On the other end, what are can’t opener memes? In short, they are memes that are usually generated or curated by the Creator, usually having tons of layers and meta references that are not totally apparent, but only fully make sense to the Creator themselves. These memes have this level of absurdity and incoherence that seem to critique and make fun of both shitposting and normie memes, while in a weird twist being both normie and shitpostric. Can’t-Opener-ism lives within this blurred line between the limits and distinctions.

The Creator notes that the overall theme is what’s funny to them, but they are unsure why other people like them or find them relatable.

In the end as we began with only questions, and I wish I had answers for you, but sorry I only have a can’t opener.

YEET.

Orientation Play: Going Out on a Meme

Naomi Park CJ Writer

At the end of orientation week, students are forewarned of the dangers of making assumptions about other people, encouraged to actually fill out their roommate contracts, reminded of the PubSafe emergency number, and serenaded with songs about consent and safe sex. This annual event is the beloved Orientation Play which is occasionally blessed by the presence of Jim Bock ’90, who reports to the audience that there has been an “admissions mistake.” Each character is meant to be a caricatured version of some of the people you might find at Swat.

In the end, each character learns that they all have things to work on in terms of being more inclusive, but that those flaws don’t ultimately make them the admissions mistake. With the caricatured depictions of all of the characters in the Orientation Play, we can find a meme that reminds us of them.

RA: The beloved RA shows up throughout the play to be a guiding figure to their “froshlings.” The RA guides the rest of the characters through roommate problems and warns of the dangerous misgivings of playing misery poker. As a transcendent figure, the RA as a meme would be Bob Ross, who puts everyone at ease and is a calming, wise figure.

Dean: The Dean is a real snake who is looking for the so-called admissions mistake while secretly plotting to overthrow President Valerie Smith for the good of this Quaker institution. This malevolent character as a meme would best be represented by Gritty, the empty-eyed, terrifying mascot for the Philadelphia Flyers. Gritty has also been adopted by activists on the left as a figurehead for the people. Gritty has become a leftist icon who, to an extent, represents the Quaker value of using practical applications for the common good.

Billy: Billy is a sweet nerd who loves doing his homework but worries about not making friends if he doesn’t go out and party.

Let’s throw it back to Bad Luck Brian for him.

Theresa: Theresa is a quieter individual who starts the play in a long term, non-sexual relationship. In the beginning, she is resigned in being sexiled constantly by her roommate and has the general attitude that Sometimes, It Be Like That.

Zack: Zack is a student athlete who is the life of the party, but is also concerned about keeping up academically and wants to make sure he does well in school. Quite appropriately, Zack would be the student athlete meme.

Elizabeth: Elizabeth is introduced as coming into college from a place of privilege, in that her family has gone to college and can afford to pay for her education. Her awkward formality can’t help but remind me of Spongebob’s alter ego, Normal Spongebob.

Alex: Alex is initially concerned about gender and having a roommate who is accepting of their gender identity. While Alex lucks out in having a roommate who is accepting of them, their roommate is a bit much and is the most type-A someone can be. Alex, in their basic desire for some peace and quiet, is the living, breathing representation of Arthur holding his fist.

Lesley: Lesley is a motivated, hard-working student who is determined to do his best and, quite frankly, do The Most. That being said, there’s nothing like early morning power yoga that just screams Let’s Get This Bread.

SAM: The rapping SAM drops some dope verses that can compete with Dylan who is known for spitting hot fire

Yvette: Yvette is from a low-income family and is a first generation student. Caught in the headlights of college, Yvette can best be characterized by the shooketh Thomas the Train as she is initially perplexed by her inauguration to college.

Kim: Kim is a sociable, sexually-liberated character who has an infectious confidence that just screams Big Dick Energy.

PAGE A8

THE PHOENIX CAMPUS JOURNAL

What do you meme???

The Future of Swarthmore Memes for Quaker Teens Gidon Kaminer CJ Writer

S

warthmore Memes for Quaker Teens is undoubtedly the epicenter of meme culture at Swarthmore. Like savanna animals flocking to a fertile watering hole, students converge on the group en masse to share and view memes. Yet in this place of unity, there is a pervading tension between the idea that the group should be an open market for students to post any (socially acceptable) memes, and the idea that it should be restricted to Swarthmore-specific memes. Kat Capossela ‘21 explored this tension in an article titled “The Inevitable Encroachment of Normie Memes,” published in the May 3, 2018 edition of The Phoenix. This remains a contentious issue, as the group continues to host both general and Swat-specific memes.

In an article on what makes

memes so appealing, sociologist Nicki Lisa Cole, PhD, argues that “Memes that capture the popular zeitgeist are those that are most successful because they are the ones that will capture our attention, inspire a sense of belonging and connectedness with the person who shared it with us, and encourage us to share with others the meme and the collective experience of viewing it and relating to it.” A meme is not just a joke, the pixels themselves are not what make a meme appealing.

What draws us to memes is that they inspire that sense of belonging and interconnectedness. In a way, they play on the in-group/ out-group mentality, rewarding those who are in on the joke with the knowledge that it would be unintelligible to anyone not in the group. In fact the appeal of every meme (even the normiest of memes) is based on this idea, the in-group being young people

involved in internet culture, and the out-group being other generations uninvolved in internet meme culture. But this is clearly the greatest common denominator — it doesn’t feel very gratifying to know that you are a part of a massive group of millions of idiots who spend their time sharing images online. But on the smaller scale, such as at Swarthmore, the sense of belonging and mutual understanding that one gets from appreciating a niche meme is extremely rewarding and satisfying.

Memes about college life strike a medium between general memes and Swarthmore-centric memes.

For example, memes about lack of sleep, being overburdened by school work, and dorm living.

These memes are surely more relevant and apply to a smaller subsection of the population. One could perhaps garner a certain sense of belonging from them, a comraderie with students across

the nation and the world who also go through the same struggles and experience the same woes.

But this isn’t a very powerful alliance, and it doesn’t feel unique at all. A meme about school being difficult just isn’t enough, and the divide between those who understand it and those who would not is not nearly tangible or evident enough to provide the gratification of being in an in-group.

It is safe to say that a majority of members of the page prefer Swarthmore-specific memes to general memes. Looking at posts from approximately mid-October to mid-November, the average number of reactions for Swatrelated posts is 137.5, more than two times the average of 60 reactions for general posts. Every one of the most successful posts in the group, the posts that garner over 300 reactions, are Swarthmorespecific. And the comments of these posts tend to also be a lot

more lively than those on general memes, as students tag each other in larger numbers and talk about the references.

It might be safe to say that a majority of students prefer Swarthmore-specific memes to general memes. Gabrielle Henig ’22 expressed some disappointment in the saturation of general memes on the group, saying that the meme groups of other schools tend to be a lot more focused on school-specific memes, which cultivates a unique meme culture and in a positive loop strengthens the posts themselves.

Some students have advocated for an outright ban of non-Swat specific memes on the group, while others have advocated for such posts to be restricted to certain days. Though these solutions may definitely be viable, there are also concerns that with such restrictions, the amount of posts on the group will decrease.

A decrease in posts might lead to a lack of engagement and activity, which through a negative loop would weaken the meme culture and lower the quality of memes. Some have advocated for a “free market of memes,” believing that members will understand that Swat-specific posts are more successful which will lead to the creation of more of those types of posts.

The fundamental question at the heart of this issue is whether the group should exist as a place for Swatties to post memes, or a place for memes about Swarthmore. Perhaps only time will decide, but until then the herds of animals fighting over this watering hole will continue to quench themselves with the water they so dearly need, no matter how stagnant it might be.

I have recurring dreams about your clogs. I dream about their color, their texture, their shape.

No diviner design of shoe has ever been created, in my humble opinion, and none ever will. This is a fact that I decided upon my sixth birthday, when I received my first pair of Crocs, and is one that I continue to hold very closely to my heart and soul. Crocs play an indispensable role in my daily life, and to be quite frank, I don’t know whether I would be the same person as I am today if it weren’t for the never-ending comfort that Crocs provide me on a daily basis.

Crocs aren’t mere shoes. They aren’t clogs or slippers. Crocs are a home away from home, the mythical garden of Eden, the eighth wonder of the world. Crocs are not only economical, but also beautiful and truly magnificent.

They say that all you need is love, but I disagree — all I need are Crocs.

As the world’s most zealous fan of your product, I would be more than overjoyed if you graciously bestowed upon me a lifetime supply of Crocs. A lifetime supply of Crocs is a gift that would impact my life unimaginably, and that would ameliorate my day-to-day existence like no other material object ever could. With this one gift of a lifetime supply of Crocs, my quality of life will improve astronomically, and I will never forget your compassion as a truly humanitarian corporation.

It is my sincere wish that you will consider providing me perpetual happiness in the form of a lifetime supply of Crocs. Granting me this one mortal wish will change my life forever, and leave me in awe of Crocs both as a clog and as an overwhelmingly benevolent institution on this all-toocruel planet. With these words, I leave you with a quote from Homer, the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey: “The charity that is a trifle to us can be precious to others.”

Love, Ash Shukla Three days later, I had all but

forgotten about the email when I received the following response from a Crocs representative: Thank you for contacting Crocs! I apologize for the delayed response. We appreciate your enthusiasm and we’re happy that you’re loving our product! You do have my applause and recognition for your writing style, which I definitely love and I was left astonished after reading your email.

However, this is not how Crocs operates. What I can do however is provide you with the biggest coupon code we have for your next order! I wish you a beautiful day.

I waited a week to take action with the spoils that this blessed Crocs representative had provided me. I contacted my family and closest friends, asking them if they wanted to purchase Crocs through me and then Venmo me back later. Then, one of my friends suggested posting about my bulk Crocs order on the Swarthmore College 2018-2019 Facebook group. Faithfully, in the interests of serving the larger Swarthmore campus and community, I did so on Wednesday evening.

“Hi everyone!” I wrote. “A week or so ago I sent a deeply impassioned email to Crocs asking for a lifetime supply of their shoes and they gave me a 50% off coupon for my next order, so I’m trying to be economical and order as many Crocs as possible. If you would be interested in getting a pair of Crocs at 50% off the listed price then HMU! (I’ll order them and you can venmo me back later.)”

At the end, I attached a copy of my email and the response that it elicited from Crocs. Soon, the messages started pouring in. People that I had never even heard of before began contacting me, asking me if they could get in on the now-legendary Bulk Crocs Deal. I took orders from people for about two hours before the sum total of the items in my Crocs cart reached over $500, and then, feeling overwhelmed, I ended my generous offer.

It took until Friday for me to

return to my Crocs endeavor, and after asking everyone in my hall if they wanted to get in on the Crocs deal last, minute, I took a deep breath. It was time to order this behemoth of clogs.

I texted my parents something along the lines of, “JSYK I’m about to transfer a large amount of money into my bank account from Venmo and then spend a VERY large amount of money on Crocs.com but don’t panic because everything is normal and good.” Then, I clicked on the button to order the Crocs.

My card declined the first time that I attempted to make a purchase, and although I was rather flustered at this, it made sense; my usual purchases included buying groceries, clothes (in small quantities), and gum, so I couldn’t blame my bank for thinking that $567.86 of Crocs might have been a fraudulent purchase.

On Friday, November 9, at 2:11 p.m., my bank texted me, “Did you use card ending **** for $567.86 at a shoe store on 11-092018? Reply YES or NO, or STOP to end msgs.”

I was sweating and, to be honest, kind of hyperventilating at this point. I had never made such an obscenely large and frivolous purchase before in my life, and I doubt that I ever will again. As I stared at the forty items in my cart on Crocs.com, I took a deep breath, and typed out, “YES.” I hit send.

Then, five minutes later, I reattempted to place my forty-item order on Crocs.com, but instead of my card being declined, a small yellow-and-red banner read at the top of the screen, “Your maximum number of retries has been reached.”

Once again, at this point I felt nothing but overwhelmed, and I decided to chat with a live Crocs representative online to figure out what to do next. In a twist of fate, I ended up chatting with the same representative who gave me the coupon to begin with, and he gave me two pieces of sage counsel that I took to heart. The first

was that I should “give writing a shot.” (Thanks, Crocs representative!) The second was that Crocs. com only accepts orders of up to ten items at a time, and that I should email bulk@crocs.com with my coupon code and a list of every item that I wished to order.

I wrote my (admittedly, lessimpassioned) email to bulk@ crocs.com explaining my situation, and, painstakingly, I copypasted the item numbers of the forty items in my Crocs cart. I sent the email on Friday, and because it generally takes two business days for Crocs to respond to emails, I await a response as of Monday evening.

I never once thought that it would be easy to order what would be over $1120 worth of

Crocs at face value. This wasn’t some sort of self-serving mission to gain clout with the Swarthmore student body, or to buy people’s love in the form of little rubbery clogs. This was a labor of love to the Swarthmore campus and community, and one that I hope inspires people to give back to those around them. As I await a response from bulk@crocs.com (which I will hopefully receive tomorrow), I don’t know when my massive order of forty items will go through the system or when it will arrive. But I take my role as Swat’s resident underground Crocs dealer very seriously, and I will fight tooth and nail for the right to my — or, our, as I should say, Crocs.

pon use. Others have hymens small enough that they’re barely visible. Having penetrative sex stretches out the hymen (as can a lot of other activities — that’s why the intact state of one’s hymen is not a sure measure of whether they’ve had penetrative intercourse). A hymen stretching can cause pain or bleeding.

In some cases, peoples have thick hymens that cover almost their entire vaginal opening. In those cases, they might need medical assistance. This could be your girlfriend’s problem, but it’s not too likely. For most hymens, they stretch just fine with patience.

Hopefully, identifying these potential problems and solutions give you an idea of how to work around this issue. The general gist is to emphasize foreplay, arousal, and comfort. As a final reminder, penetration is neither required nor needed for great sex, and if it ends up being something that you and your partner don’t feel strongly about, you are under no obligation to do it.

previous partners, but the guy I’m seeing right now gets kind of rough when I’m going down on him. He grabs my head and tries to control the movement and I end up gagging. I really don’t like it and I don’t know why he finds it so appealing.

How do I tell him I don’t like it without upsetting him?

-Hate the Head Push

people are into more rough activities like that, which is perfectly valid, but they communicate beforehand that they want it! Clear verbal consent is absolutely mandatory for something that involves you choking and struggling to breathe. For these reasons, I wouldn’t worry very much about upsetting him. I would, however, recommend that you follow up that statement with an alternative: “I’d rather you just run your hands through my hair, I really like that.” In general, that’s a good way to tell someone you don’t like something — always follow up with what you do want.

If you feel very uncomfortable being that confrontational, you can just say the second half with the positive alternative, but I think it would be better to be straightforward. Advocating for yourself sexually is intimidating, but like anything you get better with practice. It’s important for all of us to have this skill, but we only foster it by using it.

How I Became an Underground Crocs Dealer Ash Shukla CJ Writer

This story needs no introduction. This story is one that plays a central role in my reputation on this campus, and precedes me in ways that I never considered could be possible before. This story is one of Homerian status, one of an endeavor to accomplish a beyond-Herculean task. This is the story of how I learned that it’s apparently really hard to buy $567.86 of Crocs (yes, the shoe) online.

One Wednesday evening, in between copyediting articles for The Phoenix, I read the epic of one man who petitioned Crocs for a lifetime supply of Crocs and received what he had desired. Because I had nothing better to do at the time, I derived a great deal of inspiration from this story and decided to try my own hand at coercing Crocs into giving me a lifetime supply of their shoes. In around fifteen or twenty minutes, I drafted a deeply impassioned email to the company stating that their shoes ameliorated my life like no other object ever has, and that if they had any sort of conscience, they would grant me a lifetime supply of their shoes. The email reads as follows: Dear Crocs, I hold an unwavering and undying love for your magnificent product. Really — I wake up every day in my cold Pennsylvania dorm room, shuffle my feet across the questionably clean vinyl flooring, and slip my jaded feet into a pair of your smooth, wholly agreeable clogs. Believe me when I say that that moment, that blessed moment, is the best part of my day, every day. It provides me with the pick-me-up that I need to get through the rest of my physically and mentally taxing day as a college student. Whether pink and glittery, or green, or fur-lined, Crocs provide both the fashion and function that I need in a good pair of shoes. For this gift that Crocs have provided me, I will remain eternally grateful.

Swat Ed: Second Base

By P. Afdersex ’69

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

Today’s subject matter is vaginal penetration and roughness during oral sex.

I am in a lesbian relationship with my girlfriend of two years. It’s long distance right now, but we have a couple of issues that we’ve been struggling to work through and I want some feedback before we see each other again. I have had penetrative sex with other partners and I feel very comfortable with it. She has not had that experience with other partners and she wants to do it with me, but it hasn’t been going well. We try to go slowly, but she just says it feels un-

comfortable or actually painful. It’s gotten a little better since we first started trying, but not by much. I don’t want our sex life to be stressful or unpleasant because of this, especially since we don’t see each other often. Thoughts?

-Good Enough Reason to Use the Word Penetrate

This is a great question and a common problem. There are a few different things that could be causing this, so let’s just go down the list and tick off the issues and solutions.

First: lack of lubrication. This is an easy one to fix, because it just means more foreplay. If that doesn’t work either, for whatever reason, you can just use lubricant. Since you’re concerned about stress, you can just have some on hand because it takes away the pressure to get wet.

However, don’t make the mistake of substituting artificial lubricant for arousal — that’s essential for your partner to enjoy penetration.

Second: she might be tense and

struggling to relax. Frequently, anxiety in female-bodied people manifests as muscle tension that makes inserting anything into the vagina very uncomfortable, if not outright painful. The extreme of this is a condition called vaginismus, which is when the vaginal muscles contract to such a degree that inserting anything is very painful and relaxing is extremely difficult. Vaginismus requires the attention of a medical professional, but it is absolutely treatable with physical therapy.

Most of the time, muscle tension is not that severe and you can combat it with lots of foreplay, talking about how to make her more comfortable, and orgasming before trying penetration through oral sex or using your hands.

Third: her hymen might be getting in the way. The hymen is a very misunderstood piece of anatomy. It is a piece of tissue that can partially or completely cover the opening of the vagina.

For most people, their hymens have a hole large enough for period blood and comfortable tam-

I’ve enjoyed going down on

Okay, there’s a lot to break down here. This is unfortunately common and promoted in porn and the media. We might as well just take a moment here to say as a public service announcement that taking a person’s head and physically moving it up and down without previously establishing they want that is terrible.

Not only is it uncomfortable and objectifying, it takes away one of the best things about oral sex: being in the driver’s seat with regard to your partner’s pleasure.

You can approach this one of several ways with your partner.

You can be straightforward: “I don’t like that, I hate gagging and it doesn’t feel good at all.” Some

SPORTS

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PAGE A9

Women’s Soccer Continues Hot Streak into NCAA Sweet 16 Joseph Barile Sports Writer

O

n the familiar turf of Clothier Field this past weekend, the Swarthmore women’s soccer team defeated both St. Joseph’s College of Maine and Virginia Wesleyan University, launching themselves into the third round of the NCAA tournament. The Garnet, now ranked No. 12 in the country according to the latest United Soccer Coaches poll, could not have asked for a better string of results heading into their biggest game the season. The team dominated in the Centennial Conference tournament, defeating McDaniel 5-2 in the semifinals and Johns Hopkins 5-0 in the final, a team that was ranked No. 4 in the country at the time. In the first two rounds of the tournament, the Garnet easily made their way past St. Joseph’s and Virginia Wesleyan, winning 5-1 and 3-0, respectively.

On Saturday, in front of 600 fans braving the cold November winds, the Garnet continued their hot streak from the Centennial Conference tournament. Lizzie King ’21 led the way against St. Joseph’s with two goals, while Grace Taylor ’21, Sydney Covitz ’20, and Sophia Stills ’21 each added goals of their own. By winning on Saturday, Swarthmore advanced past the first round of the tournament for the fourth straight year.

On Sunday, the Garnet picked up where they left off. This time, it was two-time Centennial Conference Player of the Year and two-time All American Marin McCoy ’19 who recorded two goals, one in the first minute and one late in the second half to seal the game. Maddy Carens ’20 also added a header in first half to put the Garnet up 2-0. The team ended up recording their first clean sheet since their 3-0 win vs. Muhlenberg on October 24. By winning on Sunday, Swarthmore punched their ticket to the Sweet 16, something the team had not been able to do for the past two years.

The last time the team advanced past the second round of the tournament was in 2015, when the Garnet lost to No. 1 Messiah in the Elite Eight. Now, the freshmen from that 2015 team are senior leaders on this year’s team and have a golden opportunity to flip the script. “[There’s] a level of confidence that I have not seen in my four years at Swat,” said captain Yasmeen Namazie ’19.

“Coming out of the playoffs last weekend, we were up 2-0 at half verse Hopkins and we were like ‘We can do this!’ And then we went out scored 3 more goals and it was like ‘Wow, we got this!’”

Coach Todd Anckaitis agrees.

“Every season is different.

But this season, the way the captains have led and brought the team together is different,”

said Anckaitis. “We are starting to hit things now at the right times and cleaning up the little mistakes that happen throughout the season. If we keep putting the ball in back in the net and the defense keeps holding it down, we are poised to make a run.”

Putting the ball in the back of the net has been no issue for this team as of late. Although the team had not matched their goal total from last season prior the Centennial Conference playoffs, Saturday marked the third game in a row in which the Garnet scored five goals.

The only other team to do accomplish this feat was the aforementioned 2015 team.

McCoy is a big reason for Swarthmore’s offensive success, but she points to the players around her as being key to the team’s performances.

“People on our team, on and off the bench, have shown that they can score goals,” said McCoy. “We have confidence that whoever is on the field can score the goal.”

McCoy is spot on. In the last four matches, all win or go home games, the Garnet scored 18 goals through eight different goal-scorers. The team appears to be clicking on all cylinders offensively, not just with McCoy, who has 14 goals and seven assists this season, but with every player that steps on the field.

“We have been playing so dynamically the past four games,” says McCoy. “The movement, the creating space for one another. I’m very proud of this team and it is so special.”

Anckaitis, while emphasizing the excellent play of seniors McCoy, Namazie, Caroline Coats, Melissa Curran, and Amy Shmoys, wants to bring attention to the talent that the younger players on the team have brought to the table.

“I keep reminding [people] that we have young players that haven’t gotten opportunities this year,” said Anckaitis. “But we have seen glimpses of their ability these past four games.”

All the way from the seasoned veterans to the young rookies, the Swarthmore women’s soccer team is poised for a deep run into NCAA tournament. On Saturday, the Garnet will travel to Vermont to play No. 3 Middlebury, a team that boasts a 16-1-3 record and won the NESCAC over Williams, 1-0.

Middlebury defeated Ithaca College on penalty kicks to advance to the final 16 of the NCAA tournament, which they are hosting on their campus.

Although Middlebury is a formidable opponent, Swarthmore has hit their form at the right time and is more than up for the challenge. With their versatile offense, dominating midfield, and stout back line, the Garnet have a fantastic opportunity to knock off a top five team once again.

Marin McCoy ’19 rises up for a corner kick

Sydney Covitz ’20 drives into the box

Maddy Carens ’20 holds off a Monks defender

Lizzie King ’21 fires a shot on goal in the second half against St. Joesph’s College of Maine

PAGE A10

THE PHOENIX SPORTS

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Changing The Landscape of European Soccer Francis Eddy-Harvey Sports Writer

O

ver the past decade, two actions have forever changed the course of soccer — the arrival of billionaire president Nasser Al-Khelaifi at Paris Saint Germain in 2011 and the purchase of Manchester City in 2008 by Sheikh Mansour.

Since these takeovers, hundreds of millions of dollars have been steadily funneled into each of these clubs, giving them the ability to seemingly purchase players at will. This has resulted in an increase in transfer prices for players throughout Europe as these two clubs have forced other clubs to spend bigger. The rising cost of players is synonymous with the increasing the disparity between the top tier clubs and their lower tier counterparts throughout Europe. Under their new ownership, Manchester City has won three Premier League titles, and last year broke the Premier League record for number of points in a season. PSG has won five of the last seven Ligue 1 titles.

A new proposed “Super League” has the potential to further alter European soccer.

gun talks about the league, and they, under the proposed format, would be seven of the sixteen teams in the competition.

Currently, the most prized trophy on the club level is the UEFA Champions League, a tournament between the best clubs in Europe. In order to qualify for the tournament, each team must win or place in the top four of their domestic league. Over the years, big clubs have historically dominated the Champions League. However, recently Europe’s biggest clubs have gotten more powerful as their wealth accumulates. These clubs understand the critical role they play in the success and popularity of the Champions League. Therefore, they have demanded more money and guarantees from UEFA, the governing body of European soccer. UEFA, for the most part has given in, but when UEFA no longer pleases big clubs and their investors, big clubs could leave.

Additionally, with the current format of the Champions League, there tends to be many lopsided games. For example, last week Manchester City outclassed in every possible way Ukrainian champions Shakhtar Donetsk,

Football Leaks, an underground organization that releases sensitive information relating to the world of soccer, published documents detailing a plan for a European super league. This super league would consist of only the biggest clubs in Europe. Over the past few years, Football Leaks has most notably released information about the financial details of large transfers and more recently, documents pertaining to rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo. Thus far, the authenticity of said released information has not been proven to be forged or false, and various clubs have admitted that talks are underway.

This new information leads to a whole host of questions about the supposed league, most notably, who would participate, why would clubs consider doing this, and is this possible?

In their most recent story, Der Spiegel mentioned seven clubs that would be in the league, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern Munich, and AC Milan, otherwise known has the wealthiest, most historic and acclaimed clubs in history. These seven clubs have admittedly be-

beating them 6-0. From a player’s perspective the super league could also be seen as an improvement. The more top players play against lower class sides and players, the larger chances of injury because lower class teams tend to be less skilled, and therefore rely more on physicality.

Finally, there is the question of feasibility. In theory, this league could come to fruition.

There is a current agreement between UEFA and European clubs about the format and specifics of the Champions League. However this agreement is only valid until 2021, meaning, a super league could technically begin in 2022.

Regardless of the feasibility of creating a super league, it is important to consider the impact it would have on the game as a whole.

First, there are some undeniable benefits this league would bring fans. Currently, other than the occasional Champions League game, powerhouse teams rarely play each other, and fans are unable to see how the best players in the world match up.

This league would allow viewers and pundits to compare domestic leagues more accu-

rately. Many say that the English Premier League is the most competitive league in the world because there are very few lopsided results. Conversely, others criticize powerhouses PSG and Bayern Munich, because they win more comfortably and more often in their respective domestic leagues. The super league would allow pundits to more accurately determine the world’s best clubs.

Although there are potential benefits to this league, there are glaring consequences of it as well.

Over the past decade, the disparity between top teams and lower teams has increased across all five of Europe’s major leagues.

For the leagues with the wealthiest clubs, this is because teams, like Manchester City and PSG, have massive sums of money poured into them to buy better players. Manchester City currently has the most expensive team in the Premier League, at £778 million, while a middle of the league team, like Crystal Palace has a squad value of £193 million. This already has begun to ruin soccer especially for the local fan, who supports their local team.

Men’s Basketball Bounces Into a New Season

James Sutton Sports Writer

“You always feel like you could have gone farther … we were playing really well in the tournament,” said head coach Landry Kosmalski. Last year, Swarthmore men’s basketball went through a string of new heights for the program but ended the season on a loss in the unforgiving climate of March Madness.

Yet after leading the team to its best finish in school history, Kosmalski is confident they can meet and exceed sky-high expectations in 2018-2019. The Garnet come into this year after a regular season Centennial Conference championship and a historic run to the Division III Elite Eight that culminated in a 72-64 loss to Springfield. This season the Garnet are ranked No. 13 in the country and are poised to build on the successes of the last several seasons, settling in as a conference, and hopefully national, powerhouse.

The team, however, will have a different look and feel than in years past. The graduation of guards Zach Yonda and Jim Lammers and center Robbie Walsh means the loss of a third of all minutes played last year.

Yonda and Walsh were also

both four-year starters, with Yonda earning All-Centennial Conference Second Team honors the last two seasons. “We’ve had guys working for years who are ready to step up and take on new roles,” said Kosmalski. “I think it’s really kind of a cumulative effort, everyone is kind of stepping in … I think it’s going to be a real group effort.”

Two sophomores and a junior, who all earned heavy minutes last year, will play a large part in filling the gaps left by graduated players. Sophomore guard Ryan Ingram started 26 games last season, leading all freshmen in minutes. Fellow sophomore Conor Harkins, also coming off the bench, averaged 8.8 points while shooting a team leading 44 percent from three. And forward Nate Shafer averaged 9.7 points and 6.4 rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. When asked about the sophomores, including backup point guard Abass Salah, Kosmalski said, “They’re playing like seasoned veterans now ... they’re going to play primary roles and help us out in a bunch of different ways.” The loss of Walsh also means even more playing time for big man Zac O’Dell, who led the team with 60 blocks and in rebounding (8.2 per game average) while earning All-Centennial Confer-

ence Second Team honors last season.

But the most important contributor will be senior starting point guard and team captain Cam Wiley. “When he’s attacking, whether for himself or to create others, that’s good for us,” said Kosmalski. And the results have proved the coach right. After injuries hijacked his freshman year, Wiley’s success has tracked with the team’s rise to prominence. He has piled up awards in the process, including two All-Centennial Conference First Team selections, a D3hoops.com All-Mid-Atlantic Region Second Team spot, and a National Association of Basketball Coaches All-America Third Team selection. Leading the team last year in minutes, points, assists, and steals positions Wiley to build on his legacy as one of the best to ever play at Swarthmore. However, his contributions that don’t show up on the stat sheet will also be vital, said Kosmalski: “The biggest thing for this year is being a senior leader ... stepping into that role and leading the younger guys, because we are a younger team … he’s done a really good job.” The team is now Wiley’s; its ceiling will be determined by his play.

The team’s play will look different from the more defense-

oriented units of Swarthmore’s recent past, however. Kosmalski said, “We’re trying to figure out what’s best for this team, because it is different ... we’re going to be pretty offensively talented, defensively we’re getting there ... we’ve definitely made strides in the past week.”

“Getting there,” of course, is not the same as having arrived, but Kosmalski notes that this takes time with younger teams.

Court spacing through three point shooting and playing uptempo will be a focus, as well as

an increased usage of attacking lineups utilizing four guards.

In a Centennial Conference that promises to be competitive with defending champion Johns Hopkins ranked No. 15 and Franklin & Marshall receiving votes in the national poll, Kosmalski denied that the team is focusing on the competition or outside expectations. “The season is a journey for us… it’s really how are we going to get a little bit better each day...not focused on what people think we ‘should’ do this year, we’re

Soccer in Europe is ingrained into the very fabric of towns and cities. In every European league, earning a Champions League spot is one of the most significant achievements a team can accomplish in a season. A Champions League spot gives smaller clubs the ability to compete at the world’s best stage and even more significantly, gives players a chance to get recognized.

If a super league were to happen, these already ignored clubs, would be all but forgotten.

This league would also take away something that is valued in every sport, parody. The soccer community losses something valuable if we are no longer able to see an underdog beat the reigning European Champion.

For example, Serbian club, Red Star Belgrade, beat Champions League finalists, Liverpool, 2-0 earlier this season. These types of results show that there are good clubs around the world, and that although money does to a large extent dictate the success of a team, it does not always have to.

really just focused on being the best team we can be, fifteen guys and four coaches.” These are standard talking points for a coach trying to keep his team focused on the day-to-day issues of a basketball team, but they certainly don’t lower the high expectations Swatties now have for a team getting used to competing at an elite level.

The Garnet’s home opener is Saturday, November 17, at 6 P.M. against Delaware Valley University.

Courtesy of Brandon Hodnett

Athlete of the Week: Lizzie King ’21 nice through balls in the 3-0 victory over Virginia Wesleyan. King, an All-Centennial Conference Honorable Mention selection last season, has been performing at a consistently high level again this season.

However, she has picked up her scoring form in recent weeks, with three goals and two assists in her past five games. King will look to continue her hot form when the Garnet resume their journey to the national championship this weekend against No. 3 Middlebury.

Max Katz-Balmes: What are you planning to major in, and what has led you to pursue that area of study?

Lizzie King: I’m planning on majoring in medical anthropology.

I was sort of interested in becoming an MD, but I found significant meaning in the pre-med classes that I was taking, so I decided to take a anthropology class on public health and loved it, so I decided that medical anth[ropology] was the path for me.

MKB: Why did you decide to attend Swarthmore?

LK: I was looking for schools that were competitive academically and had a strong women’s soccer program but didn’t look at Swarthmore because I lived here my whole life and thought that I should leave home for college. After visiting a few schools and determining that I wanted to go to a small liberal arts college, I gave Swarthmore some more thought and reached out to Coach Todd. The recruitment process was easy because I live so close by and the school really met all the criteria that I was looking for.

MKB: When did you begin playing soccer?

LK: I started playing soccer for the Swarthmore Recreation Association when I was in second grade. Two of my best friends’ dads were the coaches of the team and it was where I learned to love soccer.

Max Katz-Balmes Sports Editor Swarthmore women’s soccer continued their strong play this past weekend, defeating St. Joseph’s College of Maine and Virginia Wesleyan in the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament. Although six Swarthmore players scored over the weekend, Lizzie King ’21 was one of the team’s standout performers. King, a sophomore from Swarthmore, PA, notched two goals in the 5-1 drubbing of St. Joseph’s on Saturday. She then followed up her fine performance against the Monks with an assist and a number of

MKB: Tell us a funny story from your experience as a Swarthmore soccer player.

LK: Last week, we were watching the NCAA selection show to see what our seed would be in the playoffs. When we found out that we were hosting, Yaz[meen Namazie] got super excited and tripped on something that sent her flying over the table in front of her. Thankfully our coach was sitting right there and grabbed her by the ankle and saved her right before she hit the ground. We could have been down another player if it wasn’t for his quick thinking.

MKB: What is your favorite aspect about playing soccer at Swat?

LK: The team. My teammates are some of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met, and they motivate me to do my best everyday, on

and off the field.

MKB: What is the biggest difference between this year’s team and last year’s team?

LK: This year there has been such a group effort to keep a healthy, positive mindset amongst the team and it has cultivated a confidence that wasn’t as strong last year. I honestly could feel it during preseason. I could tell by the positivity that was being spread that we were going to have a historic season.

MKB: The team has won its past four games by an average margin of almost four goals per game. What has inspired this fine run in form?

LK: I think we have just been progressing through the season with the intent of peaking in playoffs. We have kept our team healthy so that we’ve all been able to play for the full season and with time we’ve learned to be confident in ourselves and each other. It’s allowed us to go into playoff season on our strongest foot and it shows in the scores.

MKB: Describe the emotions of playing the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament on home turf.

LK: We thought that our last home game was going to be the one against Haverford on senior day, which we tied. Being able to host meant giving our seniors another shot at winning their last game on this turf. We were playing for each other and being on this turf gave it more sentiment.

MKB: This weekend, you guys are making the trip up to Middlebury for the third round of the NCAA tournament. The three teams you could potentially face, Middlebury, Misericordia, and HardinSimmons, are all ranked in the top ten of the latest United Soccer Coaches rankings. How confident are you guys going into these tough matchups? What is the ceiling for this year’s team?

LK: We got one of our best results in a game against the No. 4 ranked team in the nation at the time [Johns Hopkins]. We’ve proven that rakings don’t intimidate us. After scoring 18 goals in our last four games and only allowing three goals on us, we are going into this round with momentum. I think the only ceiling for this team would be one that we create ourselves. If we continue to go forward with confidence and a positive mindset we can achieve whatever we set our minds to.