The Heights September 24, 2018 by The Heights

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The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

EST. 1919

WWW.BCHEIGHTS.COM

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

POPS ON THE HEIGHTS

RESURGENCE SPORTS

ARTS

After dropping its first two games of the season, volleyball bounced back with a pair of conference wins.

John Finney, Molly Cahill, and the University Chorale discuss their roles in the upcoming Pops on the Heights.

A16

Break-Ins Drive BCPD Concerns

Suit Enters Pre-Trial Phase

Last week, there were three break-ins in Brighton.

Due process case will get either a jury or a bench trial.

BY JACK GOLDMAN

News Editor

After multiple break-ins were reported in the past week in the Brighton neighborhood that many Boston College students living off campus call home, the BC Police Department is working on educating off-campus students on how to prevent break-ins. The department sent out representatives from BCPD and the Boston Police Department to hand out doughnuts at the South Street bus stop Thursday morning, where they chatted with residents about the incidents and what they can do to stay safe. That evening, representatives from both departments knocked on doors in the neighborhood bordered by Greycliff Road and Kirkwood Road. In addition to the incidents reported in community awareness bulletins at the start of the week, The Heights was informed of a third incident that took place on the corner of Greycliff and Foster Street. Each of the incidents is currently under investigation. BCPD Lt. Jeffrey Postell cited situational awareness as the biggest key to making this problem go away. Both BPD and BCPD have increased their patrol concentration on the neighborhood, but in order for resident to be safe, they need to focus on what they can do to increase their own safety, according to Postell. He was quick to note that’s not an easy mindset to keep. BCPD, BPD, BC Off-Campus Living, and BC’s Office for Health Promotion have all partnered to get the word out on how to better secure off-campus houses and apartments. In addition, that evening BCPD and BPD officers

In a hearing Thursday afternoon in the $3 million lawsuit pending against Boston College in regards to the alleged mishandling of a sexual assault allegation, Judge Denise Casper indicated that her inclination is to send the case to a jury trial. Casper said she will issue an order with her decision in the near term. The case was remanded back to district court in August, and the hearing Thursday featured both sides arguing over whether the case should require a jury trial, which, if it goes forward, would take place in early 2019. When the alleged incident originally occurred, the plaintiff, identified only as “John Doe” in court documents, was reporting on an event for The Heights. The University argued that BC has jurisdiction over the matter. BC has seized on a particular phrase in the decision: Arguing that since the appeals court said the case was remanded “on this issue,” one phrase on page 37 of the appeals court opinion, BC is pushing to regain jurisdiction over the case, rather than have a jury trial to determine if there was a miscarriage of justice. BC argued that “on this issue” refers to the fairness of its initial hearing, rather than whether there should be a jury trial. The University argued that a bench trial is more appropriate than a jury trial, and that if Casper decides that BC committed a breach-of-contract violation, then a new disciplinary hearing should take place, run by the University. The breach of contract alleged is that BC did not give Doe a fair hearing in 2012 when he was accused of sexual assault. Doe was convicted of indecent assault and suspended for three semesters. His appeal of that decision was unsuccessful, and after former Vice President of Student Affairs Barb Jones conducted a separate review of the incident and found no wrongdoing on the University’s part, Doe brought a lawsuit against BC. He is asking for an expungement of his disciplinary record and $3 million in damages. The defendant argued that since the trial is now proven to be concerning an “issue of fact,” there must be a jury trial rather than a bench one, as the appeals court recommended.

See Break-Ins, A3

One Panini, Two Panini Three panini, four. BY MADDIE DEYE For The Heights Boston College Dining Services has in recent weeks made significant changes to Eagle’s Nest, the popular lunch spot known for its salads and sandwiches, and the long lines for each. “Our McElroy dining team has observed that the lines at Eagle’s Nest this semester at lunch have been long and have been working on changes to help increase the speed of service,” Beth Emery, director of BC Dining, said in an email. Removing the presser station and adding a second line to the bowl station are the major developments on the second floor of McElroy Commons this fall. Beyond those two changes, salads and deli sandwiches will now be pre-prepared instead of made-to-order. The result has been an increase in

See Eagle’s Nest, A3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

MICHAEL CONROY / AP PHOTO

No. 23 BC Overmatched by Purdue After turning the ball over four times and losing by 17, the Eagles received zero votes in this week’s AP Top 25 coaches poll.

Integrating Shea Center and Schiller Entrepreneurship to be a focal point of Schiller Institute. BY JACK GOLDMAN News Editor Editor’s Note: This is the second in a series of articles about the preparations being made for the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. The Shea Center for Entrepreneurship is planned as one of the cornerstones of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, but the reason why isn’t necessarily obvious. Shea has had to fight back against a perception that it’s a center created only for Carroll School of Management students, according to Jere Doyle, executive director of the Shea Center and BC ’87. “The number one goal [of Shea] isn’t about starting companies, it’s about learning the ecosystem of being an entrepreneur—entrepreneurial thinking—trying out the startup, seeing what it’s like, working there,” he said. “We’re trying to get them to think a little bit outside their comfort zone.” “The whole idea of the Shea Center is three things: It’s academic, it’s on-cam-

pus co-curricular learning outside the classroom, and there’s the experiential element.” Doyle says he is not yet aware of where Shea will be located within the building, or what resources will be immediately available in the center’s offices. Due to the number of students on campus who are interested in start-up work or the entrepreneurial spirit behind working in start-up-adjacent environments, by taking advantage of the “integrated” aspect of Schiller, the Shea Center has a whole new runway to take off of in regards to adding new students. Those interests are not limited to CSOM students. Doyle said he’s seen

interest in such environments stretch out into every school at the University, making outreach into those sectors more important than ever. For Doyle, diverse backgrounds among a team is the key to success, and the makeup of Shea shouldn’t be any different from the makeup of the environments students taking advantage of the Shea Center will encounter. “I think what this does is it’s going to add to the collaboration of students across disciplines, which will spur more innovation and which will spur more creative thinking,” Doyle said. “It’s giving them a space to go where they can feel comfortable

See Schiller, A3

PHOTO COURTESY OF UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS

See Lawsuit, A3

A Journalist’s Journey Through “No Man’s Land” Prof’s latest project is a critical bio of Madonna. BY ABBY HUNT Copy Editor Amid the sounds of chit-chat, coffee makers, and blenders, “Lost in Your Light” came on over the loudspeakers in Fuel America in Brighton—prompting Maura Johnston to pause her train of thought. “I love this song,” she said. “This is the collaboration between

NEWS: Public Health Initiative

Phil Landrigan’s hiring marks the beginning of the Public Health Initiative. A2

Dua Lipa and Miguel, and I love Miguel. I’ve seen him 26 times.” “I interviewed him once too.” This one interaction provides a glimpse into the part-time journalism professor’s jam-packed life of listening to, reading about, and writing about music. A freelance writer whose byline frequents Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, and The New York Times, Johnston travels across state and country lines to watch, interview, and write about musicians—who in the past have included the likes of Dierks Bentley, Kelly Clarkson, and Michael McDonald.

FEATURES: Nick Genovese

Listening to music is a full-time job for Johnston, who spends around 35 to 40 hours a week jamming. It’s not a new occupation though: ever since she was a kid, Johnston religiously watched MTV and listened to Casey Kasem’s American Top 40 every weekend. Johnston was never really a TV person—sitcoms didn’t catch her attention, and you probably wouldn’t spot her at the movies. But she was always completely fascinated by music and its ability to surround people and affect their moods. As she grew older, Johnston grew

Genovese, BC ’16, found joy after turning down his dream job and following his faith..............A8

INDEX

interested in the ways critics were able to elevate and denigrate certain types of music. Johnston isn’t a fan of the writing of most early music critics of the ’60s and ’70s—calling it “wanky” and subjective to an “almost blinding” point. “The stuff that’s being published now is so much better than the stuff that was published back then—just because there’s like a greater diversity of perspectives,” she said. As a college student at Northwestern University, Johnston worked

See Johnston, A4

NEWS.........................A2 METRO..................... A6

The Heights

TOP

things to do on campus this week

Students can join Rev. Kenneth R. Himes, O.F.M., and Marquette University professor Conor Kelly for a luncheon in Gasson 100 at noon on Tuesday. The two will be speaking about their recently-launched book, Poverty, Responding Like Jesus.

Monday, September 24, 2018

The communication department is sponsoring “Sports After #MeToo,” in Devlin Hall on Tuesday at 6 p.m. Trenni Kusnierek of NBC Sports, Tara Sullivan of The Boston Globe, Abby Chin of NBC Sports, and Maddie Meyer of Getty Images will host the discussion.

The McMullen Museum of Art is throwing a students-only trivia night on Thursday from 6:30 to 9 p.m. Topics include movies, fashion, sports, and art, which will be presented through visual questions projected outside the museum. The top three teams will win a prize.

NEWS Sennott Speaks on Current State of Journalism BRIEFS ITS Tests New Mac Software Boston College Information Technology Services (ITS) has recommended that students with Mac laptops refrain from updating to macOS Mojave (version 10.14), the latest of Apple’s operating systems. Mojave will be released on Monday. ITS is currently testing the update’s compatibility with BC supported applications and services and waiting for software vendors to update. On the BC Wiki page for macOS Application Support, ITS has tracked which software works with each operating system. So far, only 11 out of 44 applications listed there work with Mojave, including Eduroam, BC UIS, the BC printing queue, and the Microsoft Office Suite. No program officially supports the Mojave Beta release. Two of the largest changes involve privacy and security concerns. Apple’s web browser, Safari, will start blocking social media widgets from tracking users without their permission. Apps with access to the computer’s camera and microphone will have the same limitation. Mojave will add some minor features, like Dark Mode, and changes to several apps. The update adds Apple News, Stocks, Voice Memos, and Home from iOS, the operating system used for iPhones and other Apple mobile devices. FaceTime has also been upgraded to allow conversations between up to 32 people.

Student Loan Debt Rises Despite the years of economic recovery that followed the 2008 financial crisis, student loan debt has become significantly worse across all age groups, according to data collected by CNBC. National student loan debt was just over $6 billion in 2007. By 2017, that number had reached almost $1.4 trillion and is expected to cross $2 trillion in 2022. Borrowers over the age of 60 make up 7 percent of the 2017 total. “Cost escalation, which would normally be met with consumer resistance, is being facilitated by the easy availability of credit,” said Barmak Nassirian, director of federal relations at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, to in an interview with CNBC. “It’s disturbingly similar to what happened to tank the mortgage market.” CNBC also found that the decrease in state funding for public colleges contributed heavily to the problem because it left states to rely on higher tuition costs. As a result, it now costs an average of $30,000 per student per year. According to the State Higher Education Finance report from last year, 28 states now rely primarily on tuition for the first time ever. The same report found that only six states have recovered to pre-recession funding. Obama’s Education Department created several regulations in order to protect students from predatory for-profit colleges and universities. One such rule required for-profit schools to release data concerning student debt and income after graduation in order to monitor compliance with certain government standards. Another made it possible for students to be eligible for federal loan forgiveness if their college closed or was accused of fraudulent practices. The Trump administration has since rolled back or changed both rules.

By Isabel Fenoglio Asst. Metro Editor

Charles Sennott, an award-winning journalist, foreign correspondent, author, and entrepreneur, addressed a captivated audience on Wednesday night to discuss the most pressing issue facing our democracy: journalism. The first speaker in the Lowell Humanities lecture series, Sennott outlined what he described as “the erosion of truth” in the media. His lecture, titled “Crossing the Divide: Ground Truth in the Post-Truth Era,” had a simple message: It’s time for media to return to “old school journalism” by reporting what Sennott dubs the “groundtruth.” Looking out into the audience, Sennott wiggled his bushy eyebrows and asked, “How many of you have heard of this term?” A few hands raised, and he added with a laugh, “My wife and brother don’t count.” “‘Ground truth’ is a technical term coined by NASA,” Sennott said. “I love its precision. When you look it up on the NASA website, it talks about the calibration process when a person on the ground makes a measurement, and a satellite makes the same measurement at the same time.” Turning to face the the screen to his left, Sennott paused to look at the definition of the term projecting toward the audience. “Now I have never thought of NASA

as poetic, but NASA says that if there is a conflict between the technology and the human reading on the ground, trust the ground reading,” he said. “For us, this is the metaphor for what we do. It’s a simple concept, but it’s a philosophy that lies at the heart of all good journalism,” he said. “We live in a world of technology where we are bombarded with information, but we need to calibrate that information against the truth that we as journalists see on the ground. It’s our job.” Gazing out into the audience again, Sennott posed another question: How has American culture lost sight of what a “fact” is? How has the country reached a place where its president calls news he “finds unhelpful” fake news? “This crisis in journalism has become a crisis in our democracy,” Sennott said. “Trust in the media is in rapid decline. Every day it is eroding. We need to defend it, because it is the cornerstone of our democracy.” Specifically, Sennott stressed the impact of the crisis in journalism on local media coverage. He revealed that the emergence of “news deserts,” has become systemic: 900 communities have lost their local news organization in the last 15 years. Frustrated by what he was witnessing, Sennott decided to do something, and so he founded the GroundTruth Project, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization

Kaitlin Meeks / Heights Editor

Charles Sennott urges students to pursue journalism, claiming the field is in ‘crisis’. dedicated to keeping truthful, passionate journalism alive. Dedicated toward supporting the next generation of journalists, the organization’s cross-country project “Crossing the Divide” premieres on the World Channel on Wednesday, and its newest initiative, Report for America, seeks to address the crisis in local journalism in the United States. “Truth evaporates in news deserts,” Sennott said. “People don’t feel heard. The reason we need local reporting is because in its absence we grow divided as a country. If we only listen to Fox and MSNBC and we only care about issues like gun control and

abortion, we are going to fall apart. We may never, ever get along.” Sennott described Report for America as “Teach for America” for journalism. “We believe in the public service spirit of journalism,” he said. Sennott concluded with a call to action. Looking out at the faces of the students in the audience, he urged them to pursue a career in journalism. “The truth is now under attack. Right now, and forever more, we need to work a lot harder to be sure we do our jobs,” he said. We have to do better. Journalism has failed us. We have to do better.” n

Landrigan to Lead Global Public Health Initiative By Owen Fahy For The Heights Boston College hired Philip J. Landrigan, BC ’63 as a full-time faculty member to lead the creation of the University’s Global Public Health Initiative, which will include a new major and minor and will be a cornerstone of the new Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society, according to a University press release. Landrigan has had a distinguished career in public health, and he comes to Chestnut Hill from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, where he served as chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine. “I came to a point in my life, several years ago, where I had pretty much done everything that I wanted to at Mount Sinai,” Landrigan said. “In November 2014, [Vice Provost for Research and Academic Planning] Dr. [Tom] Chiles brought me to BC to be the speaker at the annual symposium, and we started talking about a public health program at Boston College.” Landrigan began to reconnect with the University long before 2014. In the early 2000s, he set up a program with BC that brought students to New York for the summer to intern at Mount Sinai and other hospitals in the city. “About 12 or 15 years ago, I reached out to [now retired pre-med program director] Dr. Robert Wolff, and I suggested to him that it might be interesting to set up a little summer internship pipeline program where BC students could come

down and spend the summer in New York,” Landrigan said. Landrigan recalls being impressed with the pre-med students that BC sent each year. “What really set [BC students] apart was there very strong sense of a social mission and their desire to make the world better, which is probably a selection factor,” Landrigan said. “It is clearly something at BC that was building these young men and women.” As a result of the 2014 conversation that he had with Chiles, Landrigan began to come to campus for a few days every month during the 2017-2018 academic year to put in place a plan for what would become the Global Public Health Initiative (GPHI). In July 2018, Landrigan arrived at BC as a full-time faculty member, primarily in charge of organizing the GPHI. The University currently offers three courses in public health through the Lynch School of Education, Connell School of Nursing, and the Graduate School of Social Work. In the fall of 2019, BC will enter a new phase of the initiative, offering a six-course minor in global public health. To accommodate this new minor, the University will hire two new faculty members. Currently, administrators project the fall of 2021—when the Schiller Institute is projected to be completed—as the arrival date for a full major in public health. At that point, GPHI will be fully functional, but Landrigan said he suspects additional elements will be added to the program after the major is rolled out. GPHI will serve as one aspect of BC’s $300 million investment

in the sciences, which is focused on “societal issues in the area of energy, health and the environment,” according to the institute’s website. In 2005, 13 universities offered undergraduate majors in public health, according to the National Institute of Health. In 2018, 114 schools offer a public health major that is accredited by the Association of Schools and Progra ms of Public Health. Harvard is ranked as the best school in the world for social sciences and public health, according to U.S. News and World Report. “Ten years ago, there were almost no undergraduate programs in public health in the country,” Landrigan said. “They have just caught on, and it’s been growing from year to year. We’re part of a rising wave.” The public health major will have three parts: an educational aspect, a research element, and a service component. Students will take classes in the global public health major, while conducting research on environmental pollution and its effect on public health. Landrigan headed up a global commission that researched the effect of pollution on public health in October 2017. “[The report on pollution and health] was a very big deal,” he said. “We released [the report] in October of 2017, and it got 3,000 media hits and 2 million readers. I wanted to be able to continue this work because clearly pollution is a big problem—it’s unresolved.” In addition to classes and research, students will also take public health-focused service trips. Landrigan recently completed a trip to Honduras, in conjunction with the

Mission and Ministry program. Students got a firsthand look at the public health systems available in Honduras and what social and economic factors have an effect on health care in developing nations. Public health is rapidly growing as a field of study and an industry due to multiple factors, according to Landrigan. The world population is rising exponentially, and the United States is aging rapidly, which is bringing the issue of public health to the forefront of pressing issues. Health care costs have skyrocketed, making the issue increasingly more complex. “Traditionally, health care was fee for service, but that’s been getting outrageously expensive and is not sustainable,” Landrigan said. “The solution is accountable care organizations.” An accountable care organization (ACO) is a hospital or health organization that assumes responsibility for the health of a population in exchange for subsidization from the government. Landrigan said that an ACO has two choices for the way that it spends the money it receives from the government: It can respond when people get sick, which is a very expensive way to address public health, or it can spend money on programs that keep people out of the hospital. Studies have shown that these programs can keep people healthier and save the hospitals money in the long run. “Due to the aging population and increasing emphasis on preventative care, the job market in public health is very strong and growing,” Landrigan said. n

POLICE BLOTTER: 9/18/18 – 9/20/18 Wednesday Sept. 19

Boston College Police Headquarters.

Thursday Sept. 20

Loyola Hall.

8:19 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical incident on Upper Campus.

2:57 p.m.- An officer filed a report regarding a larceny by false pretense.

5:22 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding an elevator entrapment at the Yawkey Center.

10:30 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical incident at the Newton Parking Lots.

10:44 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance at

11:34 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance at

5:23 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a larceny of a bicycle at the Commonwealth garage.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

CORRECTIONS What is your favorite thing about fall? “I really like Halloween, plus the weather’s super nice.” — Alec Goos, MCAS ’22

“The leaves changing.” — Drew Cappel, CSOM ’21

“The weather. I have better clothes for the colder weather.”—Duren Horsey, MCAS ’22

“I love fall. I love the sweater weather, applepicking, and getting the mini pumpkins from Trader Joe’s.” — Alyssa Jones, MCAS ’19

Please send corrections to eic@bcheights.com with ‘correction’ in the subject line.

The Heights

Monday, September 24, 2018

After Changes, Eagle’s Paninis Return Eagle’s Nest, from A1

Photo Courtesy of the associated press

Ride-Shares Worry Evans By Jack Goldman News Editor Boston College Chief of Police Bill Evans thinks that ride-sharing poses some of the most troubling dangers that students face day-to-day. He would know: Evans, who retired in August as head of the Boston Police Department, spent years fighting for greater regulation for ride-sharing companies, notably Uber. “I wanted big background checks, I wanted to dig deep into the drivers’ background and I really pushed for fingerprint legislation,” he said. “Unfortunately I didn’t get it.” Although he said believes he made a lot of progress on ensuring drivers were background-checked, Evans doesn’t think regulations are strong enough. Evans felt it was imperative that he was sure drivers didn’t have violent pasts or sex offenses, but without fingerprinting he doesn’t think ride-sharing companies can know for sure when they hire drivers that those people “of good character.” He’s seen incidents across the state and the country where sexual assaults in vehicles were reported. Now that he works at BC, where the student body leans on ride-sharing on a consistent basis and often while inebriated, he’s more concerned than ever about ridesharing safety issues. “I want to educate our students, especially the females, about the precautions they should take before they hop into any rideshare vehicle,” Evans said. The pushback from ride-sharing companies comes in the form of two arguments. Uber and Lyft have to foot the bill on their drivers’ background checks, while taxi drivers have to pay for their own background checks, according to a CNET investigation. Both companies now rerun checks yearly on their drivers, according to CNET and CNN. Checks are made through a service called Checkr, and they cost between $5 and $20 each depending on a variety of factors, according to CNET. Services that do background checks including fingerprinting, which includes access to the FBI database, cost $50 each, according to the article. Representatives from Lyft and Uber could not be reached for further comment. Evans said he believes fingerprinting is the most comprehensive way to check drivers’ histories, which is why he pushed hard for it when he testified on behalf of increased regulations as BPD commissioner. BC has some history with ride-sharing safety issues. In April 2017, an Uber driver was charged with sexually assaulting a BC student during a ride that occurred during

fall 2016. Ride-sharing companies have opposed fingerprinting from the start, citing cost and an unnecessary roadblock to bringing in new drivers. A notable example of this issue playing out in another city comes from Austin, Texas. In a drawn-out battle between Austin legislators and Uber and Lyft, the two largest ride-sharing companies in the country abandoned operations in the state over fingerprinting legislation. Another ride-share company, Fasten—which has since been bought out and ceased operations, moved into the area and flourished in Uber and Lyft’s absences. The two companies eventually acquiesced to the legislation and resumed operations in the city. Despite Evans’s regulatory concerns in regards to ride-sharing companies’ background checks, he said he understood that ride-share services provided a convenient, useful service to students. Companies are looking to make a profit for providing a “great” service, while the police are looking to keep the public safe—Evans said the two parties just need to find a middle ground. His priority at BC is to make sure students utilize as many safety measures as possible when they ride-share. His first point of emphasis is that when students call a Lyft or an Uber, they should remain inside rather than waiting for the vehicle outside. Evans emphasized that students must verify car type, license plate information, and the picture of the driver provided in ride-share apps with the vehicle and driver that picks them up. In addition, Evans thinks that the backseat of the car is your friend. If a driver is urging you to sit in the front with them, especially if you are alone, Evans believes that is a major red flag. He also asked that students share all info related to the ride through the share button in ride-share apps with a friend or parent so a third-party is aware of their status. He commended the outreach ride-sharing companies have done in terms of releasing safety tips—he noted those companies want to keep their riders safe in the same way he does. Evans noted that students must be careful to actually order a ride-share through the app. He’s seen cases of people getting into cars asking if a person wanted an Uber ride, and people will get in the car thinking it works the same way as a taxi, when in fact it is a predator. Ultimately, Evans urged student to be as careful as possible and to travel in groups. Drivers are coming into Boston from surrounding states to drive in Boston, so it’s imperative to Evans that students take advantage of the necessary precautions. “Make sure you’re 100 percent confident that it’s your driver, that that’s the car,” he said. n

serving capabilities: The specialties station, specifically, can now serve 100 more customers per day, according to Emery. She noted that some of these modifications have received positive feedback from students. Dramatic decreases in wait time were one of the goals of this project, and many students have noted the improved speed of service, according to Emery. More adjustments are on the way, however. “We have received feedback from students asking to bring back their favorite paninis,” Emery said. “Based on input

from students, starting next week, we have decided to return back to one bowl station and reopen our presser station where we will offer one panini per day and rotate the most popular paninis.” “I miss the panini line because it was one of the more reliable vegetarian options on campus, and most of the sandwich options now are not as good as the paninis were,” said Caitlin Vasignton, MCAS ’21, in a text. Student favorites, such as the New England Classic sandwich, have not been featured in Eagle’s for some time. With the old station’s return, the old tradition of rotating sandwich offerings will return. Sand-

wiches are also available periodically at other locations, such as the Hillside Cafe—where the Classic originated in 2001, according to Emery—and Stuart Hall. “The bowls and the pressers were like yin and yang, and now without the pressers the balance is thrown off,” said Jay Agrawal, MCAS ’21, in a text. She also noted that the pre-made turkey and avocado deli sandwich will now be made without cheese or honey mustard. Students have asked for sandwiches to be made to order, but in order to keep lines moving, BC Dining will begin with the compromise of taking things off of the sandwich that can be added on by customers later. n

BC Investigating Recent Break-Ins Break-Ins, from A1 knocked on doors throughout the targeted neighborhoods to talk in person with residents about safety measures that can be taken. The group’s primary goal is to be proactive about discussing issues with off-campus residents, according to Postell. The lieutenant said that similar measures to those taken this week were undertaken this spring the last time break-ins seriously were affecting off-campus residents. Postell said that the efforts “curbed” some of the off-campus issues. “So crime is an opportunity,” he said. “In terms of [breaking and entering] … it’s people not locking their doors, keeping their windows open, even on the upper floors [and] the basement floors.” In two of the three incidents currently being investigated, a ladder was used to gain

entrance to residences. “At all times, your doors and windows on all levels should be secured. Because you never know.” The lieutenant also recommended residents get to know their neighborhood and to stay wary during large parties. It’s harder to recognize if any party-goers pose a threat, but staying alert could prevent a crime from occurring. Postell was adamant that students must report incidents as soon as they happen or discover one has occurred. “Reporting things when it happens is crucial,” he said. “When you wait five minutes, 10 minutes, an hour, five hours, eight hours even, that really poses a problem for us in terms of the investigation. … It’s as easy as picking up the phone and dialing 9-1-1. “We want to correct the problems, we want to prevent the problems, but we also want to bring these people to justice that are

violating people’s rights.” Postell admitted that a college campus and the surrounding areas is a target-rich environment, and a criminal-mind is going to figure that out relatively easy. So, when it comes to solving the break-in problems, for the lieutenant it comes down to a dualpronged attack: dissuasion and situational awareness. Dissuasion starts with locking your doors and can even go as far as buying a cheap security camera to keep in a room or focused on your door or windows, according to Postell. Adding situational awareness to that equation makes it much more difficult for criminals to take advantage of classic vulnerabilities that have plagued BC students for years. “Crime prevention is elementary,” he said. “If we can digress back to what we were taught at an early age about certain things, then I think it increases our safety.” n

Schiller Affects Shea, Computer Science Schiller, from A1 meeting up with other folks that they’ve never met before. “Innovation doesn’t happen without collaboration, and collaboration is best when it’s interdisciplinary—lots of different folks coming to the table with different ideas and different skill sets.” The final building isn’t the be-all-end-all of Doyle’s vision, though: The Shea Center’s expansion into more disciplines at BC has already started. For the transition to the Schiller Institute to be “seamless,” Doyle said he’d be working harder to distance Shea from the perception that it’s CSOMspecific or creating startups-specific. If more students from more areas of the University participate in events, classes, or other resources Shea provides, when the building finally goes up, Doyle and his team can maximize the opportunity the new space will bring. The Shea Center is a career resource just as much as Career Services can be for students looking into startup and small company environments, according to Doyle. He noted that he hopes that Shea can expand into helping students from every major plan out career moves. “We want to run programming that will interest [every student] and educate [every student] and help you in making career decisions and help you [network],” he said. n

CS concentrates on short-term priorities. By Jack Goldman News Editor Boston College’s computer science (CS) department has been dogged by one issue in particular plaguing its growth opportunities: staffing. The Schiller Institute will give the department an opportunity to expand its faculty and increase its financial resources, but computer science’s issues may need to be met in the more immediate term. “Such investment could only help to bolster the university’s rise in prominence, and the creation of the Schiller Institute would appear to be an ideal, but fleeting, opportunity to do just that,” Sergio Alvarez, the computer science department chair, said in an email. In 2017, The Heights reported on the department’s understaffing troubles. Shortly afterward, another article detailed how the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society will finally open up a large-scale opportunity for the University’s “fastest growing department” to expand. “For the moment, we must continue to focus our efforts on simply meeting the enormous demand for existing CS courses that we are witnessing across the university, while maintaining our faculty’s research

output to the greatest extent possible within our current constraints,” Alvarez said in an email. Alvarez specifically cited increasing demand on introductory level CS courses as an issue the department is currently trying to remedy. A new range of students have begun to value a basic knowledge of computer science, according to Alvarez, creating high demand for classes designed around science and engineering data and algorithms—he sees CS as a new part of a “contemporary liberal arts education.” Alvarez cited the “rapid pace of developments” in the discipline as requiring significant targeted resources to take on the evolving concept of CS successfully. That includes not only faculty, but also funding for research. The institute is intended to be a hub for research initiatives, and Alvarez emphasized that a greater commitment to CS research was necessary to making the department’s efforts successful in the near and long term. Those advancements could come on the graduate side, which the department does not yet have offerings for. “In light of these considerations, it seems natural that a leading liberal arts university such as BC should invest the necessary resources to strengthen CS teaching and research by continuing to hire top faculty and by developing excellent academic programs in CS at both the undergraduate and graduate levels,” he said. n

Next Step in Due Process Suit: Will University Face a Jury Trial? Lawsuit, from A1 Jury trials are required in order to determine whether something is an “issue of fact” or not. In the past, this lawsuit has been argued before a judge, as both parties sought summary judgement in their favor. Summary judgement can only be rendered based on “indisputable fact.” The appeals court ruled that summary judgement was not appropriate. The major fact in dispute is the effect of BC administrators on Doe’s hearing.

When the district court rendered the initial decision in summary judgment, that meant that a single judge could make the decision on the case based only on indisputable facts. If there is a factual dispute, that requires a jury trial. The appeals court ruled that this case is, in fact, based on disputed facts—here those facts surround the administration’s impact on the alumnus’s disciplinary hearing. Doe was accused of sexual assault in 2012, but was found guilty of indecent assault, even though, according to the record,

he was not informed that he could be found guilty of this charge. Emails released by the University to the plaintiffs showed that a third party was used as a witness against Doe. Doe says the third party admitted to Doe that he, the third party, actually committed the assault. The third party “received immunity from the college,” and then-Executive Director for Planning and Staff Development Carole Hughes told the hearing panel to put the third party “at ease,” according to an article published by K.C. Johnson, a professor at Brooklyn College

who chronicles Title IX litigation. In addition, the defendant argued that the chances of the involved parties, who no longer attend BC and would not be compelled to attend a University hearing by law, would attend the new hearing were slim to none. In this situation, a University hearing could be considered an empty gesture incapable of bringing any of the involved parties to justice, according to the defendant. The two sides clashed over precedents the case would rely on. The University cited multiple cases in a footnote of its joint

statement filed this summer as precedent for a bench trial, but the defendant argued circumstances surrounding those cases were too different from the suit against BC to be relied upon. Of the cases cited by the University, all of them are “he said/she said” cases—this case involves a third party. Regardless of the decision on whether a jury trial is necessary, the scope of the case and the evidence and precedent that will be argued before the bench or a jury will be hashed out after Casper makes a decision on the type of trial that will be held. n

THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Between Matisse and Monet, Hang a Portrait of Madonna Johnston, from A1 for the school’s newspaper and radio station. Upon graduation, she went to work at a hodge-podge of websites, including those for Time Inc., Barnes & Noble, and the MLB. In 2006, she went to Pop Conference—a gathering of musicians, critics, academics, and music buff s held every year in Seattle—where she met fellow writer Brian Raftery. Impressed with Johnston’s knowledge of the internet, Raftery recruited her to help with founding a new music blog: Idolator. “We kind of wanted to have the spirit of the British music magazines that were sort of on the cheekier side, like Melody Maker, or Select, both of which were huge influences of mine,” she said. The initial ethos of Idolator, as she describes, was very confrontational and contrarian. Raftery left the blog in 2007, leaving Johnston to be promoted to head writer. At the time, much of the blog space had been consumed by indie rock and hip-hop, which Johnston says are two genres that are the easiest to write about and give “sonic context to.” She set out to give the blog a more popbased focus. “Pop was a really big kind of no man’s land back in 2007,” she said. “And I’d always been interested in pop, not just like what’s on the radio, but pop as a genre.” Johnston worked at the site until 2009, and in 2011, she started working as the music editor for The Village Voice—a tenure that taught her important lessons about the toll inflicted by increased dependency on advertising and page views on the media. “[The Village Voice owners] were really sort of prizing web traffic and making it paramount, and that was really frustrating for me because a lot of the ways that they did this were to exploit women or to write ignorant stuff that people would get mad at and click,” she said. “It was just so exploitative and so counter to what I loved, because I had grown up reading The Village Voice too—it was something that I would read on the way home from concerts and going to the city on the train in high school and college,” she said. “And it was just really disappointing to see that the chase for traffic was lost in this whole chase for cheap page views.” So Johnston left the Voice in 2012 and, one year later, embarked on a media project that wouldn’t be dependent on “clicks.” In 2013, she launched Maura Magazine, a pop culture publication whose revenue was based on subscriptions from its readers. “The common denominator in

my relationship professionally with Maura—as a writer and as somebody who also edited for her—was that basically, above all, what mattered was integrity,” said Brad Nelson, the magazine’s copy editor and eventual managing editor. Nelson says that at the root of all his interactions with Johnston is integrity. Every piece she writes ends with being the best version of itself it can possibly be. The magazine’s offerings included “in-depth interviews with creators and innovators, incisive commentary on music, movies, sports, and the internet, and indulgent recipes for liquor-filled treats,” its website reads. Sometimes issues were centered around various themes—one week’s was George Michael, another’s the Michael McDonald song “What a Fool Believes.” “No one was looking over our shoulders telling us that this content was good or would perform well,” Nelson said. “It was just about us, trying to get the best stories that we could and then shaping them into the best stories they could be.” Running the advertising-free publication, unfortunately, proved to be unsustainable: It was hard to get people to pay for subscriptions, and Johnston did not have a benefactor, nor was she able to get grants to keep the publication up and running. So, after a two and a half-year run, Maura Magazine ceased publication. “It shut down, but it was definitely a very interesting lesson,” Johnston said. “It’s such a volatile business right now. I mean, I really have to embrace that kind of ‘It failed, but I’m alive’ sort of thing.” For people who are looking to go into this tough business, Johnston suggests being flexible, and she emphasizes that everything can be a learning opportunity. “Media is in a really tough place right now,” she explained. “I feel like there are a lot of good people with good ideas at different places, but the pace of the market is very very ruthless, and very sort of like ‘quickfix,’ and we need more time to figure stuff out.” Johnston considers herself to be more of a critic than a reporter: Even though she has had the chance to interview some of her favorite artists, such as Greg Dulli of the Afghan Whigs, she admits that she still gets nervous when she interviews people. When writing about music, her work is by no means limited to any particular form. Concert coverage, album reviews, Q&As with musicians, opinions columns, timely features— Johnston does it all. Every Friday, she works on Rolling Stone’s “New Albums

PHOTO COURTESY OF JOE MABEL

Maura Johnston, a part-time journalism professor at BC, has a passion for pop music and makes it the center of her critiques. to Stream Now,” a section in which writers and editors talk about new albums they’re excited about. Johnston often laughs about the fact that her greatest preparation for blogging about music full time was when she was working for the MLB’s website. There, she had to be accurate while making quick judgments, so she quickly had to find out where she could go to get reliable information. While at MLB, she not only learned how to react quickly, but also gained confidence in what she was doing. One of the bigger lessons Johnston learned in her career, she says, came as a result of a actually failing the application for that same job. To work for MLB.com, she had to take an edit test of her baseball knowledge—and she bombed it. But the company, still needing employees, agreed to hire her anyway. “Because of that, I was like, ‘I have to get everything super right,’” she said. “So I double-checked, triplechecked everything, and that kind of mentality of like, ‘Don’t publish until you’re absolutely sure you’re right’ carried over into my music writing.” In addition to learning to recognize the potential for learning opportunities everywhere, Johnston also has another tip for media hopefuls: Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself. “When you’re younger, especially in the digital space, you’re seen as having more authority because you’re more on the cutting edge,” she said. Johnston thinks that there is a lot of bad digital strategy in the world, and often the burden of executing that strategy falls on the youngest employees.

Johnston also stressed that it’s important to have a personal life outside of the media. “That’s the one great thing about living in Boston,” she said. “Living in New York, you can really caught up in lot of the day-to-day bullshit. But being in Boston is a nice remove from that.” Johnston taught at New York University’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music from 2010 up until 2013, when she came to Boston College as the inaugural Institute for Liberal Arts Journalism fellow. She currently teaches two courses in the journalism department: Writing about Popular Music and Journalism and New Media—the latter of which she has to redevelop the curriculum for every semester because the field is always changing. In addition to teaching, Johnston works with WZBC as a DJ and advisory board member. “[Maura’s] observations on musical culture are really eye-opening,” said Nick Benevenia, a former student of Johnston’s, manager of WZBC when she joined the station, and BC ’14. “It has changed a lot of the ways that I’ve thought about different types of music, especially pop music and popular music.” Benevenia remarked that people often think that “real artists” don’t lie in pop music. Rock and rap are the genres with more perceived authenticity. But Johnston helped Benevenia understand that top-40 music deserves reverence as pieces culture and art. While working at BC and freelancing for various publications, Johnston continues to work on her biggest project at the moment: a critical biography of Madonna.

“I wasn’t allowed to listen to Madonna when I was young, so that’s the irony of all this,” she said. “I grew up in a very Catholic house—my mom did not like her attitude toward religious icons and objects. But she was somebody who definitely has reflected and carried forward a lot of the pop ideals of the post-MTV era.” The book, she says, is going to be a kind of history of pop in the MTV era told through the eyes of the superstar’s career. In it, she is going to examine some of the subconscious sexism surrounding female pop stars, which still manifests itself in pop culture today. Despite the pleasures of writing a book, traveling far and wide for music festivals, and getting to interview popular artists, Johnston says that the most exciting part of her job is often something much simpler than that. “Sometimes the thrill is just like hearing a record that you fall in love with right away,” she said. “And you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t wait to let people know how great this is.’” When summarizing the lessons she’s learned in life as a freelance music journalist, Johnston began with a laugh. “Don’t be afraid to chase down invoices,” she said. “I’m just kidding. I’m actually not kidding.” “Keep your ears open, keep your eyes open, be flexible,” she continued on to say. “Go see the opening band, even if you don’t think that you want to because they might not be the best thing that you’ve seen. And if they’re not, then go hang out at the bar area, play pinball.” “Always be open to possibilities— that’s pretty much it.” 

More Than Just Extra Melanin: My Life Through Freckles JOAN KENNEDY If you told me to go left, chances are I might go right if I didn’t look at my hands. When I say this, I don’t mean I use that amateur trick I heard about around the monkey bars around fourth grade where you put both hands in front of your face and form “Ls” with your index finger and thumb—my parents never told me about that one. I mean that I have a freckle in the center of my knuckles on my right hand and a freckle on the right of my knuckles on my left hand. I used these two babies like sailors use the North Star and Boy Scouts use compasses—they’re my cheat sheet to navigation. I would be quite literally wandering directionless and lost without the freckles in my life. The antique dresser that was handed down to me is freckled too—pallid-green, with unexplainable brown specks. I never wanted that dresser, and actually preferred the Ikea-like, more sleek models all my friends had—but no matter how many times I scoured Pottery Barn Teen for a desk-dresser-bed-kitchen combo complex, there the immovable giant sat, a nuisance in my room. In retrospect, the dresser is beautiful, elegant, and something I would love to carry with me wherever my next

and next-next homes are. But back in the day, it was a clunky, unwanted, injury-steeped jungle gym. I used to open the drawers in strange patterns and climb all over it—tripping and stumbling through my unfolded clothes. One day, around a time I still had naps in school, I climbed up the dresser, looked into the mirror, and thought about how the skin below my eyes was unencumbered with extra colors—I wanted that sprawling sprinkle, those chaotic constellations. Since my mother and father didn’t gift any to me and the sun hadn’t made its mark on my cheeks yet, taking matters into my own hands seemed reasonable. Not having freckles wasn’t an ill that couldn’t be remedied. I found a skinny brown marker and dotted my face. I remember staring at myself in the mirror for a while and thinking about how ugly I looked with my homemade markings—I wanted them to look good so badly, but the mirror in front of me refused to lie about my appearance. But I thought that because other girls had them, so should I. So I kept them for a while and don’t remember anyone remarking on the change, although I looked like a Raggedy Ann doll that had been splattered with mud. So some freckles have been beneficial to my being—the ones on my hands tell me where to go and when to turn, the fake freckles on my face taught me to be at peace with the way I look naturally, prematurely preventing me from a potential botched plastic surgery that my personality and the

position of the stars on the day of my birth would lead one to believe is inevitable in my adult life. But there is one freckle that I have a rollercoaster of a relationship with— the one on the side of my hip that I’ve sworn is cancerous since the first day I met it—even though I can’t remember ever not meeting it when my eyes turned to that side. Sometimes I think it’s cute—a freckle that only I have, and that no one else owns. Other times, when I’m lying by the pool and the sun hits it just right so that I can peer at the dead eye of it—I see cells mutating and misbehaving. Then I run to grab a towel, feet quick enough not to let the sun-baked pavement scorn me for standing up, and ask my mom to make me a doctor’s appointment. Sometimes she replies, “You’re too old to have your mother make doctor’s appointments for you, do it yourself.” But other times, she squeezes it in at an odd hour. The appointments she makes for me are never convenient— never when I’m on the couch with a bag of Lay’s chips, wishing lightning would strike the chair next to me out of boredom. They’re always when I’m running from lunch to work, or work to lunch.Though I should be diagnosed with some sort of hyper-hypochondriac disorder, the dermatologist never diagnoses me with anything. I sit in the waiting room for 30 minutes, waiting for her to tell me something that legitimizes my visit to the office—without legitimizing my fear of dying without ever being on the cover

NICOLE CHAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

of Forbes. But every time, she measures my freckle and says it looks the same as it looked last time, no matter how much I swear to her it’s changed—to no avail, an old lover that came back and swore he would be malignant this time, but no matter how much he promises to change, he can’t. The visit always makes me wish for something serious but not too serious to be going on under my skin—a lie of convenience I tell myself. At the end of the visit the dermatologist always sends me away with a mission that extends my apprehension: Keep watching that freckle for irregularities. So next time I’m rushing through a shower and the powder-smelling soap bubbles clear themselves so that I can see a brown freckle sitting on my hip,

the anonymity of the white square tiles around me fade from my focus, and I’m assured that this body I’m in is really mine—the freckle my carnal proof. The identity crises around me slow. Descartes screamed “I think therefore I am,” but in my shower I yell “Eureka!”... my freckle is still there therefore I am. The freckle proves this body I’m in is mine, as if it could’ve ever been anyone else’s. I haven’t been put into another carcass for the fun of the universe. Regularity still beats with the days. But other times I’m climbing into bed after a particularly long day, and see that specific spot of darkness on my untanned skin—shoot. “Mom!”

Joan Kennedy is the Magazine editor for The Heights. She can be reached at magazine@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Monday, September 24, 2018

3 m

TOP

things to do in Boston this week

Today, visit the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston to celebrate the opening of artist and composer Jason Moran’s cross-disciplinary exhibition, which showcases mixed-media set installations inspired by jazz venues from past eras. The exhibit will feature new sculpture from his STAGED series

On Tuesday, the Kennedy Institute will host a panel of advocacy and policy experts on the current state and future of women’s healthcare. The discussion will be moderated by WBUR’s Carey Goldberg and will include topics such as the state of reproductive rights in Massachusetts.

The annual Berklee Beantown Jazz Festival will be held on Saturday on Columbus Ave. The festival will have a block party structure, with jazz, Latin, blues, funk, and groove live performances. Food vendors, a petting zoo, and crafts for purchase will also be present.

Hot Box Blends North and South Shore Comfort Foods By Alessandro Zenati Metro Editor

and Jenna Rosenthal

Heights Staff

A quiet, unassuming lane near Union Square in Somerville holds a mystery that is all too enticing for passersby with an appetite for culinary exploration. Packed away behind a live music bar and adjacent to rows of multistory apartments, Bow Market presents a welcome juxtaposition: the warmth of the businesses shepherds people in from the chilly night and the high-occupancy eateries in the vicinity dwarf Bow Market’s “ma and pa” pop-ups. With neighbors on either side serving creative reimaginations of the classic pierogi and distributing empanadas out of an “empanada ATM,” Hot Box is in good company. The classic diner aesthetic produced by the neon logo of Hot Box works in concert with the felt changeable letter menu to create an atmosphere that is no-frills but attentive to detail. The driving inspiration behind creating this intimate pop-up joint was a quasi-romantic relationship with the foods that defined much of the blue-collar diets of natives from the North and South Shore of Boston. “The owners are from the North

Shore, and I’m from the South Shore,” said Jesse Rosen, head chef at Hot Box. “Their pride and joy is the roast beef sandwich, and my thing is the bar pizza. We took both ideas and combined them to make Hot Box.” Raised in Stoughton, Mass. and now living in Revere, Rosen has a deep appreciation and affinity for the bar pizza of the South Shore. Outside of his love for this South Shore staple, Rosen enjoys the opportunity to be a part of a more unique food market and experiment with new items such as fresh-baked English muffins for Sunday brunch. Hot Box also offers its twist on the classic North Shore staple: a roast beef sandwich with a melted layer of American cheese topped with mayonnaise and barbeque sauce oozing out from a sesame or onion roll. The South Shore is represented by the bar pizza, a New England classic that’s typically 10 inches in diameter and cooked in a pan. The classic South Shore bar pizza is a traditional cheese pizza ser ved with tomato sauce, cheese, and oregano. Other varieties of bar pizzas at Hot Box include onion and mushroom, pepperoni, white, and dill pickle pizza. Currently, Hot Box is open for business as part of a soft launch, an approach that allows the owners to gradually optimize Hot Box’s work-

flow and get the kinks out before expanding the menu and accommodating larger order volume. With a small but efficient kitchen layout, Hot Box offers an intimate customer experience. After browsing the simple menu consisting of a handful of items and placing their order with the chef, people can peer into the kitchen and watch their food being prepared at the moment. A dough prep station is situated on the other side of the wall separating it from the main kitchen, where Hot Box employees move swiftly around the kitchen, taking orders, cleaning, and preparing dough for Mike and Patty’s, a downtown pizza location run by the same owners as Hot Box. English muffins and pizza crust dough are made in the Hot Box kitchen because of its brand new machinery and dedicated space. While most neighboring pop-ups at Bow Market are forced to work out of commissary kitchens, Hot Box prepares, bakes, and delivers food to its sister restaurant in downtown Boston. By using locally sourced feta and ricotta, mushrooms grown from a nearby vineyard using an old Japanese horticultural technique, and produce from a neighborhood farmers market, Hot Box upholds a culinary ethos that is founded upon an attention to detail

Photo by Jenna Rosenthal / heights Staff

Hot Box’s dough prep station churns out fresh-baked English muffins for Sunday brunch.

that elevates the noticeable quality of all its comfort food creations. “I’ll go the hard way to get a better product,” Rosen said. “Source

the stuff correctly, and people will respect that.” The Heights’ favorite: White Pizza (ricotta, onion, and rosemary). n

‘Between Riverside and Crazy’ Examines Complexity of Racism By Colleen martin Copy Editor

A voice speaks as the lights go down at SpeakEasy Stage Company. It tells the audience, “turn off y’all’s cell phones,” in a New York accent almost thick enough to be the real deal. It continues on as people scramble into their pockets and bags, so as not to be scolded by the gruff Brooklyn-style invisible man. And so begins Between Riverside and Crazy, opening up inside the last rent-controlled apartment on Riverside Drive, owned by former NYPD officer, Pops.

Pops lives here with his son Junior, who recently got out of prison; Junior’s girlfriend Lulu; and Junior’s friend Oswaldo, who is working on his sobriety. From the opening scene—Pops and Oswaldo sitting at the table, eating Ring Dings, and yelling at each other—the back-and-forth dynamic between Pops and everyone who lives in his house is clear. After groaning at Oswaldo and Lulu to do things around the house, Pops asks why Lulu calls him Dad if he isn’t really her dad. “It’s like, you know, she very fond of you,” Oswaldo explains. “Like a term of

respect. You ain’t my dad either, but I still call you Dad.” Pops isn’t a lot of the things that you might associate with a parent. From the beginning, he curses every other word, is constantly annoyed and demanding, and is hostile when he doesn’t get his way. He does, however, have a tremendous amount of care for the people who depend on him. Pops is like a father not only to Junior, Oswaldo, and Lulu, but also his former partner from the NYPD, Audrey. When Pops invites her over, she

Photo Courtesy of Nile scott studios

Between Riverside and Crazy focuses on the dynamic among a former NYPD officer, his son, his son’s girlfriend, and his son’s friend.

brings her fiance, Lt. Caro. Both act cordially toward Pops at first, making jokes and thanking him for his hospitality, but the contrast between Oswaldo’s genuine respect and their words loosely shadowing their ulterior motives can’t be missed. Pops has been off the job for eight years, ever since he was shot by a white officer in a bar. He refuses to accept the settlement that’s been offered to him, despite Audrey and Caro’s pleading. Caro plays the part of a witty white man who believes that what he thinks is always best, even when it wouldn’t affect him, adversely or otherwise. Caro tells Pops that he has to drop his civil suit and take the settlement, because it’s an election year and there’s already been trouble with a more recent shooting. To Caro’s disdain, Pops doesn’t take to the notion that he should forget his career-ending injury in order to save face for the mayor. “Yeah, I read about that one,” Guirgis said of the most recent shooting. “Seems the department hasn’t gotten any better at not shooting at innocent Black men.” When Junior says something during an argument that challenges Pops’ achievements as a cop, Caro steps in to remind this young black man that he needs to remember that it was hard for Pops to be a black cop back in the day.

When Pops accuses Caro of thinking he can trick him into signing the settlement, Caro lashes back with “not everything is about being black.” Stephen Adly Guirgis, the playwright of Between Riverside and Crazy, found inspiration for the show from his own home on Riverside Drive, where he was threatened with eviction after his father died. Pops’ shooting was based on a similar incident in 1994, when an undercover black officer was shot by a white cop. Guirgis takes his ideas and writes complex characters, because good or bad, no one is simple. In an interview with Edge Boston, Guirgis spoke on the way he looked at the issue of racism, and how that should intersect with theater. “There’s nothing interesting about writing a play [that has the simple message] ‘Racism is bad,’” Guirgis said to Edge. “It has to be complicated, because life is complicated.” Nobody that occupies the apartment on Riverside Drive is one dimensional. Even when one of them slips and shows their flawed humanity—when Oswaldo relapses, when Junior fights with Pops, when Lulu doesn’t know what choice to make—you want the best for them. That all of these people are good, but do bad, is not original, but insightful nonetheless. n

SoWa Open Market Provides a Reason to Shop Local Every Sunday Chloe McAllaster Shop local. It’s a directive. It’s a trend. Dare I say it’s a lifestyle? Maybe not yet, but it should be. Either way, “shop local” is a phenomenon embodied by the SoWa Open Market. Every Sunday from May to October, the public fills the converted factories of SoWa’s Art and Design District in the South End to experience the creativity of over 175 local artists and vendors. As an ardent supporter of all things local and a completely unabashed knick-knack collector, I could think of

no better way to spend a crisp early fall morning than wandering the booths of the SoWa Open Market. On one hand, it’s an excuse to buy succulents that I don’t have any more desk space for and that will inevitably die within a month of minimal sunlight. On the other hand, it’s a way to support the local talent and craftsmanship of Boston’s best artists, farmers, musicians, and creators. In essence, it’s a win-win. Since attendance required waking up before 10 a.m. on a Sunday, none of my friends were persuaded to accompany me. I made the trek alone and was honestly looking forward to having a quiet morning to myself. I arrived a mere five minutes after the market opened, which enabled me to scope out the scene before the booths became too crowded. Each vendor offered something unique.

Sure, the types of goods for sale were exactly what you would expect at such an event—prints, stationery, succulents, jewelry, and fresh produce were staples—but every vendor seemed truly passionate about what they were selling. Moreover, the vendors actually engaged with the community to whom they were selling, an experience you can never get buying the same types of items online or at a retail chain. The products were tailored to the audience, with many iconic Boston logos and skylines sprinkled throughout the market, but diverse enough that even an outsider could find something that suited their taste. While the open market itself was concentrated outdoors, a few flights of stairs down to the basement of one of the buildings led me to SoWa’s vintage market. Here, I found an array of relics

from days gone by, loosely arranged by category. I probably could have spent hours browsing the old maps, records, clothing, and furniture that filled the space. Indeed, I did thumb through nearly every print in one section of the market, mentally measuring the empty space on my dorm room wall to determine if I could fit a blueprint of a bike or a cover of The New Yorker from 1960. Far from leaving no stone unturned in the vintage market, I wandered back upstairs to peruse the rest of the open market. With the scent of fresh-cut flowers filling the air, locally grown produce of every color of the rainbow in the farmers market area left me wishing I had a kitchen. Lines had already begun to form outside the food trucks, but I exercised self-control in that area. A massive,

gooey chocolate chip cookie was too much at 10 a.m., even for me. Having seen all there was to see at this point, I decided to take one last lap around the open market before bidding it farewell. As I walked around, I noticed many vendors welcoming customers as old friends, and faces light up as neighbors happened to bump into each other. I was left with the impression that the SoWa Open Market fosters community simply by encouraging the city to shop local. And if that doesn’t convince you, attend the market because you’ll see at least 13 dogs and probably leave with something you didn’t even know you needed.

Chloe McAllaster is the associate metro editor for The Heights. She can be reached at metro2@bcheights.com.

The Heights

EDITORIAL

QUOTE OF THE DAY

Global Public Health Initiative Keeps BC Competitive Philip J. Landrigan, BC ’63, was recently hired to head the University’s Global Public Health initiative. Landrigan returned to Boston College from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, where he served as chairman of the Department of Preventive Medicine. The initiative will be one of the cornerstones of the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society. The University intends to institute a public health minor within the institute, showing BC’s commitment to this valuable aspect of the Schiller Institute. Set to begin construction in the spring

Monday, September 24, 2018

of 2019, the Schiller Institute will be home to multiple departments and initiatives, including the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, the Global Public Health initiative, BC’s computer science department, and an engineering department, among others. The creation of new programs and growth of existing departments will ensure that the University sustains its competitive edge so that it continues to appeal to prospective students by offering a greater variety of educational opportunities for them. As rival universities integrate similar programs into their curricula—the

“I like to think of ideas as potential energy. They’re really wonderful, but nothing will happen until we risk putting them into action.” - Mae Jemison

National Institute of Health and the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health report that over 100 universities have created undergraduate public health programs in the last 13 years—it is evident that BC recognizes the necessity to keep up with rival institutions. Showing the University’s commitment to the success of its students as well-rounded and caring individuals, the Global Public Health initiative also reinforces the University’s Jesuit values of education and service, maintaining BC’s reputation in a growing and competitive field.

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The Heights

Monday, September 24, 2018

You Don’t Have to Love Music Necessary time, back around eighth grade, I went to a restaurant with my Dad, and—in 69

BC Xfinity - Imagine this: You’re scrolling through BC Movies, then, after 27 minutes and 43 seconds of making your way up and down the short but convenient list of movies, you finally realize the movie that you’re meant to watch. It’s an epiphanic moment for you. So you type it in the search bar, and nothing shows up. But maybe you spelled it wrong? Or the connection isn’t working? So, in a state of rising panic, you scroll through the list one more time, slowly and methodically, looking at each movie title and image so that you’re completely sure you didn’t miss it. But, alas, it’s not there. Skulking around your room, then, while your roommates eye you with concerned suspicion out of the corners of their eyes because this is the first time you’ve emerged from your room in 3 days, and somehow you look like a hobo that was the victim in a brutal pedestrian-bicycle accident, you realize something: Xfinity is available for free for students! Thank goodness—you found it on demand! AND, you can probably watch it off campus, too! You feel like you’re on a cloud with this new realization: You can watch live TV, on demand movies and shows, and even DVR, and you’ll never have to leave your room. Thanks, BC, for giving us not what we want, but what we need. gmail update - The appearance is so much more satisfying to look at than it was before. And you can do more things, too, that are super imperative to maintaining a healthy inbox. Opening attachments without opening the email? Was there something else that you thought Gmail needed update? *Managing Editor’s Note: Mary is definitely wrong. 69

Benjamin Errichetti “I listen to pretty much everything

painful pimples - As if it’s not bad enough having a huge-ass zit in the middle of your face, the universe really has something against you and wants to make you suffer. Just when you thought it might have forgotten that you exist and apparently need to be used to provide comic relief for the something observing all of earth, there it goes again. “HA!” The universe says to itself, “I relish watching this pathetic worm struggle through such an underwhelming and awkward social life while stumbling under the weight of an extraordinarily disorganized academic life with this monstrosity on its face! Now, let me make the conspicuous lump painful, too, so the wretched thing never forgets that it’s there.”

Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down?

I guess I hate the “pretty much ev-

a classic case of father-son bond-

erything” answer because it’s lazy. It’s

ing—he asked me what my favorite

indicative of the fact that the listener

band was. I stopped and stuttered and

isn’t really listening. To me, it’s indica-

struggled until I meekly gave out the

tive of someone who doesn’t seem to

answer, “Modest Mouse.”

really know themselves.

I know two Modest Mouse songs.

and pretentious. Maybe I’m taking it

I assume my dad thought I was

too seriously, and it’s better to give a

string of words that bear such a heavy

embarrassed or struggling to find

polite small talk answer. Maybe most

burden.

some acceptable lie that would hide

people just aren’t passionate about

except country and rap”: A small

Certainly we’ve all come across

my real interests, but the truth is I

music in this way, and it’s OK that

someone who shares this sentiment.

just had never thought about what my

they just don’t care that much.

These words ring loudly from every

favorite band was. And if he had asked

college orientation or office bond-

me what music I listened to, I prob-

really like anything, as opposed to

ing session and that one person who

ably would have said something like

“pretty much everything.”

is uncomfortably early to the party

“pretty much everything.”

because they showed up at exactly the specified time. I am deeply bothered

Back then, I just listened to what I liked. I would hear songs on the radio,

by these words. No, you don’t listen to everything except country and rap! I don’t believe you! Surely underground low-fi ectofolk doesn’t qualify as country or rap, but I don’t think you listen to it! I doubt you’re on the edge of your seat waiting for the new Pjusk single to drop. So what do you actually listen to? It’s likely I’m just grumpy and

But in that case, I’d say they don’t

I struggle to answer what my favorite movie is. I don’t watch a lot of movies, I’m not particularly well versed in the history of cinema, and

“...I hate the ‘pretty much everything’ answer because it’s lazy.”

I couldn’t name very many actors. I certainly have movies that I like—love, even—but to call any movie my favorite would be to hint at a deeper emotional connection than I have. I’m not super into movies, so I would never say “I like pretty much everything” in terms of film.

or on Guitar Hero, or in a commer-

In general, I think passion is good

pretentious. And truthfully, I have

cial, and buy them. There were no

and something to strive for, but if

sympathy for these people. The ques-

genres or artists that I would seek out

someone does not have a favorite

tion, “What kind of music do you

or sink my teeth into—I just passively

genre or band, that is not necessar-

listen to?” is not asked by your close

accepted whatever fell into my lap.

ily a bad thing. What bothers me is

friends, but by people who don’t know

And I think that’s a terrible way

taking the easy way out—ignoring the

you, and maybe don’t even want to

to experience music, or any art form

fact that you aren’t particularly moved

know you, but are driven by social

for that matter. The point of art is to

by any artist and hiding behind the

obligation. The point of orientations,

move people. If you find a song you

façade that you like everything. Liking

company retreats, and the like is to try

like, you should be EXCITED about

“pretty much everything” exemplifies

to convey who you are to the people

it. When you find that one song that

an unthoughtful attitude toward one’s

around you. You—the complex, wildly

touches you, the one that’s heard by

self.

contradictory, emotional human be-

your ears but felt by everything in you,

ing that you are—have to explain to

it should send you into a passionate

allow other people to get to know you,

strangers everything that it means to

spiral down a rabbit hole of Wikipe-

you should probably know yourself

be you through ice breakers and small

dia pages and fan forums. What’s the

first. The unexamined life is not

talk.

genre called? Who else makes music

worth living.

It’s understandable, then, that

like this? Where did this style come

a question as seemingly simple as

from? To not ask these questions is to

“What kind of music do you like?”

not care about what you’re listening

could cause some ire. I remember a

to. And if you don’t care, why are you

If the point of an icebreaker is to

Benjamin Errichetti is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

A Trans Student’s Experience

Massachusetts voters will vote on Question 3 in November. Question 3 is a vote on the resolution passed by the state last year to include gender identity and presentation in nondiscrimination policies that similarly protect people from racism, sexism, and ableism. If Question 3 passes, transgender and gender nonconforming people will be protected by law from transphobia in their workplaces and in the public sector. Remembering the two resolutions finally passed by UGBC last year, I’d like to reflect further on campus culture as it relates to trans and gender nonconforming students. In sociology, theology, and political science classes, universities seem to indulge students with consideration for and education on the transgender community. They’re thinking critically about trans issues everywhere—except where it matters. While a humanities core may engage students in spirited debate about trans rights and does some back-patting around “progressive” conclusions, the material conditions of trans students on college campuses are consistently lacking because universities do not effectively put their “progressive” ideas into practice. Trans experiences are almost always considered in the abstract. I have never read the works of trans or gender nonconforming academics and writers, never had a professor cite works written by trans people, and, as a gender nonconforming person myself, rarely have I ever been treated as anything beyond a thought experiment. Being trans or gender nonconforming on a college campus is a struggle. Campus culture does not promote selfdetermination for trans students as it does for cisgender students. Campus

life at any university is defined by a small self-containing culture with specific norms curated by the institution, and those norms include strict gender performances. But the gag is, it is not entirely unlikely that you have already shared a classroom with a trans student. If you’re thinking, “I’ve never met a trans person,” I’d like to challenge you: Do you know that for certain? Many trans people live in the closet or present themselves as cisgender because they are concerned for their safety. My point is, professors and students alike rarely consider the possibility that a trans student might be in their classroom, which is a massive oversight. I spoke to two of my trans loved

“This, I believe, is an enormous missed opportunity to be authentic with oneself.” ones from two different universities to get their perspectives on the issue, and I learned that my experience at BC is not unique. Leo (University of Massachusetts, Boston) described to me how transgender students are highly politicized on campus in ways that cisgender people are not. They told me about how all of their gender and queer studies classes are taught in a building that was designed in the wake of Vietnam War protests to be like a maze, so that “if protests are happening in one part of the building, it’s possible to shut that part down and continue to teach lectures in the rest of the building. It’s designed like a jail.” Essentially, the school anticipates that students engaging with gender theory will riot and cause problems. Instead of addressing their concerns, the school just isolates them. My girlfriend Jack just graduated from University of California, Santa Barbara. They told me that during

Technology

Again, maybe I am just grumpy

But apparently, it’s my favorite band.

Sabel Flynn

those people who have thousands of unread emails - I don’t mean when people have thousands of unread emails. My wording is deliberate and clear. I am genuinely giving all of you who do not maintain some order in your inboxes two thumbs down. You can truly tell a lot about a person just by looking at the amount of emails that they haven’t read. I imagine that when cops interrogate criminals and detectives search for clues from all suspects, the first place they look is in their emails. It’s scientifically proven that sustaining an unorganized inbox is a tell-tale sign that the user will commit some heinous crime in his or her lifetime, no matter how unsuspecting of a person he or she is. Definitely trust me on that, don’t look it up.

listening?

an LGBTQ university organization meeting, the executive board said, “We focused many meetings on trans issues last year, so this year we will focus on something different.” Jack told me they felt really hurt by this, saying “Well, f—k me I guess.” Leo and I immediately related to this sentiment. Too often, trans issues are just a topic of conversation, and then the discussion moves on. Rarely are trans people remembered and valued in all relevant conversations. As for Leo, Jack, and myself, we don’t get participation points or social capital for talking about the trans experience once or twice—we live the trans experience! Trans-ness and the experience of being trans is a powerful, beautiful, and multifaceted blessing. The powers that be would have you believe otherwise, if you are familiar with the rates of murder of, brutality against, and suicide among trans people. Not to mention the media portrayal of trans people being monsters, tragedies, or sick punchlines. Being trans and living as a trans person involve a capacity for critical thinking about fundamental truths and self-value to which many cannot relate. Most of the world takes what gender they are given for granted, never meaningfully evaluating the implications of their gender and subsequent role in society. This, I believe, is an enormous missed opportunity to be authentic with oneself. Investigating the reasons that your assigned gender makes you happy or unhappy will reveal truths about your fundamental values, which, in turn, will lead to a clearer sense of self. Everyone benefits from the promotion of trans rights. I would encourage all Massachusetts voters to learn about Question 3 and evaluate how gender presentation exists in their places of work, learning, and socialization.

Sabel Flynn is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. Ze can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

The opinions and commentaries of the op-ed columnists appearing on this page represent the views of the author or artist of that particular piece, and not necessarily the views of The Heights. Any of the columnists for the Opinions section of The Heights can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

Luis Fialho Walking around campus, blasting music through my Bluetooth earphones, I always notice how many people are doing the same. With or without an aux cord, most of Boston College can be seen walking around with buds in their ears. Walking up to someone and casually removing one earbud is a new greeting that’s only becoming more and more familiar as personal technology becomes even more synonymous with one’s person. At the forefront of this blurring line between the person and the computer is, of course, Apple. Apple unveiled its latest pieces of technology last week, and wealthy college students across the country eagerly held their breaths—and their wallets—as they waited for Tim Cook to read that gloriously large price tag for the newest iPhone. While the exceedingly large iPhone XS Max is as grand as its name suggests, it’s still affordable for anyone who has recently collected life insurance or is waiting for their check from the Mass lottery to come in the mail. For those prescient innovators with large bank accounts who recognize that smart watches will one day dominate the market, there’s also the newest Apple Watch Series 4. Now with an EKG monitor and increased display size, this newest series of smart watches pushes itself to be a companion that is … healthy. Ordinary. Necessary. So as Apple launches even further into its trillion-dollar evolution, as it unveils product after product and becomes steadily synonymous with many people’s ideas of the future, I can’t help but think about how quickly and easily everything that was once so innovative and technological is becoming natural. Watching the release of the new Apple Watch, one will notice the emphasis Apple is placing on the physical and medical usages of its product. The sales page has icons of monochromatic people sweating and running while wearing the watches, and the new EKG monitor is “designed to improve your health every day and powerful enough to help protect it.” This development is coming only a few months after the release of iOS12, which Apple actually released to curb your iPhone addiction: “Do not disturb” settings are now modifiable, and notifications can be adjusted as to how they appear on a lockscreen. It is weird to cure phone addiction with one’s phone, but it makes sense since Apple is trying to get consumers to manage their addictions, not cure them. People should not be addicted to their phones, but the more phones become incorporated into every facet of life, the harder it is to call it an addiction—it’s a genuine necessity. These iOS updates and new features are reflecting what is unfolding everywhere: the simple but jarring truth that technology is indubitably becoming an inherent part of the modern person. This isn’t a new trend—anyone with cochlear implants or pacemakers is aware of the naturalization of technology. Apple is healthy, after all. You can even check your pulse. So it’s hard for me to describe myself as “addicted” to my phone when I use it so fluidly with everything in my life. I use my phone to check email and send messages, to find transportation and to get into concert venues, and soon I could use my watch to give me an EKG. Technology isn’t something that can be bracketed as an addiction or lamented as a negative development: It is an integrated part of living. The necessary conversation regarding the drawbacks of such integration can’t be held while thinking about phones as accessories, as Apple is showing that this technology is naturalized, seamless, and biological. Whenever I reflect on technology like this, I always think of myself as more independent than that—I tell myself that I don’t even use my phone that much. Then I think about pulling my earbuds out as a greeting, and I remember how it feels as natural as waving hello. But I also remember how often I don’t pull out my earpods, and I don’t wave hello. How often I find myself just holding my phone, swiping between home screens, thoughtless. But, hey, an Apple a day keeps the doctor away—doesn’t it?

Luis Fialho is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

The Heights

Monday, September 24, 2018

Turning Down a Dream Job: A Sharp Left on the Journey to Joy Genovese, BC ’16, rejected an offer from ESPN for his faith and is now a high school campus minister, teacher, and coach. By Colleen Martin Copy Editor There’s a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness, Catholics say, is external. It emerges from the everyday contests: when you get the job you wanted, make it through a yellow light, or earn admission to your dream school. Joy, on the other hand, is internal. It fills us when we are at peace with ourselves. It cannot be changed by a bad day, or a bad week, or a bad life. Nick Genovese, BC ’16, walked into the offices of ESPN in 2017 and had a feeling he was about to be very happy. He had been communicating with an executive of ESPN for several weeks, and was invited in to the Manhattan headquarters for a tour. Anticipation built as he saw the studios and met his potential co-workers. When he was sent up to the vice president’s office on the top floor, he knew “something” was going to happen.From across the table, the executive slid a folder toward Genovese. Inside was the contract for a position at

ESPN—the only thing that Genovese can remember ever longing for. Genovese said that as he sat there, making small talk, he started to buy into the ESPN lifestyle more and more. The executive asked him what he studied during his time at BC. Genovese replied theology and film, and told him that he was currently working for a Catholic media company, prompting a reply that shook Genovese straight off the course he had been planning for so long. “He just made a joke,” Genovese said. “He kind of tapped my shoulder and goes ‘So you’re preparing to give up your faith for sports?’” Genovese retreated into his own head for the next minute, trying to grapple with the truth of what the man had said. When his mind entered back into the office, he told the executive he wouldn’t be taking the job. He was met with confusion, and then frustration. They couldn’t understand how Genovese, who had been enthusiastic about the company for weeks, could turn down the best job offer he could have hoped for. Genovese didn’t un-

Photo Courtesy of Nick Genovese

Genovese (second from left) worked at Campus Ministry for three years as a student.

derstand either. “I was trying to convince this man as much as myself that I didn’t want the job,” he said. Genovese walked out of the office, and into nearby Central Park. There, he sat and cried. He had already told his parents about the interview, explaining to them that he had a good feeling about it. His fear that friends, many of whom were businessmen from the Carroll School of Management, wouldn’t understand why he did what he did. He didn’t know where to turn next. “Faith played a big role in my time at BC, but I always thought I was going to go into that kind of sports media,” he said. Genovese began rifling through his wallet, searching for any clue as to who he could call. He found the contact information for Peter Folan, who had worked as an administrative assistant when Genovese was an orientation leader during the summer before his sophomore year. He went home and drafted a 10 paragraph email, explaining that he had just ruined his life. “I thought 22 years of life was going to culminate in this experience and it wasn’t,” he said. After a few restless hours, Genovese received a call from an unknown number at 7 a.m. It was Folan on his work phone, telling him that there was a new opening at Catholic Memorial High School where he worked. Folan encouraged Genovese to apply. Within a few days, he had landed the job as a campus minister, teacher, and coach. “I knew it was for some greater purpose that I wasn’t going to ESPN,” Genovese said. This wasn’t exactly new for him. He worked for Campus Ministry for three years as an undergraduate at Boston College—his first encounter with the office being only two weeks into his freshman year. He received word that his coach from four years of varsity baseball had lost his home to a fire. Remembering the Campus Ministry presentation from orientation, Genovese headed over to see if it really would welcome him with open arms, as it had promised. When

he walked in he was met by Rev. Tony Penna, the current associate vice president and director of Campus Ministry. “Looking back, making time for this kid he had never met before was incredible,” Genovese said. Genovese tearfully sat in Penna’s office, explaining that he wanted to do something for his coach—a clothing drive, a fundraiser, anything that could help him out. Penna said that it would be really hard to make that kind of thing work. Only a few weeks into the school year, no one knew Genovese or his coach, making it difficult to impossible to raise anything. Still, his desire impressed the campus minister. “That right away told me something about Nick,” Penna said. “He was a man of empathy—a great capacity to really feel the hardship of someone else.” Penna was so moved, he reached for his own checkbook and handed Genovese a check for $500. He told him that he trusted that he would put it to good use. Genovese met with Penna every week after that. “It was the first time I really felt at home at BC,” Genovese said. “If there’s anyone in life who prompted me into this situation, it’s him.” It’s this kind of one-on-one conversation and attention that Genovese tries to bring into his own work now. He thinks kids should be three things: seen, known, and valued. He hopes that by gaining their respect, he’ll be able to change the narrative for a lot of the things they’ll encounter as they grow up. Genovese emphasizes the point that they should aim to be the best version of themselves—not just for their own satisfaction, but so they can give themselves away to the world. B eing in an all-boys Catholic school, Genovese has seen the way his female colleagues are treated by students. He said that oftentimes, they aren’t given the same respect as their male counterparts. Genovese chalks some of this up to immaturity, but notes that media like Barstool Sports—the satirical sports and pop culture blog that caters mostly to adolescent boys—is a major cultural

influence for the boys that he works with. “Part of my calling in life is to use digital media for telling a narrative that is true, and hopefully has a little more substance and value than that of Barstool,” he said. To kick off the year, he asked his students who their role models are. Ninety-nine percent of the students stated that men—particularly Tom Brady—are who they look up to. When Genovese asked if a woman could be a role model, many of them said no. He said he was perplexed by this, but took it as a sign that he should lead by example, not just in respect to the treatment of his female colleagues, but in all of the ways he conducts his life. Genovese says that if nothing else, he wants his students to think about why their lives are meaningful. Why are they here? What do they stand to give to the world? Often, G enovese said, we get caught up in what others want, or what we think we want. But if we stop and ask ourselves these big questions, we’re less likely to come up with answers that point us toward status, or money, or prominence. This kind of thought is one of the things that attracted Genovese to Campus Ministry during his time at BC. “He felt the vocation had merit, it meant something,” Penna said. Penna cites Genovese’s willingness to change and grow as one of the reasons he is capable of being so successful, in campus ministry and beyond. “He really wants to keep growing,” Penna said. “He keeps making himself available to new things, to risk a little, to leave comfort zones to kind of expose himself to new opportunities.” True to that point, Genovese isn’t sure that he wants to write off reentering the media world entirely. He still has the passion for storytelling, something that he’s brought into the classroom through a broadcast writing class and a daily school broadcast during homeroom. And for this, Genovese is more than happy. “I think this is the most joyful experience I’ve had in my life,” he said. n

MFA’s New Winnie-the-Pooh Exhibit Opened on Saturday “Exploring a Classic” welcomes visitors into the pages of the story, from Christopher’s bedroom to the ‘100 Aker Wood.’

By Isabel Fenoglio

Asst. Metro Editor

On Tuesday afternoon, a handful of lucky little visitors were invited to the Museum of Fine Arts to attend a sneak peak of the museum’s newest exhibit, Winnie-the-Pooh: Exploring a Classic, which opened to the public Saturday. Before entering the gallery, those attending were given a name tag and a Winnie-the-Pooh sticker of their choice, and led to a tea party across from the second floor rotunda. Sprawled out on grass carpet, children snacked on blue balloon cookies, “Tigger” pretzels dipped in orange yogurt and drizzled in chocolate, and pigs in a blanket. Wearing a print Winnie-the-Pooh dress, Lily reclined on a bright orange pillow and read quietly to herself, pausing occasionally to take a sip out of a glass of chocolate milk. Her favorite part of the exhibit was the slide. “The goal was always to make the exhibit interactive,” said Meghan Mel-

vin, the Jean S. and Frederic A. Sharf Curator of Design at the Museum of Fine Arts. “We want to make the imaginary world come alive.” First published in 1926 and translated into more than 50 languages, Winnie-the-Pooh is one of the most beloved children’s book characters of all time. Working in collaboration with the curatorial staff of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the MFA collected nearly 200 original drawings, proofs and early editions, letters, photographs, and ephemera to unearth the history of the iconic bear. “Everybody recognizes the name Winnie-the-Pooh, but many people don’t necessarily connect with the origins,” Melvin explained. “And so that was the main drive behind this exhibit, to connect people with the real people and real places of this amazing, enduring story.” A trail of giant blue balloons hang from the ceiling outside the gallery, tempting visitors to follow. “Balloons are an intrinsic part of the story, and

Isabel Fenoglio / Heights Editor

Winnie-the-Pooh was first published in 1926 and translated into over 50 languages.

we really wanted to create an amazing, bright, and engaging welcome from a distance,” Melvin said. “But I want to emphasize that they are made of fiberglass, not latex,” she added with a laugh. “We made w sure to be environmentally friendly.” When visitors enter the exhibition, they step into the pages of the book. Broken up into six sections, the gallery is designed like a home, with winding hallways and secret passageways that take visitors from the childhood bedroom of Christopher Milne to the “100 Aker Wood.” The gallery opens to cases filled with ephemera from the 1920s to the present, to introduce the concept of Winnie-the-Pooh as a global phenomenon. “Say his name no matter where you go and people will recognize him, although he manifests in all sorts of different forms,” Melvin said. Winding the corner, visitors then enter Christopher Milne’s childhood bedroom. Looking at the bed and telephone attached to the wall, Violet put her tiny hands to her cheeks and emitted an elongated “Wooah.” Gazing down at the eager and antsy faces of children squirming in front of her, Melvin smiled and said, “Normally a museum tells you what you can’t do, but today I am going to tell you what you can do. You are welcome to sit on the bed.” Next, visitors moved to the countryside, to get acquainted with the artist and illustrator of the books, E. H. Shepard. Pages from Shepard’s original sketchbooks line the walls, along with drawings for the original end papers, including the infamous map of the “100 Aker Wood,” the dominant setting for the books. Milne then lead visitors around the corner to the largest and most interactive part of the exhibit, titled “What

Isabel Fenoglio / Heights Editor

The exhibit is broken up into six sections, and the gallery is designed like a home. About a Story.” This section highlights the themes that develop through the books, which appear on the wall panels and hang from the ceiling. “We move from photographs to drawings, to the imagined world,” Melvin explained. In the center of the room visitors can cross over Poohsticks Bridge, and look at animated images of fish swimming in the imaginary stream below. A bell hangs from the wall, and a secret slide is tucked into a tunnel-like passageway in the left hand corner of the space. Games and interactive activities line the room, and children quickly gathered to the large white picnic table to begin writing their own stories. “We have turned the sound down for you today so we can all hear each other, but when you come back to the show, on a typical day, there is a lot of ambient sound including rain, and buzzing bees,” said Melvin. Among the lively noises is a 1929 recording of Milne reading Winnie-the-Pooh. A staircase dominates the next gal-

lery, invoking the famous words at the beginning of the book, “Here comes Christopher Robin down the stairs, bump, bump, bump, coming to hear his bedtime stories.” Dozens of illustrations line the walls, and Melvin encouraged visitors to take their time and look at them up close. “You can explore in great detail the subtlety and of Shepard’s illustrations and also really begin to understand how complex they are and how much information and emotion and movement and character are infused in them,” she said. “This is where a lover a Shepard can really dive deep in this space.” The exhibition ends with the section “Pooh Goes to Print,” which explores the publication and transformation of Winnie-the-Pooh in literature over the years. Copies of first editions line the walls, and a printing block sample is set out for visitors to touch. “We are really excited for the public to interact with this exhibit—the timing is perfect,” Melvin said. n

SPORTS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

@HEIGHTSSPORTS

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Thanks to Bike’s Game-Winner, Eagles Edge No. 7 Florida State BY MIKE MALLEY Heights Staff On Sunday afternoon, the ACC’s top defenses faced off in what would prove to be the physical, back-and-forth matchup everyone expected. Florida State 1 Boston College Boston College 2 women’s soccer, boasting one of the stingiest defenses in the country, had allowed just three goals total in its first nine games, and was looking to continue its hot streak against another stifling defense in No. 7 Florida State. The Seminoles were the only ACC

team ahead of BC in goals allowed, having conceded just two thus far in 2018. While the Noles defense might statistically have been better coming into the contest, the Eagles boasted the better offense, having scored 24 goals on the season, compared to FSU’s 22. This game looked to be about as even as could be on paper, but BC managed to come out on top by a score of 2-1 in a hard-fought win. The first half went as predicted, a backand-forth defensive battle with very few chances for either side. Both teams had similar gameplans from the beginning, attempting to launch balls over the top

ACC Takes Back Seat

and send players sprinting after them in attempts to get in behind the defense. The strategy proved futile at first, as neither team bent, using a combination of great aerial play and intelligent high defensive lines to keep the forwards on both sides at bay. A combined nine shots were taken in the half, with only four on target, two by each side. The Eagles (10-0, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) dominated possession early on, keeping the ball in FSU’s half consistently, but getting shots off was no easy task. BC did win three

WSOC Vs. FSU, A10

PURDUE 30

JONATHAN YE / HEIGHTS STAFF

BC celebrates its second win over a ranked Florida State team in the past three years.

NO. 23 BOSTON COLLEGE 13

ANDY BACKSTROM For six and a half days, Boston College football was relevant again. Following a 41-34 road victory over Wake Forest—one that supposedly confirmed BC’s explosive start to the 2018 campaign—the Eagles cracked the AP Poll for the first time in 10 years, clocking in at No. 23 in the nation. Through three weeks of play, BC was averaging 52.7 points and 577.7 yards of total offense, both good for seventh in the country. Fans even went as far to compare the 2018 Eagles to the Matt Ryan-led teams of the late 2000s—that was, until the second quarter of BC’s Week Four matchup against Purdue. The 0-3 Boilermakers outplayed the Eagles on both sides of the ball, outgaining head coach Steve Addazio’s team, 200-37, in total yards during the first half of action. Fifth-year senior quarterback David Blough carved up BC’s secondary, tossing a trio of touchdowns for 296 yards. Meanwhile, Anthony Brown put on the exact opposite kind of performance, throwing four interceptions, three of which came on successive drives. To make matters worse, A.J. Dillon had the worst game of his career as a starter, averaging just 3.1 yards on 19 carries. Honestly, Addazio and Co. looked reminiscent of the same Eagles that started the 2017 season 2-4—a group haunted by turnovers, missed tackles, and predictable play-calling. Granted, it’s important to remember that one game hardly defines a season, and if BC was to lose any contest this year, it was a non-conference matchup in West Lafayette, Ind. Moreover, personnel-wise, the Eagles are way better than the team that showed up to Ross-Ade Stadium on Saturday. Regardless, after that kind of outing—one that had Addazio telling reporters “I don’t know what that was” in the postgame press conference—it’s pretty clear the Eagles aren’t the 23rd-best team in the nation, at least not yet. Non-conference or not, the blowout was still costly. The 17-point drubbing stripped the Eagles of not only their

See Puzzling ACC, A10

MICHAEL CONROY / AP PHOTO

Ranked for the ﬁrst time since 2008, the Eagles traveled to West Lafayette, Ind., only to turn the ball over four times and suffer a 17-point defeat at the hands of Purdue. BY ANDY BACKSTROM Sports Editor On Saturday afternoon, Boston College football went three-andout on the game’s opening drive, Anthony Brown threw not one, but four interceptions, A.J. Dillon averaged 3.1 yards per carry, and the entire team accumulated 95 yards of total offense through the first three quarters of action—all of which hadn’t come close to happening in the Eagles’ first three games of the 2018 campaign. For the first time this season, BC appeared vulnerable, and quite frankly looked nothing like

a top-25 team. Purdue’s fifth-year senior David Blough picked apart the Eagles’ secondary, racking up 296 passing yards and a trio of touchdowns, building off his record-breaking performance against Missouri the week before. The Boilermakers’ offense was a spitting image of BC offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler’s unit—that is, the one that put up 52.7 points per game over the course of the first three weeks of the season. Purdue was methodical, calculated, and efficient, from start to finish,

See Football Vs. Purdue, A11

BY BRADLEY SMART Assoc. Sports Editor Boston College football looked far from a top-25 team on Saturday afternoon, suffering a 30-13 loss at the hands of Purdue—the product of a flat performance and countless mistakes. Head coach Steve Addazio described his team’s display at the half as doing “some of dumbest things I’ve seen us do,” and it never got better. The Eagles, favored by a touchdown, displayed none of the offensive prowess that merited them the No. 23 ranking after a 41-point night

against Wake Forest. A.J. Dillon was held to just 59 yards on 19 carries and didn’t play after the first snap of the fourth quarter, retreating to the bench where he eventually sat, staring vacantly, as time expired. Quarterback Anthony Brown, after throwing for five touchdowns in an impressive outing against the Demon Deacons, was at his worst, displaying the same up-and-down tendency he struggled with in 2017. Brown threw four interceptions and completed just 48 percent of his passes. He was pressured through-

See NOTE Vs. Purdue, A12

VOLLEYBALL

Revolutionary Season Continues With Win Over Georgia Tech BY MARC OCCHIPINTI Heights Staff

TIGER TAO / HEIGHTS STAFF

The Eagles took three of four sets from Georgia Tech, claiming their second ACC win.

INSIDE SPORTS

Boston College volleyball calls Power Gym home and in its first six home games, the Eagles’ powerful play has lived up to that name. Head coach Jason Kennedy’s squad has dropped just three sets on its home floor, and it has played with a fire and intensity that has brought pride to its fans. Sunday afternoon was no different, as BC defeated Georgia Tech three sets to one. Clare Naughton led the way for the Eagles (12-2, 2-0 Atlantic Coast)

with 18 kills, all of which came in the opening three sets. The sophomore outside hitter strung together unstoppable runs and came through in timely moments as well. Setter Jane Dejarld paved the way for much of BC’s spiking success, recording 25 assists. Freshman Jewel Strawberry also provided a spark off the bench for the Eagles in the fourth set, contributing seven kills on 10 attempts during a pivotal stretch that shifted momentum back to the Eagles’ corner. “Jewel’s been good for us late in matches,” Kennedy said when discussing the decision to turn to Strawberry

FIELD HOCKEY: BC Rolls Past Wildcats MSOC: Eagles’ Rally Not Enough at Duke

in the fourth set. “She really changes the rhythm of things, and I thought she did a great job coming in off the bench, bailing us out, and she found a way to win us that set.” BC came out with high energy to start the first set. The crowd was rocking and guided the Eagles to an early 6-1 lead. GT (11-4, 0-2) fought back to bring the deficit to just three, but BC always had a response, cruising to a 2518 victory. Naughton notched six kills in the first frame, and middle blocker Amaka Chukwujekwu also put to-

VB Vs. GT, A10

SPORTS IN SHORT...........................A10 The Eagles racked up five first-half goals, en route to a BC found the back of the net twice in the second half, but WOMEN’S SOCCER..................................A11 decisive victory over New Hampshire on Sunday................A11 its Friday night comeback fell short.............................A12 VOLLEYBALL......................................A12

The Heights

A10

Monday, September 24, 2018

WOMENS SOCCER

BC Remains Undefeated, Knocks off Second-Ranked Opponent WSOC Vs. FSU, from A9 shots off was no easy task. BC did win three corner kicks—which are responsible for a large chunk of its scoring thus far—but was unable to convert on any of them. As the half continued, however, the Seminoles (82-1, 1-2) started to level the opportunities. They abandoned their gameplan of going over the top, instead using short passes and sharp cuts to move BC defenders and create space to attack. Still, the Eagles back line held strong, allowing only one corner and five shots total in the first half. The first real chance in the game came with about 15 minutes left to play in the half, as an FSU defender passed the ball back to goalkeeper Brooke Bollinger. The redshirt freshman accidentally picked up the ball, either thinking it was touched by a BC attacker or just automatically grabbing.

The resulting free kick was quickly taken by Sam Coffey in an effort to catch the Seminoles off guard. She laid it off to Jenna Bike, who had an excellent look at goal, but her first shot was blocked by Bollinger and her second went wide. Later in the half, a through ball into Carly Leipzig gave the senior forward a chance, but her shot was saved by Bollinger, which kept the game scoreless at halftime. The second half was more aggressive than the first, with hard tackles coming from both sides. The referees seemed to have lost control of the game, with both teams pushing the limits of what they could get away with. To make up for this, at the end of the second half, the officials began making questionable calls, which clearly frustrated both sets of coaches and players. While the aggression amped up, so did the action. Only three minutes into the

second half, Bike was dragged down in the box and awarded a penalty. Gaby Carreiro stepped up to the spot and converted the kick, coolly placing it into the bottom left corner—just out of the reach of Bollinger, who guessed right—and giving BC a 1-0 lead. The Eagles fed off their lead, dominating possession for a while. The pendulum swung back in the Seminoles’ favor, though. After a strong push on the attack, FSU midfielder Jaelin Howell was tackled in the box 10 minutes later, but it was a surprising no-call. FSU’s players, clearly upset, upped the tempo again and kept the pressure up as they sought a tying goal. When Deyna Castellanos was sandwiched between two BC defenders and went down in the box, the referee had no choice but to point to the spot, and Castellanos herself placed the spot kick in the top corner, tying the game.

This lead was short-lived. Less than a minute later, Bike was put through on goal thanks to a fabulous over-the-top pass from Emily Langenderfer. She deftly placed her shot over the keeper and into the top right corner to give the Eagles the lead they would not relinquish. It was a fitting game-winning goal for Bike, who was a headache for the FSU defense throughout the entire game. A final Seminole charge was squandered on a fantastic kick save from Eagles goalie Alexis Bryant with less than a minute to play in the game, sealing yet another shutout. As the whistle blew, the team mobbed Bryant in celebration of a tough victory. “She’s a leader,” BC head coach Alison Foley said of her senior goaltender. “She reads the game so well it’s like having another coach back there.” Foley also lauded the toughness of her team as the game got more physical in the

second half, arguing that her team had the edge when games take the inevitable dive into cheap tackles and aggressive runs. “I think that plays into our favor,” she said. “We’re a tougher team than [Florida State.]...We can bump, and hit, and run with the best of them.” BC is the only undefeated team remaining in the ACC, something few saw coming at the start of the season. The talent was clearly there, but question marks around underclassmen shouldering big roles and players returning from injury saw the Eagles come in at 10th in the preseason conference poll. Now, they’re surely a new addition to the top-25 poll when the next rankings come out, and they enter the final eight games of the conference slate with unbridled confidence after claiming their second ranked win of the year. n

VOLLEYBALL

Eagles Stay Perfect at Home in Four-Set Win Against Georgia Tech VB Vs. GT, from A9 -gether a dominant stretch in which she recorded four kills, a block, and a service ace. The Yellow Jackets came out much stronger in the second set, keeping themselves in long points and forcing the Eagles to work much harder for every spike. Cat Balido locked in, however, turning a two-point deficit into a two-point lead with four consecutive putaways. The turning point of the set came after BC took a timeout down 19-17. BC rattled off eight of the next 11 points to grab a commanding two-set lead. With the set on the line, Naugh-

ton and McKenna Goss came through with pivotal kills, while another key block for Chukwujekwu solidified the victory. Balido polished off her dominant set with nine kills, benefitting from a series of digs from the BC back line. The p endulum of momentum swung to the visitors in the third set, where GT showed that they would not lay down without a fight. A match that had seen relatively error-free play from the Eagles in the first two sets shifted in the third frame where BC committed nine attacking errors. In this set, the long points went the way of the Yellow Jackets, where BC looked less coherent on defense. GT

ended the set on a 6-0 run, including two kills from Mariana Brambilla, and two service aces from Mikaila Dowd, one of which was misjudged by the BC back line, which let it drop in thinking it would land long. With BC reeling, GT opened the fourth set with Kayla Kaiser serving a powerful ball. Kaiser’s entry balls forced three Eagles miscues, and BC fans were relieved to see her fourth service ball rocket into the net. With spikes not falling the way they were in the first two frames, BC needed some inspiration. That came in the form of Strawberry, who rattled off seven kills as BC slowly but surely worked its way back into the set.

Down 12-8, BC’s energy level flipped a switch. As Jill Strockis stepped to the service line, the crowd was on its heels, wondering if the Eagles would turn around and blow this two-set lead and have to play a decisive fifth set. Strockis and BC did not fold under the pressure, though, as the junior would go on to serve and win eight consecutive points that would prove to be the defining swing of the match. Chukwujekwu sealed GT’s fate with a final service ace to vault the Eagles to their second conference win in as many tries. This early success is infusing excitement into an Eagles program that has not finished with a winning record since 2004. Through two games, BC is

already halfway to its conference win total from a season ago. This team has shown the ability to respond to adversity by dropping just one set this weekend after losing its first two matches of the season last weekend. Unfortunately for them, the road only gets tougher from here. The Eagles will hit the road for four conference matches over the next two weekends, including a tilt with No. 9 Pittsburgh. “We know that this is a tough conference, and every night is going to be a battle back and forth,” Kennedy said. “We just have to keep learning about ourselves. We have to keep competing, and we’re learning a little bit more of what it takes to win.”

It’s Back to the Drawing Board for BC and the Rest of the ACC Puzzling ACC, from A9 national ranking, but also a spot in the receiving votes section of the AP Poll. Just like that, the number next to BC’s name, as well as the corresponding hype, vanished. Luckily for the Eagles, they weren’t the only ones that were humiliated on Saturday—actually, it was a theme throughout the ACC, a pattern that could very well linger on for the rest of the season. We’re a quarter of the way through the regular season, and it’s apparent, especially after what transpired last year, that the conference just isn’t what it used to be. Virginia Tech—one of several ACC teams affected by Hurricane Florence—had about two weeks to prepare for Old Dominion. It was all but assumed that the Hokies would cross the state and walk away with their third win of 2018. Instead, they were handed one of the biggest upsets in school history. Led by backup quarterback Blake LaRussa, the Monarchs orchestrated four fourth-quarter touchdown drives to turn a sevenpoint deficit into a two-score victory. Like BC, the Hokies plummeted in the rankings, dropping out of the AP Poll after climbing up the No. 13 spot in the first few weeks of the season. Louisville too was utterly embarrassed over the weekend—at least for Bobby Petrino, the defeat came against another conference opponent. Then again, according to Virginia head coach Bronco Mendenhall, only about a third

of his roster is composed of ACC-caliber players. Talented or not, the Cavaliers—staging another surprise September—steamrolled the Cardinals on Saturday, 27-3. The loss of Lamar Jackson looks more catastrophic by the week, as quarterbacks Jawon Pass and Malik Cunningham combined for a mere 175 yards of total offense. Then there’s Pittsburgh, which has been put to shame not once, but twice over the course of the last three weeks. This past weekend, the Panthers conceded 38 points to a North Carolina offense that mustered a mere 19 in a blowout loss to East Carolina earlier this month. Nathan Elliott finished 22-of-31 for 313 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Pittsburgh made the Tar Heels—presumably a two or three-win team at the start of the season—look like a legitimate threat. Of course, just two weeks before that, the Panthers were rocked on national television, while hosting “rival” Penn State. Factor in Wake Forest’s blowout loss to No. 8 Notre Dame, and a couple other scarring performances from earlier in the season—like Florida State’s near-loss to Samford and 23-point defeat at the Carrier Dome, not to mention Miami’s shameful Week One outing against LSU—and you have a season’s worth of head-scratching moments. Just two years ago, the ACC undoubtedly leapfrogged the SEC as the best conference in college football when Deshaun Watson led Clemson to a 35-31 National Championship victory over Alabama. It was only a matter of time. After all, the

year prior, the Tigers cracked the College Football Playoff and came within one quarter of upsetting Nick Saban’s fabled Crimson Tide. Clemson was the posterboy, but the Tigers weren’t the sole reason why the ACC was so special. From top to bottom, practically every team presented its own set of challenges for opponents. That’s partially why it was so hard for BC, Syracuse, Duke, and UVA to rebuild their programs. As soon as conference play began, it was essentially all-out war. Everyone thinks of Watson and Jackson, but the quarterback depth extended far past the Heisman nominees. Deondre Francois, Jerod Evans, Mitchell Trubisky, Nathan Peterman, and Brad Kaaya rounded out the league’s best signal callers. To put that in perspective, the 2016 iteration of the ACC had five NFL quarterbacks—and potentially another in Francois—in addition to a practice squad gunslinger. Only three teams in the conference finished below .500, and eight of the 14 ended the year with eight or more wins. It gets even crazier when you look at what the ACC accomplished in the postseason. The conference totaled nine bowl victories, the most in the FBS. FiveThirtyEight actually charted just how remarkable the ACC’s bowl season was. Using the site’s Elo ratings—a metric system that estimates the relative quality of every single FBS team—Neil Paine calculated how the league’s postseason success stacked up against conferences of the past. The article was

published before Clemson’s National Championship win, so it only included the ACC’s first 11 bowl games. Based on the Elo Ratings, the league’s teams should have lost eight of those 11 contests by an average of 2.7 points per game. Instead, they flipped the script, winning eight by an average of 7.6 points. When you throw in the Tigers’ nailbiting victory over Alabama, the ACC’s six-win gap was the largest in college football history. The reign, however, was short-lived. Last winter, the ACC ended the year with the second-lowest postseason win percentage in the Power Five. Even though the conference sent 10 teams to bowls, only four of them emerged victorious. Four teams finished inside the AP Top 25—one less than the year before—but that statistic alone couldn’t mask what was a rather disappointing season for the “best conference in the country.” Sure there were a few surprises, such as Wake Forest’s ascent, BC’s second-half finish, and Miami’s temporary return to the glory days of the “U..” But there was also FSU’s fallout, Syracuse’s self-destruction, and UNC’s seismic drop off. At the end of the day, five teams closed the season with sub-.500 records, and the bridge between Clemson and Miami—something that was debated for months—was way larger than anyone could have ever imagined. A year has passed, and that gap has only widened. Besides Clemson, every ACC team looks vulnerable, and while

quarterback play doesn’t always directly correlate to team success, it definitely separates the Tigers from the rest of the pack. With the exception of Ryan Finley—the lone ACC quarterback listed inside the top 10 of ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr.’s preseason position rankings— and perhaps Francois, Trevor Lawrence looks like the conference’s only future NFL signal caller. What’s interesting is that the overall talent is still there. Between 2017 and 2018, a combined 18 ACC recruiting classes fell inside the top 50 of 247Sports’ prospect rankings—the same exact number as the previous two years, the supposed peak of ACC play. Maybe the highly-touted players simply aren’t panning out. That’s certainly true for guys like FSU’s Cam Akers and Louisville’s Jawon Pass. Currently, there are only three ACC teams inside the AP Top 25, and the conference is clearly Clemson’s to lose. In just a couple years, the league has been one-upped by the likes of the SEC and the Big Ten. For the moment, the ACC has taken a back seat. On the bright side, every week will bring a bounty of upsets and surprises. The bad news? There’s no way of knowing who’s for real anymore—and for those coaches on the hot seat, a tough schedule is no longer a viable excuse.

Andy Backstrom is the sports editor for The Heights. He can be reached on Twitter @AndyHeights.

SPORTS in SHORT ACC Volleyball Standings Conference overall 2-0 13-0 Pittsburgh 2-0 12-2 Boston College Louisville 9-4 2-0 Syracuse 6-4 2-0 Florida State 6-6 2-0 5-3 Miami 1-0 10-4 Virginia Tech 1-1 NC State 7-5 1-1 Notre Dame 7-5 1-1 Duke 6-4 0-1 Georgia Tech 11-4 0-2 9-6 Clemson 0-2 4-7 North Carolina 0-2 5-9 Wake Forest 0-2 0-2 Virginia 4-8

Numbers to know

Votes received by football in the AP Top 25 poll just one week after being ranked No. 23 nationally.

Consecutive wins for women’s soccer to begin the season, after beating No. 7 Florida State Sunday.

ACC wins already for field hockey this season after going winless in conference play in 2017.

QUote of the week

“On both sides of the ball, we’ve done some of the dumbest things I’ve seen us do ever.” — Football head coach Steve

Addazio, on BC’s play in the first half of Saturday’s game.

THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

A11

FIELD HOCKEY

Six Different BC Players Score in Shutout of New Hampshire BY BEN THOMAS Heights Senior Staff After a grueling two-goal win over No. 10 Virginia on Friday, Boston College field hockey was worn out, but needed to show up on New Hampshire 0 the tail end of Boston College 6 the we ekend against New Hampshire. Fortunately for the Eagles, this time around it didn’t take until the final minutes—they rolled to a 6-0 victory. The scoring chances started early for BC (6-3, 2-1 Atlantic Coast). Despite not finding the back of the net in the first few possessions, it was clear the Eagles were poised to dominate both possession and the scoreboard throughout the game. BC’s Frederique Haverhals had a number of chances on the short corner to open the contest, but couldn’t finish, shooting just wide of the New Hampshire net. It didn’t take much longer for her to break through, though. After a pass from

Brigid Wood on another corner, Haverhals sent a shot screaming to the back of the net, past the outstretched glove of goalie Madelyn McAteer. The Eagles’ first goal came 19 minutes into the game, and it opened the floodgates for what would end up being a dominant first half. BC totaled seven short corners and kept the visitors back on their heels—the visiting Wildcats (2-6) managed just one corner in the opening half. Just two minutes after her first goal, Haverhals was given a similar chance. This time she passed up on finishing, instead opting to dish a pass over to Maddy Dorn, who capitalized on the look by sending a bouncing shot into the net. Sophomore Elizabeth Warner rounded out the first half scoring with a goal in the 26th minute. After Jaime Natale sent a shot bound for McAteer, Warner skillfully reached out with stick in hand to redirect the shot to the corner of the goal. Warner’s goal was BC’s third off

a short corner—an impressive success rate that reflected just how overmatched UNH truly was. The second half was more of the same, with another back-to-back goalscoring sequence starting in the 39th minute. Natale, already with an assist on the day, used some nifty footwork in the circle—ending with a spin move—to fool the defense and open herself up for an easy shot into the net. Just over a minute later, Elizabeth Dennehy got in on the action with a shot from outside on the baseline. The shot was perhaps the most unlikely of BC’s six goals, as it came from just inside the circle from a tough angle. McAteer was pulled following Dennehy’s score, but it wouldn’t make much of a difference. With the game well in hand, Wood capped a marvelous outing for the Eagles with a well-placed shot off a corner pass from senior Carly Kauffman. Wood’s score was BC’s 25th shot of the game, while the Wildcats managed just

MAGGIE DIPATRI / HEIGHTS STAFF

The victory capped off an impressive three-win week for BC, which has won ﬁve of six. four over the entire 70 minutes. The ability to draw and convert the short corner—the Eagles were granted a season-high 11 opportunities—bodes well for BC’s future. UNH may not have come into Chestnut Hill as a threatening competitor, but coach Kelly Doton was

given the chance to practice lots of her set pieces against live competition. The win for BC today was a dominant one, and as the conference schedule picks up in the coming month, Doton will likely look back on the film from Sunday’s game in an effort to find similar success. 

FOOTBALL

No. 23 Eagles Thoroughly Outplayed in Final Game of Road Trip FB Vs. Purdue, from A9 ultimately tying off a 30-13 victory. After losing its first three games by a combined eight points, head coach Jeff Brohm’s team not only entered the win column, but logged its victory over a ranked opponent since 2011. Ranked for the first time in a decade, the No. 23 Eagles (3-1, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) were drawing comparisons to Matt Ryan-led BC teams of the past all week in anticipation of their trip to West Lafayette, Ind. With the exception of one first-quarter touchdown drive, BC hardly looked the part. Right from the get-go, something was off. For the fourth-straight week, the Eagles opened the game on offense. Per usual, Brown handed the ball off to Dillon, but the ACC Preseason Player of the Year didn’t have much room to run, gaining just seven yards on back-to-back carries—which for a player like Dillon, who averaged 7.3 yards per rushing attempt in Weeks One through Three, was essentially nothing. On 3rd-and-3, Brown’s pass was tipped by a Purdue (1-3, 0-1 Big Ten) defensive lineman and fell harmlessly incomplete. All three plays foreshadowed what was to come: an ineffective ground attack and a boat load of deflections around the line of scrimmage. To make matters worse for the Eagles, a kick catch interference on the ensuing Grant Carlson punt call gifted their Big Ten counterpart decent field position. On the very first play of the series, Blough was wrapped up by Tanner Karafa for a loss 10—he’d face that kind of pres-

PENALTIES COMMITTED

sure all day. In fact, when all was said and done, BC tallied five sacks on the afternoon. But the Carrollton, Texas native more than made up for the lost ground in due time. The 6-foot-1 gunslinger orchestrated a 12-play, 62-yard scoring drive that incorporated a bevy of formations, including both a jet sweep and a pop-pass. The rhythmic offense marched down the field with ease, capping off a the drive with a 1-yard D.J. Knox touchdown. In a matter of minutes, though, the Eagles, namely Brown, responded. Michael Walker—who ended up recording 213 kick return yards, tied for the second-most in BC single-game history—jumpstarted the drive by running back the ensuing kickoff 60 yards all the way to the Purdue 38. From there, Brown converted a pair of crucial third-down conversions, the second of which came in the red zone. On 3rd-and-14, the redshirt sophomore snapped the ball out of the shotgun, took a three-step drop, and fired a pass to Tommy Sweeney in the heart of the end zone, marking Brown’s 10th touchdown pass of the season. Unfortunately for the underclassman, the 15-yard connection also signified the end of his picture-perfect start to the season. The next series, Brown was once again shoved to the ground for a Boilermakers sack. Drive after drive, the pocket reduced in size, in large part because of the Eagles’ stagnant running game. Ever since Dillon took over as the lead back at Louisville last season, BC had consistently ran the ball down opponents’ throats. Coming into the weekend, the sophomore hadn’t finished a game that he started with less

than 89 rushing yards. That streak, along with a handful of others, came to an end on Saturday. Dillon—who entered halftime with just 21 yards on 11 carries—kept bouncing the ball outside, perhaps influenced by a pair of first-quarter highlight-reel touchdowns the previous two weeks. Regardless, Purdue contained and often stuffed the 6-foot, 245-pound back at or behind the line of scrimmage. Without a rampant Dillon, BC began to unravel, and the Boilermakers capitalized. At the start of the second quarter, Blough dropped back and flung a pass to Rondale Moore on a slant route. The 5foot-9 wide receiver snatched the ball and sustained a fierce hit from a charging Will Harris, shaking off the shoulder blow as if it was nothing more than push. Without hesitation, the freshman made a beeline for the outside and coasted 60 yards to the end zone, capping what could very well be a SportsCenter Top 10 play. There was question of whether Moore’s knee touched the ground following the Harris contact, but because it was too close to call, the touchdown was upheld. The next few calls were not nearly as controversial—BC was simply shooting itself in the foot. On third down, a Harris interception was called back, as a result of a Zach Allen offsides penalty. Moments later, Blough scrambled for six yards, sliding toward the first-down marker. Harris tacked on a late hit to a defenseless Blough, handing Purdue 15 yards and a fresh set of downs. The lack of discipline didn’t immediately cost BC a touchdown. That said, it would eventually come back to bite head coach Steve

Addazio and Co. After another Eagles three-and-out, a 16-yard Markell Jones run set the stage for a 9-yard Moore touchdown reception. The shifty wideout slipped past the outstretched arms of a diving Taj-Amir Torres and skipped into the end zone for his second score of the game. Right before the end of the first half, Brown was tasked with driving downfield to cut the BC deficit in a matter of 85 seconds. He didn’t get very far: On the first play of the series, his pass was batted at the line of scrimmage and intercepted by Kai Higgins. Brown made the touchdown-saving tackle, and the Eagles defense forced the Boilermakers to settle for a field goal, but the damage had been done. After one half of play, Purdue had outgained BC, 200-37. The Eagles, who walked into Ross-Ade Stadium with the seventh-best offense in country—at least in terms of scoring and total yards—were helpless. Their secondary, usually vaunted as one of the better units in the nation, looked out of sorts, as well. “On both sides of the ball, we’ve done some of the dumbest things I’ve seen us do ever,” Addazio told ESPN college football reporter Mark Morgan at halftime. “That’s uncharacteristic football for us.” And it only got worse in the latter portion of play. Brown, frequently trying to turn something out of nothing, was picked off on three of the Eagles’ first four drives of the second half, at one point coughing up the ball on three-consecutive series. One interception was tipped at the line, another was swallowed in the double

A B1G BLOW

BC 22:58 TIME OF POSESSION

PURDUE 37:02

4 5

TURNOVERS

coverage—erasing one of BC’s best drives of the day—and the third was off his back foot, a prayer of sorts. It wasn’t answered and perhaps the question of whether Brown is the real deal or not is still up for interpretation too. The Eagles’ defense created opportunities during the final two quarters of regulation, such as Brandon Sebastian’s punch fumble and Allen’s acrobatic loose ball recovery, but none provided the spark the offense needed to mount a comeback. Takeaways aside, Jim Reid’s unit was still far from perfect. After all, it gave up another touchdown in the third quarter: Blough got Sebastian to bite on the pump fake and hit Terry Wright on the hitch-and-go for a 36-yard score. E.J. Perry replaced Brown in the game’s final stages and stitched together an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, but a missed John Tessitore extra point was just the icing on cake of what was a disastrous Week Four showing. In the final minutes of regulation, the ESPN broadcast panned to the Purdue Homecoming student section. One fan was holding a gravestone sign that read, “RIP Boston College’s Rank: This WeekLast Week.” For BC fans, an optimistic six days were met with a rather cynical conclusion, one that’ll seep into Sunday as the Eagles drop out of the AP Poll. Before the game, ESPN’s Amhad Brooks and Anish Shroff discussed whether BC could be the program in the ACC that challenges Clemson. After Saturday, it’s pretty clear that the Eagles aren’t the second-best team in the conference. Actually, now, no one’s really sure who or what they are. 

YARDS PER QUARTER

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3-AND-OUTS -14

FIELD HOCKEY

BC Opens Conference Play 2-0 For First Time in Program History BY ANDY BACKSTROM Sports Editor

With 15 minutes left to play in Boston College field hockey’s Friday night match against Virginia, it appeared as if the Eagles were Virginia 0 on their way to Boston College 2 another nailbiting finish. It only made sense—after all, each of BC’s previous six games had been decided by one goal. Yet, when it mattered most, head coach Kelly Doton’s multifaceted offense strung together, not one, but two scoring plays, securing a 2-0 shutout—a blanking that marked the Eagles’ first 2-0 start to ACC play in program history. No. 9 BC (5-3, 2-0 Atlantic Coast) recorded its first shot within the first five minutes of regulation. The No. 10 Cavaliers (3-4, 1-1), on the other hand,

couldn’t say the same. In fact, the Eagles held UVA without a single shot over the course of the opening 20-plus minutes of action. That’s not to say the Cavaliers didn’t have their fair share of opportunities in the BC half. As soon as the ball entered the Eagles’ zone, though, BC’s backs buckled down and flipped the field. The offensive struggles were nothing new for a team like UVA that was outshot in both of its past two games—a pair of one-goal losses to No. 21 Old Dominion and No. 20 Liberty. Luckily for the Cavaliers, goalkeeper Carrera Lucas didn’t budge in the first period—or really the opening 58 minutes of the game, for that matter. Ten minutes in, Fusine Govaert whipped a shot on net, but before it could even reach the cage it was blocked by a UVA back. The problem was, once the Cavaliers made a stop, they had a difficult

time infiltrating the BC zone. In this case, Brigid Wood simply stole the ball back and reset the Eagles’ offense. Still, BC ended the half with four shots, all of which were for naught. For the seventh time this season, the Eagles entered intermission tied with the opposition—this time, 0-0. UVA notched the first of its two second-half corners in the opening minutes of the latter portion of play, but the potential scoring sequence unraveled before the ball could even reach BC goalkeeper Sarah Dwyer. It’s not like the Eagles were having any success on the penalty either. Their ensuing corner was blocked, as the stalemate between the top-10 teams extended deep into the second period. Eventually, BC—specifically Elizabeth Warner—tipped the scale. With about 11 minutes remaining in regulation, Eva Van de Mierop intercepted a Cavaliers pass

and pushed the ball upfield. The freshman back shoveled it forward to Warner, who was positioned along the 25-yard line. Without hesitation, Warner hooked a pass to Caroline McGovern. Located on the right side of the circle, the sophomore dished the ball off to Brooke Matherson, who promptly delivered a pass in front of the cage for a charging Warner. The sophomore forward made the most of the opportunity, deflecting the ball past Lucas for her third goal of the season. Close to the four-minute mark, UVA pulled its goalkeeper, but the extra attacker didn’t help—if anything, it backfired. Following another Cavaliers turnover, Matherson scored an emptynet goal. With numbers, Fusine Govaert sent a pass to a wide-open Matherson, who then flung the ball past the outstretched stick of UVA back Colleen Norair.

The graduate student celebrated her fourth goal of the year—tied for the most on the team—with her teammates, knowing that her multi-point performance locked up the Eagles’ secondconsecutive ACC victory. Head coach Kelly Doton’s team has turned the corner. After a rough ACC/ Big Ten Cup, BC has bounced back to win four of its next five games—and the one defeat came on the road, courtesy of a last-second Louisville corner. What’s even more impressive is that the Eagles have only given up more than one goal once during that span. BC’s balanced offensive attack is getting the job done, and it sure doesn’t hurt to have someone like Dwyer in net that has already logged three shutouts on the year. What initially looked like a typical Eagles campaign might actually be something quite special. 

The Heights

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Monday, September 24, 2018

FOOTBALL

Despite Long Week, Eagles Unprepared in Purdue Setback NOTE Vs. Purdue from A9 the day and made poor choices , unprepared for when the line broke down. In a stark contrast to Brown and BC’s offensive struggles—as a unit, the Eagles faced an average of 9.1 y ards on third dow ns— the host Boilermakers looked like a well-oiled machine. Quarterback David Blough picked the Eagles’ defense apart, despite weathering constant pressure from the front seven, and proved once again that mobile quarterbacks cause BC headaches. Missed tackles, penalties, and poor coverage struck time and time again. Then, on defense, Purdue didn’t just contain the Eagles offense—it made them look downright awful. Offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler met his match in Boilermakers defensive coordinator Nick Holt, who made Loeffler’s play-calling look feeble and repetitious. All in all, BC couldn’t block, tackle, run, pass, or have anything resembling an effective game plan. Last year, Purdue head coach Jeff Brohm rightly earned attention for turning his program around to gain bowl eligibility. This year started inauspiciously with three losses, albeit by slim margins, but Brohm was simply the better coach on Saturday. His offense capitalized when it needed to most, the defense shut down two of the more exciting players in the country in the early going, and

he left Eagles fans dazed. Some might even ask what BC’s ceiling would be if Brohm, who just earned Purdue its first ranked win since 2011, had the reins. Offense The Eagles had nine days to prepare for this game. Nine! Yet from the very beginning, it was clear that BC was sticking to the exact same offensive script it’d used to great success against Wake Forest. The problem, clearly, was that the Boilermakers knew exactly what the Eagles were going to try. Addazio has described the relationship between Brown’s and Dillon’s performances as symbiotic, one that’s mutually beneficial depending on which one the defense keys on. On Saturday, it was revealed that Brown desperately needs his running back to be thriving in order for him to find success—and that if he starts to break down like he did against Purdue, the Eagles will fall back on the woeful offense that was so painful to watch at the start of last year. How predictable was BC? Take a look at its first couple drives, the touchdown excluded. The Eagles went three-and-out in impressively similar ways each time. The first two drives that ended in punts featured Dillon running on first and second downs for short gains, then Brown either throwing an incomplete pass or taking a sack. Even when the Eagles attempted to mix it up, they got the same results.

Throws on first down? Barely traveled five yards through the air, and were either marked as losses or slim gains. The Boilermakers were able to load up the box on first and second downs, then get after the quarterback on third, and it was devastatingly effective. A caveat is that BC was likely expecting a different Purdue team, but it doesn’t excuse the performance. If you watched tape of the Boilermakers shootout loss to Missouri, you watched the defense get picked apart, succumbing to missed assignments and struggling to communicate in the back end. On Saturday, Purdue did everything right, giving a blueprint to opposing teams on how to contain Dillon and Co. It started with pressure up front and, unfortunately for the Eagles, senior captain and center Jon Baker—who didn’t play last week—was overmatched for much of the game. The offensive line, supposedly the most stable unit on the depth chart, was woeful. From the beginning , Brown realized he was going to be in for a long day at the office, as he was sacked on consecutive drives in the first half. He was eventually brought down four times throughout the day and had four passes broken up at the line of scrimmage, the product of a pocket collapsing in on him. The safety blanket he enjoyed against the Demon Deacons, where he was able to let things develop and step into long throws, was gone—and it was evident that the long

throws weren’t going to be there. With Dillon struggling to get anything on the edges, watching BC fail to break the 100-yard mark until the fourth quarter wasn’t much of a surprise. Defense After allowing a 12-play, six-minute touchdown drive on the first Purdue series of the game, the Eagles’ defense started the second quarter with plenty of energy—it’d forced a punt the second drive and already had two sacks of quarterback David Blough. Then, a simple missed tackle sent that crashing down. Debating whether Rondale Moore’s knee was actually down or not is a tough topic, but the fact remains that Moore caught a pass maybe 10 yards downfield and Will Harris, a captain and leader of the secondary, failed to bring him down—and cost his team a 70-yard touchdown. Harris went for the big hit and came up empty, glancing off Moore, who gained an edge and sprinted for the score. These missed tackles and mistakes would pile up. Harris would jump a route and pick off Blough, only to see it called back for Zach Allen going offsides. Taj-Amir Torres would miss a tackle on the Boilermakers third touchdown of the day—Moore caught the ball five yards from the end zone, and Torres lunged but was left grasping as the wideout waltzed in. Cornerback Brandon Sebastian was targeted by Blough a few times, and he was beat deep twice. The

first time, he was able to punch the ball out to force a fumble that Harris recovered, but the fact remained that he wasn’t able to contain the wide receiver in front of him. He wasn’t as lucky the second time, as a stop-andgo move from Terry Wright froze the sophomore defensive back, allowing Blough to lead his receiver easily into the end zone for a 36-yard score. BC was able to get consistent pressure on Blough, but another flaw in its defense was exposed—it really, really struggles with mobile quarterbacks. Wyatt Ray and Allen are a two-headed monster in terms of bringing pressure off both edges, and while Blough was sacked five times, he also created plenty of plays by himself. He scampered for five yards to convert a third-down conversion, and kept several plays alive for extended periods of time with his feet. Overall, giving up 30 points is never a great thing, but the Eagles’ defense did play well for chunks of time. Still, defensive coordinator Jim Reid’s unit only forced one three-andout—undoubtedly a product of its snap volume, something that can be attributed to the offense’s inability to move the chains. BC recorded a pair of turnovers, but the offense gave it back both times. There was no semblance of complementary football, and it left viewers wondering why on earth this team had a No. 23 ranking next to its name. n

MENS SOCCER

BC Concedes Three Second-Half Goals in Road Loss to Duke By Peter Kim Asst. Sports Editor In 2017, Boston College men’s soccer couldn’t find the back of the net. The Eagles had the worst scoring offense in the 2 Boston College ACC, averagDuke 3 ing just 1.29 goals per game. In fact, they managed just one against a ranked conference opponent all season. So when BC (22-3, 1-2 Atlantic Coast) scored not just one but two goals against No. 7 Duke (4-2, 1-1) Friday night, it was a clear sign that its offense has progressed from a year ago. The team’s scoring average is now up to 1.71 goals per game. Unfortunately for the Eagles, it’s also obvious that they still have some defensive issues to sort out. After going into halftime knotted at zero, Duke exploded for three goals in a 20-minute span during the second

half. The Eagles fought back, but a late rally proved to be too little, too late, and BC suffered a 3-2 defeat, its second-straight one-goal loss against a ranked opponent. In the opening 20 minutes of the game, it was the Blue Devils who had the better chances and possession, as good work down the wings earned them three corner kicks. The Eagles managed to scramble clear two of them, and the third forced Antonio Chavez Borrelli to make his first save of the game. But after the early flurry of Duke pressure, the game evened out, as both teams created good chances before the halftime whistle sounded. First, a long B C free kick fell at Tyshawn Rose’s feet 15 yards from goal. The freshman, seeking his first career collegiate goal, let fly a curling shot that clipped the outside of the right post, leaving the Eagles inches away from taking the lead. Later in the

half it was Simon Enstrom putting an effort on goal, but Will Pulisic came up with an excellent point-blank save to deny the senior his seventh goal of the season. Meanwhile on Duke’s end, Issa Rayyan hit the post for the Blue Devils with a bending shot and watched another chance veer just wide, while Nicholas Macri whipped a header off a corner kick over the goal to leave the teams scoreless at halftime. It wouldn’t stay that way for long. Just 12 minutes into the second frame, Duke won a free kick on the right wing and elected to play the ball short. The pass ended up with Kristofer Gardarsson, who floated a cross toward the back post. Chavez Borrelli stretched and managed to get fingertips on the ball. Unfortunately for the Eagles, he wasn’t able to redirect the pass—instead, the ball fell to the head of Ian Murphy, who buried his header to give the Blue Devils a

1-0 lead. After conceding on the road, the Eagles could have folded. Instead, they found the perfect response just 10 minutes later. Joe Kellett played an inch-perfect through ball to Beto Luna, giving the sophomore an open look on net. Luna made no mistake, slotting a shot perfectly inside the far post to tie the game. Kellett’s assist was the first point of his career. The lead only lasted four minutes, as Duke created a goal that was almost a carbon copy of the first. More precise Blue Devils passing resulted in time and space for Daniele Proch. His service again floated over Chavez Borrelli and dropped in front of Ian Murphy at the far post. This time, the freshman used his foot to slide the ball calmly inside the left post, restoring the Duke lead. Just 10 minutes later, the Blue Devils’ lead was doubled, as Rayyan’s cross was expertly nodded home by

Proch. BC was reeling and desperate to find an answer. The Eagles did manage to pull one goal back, thanks to Heidar Aegisson. The junior midfielder missed the beginning of the season due to injury, but showed how valuable he is to BC in his return, playing 77 minutes and giving the Eagles one last glimmer of hope in the 87th minute. Kristofer Konradsson sent a direct free kick in the box. The Blue Devils weren’t able to clear the ball, and it eventually landed near Aegisson, who poked it home at the right post. BC continued to press until the final whistle, but couldn’t materialize a late equalizer. Regardless of the defeat, the Eagles’ newfound scoring touch is a good sign for the team moving forward. They’ll need all the goals they can get with the conference schedule not letting up one bit. Next up: a trip to rival Notre Dame, a team that handed BC a 3-1 defeat last season. n

JONATHAN YE / HEIGHTS Staff

For the second Friday in a row, the Eagles fell in a narrow matchup with a top-10 team. This time it was to Duke, which scored three goals after the half and fought off a late BC charge. VOLLEYBALL

Eagles Open ACC Play With Straight-Set Victory Over Clemson By Jack Coleman For The Heights In its first ACC match of the year, Boston College volleyball sought to kick off the conference slate with a win over an equally impressive Clemson team. The Eagles claimed the first frame after right side hitter Cat Balido set the ball in the direction of the actual setter, Jane DeJarld. The junior was ready—she immediately shot it right back to Balido, who—with lofty grace—elevated, determined to make connection with the perfectly timed ball. The clap of the the right side hitter’s hand on the ball was heard throughout Power Gym as the ball took a clear cut path down the line and gifted the Eagles a 25-17 first-set

win—just the start of their blowout ACC opener victory. “In practice, we work at playing 6-on-6 and work on being tired in big-game situations,” Balido said when discussing her impressive chemistry and play with DeJarld. “Our highly competitive practice allows us to have the right mindset for moments like that.” Scoreboard aside, the Tigers (9-5, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) were unwilling to go down without a fight. In fact, Clemson jumped out to a strong lead early in the second set. BC (11-2, 1-0) was plagued by inconsistent serves, but as resilient as the Eagles have been this fall, they were just waiting for everything to click back in place. It all began with Balido spiking

the ball into the hands of Clemson blockers. Trailing, 11-7, BC then attempted a block of its own and the ball came down hard off the Tigers’ wood. The next play would result in yet another Eagles block by none other than Balido and outside hitter McKenna Goss. The junior right side hitter would then have a spike that went right down the middle, cutting BC’s deficit to two. The real lead would be recovered when, after a seemingly endless to-and-fro that included everything from near-floor hits to net saves, the ball finally found its way in front of a sleeping Clemson defender. Ultimately, the rally set the stage for the Eagles’ second-set win. Going into the third set, BC was determined to keep the ball rolling

and put the Tigers to bed early. Libero Makenzie Morrison led the soaring Eagles crew as well as a rowdy home crowd with a series of saves that were sent from her arms left and right. The entire crowd was on its feet oohing and ahhing at the junior’s play-making ability. Feeding off the energy, freshman Jewel Strawberry was ready to take over the game. With the Eagles up, 14-11, the outside hitter sent a huge block straight back at the faces of the opposing Clemson defense. The next play saw Strawberry assert her dominance with a crushing spike yet again. Now leading by five, Strawberry sent back one more devastating hit that set the tempo for the rest of the Eagles’ crushing shutout.

The Eagles looked super prepared to face ACC talent after their 10-2 start to the season. A combination of experienced veterans as well as heavyhitting freshmen provides a bright outlook for the team as it heads into its following match against Georgia Tech. All season, BC has exceeded expectations—every week, the questions remains: How long can the Eagles keep it up? “It’s just about being resilient,” head coach Jason Kennedy said. “We know we have weapons from the service line. We just have to stay with it. We can’t give up or give in on a set. We got one server to the line and rattled off nine or 10 in a row, and were right back in it. Resilience is key at this point.” n

CLASSIFIEDS

Thursday, January 17, 2014 Thursday, April 7, 2016

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

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THE HEIGHTS

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

Maturity and Sophistication Shine on ‘iridescence’ BY KAYLIE RAMIREZ Assoc. Arts Editor Controversy shrouded BROCKHAMPTON’s impending album release this past summer when Ameer Vann was accused of sexual assault and asked to leave the selfbranded boy band. But months of reworking the then already completed iridescence did not cause the hip-hop up- and comers to lose any momentum, and the group’s latest work displays a wisdom beyond the band’s young age. iridescence plays on a large spectrum of sound, surging through techno beats dripping with deep bass drops on songs “NEW ORLEANS” and “HONEY” and gracefully

floating on piano-driven winds of touching vulnerability on “TONYA.” A swagger slinging party anthem kicks off the album with an explosive bass drop. Kevin Abstract issues a warning to BROCKHAMPTON’s doubters, screaming “Tell the world I ain’t scared of nothing.” Bearface’s lyric “Them gold chains turn your neck green, bye” cuts through flexing facades between breathless pauses that pays tribute to the sprinting start of Kanye West’s “Black Skinhead”—the band got its start on a Kanye West fan forum. The chorus from the fiery first track returns on “THUG LIFE,” a piano-backed reprise that draws from early 2000s R&B with twinkling flourishes and Bearface’s

MUSIC

IRIDESCENCE BROCKHAMPTON DISTRIBUTED BY RCA RECORDS RELEASE SEPT. 21, 2018 OUR RATING

KAITLIN MEEKS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

falsetto. BROCKHAMPTON immediately dives back into montages of shaking bass and an eclectic range of alternative sounds on “BERLIN”—a revving car engine weaves throughout the bumper-to-bumper bass. BROCKHAMPTON continues playing tug rope with tempos throughout the first half of the 15 track album, slowing things down every other song. Kevin Abstract flirts with a lazy loved-up rhythm on “SOMETHING ABOUT HIM,” a romantic tune most likely aimed at Abstract’s longtime boyfriend. Merlyn Wood’s choppy lyrical delivery ignites the racing synthetic beat of “WHERE THE CASH AT” with lines that put life in perspective for the boy band who shot to the top of the charts with SATURATION II last year. The band brought violinists into the iconic Abbey Road studio where the album was recorded to pull heartstrings on “WEIGHT,” the emotional height of the album. Abstract, Joba, and Dom McLennon come together to craft the heart-bearing verses about the destruction of stardom. The slow violin onset provides the perfect space for Abstract to delve into the shame he felt when confronting his homosexuality,. The violins return on the intro of “DISTRICT” but quickly dissolve to usher in tumultuous bass-driven tempo. Joba hoses down the beat by breaking up lines with “Woo! Simmer down, simmer down,

simmer down, simmer down.” Even against the house party beat, the members remain reflective—Matt Champion’s verse cuts through the false sense of fulfillment that comes with money: “Big ass house and big ass car don’t add up when you die alone.” “LOOPHOLE” breaks up the highs and lows of the first half of iridescence with the recording of an interview between DJ Whoo Kid, who has worked with the likes of 50 Cent, Eminem, and Waka Flocka Flame, and Cam’ron. Violins provide the musical element to the mashup as the two discuss the allure of fame and the song gets its title from Cam’ron’s remark about falling just as quickly as the rapper rose to fame. The following four tracks, “TAPE,” “J’OUVERT,” “HONEY,” and “VIVID” are marked by quick beats and ferocious verses. “HONEY” brings back the poppy R&B feel of SATURATION II with ad-libs from Beyoncé and references to 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’. “SAN MARCOS” and “TONYA” are the final crash on the album, slowing the tempo down one last time before “FABRIC.” iridescence is marked by a maturity and sensitivity that are often lacking in the hip-hop genre. Rejecting a false sense of wealth and getting real about sexuality and mental health allows BROCKHAMPTON to connect with its adolescent audience in ways that delve far deeper than the shallow party jams of its contemporaries. 

‘Maniac’ Induces Hypnosis With Stellar Directing BY PETER GAVARIS Heights Staff

In Maniac, Netflix’s latest high-profile limited series, a drug company stands on the verge of making history, having created a drug treatment option that could free people from their debilitating, deep-seated neuroses and trauma. In a rather seamless process, the patient would take three subsequent drugs—the first of which causes the subject’s trauma to resurface, the second maps the mind to determine how the subject’s brain is wired, and the third and final drug rewires the brain so that it can accept and overcome its anxieties. It’s as simple as that, or so it seems. Before these drugs can reach market, however, the good folks at Nebderdine Pharmaceutical and Biotech (NPB) need to test their groundbreaking product on some consenting human test subjects. Surely the advent of such a product would be exciting, but the prospect of testing out these highly potent, neurochemicalaltering drugs seems, nonetheless, unenticing for the risks involved. Luckily for NPB, people need money, and partaking in the trial comes with some financial compensation. In turn, trial positions have become highly sought after in this grimy, dystopic imagining of New York, as people wait in line for what seems like hours before being screened and told whether or not they qualify. Maniac’s retrofuturistic conception of New York resembles the city as it is today, with a few notable changes. Advertisements have become all the more intrusive, and technology seems to have been made from

salvaged 1990s computer parts (to give you an idea, the NPB company logo uses the same typeface as IBM). This analog aesthetic keeps the show visually interesting, but it also raises questions as to how this future became the way it did, even (implicitly or otherwise) questioning the way we tend to fetishize the look of the ’80s and ’90s. In the waiting room, Annie Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgram (Jonah Hill) cross paths, awkwardly eyeing one another before realizing that they were both selected for the same trial run. Literally and metaphorically scarred, Annie has become a junkie in denial, taking drugs to cope with the tragic death of her sister whom she had a difficult relationship with. Meanwhile, Owen is suffering from an undetermined mental illness (possibly paranoid schizophrenia) that causes hallucinations and the occasional psychotic breakdown. While Annie only has her father left, Owen’s anxieties are only worsened by the pervasive presence of his waspy, whitetoast family, of which he is the clear outlier. Annie and Owen carry these issues in with them as they enter NCP’s sterile, futuristic basement to begin the trial run with doctors Azumi Fujita (Sonoya Mizuno), Robert Muramoto (Rome Kanda), and James Mantleray (Justin Theroux). Under supervision, the participants take the three drugs in sequence, strapped to chairs so that the doctors can monitor their brain activity, as they lie comatose. In this unconscious state, the subjects experience a series of fantasies that dredge up painful trauma. For some reason or another, Owen

and Annie have found themselves sharing these visions. Among other plots, we get a gothic noir, a Lord of the Rings-type fantasy sequence, and a gritty crime drama featuring Jonah Hill in cornrows. Since we’re dealing with the subconscious, real-life anxieties and people continue to pop up in these fantasies like players in a stage-production. Following each dosage, the participants are questioned about their experience in a series of interviews which, as one character points out, seem akin to therapy sessions. Hill and Stone are good in their roles, but it’s Cary Fukunaga’s (True Detective, Beasts of No Nation) direction that keeps things interesting. In tandem with the impressive production design, it’s Fukunaga’s slick and often inventive camerawork that gives the dystopian world a tactile, lived-in look.

Maniac is heavy on plot, ambitiously attempting to juggle a lot of ideas and stories at the risk of dropping them all. Pacing also proved to be a problem, especially during the middle-portion of the show that relies heavily on the fantasy sequences that, while amusing, often feel airless and even inconsequential. Ultimately, your mileage may vary depending on how amused you are at the prospect of Hill and Stone getting to play dress-up, stepping in and out of various genres and stories that often feel needlessly wacky. But even as it gets seriously unwieldy at times, as the show resorts to ambiguity for ambiguity’s sake, Maniac works when it’s sticking to its gun, focusing on the drug trial and exploring the ways in which we compartmentalize grief. 

Heights Staff

It’s fitting that a movie with so many clocks in it feels like it drags on forever. The House with a Clock in Its Walls is a new children’s thriller fantasy film directed by Eli Roth and starring Jack Black and Cate Blanchett. It revolves around Lewis Barnavelt, an orphan who moves in with his uncle, a warlock named Jonathan Barnavelt (Jack Black), and his equally magical neighbor, a witch named Florence Zimmerman (Cate Blanchett), following the death of his parents. Lewis is, of course, not initially aware of the fact that his new guardians are both magical beings, but it doesn’t take him very long to figure it out. Unfortunately, the creators of this film clearly don’t have a solid

grasp of what it takes to write an interesting and engaging fantasy story. There is no sense of mystery or intrigue in The House with a Clock in Its Walls, because the film shoves every last bit of expositional information down the audience’s throat instead of using visuals, or even some sort of natural dialogue, to tell the story. For example, when Lewis finds out that his uncle’s house is magical and starts to freak out, Jonathan’s genius method of introduction is simply saying “Do you know what a warlock is?” Lewis replies to this obvious exposition by saying “Yes, it’s a boy-witch,” and for some reason the film decided that there was no further explanation necessary about what warlocks are, because it’s never addressed again for the remainder of the film. The only other even moderate tidbit

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THE HOUSE WITH A CLOCK IN ITS WALLS ELI ROTH DISTRIBUTED BY DREAMWORKS RELEASE SEPT. 21, 2018

DREAMWORKS

ADAM MEHAL

‘THIS FEELING’

THE CHAINSMOKERS

The Chainsmokers have an iconic sound. Their songs typically follow a pattern. There’s a quick intro, after which is their trademark repeated phrase segment (for example, in their universal song “Closer,” this would be represented by “So baby pull me closer in the backseat of your Rover…”), and then, a glitzy, pop-friendly drop. Their newest single, “This Feeling,” does not stray from this formula in the slightest, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Featuring Kelsea Ballerini, it tells the fairly innocent story of someone struggling with their complex feelings for someone else. Not a unique premise for a mainstream pop song, but it gets the job done, more or less. The song opens with a muted building beat and Bellerini’s introduction, “I’ll tell you a story before it tells itself.” Lyrical simplicity is a reoccuring theme in the song—Ballerini refers to her heart as “that thing in my chest” in the pre-chorus.

It’s also clear that the Chainsmokers have really perfected making the one song that they do, as the drop and hook are appreciably catchy. Overall, “This Feeling” is an innocuous, non-exploratory song that no one is going to find too offensive. 

MUSIC VIDEO JACOB SCHICK

‘LOVE SOMEONE’ BRETT ELDREDGE

TELEVISION

MANIAC CARY FUKUNAGA PRODUCED BY NETFLIX RELEASE SEPT. 21, 2018 OUR RATING

NETFLIX

Time Drags in Roth’s ‘The House With a Clock’ BY MICHAEL TROY

SINGLE REVIEW

of information about warlocks is that one must defeat an “evil spirit” by themselves in order to become one, which is the vaguest nonsense ever. So naturally, Lewis becomes obnoxiously powerful within five minutes of screen time because Jonathan agrees to teach him how to harness magic, although he specifically said moments beforehand that it would be physically impossible for someone to even come close to learning how to do that at Lewis’ age. Magic is also appar ently not some hereditary thing, but something that anyone can learn if they just read a couple books and “focus hard enough.” So at this point, the film is more than halfway over, and the audience will likely start to notice that literally zero conflict has happened yet. So, in the most insanely cliché plot device ever, Lewis decides to do literally the only thing that Jonathan forbade him from doing for the sake of impressing a kid at school, which unleashes his uncle’s evil nemesis, Isaac Izard (Kyle MacLachlan). He could have legitimately used any other kind of magic that he knew, which was quite a bit, but instead he decided to do the single spell he was specifically told to never attempt. It makes no sense and is about the laziest plot device that a writer can think up. Then the Izard, whose face utilizes some hilariously bad motion-tracking CGI, shows up at the house and has about eight minutes of screen time before the script decides

that Lewis is suddenly the most powerful warlock on the face of the planet and lets him defeat this villain, who was repeatedly described as the most dangerous and formidable person in the world, in one blow. Seriously, he does one thing and it saves the whole world, and that particular thing was introduced once earlier in the film for about 10 seconds, and at that point Lewis hadn’t even come close to learning how to do it, let alone using it to defeat the “greatest” warlock on Earth. Also, for some reason, Jack Black is turned into a baby in this scene, but his head remains regular-sized. On its own, that visual of Jack Black’s actual head on a baby’s body (which is, at most, half the size of the head itself) while the baby urinates uncontrollably, is reason enough to stay far, far away from this film. Eli Roth, a well-known horror director with little more than torture-porn films under his belt, directed this for some ungodly reason. The entire cast (except for Cate Blanchett, bless her heart) looks like they want nothing to do with this film. The pacing is awful and every plot point comes about in a horribly unnatural way because none of the characters’ decisions leading up to them are based in any sort of logical reality. Simply put, this film is awful. Don’t see it unless you have put some sort of substance into your body that distorts your reality, because an alternate universe is just about the only place where this film even has a chance of being enjoyable. 

This music video review is a shameless and base plug for a cute video featuring one oh so very good boy, Edgar. Edgar is country singer Brett Eldredge’s dog. Yes, sure, Eldredge has released a new music video for the song “Love Someone.” And yes, this music video is from the song off Eldredge’s self-titled 2017 album. And sure, there is already a music video for Eldredge’s “Love Someone.” But this is one is the Edgar Cut. Which makes it way better than any other video that Eldredge might have released for the song earlier. In the Edgar Cut of “Love Someone,” Eldredge sings the lyrics to his clearly romantic song. “Cause when I wake up in the middle of the night / You’re holding me so tight / Take whole of me, my oh my / Sure feels good to love someone / When you laugh at the way I dance / When you smile when you hold my hand / I look at you and I understand / Sure feels good to love someone.” But, instead of a woman, Eldredge sings it to his dog, Edgar. And this is where the conceit of the video lies. Edgar is so cute, and so is this video. Throughout “Love Someone” (The Edgar Cut), Edgar and Eldredge enact various romantic situations played for comedy and adorability (new word?). The dynamic duo ride on a motorcycle—with Edgar situated safely in a sidecar complete with riding goggles. They share a romantic dinner in candlelight—Eldredge drinks wine from a glass while Edgar gets to lap up his water from an ornate dog dish. They cuddle together on the couch, wrapped up in blankets, while they watch television. At one point Edgar’s paw reaches over to rest on Eldredge’s hand. This music video is all fluff. There’s little to no substance. But that doesn’t matter in the slightest. This video is happy and cheerful—it’s fun to watch. Meeting this video on its own terms—a video that doesn’t ask (or want) any analysis— allows one to enjoy it for what it is. This video is the cotton candy of music videos. It’s nice to look at and it tastes sweet, but there’s nothing to really sink your teeth into. And that’s okay. 

THE HEIGHTS

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

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Weems Explores American Racial History in Art Live Music BY STEPHANIE LIU Heights Staff

The new exhibit Carrie Mae Weems: Strategies of Engagement at the McMullen Museum of Art features 30 years of American artist Carrie Mae Weems’s work exploring the darker side of American history and African-American identity. Born in Portland in 1953, Weems began involving her art in social activism in the ’70s. Initially involved in theater and dance, Weems found photography as her medium of choice, but also expanded

her artistry to videos, performance, and installations. Her art dives into the nation’s violent history towards its citizens of color through somber and satirical treatments of stereotypes that still have consequences today. Her work takes inspiration from archival pieces in the history of the United States, often featuring old photographs that she alters and adds to, but also works as an original photographer. Especially in our current climate of uncertainty, Weems’ work shows the brutal truth, but also offers a glimmer of hope. “Constructing History: A Requiem to

TAYLOR PERISON / HEIGHTS STAFF

Carrie Mae Weems dissects racial injustice in America through art in a McMullen exhibit.

Mark the Moment” was created during the presidential election of 2008, when Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton competed for the Democratic nomination. As Obama beat Clinton and then McCain to become the first African-American president of the United States, Weems believed that the historical moments saw its roots in the assassinations and violence of the late ’60s. Working with students from the Savannah College of Art and Design and members of the Atlanta community, Weems recreated images of history using classrooms, allowing students to enter and become that history. “The Hampton Project” critiques the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia, which was founded to provide vocational training to Native Americans and recently freed slaves after the Civil War. Although the mission was optimistic, the school enforced strong assimilation that stripped the students of their own unique cultural heritage and identity. This section consists of muslin canvasses hanging from the ceiling, on which are printed photographs from the school and scenes such as Ku Klux Klan parades, encouraging the audience to ponder the relationship between education and systematic injustice.

Weems’ next series ties into her theater and dance background, as she herself becomes the subject of her photography. “The Louisiana Project,” also called “Missing Links” refers to an infamous Mardi Gras parade in 1873 titled “The Missing Links of Darwin’s Origins of Species,” where white supremacists twisted Darwin’s theory to criticize positions the liberated AfricanAmericans were able to achieve. Satirizing this sentiment, Weems puts on various animal heads and uses playful poses to counter the dehumanizing sentiment with grace and humor. Weems’s most recent works—“All the Boys,” “Usual Suspects,” and “People of a Darker Hue”—address recent events of police brutality. With print outs of police reports, photographs of young, African-American men suspected of crimes, Weems addresses the injustice in the police system. Highlighting injustice, but also preaching empowerment, Weems’s work is both critical and hopeful. Using a dark humor in many of her works, Weems satirizes demeaning and hurtful actions and instead, takes power over them, creating a narrative that has aesthetic and political power and that encourages people to think more about the politics and the history of this nation. 

‘Save the Date’ Showcases University Traditions BY BRENDEN POLLOCK For The Heights

This past week, a new exhibit titled Save the Date: Events and Traditions at Boston College is on display at the Gargan Hall Landing of Bapst Library. The exhibit features pictures and memorabilia from various events that have anchored the academic and social seasons over the years at BC. These annual customs range from convocations to class reunions, religious services, athletic contests, fairs, festivals, and dances. Some of these traditions have faded with time, while others have remained consistent and new ones have arisen. What unites all of these customs is their value in student life on campus and their reflection of BC culture. After entering the library and walking up the grand staircase, this exhibit can be found in two glass display cases on either side of the landing. Both cases contain a series of informational cards organized chronologically by month. The cards have brief excerpts about various traditions at BC over the years and are accompanied by pictures and memorabilia from these events. The first featured event is the Student Activities Fair from September

2014. At the start of each academic year, student groups, clubs, and organizations promote themselves with giveaways and other events at this outdoor fair on Stokes Lawn. In 2014, a student group called “Nights on the Heights” gave out frisbees, one of which is on display in this exhibit. This organization is a student-run initiative that organizes alcohol-free programming on campus. Beginning the exhibit with a more recent tradition made for an interesting dichotomy between some this piece and others along the gallery halls. The next event featured is Family Day of October 1966 and ’67. In the ’60s, the Alumni Association had its members bring their children to campus for a football game and other activities such as sports drills, skating, and swimming. Pictures of some of these sports drills are on display. This tradition continues now with similar game day events and even Admitted Eagle days in which prospective students, and their parents, arrive on campus to watch the game. As the season turns, and some overworked students begin to look forward to the end of the semester, it was fitting that the exhibit show off a winter tradition. Every December, BC

has its Annual Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony. This event originated in the late ’70s on BC’s dustbowl. Today, it has grown to be a very popular event with music, hot cocoa, games, an ice sculpture, and Santa Claus. Featured is an invitation for the Christmas Tree Lighting of December 2001. The next item on display is a program from the Dramatics Society Banquet in January 1915. BC’s Dramatics Society was one of the first student groups on campus, and it began each season with a banquet complete with a dinner, toastmaster, guests, and drama. To this day, the Dramatics Society is a campus mainstay with its enjoyable performances put on throughout the year. The Black Student Forum first sponsored an event known as Black Parents’ Weekend in April 1977. On display is the invitation and program for Black Family Weekend in 1998. This upcoming year, the 46th Black Family Weekend will take place April 24-28 and will feature events like a fashion show, a talent showcase, and a student-alumni basketball tournament. Other events like Mother and Son Day were held every May during the ’30s and ’40s so that the families of

freshman and sophomores could familiarize themselves with BC’s campus and each other. Exhibited is a ticket for this event in 1943. While this event may initially sound out of place, it clearly has its roots in the practice of today, as new students tour their families around campus at the start of the year, on game days, or on Parents’ Weekend. The next picture depicts students moving into their dorms at Newton College of the Sacred Heart before it merged with BC. The school was a small women’s liberal arts college. The property later became the home of the BC Law School, as well as the freshmen dorms on Newton Campus. Move-in day has been an annual occurrence since BC became a residential campus in the early 1970s. It may be comforting for some freshmen to know that people have been moving in to their dorms a mile and a half away from main campus for many decades. Another picture depicts a group of female students receiving their results for the housing lottery in March 1990. The housing process at BC used to require students to be physically present in Conte Forum to participate in the lottery system. 

‘Life Itself’ Shoots for Awards, Misses by Miles BY PETER GAVARIS Heights Staff

As we inch closer and closer to Oscar season, I think it’s necessary to set the record straight before the onslaught of prestige pictures hits theaters. Some of these festival darlings will impress while others won’t live up to the hype, but as we navigate this strange time of the year, let’s remember this simple, but vital, fact: Just because a film is “about something,” doesn’t inherently make it good or important. Surely, we can love, hate, or even criticize a film because of its thematic implications, but in doing so, we must also consider the way in which the film approaches its themes and the ideas it wishes to convey. Case and point: Life Itself. It premiered last week at the Toronto International Film Festival with its star-studded cast smiling and taking photos on the red carpet. It’s being distributed by Amazon Studios, a company that has had success in the past promoting awards contenders like Manchester by the Sea and The Big Sick. Even the title, Life Itself, radiates an aura

of prestigious self-importance, presenting itself as some sort of Rosetta stone for life’s woes—a film that has finally captured life’s essence and distilled it into a handy 117-minute feature. All of these factors positioned the film to be one of the great triumphs of the fall movie season. The only problem is, it’s unfathomably inept. Dealing in big themes like inherited trauma and the interconnectedness of the human experience, Life Itself tells the multigenerational story of a New York family with the subtlety of a sledgehammer and the gushiness of a Hallmark card. The film’s first half is framed through a lengthy therapy session between a haggard Will (Oscar Isaac) and his psychiatrist (Annette Bening), during which he recounts the story of his relationship with his college sweetheart, Abby (Olivia Wilde). We learn about their relationship through fragmentary flashbacks with Will as our personal tour guide, leading us through the days during which they were happily together, frivolously arguing over the little things, like the quality of Bob Dylan’s voice, as they pranced around in bed all day. All

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LIFE ITSELF DAN FOGELMAN DISTRIBUTED BY AMAZON STUDIOS RELEASE SEPT. 21, 2018 OUR RATING

AMAZON STUDIOS

the while, the film half-heartedly exhibits a fantastical, self-aware sensibility as Will and his therapist literally enter into these flashbacks to comment on them with some cutesy, newfound perspective. Another section of the film features Olivia Cooke as Will and Abby’s daughter, Dylan (named for Bob Dylan, obviously), a reckless 21-year-old punk rocker living with her grandfather (Mandy Patinkin). Oh, and there’s another portion of the film that takes place across the Atlantic in the Andalusian countryside with Javier (Sergio Peris-Mencheta) and Isabel (Laia Costa), a happy couple struggling to get by. Javier spends his days working hard as a laborer, picking olives on a plantation owned by the benevolent, but troubled, Mr. Saccione (Antonio Banderas). In the tradition of the countless other ensembledriven, sprawling dramas like Short Cuts or Magnolia, Life Itself attempts to weave these various lives and plots together into a cohesive narrative, decisively failing in spectacular fashion. Joel Coen once described directing as “tone management,” which is probably something writer/director Dan Fogelman (This is Us, Danny Collins) should have considered before attempting to film this anomalously distasteful mishmash of grating glibness and saccharine, fauxprofundity. You can tell from the trailers that the film would air on the maudlin, but frankly, I wasn’t prepared for the countless montages of couples embracing and playfully roughhousing with soft-rock playing in the background (the kind you’d expect to hear on a loop at Starbucks). In between these mushy sequences, characters unexpectedly break into monologue, eloquently expressing in screenwriterperfect sentences entire backstories, the

nature of their neuroses, and/or some pseudo-philosophical truths about the nature of our existence, like when Abby proudly proclaims, “The only truly reliable narrator is life itself!” Littered throughout Life Itself are lines of this kind, as characters come to revelations about the nature of life and tragedy that just seem so corny and obvious. Everyone speaks in aphorisms, and the end result often feels like the filmic equivalent of an inspirational office poster. As such, almost none of the characters in the film are, in fact, characters; they’re caricatures, archetypical embodiments of certain types of people: the heartbroken New York writer, the steely psychiatrist, the generous grandfather, the punkish young adult, the immaculate Spanish mother, the headstrong day laborer, etc. Fogelman’s weepy sentimentality gives way to the film’s disastrous tonal incoherence, as he attempts to supplement the heaviness of the narrative with some lighthearted humor that only ever comes across as cloying—for instance, the fact that Will and Abby’s dog is named F—kface (really). He also employs the most obvious metaphors to get his unremarkable points across, like when Will enters a revolving door and continues to aimlessly spin around and around without exiting. In truth, the image of Will in the revolving door better encapsulates the experience of watching Life Itself—it spins you around, sending you back and forth in time with a smattering of characters, all the while adding bleak twists and turns to the story that are ultimately in service of nothing. By the time the end credits roll, you’ll realize that you’re in the same place you were when it started. 

Saves Lives KAYLIE RAMIREZ

I recently received a text from my mom saying that she read an article on Facebook detailing a study that allegedly found a link between frequently attending concerts and longer life expectancy. Naturally, I took her newfound wisdom with a grain of salt—Facebook isn’t known for its authenticity, and my mother isn’t known for her internet sensibility. After a brief Google search, however, I discovered she may have found a reliable source this time. Variety published the findings of a study commissioned by popular British music venue The O2 that does in fact find a link between live music and longevity—a music venue finding that going to more concerts increases life expectancy is completely unbiased and clearly ethically sound. Going to a concert every two weeks allegedly has the potential to add nine years to a person’s lifespan—at the rate I’ve been going lately, I’m going to live forever. Considering the fact that I choose to spend countless unpaid hours writing about music for The Heights, Inc., I trust that experiencing live music frequently can increase a person’s happiness and overall emotional well-being. For the moment, we’ll ignore the fact that The O2 seems to have failed to control for the implication that people who can afford to attend concerts every two weeks probably have a higher disposable income and therefore more access to goods that have a direct impact on longevity (you know, like overpriced avocados from Whole Foods and leather interior Honda Civics—the height of luxury). Assuming this study finds a real relationship between concert attendance and life-expectancy, my next question (other than have you ever breathed the sativa-saturated air of a The 1975 concert) is does the level of enjoyment at the concert have any bearing on the effect? And are concerts actually good for my health, or am I being duped by an evil corporate figurehead once again? As the selfless investigative journalist that I am, I will attempt to extract an answer to these pressing questions by analyzing various concert experiences I’ve had recently. Seriously Kaylie, people are dying. FIDLAR’s show at Paradise Rock Club last week was one of the better concerts I’ve been to in the past year, the perfect combination of musical seriousness and flippant indulgence. Watching frontman Zac Carper and his band of mischievous surf rockers flood the room with anthemic lyrics about drinking cheap beer and getting high was enough to inspire me to extend my night once returning back to the safe suburbs of Chestnut Hill. Seeking any way to ride the high, I found myself rushing to off-campus parties where I could partake in some of the many illicit activities the band sung about hours earlier—while my asthmatic lungs fought off a cold in a cloud of cigarette smoke I took at least two days off my life. I waited at least five years to see Arctic Monkeys perform, missing my opportunity when they toured AM during the height of my unironic record collecting days (which are arguably not over). Somehow, I tricked a press person into thinking my opinion was important enough to warrant a press pass to their show at TD Garden this past summer. Finally getting to see Alex Turner and company perform “505” and “Knee Socks,” the soundtracks to my teenage years, was the basic equivalent to the catharsis that is turning in an assignment on Canvas five minutes before it is due: It was just in time and I felt as though I had repaid a debt to my earlier self. But in that same vein it felt like a lot of the Canvas assignments I turn in five minutes before they’re due: half-assed. Leaving TD Garden slightly underwhelmed, I immediately traversed to Foster, this time searching for an excitement I felt like I had missed out on. Maybe I just make bad decisions. Are concerts actually good for my health? Based on my observations, probably not. Maybe I am an outlier, or maybe this study is totally bogus. As a measly junior business analytics co-concentrator, who am I to say? I might die young, but at least I will die having been blessed by Bob Dylan and sanctified by St. Vincent.

Kaylie Ramirez is the assoc. arts editor for The Heights. She can be reached at arts@bcheights.com.

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MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018

@BCHEIGHTSARTS

Fine Tuning Before Pops on the Heights BY EMILY HIMES Asst. Arts Editor

Pops on the Heights, the annual Boston College fundraising tradition, will turn 26 this year, and it’s not without dedication, hard work, and the generosity of parents and alumni that have made the event what it is today. “There’s a thrill of hearing the chorale sing with the Boston Pops,” said John Finney, director of the University Chorale. “And it’s unbelievable to hear the audience’s response.” It’s a big night for student performers—some of them have never performed in front of a large audience before, and suddenly they’re standing in front of thousands. First-year students in the Chorale often don’t know what the event is all about. But once they step onstage, they instantly understand the caliber of Pops on the Heights. Cassie Pearson, the director of marketing and management for the Chorale and MCAS ’20, and Shannon Lally, the University Chorale music librarian and MCAS ’20, are both struck by the powerful experience of performing with the Pops every year. “It’s one of the absolute best groups in the country, even the world,” Pearson said. The performance’s success is not without hard work and focus, though. “It’s a great musical challenge,” Lally said. “But sometimes we don’t really get to learn at such a fast pace and get used to a new conducting style.” Throughout the year, the Chorale works nearly exclusively with Finney. When it performs at Pops on the Heights, it is directed by Keith Lockhart, the conductor of the Boston Pops and, for this evening, of the University Chorale. “John can pay special attention to us, he knows our trouble spots,” Lally said. “But with Keith we have to be really independent.” “Keith is so far away,” Pearson said.

“We’re all the way up on the risers behind the orchestra, and he has a whole other group to worry about, and they’re internationally acclaimed.” Finney has worked at BC for 26 years, and the inaugural Pops on the Heights took place during his first year. Besides being a “huge shot of adrenaline,” the event was a huge success. “It was the first thing I did with the Chorale,” Finney said. “And we’ve participated every year since.” Finney is aware of the hard work that goes into preparing for Pops on the Heights, describing it as a “fun type of challenge.” He says the acoustics are somewhat problematic when the chorale is lined up, rather than in a u-shaped position. And performing in Conte Forum doesn’t help, either. “We really have to get used to the sound in Conte,” Finney said. “It’s difficult to sit in straight lines.” The University Chorale will be singing a medley of music that might be more recognizable to older alumni than some of the students in attendance. Alongside Leonard Bernstein’s “Make Our Garden Grow,” the Chorale will perform a medley of songs from the ’60s and ’70s. Emily Zona, director of the Dance Organization of BC (DOBC) and MCAS ‘18, explained that the dance group will perform a new piece of choreography during this sequence.These songs are chosen for the Chorale by Lockhart to fit with the performance given by the Pops. Although the group has a few weeks to prepare these songs for Pops on the Heights, they don’t get much time to rehearse with the Pops themselves. “Our rehearsal time with the Pops is super limited, we might get a couple hours the day of the event,” Pearson said. “We run through it a couple times, but that’s it.” So instead, the University Chorale spends the weeks prior to the event focusing on perfecting its performance.

TIGER TAO / HEIGHTS STAFF

Last year’s Pops on the the Heights raised over $14 million to be used for student scholarships at Boston College.

This year’s student soloist, Molly Cahill, MCAS ’20, has sung in Conte Forum before—she performed at the Mass of the Holy Spirit this year, and at baccalaureate Masses in the past—but never for this many people. “Over the summer, I was mostly excited,” she said. “But now that it’s closer, I’m getting nervous. So many people who are important to me will be in the audience.” In the end, though, Cahill is ecstatic to have this opportunity. “Singing is something that makes me really happy,” she said. “It’s a great outlet.” Pops on the Heights is BC’s largest fundraiser for student scholarships. It has made attending BC possible for over 2,000 students and their families over the past 25 years. Last year alone, Pops on the Heights raised $14 million, making the total almost $60 million in scholar-

JESS RIVILIS / FOR THE HEIGHTS

John Finney, director of the University Chorale and conductor of the Symphony Orchestra, works to prepare for Pops on the Heights.

ship money in the last 25 years. “Every year we’re raising more money,” Finney said. “People get their money’s worth, for sure.” Part of the success of Pops on the Heights is the event’s evolution. Even if you take away the guest performer—BC typically attracts big-name artists (this year will feature Lionel Richie)— the event is still first-rate. Every year features something new—last year Pops on the Heights used wristbands that lit up in synchrony with the music. “We’ve got sophisticated special effects,” Finney said. “The visuals get more spectacular every year.” Pops on the Heights is planned by Rafanelli Events (which has put together events for the Red Sox Foundation, Louis Vuitton, and the Clintons, to name a few). It truly is a spectacle, in some ways unexpectedly so. But every year, Pops on the Heights gets grander, more technologically advanced, and more surprising. The selection process to become the student soloist is competitive, to say the least. If a student is a finalist of the Sing it to the Heights competition, they can skip the first round of auditions for Pops on the Heights. During the audition, contestants have to sing two songs in front of a panel of people in BC’s music department. Cahill found out she had been selected at the end of the last school year, giving her plenty of time to prepare over the summer. BC set Cahill up with a vocal coach over the summer, and she would go into the symphony hall once every week or two to practice. “The preparation gets ramped up as we get closer to the event,” Cahill said. “But the long-term preparation makes me feel better about it.” As the event approaches, she plans to rehearse multiple times within the next week. At first, her practices were more conversation-based, as they planned what songs would work best with her range and style. But now the rehearsals

have been more performance-based, Cahill said. Cahill rehearses in the practice rooms in the St. Thomas More Apartments and Lyons Hall. “One piece is extremely wordy and I need to memorize it,” she said. “I also take specific notes about corrections and suggestions to implement them in my individual practices. She has been surprised by the level of support she has experienced on the road to Pops on the Heights. “The Pops really want this to be a great experience for me,” Cahill said. “They gave me the same treatment coming into practice as they would with one of their soloists. Everyone wanted me to succeed.” At this year’s Pops on the Heights, Cahill will be performing a combination of two songs from West Side Story, “Something’s Coming” and “Somewhere.” This year would have been the 100th birthday of West Side Story conductor Leonard Bernstein. Lockhart recommended Cahill combine the two songs in his honor. Cahill is more than familiar with the Pops. A New England native, she grew up watching them perform. She attends their annual Independence Day performance, as well as some of their holiday performances. To top it all off, her high school graduation present was to watch the Pops play at the Boston Symphony Hall with Mandy Patinkin (of The Princess Bride and Criminal Minds). That night, the Pops performed one of the songs she will sing at this year’s Pops on the Heights. “It’s so familiar,” she said. “It adds sentimental value.” This is what creates an event like Pops on the Heights. It combines the worldclass sound of one of the best symphony orchestras in the country with the familiarity and comfort of being at BC. “It’s amazing that BC has this event,” she began. “There’s no other way this could happen for some students.” 

Soul, Love, And Meaning Lives Up to Name at Sunset Show

BY JACOB SCHICK

Arts Editor

Sometimes small changes can make or break a night. SLAM!, (Soul, Love, And Meaning), Boston College’s spoken word club, was supposed to host its first Sunset SLAM! of the year outside.

Unfortunately, the weather was dreary and cold, and rather than force the audience and the poets to sit in the chilly evening weather, SLAM! managed to nab Cushing 001. This small change in venue was the difference that took the event from good to great. The small lecture hall was dimly lit.

KAITLIN MEEKS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Snaps, moans, and shouts of “Yes, poet!” met passionate performances by students.

INSIDE ARTS

‘Strategies of Engagement’

At the front, bathed in a soft light, an open mic stood alone. In the minutes leading up to the event’s beginning, audience members trickled in, nodding, waving, or calling out greetings to each other. Everyone settled into the cushioned chairs and waited in anticipation for the event to begin. Many attendees were longtime fans of the club and of its poetry performances. Without fail, the poets who speak provide powerful emotion and evocative imagery in each of their poems. And this event would be no exception. As this was the first event of the academic year. Miya Coleman, president of SLAM! and MCAS ’19, spent a few minutes introducing the idea of slam poetry and going over a few suggested ways to show your appreciation for the poet. Suggestions included: snaps, moans, or even shouting “Yes, poet!” Coleman was the first performance,

‘Life Itself’

and the night couldn’t have begun on a higher note. Her poem was a conversation from a daughter to her mother, in which the daughter begins by asking her mother why didn’t she tell her that life would be so hard, and that she would face so much opposition because of her gender, her race, and more. In response the mother says that “Baby I truly hope you know / That if I could I would give you every ounce of my soul / Every ache and every memory I would give to you to take / So you wouldn’t have to figure anything out on your own.” Later, Olivia Sorenson, vice president of SLAM! and MCAS ’20, stepped up to the mic to deliver another incredible performance. Her poem was called “An Invitation to Cool People,” and she admitted that she had only finished the poem about 10 minutes before. She tells the story of her love for poetry. When she was young she fell in love with poetry and with the great poets.

The new McMullen exhibit features the work of Carrie Mae ‘Life Itself,’ starring Oscar Isaac, Annette Bening, and Olivia Weems as she explores race in America.....................................A15 Wilde, shoots for awards but rings hollow..........................A15

But, as she grew up, those around her did not understand or seek to understand her love for poetry. Instead, she had to mute her passion because “cool girls don’t write poetry.” But this poem was meant to invite all of the “cool people” in her life that never listened before to give it a chance. Throwing in references to J. Cole and 22 Jump Street (“Jesus died for our Cynthias”), Sorenson’s poem was powerful but accessible to all those who felt misunderstood by those around them, even if it wasn’t for their love of poetry. For the purposes of length, not every poet can be discussed or mentioned. This does not mean, however, that they weren’t just as powerful and talented as the other performers. Their words were intentful and arresting, buffeting the audience with the emotional force with which they were delivered. SLAM! deserves recognition for its uncanny ability to provide incredible events so consistently. 

‘iridescence’..........................................A14 ‘Maniac’.............................................A14 ‘The House with the Clock in Its Walls’...........A14