Wednesday, September 22, 2004

by Micaela Baranello
Gazette Reporter

Sometimes they start at 7:00 in the morning.  This year, Parrish
residents have a communal alarm clock: the bangs and crashes of
construction.  For most Swatties, the most noticeable change in
Parrish has been the loss of the Parlors.  For the lucky students
upstairs, construction has become part of their lives.

Upperclassmen knew what they were getting into when they picked into
Parrish, warned before the housing lottery of the noise and
disturbances.  According to Emily Nolte ’07, most residents have
been tolerant of the work, and Parrish’s prime location and large rooms
makes it still a desirable place, even for unwarned first-years.

Problems remain.  “It’s not too big of an issue, but it would be
nice if we had a functional lounge,” Nolte says.  Study breaks are
held in the halls, and there are no public computers or TVs. 
There has only been one major problem so far, when the water was turned
off last Thursday without the fourth floor women being notified. 
“I’d been at the gym and I went to take a shower and found the bathroom
boarded up.  We hadn’t been warned at all.”    This
turned out to be a communication rupture, and Nolte describes the
college administration as very apologetic.  Construction workers
have also given residents one day’s notice to some residents clean out
their closets for valve work.

Another organization affected by the construction is WSRN, Swarthmore’s
radio station.  Formerly located at the very top of Parrish, the
station has been moved to Third North, a rather large
undertaking.   The station is off to a late start due to the
move, but hopefully will begin broadcasting the week before October
break.  The recording library and most of the equipment has been
moved, but the wiring still is incomplete, says WSRN Program Director
and Engineer Mark Handler ’05.  “It will be basically the same,”
he says.  The only large changes from the move have been the loss
of Studio B and the obvious inability to broadcast from Parrish Parlors.

The construction isn’t scheduled to be completed until September
2005.  Meanwhile, the residents and WSRN staff are working around
it.  Looking on the bright side, Handler says, “We don’t have to
climb so many stairs.”  And, when the construction is done, there
will be an elevator.

*****

by Anya Carrasco
Gazette Reporter

After meeting each other by chance at the orientation activities fair
as they both searched for a water polo club that does not exist, Rasa
Petrauskaite ’08 and Eric Christiansen ’08 took it upon themselves to
organize a water polo club at Swat.

Commented Petrauskaite, “As soon as I got to the Activities Fair I
asked where the Water Polo table was.  When they said ‘we don’t
have a water polo club,’ I asked if I could borrow some pen and paper
and I walked through the crowd shouting ‘water polo, water
polo!’”   Christiansen also went to the Activities Fair in
hopes of joining the water polo club.  To their dismay, they found
out that the Swarthmore Clubs and Organizations webpage was outdated,
and they became determined to change this reality.  Although the
swim team plays water polo on Fridays from 4 – 5:30, and there
technically is a chartered water polo club, it has been years since
anyone joined and it has never been as serious as Christiansen and Rasa
hope to make it.

Both of them cite the intramural water polo club listed on the site as
a reason for choosing Swarthmore over another school. 
Petrauskaite and Christiansen both happen to be from California, where
water polo is a big deal.  Petrauskaite’s high school, about the
size of Swarthmore, has four water polo teams: two varsity and two
junior varsity.  Petrauskaite was a member of the varsity team at
her school, and Christiansen, whose school is one of the best in
California at water polo, also played on a team.  So they want to
share their passion with the rest of Swarthmore.

Christiansen and Petrauskaite are continuing the work of Kaena Horowitz
’06, who worked hard towards a similar goal last year. 
Christiansen says that their “ultimate pie-in-the-sky goal is to have
it become a varsity sport.”  Before doing so, they hope to join a
local league.

In order to accomplish this feat, they first need to get funding from
the school because they do not want to start the club without the
appropriate equipment.  “We don’t want to be looked at as a joke,”
says Christiansen.  So far they have been using a bench instead of
a cage, a soccer and not a water polo ball, and they have not been
wearing any caps.  Although they have yet to receive a response
from Student Council, they do not expect funding to be a major
issue.  The cost of caps, a cage, and a ball would all be within
$200.

They also need people to join their club.  So far they have 23
interested students.  Because this number reflects the efforts of
just one person walking through a crowd, Petrauskaite and Christiansen
expect a larger list.

When asked about the reality of all these things being accomplished,
they expressed themselves very confidently.  Christiansen said, “I
know it’s going to happen­it’s not a matter of whether it will
exist, but when it will exist.”

If you are interested in joining the club and/or contributing to
Petrauskaite and Christiansen’s efforts, you can reach them at
rpetrau1@swarthmore.edu.

*****

The Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility has selected six
Lang Center Associates and two Associate Coordinators for the 2004-2005
academic year. The associates’ mission is to connect students with
volunteer, internship, and activism opportunities in the area.

Coordinators:
Oriana Galarde-Este ’06
Teresa Kelley ’07

Associates:
Hunter Bandy ’07
Addie Candib ’05
Wee Chua ’06
Lissy Jaquette ’07
Jaselyn Justiniano ’07
Maceray Sesay ’07

Compiled by Greg Leiserson

*****

* The terrorist group Unification and Jihad, believed to be led by Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed to have beheaded a second American hostage,
Jack Hensley, in a report posted on an Islamist website Tuesday.
According to US officials, a decapitated body has been found in the
Baghdad area, but it has not yet been positively identified. The post
on Tuesday follows a similar post on Monday showing the beheading of
Hensley’s colleague Eugene “Jack” Armstrong, whose death has been
confirmed. Both Armstrong and Hensley were kidnapped on September 16th.
Kenneth Bigley of Great Britain was also kidnapped at the same time.
The captors are demanding the release of female prisoners held by the
American military and say that they killed Hensley after a 24 hour
deadline passed without action. The report on the website said that the
group will soon post the video of the second beheading. US officials
say that no women are being held in the Iraqi prisons cited by the
group, but that two high-value prisoners are currently being held in an
undisclosed location. The post also included the threat that “[t]he
British hostage will face the same fate unless the British government
does what’s necessary to free him.”

* Leaders of right-wing paramilitary forces involved in peace talks
with the Colombian government demanded an investigation into the death
of Miguel Arroyave, leader of the Centauros Bloc, on Tuesday. The
attorney general’s office confirmed that one of the body’s found at a
rural ambush site near Puerto Lleras was in fact Arroyave’s late
Monday. The Centauros Bloc is one of the largest groups, with over 5000
active combatants, in the umbrella organization United Self Defense
Forces of Colombia, or the AUC. In a statement published Tuesday in
Colombia’s largest daily newspaper, the AUC stated that Arroyave “was a
victim of a criminal attack…that is a blow against the peace talks
that all the members of our organization are a part of….We demand
from the authorities the most serious investigation…and at the same
time
publicly proclaim our will to continue exploring avenues of peace.”
According to CNN.com, “authorities suspect Arroyave was killed as part
of an internal power struggle among the paramilitaries, who emerged in
the 1980’s to wage a dirty war of assassinations and massacres against
leftist rebels but who have since become heavily involved in cocaine
trafficking.”

* In a speech before the general assembly of the United Nations on
Tuesday, President Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq and said
“all must fight the murderers.” In his speech, Bush made references to a
number of recent terrorist attacks saying “[m]embers of the United
Nations, the Russian children did nothing to deserve such awful
suffering and fright and death. The people of Madrid and Jerusalem and
Istanbul and Baghdad have done nothing to deserve sudden and random
murder.” Regarding the decision to invade Iraq, Bush explained, “[t]he
Security Council promised serious consequences for [Saddam Hussein’s]
defiance” and “[w]hen we say serious consequences, for the sake of
peace there must be serious consequences. And so a coalition of nations
enforced the just demands of the world.” The speech marked Bush’s
fourth appearance before the General Assembly during his term in office.

*****

“Bannes Books Week” Exhibit begins
McCabe Library, 8:30 a.m.

Indian film screening: Pyaasa
LPAC Cinema, 7:00 p.m.

Informational session with American Express Financial Advisors
Scheuer Room, 7:00 p.m.

Student Council Fireside Chat
Kohlberg Coffee Bar, 7:00 p.m.

TOPSoccer training session
Kohlberg 236, 7:30 p.m.

Tai Chi class
Upper Tarble, 8:00 p.m.

Film Society movie screenings: “Egg” and “Aguirre, Wrath of God”
Science Center 101, 9:00 p.m.

Pro-Choice Task Force informational meeting
Kohlberg 228, 10:00 p.m.

*****

SPORTS UPDATE

by Andrew Quinton
Gazette Reporter

The Swarthmore men’s soccer team dominated last night’s non-conference
game with the visiting Royals of Scranton University, but the game
ended in a scoreless tie as the Garnet could not put the ball in the
net. The tie keeps the Garnet undefeated at 4-0-1.

Both teams came out of the gate playing hard, and there was plenty of
back and forth action in the first 15 minutes of the match. Andrew
Terker ’06, fresh off his heroics in Sunday’s game, had a good scoring
chance 22 minutes in, but his shot was off the mark. The remainder of
the half saw Swarthmore controlling play in the Scranton half, with the
defense keeping the ball away from goalkeeper Ruben Heyman-Kantor
’06.  In particular, inside midfielder Patrick Christmas ’08
controlled the ball well and always distributed it to the open man.
“Pat was a warrior out there,” said Head Coach Eric Wagner. A
questionable no-call was made when Royal goalkeeper Matthew Richardson
appeared to touch the ball with his hands outside of the goal box, and
it may have cost the Garnet an excellent scoring opportunity off of a
free kick.

The second half was more of the same, with the Garnet usually
possessing the ball but never managing to score. Terker and Kirk
Ellison ’05 both had chances but were unable to convert. Heyman-Kantor
was a little more active in the second half. He finished the match with
5 saves. A final Swarthmore rush near the end of the half didn’t
culminate in a good shot, and the match headed to overtime.

Overtime brought still more of the same. The Garnet were simply unable
to convert on their offensive chances on this night. Crosses sailed
past the goal mouth, and shots went high and wide. The team suffered a
blow when co-Captain Alex Elkins ’06 went down with an injury and had
to come out before the second 10-minute overtime period. As the final
seconds ticked away, the remnants of the 150 fans who braved the cool
weather cheered the team for its fine effort. Swarthmore outshot
Scranton 19-11.

Fatigue may have contributed to the Garnet’s inability to convert. Rain
forced their previous match at Dickinson to be played last Sunday
instead of Saturday as originally scheduled. “We looked tired out
there,” noted Coach Wagner, “but that’s no excuse for not executing.”
The team will look to redeem itself and continue its undefeated season
in a Centennial Conference match at Gettysburg this coming
Saturday.  Play will kick off at 2:00 p.m., not 7:00 p.m. as
originally scheduled.

*****

The men’s golf team had a team score of 325 in their victory yesterday
afternoon at Holy Family’s tournament at Torresdale Frankford Country
Club. Holy Family finished in second with a score of 329, and Neumann
rounded out the top three with 343.  Matt Draper ’05 led the
Garnet with a 79.  Zach
Moody ’07 shot an 81.  Mike Cullinan ’06 and Ed Goldstein ’07
scored an 82 and an 83 respectively.

*****

The women’s volleyball team lost their match against Washington 3-2 on
Tuesday.  They split the first four games 22-30, 30-19, 22-30,
30-23 before falling 12-15 in the fifth and deciding game.  Erica
George ’07 had 18 kills and 21 digs in the match.  The Garnet are
now 5-8 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

*****

Today:
There are no contests scheduled for today.

Tomorrow:
There are no contests scheduled for tomorrow.

*****

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?”
— T.S. Eliot

***** 

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