From John Koenig’s “The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows,” “sonder” is defined as “the realization that each random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own … an epic story that continues invisibly around you … in which you might appear only once, as an extra sipping coffee in the background, as a blur of traffic passing on the highway, as a lighted window at dusk.” It is this idea that made the famous Facebook page Humans of New York (HONY) so fascinating to me, to the point of actually creating my own offshoots of it — first at my home church, and then for the Amherst Chris
As the semester begins to end, students are preparing for final exams, papers, projects and other assignments to make sure they get all their work done before holiday break. At such a culturally and economically diverse institution such as Amherst, the way each student spends their leisure time during the break can vary tremendously. It is easy to overlook the depth and ubiquitous nature of diversity when the holiday season rolls around due to the bombardment of Christmas-themed commercials on TV, items at stores, and basically everything else you can think of.
Despite graduating more than half its starting lineup last year, the Amherst men’s basketball team has come out strong in their first few games of the 2017-18 season. Per tradition, the Mammoths began their season by hosting the Ken Wright Invitational Tournament, which featured three teams in addition to Amherst — Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA), Sarah Lawrence College and Western New England University.
The Amherst men’s hockey team has had a solid start to the 2017-18 season. After four games, the Mammoths boast an overall record of 2-1-1 and are feeling confident heading into two big NESCAC matchups this weekend.
“We’ve looked pretty good so far,” senior captain Patrick Mooney said. “We need to work on our consistency a little, but we definitely have the pieces to make some noise this year.”
At the Division III National Cross Country Championships, the Amherst men’s cross country team placed fourth overall, the highest-ever finish in program history at the season-concluding meet. The Mammoths scored 251 points, just 18 points ahead of fifth-place Washington University in St. Louis. Prior to travelling to Elsah, Ill. for nationals, the Mammoths were ranked eighth in the nation and were not favorites for a podium finish. Furthermore, the team’s highest place finish before was ninth in 2014.
The past two weeks have seen the Amherst women’s basketball team open what appears to be another incredibly promising season with four dominating wins. After winning last year’s NESCAC and DIII National Championship, going undefeated in the process, the Mammoths continued their winning ways with victories over Lyndon State College, Springfield College, Little Three rival Wesleyan and Emmanuel College.
Over the first weekend of Thanksgiving break the Amherst men’s squash team returned to the court, opening the season with two wins. On Friday, Nov. 17, Amherst bested NESCAC rival Tufts, before overwhelming Boston University the following day. Both matches took place at home at the Davenport Courts.
