Monday, March 29, 2004

Summary: This week will be cool, cloudy and sometimes wet.

by Alexis Reedy
Features Editor

The hotly debated issue of gay marriage came home to Swat last
weekend in this year’s Sager Symposium focusing on gay marriage and
queer families. Held from March 26th through March 28th, the theme of
this year’s symposium was “Queering the Nuclear: reimagining families,
revolutionizing policies and reenvisioning histories”

Organizer Powen Shiah ’06 commented, “We were really pleased with
the way the symposium turned out. We had a wonderful turn out to all of
our events.”

Advertised in the symposium program as a “highly seasoned and
experienced community organizer, consultant, poet and performance
artist…who was once a single mother on welfare,” Ingrid Rivera spoke
Friday afternoon on “Queer Parenting, Welfare, and Economic Justice” to
an audience of about 50 people in the Scheuer Room. Later that evening,
writer and performance artist S. Bear Bergman staged a performance of
“Ex Post Papa: Life as a Freelance Dyke Dad” to a full house.

Saturday morning events included a Queer Families Panel featuring
Cynthia Schneider, a lawyer for the Center for Lesbian and Gay Civil
Rights, Dian Marini and Marilyn Maneel, a couple filing a lawsuit for
full marriage rights in New Jersey, Reno Wright, a black trans activist
who runs a camp for children of LBGT parents, and Lousia
Whitfield-Smith ’04, a student who lived “with both her mother and her
father and his partner during her childhood,” according to Shiah.
Following the panel was a lecture by Ruth Vanita on “Love’s Rite: Same
Sex Marriage and its Antecedents in India and the West” based on her
not yet published book of the same name, which outlines the history of
gay marriage from about 1 A.D. to the present.

David Tseng, Executive Director of PFLAG was scheduled to appear
Saturday afternoon but was unable to attend, due to illness. In his
place, Taylor Thompson, Communications Director for PFLAG presented a
lecture on gay marriage, employment rights, PFLAG’s Safe Schools
Initiative, and their attempts to reach out to communities of color in
New Jersey after the recent murder of a young black lesbian.

Popular columnist Dan Savage presented the culminating lecture of
the weekend to an audience of over 200 people late Saturday afternoon.
With the same wit normally found in his column, Savage spoke of his
adoption of a child with his boyfriend, Terry, and his experience
having a child as a gay man, commenting “You can’t queer the nuclear
family. The nuclear family will straighten you.” He described how he
and his boyfriend have split parenting roles. Terry stays home, cooks,
and does laundry while Savage goes to work and mows the lawn.

After his 45 minute lecture, Savage opened up the floor for
questions. While Savage made it clear that the kind of sexual questions
typically answered in his column were appropriate for this period, no
one asked any. Instead the discussion focused on the direction of the
gay movement and what would happen once gay marriage is legalized.
Savage’s column, “Savage Love” can be found in the Philadelphia Weekly.

*****

* Pressure continued to build over the weekend on National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice to testify publicly to defend herself against
the attacks made by former White House counterterrorism coordinator
Richard Clarke in his recently released book, “Against All Enemies.”
Rice is willing to speak privately to the commission investigating
September 11th, however she argues that under the principle of
executive privilege, she should not have to testify publicly. Said
Rice, “There’s an important principle involved here. We have separate
branches of government — the legislative branch and the executive
branch. This commission, it takes its authority, derives its authority,
from the Congress, and it is a long-standing principle that sitting
national security advisers do not testify before the Congress.” But
others, like Chairman Thomas Kean, disagree. Kean commented, “We think
in a tragedy of this magnitude that those kind of legal arguments are
probably overridden.” The commission’s vice chairman, Lee Hamilton,
believes it would benefit the administration for Rice to testify in
public, “but they’ve refused to do that.” Hamilton also added that Rice
“has been very helpful to us” in private meetings, “but there’s another
dimension here, and that dimension is the public dimension — I think
the public would benefit from hearing Condi Rice testify under oath.”
Secretary of State Colin Powell defended Rice saying, “The president
has to have a unique and confidential and private relationship with his
immediate staff,” and that he would not have testified publicly when he
served as National Security Advisor under Reagan. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld also stated that Rice “would be a superb witness. She
is anxious to testify. The president would dearly love to have her
testify.” However the White House does not want to break the principle
of executive privilege, fearing a permanent change in the institution.
Organizations representing the families of those killed in the attacks,
such as the 9/11 Family Steering Committee, pushed Rice to testify,
saying, “Dr. Rice should testify to set a moral precedent that is aptly
warranted by the murder of 3,000 people. Voluntarily coming forward to
testify under oath during a public hearing without the use of a
subpoena would simply set a rare, refreshing, and appropriate moral
precedent for all of history to judge.”

* The United States closed down a newspaper in Baghdad yesterday,
prompting protests by Iraqis who viewed the act as undemocratic. Al
Hawza was a popular and radical Shiite weekly that the Coalition
Provisional Authority believes printed articles provoking violence
against coalition troops. Thousands of people gathered to protest the
closing in central Baghdad with American soldiers working to contain
the demonstration. Authorities claimed that the paper could reopen in
60 days but editors of the paper thought that might not happen. “We
have been evicted from our offices, and we have no jobs,” said Saadoon
Mohsen Thamad. “How are we going to continue?” Editors and journalists
not associated with the newspaper felt that closing it was
hypocritical, because coalition forces came to bring democracy but
suppressed basic freedom of the press. Closing the newspaper also
brought apprehension to Iraqi journalists, who fear it may increase
anti-American sentiment and support for prominent Shiite cleric Muqtada
al-Sadr, a critic of the American presence in Iraq.

* The Arab League summit, scheduled to meet Monday, March 29th in
Tunisia, in order to discuss controversial issues such as democracy,
Israeli tension, Arab reform, and America’s war against Iraq, was
cancelled due to “disagreements in views.” Tunisian Foreign Minister
official Hatem bin Salem said the meeting was called off because of “a
lot of differences in views regarding issues of great importance to us
and to the process of development, modernization and reform in the Arab
countries.” The New York Times stated, “It was a stark public admission
that the commitment to change voiced by Arab leaders risks becoming
just more words.” Egyptian officials have offered to host the summit
meeting and began contacting the 22 countries that were suppose to meet
in Tunisia. Tunisian authorities argued that the problem lay in the
fundamental issues, not the location of the meeting. However, Jordanian
Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher said that the ministers were close to
agreement during an earlier meeting on Saturday and expressed how “It
is very important to send a message that the Arab world does have a
document on reform, [and] is committed to reform.” He agreed with
Egyptian officials that a summit was necessary. An Arab diplomat
argued, “It’s not just the paper you field; it’s the attitude.”

*****

SWIL Movie Night: Star Trek: First Contact
Science Center 101, 10:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Alex Glick
Sports Editor

The men’s baseball team was unable to come up with a victory in
three games this weekend, falling 11-5 to Franklin and Marshall and
13-0, 15-9 to Gettysburg in a double header. The losses bring the
team’s record to 1-9 overall and 0-4 in conference play.

Swarthmore started out well in the first game against the Gettysburg
Bullets. Pitcher Matt Goldstein ’04 struck out two of the first three
batters. These would be two of the five that Goldstein would fan in the
first game. Gettysburg hit a line drive to right with a man on first,
but senior Dan Chamberlain made a beautiful diving catch to end the
inning.

Gettysburg’s Dan Armstrong retired the Garnet side 1-2-3 in the
bottom of the first, and it would be all Bullets for the rest of the
game. Swarthmore’s problems began in the top of the second. After
Gettysburg’s Nathan Smith singled, a pair of throwing errors would send
Smith home, putting the Bullets on the board. Another error,
accompanied by a stolen base and four hits, gave Gettysburg a 4-0 lead.

The Garnet would get its first and only hit of the game in the
bottom of the second, with a Jody Fisher ’05 single to right. Fisher
hustled up the first base line and tried to stretch his hit into a
double but got tagged out at second by a hair.

Swarthmore did better defensively as the game went on, only giving
up one more error. Gettysburg was able to hit line drives most of the
game in the shallow part of the outfield, just outside of the Garnet
players’ reach. While the Swarthmore players hit a few more fly balls
then their opponents, they had many hard hit line drives that the
Bullets were somehow able to get to and catch each and every time. A
key part of this game for the Garnet men was their willingness to run
out every ground ball, often reaching first base just after the out was
made.

Goldstein pitched for five innings, giving up ten runs (seven
earned) on eleven hits. Alex Ryan-Bond ’07 pitched in relief and
allowed three runs on three hits in two innings.

The Garnet’s game picked up in the second half of the double header.
Pitcher Noah Cooper-Harris ’07 allowed just a single in the top of the
first inning. In the bottom of the inning, Ian Adelstein ’07 singled to
right and advanced to second on a single by Fisher; this would be the
first of three hits for Fisher in the game. Goldstein, acting as the
designated hitter in this game, hit a double to left in his first at
bat, scoring Adelstein and bringing Fisher to third. Sam Faeder hit an
RBI grounder, scoring Fisher, and giving the Garnet a 2-0 lead.

Cooper-Harris pitched a flawless second inning, and the Gettysburg
pitching staff faced eight batters in the bottom of the inning as three
more Garnet players crossed the plate to extend their lead to 5-0.
Chamberlain doubled to start off the inning and later scored off of a
Jacob Anguiano RBI single. Junior Jared Leiderman and senior Carlton
Davis also scored in the inning. The Garnet were playing much better as
a team and hit the ball to the holes in the Gettysburg outfield;
Gettysburg also made three errors in the inning.

The Bullets cut the lead by three runs in the third inning and took
a 9-5 lead by the middle of the fifth. The Garnet came back to tie the
game in the bottom of the inning. Wes Sconce ’04, also with a three hit
game, Chamberlain, Cliff Sosin ’04, and Anguiano all scored, but
Gettysburg came back and added six in the sixth and seventh innings to
take the 14-9 victory.

On Friday, the Garnet came close and lost a game to the F&M
Diplomats. Sconce hit a three-run homer in the first, but the Dips
added two in the bottom of the inning. The score remained 3-2 until
Ryan Pannorfi scored in the fifth. F&M added 9 runs in the next
inning and a half to Swarthmore’s one, giving the Dips the victory.

The Garnet return to action on Tuesday with a 3:00 p.m. start at
home against Muhlenberg.

*****

In a remarkable repeat of the Garnet’s most recent victory over
Muhlenberg, Swat swept NYU 9-0.

Anjani Reddy ’04 and Sonya Reynolds ’07 were the first winners of
the match, followed by Waverly Lutz ’07 and Sara Sargent ’07, and
Kristina Pao ’04 and Ellie Suzuki ’06. Reddy, Suzuki, Pao and Reynolds
were all double winners.

Swarthmore is now 4-2 for the season.

*****

Adding to the Garnet’s winning record, Saturday’s 15-3 match was a
clear cut victory for Swat.

Early in the game it was clear that the Tide was on a roll as goals
were scored left and right. Jackie Kahn ’04 matched her game record of
6 goals and added another game to her scoring streak, bringing the
current tally up to 27.

Katie Crawford ’07, Athena Samaras ’07, Heidi Fieselmann ’06, and
Lindsay Roth ’07 all scored two goals each. Jenn Hart ’04 was also
instrumental in the near shutout, blocking 4 shots.

*****

Sunday’s match was a victory for the Garnet, led by Mike Cullinan
’06 with a score of 76 on a par 70, his career best. Matt Draper ’05,
Erik Zwick ’07, and Zach Moody ’07 all posted strong scores to help
Swat win, 314-377.

*****

Swatties performed well at their meet on Saturday at Widener
University. Senior Njideka Akunyili broke the meet record in the 1500
meter, beating the second place runner by 3 full seconds.

In addition, Matt Williams ’04 landed second place in the 400 meter
hurdles, Sarah Hobbs ’06 placed third in the 800 meter, rookie
collegiate jumper Jennifer Stevenson ’06 snagged 3rd in the long jump,
and Tyler Lyson ’06 grabbed 5th place in the 400 meter dash.

*****

In a grueling 6 hour match, the Garnet finally fell, 5-2. Though the
early matches looked promising, with Swat doubles winning over and over
again, in the end #8 Washington and Lee lasted longer than our #19 home
team.

Mike Noreika ’04 and Frank Visciano ’04, Brian Park ’06 and Zac Rodd
’06, and Ben Rae ’04 and Jon Reiss ’07 all won doubles matches. Park
also pulled out a singles victory, the only one for Swat.

*****

The Centennial Conference opener was a downer for Swat as Gettysburg
won, 16-3. Joe DeSimone ’04, Tim Chryssikos ’05, and John Cleaver ’04
all scored for the Garnet, but the Bullets had already forged ahead. In
a valiant effort, Steven Isbister ’04 made 15 saves in goal.

*****

The women’s rugby team dominated Lehigh 17-0 on Saturday, with tries
scored by Kristin Davis ’06 and Reena Nadler ’06 and a conversion by
Kirsten Vannice ’04. Davis, scoring two of the three tries, led Swat to
victory. Liz Englehart ’05, Anna Leach ’06, and Emily Rhoades ’04 also
had impressive performances.

The women return to action next Saturday at home against East
Stoudsburg at 11 a.m.

Thanks to Kirsten Vannice for providing the results.

*****

Today:
Golf hosts Arcadia and Cabrini, 1:15 p.m.

Tomorrow:
Softball hosts Ursinus (DH), 3:00 p.m.
Baseball hosts Muhlenberg, 3:00 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Never judge a book by its movie.”
–J.W. Eagan

*****

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