Monday, April 26, 2004

by Josh Hausman
Gazette Weatherman

Summary: Apart from Tuesday and Wednesday, unusually mild weather will
persist this week.

by Brendan Moriarty

Gazette Reporter

Lawrence Lessig, a prominent icon of the Free Culture movement, spoke
passionately to a full Science Center lecture hall last Friday evening.
Lessig discussed the origins of the movement, which ultimately seeks to
reform copyright law in a new era of digital technologies. New digital
technologies have allowed anyone with a $1500 computer system to
borrow, alter and mix material from the past – from music to lyrics to
public speeches – for new creative purposes. Existing copyright laws,
however, place tight restrictions on these everyday practices and
stifle creativity for the independent artist.

In a theatrical presentation saturated with audio and video clips,
Lessig drew upon many examples to familiarize the audience with the
cause. He presented the case of DJ Danger Mouse, who mixed music from
the Beatle’s White Album with Jay-Z’s Black Album to create his own
Grey Album. Failing to have gained the permission of the copyright
holders, the EMI recording company prohibited the distribution of this
creation in early 2004. For Free Culture activists, this represents an
example of how corporate interests stifle artistic creativity via
outdated copyright laws.

Lessig sought to dispel a common misconception that the movement
champions the right to download copyrighted music freely from the
Internet. Said Lessig, “This isn’t just about consumption. If this is
about getting Britney Spears for free then I don’t want anything to do
with it.” Instead, he emphasized, the movement is about the freedom to
remake and contribute to an ever-changing culture by borrowing upon the
material of the past.

Lessig is a central figure in the Free Culture movement. In his
introduction to the evening’s event, Swarthmore Coalition for the
Digital Commons president Nelson Pavlosky ’06 stated that if it wasn’t
for Lessig, he and his peers would not have thought to sue Diebold or
create SCDC in the last year.

The presence of laptops and video cameras, as well as a rousing
standing ovation were representative of the audience’s sympathy to the
message.

Friday’s event also marked the launch of freeculture.org, a website
created by SCDC to mobilize students around the world for the cause of
“freeing culture.”

*****

by Jonathan Ference

Living and Arts Editor

The Budget truck that appeared in Benjamin West parking lot this past
Sunday elicited some strange looks from passersby, but its presence was
actually altruistic: the truck was the collection point for used and
unwanted bikes that will be used to benefit the poor across the
world.  Swarthmore’s Rotaract club arranged for Pedals for
Progress (P4P), a non-profit organization with operations in the
northeast and middle Atlantic, to come to Swarthmore for the afternoon.

The project was spearheaded by Teresa Kelley ’07, who had prior
experience with P4P.  Kelley commented, “I did it last year at my
high school and wanted to see it continue. I want it to be an annual
thing.”  The organization functions by getting groups like
Rotaract to sponsor and plan drives; P4P offers support to the drive
and then hauls the bicycles away for distribution.

Pedals for Progress takes collected bikes and ships them overseas to a
wide variety of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with which they
are affiliated.  These NGOs then sell the bicycles or give them to
the poor, who are able to use them “to get to jobs, markets, customers,
and schools,” according to the P4P brochure.

Swarthmore students were hard at work during the afternoon drive doing
some minor touch-ups to the bikes, but mostly spent their time
compacting them for shipping and helping donors.  Most donors were
Swarthmore ville residents, like Amy Sisson, who mentioned that the
drive “seemed like a really good use for old bikes.”  Kelley has
hopes of expanding the drive to involve the college more directly,
rather than simply rely on what she called the “supportive” local
residents: in the future, Kelley hopes that bicycles that have been
hopelessly abandoned around the college will be able to be given to the
program. That idea was not approved by Public Safety for this year.

Steve Caporelli, the P4P representative present on Sunday, explained
that more than 75,000 bicycles have been sent overseas in the first
seven years the program has been in existence, benefiting projects like
reforestation efforts in Ghana. 
According to Kelley, the Swarthmore drive collected 64 bikes and $895
to benefit Pedals for Progress, all of which is tax deductible to
donors. Kelley said in an e-mail, “I’m really excited by this response.
I’ve learned a lot in the planning process, and will be using this as a
jumping off point for an even better bike drive in future years.”

*****

* Hundreds of thousands of women rallied on the National Mall Sunday to
support abortion rights and to protest the Bush administration’s
policy, which people describe as an “erosion of reproductive
liberties.” This event was the first mass demonstration in Washington
for abortion rights since one held in 1992 which drew about 500,000
people. Sunday’s crowd was estimated to be over 750,000 people. Senator
Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a pre-rally breakfast, “We didn’t have
to march for 12 long years because we had a government that respected
the rights of women. The only way we are going to avoid having to march
again and again and again is to elect John Kerry president,” adding,
“Any woman who shows up to march today and doesn’t register to vote is
wasting her time and ours.” CNN.com reported that “the event was not
overtly partisan but denunciations of Bush set the tone from the stage
and the ground.” Several hundred abortion opponents gathered along the
march route, which they called the “death march.” They held up pictures
of fetuses at eight weeks and signs that read, “Kerry = Baby Killer.”
Deborah Cardamone had a cardboard tombstone with the names of women who
had died from abortions. Her daughter had died soon after getting an
abortion. She said, “I am just here to represent [my daughter] and all
the other women who didn’t have a choice. She was murdered along with
my grandson.” However, women from across the US and from nearly 60
countries voiced their opinions about women’s rights, saying Bush’s
policies are affecting women globally. Feminist Gloria Steinem said,
“The desire to control reproduction is the mark of authoritarian
governments around the world and, unfortunately, it’s ours, as well.”

* Tension rose between the US forces and the Iraqis in Najaf, the holy
Shiite Muslim city currently under the power of wanted radical cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr and his militia. Coalition official Dan Senor reported
that the Iraqis are storing weapons in mosques, shrines, and schools,
and added, “This explosive situation threatens the local population
there that is already in a very dangerous situation.” US officials have
announced that they want to capture al-Sadr who is suspected of killing
a rival cleric, and Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt restated that al-Sadr is
their main target, not the city of Najaf. Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N.
envoy in charge of helping Iraq build a new government, said that the
US troops deployed outside of Najaf should not enter the city, “Sending
the tanks rolling into a place like this…is not the right thing to
do. And I think the Americans know that extremely well now.” In the
Iraqi city of Fallujah, residents have been directed to surrender their
heavy weapons, but US authorities said they are extending their
agreement for at least two more days. People in both Iraq and
Washington fear a military attack on either city will cause an outbreak
in Iraq.

* A recent reappearance of SARS in China has health officials weary and
resulted in the placement of several hundred people under observation.
In Beijing there have been one confirmed and five suspected cases, with
the parents of the confirmed case included in the suspected cases.
China’s health ministry said that 337 people in Beijing who may have
been exposed to the virus are under observation for signs of the virus.
In Anhui there was also one confirmed case and another suspected case;
the woman who may have had SARS passed away on April 19 and was the
mother of the person with the confirmed case. Another 133 people in
Anhui are also under observation for the virus. The World Health
Organization intends to send a team of bio-safety experts to
investigate a possible link from China’s Institute of Virology in
Beijing to any of the recent cases of SARS.

*****

“Corporate Globalization, the FTAA & What YOU Can Do About It”

Scheuer Room, 7:00 p.m.

Talk by Maria Alvarez ’04: “Sterilization of Native American Women in
the 1960s and the 1970s”

Trotter 303, 7:30 p.m.

Genocide Awareness Month Teach-In

Trotter 203, 8:30 p.m.

SWIL Movie Night: S1m0ne

SCI 101, 10:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Maki Sato

Gazette Reporter

Swarthmore hosted the Centennial Conference Championships for women’s
tennis this weekend, and the Garnet’s Anjani Reddy ’04 won her third
singles title after beating Amy Schmidt from Muhlenberg College 6-3,
6-4. Reddy’s match against Schmidt was her 49th consecutive Centennial
Conference win and last ever conference match.

Although their match began outside at the Faulkner Courts near Wharton,
bad weather forced the girls to continue inside in the Mullan Tennis
Center. Reddy had been leading 4-2 in the first set outside, but after
moving, her opponent nearly caught up, bringing the score to 4-3.
However, Reddy regained her momentum quickly and won the next two
games, making the final score of the first set 6-3.

Schmidt took the lead as the second set commenced with a score of 3-1.
But Reddy, after laboring a bit, reloaded herself with energy and
passion and won three straight sets, reclaiming the lead at 4-3. The
two then each took a game to bring the score to 5-4, but Reddy earned
the final point, giving her the 6-4 win and the championship title.

On Saturday, Reddy and Caroline Celano ’04 qualified for the
semifinals, but Reddy defeated teammate Celano (6-2, 6-3) in the
semifinals on Sunday morning.

In doubles action, Reddy and Sonya Reynolds ’07 also advanced to
semifinals, but were defeated by Washington College’s Shoko Nakamura
and Ne’ko Browder. The game was very tight and the pair fought a noble
battle, but the girls lost 9-8 (4).

Swarthmore will compete in the NCAA regionals this weekend.

*****

Swarthmore’s golf team earned fifth place in the Centennial Conference
championships this weekend, with an overall three day score of
957.  Matt Draper ’05 led Swarthmore with a personal 238 three day
total; he earned a team high eleventh place.  Ed Goldstein carded
an overall 242.  Michael Cullinan ’06 and Eric Zwick ’07 finished
with a score of 243, and Zach Moody ’07 earned a 245 in total.

*****

The Garnet baseball team split a double header this weekend with
Haverford. Swarthmore won the first game 4-1.  Senior Matt
Goldstein hit two home runs to lead the Garnet; he had three RBIs and
two runs scored.  Dan Chamberlain ’04 scored the other two runs
for Swarthmore.   Jared Leiderman ’05 went all the way and
earned the win for the Garnet, allowing only three hits in the
game.  Goldstein took the loss in the second game, which Haverford
won 8-5. The Garnet end the season 5-20 overall and 4-14 in the
conference.

*****

The Men’s track team took second place in the 4×400 meter relay this
weekend in a time of 3:26.43.  Matt Williams ’04, Vernon Chaplin
’07, Dylan McGrew ’07, and Tyler Lyson ’06 gave the Garnet this
finish.  The Garnet will host the Centennial Conference
Championships this weekend.

*****

The men’s lacrosse team fell to Franklin and Marshall 12-6 this
weekend. Tim Chryssikos ’05 led the Garnet offense with three
goals.  Steven Isbister ’04 made 12 saves for Swarthmore. 
The Garnet (5-8, 2-4 in the CC) will host Washington at 4:00 p.m. on
Wednesday.

*****

The women’s lacrosse team fell to McDaniel 18-9 this weekend in
Centennial Conference action.  Swarthmore’s offense was led by
Heidi Fieselmann ’06, Ele Forbes ’05, and Lindsay Roth ’07, who scored
two times apiece.  The Garnet, now 8-7 and 2-6 in conference play,
will travel to Haverford on Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. for their last match
of the season.

*****

Swarthmore’s softball team lost both games of a double header with
McDaniel this weekend, falling 7-0 and 1-0.  In the first game,
pitcher Emily Remus ’06 only gave up 3 earned runs in the loss. 
Mary Mintel ’05 had two hits, and Danielle Miller ’06 picked up the
only other Garnet hit in the first game.  Marianne Klingaman ’07
gave up only one run in the second game, but her pitching was not
enough as Mintel had the only Garnet hit of the game (a double) and
could not score a run.  Swarthmore, now 9-22 (3-11 in conference
play), will host Widener at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday for their final match
of the season.

*****

The men’s rugby team lost 21-10 to Widener this Saturday. Michael
DeFillipo scored two tries for Swarthmore.

Thanks to Dan Forman for providing the results

*****

Today:

There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:

Softball hosts Widener, 4:00 p.m.

Women’s lacrosse at Haverford, 4:30 p.m.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“To know all is not to forgive all. It is to despise everybody.”

–Quentin Crisp

*****

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