APRIL 21, 2011 • THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE SINCE 1881 • VOLUME 133, ISSUE 26
PHOENIX
Inside: War News Radio explores new funding sources Banning of dogs from campus buildings criticized Spring poetry festival highlights folklore
BP Gulf Oil Spill One Year Later Students commemorate oil spill with ink-stained hands p. 5 But without widespread publicity and attention, how can change come about? p. 13
The Phoenix
Thursday, April 21, 2011 Volume 133, Issue 26
The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881.
Page
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Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
War News Radio reporter Elliana Bisgaard-Church records a story. WNR is currently searching for alternative sources of funding.
News
adding layers of meta-analysis that are occasionally clever, but does not manage to be terrifying. PAGE 8
Dog ban in buildings Spring poetry festival to evokes criticisms feature folklore, OASIS Recently, the lack of presence of dogs on campus has had some students wondering, “What’s going on?” PAGE 3
WNR funding guaranteed for another year Though WNR has secured funding from the President’s Office for the next academic year, it is currently searching for alternative sources of funding in order to maintain a journalist-in-residence. PAGE 4
Students commemorate oil spill with symbolic inkstained hands In wake of the one-year anniversary of the BP oil spill, Alexa Ross ’13 and Isabel Newton ’13 took action to remind the community of the effects of the tragic spill. PAGE 4
In commemoration of Dr. Kathryn Morgan, the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Professor Emerita of History, the College will host the third annual Kathryn Morgan Spring Poetry Festival. Members of OASIS and local spoken-word duo Nagohead will present poetry. PAGE 9
The last show at Olde Club will feature Hunx and His Punx, Shannon and the Clams and Swarthmore’s very own Ben Starr as Lexi Starr. The show will be followed by a DJ set by Physical Therapy. PAGE 7
Forget Buy&Hold: focus on the long-term direction Business columnist Aliya explains the two popular forms of investment opportunities available to most of us, Buy&Hold and the Market Timing approach. PAGE 8
‘Scream 4’ has lots of laughs but fails to scare “Scream 4” parodies the horror genre,
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Congressman Paul Ryan offers a reasonable way to cut government spending, including tackling Medicare. PAGE 14
Monday’s film screening of “Maquilapolis: City of Factories,” a movie made by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre, examined the lives of maquiladoras, Mexican women working in the factory cities along the order between the United States and Mexico. PAGE 10
Sports have seen success as many members of both teams have qualified to compete in the Centennial Conference Championship at the end of the season. PAGE 15
Purkey reflects on rugby column, bids farewell Television produces mas- and Sports columnist Hannah, in her last column, discusses her involvement in the terpieces of our time rugby team and holds her notion that anyIn her last column, television review columnist Alex defends the best shows on TV as having surpassed cinema, literature and music in their ability to influence society. PAGE 11
one can be an athlete if they want to. PAGE 16
Tennis teams see success, men’s streak continues The men’s tennis team (11-6, 7-1 CC), hot off a seven match winning streak, looks to stay on the winning track against Haverford. The women (8-8, 7-2), equally impressive, look to do the same. PAGE 17
Opinions
Anniversary of oil spill Baseball struggles against should be a time for Conference opponents The Garnet baseball team (17-12, 8-7 CC) activism have picked up more losses than wins in
Where doe we go from here? On the anniversary of the gulf oil spill, student activism is refreshing as little institutional change has been achieved and the gulf ecosystem remains crippled. PAGE 13
STAFF Patrick Ammerman News Writer Sera Jeong Living & Arts Writer Steven Hazel Living & Arts Writer Steve Dean Living & Arts Columnist Alex Israel Living & Arts Columnist Maki Sakuma Living & Arts Columnist Ariel Swyer Living & Arts Columnist Aliya Padamsee Living & Arts Columnist Timothy Bernstein Film Critic Renu Nadkarni Artist Naia Poyer Artist Ben Schneiderman Crossword Writer Holly Smith Crossword Writer Tyler Becker Opinions Columnist Danielle Charette Opinions Columnist Eva McKend Opinions Columnist Jon Erwin-Frank Opinions Columnist Emma Waitzman Artist Ana Apostoleris Sports Writer Daniel Duncan Sports Writer Renee Flores Sports Writer Timothy Bernstein Sports Columnist Hannah Purkey Sports Columnist Andrew Greenblatt Sports Columnist Renee Flores Copy Editor Lauren Kim Copy Editor Susanna Pretzer Copy Editor Jakob Mrozewski Photographer Eric Verhasselt Photographer BUSINESS STAFF Ian Anderson Director of Business Development Patricia Zarate Circulation Manager
Female workers turned Garnet track & field qualifor CC Championship advocates in ‘Maquilapolis’ fies The men’s and women’s track & field teams
Living & Arts Olde Club ends year with electro-pop and rock ‘n’ roll
Ryan budget plan a viable option for fiscal solvency
EDITORIAL BOARD Camila Ryder Editor in Chief Marcus Mello Managing Editor Menghan Jin News Editor Adam Schlegel Assistant News Editor Susana Medeiros Living & Arts Editor Dina Zingaro Living & Arts Editor Olivia Natan Opinions Editor Paul Chung Photo Editor Allegra Pocinki Photo Editor Julia Karpati Graphics Editor Peter Akkies Director of Web Development Eric Sherman Director of Web Development Jeffrey Davidson Editor Emeritus
recent Conference play. The team bounces back into action tomorrow to avenge yesterday’s loss to Ursinus. PAGE 18
GRAPHICS Julia Karpati Cover Design Parker Murray Layout Assistant CONTRIBUTORS Henry Kietzman, Rachel Killackey, Aaron Kramer, Anna Rothschild, Justin ToranBurrell OPINIONS BOARD Camila Ryder, Marcus Mello, Olivia Natan EDITORS’ PICKS PHOTOS COURTESY OF: (clockwise from top left): http://www.laura-dreyer.com africamotozzo.com justinandrie.wordpress.com http://coloringpagesforkids.info http://www.dosomething.org TO ADVERTISE: E-mail: advertising@swarthmorephoenix.com Advertising phone: (610) 328-7362 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Direct advertising requests to Camila Ryder. The Phoenix reserves the right to refuse any advertising. Advertising rates subject to change. CONTACT INFORMATION Offices: Parrish Hall 470-472 E-mail: editor@swarthmorephoenix.com Newsroom phone: (610) 328-8172 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Web site: www.swarthmorephoenix.com Mail subscriptions are available for $60 a year or $35 a semester. Direct subscription requests to Camila Ryder. The Phoenix is printed at Bartash Printing, Inc. The Phoenix is a member of the Associated College Press and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. All contents copyright © 2011 The Phoenix. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.
Softball can’t shake Wagner, Marable remind us Conference losing streak of politics of history vs. Facing a slew of Conference opponents, the softball team has continued to struggle on memory the season, dropping its last eight games.
According to Eva, history is being rewritten to include unconventional narratives. PAGE 14
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April 14, 2011
THE PHOENIX
News
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events menu Today Martyrdom or Mob Violence?: Sufism and the State in Today's Pakistan Lehigh’s Director of the center for Global Islamic Studies, Robert Rozehnal, will be hosting a lecture on Muslim identity, Islamic orthodoxy and Sufi practice in contemporary Pakistan at 4:30 p.m. in Kohlberg 116.
Dog ban in buildings evokes criticisms
Africa Film Series: Sango Malo (1991, Cameroon) The fifth installment in the 2011 Swarthmore Africa Film Series concerns the issue of education, promoting populist education as central to the course of democratization and development in Africa. The film will begin at 7 p.m. in Sci 101. Tomorrow Memory, Love and Social Justice: The Kathryn Morgan Poetry Festival Join the Black Studies Department and the Dean’s Office at 5 p.m. in Kohlberg’s Scheuer room for a celebration of the life of Dr. Kathryn Morgan, the first African-American woman to be tenured at the college. Events will include poetry and spoken word performances by OASIS as well as by local artists.
Village Education Project Talent Auction Head over to the AP lounge at 7 p.m. to watch fellow students and faculty showcase their individual talents to support the Village Education Project in Ecuador. Elisabeth Rosenthal Lecture In celebration of Earth Day 2011, New York Times environmental issues reporter Elisabeth Rosenthal will be hosting a lecture on environmental trends as well as her experiences in journalism at 4 p.m. in Sci 199. Saturday, April 23rd Night At the Apollo Enjoy performances by student performers in a night of music, dance, poetry, comedy and much more, hosted by ABLLE in Olde Club at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24th Quidditch Match Ever dreamt of catching your very own golden snitch? Well now you can, as the Swarthmore Quidditch Club is hosting a game on Mertz Field at noon.
Campus Assassinz Watch your behinds. As soon as the clock strikes 11:59 p.m, a dangerously fun game of campuswide assassins will commence. Contact The Ass Master to be a part of this madness. E-mail submissions for the events menu to news@swarthmorephoenix.com
tHe PHOenIX
Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Due to allergy worries, beloved campus dogs, including Dobby, George and Ali, are no longer allowed in buildings on campus, though their presence is still welcome outdoors. BY AARON KRAMER akramer2@swarthmore.edu
Recently, many dog owners on campus have been told that their pets will no longer be allowed inside campus buildings. There have been talks of barring this privilege universally. A handful of faculty, administrative staff and others have brought their dogs to their work for years, and some of the dogs are frequently seen around campus and in buildings such as the Kohlberg Coffee Bar and Parrish. A few students and campus employees have complained about some of Swarthmore’s big-ticket dogs, like George, Ali and Dobby, citing fear of dogs and allergies. Steve Levin, who has been working in Swarthmore’s bookstore for about 15 years, has been bringing his dogs to work for the past 6 years. According to Levin, barring the bookstore dogs from the bookstore will be removing two beloved campus icons. “Visitors, students and staff go through the bookstore, and they always see the dogs. They have become very familiar to people,” Levin said. “Today, a lot of people ask about the dogs, because they don’t see them anymore. A lot of alumni and parents of students love to see the dogs and ask about them. It’s a shame that there is a possibility that [Swarthmore] might do away with that.” Some of the complaints come from
Environmental Services (EVS) citing that dog hair clogs their vacuums, and that some of the staff are allergic to dogs. According to Steve Levin, he understands and accepts these complaints, but doesn’t believe this warrants a ban on dogs in academic buildings. Professor Bob Paley of the Department of Chemistry does not support the ban either. “Progressive companies such as Google and Amazon, to name two of many, allow dogs in the workplace, and find they have a positive impact on employees and productivity,” Paley said. Several studies have indeed shown that proximity to pets is linked with happiness and health. “I would like to think that we, as a progressive college, can do the same,” Paley said. “Yes, there are people who have allergies, and yes, there are people who are afraid of dogs. Somehow the aforementioned companies manage to deal with these issues — the positives far outweigh the negatives. Dogs, and pets in general, enhance our lives.” According to Levin, the College should focus on trying to accommodate everybody. “I think the bookstore has done an excellent job at accommodating folks who have any sort of problems with the dogs,” Levin said. Jake Neely ’13, a dog lover, sees no point to the ban. “My initial reaction was that barring dogs from campus buildings
April 21, 2011
was a very bad thing. I like seeing the dogs, I love the dogs. One of the things I like about this school is our relationship with the animals on campus.” According to Neely, the best policy would entail students and employees handling their concerns individually. “If you are afraid of dogs or have an allergy, why can’t you just ask the owner to put the dog away?” Neely said. “I think that students with dog allergies is a legitimate concern, but I think there are ways around it without destroying something most students faculty on this campus enjoy.” In the past, if someone was allergic or afraid of dogs, they would inform the bookstore staff, who would promptly put the dogs in Levin’s office. “There was never a problem,” Levin said. Likewise, if a student who feared dogs needed an appointment with Professor Paley, they would simply meet in a dogfree location. “[It was] a really simple solution,” Paley said. Both Paley and Levin believe that holding dog owners responsible for cleaning up after their pets is a sufficient way of ensuring that people who are allergic to dogs stay healthy. “It works for companies,” Paley said, “and in the White House — over many, many presidencies — it can work here.” According to Levin, many students will be losing something valuable. “For the students,” Levin said, “it’s a touch of home.”
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WNR funding guaranteed for another year
Week iN pictuRes
BY PATRICK AMMERMAN pammerm1@swarthmore.edu
Eric Verhasselt Phoenix Staff
RnM members impress the audience in back-to-back performances Friday and Saturday night with their endless energy and exceptional dance pieces.
Paul Chung Phoenix Staff
Students participating in the annual M&M Cup gather around the flags of rivals Mary Lyon and Mertz as they prepare for a weekend full of mini-battles.
Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
Along with Grapevine and Mixed Company, members of Chaverim perform during Arts Weekend in the Kohlberg Coffee Bar Friday evening.
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April 21, 2011
Swarthmore’s War News Radio (WNR) is guaranteed funding through next year, but those involved are already beginning to discuss what road the program can take in the future. Lang Center Director Joy Charlton calls this a “moment of planning” for the organization. “I am truly optimistic that ways will be found to help it move forward,” Charlton said. Originally, WNR was created in 2005 as a response to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It is a media outlet through which students can research and report on issues that are global in scope, in contrast to The Phoenix and The Daily Gazette that focus mostly on campus news. “War News Radio is an important independent media organization that keeps an eye on conflicts in a time when the traditional media is contracting,” Jim MacMillan, WNR’s journalist-inresidence said. Since the beginning, WNR has mostly been funded by the President’s Office, said WNR reporter Jared Nolan ’12. The organization was originally a “pet project” of former Swarthmore President Alfred H. Bloom, and received funding to hire a full time journalist-in-residence to oversee the project. Last year, funding was renewed by President Rebecca Chopp, but in a reduced form. “Last year we had to make significant budget reallocations across the college and WNR, like many other programs, had to share the sacrifice,” Chopp said. It was expected that War News Radio would eventually be removed from the budget of the President’s discretionary fund. “The President’s Office funds soft money projects or one time events, and at some point they are either moved onto the budget or fundraising is successful and they get an endowment,” Chopp said. The President’s Office usually provides funding to an organization for up to three years, but the success of WNR, coupled with the difficulty of finding funds in the midst of the economic downturn, has led Chopp to grant diminished funds for another two years. This reduction in funding meant that WNR could no longer hire a full time journalist-in-residence. Macmillan, the group’s new journalist-in-residence is employed part time and comes to campus two days a week; while previously, the group had a journalist on hand five days a week. The journalist-in-residence has a variety of responsibilities within the club in addition to assisting all members with their stories. “Having someone whose job it is
to keep everyone accountable and keep everything working is so important to War News Radio,” Alan Zhao ’12, member of the WNR staff, said. In response to last year’s cuts, Zhao found that the “quality of our work has definitely suffered by a small margin because you don’t have that journalist [always] there to look at your scripts.” Losing funding from the president’s office next year has members of WNR contemplating the group’s future. Nolan and Zhao worry that sources of funding on campus such as the Student Budget Committee (SBC) could not finance bringing in a journalist-in-residence at all, which may jeopardize the legitimacy of the group’s reports. “Radio is … a different beast when it comes to journalism, and requires more guidance,” Zhao said. Zhao also fears that the club’s egalitarian framework may be impossible to maintain without a journalist-in-residence figure. “The journalist-in-residence sort of allows for [egalitarianism] … but without him a student or students would have to step up into his role,” he said. Another issue in finding funding is that War News Radio does not fit into any existing establishment within the school. It is affiliated with the Lang Center, but the program does not fit in with any of the school’s major departments and is too large to be funded by the SBC. According to staff members, that’s precisely what makes WNR stand out from other organizations on campus. “It’s such a unique learning opportunity … it gives you skills that you don’t really learn otherwise in a liberal arts college,” Nolan said. While staying updated on current events, reporters have the opportunity to reach out to people in all walks of life around the world and gain valuable skills in the process. “[The reporters] learn so much about politics, and history, and economics, and public policy … about how to communicate, how to interview people, how to have the confidence to make phone calls,” Charlton said. Currently, strategic planning meetings have begun to take place between WNR members, Macmillan and Lang Center staff. “I think it’s premature to imagine solutions, but I’m aware that our supporters are investigating, and a year seems like a good amount of time [to find a source of funding],” MacMillan said. He and others foresee WNR continuing on into the future. “Given the recognition of what War News Radio continues to accomplish, I am truly optimistic that ways will be found to help it move forward,” Charlton said. tHe pHOeNiX
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news in brief
Students commemorate oil spill with symbolic ink-stained hands On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, owned by British Petroleum (BP), exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. The spill, which dumped around 4,900,000 barrels of crude oil into the Gulf, sparked a national outcry and resulted in a massive economic downturn along the Gulf Coast. Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the oil spill, which prompted two students, Alexa Ross ’13 and Isabel Newlin ’13 to commemorate the anniversary in a symbolic way. In discussing various options for the anniversary, Ross and Newlin felt that the most effective way to garner attention for the cause was through a visual mode of representation. “I’d been wanting to do something ... visually [and] symbolically representative of some ... environmental issues that I feel strongly about,” Ross said. Newlin’s recommendation to cover their hands in black ink — mimicking the color and texture of crude oil — appealed strongly to Ross and quickly took flight as the centerpiece of the commemoration. “One of the points I liked best about this symbol is the fact that ... it’s easy to demonize the fossil fuel companies,” Ross
said, adding that oil companies should be held accountable for their actions and events like the spill. Ross was struck by the idea on the basis that it emphasized the idea that the burden of responsibility for the planet and environmental healing lies not just on the hands (and pockets) of the oil executives, but more importantly, in the hands of each and every individual who
hoping to test out the dipping of the hands and gauge student reactions. Attached to the jar of black ink was a note that stated: “Dip your hands in the ink as a reminder of the continuing effects of the BP oil spill, exactly one year later and our collective responsibility. Pass the ink (oil).”Ross recognized the note’s ability to “explain itself,” proceeding to let the other students take matters into their own hands. Throughout the day, the jar passed through the hands of students in Sharples, on Parrish beach and other areas around campus. Before the day’s end, many students could be seen crossing campus with inkstained palms. Looking back on the commemoration, Ross believed that the event had been successful in drawing attention to both the oil spill as well as the need for widespread, collective action. “Speaking out doesn’t necessarily need to be a really planned, political activity, but … something as simple as dipping your hands in ink ... stimulates a lot of thinking for people and then also gives them a chance to inspire other[s],” she said.
“Speaking out doesn’t necessarily need to be a really planned, political activity, but ... something as simple as dipping your hands in ink.” Alexa Ross ’13 has supported the oil industry in any way. “I think that we can also realize the fact that accidents like the BP oil spill ... we had a large part in that because we are paying for that oil that they’re digging up,” Ross said. On Wednesday morning, both Ross and Newlin brought a jar of black ink to their Environmental Policy and Politics class,
BY ADAM SCHLEGEL
Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff
Students dipped their hands in the black ink, representing the crude oil in commemoration of the BP Gulf oil spill.
around higher eduCation
City of Philadelphia campaigns for sexual health that promotes health and leadership development in Philadelphia youth. The high incidence of STDs among teens is not To join Facebook, children need to be at least 13 unique to Philadelphia. Even though young people years old. To obtain a Pennsylvania driver’s license, make up only one-fourth of the sexually active populateenagers need to be at least 16 years old. And to vote, tion, they account for half of all new STD cases, the minimum age of 18 remains the law of the land. according to the Centers for Disease Control and Under a new Philadelphia campaign, however, kids Prevention. as young as 11 years old would be able to order free However, some believe more steps need to be taken condoms by mail. The “Take Control Philly” campaign to address sexual health among students. is a new initiative aimed at promoting sexual health While providing young people with preventative and preventing sexually methods is important, “it transmitted diseases is a disservice to our among Philadelphia youth to not provide the “It is a disservice to our youth to youth. education and facts on The campaign, whose proper usage, other prenot provide . . . counseling on unveiling coincides with ventative methods and self-esteem and empowering National STD Awareness also counseling on selfMonth, consists of a new esteem and empowering them to be able to delay sex.” official city condom — the them to be able to delay Katelyn Tente “Freedom Condom,” sex,” explained Katelyn which can be obtained by Tente, a dual-degree masStudent studying public health mail or at various points ter’s in social work and around the city — a new master’s in public health website and various social student. media efforts. “Philadelphia has sometimes failed — there’s so Philadelphia has a high rate of sexually active much more of an emphasis on education as far as passyoung people, Donald Schwarz, Philadelphia’s health ing test scores,and not enough on education around commissioner, said in a statement, yet “we have one of other social and emotional issues … and getting somethe lowest numbers of youth who report using a con- one comfortable enough to tell their partner to use a dom.” condom in the first place,” Thompson said. STD rates are also higher than average in Children as young as 11 may not even properly Philadelphia. For example, the rate of gonorrhea in 10- know how to use a condom. 19 year olds is three to four times higher in “Some kids just get out and make balloons out of Philadelphia than among the rest of the country, them and don’t know what to do with them,” Nursing according to a report by the Philadelphia Department professor Loretta Jemmott said. of Public Health. Jemmott, who directs Penn’s Center for Health “I feel like they always say the rates are increasing, Disparities Research, added that while increased conbut they’re not addressing the issues that cause these dom availability is a positive thing, “it alone will not high rates,” said Tiffany Thompson — the reduce all the issues we are dealing with … there’s a Communications and Operations supervisor for the need for condoms, plus educational programs around Youth Health Empowerment Project, an organization those beliefs and challenges that kids deal with.” BY HAYLEY BROOKS dailypennsylvanian.com, April 13, 2011
the PhoeniX
April 21, 2011
Courtesy of philadelphia.cbslocal.comf
In an effort to promote safer sex in Philadelphia youth, the city condom, the Freedom Condom, is now available for mail order through Take Control Philly’s website.
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FALL 2011
APPLICATIONS DUE
HIRING
APRIL 29 @ 5 P.M. Please see our website for additional information and to obtain an application. Go to swarthmorephoenix.com/apply to submit an application.
WRITING, BUSINESS, EDITORIAL & GRAPHICS POSITIONS JOB DESCRIPTIONS
These job descriptions are intended to inform applicants of what would be expected of them if hired. All applications must be submitted online at swarthmorephoenix.com/apply Questions? Want more information? Contact us at editor@swarthmorephoenix.com
EDITORIAL POSITIONS
STAFF POSITIONS
Section editors are responsible for ensuring the completion of their section, reading and editing all copy submitted for publication in the section, coordinating their staff of writers, writing items for publication and laying out pages in QuarkXPress. The section editors must be present in the office for their respective deadlines until the Editor in Chief is satisfied with their completed section. Additionally, the section editors must attend all weekly editorial board meetings on Monday and Thursday evenings, and they must communicate regularly with the writers of their sections to assess their progress and to develop story ideas. The responsibilities of a section editor may be divided between two individuals.
Reporters / staff writers (8 news, 6 living, 5 sports) Reporters write at least one story a week for their section. Writers must attend weekly meetings. Approximate hours per week: 6–8. Columnists / Bloggers (6 opinions, sports, 8 living & arts) A columnist receives a biweekly column. The columnists are expected to work closely with their respective section editors in developing topics and improving their writing styles. Approximate hours per week: 3—4. Copy editors Copy editors check facts, style and grammar and proof pages. Approximate hours per week: 3—5. Photographers Photographers are expected to fulfill weekly assignments. This includes taking photos at the assigned time and uploading the photos onto the Phoenix server in a timely fashion. Approximate hours per week: varies. Staff artists (3) Staff artists are required to submit at least one illustration per issue, for various sections of the paper. Approximate hours per week: varies. Cartoonists (4) Cartoonists may apply to work as either an op-artist or a living & arts artist, and will be required to submit pieces biweekly. Approximate hours per week: 2.
Managing editor (2) The managing editor(s) are responsible for the completion of the newspaper and for delegating tasks to other editors and staff members, to support the role of the editor in chief. The managing editor(s) have significant involvement in the editorial, design and layout processes, and must be present in the office during production on Tuesday nights and Wednesday. Approximate hours per week: 25. News editor The news editor must have a current and comprehensive knowledge of events, people and issues on campus. Job duties include reading and editing all news copy, leading a staff meeting on Monday nights to work with reporters and develop future story ideas, working with other editors to select news content and directing reporters. Frequent communication with reporters, photographers and senior editors is essential. Applicants should be competent reporters, willing to write last-minute news stories and take photos. Approximate hours per week: 18. Living & Arts editor The Living & Arts editor must be able to develop creative feature and art ideas for the section each week; maintain familiarity with the art, music and theater scene, both on campus and in the Philadelphia area; and select events to feature as editor’s picks. The living section allows for more creativity in design than do other sections in the paper. Approximate hours per week: 16. Chief copy editor The chief copy editor of The Phoenix is responsible for the factual and grammatical aspects of all copy in the newspaper. Responsibilities include reading all copy, reading proofs of all pages, coordinating the schedules of a staff of copy editors, maintaining and updating The Phoenix stylebook and providing editorial feedback to the writers and editors. Approximate hours per week: 12. Graphics editor Responsibilities include working with the editors and staff artist(s) to conceptualize and create cover art and graphics within page designs. The graphic designer should coordinate art and is responsible for ensuring completion of graphics or photo-intensive pages. The graphic designer will also attend editorial board meetings. Previous work with Photoshop is required. Approximate hours per week: 8. Photo editor Responsibilities include taking, uploading and editing photos; maintaining a staff of photographers; coordinating the use of the paper’s digital cameras; and communicating with editors at editorial board meetings and throughout the week. Approximate hours per week: 10
Opinions editor The opinions editor’s primary job is to ensure that a diverse range of views relevant to the campus are represented on the editorial pages. Responsibilities include soliciting op-ed pieces, working with staff columnists and cartoonists to develop and carry out ideas and ensuring completion of the staff editorial each week. The opinions editor must also keep abreast of relevant campus and world events. Approximate hours per week: 12. Sports editor The sports editor should maintain a comprehensive knowledge of all varsity and club teams on campus. Duties include reading and editing all sports copy and assigning sports photos. Applicants must be competent sportswriters who are willing to write and take photos as needed. Approximate hours per week: 12. Assistant section editors Assistant editors in news, living and arts, sports and opinions may be added as training positions. Assistant section editors are responsible for helping the section editor in all duties and learning all aspects of production essential to the section, including layout design and editing. Assistant section editors are also responsible for writing for their sections as necessary. Approximate hours per week: 8–10.
BUSINESS POSITIONS Advertising manager (2) The advertising manager(s) work to recruit local and national ads. Responsibilities include keeping up-todate advertising records, sending out invoices and tearsheets to the advertisers, documenting paid invoices; providing up-to-date advertising income figures and attending weekly business staff meetings. Approximate hours per week: 6. Circulation manager (2) The circulation manager(s) must distribute copies of The Phoenix to areas across campus early Thursday mornings, stuff faculty and administration mailboxes, maintain subscriber lists and ensure that subscriptions are mailed out each Thursday on a weekly basis, deliver extra copies to The Phoenix office and answer subscription requests as they are received. Approximate hours per week: 3. Advertisers (3) Advertisers sell ads for The Phoenix website and print edition to local businesses. This position pays a commission for ads sold. Having access to a car is preferable but not required. Approximate hours per week: varies.
WEB STAFF (NEW!) Web Editor (2) The Web Editor(s) edits all stories that appear only on the web, moderates comments, posts to and moderates the forums, and coordinates the newly created Phoenix Web Staff. The Web Editor will hold a weekly or twice-weekly meeting with the Web Staff to ensure there is plenty of fresh content to keep the website as lively as possible. Approximate hours per week: 5-7. Web Staff (4) Web staffers are in charge of keeping The Phoenix website up-to-date throughout the week. Staffers will write stories, post blogs and/or take additional photos for the website. Staffers are required to attend weekly meetings to discuss the content to be placed on the website and will be required to post several items every week. WIth much less time commitment, it’s a great way to get started on The Phoenix. Approximate hours per week: 3-4. Assistant Webmaster / Ruby on Rails Web Developer The webmaster is responsible both for maintaining the website and for improving it in ways that engage our readers. Expect to post content, tweak styles, optimize the server configuration and maybe even build entirely new sections of the website. A wemaster must have experience with Rails or an avid interest in learning Rails as an extension of some existing web development background. Knowlege of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript is required.
FOR HIRING RULES, FULL JOB DESCRIPTIONS AND TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION FOR FALL 2011:
h t t p : / / w w w. s w a r t h m o r e p h o e n i x . c o m / h i r i n g
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THE PHOENIX
swarthmorephoenix.com
Living & Arts
Olde Club ends year with electro-pop and rock ‘n’ roll BY HENRY KIETZMAN hkietzm1@swarthmore.edu
Olde Club will sign off with its last show of the spring season this Friday with performances from Hunx and His Punx, Shannon and the Clams, and Swarthmore’s own Ben Starr ’11 as Lexi Starr. The dancing will continue with a DJ set by Physical Therapy to finish off the night. In 2008, Seth Bogart (aka Hunx) created Hunx and His Punx after he fronted the electro-pop group Gravy Train!!!! Based in Oakland, California, the band describes their sound on their website as “‘Young Oldies,’ a mixture of ’50s teenage rock ‘n’ roll, ’60s girl groups and bubblegum pop.” Hunx and His Punx had its first national tour alongside Jay Reatard and Nobunny in 2009 and released their first album with recording label Hardly Art, “Too Young To Be In Love,” in early 2011. The band’s performance this weekend is part of the headlining tour for “Too Young To Be In Love.” Other members of the band include Shannon Shaw, Erin Emslie, Amy Blaustein and Michelle Santamaria. Blaine O’Neill ’11, the Olde Club Booking Director, is responsible for bringing Hunx and His Punx to campus. After hearing about the “Too Young To Be In Love” tour, O’Neill emailed their agent. “I thought it would be a really good last Olde Club show of the spring season,” O’Neill said. Shaw provides the vocals for Shannon and the Clams, a band selfdescribed as a combination of Garage, Pop, Rock, also based in Oakland. On their website, the band claims a variety of influences, from The Shangri-las to Black Sabbath to Elvis. Shannon and the Clams’ sophomore album, “Sleep Talk,” was released in early April as part of a dual album release party with Hunx and His Punx’ “Too Young To Be In Love.” Bogart is excited about the show and is happy that Swarthmore “worked into [his] schedule.” He lists The Chipmunks and ’60s girl group The Ronettes among his musical influences. The artist describes his set as unpredictable and calls it “a gamble, some nights are crazier than others.” During his performances, Bogart tries to maintain a very open and casual environment. “Everyone should just be [comfortable with] who they are no matter what,” Bogart said. “We’ll have live animals, stunt doubles, fireworks and explosions, so it’s going to be a night to remember,” Bogart said, jokingly, about his anticipation of a rousing show. Tayler Tucker ’13, an ardent fan of Hunx and His Punx, talked excitedly of the upcoming performance. “A couple of my friends and I were really into Hunx and His Punx our senior year in high school so it’s really exciting to have something like that here,” Tucker said. She enjoys Hunx and His Punx’s “gender bending [and] sexuality-bending farce craziness” that accompanies their performance. Tucker believes that the band is going to push THE PHOENIX
Swarthmore a little bit with what is considered comfortable on stage and is “going to make [Swatties] want to laugh, but be challenged a little bit … hopefully when they enter, Olde Club will be a completely different party space.” Tucker thinks that this performance will allow students to feel completely comfortable to push boundaries and explore their sexualities, even more so than Genderfuck. Tucker is especially excited about Starr’s performance who will perform in drag and open for Hunx and His Punx. After seeing him in drag before and watching a couple of his performance videos, Tucker believes that Starr “is a great fit.” She’s excited about the collaboration, remembering last year’s Martha Graham Cracker performance. Cracker, the drag alter ego of Dito Van Reigersberg ‘94 — founder of Pig Iron Theatre Company — was one of Olde Club’s best attended nights of last year. At the beginning of the year, Starr was asked by O’Neill to perform at an Olde Club show. “It’s really exciting to be able to open for a real band,” Starr said. Starr will perform covers with his band. He’ll be covering Katy Perry, Alicia Keys, Queen, Carrie Underwood and Etta James, among others. Starr quotes several musical influences, including his love of jazz. “I picked songs that I really love. All of the songs that I’m playing are by artists that have inspired me in some way or another,” Starr said. He cites specifically Bjork, who “inspires [him]
Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/8npwl
Bogart, aka Hunx (above), started the band in 2008 after years of fronting for the electro-pop group Gravy Train!!!
to get more physical with his singing.” Starr will begin promptly at 10 p.m., accompanied by Tony Blekicki ’12 (guitar), Elan Silverblatt-Buser ’12 (bass) and Yaeir Heber ’11 (drums). Hannah Jones ’12 and Jon Cronin ’14 will provide background vocals and Mitchell Slapik ’14 will make a special appearance on the alto saxophone.
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“It’s going to be a star-studded cast,” Starr said. It’s Starr’s first time opening for a band, and his first time performing as Lexi Starr. “It’s going to be awesome, and a really good time,” Starr said. O’Neill agreed, adding, “Swatties should expect an energetic, risqué performance and be prepared to let loose.”
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Forget Buy&Hold: focus on the long-term direction In continuing in the vein of how to grow your money, let’s explore the two forms of investment opportunities that will be available to most of us: “Buy&Hold,” and the active “Market Timing” approach. Buy&Hold is a passive investment strategy in which an investor buys stocks and Aliya Padamsee holds them for a long period of time, regardMoney Matter$ less of fluctuations in the market. The conventional Wall Street consensus is that Buy&Hold is the only prudent investment approach because short-term market movements have always been difficult, if not impossible, to predict. Focus on the long-term direction, which has been decidedly upward over time. In a “bear” market, as the market dips, your automatic monthly inflows buy cheaper and cheaper values of the stock/mutual fund that you are invested in. When the market rebounds, you will ride the appreciation of price while you now average in at higher prices. Over time, the buys all average out, and you will ride the market appreciation and will have a secure retirement. On the other hand, the Market Timing approach is a more active strategy of making buy or sell decisions of financial assets with an outlook of market or economic conditions resulting from technical or fundamental analysis. It is true that the equity markets have a bullish bias, but let’s look deeper, and let’s dissect the facts. (Of course we are going to ignore the fact that money managers get two percent of “assets under
management,” and also, use this to hide their aver- ing from the 50 percent loss level; it has to rally that age performance in managing our assets, as was much more to get back to even. This is why you can mentioned in last week’s issue). never ever take a big loss. I’d much rather take few My research and bias is that Buy&Hold is dead, small losses, keep my capital out of the market, out at least for now. This was the strategy in the last of risk, and then apply that whole amount to lower “bull market,” which lasted from 1982-2000, where levels, so the compounding effect really takes over investors could count on buying stocks and mutual as it rides the next bull cycle. funds that mostly rose over time. But we’re not in The story gets worse. Let’s now look at the last Kansas anymore. decade from Jan 1, 1999 to Jan 1, 2010. The S&P 500 Two devastating bear markets since 2000, market lost a total of 354 points, which is a 24 percent loss. volatility, news sensationalism, global economy and That means investors who held their mutual funds markets, signal a new era of pegged to the S&P500 index, investing. Many investors saw their investment drop by who were counting on reach24 percent, and they had to I’d much rather take few live with being fully invested ing retirement goals don’t have the luxury of time to two of the worst bear small losses, [and] keep during ride out these bear cycles. markets in history, which lastmy capital out of the Money managers charged ed for 10 years. them anywhere from one What I am advocating is market, out of risk. percent to three percent to that thinking and considering lose a lot of money, while an approach other than very few of them even Buy&Hold may be a very attempted to sell and cash out. viable approach to “growing” our money and letting Let’s dissect the numbers over the last few years. the power of compounding really work for us. If you just got into the market in the past 12 months, When one has a sound, disciplined system, that goes it has gone straight up, so you would love in and out of the market, there will be some small Buy&Hold, and would have made a nice return. But, gains, some small losses, that cancel each out over what if you entered the market in January of 2008? time. You will also catch a few large trending You would have lost 38.5 percent of your assets that moves, that produce the most returns and here is year, and even though the market went up in 2009 the key: you will avoid the big gut-wrenching losses by 23.5 percent, you would still be underwater. that suck up hard earned returns and, worse still, Here is a very important lesson on never taking part of your principal, if you let it. a big loss. If you have $10,000 and it goes down 50 A quotation from Investment Models, Inc. offers: percent, you now have $5,000. Let’s say that next “There are only two good feelings in investing. One year the market rebounds 50 percent — one would is being in the market when it is up and the other is think you are back to even, but that's incorrect. The being out of the market when it is going down.” market has to rally 100 percent (double), to get back Aliya is a first-year. You can reach her at to $10,000, because only half of your capital is rally- apadams1@swarthmore.edu.
‘Scream 4’ has lots of laughs but fails to scare total lack of pretense that borders on delusion, as if every audience member should have no trouble recalling For better or worse, Wes Craven’s obscure details from any of the previous “Scream” series changed the game three films with ease. All the same, for when it comes to how we look at horror. every anticipatory laugh that a cop By subverting and subscribing to the telling his partner, “I’ll be right back,” genre’s formula in tandem, Kevin now yields from the audience, it’s only Williamson’s scripts managed deliver too obvious how well the “Screams” the very type of movie he was making have trained us. “Scream 4” is Pavlov without resorting to parody. In hind- and we are the dogs. sight, this almost rendered the “Scary The latest entry returns the action to Movie” clones irrelevant; Woodsboro, where it all the idea that horror started in the original. The movies were no longer Movie Review unkillable Sidney Prescott allowed to simply ignore (Neve Campbell) has that cloud of irony hanging returned home as part of a over their heads had promotional tour for the Rotten Tomatoes already been around for book she’s written about Rating: 58% four years before the overcoming the adversity of Wayans brothers came everyone around her dying along. One could go even all the time. The “Stab” further and say that the franchise set a series of slasher films, based on the new standard for audience participa- events of the original Woodsboro murtion. “We know what’s happening here ders, is still going strong, now on its is ridiculous,” the first “Scream” seventh installment, which means that seemed to be saying all the way back in all of the new teenagers at Westboro 1996, “and we know you know this is High have grown up on Sidney’s story. ridiculous. Let’s all be aware of it Also back are reporter Gail (Courtney together.” And just like that, meta-hor- Cox), who has profited on the ror was born. Try finding a slasher Woodsboro murders with her own movie these days that doesn’t have at series of books, and her husband Dewey least a 50-50 split between scares and (David Arquette) who has graduated laughs: they’re few and far between, and from feckless police deputy in the origiwe have “Scream” (once again, for bet- nal “Scream” to feckless chief of police ter or worse) to thank for that. today. “Scream 4” is shrewdly, almost audaThat the band is back together can ciously aware of the debt we owe its only spell doom for all non-members, predecessors. From the elaborate, self- which is exactly what ends up happencongratulatory opening sequence ing. Sidney’s return corresponds with onward, it pays homage to itself with a the anniversary of the original killings, BY TIMOTHY BERNSTEIN tbernst1@swarthmore.edu
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which triggers the return of Ghostface (voiced by the indelible Roger Jackson). Soon, those around Sidney, including friends of her cousin Jill (a very impressive Emma Roberts) start dropping like flies, with the next generation of film nerds left alive forced to map the pattern of killings to the one that the “Stab” films (aka the “Scream” films) have taught them (aka us — are you getting it?), which adds yet another barrier of meta-analysis between them and the audience. Imagine reading a CliffsNotes guide to the CliffsNotes guide to Hamlet, and you’ll get an idea of what it is like to follow the logic of “Scream 4.” This being 2011, it would only be right if Ghostface took it to the next level and started recording the murders to stream online, which takes care of the requisite nod to the generational gap between the victim royalty (Sidney, Gail, Dewey) and the expendables (everyone else). Through it all, the movie remains very knowing, very tongue-in-cheek and occasionally very clever; the film’s conclusion is exceedingly well-executed, genuinely surprising and makes up for some of the more redundantly staged sequences from earlier. Yet, the makers of “Scream 4” should know better than anyone that horror movies, more than any other genre, boil down to one question: Is it scary? And for all of its winks and nudges at the conventions it is sabotaging, for all of the franchise-within-afranchise references and for all of the recognition of how much it has changed the way horror is made, the answer for “Scream 4” is … not really. What was the strength of the fran-
April 21, 2011
Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/u07w9
“Scream 4” parodies the horror genre, adding layers of meta-analysis that are occasionally clever, but fail to be terrifying.
chise now seems to have become its tragic flaw. The film labors so intensively to build on its trademark selfawareness that it eventually suffocates any chance to offer any genuine terror. “There’s something real and scary about a man with a knife,” one of the characters says early on, explaining why she prefers the “Stab” films to the “Hostels” and “Saws” of the world. By reminding us so thoroughly that this is, in fact, only a movie, “Scream 4” seals the audience off from any possible access to that frightening reality. There is no man. There is no knife. Let’s all be aware of it together. THE PHOENIX
Living & Arts
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spring poetry festival to feature folklore, oAsIs BY SERA JEONG sjeong1@swarthmore.edu In commemoration of Dr. Kathryn Morgan, the Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot Professor Emerita of History, the College will host the third annual Kathryn Morgan Spring Poetry Festival. Scheduled for this Friday at 5 p.m. in the Scheuer Room, the event, titled “Memory, Love and Social Justice,” coincides with National Poetry Month. Members of the student spoken word group, Our Art Spoken In Soul (OASIS) and local spoken-word duo Nagohead will present poetry. Professor Morgan, who passed away in 2009, was a poet, folklorist and the first African American female professor with tenure at Swarthmore College. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she obtained a M.A. from Howard University and a M.A. and Ph.D from the University of Pennsylvania. In addition, according to the Folklore Project website, Morgan became the first folklorist to write AfricanAmerican family folklore when she published “Children of Strangers.” Professor of history Allison Dorsey organized the event during her time as coordinator of the black studies program in 2009. Three objectives motivated Dorsey in creating the event. “The first goal was [to] raise the profile of one of the oldest interdisciplinary programs at Swarthmore College. The second was to help students understand the depth and width of the field of black studies beyond the confines of Swarthmore College, and,” Dorsey said, “the third was to make connections with faculty on campus whose work dovetailed or might be linked with black studies.” For Dorsey, it seemed natural to host a poetry event, which she believes is “artistic, intellectually stimulating and uplifting.” Dorsey designed the poetry festival to encompass the works of both professional and student poets and spoken word artists, all of whose work embodies a sense of strong social consciousness, which echoes this year’s theme. Friday’s performance will feature professional spoken word artists Nagohead, a spoken word duo whose Philadelphia origins compliment Dorsey’s focus on local artists. “I wanted students who have expressed a love for and interest in poetry/spoken word to realize that Philadelphia has a vibrant and dynamic poetry scene,” she said. Associate professor of sociology Sarah Willie-LeBreton, also involved in the organization of the poetry event, invited Nagohead, a husband and wife duo, Paul Wright and Debra Powell-Wright, to perform on campus following the recommendations of Lorene Cary, founder and executive director of Art Sanctuary, a black arts organization in Philadelphia and Swarthmore College student activities’ coordinator Paury Flowers. “They were ultimately selected because Debra and Paul Wright seem to embody the social justice, loving spirit and multi-disciplinarity [sic] that also described Dr. Kathryn Morgan,” Willie-LeBreton said. Originally from London, Wright is a professor of English
Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/54gc1
The third annual Kathryn Morgan Poetry Festival is in commemoration of the late professor of history. THE PHoENIX
at the Community College of Philadelphia. “Since becoming an English professor, Paul’s writing has become a love for words and how they come together to make meaning, no matter the subject,” Powell-Wright said. Powell-Wright is a member of local four-female spoken word ensemble In the Company of Poets and believes the experience impacted her greatly. “Being invited to join the In The Company of Poets ensemble gave me the courage to use words as a means to inspire others as well as to purge about personal, community, and societal issues,” Powell-Wright said in an email interview. “We feel that these works are appropriate to Dr. Kathryn Morgan’s legacy as a folklorist, a cultural activist, a woman of color and a person who navigated the waters of injustice when necessary,” Powell-Wright wrote in an e-mail. “As we read Dr. Morgan’s bio, it is a particular honor to perform for this festival,” she said. The event is an opportunity not only to showcase the talent of student artists, but also to develop students’ art alongside professionals.
Dorsey believes this reflects the relationship Morgan had with students. “A proud, beautiful, committed and much beloved black teacher, [Morgan] was devoted to helping her students master new skills and develop strategies to achieve success,” Dorsey said. Student and OASIS member Heydil Henriquez ’14 will also perform at the event. “I write spoken word poetry because it’s a way to speak on social injustices and simply voice what’s often forbidden and forgotten,” she said. Communities within the college have felt Morgan’s absence. “I think black studies and the Black Cultural Center have lost an advocate and a champion and one of few people who possess vital institutional memory about the black experience here at Swarthmore,” Dorsey said. Initially the college denied Morgan, the first African American professor to teach at Swarthmore College, tenure. Eventually, she led a career at Swarthmore College spanning 25 years, and in 1991, the college’s Black Alumni Association honored her for contribution to the African American community at the college.
Crossword ACROSS
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1. Born between October 24th & November 21st 7. Movie centered on Kevin, Carl Fredricksen, & Russell 9. Baldwin in “The Departed” 13. L___ at Swarthmore 14. Weasley and Howard 16. Set of Tolkien languages that includes Sarati, Tengwar, and Cirth 18. Bless you! 20. And the othrs. 22. Awry or askew 23. Something given at breakfast tables or weddings 25. A tale or something that entertains cats 27. Jintao 28. 500 sheets 30. Takes back, as in a statement 32. Wife of Osiris 35. Common destination for kids during summer 36. Tin on the periodic table 37. Athena’s companion 38. Region in continental U.S. w/o voting rep. in Congress 41. Daffy Duck in Venezuela 42. “Wow Capital City - the _____ Apple!” 43. Wrath 44. I think, therefore I __ 45. Seaman or Checkers, for one 46. Blbrd. or cmmrcl. 48. Forgot your password? Enter your ____name 50. They shall inherit the Earth 52. Food or adjective to describe environmentally aware 55. “Of ____ and Men” 57. Hug and kiss 58. 6th Month 60. Two of the five Ds of Dodgeball, according to the movie 62. The Village People have got to be this type of man 65. Pikachu’s trainer 67. “’Tis the soldier’s life to have their _____ slumbers waked with strife” 69. Zedong’s little red book taught this 71. Someone whose pants might be ablaze? 73. Gorilla or to imitate 74. Lbs., oz, g, all inform you of these 75. @ 76.Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Peppermint Patty, etc.
1. Relaxing place 2. Prickly plant 3. Chad ____cinco 4. Nonrhythmic literature 5. Nymph who was changed into a cow 6. “Number ___ with a bullet” 8. School gymtime 9. Mdcre. or stat. mean 10. Fragrant purple flower 11. Cardinal direction or slang used to refer to someone 12. Game Bobby Fischer was known for 15. Pig’s home 17. Green, Ice, & Newfound 19. Female who propels a boat 21. Seize the day 24. Tic-___-toe 26. Common prefix for e-mail subjects 27. Dangerous animal that causes over 200 human deaths/yr 29. Mary Jane 31. Cassiopeia’s daughter 34. Small quantity or 9th letter of Greek alphabet 39. “Stone walls do not a prison make, nor iron bars a ____” -
April 21, 2011
Lovelace 40. Geico’s mascot 47. Places where one learns martial arts 49. Trnsfrmrs: _ _ _ 51. “No excellent soul is ______ from a mixture of Madness” Aristotle 52. Strongest type of radiation 53. Scooby-Doo’s Fred has an orange one 54. Luxembourg’s internet domain 56. Snake or an evil terrorist organization that G.I. Joe fights 59. Subject some Peace Corp recruits teach 61. Summer of Firefly & Serenity 63. Org. of museum professionals 64. In a heteronormative way, hers and ___ 66. Out of date slang for cool 68. English band made up of Squire, Howe, White, David, & Downes 70. River running through Vietnam and Laos 72. Home of “Dog the Bounty Hunger” and “Criminal Minds”
BY HOLLY SMITH
For the solution to this week’s puzzle, see The Phoenix’s online edition at www.swarthmorephoenix.com.
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RewindingbacktotheirSwarthmoredays Alum: Carol Hamilton Class: 1987 Major: History, with a concentration in German Studies Her current profession: As senior director of training services of the National Association of Foreign Student Advisers (NAFSA): Association of International Educators since 2007, Hamilton manages the webinars, conferences, publications and training opportunities that NAFSA provides its members, who are representatives of schools, training or research facilities, or individuals involved with international education. Supporting 10,000 members, NAFSA is the world’s largest nonprofit professional association dedicated to international education. Hamilton’s department is small — only a staff of six — but the work they do is significant. Since her start, Hamilton has launched an e-learning program in addition to managing webinars, or online seminars, and organizing training events and workshops. With the help of over 300 member volunteers, the team produces and delivers all of these professional development offerings under the guidance of Hamilton’s department. Rewards and challenges of her work: For Hamilton, the creative partnership between volunteers and staff is rewarding. “We’re lucky in that we get to do a lot of creative work even though we’re behind the scenes,” she said. “When we’re working with volunteers to create the curriculum, we’re bringing expertise and design training for adults, and what they’re bringing is content expertise around a particular subject area. That partnership is really exciting.” She enjoys working on webinars her department produces, which aid in explaining, for example, new regulation that international student advisers at colleges have to be aware of, or
trends in international student recruitment. In addition, Hamilton has learned a great deal about things she never anticipated such as regulations for student visas or how international students manage their taxes. However, she laments that she is often removed from the actual results of her work. “You can see the big picture, but it also sometimes seems removed from the issues you were trying to influence,” she said. Ultimately, however, Hamilton believes that NAFSA’s mission to educate professionals has made a visible impact. Hamilton explained that the people who ultimately get training through the work NAFTA supports in turn do the direct service of working with U.S. students studying abroad.”“[Their] perspectives are ultimately broadened and, in turn, international students [going abroad] have their own intercultural experiences but then will also impact the educational experience of U.S. students who may not be able to go overseas,” she said. Path to her career choice: “When I graduated from Swarthmore, I really had no clue what my career path was going to be,” Hamilton said. Originally, she hoped to be a professor of history, but considered it as a sign when, working in library archives on her thesis, she found out that she had severe dust allergies. Shifting her focus to other possibilities, Hamilton began working at a small publishing company where she operated as a publicist, mostly for authors who wrote selfhelp books. However, Hamilton did not feel that her heart was in the work. “I realized that I didn’t want to pursue a simple career in public relations where you have to advocate for any author that pays the bill,” she said. In 1995, after partaking in various jobs, she moved to a member coalition of Human Needs called Women Work! The National Network for Women’s Employment. In the group, she aided single mothers and women trying to transition back into the workforce by providing training, doing policy work and supporting publications and other projects. She worked briefly at the Grantmakers for Children, Youth and Families before getting a job at AACTE, the American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education, “where [she] was able to finally move
into professional development.” Four years of work there proved to be a springboard for her current job with NAFSA. Swarthmore’s influence: Looking back, Hamilton does not feel Swarthmore succeeded in preparing students for the post-Swarthmore world, unless it involved graduate school. However, she is glad that the college’s current externship program, for which she has mentored, exists “to provide student with experience during college.” Hamilton believes particular skills from her college days have proven quite useful. “The ability to write well has certainly served me in any kind of professional capacity I’ve had, [in addition to] thinking about things from lots of different angles, and managing lots of projects at the same time,” she said. Along with participating as a mentor in the externship program, Hamilton participates in a Swarthmore book club in D.C., which will often follow the curriculum for a course currently being offered at Swarthmore. The professor of the course provides discussion questions, and often joins the group at the beginning and end of the year to lecture on the class theme. Noting the caliber of conversation, Hamilton said, “The level of conversation and discussion is just coming from a different perspective and is at a different level.” Words of advice: For students not looking towards a career in academia, Hamilton suggests “getting experience outside of the college that’s a little more practical.” To do this, she believes students should pursue an internship over the summer, use the extern program and utilize career services before graduation. Also, for students trying to figure out their futures, Hamilton advises just focusing on what they enjoy and what they are good at. She hopes that young people — who often appear preoccupied with over-planning their lives — know that “wherever you work first, it’s not forever. It doesn’t have to be the perfect choice.” TEXT BY SUSANA MEDIEROS
Female workers turned advocates in ‘Maquilapolis’ BY STEVEN HAZEL shazel1@swarthmore.edu What do toys, t-shirts and television sets all have in common? All of these products are produced by the maquiladoras, Mexican women working in the factory cities along the border between the United States Mexico, including Tijuana. Often, Americans forget where the items, produced cheaply and commercially, are produced and can disregard the effects of this lifestyle on the women who produce them. Monday’s film screening of “Maquilapolis: City of Factories,” a movie made by Vicky Funari and Sergio De La Torre, examined the lives of these women. The movie’s title comes from a combination of the Spanish word maquila, meaning factory, and the Greek word polis, meaning city. Following the film screening, there was an open discussion to further consider the issues. Funari, an instructor at Haverford College teaching a course called Latin American Documentary Cinema, attended Monday’s screening. She has had her films screened at independent festivals such as the Sundance Film Festival in Utah and the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland. In 1995, she began her film career and, since then, her films have screened at more than 50 festivals worldwide.
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Before producing “Maquilapolis,” Funari jumpstarted her career with “Paulina,” a narrative film that focuses on the life of a girl abused and then abandoned by her parents who eventually returns to her family. The film won numerous awards including the Grand Jury Prize at the 1998 San Diego International Film Festival. She also collaborated with Julia Query on “LIVE NUDE GIRLS UNITE!,” a film about the strippers union in the United States. “Maquilapolis” focuses on an oftenignored population, according to Professor Luciano Martinez of the Spanish department. “[‘Maquilapolis’] is a look at globalization through the eyes of Mexican women workers. It is important to be informed and be proactive in seeking alternative sources of information about this kind of issue,” he said. In 2004, the project began unexpectedly when Funari visited Tijuana to screen a few of her films at the invitation of her friend and co-director Sergio De La Torre. During her trip, she toured the city and met several of the women working in the factories. “We were really excited about the story that could be told through the lives of the women,” Funari said. “We didn’t want to make a film about these women, we wanted to make it with these women — otherwise it wasn’t worth doing. All of my work is always done with the idea that the subject of the film should have a clear voice
in the film.” This collaboration between Funari and the women in the film permeated the entire project. In Tijuana, an organization entitled Factor X had organized women in the area for social and environmental advocacy. Both Funari and De La Torre raised money for the organization to provide workshops in filmmaking, particularly in video narration and editing. All of the writing for the script, shooting and production were done in collaboration with the female factory workers. “These particular factory workers were activists already, they already had what was an approach that I wanted to explore. I’m not a big fan of the victim documentary. We just sort of folded our film into their process,” Funari said. Although the film interviews and features a great number of the workers in the maquiladoras, its primary focus is the lives of two of the most active workers in the community, Lourdes and Carmen. Lourdes, whose family lives near the toxic waste of a corporation that failed to clean up their mess, advocates for environmental responsibility to the Mexican government. Meanwhile Carmen, a worker laid off when a major company moved her job to Indonesia, works to make sure her fellow workers are paid their proper severance under Mexican law. The movie explores the tension
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between the profit that the factories provided the community and the often environmentally and socially destructive repercussions of factories entering and leaving the free trade zone around Tijuana. “The fact was that this was a group of women who understood the power of the media — they wanted a chance to speak their minds and to have somebody listen. They all spoke about what the film meant to them to be able to use cameras and speak their minds as a process of personal growth. I think that is a common experience for anyone who picks up a camera and tries to tell their story,” Funari said. The audiences for both the screening and subsequent discussion included students, faculty, and members of the local Swarthmore community. “I really want to know more. [Globalization in Tijuana] is clearly a complicated issue, but I’m glad I got to learn about it through the eyes of the maquiladoras,” Katie Sipiora ’14 said. Though unexpected, the documentary has a happy ending as both Lourdes and Carmen successfully take action and organize their community. “In the end we were able to tell a really hopeful story about organizing. My feeling is that this kind of film is a catalyst — if you waste the moment when someone [feels that they] could change something, then why did you make the film in the first place?” Funari said.
THE PHOENIX
Living & Arts
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Television produces masterpieces of our time When I first interviewed to write for The Phoenix seven (!) semesters ago, I was asked by my interviewer, the great Ian Yarett, why I wanted to write about television. I explained to Ian that, in my opinion, television was an incredibly underappreciated art form; a friend of mine Alex Israel who, at the time, was in Pencils Down, film school, had just Pass the Remote made some snarky comment to me about how television was film’s “bastard child,” and I felt that I had to defend my medium to the general public, that I must convince people that television had the same potential for artistic greatness as film, literature and music. In short, I made it my mission to show my readers what they were missing by dismissing television in such terms. Flash forward three and a half years, and television is finally getting some respect. Shows like “Mad Men,” “Fringe” and “30 Rock” are regularly praised by critics, and many actors’ career trajectories now move them from film to television, rather than the other way around. That very same friend who had brushed off my arguments as to the greatness of television spent her last two years of film school working on the sets of “Nip/Tuck” and “24.” At this point in time, I doubt that any cultural critic would question the audacious, breathtaking storytelling that characterized television masterpieces like “The Sopranos” and “The Wire,” or deny the influence that “The Simpsons” has had on popular culture. In this column, my last as a writer for The Phoenix (don’t worry, I’ll still be writing about TV at www.pencilsdownpasstheremote.blogspot.com, and you can join the lovely and talented Emilia Thurber as a follower!), I want to go even further with my defense of television. You see, I don’t just think that television is the equal of the other art forms that I mentioned earlier; I think that, in recent years, the best shows on TV have surpassed cinema, literature and music. They have not necessarily been surpassed in objective quality (although artistic merit is hardly objective), but in cultural influence. To me, the artistic masterpieces that define our time are the fourth season of “The Wire,” the first season of “Lost,” the paintball episode of “Community” and the infamous gorge jump from “The Simpsons.” These, and many others, are our cultural legacy. Don’t worry, I can already hear the English and film and media studies (not to mention art history) majors furiously typing counter-examples to refute my claim. But give me a moment to defend myself. Think about it this way; in the last few years, have you read a new book or seen a new movie that you think defines your generation or your time? I know that no film or book I’ve encountered during my time at Swarthmore has spoken to me the way that the fourth season of “The Wire” did (a major exception being Karl Marlantes’ crippling, masterful novel “Matterhorn,” which, though an absolute masterpiece, defines a generation older than ours). And I don’t think that any book or film, no matter how clever or incisive, has sent up current culture with the same satirical wit as “30 Rock.” I strongly suspect that, if Jonathan Swift were alive today, he would be working with Tina Fey. For those who take issue with my mention of the awesome “Community” paintball episode, I’ll say that many great films and works of literature are genre pastiches. Quentin Tarantino is probably the first filmmaker who comes to mind when discussing the re-appropriation of genre elements, but Jean-Luc Godard’s “Breathless,” a film that helped revolution-
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ize cinema in both France and the United States, is in many ways a (highly original) pastiche of film noir with a distinctly French spin. Of course, re-appropriation of stories and styles goes back much further than film; none of Shakespeare’s plays were original stories, and it was the skill of the Bard that made them into the immortal works that people are still reading and talking about today. Am I saying that “Community” is Shakespeare? Well, no, but I think it’s important to consider precursors in the art of re-appropriation before criticizing. Speaking of Shakespeare, while “Community” may not quite be the equivalent of the Bard, there is an heir to his gift for wordplay, his rapier wit, his skill at writing both comedy and tragedy — Aaron Sorkin. Anyone who has seen “The West Wing” knows that Sorkin has a gift for language, for wordplay and for making silver-tongued verbosity sound natural and poetic at the same time. And if you’ve seen “The West Wing” or Sorkin’s recent foray into movies i.e. “The Social Network” (which was amazing, so I’ll forgive him for switching mediums), you know that he has the rare ability to portray deep personal and national tragedy — such as the shooting that almost claimed the life of Charlie Young, the death of Leo McGarry or the dissolution of the friendship between Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin — with depth, feeling and clarity. Yes, Sorkin did make “Studio Sixty on the Sunset Strip,” but even Shakespeare had Coriolanus, and that misfire certainly didn’t take away from the achievement of Hamlet. Those of you who know my feelings about “The Wire,” specifically the superb fourth season (which, seriously, just watch it), are probably surprised that I named Sorkin the true heir to Shakespeare rather than David Simon. While “The Wire” may occupy the cultural place of Shakespeare, its true ancestors are
Dostoevsky and Dickens, Sinclair and Hugo, writers who broke free of the classical mold and focused their efforts on corruption, poverty and crime in the same way that “The Wire” and Simon’s previous effort, the miniseries “The Corner,” examined the web of corruption and crime that spread throughout Baltimore, a city that Simon knew intimately from his years covering the crime beat for the Baltimore Sun. The breathtaking scope of Simon’s work is unique in that he showcases not only the police who persevere despite the crushing lack of funding and results, but also the drug dealers, government officials, neighborhood kids and reporters caught up in these events, some by choice and some not. Simon’s series evokes the life of the underclass in Baltimore with the same skill that Dickens evoked the London slums, Hugo examined invisible Paris and Dostoevsky described the poor of St. Petersburg. It is a work of breathtaking magnificence that sucks you in despite the scale. It is the masterpiece of our time. Of course, there are many shows that I’ve had to leave out of this discussion: the twisted sci-fi of “Fringe,” the mind-bending trippiness of “Lost” and “Twin Peaks,” the period exactness of “Mad Men.” Still, I think that I’ve managed to make my point. Television is no longer a medium for failed filmmakers and small-time actors. It is a medium filled with ambition, drama and skill that combine to tell some of the most compelling stories of the last decade. I’m truly grateful that I’ve had the opportunity to experience it. Alex is a senior who is grateful to all the wonderful people at The Phoenix who have made this column possible. Her television reviews and commentary will henceforth be available at www.pencilsdownpasstheremote.blogspot.com. You can also reach her at aisrael1@swarthmore.edu.
“Television is no longer a medium for failed filmmakers and small-time actors.”
Anna Rothschild for The Phoenix
April 21, 2011
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A Night for Senegal
Met By Moonlight: A Wild Rumpus Be prepared for a night of music, dance, delicious homemade food, puppets, bonfires, and original adaptations of folktales, legends, and stories from around the world.
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The Swarthmore Mariachi Band, Cecily and Anthony, Silbia and the Sunshine Boys, Amy Vachal and the Fly Swatters, and Lily & The Doorman will all be performing in an effort to help raise funds for a student-run soccer camp in a village in northern Senegal. There is a suggested donation of $3 for students and $5 dollars for adults
Friday, April 22 9:30 p.m. - 12 a.m. Bond Hall
Friday, April 22 Saturday, April 23 6:30 p.m. Sunday, April 24 3 p.m. Parrish Steps
editor’s P I CK S By Susana Medeiros
Saturday, April 23 9 p.m. - 12 a.m. Sci 101
Boy Meets Tractor Village Education Project Talent Auction The Village Education Project operates a comprehensive education program in Ecuador’s rural highlands. Come to their Talent Auction to see your friends and professors offer up their hidden (or not-so-hidden) talents for a good cause.
Friday, April 22 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. AP Lounge
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April 21, 2011
THE PHOENIX
Opinions
swarthmorephoenix.com Staff Editorial
Anniversary of oil spill should be a time for activism Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the ing and much needed, as it is sorely lacking elsewhere. British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The The American public may rightly devote more energy Deepwater Horizon explosion killed 11 men and dumped to more current and pressing causes, but more attention approximately 4,900,000 barrels of crude oil into the Gulf should be given to remembering last year’s spill. As waters. President Obama pushes for more offshore drilling and Throughout the summer months in 2010, live coverage Congress strips the Environmental Protection Agency of the oil spill dominated every news outlet. CNN and the (EPA) of its capabilities, lack of interest on the part of Huffington Post offered the oil spill’s live camera, which bystanders only intensifies the degradation of the occashowed the millions of gallons of oil gushing into the sion — and the ecosystem. ocean. BP is looking to drill again in the gulf; more than $3 Both news sources and those who lived and depended billion in claims has been distributed, and America has on the gulf predicted that the financial and environmen- moved on. This is part of an unacceptable pattern — as tal consequences of the spill would devastate a generation Americans, and all people — distance themselves in time of workers and destroy and space from such a the gulf ecosystem in disaster, they lose interinnumerable ways. est, even as the problemReal progress in preventing environ- atic actions that caused Many people employed in the fishing the disaster are repeatmental disasters and combating cliindustry thought the ed. mate change can only be achieved industry would die out As Congress, the completely for at least president and the EPA through international cooperation. several years. Billions of are poorly equipped to dollars were devoted to address the problem, it cleanup, but the number seems that there is little of workers doing cleanup has decreased from 48,000 to hope for change coming from government. Last week 2,000. state and regional EPA programs lost $1.6 billion in the Nonetheless, a year after the oil spill, industry in the budget cuts, and the Supreme Court is pawning off cliGulf appears to have returned to normal. This year’s mate change lawsuits to the EPA’s capabilities which shrimp harvest is a reasonable size, and some tourism already have been undercut by funding changes and the has rebounded. lack of will in Congress to expand their legal and regulaNonetheless, save a few news stories the anniversary tory power. Congress is too focused on the budget and the has gone largely unnoticed. Though the “ecological debt to have much time to tackle politically unpopular doomsday” some predicted hasn’t occurred, there has legislation on climate change. been lasting damage to the ecosystem. Rather than relying on the desire to change to come Despite the repercussions that have been noted at the from government, domestic activist groups and NGOs year anniversary, and many studies about the health of should take the lead in putting pressure on legislators the gulf have been conducted, the public seems to have and regulators. lost interest. The work of students on campus today was commendNow that this is no longer a story of human suffering, able, but more needs to be done beyond our campus. This it has been replaced as a cause for alarm by other more is not to say that raising awareness here is not useful — urgent humanitarian interest at home and abroad. it very much is — but, as always, more needs to be done. Several Swarthmore students organized a commemoOn the anniversary of such a devastating event, every ration of the anniversary where students could dip their member of Congress should be reminded that taking finger or hand into black ink, turning their body into a away the power of regulators and caving to oil companies symbolic reminder of the spill. Such activism is refresh- and their lobbyists are what led to the oil spill in the first
place. Furthermore, real progress in preventing environmental disasters and combating climate change can only be achieved through international cooperation. Prospects for this are slim — BRICs have no interest in giving away the advantage of no regulation developed nations had when they were in similar periods of expansion. International environmental activist networks are the best hope to put pressure on governments, which can in turn put pressure on each other. These networks also can provide information to governments, which will encourage cooperation. But will we see results soon on an international level? Probably not. Activists and their networks are the best hope for working towards better domestic and international environmental regulations, and the anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon explosion should be used as a launching point for the renewal of activists’ efforts. Small acts, like the hands with “crude oil” on campus yesterday and protests against oil companies, can spark change. But greater publicity is required for such symbolic reminders to be truly effective on a large scale. Moreover, the greater public must pay attention — and start to care — for any efforts to be fruitful.
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tHe PHOeniX
April 21, 2011
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Wagner, Marable Ryan budget plan a viable remind us of politics of option for fiscal solvency history vs. memory Dr. Manning Marable, one of the greatest historians of our time, passed away this month. The influential Columbia professor, known for authoring “How Capitalism Underdeveloped Black America and Living Black History,” was days short of releasing the much anticipated, “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention.” In a 2006 interview with talk show host Tavis Smiley, Marable expressed his frustration with what he argued was the reduction of Malcolm’s life. Marable believed the icon’s incomplete political legacy was attributed in part to the “gentrification of black history.” Eva McKend Gentrification is often reserved for describing the rapid metamorphism of ethnic commuAccording to Eva nities or outright urban removal. However, Marable claimed that as history, linked to artifacts and ideas, become valuable and marketable, authentic stories get lost in the process. Consequently, entire scholarships have emerged solely based on reclaiming and reinterpreting conventional historical narratives. This month I had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Hudlin Wagner, the Vice President for Student Development & Dean of Students at Carleton College, prior to her public lecture on campus. In addition to her administrative duties, Wagner co-teaches a course every few years called “History & Memory” with an emphasis on the transatlantic slave trade. At the end of the course, she takes a group of students to Ghana on a research and fact-finding trip. “I’ve always been fascinated with the concept of history versus memory,” she explained. As Wagner outlined, many people spend their lives grappling with the realities of a fractured identity. As a Native American, Jamaican and black woman, she acknowledged that it has been her life long mission to maintain her own sense of personal history, yet the greatest challenge in preserving and retelling these accounts is the trivialization of oral tradition. “The Native telling of history has been an oral history but European values are so locked into [mainstream] language that when individuals talk about history, they are talking about a written text. Oral reports are described as myths and legends,” Wagner said. Essentially Wagner maintained that if we fail to continually ask ourselves, “Whose truth is it?” we will never work towards solving the historical puzzle. If we all invest in truly engaging the process of preservation, retelling and reclaiming, it is then we can understand how historical memory is constructed. When Wagner was a little girl, she attended a Catholic school targeted for Native Americans and people of color in her community. Her parents never realized that her mere presence at the institution would contribute to an erasure of her own history as she was challenged with some indoctrination of Catholic ideology. Nevertheless, Wagner has always maintained a sense of cultural pride and a dedication to telling the stories of Native American women. While popular books and films, though constructions of individuals like Sacagawea and Pocahontas, have provided a seeming platform to acknowledge Native existence, it has done little to broaden the education of its contemporary audience. One of the most intriguing obscured components were the expressions of gender roles and sexuality. “Two-Spirit” people, Wagner recalled, were individuals she described as having both male and female partners and not necessarily aligning themselves with a particular gender. According to Wagner, it was not unusual for women or men to “share two spiritualities.” While Western women have long battled for equality and an expansion of their roles in society, Wagner suggests Native American women were respected for their self-reliance. Strong women, who understood economic stability and trade, especially among the Huron women, were highly valued. As Wagner recalled these forgotten women who occupied society in a way that challenged the Western gender binary, they seemed to be a tremendous source of inspiration in her own life. Like Wagner, Manning Marable was deeply concerned with the realm of reconstruction. However, his attempt to retell Malcolm’s history will undoubtedly make people angry. “Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention” is already being described as a sharp departure from the usual heroic analysis. Professor Marable is being remembered as a man who engaged intellectual debate with a measure of civility and integrity. Students and academics all over the world are rightfully mourning his loss. Nevertheless, one must wonder if Marable’s own story one day might experience its own reinterpretation and if an unbiased and reportedly true history is even attainable. Eva is a senior. She can be reached at emckend1@swarthmore.edu.
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April is the cruelest month, for both T.S. Elliot and the U.S. House of Representatives. When Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan unveiled his bold budget proposal for next year — includDanielle Charette ing $6 trillion in budget cuts over The Nascent Neoliberal the next decade, stabilizing and reducing the national debt, repealing Obamacare, addressing our entitlement debacle, and privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac once and for all — he was met with the same hackneyed stump-speeches. Howard Dean made the diplomatic observation that “Republicans hate anything that helps ordinary people.” Indeed, Dean seems thrilled he pinpointed what Americans have long suspected: The GOP does not consist of ordinary people, but firebreathing automatons disguised as accountants. Ezra Klein of the Washington Post trumpeted on April 8, “The reality is that Democrats have a plan and Ryan doesn’t.” Unfortunately, the progressive plan is wedded to a healthcare law whose unpopularity, cost and confusion climb each day. Not to be outdone, President Obama’s budget address last week lambasted the usual culprits: Paul Ryan, George W. Bush, and those pesky “Millionaires and Billionaires.” My gripe is not so much with the Dems’ fancy political footwork as it is with the reality that the Obama budget is a house of uncoated cards. The “$1 trillion in new tax breaks for the wealthy” the President referenced is disingenuous. The tax skirmish back in the fall concerned whether or not to extend the Bush-era rates, certainly not any newfound windfalls. Even a hefty tax hike on the wealthy (by whom the IRS means anyone household earning more than $250,000, regardless of the Daddy Warbucks rhetoric on Capitol Hill) would cause no sizable dent in the debt. There simply are not enough rich people to go around, and any comparison to the Clinton tax-rates is erroneous since our fiscal situation is far stormier than it was in the 1990s. In order to address the real budget blitz, our nation would need to shoulder a massive tax increase on the middle class, from whom most of our revenue is drawn. I am by no means in favor of this, and neither is the American electorate as it laces up for 2012. Of course, sky-high taxes or not, our entitlement problem persists. It is wellknown, particularly among the Washington c r e w, t h a t entitle-
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April 21, 2011
ment reform is the “third-rail” in politics. Essentially, Americans come to rely on their government programs, and intervention is akin to the prognosis for poking a high voltage wire: not a long political lifetime. Paul Ryan, it seems, nary a care, has hurled himself in front of a SEPTA car. Tackling Medicare, Paul Ryan proposes funding at a certain level for individuals over 55, who have worked their lives with the expectation of government aid in retirement. For the rest of us, there would be a looser set of private health-plans, with the government picking up some of the premium tab. In a world without Medicare, the government would relieve itself from the unworkable central-planning that went into dictating medical prices; Uncle Sam could take a holiday from strong-arming providers into performing procedures that don’t result in positive patient outcomes. The soundbite backlash against House Republicans has been that Representative Ryan is callously capping healthcare costs for seniors. What pundits fail to mention is that it was Obamacare which initially sought to cap the general girth of Medicare spending. Launching in 2015, Obamacare inserts an upper limit on annual Medicare spending growth. By 2018, Obama’s landmark legislation will be set one point above per capita-GDP growth. This guarded growth rate will be enforced by a 15-member technocratic group titled The Independent Payment Advisory Board, whose only oomph in keeping costs at predestined levels is slashing payment rates for doctors providing services to patients — an uncomfortable thought for the uncomfortably soon future. Ryan’s plan correctly injects regional incentive into Medicaid. As it now stands, states determine eligibility and benefit qualifications for recipients, yet the federal government gets stuck with half of the check. Alternatively, the Ryan budget provides states a set amount of cash to spend on the medical needs of the poor. Let’s face it. Medicaid is a cruel system, with the program’s patient health utterly indistinguishable from those with no insurance whatsoever. Although not ideal, at least the Ryan Budget allows for local solutions and cuts off states who manipulate the federal gravy train. Importantly, Ryan has diverged from the current stalemate in the House whereby John Boehner, the Tea Party and the Dems scuffle over symbolic, top-down cuts. Alas, the GOP is not out to hammer the needy or line the pockets of Scrooge. Ballooning interest rates, dismal currency and snail-like growth hurt all Americans. The Bowles-Simpson plan, which Obama has offered a quasi-endorsement, achieves deficit-reduction by the 2030s via higher long-term taxation. Not only is this unpopular, it depletes the savings of middle class voters who would otherwise be in a stabler condition to finance their own healthcare and retirement plans going forth. To paraphrase my favorite Mitch Danielsism: Can we please not make this about ideology? It’s about mathematics. Danielle is a first-year. She can be reached at dcharet1@swarthmore.edu. THE PHOENIX
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garnet track & field qualifies for cc championships BY DANIEL DUNCAN dduncan1@swarthmore.edu
In just three meets this spring, the Garnet men’s and women’s track & field teams have qualified a large contingent for the Centennial Conference Championships, with one last chance to qualify at Widener tomorrow. The women are led by Kenyetta Givans ’12, the USTFCCA Division III Indoor Track Athlete of the Year for the Mideast Region and one of the top hurdlers in the Centennial Conference. She has qualified for conferences in dominating fashion, winning the 100 meter hurdles at The College of New Jersey Invitational on Saturday, April 9 and coming in second in the event in a season-best 15.13 seconds at Moravian Greyhound Invitational on Sunday, April 17. The season best at Moravian is all the more impressive considering the conditions, as Emily MacDuffie ’13 said, “It was really windy.” She has also qualified in the 400 meter hurdles. Givans ranks in the top three in school history in both hurdle distances. Joining Givans at the Centennial Championships are Rebecca Hammond ’13 and Stephanie Beebe ’12, who placed fifth and seventh in the 1500 meter run
at Widener, and then second and third in the 800 meter run at TCNJ, respectively. Also qualifying in the 1500 are Becky Painter ’13 and Katie Gonzalez ’11, while Gonzalez and Elliana Bisgaard-Church ’13 have made the championship field in the 800. Also making it to Conferences are Chanelle Simmons ’14 in the 100 meter dash, Vija Lietuvninkas ’14 in the 400 meter dash, and Emma Saarel ’14 and Rebecca Woo ’11 in the 5000 meter run. In the field, Chelsea Hicks ’14 qualified in the triple jump, Simmons in the long jump, Nicole Cox ’12 in the high jump, and Sarah Diamond ’13 and Naomi Glassman ’12 in the javelin throw. With such a wide variety of qualifiers, the Garnet hope to improve on last year’s eighth place finish at conferences. Glassman said the relays should contribute as well. “The 4x400s at the TCNJ meet were some of the best we’ve run in a while.” The men have a large Centennial squad as well, led by the distance runners. Jacob Phillips ’13 has qualified in the 10,000 meter run at Princeton, while he and John McMinn ’13 both placed in the top 10 in program history in the 3,000 meter. McMinn, Robert Fain ’14, Stuart Russell ’14, Bill King ’13 and Aidan Dumont-McCaffrey ’13 all qualified in the 5,000 meter run at Widener. DumontMcCaffrey, McMinn and Richard Scott ’14 have also
qualified in the 1500 meter run. The Garnet have a plethora of qualifiers in the 800 meter run: Scott, Cariad Chester ’13, Henry Ainley ’12, Hugh Troeger ’14, Matthew Heck ’13 and Jake Weiner ’14. Other qualifiers on the track include Chris Wickham ’12 in the 3,000 meter steeplechase; Travis Mattingly ’12, Eric Verhasselt ’13 and Chris Mayer-Bacon ’11 in the 400 meter hurdles; Daniel Ly ’12 in the 100 meter dash; and Heck, Mayer-Bacon and Dan Kurz ’11 in the 400 meter dash. Mayer-Bacon has also qualified in the 110 meter hurdles. In the field, Verhasselt, setting up an exhausting weekend for himself, made it to Conferences in his first decathlon ever. “I am learning and improving in the events, and it has been quite the learning experience,” Verhasselt said. Although he is new to the decathlon, he was pleased with his performance and excited to compete further. Also in the field, Ly qualified in the long jump and triple jump. Aaron Moser ’13 also made it in the triple jump. The conference squads could grow further tomorrow at Widener. The first events start at 5 p.m. Disclaimer: Eric Verhasselt is a photographer for The Phoenix. He had no involvement in the production of this article.
around higher education
Big Red provides blueprint for national success team. Fair argument, but why not Columbia? Or Yale? Or Harvard? It What are we doing wrong? It’s a ques- seems to me that all the reasons offered tion I ask myself after every Lions foot- for Cornell’s success apply to the entire ball season, after the baseball team loses Ivy League. Does Cornell really have a 22-21, and after the basketball team, leg up when it comes to recruiting and despite an outstanding season, fails yet training facilities? Take a look at again to make March Madness. So I’ve Columbia. It is the only Ivy located come to terms with the fact that the Ivy smack dab in Manhattan, just a quick League will not be taking my suggestion ride on the subway provides students of granting athletic scholarships. I’ve with access to nine major professional accepted, despairingly, that Columbia sports teams, our country’s central will not be bringing varsity ice hockey financial hub and a vibrant art and to campus m u s i c any time scene. soon. And AccordSomewhere along the line I’m content ing to a with the Columbia lost its recruiting mojo, p u b l i c fact that e p o r t while ... Cornell built a reputation rreleased Snoop Dogg by is headlinthe U.S. of being the hottest Ivy in terms i n g of both athletics and academics. Department Bacchanal. o f OK, so I’ll Education try to stick Office of to sports … Postsecondary Education, Columbia I read an article in the Wall Street spends more money on recruiting than Journal a couple weeks ago titled “What all other Ivies with the exception of Makes Cornell So Good?” The piece Princeton. Columbia also flaunts an focused on Cornell’s wrestling team, endowment of approximately $6.5 bilwhich recently finished second in the lion, well over $1 billion more than nation behind Penn State at the NCAA Cornell. In terms of financial resources, Division I wrestling championships. Columbia has the leg up. The author asks a familiar question: Columbia has the prestige, money, “…how can Cornell, an Ivy League team and location that one would think make that offers no athletic scholarships, even it at least as attractive for athletes compete with such powerhouses?” He choosing between it and another Ivy posits a rather simple argument — that like Cornell. While Columbia has the “key generous alumni” provide the world to offer high school athletes, financial resources necessary to pur- another type of recruiting may be luring chase top-notch athletic facilities. The these students to Cornell. According to a article also suggests that Cornell’s Wall Street Journal survey published wrestling program attracts strong this past September, only one Ivy recruits due to its extensive alumni net- ranked within the 25 top colleges tapped work, a recent influx of high school by corporate recruiters. You guessed wrestlers and the lack of wrestling it—Cornell. Our neighbor to the north teams at many colleges, which thus cre- ranked 14th on the list behind state ates a funnel effect into schools with a schools such as Penn State, University BY MICHAEL SHAPIRO columbiaspectator.com, April 19, 2011
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of Illinois, and Carnegie Mellon. But is it feasible to suggest that high school seniors would chose Cornell over another Ivy for the sake of future job opportunities? Well, maybe. Most top Ivy athletes I’ve encountered say that they chose Columbia because they wanted a world-class education as well as a spot on a varsity sports team. This generally holds true for the Ivy League as a whole, as most collegiate athletes will never play professional sports after college. As Ivy athletes matriculate without the incentive of athletic scholarships, it is likely that job recruiting is a deciding factor for student-athletes weighing the pros and cons of each school. By now we’ve all seen the Daily Beast’s list that ranks Columbia the most stressful college in the country. For what it’s worth, Cornell ranked 16th on the list, behind every other school in the Ancient Eight except Brown, which ranked 17th. To add insult to injury, college reviewing site Stu-dentsReview.com ranks Columbia behind Cornell in 13 of 14 categories of comparison including education, social life, extracurricular activities and even funding use. Columbia only edged out Cornell in the category of “Surrounding City,” earning a letter grade of ‘B’ to Cornell’s ‘B-.’ Booyakasha. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons why prospective student-athletes would chose Columbia over Cornell. Columbia may be stressful — we can all attest to that — but our school also ranked fourth on U.S. News and World Report’s most recent list of top national universities, eleven spots ahead of Cornell (go us!). But while we shouldn’t let survey and rankings get to our heads too much, they may help explain why Cornell arguably has the most successful athletics program of any Ivy. Perhaps we need to come to terms
April 21, 2011
with the fact that Cornell may offer the attraction of Ivy academics without the stress of the other Ancient Eight schools. It seems that somewhere along the line Columbia lost its recruiting mojo, while in the meantime Cornell built a reputation of being the hottest Ivy in terms of both athletics and academics. While the lure of Cornell is unclear, the stigmas that Columbia carries must be eradicated, as they are scaring off top athletes. Who knows, it could have been Columbia in the Sweet 16 last year or the Lions placing second nationally in wrestling. As we wind down from the excitement of Days on Campus and start making Butler our home for the remainder of the semester, we should remember why we are here in the first place—to learn, explore New York City and, of course, to constantly make fun of Princeton. Though following the Lions remains an emotional roller coaster with astronomical highs and depression-level lows, it sure makes for one hell of a ride.
Courtesy of sportslogos.net
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Purkey reflects on rugby around higher education and column, bids farewell Pitt hires new assistant to coach men’s basketball
T h r e e ask. But then again, what else could it years ago, I have been like trying to learn a sport I sat down to had never even watched before? Thanks write my to some very patient teammates, the first sports number of absent expressions I had durcolumn for ing practice was reduced as I slowly figt h e ured out how to pass backwards and not P h o e n i x . injure myself tackling others (oddly, I Although I seem to hurt myself more when tackling had been a than when being tackled). s p o r t s Of course the small amount of confienthusiast dence I had built over the first three Hannah Purkey and news weeks of the season quickly vanished as The Purkey Perspective r e p o r t e r our first game approached and I came to for years, I the haunting realization that Penn was had never probably not going to be as easygoing attempted about me forgetting the rules as my to combine the two pursuits, so I was teammates had been. The first 20 minunderstandably a little nervous. Of utes of that game I didn’t actually touch course I had not made things any easier the ball since I was torn between joining for myself by making my first ever opin- in on the chaos and running as fast as I ions piece a disapproving review of a could in the other direction. But at one new NCAA drug testing policy. But then point you have to forget that you have again, the goal I had set for myself in no idea what you are doing and just that first semester as a sports writer start hitting people; committing to a bad was anything but easy: I was going to decision is better than not committing turn Swat into a campus as crazy about to any decision in rugby. Once I did, I sports as I am. stopped watching the game and started As anyone who has read this column to have fun playing it. And just like before probably knows, that is no small that, I was hooked. feat as I am T h e not the weeks after average the first sports fan. I game have Whether it came across in my c h e c k been a blur (failed) attempt to chronicle it sports blogs of firsts. like most online or not, rugby this semester The team college stuplayed in has been quite the adventure. dents check its first Facebook or tournament LikeALittle. in DC, I Instead of covering the walls of my scored my first try against Widener and dorm room with pictures of movie stars I even somehow managed to complete a or friends from back home, I covered dropkick goal (no one was as surprised them with newspaper cutouts of my as I was that it actually worked) against favorite pitchers and a statistical break- Bryn Mawr. If anyone had told me at the down of the NHL season month by beginning of this adventure that I would month. Some would call knowing the not only have fun playing rugby but addresses of the entire Sharks roster would actually fall in love with the stalking; I call it being well informed. sport, I don’t think I would have I knew that making others this believed them. Because of this crazy sports-obsessed was unlikely since experiment, I have found an amazing there are always a few other things new group of friends and a new passion. occupying the minds of Swat’s best and I may still be in the honeymoon phase of brightest (genocide, global warming my new relationship with rugby, but it and world hunger, to name a few). But I has definitely put a smile on my face the hope over the last few years I have at last few months. I have reached the end least shown that being as smart as most of my college athletic career, but I hope Swatties are does not disqualify you this is only the beginning of my time from being a sports fan as well. with rugby and the girls here who have In fact, it does not disqualify you taught me how to play it. from being a sports participant, either. As the semester, and thus my short Proving this point, that anyone can be stay on the Swarthmore women’s rugby an athlete if they want to, has been my team, comes to an end, I find myself most recent project. In my last semester wishing I had taken up this challenge in of college, most likely more out of nos- my first semester as a sports columnist talgia, or better yet denial, for my dear- instead of my last. Nevertheless, the ly departed athletic career than out of semester must end and the rugby seaan attempt to prove a point, I decided to son with it, but not without a bit of fun. challenge myself to learn an entirely Thus I cordially invite the Swarthmore new sport. And the sport I chose was community to attend Prom Dress Rugby rugby. Whether it came across in my this Saturday at 1 p.m. right here on (failed) attempt to chronicle it online or Cunningham field. That’s right. We will not, rugby this semester has been quite be playing rugby … in prom dresses. If the adventure. you ever are going to take my advice The first few weeks of rugby can only about sports, make it showing up to this be described as confusing. It wasn’t game. Perhaps it will even convince you even the kind of confusing where you to follow my lead and sign up to play ask a lot of annoying questions; it was next season. the deer-in-headlights confusing where Hannah Purkey is a senior. You can you don’t even know what questions to reach her at hpurkey1@swarthmore.edu.
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BY LAUREN KIRSCHMAN pittnews.com, April 19, 2011
Bill Barton will join the Pitt men’s basketball coaching staff as the team’s newest assistant, head coach Jamie Dixon announced yesterday. Barton, 50, was the head coach at Notre Dame Prep in Fitchburg, Mass., from 1999-2007 before serving as an assistant at Duquesne University from 2007-08 and an associate head coach at Duquesne from 2008-10. He spent last season as an assistant coach at Marshall University, serving under former Pitt associate head coach Tom Herrion. Barton arrives at Pitt with the reputation as one of the best recruiters on the East Coast. “With his numerous recruiting contacts, Bill will help us in recruiting, scouting and player development,” Dixon said in a news release. “We are fortunate to have a coach with his well-rounded and vast background.” Barton played an important role in bringing former Duquesne stars Damian Saunders and Shawn James to the Dukes. Saunders, who took the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year title the past two years, finished his career with more than 1,000 points and 1,000 rebounds. James was the 2008 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year. “I’m extremely excited to join the Pitt staff and to return to Pittsburgh,” Barton said in a news release. “We obviously want to continue the great tradition established at Pitt. The pro-
gram’s championship success speaks for itself.” During his time at Notre Dame Prep, Barton guided the school to consecutive Prep School National Championships in 2005-06 and 2006-07. He finished with a 255-66 overall record. He also helped more than 70 players earn NCAA Division 1 scholarships and coached five players who were drafted by NBA teams, including firstround picks Michael Beasley and Lazar Hayward. Beasley, who played one year of college basketball at Kansas State, was drafted 2nd overall in 2008 by the Miami Heat and currently plays for the Minnesota Timberwolves. Former Marquette standout Hayward was drafted 30th overall by the Washginton Wizards in 2010 and also currently plays for the Timberwolves. Barton also coached former Pitt point guard Carl Krauser and Syracuse standout Paul Harris during their time at Notre Dame Prep. Krauser played at Pitt from 2001-05, while Harris played at Syracuse from from 2006-09. A Boston, Mass. native, Barton graduated from Salem State in Massachusetts in 1989 with a degree in business and then earned his master’s in business admistration from Suffolk University in Massachusetts in 1989, A position on Pitt’s staff opened earlier this month when former assistant Pat Skerry left to become the head coach at Towson University. Skerry worked on Pitt’s staff for one season.
garnet athlete of the week
April 21, 2011
Kelsey Johnson soph., tennis, titusville, nJ.
What she’s done: the sophomore was named the Centennial Conference player of the Week for the week ending april 12. Johnson has gathered six straight victories in single play, blanking her last opponent 6-0, 6-0. in recent conference play, Johnson has picked up two-set victories over opponents from urinsus, Franklin & Marshall, Bryn Mawr and dickinson. With doubles partner luann Cignavitch, she has won her last five matches.
Favorite Career MoMent: “reaching the [Centennial] Conference championships last year.”
Best season MoMent: “Winning a close match against Muhlenberg, where four out of the six singles matches took three sets.”
Favorite guilty pleasure Food: Paul Chung Phoenix Staff
“Macaroni and cheese from noodles & Company.”
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Sports Tennis teams see success, men’s streak continues swarthmorephoenix.com
Johnson ’13 didn’t give up a single point in their match, taking it 8-0. The Swarthmore men’s and “[The team’s level of play] has been women’s tennis teams have had a cou- pretty high. Usually we beat all of our ple of great weeks recently. The men league teams except Hopkins. We’ve are on a six-win streak in the season, had a couple close matches, but the while the women have won three out of level’s been high,” Aliya Padamsee ’14 four games played. The men now stand said. 11-6 (7-1 CC) on the season after defeatThe women immediately returned ing Washington College, while the to action, as they play TCNJ the next women are 8-8 (7-2 CC). day, taking the 6-3 loss, unable to Both teams hosted Conference oppo- bounce back after three singles losses nent Franklin & Marshall on April 9, and losses in the No. 1 and No. 2 doudominating the Diplomats with wins of bles. Johnson recorded two wins on 6-3 for the men and 9-0 for the women. the day, in the No. 4 singles (6-0, 2-6, The Garnet reigned in doubles play, 6-3) and in the No. 3 doubles with parttaking all three games. Stephen ner Cignavitch (8-4). Stephanie Chia Youngblood ’11 and partner Zac Kelm ’13 recorded the other point for the ’12 won the No. 1 doubles 8-4. Max Garnet in the No. 6 singles, winning Bressman ’11 and partner Max Kaye ’14 7-5 and 7-5. took No. 2 doubles 8-6, followed by “It was really close. We had our senAnthony Collard ’14 and Seth Udelson ior day match the day before, so the ’12 with a 8-1 sweep in the No. 3 spot. team dynamic was great, everyone was T h e really excited G a r n e t and everyone dropped the played really top three sin“[The team’s level of play] has wE pei pl hla ,n y” gles matches, but came been pretty high ... We’ve had English ’14 back with said. a couple close matches, but wins in the L a s t No. 4, No. 5 We d n e s d a y the level’s been high.” and No. 6 the women Aliya Padamsee ’14 s p o t s . hosted Bryn Bressman M a w r , walked away recording a 9with a 0 win against the Owls, and its third 2-6, 6-3, 10-5 win, Preston Poon ’14, in consecutive Centennial Conference the No. 5 singles, finished the match in victory and second shutout (following two sets, 6-3 and 6-0 and Collard took Franklin & Marshall). Johnson, the last singles, 7-6 and 6-0. Centennial Conference Player of the Against the Diplomats, the women Week last week, was a double winner blocked any attempt at points from on the day again, taking the No. 2 sintheir Centennial Conference rival, tak- gles match 6-0, 6-0 and the No. 2 douing all nine matches, leaving Franklin bles with Cignavitch 8-2. “It was our & Marshall shut out. No. 1 doubles shortest match this season. We domipartners Rosie DuBrin ’12 and Emily nated,” Padamsee said. English agreed, Rosenblum ’13 had a fight for the win, saying that everyone on the team eventually coming away with a solid 8- played, which is evidenced by the 5 win, while No. 3 doubles partners shutout result. Luann Cignavitch ’11 and Kelsey English was also a double winner on
BY RENEE FLORES rflores1@swarthmore.edu
the day, taking the No. 5 singles 8-0 and that so long as the team entered the partnering with Alexis Hickman ’11 in court fired up ad ready to play, they the No. 3 doubles to win 8-1. should expect good results. “We've On Friday, the men’s team traveled come a long way this season and have to Conference rival Dickinson, taking shown that on a good day, we can their sixth knock off straight win some very right from good teams. the Devils. long as we “The recent winning streak is a As The Garnet continue to dropped one play as well product of us just working point to the and as discirelentlessly from the very first Devils, a loss plined as we in the No. 1 have as of day back in August ...” singles by late, we have Malik Mubeen ’13 Kaye (7-6, 6a good chance 4). Bressman, to make it Youngblood, back to the Kelm and Collard were all double win- conference championship match,” ners on the day. Mubeen said. The women returned to play in a The team’s early successes against Conference match at Dickinson, taking top teams in the country helped them the 6-3 win. It was a first-year showing recognize the potential to win. as Lia Carlson ’14 (6-1, 6-3), Katie “The recent winning streak is a Samuelson ’14 (6-4, 6-3), Padamsee (6-1, product us just working relentlessly 3-6, 7-6) and English (4-6, 6-0, 6-4) took from the very first day back in August the No. 1, No. 4, No. 5 and No. 6 singles to reach the level we knew we were all wins for the team. Rosenblum and capable of,” Mubeen said. DuBrin dropped their singles matches The Swarthmore women’s tennis 3-6, 7-5, 7-5 and 6-1, 9-0 respectively. team plays Haverford next, and the Rosenblum and DuBrin also dropped team is feeling good and hoping for the No. 1 doubles 8-5. another win. “They’re consistent, but The Dickinson match was a struggle less aggressive. Our team is pretty for the team. “We dominated in one aggressive,” English said. Padamsee set, then had a setback and finished added that it’s important for the team strong. They have similar results as to close out. us, so that’s why it’s an important Both teams are looking good to head match for us,” Padamsee said. English into Playoffs, as the women are seeded played her doubles match right before third, after Johns Hopkins and playing her singles match, so she Washington. The men are 6-1 in “went in feeling excited for the win.” Conference play. The men played Washington yesterThe women close out the regular day, quashing the Shoremen 7-2. In the season today when they travel to singles competition, Bressman defeat- Conference rival Haverford. Play is set ed Washington’s Kyle Lisco 6-1, 6-1 and to begin at 4 p.m. The men travel to Poon defeated Aaron Ellison 6-4, 6-2. Haverford on Saturday for their last No. 1 and No. 3 doubles teams beat out regular season game. Play is scheduled Washington. to begin at 12 p.m. Malik Mubeen ’13, who beat Disclaimer: Aliya Padamsee is a Washington’s John Menzione 7-5 (7-4), columnist for The Phoenix. She had no 6-0, was positive about the team’s involvement in the production of this chances of beating Washington, saying article.
around higher education
Frosh going back to cali After riding the pine at Penn, guard Casey James looks to transfer back to West Coast BY BRIAN KOTLOFF dailypennsylvanian.com, Apr. 19, 2011
California native Casey James arrived at Penn this year as a member of a heralded freshman class of seven accomplished high-school players. Hailed by ESPN as “the most prolific shooter in the west,” the combo guard said he came in expecting to play “significant minutes,” even after his recruiters, Glen Miller and John Gallagher, left for other coaching gigs. Then the season — and the Did Not Plays — began. Three-quarters of the way through the 28-game schedule, James realized he could find better opportunities elsewhere. His decision to transfer became official at the beginning of April, and he’s now looking to return to his home state. San Francisco State University of the
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California Collegiate Athletic Conference is his current “number-one option,” followed by Loyola Marymount, Pacific and schools in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. “Basically, my decision is basketballrelated,” James said. “I just want to go back to California to play at a school where I know I’ll play a lot and also have a good time.” The adjustment from senior captain at Capistrano Valley Christian to benchwarmer proved difficult for James. He went from averaging 16.7 points per game as a senior to playing a total of four minutes all season. James and fellow freshman guards Dau Jok and Steve Rennard faced the negative side of a seven-man recruiting class, as they became casualties of an eighteen-man roster. James said he, Jok and Rennard grew
“unhappy” sitting the bench for entire games at a time. And they’re not the first ones. Before the season, forward Brian Fitzpatrick transferred to Bucknell, citing the large roster as one of his main grievances. Also a Miller recruit, Fitzpatrick was told by the now-Connecticut assistant that he would “come in and play right away.” Instead, he found Jerome Allen to have different coaching beliefs. “For a freshman to play in front of a senior, he has to be that much better,” Fitzpatrick said in June. James ran into the same trouble, explaining “the whole year, you have a lot more opportunity as an upperclassman than as a freshman, regardless of how you play. It’s set in stone.” When asked the reasons that the coaches gave the freshmen for their DNPs, James said, “They would say, ‘If you don’t do certain things offensively or defensively, then you’re not going to get in the game,’” but did not discuss specifics. With three more guards from the Class of 2015 committed for next season, the team will again practice and play with a crowded roster.
April 21, 2011
James doesn’t see the frustration ending. “Definitely there’s going to be some problems with playing time and just the flow of practice.”
Courtesy of dailypennsylvanian.com
James played four minutes this season.
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sports in Brief
Quarterback development Baseball struggles against key to Pitt football program conference opponents BY GREG TRIETLEY pittnews.com, Apr. 19, 2011 According to head coach Todd Graham, the key to the future of the Pitt football program is the development of his quarterbacks: Tino Sunseri, Mark Myers and Anthony Gonzalez. At Pitt’s intrasquad Blue-Gold Game on Saturday, the importance of the quarterback was on display as starter Sunseri, who has thrown for 300 yards once in his career, attempted 55 passes, mostly from the shotgun, and picked up 416 passing yards. The junior has had to absorb “like a sponge,” as Graham phrased it, one of the more intricate systems in college football. The system, one that Graham has repeatedly described as no-huddle, high-octane and explosive, centers around a quarterback who is capable of running the intricate offense. “It takes time to learn,” Graham said. “This system is somewhat complicated, and all the pressure, I’ll tell you, is on the quarterback. This is a quarterback-driven offense. We’ve got to have a quarterback that is smart and makes good decisions. We’ve been impressed with [Sunseri].” Overall, the Blue-Gold Game showed that Pitt’s skill positions — recruits from the methodical, plodding Dave Wannstedt era — have adapted to Graham’s up-tempo, no-huddle scheme. The offensive productivity stood in stark contrast to that of last year’s BlueGold Game, in which the offense scored one touchdown on a 9-yard run by Sunseri and former star running back Dion Lewis picked up just 74 total yards on five carries. Looking back, the 2010 Blue-Gold Game was an omen of an offense that often struggled during the season, most notably during a 35-10 loss to West Virginia. If this season’s game is any indication, Pitt won’t be struggling to put points on the board very often. Pitt averaged 26.3 points per game last season, while Graham’s Tulsa squad put up 41.4 points per game — seventh in the nation. Pitt ranked 65th. But despite the offensive showing in the Blue-Gold Game, Graham was the first to admit that nobody should read too much into Sunseri’s more than 400 passing yards and the starter-laden Blue team’s 48-13 victory. “Gold was made up mostly of our twos with some guys mixed in,” Graham said in the post-game news conference. “Naturally, the score was pretty predictable.” Gonzalez also used his feet well on Saturday, scrambling for 39 yards and avoiding pressure all afternoon, but the challenge of leading Pitt’s offensive supporting cast against its defensive starters was too great. He finished just 9 for 26, for 82 yards with two interceptions. Graham said he was impressed with both Gonzalez and Sunseri, but it’s clear his quarterbacks are still learning the complicated system’s nuances. “It doesn’t even matter what the yards were today,” he said. “We’re not even close to where we want to be in this offense.” Kinks in the scheme appeared occasionally Saturday, especially on riskier gadget plays. The Blue offense ran a flea-flicker late in the game, but Sunseri had to throw the ball away under pressure from the Gold front seven. Graham admitted the team ran “pretty basic stuff” throughout the scrimmage. “We’ve got training wheels on right now,” he said.
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Players have had to adjust to the game speed that Graham touted when he brought his system to Pittsburgh from Tulsa. Sunseri and the offensive line have spent much of the spring working on lining up as quickly as possible, and the entire offense has quickened its pace between plays. “The first day when we got out there, when everybody was running from drill to drill and everybody was yelling ‘high octane’ and [wide receiver coach Mike] Norvell was yelling to hurry up, we kind of looked at each other like, ‘Whoa, we’re not used to this,’” Sunseri said after the scrimmage. “As each practice moved on, we felt like our offense got more and more comfortable.” Conditioning the players for the season has been a priority for the coaching staff this spring. Pitt forewent a halftime Saturday and played for more than two hours with no intermission. In total, the Panthers ran 100 plays on offense, and defensive starters each saw about 80. “We’re going to play a whole bunch more snaps than what they’re used to,” Graham said. “That’s why we went 100 snaps. I wanted to show them. Toward the end there, they were tired. They probably haven’t run 100 snaps in maybe ever.” Now that the coaches have introduced the offense, the players will have more time to adjust to both the system and the game speed during training camp this summer. Saturday was the first time under Graham that the Panthers reached tripledigit snaps, and it showed as the scrimmage went on. The firepower displayed in the first quarter turned into punts by the fourth — 15 in all. “We came out quick. We started off pretty strong,” wide receiver Mike Shanahan said after the game. “Then there was a lull where we had some penalties and some turnovers ... The 100 plays might have slowed us a bit.” Pitt ran 830 total plays under Wannstedt last season. With Graham at the helm, Tulsa ran 1,006. The passing game looked crisp on Saturday despite the steady rain that fell for most of the scrimmage. Some have doubted the effectiveness of a high-tempo offense at Heinz Field — a playing surface often chewed up by inclement weather and sometimes by two-game weekends — but the results Saturday suggest otherwise. “We’re going to have games like that, especially in this part of the country,” Graham said. “We threw for over 400 yards, and I’m standing in ankle-deep water on that field. That was one of the most encouraging things, seeing how accurately we threw our edge passes and our comeback passes.” Graham recalled Tulsa’s 2009 bowl game against No. 22 Ball State to show that he won’t change his game plan based on the weather. Playing in torrential rain that turned the field into mud, Graham’s Golden Hurricane racked up 632 total yards in a 45-13 blowout. Sunseri, a Pittsburgh native, said he prefers bad weather because it puts pressure on the opposing secondary, which has to match wide receivers’ cuts on a poor playing surface. Graham doesn’t mind the weather, either. “It doesn’t matter — rain, sleet, snow, wind,” he said. “It doesn’t affect how we’re going to operate. We’re going to run our offense. We’re going to throw the ball. We’re going to run the ball. We’re going to do all the things just like we always do.”
Eric Verhasselt Phoenix Staff
Catcher Mike Waterhouse, who leads the Garnet with a .406 batting average, connects on a pitch. After a historic sweep of Johns Hopkins and a much-needed sweep of Washington last week, the baseball team stumbled this week, going just 1-4 against the 6th place Muhlenberg Mules, the 9th place McDaniel Green Terror and the 7th place Ursinus Bears. Just one game out of first place after the win against Washington, the Garnet lost two and a half games in the standings and is now vying for the fourth-seed in the Centennial Conference playoffs. On Thursday at Muhlenberg, the Garnet carried a 7-2 lead into the eighth inning, but a string of six singles in the eighth closed the gap to 7-5, and a two-out, three-run ninth inning home run against Swarthmore closer Ramsey Walker ’13 gave the Mules the walkoff 8-7 victory. The offense was led by two-hit performances from second baseman Anthony Montalbano ’12, catcher Mike Waterhouse ’12 and first baseman Mike Cameron ’12. Looking for redemption on Friday, the Garnet again took an early lead and watched it slip away. Paced by a three-hit day from Waterhouse and four runs scored by shortstop Thomas Nakamura ’11, the offense put up 14 hits and ten runs, but four Swarthmore errors and a six-run Muhlenberg fifth put the Garnet on the wrong side of an 11-10 score. Traveling to Maryland to face McDaniel in a Sunday doubleheader, Swarthmore appeared to be in danger of dropping its third straight, as season ace Ignacio Rodriguez ’12 walked four batters in the first inning and recorded only two outs, Record on the Week April 14-20: 1-4 leaving the game with a 6-1 deficit. However, pitcher Grant Johnson ’14 Overall record: 17-11 (8-7 CC) enjoyed a breakout game in relief, as Conference standing: 4th, 3.5 GB he stymied the Green Terror offense for 6.1 scoreless innings to pick up his second collegiate win. The offense did the rest, tying the game in the second and going on to win 11-6 behind four hits and three RBIs from left fielder Rory McTear ‘13. Montalbano picked up three hits, while Cameron, Nakamura, and designated hitter Nicko Burnett ’14 each earned two. In Game Two, the pitching stumbled once again, surrendering nine runs in the first five innings to put the Garnet in a hole from which it could not climb. Waterhouse, Burnett and right fielder Tim Kwilos ’13 got two hits apiece, and James Bernard ’11 pitched a pair of scoreless innings, but it was not enough to keep Swarthmore from a 94 defeat. The struggles continued on Wednesday, as the offense fell silent in a 9-2 loss to Ursinus. Swarthmore took an early 1-0 lead on a sac fly by Kwilos, but the Bears scored two runs in each of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, tacking on three more in the eighth to cap the scoring. The Garnet looks to get back on track on Friday, as the Class of 2011 will be honored at the Senior Day matchup with Ursinus. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.
April 21, 2011
BY ANA APOSTOLERIS
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Ivy League lacrosse players face option of pro careers Princeton and Brown senior athletes have option to pro careers with minimal salaries BY JOE SANFILIPPO pittnews.com, Apr. 19, 2011
While Penn seniors busy themselves with the On-Campus Recruiting process, Brown senior David Hawley received his first job offer this Jan. 21, without ever applying. Hawley, who plays midfield for the Bears’ lacrosse team, was tracking the Major League Lacrosse collegiate draft online with some friends when his name popped up 40th overall—a seventh-round pick by the Boston Cannons. The New Canaan, Conn. native was one of 48 college seniors offered a spot to play professionally beginning this pro season in May. He joined Princeton attack Jack McBride as one of two players selected from the Ancient Eight — the fewest Ivy League selections since the draft’s inception in 2001. Though traditionally held after the NCAA lacrosse season, the 2011 draft came before any of this year’s selections had played a game as a senior. “That helped kids that had big years last year and hurt some of the seniors that kind of came on late and had good years
this year,” said Drexel coach Brian Voelker, who led the Quakers from 2003 to 2009. The timing of the draft puts Hawley and his peers in another unique position of having to choose between professional lacrosse and other job offers in more common professions. Studying commerce, organization and entrepreneurship, Hawley is looking into finance and real estate opportunities in the Northeast. In order to retain NCAA eligibility throughout the year, players cannot officially decide whether to play professionally or not for months after the draft. “Any kind of conversation with the team you were drafted by would deem you ineligible for NCAA [competition],” Hawley said. “You kind of get drafted on that day and wait until the season is over to actually start conversations with a team.” And while being drafted into the NBA or NFL may mean millions in contracts and endorsements for a college athlete at the top of his game, the transition to the MLL doesn’t carry quite the same fanfare — especially given one’s other options as an Ivy League graduate.
With just a six-team league and a threemonth season, most players earn less than $25,000 yearly for their efforts — and just a select few secure endorsements. “People aren’t building their lives around those jobs, frankly,” said Penn coach Mike Murphy, who ran a pro combine in Philadelphia several years ago while at Haverford College. “The salaries, they’re certainly not enough to live on,” Murphy added. “If you play in the professional indoor league, [the NLL] and outdoor league you could maybe put together somewhat of a living.” But the challenges aren’t limited to pay, either. Voelker, who saw two of his players at Penn drafted, can easily relate to the grind of a pro season in tandem with other jobs and a family. “I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off,” Voelker said of playing with the Long Island Lizards while coaching the Red and Blue in 2003. “I was already out of town so much running around, chasing kids and recruiting… it was crazy, it was hectic,” he added. Voelker noted he had great family support, but not all players are as fortunate,
and aside from juggling multiple jobs and life at home, potential MLL players need to first possess enough natural skill and athleticism just to compete with the best athletes in the game. “The bottom line is: it’s production,” Voelker said. “You have to run by people and bury opportunities — I don’t think our game is that complicated.” Young players must also adjust to a few key rule changes in the professional game, like a shot clock used to quicken game flow. Another key rule first-year professionals must adjust to is the 16-yard two-point line. But that seems to suit Hawley just fine. “He can really shoot the ball,” Murphy said. “Hawley is particularly valuable for that league because of the range of his shot.” And regardless of rule changes or poor pay, Hawley now has the chance to continue competing in the sport he’s played since age six. “It really is just the love of the game,” Hawley said about his options next year. “It’s hard to ever see it come to an end — I’m open to any opportunity to keep playing.”
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Yale crew gains ‘Victory at Sea’ on housatonic BY JAMES LU yaledailynews.com, Apr. 18, 2011 Despite windy conditions on the Housatonic River on Saturday, Yale lightweight crew left Columbia and Penn in its wake for a nine-second victory in the Dodge Cup. Weather was not enough to stop the second varsity boat, which won its race by 14 seconds. The freshman eight, on the other hand, was swamped and almost sunk midway through its race on the Housatonic River Saturday. “My old coach used to call conditions like Saturday’s ‘Victory At Sea,’” said head coach Andy Card. “At one point I thought I saw a U-boat snorkel, but I can’t be sure.” It was a disappointing day for all the coaches, Card said, because none of them got to see a contest that was decided solely
by the skill and condition of the rowers. Though captain Andrew Hakanson ’11 said he had never seen conditions like Saturday’s, he felt the crews handled the conditions well. “It is hard to accurately judge our performance, however I feel we did a decent job of adapting to the conditions,” he said. “We were presented with a challenge from both our opponents and the weather; we did a good job rising to the occasion of both.” Card explained that the results from the Saturday races cannot be taken at face value because no one can tell how much water each boat took on, and hence how much additional weight each crew had to pull through the water. Still, the races were the third-to-last the Bulldogs will compete in before the championship season begins with the May 15 Eastern Sprints.
Next week the Elis will have a doubleheader on the Housatonic, taking on Cornell and Delaware in the morning and Dartmouth for the Durand Cup in the afternoon. “With the heats and finals in the champions races we’ll need to be prepared to race twice in one day, so we’re looking forward to this upcoming doubleheader at home as an intense test in that regard,” said Will Zeng ’11, who sits in the stroke seat of the varsity boat. Card said all three crews the Bulldogs will face next week “look pretty damn fast by all accounts,” adding that he expects races of greater intensity because of how close last year’s races were. Last year, Yale’s and Dartmouth’s varsity boats finished in a dead heat, which Card said was the first time he could remember such a result occurring. “I think this weekend will be telling,”
Hakanson said. “Our search for speed continues. Our day of judgement will come.” After next Saturday’s races, the team will only have the Goldthwait Cup against crews from Harvard and Princeton before the championship season. Card reiterated that there is no “middle period” to the lightweight crew team’s season, explaining that teams develop at a rapid pace as the weather warms and the first month of competitive training is complete. “I can’t say our improvement is linear with any honesty, but we do focus on getting better every day,” he said. “We are still waiting for the truly stable weather of a traditional warming April, but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards these days, right?” Racing will kick off in Derby, Conn., from 9 a.m. Saturday, and spectators can look on from the Gilder Boathouse.
garnet in action Thursday, april 21 Women’s tennis at Haverford, 4 p.m. Women’s lacrosse vs. Washington College, 7 p.m. Friday, april 22 Baseball vs. Ursinus (Senior Day), 3:30 p.m. Track & field at Widener Invitational, 5 p.m. saTurday, april 23 Track & field at Widener Invitational. 11 a.m. Men’s lacrosse at Haverford, 12 p.m. Men’s tennis at Haverford, 12 p.m. Baseball at Franklin & Marshall (Senior Day), 12:30 p.m.
the PhoeniX
Women’s lacrosse vs. Haverford, 1 p.m. Softball at Haverford, 1 p.m. Baseball at Franklin & Marshall (Senior Day), 3 p.m. Softball at Haverford, 3 p.m. Tuesday, april 26 Softball at Widener, 6 p.m. Softball at Widener, 8 p.m. Wednesday, april 27 Women’s lacrosse at Centennial Conference Playoffs, TBA Women’s track & field at Mid-Week Meet, 3:30 p.m.
April 21, 2011
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Sports
swarthmorephoenix.com
sports in brief
Softball can’t shake Conference losing streak
Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Infielder Rose Pitkin and catcher Kira Kern high five pitcher Melissa O’Connor. The Swarthmore softball team continued to struggle against Conference competition, running its losing streak to eight straight with a 0-6 showing last week. The seven-day stretch was highlighted by three doubleheaders against Ursinus, Dickinson and Washington, and was epitomized by a 5-0 loss to Dickinson in which the Red Devil pitcher threw a perfect game. On Thursday, the Garnet played a home twin-bill against the Ursinus Bears, losing 3-0 and 10-6. An impressive complete-game pitching performance by Kate Smayda ’13 in Game One (7.0 IP, 3 ER, 5 K) was not enough to make up for the lack of offense, which managed just three singles off of Ursinus starter Jennilyn Weber. The bats came around in Game Two, scoring six runs on 13 hits (two each from Smayda, designated player Kira Kern ’11, first basewoman Krista Scheirer ’13 and shortstop Liz Cushing ’12), but pitching ace Melissa O’Connor ’14 was uncharacteristically knocked around by the Bears, surrendering seven runs and walking five in just four innings. Swarthmore traveled to Dickinson on Sunday, where the offense fell victim to two Record on the Week April 14-20: 0-6 outstanding pitching performOverall record: 6-22 (2-12 CC) ances by Red Devil starter Allison Jordan (5-0, 8-0). In Conference standing: 9th Game One, Jordan didn’t allow a baserunner through her seven-inning start; in Game Two, the Garnet fared hardly better, managing only three hits as Jordan threw another complete-game shutout. A Tuesday doubleheader against Washington at Clothier Field yielded two more losses (6-2, 9-8). A three-run rally in the top of the fifth inning of Game One broke open a close game and gave the Shorewomen a late lead they would not relinquish, and in Game Two, the Garnet fell behind 9-0 by the third inning, a deficit just large enough to render an eight-run Swarthmore rally in the fifth and sixth innings futile. Left fielder Nicole Aaron ’14 led the offense in the second game with three hits and two RBIs. Third basewoman Rose Pitkin ’13 contributed two RBIs of her own, and second basewoman Erin Curtis ’13 picked up two hits. Relief pitcher Marley Spector ’12 pitched four scoreless innings to keep the Garnet in the game. Swarthmore returns to action on Saturday, as 8th-place Haverford visits Clothier Field for a doubleheader. First pitch is set for 1 p.m. BY ANA APOSTOLERIS
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Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff
Despite finishing with four strikeouts over four innings in the April 14 game against Ursinus, ace Melissa O’Connor couldn’t take out the Bears. The Garnet lost to Ursinus 3-0 and 10-6 in the doubleheader.
April 21, 2011
tHe pHoeniX