VOLUME 1, ISSUE 1 Photo Courtesy of Matai Curzon ‘22
SUNDAY, MARCH 7, 2021
AMHERST, MASSACHUSETTS
In This Issue 5
NEWS College Shifts Into Gear as Hundreds of Students Arrive on Campus Rebecca Picciotto ‘22
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As Texas Freezes, Amherst Students Struggle to Weather The Storm Sophie Wolmer ‘23
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In Light of an Apparent Double Standard, Students Call for Greater Transparency on Covid Rules Enforcement Ryan Yu ‘22 and Natalie De Rosa ‘21
10 11 12 14 16 17 18 19 20
OPINION The Need for Community The Editorial Board Simple Tips for Better Zoom Teaching Lizzie Pratt ‘22 Smith College, Free Speech and the Modern Left Scott Brasesco ‘22
ARTS & LIVING Squid’s Louis Borlase on His Band’s Influences and Modern Post-Punk Milo Leahy-Miller ‘24 Revaluing Cinema in the Age of Streaming Services Noah John ‘21 “Writers & Lovers” Provides an Immersive Story of Romance and Friendship in the Midst of Loss Eren Levine ‘24
SPORTS Duncan Robinson Gives Back to his NESCAC Rival Anya Ramras ‘22 Amherst Women’s Basketball Making the Most of Time Off the Court Mike Schretter A Grand Slam Start Down Under For Tennis Stars Osaka and Djokovic Melanie Schwimmer ‘23
2 | The Amherst Student | March 7, 2021
THE AMHERST
Editor’s Note Over the past year, The Student, like the rest of us, has undergone both voluntary and involuntary change. The weekly newspapers that used to cover the entrances of Frost Library, Keefe Campus Center and other campus buildings have been put on pause due to Covid restrictions. In its place, our newsletter and website have become our central platforms of news delivery. The involuntary shift in medium has led us to confront our digital presence, leading us to expand. To that end, we launched two podcasts, Tusk Talks and The Student Sums It Up. Now, we introduce this new project as the next step in that progression, with all of the change of the past year in mind. The Amherst Student Magazine is an initiative designed to do a couple of things. First, it aims to archive. By republishing top stories of the past couple weeks, in the familiar (though slightly updated) style of our print newspaper, we continue to catalogue the defining moments of Amherst life in the 21st century. You’ll hear from our News, Opinion, Arts & Living and Sports sections to get a sense of what, in hindsight, we have seen as the most notable moments of the preceding weeks. Second, and equally as important, we launch this magazine with the intention of creating space for other types of storytelling. We want to make room for longform features and deep dives; for personal essays and creative nonfiction; and for narratives that go beyond the written word, such as the visual arts or works that span different media. This is also where you, our readers, might come in. We hope this magazine can also be a forum for you to engage with our content and with the broader Amherst community through either contributing the type of unconventional narratives mentioned above or a more traditional “Letter to the Editor.” As it stands now, The Student Magazine is but a prototype. There is much work to be done in terms of both content and design. But creating a space for the Amherst community is not a journey that we wish to embark on alone. In these next few issues, we will experiment with a number of variations of this new project, with the goal of refining a framework that best enables us to tell and retell these important stories. Throughout and after this process, we want to hear from you about what is and isn’t working, and where you think our next steps should lead us. We are truly grateful for your readership and engagement, especially at this important time in our college’s history. As always, we invite you to submit your queries, ideas or thoughts to astudent@amherst.edu, and we hope you enjoy not only this issue of The Student Magazine, but of all the issues to come.
STUDENT E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editors-in-Chief Ryan Yu Rebecca Picciotto Managing News Zach Jonas Sophie Wolmer Assistant News Yee-Lynn Lee Managing Opinion Scott Brasesco Skye Wu Managing Arts and Living Theo Hamilton Lauren Kisare Managing Sports Ethan Samuels Assistant Sports Liza Katz Liam Archaki Managing Design Anna Smith Digital Director Dylan Momplaisir S TA F F Publisher Emmy Sohn
Letters Policy The opinion pages of The Amherst Student are intended as an open forum for the Amherst community. The Student will print letters under 450 words in length if they are submitted to The Student offices in the Campus Center or to the paper’s email account (astudent@ amherst.edu) by noon on Sunday, after which they will not be accepted. The editors reserve the right to edit any letters exceeding the 450-word limit or to withhold any letter because of considerations of space or content. Letters must bear the names of all contributors and a phone number or email address where the author or authors may be reached. Letters and columns may be edited for clarity and Student style.
Publication Standards The Amherst Student is published weekly except during college vacations. The subscription rate is $75 per year or $40 per semester. The offices of The Amherst Student are located in the basement of Morrow Dormitory, Amherst College. All contents copyright © 2020 by The Amherst Student, Inc. All rights reserved. The Amherst Student logo is a trademark of The Amherst Student, Inc. Additionally, The Amherst Student does not discriminate on the basis of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or age. The views expressed in this publication do not reflect the views of The Amherst Student.
Connect With Us
Email: astudent@amherst.edu Twitter: @amherststudent Instagram: @amherststudent Facebook: @amherststudent
March 7, 2021 | The Amherst Student | 3
News
College Shifts Into Gear as Hundreds of Students Arrive on Campus Rebecca Picciotto ‘22 Editor-in-Chief From Thursday, Feb. 11 to Sunday, Feb. 14, students moved into their respective residence halls to begin the college’s second full Covid semester. The move-in period brought the total number of on-campus students to approximately 1,120. The college is now the most populated that it has been in nearly a year. As such, students moving to campus have been greeted by streamlined testing protocols and a stringent quarantine period. For most students on campus, the testing process began before they set foot in Amherst. This semester, the college partnered with Color, a Covid-19 testing and population genetics company, to send self-administered pre-arrival tests to students’ designated addresses. Those test results were received by the college for the student’s arrival date. According to Dean of Students Liz Agosto and Director of Emergency Management Matthew Hart, only one student received a positive test from Color and stayed at home as a result. Those whose pre-arrival Color results did not come in time or were inconclusive took a rapid antigen test upon their arrival to campus. All of the rapid tests administered came out negative. Testing has been a high priority of the college’s pandemic plan and accordingly, it was the first order of business for students getting to campus, after which they received 24 hours’ worth of food. Hart noted that though overall the testing process went “relatively smoothly,” there was a testing delay for some students whose shuttles arrived simultaneously. Majo Jaramillo ’24, who moved in on Thursday, was on one of the shuttles. “It was a rather smooth process except for the big line outside the Covid testing station. I had arrived in a shuttle with a lot of students from the Logan airport so we all headed directly to the alumni house, hence the wait time. Once I got tested though the process was very quick,” Jaramillo said. But beyond waiting in the cold, the testing line was many students’ first point of on-campus social interaction. Andrew Leung ’23E, who took It felt like there was the fall semester off to pursue an internship, dean anxious energy in scribed that “It felt like it was Orientation Day all the air when people over again. It felt like there was an anxious energy in the air when people saw each other on the testsaw each other on line or in the dorms for the first time, since the testing line or in ing you sort of remember people’s names and faces, the dorms for the first but it’s only made harder by everyone wearing a mask. Initial conversations were always pretty time, since you sort of remember people’s funny because everyone always talked about how they just did nothing in quarantine, which feels names and faces, but like it should be the slogan of 2020.” it’s only made harder Due to the college inviting back around 250 more students than it did last semester, the testing by everyone wearing center has been scaled up. Compared to the fall a mask. semester, Hart said, “We’re able to move more stuAndrew Leung ’23E dents through per hour and are staying open longer on student testing days.” Testing will also look different than last semester due to the weather. “In the fall, the testing center operated outdoors under open-sided tents on all but the coldest days,” Hart continued. Instead, testing takes place at Alumni House for the first part of the spring semester, until it gets warmer. After students finished testing, they moved into their assigned dorm rooms and began the quarantine period. For the first week of classes, all classes are being
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4 | The Amherst Student | March 7, 2021
Photo courtesy of Rebecca Picciotto ‘22
News conducted remotely, most buildings are inaccessible and students are asked to stay in their dorm rooms and engage in limited social interaction. Students who requested an alternate move-in date after the college transitioned out of the first phase of quarantine, that is when a majority of students on campus have received three negative tests, will spend their first quarantine phase at the Inn on Boltwood. The hotel is owned by the college and will operate as a make-shift quarantine space during the semester. Many students have taken the quarantine period in stride, using a non-ideal situation to get themselves settled and prepared for the coming semester. “The quarantine has been both boring and useful,” Jaramillo said. “I really want to go hang out with my friends, but at the same time I am grateful for the time I have to set my affairs in order. I am the kind of person that likes to plan every little thing and that requires time.” Leung, who is also on the men’s squash team, has been using the time for “journaling, reading a few books [he] brought, exercising and the occasional online game with friends, some of whom are directly across the hall.” He has tried to get creative to make his room a space to keep in shape for a squash season yet to come: “I have enough space in my room to do some exercises on my own with resistance bands and a foam roller, but it’s certainly not a squash court.” Dorm living in the time of Covid is a tenuous situation. Community advisors (CAs) are students responsible for ensuring that residents are enjoying their residence hall experience while also following safety protocols. Sam Schulz ’22 is a CA for Charles Pratt Hall, a first-year dormitory. He explained that it is “at times difficult to balance the importance of maintaining good relationships with my residents and the need to make sure people were following Covid guidelines to ensure everyone’s safety.” “I have also tried to find ways to interact on a casual level with residents, in addition to the semi-formal intro meeting that I had, which has had moderate success, but I think once things open up will be easier,” Schulz continued. As with most aspects of campus life, the Val experience has been overhauled since its pre-pandemic days, but there have also been some changes since the fall semester in response to student feedback. Director of Dining Services Joseph Flueckiger confirmed that Val will now offer a parfait bar for breakfast and a salad bar for lunch and dinner, which should address the student request for more fresh produce. Val is now also operating on a three-week rotation The food, at least of meals, compared to the two-week cycle of last what they gave me semester. for quarantine, was So far, students seem pleased. Gabriella Moore ’23, who was on campus in the fall and has “a lot a lot better this time of dietary restrictions,” said that the dining oparound. I was given a tions now provide more choices for her. lot of food I couldn’t “The food, at least what they gave me for quarantine, was a lot better this time around. I eat in the fall, but was given a lot of food I couldn’t eat in the fall, this time I got a lot of but this time I got a lot of different options,” said different options. Moore. Leung similarly has positive notes for his first couple days of the Covid version of Val: “As a Gabriella Moore ’23 vegetarian, I thought it would be difficult to maintain it with grab-and-go style food. But the meals so far have not only been seamless to pick up, but also more delicious than the things I make for myself most of the time.” With more students on campus this semester, staff members like the custodial team still face risks when it comes to coming to work in person. Heidi Kellogg, supervisor of event support services, recalled a staff member telling her, “I feel safer on campus than when I’m in a grocery store.” However, she recognizes that “Students leaving campus present the most concern. You only need to look at UMass and off-campus housing to recognize students are at a greater risk when outside the Amherst bubble.” Despite the risk and “heightened awareness of their own personal safety,” the custodial team has been expanded to fulfill an increased commitment to keeping
the campus clean. “Restroom cleaning in residence halls occurs three times a day, while disinfecting of these spaces, along with high-touch surfaces, occurs until 9:30 p.m.,” Kellogg explained. This weekend was the start of getting the college back into full gear to accommodate the student arrival process while also mitigating the possibility of a Covid outbreak similar to what has been taking place at UMass over the past couple of weeks. Agosto and Chief Student Affairs Officer Karu Kozuma have both noted that the administration is aware of these developments at UMass. The administration has “looked for lessons from it,” according to Agosto, but “it has not shifted our extremely cautious approach to the semester or the expectations that we currently have in place.” Overall, Agosto finds that the biggest risk of the move-in period is merely the concept of bringing people from all over the world (where rates of Covid are varied) into a contained space like the Amherst College campus. “While the scheduled move-in days are over, the next two weeks will indicate how well we did as a community with the quarantine period, mask wearing and distancing.” This article first appeared on February 27, 2021
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26 people have tested positive since February 1, 2021. Click the image to view the college’s live dashboard.
March 7, 2021 | The Amherst Student | 5
News
As Texas Freezes, Amherst Students Struggle to Weather The Storm
Photo courtesy of Eli Maierson ’23
Photo of a barren grocery store in Houston. Sophie Wolmer ‘23 Managing News Editor As the temperature dropped and blizzards engulfed the area, Amherst students in Texas shivered in their dark, cold homes this past week, unable to turn on the lights or access water. The unprecedented snow storm that began on Sunday, Feb. 14, devastated the state’s power grid and ground natural gas production to a halt. For Amherst students and their families, snow, ice, water-shortages and major power outages have posed insurmountable challenges to arriving at the college and to their remote learning. On Sunday morning, when the snow began, students were dazzled by the beautiful and dream-like blanket of snow over Texas. Yet, as darkness cast over the state, and more serious weather approached, the state descended into nightmarish conditions. The power grid of Texas was overwhelmed when the state’s residents turned on heating systems at the same time. To conserve power, The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) began rolling power outages on Monday, Feb. 15. That night, the temperature dipped below zero degrees in Northern Texas. The power grid froze. By Tuesday, Feb. 16, over 4 million Texans were without power amid record-setting freezing temperatures. At least 70 individuals have died from the storm and associated power outages that covered Texas and the Midwest. “The snow was cute at first, but is putting people’s lives in danger now,” said Kobe Isiah Thompson ’24, a student from Houston. “We’re experiencing something mighty terrible in Texas right now. My friend saw people breaking into an El Ahorro supermarket to get groceries not because they were opportunists or anything, but simply because they are hungry.” he said. “In Houston, there’s a boil water notice — we’re not supposed to drink water from our taps, and people have been advised not to use any water at all. Pipes are freezing and people’s roofs are caving in from the busted pipes. Everyone is losing power and wifi randomly. It’s awful.”
6 | The Amherst Student | March 7, 2021
Thompson’s family — along with millions of other Americans — stocked up on food and water ahead of the wintry weather but did not anticipate the severity of the unprecedented storm. The collapse of Texas’s infrastructure resulted in a multisystem failure where cell networks went down, pipes froze, the water system was compromised and 33,000 people lost power. Amherst students that currently reside in Texas — many enrolled in classes but living at home due to the coronavirus pandemic — said they stocked up on food and water ahead of the wintry weather, but failed to anticipate the severity of the winter storm. The adverse conditions have brought significant challenges for students with family in Texas, who are studying remotely, or are traveling back to campus. Eric Ingram ’23, from Austin, has struggled to return to Amherst because his flight was cancelled. Though Ingram managed to make it to all of his zoom classes in the first week, the widespread power outages and the snow delayed his on campus arrival to Feb. 21. Sadly, because this pushed back his quarantine period, he will be unable to attend a week of instrumental music classes at the college. “Due to the weather, I had multiple travel difficulties and ended up having to fly into a different airport — not Logan or Bradley. Unfortunately, Amherst likely won’t reimburse me for the ground transportation that I needed. It cost my travel buddy and [me] a pretty penny to get to campus from that airport,” said Ingram. The Texas blackouts also influenced the studies of high school senior and incoming first-year Rob Williamson ’25. In an interview with The Student, he said that “before power became an issue, we were able to do virtual learning for two days, but after returning from the snowy weekend, we determined that we cannot drive to school. The power outages added another aspect, making it impossible to attend school virtually, and leading to the decision to cancel school for the week.” Students who arrived on-campus before chaos ensued were fortunate that their schooling was unaffected but still worry about loved ones. Thompson recalled that when he sent texts to family members and close friends, it would take four to six
News hours to hear back. “I’m very fortunate to have left for campus a day or two before this all happened,” he stated. “But, it’s still bothersome that I can’t contact my friends and family back home.” Eliza Brewer ’21 also has also been deeply concerned about her family. She recounted that her “family has experienced power outages, which means no heat, they had to stay with a family friend who has a fireplace for a few days. Luckily they have power now but no water.” Brewer also frets that the storm will have long-term financial implications for her family. “School was also canceled for the entire week. My mom is a schoolteacher and my siblings are all school age so they’re having to miss instruction which may mean a loss of some income for my family or at the least an extended school year,” she said. Other students were also anxious that the weather would prevent their parents from getting to their jobs. Ingram was relieved that his parents had the option to work from home. He said, “My parents were fortunately able to continue working remotely as we were lucky enough to have power, but my other family in the city were not lucky enough to have power.” The family of Cameron Matsui ’23E was also impacted by the Texas weather. His parents, who fortunately are both vaccinated, were on a trip to celebrate their wedding anniversary when the storm hit. After their flight home was canceled, they were redirected to Dallas where they stayed in a hotel for 3 or 4 days. He mentioned that their “hotel lost power shortly after they checked in, but it came back on yesterday [Feb. 21] and they were able to make it home to Austin.” Many students were outraged about how the state of Texas responded to the crisis, specifically mentioning Senator Ted Cruz’s decision to vacation in tropical Cancun, Mexico as the disaster unfolded. Thompson was particularly angry about Cruz’s actions.” As far as Ted Cruz goes, he’s a disgusting feckless coward of a slug. I feel like his skin is sticky and his hands are clammy, and yet, he won’t be up for re-election to be accountable for his actions for years,” he continued, “It speaks volumes of Texas’s partisanship that we’re willing to vote in Ted Cruz over any democrat. It’s not just Cruz, this is the fault of governors, senators, representatives, all stubborn individuals who have sworn by fossil fuels and rugged individualism.” Brewer felt similarly, “I’m feeling really pissed about the whole situation. Not only did Ted Cruz abandon his state and his responsibilities to it, but he also lied about his motives,” she said. Mason Chandler ’25 is perturbed by the shortcomings of political figures from his home state as well: I feel what Senator Ted Cruz did was very irresponsible. I think that if those pictures weren’t taken of him at the airport or on the plane or even if he took a private plane to Cancun he would still be in Mexico working remotely today and nobody would know about it. It is a shame to see that other legislators, many not even from Texas, are chipping in by donating bottled water or organizing wellness checks to help those in need
Photo courtesy of Eli Maierson ’23
Photo of brown shower water in San Antonio. A majority of the state was under a boil notice for several days. while Senator Cruz is sitting in his home,” he stated. To support the Amherst community, Liz Agosto, dean of students, sent an email to Amherst Texans. The email, which was personally addressed to each recipient, read, “I am reaching out to connect in the wake of the storms in Texas and power outages. While I hope that you, your family and friends are staying well and warm, we recognize that the impact to individuals and communities has been great and that you may be experiencing stress or personal hardship.” Even as weather conditions improve in Texas, Agosto encourages students to reach out to her, their class deans or other resources on campus if they need assistance or support.
This article first appeared on February 24, 2021
March 7, 2021 | The Amherst Student | 7
News
In Light of an Apparent Double Standard, Students Call for Greater Transparency on Covid Rules Enforcement Ryan Yu ‘22 and Natalie De Rosa ‘21 Editor-in-Chief and Editor-in-Chief, Emerita As the college entered stage 2 of its on-campus student move-in plan last week, concerns about the transparency and enforcement of Covid-19 violation protocols came to a head. Prompted by an incident in which three international students — two of whom were Black — were asked to leave campus on Feb. 23 due to dining in a room together without masks in the quarantine period, over 200 students signed onto an open letter which decried “the college’s secretive attitude towards [Covid] rule enforcement,” arguing that it allowed for inconsistent and discriminatory practices that disproportionately impacted Black and/or international students. Since students first arrived back on campus in the fall semester, the college has been stringent with its Covid rules, developing a “bubble” to prevent community spread. However, such rules involved the case-by-case evaluation of violations, which meant that, due to privacy concerns, the consequences of most violations remained undisclosed to students. For the first week of the spring semester, students were required to quarantine alone in their dorm rooms until they received three negative test results, with gatherings of any size strictly prohibited, as stated in several emails from Dean of Students Liz Agosto. Agosto also noted that “due to the seriousness of this quarantine to our ability to transition safely to on-campus learning, violations of quarantine will likely result in removal from campus housing.” This represented a shift from the tiered system for addressing infractions, which the college used for the entirety of the fall semester and the spring semester outside of the quarantine period. Accordingly, since the three international students were reported for violating Covid rules before quarantine was over, the Office of Student Affairs (OSA) assessed that they should be asked to leave campus. The outcry came in light of other, larger incidents, including parties and large gatherings in Cohan, Morris Pratt and Hitchcock Dormitories, where students — many of whom were white and affluent — carried much more significant risks for community spread, but were not sent home. For those who signed the open letter, the situation presented a double standard, which outwardly appeared to be based on bias by race and immigration status, among other things, and thus demanded clarity apropos rules enforcement. “While it is true that the college is fully entitled to enforce their policies in any manner they see fit, it is also a responsibility of the administration to ensure that rule, enforcement is carried out in a fair and equitable way,” the letter read. “Certain groups of students (e.g. white, domestic, athlete) who are found in violation of the college’s policies are generally given a ‘warning’ even for transgressions that affect the safety of a larger number of individuals within the Amherst community, such as parties or large gatherings. By contrast, offenses much less consequential, such as eating dinner together, result in expulsion from campus when perpetrated by Black and/or international students.” Jonathan Paul ’22, one of the authors of the open letter, noted that “if this were an isolated incident, I don’t think that there would have been so much confusion and outrage over it, but it’s the fact that it hasn’t been an isolated incident. There have been several instances of students infringing on the college’s Covid policy during both the first and second week.” “I call it an open secret, because it’s something that we all know and talk about on campus. There seems to be an appearance of unequal treatment in the way that punishments for infringing on the Covid policy are being dished out,” he added. “There’s just such a lack of transparency, that there’s no way for us as the student body to feel like there’s any sort of accountability. There’s also no official appeals process. So when I heard about this [incident], I was so frustrated, and I didn’t know who to turn to because there’s no support or anything.” Administrative Response Agosto, who is “the ultimate arbiter” in deciding who faces removal from campus housing, reversed the decision to remove the three international students on Feb. 24, and subsequently sent out an email in response to the concerns expressed in the open letter on Feb.
8 | The Amherst Student | March 7, 2021
25. In it, she noted that “while I have strived to be clear and thorough in my communication to all of you, it is apparent that gaps remain and that a reset is needed around expectations and accountability,” and proceeded to share a rubric detailing the consequences that would be incurred from specific violations. The rubric listed a set of violations that would likely result in removal from campus housing, including: if a student “misses three tests in a four-week period or six tests during the course of the semester”; if a student leaves campus without authorization; if a student invites a guest onto campus; and if a student doesn’t comply with public health directives. Additionally, in response to allegations of bias by race or international status, Agosto noted that “after review of the data at Amherst from this past fall until now around Covid allegations and outcomes, there is no evidence of differences in outcomes based on identity.” She later said that a total of six people have been removed from campus housing for violating Covid rules between the fall and spring semesters, and that four of them were white, one of them was a person of color and another one of them was an international student. In a separate correspondence with The Student, Agosto added that larger violations, such as parties, did not result in the removal of students from campus because the OSA “did not receive specific information about the events.” Agosto also attended an Association of Amherst Students (AAS) meeting on March 1, where she fielded questions about the college’s Covid rules enforcement with Chief Student Affairs Officer Karu Kozuma and Chief of Police and Director of Public Safety John Carter. There, she reiterated that the actions the OSA can take in investigating Covid violations are largely limited to the reports that they receive, and she also lamented aspects of the current structure. “I hate the Covid report,” she said. “I also don’t love that people can submit it anonymously.” More, she revealed that during the fall and spring semesters so far, there have been 280 Covid violations and 250 people identified as violating Covid policies. She also noted that, of the students caught violating Covid rules, 64 percent were male, 54 percent were white and 36 percent were athletes. The Role of the Student The delicate balancing act of Covid-19 guidelines also complicates the role of the CA. One article in The Student last fall, for example, noted that ResLife carries much of the burden of enforcing Covid-19 rules, placing CAs in the tough position of policing their peers. For Eunice Daudu ’21, who is Black, the pre-Covid era proved less complicated; she knew that reporting a party or disturbance would usually result in the slap on the wrist. In this new Covid-19 moment, however, the consequences are less clear. “There used to be an amnesty that has usually been the standard enforcement in prior years, but now it’s just really confusing. It’s unclear to me as a CA what the end result [of a report] would be,” she said. “I knew [pre-Covid] that if I reported my first-year residents for partying, nothing would ever happen to them … but now I don’t want people to get kicked off campus.” One thing, however, has remained consistent as an unspoken rule: Not to report anything that would place students — and particularly Black students — at unnecessary risk. “The vibe of being a CA is to not report anything unless it’s so egregious. The people who don’t really have that memo are the white CAs … as a person of privilege, they’ve never had to be cognizant of these things,” Daudu said. Daudu also sent an email to Agosto, along with Kozuma and Director of Res Life Andrea Cadyma, addressing the burden the college has placed on CAs. “The role of the Community Advisor is to foster inclusive and equitable communities. We exist to assist all students through their college experiences by creating a welcoming space in our resident halls. We also uphold and enforce the policies of the college,” she wrote. “However, when the enforcement of those policies fall on racial or socioeconomic lines it is not surprising that many of the CAs hired (especially those of color) decide to ‘not be a snitch.’ A student leader can only be as inclusive and equitable as the backing institution allows.” This article first appeared on March 3, 2021
Opinion
The Need for Community As we saw an uptick in close contacts with positive Covid-19 cases on campus, with two positive cases forcing 23 close-contact students into quarantine housing, the Editorial Board reflected on the reasons why students seem to be having trouble following college safety guidelines. While student negligence is inexcusable, as we discussed in last week’s editorial, it is still worth considering what the college can do to discourage negligent behavior beyond merely threatening punishment. The shift of social dynamics in the pandemic version of this community has fundamental impacts on students’ wellbeing. So in addressing student rule-breaking on campus, college seems to be missing an essential part of the strategy: rather than scold students from breaking rules after the fact, the college should find ways to make rule-breaking unappealing in the first place. We’re often told that college is supposed to be the best four years of our lives, and many, if not all, people who truly believe that expression loved college because of its social elements. People go to college to learn new things and meet new people, but they also go to have fun with other young people before enduring the difficulty of entering the full-time workforce. Obviously, the traditional college experience is off-limits during a pandemic semester, even more so during its first few weeks, but that doesn’t mean we can’t try, as an institution, to give students the sense of joy and community that they will prevent them from disobeying protocols look back on fondly long after they’ve left (and that will prevent them from disobeying safety protocols). So far, the college seems to have tried to do this mostly through optional Zoom lectures and events, but most students are sick of being in Zoom calls all day, every day and avoid these extra sessions altogether. This is an issue that affects students both on and off campus, as most of our permitted social interaction this year has occurred in the limited space provided by the Zoom classes we take every week or in the small pods we live in without any access to new people or fresh ideas. Of course, there are some simple solutions that would go at least part of the way in solving these problems. The college has already opened up some extra indoor space for studying, hanging out and engaging in other socially-distanced activities. Beyond the constraints of walls, the school could organize nature days for students on campus, perhaps having organized hiking groups on the trails around campus or just encouraging students to spend time at Book & Plow Farm with some fun outdoor activities. It could support more art and music events on campus, perhaps with students playing from the Val terrace or even a stage on one of the quads, with plenty of space for socially distanced students on the grass to watch or listen. The college’s effort can also extend beyond providing physical space for events and activities. Handing out supplies and hosting workshops that support students’ hobby-making would enrich
the time that we spend indoors in a socially-distanced manner. One of our editors’ favorite events over the past semester was Fall Fest, with students on campus interacting in a larger, yet still safe setting, and students off campus receiving letters and gifts reminding them of the loving community they are a part of. The notable absence of WinterFest or any visible WinterFest planning this year seems to be a missed opportunity for invoking the same sort of communal feeling that makes students proud to be Amherst students. The visibility of any such planning (or lack thereof ) matters, too. The first few weeks of the semester are necessarily isolating and a little bit dreadful — that is just the nature of safety during the pandemic (though February in Western Massachusetts is admittedly a struggle in non-pandemic times too). But clueing students in to what we have to look forward to in the future would be a great way of imbuing people with the necessary confidence to hold out and bide our time in the present. Furthermore, transparency on the activities being considered or planned would allow student input that could help make those activities a success, and even help the school avoid wasting resources on unpopular ideas. We should remind ourselves of the fact that, while things are not at all the way we had hoped they’d be this year, we can still make use of this opportunity to engage with our community in new and exciting ways. For example, the dreaded athlete/ non-athlete divide should be virtually nonexistent in a year where the cancellation of sports seasons has forced us all to be equally as isolated and lazy. Successful communal events could help bridge that gap by creating relationships over activities that we’re all equally unfamiliar with, leading to a better athlete/non-athlete relationship in the post-pandemic future. Moreover, the necessary distance we keep from others can in turn bring us closer to the vast, beautiful land around us. The Outing Club has planned a cross-country skiing event on the bike trail for this upcoming Saturday. We hope to see similar initiatives from clubs and other student organizations in encouraging more engagement with nature. What we’re really asking for is transparency and creativity. We are all a part of this experience together, and we should try our hardest to make it the best experience that we can. Only the administration has enough sway to make large events a success, and we would love to see more new events attempted — they may not all be perfect, but it’s better to try than resign ourselves to a purely virtual school year. Unsigned editorials represent the Editorial Board (assenting: 10; dissenting: 0; abstaining: 2) This article first appeared on March 3, 2021
March 7, 2021 | The Amherst Student | 9
Opinion
Simple Tips for Better Zoom Teaching
Lizzie Pratt ‘22 Contributing Writer Welcome to the second week of classes! Coming up on a year of remote learning, students and professors alike are still adapting to Zoom and the online school format, with a truly staggering number of different strategies. I’ve compiled a loose list of Zoom teaching tips for professors from my personal experience as a student and the anecdotal experiences of my friends over the past year. (Disclaimer: this list is neither comprehensive nor definitive — feel free to take what you need.) The first section of tips involves changing your Zoom settings; making these changes should take about five minutes and will improve everyone’s Zoom experience significantly. Tech Advice Tip 1: Enable renaming in all meetings by default. This is important for students who want to use a nickname or put pronouns in their names. Here’s how to do it: 1. Open the Zoom app. 2. Click on the icon at the top right, then on “My Profile” in the drop down menu. 3. Sign in through the Amherst portal that pops up. (This will take you to the zoom.us website.) 4. Go to “Settings” in the menu on the left. 5. Under “In Meeting (Basic),” enable “ Allow participants to rename themselves.” Tip 2: Put pronouns in your own name, e.g. Jane Doe (she/her/hers). This normalizes displaying pronouns, which makes it easier for professors and peers to learn the correct ones. It also ensures that gender non-conforming people are not singled out for making their pronouns available. (You cannot permanently change your name without talking to the IT Department, so you may need to do this manually at the start of each meeting.) Tip 3: Allow the participants to join before the host. This way, students who come in early can interact, instead of being alone in a waiting room. In one of my smaller classes, this has come to mimic the few minutes of casual conversation on the way to and from in-person classes. To do this: 1. Go to “Settings” on the Zoom website (as described in Tip 1). 2. Under “Security,” disable the “Waiting room” option. 3. Under “Schedule Meeting”, enable “allow participants to join before the host.” 4. Under “Email Notification,” disable notifications for “When attendees join meeting before host.” (Remember to do this, or your email will be insufferable.) By the way, you will still have the option to enable “waiting room” under “Security” when you schedule a meeting in the Zoom app, but this way your default option will allow interested students to meet up before class. Tip 4: Allow individuals to private chat. While some may argue that this could be distracting, private chat shouldn’t be blamed for causing distractions since other potential sources of distractions such as email, webcomics and social media are a single click away.
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Rather, it allows for a bit of social interaction at the start of class, or a quick way for a student to ask a friend a clarifying question without disrupting the whole class. Here’s how to do it: 1. Go to “Settings.” 2. Under “In Meeting (Basic),” enable “Private Chat.” Other Advice Congratulations, that’s it for tech! Here are some additional observations about how to up your Zoom game to facilitate a good online class: Tip 5: If you are teaching a class longer than an hour, whenever feasible please give us a three-minute break to stand up and stretch. (Infinite thanks to Professor Amalia Culiuc for doing this all last semester!) Tip 6: If possible, hang around for a couple minutes after class ends, in case students have lingering questions. This mimics the in-person days when people would stick around in the classroom and ask questions before hurrying off to their next class. Tip 7: Whenever possible devote some time to breakout rooms (especially if the class is large). In humanities courses these can be discussion groups; in STEM courses, worksheets. Last semester, having one class a week be a worksheet class helped me both absorb the material better and have a chance to work with new people. Tip 8: If you show up to the Zoom room a couple minutes early and have music playing as people trickle in, it creates a nice atmosphere and avoids the awkward silences for the few minutes around the start of class. (This is especially good for a first class, a large class where people don’t know each other or a music class.) Tip 9: Pause for questions when you can (and take a longer pause than you would in person), or to ask us a question to make sure we’re not struggling to follow along. This is simple but easy to forget when you can’t see students’ faces. Tip 10: We like it when you make jokes, even if you don’t hear or see us react. (Well, maybe this is just me, but I like it.) Tip 11: If you are teaching a hybrid course, for a better viewing experience than a chalkboard camera, write on a tablet that is broadcasting to Zoom, and simultaneously project those notes onto the chalkboard. Also, writing from your desk or lectern allows you to monitor the chat for questions from remote students. Finally, this gives you a nice set of easily uploadable handwritten notes at the end. Tip 12: Before scheduling office hours, take a survey of the different time zones of students in the classroom. This will enable you to choose times when remote students can attend. Thanks for making it to the end of this guide, and hopefully implementing some of these tips in the classroom. The Zoom learning experience might not be ideal, but simple improvements can make a big difference. This article first appeared on February 24, 2021 Find the full guide on amherststudent.com
Opinion
Smith College, Free Speech and the Modern Left Scott Brasesco ‘22 Managing Opinion Editor In 2018, Oumou Kanoute, a Black student at Smith College reported an incident of racial profiling on campus via a Facebook post that immediately sparked student outrage and an apology from the Smith administration. The ACLU picked up the case, and several Smith employees, both involved and uninvolved in the incident, were cast out as “racist” and therefore unwelcome. Ultimately, however, an independent investigation found no evidence of bias — Kanoute had been approached for being in the wrong place at the wrong time rather than for the color of her skin. All of this information gained renewed attention last week as part of a feature piece covering race at Smith, prompted by the national attention accrued by former residential life employee Jodi Shaw following viral complaints over Smith’s handling of racial bias training. When I initially read Michael Powell’s recent piece detailing the 2018 case at Smith College, I considered writing a response piece myself, in an attempt to find a slightly fairer understanding of the incident that Powell had approached from the lens of a culture warrior focused on “free speech” and “campus debate.” To me, his slanted approach was an evident part of the anti-leftist culture war on the right which attacks university students as out-of-touch elites for believing racism is an issue in modern America, a position that seemed better fit for the opinion pages than the U.S. news section in which it was written. However, I ultimately decided against writing a response because I figured that, though Powell’s piece was written with an opinionated slant that felt out of place in his section, it was still written with enough intellectual integrity to highlight real problems and pose challenging questions: What is the line between democratic norm enforcement and mob behavior? And, perhaps more pressingly, what is the role of class in informing our understanding of race? To put it more directly, should low-income white Americans be punished for not having access to the same racial education that is available to those at elite colleges? As I write this, Powell’s article has amassed over two thousand reader responses, many of which ask these very questions. But since I’ve written this article, obviously something changed my mind about the importance of addressing this journalistic interrogation of our neighboring college. That something was New York Times Opinion columnist Bret Stephens’ op-ed on the issue, which somehow compared Smith College’s teaching on race to both the Cultural Revolution and preschool. Stephens writes that Smith College, and the “Woke left” he believes it represents, has traded “commitments to free speech” for “proscriptions on hate speech,” all while tellingly disabling comments on the article in an effort to avoid the kind of constructive dialogue that an open forum would allow. The article was especially ironic coming from a writer known for his own attempts to clamp down on speech when publicly criticized, but not altogether unexpected as it represents a broader trend in right-wing politics. Stephens’ article is representative of the type of hypocritical free speech posturing that has become so prevalent on the right recently, as demonstrated by the list of topics at the recent CPAC conference and written about in The Student last week. In an effort to avoid the policy nuances surrounding equity-promoting practices and to rile up conservative voters, the right instead promotes a culture war between the traditional American understanding of race and newer understandings of race relations that are developing on college campuses across the country. These bad-faith attacks do nothing to actually mend race relations, only serving to rile up conservative voters with racial resentment. However, this unhealthy political discourse is not the focus of this article, as it has already been covered by The Student so recently. Instead, I would like to redirect the conversation to focus on the meaningful questions that can be drawn from the initial incident. One of the major questions raised by Powell is the question of mob mentality. It’s easy to dismiss the argument of university students’ mob mentality as an effort to hijack constructive debate on college campuses, but the fact of the matter is that
innocent people were hurt in the incident, and are hurt in similar outbursts of racial conflict around the country. Without waiting for an investigation, Kanoute, enraged by her perception of racial discrimination, accused staff online of racism, including two staff who were uninvolved in the incident. This accusation led to hate mail, a potentially unsafe work environment and staff were asked to seek forgiveness from Kanoute in a restorative justice session even if they had been uninvolved. Such immediate rushes to attack are becoming a more persistent danger in leftist circles today. Often, we see the victim and their peers attempting to act immediately as judge, jury and executioner, without allowing the lengthier processes of investigation to proceed. A similar rush to judgment occurred on Amherst’s campus this week, as the college’s lack of transparency surrounding the implementation of Covid-19 guidelines prompted fears of racial discrimination. The desire to find and punish wrongdoers is undertaken in good faith, but without allowing for the time necessary to find all the facts, it can result in potentially life-changing misunderstandings. Another New York Times columnist, Michelle Goldberg, wrote an illustrative article this week about “Why Democrats Aren’t Asking Cuomo to Resign.” While, in part, Goldberg attributes this to the sad fact that “for plenty of people, it’s still easier to forgive a man for sexually harassing someone than it is to forgive a woman for ending an admired man’s career,” she also notes that the delayed call-toarms is a result of serious setbacks the #MeToo movement suffered after attacking before investigating over the past several years. As the movement has matured, it has come to realize that accountability is more sustainable when it is supported by rigorous investigation and an acknowledgment that there are varying levels of wrongdoing and, thus, there should be varying levels of punishment. The lessons of the #MeToo movement are applicable to both leftist circles and academic environments regarding other difficult topics like race and class. Accusations of wrongdoing should be met with rigorous interrogation before retaliatory action is undertaken. Also important, however, is that different norm violations should be met with different levels of response. Few would suggest that sexual assault and sexual harassment warranted the same level of response, and the same should be true in cases of racial discrimination — overt racism should be met with a firmer and harsher response than accusations of implicit racial bias. Implicit bias, it should be noted, can still be a harmful part of campus life, as Smith College president Kathleen McCartney noted regarding the 2018 incident. One barrier to student success on campus can be a sense of belonging or its opposite, imposter syndrome. Studies show that minority students frequently feel out of place at four-year colleges, and microaggressions stemming from implicit bias can reinforce these negative self-perceptions. In the 2018 case at Smith, it’s impossible to know if Kanoute would have been similarly reprimanded if she were white. Even so, these forms of racial discrimination should be approached differently from instances of overt racism like those involving the lacrosse team’s use of the N-word and the swastikas found on a table on campus last year. The need for different levels of response to different levels of wrongdoing is important when considering the second focus of Powell’s piece: the way in which the impacts of modern universities’ racial education often hurts those who don’t have access to it in the first place. Powell, in line with most current right-wing arguments about the harms of racial education, goes out of his way to highlight the elite status of the academics and university students who support it. He notes the price of Smith College tuition, interviews faculty who state that a focus on race relations has come at the expense of a knowledge of class relations on college campuses and writes that staff often avoid enforcing rules, particularly on students of color, for fear of student retribution. And while this may seem like a cooptation of class conflict in an effort to derail racial justice, Powell correctly highlights that the workers themselves often felt uncomfortable with the way racial justice issues were handled, often because the justification of potential “subconscious bias” did not seem to justify the way they were treated by the college or its students.
March 7, 2021 | The Amherst Student | 11
Opinion
Former Smith residential life employee Jodi Shaw’s video. Click the image to watch. And here is where Powell’s argument is most impactful. Students often seem to forget that most Americans don’t have access to the same education or familiarity they do in regards to social justice and equity, drawing their ideas instead from common ideas about fairness and traditional views of equality. Blair, one of the uninvolved staff who was accused of racism, reacted, not unreasonably, with shock when asked by the college to apologize for an event in which she took no part. Anti-bias training for staff was reportedly more “psychologically intrusive” than for faculty, with staff being asked about “their childhood and family assumptions about race.” Before the investigation cleared Blair of any responsibility, she was smeared as a racist with some even going so far as to tell her, “You don’t deserve to live.” The association between anti-bias training and feelings of intrusion or unfairness are not uncommon. People often view criticism of their thoughts, as racist or otherwise biased, as criticism of who they are as people. For low-income whites in particular, accusations of racism or privilege can be taken as a solely personal attack because personal experiences with economic hardship are more visibly evident than the structural benefits of racial privilege. Ironically, belief in societal fairness and meritocracy is also related to socioeconomic status, suggesting low-income participants in bias training are more likely to believe that the system is fair and more resistant to training that suggests it is not. Furthermore, in circumstances like these in which training is mandated as a response to perceived failures, bias training has been shown to activate biases and racial resentments, creating more backlash than benefits. Condescension to college staff is obviously not the correct way to go about anti-bias education and can even promote the harmful forms of resentment against
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the college-educated elite that have fueled right-wing populism in recent years, as it has with the case of Jodi Shaw. Staff at American colleges, who are generally nonBlack and low-income, usually approach anti-bias training with good intent but with the belief that financial privilege trumps racial privilege, as remarked by former Smith janitor Mark Patenaude. The privilege of simply being in college at all, let alone prestigious schools like Amherst or Smith, often seems an afterthought compared to more visible privileges like race or gender — even though educational privilege often stems as much from luck as other forms of privilege. Training that belittles staff ’s experiences or family lives is unhelpful and unwarranted — it is unnecessary to convince staff that they have more privilege than students when the ultimate goal is making the community environment a better place. Instead, anti-bias training could be improved by shifting the focus to how small changes in actions can make the campus environment more comfortable for historically marginalized groups. While Powell and Stephens both take part in a damaging discourse that seeks to critique the cultural elite at the expense of the racially marginalized, Powell’s article raises serious questions for both leftist circles and academic institutions to contend with. How do we make justice more inclusive and accessible? How do we avoid fear tactics in the pursuit of justice? While I certainly don’t have all the answers, what I do know is that bettering our communities, our country and our planet requires a willingness to be introspective about the failures of our own movements and to do the hard work of addressing those failures. Only through this process of constant betterment will we be able to build the world we want to see. This article first appeared on February 24, 2021
Arts and Living
Squid’s Louis Borlase on His Band’s Influences and Modern Post-Punk
Milo Leahy-Miller ‘24 Contributing Writer
A quintet formed in the seaside town of Brighton, Squid is one of London’s many promising post-punk bands. With a manic and raucous drive, they have shared the stage with groups such as Black MIDI and Black Country, New Road. Their sound not only includes traditional rock instrumentation but percussion and horns as well. This may seem out of place in post-punk… until you listen to it. I’ve been a fan of the band for some time now, and was inspired by the upcoming release of their debut album, as well as the rising popularity of others in the scene. So I reached out with little hope of getting an interview. But to my surprise, Louis Borlase, one of the group’s guitarists, replied to my email in under 5 minutes. He told me he’d be happy to talk. When I remarked on how fast he responded, he laughed and said that he’d just been watching YouTube at the time. The first time I spoke with him, he was running for the trains with some of his mates. The call ended up dropping early on, so we rescheduled. So most of this interview takes place on the rainy streets of London. This interview has been edited for clarity and length. Leahy-Miller: How did you all meet? Borlase: Well, I met Ollie [the band’s vocalist and drummer] before I met Anton [guitar] and Arthur [keyboard] because me and Ollie are both from the West Country in the U.K. When I moved to Brighton, he was living in town, so ever since then really we’ve hung out every single day. We met Anton and Arthur through courses because we were all studying music together, so we were able to get to know each other musically as well as friends. But we didn’t really do much together outside of the course until we were in the second year of university. That was when we jammed a little bit. We didn’t really want the pressure of having an actual band and asking, you know, “oh could you book my band.” So instead it was just easier to ask some venue to let us use the space for cheap. So we did that at a little jazz club in the center of town, which was great, and that was really down to a guy called John. He owned this little venue, and he really kindly let us use the place for free. We did quite a lot of music there and it was all quite loungey, quite different to what we do these days. But yeah. That was kind of the line of heading toward making music together. And it kind of stayed like that for a really long time because we were still studying. This was in 2015, but our approach to writing music and our understanding of each other as musicians has changed a hell of a lot since then. Leahy-Miller: You mentioned that you don’t really have a “setlist” when you’re playing shows. How does that work? Borlase: Yeah, we always will write the songs out, because you’d be surprised … there are certain times where we’ve all just started playing different songs. So we do often write a setlist, but it’s so improvisational — in the sense that there is no way I think that our music repeats. Audiences from different places in different cultures and different scenes and crowds and stuff, you know, react differently, so you automatically respond to that. Sometimes the nature of the performance has a really big impact on the freeness of our music. Like, for example, a festival gig is very different to a kind of, a headline show or a support slot show, where you have all these new elements of time, and the ability to divulge. So, as well as crowds, I suppose, the context affects it as well. Leahy-Miller: Do you have a “worst show”? Borlase: Yeah, and it’s really easy for me to remember that because it was so awful. There’s nothing else that ever really paralleled it. There’s a group of people who put on a festival called “End of the Road,” which is a great, great festival that
takes place right at the end of the summer, just as the evening’s getting quite cold. And they also do a sort of Christmas showcase in December. This is at the end of 2018, and we were quite new to gigs with a lot of people, but we were also feeling a little bit more confident about what we could get away with, I think. So we thought we’d make it kind of Christmas-themed. We got a little basket and put in a little Yamaha Casio tone-esque keyboard and wrapped it in blankets and kind of paraded around pretending it was the baby Jesus. And it had a built-in demo song, which was Wham!’s “Last Christmas” that we started kind of jamming along to. But then from there, all hell broke loose. I think I broke like three strings. But there was an audience in the way, so I kind of had to keep playing. You know, it was just like chaos, and I didn’t feel experienced enough to be able to write off the situation. And you could see people have gone from finding it funny to just finding it really shit in a really short amount of time. That’s the worst. Leahy-Miller: Do you have a favorite guitarist that has influenced you in some way? Borlase: Yeah, I’m originally a pianist, so I find it really easy to think of who’s my favorite pianist. But for me, Jim Hall has always been quite a big inspiration in that I’m a really big Bill Evans fan, and his albums that he has done with Jim Hall are some of the most like really beautiful, kind of tender pieces of music. There’s something about his playing that feels so memorable and delicate. But having said that, there are so many others as well. Like, I was thinking about the question that you asked about the top albums, and I realized that I’d missed the Stereolab album “Dots and Loops.” I love the guitarist Tim Gane. I think he’s just one of the best guitar players in that he’s managed to kind of make that band’s music so memorable and unique for them. Leahy-Miller: Squid often share the stage with other post-punk bands such as Black MIDI and Black Country, New Road. You seem to share this manic, energizing sound, and even similar instrumentation. Yet it’s been stated that you’ve never really drawn inspiration from these other bands. So how would you explain that you have these similarities amongst each other? Borlase: Both MIDI and Black Country, New Road, they feel quite a long way away from what we’re doing. And there are some similarities. I suppose the biggest one I feel is that they are bands that have a lot of respect for dynamic extremes. I’m always hearing something that will inspire me from the idea of a kind of, like, balance between a momentary explosion of sound, followed by an elongated, really stretched out beauty. And I don’t know whether I feel like we’re particularly similar, but I think maybe we have the same musical interests and that’s what maybe manifests as a noticeable similarity between our music for the listener. Leahy-Miller: If you could only listen to five albums for the rest of your life, which ones would you choose? Borlase: “Millions Now Living Will Never Die” - Tortoise They have this cool electronic sound, without vocals, and it kind of challenged a lot of the boundaries that they had at the time. “Metamorphosis” - Philip Glass It’s just really beautiful. It really influenced my taste, and just the simple piano playing. “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust” - David Bowie Just because, you know, David Bowie. “Untrue” - Burial This actually was my first real introduction to electronic music. “On the Beach” - Neil Young My dad was the one who showed me this, so I kind of have this connection with it. Leahy-Miller: Where did the name “Squid” come from?
March 7, 2021 | The Amherst Student | 13
Arts and Living Borlase: It’s funny because we’ve been asked this before, and we just can’t remember. Have you ever listened to the band Beak? Leahy-Miller: I have not, no. Borlase: So have you ever heard of Portishead before? Yeah, so Beak is the project of the synth and drummer from Portishead. We were massively into Beak at the time. So I think maybe on a subconscious level, we took that monosyllabic animal sound and kind of like nicked it. But we all explain it differently. Arthur seems to think that it was from walking through Brighton, and he passed a restaurant, and he smelled the cooking and was like, “Squid, mmm … Yeah, that’s a good band name.” And I kind of like to think that maybe that’s the one that’s closest to the truth, but in honesty, I don’t think there is a concrete memory in place. Leahy-Miller: And what is one album that every person should listen to at least once? Borlase: I think “Philosophy of the World” by the Shaggs. If you listen to it, you’ll know what I mean. It really makes you think, like, what makes music good? Because this album is completely unmusical, none of them really know how to play their instrument or anything, but it’s good. It has this charm and for some reason it’s an enjoyable album to listen
to.
Leahy-Miller: Do you have any advice for people learning music in a university setting? Borlase: I guess like the best way to delve into something that you’re interested in, when it’s to do with playing music and performing music, is to always assume that it’s more important to be having fun with it than to feel like you need to, on a kind of level of complexity, bring yourself to the level of other people. I think it’s far more important to always make sure that if you’re going to rehearsals and you’re writing a lot, that you take a step back, and you realize that everything that you’re doing is just super interesting and fun. Because otherwise, maybe it’s not that you shouldn’t be doing it, but maybe there’s a sign that the kind of, like, approach that you’ve got might not be the best one for you. And that doesn’t mean that you need to stop doing music, but maybe there’s something else that’s out there that would interest you even more—like another instrument or like jamming with a different size group of people or something. Couldn’t find anything Couldn’t find anything This article first appeared on February 24, 2021
Watch the video for “Narrator” and learn more about the band’s upcoming debut album by clicking the image.
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Arts and Living
Revaluing Cinema in the Age of Streaming Services
Noah John ‘21 Contributing Writer In a recent essay for Harper’s Magazine, Martin Scorsese delivered a scathing critique of the movie streaming industry, charging that the rise of streaming has “devalued, sidelined, [and] demeaned” the “art of cinema.” While Scorsese readily admits that he has personally benefited from streaming platforms (his 2019 film “The Irishman” was released on Netflix and his next film “Killers of the Flower Moon” is set to premiere on Apple TV), he argues that by generalizing “all moving pictures” to just “content,” and feeding consumers constant streams of new material via algorithms, streaming platforms have cheapened the experience of movie watching. Widely considered one of the most important and influential figures in the history of cinema, Scorsese’s comments reinforce a common sentiment among cinephiles that will likely only intensify if more studios continue to send their films directly to streaming services simultaneously with their theatrical releases. But what are the actual implications of streaming’s growing dominance on filmmakers and consumers? Are streaming platforms really destroying the cinematic experience? Certainly, there is a level of excitement that comes with watching a film in theaters that simply cannot be replicated at home, viewing on a smartphone, laptop or even a large flatscreen TV. This is largely due to the mindfulness and focus that comes with physically being in a theater. By sitting in a dark room, completely silent and not distracted by phone notifications (ideally), we are forced to give films our full attention. This cinematic immersion allows us to find and appreciate the small details of a film, such as the true meaning behind seemingly trivial moments of dialogue, unique camera shots or memorable needledrops. The level of detail in which Scorsese analyzes Federico Fellini’s films in his Harper’s article, for example, can only be reached through this method of consumption. It could then logically follow that theaters, more so than streaming platforms, incentivize filmmakers to develop carefully crafted films. However, this argument ignores the number of creative films (including “The Irishman”) that have been financed by streaming services that likely wouldn’t have been picked up by traditional Hollywood studios — not to mention the fact that Netflix productions are notably more diverse than studio productions. Traditional studios are also not known for funding particularly experimental films. In particular, the constant franchise repack-
aging done by studios such as Disney and Marvel strips their films of any imagination. Scorsese himself called attention to this in 2019, making a more extreme argument that because they eliminate risk and “the unifying vision of an individual artist,” Marvel movies are in fact “not cinema.” Furthermore, the evidence does not actually support the argument that streaming services are fueling cinema’s demise. Notably, a study by EY’s Quantitative Economics and Statistics group found that people who watched “nine or more movies at the cinema averaged 11 hours of weekly streaming compared to the seven hours of streaming reported on average by those who saw one to two movies at the multiplexes.” This suggests that streaming and cinema may actually be complementary rather than competitive. Instead of blaming streaming, perhaps theaters should look inward (especially at their exorbitant prices) to diagnose the cause of their decline and attempt to make cinema more accessible. Still, I have to accept Scorsese’s argument that streaming platforms provide an inherently more passive experience than cinemas. This extends beyond the viewing experience — it has an even more significant effect on consumers’ selection processes. Instead of actively deciding what program to watch based on trailers and the recommendations of friends and professional critics, each viewer passively receives endless recommendations calculated by streaming services’ intricate algorithms to match their taste. While successfully keeping many hooked to their screens, this process prevents them from finding hidden gems outside their typical comfort zone. Also, movie streaming platforms’ prioritization of maximizing users’ screen times (similar to music streamers and social media apps) adds to the prevalence of passive consumption. Instead of watching a film with undivided attention, “content” is now often just an hours-long backdrop for activities like doing homework and scrolling through social media. While I generally agree with Scorsese about algorithmic blindspots and the unique experience that cinemas provide, I do not fully accept that the “art of cinema” is dying. While disposable content is certainly prevalent, the past few years have featured a number of unique and memorable films, produced by both streaming services and traditional studios. Although far from perfect, we should appreciate the easy access to films that streaming services provide as a compliment to the more immersive environments of cinemas. This article first appeared on March 3, 2021
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Arts and Living
“Writers & Lovers” Provides an Immersive Story of Romance and Friendship in the Midst of Loss Eren Levine ‘24 Contributing Writer Writing a novel about writing a novel? It often feels cliché or forced, but can it be done successfully? Lily King’s 2020 novel “Writers & Lovers” makes it seem possible. King’s use of positive and negative moments and introspection throughout the writing process of the main character, Casey, make the writing of a novel within this novel feel more realistic and natural. In “Writers & Lovers,” 31-year-old Casey Peabody navigates the struggles of her growing debt, difficulty finishing the novel she’s been working on for six years, medical scares and love life just months after her mother’s sudden death. For the majority of the story, nothing in Casey’s life is going well. She is working as a waitress despite her multiple degrees in English and Creative Writing and has just had her heart broken. What seems to set Casey apart from her former friends and peers is that she is still trying to hold onto her creative side and finish her novel. This, however, is also not going very well for her after her mother’s death. Even though I found the ending slightly unrealistic, I loved this novel as a whole. I felt as though I could truly feel and understand the extremely intense emotions — whether anxiety, sadness or love — that Casey was feeling, despite King never explicitly stating them. Even when Casey doesn’t understand what she is feeling, it is clear to the reader what is going on inside her head and her heart because of King’s immersive prose. One example of King’s skill at indirectly communicating Casey’s feelings comes when Casey is deciding which of two men, Oscar and Silas, she wants to continue a relationship with. Even though Casey originally chooses Oscar, it is apparent that she is still thinking about Silas and might have even had a stronger connection with him. Casey never voices these doubts, but they are quite evident through King’s writing style. King also did an incredible job building the secondary characters in the novel. “Writers & Lovers” has a very clear protagonist in Casey, and almost all the stories are about her life and struggles, yet each of her friends and family members are actualized as three-dimensional human beings. Casey has two best friends: Harry, from work, and Muriel, who is also a writer. These two characters could have just been left as supporting characters to build on Casey’s storyline but instead, King gave them each their own engaging personalities and stories. Harry is often mentioned as having feelings for people who do not reciprocate and going through many difficulties in finding a steady relationship. The fact that both Casey and Harry have been going through romantic troubles gives the reader insight into why Harry and Casey may be such good friends. Muriel is Casey’s only friend who pursued a career in writing in the long-term, which indicates the reason behind their strong connection. However, the readers also learn about Muriel’s love life and experiences, giving her more depth than just her status as Casey’s best friend. Muriel and Harry are always there for Casey, especially in dark moments, like her health scare. These characters give the reader hope that Casey will end up okay, because she has people looking out for her even when she feels like she doesn’t. While they may feel minor in comparison to Casey’s story, they also provide a necessary contrast to Casey and make the story more believable. Many characters made Casey who she is, and getting to know these characters helps us understand Casey’s life better. The one character I wish King had written more about was Casey’s mother. Casey is constantly being reminded of her mother and is still mourning her very intensely. After Casey’s mother passes away, her whole life turns upside down. Casey is unable to make it a day without breaking down in tears when something inevitably reminds her of her mother. However, I felt as though their relationship was being told as opposed to shown throughout the story. I didn’t fully understand the relationship between the two characters; I could only tell they were close because of Casey’s reaction to her mother’s death. While King wrote most of the story through descriptive language without having to explicitly state why something was important, Casey’s relationship with her mother felt the opposite. King had to make Casey say that her mother was important to her and changed
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Have Amherst College credentials? Click the image to read the book. her life, as opposed to showing it through her writing. Despite all of Casey’s hardships and struggles throughout the novel, everything in the story ends on a very positive note. “Writers & Lovers” was written about a year ago, and after the difficult year that was 2020, it was refreshing to read a story with a truly happy ending. However, it was hard to believe that everything in Casey’s life turned around so quickly. After reading almost 300 pages of Casey struggling with intense anxiety that is seemingly only getting worse, it did not feel plausible that her problems improved, one after the other, over the span of fifty pages towards the end. While I would love to believe that things can change so fast, I simply can’t see how this could be the case for Casey. I would definitely recommend this novel, but only if you are prepared to feel a wide range of emotions in a very short amount of time. King’s writing enables the reader to empathize and understand the character of Casey Peabody, even if they can’t always relate to what she is going through. Despite the story being framed as a romance, it is really about a woman discovering who she is and what she values most. If you want a quick read with strong writing and characters, “Writers & Lovers” should be your next book. This article first appeared on February 24, 2021
Sports
Duncan Robinson Gives Back to his NESCAC Rival
Anya Ramras ‘22 Staff Writer
On Feb. 25, student-athletes were provided the opportunity through Amherst LEADS — the college’s student-athlete leadership program — to hear from one of the best shooters in the NBA, Miami Heat shooting guard Duncan Robinson. Robinson spoke with first-years, sophomore and junior student-athletes about his experiences playing college sports, and he gave valuable insights regarding how to succeed as both an athlete and teammate. Robinson began by discussing his high school basketball experience. While attending the Governor’s Academy and Phillips Exeter Academy, Robinson only dabbled in basketball. He did not prioritize games and did not play many minutes. Because of his limited playing time in high school, very few colleges and universities were interested in recruiting him. Robinson knew he wanted to go to a good academic college, so his focus narrowed down to NESCAC schools, specifically Amherst and Williams. In the end, Robinson chose Williams College because their head coach, Mike Maker, saw and invested in his potential.Robinson values the time he spent at Williams, he said, noting that he met great people and that his teammates from there are still some of his closest friends today. The team would always spend time together socially, which is something that he would miss as he transitioned to Division 1 and pro basketball, he added. Going into his freshman year at Williams, Coach Maker wanted Robinson to start in his first game, but by doing so, Robinson would be replacing a senior. Despite Robinson’s initial reservations about breaching seniority, the senior supported him. Robinson noted how that act of support reassured him that Williams College attracts a certain type of person—someone who supports their teammates no matter what. Robinson transferred after one collegiate season to the University of Michigan to complete his collegiate basketball career. With a goal to go pro, Robinson wanted to make a strong impact on the team and get noticed by NBA scouts. However, going into the fourth game of his junior year, he was taken out of the starting lineup for sophomore DJ Wilson, who went on to be drafted in the first round of NBA picks. The Michigan Wolverines ended up winning the game, but Robinson was disappointed by the fact that he hadn’t played in the starting lineup after working so hard. But then he remembered what happened at Williams — what happened when he was in DJ Wilson’s position. Robinson realized that what truly matters is how the team does, he recounted. By learning to put the team first, Robinson gained credibility as a leader. During his senior year, Robinson once again thought that it was going to be the year he showed the NBA that he was worth drafting. But once again, he received the disappointing news from his coach, John Beilein, that he was being taken out of the starting lineup, this time for a first-year. Robinson expressed that, although he was extremely frustrated, the team was better in the end due to Coach Beilein’s decision. Robinson again decided to put the team first and set the example for the rest of the team. In the end, Robinson had two major pieces of advice for the student athletes: Be present where you are. Don’t worry about the uncontrollables. Instead focus on the present, and how you can help the team in the moment, and play the role you are meant to play each and every day. Show up. Always give your all, and be there as both a leader and support system for your teammates. Robinson acknowledged that a lot of things completely out of his control allowed him to become a star on the Miami Heat today. He told the student-athletes to truly appreciate every moment they have being on a team where everyone is friends away from their sports as well. He said that once he arrived at Michigan, it became more of a business, and the fun nights out with his teammates occurred much less frequently. This change was even more pronounced in the NBA, where players compete to provide for their families, and are therefore much more territorial with their roles on the team. Once Robinson finished discussing his collegiate experiences, the talk shifted to Q&A format. Citing the pandemic, Robinson was asked if he had any advice regard-
Amherst LEADS advertises for the event on Instagram. ing mental health. Robinson said that while he was in The Bubble in Orlando in 2020, his coach, Erik Spoelstra, advised his players to write in journals, five minutes in the morning and five minutes in the evening. Robinson writes what he is grateful about and any positive affirmations he has for that day. Robinson also told the students that he meditates to help him focus, especially before big games. He also advised that, especially during these times, human interaction is very important, whether it is calling people over the phone or hopping on Zoom calls with friends. Robinson ended the call saying that his favorite moment so far in the NBA has been facing Lebron James in the NBA Finals last year. Robinson felt starstruck knowing that he was in the way of an all-time great, competing for an NBA Championship. This article first appeared on March 3, 2021
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Sports
Amherst Women’s Basketball Making the Most of Time Off the Court Mike Schretter Contributing Writer The Amherst athletic program is a major player within the realm of Division III sports. In particular, the women’s basketball team has shined greatly over the past ten years, winning national championships in 2017 and 2018 and making the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA tournament the last two years. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic halted their national championship dreams in the 2019-2020 season. The news was especially frustrating because the team had begun to hit its stride winning by 15 points or more in their first two NCAA tournament games, even after a loss in the NESCAC Semifinals to Bowdoin College. The 2020-2021 Amherst women’s basketball team also had their season canceled due to Covid concerns and will have a very different roster coming into their next playable season. Leading scorers Hannah Fox ’20 and Madie Eck ’20, as well as sharpshooter Cam Hendricks ’20 have all graduated from Amherst, which leaves great opportunities for other players to contribute more. Kate Sullivan ’21 has now assumed the role as captain for this season and has made a major impact on the players. According to shooting guard Lauren Pelosi ’22, Sullivan has been taking the lead in major fundraising events. She even helped a major NESCAC rival, Bowdoin, who is dealing with a player afflicted with cancer in their program. She displayed her great leadership by developing a research fund to generate money for Bowdoin and rallied the Mammoths to sign a card and send flowers to show their support for Bowdoin community. Sullivan has continued to keep regular contact with the players, checking in about basketball and non-basketball related issues. She expresses the need to stay involved especially during the first semester when first-year students first get acclimated to the team. In these precarious times, Sullivan has recognized the need to give players their “space,” but she has also seen the importance of organizing team events like trivia nights or Super Bowl gatherings. Sullivan stressed the importance of creating the right atmosphere for the juniors to take over and the first-years to feel secure. She noted how it was important to “put the effort in to make sure the first-years especially got to know me enough to be comfortable”. Despite being the only member of the class of 2021 on the team and struggling with finding her role during her first couple of years playing, the opportunity to be selected captain proved that all the “emotional, physical and mental” work she has endured was worth it, she said. She remarked on the fact that being selected a captain was “going to be a difficult responsibility to take on … especially considering how stressful the year has been.” With Sullivan graduating this spring, there is a glance towards the future captains of the team. Pelosi, as well as Jade DuVal ’22, described the captain selection process as uncertain at the moment and are excited to see who Head Coach G.P. Gromacki chooses to lead this team in the 2021-2022 season. Beyond captain selection, other questions still lingered for the team amid their canceled season. How would they stay connected to their teammates and coaches? Where can they train for basketball? What new hobbies can they do? The players seem to have found certain ways to answer these looming questions. To stay connected, DuVal and Pelosi noted the interactions in team-wide Zoom meetings and more personal calls between a small group of players. They noted that the zoom meetings were “meetings where we (the players) talked about basketball and non-basketball related stuff.” Some players are picking up new hobbies such as cooking, reading or making online reflections about the pandemic. Others have been working jobs and enjoying more time with their family, making the most out of this difficult situation for any college student. As for taking up new hobbies, Kailyn Shepard ’23 created her own small business that sells rings. DuVal, Olivia Pachla ‘23 and some members of the team helped out their local basketball teams in their neighborhoods. Also, Pachla recently got a dog in order to make things more enjoyable and exciting around the house. These players have found ways to cope
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Photo courtesy of Clarus Studios
Kate Sullivan ‘21 assumes the role of capitan for this season. with all the uncertainty. This semester, five of the players will be on campus taking classes, working out in an individual setting with their coaches once they get clearance to do so and will be engaging in strength training exercises a few days during the week. The players that are on campus will get the opportunity to work with their coach and be able to actually just see Amherst again. Pelosi explained that the players on campus will be “participating in strength and conditioning on campus” once they are cleared to do so with Coach Chris Boyko. Pelosi remarked on this team’s toughness explaining how she “is impressed with this team’s resilience” and she is excited for whatever comes next during this “unique season”. Furthermore, three of the players are spending the semester in Charleston, South Carolina doing the same sort of protocols of taking classes, exploring new hobbies and working out. Pachla is especially thrilled: “I am excited to be back with my teammates as it has been almost a year since I last saw them.” The remaining are studying and working from home as they prepare for normal to be back again. Despite the setbacks, Amherst women’s basketball is still preparing for a comeback once it is safe again. This offseason may have lasted longer than usual, but they aim to be back stronger than ever and build on last year’s success. This article first appeared on February 24, 2021
Sports
A Grand Slam Start Down Under For Tennis Stars Osaka and Djokovic Melanie Schwimmer ‘23 Contributing Writer The 2021 Grand Slam season commenced this February with the star-studded Australian Open. The tournament consisted of ten professional brackets and $62,952,000 of prize money. Naomi Osaka and Novak Djokovic highlighted the tournament taking home singles glory. Officials decided to postpone the event by three weeks due to Covid-19 and allowed a reduced 30,000 fans into Melbourne Park for in-person viewing. Players arrived fourteen days early to quarantine, including seven days sequestered to their hotel rooms, forcing the hopefuls to get creative in their final days of pre-tournament preparation. Australia has managed to contain Covid-19 better than most of the world, and players and fans hoped for this tournament to mark a return to normalcy for the tennis world. However, in the middle of the tournament, the Victoria region of Australia entered a five-day lockdown quarantine which prohibited fans from attending any matches. The players and officials were deemed “essential workers” which allowed the tournament to continue. The restrictions and unexpected lockdown have led to an expected $78 million loss for Tennis Australia. The women’s singles tournament saw multiple upsets — including the No. 25 seed taking down the No. 1 seed — but ended as many expected with Naomi Osaka taking the title and solidifying her dominance. Osaka joins Monica Seles as the only woman to win their first four major final appearances in the Open era and now only trails the Williams sisters for overall Slam wins. After Serena Williams upset the No. 2 seed, Simona Halep, in the quarterfinals, the stage was set for an iconic battle between the tennis legend and the up-and-coming phenom, Osaka. Osaka’s composure and adaptability powered her past Williams 6-3, 6-4. Williams suffered 18 unforced errors including 10 on her fierce forehand stroke. Osaka is now 3-2 all-time against her childhood idol who she constantly praises including stating before the match “just to be on the court playing against her, for me, is a dream.” In the final, Osaka beat No. 22 seed Jennifer Brady 6-4, 6-3, in what was Brady’s first Slam final. The match was full of uncharacteristic errors from both players early before Osaka capitalized on an unusual error by Brady who netted a short forehand. Osaka has won her last 21 matches and is set on continuing her Slam glory. The women’s wheelchair singles brought together the top two seeded players, Diede de Groot (No. 1) and Yui Kamiji (No. 2). The final proved to be everything fans could hope for with multiple tiebreakers before de Groot took the match 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4). Kamiji expressed mixed feelings after losing her title to her longtime rival: “Unfortunately I wasn’t able to play the way I wanted to, but I’m happy with the way I performed today.” De Groot looks to complete her first calendar year singles Grand Slam. On the men’s singles side, world number one Novak Djokovic continued his dominance,steamrolling past Daniil Medvedev to win his ninth Australian Open championship in straight sets 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Medvedev rode a 20-match winning streak into the final and appeared to be in his best form yet, but Djokovic proved too tough a challenge for the relatively inexperienced Grand Slam player. Medvedev committed 30 unforced errors to Djokovic’s 15, in large part because of the shifting tactics of the world number one. For Djokovic, who picked up his 18th Slam title and is now within two titles of both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, this title is one of his finest considering he was almost knocked out in the third round due to an oblique injury. Taylor Fritz
pushed him to an uncommon fifth set and it appeared that Djokovic might not be able to finish the match after the injury which he described as the toughest he has ever dealt with at a Grand Slam tournament. Medvedev remarked after the final about the big three of men’s tennis — Djokovic, Federer and Nadal — “When they are in the zone they are just better tennis players.” Djokovic appeared in the zone all match, winning seven of 11 breakpoints and 16 of the 18 points when he came to the net. This was a much-needed win for Djokovic after he was disqualified from the U.S. Open for swatting a ball that hit a line judge, and losing handily to Nadal, the world number two, in the French Open final. Nadal’s Australian Open ended earlier than expected after he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarterfinals. Tsitsipas relied on his serve to come back and win the last three sets after Nadal played a nearly flawless first two sets. The Big Three, who have never been beaten by a player younger than thirty in a final, continue to make the men’s tennis world a race against themselves — and the clock. In the men’s wheelchair quad singles, world number one Dylan Alcott won twelve consecutive games after dropping the first en route to his seventh straight Australian open win. Alcott relied on his powerful serve and a sharp backhand to outlast Sam Schroder. Schroder upset the world number one at the 2020 U.S. Open. Fans were left furious when officials decided to move the men’s wheelchair quad singles to Margaret Court Arena, meaning the final was not initially televised. Reporters and fans called the decision “pathetic” and “disgraceful.” Alcott is an Australian tennis legend and the second-class treatment he received is another reminder of the long road towards equality for wheelchair tennis and athletes with a wide range of disabilities. The respective doubles tournaments each saw previous major tournament winners finish on top. Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka captured their second slam title, previously winning the 2019 U.S. Open. However, this dynamic duo is parting ways for now, as Sabalenka wants to focus on her singles game. She is ranked seventh in singles and hopes to save energy in future tournaments to take a shot at singles glory. Barbora Krejcikova, one part of the runner-up duo, earned hardware of her own in the mixed doubles tournament with Rajeev Ram. The duo converted four of six break points to clinch the title in under an hour for the second time in three years. Ram was not able to complete a double double or defend his men’s doubles title after losing to Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek. Ram and his partner Joe Salisbury accredited their poor service performance while praising first-time winners Dodig and Polasek for “one of the best performances in a final ever.” In the men’s wheelchair doubles, Alfie Hewett had a short memory of his singles loss and joined Gordon Reid to successfully defend their Australian Open title. Dylan Alcott furthered his dominance with partner Heath Davidson to take home his 11th Australian open title over singles and doubles. Diede de Groot also completed a singles and doubles Australian open victory with her partner and fellow Dutch countrywoman Aniek van Koot in women’s wheelchair doubles. The pair already has a 2019 Grand Slam win under their belt winning all four major tournaments and cementing themselves as the tennis power partnership to watch. The first major tournament of the year showed familiar legends reclaiming glory and introduced the world to up-and-coming tennis stars. Covid-19 blanketed the Australian Open but tennis players and fans around the world remained undeterred and were able to complete a successful event. Each match ended with an unfamiliar sight: players picked and disposed of their own crinkled water bottles and sweat-soaked towels rather than leave them for someone else, perhaps a marker of changes to come in the sports world. This article first appeared on February 24, 2021
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Photo Courtesy of Matai Curzon ‘22