What do you think about looksmaxxing?
Luca Montoya ’27: I think it’s very funny that people, uh, men who consider themselves straight, are so invested in performing for other men.
Mina Oishi-Patel ’26: I thought looksmaxxing was when you’re trying to max out on everything you can to make yourself look attractive … I mean, I’m all for self-improvement.
Jay Egnal ’29: I stay looksmaxxing every day. Looksmaxxing. If my jawline is not, like, sharp with, like, cutting paper sharp, then I’m not there. Like, like I’m on them. Looksmaxxing. Grind set.
Katerina Krysan ’28: I think that they stole all their shit from ED Twitter. Women have been doing it for fucking ages, and we’ve kept it on the down low. I feel like they should also shut the fuck up about it, because women actually don’t care if your eyes slant a certain way, or if your freaking cheekbones are not defined enough.
Max Moon ’29: I think it’s unnecessary. I think you don’t need to go to extremes to be a beautiful person. You should just treat your body well. But if you don’t have washboard abs, you suck.
Ilima Beattie ’29: Yeah, I think there’s an extent that a lot of people put some sort of effort into looking good. But I don’t think it’s necessary for you to go to crazy amounts … It’s okay.
Zoe Zuloaga ’29: I think self-love is one of the things that I prioritize, and I think everyone should learn to prioritize. There’s nothing wrong with caring about your appearance and wanting to make yourself feel the best in your body, but if it’s used in a toxic way or becomes an unhealthy obsession, then that’s when I think it’s time to draw the line …
Jay Egnal ’29: [In response to Zoe] But also, like, I could be drawing the line with my jaw.
Leia Immanuel ’26: Shoot for the stars. Set goals for yourself.
Elijah Santos ’26: I saw a presentation on looksmaxxing for my anthropological linguistics project for class last semester. Let’s just say there’s a lot of sinister history behind it — more than people think, wow, but I’m not gonna elaborate because it’s a whole deep dive that some people are gonna have to do on their own.
Sho Glashausser ’26: I don’t think I know someone who talks about doing it, but I mean, in general, I don’t like how much pressure there is on people to have certain appearances. Personally, I don’t find it healthy to try to meet society’s expectations.
Laila Warrick ’28: I don’t really know much about looksmaxing. All I know is the edits that are like “sub three animes, trying the anime max.” Then it would cut to a “real anime max.”
Natalie Rosa ’26: It kind of reminds me of that guy, Andrew Tate, from a few years ago, who was part of that very masculine trend of trying to be super ripped and stuff. I feel like it’s just too extreme right now.
Ty Orsag ’26: I think [looksmaxxing is] honestly based in eugenics and various kinds of supremacy, usually white supremacy. I think it is actually very dangerous to think we are better than people just because of looks.
Do you care about the Olympics?
Max Moon ’29: I think it’s cool. I mean, you don’t have to watch every event, but it’s cool to see [how] people can push their bodies, and it’s cool to see what other countries are up to.
Ilima Beattie ’29: Ice skating, volleyball, and gymnastics, only.
Jay Egnal ’29: I love the Olympics. I think the U.S. should pay their Olympic athletes like other countries do. So fuck that … There’s no gymnastics in the winter, either. I know because my favorite gymnastics guy was falling down a mountain … It was slippery. It was snowing.
Zoe Zuloaga ’29: Lowkey forgot they were happening, but I do love some field hockey and some synchronized diving.
Leia Immanuel ’26: I like the alt figure skater Alysa Liu.
Julian Schwartz ’28: No.
Elijah Santos ’26: Not really.
Laila Warrick ’28: No, but I wanted that little white boy to fail — Ilia [Malinin]. He is a little whiny baby. He wasn’t even the first person to do a backflip on the ice; a Black woman did it first. I was praying for his downfall.
Sho Glashausser ’26: I’m honestly not into watching sports at all. I’ve never watched the Super Bowl, for example. Sports watching is not my thing, so I think it’d be neat. It’s neat when I hear about things, but I don’t follow it.
Mina Oishi-Patel ’26: Not really, no. Even games at Swat … I’m not really into it.
Natalie Rosa ’26: I’ve just never really been raised to care about sports like that, so I’m not really into basketball or football.
Katerina Krysan’28: I usually care more about the Summer Olympics. I have been seeing stuff about [Ilia Malinin] who did his backflip or whatever. I like that girl with her striped hair. America’s really interesting right now, but the Olympics, you know, patriotism, I guess …
Ty Orsag ’26: I think it’s good because it does promote a lot of unity. I know athletes from America are not paid much. They’re paid per medal. But because athletes aren’t paid by their country to do it, I think they’re free to actually represent their country, rather than represent what their country believes it should be.
Luca Montoya ’27: I only learned that they were happening like three days ago. I watched some figure skating. I think that [Illia Malinin] was put under an immense amount of pressure, and I feel bad for him.
In honor of Presidents’ Day, what is your nightmare presidents blunt rotation?
Laila Warrick ’28: Thomas Jefferson — he would think I was one of his slaves. Barack [Obama] — he would probably not be happy with me, and I want to make him proud. Now I’m gonna be subversive … I’m gonna say JFK. He just looks off. And I think if I was around him while I was on a substance, I would start getting scared.
Katerina Krysan ’28: I’m stealing Laila’s : Thomas Jefferson. Now I am gonna go in a different direction and say George Washington cause his teeth would scare me. Obviously, Donald [Trump] is a nightmare. Ronald Reagan. Oh, Nixon, because he’s so sweaty. That is what everyone hated him for, because he was so sweaty. He was sweaty on the TV, and everyone was like “Ew, gross! Nixon, yuck! Sweaty boy Nixon!”
Luca Montoya ’27: It’s got to have Nixon and Reagan, you know, with the war on drugs. Bill Clinton. And … Warren G. Harding. He was scandalous. He wrote letters to his lovers about his, you know what … and he named it. He was a terrible president. Super corrupt, one of the most corrupt administrations in history. He was just so incompetent, and it makes me so angry that I think that he fits on that rotation.
Julian Schwartz ’28: I don’t know … like Trump or [Border Czar Tom Homan], I guess?
Jay Egnal ’29: I would hate to have a blunt with Trump. That’s easy. Nixon. Reagan, honestly. This is a hot take, but I think George W. Bush would be fun to have a blunt with, because brother is so weird. Overall, Obama, Lincoln, Bush, Jefferson for the dream, for the dream blunt rotation.
Max Moon ’29: Nixon. I really want to have one with Lincoln. I’m turning the question around. I don’t think I’d want George Washington.
Jay Egnal ’29: Who’s the one that died after day two due to pneumonia? I’m sharing a blunt with him…
Max Moon ’29: JFK, how do you feel about JFK?
Jay Egnal ’29: I’d share a blunt with JFK. Wasn’t there this one thing that came out recently about him constantly being on methamphetamines, whoa. Like every seven hours, maybe he wasn’t shot. You know, I’m just, I’m grasping for straws. J. Edgar Hoover, nightmare blunt rotation. And nightmare, nightmare, nightmare. FDR: Franklin Delano Roosevelt — full legal name.
Ilima Beattie ’29: Another nightmare. Andrew Jackson.
Zoe Zuloaga ’29: Sleepy Joe and Donald Trump twice, and then maybe George Washington for nightmare.
Leia Immanuel ’26: Any of them, I don’t want to smoke with any of them.
Elijah Santos ’26: I don’t know. I actually don’t know.
Sho Glashausser ’26: [In response to Elijah] It’s okay. How would you feel sharing a blunt with Reagan?
Elijah Santos ’26: [In response to Sho] Yeah, I don’t think that’s what’s gonna happen.
Mina Oishi-Patel ’26: Donald Trump, definitely. I feel like he’s enough to be a nightmare on his own.
Natalie Rosa ’26: Bill Clinton — I feel like he’s sick. They’re all lowkey sick. I would say George Washington too; there’s a lot of sus shit. I feel like I’d put a lot of the early presidents — I think most of them owned slaves, I’ve heard. Donald Trump is definitely up there, too.
Ty Orsag ’26: Andrew Jackson — that would be awful. I have to put Taft on there, because I just think high Taft would be terrifying. I mean, obviously, Trump, if it’s a nightmare. I’ll also put on Teddy Roosevelt. He said some really bad stuff and was very racist towards Native Americans.
What do you guys think of “Date Drop.”?
(“Date Drop.” is a new weekly matchmaking service that originated at Stanford University and has recently been introduced to Swarthmore.)
Sho Glashausser ’26: Quite frankly, I think I’ll have to try it out!
Zoe Zuloaga ’29: The common problem [with Hinge] is that they always get Swat matches. So why would you want that every week with a random person? You’re specifically choosing the bad part about what’s already bad … [I]f you want to meet people, you should meet them organically.
Jay Egnal ’29: [In response to Zoe] I think I’m on the same page. It just seems like a lot every week. Oh my gosh, take me out to dinner first, but not like that, actually.
Ilima Beatty ’29: I don’t know. I’m just not much of an online dating person anyway.
Max Moon ’29: I don’t know if I have a say in this because I have a beautiful, loving girlfriend of two years.
Jay Egnal ’29: [In response to Max] His name is Max Moon. He loves his girlfriend …
Max Moon ’29: … I think it’s cool to have the opportunity to be there, because the nice thing about it is you don’t have to do it. So I’m sure there’s someone out there who would love to use it and love to try it out. And so let the people have their opportunities. You can vote with your choice.
Leia Immanuel ’26: Stir the pot. Stir the pot.
Julian Schwartz ’28: Sounds awesome.
Elijah Santos ’26: It’s about time. I feel Swat Marriage Pact … I don’t know. I feel it matches people based on similarities, not necessarily chemistry. I like the weekly aspect of [Date Drop.] because it encourages people to know more people, not just focus on one person the entire semester because of Swat Marriage Pact or Screw, even.
Laila Warrick ’28: I’m scared. I’m gonna start doing devious stuff with it, because you can ship your friends with people, so I’m just gonna start doing that to random people. And hopefully I like that. They have bad times.
Mina Oishi-Patel ’26: I think if this were a bigger campus, it’d be easier. Here, everything is drama, so if you were to go on some random date with someone, it would be a whole thing. I feel like if you got to meet in Philly, it would be better.
Natalie Rosa ’26: It kind of seems like speed-dating vibes. I feel like it would stress me out a bit. Maybe as a first year, I would have been more interested in it. But I don’t know about it now.
Katerina Krysan ’28: I was pressured into signing up. And so I think that I’m just gonna opt out of the matches and just stalk people and matchmake.
Ty Orsag ’26: I think it’s cute. I mean, I did the Marriage Pact as a bit, which I think is kind of similar. I haven’t done it, so I don’t know, but it’s cute. I think if nothing else, it might make people talk to each other on this campus, which is always a benefit.
Luca Montoya ’27: They’re not enough people at Swarthmore to accommodate getting a new match every week. You’re gonna get through everyone. That’s if everyone was doing it, too. And not everyone’s doing it. The pool is simply not large enough.
