The Phoenix

FEBRUARY 17, 2011 • THE CAMPUS NEWSPAPER OF SWARTHMORE COLLEGE SINCE 1881 • VOLUME 133, ISSUE 18

PHOENIX

Inside: Administration rejects plans for a housing co-op Def Jam poet, students perform spoken word Track & field records season best times at Boston

MAXED OUT Study finds poor mental health in college first-years, p. 8

The Phoenix

Thursday, February 17, 2011 Volume 133, Issue 18

The independent campus newspaper of Swarthmore College since 1881.

Page

20 Jakob Mrozewski Phoenix Staff

Katie Lytle goes for a three-pointer in the Garnet’s 80-66 loss to Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday. Lytle scored 12 points.

News

Sera Jeong interviews students and investigates Swarthmore’s health and support services on campus. PAGE 8

Camera found in Cornell Def Jam poet addresses bathroom Last Thursday, public safety discovered a universal emotions hidden video camera recording images in the Cornell Library bathroom. The incident has given rise to discourse on campus safety. PAGE 3

Def Jam poet Shihan performed at LPAC last Friday with Swarthmore spoken poetry group O.A.S.I.S. Themes focused on love, family and finding one’s place in the world. PAGE 10

Entrepreneurship comes to Langston Hughes Project campus keeps legend’s message The Entrepreneurship Club has been created in response to a perceived need for alive Student assists creation of talking dictionary

This past Wednesday, the Ron McCurdy Quartet honored Langston Hughes’s work with the multimedia performance of his “Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz” in an effort to address social inequality.

PAGE 10

Lingustics major Theresa Sepulveda ’11 has recently contributed to the creation of an online talking dictionary for the endangered language Matukar. PAGE 5

‘Just Go With It’ shows little promise

greater entrepreneurialism on campus.

PAGE 4

Administration rejects housing co-op next year The college has decided that it will not move forward with plans to establish a housing cooperative on campus due to logistical barriers. PAGE 6

New food sustainability group emerges The Swarthmore Food Sustainability Group began its existence last month as an additional vehicle for promoting food sustainability on campus and in the local community. PAGE 7

Living & Arts

The movie title says it all in that Danny Maccabee’s ‘Just Go With It’ is hampered by uninspired directing, poor plot and one lazy Adam Sandler. PAGE 11

‘Community’ is absurd, but ultimately fulfilling Last Thursday, the annual Bathtub Debates had professors from the three main academic divisions in a battle over which division would be best suited to rebuild civilization in the advent of Earth’s destruction. PAGE 12

Be wary of ‘Open a Card Today, and Save 25%’ While department store credit cards might seem appealing at first, review the fine print and beware of the dangers. PAGE 12

Opinions

‘Miss Representation’ forces women to reevaluate relationship with media A documentary spurs a change in the way Eva thinks about the media. PAGE 15

What Obama might learn from Barry Goldwater Danielle criticizes the tax-and-spend stimulus program currently employed by the Obama adminsitration. PAGE 16

Sports Discovering, recapturing clarity key to success After watching an interview with NBA star Steve Nash, Andrew Greenblatt sets his sights on regaining clarity in achieving his goals. PAGE 17

Hannah trades the soccer field for the rugby pitch Columnist Hannah Purkey has joined the women’s rugby team in an effort to understand just how difficult it is to learn a new sport. PAGE 18

Track & field bests season times at Boston Invite Members of the men’s and women’s track & field teams competed at the Boston University Valentine Invitational with many athletes achieving season-best times.

PAGE 19

Fencing competes against top teams at ND Duals The fencing team, coached by Marshal Davis, competed at the Notre Dame Duals where the men and women defeated three NCAA Division I teams. PAGE 19

Study reveals students’ mental health at all-time Women’s basketball team Patriot Act should not be picks up win, men fall low In reaction to the Higher Education extended While both basketball teams lost to CC Research Institute’s 2010 report on students’ mental health that declared first years more stressed than ever, reporter

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Congress’s extension of three tenets of the Patriot Act continue the violations of right to privacy of both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals. PAGE 14

EDITORIAL BOARD Camila Ryder Editor in Chief Marcus Mello Managing Editor Menghan Jin News Editor Adam Schlegel Assistant News Editor Susana Medeiros Living & Arts Editor Dina Zingaro Living & Arts Editor Olivia Natan Opinions Editor Paul Chung Photo Editor Allegra Pocinki Photo Editor Julia Karpati Graphics Editor Peter Akkies Director of Web Development Eric Sherman Director of Web Development Jeffrey Davidson Editor Emeritus STAFF Jeffrey Davidson In-Depth Reporter Navin Sabharwal News Writer Patrick Ammerman News Writer Sera Jeong Living & Arts Writer Steven Hazel Living & Arts Writer Steve Dean Living & Arts Columnist Alex Israel Living & Arts Columnist Ariel Swyer Living & Arts Columnist Aliya Padamsee Living & Arts Columnist Timothy Bernstein Film Critic Renu Nadkarni Artist Naia Poyer Artist Ben Schneiderman Crossword Writer Holly Smith Crossword Writer Tyler Becker Opinions Columnist Danielle Charette Opinions Columnist Eva McKend Opinions Columnist Jon Erwin-Frank Opinions Columnist Emma Waitzman Artist Ana Apostoleris Sports Writer Daniel Duncan Sports Writer Renee Flores Sports Writer Timothy Bernstein Sports Columnist Hannah Purkey Sports Columnist Andrew Greenblatt Sports Columnist Renee Flores Copy Editor Lauren Kim Copy Editor Susanna Pretzer Copy Editor Jakob Mrozewski Photographer Eric Verhasselt Photographer BUSINESS STAFF Ian Anderson Director of Business Development Patricia Zarate Circulation Manager GRAPHICS Julia Karpati Cover Design Parker Murray Layout Assistant CONTRIBUTORS Henry Kietzman, Rachel Killackey, Aaron Kramer, Anna Rothschild, Eli Siegel, Mihika Srivastava, Brent Stanfield OPINIONS BOARD Camila Ryder, Marcus Mello, Olivia Natan EDITORS’ PICKS PHOTOS COURTESY OF: (clockwise from top left): http://electronics.howstuffworks.com http://www.pcstheater.org http://ryanselvy.tublr.com/ http://cheekmagazine.wordpress.com http://commons.wikimedia.org TO ADVERTISE: E-mail: advertising@swarthmorephoenix.com Advertising phone: (610) 328-7362 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Direct advertising requests to Camila Ryder.

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CONTACT INFORMATION Offices: Parrish Hall 470-472 E-mail: editor@swarthmorephoenix.com Newsroom phone: (610) 328-8172 Address: The Phoenix, Swarthmore College, 500 College Ave., Swarthmore, PA 19081 Web site: www.swarthmorephoenix.com Mail subscriptions are available for $60 a year or $35 a semester. Direct subscription requests to Camila Ryder.

The Phoenix is printed at Bartash Printing, Inc. The Phoenix is a member of the Associated College Press and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association.

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opponent Franklin & Marshall, the women defeated Bryn Mawr on Wednesday and the men fell to McDaniel. PAGE 20

February 17, 2011

THE PHOENIX

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events menu Today Book Presentation: “Carmen Laforet. Una mujer en fuga” Professor Israel Rolón will be presenting a biographical book on Spanish author Carmen Laforet, which he co-authored with Professor Anna Caballé, at 4:30 p.m. in Sci L26.

Q&A with Rhodes Scholar Jacob Krich ‘00 Swarthmore grad Jacob Krich will be hosting an information session at 4:30 in Trotter 203 on Rhodes scholarships and Goldwater scholarships for sophomores and juniors. Refreshments will be provided.

Tomorrow Study abroad general information session Students interested in studying abroad for either next fall or spring must atttend one of these preliminary meetings at the offcampus study office located in the Cunningham House. The meeting will begin at 2 p.m.

Native American Group interest meeting Head over to the Intercultural Center at 7 p.m. for a meeting to gauge student interest in Native American issues. Food will be provided.

Sunday, February 20th Social Justice and Living the Gospel of Jesus Shane Clayborne, a member of the Simple Way Christian community in Northeastern Philadelphia, will be speaking on youth re-commitment to the gospel message of social justice in Bond Hall at 12 p.m.

Celebration of Life Honoring Professor Kathryn Morgan The Black Studies and History Departments invite the community to celebrate the life of Dr. Morgan, the first AfricanAmerican female professor at the college a Sara Lawrence Lightfoot Professor Emerita of History, in the Friends’ Meeting House at 3:30 p.m.

Tuesday, February 22nd Hearing but not listening: Islamist activism in Britain Jonathan Githenz-Mayer ’97 will be speaking about radicalization, extremism and Islamism in contemporary Britain in Sci 101 at 4:30 p.m.

Juniors and Java Come to Kohlberg’s Scheuer room to learn about internships, fellowships and career opportunities at 4:30 p.m. with Career Services and fellow students.

E-mail submissions for the events menu to news@swarthmorephoenix.com

tHe PHOenIX

Camera found in Cornell bathroom

BY AARON KRAMER akramer2@swarthmore.edu Last Thursday, a student discovered a digital camera that was actively recording images inside the handicapped accessible bathroom on the main floor of Cornell Science Library. The student noticed an LED light behind the trash liner and brought it to Dean Myrt Westphal.

Westphal e-mailed Dean of Students Liz Braun, Director of Public Safety Owen Redgrave and Director of ITS Gayle Barton about the incident.

Thereafter, Public Safety and ITS began an investigation by conducting interviews with the Cornell Library staff, Environmental Services and other witnesses. Public Safety sent out an e-mail Thursday afternoon to the student body, faculty and staff informing them of the incident.

After retrieving the evidence, a female officer inspected the first few frames of the recording to see if there were any indications of who had placed the camera there. Nothing was found.

“Nobody wanted to look at it,” Westphal said. “But we did feel that it should be viewed to see if there was any information that might indicate who had done it. We really do care about the privacy of any of the people that might have been videoed so we were very careful that people didn’t have a view of the film that was in the camera.”

ITS determined that the camera was recording video, but that the camera did not have the capability to stream video online. There is no evidence that the footage has been distributed.

“In all my years here I’ve never seen this before,” Westphal said. “It’s really never been on our radar. Going forward, our main goal is to make sure that this doesn’t happen again, to alert people that it happened and to let people know that they should be aware of their surroundings.”

The incidence has sparked discussions about student safety across the campus.

“I thought it was odd, that kind of thing doesn’t happen at this school …

You never hear about it,” Jake Neely ’13, a student who frequently studies in the Cornell library, said. But Neely does not feel that his privacy is threatened. “It frankly doesn’t bother me, and I don’t think it will affect student perceptions.”

Julie Warech ’13 agrees. “It hasn’t changed my view of how safe I am,” she said.

Westphal does not think this incident should affect how students perceive their safety on campus. “We don’t want students to start looking for cameras in bathrooms, we just want students to use their common sense. My expectation is that this was an outlier … [and] that this won’t happen again.”

“Trust your gut,” Redgrave said. “If you think something’s amiss, pay attention to that and look a little closer.”

The investigation is and will remain open. “If something comes our way, we’ll certainly investigate,” Westphal said. To date, no one has come forward with any usable information.

“We’re still running tests on the camera to look for evidence,” Redgrave said, “But there’s a limit to what you can

Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff

A digital camera was found stuck to the side of the trash bin and covered with the interior plastic lining in the handicapped accessible bathroom in the Cornell Library on Thursday. work with for any crime. Witnesses are very important, but forensics has limits to it. There aren’t many leads in this case.”

The administration hopes that the person who placed the camera in the bathroom will come forward. “If [the perpetrator is] a member of the college community[,] the college will do what it can to help these individuals,” Redgrave said. “But, you can’t make promises because there’s victims and we take their wishes seriously … If the actor who did this would like to turn him or herself in, it would be to their advantage to do it to the college rather than the police.”

However, the college’s priority is keeping everyone safe. “We’re more interested in stopping it than in catch-

February 17, 2011

ing the person who did it,” Westphal said.

The college does normally look for damaging or illegal activity, but the campus is very open-access, meaning that visitors to the campus are not inspected, and Westphal maintains that they never will be inspected. “This is an opening and welcoming campus,” she said.

Though this incident has disconcerted the administration and many students, Westphal finds it as a lesson for the community. “These events always remind us that we need to pay attention to our surroundings, we need to care for each other,” she said.

Looking forward, Westphal does not believe an incident as extreme as this one will ever happen again.

3

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Entrepreneurship comes to campus

WEEk in picturEs

BY PATRICK AMMERMAN pammerm1@swarthmore.edu

Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff

Donning costumes of all shapes and sizes, students use clues to search for their other half as part of the annual Screw Your Roommate event on Saturday night.

Paul Chung Phoenix Staff

The Cooper Series brought the Alturas Duo to LPAC last Friday, who performed a unique blend of South American and classical music.

Eric Verhasselt Phoenix Staff

On Monday, the Oscar-nominated documentary ‘Inside Job’ was shown, followed by a faculty discussion.

4

The regular “weekend events” email sent last week included an open invitation for students to attend the first interest group meeting of a new Entrepreneurship Club. In attendance were about 20 Swarthmore students who wanted to find out more about the newly created group headed by cofounders Eugene Prymak ’13 and V i s h a a l M a h e s h Chhabria ’13.

The two have been planning to begin the club for over a semester and were heartened by the turnout.

The goal of the club, according to Prymak, is to help broaden student’s perspectives of the real world through club events such as guest speakers, movie screenings and facilitating connections to alumni who have launched successful entrepreneurial careers. Other potential activities for the group include trips to entrepreneurial start-ups or to meet entrepreneurs, perhaps taking trips to cities such as New York and Washington D.C. Prymak and Chhabria decided to pursue an entrepreneurial club after attending the annual Lax Conference arranged by Swarthmore’s Career Services. The Lax Conference is an entrepreneurial conference that typically includes a talk from a keynote speaker as well as round-table discussions between students and Swarthmore alumni who have pursued successful business careers.

Chhabria recalled a conversation at his round table that included Prymak and an alumnus named Ali Usman ‘91, who founded an investment firm entitled Pioneer Valley Capital, which sparked the idea for the group. “Things [Usman did at Swarthmore] made us think: ‘Oh, maybe we should start an entrepreneurship club on campus,’” Chhabria said.

Prymak agreed that an entrepreneurship club would be a good idea.

“After talking with the entrepreneurs that I met there and participating in the entrepreneurial panels, and also just listening to the stories that the entrepreneurs told and [about] their achievements in the world, [I] figured there wasn’t enough sense of entrepreneurship on campus,” he said.

The focus of the group won’t be solely business entrepreneurs, but also political entrepreneurs, who are trailblazers in the creation of public policy, and social entrepreneurs, whose work helps to solve civic and social issues. “It doesn’t have to be people who want to become entrepreneurs … but [also] people who are interested in the business side or the social side or the political side of the real world,” Prymak said.

The group also hopes to help facili-

February 17, 2011

tate entrepreneurship ventures of Swarthmore students both on campus and elsewhere. Prymak and Chhabria hope to make Swarthmore an environment more conducive to entrepreneurial action. An effort will also be made to help students learn from alumni who have started business ventures. “During the dot-com boom of the 90s we had a bunch of economics majors go directly into internet entrepreneurship of various kinds,” r e c a l l e d S t e p h e n O’Connell, a professor in Swarthmore’s economics department.

According to O’Connell, firms in the and finance consulting sechave tors attracted a fair number of Swarthmore graduates, especially economics majors, every year.

“We’re trying to build an entrepreneurship club on campus that will educate the [students] and provide an outlet for those people who are interested in entrepreneurship to get their ideas moving … [to] put their ideas into reality,” Prymak said.

Both agreed that a major long-term goal for the group would be to organize a fund to support business plans hatched by students and young alumni. Chhabria likened the fund to those in existence at schools like MIT and the Wharton Business School at the University of Pennsylvania.

According to Prymak, the club offers students a window to the alternatives of graduate school. He feels students at Swarthmore tend to follow a set “path” through graduate school and into a career. Pursuit of a career in entrepreneurship after graduation is a road that many Swarthmore students aren’t typically aware of.

Kristie Beucler of Swarthmore’s career services, who is currently organizing this year’s Lax Entrepreneurial Conference that will take place in March, thinks that the new club will build on what the Lax Conference does by further promoting bonds between entrepreneurial alumni and Swarthmore students. “[Entrepreneurship is] just something that takes more resources than finding a job in an already existing organization,” Beucler said. According to her, events such as the Lax Conference and proposed Entrepreneurship Club activities are great opportunities to network with alumni “in a colligal sort of way.”

The group hopes to increase its membership and begin meeting more regularly in the following weeks.

Prymak and Chhabria encourage anybody who would like to learn more about entrepreneurship to establish contact with the group and attend future meetings. The club is for “anybody who has an interest in the adventure that entrepreneurship brings with it — the risk takers,” Prymak said.

“We’re trying to . . . provide an outlet for those people who are interested in entrepreneurship to get their ideas moving.”

Eugene Prymak ’13 Group co-founder

tHE pHOEniX

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Student assists creation of talking dictionary

Paul Chung Phoenix Staff

Talking dictionaries, such as the one Teresa Sepulveda developed with Associate Linguistics Professor Harrison, represent a revolutionary way to preserve and protect languages that are facing extinction.

BY ELI SIEGEL esiegel2@swarthmore.edu

Theresa Sepulveda ’11, a linguistics major, recently helped launch a new online talking dictionary for Matukar — an Austronesian language spoken in two villages in Papua, New Guinea with about 430 speakers — through the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages headed by Associate Professor of Linguistics K. David Harrison. The dictionary includes basic vocabulary, verb paradigms and sentence structures in Matukar with corresponding translations in English and Tok Pisin, the most commonly spoken language in the country.

The Matukar project began with a trip by Harrison and his research assistant, Danielle Mathieu-Reeves, to Papua, New Guinea where they recorded long speech segments from native speakers of Matukar.

These recordings were then brought back to Swarthmore, where Sepulveda cut the long recordings into snippets of single words and transcribed them so that they could be written out on the website.

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Helping the communities was one of the things that attracted Sepulveda to the project. “The unique thing about the website,” Sepulveda said, “is that the [local] community can keep building on the dictionary by keeping it up to date and keeping the younger generation interested. The Matukar community even built a small hut just for the new computer and the first time they go on the Internet, they will be able to see this dictionary in their language.”

The online dictionary for the Matukar language has given the language worldwide accessibility, giving it a starting point to jump into other projects. The dictionary allowed the community to write the first book ever in Matukar. In addition, the National Geographic Enduring Voices YouTube channel, established by Harrison, prominently displays a video of local leader and language activist Rudolph Raward reading this book.

This dictionary is the sixth one created by Harrison with the help of Swarthmore students who have also established dictionaries for other endan-

gered languages in “hot spots.”

Harrison coined the term in 2006 to describe regions across the globe that have high levels of language diversity as well as language endangerment, but have low levels of scientific documentation.

“These [online dictionary] projects,” Harrison said, “are a way of leveraging technology to help endangered languages stay alive by giving them a presence on the Internet.” As such, they can exist indefinitely as a resource to both scholars worldwide and to those who seek to revitalize endangered languages from within the local community.

“Anyone can approach [the dictionary] and get information about the language,” said Jeremy Fahringer ’06, the project manager for National Geographic Enduring Voices who assisted in the project. “It’s making people’s languages accessible in a new way on the Internet.”

These endangered languages often stand against intense pressure from a dominant national language in addition to the continual spread of English.

Frequently, the children of such February 17, 2011

local communities cannot speak the local language, a fact which troubles community leaders seeking to preserve the indigenous culture and heritage.

Alfred Lane, the Vice Chairman of the Tribal Council of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians in Oregon, found Harrison’s online dictionary created for the Siletz language very helpful.

“The talking dictionary is and will be one of the best resources we have in our struggle to keep Siletz Athabaskan alive. We are teaching the language in the Siletz Valley School two full days a week now, and our young people are learning faster than I had ever imagined,” Lane wrote to Harrison in an e-mail.

Having gained considerable experience from making the Matukar dictionary, Sepulveda plans to continue to pursue her passion for languages by creating another online talking dictionary for the endangered Huilliche language of Chile.

After graduation, Sepulveda hopes to enter a career overseas working with endangered languages.

Harrison is currently work-

ing on a new initiative with the college’s Information Technology Services to make the online dictionaries more user friendly. With the help of Matthew Thomas ’09 and his iPhone applications company BoCoSoft Inc., Harrison has already created an iPhone app for the Tuvan language dictionary. “[The Matukar project] represents a huge leap for the Matukar language,” Harrison said. “No one had ever heard of it before and now it’s on YouTube.”

“Our Language is as old as time itself,” Lane said on his tribe’s website, “For countless generations our people lived out their lives speaking our words. In all that time our words were never written. They were learned by each generation and in turn taught to the next."

Although language revitalization projects are often overlooked, these online dictionaries not only provide an invaluable resource to linguists, but most importantly to their community, creating a new way for the current generation to pass down their heritage to the next.

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Administration rejects housing co-op for next year

BY NAVIN SABHARWAL nsabhar1@swarthmore.edu The College will not proceed with plans for a housing cooperative on campus next year. Although they support the philosophy behind the idea, the administration saw logistical barriers preventing them from approving the coop next year.

“There are some facilities issues [regarding] ADA accessib[ility] [and] there are some issues in how it would impact the lottery [and] meal plan,” Assistant Dean for Residential Life Rachel Head said.

In housing co-ops, residents play an active role in shaping what their lives look like. “[It] gives the people who are in it the opportunity to make it what they want to make it,” Ben Wolcott ’14, a member of the student group advocating a co-op living option, said.

Students living in such a way can decide to cook meals together, clean the living space and mandate group meetings. “A lot of dorm life is set up there the way it’s going to be [and] there are certain expectations that are laid out for you. We create the expectations that we want,” Wolcott said.

At the beginning of last semester, Head was approached by a group of students who were interested in living in a cooperative living setting. “We met with [the group] a whole bunch of times to go over options, logistical barriers and hur-

dles,” she said. er regularly and share a close hall life.

The group planned for the co-op to be However, Head insists that the adminlocated in Woolman House, an off-cam- istration ultimately supports the conpus upperclassmen residence currently cept. “I don’t think that it’s not an housing around 30 students. option. The more and more we hear “It’s a very different idea compared to about it I think everybody says that it’s a what we normally have, and to make the really great idea [and that] it really change this year is not ideal for us,” embodies the spirit and values that we Head said. have at Swarthmore.”

Head also discussed the issue of equiWolcott still remains disappointed by ty: “I think there is also a feeling of how the administration’s response. “The we ensure parity administration with other had both logistigroups,” she said. cal and philo“I’ve had stusophical reasons: “It’s a very different idea dents who are to us, some of compared to what we interested in genthem felt like that der-neutral they were just normally have, and to themed housing trying to delay [and] we have a make the change this year the decisions to group of students make sure that is not ideal for us.” who have the group was requested subserious about Rachel Head stance free houswhat it meant Assistant Dean of ing.” She continand had a base on ued by mentioncampus,” he said.

Residential Life ing that the Responding to administration issues about equiwould first need ty with other to address the concerns of each group groups, Wolcott mentioned that they are equally. “We are coming up with a way the only group to have received a resoluto consistently and fairly provide these tion from student council, an action resources.” which requires nearly unanimous supShe also added that much of what is port. being accomplished in co-ops is being “It’s not inherently more important accomplished in dorms, referencing a [than the other student groups], but the floor in Dana whose residents eat togeth- student body thinks its more important

News iN brief

Emma Waitzman is a staff artist for The Phoenix. She had no role in the production of this article.

ADVERTISEMENT

Food group established in Ville Since the summer of 2010, members of the Ville have been planning to create a Swarthmore Food Sustainability Group. At the end of Jan., this group came into fruition through initiatives by Andy Rosen, owner of the Swarthmore Co-op.

The main goals of the group are to promote education regarding food sustainability and to take steps toward the creation of a more sustainable campus and community. Food sustainability, as defined by the group’s mission statement, is the support of local agriculture, organically grown food, ethical and humane treatment of animals, affordable healthy food and environmentally healthy food.

Its most recent activity was a movie screening of “Ted Ex Manhattan: Changing the Way We Eat” at the Scott Arboretum’s Wister Center on Feb. 12.

Though the group’s leader is someone from the Ville, there is still some overlap between members of campus environmental groups and the new group.

Several members of both Earthlust, a green group that promotes sustainability on campus, and the Good Food Project (GF), a group focused on food sustainability, have attended meetings and film screenings organized by Rosen.

Formal relations have not been established between the three groups, but there have been discussions of collaboration between GF and the new group.

“One of the discussions that happened in our first meeting was [for the Food Sustainability Group] to collaborate [with Good Food] on gardening. Of course, that would make sense for the Good Food Project — to collaborate on gardening between the Good Food project and gardeners in Swarthmore,” Rosen said.

GF members maintain a garden across the street from the President’s house from the spring to the fall and sell the produce to local food Co-ops as well as Sharples. Rosen believes that the collaboration between Good Food and the new Food Sustainability Group to be a sensible idea.

Rosen is also planning two other potential projects for the new group: involving the community in teaching students at the Swarthmore Rutledge School how to garden and starting a mentoring program where skilled gardeners from the Swarthmore community could teach other residents how to garden.

There is yet to be talk of whether relations are to be established between Earthlust and the new food group and what these might look like.

Camille Robertson ’13, a member of Earthlust and the Sustainability Committee who won a Summer Social Action Award from the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility last year, said that Earthlust would be interested in hearing about what the Food Sustainbility Group is working on and in talking about having a potential collaboration between the two groups.

“But as of now, no official introductions have been made and no particular joint issue or project has been proposed,” Robertson said.

The Food Sustainability Group’s next meeting will be at Hobbs. One of the likely topics will be establishing a formal name for the group.

BY BRENT STANFIELD

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because student council passed a resolution,” he said.

Indeed, students seem to support the notion of a housing co-op, even if they do not intend to live there themselves. “I think its a great idea. It would make a great and unique alternative to traditional dorm life,” Emma Waitzman ’14 said.

However, Wolcott is understanding about the administration’s response.

“The administration wants to support us,” he explained. “But they don’t want to make any quick decisions.”

Additionally, he remains optimistic about the future of the co-op and the student group. “I think we’ll have something exciting for next year,” he said, “[even though] it’s quite possible that it won’t be our ideal.”

Possibilities include members blocking in one or two of the lodges on the meal plan but using meals from Sharples to provide meals for the entire campus.

“It would be a good way to show the administration how it could work,” Wolcott said.

Pursuing this idea, the student group will soon be hosting a dinner open to the campus. Wolcott hopes that this action will show the adminstration that they have a strong basis on campus and are serious about forming a co-op.

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around higher education

obama, goP propose Pell grant cuts

BY KAREN AQUINO dailypennsylvanian.com, Feb. 16, 2011

In a sign that the financial downturn that ravaged the economy has taken no prisoners, a recently proposed federal spending bill outlined heavy cuts to various educational institutions.

Under the proposed spending bill presented by Republicans in the House of Representatives for the rest of fiscal year 2011, the Pell Grant program — which gives need-based grant money to low-income students — would undergo a hefty trim.

According to the text of the bill, the maximum amount a student would be eligible for would be $4015 in the 2011-2012 award year, down from $5,550, the current maximum amount.

During the 2010 midterm election campaign, Republicans “made a commitment to cut $100 billion in spending, and they’re finding now that it’s not an easy thing to do,” Penn’s Associate Vice President of Federal Relations Bill Andresen said.

President Barack Obama, who unveiled his budget proposal for the 2012 fiscal year on Tuesday, takes a different road.

His administration’s “Pell Grant Protection Act” seeks to stabilize the maximum amount of Pell Grant money a student can receive, and eventually increase it to $5,975 by 2017.

Under Obama’s proposal, some aspects of the Pell Grant program — namely, the provisions that allow students to benefit from the grant year-round and that provide graduate students with interest subsidies — would be eliminated.

These cuts to the program would help create addi- means.”

Engineering junior and College Republicans presitional funds destined to sustain the maximum award dent Peter Terpeluk thinks that the proposed cuts by amount of the program.

Eleven percent of undergraduates at Penn current- Republicans signal a shift towards a national dialogue more open to conly receive Pell Grants, sidering reducing according to U.S. News spending. and World Report. Penn “Congress is not going to pass the “It’s important that is in sixteenth place at least the option is put among national univerpresident’s budget, and House out there … it’s unfortusities with the most Pell Republicans also know that in nate if even the idea of Grant recipients. doing it is immediately The Republican prowhatever form [the Republican prodeclined,” Terpeluk posal also poses signifiposal] comes out of the House, it’s said. cant funding cuts to sci“As young people, it ence research instituunlikely to pass.” may be hard to see tions like the National down the line, but the Institutes of Health and Bill Andresen amount of national debt the National Science Penn’s Assoc. VP of Fed. our generation is going Foundation. to have to pay is grow“It’s certainly conRelations ing and hopefully we’re ceivable that Penn going to view politiresearchers and faculty could lose federal grants or not have those grants cians [that have] the audacity to cut anything with more foresight.” renewed,” Andresen said.

Andresen doesn’t believe that either proposal, in In a conference call with college newspapers, White House Domestic Policy Council director its current form, will become law.

“Congress is not going to pass the president’s budgMelody Barnes said that Obama views “any efforts to undermine our ability to help our students as a threat et, and House Republicans also know that in whatever form [the Republican proposal] comes out of the to our ability to out-educate the rest of the world.”

Kalpen Modi, a former lecturer at Penn and cur- House, it’s unlikely to pass,” Andresen said.

“At some point, the administration, Republicans rent associate director for the White House Office of Public Engagement, said Obama’s budget proposal and Democrats are going to have to sit down and “puts the country on a path to living within our come to some kind of agreement,” he added.

around higher education

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Black men still underrepresented as teachers

BY TAMARA DEMENT dailypennsylvanian.com, Feb. 15, 2011

A new initiative set in motion by the United States Department of Education is seeking to incentivize more males of color to become teachers.

In Philadelphia, black male teachers account for just under 6 percent of all educators. Nationally, the statistic drops to 2 percent. Both Walter Palmer, a lecturer in the School of Social Policy and Practice, and Chad Lassiter, the president of Black Men at Penn School of Social Work, Inc., feel the University is not fully cognizant of the severity of Philadelphia’s educational plight. “We are at a pivotal moment,” Lassiter, a 2001 SP2 graduate and lecturer, said. “We have a looming crisis and a dropout rate that impacts black and Latino males at a higher rate than ever before.”

Both scholars shared the concern that the movement will not be effective if teachers are not fully prepared to meet the challenges facing young males in urban environments. As a teacher, Palmer said, you must learn the “impediments” of students who live in areas of high drop-out rates, poverty and illiteracy in order to serve as an effective role model.

If this new initiative recruits teachers based on merely skin color, he said, it will be nothing more than a “quick fix.”

GSE, he added, could do more to prepare new teachers to meet these challenges on the local level. Independent tutor and GSE graduate student Daniel Chinburg disagreed that GSE isn’t prepar-

the PhoeniX

ing future teachers for urban areas.

Chinburg, however, did agree with Palmer on the point that the initiative would be a waste of time, and perhaps even detrimental, if the movement merely recruited teachers based on skin color.

It would be much more advantageous to spend government money on the best instructional methods, he said, “rather than spend money on promoting a specific race.” Lassiter also shared concern in this regard but was more optimistic about the movement’s potential to help break the “school-to-prison pipeline,” a pattern that many young male black students are caught in.

Teachers, he said, need to be “black in authenticity,” not just skin color. They must encourage students living in poor urban environments not to “buy into the their victimization,” he said.

Lassiter also expressed that he’d like to see the Penn community step outside of the “ivory tower” attitude and engage these issues in education more on the local level. “I don’t think all students grasp it,” he said. “I don’t see students coming together with regard to social change in mass numbers.”

Palmer agreed, but said he finds more fault with administrators than students.

Unfortunately, he explained, on campuses like Penn, there’s usually only a small “cadre of students at the bottom trying to drive initiatives.”

There needs to be movement from the top administrators as well as student organizations in order to create real impact, he said.

PUBLIC HEALTH. LIVE IT.

February 17, 2011

®

Online Information Session Wednesday, February 23, 6-7:30 p.m.

A special online event for prospective graduate students For information or to register: publichealth.drexel.edu Public Health professionals work to prevent disease and promote wellness. At Drexel, faculty are leading groundbreaking research on HIV/AIDS prevention, health care systems design and the development of healthy children in our region and beyond. Drexel has the only accredited School of Public Health in Greater Philadelphia and stresses real-world experience combined with cutting-edge research.

Learn about our full-time MPH program and how to apply, meet faculty and students and tour our campus.

7

Living & Arts Recent study reports low student emotional health

swarthmorephoenix.com

BY SERA JEONG sjeong1@swarthmore.edu In January, the Higher Education Research Institute at the University of Californi, Los Angeles published the results of a survey entitled, “The American Freshman: National Norms 2010.” Based on 200,000 first-time and fulltime students entering four-year colleges nationwide, the study displayed a broad range of students’ ethnicity, educational plans and self-concepts. Among the findings, one indicated that students’ self-perceived emotional health was at a record low.

Beginning in 1985, the annual freshman survey, is recognized for its large survey pool and long history. Recent results that were published in 2010 show students’ self-ratings of their emotional health at a record low. According to the study, only 51.9 percent of participants rated themselves as “above average” for emotional health.

Results indicated that 53.1 percent of incoming students rely on loans as a part of the financial package to attend college. Thus, financial concerns are a major factor in high stress levels in students. In an article published on Jan. 26, 2011, Tamar Lewin of The New York Times said, “The economy has only added to [college students’] stress, not just because of financial pressures on their parents but also because the students are worried about their own college debt and job prospects when they graduate.”

Dr. David Ramirez, Director of Psychological Services at Swarthmore College, explained that increasing stress levels arise from an economic context. “Students get stressed when their families are stressed. More families are stressed and struggling financially,” he said. For Ramirez, students in each class year are experiencing higher levels of stress, especially those nearing graduation. He said, “Seniors are very stressed because of the job market.”

The Counseling and Psychological Services at Swarthmore has experienced a rise in the number of students it serves. During this semester, it is providing services to 256 students, which is a 20 percent increase from last spring semester. Eighteen percent of these students are first-years.

First-year college student and athlete Student #1 found the adjustment to college quite difficult. As an athlete, Student #1 practiced up to three hours a day during the first semester, and spent the remaining time either in class or studying. On a typical night, the student slept less than six hours. “My mental state was awful. I was crying all the time, multiple times a week. I had never been in a state like that,” Student #1 said.

Reflecting upon the first semester, the student attributes such stress to personal issues. “The hardest was leaving my home, my friends, my family, my significant other and

Courtesy of http://tinyurl.com/4n43wmo

According to studies performed by HERI, the self-rated emotional health of students entering their first year of college appears to have reached an all-time low in 2010. adjusting to the work load,” Student #1 said. With the pressure, the student found that it impacted athletic performance. Student #1 said, “In hindsight I realized lack of sleep affected me a lot. My physical ability was much worse.”

As a sophomore, Student #2 describes his/her first year as emotionally traumatic. So, before the second year of school, the student decided to take a gap year. Similar to Student #1, Student #2 also attributes his/her difficult transition to personal issues. The student said, “I had just left my parents after coming out to them as a homosexual.

There were a lot of things going on that left me at a disadvantage.” In addition to choosing to take a gap year, Student #2 resorted to drug use to relieve the stress. “I didn’t do well with coping, I ran away and hid through various addictive substances,” he said.

When students experience anxiety, disrupted sleep and strained interpersonal relationships, Ramirez explains such symptoms as side effects of stress. Stress impacts peo-

ple cognitively and thus, can dampen students’ ability to think. Ramirez said, “The stress, the pressure and intensity of the workload is real.”

Student #2 does not remember interacting with peers who struggled to adjust to college life. “The other freshmen seemed to be learning things so much faster [and] that made me feel inadequate. Rather than try to move past it, I just shut down,” the student said.

In light of Student #2’s experience, Professor of Psychology Barry Schwartz refers to this situation as “pluralistic ignorance.” Schwartz explained that such ignorance arises when “everyone assumes something about other people, and the thing they assume about others is wrong.” So, though a great number of first-years at Swarthmore may feel quite distressed during the transition to college, if nobody speaks out, then the stress may feel unique and isolating.

Such “pluralistic ignorance” may indicate how emotional health varies depending upon gender. Schwartz explained that “pluralistic ignorance” is common among males “who talk less about internal states.” On the other hand, women are more likely to discover that their emotional issues are common due to their emotionally expressive nature.

In regards to incoming first-years, Ramirez believes most were mentally exhausted even before the start of college. “My impression is high school has become more stressful because getting into a selective college has become more stressful,” he said. According to the HERI survey results, 29.1 percent of respondents reported feeling “overwhelmed by all I had to do [as high school seniors],” This indicates an increase of two percent from 2009.

Similarly, Schwartz attributes stress of incoming freshmen to the pressures of high school, but also notes a parental component. “If students don’t drive themselves crazy, it’s the parents that drive the students crazy,” he said. In particular, for Swarthmore’s class of 2014, the pressure for college applications was high considering that only 16 percent from a pool of 6,040 applicants were accepted to Swarthmore. Scwartz said, “However good you are, you probably need to be a bit better to gain admittance.”

In its report entitled “What’s New in High School?

Stress Reduction 101,” National Public Radio reported that a growing number of prep schools have acknowledged the amount of pressure for students who are preparing for college. To ease student stress, schools such as Beaver Country Day School in Chestnut Hill, Mass., are choosing to eliminate Advanced Placement courses in favor of more low-stress learning methods.

Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/pyxlso

Especially in regards to academic pressure, many students suffer from “pluralistic ignorance,” which arises when individuals assume their individual stress is uncommon and unique.

8

February 17, 2011

See MENTAL HEALTH, p. 9 THE PHOENIX

Living & Arts as Swatties reflect upon first-year college transitions

swarthmorephoenix.com

Continued from p. 8 For example, a calculus class requires students to compose math-themed lyrics for melodies of Christmas carols.

However, the article did not report whether such lowstress teaching methods actually benefited students’ academic performance or even lowered their stress levels.

Students should not anticipate academic pressures to lessen upon arriving at Swarthmore, since high academic standards are characteristic of any college. In May of 2010, the Huffington Post listed Swarthmore College as one of the eight most grueling colleges. The article said, “Tiny Swarthmore, a liberal arts college of fewer than 1500 students outside of Philadelphia, is known for its challenging, highly intellectual curriculum and boasts an Oxford tutorial-inspired honors program.”

In response to the notion of Swarthmore’s high academic rigor, Schwartz believes that since beginning his teaching career at the college in 1971, he has lowered his expectations. He said, “I absolutely do not think the problem is because the place is too rigorous … I ask much less of students now.”

Though Student #1 found the first semester academically challenging, the student would prefer the academic pressure to remain constant. The student chose Swarthmore because of its reputation, which is largely backed by its academic rigor. “If the status quo was to change, what would differentiate us from a state school,” Student #1 said. Although, Student #1 remembers feeling unable to keep up with the academic demands and believed himself to be inferior to his peers. “I felt blindsided to the reality of Swarthmore’s academic curriculum,” the student said.

For students feeling inferior, Schwartz explained that such feelings are shared by many first-years at Swarthmore. “Most of the students who come here were the best students in their high school. All of a sudden they’re just like everybody else and that’s a shock for many people,” he said.

After a gap year experience, Student #2 believes the year off is responsible for the their current ability to manage stress, and recommends gap years as an option for students. The student said, “The gap year did help. I spent time growing up. It allowed me to be more introspective and reflective because to be a Swarthmore student you really need to be both academically strong and emotionally strong.”

Student #2 attended CAPS and the Dean’s office for help with the transition to college. However, the student feels that both resources were slow to react to meet his/her needs. “It took so long to get an appointment that once I got an appointment I wasn’t feeling as bad anymore,” said Student #2. In addition, he/she similarly criticized other resources provided to first-years such as Campus Advisors. The student felt that particular personal issues were not appropriate for conversations with Student Academic Mentors. Student #2 said, “I would not have felt comfortable talking to my RA because he’s a busy guy.”

Rather, the student credits his friends and teammates as sources of immense emotional support.

Dean of Students, Elizabeth Braun explained that student wellness has been a priority for the Deans Office prior to the published survey results. “It is also something that has been a big part of our conversations as a part of strategic planning, particularly in the mission, values, and goals of a Swarthmore education working group,” she said. In particular, Braun highlights efforts of the Swarthmore Wellness Awareness Team, which is headed by Nurse Practitioner Suzie Long from the Swarthmore Student Health Service.

S.W.A.T.’s initiatives include both workshops and lectures to help students manage emotional and mental health. Earlier this semester, the group hosted events including “Reducing Stress: Getting a Good Night’s Sleep” and “How to Integrate Mindfulness and Relaxation into Hectic Daily Life (Really).” Also, S.W.A.T. promotes physical health by coordinating pilates, yoga, qigong and aerobics classes throughout the week, which are free and open

to all student. Braun said, “We have plans to continue to build on and expand on these efforts.” In terms of accommodations for students, Ramirez believes that efforts extend beyond CAPS and include such options as the Add/Drop period. “There are a lot of system elements in place to help individual students who are having trouble change their own pace without changing everybody else’s pace,” Ramirez said. In additions, accommodations for first-years include Swarthmore’s unique credit/no credit system.

However, some students are ambivalent about the benefits of the credit/no credit system for first-years. For Student #2, he/she would have preferred that grades counted towards a GPA because of the motivation it would have provided. “I think pass/fail for me was detrimental. It made falling out of step much easi-

“Most of the students who come here were the best students in their high school. All of a sudden they’re just like everybody else and that’s a shock for many people.”

Barry Schwartz Professor of Psychology

9

er because I didn’t have the motivation to start my academic career,” the student said.

Schwartz believes that the credit/no credit semester helps first-years with the transition process, but similarly speculates on its ability to be effective. “Freshmen used to take first semester seriously so it was good practice and they learned how to do Swarthmore,” he said. Currently, he believes the system discourages first-years from working hard and thus, results in first-years finding it even more difficult to acclimate to the second semester without the privilege of shadow grades.

However, not all first-years found their college adjustment difficult. Dashiell Massey ’14 is confident in his start at Swarthmore and said, “First semester wasn’t so difficult that I was stressed from the very beginning, but it was challenging enough to be interesting.” He believes that though he is a highly stressed person by nature, he is used to the pressure since he learned to manage such stress in high school. Upon arriving at Swarthmore, he has implemented a sleep regime where he is in bed before midnight and then wakes up early to eat breakfast. Though it can be difficult, he hopes to retain this routine in order to “maintain [his] sanity.” He said, “You have to work for things that are really worthwhile.”

Crossword FAM OUS AND FI CTI TI OUS ANIMALS

ACROSS 1. Animal that set Chicago ablaze 4. Helpful drug pulling canine 8. Ed is horse of course, of course 10. An animal Marlin and Dory might’ve encountered 12. Some pig 15. S__wa the Chinese Siamese Cat 16. Monarch of the elephants 18. What Remi was determined not to eat 19. Dolly when she was two 21. Racing legend of the Depression 24. Shrek’s friend, in other words 26. Remi or Arthur’s teacher 27. He could tell you how to get (how to get) to Sesame St. 28. Calvin’s best friend 31. Reagan’s golden retriever _ict_ry 33. Where Nemo was being held, abbrev.

34. What Ducky often says 35. Is Flipper a seal?

37. Br’er, Peter, Peter Cottontail e.g.

40. LBJ’s mongrel _uk_ 41. Can he swing from a web?

42. Where cat from Wonderland is from, abbrev.

44. Simba needed to work on it 45. _____y ____pecker 46. Controversial pet of Nixon 48. Crookshanks could be used to send one, abbrev.

49. Nominal leader of a Canadian federal political party e.g.

50. Framed rabbit 53. Climate Mumble and friends enjoy?

54. What the tortoise did 57. Abu in Argentina 58. Feline that shares name with series starring Clouseau 61. Famous racing horse record setter 63. Neutron’s pet is really just a piece of this

4. That’ll do 5. D.W. 7. Hedwig, Errol, Pigwidgeon 8. The tramp or Balto 9. Taz, the tazmanian devil, could use some 10. Animal in an accessory for one’s head 11. Dog with a strong sense of home 13. Don Duck’s nephew 14. Mother mouse seeking NIMH 17. TMNT members might’ve undergone this 20. Often eaten by Klingons 22. Mussolini’s pet lioness, abbrev.

23. Mickey Mouse has a lot 25. Int. of creature who warns of tree holocausts 27. Bugs or Lola 28. Kim’s Rufus lacks these 29. Pooh’s saddest friend 30. AKA Harry Plopper 32. Duck’s instrument in Peter and the Wolf 36. Sc__by D__; B__ B__ Bear;

Bal__ 38. Seven commandments of animalism written here 39. Marie’s reaction to O’Malley 42. Mike who lived 18 months without a head 43. Little red animal who cares for wheat seed 46. Garfield has multiple 47. Tin man’s feline friend, for one 50. Of or pertaining to Huey and Louie’s brother 51. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Billy ____ Gruff 52. Bubbles, Snowflake, Koko e.g.

55. Number of albino gorillas 56. The _u__y Squirrels 57. Type of Kat Timon is, in other words 59. Not the crows from Dumbo 60. What Crockett would’ve turned Meeko into 62. Meng, Orangutan icon of Singapore Zoo

BY HOLLY SMITH

DOWN 1. What Lady had to be freed from 2. World’s ugliest dog, for short 3. Charlotte’s masterpiece

February 17, 2011

For the solution to this week’s puzzle, see The Phoenix’s online edition at www.swarthmorephoenix.com.

THE PHoENIX

Living & Arts

swarthmorephoenix.com

Def Jam poet addresses universal emotions

BY STEVEN HAZEL shazel1@swarthmore.edu

Last Friday evening, LPAC hosted Shihan, a poet who performs nationwide and is best known for his Def Poetry, and his championship in the National Poetry Slam in 2005. Friday’s show featured more than an hour of spoken word poetry performed by 12 poets of O.A.S.I.S.(Our Art Spoken In Soul), Swarthmore’s first spoken word poetry group, followed by Shihan himself.

Students recited poems that they had written, often in the form of narratives and personal stories, that were introspective and thought-provoking.

Def Jam poetry, a phenomenon that gained popularity through the HBO series entitled Def Poetry Jam, is an art form that features spoken word artists and is heavily associated with the poetry slam movement. These

Paul Chung Phoenix Staff

Shihan’s poetry speaks to personal struggles with love, especially in regards to families and friends.

artists narrate a story or poem without musical accompaniment, distinguishing spoken word from songs and rap. Often, artists choose poems that address widespread issues and personal dilemmas such as finding one’s place in society, relationships with family and friends, and love.

Poetry slams began in November 1984 in Chicago, where an entertainer named Marc Smith created an event that allowed anyone who wished to enter to recite spoken word poetry and be judged by members of the audience. Typically during competitions, poets have about three minutes to recite, and then are given three scores from judges before perhaps moving onto the next round. However, the focus of such events is that both literary and poetic quality is in the eye of the beholder, and that even the most accomplished poet can be critiqued.

Born in New York City, Shihan began his writing career in 1989 upon receiving a full scholarship for creative writing at the Williston North Hampton School . In 1993, he signed with the major recording label MCA Records as a writer/ artist, and since then Shihan has performed in five national tours. He has also written for MTV’s “Rock the Vote” and Nike’s “Battleground Oneon-One poetry slam,” among many others. In addition, he remains a consistent presence at the National Poetry Slam, winning first place in 2004 and becoming a finalist in 2001, 2003 and 2005.

Over the course of his career, Shihan has gained attention worldwide as his album “Shihan the Poet” sold over 4,000 copies. Also, his song “Activism” received “iTunes’ Download of the Week” in 2005. In the cinematic sphere, he has been featured in full-length movies such as Spit and Slam Planet, which is a documentary about slam poetry. Ranging from HBO, NBC and Oprah, Shihan’s television performances have attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers on YouTube and social networking sites to his rhythmic, relevant poetry.

Reflected in his poetry, Shihan finds inspiration for his work in his wife and family. One of his popular poems, titled “Love Like” says, “I want a love that makes me need to change my cell phone calling plan to some-

thing that allow me to talk to her longer ‘cause in all honesty, I want to avoid one of them high cell phone bill type loves.” Shihan connects to people by referring to common experiences and encouraging introspection in his work, an important factor in Def Poetry Jam’s popularity. After attending the event, Katie Sipi ’14 said, “[The words] stirred my emotions and spoke to me in a way I never would have expected.”

It is in this spirit that O.A.S.I.S. participated in the performance, delivering a series of heartfelt and moving poems. Representing three class years, the 12 poets delivered poems on topics such as love, finding one’s place in the world, and others. Examples of the poems performed include “If the Night Sky,” “The Better Gender” and “Think Too Much.”

When asked about the creative process behind her work, performer Tayarisha Poe ’12 said, “I start off with a line or a few words that sound cool together and then it's basically word vomit until a poem is complete. I used to try to get into a rhythm but since writing's not a profession [for me], but just a habit, I decided to go with what works best. “ Poetry embodies a form of expression in that it tends to focus on evoking meaning above and beyond a purely literal interpretation. Poe prefers expressing herself through poetry. She said, “Art itself is the most beautiful form of expression, in my opinion. [This is mostly] because of the extremely subjective nature of its very meaning.”

For some poets, poetic expression arises from a desire to share an idea or emotion with others; for others, their work becomes a way to organize and reflect on their thoughts. “I just want people to hear the rhythm in the words! That's all. Poetry is like music with the beat dropped. If you're not feeling a poem, then don't force it, just move on, someone else will feel it,” Poe said.

The unique gathering of younger poets with an established poetic voice provided an opportunity to After the show, David Mok-lamme ’14 said, “I felt a real connection with each poem and each poet. I’d like to see more performances like [OASIS and Shihan].”

Langston Hughes Project keeps legend’s message alive

BY HENRY KIETZMAN hkietzm1@swarthmore.edu As a man of the Harlem Renaissance, Langston Hughes is known and remembered as being an innovator of a free-style poetry that battled the oppressive forces of his day. His many works emphasize the importance of social equality by exhibiting the reality of lower-class AfricanAmerican life during the 1920s to the 1960s.

On Wednesday night, the Langston Hughes Project featuring the Ron McCurdy Quartet honored his work with the multimedia performance of “Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz.”

Swarthmore’s Vice President of College and Community Relations Maurice Eldridge ’61, a Hughes enthusiast, helped support the event. “The idea of bringing this performance to campus has been floating around for a couple of years, and would likely have been submitted as a Cooper proposal for next year,” he said.

Eldridge believes that the nature of the performance compliments Swarthmore’s celebration of Black History Month.

“Langston Hughes is a major figure of the Harlem Renaissance as a trenchant observer of black life with all its ironies in American society, certainly for the era in which he lived,” he said.

Dr. Ron McCurdy, a distinguished member of the jazz community, has served as president for the International Association for Jazz Education, and currently serves as a board member for Bands of American and the Los Angeles Jazz Society. He is also a professor of music at the University of Southern California.

10

When asked about his teaching style, McCurdy explained, “Music is a reflection of life … and what you want to do is to try to discover your own voice, to try and discover what it is you want to say.” As a trumpet player, McCurdy describes his musical upbringing as a “wide, eclectic experience as a child because [his] parents played a lot of music in [his] home.” His influences include musicians such as Earl Davis, John Coltrane, Ella Fitzgerald, Duke Ellington, Beethoven and Brahms.

Fifteen years ago, McCurdy created the Langston Hughes program when asked to perform at the opening of the University of Minnesota’s Weisman Art Museum by the museum’s curator.

Though he intended on only performing the program once, the positive response from the audience encouraged McCurdy to polish and rehearse the program that he has now performed nationwide. Regarding Hughes’ popularity, McCurdy believes his legendary status originates from his power as a storyteller and “someone who was able to tell stories about life in such a way that any and everyone, regardless of educational levels, could appreciate [them].”

Langston Hughes’ message encouraged all, regardless of race or socioeconomic class, to strive for ‘The American Dream.’

It remains just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. “[Because of the] inequality that some people still experience, there is a need for the message that Langston Hughes was trying to convey,” McCurdy said.

Although a feature of Swarthmore’s Black History Month celebration,

McCurdy believes Hughes’ ideas about equality are universal. “The message can be delivered at any time of a year … it evokes a message of peace, and hope, and optimism. It’s a message that should resonate with all races, not just Black History Month,” he said.

Especially in light of the current conflict in Egypt, McCurdy believes the notions of peace and optimism resonate with all who are oppressed.

Since Hughes passed away in 1967, he never had a chance to perform his poetry collection “Ask Your Mama: Twelve Moods for Jazz.” Each of the 12 moods reflect social issues about race in America, but McCurdy believes the poems also address ethnic groups worldwide fighting for freedom, such as the black communities in Brazil.

In considering the 12 moods, McCurdy favors the sixth one, which is named “Horn of Plenty.” In the poem, Hughes refers to artists Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, among other legends. For the project, McCurdy transformed the music and poem into a multimedia performance that fuses images, spoken word and music.

For the musical element of the project, McCurdy relies on musical cues that Hughes himself actually provided.

“As [Hughes] wrote the poem, he said that he could hear music being played at various sections of the poem. [Such a musical cue] is simply saying something like ‘a triumphant march’ or ‘a gospel flavor,’” McCurdy said.

Composers then used these cues to compose music that reflects that particular emotion. In addition, McCurdy added a

February 17, 2011

videography component, which he believes aids a contemporary audience in relating to the Hughes’ references to names, faces and places of his time.

During Wednesday’s performance, McCurdy believes students were “educated and entertained at the same time … [since Hughes’] work covers a swath of emotions.” In reflection of the Project, Eldridge echoes similar sentiments about the entertainment’s educational value. “Hughes is a fine poet and the music and his poetry were made for each other,” Eldridge said.

Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/uyel5

Hughes believed in the equal opportunity for all to strive for ‘The American Dream.’

THE PHOENIX

Living­&­Arts

swarthmorephoenix.com

R ­ ewinding­back­to­their­Swarthmore­days Alum: Jorge Munoz Class: 1984 Major: Engineering Post Swat Education: and Ph.D. in MA Agricultural Economics at Stanford University Current Profession: Lead Development Rural Specialist at the World Bank From engineering to the World Bank: Though Munoz graduated Swarthmore as an engineering major, he never actually pursued a career as an engineer. However, working as an economist, Munoz believes he found that his “engineering degree was very useful, not only in preparing [him] for grad school but also for having a very sound and practical and quantitative training and addressing complex problems.”

After working as a consultant for the World Bank on and off while at graduate school, and then working in academia and conducting research in both the U.S. and his home country of Bolivia, Munoz returned to working at the World Bank. “I came to the World Bank because I was very interested in rural development and land and tenure issues,” Munoz said. Also, he added that during the ‘90s, such issues were becoming increasingly more important and relevant. Currently working as Lead Rural Development Specialist for the World Bank, Munoz coordinates the World Bank's portfolio of projects related to land tenure and policy issues in several Latin American countries. His job involves a combination of offering policy advice to governments, project management and research.

His current career — struggles and rewards: When dealing with bureaucracy, Munoz admitted that entering the working world with an idealistic vision and the desire to see quick results became a nightmare. “One always has to remind oneself why one is doing what one is doing to achieve the goals one has,” Munoz said.

Though it may be frustrating, he believes it is important to “go through the motions.” A great deal of what Munoz learned at Swarthmore regarding social justice and concern for the larger community helped him personally.

“Those are the kind of things that keep you motivated when you struggle with things such as bureaucracies or politics,” he said.

Munoz feels that the rewards of his work are numerous. “The most significant ones are when I go to the field and visit the beneficiaries of the project that I spent so many hours preparing and evaluating and testing and defending,” he said. Particularly during his stay in Recife, Brazil from 2006-2008, Munoz recalls visiting dozens of subsistence farmers in a community-driven development projects he was overseeing. Finally meeting the people whose lives he was affecting made a huge impact on him.

[but you want to get results].”

Munoz encourages graduates to focus on the human aspect of everything they do. “How you are viewed and how [others] view your ideas depends on how you relate to people — the purity and integrity of an idea is not the only requisite for that idea to be effective in the world. If something is written, it has a limited impact. It’s when you use that idea in interactions with people that you see its effect.”

Last thoughts: “Don’t ever forget Swarthmore and be prepared to come back to it regularly,” Munoz said. “Be prepared to come back to it not just physically, but mentally. You’d be surprised at how often your mind goes back to Swarthmore, [to ideas, to professors, to the people you met]. So do make an effort to go back to Swarthmore in the future.”

TEXT BY SUSANA MEDEIROS

Reflections on Swarthmore: Looking back, Munoz emphasizes the merits of a liberal arts education and the impact it has on his life. “The world we live in today is extremely complex and having strong academic training in any field is essential … The liberal arts education encourages and anchors you in seeing the world from different angles,” he said. He noted the importance of social justice that both the teachings of his Jesuit high school and Swarthmore instilled in him.

Advice for graduates: “Be prepared to continue learning,” Munoz said. “The fact that you went through an intensive, four-year education doesn’t mean you already know a lot of stuff and now you’re going to apply it.” Shocked by the number of issues he was unaware of as a college student, Munoz remembers his initial experiences as truly eye-opening. “I had no idea how important compromising in a democratic society is, and sometimes you have to settle for second best solutions. And that doesn’t mean you’ve given up your ideals

Courtesy of Jorge Munoz

The 1984 Halcyon features the senior class including Munoz, who is wearing a plaid shirt in the photograph on the right page.

‘Just Go With It’ shows little promise

BY TIMOTHY BERNSTEIN tbernst1@swarthmore.edu Adam Sandler never looks too concerned about anything that happens in the categorically unfunny “Just Go With It,” and why would he? Surely, by now, he’s seen enough Adam Sandler movies to realize that his character is, underneath it all, a sweet guy who means well.

That he’ll eventually make the right choice between the gorgeous women competing for his affection. And that, when you’re traveling to Maui on the Sony Pictures checkbook, you’re not going there to shoot a sad, conflicted resolution.

This time around, the Sandler character is Danny Maccabee (no relation to Judah that we know of), an L.A. plastic surgeon who called off his wedding at the last minute 20 years ago, but continues to wear the ring. Turns out, as Danny learns just hours after the severed nuptial, playing to girls’ sympathies as an unhappy and lonely husband might be the best angle possible: women know that you’re eligible enough to have gotten married, but if the wife mistreats you, can it really be called cheating? The answer, at least for models under the age of 25, seems to be no.

On the one night he isn’t wearing the ring, Danny meets the beautiful Palmer (Brooklyn Decker, capable). The morning after, she discovers the ring in his pants pocket, and he’s forced to cover by saying

THE PHOENIX

that he and his wife are days away from Maccabee for a day. First, though, he has signing divorce papers. to take Katherine shopping so she’ll look The scene turns out to be the first of decent. “I want to create the illusion that many to suggest that our central players I had a hot first wife,” he snaps at her. may not be the sharpest scalpels on the This is the kind of movie where Jennifer operating table. Consider: to explain to Aniston wears glasses to connote plainPalmer why he and his wife are divorc- ness, and then surprises everybody when ing, the story chosen by Danny (who, she takes them off midway through. remember, has been inventing reasons Needless to say, Danny is stunned to see for marital conflict FOR TWENTY that, when not wearing a white assisYEARS) is that his wife has left him … for tant’s coat, Jennifer Aniston can actually a German sheep shipper… named Dolph be quite attractive. Regrettably, she isn’t Lundgren. much brighter than anyone Despite this being the else, which is why when Movie Review she takes a call from her kind of answer you might find at an uncrowded improv children in front of Palmer, show, Palmer believes him. now Danny has to pose as “Be fair,” you might say. their father.

Rotten Tomatoes “The Palmer character is in Unfortunately for Rating: 18% her early twenties. The story Danny, the kids are not as could work because she’d be stupid as the adults, which too young to have heard of the real Dolph circuitously explains why everybody Lundgren, right?” But no: She knows ends up on a trip to Hawaii in the final exactly who Dolph Lundgren is, and buys third. “Everyone” here means Nick it anyway.

Swardson as Danny’s execrable cousin Why did they click so well on that first Eddie, donning a meerschaum pipe to be night again? “Because I can tell when Dolph the adulterer. As Eddie, Swardson you’re lying to me and when you’re exists only to make the Adam Sandler telling the truth,” she says sweetly. She’s character appear more likable, and so a teacher, incidentally, and one whose Dolph manages to become a slight homework assignments must get eaten improvement over time. by dogs pretty often.

“Everyone” also turns out to include Palmer insists on meeting the wife Nicole Kidman, nearly blending in with before they go their separate ways, so the white beach sand, who pops up in Danny enlists his receptionist Katherine Hawaii as Katherine’s nemesis from their (Jennifer Aniston) to be the former Mrs. sorority days. Kidman, absent from com-

February 17, 2011

edy since the “Bewitched” remake, has fun as the type-A, hyper-competitive villainess, enough to make you wish that the movie had a better set piece for her than a hula contest that ends with her trying to lift a coconut out of her husband’s ass.

Dennis Dugan directs, and while Hawaii and the women all look fantastic, he fails to c-oax much of anything out of the scenes that show even faint promise, such as the initial meeting between Palmer and Katherine. Aniston is a defter comedienne than her recent choices have allowed her to show, but the film asks nothing more of her than to look good and cede the floor to the leading man.

All might not have been lost if it weren’t for Sandler’s laziness. We know he can act, following an effortlessly charmless turn in Judd Apatow’s “Funny People,” and we’ve seen that he will work hard for laughs from the underrated c-ounterterrorism satire “You Don’t Mess With the Zohan.”

But too often is he content to sit back and play Adam Sandler, the smarmy-butdecent EveryJew, laid-back but with a little puerile hostility that surfaces occasionally. There’s no stretch, no effort and not nearly enough payoff. It’s almost as if Sandler woke up one morning in a resort overlooking the beach, realized he was getting paid $25 million to vacation in Hawaii, and figured, “Hey, maybe the movie’s title says it all.”

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Living & Arts ‘Community’ is absurd, but ultimately fulfilling swarthmorephoenix.com

For those who read this column regularly, you are doubtlessly aware of my love of “The Vampire Diaries” and “Fringe” (which reminds me: for the love of god, people, start watching “Fringe!”

The ratings have gone down, and I can’t survive in a world without this show!) However, there is a third show that is just as Alex Israel close to my heart as these Pencils Down, two that, up until now, Pass the Remote have gotten rather short shrift in this column. But no more. Lo and behold, here is your first “Community” column!

I should note though that I have mentioned “Community” in this column previously. Last year, when I named my top new TV shows of 2009, “Community” and “The Vampire Diaries” were both on my list, because I am awesome and can immediately spot potential in the form of new shows. (Granted, the other two shows on my list were “Glee” and “FlashForward,” so … two out of four?)

When I first wrote about “Community,” I caught a lot of flack because it took some time for the show to really find its footing. However, halfway through its second season now, “Community” has blossomed into the best comedy on television with its absurdist humor, a barrage of pop-culture references, and one of the best ensembles currently on television. So, I guess now is the time to say, “I told you so!” (Except, of course, for the “Glee” and “FlashForward” thing, which I cannot apologize enough for.)

Now, those of you who don’t watch “Community” (aside from being completely lame, although not as lame as the people who don’t watch “Fringe,” because JUST WATCH IT ALREADY!) might be avoiding the show because of its absurdist-themed episodes. For example, the one where the entire campus of the fictional Greendale Community College devolved into a

post-apocalyptic wasteland because of a paintball war, or the one where tainted meat at the Halloween dance turned everyone into zombies.

Maybe you’re not into a show that takes so many liberties with reality, even though those two episodes, especially ‘Modern Warfare’ (the paintball one) are two of the most laugh-out-loud half-hours on television that I have ever enjoyed. Even if you aren’t into witty, incisive pop-culture parodies, you should still consider watching “Community.” The beautiful thing about the show is that the simple episodes that lie among the big-budget craziness are often just as good, if not better than the go-for-broke episodes.

Most of this greatness can be attributed to the rich cast of characters and the brilliant ensemble that portrays them. “Community” revolves around a sevenperson study group composed of Greendale students. The nominal main character is Jeff Winger (the hilarious Joel McHale), a lawyer who gets disbarred for faking his credentials and must return to school in order to earn a real degree. The rest of study group is a wacky, multi-cultural, lovable collection of outcasts and weirdos: Abed (Danny Pudi), the socially awkward pop-culture encyclopedia; Troy (Donald Glover), a former football star and Abed’s best friend; Annie (Alison Brie), the wellendowed, over-achieving control freak; Shirley (Yvette Nicole Brown), a kindly divorcée who wants to learn business so she can run a bakery; Britta (Gillian Jacobs), a defiant feminist, environmentalist and whatever other –ist she feels that particular week; and finally, Pierce (Chevy Chase) a grumpy, desperate-tobe-hip bigot who really just wants the younger people to pay attention to him.

“Community” also benefits from the talents of its supporting cast, most notably Ken Jeong’s Señor Chang, Jim Rash’s Dean Pelton and John Oliver’s Ian Duncan. Though these characters are rather ‘one-note’ as compared to the central cast, they are all funny as hell in different ways, and the show’s writers are wise enough not to overuse them to the point where they become grating.

At the beginning, the cast seems composed of archetypes, but one of the brilliant things about

“Community’s” writing and acting is the way in which each character is allowed to grow and deepen. This allows the skilled actors to embrace the

Anna Rothschild The Phoenix

multifaceted nature of their characters, even in episodes when that particular character isn’t the focus.

For example, one of my favorite episodes of the season, ‘Mixology Certification,’ which takes place in a bar on Troy’s 21st birthday, allows the characters to break down some of their personal barriers by drinking. For instance, we learn that Abed is willing to lead a gay man on for an hour just to have someone to talk to about “Farscape,” and that Annie is secretly terrified that the rigid path she has put herself on isn’t the right one.

Though not as blatantly funny as others, this episode still had some great laughs; mostly, however, it was a bittersweet meditation on who people really are beneath their exteriors. Any show that can pull off an episode like that a month after an episode in which the characters all become the walking dead is a win in my book. (Also, one last time: watch “Fringe!” It’s not even on at the same time as “Community,” so you can watch both!)

Alex is a senior who will seriously kill you in your sleep if “Fringe” gets canceled. You can reach her at aisrael1@swarthmore.edu.

Be wary of ‘Open a Card Today, and Save 25%’ This is the second installment of a threepart series focused on credit.

W i t h post-winter sales and e a r l y Aliya Padamsee spring colMoney Matter$ lections, opening department store credit cards are especially appealing.

These cards are easy to open, you get a percentage off of your initial purchase and you’ll receive discount coupons in the mail. But what’s the catch? What’s hidden in the fine print?

In order to allow customers to open their store’s card at the counter quickly and easily, department stores rarely require a credit check (an evaluation of an applicant’s loan request to determine their creditworthiness). Since we want the occasional discount at all of our favorite stores, we open multiple credit cards at one time, thus decreasing our credit score, the number that represents our creditworthiness to

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lenders (Remember, a higher score is are often touted as a quick way to save always better!). However, opening mul- 10-25 percent on an initial purchase, tiple cards may indicate to lenders that people rack them up quickly — to the we are desperate for credit, or that we detriment of their credit scores. Scott didn’t qualify for a traditional credit Crawford, co-founder of DebtGoal.com, card from one of the major issuers, claims “Because they’re a hard inquiry such as American Express, Visa or on your credit file, which can cost you Bank of America. Another danger of about 30 points on your score, taking opening multiple credit cards is that it out these cards can drive down your can provide a false impression of exact- score pretty significantly.” Credit ly how much you’ve spent. If we had bureaus keep a record whenever a one card, the grand total would appear lender or other service provider views on one bill in one place. your credit history, creating a hard Additionally, inquiry on your the late fees and credit reports. interest rates on hard Late fees and high interest These department store inquiries are credit cards are rates creep up on you and made by lenders, much higher landlords, credit then that glamorous disthan those of tracard providers, ditional credit s e r v i c e count dissolves instantly cards. For examproviders and ple, a insurance comBloomingdale’s card has a fluctuating panies. A record of all hard inquiries interest rate of 24.5 percent, whereas a will remain on your credit report for a Bank of America cardholder may expe- couple years. Having one or two hard rience an interest rate under 10 per- inquiries is okay, but if you have sevcent. Even if you pay the bill in full eral (especially within a short time every month, what happens if, one period), your credit score will likely month, you’re one day late? Late fees take a hit. and high interest rates creep up on you Another reason why rewards cards and then that glamorous discount dis- may cost you more is due to a decision solves instantly. made in October 2010 by the Since department store credit cards Department of Justice with both Visa February 17, 2011

and MasterCard that causes merchants to favor basic credit cards that don’t cost the retailers as much. Issuers charge merchants higher fees to process rewards in order to subsidize the benefits on these cards, and some stores may actually offer discounts to consumers using cards that reduce fees for the retailer, according to CardRatings.com’s Curtis Arnold.

Last but not least, sale items that can only be purchased with a store credit card have a psychological effect on customers, causing us to make frivolous purchases solely because of the lure of the sale in the store window or the clipped coupons in our pockets.

These sales are spells that companies cast on their customers to make it seem as though we are getting a good deal, or that the store is doing us a favor.

Review the fine print, and beware of these dangers. Opening cards to your favorite stores is absolutely fine, but only if you have chosen a select few, are aware of late fees and interest rates, and have prompt and complete payment habits. Hopefully you all had a great Valentine’s Day – splurging on your extra special someone once in a while is A-OK! Aliya is a first year. You can reach her at apadams1@swarthmore.edu.

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swarthmorephoenix.com

c a r p a l

c r e a t i v e

t u n n e l

SCCS Party Join SCCS this Friday at 9 p.m. for the first party of the semester. Enjoy Rock Band, Halo, Starcraft, pizza and snacks.

Feb. 17-20 and 24-26 Fairview Rd., just off of Chester Rd. 866-811-4111 for tickets $8 for students Will famous playwright Sidney Bruhl hide his writer's block by stealing from a talented young writer? And if he does...can he get away with it?

editor’s P I CK S

By Susana Medeiros

LaSS 3 vs. 3 Tournament

"Hearing but not Listening: Islamist Activism in Britain"

Sunday, Feb. 20 12 - 3 p.m.

Tarble Pavilion Bring two friends!

Tuesday, Feb. 22 at Sci 101 from 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.

Lecture with Jonathan Githens-Mazer ’97

c h e e k y

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February 17, 2011

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Opinions

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Staff Editorial

Patriot Act should not be extended any further On Monday, the House of Representatives passed a temporary extension of three provisions of the Patriot Act. The Senate passed the same bill, H.R. 514, on Tuesday so that these provisions will be extended until May 27 of this year, instead of expiring on February 28.

The vote was a step towards improving or making permanent three key parts of the Patriot Act. First, investigators would be allowed to continue with “roving” wiretaps, which can follow an individual across multiple phone numbers.

Second, the seizure of “any tangible things,” such as business records, will be allowed. The third and most troubling part of the bill, though, allows investigators to wiretap non-U.S. citizens even when they are not associated with a terrorist organization.

This “lone wolf” provision is aimed at terrorists or “agents” who are operating alone, without any association with a foreign government or a terrorist organization.

Theoretically, investigators could thus wiretap any non-U.S. citizen, provided there was some sort of evidence connecting that individual to potential terrorist activity.

Such hostile treatment of foreign nationals holds serious implications for how U.S. citizens are treated by foreign governments.

Additionally, there could be significant consequences for the unspoken agreement between countries, primarily liberal democracies, to treat other nations’ citizens with a certain amount of moral cosmopolitanism.

If the U.S. government does not respect the privacy of those who are not U.S. citizens at the same level as its citizens, how can it expect friendly treatment of its citizens by other governments?

Though positive liberties of citizens of a nation are not afforded on non-citizens, the negative liberties, those of privacy, are for the large part respected regardless of the citizenship status of an individual.

The “lone wolf” provision could seriously damage the rights of U.S. citizens abroad. Furthermore, it seriously violates the view of all individuals as hold-

ing the same moral worth if some are afforded more Obama’s willingness to continue Bush’s policies undermines his attempts to distance himself from the privacy than others.

The pragmatic reason for this extension is to post- previous administration while furthering the troupone the debate in Congress on improving these pro- bling trend of bipartisan support for infringing on individual rights. visions of the Patriot Act. The passage of the extension was by no means But the possibility of these provisions, or the Patriot Act as a whole, being made permanent is a along party lines. 65 House Democrats and 41 Senate daunting prospect for the future of individual liber- Democrats voted in favor of the bill, while 27 House ties of all, whether they are citizens of this country or Republicans and two Senate Republicans voted against it. not.

Bipartisan support or opposition for legislation is Congress, in passing this extension, is declaring its openness to making permanent the measures nec- usually a refreshing change of pace, but in this case, cooperation between Democrats and Republicans essary for a state of heightened security.

A world where security is so influenced by non- supports a change detrimental to the freedoms of Democrats and state terrorist actors Republicans alike. may not last forever, The Republican though. What would Such hostile treatment of foreign opposition to the extenhappen, then, in a world largely stemmed which is no longer nationals holds serious implications sion from Tea Party objecfighting terrorism at today’s levels, but had for how U.S. citizens are treated by tions to the expansion of the Federal governlaws allowing for the foreign governments. ment in any capacity. invasion of the privacy This differs from the of the individual? more supportable view Any support of making the Patriot Act permanent is insupportable, since held by Democrats that the reach of the Federal govit is giving Federal investigators power to invade ernment should be limited in some areas, such as privacy. individuals’ privacy unnecessarily.

Though the extension of these provisions for 88 The Obama administration favors extending the provisions until 2013, which is unsurprising. The days is undesirable, the real danger in this situation President’s choices regarding national security have is that the Senate is granting the House time to make continued or expanded on several key policies of permanent these parts of the Patriot Act. The memPresident Bush, such as the extensive use of state bers of Congress could be putting off a time-consuming fight, or, worse, there could be no fight over maksecrets privilege in court.

However, if Obama was opposed to the start of the ing these provisions permanent.

Given the President’s support of extending the Iraq War, it seems ideologically congruous that he would be opposed to aggressive national security pol- provisions until at least 2013, Senate Democrats could possibly defer to his example and pass something icy.

Both the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan and more permanent.

This is a chilling thought — what will happen to the bulking up of the surveillance powers are part of a strengthening of the Federal government’s power in civil liberties if both parties are willing to sacrifice privacy for citizens and non-citizens alike in the terms of security.

To accept one, it seems, is to accept the other. name of security?

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February 17, 2011

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Opinions

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­Citizens­ United’s ‘Miss Representation’ forces women to reevaluate true­impact­lost­in Charette’s­column relationship with media As I sat next to my While I discern what it means to occupy a marmom and a 14-year-old ginal space in society, I cannot allow it to prevent family friend I often me from becoming professionally successful. refer to as my little sisMisguided frustrations can preclude progrester, I eagerly awaited sion if it is not methodic and strategic.

Jane Siebel Newsom’s Marginalized people are tasked with reconciling documentary “Miss the institutional dynamics of discrimination with Representation” at the politics it takes to succeed in their work enviBarnard College’s ronments.

Athena Film Festival.

When I started college, my aunt told me joining Newsom painted a cultural groups was a waste of time. She argued I graphic portrait of the should dedicate my energy to writing and pertroubling portrayal of forming. I didn’t understand her as a freshman Eva McKend women in politics, news but as a senior I realize what she meant.

According to Eva and entertainment in Employers are less interested in my involvement America. “The media is in cultural organizations and more concerned the message and the about my work experience. messenger,” Pat Mitchell, President & CEO of the Sometimes I wonder how effective talking Paley Media Center, explained in the film. about racism and sexism is within an oppressed The documentary called on its viewers to think group. It is certainly cathartic and affirming to critically about the world in which we raise our know there are other people in the struggle but girls — a world where being strong, smart and the best revenge is often success. accomplished is not enough.

In speaking with a female veteran producer, If from a young she said her career was age, we socialize boys based on working hard to believe their needs and never complaining. are superior, our colI am all too comfortIt is certainly cathartic and lective conditioning able shouting from the affirming to know there are other highest hilltop when over time becomes subconscious. injustice is present and people in the struggle but the Something as seemin media, it seems necingly innate as leaderessary when women are best revenge is often success. ship becomes genprized for being the sexdered. iest female anchor “Miss Representation” also made the audience rather than their ability to tell a story. understand just how invested the media is in My passion for television is defined by its abilmaintaining a narrative that harbors and con- ity to play a tremendous role in how people see dones low self-worth. themselves. I recognize Hollywood is an old boys Ultimately, this “political economy of media” club but if “Miss Representation” taught me anyfiscally benefits from making women feel anxious thing it is that I have too have power. and insecure at what the film argued is too great Eva is a senior. She can be reached at emcka cost. end1@swarthmore.edu.

I became aware of some alarming statistics like 65 percent of American women and girls have an eating disorder, rates of depression among females have doubled in the past ten years and 15 percent of rape survivors are under the age of 12, but perhaps the statistic that impacted me the most was the one I first saw in a Women’s Media Center promo just days prior.

Women hold only three percent of clout positions in mainstream media. While I have always admired these women, I have long been interested in the more creative aspects of the industry.

But perhaps women and people of color need to channel their energy and resources into attaining the business corporate positions. The documentary operated under the premise “You can’t be what you can’t see,” but this is not always the case as demonstrated by pioneering women throughout that history.

The fact so many women are able to love themselves despite disparaging images is something to celebrate. “It’s all about the body, not about the brain,” one disheartened high school student said in the film.

“Miss Representation” not only forced me to confront my desire for a career in such an aesthetically driven field but made me rethink my positioning as a vocal activist.

While academics may be able to recognize the media’s “symbolic annihilation,” it seems as if this consciousness is far removed from executive level decision makers. I walked out of Miller Theater Saturday evening with a better understanding of my control as a consumer, faced with a new challenge.

Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/hjmzh THE PHOENIX

February 17, 2011

BY PETER GROSS pgross1@swarthmore.edu

While Danielle Charette makes a theoretically sound argument in support of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, she missed what the practical impact of the decision was completely.

In her telling of the story, Citizens United freed us from a system where political speech was unduly restricted and corporations, which in this world are merely another way individuals organize themselves, can jump in on the process like everybody else.

Unfortunately, this is not nearly the whole story.

The first problem with this story is the idea that a corporation is merely another way individuals chose to associate, and thus a corporation should have an unrestricted ability to spend whatever they want on political campaigns.

The decision to spend money on an election does not rest in the hands of the members of this association, but instead it exists in the hands of the top executives, who are often only accountable to an exceedingly friendly and insular board of directors.

These executives can make a decision to throw their support behind one candidate or against another, and can use their considerable corporate resources to do so. In the pre-Citizens United world, individuals could express their corporate interests by donating to corporate PACs that represented the company’s interests in the political sphere.

In the Citizens United world, the individuals at the top have the ability to spend the money of people have made no decision to support or oppose a given candidate. A supporter of corporate spending in elections might then say if a person does not support the executive’s actions, they can sell their stock or boycott the company, but this assumes the actions are public.

This question brings me to what is perhaps the worst part of the Citizens United ruling, the loss of transparency in our election finance system. In the old system the big outside groups, like America Coming Together or Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, were 527 organizations that could accept unlimited donations, but had to disclose their donors to the public.

Since Citizens United, 501(c)(4) organizations like Karl Rove’s Crossroads GPS have sprung up to take the place of 527s. The beauty of 501(c)(4) groups is that these organizations do not have to disclose their donors.

Corporations, now able to use funds from their general treasury due to Citizens United, are able to anonymously donate huge sums of money to 501(c)(4) organizations to influence elections.

Yes, 501(c)(4) organizations are not electoral campaigns strictly speaking, but advertisements with the attack ad ominous music and black and white photos will have the same effect regardless if the sponsor is a campaign like Obama for America or Crossroads GPS. If we are to live in a political society where unlimited corporate donations are kosher, then we must also make such activity transparent.

The only reason Target got caught supporting Tom Emmer in Minnesota is because Minnesota’s election finance laws are among the best in the nation.

Minnesota requires disclosure of donors to campaigns and independent advocacy organizations, and the information is easily accessible to any citizen.

If citizens are going to buy into our political system, they must know who is financing candidates’ campaigns and supporting independent advocacy groups.

Otherwise we risk a disillusioned and lethargic citizenry that believes their voices will be drowned out in a sea of unmarked and untraceable corporate cash.

Without the people’s participation in the democratic process, any discussion on election finance is ultimately moot.

OP-ED

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Opinions What Obama might learn from Barry Goldwater

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When the crotchety Barry Goldwater’s run for the presidency was trounced by Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 success — one of the largest electoral avalanches in history — the Arizona senator’s obsession with modest federal spending sounded, in a word, wacky. Keep in mind, this was on the eve of LBJ’s Danielle Charette “Great Society,” riding The Nascent Neoliberal on the coattails of a stillpowerful Roosevelt Coalition.

But Goldwater is to American history what the first ghost-sighting is to Hamlet: a sign of things to come. Popularly cited with re-electrifying the modern conservative and libertarian movements, Goldwater harped, “man’s political freedom is illusory if he is dependent for his economic needs on the State.”

Now, Obama had yet to be born when Goldwater penned his now infamous 1960 book “The Conscience of a Conservative” (which confirmed that conservatives, popular to belief, do indeed have consciences).

Let’s just say I have a grave suspicion that Obama never opted to order a used copy of Goldwater’s gospel on Amazon.

When the 2012 Budget Message of the President was released last Friday, the White House set in stone that it will continue chugging along in the spending express lane. It’s already fact that, during Obama’s tenure on Pennsylvania Avenue, the federal debt (forget about the deficit…) has ballooned over 4 billion dollars per day. Yes, per day. What is shocking is the hubristic attitude many liberal commentators have taken as the nation scrambles to redeem itself from financial purgatory.

Paul Krugman — the bearded wizard of the New York Times editorial page — had the hopeful audacity to assert that the midterm elections were a referendum on high unemployment, not spending — ignoring the reality that economic uncertainty underlies the

paucity of jobs. Krugman ignores the overall fragility, I’m confused as to why citing the newest revelation reinforced by both skyrocketed spending and long- churned from the mill of polling data is somehow supterm unemployment, of the current economy. posed to be comforting. The forecasted budget makes Regardless of voter’s specific grievances last no mention of entitlement reform, no tax-restructurNovember, it appears far-fetched to figure the White ing, no long term spending overhaul, and, regretfully, House has been flashed a green light to spend as it nothing to indicate the White House has even so much sees fit. as glanced at its own deficit commission.

Virtually all conservatives — and many moderate This is upsetting but ultimately unsurprising, seeindependents — have identified Obama’s gargantuan ing as the 2011 State of the Union warned against our “stimulus” as a big-time lemon, but it is their style of spending malaise, but then mentioned new governcritique which unsettles me. Arguing that the stimu- ment support for solar panels and high speed rail, as lus took too long to fully mobilize or that funds didn’t if the sight of so many dark suits on one television channel the appropriate sectors, even Obama’s foes screen would render the American public too sleepy appear to concede that, if executed properly, stimulus to catch the hypocrisy. spending ought to be successful.

Many are anxious to paint today’s House Yet 1939, when the nation was in the midst of its Republicans as hawkish party-crashers whose call for Roosevelt-induced Keynesian rendezvous, paints a fiscal sanity isn’t all that sane. This portrayal looks decidedly different story. Treasury Secretary Henry quite a bit like the unpopular Goldwater of ’64. What’s Morgethau begrudgingly important to remember is admitted, “we have tried that the Arizona senator — spending money. We are “Mr. Conservative” — had spending more than we What is shocking is the hubristic very little to conserve. have ever spent before and This isn’t the French attitude many liberal commenta- monarchy it does not work . . . After we’re talking eight years of this adminisabout. He was birthed in a tors have taken as the nation tration we have just as land of mesas which didn’t scrambles to reedem itself from achieve statehood until the much unemployment as when we started . . . and age of Teddy Roosevelt. financial purgatory. an enormous debt to boot!”

Indeed, Goldwater’s brand When Japan attempted of conservatism, as George to reincarnate Keynes’ Will so aptly said, is “utterstyle in the 1990s, it crafted the largest government ly American.” It’s more the conservatism that rings debt in the industrial world. These days, Uncle Sam from William Buckley’s National Review, rather than seems to be racing for the record. At this point, the quixotic conservatism or religiosity of T.S. Eliot.

Goldwater’s anxieties about government farm subsiIn the ‘60s, as now, conservatives were smeared as dies look downright nostalgic. economic cranks who understood little about actual Krugman, along with many liberal commentators, humanity. Goldwater, though, wrote that it was has been anxious to cite a new Pew Research Study socialism that chooses to define man according to that reveals Americans as a whole are sheepish about materialism. cutting entitlement and education. Of course cuts are For the conservative, economics takes on a subunpopular. No one likes living on a curbed budget. sidiary role, one that defines merely one facet of what Diets are notoriously unpleasant. No one is pretend- a man is, or more importantly, what a man may ing that nursing our economic situation will be a become, as he dreams along the Western horizon. cakewalk, yet the federal government’s waistband Danielle is a first-year. She can be reached at cannot expand indefinitely. dcharet1@swarthmore.edu.

around higher education

Spending cuts should not affect Pell grants STAFF EDITORIAL cavalierdaily.com, Feb. 15, 2011

When President Obama released his 2012 budget proposal yesterday, many constituencies were displeased. This was to be expected given that the plan calls for federal spending cuts of $1.1 trillion during the next 10 years.

One area that fared better than most, however, was higher education — the administration made a firm commitment to preserving the maximum Pell Grant at its current level of $5,550 per individual per academic year.

But by calling for the elimination of Pell Grants to students seeking enrollment in summer classes, as well as reneging on the government’s policy of loan-interest relief for graduate students, the Obama administration demonstrated the limitations of its support for low-income individuals seeking to take full advantage of the nation’s higher education system.

As policy-makers attempt to compromise on ways to reduce the federal budget deficit, it is imperative that funding for financial aid — both to undergraduate and graduate programs — be spared from cuts and that the

16

government also seek ways to enhance access to opportunities for intellectual development outside the classroom.

It is, of course, encouraging to see that the Obama administration did not capitulate to Republican calls for massive spending cuts to higher education.

The House of Representatives’ budget proposal would have slashed the maximum Pell Grant to $4,705, which is below its 2008-09 level, and its authors said they hoped to further curtail the program in the future.

By maintaining level funding for the maximum Pell Grant, the Obama administration recognized the longterm economic growth brought about by higher levels of educational attainment is more likely to reduce the deficit through increased revenues than are haphazard spending cuts to valuable federal programs.

Through its proposal to discontinue Pell Grants for students enrolling in summer classes, however, the Obama administration missed a chance to focus on the bigger picture of educational opportunity.

Many college students take summer classes that often experiment with less traditional modes of instruction and offer a more diverse selection of topics.

Summer sessions are also used by high-achieving students who seek to graduate early or to take advantage of dual degree programs, such as those offered through the University’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

The popularity of summer Pell Grants, which are projected to make up 14 percent of the program’s entire budget by 2013, suggests there is no shortage of low-income students looking to partake in these opportunities.

Rather than responding to this influx in demand by cutting the grants, the Obama administration should push to have them expanded.

Similarly, the government’s loaninterest subsidy program has been a boon for cash-strapped students enrolled in graduate and professional schools.

With more students seeking those elevated degrees to succeed in an increasingly competitive job market, the government should not hinder their financial ability to do so by charging full interest on federal loans.

Beyond expanding access to academic offerings at the nation’s colleges and universities, the government should also look for ways to subsidize

February 17, 2011

low-income students who wish to fill positions as unpaid interns or volunteers.

More than just being valuable on a resume, these experiences often allow students to discern where their true interests lie so they can better structure their academic pursuits.

Many low-income students are unable to pursue these opportunities, however, because of financial constraints that make it impossible to afford housing or transportation.

A federal financial aid program similar to the Pell Grant that provided a living and travel stipend to low-income students who obtain internships would alleviate this problem and would give those individuals an equal opportunity to participate in organizations for which they may one day hope to work full-time.

Calling for increased education spending at a time of across-the-board budget cuts may seem politically tonedeaf and unrealistic.

Yet given the Pell Grants’ strong record of boosting graduation rates, it would be far more foolish not to double down on the success of financial aid programs that reduce the budget deficit by increasing achievement. the PhoeniX

Sports

swarthmorephoenix.com

Discovering, recapturing clarity key to success B u t t Nash could speak so lucidly. As it says p r e s s e d on the Llabb, “It's one thing to be great at f i r m l y your craft. There are many — both in against my sport and out of it — who are exceptionchair, eyes ally gifted at what they do. Yet, so many locked on fail to be able to effectively articulate it my Mac, I so others can make sense of it.” my let But I don’t think that Steve Nash can focus drift effectively articulate because he’s a great from the player. I think he’s great because he can reading I effectively articulate. I believe that had to do greatness starts with clarity. Nash wasandrew Greenblatt towards the n’t ambiguous in high school when he things I decided he was going to play in the NBA, The Life of Greeny a c t u a l l y and having such a vision really helped care about. him. “I think having a goal like that in I made the mind manifests itself somehow so you usual rounds, making sure Gmail hadn’t are able to visualize it and go after it crashed in the last 15 minutes, then over everyday,” he said. to the hour’s 5th and 6th Facebook It was the clarity of his goal and the checks, finally shaking off enough self- confidence in his method that allowed loathingto send an internship applica- him to surpass those much more natution. rally gifted than him, and build a sucEventually, I found myself at one of cessful basketball career. Watching the my favorite blogs, The Llabb, where interview, I believe that clarity is his Blogmaster sharpest S e f u weapon. It’s Bernard a clear had dug up mind that To recapture my clarity I’ve been an interallowed him brutally honest with myself about to wholeview with Steve Nash. heartedly what I want, and also about “A must commit and where I’m open to possibility. w a t c h be specific video,” he about his w r o t e . aspirations.

“What it means to achieve excellence in Being clear also takes the stress and basketball.” I couldn’t help but click. fear out of the equation. Having to write What ensued was 20 minutes of Nash a 10-page paper might be stressful, but providing a blue print to running the once you’re clear on exactly what you’re point. It was a manifesto of everything I writing about and how to do the know how to do, yet struggle so mightily research, all that’s left is to execute. to execute. There was no hesitation in Once the ambiguity disappears, probhis delivery, no ambiguity in his prose. lems become solvable and results Steve Nash was crystal clear. become obtainable. Intention is as Now on the edge of my seat, taking in important as action. every word, I started to think about how There are thousands of different ways

to improve, but I’ve found that I oftentimes get caught up in “working hard.”

I’ve been focusing on working hard for too long, but I’ve realized that idea is a catcall that’s dangerously ambiguous. I think it would be more valuable for me to focus that hard work towards a specific vision. I need to gain some clarity.

At Swarthmore, maintaining clarity has been tough for me. It’s really, really small here and the psychological stuff that happens while living in a 2,000 person universe has skewed my perspective and distracted me from my goals. If there’s one thing I’m crystal clear on, it’s that living in the 2,000 person Swarthmore universe has interfered with my clarity.

To recapture my clarity, I’ve been brutally honest with myself about what I want, and also about where I’m open to possibility. I like determining where I’ll compromise and where I won’t. For example, I’ll compromise on what company I choose to intern with this summer; I don’t know what profession I want to work in so I’m open to a range of possibilities. I won’t compromise on whether or not I’ll get an internship. I want work experience. That’s happening.

I say brutally honest because deciding what you want is the most important thing there is. It determines what you’re working towards and steers your action accordingly. It’s also no time to be pleasing someone else, this process is fully and wholly yours.

I’ve also been considering my strengths and weaknesses. The thing I’m trying to do more than anything else is to be specific. Rather than listing overall qualities, like that pesky title of “hard worker,” I’m listing specific things I’ve done and drawing confidence from that.

I’m trying to think of stuff I’d say in a job interview. Personal stories and real

GARNET AThlETE Of ThE wEEk

GARNET iN AcTiON

Jacob b. PhilliPs

Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/g2v3g

Steve Nash, of the Phoenix Suns, is a twotime NBA MVP and one of the best point guards in NBA history. events make the qualities real. The values we bestow on ourselves only exist in action anyway.

Being a hard worker doesn’t mean anything, but having a 3.8 GPA at Swarthmore does (not that my GPA is that high anyway). It works the same way with weaknesses, I’ve gotten my best results when I’ve been completely honest with myself.

Specificity and honesty have been my themes. Perspective and clarity are helping me create my goals.

Andrew is a junior. You can reach him at agreen3@swarthmore.edu.

Thursday, February 17 Badminton vs. Bryn Mawr, 7 p.m.

soPh., Track & Field, ForT Wayne, in.

WhaT he’s done: Phillips ran a 15:10.44 in the 5,000 meter run at the boston University Valentine invitational, which ranks him eighth on swarthmore’s all-time list. Phillips also set a new career-best time.

FaVoriTe career momenT: “after seeing my teammates put in fantastic times at the boston invite, i was really excited to run a huge Pr in the 5k,” Phillips said. “i had no idea that that was in me. it was exhilirating to cross the finish line and see that i would [have] nearly lapped my race from a week before.”

saTurday, February 19 Swimming at Centennial Conference Championships (Gettysburg), 9 a.m.

Women’s basketball at Haverford, 1 p.m.

Men’s basketball at Haverford, 3 p.m.

Track & field at NYU Invitational, 4 p.m. sunday, February 20 Swimming at Centennial Conference Championships (Gettysburg), 9 a.m.

Tuesday, February 22 Badminton vs. Haverford, 7 p.m.

season Goals: “if all goes well, i hope to break 15 minutes in 5k and 32 in the 10k during october.”

FaVoriTe Place To eaT in Philly: Paul Chung Phoenix Staff

ThE PhOENiX

GO GARNET!

“amada Tapas bar or Zinc bistro à Vins.”

February 17, 2011

17

Sports

swarthmorephoenix.com

Hannah trades the soccer field for the rugby pitch I love sports. Anyone they proceeded to laugh for about ten minutes right diately thrown into drills. This was confusing but who has ever met me, or there in front of me, and then ran off to give the rest necessary, since it was a bit cold out and standing has read this column of the team a good chuckle. But if I really intend on around to explain the rules of the game just didn’t before, can attest to that. convincing you that anyone can play any sport if seem worthwhile.

Somewhere between realizing I have no hand-eye In fact, I may love sports they really want to, then the more ill suited I am for coordination and makto an extent many would the sport, the better. ing a sad attempt to consider bad for my kick a rugby ball as if health, not to mention The Two Rules of Rugby If I really intend on convincing it were, you know, my GPA. While most After checking in with round, one of the girls people celebrated you that anyone can play any found a moment to February 14 as the team to make sure they sport, then the more ill-suited I Hannah Purkey explain that there are Valentine’s Day, I cele- wouldn’t mind having me The Purkey Perspective am for the sport, the better. only two important brated the day that tag along, which I should rules in rugby. The pitchers and catchers mention they have been first is not to pass the began reporting for incredibly nice about, I spring training. Of course, this mindset has lead to decided I should try to learn a bit more about the ball forward; the second is not to get caught breaksome odd situations. Like the acquaintance who sport before my first practice, just in case ing any of the other rules, which are really more casually asks after my team, eliciting a very long Hollywood hadn’t accurately depicted it. So I did the like suggestions anyways. So maybe I wouldn’t be as monologue on the Sharks current position in the only thing I could think to do: I googled it. The first clueless as I thought — even I can handle a sport Western Conference, when in retrospect he was search result was for Ralph Lauren’s rugby clothing with only two rules.

There were plenty of hilarious moments at this probably just asking after the Swathmore soccer line. I was hoping more for “rugby for dummies,” first practice for anyone who happened to be walkteam. However, I have never been ashamed to show but no such luck.

From what I could gather from ing by the field. The highlight of the first practice, my devotion to sports. Scarcely has anyone walked Wikipedia and some however, was my first lesson in tackling. Referred to into my room without being taken aback by the YouTube clips, I realized by many on the team as a convenient outlet for the homage to Giants and Sharks players that some important things frustrations of life, tackling is a necessity for every decorate my walls. And, perhaps one about rugby. First, rugby position in rugby. too many times, a friend has sugnames are so much better Thus I gave it the old college try, and I assure you gested I seek professional help than in any other sport. it is not as easy as it looks. Following the much-toutafter hearing me have a conForget offense and ed “cheek-to-cheek” method (the cheek on your face versation with the bobbledefense, rugby positions to the cheek on a much different body part of your head of my favorite pitchhave names like hooker and opponent), I became familiar with the rugby team er that holds a promitighthead and loosehead real fast. I have to give credit to my fellow teammate nent place on my bookprops, not to mention things during this drill, who somehow managed to fight the shelf (don’t worry, the like scrums and mauls. I have no urge to pat me on the head and say “nice try” as I conversations are idea what any of these things actu- made a series of sad attempts to tackle her. always one sided). ally are, but they certainly sound Unfortunately, all we were able to do at this point As much as I love kz 7 /y3 c fun.

The other thing I learned was was lift, or attempt to lift on my part, our opponents sports, I understand c ny. /ti that I really needed to double-check since we lacked the necessary mouth guards to fully how difficult it can be to / : p htt my health insurance before starting to tackle.

But then again, that’s just another reason to get involved in them if you didn’t of y s play. With one too many images of dislocat- look forward to the next practice. grow up with them. I myself did not grow up with Courte ed shoulders in my head, I set off to my first Continue to follow my adventures on the pitch on parents that were big sports fans. While they practice.

The Phoenix’s website. tuned in for the Super Bowl and the U.S. Open, Although there were a few of us rookies who were Hannah is a senior. You can reach her at sports were never a priority in my household.

Perhaps this makes it odd that I grew up to become clueless about what was going on, we were all imme- hpurkey1@swarthmore.edu. such an obsessive fan, but it also attests to the fact that even if you don’t have a background in sports you can still grow to like them.

But what if you want to be more than just a fan?

However confusing it might be to watch a sport you have never followed before, it must be even more

sports in brief

Tackling is a necessity for every position in rugby. Thus I gave it the old college try, and I assure you it is not as easy as it looks. daunting to try and actually play one. But sports are too much fun to spend your life only on the sidelines. Although I have already played sports in my life, I wanted to understand how hard it really is to learn a new sport in order to be able to back up my claims that sports are worth the struggle of having to learn how to play them. So, I have joined the women’s rugby team.

While I may be an athlete, I am the last person that you would expect to find on a rugby pitch: I am 5’1” on a good day and the only thing I know about the sport I learned from Matt Damon in “Invictus.”

If you need further proof of my inadequacy for this particular sport, when I told some teammates from the soccer team that I had decided to play rugby,

18

Men’s squash competes in the Pennsylvania Regional Championships, players move on to U.S. Adult Nationals

The Swarthmore Men’s Squash team, which formed in 2008, recently competed at the Pennsylvania Regional Championships on the weekend of January 28 - 30. The Championships host adult athletes from across the mid-Atlantic.

The men’s team reached the finals of both the Men’s 2.5 and 3.5 divisions and won the 4.5 division.

At the Regional Championships, Syed Muhammad Faraz Hayat ’14 played his first career start at the event. Junior Joravar Dhaliwal reached the quarterfinals for the Men’s 3.0. First-year Collin Smith won the Men’s 2.5 consolation bracket.

Other strong performances were seen when Manuk Garg ’12 reached the finals for the 3.5, which qualified Garg for the U.S. Adult Nationals. Tarit Rao-Chakravorti ’12 won the 4.5 singles, also qualifying him for the Adult

February 17, 2011

Nationals.

First-year Sudarshan Gopaladesikan competed in his first tournament, reaching the finals of the 2.5 singles.

Over the past three seasons, the men’s squash team has won two national championships, four regional championships and they also played in regional finals.

Members of the squash team have also seen improvements. Both Garg and Dhaliwal recorded their 15th career victory recently. RaoChakravorti also gained his 21st victory.

This weekend, men’s squash will compete at Lafayette University against Drexel University and Lafayette. On Feb. 26, the team will travel to Harvard University to compete in the College Squash Association’s National Championships.

tHe pHoeniX

Sports

swarthmorephoenix.com

Track & field bests season times at Boston Invite

BY RENEE FLORES rflores1@swarthmore.edu The Swarthmore men’s and women’s track and field teams traveled to Boston on Feb. 10-11 to attend the Boston Valentine Invitational, racing against both Division I and Division III teams.

The Boston Invitational is a pivotal meet, as members of the team who competed were trying to shave off their season times.

The Invitational hosts hundreds of runners, including competitors from Divisions I, II and III colleges and universities, such as Bates and Amherst among the Division III schools, and runners who are preparing for Olympic trials, making it the most competitive indoor meet the Garnet runs. The level of difficulty is the reason the team takes only its top runners, providing a chance to see where they are in training.

“It’s a time to run with competition we don’t get to run with; it’s different, and [the team] is put in a field that moves faster than they’ve ever run before,” Jacob Phillips ’13 said. One indicator of the level of competition is the distance medley relay, won by Division III Amherst College over all other competition.

The team agrees that Boston was a good meet, providing a chance for the runners to improve their times and enjoy the reward of running faster than ever before. “[The Boston Invitational] is great important because everyone is running faster than you, and that makes you want to run faster. It’s like they drag you along with them,” Kenyetta Givans ’12 said.

Kenyetta Givans ’12 and Rebecca Hammond ’13 recorded times in the Top 10 all-time program performances. In the 200 meter dash, Givans finished in 26.83 seconds, a career-best time. This finish places her sixth all-time in program history. Givans just missed finals in the 60

meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 9.19.

Hammond and junior Stephanie Beebe recorded season best times in the 800. Hammond and Beebe finished in times of 2:18.61 and 2:25.26 respectively.

Hammond’s finish places her at ninth all-time at Swarthmore.

Rebecca Painter ’13 set a personal best time in the 3,000 meter run, recording a 10:50.56 finish, good enough to qualify for the ECAC Championships.

Emma Saarel ’14 finished with a time of 10:56.50 in the 3000 meter run. Hannah Rose ’12 finished the 5000 meter run with a time of 18:39.33.

Givans, Hammond, Beebe and Saarel completed the distance medley in a time of 12:44.49. “It helps when you hace your teammates to help push you in a race.

Running is really a mental thing, and to hear those voices of people you know telling you you can do it, it’s a great thing and it really pushes you,” Givans said.

On the men’s side, Jacob Phillips ’13 finished the 5000 meter run in a time of 15:10.44, ranking eighth all-time for the Swarthmore program. Phillips’ finish this weekend is also 40 seconds faster than his career-best time.

“I’m really impressed. A lot of people qualified for ECAC and [recorded] alltime top ten at Swat. People won against Olympic qualifiers and D I athletes,” Phillips said in terms of the team’s overall impressive performance on Saturday.

Daniel Ly ’12 recorded a season-best of 43-04.50 in the triple jump, also reaching 19-03.50 in the long jump. Aidan DuMont-McCaffery ’13 finished in a time of 4:31.73 in the one mile run.

The team heads into a meet at NYU this Saturday, the team’s last meet before the Centennial Conference Indoor Championships, geared with the full team and feeling positive about the chance to lower their times even more.

“It will be great to see the whole team

Courtesy of http://tiny.cc/rme0q

Kenyetta Givans, second from right, narrowly missed the finals in the 60 meter hurdles, finishing with a time of 9.19. run. And it’s another chance to get in fast times before Conferences,” Phillips said. Phillips is confident that the team will perform well in their individual events, and hopes to see more times dropped. “We’re strong, we’re healthy and we’re ready to race,” he said.

Phillips’ teammates agree that the meet against NYU could prove difficult.

“I expect stiff competition, but because I’m expecting it, I think I’m ready,” Givans said. The team is looking strong to head into the next, and final, meet before the Championships.

“People are peaking at the right time, no one’s burning out, which is good,” Ly said. The team is also suffering fewer injuries than last year, and everyone is learning how to take care of their bodies.

With less than two weeks until Centennial Conference Indoor Championships, the team is hard at work, hoping to lower their running times even more and place well. The men’s and women’s track and field teams travel to New York this Saturday to race against NYU.

Fencing competes against top teams at ND Duals

BY ANA APOSTOLERIS aaposto1@swarthmore.edu The culture of athletics at Swarthmore, undeniably defined by its long-storied varsity programs, extends well into the non-varsity student population. Although they may not get the glory of the “NCAA” label, Garnet club sports are a very real entity on campus, including the four-year old tradition of Swarthmore fencing.

Established in 2007, the fencing team recently competed against one of the country’s most elite fencers, Notre Dame’s Fighting Irish team at the Notre Dame Duels fon January 28 - 30.

According to coach Marshal Davis, who has worked with the team since its inception, the Garnet was invited to Notre Dame after the Fighting Irish coach saw Garnet captain Natasha Tonge ’11 defeat a competitor from Penn State. “Notre Dame and Penn State are the two dominant fencing programs in the U.S.,” Davis said.

THE PHOENIX

“[The invitation] is remarkable, since there are many NCAA varsity teams that have been around for decades that have never been invited to Notre Dame, and this is only the fourth year we've had a competitive fencing team.”

“Notre Dame was amazing,” Tonge said, who leads the women’s sabre team (squads fence with one of three weapons; sabre, epee, and foil) and was a member of the inaugural Swarthmore squad in her first year. “We were fencing, as our coach put it, on ‘hallowed ground,’ a place many recognize historically as a big deal in collegiate sports.” She considered the honor especially impressive in light of the fact that the majority of the Swarthmore team does not have an extensive fencing background.

“Most of the people on our team started fencing their freshman year at Swat having never played sports, let alone fenced,” she said, “and we still

went in there and held our own as a club team. It was an amazing opportunity for us. We're like the little club team that could.”

Kevin Buczkowski ’13 is the rare exception. Buczkowski, who was last year’s Southern Atlantic Conference men’s sabre gold medalist, began fencing at the age of seven. At Notre Dame, Buczkowski powered through the weekend with 16 wins against six losses, decisively winning his final match by a 5-0 score against his Notre Dame opponent. He concurred with his coach and with Tonge about the remarkable nature of the invitation.

“It was an absolute honor to be invited to Notre Dame not only because of their monster fencing team but [because of] their impact on NCAA history,” he said.

Buczkowski praised his coach for the team’s recognition, pointing to Davis’ ability to set novice fencers up for success.

February 17, 2011

“A lot of credit has to go to [Coach Davis], who, in just four years, has helped give our club a serious reputation,” he said.

“He takes fencers who have never fenced before and has them winning gold medals by junior or senior year. Our invitation to [Notre Dame] alone is enough to show that, since we were one of two club teams invited while several [NCAA] schools were turned down.”

The team went 4-4 for both men’s and women’s at the Notre Dame Duals, defeating three NCAA Division I teams in the process. “[It] went great,” Davis said. “Swat's women's epee squad [came] the closest … of all teams at the meet to beating a #1-ranked Notre Dame squad.”

Becoming a part of the Notre Dame athletic experience, he said, will be a lasting memory.

“Walking into the Notre Dame fencing stadium — next door to their legendary football stadium — was awe-inspiring. The looks on the faces of Swat

fencers as they entered the Joyce Center dome were priceless.”

For the fencers themselves, the meet was icing on the proverbial cake, an extrapolation of what makes the club experience at Swarthmore great. “Fencing at Swat is … one of the most important parts of my time here, not only because of the talent and exciting tournaments, but also because of the awesome members that make up the team,” Buczkowski said. “We have a great bunch and it's fun to go on road trips and compete with them.”

Despite meager exposure, he does not see the “club” label as any indication of a lack of legitimacy.

“I don't think a single one of Swarthmore's NCAA teams can say that they were invited to a tournament by a top-ranked Division I school and beat three Division I teams,” he said, adding, “and that's what we can do without recruiting!”

19

Sports

swarthmorephoenix.com

Women’s basketball team picks up win, men fall

BY DANIEL DUNCAN dduncan1@swarthmore.edu Despite some impressive performances, both the men’s and women’s basketball teams suffered losses last weekend to Franklin & Marshall College. The women fell 80-66, while the men also lost to the Diplomats 67-57.

It may have been Senior Day for the women, but the future of the program led the offense. After honoring seniors Ceylan Bodur ’11, Sarah Brajtbord ’11, Kathryn Stockbower ’11 and Summer MillerWalfish ’11, Madeline Ross ’13 scored a career-high 29 points to lead all scorers in the game. Katie Lytle ’14 was all over the court, getting a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and adding three steals for good measure.

After a fast start, the Garnet found themselves down 10 points at the half. For the first ten minutes of the second half, the status quo held until Swarthmore went on a run to get within five points of the Diplomats. But F&M stayed in control, going on a 10-2 run of their own to end the game.

Shooting percentage played a role in the outcome.

“They shot 65 percent from the field in the first half and around that in the 2nd half ... they wound up shooting over 56 percent on the game,” Ross said. “We played strong defense, but F&M made great passes finding the open player, and when they were open for even a short time, they made their shots.”

“Even though we did a better job defending the drive, F&M really hurt us on kick outs from drives,” Lytle said.

“They had a great shooting day and there wasn’t too much more we could do.”

The women (14-10, 10-9 CC) entered the game tied with the Diplomats for fifth in the Centennial Conference — the final spot that receives a playoff berth. The loss dropped the Garnet one game out of fifth with two games to play. With no favorable tiebreakers, Swarthmore needs a crazy

Allegra Pocinki Phoenix Staff

Jay Kober goes for a jumper in the Garnet’s 57-51 loss against McDaniel College last night. Kober scored 12 points for the Garnet finish among the rest of the Conference to earn a playoff spot.

Ross believes a playoff spot is within reach though.

“It is still definitely possible to secure a spot. At this point, we need to finish our last two games strong, and ultimately depend on some other teams in the conference beating the three teams that are bat-

tling for this last spot,” she said.

She added, “In no way have we given up, and the whole team is determined to continue the season into the postseason.”

The Garnet did their part to stay alive on Wednesday, flying by Centennial Conference whipping post Bryn Mawr 7344. Bodur, who suffered a career ending injury against Gettysburg with 999 career points, began the game with a layup to record her 1000th career point. She is the eighth player in Swarthmore history to accomplish the feat.

The men entered the game against F&M having lost the first meeting between the two this season by almost 40 points. That certainly didn’t happen this time around.

The Garnet were competitive throughout the game and at times looked capable of upsetting the #21 Diplomats.

Because of a successful zone defense, the Garnet slowed down F&M’s offense enough to take the lead at several points in the first half, including 22-20 with four minutes left in the half. The Diplomats, though, went on a 14-0 run over the end of the first half and the beginning of the second to take a lead they would never relinquish.

The Garnet were down, but not out though, pulling within five points late in the second half before F&M pulled away again. Will Gates ’13 recognized that being

close to the Diplomats was a good performance for the Garnet.

“Even though we know we’re a good team, we needed to prove to ourselves and everyone else that we’re capable of playing with as talented of a team as F&M is. I was really proud of how we stuck with them.”

“Really the only difference was the skill level. They’re just a really good team and proved why they’re the favorites to win the conference again,” Gates said. He pointed out that despite that difference, the Garnet still “hung in with one of the best teams in the country.”

Gates led the Garnet with 19 points and s e v e n rebounds, helped by 12 from Jordan Federer ’14 and 11 from Jordan Martinez ’13. Gates has scored in double digits every game this season.

While the Garnet women had the annual Pink Zone game against Bryn Mawr, the men had their Senior Night, hosting McDaniel. Before the game, seniors Sam Lacy ’11 and Ryan Carmichael ’11 were honored. The men lost by a 57-51 score.

First-years Jorden Federer and Jay Kober led the Garnet with 15 and 12 points, respectively.

Both teams close out the season on Saturday at rival Haverford in a doubleheader. Tip-off for the women is at 1 p.m., while the men are scheduled to begin play at 3 p.m.

“In no way have we given up, and the whole team is determined to continue the season into the postseason.”

Madeline Ross ’13

Jakob Mrozweski Phoenix Staff

President of Swarthmore College Rebecca Chopp served as the Garnet’s honorary coach as the team defeated Tri-Co rival Bryn Mawr 73-44 in the annual WBCA Pink Zone Game.

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February 17, 2011

THE PHOENIX