The Heights, Nov. 8, 2021

ARTS

The Bostonians commemorate 35 years of a capella, making it the oldest group on BC’s campus. A6

BC Mourns Former CSOM Professor Kent Wosepka

Special Projects Editor

Kent Wosepka, a former finance professor at Boston College who died on Oct. 31 after a bicycle accident in Texas, was a greatly respected teacher and colleague, according to Ronnie Sadka.

“He was a truly fantastic teacher,” Sadka, a professor in the finance department, said. “He made a difference and will be dearly missed.”

Wosepka taught at BC for three years, from 2017 to 2020.

As a part-time professor, he taught the graduate level course

Management of Financial Institutions.

“He was referred to us from a friend and trustee at BC and we had worked with him in the past,” Sadka said. “He decided that he wanted to retire from the banking industry and do something different, and one of the ways he talked about giving back [was] maybe teaching part time.”

Shruthi Sriram, Ethan Raye, Grace Beneke, Spencer Daniszewski, and Sofia Laboy contributed to reporting for this story.

BC Falls In ‘Forbes’ Ranking

NINA KHAGHANY Heights Staff

Boston College fell nine spots from 2019 in this year’s Forbes America’s Top Colleges list to No. 56, dropping out of the U.S. top 50.

Forbes also placed BC at No. 37 for private colleges, and No. 26 for colleges in the Northeast, excluding it from the top 25 after its return to this margin in 2019.

BC competitor schools also saw significant drops in rankings. The University of Notre Dame ranked No. 41, a significant decrease from its previous ranking at No. 18 in 2019. Georgetown University is now No. 21—compared to No. 15 in 2019—and Boston University dropped

nine spots to No. 83.

This year’s list saw a shift in spots for many colleges and universities, as Forbes’ compilers decided on a new methodology to account for low-income student outcomes.

Unlike 2019, the new methodology features seven metrics instead of six. These seven categories are weighed in percentages to correlate to each category’s relative importance.

Alumni salary accounted for 20 percent of the score, comparing each school’s average alumni salary for the first six to 10 years after graduation. Fifteen percent portions of the total score can be attributed to average federal student loan debt per alumni borrower, average time students

spent paying their college costs—or their “return on investment—” average graduation rate, and the number of alumni who are placed on a Forbes American Leaders List. The college’s retention rate accounts for 10 percent, and the final 10 percent is the average students’ academic success.

Forbes noted that the 2021 list would see a significant shift in tradition, for the first time placing a public university—the University of California, Berkeley—in first place, dethroning Harvard University.

Forbes reiterated that this change was due to its attempt to re-evaluate colleges and universities amid COVID-19 in 2020. The new list aimed to reflect the marginal difference in higher education in the emerging post-COVID-19 world.

Irish Studies, Smith Host Book Launch

ERIN SHANNON

Copy Chief ELIZA HERNANDEZ

For The Heights

In 2008, James Smith received a phone call from a woman who had just read his book, Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries and the Nation’s Architecture of Containment, which describes the history of the Roman Catholic Church’s institutions for “fallen women” throughout Irish history.

Recognizing her own story in the text, the woman asked Smith, an associate professor of English and Irish Studies at Boston C, “What are we going to do about this?”

“So suddenly, an academic intellectual project took on a different character, [a] more advocacy and activism role,” Smith said. “At each turn, as the five of us began

working to try and affect justice, and to bring about redress and an apology.”

On Thursday, Nov. 4, BC Irish Studies department hosted a virtual book launch for Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries: A Campaign for Justice, a new book co-authored by Smith. This book, according to Smith, is a record of the campaign that a group of academic activists fought on behalf of women—an estimated 30,000—who endured human rights violations while housed in the infamous Magdalene institutions. Speculation about the laundries began in 1993, when 155 unmarked graves were discovered on the grounds of one of the secretive institutions. The laundries were said to house “fallen women,” a term that included prostitutes, women who had sex outside of marriage, and pregnant, unmarried

Jurkovec Returns To Alumni

H ALEY H OCKIN

Men’s hockey fails to follow a win, losing its second game of the weekend against Merrimack

Remembering Former CSOM Professor Kent Wosepka

Sadka said that Wosepka instantly became a professor beloved by his students.

“I can just tell you from his teaching evaluations and student comments, he did really well right off the bat in the first semester,” he said. “He did really well in terms of his evaluations, top scores, and he continued consistently for the three years that he was with us.”

Sadka also spoke about how, even as a part-time professor that only taught two to three sections a year, Wosepka had a great impact on his students.

“So for us, it was very helpful to start with a small chunk of his time,” he said. “For us, he really made a difference.”

Students consistently described Wosepka as humble and intelligent, Sadka said. They felt that he was

able to bring his experience in the banking industry into the classroom, and that he was able to explain difficult concepts in a simple way.

Emily Spain, BC ’17 and CGSOM ’18, said that she admired how

“ Everyone looked forward to going to his class. He always brought in fun examples to the classroom and had the patience to answer all your questions. ”

Wosepka used his career experience in a way that was meaningful to his students.

“He brought real world experience to his classroom from his previous career at Goldman [Sachs],” she said. “His enthusiasm showed through his teaching.”

Sadka said Wosepka’s talent was reflected in his evaluations and the popularity of his class.

“That’s just the reality,” he said. “It was really popular.”

George Hakimeh, BC ’13 and CGSOM ’18, said Wosepka was such an engaging, energetic, and passionate teacher that no one wanted to leave his classroom when his classes ended.

He was an exemplary educator, Hakimeh said, and always went above and beyond to give 120 percent to his students.

Josh Zheng, one of Wosepka’s former students and CGSOM ’18, said he was devastated upon hearing the news of his passing.

“Professor Wosepka was not your usual one-dimensional, solely mathematical finance professor,” he said. “Everyone looked forward to going to his class. He always brought in fun examples to the classroom and had the patience to answer all your questions.”

Above all, Wosepka was a caring professor who prioritized

his students, according to Zheng.

“You can ask any of my classmates and they would tell you that their best memories with him were during office hours,” he said. “Graduate professors can be intimidating, but he always kept it fun.”

“ You think I’m a finance person, but I paint for a living. ”

He was the kind of person who would always take the time out of his busy schedule to work with students, according to Zheng.

“He was one of the only professors who, if you had a question, you could approach him outside and he’d sit down on a bench with you for as long as it took to run through everything,” he said. “He was never in a hurry.”

Zheng said that he always admired how well Wosepka taught

his difficult graduate level course.

“Teaching a master’s course can be intense, but [Wosepka] had the ability to make it fun and connect with everyone regardless of their background,” Zheng said.

Both Spain and Zheng remembered how Wopeska also pursued other hobbies while teaching, including painting.

“He was unique in that he reminded us that one could have a successful finance career, but also have interests outside of work,” Spain said.

Zheng said he would show pictures of his work to students and even had his own website to sell his art, which taught him and other students that they did not not have to limit themselves to just one discipline or dream.

“Professor Wosepka would tell us, ‘You think I’m a finance person, but I paint for a living,’” Zheng said.

Stem Cell, Bone Marrow Drive Returns to Campus

B Y A MY P ALMER Asst. News Editor

About five years ago, UGBC President Jack Bracher joined the registry to become a potential stem cell donor. A few years later, Bracher found out that he had a match.

“I got a call from the nonprofit that I’d done it through saying that I was a match for a patient with leukemia, so I had started going through the process of being able to donate to him,” Bracher, MCAS ’22, said. “Fortunately he went into remission, so my donation wasn’t needed, but I wanted to find a way … to bring back the stem cell drive to Boston College’s campus and register more students to donate.”

UGBC, Student Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), and Project Life Movement teamed up on Thursday and Friday to encourage students to join the global registry of potential bone marrow and stem cell donors.

Project Life Movement ambassador Luke Kuechly, former linebacker for the Carolina Panthers and BC ’11, returned to campus to encourage students to get swabbed.

The University last hosted a

Project Life Movement bone marrow registration event when BC retired Kuechly’s jersey in 2016.

Over 800 people joined the registry.

This year, 777 people registered, according to Bracher, with 480 students getting swabbed on the first day.

Bracher said this was the most swabs Project Life Movement got on a single day at a college campus.

Steve Luquire, a co-chair of Project Life Movement, said the number of students swabbed at BC exceeds what it defined as a good number for most colleges.

“On most college campuses where we go to do these drives, 200 is a good drive,” Luquire said. “We’re gonna be here today because of SAAC and the student government, and we’ve already done I think close to 250 in less than two hours.”

College campuses are the best place to find a healthy, diverse group willing to join the registry, according to Luquire.

“My wife of 41 years died of myelodysplasia syndrome,” Luquire said.

“Her only match was her brother, who was 60 years old, and frankly, it

works so much better if you have a person who is 18 to 35. And there’s no place better than a college campus to find people who are willing to look at the vision and mission and join us.”

Kuechly, who met Luquire in 2013, said they have been hosting drives together since then to raise awareness and improve the chances of finding donor matches.

“We just know this little bit of time that we spend today and tomorrow and having you guys come by, we can raise awareness to potentially have a match for somebody that needs it,” Kuechly said.

Finding even a few donor matches, Kuechly said, is a huge deal.

“You might have five to 500 to 1000 people here, but if you can get a couple donors that match, that’s what’s powerful,” Kuechly said.

Students joining the registry, Kuechly said, is a perfect example of BC students being men and women for others.

“The big pillar in the Jesuit community is how can you help other people by being selfless with your time, and this is a perfect example of it,” he said.

The impact of becoming a donor

goes beyond just saving a person’s life, according to Ann Henegar, executive director of Project Life Movement.

“When you donate your stem cells or your bone marrow to a patient, you’re not only saving that person’s life, you’re affecting a community, you’re affecting a family, you know, a workplace, a campus,” Henegar said.

Henegar said she encourages people to think about the impact they can make by registering to be a donor.

“This is what I tell everybody … ‘If it were your sister, your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your aunt, your child, wouldn’t you want someone to say yes?’” she said.

For Lubens Benjamin, CSOM ’23, joining the registry is a great way of fulfilling BC’s mission.

“I think part of being someone who goes to BC is being a person for others and, like, this is right along with that mission,” Benjamin said. “If I could be a match for someone, if I can help someone extend their life, that’s just something great to be a part of and I don’t see why I’d say no to that.”

Jostine Rozenich, MCAS ’25, spoke to the importance of taking time out of the day to join the registry.

“It’s such a crucial and important

thing, even if it only takes a few minutes and it can save lives,” Rozenich said. “I think that’s all about finding ways to put service into your daily life.”

Rozenich said she has family members who have needed various transplants that rely on others to donate, which has shaped her perspective on joining the registry.

“Why not go ahead and do that and save the life of somebody?” she said. “That is such a scary feeling to not know whether or not you’re going to get a match.”

Ultimately, it is a privilege to be part of a drive like this, Bracher said, and hosting the event just before the Red Bandanna Game—an annual football game that commemorates Welles Crowther, the BC alumnus credited with saving the lives of about a dozen people during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks—is a great way of uniting the mission of Project Life Movement and Crowther’s story.

“I think it’s just a great privilege to be able to work with Project Life and Luke, as well as the Student Athlete Advisory Committee, who hosted the drive that I was a match for, and for all that to come full circle,” Bracher said. “And for us to of course be doing it on Red Bandanna weekend of all weekends means a lot.”

UGBC’s Council for Students with Disabilities will host a dinner where participants can experience a meal without their sight. The dinners will be held Monday through Wednesday and Nov. 15 through 17 in the Walsh Function Room from 6 to 7:30 p.m.

On Thursday at 1 p.m., Professor Xiaoqing Yu invites all BC students, faculty, and staff to learn about pronouncing Chinese names and gaining a deeper appreciation for the Chinese language over Zoom.

This week, the BC’s Women’s Center will be holding its fall semester Love Your Body Week. The week-long celebration will feature various events, including panel discussions, yoga, an open mic night, and a painting workshop.

Wosepka, from A1

Boston College students signed up for the UGBC, SAAC, and Project Life stem cell and bone marrow registry on O’Neill Quad.

IKRAM ALI / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The donor registry was open to students on Thursday and Friday of last week.

BC Professor Launches Book on Magdalene Laundries

unusual treatment.”

Ireland issued a formal state apology 20 years later, in February of 2013.

“Part of [Ireland’s] history is a history of institutionalizing particularly women and children, vulnerable people, as a way to maintain social control … around issues of perceived morality,” Smith said.

The daily routine of the laun -

dries, which were run by Catholic nuns, encompassed silence, prayer, and work without compensation, according to Smith.

“So they use the term ‘slavery’ in bringing a case against the Irish state, first of all, to Ireland’s Human Rights Commission in 2010, and then to the United Nations Committee Against Torture in 2011,” Smith said. “So these are the human rights violations, arbitrary detention, forced and compulsory labor, and cruel and

Though some survivors received lump-sum payments from the Irish government after the United Nations urged redress for survivors, the effects of these institutions are still present and need to be addressed further, according to Moynagh Sullivan, a visiting professor in the Irish Studies program and the moderator of the event.

“Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries continue to disturb contemporary society precisely because this history has not yet been fully acknowledged and integrated, nor has a meaningful restorative justice and redress been fully implemented,” she said.

Attendees at the virtual book launch on Thursday morning discussed the significance of studying the laundries and how Ireland and the Magdalene Laundries: A Campaign for Justice supports the advocacy of victims and survivors.

“This book makes a critical contribution to our understanding of contemporary Irish history,” said Robert Savage, Irish historian and director of the Irish

Studies program at BC. “It will be essential reading for anyone coming to terms with the social, political, and cultural history of 20th century Ireland.”

Savage introduced several other speakers during the launch, including Claire McGettrick, Katherine O’Donnell, Maeve O’Rourke, and Smith, all of whom collaborated on the Magdalene research, according to Savage.

Sullivan said the book is a meticulous history that begins with the Justice for Magdalenes Research’s social justice campaigns that were started by survivors in 2003.

“Justice for Magdalene Research is an advocacy organization that successfully campaigned for a state apology in 2013 and restorative survivors in Ireland’s laundries,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan also said that the book is dedicated to the collective memory of those referred to as Josie Bassett, Martina Keogh, Mary Newsome, Kathleen R., Catherine Whelan, Beth, and all the survivors of and those who died in Ireland’s laundries.

Smith explained how books

on the laundries have personally affected those impacted by the institutions, especially Whelan, who died in 2016.

“She had read my book, my first book on the laundries, and she started that phone call by asking how [I knew] her story.” Smith said. “That was her first response, because nobody knew. At that stage, Catherine was in her mid-70s and she hadn’t come across a reference to Ireland’s Magdalene Laundries in the 40plus years that she had spent here in the United States.”

Sullivan said the book emxphasizes the resilience of the survivors.

“‘I’m still there,’” Sullivan said. “These words spoken by Charlotte, a survivor of Ireland’s laundries, were referring to her continued institutionalization. This book meets that powerful, ‘I’m still there’ with the also powerful ‘I’m still here,’ platforming the continued insistence by survivors that their experiences’ need to shape national histories, appear in museums, and [become] grounded in national memorials.”

Social Justice Project Presented by Scholars

BY ELIZABETH SCHWAB For the Heights

CAROLINE CANNON / HEIGHTS STAFF

‘Día De Los Muertos’ Returns to BC With a Festive Flair

B Y A NTHONY Y ANG

For the Heights

With decorative perforated paper bursting with vivid colors and groovy music, Boston College’s Mexican Association of Students (MAS) brought back their annual Día de los Muertos—or Day of the Dead—celebration.

“The Day of the Dead is the largest event that’s held by the club because of several reasons,” Christina Garcia Busa, co-president of MAS and CSOM ’22, said. “The first is because it’s a universal Mexican holiday, so it’s not regional by any means.”

On Wednesday night, MAS invited all BC students to Gasson Hall for traditional Mexican activities like Lotería and plate painting in celebration of Day of the Dead.

The holiday itself is a day of remembrance and prayer for those who have passed away.

“It’s very significant in Mexican culture, I think because people form very strong connections with their family, and family is a very import-

ant value in Mexican culture,” Garcia Busa said. “And the event celebrates family, all those that have passed. That’s why this event is very significant for the club.”

The event included face painting, marble throwing, and balloon shaving stations.

Students also lined up for churros and danced to popular Merengue songs including “Se Encendio el Beeper.”

The Offering, or Ofrenda, was at the center of the room.

The table was decorated with a skull-patterned tablecloth, strings of lights, flags, and candles.

Sofania Guerra, Lynch ’25, spoke about the significance of the Ofrenda for Day of the Dead.

“It’s supposed to be a celebration of their lives,” Guerra said. “So you make their favorite foods and you celebrate life for what it was.”

MAS collaborated with the Organization of Latin American Affairs (OLAA) and Campus Ministry to set up the Ofrenda, which was located in Maloney Hall for four days until it was moved to Gasson Hall on Wednesday.

“OLAA is the organization of Latin American affairs here on campus, and so there’s a lot of Mexican people and people of Mexican heritage that are a part of that club,” Garcia Busa said. “And they were interested, as well as the Campus Ministry, in putting up an Ofrenda because it’s tied to religion to Christianity as well. Those aspects really pushed us to partner with OLAA and Campus Ministry.”

MAS, OLAA, and Campus Ministry chose to honor three groups through the Ofrenda—those who have lost their lives to police brutality, victims of femicide in Latin America, and those who have died from COVID-19.

Garcia Busa said Day of the Dead is significant because of how it celebrates the continuation of life after death.

“It’s called the Day of the Dead because we will try to invite them more than back to life, in a sense, and so that’s why it’s a celebration,” she said. “It’s very much a mourning event too, you have these offerings and pictures, but it’s celebration because life continues after death.”

On Nov. 2, the sophomore members of Boston College’s Gabelli Presidential Scholars Program held a panel discussion about advocacy for undocumented immigrants as their social justice project, titled The Faceless America, in Gasson Hall.

“We all found that immigration and especially undocumented immigrants weren’t always so comprehensively covered,” Fran Hodgens, a Gabelli scholar and CSOM ’24, said. “So we thought this was a good opportunity to educate people and get people connected with resources.”

Marilynn Johnson, director of Global Boston—a digital history project on immigration in the Boston area—and a history professor at BC, shared her work on urban social relations and discussed the history of immigrants coming to Massachusetts since the 1960s.

“Our openness to refugees has certainly made a century in recent years, especially after 9/11 a new fear provoked by the war on terrorism, and the pandemic more recently we have seen a reduction of immigrants admitted,” Johnson said.

Denzil Mohammed, director of the Immigrant Learning Center Public Education Institute, discussed the social impact that immigrants have within the United States by founding various companies.

“They have been always creating businesses in the USA that become iconic American brands like Kraft mac and cheese—nothing gets more American than that,” Mohammed said

He also noted the ambition and inherent entrepreneurial traits of immigrants coming into the United States and Boston.

Mohammed ended his portion of the presentation with a YouTube video about Yessy Feliz—an immigrant from

the Dominican Republic who started a pet business in Boston called Tails. Feliz became the first business owner in her family.

“When you start investigating the stories of immigrants, there’s a lot behind it,” Mohammed said.

The attendees were then invited to the back of the room where the sophomore scholars displayed posters featuring different organizations that support undocumented immigrants.

At one of the tables, Kenneth Heikes, a Gabelli scholar and CSOM ’24, shared his experience within the YMCA of Greater Boston. He said it hosts various adult education and English classes in which immigrants are taught about pop culture and can get both reading and writing practice.

Hodgens presented his poster on the Office for Refugees and Immigrants which he said serves and hosts programs for immigrants in Massachusetts to help them succeed.

When discussing how The Faceless America project came to be, Hodgens said the Gabelli scholars made a list of organizations from their summer PULSE Program—a required service project based in Boston during the summer of freshman year. After compiling a list of the places they all volunteered at, they found similarities.

“We narrowed that down to a few common threads,” he said.

Hodgens said the scholars aim to highlight issues surrounding immigration that might not be as well known in the BC community, such as the lack of affordable housing in Boston for immigrants.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

COURTESY OF BRYAN MEADE

Four of the co-authors at the Magdalene Memorial Bench in Dublin, Ireland.

NewMo Riders Can Now Travel Anywhere in the City

By Victor Stefanescu Asst. News Editor

NewMo, a low-cost rideshare service sponsored by Newton, has expanded to allow users to ride anywhere they want within the city. For Susan Cassidy, a West Newton resident and a first-time rider, the service is terrific, she said.

“I thought it was too good to be true,” Cassidy said. “And so, I gave it a whirl, and it was lovely.”

Previously, NewMo users could only select from one of limited transit or town centers to serve as final destinations for their rides, but not anymore. Users can now travel anywhere within the city. Additionally, users ages 13 to 17 can now ride NewMo alone with adult consent, according to Mayor Ruthanne Fuller’s Oct. 22 community update.

For just $2, or $0.50 for qualifying low-income Newton residents, per trip users can hitch a ride through NewMo Monday through Friday, from 7 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., a half-hour earlier start time than previously offered, according to the city’s website. New users get their first five trips free. These changes went into effect on Oct. 25.

On the NewMo app, users enter their payment information, select their location and desired destination, and book a ride, just like any other ride-share app.

Nicole Freedman, Newton’s director of transportation planning, said the service is a hybrid version of public transit. The service is partly funded through the Boston Region Metropolitan Planning Organization’s Community Connections grant program, according to the city’s website.

“You know, as a city, our goal is to have more sustainable trips and fill a gap in public transit,” Freedman said.

“So just like Lyft or Uber, you tend to go on your phone, you use an app to book your trips, [and] you would book them in real-time.”

NewMo launched in 2019 as a service for senior citizens, according to Via Partner Success Associate Principal Brian Kerrigan. Via is the transportation company that provides cars, drivers, and logistics for the rideshare app.

In July 2020, NewMo launched a new pilot program open to anyone, which allowed users to take trips to one of 10 designated locations, Kerrigan said.

“But I think ultimately [with the pilot program], what we found was that it was a little restrictive,” Kerrigan said.

With the limited service locations, Kerrigan said it was hard to persuade residents to rely on the app as their sole mode of transport.

“Now, anyone in the city can ride anywhere in the city they want within the service hours,” Kerrigan said. “That’s had a huge impact and has really increased our overall ridership.”

There have been almost 30,000 rides since the service began in 2019, and 500 to 600 trips per week are expected in the near future, according to Freedman. About half of NewMo’s users are non-seniors currently, according to Freedman.

Cassidy’s trip from her home in West Newton to Galen St.—a few blocks from Watertown, Mass.—was one of the first trips after the program’s expansion on Oct. 25. But, the rain jeopardized her plans, she said.

Cassidy considered walking the 4-mile trek or taking traditional pub-

lic transport, but ultimately decided to try out NewMo, she said.

A NewMo minivan arrived 10 minutes early, Cassidy said. NewMo’s goal is to provide reliable trips with average wait times of less than 30 minutes, but occasionally longer, according to Fuller’s update.

“It was practically door to door,” she said. “You know, I had to walk a little bit. I didn’t mind that. And I wouldn’t have minded it if I had to share the ride with somebody else.”

Freedman said NewMo’s small driver pool offers a personalized experience for users like Cassidy.

said. “So, you know, having a higher pay rate.”

Via, which handles NewMo’s hiring, is recruiting new drivers, Kerrigan said.

Currently, NewMo is focused on delivering the new service options and listening to feedback from users,

“The car was clean ... it was just me in the car,” she said. “And the driver was great to chat with. Honestly, it was a lot like using Lyft or Uber which we also occasionally use but this one, this is much more cost-efficient.”

Aside from sanitizing their hands before rides, NewMo users are asked to wear a face covering and sit in the rear of the vehicle for the duration of their ride, according to the city’s website.

Additionally, NewMo might require users to walk the final few feet to their destination or share a ride with others.

“The difference between Lyft and Uber and this is that this is a much more personalized system,” Freedman said. “We know all the drivers and it’s important that they’re friendly and helpful—good ambassadors for the city. So I think the higher pay allows us to really be able to provide the better customer experience.”

NewMo drivers earn $29 to $37 an hour, according to the website. The wage accounts for national labor shortages, Freedman said.

“We want to deliver, you know, a really reliable, high-quality system, and that means making sure we have enough drivers on the road,” she

Freedman said.

“Right now, I think we’re focused on, you know, delivering the best experience possible within [the] service hours we have,” Freedman said.

In the future, though, Kerrigan said the service potentially could expand its hours of operations to weekends or nights.

“There’s always more people I think who can be served,” he said.

For example, Cassidy said students and teachers could benefit from NewMo as well. She said overall the new service is promising.

“I really feel like this will catch on,” she said.

Submissions Open for Newton FenceART Initiative

By Olivia Joung For The Heights

Newton Community Pride (NCP) is calling on Newton artists to submit to FenceART, a year-long public project dedicated to bringing beautiful art to neighborhoods throughout the city, according to the NCP website.

“The artists love this project,” El-

len Fisher, the curator of FenceART, said. “Everyone is very excited about it, and the fact that the public also seems to be pretty happy [with it] is really nice.”

According to Fisher, each year a jury selects 20 works—ranging in styles and mediums—to be printed on high-quality vinyl banners. Submissions for next year’s display will be accepted until Dec. 1, according

to NCP’s website. Banners will be put up in February 2022 and will stay in rotation for the remainder of that year.

As FenceART is sponsored by NCP, the artists participating do not need to pay a submission fee or pay for the production of their banners, something that Fisher said is an important element of any public art project.

Fisher said what makes FenceART so special is the fact that the banners change from location to location.

The banners, placed in groups, are rotated to five fence locations around the city for roughly 10 weeks at a time.

“We try to vary the work a lot in each group so there’s a good likelihood that you’re going to really like something in that group,” Fisher said. “So you always get to be looking forward to what’s coming next.”

Banner locations for 2021 included the Newton Free Library, the Newton Senior Center, Watertown St. at Bridge St., Good Shepherd Church, and the Newton Cemetery.

“[At] almost every location … there’ll be at least one person who stops and says, ‘This is wonderful. Thank you so much. I’m looking forward to what you’re putting up next,’” Fisher said.

Gloria Gavris, the chair of NCP’s board of directors, said walking by and seeing about 20 pieces of original artwork on various fences throughout the city is whimsical,

entertaining, and beautiful. According to Gavris, this will be NCP’s seventh year holding FenceART, which is just one of the nonprofit’s numerous projects in public art, such as the Newton Out Doors project, service, and city beautification.

“You’ll see a particular location [while] you might walk your children to school every day or go to the post office ... but then all of a sudden, it’ll change,” Gavris said.

The initiative started in collaboration with Linda Plaut, Newton’s former director of cultural affairs, who was looking to experiment with different public projects like it. FenceART was also partially inspired by Justine Wiltshire Cohen, owner of local yoga studio Down Under Yoga, who was already running a similar art banner project in Newton Highlands for several years, Fisher said.

“It’s very heartwarming [and] it’s really fun to be out there doing that for the public,” Fisher said. “We like the idea that we’re putting quality work sort of just in the way of people who happen to be coming by.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLEN ISHKANIAN

Riders can summon a $2 ride with NewMo using the program’s app to a destination anywhere in Newton.

PHOTO COURTESY OF ELLEN ISHKANIAN

Four Newton FenceART vinyls were displayed in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in 2020.

MAGAZINE

Kured Founder Brings European Flair to Boston

BY HANNAH THOMPSON Heights Staff

The art of curating intricate displays of mixed meats, fruits, and cheeses on rustic, wooden boards that appeal to both taste and sight has taken the world by storm. During the pandemic, many utilized their free time to practice creating these beautiful, edible arrangements with hopes of bringing them to future gatherings. Charcuterie became a hobby for many, but for Gilli

reer reality and opened Kured, a fast food–like charcuterie experience in Beacon Hill.

Rozynek grew up in Westport, Conn. and decided to attend Boston College after being admitted early action. As an undergraduate, she studied marketing in the Carroll School of Management and minored in applied psychology and human development in the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. She said that her diverse mix of major and minor class-

to participate in summer internships, definitely helped elevate and teach me the ins and outs of how to build a real brand,” Rozynek said.

The idea for Kured began during her semester in Madrid, Spain when she learned about Spanish culture and traveled all over Europe.

“There’s this market called the Mercado de San Miguel, and I would take the train home from school every day in the main plaza where the market was,” Rozynek said. “I would always get a snack … they essentially were paper cones filled with salami. They weren’t cute but they were super tasty.”

As Rozynek continued her travels through Europe, she noticed how prominent the role of charcuterie was in European culture. She began to learn more about charcuterie’s history and demand as a product, but Rozynek said that what ultimately piqued her interest was the inter-personal outcomes that charcuterie could spark.

In March 2020, when Rozynek and the rest of the BC community were sent home due to COVID-19, she continued creating charcuterie while she prepped for life after graduation. Rozynek had a

turned down her offer to be a marketing analyst and decided to pursue Kured full time, she said.

“I think the reason I actually decided to go all in on my business was

Rozynek, BC ’20, it turned into a lifestyle.

When Rozynek studied abroad in Spain her junior year, she saw charcuterie as a vehicle to spark conversation and build camaraderie. Back in the United States, she saw an uptick in popularity of people making their own charcuterie boards during the pandemic, but there wasn’t a place people could go to buy them. So, Rozynek decided to make this realization her ca-

es provided a solid basis of knowledge to help her start her business, both in terms of practical marketing expertise and insight into human psychology.

During the summers while she was an undergraduate, Rozynek got real-world experience under her belt through a variety of internships, from brand marketing to media buying and planning.

“I would say the marketing classes at BC, which gave me the opportunity

“I really liked what it can do—it brought people together on a daily basis,” Rozynek said. “You know, you sit down with your friends and have a beer and charcuterie and power this real conversation. I fell in love with the European lifestyle where people don’t prioritize work as much and they prioritize their relationships.”

When Rozynek returned to BC and started her senior year, she brought a piece of Spanish culture with her through charcuterie. Crafting charcuterie boards became a hobby that she shared with friends and family, she said. She even had an Instagram account, which was followed by her close friends, where she would post pictures of her charcuterie boards and cured meats.

job lined up after graduation as a marketing analyst at a big corporation in New York City, but in the summer after graduating she became involved with the SSC Venture Partner incubator program, where she solidified her idea behind Kured and pitched her business model for on-demand charcuterie.

“I was learning so much last summer in that incubator program, and I was on a trajectory of growth that I never really felt,” Rozynek said. “I really liked where I was headed. Kured is what really allowed me to grow the most I’ve ever grown, so I think that is what initially inspired me.”

While many people clung to stability during a time when the world seemed to be unpredictable, Rozynek took the opposite approach—she

the fact that I just graduated when the world was in shambles,” Rozynek said.

“It allowed me to experience this feeling of fearlessness which I never really felt before.”

In June 2020, Rozynek launched Kured as an online service where customers could order custom-made boards. Over the next year, while focusing on building Kured’s brand and online presence, Rozynek also tried to immerse herself as much in the food industry as she could. She even started working at a butcher shop in December 2020 to learn more about the products she was developing.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

Krause Expands Political Science Education in Podcast

BY KATE NUECHTERLEIN For The Heights

Boston College students interested in the field of politics have access to an abundance of resources and opportunities to learn directly from professors, but the majority of the general public doesn’t share this privilege. There is also a lack of accessibility on professors’ end—many academics who spend years doing fieldwork often struggle to find ways to share what they’ve learned with the public.

Peter Krause, associate professor of political science, has devised a way to bridge this gap—his podcast, Stories from the Field: A Guide to Navigating Field Work in Political Science, allows those doing research in the field to talk about it in a dynamic and informal way for those interested in hearing their stories. Released beginning in January 2021, the episodes feature professors and student researchers from around the world who want to share their experiences and provide advice to budding students and researchers.

Arriving at the idea for his podcast was not a quick process, and neither was Krause’s journey into the field of political science, he said. Krause grew up in suburban Hartford, Conn. and attended public school. When he was in high school, history grabbed Krause’s attention.

“Growing up, I was always really interested in history,” Krause said. “That was my favorite topic in school. I actually didn’t take a political science class until college.”

As an undergraduate at Williams College, Krause was finally able to apply his interest in politics in an academic setting by taking political science courses.

“I think I was always really interested in politics and the context of politics, particularly international relations and foreign policy, you know, how countries relate to one another, why they choose to make peace with one another or go to war,” he said.

As he was exploring this interest, he was also uncovering his broader career aims. His devotion to political theory is not just for the sake of learning war games, but rather so he can share what is disruptive to society in order to help prevent it in the future, he said.

“And then certainly, as maybe a lot of BC students do, I also do have some interest—in the most naïve sense—in trying to make the world a better place,” Krause said.

Within the larger field of political science, Krause became particularly interested in studying the Middle East and its relation to the United States.

“The United States plays an inordinate role in the politics and lives of many people in the Middle East, but I think that a lot of the American public and even the decision-makers do not have a great understanding of that region,” Krause said.

Krause knew he was interested in teaching after college, but after his junior year he interned at an investment bank to explore the financial field.

In this role, Krause was working in the World Trade Center in August of 2001, which had a huge personal effect on his life, he said. It pushed him even further into focusing on the relationship between the United States and the Middle East after observing the repercussions of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

After discovering that he was not excited about working in investment banking, Krause switched gears after

graduating from Williams College in 2002. He became a history teacher at Thornton Academy, a private boarding school in Saco, Maine.

“I could have been a high school teacher for the rest of my life and been happy—it’s a great job,” he said. “You really feel like you can impact a lot of students’ lives, and I really enjoyed it.”

Despite his affection for teaching high school, Krause realized that one of his greatest interests was pursuing research—a goal only possible at a larger university. In 2005, Krause was accepted to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he got his Ph.D. in political science and government and learned how to conduct proper research and become a rigorous thinker and producer of knowledge along the way, he said. While at MIT, Krause applied for a job at BC.

“To be honest, BC is a dream position for me,” Krause said. “I can’t think of a school I would rather be at.”

Krause has taught a variety of classes, but said he is particularly fond of his courses on political violence and terrorism in the Middle East, which was not offered before Krause’s arrival. It has now been taught for about a decade.

Beyond trying to engage students within the classroom, Krause saw both a problem and opportunity to engage students in his political science research outside of the classroom as well.

“I think that a lot of students—and I know because I was one of them—look at methods classes as being very dry and or intimidating, and the text for them can make your eyes glaze over,” Krause said. “I wanted something that was the opposite of that.”

Stories from the Field, which was published as a book in 2020, provides an unorthodox guide to navigat-

ing political science fieldwork, Krause said. It features 44 political science professors from all around the world who share their experiences conducting research globally.

“It’s not necessarily a more dry, abstract methods book,” Krause said. “It’s more, ‘Let me tell you a story about this time that I was, you know, interviewing someone in this refugee camp, or when I was working in the archives in London or in Algeria or wherever else and stumbled upon this document.’”

Before COVID-19 hit, the idea to turn these stories into a podcast had crossed Krause’s mind, but he was much more focused on research, he said. But with the pandemic slowing down research, Krause and his colleagues considered doing more with Stories from the Field. After speaking to other professors and researchers who specialize in Middle Eastern studies, Krause saw so much knowledge in their collective experiences, but no outlet to share those stories—this is where his podcast was born.

The production team planned for

13 episodes, each featuring authors, professors, or students sharing their experiences. The podcast’s key purpose was to address broad questions about the ethical and logistical challenges of conducting field research far from home, Krause said.

Krause said that hearing stories of how other people overcome challenges within political research can be the most enlightening and valuable asset for graduate students and young faculty.

One episode, entitled “Research in China with Enze Han and Robert Ross,” discusses the structural complications within authoritarian states like China that make it almost impossible to administer in-depth field research. Other episodes range in topics from conducting research virtually to exploring the politics of Black mayors in predominantly white regions of the United States to researching violent organizations in Colombia.

Read the rest of this story at www.bcheights.com

Krause makes political science education more accessible through his podcast.

GRAPHIC BY OLIVIA CHARBONNEAU

PHOTO COURTESY OF GILLI ROZYNEK

Kured founder turns a recent culinary trend into a Boston-based business.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GILLI ROZYNEK Rozynek brings her study abroad experiences to her new charcuterie business.

The Bostonians Celebrate 35 Years of Making Music

BY KATHERINE CANNIFF Assoc. Arts Editor

When Kaitlin McBride came to Boston College, she knew she wanted to explore the variety of a cappella groups on campus. During the first weeks of the fall semester she auditioned for multiple groups, but when she walked into the room for her audition with the Bostonians, she said she knew she would choose this group.

“Just walking into the rehearsal room and the audition room for the Bostonians you could already tell they were so just supportive of each other and it was a very low-stakes environment,” McBride, MCAS ’25, said.

On Saturday evening, McBride stepped up to the microphone to sing her solo of “Levitating” by Dua Lipa in front of over 100 Bostonian alumni and their families in a packed lecture hall.

Every five years, the Bostonian alumni have returned to BC’s campus to connect with friends who feel more like family and to immerse themselves once again in the music they love. This year, the a cappella group and alumni celebrated the Bostonian’s 35th anniversary.

Officially founded in November 1986, the Bostonians are the oldest a cappella group on campus. At the time the group was established, the only other music groups on campus were the University Chorale and the “Screaming Eagles” Marching Band.

The group’s foundation marked the beginning of a growing a capella scene on campus that now includes eight additional groups. Nicholas Wieber, president of the Bostonians and MCAS ’22, noted how the Bostonians have maintained its presence on campus over the years.

“Our repertoire is one of the most diverse I’d say at Boston College,” Wieber said. “We’ve gone all the way from Aretha Franklin to Chance the Rapper, so we have a

lot of different varieties of music. We also have a really, really strong alumni network.”

Loyalty to the group has clearly thrived among its members long after graduation, as the reunion events this weekend brought together 103 members out of a total of 192 alumni, according to Tom Leyden, BC ’94. The ages of current and former Bostonians in attendance ranged from 18 to 54 and alumni hailed from all across the country to celebrate 35 years of the Bostonians. Packing into one section, the group also attended Friday night’s Red Bandanna football game against Virginia Tech.

In the early afternoon on Saturday, alumni split into groups based on their graduation year to rehearse songs they had sung together during their time at BC.

Leyden, who helps coordinate alumni events, said he corresponded with alumni before this weekend and publicized the reunion.

Members organized themselves by generation in order to reacquaint themselves with their favorite tunes and prepare the evening’s lineup of 17 songs.

“That’s always the thing that’s always been key about this group,” Leyden said. “We know that … when it’s time to shine, we better be ready.”

When it was showtime, alumni and their families trickled into Devlin 008 and groups of people gathered outside to enjoy refreshments. There were plenty of pleasantly surprised greetings, long handshakes, and hugs in the lecture hall aisles as people found their seats for the show.

The lights dimmed and the first group of Bostonians, a cohort of members who attended BC in the early ’90s, gathered in the front of the room to kick off the night. After tuning their voices to the sound of the original Bostonian pitch pipe, the group sang its rendition of “Love The One You’re With” by Crosby, Stills & Nash.

Two of the founding members were in the first crowd. Elisa Vela Ferguson and Julie Temple Stan, both BC ’90, reflected on what it’s like to come to the reunions and see how the group has flourished since its inaugural year.

“We’re just overjoyed and proud of the work and love that has gone into 35 years of Bostonians,” Stan, who was also the first music director for the Bostonians, said.

The show continued as different eras of Bostonians huddled together—bouncing to their beats and singing through smiles. Alumni who graduated from the late ’90s to the early 2000s performed a moving rendition of “Parachute” by Guster, sending chills through the audience.

The classes of 2008 to 2013 sang “Boondocks” by Little Big Town, evoking shouts of encouragement from the crowd. Before turning the spotlight over to the current Bostonians, the classes of 2014 to 2017 sang some pop selections such as “Dancing On My Own” by Robyn. The most recent graduates, from 2019 and on, performed their arrangement of “Friends” by Francis and the Lights.

The Bostonians showed their true admiration for each other’s voices all night as they yelled their praise down to the crooning performers. When the troop of 15 current Bostonians gave its performance, the crowd cheered the loudest they had all night. Belting out the lyrics to “Finesse” by Bruno Mars, Etinnah Garcia, co-music director and MCAS ’23, received a standing ovation. Many of the alumni expressed how impressed they were with the progress the group has shown over the years.

“They are leagues ahead of, you know, probably where we were back in the 2000s,” Genevieve Reiner Mills, BC ’00, said. “And they just keep evolving and getting better and better.”

Demonstrating the continual growth of the program, the current group of Bostonians released its six-track EP, Closer to the Heart , on Friday.

Wieber said that the short album was a culmination of four years of planning and coordination, the track list includes the group’s moving arrangement of “Something In the Way” by Jorja Smith and a haunting cover of “I Found” by Am-

ber Run. Earlier in the week, the group gathered on Thursday night for a release party—counting down the minutes until the album was available on streaming platforms.

At the end of the show on Saturday, all the alumni filed down the stairs to gather again at the front of the hall. Staying loyal to their reunion tradition, the mass of Bostonians sang “True Colors” by Cyndi Lauper.

As they swayed and bounced along together, the sense of family that has united their community for the last 35 years was on display.

“It goes so much further than just in the rehearsal room like we want to see each other do our best in the classroom and our other extracurricular interests, just like in life in general,” McBride said. “So it’s really special to be able to do something that I love, but also be able to do it with people who are already amazing.”

The final notes of the song rang through the hall, but no one wanted to stop singing. As they started with “Love the One You’re With” once again, the group’s mantra rang true: “Once a Bostonian, always a Bostonian.”

Rookie Dance Showcase Displays Energetic Routines

BY PATERSON TRAN For The Heights

dancer taking photos and hyping each other up with their team chants.

After two years, the annual Rookie Dance Showcase, which debuts each dance group’s newest members, returned with a full audience and an energetic lineup of

well-known Boston College dance troupes.

Sexual Chocolate, BC’s all-male step team, hosted the event on Saturday night, weaving together introductions and mini skits for each group that performed, including their own.

Sexual Chocolate’s comedic acting bound the Rookie Showcase in an imaginary scenario where Dr. Doofenshmirtz, parodied from Disney’s Phineas and Ferb , is tasked with finding the secret formula to what makes the perfect rookie dancer.

The ingredients they ponder over include confidence, looks, and good moves.

But, none of the test subjects, played by Sexual Chocolate members, were able to demonstrate these ideal rookie qualities. In between the four different acts of storytelling, dynamic and fiery performances from the dancers incited loud cheers and applause from the audience.

Audience members sang along to the Korean girl group BLACKPINK as AEROdynamiK showcased its explosive choreography, Masti’s colorful red costumes livened up its Bollywood-fusion dance style, Fuego del Corazón and Vida de Intensa Pasión rocked the stage with varying styles of Latin dance, Dance Organization of BC performed a set to Dua Lipa’s “Hallucinate” while wearing bright pink matching outfits, and PATU’s (Presenting Africa To U) dance team left the stage after its high-energy performance

amid deafening cheers.

The rookies from the dance groups showed the BC community an array of talent and hard work. Other groups that performed include Boston College Dance Ensemble, Boston College On Tap, Phaymus, Females Incorporating Sisterhood Through Step, and UPrising.

Songs varied across groups, presenting different international genres of music from various artists such as Beyoncé, MC Kevinho, WizKid, Aminé, Romeo Santos, and more.

The Rookie Dance Showcase represented the diversity and passion of each dance group at BC through outrageous spectacles of spirited choreographies.

Given the few minutes each group had to perform, they all made the most of their time by dancing with intense and eruptive energy on the stage.

The several hundred seats set up in the Rat were quickly filled, but audience members continued to pile into the venue to show their support for the dance teams.

The showcase exemplified the talents of BC students who brought to the stage their passion, heritages, and love for dance.

Alumni from the Bostonians sang “My Love is Your Love” by Whitney Houston for their 35th anniversary Saturday.

LEO WANG / HEIGHTS STAFF

The hallway outside of The Rat was crowded with students and lines leading outside the building. Inside the transformed cafeteria awaited 12 dance groups with each

New members of AEROdynamiK performed a dance routine to Korean pop music that showcased urban dance moves.

ARTS

‘The French Dispatch’ Juggles Trove of Quirky Characters

BY SOFIA TORRES

For The Heights

ipated movies this year, the film was finally released on Oct. 22 after several delays which left fans increasingly anticipative.

Anderson takes the audience into the different narratives that make up the last issue of The French Dispatch based on The New Yorker magazine— which is published after the sudden death of the magazine’s editor, Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray). Although audiences don’t get to see much of the personal lives of the magazine’s staff, they are spectators of their efforts and devotion to the magazine and the community built around its publication.

The movie reintroduces Anderson enthusiasts to some of the director’s familiar actor selections, including Murray, Adrien Brody, Owen Wilson, Timothée Chalamet, Saoirse Ronan, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Edward Norton, and Tony Revolori. Each actor is molded into a complex

and quirky character. Although The French Dispatch continues to adhere to the director’s emblematic style through the use of pastel colors, literary plot structure, awkward zoom-ins, absurd humor, slow-mo fight scenes, and perfect symmetry, it also adds new elements to the director’s repertoire which were both unexpected and amusing to witness. The scenes fluctuate between acting scenes and exquisitely handdrawn animated storytelling. Other scenes briefly detach from his usual colorfully picturesque visuals for simple yet polished black and white scenes.

But at times, due to the thorough use and implementation of so many techniques, the movie feels somewhat overwhelming. By trying to pay attention to the many intricate details at once, analytical viewers are forced to pivot between trying to enjoy and trying to understand the movie. Juggling all these components, viewers may lose

track of names or the plot itself. Additionally, although the duration of the movie was less than two hours, there were some scenes toward the ending that felt slower in contrast to the fastpaced start of the movie.

Lastly, as there were many storylines to be told, there was no clear point of focus or protagonism to which viewers could attach. Instead, the movie leaves you with a slight sense of ambiguity and a desire to see more screen time of particularly interesting characters and their stories. But, perhaps, this was intentional, as viewers find themselves becoming voyagers craving more of the character’s profound personal details.

Overall, this is one of those movies viewers can watch repeatedly and still find new aspects everytime. The director has used his beloved signature style in every possible way, such that The French Dispatch is without doubt very Anderson.

Ed Sheeran’s ‘Equals’ Exhibits Generic Pop Sound

B Y C HARLEY C ONROY Heights Staff

Ed Sheeran has limped back out into the public eye with another generic pop album in Equals , released on Oct. 29. Expectations were low for Sheeran, but he still failed to meet them.

Lyrically there isn’t much holding the album together. A lot of songs talk about Sheeran becoming a father and husband, but he doesn’t really have much to say beyond briefly mentioning these experiences. “Love in Slow Motion” is the “Thinking Out Loud” or “The A Team” song of this album. It’s that soft love song that Sheeran hopes will get played at high school dances as that year’s slow dance anthem.

On “Collide,” Sheeran churns out descriptive lyrics—ordering pizza

on an airplane, going to an Irish bar in Rome—that give listeners a glimpse into Sheeran’s life. But these lyrics describe hyper-specific moments, not giving listeners much to relate to.

The first track, “Tides,” goes from lyrics about his daughter to a section where he talks about contemplating suicide. Although it can sometimes be cathartic for an artist and listener to have those feelings and thoughts put into song, dropping this subject matter randomly into the album and never returning to it again seems to trivialize those thoughts. If he gave this topic more focus than one verse, Sheeran might be able to do something powerful with these feelings. In its current form, the reference is in incredibly bad taste.

Notably, Sheeran seems to be moving away from acoustic songs

on Equals . This has resulted in a shift toward producing generic pop. “Bad Habits” is so painfully unoriginal it’s hard to tell if Sheeran wrote it or asked an AI to create a pop song.

It’s not like there is no potential for these tracks. In Spotify’s storyline feature, Sheeran talks about how the song “Sandman’’ is based on a lullaby he sang for his daughter that he plays on a ukulele. Instead of opting for a more stripped-down version of the song, “Sandman” is overcrowded with pop instrumentals.

A more powerful and emotional version of this song would actually just be a recording of Sheeran playing this song to his daughter. Instead of trying to turn a lullaby into a pop song, he could have ended the album with a very personal

moment dedicated to his daughter. Sadly, Sheeran falls short of creativity or vulnerability on Equals There is nothing special about

Jasen: Stand Out of the Crowd With Personal

BY LAUREN JASEN Heights Staff

We spend our days surrounded by people who often share similar experiences to our own. It is easy to feel lost in this sea of college-aged students also searching for their purpose in life. How can we differentiate ourselves? The answer is simple: fashion.

I’ve come to realize that the way in which we dress is our own little way of telling the world who we are—or at least who we desire to be.

Our style is a reflection of our uniqueness and individuality. As Miuccia Prada said, “What you wear is how you present yourself to the world.”

We definitely take on a more preppy aesthetic at Boston College. We have certainly helped to keep J.Crew in business over the years. The Vineyard Vines store in Chestnut Hill gets quite a few customers as well.

It is now autumn which means Patagonias and Golden Goose sneakers will be regularly seen around campuses. When winter rolls around

the L.L. Bean boots will begin to make their frequent appearances, as will the Canada Goose parkas.

The BC style, however, cannot be simplified to just boat shoes and khakis. Many students take on a more spunky approach to fashion, using unique clothes as a way of distinguishing themselves.

An example would be one of my classmates Michael—one of BC’s sartorial iconoclasts. Often seen walking around campus in his iconic white leather platform boots, his distinctive style is both bold and authentic.

Like many students on BC’s campus, Michael’s fashion style is a form of self-expression, a tool that allows him to fully present who he is to other students, and to counter people’s perceptions of himself.

His style, which fluctuates based on his feelings and emotions that day, also reflects his own aspirations—he tries to dress as someone he would look up to.

Fashion continues to change and so do we. Our evolving style reflects

pursuit—it is the desire to express ourselves. Some days we wish to fit in, other days we hope to stand out. The beauty of fashion is that it allows us to do both.

Sometimes having the perfect outfit gives us the little boost of confidence we need to conquer the day.

Fashion also allows us to do something rather special, which is to take on the role of time travelers. Many students at BC discover their own artistry in fashion by pulling trends from different periods of time.

the velour tracksuits of the 2000s. We’ve witnessed countless trends making a comeback at some point or another. Sometimes this is a good thing, other times it is not … dare I say low-rise jeans?

The influence fashion has had on society cannot be overstated. Fashion is always evolving. It is a reflection of the current time. An important aspect in learning about the arts or the humanities is learning about people’s fashion.

You certainly won’t mistake BC’s campus for the streets of Paris or Milan anytime soon, but the next time you are in a rush to get ready in the morning remember that the outfit you chose tells a little part of your story.

We live in a world where it can be easy to feel unnoticed or misunderstood. Fashion gives us the wonderful opportunity to express ourselves as we wish.

the growth we experience in life.

My guess is you won’t be leaving Linden Lane in the same outfit you entered. Our sense of style stems from more than a materialistic

There have been fashion staples that have defined every decade: bell bottoms and platform shoes in the ’70s, shoulder pads in the ’80s, the classic leather jacket of the ’90s, and

Life is full of endless possibilities, as is your closest. Be true to yourself and let your unique style blossom. As the great Yves Saint Laurent said, “Fashion fades, style is eternal.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASYLUM RECORDS

‘=’

ED SHEERAN DISTRIBUTED BY ASYLUM RECORDS RELEASE OCT. 29, 2021 OUR RATING

Equals . While Sheeran somehow falls more in line with current pop music with Equals , the album will soon be forgotten.

Set in the fictional French town Ennui-sur-Blasé, Wes Anderson’s The

French Dispatch commemorates journalism and storytelling by bringing to life the articles that make up the town’s renowned magazine, of which the film is named after. One of the most antic-

GRAPHIC BY OLIVIA CHARBONNEAU

The opinions and commentaries of the op-ed columnists appearing on this page represent the views of the authors of those particular pieces, and not necessarily the views of The Heights

The Pandemic is Helping Worker Power

bor market spurred by the pandemic is reversing the power dynamic, placing employers in a position where they need to compete for employees by offering better pay and benefits. This phenomenon, coupled with the fact that public approval of unions is the highest it has been since 1965, leads labor organizers to predict that “the stars are aligning” for a resurgence in labor organizing.

Across the United States, workers have been exercising their power and calling for strikes over wages and working conditions. So far in 2021, 176 strikes have been called, and October in particular has seen a flurry of labor activism, causing #Striketober to trend for weeks. More than 25,000 workers went on strike in October alone, with John Deere and Kellogg’s factory workers making headlines, and smaller actions among nurses, distillery workers, graduate students, and coal miners additionally popping up around the country. This figure does not account for the hundreds of thousands of workers that were given concessions to bring them back from the brink of a strike—for example, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, which represents 60,000 film and television production employees, narrowly averted a strike when it reached a contract that adequately addressed its demands. Additionally, many non-unionized workplaces, such as Amazon and Starbucks, have been seeing new efforts to unionize. This feels like a defining moment in labor relations, and is worthy of celebration and careful attention.

COVID-19 has created a massive labor shortage—there are 10.4 million open jobs, while only about 7.67 million people are unemployed. A neoliberal economy thrives on the precarity of workers: in times when there is a “reserve army” of replacement workers, employees have very little leverage to demand better without employers threatening to either replace them or outsource overseas. This allows employers to drive down wages, because there is always another replacement who is willing to work for less. The tight la-

Striking workers are coming to the bargaining table with a full slate of demands, including better wages, health care benefits, stability in the pension and 401(k) system, and more reasonable hours. The traumatic experience of the pandemic is leading workers to re-evaluate their priorities and relationships with work. In the time of COVID-19, workers who were told they were essential are realizing that they are not being treated as essential by their employers. Striking Kellogg’s workers claim that they were made to work up to 30 days in a row, often in 12- to 16-hour shifts. These long working hours, coupled with a pay cut and the slashing of benefits offered to new hires, set the stage for a large labor action. In the case of John Deere, workers got a $1 an hour raise during the deadly pandemic, and were told that new hires would not receive pensions. Meanwhile, John Deere is seeing record profits in 2021, raking in $4.7 billion in profits in the first three quarters. But, only the executives are the ones who see a difference on their paychecks, with the CEO receiving a 160 percent raise. Employees are observing that those at the top are seeing massive benefits, while they put their lives on the line throughout the pandemic without an increase in pay or benefits. This has always been the case, but in 2021, workers are finally equipped with the leverage to change this inequality.

But, the resurgence in labor organizing has a significant limitation—only about 6 percent of the private sector is unionized. Without a union, employees have to individually bargain for raises and changes in workplace policies, and they are not protected if they choose to go on strike. Non-unionized labor action is quieter and more

understated, but still massively impactful—rather than call for a strike, non-unionized workers are instead choosing to quit. Termed the “Great Resignation,” a record number of people are currently quitting their jobs because they don’t feel appreciated. Since there are so many open jobs, there is less of a consequence attached to jumping ship to search for a better deal. The mass exodus of workers from exploitative work environments can be conceptualized as a quiet general strike, and may incentivize employers to raise wages and stop short-changing employees.

Is this a new era in worker empowerment? The deregulation and deindustrialization of the American economy starting in the 1970s gutted labor organizing, but data collected by Cornell University’s Labor Action Tracker shows that this trend may be reversing. The discontent and consciousness of growing inequality shows parallels to the time between the World Wars, which was the heyday of labor action. The traumatic experience of living and working through two World Wars led to an explosion of union activity, when workers re-evaluated their priorities and shifted their attitudes about work and life. The current economic and social environments are similar in 2021. Workers during the pandemic were expected to put their lives on the line for their job, while their employers did not have to take the same risks, but still collected massive paychecks.

The federal government should take steps to preserve and encourage this resurgence in worker power, first by directing the Federal Reserve to utilize its economic toolbox to support the economy and keep jobless rates low, and second, by passing the Protecting the Right to Organize Act. The environment is right for employees to begin leveraging their power, but policy changes are necessary to preserve this economic landscape for long enough that transformative changes are able to take root.

Carter is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at sophia.carter@bc.edu.

Taking Time for Yourself

Boston College tends to attract type-A students, and this mentality seeps into the rest of the school’s culture. While this is one of the reasons BC is such a great school, it also means that there’s always something happening and there’s a pressure to be constantly in motion. As the calendar draws closer to the holidays, remember that it’s okay to give yourself little breaks, even when they aren’t in your planner. There will always be excuses to overwork yourself or over-socialize out of FOMO, but burnout will ruin your chances to do either if you don’t give yourself a break.

Disorganization of Organizations at BC

Post-exam High

Runner’s high is a real thing and the rush is almost unparalleled. The runner-up: walking out of an exam. Even if the test was full of content only half-covered in class, and it might hit Canvas with a gnarly uppercut, there’s nothing like putting the pencil down. Being able to let go and walk out of class knowing that you get to close all those tabs in your browser is like a victory lap.

Other schools need Greek life to keep campus social life alive and fun at their universities, but at Boston College, all that’s needed to keep spirits high is student organizations. Being part of one of the many amazing student organizations at BC is one of the best ways to make new friends on campus, and may even get you invited to a few parties. While I love this aspect of the Heights, I’ve found that a few key issues prevent our wonderful student organizations from being the best they can be.

The value of student organizations is a key tenet of BC social life. To me, the clubs on the Heights give this school an edge over peer universities. In fact, hearing about BC’s extracurriculars was a genuine tipping point that helped convince me to become an Eagle in the first place. At the start of freshman year, though, maneuvering the many clubs of BC is an unnecessarily stressful task, and it could be made significantly easier with a couple of fixes.

First, the annual student involvement fair has the potential to make or break an entire college experience. Getting recruited to the right club as a freshman can change your social and academic life here. The chaos at the fair, however, can prevent this life-changing experience from happening for many students.

When I went to the fair, I was conflicted. A part of me loves the loud calls for “anyone interested in swing dancing?” and the aggressive flyer distribu-

tion of the theatre program. Still, finding individual clubs in the crowded Plex (and not getting overwhelmed in the process) was very difficult. It took me 40 minutes of wandering the intensely loud and enthusiastic gymnasium to find the organizations I was interested in joining. Even then, I was missing one key organization. (Ironically, it was The Heights). While I already knew someone on The Heights, not everyone would have that stroke of luck—even worse, some people who felt too overwhelmed at the student involvement fair might not have signed up for anything.

The fair is never going to be for everyone, but it could improve if the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) broadly distributed maps that showed where each club’s stand was located. That way, the scramble around each table would be much less chaotic and intimidating for club-seeking freshmen. For those students uncomfortable with the fair as it stands, there are currently no clear solutions or alternatives, and this process is made all the more stressful knowing how hard it can be to join any clubs after your first year.

While the student involvement fair is not for everyone, a clear supplement to the system should exist online. The architecture for this virtual hub exists, both on BC’s website and on the MyBC organizations. The involvement fair was done entirely online last year. While this version of a fair lacks the physical connection that an in-person fair provides, it did show that virtual club recruitment is far from impossible. Unfortunately, both the main BC website and the MyBC page are flawed in their own ways and would require some repair before they can be more approachable and effective in giving BC newcomers a better chance to join clubs.

The public website for student organizations on campus contains little unique information about individual clubs, aside from a few features of ev-

er-present campus organizations that need no introduction (UGBC, CAB, etc). While there is a list on the site of all official clubs on campus, there is no method on the website to contact the leadership of these clubs, and dead links are scattered across the site.

While the main BC website doesn’t even try to offer much information, the MyBC page offers false hope. As an experiment, I looked up five organizations I knew of and tested if they filled three possible requirements: if they had their own MyBC page, if they had any events listed on said page, and if they provided a current BC student as an assigned leader for the organization. Of these five— Model UN, Debate Union, Spikeball, RGBC, and BC Blockchain—only one fulfilled all three standards. One of them didn’t even have a page, and another listed a student leader that graduated two years ago. What’s worse is that none of these organizations had a direct email address, GroupMe link, or Google Form posted on the page. While many BC organizations have social media pages to compensate for this, this requires students to stay active on a variety of apps that aren’t connected to the school in any way.

Regardless, it is ultimately up to OSI to provide consistent ways to connect freshmen and transfer students with the many great clubs at BC. Without a proper club interface on the main BC website or on MyBC, students who were uncomfortable or simply unlucky with their experience at the student involvement fair could miss out on years of memories in the many great clubs on campus.

With just a few tweaks, the club system at BC could turn from one of BC’s better social perks to its best one—no Greek life necessary.

Tommy Roche is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. He can be reached at thomas.roche@bc.edu.

The Second Wave

It’s comeback season, baby! What was supposed to be a one-time epidemic of bronchitis, strep, and the sniffles combined is making second advances. The BC plague might have withdrawn into its cave after two or three weeks of ravaging campus, but dormant is not dead. Slowly, the sound of coughs is starting to rise again throughout lecture halls from a choir of exhausted students.

Sunlight

There is none! The sun rises around 6:30 a.m. and sets around 4:30 p.m. and leaves a small window of time to attempt to absorb vitamin D like a sponge. Not only does the limited sunlight politely hold the door open for seasonal depression, but it’s also a punch in the gut for anyone who likes to go on morning runs or spend time outdoors before classes. And, if you like to sleep in instead, waking up feels like a hoax without the sun creeping through the windows to signal the start of the day.

SOPHIE CARTER

TOMMY ROCHE

Sophie

GRAPHIC BY ANNIE CORRIGAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BIG SHOES TO P PHIL

BY EMMA HEALY Sports Editor

Hours before Boston College football kicked off against Virginia Tech, rumors began to swirl about the health of quarterback Phil Jurkovec. The signal caller had been absent from BC’s lineup since a wrist injury in Week 2 against UMass required surgery.

Rumors, however, are just that, and BC head coach Jeff Hafley had made no official call about who got the nod. But when the Eagles stormed out of the tunnel, Jurkovec, donning full pads for the first time in six games, led the way out.

“It’s probably the most confident, fearless, and the best leadership I’ve seen from him since we’ve been here,” Hafley said of Jurkovec in his postgame press conference. “Not his best performance, but he threw some good balls. He had a different way about him today, and we all felt it.”

A streak of four straight ACC losses for the Eagles (5–4, 1–4 Atlantic Coast) and a host of quarterback uncertainty went by the wayside, as BC took down Virginia Tech (4-5, 2-3) by a final score of 17–3 in BC’s annual Red Bandanna Game. BC finished with 112 yards through the air and 234 yards on the ground thanks in large part to Jurkovec and Pat Garwo III.

Hafley said that Jurkovec was medically cleared last Friday, and after taking just a handful of snaps to open the week, he approached Hafley and offensive coordinator Frank Cignetti Jr. with a simple message: “I’m playing.”

“And when Phil looks you in the eye and says that, you listen to him,” Hafley said.

After nearly eight weeks of sitting on the sideline, Jurkovec resumed his spot between the lines as if he hadn’t skipped a beat. Garwo took the first handoff for 13 yards, and one play later, Jurkovec tucked it for another 11-yard gain. BC chugged its way to the Hokies’ 35-yard line, and Jurkovec rolled out to the right and tossed it right into the hands of Virginia Tech’s Dorian Strong.

As Strong looked to return it, Jurkovec came downhill alongside Jaelen Gill, who punched the ball out for Jurkovec to jump on. Just as quickly as he gave the ball away, Jurkovec had suddenly righted his mistake, and the Eagles had a prime opportunity on the Hokies’ 13-yard line.

“Jaelen [Gill] never gave up on the play,” Jurkovec said. “That’s the most proud I am of any play that Jaelen has ever had.”

After a few ground-and-pound runs by Garwo, Jurkovec lined up on the eightyard line and tucked the ball, diving into the endzone for BC’s first score of the day.

Connor Lytton’s extra point was good, and the Eagles led 7–0 late in the first quarter.

Jurkovec’s thunderous return was a stark contrast to Braxton Burmeister, who has been the Hokie’s go-to signal caller all year, as Burmeister went down with an injury in Virginia Tech’s next series after attempting just one pass. Following Burmeister’s injury, the Hokies were no

BY ASA ACKERLY Assoc. Sports Editor

With quarterback Phil Jurkovec making a surprise start, the atmosphere of the Red Bandanna Game, and a porous Virginia Tech defense, Boston College football’s clash with the Hokies had all the makings for a high-flying, redemption performance for the Eagles. But when the Eagles took the field, it was anything but high flying. BC notched a solid, much-needed win, but instead of the pass-happy offense that Jurkovec had frequented in his first game this season, BC ground the Hokies into the earth with 3 yards and a cloud of dust. Here are three takeaways from the 17–3 victory, BC’s first this season in ACC play:

Duct Tape

The Eagles have struggled to protect the quarterback over the last couple weeks with Tyler Vrabel battling injuries and Jack Conley struggling in his stead. The Eagles had given up 15 sacks in ACC play prior to facing Virginia Tech. BC tried a new offensive line combination by moving Zion Johnson to left tackle and slotting in freshman Ozzy Trapilo at left guard. The change paid dividends, as BC did not give up a sack and Jurkovec was largely kept clean in the backfield. With the pass blocking stabilized and the run game churning along, BC may have finally found a feasible option to hold the line together through Vrabel’s recovery time and allow the group to reach its considerable potential.

The defense has also continued to perform well despite mounting injuries. Brandon Sebastian and Isaiah Graham-Mobley—two of BC’s best players on that side of the ball—were both out

after missing the Syracuse game as well. With Jason Maitre and Jahmin Muse out for the season, the Eagles are missing much of their normal talent on the back end, particularly in the secondary, but BC entirely stifled the Hokies’ passing attack.

In his first substantial action as a college quarterback, taking over for an injured Braxton Burmeister, Knox Kadum threw just 73 yards on 7-of-16 passing. A Flair for the Dramatic Jurkovec was far from his best on Friday. His timing was uneven, his arm strength looked off, and the coaching staff justly compensated with a run-dominated game plan. Still, he did not need many dropback opportunities to show BC fans flashes of the big play potential that has been a constant facet of his Heights tenure.

After Dennis Grosel alternated between underthrowing and overthrowing a wide-open Zay Flowers for six weeks in Jurkovec’s absence, Jurkovec uncorked a perfect deep ball to Flowers on BC’s opening drive of the second half.

The impressive throw through contact was a welcome sign for a BC’s offense that has lacked any long play ability, as well as for Jurkovec himself given his poor touch on a pair of deep ball attempts earlier in the game. One went for a pick, which Jaelen Gill knocked loose for a fumble, and Jurkovec dove on it.

Even for a quarterback whose knack for the spectacular has become commonplace, the effort to follow his interception and dive on the fumble was a new level for

Impact Performers

LOU BARBER

During the first minute of Boston College men’s soccer’s match against Clemson on Sept. 17, junior midfielder Amos Shapiro-Thompson tore his ACL. Shapiro-Thompson was crucial to BC’s gameplan throughout his first two seasons as an Eagle, earning All-ACC Freshman Team Honorable Mention and scoring the team’s third-most goals in his first year and fourth-most goals as a sophomore. Without Shapiro-Thompson, the Eagles had plenty of ground to make up. BC needed players to help fill the void of Shapiro-Thompson’s guidance and stellar play while he was sidelined.

Shapiro-Thompson plays with quick feet and precision, often weaving his way through the defense to set up teammates or to put the ball in the back of the net. The junior midfielder was also a team leader and key player with the 2016 Milton Academy team that won the ISL and NEPSAC Tournament by posting a 23–0 record.

Shapiro-Thompson simultaneously played for the academy team for the New England Revolution. He moved to Croatia to play for Dinamo Zagreb in 2017 and played for Legia Warsaw in Poland in 2018, professional experience that surely contributed to Shapiro-Thompson’s effectiveness as an Eagle and has been missing from the field in his absence.

Off the eye test alone, the midfielder looked faster than almost anyone on the field and could appear years beyond the competition. His ability to put the ball in the back of the net from distance was a constant threat for opponents and because of his capability to do so, he freed up opportunities for his fellow Eagles.

Shapiro-Thompson’s torn ACL was a detriment to the team’s offensive production, but it opened the door for other players to contribute. Junior midfielder Michael Suski and junior forward Stefan Sigurdarson, the team’s top goal scorers, who each finished the season with six goals, had to carry a greater burden of the team’s offensive capacity

After missing six games with a fractured wrist, quarterback Phil Jurkovec returned for the Red Bandanna Game to earn BC its first ACC win of the season.

NICOLE WEI / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Virginia

BC Falls To Unranked Merrimack To Split Series

BY NICK PULICE Heights Staff

The start to the season for Boston College men’s hockey has been one full of highs and lows. The Eagles have defeated some of the nation’s top teams while losing some of their most winnable games, all without sweeping a weekend series this season. These trends continued against Merrimack on Saturday.

Despite fighting back from a two-goal deficit in the second period, the Eagles (5–4–1, 3–2–0 Hockey East) fell to Merrimack (4–6–0, 2–5–0) by a final score of 4–3.

“It was a pretty good battle in the third period, but we just had to do it over 60 minutes,” BC head coach Jerry York said in his postgame press conference.

Unlike its victory over Merrimack on Friday, BC’s offense struggled to get going early on in its second game of the weekend. Goaltender Eric Dop faced shot after shot but made key saves to keep the game scoreless for the first half of the period.

A Drew Helleson penalty with nine minutes to go in the opening period helped the Warriors break the ice on the power play. Merrimack executed a tic-tac-toe passing play to perfection as Max Newton completed a pass from behind the goal to Ben Brar right in the slot. Brar fired a one-timer on goal and past Dop to put Merrimack ahead 1–0.

Just a few minutes later, the Eagles responded. Merrimack goaltender Hugo Ollas saved Mitch Andres’ point shot, but the rebound fell right to Marc McLaughlin. The captain stuffed the puck past Ollas to level the score at 1–1.

The Eagles seemed to have claimed the momentum after McLaughlin’s goal.

Marshall Warren nearly beat Ollas once more, but the puck rang off the pipe to keep the game tied.

Merrimack capitalized on a poor defensive shift from the Eagles to regain the lead. After the Eagles struggled to clear the puck, Christian Felton retrieved it and completed a pass to Hugo Esselin who was alone in front of Dop. Dop had no chance of saving Esselin’s shot, and the score was

2–1 with four minutes to go in the period.

The score remained 2–1 as the horn went off to end the period. Merrimack dominated in the shot department, outshooting BC 15–5 in the first 20 minutes.

Despite solid pressure from the BC offense, Merrimack scored the opening goal of the second period. After a tie-up behind Dop’s goal, the puck squeaked out toward Filip Karlsson-Tägtström who quickly put a shot on goal to double the Warriors’ lead to 3–1.

BC got one back on its first power play of the evening. The Eagles kept possession of the puck, generating a flurry of chances. Ollas saved Brandon Kruse’s shot, but the rebound fell to McLaughlin yet again. As he did in the first period, the captain slotted it home to make it a 3–2 game. His second goal of the game was also his seventh of the season, giving McLaughlin sole possession of the team lead in goals.

“Marc stood out in tonight’s game,” York said. “He led the battle back for us.”

Just two minutes later, BC tied it up. Trevor Kuntar fired a wrister from the left circle past Ollas and into the top right

BC fought back from a two-goal

corner of the net to level the score at three apiece.

The third period was full of chances for both sides, but neither cashed in until the final four minutes. The Warriors connected on their passing again, as Karlsson-Tägtström fed Filip Forsmark in the slot. Forsmark’s shot beat Dop and found the back of the net, putting the Warriors ahead yet again.

Despite pulling Dop for an extra attacker for the final minute and a half, the Eagles trailed until the final whistle. Though they outshot Merrimack 25–11 over the final two periods, the Eagles couldn’t connect to level the score.

“When you’re down two, you got to climb that mountain,” York said. “We got there, and we just couldn’t get the next one.”

Slow Start Hinders Eagles From Earning First Sweep

BY AIDAN ABDO Heights Staff

After a dominant performance in its Friday night win over Merrimack (4–6–0, 2–5–0 Hockey East), Boston College men’s hockey (5–4–1, 3–2–0 Hockey East) had a chance at its first weekend sweep of the year. The Warriors, however, were aggressive out of the gate, jumping on the Eagles early and riding that momentum to a 4–3 win.

Here are five takeaways from Saturday’s loss:

Dragging Its Feet

One of BC’s main issues this season has been slow starts. This was no different on Saturday, as Merrimack came out firing on goaltender Eric Dop and the Eagles. The Warriors drew two quick penalties, capitalizing on the second just over 11 minutes into the game. Merrimack forward Max Newton got the puck behind the net and found an open Ben Brar who ripped it past Dop’s right shoulder and into the net for a 1–0 lead. Merrimack

continued to apply the pressure, consistently threatening to score.

Dop, however, kept the Eagles in the game with some great saves including one deflection on a Merrimack 2-on-0 break. With less than four minutes left in the first, Hugo Esselin found the net for his first goal of the season.

Although the Eagles were outshot 15–5, a combination of great goaltending by Dop and a goal from forward Marc McLaughlin kept the game at 2–1 through the first period. Their slow start, however, required a comeback effort for the Eagles to earn their first weekend sweep of the season.

Out-of-Control Offense

The Eagles came out aggressive in the second period, but they still could not put anything together. This was partially due to their sloppy puck play and positioning, which led to a lack of overall possession. Early on in the second period, the Eagles had multiple fastbreak opportunities but either could not connect on passes or had the puck taken away. In one

instance, they had a 2-on-1 break but a long pass resulted in an icing on the Eagles. Each time they got the puck past the blue line, they quickly either turned it over or forced a weak shot from the point. The Eagles also could not manage good positioning on the Warriors’ defenders in what was a very physical game.

BC’s woes culminated four minutes into the second period when the Eagles had the puck in their own end. Merrimack poked it free off a pass and stole possession behind the net. Although BC deflected the pass, it still found forward Filip Karlsson-Tägtström in front of the net. He made a great move on Dop and backhanded it in for a 3–1 Warriors’ lead.

Double-Edged Sword

Through the first half of the game, the Warriors had been dominating and seemed poised to add to their lead. Midway through the second period, however, the score was only 3–2 in favor of the Warriors. This was a product of lockdown goaltending by Dop and a goal by

senior captain McLaughlin.

Early in the first period, Dop kept the Eagles alive despite an aggressive Merrimack offense. He killed many scoring opportunities for the Warriors just short of the net, including a great rebound opportunity that he blocked with the right pad. Later on in the period, Merrimack had another wide open shot off a BC turnover. The Warriors fired the puck toward the corner of the goal, but Dop attacked it confidently, snagging it with his glove. Merrimack finished the first period with 15 shots on goal, but they only connected on two.

Thirteen minutes into the first period, another Eagle stepped up to help Dop. It was none other than McLaughlin, affectionately dubbed “Captain Clutch” by BC fans. He proved his worthiness of the nickname Saturday evening, connecting on two goals. His first came in the first period, as he rebounded a shot by Mitch Andres to tie the game at 1–1.

In the second period, when the Eagles were down by two, McLaughlin once again found himself with great positioning in front of the net when forward Brandon Kruse fired a shot from the left wing. McLaughlin got the rebound, working the puck to the open side of the net past Merrimack goaltender Hugo Ollas to cut BC’s deficit to 3–2. Dop continued to hold his own in the crease for the rest of the second period and into the third, keeping the Warriors’ goal tally at three.

Persistence Pays

Led by McLaughlin and Dop, the Eagles started to clean up their play midway through the second period. They matched Merrimack’s physicality and improved possessions in their zone.

In the middle of the second period, Kruse found himself on a fast break going one-on-one with a Merrimack defender. He tried to bully his way past the defender, sending them both tumbling down to the ice.

Although he did not score, Kruse drew an interference penalty and gave the Eagles their first power play of the game. The Eagles took advantage of their man advantage, getting the puck into their zone quickly for multiple clear looks at the net. After a Kruse miss, McLaughlin collected the rebound and scored his second goal of the game.

The Eagles did not stop there, however, as they continued to get good looks at the net. T

oward the end of the second period, defenseman Colby Ambrosio got a fastbreak look and ripped it by Ollas, hitting the right pipe. Once again the Eagles jumped on the miss. Forward Trevor Kuntar kept the puck in the zone, ripping it in from the left wing to tie the game at three.

Although the Eagles faced an early deficit, they kept fighting and forced their way back into the game. Because of their persistence, the Eagles tied the game and had the momentum going into the third period.

No Room for Brooms

The third period was a back-andforth battle with neither team able to break the 3–3 tie. With all the momentum on their side, the Eagles came out firing with multiple great looks at the net.

A fight during a BC power play led to multiple penalties on both sides, but the Eagles could not capitalize on their man advantage. Later on in the third, Merrimack scored the final goal of the game for a 4–3 win.

BC’s talented team has been plagued by inconsistency through this season. This inconsistency has manifested itself in the fact that BC has not swept a weekend series all year, something that they did not have trouble with last season. The series with Merrimack was their closest chance at a sweep thus far, however, which suggests that the Eagles are gradually making progress.

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS STAFF

deficit but fell to Merrimack on Saturday.

Merrimack

STEVE MOONEY / HEIGHTS STAFF

Despite a strong individual performance from Marc McLaughlin, the Eagles struggled to generate any offense.

SPORTS

By Sourabh Gokarn For The Heights

For Boston College women’s basketball, this season will be all about turning the page on last year. In a year dominated by COVID-19 in which little went according to plan, BC’s season was no exception.

Though they received some stellar individual seasons from those like Taylor Soule, Makayla Dickens, and Marnelle Garraud, the Eagles failed to live up to the lofty expectations that had preceded the season and finished 7–12 overall. The arrival of the new season will bring the return of fans in the stands and the emergence of some talented young Eagles. Along with the return of head coach Joanna Bernabei-McNamee’s entire starting five, the Eagles hope that the upcoming season will revitalize the team.

Doing so, however, will not be easy. Yet again, the ACC is poised to be a formidable conference. Loaded with powerhouse programs such as Louisville and NC State, the conference boasts five teams ranked in the Preseason AP Top 25 Poll. No conference has more. The Eagles currently sit near the bottom of the conference after finishing 13th last year and are ranked 11th in this year’s ACC Preseason Poll.

The road ahead for the Eagles appears daunting, but the presence of

strong senior leadership that they lacked last year will certainly make matters easier. While the Eagles had no seniors on the team last year, all five consistent starters were juniors, meaning that the Eagles will trot out a full lineup of seniors this season.

“I think one of our strengths is our senior leadership,” Bernabei-McNamee said at BC’s 2021 Media Day. “I think we have some players that have been with me now for years and they understand what we’re trying to accomplish on the offensive and defensive end.”

Garraud is one of many seniors to keep an eye on. Her defensive tenacity is something she takes pride in and it shows, having been named to the ACC’s All-Defensive Team last year. Cam Swartz struggled with shooting on the whole last season, but she is an unmatched scorer when she’s on and was outstanding in the ACC Tournament. Dickens was one

of the best outside scorers in the country, hitting 45 percent of her 3-point attempts.

Despite the strong play of the rest of the senior cast, Soule is the key figure on this squad. After being named to the All-ACC First Team last year and with her name dotted through preseason awards lists, Soule has her sights set on even higher goals this year. Soule isn’t just satisfied with the lengthy list of personal accolades—she’s also looking to guide her team toward success in the ACC Tournament and a March Madness berth. Her offseason work developing her 3-point shooting will help boost her already impressive average of 15.7 points per game from a season ago.

“I think she could be the best

small forward in the country this year with her work ethic and I hope that as the year goes on everybody’s gonna see that she’s so much more than just a kid who runs fast up and down the court,” Bernabei-McNamee said.

Despite the loss of sophomore forward Sydney McQuietor to Boise State via the transfer portal, a deep group of underclassmen aim to supplement the roster’s veteran presence. Look to underclassmen Ally VanTimmeren, Allie Palmieri, and Kaylah Ivey, in particular, to provide a spark off the bench. VanTimmeren and Palmieri both graduated high school early and enrolled at BC mid-season last year. That extra experience will be a bonus for the pair as they move into their true freshman season. The Eagles also added NC State transfer Dontavia Waggoner. Waggoner was a top recruit out of high school, and Bernabei-McNamee

raved about the intensity she brings to the defensive end.

“I would love bringing energy both on and off the court,” Palmieri said during Media Day. “If they need me to be a hype man, be that teammate that has their back, come in and have great defense, get a steal—honestly, whatever the team needs. And I’ll just always be loud.”

Though the 2021–22 schedule will be full of challenges, there will definitely be no shortage of exciting games. The Eagles open the season with a series of non-conference matchups against Northeast teams, starting with Tuesday’s clash against Harvard in Conte Forum.

ACC play kicks off on Dec. 19 when North Carolina comes to Chestnut Hill, a good spot for BC to start conference play with a win as the Tar Heels are ranked just a few spots higher than BC in the preseason poll. The slate will get much harder after that as the Eagles head to Louisville to play a highly ranked Cardinals squad that trounced BC twice last year. BC will follow it up with a game against Notre Dame.

Other key matchups include a Feb. 10 game at home against NC State, the top-ranked team in the preseason poll. BC will conclude the season against Syracuse on Feb. 27 as the Eagles seek revenge against the program that knocked the Eagles out of the ACC Tournament a year ago.

BC 2021–22 Basketball Season Preview

BC 2021–22 Basketball

By Jack Bergamini For The Heights

There will be plenty of new faces donning maroon and gold when Boston College men’s basketball kicks off its season this Tuesday against Dartmouth. After finishing with a record of 4–16 overall and 2–11 in ACC play last year, the Eagles, now led by new head coach Earl Grant after Jim Christian’s firing midway through last season, will look to set a foundation for the program with a largely unproven roster.

The Returners

With so many roster changes heading into this season, only a handful of players from last season remain on BC’s 2021–22 roster. The Eagles have no players on their roster who have been on the team for more than a year, creating boundless discontinuity. Half brothers Makai Ashton-Langford and DeMarr Langford will certainly be leaders of the backcourt, bringing their experience from last season into a new team with hefty turnover.

Ashton-Langford now has one season as an Eagle under his belt after transferring from Providence three years prior, and he is in store for his biggest year yet. With only one year of eligibility remaining, Ashton-Langford will likely be Grant’s go-to ball handler. While his outside shooting needs improvement, Ashton-Langford offers solid playmaking and defensive ability that will be key for the Eagles’ offense. The only remaining starter from last season, Ashton-Langford will bring experience and stability to the Eagles’ lineup.

“They’ve wanted me to play a little bit off the ball because we have a lot of guards, so there’s gonna be times when we

might have to play small so I got to know a couple of the off-the-ball positions, be able to score, facilitate, move around off the ball and stuff,” Ashton-Langford said regarding his role this season. “So I feel like that’s the way my work has been changed from this year to last year.”

Younger half-brother DeMarr Langford will look to build off his promising freshman year. While also not much of a threat from deep, Langford displays special athletic talents with the ability to defend and grab rebounds—he averaged 4.2 rebounds per game last season—as a 6-foot-5 guard.

“He’s improved a lot,” Ashton-Langford said of Langford. “His mid-range has gotten a lot more consistent. It was pretty good last year too, but he’s a lot more confident and so this year, so I’m excited for that.”

James Karnik and Frederick Scott are the only returning forwards on the Eagles’ roster. While neither had standout seasons last year, both will look to have much larger roles under Grant. Scott missed most of last season with an injury but showed promise as a scorer when healthy. Karnik, standing at 6-foot-9 with a strong build, can also play the center position and will potentially start for

the Eagles there. A good finisher around the basket, Karnik will look to provide stability for the Eagles down low.

Justin Vander Baan, a 7-foot sophomore, did not see much action last season. The former three-star recruit will look to get more involved under Grant. Forward Andrew Kenny is also back after appearing in nine games last season. Kenny will look to display his above-average shooting abilities and build off last season after walking on freshman year.

The Departures

Naturally, when there is a head coaching change within a program, a lot of departures will follow. The Eagles were no different when Christian was fired and Grant took over, as many players sought out new schools in the transfer portal.

Steffon Mitchell and CJ Felder, both starters for the Eagles last year, are gone this year, as Mitchell entered the NBA Draft after withdrawing from the transfer portal, and Felder is off to the SEC powerhouse Florida.

Jay Heath, perhaps the biggest loss

Season Preview

for the Eagles, transferred to Arizona State, after playing over 30 minutes per game in his first two years at BC. Fellow starter Wynston Tabbs is also no longer in Chestnut Hill, instead taking his talents to East Carolina.

Other losses for the Eagles include Kamari Williams to Miami (Ohio), Rich Kelly to UMass, and Luká Kraljević, who graduated.

The Acquisitions

While the Eagles may have lost some players, bringing in a new coach also means new players will subsequently follow in the transfer portal. Brevin Galloway is perhaps the most significant acquisition of them all, a graduate transfer from the College of Charleston, who played there under Grant. Galloway brings much-needed shooting to the Eagles, as he shot 36 percent from behind the arc and averaged 15.0 points last season. With his connection to Grant, Galloway will seemingly have a big role this season, acting as a connection between his teammates and Grant. In fact, it was Galloway who helped integrate Grant into his new team here at BC.

“When I first got here, I tried to make sure and let everybody know what kind of person he was, what

kind of individual he was,” Galloway said of Grant. “And to just let everybody know that he’s a man of the people and that he cares for us.”

Juniors T.J Bickerstaff and Quinten Post round out BC’s three-man transfer class. Bickerstaff, a transfer from Drexel who stands at 6-foot-9, brings scoring ability from inside the arc, as he averaged just over 10 points per game last season while shooting 51 percent from the field. Post, a seven-foot center from Mississippi State, offers much-needed size to the Eagles’ roster and will look to help interior defense.

BC boasts a solid freshman class despite a low national ranking. The biggest name of the bunch is 6-foot-8 forward Gianni Thompson. Thompson, a four-star recruit, was ranked the 33rd-best forward nationally by ESPN in his recruiting class. A dynamic athlete who averaged 19.0 points and 9.0 rebounds his junior year, Thompson will look to develop into a big weapon for the Eagles.

Thompson is joined by fellow forward Devin McGlockton, who stands at 6-foot-7 and was an all-state selection out of Atlanta, Ga. McGlockton, who was also being recruited as a tight end for football out of high school, averaged 18.0 points and 10.0 rebounds per game at South Forsyth High School.

Kanye Jones and Jaeden Zackery are the guards of the group. Both players may struggle to see time freshman year but will look to gain Grant’s confidence on the depth chart.