Screw Your Roommate

FEBRUARY 16, 2012 • THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE SINCE 1881 • VOLUME 135, ISSUE 5

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Inside: Swarthmore receives award for faculty research Will Shortz acknowledges Swattie achievement Track shines at BU invitational

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(sometimes, the equation works out) p. 11

The Phoenix

Thursday, February 16, 2012 Volume 135, Issue 5

The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881.

EDITORIAL BOARD Marcus Mello Editor in Chief Camila Ryder Managing Editor Adam Schlegel News Editor Koby Levin Assistant News Editor Brad Lenox Living & Arts Editor Steven Hazel Assistant Living & Arts Editor Reem Abdou Opinions Editor Tim Bernstein Sports Editor Allegra Pocinki Photo Editor Cindy Luu Social Media Coordinator Peter Akkies Webmaster Eric Sherman Webmaster

Gerardo Limon The Phoenix

Vertigo-go members Jessie Cannizzaro, Claire Broad and Thomas Powers got their improv on at this weekend’s pre-Screw Your Roommate Show in Sci 101.

News

word Editor and puzzle master Will Shortz visited Haverford and delighted the audience with puzzles and anecdotes from his career as an ‘enigmatologist.’

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dichotomy

Sam deconstructs the notion of an equality-efficiency trade off, offering the consideration that state investment in human capital actually makes for a much more efficient economy than otherwise.

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Swarthmore lauded for Hollywood portrayals of leadership in undergrad- love, relationships are just Obama’s uate faculty research An organization that supports student- fantasies superman: Our Behind My Shades columnist looks faculty research, the RSCA, recently recognized Swarthmore for its support of un- at Valentine’s Day through the lens of re- kryptonite cent romantic comedies and explains that dergraduate science education, ranking it 9th among liberal arts colleges that have received grants in the organizations 100 year history.

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there’s a lot to take lightly about the most romantic day of the year.

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no budget revealing the

Looking at the politics surroudning President Obama’s FY2013 budget, Tyler offers his analysis of its political and economic deficiences, ultimately arguing that these limitations prevent it from passing into legislation.

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Save big or go home: introNew administrator will but- ducing the shopping basics Swat Smart Shopping explores the world of tress ethics board Imagining a world without The college’s Institutional Review Board Springfield Mall, with tips on saving at The (IRB) has recently seen the appointment of Loft, A Dollar and Deals and Pac Sun. Henry Kissinger(s) a full-time administrator to oversee the eth- PAGE 12 Shiran explains why Washington should ical conduct of research and experiments Real Estate’s ‘Days’ gives pursue a Kissinger-style engagement stratwith live human test subjects. with Pyongyang and Tehran to gain a Jersey a reason to be proud egy PAGE 4 geopolitical edge in East Asia and the Mid-

Living & Arts WRC creates space for conversation, home cooking

The Women’s Resource Center’s new Saturday evening coffee house opens a safe space for women and men to relax, and offers amny other programs that relate to women’s issues on campus.

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Concert highlights various forms of dance expression

Last weekend’s Faculty and Friends Dance concert exhibited dance professors and some students and their incredible variety of dance styles and interests.

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Dylan takes a look at Matt Mondanile and his new minimalist group, Real Estate, and their new album “Days,” which expresses a simple and subtle musical style.

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dle East and to minimize the chances of a nuclear crisis.

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Sports

Opinions

Track and field shows what The moral imperative in ac- it’s made of in BU meet the upcoming Conference Championtively legalizing gay mar- With ships, the track and field squad look to be heating up at the right time following reriage cord-breaking performances at the Boston The Phoenix examines the repeal of California’s Proposition 8 in the context of persistent ideas about the immorality and illegality of same-sex marriage, essentially contending that the social progression of our society demands that homosexual unions be legally and constitutionally recognized across the US. PAGE 14

Crossword artist Will Shortz Breaking and reframing shares his love of words equality-efficiency Last Friday, New York Times Cross- the 2

University Valentine Invitational.

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The English Patient: choosing England’s new manager

STAFF Amanda Epstein News Writer Charles Hepper News Writer Yi-Wei Liu News Writer Sera Jeong Living & Arts Writer Samme Sheikh Living & Arts Writer Allison Shultes Living & Arts Writer Chi Zhang Living & Arts Writer Nate Blum Living & Arts Columnist Gabriela Campoverde Living & Arts Columnist Amelia Dornbush Living & Arts Columnist Dylan Jensen Living & Arts Columnist Vianca Masucci Living & Arts Columnist Lanie Schlessinger Living & Arts Columnist Renu Nadkarni Living & Arts Artist Naia Poyer Living & Arts Artist Tyler Becker Opinions Columnist Danielle Charette Opinions Columnist Harshil Sahai Opinions Columnist Shiran Shen Opinions Columnist Sam Sussman Opinions Columnist Emma Waitzman Political Cartoonist James Ivey Sports Columnist Axel Kodat Blogger Julia Carleton Photographer Cristina Matamoros Photographer Holly Smith Photographer Justin Toran-Burrell Photographer Sophie Diamond Copy Editor Taylor Hodges Copy Editor Jaimi Kim Copy Editor Axel Kodat Copy Editor Margaret Lawlace Copy Editor Vija Lietuvninkas Copy Editor BUSINESS STAFF Business Manager Paul Chung Circulation Manager Emily Richardson COVER DESIGN Amelia Kucic COVER PHOTO COURTESY OF: http://tiny.cc/0pj22 CONTRIBUTORS Victor Brady, Roy Greim, Gerardo Limon, Raisa Reyes OPINIONS BOARD Reem Abdou, Marcus Mello and Camila Ryder EDITOR’S PICKS PHOTOS COURTESY OF: (clockwise from top left) funnymadworld.blogspot.com disclosednative.com jestherent.blogspot.com TO ADVERTISE: E-mail: advertising@swarthmorephoenix.com Advertising phone: (610) 328-7362 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Direct advertising requests to Amelia Possanza. 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 Marcus Mello.

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 © 2012 The Phoenix.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without permission.

In the wake of Fabio Capello’s resignation from England’s national team, James takes a look at the candidates in line to succeed him in the toughest job in British sports.

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February 16, 2012

THE PHOENIX

News

swarthmorephoenix.com

Events Menu Today Wildly Human: Beyond the Bestiary Reception The reception for the ongoing visual art exhibition curated by List Gallery Interns Elizabeth Laplace, Francesca Bolfo and Soomin Kim will begin at 4 p.m. in McCabe. Refreshments will be provided.

Swarthmore lauded for leadership in undergraduate faculty research

Tomorrow Occupy Reflections Come to the Friends Meeting House at 1 p.m. to hear the experiences of five participants in the Occupy Movement as they share their own stories and look toward the future of the nation as a whole.

Rennie Harris Puremovement Master Class The Rennie Harris Puremovement dance company, a hip-hop dance company dedicated to preserving hip-hop culture, will be giving a special performance at 8 p.m. in LPAC as part of the Cooper Series.

Saturday, February 18th Lori Barkin Honors Performance Senior Lori Barkin will be giving a solo performance for her Honors Thesis, in which she will be presenting the humorous tale that is the life and death of the late Dr. Enerio Jose Lopez Pardo at 7 p.m. in LPAC’s Frear Theater.

Sunday, February 19th Harmony for the Homeless Head over to the Friends Meeting House at 2 p.m. for a concert that will benefit the Swarthmore Friends Meeting “Cooking for the Homeless” program, featuring performances by Swat’s very own Sixteen Feet and Chaverim, as well as a performance by the Trolley Stoppers from Media.

Donations are not required but encouraged.

Monday, February 20th Wellness Lounge Grand Opening Come out and join the Student Wellness Program in the Grand Opening of the new Wellness Lounge located in Wharton C basement. Eggrolls and smoothies will be provided.

Cultural Citizenship: Rights of Belonging in Multicultural Societies Director of Latino Studies at NYU, Renato Rosaldo, will be sharing his research and findings on the subject of cultural citizenship in multicultural societies at 4:30 p.m. in Sci 181.

Will Myanmar drown in a tidal wave of aid?

Non-resident Senior Fellow at Brookings and Foreign Advisor for the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce & Industry, Lex Rieffel, will be hosting a lecture on the recent political openings in Myanmar at 7:30 p.m. in Trotter 203.

Submissions for the events menu may be sent to news@swarthmorephoenix. com

Justin Toran-Burrell The Phoenix

The Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement’s recognition of Swat as a leader in undergraduate science research is a testament to the capacity of small liberal arts schools to facilitate strong student-faculty relationships.

By Charlie hepper chepper1@swarthmore.edu The Research Corporation for Scientific Advancement (RSCA) has recently recognized Swarthmore College for its outstanding leadership in advancing scientific education among undergraduates.

The college was ranked ninth in a list of liberal arts institutions awarded grants by the foundation during its 100 years of activity. Swarthmore has received 49 grants from RCSA to date.

Described by its current President James M. Gentile as America’s oldest foundation devoted wholly to science, the RCSA works to “improve US science education by advocating that undergraduate students participate in their mentors’ cutting edge research.”

This mission is accomplished through RCSA’s initiative to “fund top early career teacher-scholars at America’s leading colleges and universities.”

Seven of Swarthmore’s current faculty members have previously been beneficiaries of the RCSA’s Cottrell College Science awards since 1995. These include Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Allison Holliday, Assistant Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Lilya Yatsunyk, Provost and James H. Hammons Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Tom Stephenson, Edward Hicks Magill Professor of Mathematics and Natural Sciences Frank Moscatelli, Associate Professor of Astronomy David Cohen, Professor of Physics Michael Brown and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Paul Rablen.

Professor Brown elaborated on the ways in which grant money from the RCSA is used to aid student involvement in research.

“Research in the sciences is usually faculty-led but involving students intimately. The grants are almost always written by professors but the money is

THE PHOENIX

used for student stipends, equipment, travel, etc.,” Brown said.

Professor Stephenson stated that funding through RCSA grants has greatly aided his research in the past.

A two-year grant from the organization enabled him to buy vital equipment such as a laser system for use in his research on atmospheric chemistry.

This project dealt with radiative cooling of the upper atmosphere, studying the energy transfer of diatomic molecular collisions. Four undergraduate students were involved in this project.

Stephenson further described the RCSA as providing an important “niche for early career scientists.”

Stephenson noted that the process of applying for these grants also provides faculty with the opportunity to refine the aims and directions of specific projects through dialogue with the RCSA’s staff.

“Faculty can test ideas with these grants and get feedback on ideas through comments on the grant’s application,” Stephenson said.

Brown also described the difference in the research environment between typical research universities and Swarthmore.

“Science faculty at RI [Research I] universities really have a different job than we do,” Brown said. By RI universities, he is referring to those universities that give priority to extensive research projects — and receive large amounts of federal research money — such as Stanford, Johns Hopkins and UCLA. “Promotion and tenure is based almost 100% on research, raising funds, publishing papers, establishing a group,” Brown said.

At a liberal arts college such as Swarthmore, though, Brown said that “promotion and success is based on teaching and research.”

“Since we’re teachers, a lot of the work we do under the auspices of re-

February 16, 2012

search involves instruction, training and teaching. Swarthmore (along with a few other places like Amherst and Williams) really values research and teaching. Lots of other liberal arts colleges have a much lower emphasis on scholarship and research,” he said.

Mr. Gentile, a geneticist and former dean for the natural sciences at Hope College in Hope, MI, has previously voiced his support for the unique opportunities afforded by scientific education and research in the setting of a liberal arts college.

“Hands-on research opportunities for undergraduates combined with personalized attention from inventive professors is one of the reasons that liberal arts colleges have long played a disproportionately large role in the education of our nation’s future scientists,” Gentile said.

In his book “Science in Solution: the Impact of Undergraduate Research on Student Learning,” David Lopatto, professor of psychology at Grinnell College, expressed comparable views on the values of undergraduate research in general.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of undergraduate participation with professors in cutting edge research, a role normally reserved for graduate or post-doctoral students.

Lopatto credits undergraduate research with presenting “multiple benefits to the student — both personal and professional,” concluding that it “enhances self-confidence, independence, readiness for the next level of challenge and ability to tolerate obstacles.”

Lopatto further states that it “teaches what it’s like to be a scientist and what life as a scientist would be like.” In addition, Lopatto believes that such opportunities prove concrete experience that will “advance career opportunities and specific skills such as critical-thinking, communications and making presentations.”

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News

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Week in pictures

New administrator will buttress ethics board

Holly Smith The Phoenix

The Green Advisors hosted an eco-friendly parlor party on Tuesday to commemorate Valentines Day in Shane Lounge.

Julia Carleton The Phoenix

Erin Starzyk has been hired as an administrator for the Institutional Review Board, a government program that monitors ethics in research.

By Amanda Epstein aepstei1@swarthmore.edu

Holly Smith The Phoenix

On Tuesday evening, Swat alum Keith Wilson hosted a math/stat colloquium on mathematical Poker in Sci 199.

Julia Carleton The Phoenix

Theatrical performance artist Peterson Toscano shared scenes from his solo comic show last Friday in Sci 101.

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Created by the federal government to ensure that all research involving human subjects be ethically principled, the Institutional Review Board (IRB) has recently hired an administrator, Erin Starzyk, to be solely dedicated to the board and its work after years of having other faculty and staff take on the job as an extra responsibility.

According to IRB faculty chair and political science professor Rick Valelly, the boards were put in place in the 1970s by the federal government in all the institutions that receive federal funding.

They were established after a notorious incident of research abuse, the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which researchers purposely infected a group of unknowing men with a strand of syphilis.

The board at the college therefore ensures that all research being conducted by students and faculty alike be ethical.

“The board ensures that some attention is given in the research design to getting informed consent and in making sure that data is anonymized and that any results of information collected can’t harm anybody in any way ... there are procedures that researchers need to adopt in order to make data and data collection safe,” Valelly said.

The IRB requires that every person on campus doing research with human subjects turn in a number of forms detailing the kind of information that they will be getting and how this information will be obtained.

According to new administrator Starzyk, depending on the sensitivity of the topic, the group being subject to research and the risk involved in the data collection process, the project may require different levels of review from the board.

While some low-risk research projects only require one person’s review and approval, others require that the full board meet to discuss and approve

February 16, 2012

the proposal. The full board is composed of eight different members of the faculty, including Starzyk and Valelly.

Starzyk previously worked as a researcher while earning her graduate and doctorate degrees. She has done research in places like Boston, Chicago and Belize, among others.

“I’ve had a lot of experience working with a lot of IRBs because most of my career has been focused around research,” she said.

Here since September of last year, Starzyk is the first person hired by the college as an administrator. In previous years, the job was tacked on to other professors’ responsibilities, but as the research continues to grow, the college wanted to be professional in complying with federal guidelines.

“The college realized that they needed someone here that was solely dedicated to the IRB … They wanted to develop a position in which they could have a ‘expert’ on campus,” Starzyk said.

Valelly thinks that creating a new position dedicated to the IRB has increased the legitimacy of the board.

“Swarthmore’s review board has been evolving very quickly... This year there was a big jump in how professionalized it has become,” he said.

Starzyk will mainly be examining the federal regulations in their entirety and reviewing applications. The full-board, however, had a meeting on Monday to go over the different forms in attempts to simplify them and make them as user-friendly and intelligible as possible.

“Some people find the review process burdensome because it is a lot of work but others find that it is very helpful to them, and gets them thinking about things they hadn’t thought about.

It gets them thinking about the ethics of research in a precise, mechanic and logistic way,” Valelly said.

Starzyk’s office is located in Parrish 12.

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News

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around higher education

Penn admissions to focus on first-generation students By lois lee www.thedp.com, Feb. 14, 2012 The college admissions process is already difficult and confusing for many, but for those whose parents never attended college, there is an added challenge of having to pave the road themselves.

Tonight, Ware College House will host the East Coast premiere of First Generation, a documentary that follows four first-generation college applicants as they make their way through the admissions process.

The screening — which is part of Ware’s “Dinner with Interesting People” speaker series — will be followed by a dinner and discussion with the filmmakers.

Tonight’s event marks a continuation of Ware’s panel discussion last semester on socioeconomic diversity at Penn.

The discussion — which was prompted by a letter in the Penn Almanac by English professor Peter Conn criticizing the job Penn has done recruiting low-income students to campus — drew a crowd of more than 100.

Dean of Admissions Eric Furda said he hopes tonight’s documentary will serve as a stimulus for continued discussions about diversity at Penn.

“It’s important to have these kinds of conversations in our community and our college houses,” he said.

“The experiences of [first-generation] students are important and they’re different from ours. Hopefully, this first-generation screening can help people think about ‘what does it mean for me and what does it mean for my classmate who is a first-generation student?’”

Furda served as a member of the panel discussion last semester, and was the one to suggest tonight’s screening to Ware House Dean Utsav Schurmans as a means of continuing the diversity dialogue on campus.

Schurmans said tonight’s event will broaden the discussion from merely a Penn perspective to the landscape of American higher education.

“This discussion is kind of stepping back and asking what this means for the U.S.,” he said. “I think that’s a very good follow-up because whenever we are going to have students and faculty engaged in a discussion about something like this, it’s good to have a sense of the background and what’s at stake at some level.”

According to Furda, about 10 percent of students admitted to Penn’s Class of 2015 were first-generation students whose parents have not attained a bachelordegree level of education.

Using responses provided on the Common Application, the Office of Admissions began flagging first-generation student applications at the start of this application cycle. Furda said this knowledge will help provide more context when admissions officers read through applications.

“For holistic admissions, you need to think about the context where the student is coming from, and for firstgeneration students, that’s their context,” Furda said.

He added that applying as a first-generation student may be “a significant barrier in what is already a process that confuses and stresses out the most highly educated.”

College sophomore Luis Vargas, former chair of admissions and recruitment for the Latino Coalition and a first-generation student himself, said it is up to first-generation students to figure out the admissions process on their own. “There’s very little discussion at home,” he said. “There is an expectation that you have a college education because you were born here, but your parents may not know how to guide you. The students have to have the willingness to find out for themselves.”

College freshman Dan Schwarz, another first-generation college student, agreed there were limitations to his parents’ involvement.

“My parents worked really hard to put me into a good private school and they expected a lot out of me,” he said. “They tried to help me out with [the application process], but they couldn’t help me out too much.

They kind of just let me do what I wanted. They knew I’d make the best decision.”

He added that he is pleased that the challenges of first-generation students will receive more focus at tonight’s event.

IvySelect College Consulting Director and Educational Consultant Michael Goran, a 1976 College graduate, said the integration of first-generation students into Penn’s socioeconomic diversity discussion is necessary.

“Building a diverse class and providing access to students can change lives,” he said. “We want to be allinclusive when we talk about diversity. Penn’s not just a province of the wealthy.”

Wharton junior Sasha Lagombra, a panelist during last semester’s discussion, added that Penn should be doing more to expand its efforts to reach out to firstgeneration students.

“Socioeconomic diversity in admissions is just starting to be picked up and discussed,” she said. “It should be acknowledged that people are trying to do this, but obviously there is still a long way to go.”

She added that existing scholarship programs like QuestBridge and the Posse Foundation — both of which Penn uses in its outreach efforts — are beneficial, but often target overlapping communities.

“More needs to be done about reaching out to different communities that we haven’t in the past through students,” she said.

News in brief

TEDxSwarthmore Student Challenge narrows candidates down to five In addition to the list of 11 accomplished speakers who will be participating in the TEDxSwarthmore event, one current Swarthmore student will present their views on the talk’s question of “What makes a good society?” on March 31. The TEDxSwarthmore Student Challenge asked students to apply or nominate a student for this coveted position and this past Friday, five students were named finalists. Adam Bortner ’12, Mary Jean Chan ’12, Jennifer Koch ’13, Tarit Rao-Chakravorti ’12 and Riana Shah ’14 will participate in the final round of selecting a student speaker on February 24.

The five finalists will give an abbreviated TED talk on “an idea, project or experience” they want to share with the Swarthmore community and the world, according to the TEDxSwarthmore’s website, and one student will be selected by a panel of judges.

On being named a finalist, Koch said that she was both immediately excited and shocked to be chosen. “I know some of the other nominees, and they are all fabulous people with tons of ideas on what makes a good society (the TEDx Swat topic), so I was surprised that the committee had chosen me,” she said in an e-mail.

After learning the other four candidates, Koch said she was even more excited.

“All the people in the final Student Challenge are amazing, and I can’t wait to hear what they have to say next week!”

Koch is a double major in music and political science and is co-president of Chester Youth Court Volunteers. She’s also the president of the Amos J. Peaslee Debate Society, a member of the Swarthmore Chorus and is a two-time recipient of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award.

Bortner is a sociology and anthropology major became interested in digital storytelling. Bortner turned this interest into a personal project, as he has worked with several people living with HIV/AIDS in the community surrounding Swarthmore to document their lives.

Chan is a senior from Hong Kong and is an honors political science major and English literature minor. Not only is Chan an ambassador for Teach for China, but she is also an international recruitment intern for the College’s Admissions Office.

She’s currently working on organizing the conference titled “The Progress Paradox: Critical Perspectives on Development.”

Rao-Chakravorti is a double major in economics and honors peace and conflict studies. He has extensive research experience on West African civil conflict, on which he’s currently writing a thesis. He is also member of the Swarthmore Squash team.

Shah is originally from Ahmedabad, India and co-founded the Independent Thought & Social Action in India, which is an education reform organization.

The final round of the Student Challenge will occur on Feb. 24 at 7 p.m. in Science

Center 101.

BY CAMILA RYDER

Courtesy of tedxswarthmore.com

The five students selected will compete speak at the March 31 TEDxSwarthmore talk.

Top row from left: Tarit Rao-Chakravorti, Mary Jean Chan, Adam Bortner. Bottom row: Jennifer Koch and Riana Shah.

THE PHOENIX February 16, 2012

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Living & Arts

swarthmorephoenix.com

WRC creates space for conversation, home cooking

By Chi zhang czhang1@swarthmore.edu This semester, students at Swarthmore College will have another party option on Saturday evenings. At the Women’s Resource Center (WRC), parties with different themes each week will provide a cozy and home-like atmosphere. This past Saturday, the themed party “Home Sweet Home” served home-cooked food with the goal of having “all the comforts of the home cooked meal without the awkward conversations about your future,” Marian Firke ’14, one of the house sitters of the WRC, said.

The WRC Saturday evening coffeehouse, a new initiative open to all genders, is intended to bring another type of party culture to the campus. Christina Keller ’14, one of the co-interns of the WRC, believes it is a place for people who seldom find themselves at an Olde Club or Paces party on a Saturday night to chat with their friends, have delicious food and especially enjoy the only chance on a Saturday night for free coffee, all in a dry and safe place. Even for those who frequently go to parties, the coffeehouse enables them to take a break from loud music and crowded dance floors.

The idea of initiating these parties partially comes from the WRC members’ meeting with the sorority proposers. According to Keller, their meeting directed the attention of the WRC members to the limited hours of the WRC, especially on weekends. When organizing the Saturday evening parties, the members of WRC felt the importance of maintaining a safe place for party-goers at the college. “We’ve found as we’ve hosted these coffeehouses, that keeping the space dry has, in many ways, been wonderful for the campus social scene,” Keller said.

Since the Women’s Resource Center was built, it has maintained the idea of “serving and creating community for women of all diverse backgrounds on campus,” Andrea Jacome ’14 said, who is one of the co-interns at the WRC. Jacome talked about the history of the center. The WRC building was originally a sorority many years ago and later on, when the sorority disbanded themselves by consensus, they formed the Alice Paul Center which was later named the WRC. The WRC brought participants a series of events that display numerous paths to maintain physical and mental well-being. Women’s Luncheon, a semesterly event that attracts a great number of students, staff and faculty, holds conversations on ways to take care of oneself. Last semester, according to Keller, body image and how to love your body were debated during the luncheon. The Women’s Luncheon also includes a raffle of bath and wellness supplies. Commenting on the popularity of this event, Keller said that, “this past semester, we had to cap the attendance at 100 so we would have enough food for everyone.”

Topics that will be carried on at the WRC also include workshops, as Keller mentioned, like the Sex Toy Workshop, Alternative Menstrual Products Workshop, DIY Cosmetics Workshop and Consent Workshop from the organization Philly Stands Up. Jovanna Hernandez ’13, one of the house sitters of the WRC, found the Transformative Justice workshop from Philly Stands Up last year to be very impressive. The workshop taught participants how to be accountable, self-sustainable and how to solve sexual assault problems, like violence among romantic partners. “They really talk about ways that aim to face the problems,” Hernandez said. The issue of sexual assault on campus and the College’s policy regarding it has become a widely discussed topic among students, according to Raisa Reyes ’15, one of the house sitters of the WRC. She feels that the college should make the policies on this issue clear to more students.

Issues related to women contain many different aspects that lead to many concerns and thoughts. Joan O’Bryan ’13, a house sitter at the WRC, cares Allegra Pocinki The Phoenix about women in America’s work force, Marian Firke, a house sitter for the WRC, as the US is one of only three countries pours some smoothies at the coffeehouse in the world where women do not get on Feb. 4. paid when they are on pregnancy leave.

Emma Spady ’13, who came to the party on Saturday, talked about how women are sometimes supposed to act in certain ways in professional life, citing the sentences from her mother, a buisness woman, “My mother is always bothering me and saying that ‘Your hair is too long. Women with long hair don’t get respected in professional life. You also have to be very aggressive.’” Keller also expressed her ideas. She believes that women should be allowed to choose whatever they want to do, whether that be political activism or baking, filmmaking or knitting, and no one should judge them for it.

While the WRC provides room for many widely concerning women’s issues, it is not a place exclusive to women. It is rather a community where everyone is given the chance to meet new friends and is provided with an atmosphere in which people can talk freely, whether about popular singers or the troublesome things that happened in the week. “Our major difficulty right now I’d say is getting out that this is a gender friendly space — all genders are welcome,” Jacome said.

For people who enjoy art and crafts and creating products that they need by themselves, there are weekly skill sharing events during open hours, which are MondayThursday 7-11pm and Sunday 5:30-7:30pm, that give participants instructions on knitting, mug painting and zine making, etc. Next Friday, Feb. 24 from 4 to 6 p.m., people will also make lavender satchels, learn about good sleep habits, and taste test different kinds of tea at the slumber party in Shane lounge.

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Allegra Pocinki The Phoenix

This past Saturday’s “Home Sweet Home,” hosted by the WRC, served home cooked food, coffee and conversation as a way of providing a dry and safe place for students on Saturday evenings.

February 16, 2012

cartoon by naia poyer

THE PHOENIX

Living & Arts Remember pale ale’s place in American brewing swarthmorephoenix.com

In my previous column I began the long but fulfilling process of wrestling with the complicated and idiosyncratic naming system of beer styles. I touched on the historical, cultural and functional roots of some of the world’s most popular brands and why they taste the way they do. Because not everything could have and should have been said Brad Lenox in that restricted space, Brew’s Clues this week will add to the discussion a few more styles — both domestic and international.

Though pilsner cannot be understated in its importance to the larger commercial beer industry and IPA is the undisputed king of the current craft scene, the modern American beer scene is most indebted to the simple pale ale.

That is to say, more specifically, the “American” pale ale. I stress the distinction not purely out of national pride for the American brewing tradition, but also because — as a style designation — it has very a concrete meaning.

When adding any national affiliation to the beginning of a style’s name, like English Pale Ale for the sake of contrast, the actual geographic location of the brewery does not necessarily matter. That means that an English Pale Ale like Firestone Walker’s Double Barrel Ale can be made right in California. What makes a beer “English” or “American” has more to do with the ingredients that comprise it. This means that beers like Double Barrel are brewed with English malts and hops, and most likely a native yeast strain and local water if desired.

American Pale Ales use American ingredients, and by far what Americans are most known internationally for growing hops. The Yakima Valley in Washington State accounts for, as of 2010, 79% of all US hop production, two thirds of which are shipped offshore. The hops grown there have very distinct flavor profiles: generally very bitter with aromas like grapefruit, citrus, pine and grass.

In contrast, English hops like Fuggles and East Kent Goldings are spicier and sweeter.

According to the Hop Growers of America’s website, these American varieties like Willamette, Cascade, Mt. Hood. Alpha, Columbus/Tomahawk, Zeus, Nugget, and Galena, “when combined account for over half of the total Washington hop acreage.” These hops are grown by the bushel and bought just as quickly. Growers can barely keep up with demand, and in the past few years there have been periodic hop shortages.

When these hops, along with local malts, are tossed into the brew kettle, the pale ale becomes something distinctly American. The BJCP (mentioned last week) lists a few other qualities that should be seen in any good APA. It can range from (duh) pale golden to deep amber in color, a relatively clear body with a long-lasting white head, little caramel flavor but instead clean, moderate malt. However, what is most clear through the BJCP’s language is that American hop varieties are crucial to the style’s taste, but moreover stresses the presence of hops in the flavor-profile more generally.

What I mean by that is, on the sweet-bitter scale, American pale ales tip towards the latter end. These beers should have a lingering bitterness in the back of your tongue, with a dry and astringent finish.

What does this have to do with the American craft beer revolution? To begin tackling that, it makes sense to go back to the domestic origins of what is now a commercial movement. Many of the most successful craft breweries in America were founded by homebrewers — people like

Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head and Ken Grossman of Sierra Nevada. The people that came to define the tastes of a national profile began by experimenting with styles, ingredients and flavors that commercial products didn’t market. Ales ferment at warmer temperatures than lagers, which make them much more popular for homebrewers, who generally do not have access to caves or don’t want to limit their brewing to winter.

What happened then is that the English Pale Ale, the classic “pint of bitter” was transformed into the flagship beer of the craft revolution. In the process it took on a percentage or two of ABV, a stronger, more citrusy and bitter hop profile and a lighter color.

Side by side, light colored pale ales and a commercial pilsners look awful similar. When tasted, both leave a crisp, clean and astringent finish, but in the pale ale these qualities are more bitter and more full-bodied. It isn’t hard to see the economic reasoning for making a small brewer’s flagship beer an American pale ale — it looks and tastes enough like a Budweiser not to scare away potential drinkers.

That is why when Stone Brewing, West Coast Kings of the IPA, shipped out their first keg of beer, it was a pale ale. It is also why, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale alone accounts for six percent of all craft beer sales, more than Sam Adams Boston Lager. Viva la pale ale, viva la revolución.

To conclude, here are some American Pale Ales to look for on store shelves: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (ubiquitous) Troegs Pale Ale (drink local) Dales Pale Ale (in a can!)

Fresh Hop Pale Ale (seasonal) Anchor Liberty Ale (old school) Brad is a junior. You can reach him at blenox1@ swarthmore.edu.

Concert highlights various forms of dance expression

By Amelia dornbush adornbu1@swarthmore.edu The lights fade. Two musicians walk on stage in bluish purple light and take a seat stage left; one plays guitar, the other viola de gamba. Then two women walk on stage and stand next to each other. There is a brief silence that is interrupted by what sounds like a young child in the audience.

Then the piece begins. One of the women, a mezzo-soprano, begins to sing a song by Henry Purcell while the other dances.

So began the Faculty and Friends Dance Concert, an annual performance sponsored by the college Department of Music and Dance. The concert was held on Saturday, Feb. 11 in the Lang Performing Arts (LPAC) center with no cost of admission. According to the director of the dance program Professor Sharon Friedler, all members of the dance faculty can participate in the show if they have time to do so. “Generally, five to seven of our 10 dance faculty perform or choreograph each year. Our only guidelines are that each work abide by a time limit so that as many faculty members as would like to can contribute dances,” Friedler said in an email.

There were seven different sets of performances, with dance styles ranging from modern, to ballet, to flamenco, to African dance. The names of the pieces, listed in the order that they were performed, were “Night and Day”, “Rooper”, “Hull,” “Coppelia Wedding (Pas de Deux),” “Entre Amigas,” “Le Voyage” and “Paths.” Some performances also made use of multi-media components, such as music, poetry, video and images projected onto the background screen.

Associate Professor of Dance Sally Hess said that music is especially integral to any dance. “George Balanchine, the foun-

dational Russian (and then American) ballet choreographer of the 20th century, said that ‘music is the floor of dance,’” Hess said in an email. “Though many dances and dance forms take place on all kinds of surfaces, concrete, cultural and metaphorical, there is always an immediate physical relationship between the two, even when the accompaniment is street traffic or silence.”

Moments of the concert included the lowering of a boat-like contraption from the ceiling in a piece entitled “Hull” and the juxtaposition between the movement of kangaroos and a man in a film called “Rooper” that has been viewed in dance film festivals internationally. In the flamenco dance titled “Entre Amigas,” photographs, paintings and drawings of women were projected onto the screen as a backdrop to the dance, while the ballet “Coppelia Wedding” portrayed, as one might expect from its name, a wedding.

“Le Voyage” was a film, with added voice over comments, about the development of a ballet choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon. The comments were provided

by Jennifer Chipman-Bloom, who teaches a dance class on advanced pointe, a style of ballet, at Swarthmore. Chipman-Bloom performed in this ballet when she was 16 years old.

Rachel Fresques ’14 performed in the piece “Coppelia Wedding” in Saturday’s concert. “I was asked to perform in the concert by the Swarthmore ballet teacher, Jon Sherman. I’ve been taking ballet with him every semester since freshman fall as well as demonstrating for the ballet II class so he knows me pretty well. Jon asked if he could ‘present’ me as the ballet component of the show, and as a representation of his work,” Fresques said in an email. Fresques noted that her favorite part of the experience was being able to do

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more ballet than she typically does. “The best part for me was just learning a new variation and having the chance to get a little bit better,” she said.

The final performance of the evening was called “Paths” and was choreographed and conceptualized by Chuck Davis. The program describes Davis as “one of the foremost teachers and choreographers of traditional African dance in America.” The piece combined spoken word poetry, African Dance and a video in which Davis was interviewed.

The dancers in the piece were Stafford C. Berry and C. Kemal Nance ’92. Nance not only attended Swarthmore, but has also taught dance courses at Swarthmore for 19 years. According to the campus calendar on Swarthmore’s website, the piece “was commissioned in honor of Chuck Davis’s contributions to the field of African and African-American dance.”

Friedler wanted to emphasize the importance of collaborating within different forms of art. “There there were collaborations between dancers and musicians, dancers and spoken word artists, and dancers and a sculptor, as well as dancers working in the video medium,” Friedler said, referring to the different ways in which various artistic mediums were combined during this concert. Jennie Gauthier ’15, was impressed by the relationship between film and dance in the concert.

She said that it “really opened my eyes to see that there were many different types of performances, many different types of dance. … As it goes on you start to see ‘Wow, this is something really creative.’”

Friedler also hopes that students were impacted by the performances they saw.

“We hope that students will see a reflection of the program’s mission to create a diverse community that provides multiple perspectives on and styles of dance and

February 16, 2012

Raisa Reyes The Phoenix

Rachel Fresques performs with ballet teacher Jon Sherman in “Coppelia Wedding,” one of several pieces featured at the Family and Friends Dance Concert held this past Saturday evening in LPAC.

dance making. We also hope that students will benefit from the opportunity to see the result of some of their teachers creative processes,” Friedler said.

An upcoming dance concert happening tomorrow, Feb. 17, will feature performances by Rennie Harris and Company, and starts at 8:00 p.m. in the Lang Performing Arts Center. The annual Spring Student Dance Concert will take place on April 27-28.

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Living & Arts Crossword artist Will Shortz shares his love of words swarthmorephoenix.com

BY ALLISON SHULTES ashulte1@swarthmore.edu The most puzzling piece of personal history New York Times crossword editor Will Shortz shared with the audience packed into Haverford College’s Robert Marshall Auditorium on Friday night may not have been his favorite word (ucalegon: a neighbor whose house is on fire) or the average time it takes him to complete a newspaper Jumble (approximately six seconds), but instead his possession of an unused law degree from the University of Virginia.

“Why a law degree?” Shortz asked, smiling. “I didn’t think a career in puzzles was possible. I thought [I would be heading into] a life of poverty, sitting in an attic somewhere and making puzzles for $10.”

Instead, Shortz has taken the puzzle world by storm, founding the American Crossword Tournament and the World Puzzle Championship, serving as the historian of the National Puzzler’s League, authoring more than 100 books and hosting a segment on NPR’s Sunday Edition as the Puzzle Master since 1987. It’s difficult to imagine Shortz could have dreamed up a better resume when he designed his own major at Indiana University, becoming the only person in the world to major in enigmatology — the study of puzzles. His thesis? “History of American Word Puzzles Before 1960,” which was later published in the Journal of Linguistics.

Opening up his lecture with brief vignettes of his favorite crosswords published thus far, Shortz surprised a delighted audience by tipping his hat to Swarthmore student Anna Shechtman ’12, who has constructed two puzzles for The New York Times while at Swarthmore. Shechtman is part of a select group: since assuming the position of editor in 1993, Shortz has published manuscripts constructed by only 38 teen puzzlers. Although this is an impressive number considering only four teens were published prior to his reign, it nonetheless emphasizes the exclusivity of the crossword club.

Joining Shechtman in the ranks of teen publishers is Milo Beckman, who published the same year that he enrolled at Harvard at the age of 15, and Alex Vratsanos, whose goal to be published before graduating high school came true when his puzzle appeared in The New York Times on graduation day. Additionally, Shechtman is only the second female crossword constructor under twenty published in The Times.

“I was caught completely off guard when he introduced me and my puzzles,” Shechtman said, speaking about Shortz’s introduction. “I was blushing, it was so flattering.”

While both Shortz and Shechtman identify as “puzzleheads,” their relative time in the industry is drastically different, even when accounting for Shortz’s age.

Shortz’s immersion in the puzzle world began early in childhood; he began designing crosswords between the ages of eight and nine, and had his first published when he was 14. By 16, he was a regular contributor to a popular puzzle magazine of the time. Shechtman didn’t become involved in constructing puzzles until high school. Incidentally, the documentary “Wordplay,” focused on Shortz’s life and career, inspired Shechtman to start constructing. “I had an earnest moment of

A 1999 crossword by Will Shortz in the New York Times.

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Courtesy of alanfreed.com

identification with the ‘word nerds’ in the movie, who made [the crosswords] an integral part of their lifestyle,” Shechtman said.

The documentary taught her the basic rules of the trade: the diagram must be symmetrical, there must be no unchecked squares or two-letter words, and all words must be real, the latter being a classic and common rookie mistake, according to Shortz. In addition to the basic formal rules, when selecting manuscripts for The New York Times, Shortz looks for high quality vocabulary that is “fresh, lively and colorful” and an interesting and fresh theme, if the puzzle has one. Both Shortz and Shechtman share an aversion to “crosswordees,” those words repeated time and time again in the papers due to their configuration of unlikely letters.

The theme of Shechtman’s Courtesy of ongo.com first puzzle, which was origi- Will Shortz spoke at Haverford on Feb. 10 about his nally published in The Times long history with crosswords. in May 2010, was “Grade Inflation,” a tribute of its own to Swarthmore College. “[The puzzle] was initially going to be … for the Swarthmore newspaper. Swarthmore prides itself on its lack of grade inflation. The mantra of ego-bruised Swarthmore students is ‘anywhere else it would have been an A,’” Shechtman said in a May 25, 2010 interview with Jim Horne for The New York Times crossword blog “Wordplay.” “I thought that turning the B’s of a puzzle into A’s (à la grade inflation) was puzzle-worthy, so I racked my brain for words that still made sense with A’s in the place of B’s … I really like this puzzle, especially because the theme resonates so strongly with me and what I love about my school.

It’s challenging; professors have high expectations — much like Mr. Shortz at The Times.”

A crossword constructor for The Phoenix for the past three years, Shechtman has since retired from the paper, but continues to construct on her own. Currently in the works are two themeless puzzles, which she has found to be much more difficult due to the openness of the diagrams, that she plans to submit to The New York Times. Additionally, her recent submission to The Onion for a “20 Under 30” crossword series elicited a long-term job offer from its editor. However, unlike Shortz, Shechtman does not necessarily dream of a career in puzzles.

“I want to keep submitting throughout my lifetime,” Shechtman said. “That’s the interesting thing about puzzles … there’s no age limit, [and] you improve as you get older. [However, crosswords] will probably be a second pleasure to my career. It’s a super isolating activity, even more so than reading ... you’re entirely in the depths of your own mind.”

Taking eight to 10 hours to complete a themed puzzle — essentially, an entire day’s work — is indeed a lot of time to spend in one’s head. While the pay is not the $10 per-puzzle Shortz predicted while in law school, it still isn’t much. Weekday puzzle writers for The Times receive $200 per puzzle; Saturday puzzles bring in $1,000.

Seeing Shortz in person after communicating via e-mail was “thrilling,” Shechtman said. “When I first submitted my puzzles [in the mail], I got an email back from Shortz himself … He’s definitely become a hero in my mind ... he’s so warm.

In the e-mails, even when he was stern, he was very sympathetic.”

Shortz won over the audience on Friday not only with his demonstrable knowledge of crossword history, but his own accounts of a lifetime immersion in crossword culture. Among his anecdotes was a description of The New York Times’s reluctant rise to the top of the crossword puzzle world: it was one of the last newspapers in the US to adopt the phenomenon, reversing its stance taken in an editorial which decried crosswords as a “childish pastime” only after the editor tired of buying The Herald-Tribune for the daily puzzle. In sharing favorite anagrams (astronomers — no more stars — moon starer) and other trivial tidbits (the crosswordee “esne” refers to an Anglo-Saxon slave), Shortz demonstrated both his passion and knowledge of all things wordy.

Peppered at the end of his lecture with questions from an adoring auditorium, it was clear Shortz wanted to morph from crossword king into impromptu game show host and get the wordplay going. Pitting sides of the auditorium against each other in challenges ranging from “State Capitals” to “Name that Veggie” to “Beat the Champ,” Shortz had everyone giggling, guessing and grinning over the verbal puzzles.

“I didn’t really know what to expect, or what sort of lecture a crossword editor would give,” Stuart Russell ’14, a one-round “champ” in the wordplay challenges, said. “Even though it wasn’t a lecture in the traditional sense, it was still a really fun event.”

February 16, 2012

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Humanity unravels within Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’

Lanie Schlessinger Bibliobabble

Joseph Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” is a disturbing tragedy that exposes the horror of the Congo in the late 19th century.

Conrad writes from experience, since he was one of the representatives civilized societies, particularly Britain, sent to “civilize” the natives in the area. But these representatives often grew brutal and militant while abroad. The action that ensues leaves one questioning the human capacity for empathy, com-

munity and morality.

The book’s main character, Charles Marlow, serves as its narrator who recounts his experience as captain of a steamer in the Congo. Marlow is Conrad’s literary selfportrait, and “Heart of Darkness” is a novel that came out of Conrad’s own trip to the Congo eight years earlier.

Marlow is an extraordinary narrator. Beyond his natural talent for storytelling, readers cannot help but admire the strength of his conviction. He is naturally skeptical of others, which enables him to remain in control of himself while his fellow men fall to darkness. Marlow is a beacon of light in an intensely dark setting, which gives him the necessary vision to maintain his soul.

Before Marlow and his crew can set off on their journey to retrieve Kurtz, one of the company’s employees stationed in the Congo, and the ivory he collected in his time there, the steamer, Nellie, must be repaired. Marlow personifies the steamer because he feels most at home at sea, and therefore his ships are his closest companions. The steamer is physically broken down, which foreshadows the hundreds of broken people Marlow later encounters.

As Marlow and his crew journey deeper into the Congo, the dense forestation makes it difficult to see and navigate the steamer. This physical darkness is symbolic, representing the emotional darkness that overtakes the people — civilized and uncivilized — in the area.

For natives, the civilizing troops settle like a dark cloud over the life they always knew and disrupt its function, or cause it to breakdown, just like the steamer in. And for the civilizing troops, taming the natives is a trying

process, which gradually corrupts them.

What is disturbing about “Heart of Darkness” is that it calls into question what is and is not human. The company that employs Marlow employs many British men to civilize the Congo. But once they reach the area and begin to settle, they undergo enormous transformations, growing dark. But are these men reverting back to the natural human condition, or is the psychological trauma of their experiences there forcing them to distort the natural human condition?

The great irony here is that the men who are sent to civilize Congo natives appear to become less civilized during their time there. They begin to resort to brutality, grow power-hungry, and lose their sense of right and wrong. But since we think of these traits as “uncivilized,” it follows that what we think of as civilized behavior is unnatural: it is learned behavior that society enforces.

Arguably the most fascinating character in this novel is Kurtz, the company’s most revered employee. Kurtz was sent to collect ivory in the Congo, and enjoys extreme success in his mission. However, a man referred to as “The Russian” reveals to Marlow that Kurtz gains success by behaving as a wild man. He convinces the natives that he is a god, and then raids villages in the area for ivory. He is ruthless, keeping the skulls of men he slaughters and using them to decorate his garden. Kurtz highlights one of the most disturbing facets of human nature, which is the ability to lose oneself entirely. Kurtz enters a state of savagery in which he can no longer distinguish right from wrong because he does not care to try. He does not resemble the man he was when he left for the Congo, and it seems impossible for him to ever return to being that man.

What Kurtz demonstrates is not only man’s ability to override his conscience, but more terrifyingly how easily he is carried away once he does so. Kurtz striking a native down would startle a reader, but it is his total lack of regard for decency that deeply disturbs the reader and compels many to close the book forever. He does not merely abuse the natives for economic gain, but rather to assert his supreme power over them. He sadistically thrives on the knowledge of the destruction he causes. It is as if Kurtz himself begins to believe that he is indeed a god, with ultimate and divine power.

When Kurtz dies, his final words are, “The horror!

The horror!” It is astonishing to see him return to a human state. Though it is tragic to see Kurtz die with a heavy, dirty conscience, it is relieving to see the flicker

of something human in his soul. Between loathing his grotesque habits and sympathizing with his pained heart, one cannot help but feel overwhelmed by Kurtz’s struggle.

Marlow, who does not get sucked into the Congo’s darkness, resolves to preserve Kurtz’s memory upon returning to London. Before his experience in the Congo, Kurtz was a cultured man: a journalist, an artist, a beautiful musician, and Marlow determinedly protects that image. He tells Kurtz’s widow that his last words were her name, so that he may forever be remembered as the civilized man he once was and returned to in his dying moment. But the trauma of witnessing his transformation is permanent, and it stays with Marlow forever, just as Heart of Darkness forever haunts the reader.

Language: A Conrad writes through Marlow, who is a simple seaman and a wonderful storyteller. This combination enables him to use language that is both beautiful and articulate. He uses words that the common man recognizes, and he uses this limited vocabulary effectively to paint complete and beautiful pictures.

Plot: AThe novel is not plot-centric. Readers seeking a thrilling or complex plot will not find “Heart of Darkness” satisfying. However, the plot does serve to clearly and directly illustrate the points Conrad is making without feeling contrived.

Ideas: A Conrad wrote philosophy through a plot line. His mission was to harness his opinions on the situations he encountered and then manipulate them into ambiguous explorations of large ideas.

Difficulty: B (A: difficult, F: easy) The wording, symbolism, and points of “Heart of Darkness” are all clear. However, Conrad thrives on ambiguity, and so he intentionally leaves many questions unresolved. The reader has to determine for him or herself why a character behaves a certain way or what exactly a phrase means. Conrad intended for readers to interpret his novels; he did not want to convey one meaning.

Next Week: “Notes from Underground” by Fyodor Dostoevsky Lanie is a sophomore. She can be reached at eschles1@ swarthmore.edu.

Hollywood portrayals of love, relationships are just fantasies Valentine’s Day has come and gone, the heart s h a p e d chocolates are almost empty or too disgusting to even keep eating. Those flowers you received are beginBehind My Shades ning to show their first shades of brown. Whether your valentine was a friend or someone for whom you have deep feelings, I have to say that it’s a fun holiday that people shouldn’t read too much into. If you did or did not have a valentine, don’t fret. I’m sure you woke up the next day feeling like the same person who woke up on Feb. 13.

I’m not saying Valentine’s Day is bad. I just think that we as a society give too much credit to this day. If you have someone special every day is Valentine’s Day; just because the heart shaped chocolates can be found in every shelf in Target does not make the day any spe-

cial. That was just me venting on the day we like to feel as if they are so simple, that is “Valentine’s Day.” but by doing that we open ourselves to This week’s column is not going to fo- hurt when we feel to make the conneccus on Valentine’s Day or Kanye West, tions between what can and cannot hapit’s going to focus on the perception that pen. In real life, here’s how it genuinely is fed to us of what a relationship should goes down: guy meets girl and either girl be or shouldn’t be. The topic for this will like guy or will reject him. week is the unexplained uncertainty of This is never presented in these movromantic comedies. Within the past cou- ies. There is never any sort of work put ple of weeks — I in to establish will not even lie the relation— I have watched ship. It skips some of the most In reality, life isn’t Hollywood from meeting, interesting roto sex, to relaand surely relationships mantic comedies tionship. and, in order to Umm — aren’t just some script put keep the column that’s not how from heading down on film for 90 minutes. that works. Afinto a synopsis ter the initial page on IMDB, I meeting let’s will not mention any of the names of the say guy and girl go out, it seems to be gomovies to which I am referring. ing good until the storm comes. Whether

Let me give you the scenario in or not you outlast the storm determines most of these films: guy meets girl, girl whether it lasts and usually at times it and guy hook up, they enter into a re- doesn’t. The thing that gets me with rolationship, drama happens, they end it mantic comedies is that the storm usuonly to find themselves back with each ally results in the couple breaking up, igother by the end of the movie. Each time noring each other’s calls for weeks, even we sit and we think that one day that months, and then it skips to the scene in could possibly be us. which they reconnect. This is where HolBut in reality, life isn’t Hollywood lywood shines its magic because usually and surely relationships aren’t just some after it’s over for most relationships, it’s script put down on film for 90 minutes. over. There is no sequel or next scene.

It’s weird the way relationships work; I think that we need to make that clear

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February 16, 2012

so we can stop acting as if our relationships are a scene from the new Mila Kunis movie.

Trust me: breakups suck.

But they strengthen you and get you ready for the next person that comes looking for your heart. They aren’t bad and shouldn’t be demonized the way Hollywood makes us think. I believe romantic comedies have become less and less romantic and are just comedies because it the things that happen in these movies are surreal. Don’t get me wrong, they are fine to pop in on a Friday night when you want a laugh. Do that then, but don’t take them for more than they actually are.

Relationships aren’t something that can be squeezed into a plot because they are a never ending story, and when it goes bad it’s not the end of the world.

It’s just the end of the world you had with that one person, so the next time you watch a romantic comedy watch for the laughs, don’t watch to relate to it because just like Valentine’s Day; romantic comedies highlight superficiality and unreal feelings. Relationships are precious and I hope that if you have someone special, you buy them heart shaped chocolates and flowers on random days, not just because there is a sale at your local Target.

Until next time, take care.

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Living & Arts

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DORM DIVE

by Sera Jeong sjeong1@swarthmore.edu

The community spirit of Mary Lyon Situated off campus and arguably closer to Wallingford than the town of Swarthmore, Mary Lyon is generally not the most popular of dormitories.

However, for first-year students Ben Goloff and Andrew Karas, Mary Lyon is a perfectly suitable place to live during their first year of college.

Before they moved in, both students were aware of the close-knit community of people living in Mary Lyon. According to Goloff, he was skeptical about the accuracy of the dormitory’s reputation until he began engaging in its intimate hall life.

Goloff and Karas have observed that people who have never experienced Mary Lyon residential life express pity to them about where they live.

This pity appears unwarranted, however, as both Golof and Karas have established friendships with other firstyears in their dorm and even today they regularly eat dinner together as group at Sharples. Karas disputes the stereotype that Mary Lyon residents are comprised only of die-hard sci-fi fans. “There’s definitely a sci-fi/ fantasy contingent but we’re not really part of that,” Karas said.

As a violinist, Goloff’s biggest concern was the distance between the dorm and the practice rooms in the Lang Music Building. Now, the students arrange their schedules intending to be on campus for most of the day. “It makes for long days,” Goloff said. The distance doesn’t deter either of the students from their involvement with activities and clubs: they would be as involved regardless of dorm location.

Despite the impractical and timeconsuming aspect of the walk from the dorm to campus, the students appreciate the distance. Goloff, who is originally from New York City, is accustomed to walking and enjoys living beyond a five-minute radius from campus. Karas, from the suburbs of Chicago, recalled commuting to high school by car and that the only walking required of him was walking from his house to the car door, and from the car door to the school entrance.

Karas describes walking, rather than riding in a car, to classes as relaxing, despite not having anticipated the uphill incline of the walk.

Living in Mary Lyon has exclusive perks, most notably the weekend meals served in the ML Breakfast Room. Before his arrival, Karas was under the assumption that breakfast would be served daily at his dormitory, so he was invariably disappointed by the reality. Nonetheless, he enjoys ordering blueberry pancakes and is satisfied that it is no worse than the food served at Sharples. Goloff too would prefer breakfast to be extended to weekdays but waits in anticipation for certain specialty items, which rotate every few weeks, such as lemon blueberry upside-down cake and popovers.

Because freshmen roommate pair-

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February 16, 2012

ings are designated by the administration, first-year roommates are not always compatible. Fortunately, Goloff and Karas describe each other as a great roommate pairing as well as friends. “We’re similar in a lot of odd ways but we’re pretty different,” Goloff said. Goloff admits Karas, being the neater of the duo, keeps him in check with maintaining orderliness on his side of the room. As for sleeping, Goloff recalled humorous incidents when Karas, a heavy sleeper, has slept through a half hour of alarms going off.

The decorative features of the room highlight each of the students’ distinct interests. Ornithology appeals to Goloff, a budding environmental studies and biology major. On his side of the room hang several posters of exotic birds, such as the Yellow-breasted Chat. His sliding desk keyboard tray stores a miniature keyboard that he uses to complete his music theory homework.

Karas is interested in cities and their contingent aspects such as government, transportation and urban planning. As part of an independent study he conducted last year on urban transportation, he looked into transit challenges where people attempt to navigate all stations in subway systems such as the New York City Subway in the shortest time possible. “People get obsessed with it. It takes like 24 hours,” he said. Karas, along with two friends, was one of the first enthusiasts to undertake the challenge in Chicago, completing it in nine hours and 57 minutes. Only one person preceded their efforts, narrowly beating them with a time of nine hours and 35 minutes. Karas was acknowledged for his work by the Chicago Transit Authority, which gifted him a personalized transit sign that prominently sits on his bookshelf. His story was covered by local papers and even NBC, which featured him on a 30 second news clip, according to Karas.

Evidence of Orientation Week remains in Goloff’s and Karas’ room, distinguishing their room as that belonging to first-years. Colorful welcome cards, handmade by their CA leader, remain pinned on their front door. On the windowsill sit potted plants distributed to first-years by the Scott Arboretum earlier last semester. “Our plants are [still] living which is surprising,” Goloff said, as the students left the plants untended over winter break.

Karas holds quibbles about the facilities in Mary Lyon such as the shower in the students’ shared bathroom, which runs cold in the mornings, and would prefer to live elsewhere in upcoming years. But for him, being placed into the dormitory as a first year has resulted in great friendships.

“It’s good for me to have lived here at least once during my four years,” he said.

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They found love in a hopeless swawkward place: [how two Screw dates turned into actual couples]

by allison shultes ashulte1@swarthmore.edu For all the freshmen reassuring themselves Screw is a meaningless, uncomfortable dinner conversation best suffered through and then removed to the dark recesses of repressed memories, think again. The following Screw couples have been together two years, proof that love can, indeed, be found in hopeless places.

The Dates: Avery Davis ’12 & Julian Leland ’12 Screw Year: 2010 Screw Costumes: Tarzan and Jane The Dates: Emily Leach ’12 & Ken Flanagan ’12 Screw Year: 2010 Screw Costumes: “Put the money in the bag”

Courtesy of Avery Davis

Emily Leach and Ken Flanagan in costume.

The Setup: Roommates and former Screw dates Avery and Emily worked for approximately three weeks leading up to Screw to top their previous debut as Octopus King and Queen in 2009. Avery, nursing a longtime crush on classmate Julian, was convinced he was not her Screwdate by a series of cleverly engineered deterrents by friends — “I’m pretty sure he has a secret girlfriend somewhere” — and thus harbored not even a guess as to the identity of her Tarzan. Emily, determined to uncover the identity of her Screwdate despite the repercussions of a similar spoiling attempt the previous year (Octopus King and Queen was Avery’s solution to a setup foiled by Emily’s sleuthing), successively snooped through Avery’s emails to uncover her Screw suitor days before the event.

“I hate surprises more than anything. I read her email and got really excited about it. I thought, ‘I got it, I figured out who it’s going to be, I don’t have to be worried, I can do this,’” Emily said.

Upon discovering her roommate’s foiling of her Screw surprise, Avery cancelled the initial arrangement and responded to a request put forth by Julian for a Screw date for a member on his rugby team, Ken. “Julian described him as needing someone who liked red wine and StarTrek,” Avery laughed.

Ken, meanwhile, had insisted on not being Screwed, instead looking forward to an evening spent chilling in PPR, far beyond the swawkwardness of the annual Valentine’s Day event. “It was dinnertime, and I knew it was Screw. I had my cup of rum, was sitting around in my room, was going to stay in and watch TV… I in no way expected anything to happen, and [my roommate] pulled out this trash bag and said ‘put this on.’ I was all

but kicking and screaming,” Ken said. “In no way did I want to be Screwed at all. I very clearly told my roommate, ‘No, I do not want to be Screwed. I don’t want to do this. I just want to sit around and watch TV, I don’t want to get dressed some weird way…’”

Julian awaited the event with seemingly minimal concern until informed he would be dressing as Tarzan with roughly three hours to go. Heading out into the Crum in search of an appropriate costume, he came upon a big stick, which he paired with a handmade loincloth engineered using a stapler and swatches of faux fur.

The Date: The girls arrived at Sharples together, neither having any clue who their dates would be. Ken was the first to descend the stairs, accompanied by his roommate’s shrieking, “Put the money in the bag!” and gesturing wildly towards Emily.

Meanwhile, Ken set about spoiling Avery’s surprise suitor by spending his first five minutes with Emily reveling in his anticipation for Julian’s Tarzan costume.

When his friend finally appeared in his custom-designed loincloth, Ken was ecstatic and Avery terrified. “Julian comes out and says, ‘I’m Tarzan, where’s Jane?’” Ken said. “That was it. And then in the crowd I’m the only one catcalling. Everyone else was like ‘whoah, what’s going on?’ And I was like ‘BANG YOUR CHEST, BANG Courtesy of Avery Davis YOUR CHEST!’” “You could see how all our relationships were form- Avery Davis and Julian Leland posing. ing in this horrible moment of nerves,” Avery said. “We had the typical awkward dinner where we made weird This is always difficult territory to negotiate.

The couple finally sealed their fate at a Paces Engismall talk, and Ken talked to Julian, Ken ONLY talked to Julian … we were all kind of half overjoyed and half neering party the week after Screw, Ken waited until the last song — “Sexual Eruption” — to ask Emily to dance. terrified.”

“I remember [Ken and I] going back [to our dorms “The thing about Ken is, he dances like a total Dad,” Avto change for the formal] and being like, ‘Do you think ery said.

“I don’t like dancing,” Ken stated in defense. we’re going to dance with them later? I don’t think so,’” The two couples spent the next blissful honeymoon Julian said. “I thought I blew it.”

Between Sharples and the formal, the couples headed weeks racing to lock each other out of the girls’ dorm. over to the Variety Show, during which they “played “There was this one Pub Night where Ken hid Avery’s Contact [a word game] for hours since we had absolutely coat, so Avery and Julian were looking for it while nothing else to do or say because we were so nervous,” we ran back to the room and locked them out,” Emily smiled. according to Avery.

Eventually, the couples learned to coexist, remaining By the time the couples arrived at the formal, things began looking up. Avery and Julian shared their first close friends and celebrating their anniversaries togethkiss to the classic “Empire State of Mind” while Emily er by attending the event that brought them love. and Ken descended to the basement to talk about music Screw Advice: ... for hours.

“No matter what, it will be awkward and you will

hate [Screw],” Avery said. “But you can still manage to The Aftermath: Avery, waiting until the Wednesday after Screw, fi- have a good time, even if you hate dinner.”

“Don’t be a wimp. Text the girl back. Seriously,” Junally sent a text to Julian, proposing a coffee date. The message sent Julian into a tailspin. “I spent probably lian offered.

“Don’t listen to your roommate,” Ken volunteered. like three hours shitting myself, freaking out talking to [a friend], saying ‘What do I do? What do I do? I don’t “Screw them anyways. And if they don’t like surprises, know what to do!’ Julian said. “[My friend] describes me surprise them!” in rugby shorts walking back and forth, back and forth across the quint because I didn’t know what to do.”

After finally composing what must have been an impeccably worded reply, Julian met Avery for coffee, and the rest is history. “My friends made fun of me, because I was listening to love songs for a week and a half [after Screw],” Julian smiled.

Emily and Ken took their sweet time after Screw. Ken invited Emily over to show off his record player the next week, but there was still some confusion as to the level of interest. “I didn’t know if it was a romantic thing or a platonic thing because he was just sitting there and not touching me, and I was wondering if I should Courtesy of Avery Davis touch him?” Emily recalls. The two couples enjoy stimulating Sharples conversation on Screw Night.

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February 16, 2012

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Save big or go home: introducing Swat shopping basics If there is one thing I like in this world, it is knowing that I got the best deal possible on anything, be it clothing, shoes, Gabriela Campoverde or accessories. When faced with a Smart Swat Shopping college student budget, I realized that this would come in handy. For myself, leaving home in Astoria in New York City and coming to a college in the suburbs meant not only leaving behind sidewalks, crowds of people and a convenient transportation system, but also huge fabulous stores, stunning holiday window displays and, of course, sample sales. Instead, strip malls now welcome me with open arms.

I would consider myself an expert bargain shopper, at least in New York.

There, I constantly read fashion blogs describing the latest sales and informing readers three weeks before anyone else exactly when the bi-annual Barney’s warehouse sale would be. When looking for deals I urge anyone to make sure that the return policy doesn’t only include store credit, to double check final sale items, to use store coupons for extra discounts when possible, and to wait for when that high priced item finally goes on sale. Any store can be a shopportuni-

ty, you just have to have the right timing.

Now, I’ve come to share a few tricks with you. This week, we’ll stay local: the Springfield Mall. Then we’ll expand, keeping in mind that we’re barely on a three figure monthly budget.

The Loft A division of Ann Taylor which caters to those seeking women’s ‘relaxed and casual’ clothing. The Loft is located on the upper level.

Rating: Pros: Visit the sale section of The Loft. Enough said. It might seem obvious with other stores, but sometimes we are simply pulled away by a brand new dress from the latest collection and sucked into a world where full-price rips you off. Why bother paying so much when you can get the same thing for 25 percent off, if not half-off? For starters, the sale section in this location of The Loft is frequently set up in the far left corner of the store. If possible, run there.

First off, all the sweaters and cardigans were $12.99. This weekend I managed to purchase an olive cardigan with a sequin neckline which was previously $79.99. I also scored big with a thin mustard suede belt which was previously $20.99 but was now on sale for $5.99.

What I admire the most about this location is the availability of sizes. Frequently, sale sections mean getting disappointed when greeted with only the extremes of the size spectrum, but The Loft certainly surprised me by having a myriad of sizes.

Cons: The Loft, although similar in size to most stores in Springfield Mall, is nevertheless small, and if you don’t

know when the store has sales, your budget-friendly options become very limited.

the cashiers, who are very friendly and waiting to assist you.

A Dollar & Deals A pleasant ninety-nine cent store located on the lower level. It offers anything from birthday decorations to placemats and plasticware.

Rating: Pros: If you ever need plates, aluminum trays, disposable cups or stain remover, this is the place to go. I kid you not. It’s a well-kept secret that everything you can use for parties, gatherings and cooking that is disposable can be bought at a ninety-nine cent store for cheaper than your local pharmacy or Target. You can save a few dollars every trip if you switch from Solo cups to lesser known brands found here. Aluminum trays, which you can use for baking, can also be found here for $0.50 each. A Dollar & Deals also sells other necessary objects such as plastic pitchers, non-disposable plates and can openers for around a dollar.

Also, if you ever had a tough stain on your clothing, please get Amazing, which will, as its name claims, amaze you. I learned about this product from the owner of the laundromat back home and was in shock when I realized that a product with a $1.08 price tag could work better than other big brand products like Shout. I can’t guarantee you that it will take off every stain you ever had, but it certainly works well for its price.

Cons: Finding items in this store can be overwhelming. The shelf layouts have way too many things so that when you walk by, you can miss what you’re looking for. When in doubt, make sure to ask

Pac Sun A men’s and women’s clothing store located on the upper level. Pac Sun sells clothing and accessories from California lifestyle brands such as Roxy, O’Neill and Billabong.

Rating: Pros: I always hated Pac Sun until discovering their sale section. This past weekend I snagged a new tulip back blouse from Kirra which was previously $34.99 for only $10.50. Getting a new blouse for a weekend event or party doesn’t seem so bad when you get it for around this price. For those of you who adore graphic tees, this is the place to go.

The graphic tees on sale range from $9.99 to $14.99. There is also a men’s section which is just as big as the women’s and has bottom, tops, and jackets on sale, unlike the women’s section which mostly has tops. The best part of the Pac Sun sale section is that there is frequently an extra discount on all of its sale items.

This week there is an extra 30% off sale items.

Cons: What is disappointing at Pac Sun is that half of the sale items don’t change. For the past two months, the sale rack has included the same sweaters from Check & Stripes, whose prices currently range from $15.99 to $24.99.

And with that, this is all the advice I can provide you with this week. Soon we will learn how to conquer King of Prussia. Until next time my lovely shoppers!

Gabriela is a first-year. You can reach her at gcampov1@swarthmore.edu.

Real Estate’s ‘Days’ gives Jersey a reason to be proud

Matt Mondanile has been lingering on the fringe of the music scene for a few years now. His early releases under the Ducktails moniker attracted moderate attention from the blogosphere, and his most recent release, Ducktails III: Arcade Dynamics, garnered Mondanile critical acclaim from the likes of PitchDylan Jensen fork and Spin Magazine.

But perhaps Mondanile’s Music Now! most successful project is his half-baked minimalist group, Real Estate.

Hailing from Ridgewood, New Jersey, Real Estate first released its self-titled debut in 2009. Composed of only 10 songs written over the course of several years, the Woodsist Records release received a “Best New Music” nod from Pitchfork, and earned the group several opening slots including a Friday night set at the 2010 Pitchfork music festival in Chicago. Since that debut release, however, Real Estate has been rather quiet.

This past fall, Real Estate released their first single since 2009’s “Beach Comber,” titled “It’s Real.” The track by no means represents an evolution, or even a slight departure, from their previous releases, but rather it maintains the same simple aesthetic and gentle, rolling rhythm that made Real Estate unique and great to begin with. Composed of shimmering guitars, jangly hooks and rich harmonies, “It’s Real” continues on the same subtle and unassumingly great path that Real Estate had began to explore in 2009. When the follow up to the self-titled album, Days, was released on Domino Records two months later, it was clear the rest of the album had followed suit.

Though Days seems to rely on the same formula as past releases, and simplicity is clearly one of the main themes throughout, this is due to the effortless-

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ness of the musicians more than a lack of complexity in the music. The opening track, “Easy,” seems to be a reference to the album’s carefree composition and production. Tracks such as “Green Aisles” and “Wonder Years” display layered guitars, understated echoes and a similar fluidity to both “Easy” and “It’s Real.” If anything, comparisons must be made to The Beach Boys, who crafted a long successful career using the same beach pop formula that later defined them. The impressive thing about Real Estate, though, is the rhythmic restraint for a band of such a young age. While it took The Beach Boys years to hone their simple restraint, Real Estate seems to have mastered it after only two albums.

Days certainly isn’t an example of forward-thinking experimentalism, and it’s most likely not an album that will stand out in the current electronic age. But its ability to make seemingly simple riffs into unexpectedly profound songs is remarkable. The lyrics pay homage to teenage suburbia and high school nostalgia, while the textures of the guitar reverb nearly mimic the textures found on the Jersey shore. In short, the album as a whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The lyrics, the cyclical riffs, the layers, and the airy landscape of the album are all natural. It’s cohesive. The album’s final track, “All The Same,” certainly speaks to the lack of change from Real Estate’s previously minimalist record, but in this case, that’s a good thing.

I’ve been fortunate enough to see Mondanile, and his various side projects, since his early days, opening for various acts, such as his show opening for Atlas Sound here at Swarthmore three years ago. And each time I have seen him, his show has been better than the last, never deviating from his effortless guitar plucks.

Most recently, however, I was able to see Real Estate in full form this past fall at the Pitchfork Festival in Paris, shortly before Days was released. Quite like Mondanile’s set here three years ago, Real Estate lulled the crowd into the subtle bounce of their unassuming beach rock and road trip tunes. After the hour and a half set, the crowd surfaced from its dreamlike state, clapped and for the rest of the festival reminisced on the hallucinatory effect of Real Estate’s set. When I lisFebruary 16, 2012

ten to the album today, I can’t help but to enter into the same mindset. The simplicity and subtlety of the album makes it nearly impossible. So if you find yourself seeking a similar Spring haze a little early, be sure to give Days a listen.

Dylan is a junior. You can reach him at pjensen1@ swarthmore.edu.

Courtesy of kidrockers.com

Matt Mondanile (left) with his band Real Estate

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Women’s Rugby Presents:

Friday, Feb. 17 & Saturday, Feb. 18 7:00 pm & 10:00 pm Sci 199

SCREW ANTI-FORMAL

The Muppets!

Saturday Feb. 18 10 p.m. — 2 a.m. at Paces $3/$5 for couples

editor’s picks We No Speak Americano

Friday at 7:00 pm & Sat. at 10:00 pm Sci 101

i-20 Saturday, Feb. 18 10 p.m. — 2 p.m.

Olde Club THE PHOENIX

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By Brad Lenox

The Vagina Monologues February 16, 2012

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Staff Editorial

The moral imperative in actively legalizing gay marriage In a society where the commanding moral code is imposed by the dominant (those with enough symbolic, political and economic capital to throw around) on the dominated, the legality of gay marriage seems to maintain a prominent position on the roster of issues that highlight the tension between cultural myths and reality.

That is, the anxiety about homosexuals and homosexual partnerships manifests itself primarily amongst those on the fringes of moral righteousness — conservative characters such as Perry (R-TX) and Santorum (R-PA). In opposition to this reactionary ring is a considerable class of progressive, socially aware and often young people. The friction between these factions of moral perspective finds itself aflame in the media, on the streets and, increasingly, in courtrooms.

Last week on Feb. 7, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held Proposition 8 (the California Marriage Protection Act which banned same-sex marriage) unconstitutional under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause. The decision (Perry vs.

Brown) therefore adhered to the Constitutional decree that “no state shall … deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.” But the decision does not answer the question of whether or not same-sex marriages should be allowed.

The enduring argument that proponents of constitutional amendments like Prop. 8 make is that exclusively heterosexual marriage is “an essential institution of society,” contending that the family structure of two opposite-sex parents is ideal for childbearing and child-rearing. They even go one step further, insisting that leaving the Constitution unchanged would “result in public schools teaching our kids that gay marriage is okay,” and that, additionally, “gays ... do not have the right to redefine marriage for everyone else.”

The court, however, ruled that Proposition 8 “operates with no apparent purpose but to impose on gays and lesbians, through the public law, a majority’s private disapproval of them and their relationships, by taking away from them the official designation of ‘marriage’ [and] its societally recognized status.”

Having to make that statement, though, feels almost unnecessary. How is it that in the 21st century — an era where celebrity marriages last mere hours and children are born out of wedlock and knowingly into poverty — two people who genuinely love and care for one another (ultimately upholding the sanctity of marriage in and of itself) still cannot be recognized by the state simply because they share the same sexual orientation? To us, that question may seem tacit, implying our understanding of the self-evidence of homosexuality. But again, the social circumstances of our generation afford us that understanding.

In a time when more gay individuals are coming out — both the famous and the familiar to us — and more socially conservative individuals are endorsing campaigns for president, the urgent need for a widespread and persistent social movement for gay rights becomes even more apparent.

Our role in such a movement must be aware, active and ardent. And if this is the civil rights movement of our time, then we cannot afford to stand idly by, not on the side of history. To do so would be to perpetuate the larger social deficiencies that are embedded, but broadly unopposed, in our collective conscious.

To sign the Human Rights Campaign’s “Millions for Marriage Equality” petition go to: www.millionsformarriage.org.

Emma Waitzman The Phoenix

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Breaking and reframing the equality-efficiency dichotomy T w o weeks ago I chronicled the use of racially charged language in the Republican primary.

Much research sugSam Sussman gests this language Sussing out the is part of Substance a 45-year old GOP strategy to “racialize” poverty so as to delegitimize the very notion of government activism.

This week, I’d like to reframe inequality — both falling middle class incomes and poverty rates that have been exacerbated by the Great Recession — as an urgent manner of untapped labor potential. By understanding poverty in this way, we can eschew the hackneyed battles over “personal responsibility” in favor of the economic logic of investment in underused labor power.

First, an outline of the opposition. As this year’s presidential election heats up, we are already hearing Republican contenders attack the “drain” America’s already fragile social safety net imposes on the economy. According to this line of thinking, public services aimed at reducing inequality create disincentives for hard work, drains funds from the private sector and distorts the market through superfluous taxation. But much recent research provides a different perspective: instead of a tension between inequality reduction measures and market efficien-

cy, there seems rather to be a correlation.

According to a study published last fall by the International Monetary Fund, income equality is more correlated with overall growth than commonly cited factors such as the strength of political institutions, health and education levels, the debt-toGDP ratio and trade openness.

This is for several reasons. First, consider the inefficiencies of poverty. When unable to acquire tools of self-empowerment such as education, job-training and health care, individuals cannot maximize their economic contribution.

Princeton economics professor Cecilia E. Rouse has measured the lost income and tax revenues of each year’s high school dropouts at $192 billion. That’s far from chump change. What it indicates is that large swaths of unskilled and unemployed workers in American inner cities represent a profound waste of human capital.

In one of the best documented regional cases, a 2004 study by the think tank Policy Bridge concerning the untapped potential of impoverished African-American males in Northeast Ohio concluded that “pervasive unemployment and underemployment chip away at the stability of cities, reducing tax revenues and economic growth and increasing the need for government support services. By reducing the purchasing power of families in the city, unemployment and underemployment threaten urban businesses.” Tapping into this potential labor growth is not merely a moral imperative in terms of improving millions of lives, but also a policy backed by strong economic logic.

Here is where the Republican language of irresponsibility obscures what can be collectively gained by concerted investment in America’s poor. Leading studies on the impact of such investment inter-

estingly indicate that it offers more gain than Wall Street’s hottest stocks. Take for example a 2004 study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, which evaluated the impact of preschool education, thought to be one of the most effective ways to fight long-term poverty. The study revealed that instituting two years of preschool education in Ohioan schools would cost approximately $480 million each year, but yield annual savings of roughly $780 million in everything from higher tax revenues to reduced crime.

Leading Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who made millions in private equity at Bain Capital and told CNN this month he is “not concerned about the very poor” ought to try finding a stock that will yield $1.60 for every dollar invested.

Effective investments in human capital need not be limited to those below the poverty line. In fact, as leading scholar of comparative welfare states and Harvard professor Torben Iversen has argued at length, the Western countries whose middle classes have best weathered deindustrialization are those in which governmentsponsored investment in human capital has figured most prominently. Take for example Germany, which through both a robust system of vocational skill training and generous unemployment compensation has incentivized heavy investment in skilled labor. Today, Germany alone amongst the former industrial West competes with Chinese manufacturing, pitting its comparative advantage in skilled labor against China’s low wages. The failure of American manufacturing policy is to find its niche between these comparative advantages.

Of course, no matter what the social science says, there are those ideologues that will always see government activism,

in whatever form, as the first step down Hayak’s infamous “road to serfdom.”

Nonetheless, the true danger is untamed levels of income inequality. Those who doubt this would do well to review the economic trends that preceded the Great Recession. Since 1975, the median income has been roughly stagnant, while the income of the top one percent has increased 11-fold. As wages stagnated, many American families increasingly relied on debt to maintain standards of living: between 1980 and the present, credit card debt has grown five times as fast as median income. This is not even to mention the once thriving second-mortgage market.

Because the wealthy have a higher propensity to save, their increased concentration of wealth incentivized ever riskier speculatory vehicles in capitalflush financial markets. When the unsustainable system of securitzed debt, derivatives and credit default swaps eventually led Wall St. off the track in fall 2008, already insufficient consumer demand was exacerbated by these long-term wage and debt trends. For more than three years, the economy has struggled to recover in the face of lackluster consumer demand and insufficient political will for adequate public stimulus.

In short, the Great Recession has thrown the inefficiency of income inequality into sharp relief. If the US is to speedily recover from the damage wrought by three years of stifled growth and build a sustainable economic future, longstanding resistance to government activism must give way to substantial investment in the skills, health and education of America’s middle and low-income workers.

Sam is a junior. You can reach him at ssussma1@swarthmore.edu.

Obama’s no budget superman: revealing the kryptonite Three years ago this month, President Obama announced that he would halve the deficit by the end of his first term. Oh, how times have changed.

On Monday, Obama released his fiscal-year 2013 budget, a political document straight from his reelection campaign headquarters in Chicago. The nearly four trillion dollar Tyler Becker budget has zero chance of The Swarthmore passing Congress, and the President’s team knows Conservative this. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (DNV) has gone on the record saying, “we do not need to bring a budget to the floor this year.” The budget will not even come up for a vote in Congress.

Releasing the budget was about scoring political points, and helping the Obama reelection campaign focus its message. Upon releasing the budget, Obama called his proposed tax increases and supposed spending cuts “a reflection of shared responsibility.” This, in political speak, is to promote Obama’s class-warfare rhetoric and newfound populism amongst voters.

Speaking at the budget’s announcement, Obama claimed the tax increases proposed in the budget would move the tax structure toward the “Buffett rule.” Millionaires would be required to give a minimum of thirtypercent of their income, including capital gains, to the government under the rule.

Obama wants to campaign on taxing the rich to solve the budget deficit problem and paint himself as a representation of middle-class America. This solution, however, just works to cover even more spending under the proposed budget. There are not enough millionaires in

the United States for this amount of tax increase to begin reducing our massive $15 trillion debt.

And, not surprisingly, the budget does not even attempt to cut the deficit in half. Obama’s budget increases spending by $47 trillion over the next ten years, with only $1 trillion in new cuts and $1.5 trillion in new taxes, according to economist Larry Kudlow. The $4 trillion in cuts claimed by the Obama administration includes many cuts we already knew were occurring, such as the $1.2 trillion from the super committee’s failure to reach an agreement.

At the current rate, we are going to have to be spending hundreds of billions of dollars each year just to pay off the interest on the debt we have accumulated. The $47 trillion in spending for the next ten years does not even account for the amount of interest we will have to pay on spending in the future. There is a reason America’s credit rating was downgraded by Standard and Poor’s.

The argument made by the administration and liberal economists is that running large deficits is necessary to spur economic growth and prevent further job losses.

This claim makes no mention of the federal debt, an issue that cannot be ignored. Over time, a large federal debt will cause interest rates to rise further, costing the government more to borrow, slowing the economy and placing a large tax burden on future generations.

If the United States continues on its current debt projections, it is difficult to fathom how the debt will actually be repaid. At some point, we have to do more than just pay the interest on our debt, or the interest is just going to continue to keep increasing and consuming our budgets each year. The future will be bleak if the United States remains on its current path. The relatively small cuts off the baseline in the Obama budget will have to be deeper and more wide-ranging in order to cover the debt load.

Obama’s budget does not address this debt load, instead including flowery projections of economic growth that project a halving of the deficit by 2018. There are many good reasons to think this will not happen. First,

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the growth projections are lower than those put forward by the Congressional Budget Office, and are characteristic of this administration’s economic team’s notoriously rosy forecasts. Second, the cuts in Medicare and other programs proposed by the President will probably never occur for political reasons. Remember though, this budget will never even be considered by Congress, so these cuts are only included to make the President appear fiscally responsible.

The entire budget is a political stunt to make President Obama appear as some sort of “budgetary superman,” able to cut spending and increase spending at the same time, tax the rich to save the middle-class and the poor, and bring America’s deficit under control. Playing politics does not reduce deficits, but it certainly helps to strengthen Obama’s reelection effort.

White House economic adviser Gene Sperling went as far as challenging House Republicans to create a budget that balanced tax increases and spending cuts. The administration wants to make Republicans the evil vessel of the 1% because of their resistance to tax increases. The problem for many Republicans is that even if tax increases were enacted, Democrats are not serious about entitlement reform. Passing both tax increases and spending cuts would be about raising taxes, not reducing spending.

President Obama believes that he can run from his record of supporting the Wall Street bailouts, using government money to prop up the auto industry, propping up Solyndra and other failed corporations, and giving health insurance companies millions of new customers through a federal mandate to buy insurance. Obama claims this is not class-warfare, but I see no other label for it besides “campaign strategy.”

We can debate how to stimulate economic growth. We can debate how different policies impact the economy.

We can even debate how the government should spend the American people’s money. But until we can get our debt under control, it’s barely worth the conversation.

Tyler is a sophomore. You can reach him at tbecker1@ swarthmore.edu.

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Opinions Imagining a world without Henry Kissinger(s) swarthmorephoenix.com

This month 40 years ago, the world was shaken when President Richard Nixon and his national security adviser Henry Kissinger paid a historic visit to the People’s Republic of China. The visit was an exploration of the possibility of normalizing what would later become the most important bilateral relationship in the world.

After more than two Shiran Shen decades of ideological aniThe Swarthmore mosity and Cold War anxiety, both countries decided Globalist that it was in their best interests to expand the common grounds between them out of geopolitical and realpolitik (i.e. realist politics) considerations. This game-changing move not only effectively curbed Soviet expansion, but also laid the groundwork for burgeoning trade between two key players on the international stage.

The “Nixon goes to China” event still bears value today: Kissinger’s China strategy illuminates a rough template for US foreign policy to minimize unstable factors that might harm US interests, such as nuclear development in North Korea and Iran.

After more than two decades of isolation, failed policies and deteriorating relations with the USSR, China became willing to move towards co-existence with the West — particularly the US — to balance against Soviet menace. Mainland China suffered terribly following the ideologies and strategies of the Great Leap Forward (1958-1961) and the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976); the country became poorer, more insecure and almost completely chaotic as a result.

In declining health, chairman Mao Zedong (in office 1949-1976) was in a protracted conflict with his presumed successor Lin Biao, who later died in a mysterious plane

crash. Reform-minded, de facto leader-to-be Deng Xiaoping was under house arrest in Jiangxi. Since at least the onset of the Sino-Soviet split in 1960, the Chinese were increasingly suspicious of Soviet regional intentions and fearful of a preemptive Soviet military attack. China’s communist future was left up in the air.

Inside the US, there was a converging geopolitical outlook regarding restraining Soviet power, and the Nixon administration strongly felt the need to cooperate with China since its first day in the White House. In addition to China’s potential role as a counterbalance to Soviet expansion to fundamentally alter the Cold War dynamics, Kissinger recognized that engaging China was intrinsically important, given China’s size and inevitable importance. Not ending the total isolation of China would leave things very dangerous.

Thus, the Nixon-Kissinger team was determined to extend the olive branch to China before there was any commitment on the part of China to work out its internal political squabbles. At the time, China did not promise any economic reforms, rapprochement with Taiwan or a repudiation of its support for leftist national movements in Africa and Latin America. In addition, American experience with Communist diplomacy was based on contacts with leaders of the Soviet Union, who were inclined to turning diplomacy into a test of bureaucratic will; thus, the effectiveness of engaging China was highly uncertain.

Kissinger, who had almost no academic background in China and did not speak a word of Chinese, was determined to act as the “Big Man” to defend and protect his China design from conservative hawks in the national security circle who periodically tried to kill it. After much futile back-channeling efforts, Kissinger finally sealed the deal for Nixon to meet with chairman Mao Zedong and premier Zhou Enlai in the February of 1972.

Kissinger has perhaps a quite naïve vision about China, as far as his interpretation of modern Chinese history in his recently published book “On China” is concerned; yet his insight, courage and naiveté were much-needed to bring US foreign relations to new heights.

It could be very scary to live in a world without Henry

Kissinger(s) and where US-China relations are strained.

Thanks to Kissinger’s ability and willingness to raise sights beyond the predicament of the day, the US and China did not follow a US-Soviet Cold War-style rivalry path; instead, the Sino-American relationship is at the stage of co-evolution, where the two countries pursue their domestic imperatives, cooperate when possible and adjust their relations to minimize conflict.

Geopolitics drove the US-China détente; it could do the same between Washington and Pyongyang and between Washington and Tehran. In my previous column, I discussed the willingness on the part of North Korean leaders to normalize bilateral relations with the US in the face of expanding and intensifying Chinese leverage in the region. Engagement with North Korea will not only strengthen US influence in East Asia, but also avoid a potential nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.

Likewise, a similar path can be pursued to advance USIran relations. Both Iran and the US want stability in the region, the end of terrorism of Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and the reincorporation of Iran into the international community.

However, in the American-Iranian scenario, Kissinger’s China strategy falls short in one critical aspect: while Mao was ready to open China’s door to the US, Iran’s supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khomenei is not. To the contrary, Khomenei believes that the U.S. will not cooperate with Iran until he is overthrown. In light of this, the US needs to halt covert operations to destabilize Iran in both words and deeds, and the US president should identify an intermediary that Khomenei trusts to convince him that it is advantageous and safe for Iran to explore diplomatic possibilities with the US. In his essay “Perpetual Peace,” German philosopher Immanuel Kant argues that the world would embrace perpetual peace in one of two ways: by human insight or by conflicts and catastrophes so devastating that humans are left with no other choice. We are at such a juncture, and the existence of Kissinger-like figures makes a difference in which path we take.

Shiran is a senior. You can reach her at sshen1@ swarthmore.edu.

Opening the dialogue about Collection at Swarthmore BY ben goossen bgoosse1@swarthmore.edu

The verdict is in: Collection at Swarthmore is back.

Collection, in which the entire college community is invited to gather for special events, was a staple of Swarthmore student life for over a century — until four decades ago when it was discontinued. But now, the College’s recently published Strategic Plan includes a provision for Collection’s reinstatement.

The recommendation appears in Section 2 (traditions and community) and reads as follows: By re-imagining Collection as a time to bring the community together informally to participate in civil discourse, we should emphasize our values of listening, respect for others, and peaceful settlements of disputes — combined with our academic commitments to evidence, clarity of arguments, and collaboration — as key components of that discourse.

We should work closely with student groups to create opportunities for such gatherings to occur.

It is time to start the discussion about what Collection will look like.

There are a lot of different forms that Collection could take, and this is our chance to shape a Swarthmore tradition that could very well run for another hundred years.

How often should Collection hap-

OP-ED

pen? Should it be mandatory? Where should it be held? Who should be on the committee that runs it? What should the content be? These are the questions that we need to answer. The process should be collaborative, and in the spirit of Collection, should draw on student consensus.

To give a brief history, Collection was originally instated with the founding of the college in 1864. At the time, Swarthmore was still an officially Quaker institution, and students gathered daily in Parrish Hall to read and discuss the Bible. Over the years, the meaning and scope of Collection expanded to include outside speakers, and to serve as a time for students and panels to debate important changes at the college.

Collection was discontinued around 1970 because of the Vietnam-era vibrancy of student groups and campus activism, which the administration felt was an adequate replacement for Collection. But Swarthmore was a smaller place back then, and as the college has grown, maintaining a cohesive community has been correspondingly difficult. It is high time to bring Collection back.

Collection serves two important purposes for Swarthmore: First, it brings everyone together and fosters a sense of community. That’s what a small liberal arts college like Swarthmore is all about. Right now, the only regular gathering place for all students is Paces from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. on week-

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ends, and as cool as that is, it’s not exactly the best forum for speakers and debates.

Second, Collection would generally improve student life and our overall experience at Swarthmore. The Collection-type events we already have — for example First Collection and watching “The Graduate” — are already some of the best traditions we have at Swarthmore. What if we did that every month?

There are a number of similarly sized colleges which currently practice Collection. Haverford, Earlham and Goshen are all examples. I am best acquainted with Collection at Bethel College in Kansas. There, Collection is held twice a week, and always features a different speaker, panel, concert, or performance. Students are required to attend two-thirds of the events, so they can pick and choose the ones they’re interested in. Bethel students love Collection; it’s a chance for them to see all their friends, take a study break and hear interesting people speak on topics outside of their majors.

We can do something similar at Swarthmore. It doesn’t have to be every week, and it doesn’t have to be mandatory, but it should be cool enough that everyone wants to come. This might be a good forum for our Large Scale Events, or for hosting high-profile speakers. Last semester, some Swarthmore students asked, “Why can’t Judith Butler come to Swat?” Maybe this is a good way to make that happen.

Student groups could also use Col-

February 16, 2012

lection as a way to show what they’ve been up to, or to raise concerns in front of the entire college community. Substantial student interest in the Sharples General Assembly this fall shows that students want a place to discuss issues like sustainability, responsible investment, LGBTQ life on campus and even (dare I say?) sororities.

Collection is back. It’s up to us to decide what that means.

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Track & field team shows what it’s made of in BU meet

BY ROY GREIM rgreim1@swarthmore.edu Facing stiff competition at last weekend’s Boston University Valentine Invitational, Swarthmore’s track and field teams rose to the occasion, breaking two school records and several other personal records as well.

The meet, which included athletes from all NCAA divisions and competitive running clubs, featured the toughest competition Swarthmore will likely see all season.

The Garnet, however, welcomed the opportunity to test its abilities against such strong opponents.

“The level of competition at the Valentine Invitational is unparalleled. We rarely see this level of competition the entire year, but it certainly helps to have people of that caliber pushing us,” sprinter Matthew Heck ’13 said.

On the women’s side, the 4000-meter distance medley relay team of Stephanie Beebe ’12, Kenyetta Givans ’12, Jen Johnson ’12 and Rebecca Hammond ’13, finished in 12:16.23, shattering the previous school record of 12:34.36 by almost twenty seconds.

Their time, which is the twelfth-best in all of Division III this season, earned them a 14th-place finish in the 29-team field.

Not content with simply breaking the school record, however, the team has an even higher goal in mind: competing at nationals.

“We’ll need to run faster if we hope to qualify for nationals,” Rebecca Hammond ’13 said.

“I was not particularly pleased with my leg — I hope to shed some time there. I know [Kenyetta] can run at least a second faster in the 400, and [Stephanie] several seconds faster in the 800, so we have some time to lose.”

The relay team also had remarkable individual success throughout the meet.

Beebe finished 77th out of 144 runners in the 1-mile event (5:13.76), and her time is now the third-fastest in school history. Givans placed 22nd in the 60-meter hurdles and Hammond ran a personal best in the 800-meter run (2:17.98), which earned her 47th place out of 153 runners.

Distance runner Melissa Frick ’12 also had an impressive meet for the Garnet, earning 29th place in the 5000-meter run (17:57.73). She is only the third woman in program history to finish the event in under 18 minutes and her time is currently the 36th fastest in Division III.

Courtesy of Swarthmore Athletics

(l. to r.) The relay team of Johnson, Beebe, Givans and Hammond with Coach Carroll.

Courtesy of Swarthmore Athletics

Matt Heck broke a 16-year-old Swarthmore record in the 400-meter dash.

“I had the goal to break 18 minutes for the 5K but had no idea how feasible that was, considering the last 5K I ran was during my freshman year,” Frick said.

“Breaking the 18-minute barrier was a rewarding effort — surprising, yet almost expected in a way.”

In the shot put, Osazenoriuwa Ebose ’15 also had a strong showing, placing 17th out of 40 throwers with a distance of 11.04 meters.

On the men’s side, Heck had a record-breaking day for the Garnet, setting a new indoor mark in the 400-meter dash. His time of 49.94 broke a 16-year-old school record (50.89) and landed him in 51st place out of 172 runners.

Competing in the 200-meter dash, Heck finished 86th out of 177 (23.19) and his time is the tenth-fastest in school history.

In the 3000-meter run, Aidan DuMont-McCaffrey ’13 and Robert Fain ’14 also posted top-ten times, as they finished 85th and 90th, respectively. DuMont-McCaffrey’s time of 8:49.66 is the fifth fastest in school history, while Fain’s 8:51.10 finish earned him the seventh spot. Jonas Oppenheimer ’15 finished near his teammates (9:09.71), as all three runners posted personal records.

Jacob Phillips ’13 finished 61st out of 78 runners in 5000-meter run, posting a time of 15:29.79. Despite disappointment in his individual result, Phillips was very proud of the team’s showing and had much praise for his teammates.

“Many of our men and women preformed phenomenally, setting personal and school records, and watching my teammates compete and succeed made [the meet] worth it,” Phillips said in an email.

In the field, Daniel Ly ’12 continued to have a successful season in the triple jump, finishing 21st with a season-best jump of 13.17 meters.

Looking forward, the Garnet is excited about its prospects for this weekend’s meets and the Centennial Conference Championships in two weeks. Important factors for the team’s continued success are avoiding injuries and getting sufficient rest.

“Indoor is a very different sport from outdoor; the track is half the size and therefore can get a lot more crowded. There’s more jostling and more people fall,” Hammond said.

“There was one heat of the women’s mile at the Valentine invite where three runners went down at three different instances in the race.”

“I think the goal is just to stay healthy and motivated and remember that we may have performed very well here this weekend,” Fain said, “but when we rest up for conferences, we have the potential to perform even better.”

The men’s and women’s track teams will compete in two meets this weekend, the Haverford Keogh Invitational on Feb. 17. They will then complete in the NYU Invitational on Feb. 18, with most of the Valentine’s invite athletes competing in the latter.

GARNET IN ACTION FRIDAY, FEB. 17

SATURDAY, FEB. 18 (CONT.) Women’s basketball, Alumni Game, 10:00 a.m.

Men’s basketball, Alumni Game, 11:30 a.m.

Women’s basketball vs. Haverford, 2:00 p.m.

Men’s basketball vs. Haverford, 4:00 p.m.

Swimming, Centennial Conference Championships, TBD Track & Field, Haverford Keogh Invitational, 5:00 p.m.

SATURDAY, FEB. 18

SUNDAY, FEB. 19 Swimming, Centennial Conference Championships, TBD

Swimming, Centennial Conference Championships, TBD Track & Field, NYU Invitational

THE PHOENIX

February 16, 2012

17

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The English Patient: choosing England’s new manager

On Feb. 9, the highest-paid manager in football resigned. Fabio Capello left an England team that he was set to manage at the European Championships in Poland and the Ukraine this summer.

Capello spoke out against the decision by the English Football Association to revoke John Terry of the captaincy pending his trial for alleged racist remarks aimed at Queens Park Rangers defender Anton Ferdinand.

Because Capello came to the defense of his captain he broke the terms of his contract, and so had to resign as manager of England. Capello had been the most successful English manager ever, winning 67% of the matches he was in charge for.

James Ivey Apart from a disastrous showing in South Africa Out of Left Field against Slovenia, the US and Germany, Capello ensured qualification to both the World Cup and the European Championships, unlike his predecessor. Whoever follows Capello will have a lot of work to do.

Following a man who has won both the La Liga and the Serie A, who does the Football Association really think will carry England forward? Both the FA and the players seem to have drawn up a list of qualities wanted in a new manager.

The most important quality is that the next manager be an Englishman, according to Wayne Rooney. The FA wants something similar, but it would accept a British or even a foreign manager if he were of top quality. The manager will be required to handle high expectations both from the fans and the press. He will have to sacrifice his own privacy for the job.

The team will be expected to play fast attacking football that is popular in the Premier League while maintaining incredible defensive strength. If the new manager wins anything then he will be knighted for sure and be the most popular man in England.

If he doesn’t, then he will never be able to show his face in public again. Since this is such a long list of requirements, the FA is willing to pay a lot of money for it to make the burden a little less trying. However, even with a huge payout to sweeten the deal, any person willing to take over England will have probably the most difficult job in football after the managers of Real Madrid and Chelsea.

The most likely to succeed Capello is Harry Redknapp, manager of Tottenham Hotspur. Redknapp is an Englishman and so fits one of the requirements. He has brought success to Tottenham and has managed a title challenge this season, which is far beyond the expectations of Tottenham fans and the board members. Some players, including Rooney, as well as managers, have issued statements backing Harry Redknapp to succeed Fabio Capello. It seems like England desires Redknapp to be the next England manager since he has the force of character to unite a fractured team and start the team playing fast, attacking football.

While the masses are typically right (that is democracy, after all), they are wrong in their choice. Obviously, Redknapp is a good manager: he won the FA cup with Portsmouth and he took Tottenham to the Champions League knockout stages. But he is a successful club manager, not an international manager.

Redknapp works best when he is given a squad of players that he can change by dipping in and out of the transfer market. He does not fit his style of play to the players around him but sells those that don’t play his style to buy better players who do.

Garnet athlete of the week

Elle Larsen

FR., BASKETBALL, PERKASIE, PA.

WHAT SHE’S DONE:

Larsen led the Garnet with 16 points and added seven rebounds against Franklin & Marshall.

FAVORITE MOMENT OF THE SEASON: Beating Haverford on their home court. It was the best game that we played all year, and it was a ton of fun!

GOALS FOR NEXT YEAR:

To make the conference playoffs, improve my foul shooting percentage and get more rebounds.

BEST BASKETBALL SHE GAME EVER ATTENDED: The best basketball game I have

Gerardo Limon The Phoenix

ever been to was during my junior year of high school when our men’s team won the league title. It was highly competitive and they played with such heart!

18

England does not have a playmaker like Luka Modric or as prolific a winger as Gareth Bale. Redknapp will have to do his best with what he has at hand, and that is not his style. He may be the popular choice, but he may not be the best one.

Another problem with Redknapp is that if Tottenham put in a sustained challenge right up until the last few games of the season he is unlikely to want to step away from the job. His team is beginning to challenge for titles and cups, so why would he walk away to start a new project even if it were for Queen and country?

If Tottenham finishes fourth, he may leave. If they don’t qualify for the Champions League, he will most likely leave for the England job. But if Tottenham finishes third or above it is unlikely that he will throw all that work away.

Yet, the Redknapp argument does have a glimmer of hope: he could just take this tournament, and then a new manager could start after the Euros. If the competition goes well, then Redknapp is considered to be a top manager, and if it goes badly then it is fortunate for England that he is only in charge for the tournament. This situation seems to be the best fit in the current circumstances since it allows Harry to keep his current job and Courtesy of footballspeak.com take a summer job to bol- Will Roy Hodgson (top) succeed Fabio Capello? ster his CV. The list of other managers that are being touted for the managerial vacancy includes some good prospects: Jose Mourinho (once he leaves Madrid in the Summer), Roy Hodgson and Stuart Pearce. While Pearce does not have a good club record, he has done well with the under-21 side and has brought through a number of players hoping to get into the England side.

He may just be the person to kick-start a youthful revolution in an increasingly stale England side. Hodgson did wonders with Fulham, and now West Brom, and could teach the England side how to play football the traditional way: pass and move.

Though Hodgson did not have a good time at Liverpool, it was not his fault. The board refused to back him, there was a takeover during his reign, Kenny Dalglish turned up to games to unsettle the supporters, and Hodgson was not given as much money as Dalglish to change the side to play his way. Hodgson would be much more effective at the England job than any other because he has managed international teams before.

He has managed both Finland and Switzerland, and before you say those are two average teams, let me just point out that under Hodgson, Switzerland reached its highest ever position of Number Two in the world rankings.

Hodgson has the experience, the style of football, and the right attitude for dealing with players that would make him a great England manager. Plus, he is so old that this may be his last job. He will give it his all for one last chance to be a hero.

The last choice is the “Special One”. I’m not going to go into the political situation in Spain, but it is clear that Mourinho wants to manage in England again. However, until a top job becomes open, except for Chelsea, he will bide his time. Managing England for a few years would give him some extra experience and help him develop relationships with some of the players he will one day surely manage or buy. These few years will help him keep in practice till Alex Ferguson retires and Mourinho can move up to Manchester to succeed him.

The England manager’s job is a tainted chalice. I called this week’s piece the English Patient because the team is just that. The current squad is aging and the young players that are coming through have little or no experience.

There is little hope of winning any competition in the near future due to the structure of English youth football and the national style of play. Still, the fans and the press expect victory at every competition.

No manager will ever please the English public even if the public get their choice, which is why it should go to the lovable and humble Hodgson.

James is a sophomore. You can reach him at jivey1@swarthmore.edu.

February 16, 2012

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Men’s basketball follows F&M loss with heartbreaker by timothy bernstein tbernst1@swarthmore.edu In their first game since the Swarthmore men’s basketball team picked up their long-awaited second win, the Garnet’s hopes of beginning a winning streak halted with a 77-59 loss to conference-leading Franklin & Marshall on Saturday afternoon.

The victory clinched the top seed in the conference for the Diplomats, giving them home-field advantage throughout the upcoming playoffs.

The Garnet (2-21, 2-14 CC), who shocked Washington College last Wednesday in a home upset, went on the road to play a team who had lost only one game on their court all year.

Despite the 21 points from Will Gates ’13 to lead all scorers, Swarthmore was otherwise flat offensively, with no other player in double digits against F&M’s defense, which has held opponents to the lowest scoring average in the country.

The Dips offense (21-2, 14-2 in conference), by contrast, featured three starters with 12 points or more.

“F&M is a great defensive team,” Gates said. “They basically had Matt Porter guard me tight the whole game, with [guard] Georgio [Milligan] guarding me at times.

“Coach made a few adjustments to get me moving around more this game and get some touches inside which really helped me out.”

F&M guard Georgio Milligan, one of the stars of the Centennial Conference, led the team with a performance that was average only by his standards, putting up 20 points, five rebounds and four assists.

Guard Matt Porter added 12 points and four boards, while big man Hayk Gyokchyan put up 15 points while grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.

The most accurate shooting offense in the conference, the Dips shot an even 50 percent from the field, while Swarthmore, the least accurate, shot just 32 percent.

The Garnet fell behind early on Saturday, with Gates providing his team’s only points for the first three-and-a-half minutes. By then, it was already 12-3 in favor of F&M, who would go up by as many as twenty-one points during the first half. Swarthmore didn’t do themselves any favors with 16 first-half turnovers (they average 15 per game), with the ball-hawking Dips doing their part with eight first-half steals.

“We really didn’t take care of the ball as well as we needed to,” forward Marc Rogalski ‘12 said. “You take into consideration they’re the number-one defensive team in the country, and they have good guards, but we just did not run our offense as well as we should have. The rushed shots we took and chaotic offense we ran naturally resulted in more turnovers.”

Swarthmore stepped their game up somewhat at the close of the half; an 8-0 run, sparked by four points from guard Jordan Federer ‘14, cut into their deficit, and the team went in at the half trailing 43-27.

Although the second-half surge has been a staple for the Garnet this season, they were unable to make any real headway against the prodigious F&M defense. The Dips never led by fewer than 13 points during the half, with seven and five-point runs turning the game into a runaway victory down the stretch.

With his 21 points on the game, Gates is now averaging 17.6 points per game, good for fourth in the conference. Right above him sits Milligan, with a 17.7 average.

Justin Toran-Burrell The Phoenix

Dominic Rizzo (31) and the Garnet couldn’t solve F&M’s top-ranked defense.

“Although I had to work hard for every point, everyone did a great job of setting screens and running me off dribble handoffs to get me open,” Gates said.

Behind Gates, Rogalski added nine points and led the team with six rebounds. Federer finished with six points, while forward Jordan Martinez ‘13, forward Jay Kober ‘14, center Eugene Prymak ‘13, and guard Karl Barkley ‘15 all had four.

“F&M’s offensive rebounding and ball pressure on defense hurt us the most,” Prymak said. “The fact that we could not seem to get into any offensive rhythm contributed to our loss.”

Even as the Garnet winds down the 2011-12 campaign, the drive to never end a day without getting better persists. In practice and in games, the team continues to strive to live to Head Coach Joe Culley’s proclamation, made several weeks ago in an interview, to “[get] better every day of practice, and to leave the gym a better team than when we came in.”

On Wednesday, Swarthmore hosted McDaniel. Despite leading with seven seconds to play, the Garnet fell to the Green Terror 65-64 when Christopher Cowles hit two freethrows off a Marc Rogalski foul. The heartbreaker drops the Garnet to 2-22 on the year.

Swarthmore will end its season this Saturday at Tarble Pavilion. The annual Alumni Game will be held that morning at 11:30, with the season finale against Haverford scheduled to being at 4:00 p.m. The Fords defeated Swarthmore in a tight contest, 6562, when they hosted them on Jan. 18.

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Basketball shows defensive might vs. Bryn Mawr

by ROY GREIM rgreim1@swarthmore.edu Losers of five consecutive games entering the final week of the season, all by at least 17 points, the Swarthmore women’s basketball team (9-14, 7-12) dialed up the defense to dismantle Tri-Co rival Bryn Mawr by a final score of 60-33 on Tuesday evening on the Main Line.

Though the Garnet continued to struggle on offense, again falling short of 30-percent shooting for the game, the team forced 29 turnovers while giving up their fewest points of the entire season. Kayla Moritzky ’14 led the Garnet with six steals.

Nine different players scored for Swarthmore, which opened up a 16-0 lead less than six minutes into the game with 14 of the 16 coming from the dynamic post duo of Katie Lytle ’14 and Elle Larsen ’15. Lytle finished the game with 13 points and 10 rebounds, her 12th double-

Julia Carleton The Phoenix

Katie Lytle (22) and Elle Larsen (32) on defense.

double of the season.

Tuesday’s showing was a strong bounce-back from Saturday’s 64-47 loss at playoff-bound Franklin & Marshall. The Diplomats were demolished at Johns Hopkins on Tuesday by a 68-40 final to clinch home-court advantage in the Centennial Conference playoffs for the Blue Jays. After scoring 37 points on 14-29 shooting against the Garnet, the Diplomats’ veteran guard duo of Allison Bauer and Alexa Barbush were held to just 15 points and 5-24 shooting at Johns Hopkins.

Though the Garnet will not be participating in the Centennial playoffs in 2012, the season finale will have significant playoff implications. The midweek results around the Conference have left Haverford at 11-8 in Conference and Washington and Gettysburg at 10-9. Washington hosts winless Bryn Mawr in the season finale on Saturday while Gettysburg travels to 7-12 McDaniel.

With a loss by Haverford and wins from Washington and Gettysburg, the three teams would end the year with identical 11-9 Centennial records and tied for the final playoff spot. Based on head-to-head record, Washington (3-1) would get the nod over Haverford (2-2) and Gettysburg (1-3). If either Washington or Gettysburg loses, then Haverford will be in the playoffs.

Swarthmore dominated Haverford on the road in mid-January and carries confidence into the rematch.

“We have a lot of respect for each other, and I think that we have a lot of excitement and focus for Haverford on Saturday,” Head Coach Renee DeVarney said. “We really need that. We’ve beena trying to keep our spirits up and Haverford is really going to help us this week.”

Since Swarthmore and Haverford began competing against one another in women’s basketball, the Garnet holds a decisive 46-15 advantage including 14-4 in Tarble Pavilion since the formation of the Centennial Conference.

Swarthmore has won 25 of the last 28 meetings, but it was the Fords who dashed the Garnet’s playoff dreams in 2011 with a 62-41 win in the first meeting between the teams last year. Swarthmore missed the playoffs last year on a tiebreaker. Now in 2012, the Garnet has the chance for revenge.

“Our campuses are close together, we have a lot of interaction and every game draws a big crowd, the intensity is unavoidable,” Brittany Schmelz ’12 said.

At Haverford, the Garnet held the Fords to just 36.8 percent shooting and dominated in the low post with Larsen and Lytle shooting a combined 14-20 and scoring 34 points. Swarthmore was also able to create good looks throughout on offense with quick ball movement that produced 20 assists on the team’s 25 field goals.

Saturday will also see Senior Day ceremonies for the four Swarthmore seniors – Christina Duron, Genny Pezzola, Nicole Rizzo and Schmelz. Over their four years in the program, the Garnet is 49-49.

Julia Carleton The Phoenix

Madeline Ross scored nine points against Bryn Mawr.

“This year’s senior class is extremely responsible and I have found that I can really rely on them,” DeVarney said. “Regardless of record, that is the make-up of everyone on our team. They are pretty mature and responsible people and they are fun to be around. It’s been a pleasure watching them grow.”

Added Schmelz, “Regardless of the outcome on Saturday we have had an extremely memorable four years here at Swarthmore. We go into every game wanting a win, especially in big rivalry games like Haverford. We want this win and we are all prepared to fight for it.”

Madgz Ross ’13 relishes the opportunity for one more intense contest to end the season. “Playing against Haverford is a matter of pride. Beating them is just special. At all the games, you see, hear and feel the rivalry.

Each school just wants to win. For us, beating Haverford gives everyone that sense of ultimate victory. It says ‘we are better.’ It feels awesome.”

Tip-off for Saturday’s rivalry match is scheduled for 2 p.m.

Julia Carleton The Phoenix

Ranked sixth out of eleven conference teams in scoring defense, The Garnet had their best defensive performance of the season against Bryn Mawr, allowing just 33 points.

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February 16, 2012

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