The Heights October 24, 2016 by The Heights

PUMPKIN SPICE LAUGHTER ICE IS NICE

FITBIT FORGERY FEATURES

ARTS & REVIEW

SPORTS

Suspicions arise around faculty Fitbit competition, A7

The CCE garnered huge laughs at its annual fall show, B8

BC outscored its opponents 14-3 over the weekend, B1

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The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College Monday, October 24, 2016

Vol. XCVII, No. 40

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LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS STAFF

SQUEEZED 9: ]ffkYXcc ]X`c\[ kf ÈîXY k_\ ]il`kÉ X^Xèjk JpiXZlj\ è `kj ()k_ Zfej\Zlk`m\ Zfe]\i\eZ\ cfjj# 9(

K_i`m\ F]]\ij D\ekfij_`g# :fddle`kp E\n gifîXd ]fi jfg_fdfi\ nfd\e kXb\j 8jZ\e[Ëj gcXZ\ 9P K8PCFI 98K<J =fi K_\ ?\`^_kj With Thrive, the newest program from the Boston College Women’s Center, sophomore girls have a safe space on campus to talk freely and be part of a specific community. Thrive consists of eight mentoring groups, with two senior mentors and eight sophomore girls in each group. Before the creation of Thrive, the Women’s Center ran a one-on-one mentorship program, Duo. The center then decided that one-on-one mentoring was not very productive, as counselors could not ensure that each girl was equally benefitting from the program. Thrive was also created after Ascend, a program led by the Center for Student Formation, changed from a mentorship program for sophomores and became a program for freshmen. Thrive relies on the group mentoring structure of Ascend, which had proven to be successful. The Women’s Center also saw a need to continue to have a program for sophomore women because it believes sophomore year is still a learning year.

“You feel like you should have everything figured out, but you obviously don’t in a lot of ways,” said Victoria Garcia, a graduate assistant in the Women’s Center. “That’s where a lot of people start feeling lost, whether with their roommates or picking their majors.” Applications are rolling, in part because the Women’s Center wants to ensure it has a broad pool of women applying, especially with this being the program’s first year. Thrive has been advertised across campus via bulletin boards and social media in order to reach a wider audience of girls. The center has worked to get the word out about the new program in conjunction with other offices on campus. “I’m really pleased with the number of applicants we have,” Garcia said. “We’re still looking for more because we want to make sure we’re reaching everyone, and we want to find the sophomores who haven’t gotten involved or found their place in the community here.” The Women’s Center is focused on providing these girls with a space where they can branch out, make new connections, and have real conversations. It is important the girls have a place they can talk about what they are passionate about, what it means to have a healthy relationship, or their identities, Garcia said. “We’re really looking to have meaningful, authentic conversations that maybe you’re not necessarily having with your roommate,

or when you’re going out on the weekends,” Garcia said. The program starts in January with a retreat, during which the girls will have the chance to start bonding and creating a sense of community within their groups. The mentors recently went on their own retreat, during which they were able to get to know each other better. “They had the chance to model the vulnerability and authenticity we want sophomores to be able to do in their groups as well,” Garcia said. The Women’s Center hopes that this will also be a productive way for the sophomores to meet more upperclassmen and get to know more of the BC community. Ascend formed strong communities and consistently had a great turnout, Garcia said, so she hopes that success will be replicated in Thrive. The Women’s Center also hopes the freshmen girls in Ascend will be interested in Thrive, or will want to become mentors for the Thrive program in the future. Not only does Thrive want to create a space on campus for sophomore girls, but it wants to encourage the students to give back to their community as mentors in the coming years. “We hope to perpetuate the legacy of giving back to the BC community and always wanting to have these conversations about self and identity,” Garcia said.

Over 2,000 plates are missing from Corcoran Commons, according to Boston College Dining Services. BC Dining student interns met with dining staff last week to discuss the issue and brainstorm some potential solutions. The trend of stolen plates comes after BC Dining implemented a sustainability initiative that got rid of disposable to-go containers. Since the beginning of the semester, all food has been placed on reusable plates. Students who want to take food back to their rooms must ask a cashier to provide them with a disposable container and then transfer the food to the container themselves. Students may not have been fully aware of this change and how to handle it, Director of BC Dining Services Elizabeth Emery, said. “Now that we have gone through all of these reusable dishes, we have had to revert to a lot more paper plates, which defeated the whole purpose,” Emery said. In response to the missing plates, interns will be manning informational tables during dinner hours to educate students on the initiative and explain its importance. Emery also wants to partner with student groups like EcoPledge to help educate the student body on the initiative. BC Dining hopes that these initiatives will encourage students to stop stealing and return the missing plates. Emery recognizes that Corcoran Commons is busy at peak dinner hours, and students are sometimes unsure if they are going to get a table. As a result, students often request disposable containers in case they have to take their food outside of the dining hall. “We made the change with the best interest at heart,” Emery said. “The purpose was to reduce the number of disposable containers and make a more positive impact on the environment. Change is hard. It seems to me we could’ve done a better job communicating the ‘why.’” BC Dining is also working to improve waste disposal in McElroy Commons. In Corcoran Commons, students place their

waste on a conveyor belt and dining staff sort the used materials into trash, recyclables, and compost. At McElroy, students are expected to sort their own waste. Emery understands that it is difficult for students to sort their waste correctly if they are in a rush to get to class or simply do not know which waste item goes in which bin. The dining interns met with the dining management team last week to organize a trial run of composting in McElroy at the end of the semester. This effort will be a collaboration among BC Dining, the Office of Sustainability, and the Environmental Caucus, a division of the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC). The dining interns will once again set up tables to inform students. The focus of this initiative is student engagement and education, Emery said. Emery is also open to a long-term proposal and actively seeks feedback on how BC Dining can improve. “Student feedback is key to our success,” Emery said. With 21,000 meals served every day, BC Dining finds it crucial to respond to student needs. In the spring, Emery emailed the leaders of various students groups who had asked to meet with her and express their concerns. Some of these groups included UGBC, EcoPledge, resident assistants, students with allergies, and student-athletes. This semester, Emery created a student dining advisory board in order to improve communication between students and dining services. The board meets twice a semester and is made up of two students from each student group that wishes to participate. Twenty students representing different groups on campus attended the first meeting. Emery was impressed and excited by the turnout and decided to break students into smaller groups. Each group was assigned a senior leader from BC Dining who listened to suggestions and took notes. Some of the suggestions Emery heard were immediately addressed. For example, some students were upset that they did not have the option to add an animal protein to the new harmony bowls in Eagle’s Nest. Within the next week, students were able to top their harmony bowls with chicken.

See Plates, A3

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Bl\Z_cp I\Õ \Zkj fe :Xi\\i# C`]\ è <[dfe[Ëj 9\]fi\ A\ij\p I\kì\d\ek K_\ cè\YXZb\iËj a\ij\p nXj i\kì\[ Xk _Xc]k`d\ fe JXkli[Xp 9P KFD ;<MFKF 8( <[`kfi On Saturday, Boston College football legend Luke Kuechly had his jersey retired during a halftime ceremony in the BCSyracuse game. On Friday afternoon, Kuechly took a bit of a pre-ceremony victory

lap in a press conference with members of the media. Kuechly and fellow BC legend Doug Flutie spoke about their time at BC, what they’ve learned since, and what this weekend means for the future of the program. Kuechly left BC as the record-holder for tackles in a single season, with 191. He earned the Bronco Nagurski Award, given to the nation’s top defensive player, in his junior season. Kuechly was drafted ninth overall in the 2012 NFL Draft by the Carolina Panthers, whom he still plays for today.

Looking back at his time on the Heights, Kuechly recalls fond memories, both on and off the field. When asked about his favorite moment away from the football field, he cited free time spent on the first floor of Edmond’s Hall with all of his buddies from the team. “This weekend is special,” Kuechly said. “When I was at school, we always had summer workouts in the stadium. The things that’s always stayed the same in that stadium were the Mike Ruth and Doug Flutie jerseys up there. You thought always one day maybe you could be up

there on the wall with those guys, and I’m very honored.” Originally from Cincinnati, Kuechly was attracted to BC because of its Jesuit aﬃliation, commitment to academics, and location in the Boston area. He was thrust into a starting position in his freshman year because of an unexpected cancer diagnosis for incumbent starter Mark Herzlich, and he made the most of his opportunity. In addition to his physical tools, Kuechly was (and still is) widely praised for his motor and drive on the ﬁeld.

“I think that’s one thing that BC stresses, is effort and working hard,” Kuechly said. “When you take a play oﬀ and everyone on the whole team can see it, that’s the worst feeling. You don’t want to be the guy that’s taking it oﬀ and running slow.” Throughout his time at BC, Kuechly was never the guy who got caught dogging it. He has former players like Flutie, Herzlich, and other mentors to thank for setting the tone. Because of that, he’ll be getting his name raised to the Alumni Stadium rafters on Saturday afternoon.

THE HEIGHTS

Top

things to do on campus this week

Chilean writer and activist Raul Zurita will read poems from his book Sky Below: Selected Works this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. in Devlin 101. Zurita will then lead a conversation about how poetry seeks to reflect human atrocities.

NEWS BRIEFS 9: :_\d`jk Jkl[`\j :\ccj Eranthie Weerapana, a chemistry professor, performed research on how oxidative stress damages certain proteins and the pathological consequences that can occur due to this stress. Weerapana studies cellular damage that results from age-related increases in oxidative stress. The research is funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and will help Weerapana advance her research of how cellular pathways and proteins contribute to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases. “In many of these diseases, cells produce reactive oxygen species,” Weerapana said. “These are highly reactive radicals that can damage DNA and proteins in the cell with downstream functional consequences. Our goal is to understand what biomolecules are affected; specifically, our interests lie in understanding how oxidative stress affects proteins and their downstream functions.” Weerapana and researchers from the University of Massachusetts Medical School identified two proteins with direct links to longevity in C. elegans, a microscopic worm used by researchers in the field of aging. The team has genetically modified the worm to disable the insulin receptor, which increases longevity in the organism. “Knocking down the insulin receptor activates pathways that increase lifespan,” Weerapana said. “So we wanted to identify downstream protein activities that could be targeted to further increase longevity in these worms.”

GfglcXi DXafij I\c\Xj\[ With little change in the last 10 years, economics, finance, biology, political science, and communication are the most popular majors in 2016-17. This is the fifth year in a row that economics has been the top major. It is also the third consecutive year that economics has set records for the number of students enrolled, with 1,282 students this year. Finance currently has 1,032 students enrolled, biology has 888 students, political science has 819 students, and communications has 787 students. According to The Chronicle, administrators owe majors’ popularity to current political or social issues, BC’s efforts to strengthen a particular major or department, and a generational shift in what makes a successful major or career. The Chronicle article also notes that the popularity of economics could be attributed to the Great Recession. “Our generation of students are really interested in conducting quantitative analysis of real-world phenomena in order to make the world a more just and humane place,” said Hideo Konishi, chair of the economics department. “In that sense, economic analytical tools are a nice complement to the larger spectrum of thought and analysis that students are exposed to as part of a liberal arts education at Boston College.” The popularity of political science could be due to prominent alumni, including former Speaker of the House Thomas P. O’Neill, BC ’36, and former Secretary of State John Kerry, BC Law ’76. The political science department also reached a 25-year high in enrollment.

Monday, October 24, 2016

In observance of International Open Access Week, Boston College Libraries will host a screening of the film The Internet’s Own Boy, tonight at 5:30 p.m. in Stokes 196S. Following the screening of the film will be a discussion moderated by BC Law professor David Olson.

The Shea Center for Entrepreneurship will host a lunch with Mike Montiero, co-founder of Buildium, a property management software company. The lunch will be on Wednesday at 12 p.m. in Cushing 208. Montiero will discuss his journey as an entrepreneur and the projects he has worked on.

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By Will McCarthy For The Heights In 1937, a star football recruit chose to stay local and attend Boston College over the allure of the West Coast schools. Over the following years he would be one of the centerpieces of BC’s offense, yet would find himself on the bench or outside the stadium during the most important games. His name was Lou Montgomery, and he was the first AfricanAmerican football player at BC. On Thursday night in McGuinn 121, film professor Susan Michalczyk presented a screening of her new movie Lou Montgomery: A Legacy Restored. The movie showcases Montgomery’s life before and after BC, including interviews from Montgomery, his family members, and sports historians who have studied him. Cai Thomas, BC ’16, worked on the film with Michalczyk as a co-producer. She also helped with editing, camera work, and finding archival information for the movie. After hearing about Montgomery’s story in 2012, Thomas knew she wanted to have a part in making his documentary. Montgomery grew up in Brockton, Mass. He was a standout multisport athlete in high school, but football was always where he shined brightest. In 1937, Montgomery came to BC along with much of Massachusetts’s top talent. This formed the core of what came to be known as the “Team of Destiny,” that would lead BC to two consecutive, major bowl games. His junior and senior years, Montgomery would see his time on the field severely curtailed as the team faced off against a host of Southern schools. The administration engaged in a “gentleman’s agreement” with Southern schools—whenever the teams faced off on the field, Montgomery would be absent. Immediately following the screening of the film, there was

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AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Susan Michalcyzk screened her documentary on Lou Montgomery, the first African American BC football player. a discussion between a panel of students, faculty, and alumni. The discussion began with a plea for progress. “The damage that happened to Lou is still happening today,” Michalczyk said. “And if your generation doesn’t take charge, who’s going to fix it?” The conversation then shifted from the life and experience of Montgomery to a broader discussion on race in America and, particularly, at BC. The panel addressed the need for dialogue about identity on campus, and the difficulty students of color can have speaking up in predominantly white classrooms and spaces. “When you’re … a minority student and the rest of the class is majority, it is very uncomfortable for you to approach everybody in that scenario,” Adisa Duke, BC ’15, said. “Specifically, there will be a change of topic right away.” He said that discussions are often unwelcome from members of the class, who attempt to redirect the conversation to non-racial topics. His sentiments were echoed by the alumni present at the event. “Race is a dirty word on this campus, wouldn’t you agree? So why wouldn’t you want to have a

conversation about it?” Dan Bunch, BC ’79, said. “Why do you wait until you’re in light company to even broach the topic? We’re here tonight, can we have a conversation? Can we be honest?” The discussion then moved to the role young people should play in movements for social justice. Akosua Opokua-Achampong , chair of the AHANA Leadership Council and MCAS ’18, said that these should be especially pressing questions at BC, given the University’s motto “men and women for others.” “The idea of allyship—to suﬀer with someone, along with them in their problem…,” Opokua-Achampong said. “It’s important to understand that, or to make the decision that you don’t want to live in a world where people are not treated fairly.” Members from the audience spoke out about their experiences as AHANA students at BC. One student explained that she felt like a token Asian woman while working in admissions. She pointed out that she was always chosen to lead tours for other Asian or international students. Others agreed, claiming BC wants to be seen as a place full of diversity.

Donald Garnett, BC ’77, lamented what he perceived as the lack of dedication to the cause from students today. He described the various protests that dominated BC’s campus over the years, including the occupation of Gasson Hall in 1970. When asked a question about a rule requiring administrative permission to host a protest, Garnett was taken aback. “We never had to get permission,” Garnett said. “We would have meetings and there was an issue that needed to be addressed. And I think even if we had to, if it was mandated that we needed permission, I don’t think it would have went over well.” Near the end of the discussion, adjunct professor in African American studies Juan Concepcion urged students and faculty to understand race issues as complex social dynamics. He said that it was important to look at the way race has been deﬁned throughout history, often serving to undermine democracy and the interests of poor whites. “So, in many ways I encourage white people to think about what that means,” he said. “Because in many ways you, too, are captives of the system.”

:Xi\\i :\ek\i kf ?fc[ K_\d\[ <m\ek By Chris Russo Asst. News Editor Wizards and muggles of Boston College are invited to the BC Career Center’s Harry Potter-themed event to discuss the next steps in their search for a career. The event, which is a collaboration between the Career Center and the Office of Residential Life, will be held Wednesday at 8 p.m. in the Walsh eighth floor lounge. The event is for sophomores, but other students who want to explore the career process are welcome to attend. Hogwarts House cupcakes and butterbeer will be available to attendees. At the event, students will be sorted into “houses” based on where they are in their career process. Each group will then

have a discussion about the next steps students should take in finding a successful career. “Career is a daunting word, but we want to help students understand what it means and how to work through it,” said Thomas Harwell, assistant director of the career exploration team. Harwell, Jenna Sattar, assistant director of the sophomore area, Peter Hausladen, the resident director of Walsh Hall, and Ryan Shannon, the graduate resident assistant of Walsh Hall, came up with the idea this fall. The four wanted to hold a program for sophomores in October around Halloween. Harwell and Shannon are both Harry Potter fans, and they decided the event would be Harry Potter-themed. “We wanted to do something that would be fun, exciting, and

POLICE BLOTTER

regarding a medical incident at Duchesne East.

9:15 a.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident at Gasson Hall.

Friday, Oct. 21

Thursday, Oct. 20 1:16 p.m. - A report was filed regarding vandalism to a nonresidence in Stokes Hall. 5:41 p.m. - A report was filed

get people talking about careers in a unique way,” Harwell said. The Care er Center holds a number of events to guide students during their career searches. It hosted Launch, a conference for juniors and seniors, on Oct. 14. The conference allowed students to explore their unique talents and values, understand hiring timelines in their fields of interest, and learn job-searching skills from young alumni and recruiters. The Center will host Endeavor, a three-day program for sophomore liberal arts majors, in January. The program will feature discussions about pursuing a career with a liberal arts major, and students will take career treks into Boston. More than 100 students have signed up for the program so far, according to

Harwell. The Career Center also leads a job shadow program for students over Winter Break. The program matches undergraduates with alumni and active employers for a one-day shadowing and mentoring experience. There are over 200 site hosts across the country available to students. Harwell encourages students to seek help at the Career Center, no matter where they are in the career or internship search process. “We can give you tools and prepare you in a way that will ease a lot of the stress of the process,” Harwell said. “You don’t have to do it alone. We have great resources for people to take advantage of and great alumni who want to help students along in their process.”

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

10/19/16 - 10/21/16

Wednesday, Oct. 19

7:58 p.m. - A report was filed regarding a medical incident at Shea Field.

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1:07 a.m. - A report was ﬁled regarding an underage, intoxicated person in Hardey House. 3:07 a.m. - A report was ﬁled regarding a medical incident on the Brighton Campus roadways.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

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THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

9: ;èè^ @dgc\d\ekj Gifk\è =c`g Plates, from A1 BC Dining also receives student feedback via its website. Emery receives three to four email requests a day and quickly addresses these concerns. Students were also able to provide feedback during BC Dining’s first Menus of Change culinary showcase. Menus of Change is a nutrition initiative by BC Dining, promoting more sustainable and healthy food options. This initiative is a joint effort between BC Dining, the Menus of Change Research Collaborative, and UGBC. As students exited the dining hall on the night of the first Menus of Change culinary showcase, they were able to take a five-question survey. Emery will use this data to further improve dining options. She noticed a few trends in the survey data. A majority of students wanted to see food similar to what was served at the culinary showcase added to the regular dining menu. Many students also prioritize healthy eating and would like to see more healthy options on a regular basis. One nutrition effort implemented through Menus of Change is the “protein flip.” A protein flip consists of supplementing some animal protein with another source of protein, like a grain or a legume. A protein flip makes a grain or vegetable the center of a dish rather than a meat. For example, BC Dining has offered a grain-stuffed avocado topped with chicken or shrimp. This dish provides less meat than the average protein-filled dish, but still provides students with protein in another form. Another example of a protein flip is the fusion burger, consisting of half meat and half grain, which was presented on the night of the culinary showcase. Food options with the protein flip are being built into the regular menu, and students will be able to see them on a consistent basis, Emery said. “We have been working on this for a while,” Emery said. “Most of the test kitchen options that we rolled out last year had the Menu of Change principles. We just have to figure out the best way to communicate these changes. That is a work in progress.” BC Dining hosts one culinary showcase each month that highlights that month’s nutritional theme. October’s theme is “think produce first,” with a harvest culinary showcase featuring fresh fall vegetables. November’s nutritional theme is “go ‘good’ fat, not ‘low’ fat.” BC Dining will promote foods that are sources of healthy fat, like olives, nuts, and avocadoes. The culinary showcase in November will be a Tuscan theme. Based on the feedback Emery has seen, students also want to see more dining pop-up events. BC Dining hosted two pop-up events last year, which were very successful, according to Emery. In the fall, BC Dining held an all-you-can-eat for one price dinner at Hillside. In the spring, BC Dining hosted a brunch in the Walsh Function Room with a performance by the BC jazz band. Emery received very positive feedback on these events and plans to hold more this year. “We love the feedback students give to us face-to-face in the dining halls, but we welcome any feedback that we can receive because we are constantly looking to try to get better,” Emery said.

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Bl\Z_cp# J88: Af`e kf <ec`jk 9fe\ DXiifn ;fefij By Taylor St. Germain Assoc. News Editor Luke Kuechly, Carolina Panthers linebacker and BC ’11, returned to campus this weekend for his Boston College jersey retirement ceremony. Prior to laying number 40 to rest, Kuechly partnered up with the Project Life Movement and the StudentAthlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) to register BC students to the national bone marrow registry. The registration began on on Oct. 20 and ran through Oct. 22. Throughout the week, over 800 people registered to be on the National Bone Marrow Registry. SAAC and the Project Life Movement hoped to get 1,040 people on campus to register. They originally set their goal at 1,000, but because Kuechly’s number while at BC was 40, they added 40

more students to their goal. On Thursday, volunteer student-athletes and the Project Life Movement set up tables on Stokes Amphitheater. They moved the tables to the Academic Quad on Friday. Kuechly stood at the table on Friday, encouraging students to sign up and posing for photos. “I think that student-athletes are an important part of the student body at BC,” Ymke Goté, a member of the ﬁeld hockey team, said. “They are role models in a sort of way. If they participate, hopefully other students will follow.” Kuechly also serves as a national spokesperson for the Project Life Movement. He is involved in radio spots, on posters, and in online campaigns. “We picked this date this weekend because we knew he would be back on campus for his jersey retirement, so it kind of just fell

hand-in-hand,” Devaun Bovell, the president of SAAC and MCAS ’17, said. On Saturday, SAAC and the Project LIfe Movement set up tables outside of Alumni Stadium before the football game. According to Bovell, the turnout was lower than expected because of rain. They also had to cancel the registry after the game due to the weather. To register, students had to ﬁll out personal information forms and complete a cheek swab. The partnership between SAAC, Project Life, and Kuechly began this past summer when Bovell met a representative from Project Life Movement at an ACC conference. The Project Life Movement has been recruiting universities across the country to hold registration events. The Project Life Movement targets col-

lege students because their bone marrow is often healthier and they are able to stay on the registry until they are 55 years old. According to the Project Life Movement’s website, patients suﬀering from leukemia, lymphoma, sickle cell anemia, and other blood cancers and diseases are those who normally are in need of bone marrow donations. Currently, however, 60 percent of patients who need a donation cannot ﬁnd a match. The program began at Davidson College 26 years ago. Since then, 25 other universities across the country have joined the Project Life Movement. “There really was no reason not to do it,” Kuechly said about his position as a spokesperson to The Charlotte Observer. “I don’t have a foundation or a deal like that. And it’s for a good cause, obviously.”

Bi`jk`Z fe k_\ E\\[ ]fi I\c`^`flj :_Xe^\ `e 9fje`X By Anthony Rein For The Heights Boston College’s Institute for the Liberal Arts hosted Bosnian scholar and writer Alen Kristic on Thursday to give a lecture on the challenges facing religion in Southeastern Europe. He spoke of the need for religious change in the region, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the horrors of the Bosnian War. Kristic is an editor of several political, Catholic, and cultural magazines in Croatia, as well as an academic with a focus on religious dialogue in the region and postsocialism religion. The lecture titled “On the Ruins of Communism: Faith Communities and Postwar Challenges in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia” was the second installment of the Institute’s three-part “Faith Communities & Civil Society During and After Conﬂict” series. “The revival of the ideology of the religious nationalism was one of the main causes of the wars in which Yugoslavia broke apart,” Kristic said. As he uses it, the word “nation” corresponds to an ethnic group rather than a country. With Bosnia and Herzegovina split between the Muslim Bosniaks, the Catholic Croats, and the Serbian Orthodox Serbs, each group sought to tie religion and nation together for more powerful motivation in the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. The religion, ethnicity, and cultural plurality of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been damaged, he said. “Religious leaders enthusiastically put themselves at the service of their national

parties, legitimizing the usurpation of religious resources by national ideologies,” he said. “They naively believed that national renewal would automatically guarantee genuine religious renewal.” He believed the alliance of the political and the religious for violent purposes created a “nationalized faith” that ruined religion. “A war-like atmosphere does not allow the essence of the religious to take root—the commands of dialogue, non violence, forgiveness, and reconciliation,” Kristic said. The goal of this new faith was not God, but the creation of an ethnically and religiously pure state. The religions of the country, Catholicism, Islam, and Serbian Orthodoxy, complied with national leaders and supported the conﬂict and policies of ethnic cleansing over seeking peace. Even though the war has ended, Kristic still believes religion is tied to nationalism in the country. He is pushing to end that connection so that religion can return to seeking God over a country. The ﬁrst step he proposed was an admission of guilt. “The basic prerequisite for the behavioral change of [the] religions of Southeastern Europe—but it is also the central postwar challenge—is a public admission of their complicity in the last war and the evils arising from it,” he said. “Without a merciless truth about themselves, they cannot reclaim their lost credibility.” As a Catholic scholar, Kristic focused the changes that all the religions need to make through a Catholic lens. He argued that the Catholic Church in Bosnia and Herzegovina should move away from nationalism. He

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Kristic discussed the need for the separation of church and state in Southeastern Europe. wants them to turn to listen to each other and to serve those who are suﬀering from post-war devastation. Central to this is the adoption of the principle of “transnational and transreligious solidarity with the oppressed people” put forth by the Second Vatican Council. In doing this, the Church in both Bosnia and Herzegovina can return to true Christianity as a servant of the people and not the state. Kristic believes education of both the common people and those in spiritual positions within the religions is the key in moving away from nationalized faith and further conﬂict. With an education for a new culture of memory, he argues people and religions would admit guilt for the atrocities that occurred during the war and end the biased memory of their own particular group’s innocence during it. This education must promote peace and

nonviolence as a means of ending conflict. It must promote dialogue between the different ethnic and religious groups to end the desire for an ethnically and religiously pure nation. It must emphasize social justice, he said, because people who aren’t socially satisfied are more likely to fall prey to nationalist-political manipulation. Gender equality must be taught to bring women into the dialogue of peace and reconciliation, he said. Kristic noted that women were almost always the first ones seeking peace during the conflict and after. Finally, this education should promote the common good of all people, and not just an ethnic or religious faction. “[Religion] must learn from the victims of war and postwar traumas about its true mission in Southeastern Europe if it does not want to be a factor in the creation of war horrors again,” he said.

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The theory of “just war”—a tradition of military ethics—has played a significant role in politics over the last century. On Thursday night, a discussion of the modern context of just war and its limitations took place in Higgins 300, sponsored by the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life. The panelists at the event were retired Gen. James M. Dubik, senior fellow at the Institute for the Study of War and a professor at Georgetown University; Ambassador James F. Jeffrey, the Philip Solondz Distinguished Fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; and Rev. J. Bryan Hehir, a professor at Harvard University. Dubik began the discussion by summarizing the findings of his recent book, Just War Reconsidered: Strategy, Ethics, and Theory. In the book, he establishes a distinction between the act of fighting a

war and the process of waging a war. Dubik emphasized that this distinction is essential to understanding the application of just war theory to modern warfare. “War is more than just fighting,” Dubik said. “A war has to be waged, not just fought.” Dubik described the three necessary steps to waging a war. First, one must achieve sufficient coherency in war aims and strategies. Second, one must generate sufficient organizational capacity. And third, one must sustain legitimacy throughout the war. He continued by arguing that the theory of just war should be reconsidered in how it relates to the strategic aspect of warfare, rather than just combat. He defined the action of waging war as a shared responsibility between the public and the government, and stressed the necessity of both perspectives in making moral decisions. “Civil and military leaders are both

necessary to wage war,” Dubik said. “The political perspective is necessary, but insufficient. The military perspective is necessary, but insufficient. Only together in dialogue do we get to an efficient breadth of perspective and understanding.” Jeffrey provided a contrasting viewpoint on the function of just war in contemporary politics. He stated that while most people view World War II as a soundly moral conflict, the millions of lives lost and use of nuclear weapons might suggest the opposite. The focus of the American military shifted in response, he argued, to preventing a similarly catastrophic conflict from occurring again. This explains American intervention in the context of Vietnam, Kosovo, and South Korea, which Jeffrey believes to be justified. As an advocate for American military intervention overseas, he found a problem in Dubik’s writing, predicting that his ideas would further complicate the process of

going to war. He justified his concerns by connecting the Obama administration’s reluctance to intervene in Syria to the ongoing crisis within the country. “My main problem is that if you make it harder to use military force, you will get the situation that you have in Syria today,” Jeffrey said. Hehir provided the audience with a brief history of the development of just war theory. He described its transition from philosophy in the Middle Ages to its incorporation into international law in the 16th and 17th centuries. Although just war theory finds its basis in religious tradition, Hehir pointed out that it can be examined and applied outside of the context of religion, and is often used in society this way. “People use it without reference to religious roots,” Hehir said. “It is public property. It is used in the military schools of senior service in this country, it’s used in academic life by political scientists and

strategists, and it’s used in the public arena of politics, law, and military policy.” He recounted the decline of the use of just war theory in the first half of the 20th century, citing the lack of humanitarian concern in WWI and WWII. He specifically took issue with the “obliteration bombing” that took place on all sides during WWII, which in his view should have been met with greater protest and concern. Such examples of unrestrained warfare indicate the necessity of just war theory, Hehir argued. Towards the end of his talk, he spoke on the activity of peacebuilding and preventative diplomacy, connecting these facets of modern politics to the realm of just warfare. Although imperfect, Hehir stressed that just war theory still remains an indispensable institution of world affairs. “It is 1,500 years old, viable, complicated, and fragile in the world in which we live, but it may be the best we’ve got for the present minute,” he said.

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

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“No such thing as breast cancer” In her homey office on the fifth floor of Higgins Hall, biology professor Danielle Taghian effortlessly juggles grading the first Molecules & Cells midterm of the semester, advising students of all years and in various stages of existential crisis, and checking in on her daughters. After a long day, she ushers the last student out of her office, closes the door, and composes herself at her desk in the few precious moments of silence. Her carefully calculated preamble is spoken with assured confidence. “The month of October for Breast Cancer Awareness Month commemorates all the women who’ve had breast cancer and are cured from it, those who are currently fighting it, and those who’ve died from it,” she begins, pulling facts and figures from outside research and her Cancer Biology course—one of the first to fill up during the registration period—for an interview on breast cancer. Down one floor and on the other side of Higgins, bookshelves lining the walls of biology professor Thomas Seyfried’s office bear the weight of well-thumbed textbooks and stacks of research articles collected throughout the years. Though his corner office is quietly tucked away from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the building, a palpable electricity hangs in the air in anticipation of the Next Big Thing in science. Seyfried’s first words on the subject? “There’s no such thing as breast cancer.” And we’re off to the races.

The Cancer Code Almost 300,000 new cases of breast cancer were reported in 2015, according to a study conducted by the American Cancer Society (ACS). The ACS classifies breast cancer into two main categories: ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), a noninvasive cancer that affects the epithelial cells that line breast tissue, and invasive, which infiltrates into the breast tissue and affects mammary glands and ducts. On average, women have a 12 percent risk over the course of their lifetimes of developing breast cancer, with additional family history, the surrounding environment, and lifestyle choices influencing this risk. Approximately 90 to 95 percent of breast cancers are thought to be caused by the failure of cellular machinery to function properly. An accumulation of mutations in a cell results in the development of malignant tumors, the first signs of cancer. “As you age, these mutations can accumulate due to faulty DNA repair enzymes,” Taghian said. DNA repair enzymes are vital in repairing genetic wear and tear that occurs

throughout a cell’s life cycle. When the enzymes themselves become damaged over time, genetic mutations accumulate in the cell and are inherited by future cell generations. Breast cancer incidence and mortality rates increase with age, according to the ACS study. But the men and women who are eventually diagnosed with breast cancer may have had their fate already written in their genes. While researchers don’t know all the molecular mechanisms underlying a tumor’s abnormally high metabolism that allows it to escape detection by the immune system, those that researchers do know of are used to develop a new generation of drug treatments that induce cancer cells to die in a process called apoptosis. Breast cancer patients can use the Oncotype DX test to see if the tumor’s genetic makeup would require chemotherapy. A well-known example of targeted chemotherapy that revolutionized breast cancer treatment is the drug combination of Herceptin and Pertuzumab, which arrests cell growth by preventing the tumor protein marker HER2 from binding to its receptor in rapidly dividing breast cells. Tamoxifen, another well-known chemotherapy drug, binds to estrogen receptors in breast cells to stop their development. Mutations in the BRCA gene family—an abbreviation of BReast CAncer— were recently discovered to dramatically increase one’s risk of developing breast cancer to 85 percent. The well-studied BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are inherited through the father’s line and can occur in both men and women. A variety of mutations in other BRCA genes are still under further study. Other environmental risk factors that contribute to the development of breast cancer include hormone therapy, early onset of menstruation, poor diet, high alcohol consumption, and lack of exercise. “Overall, survival has improved over the last three decades, thanks to screening and more efficient drugs,” Taghian said. “The actual diagnostics for mammography has made breast cancer detection very sensitive.” In addition, improved surgery techniques are able to excise tumors and preserve healthy breast tissue. According to the ACS, mortality rates due to breast cancer have dropped 36 percent since 1989. While all of these detection methods and therapies have reduced mortality rates and improved overall quality of life for breast cancer patients, they come at a steep psychological cost.

Silent Suffering A world away, in the dimly lit halls of McGuinn Hall, sociology professor Sharlene Hesse-Biber welcomes students into a bohemian oasis of colorful couches and an array of houseplants. Underneath the whimsical nature of her oﬃce, however, is a mournful backstory.

Hesse-Biber first became involved in breast cancer research after losing her sister to the disease. Her research, however, was not confined to a lab bench. Over the course of interviewing breast cancer patients about their journeys with the disease, she discovered that all of the women she interviewed used genetic testing to assess their risks of having the hereditary BRCA mutation. She has since spent years studying the psychosocial effects of genetic testing. “It breaks up families, it saves lives, it creates havoc, and it creates nightmares,” she said of her research. Her results culminated in her book, Waiting for Cancer to Come: Women’s Experiences with Genetic Testing and Medical Decision Making for Breast and Ovarian Cancer, which won the 2015 Alpha Sigma Nu Book Award and has since been turned into a podcast. In addition, she has also written about her work in an article entitled “Opening Up Pandora’s Genetic Testing Box” for The Huffington Post. Genetic testing gained popularity in the ’90s, with unregulated genetic testing companies attempting to patent genes and use fear tactics in their marketing in order to lure clients. By the time the Supreme Court stepped in to enforce federal regulations, the testing bug had bit the nation, and genetic testing became a ritual for a generation reaching adulthood in the new millennium. “Half of the women who are BRCApositive have no history of cancer because it comes through the father’s line,” HesseBiber said. “Their fathers may have a family history and were never tested for the mutation, so their daughters never knew.” The development of more sensitive mammography technology has also led to early detection of small tumors and identifying breast tissue that is at risk for developing cancer. Following a mammography, most women undergo risk-reducing surgeries such as mastectomies—removal of one or both breasts—and hysterectomies—removal of the ovaries. “Losing your breasts or your ovaries goes to the heart of losing your femininity,” Hesse-Biber said, recounting the stories of various women who have suffered permanent nerve damage to their breasts, have needed reconstructive surgery to fix their appearances post-mastectomy, have either failed to attain or fallen out of relationships, and have sacrificed plans of becoming mothers. “They’re in touch with their mortality at a young age,” she said. Focus has now shifted to the small demographic of men who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. Incidence among men is lower—however, the mortality rate among men due to breast cancer is much higher than it is in women. Hesse-Biber attributes much of this to genetic testing. On average, men get screened for breast cancer 10 years later than women, but may have already developed late-stage breast cancer by the time their testing results come back BRCA-positive. For men who test positive for breast cancer, they face the additional social

perception and stigma of breast cancer as an exclusively feminine disease. They also struggle with the guilt of having passed the hereditary BRCA mutation to their children. This cycle of fear encourages an increasing number of young men and women in the prime of life to get caught up in what Hesse-Biber terms the “testing net” without knowing the unintended negative consequences of genetic testing until it’s too late. “The minute people find out they’re BRCA-positive, they think they’re going to die—they’re fearful, they feel they have to do something,” she said. “Testing tells you if you’ll get cancer, not that you’re going to die. People don’t understand that you can get treatment and live with a similar quality of life.” Hesse-Biber stressed that taking a family history is the best way to assess one’s risk for breast cancer and is worth spending time discussing with your physician. Her intent is not to entirely condemn the genetic testing industry—instead, she wants people to thoroughly consider why they want to undergo genetic testing and be ready to face the consequences. “Just because you’re positive doesn’t mean you’re going to die tomorrow,” she said. “But just because you’re negative doesn’t mean you stop doing surveillance.”

How to “Starve” Cancer Unlike most physicians, geneticists, and medical researchers who are pulling out their hair over the genetic cause of cancer and developing intense chemotherapies, Seyfried offers a simple solution. To Seyfried, cancer is all one disease caused by the same thing: damage to the mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell, in the process of cellular respiration, hence his previous assertion that there is no such thing as breast cancer. Seyfried eliminates tumor cells by depriving them of the fuels they need to produce the energy they need to function—namely, glucose and glutamine. “The reason that we have so many deaths is because people think it’s a genetic disease,” Seyfried said. “Mutations are the effect, not the cause.” Seyfried developed the “press-pulse” regime, which entails a press of a zerocarb, high-fat, high-protein, ketogenic diet with an exercise regimen, and a pulse of drugs to supplement vitamin deficiencies and support a weakened immune system. In a lecture given at the Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (IHMC), as well as in his best-selling book Cancer as a Metabolic Disease: On the Origin, Management, and Prevention of Cancer, he dismantles the widely accepted “gene theory” of cancer and explains why the medical field is still adamant about teaching the flawed theory, leading to

a general misunderstanding of the true nature of the disease and development of ineffective therapies. “It’s very hard to change the minds of people who’ve been indoctrinated into the dogma of thinking that cancer is a genetic disease,” he said. Alternatively, the “metabolic theory” shows promise and could drastically reduce health care costs, but threatens the lucrative pharmaceutical industry that depends on the use of chemotherapy regimens. Seyfried laments that thousands of cancer patients who are treated with chemotherapy must unnecessarily suffer at the hands of physicians who don’t know what they’re doing. He doesn’t put all the blame on today’s physicians, though—after all, they’re indoctrinated into the faulty gene theory of cancer the second they set foot into medical school. “They’re not getting training in using food as medicine,” Seyfried said. “[Regarding chemotherapy as the default treatment], if you really know what you’re doing, why are all these people dying?” Currently, cancer patients turn to the ketogenic diet as a last resort when radiation and chemotherapy fail, but by that point their bodies are too weak to withstand the new pressures of metabolic therapy. Seyfried noted that physicians are willing to adopt the metabolic theory and implement his “press-pulse” regime once they learn about them—in fact, doctors in small local clinics, not large city hospitals, were the first to try the ketogenic diet with cancer patients to rousing success. Success stories with the ketogenic diet have made headlines around the world, such as those of Pablo Kelly and Andrew Scarborough, who had personally reached out to Seyfried inquiring about the metabolic theory. These individual success stories are not enough to convince skeptics to trust the ketogenic diet, and they would be hard-pressed to find clinical trials proving that the therapy works—metabolic therapy is personalized medicine to the core, requiring a team of physicians and dieticians cooperating with the patient to create a unique therapy plan. Consequently, these individualized reports can’t be used in a traditional clinical trial format to be published in medical journals, which necessitates that a population-wide experimental group adheres to the exact same treatment regime. This bottom-up revolution, then, requires significant participation on the part of the patients who must be willing to make major lifestyle changes and quite literally battle their cancer instead of leaving their medical decisions up to a faceless institution. “ Will the ketogenic diet ever be embraced by top medical schools? It’s highly unlikely,” Seyfried said of the future direction of metabolic therapy. “Change is going to be patient-driven, not institution-driven. Remember, [patients are] the consumers—if their wants change, the field will change to follow.”

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To many aspiring playwrights, having the opportunity to write a play under the tutelage of a playwright with over 20 years of experience would be a dream come true. For aspiring playwrights in the Boston College theatre and arts departments, that dream is set to happen, with theatre veteran Sheri Wilner coming to Boston College next semester as the latest Monan Professor of Theatre Arts. The Monan professorship is a semester-long visitation that is aimed at

bringing an individual with knowledge of the professional theatre scene to come and share his or her experience. Past visiting professors have come from all facets of theatre life, including directors, actresses, singers, and designers. With over 20 separate works under her belt, Wilner more than fits the bill. “Sheri is a very accomplished and rising playwright in our contemporary world,” said Crystal Tiala, chair of the theatre department. “We like to catch artists when they’re starting to take off.” Having already taught at Vanderbilt

PHOTO COURTESY OF SHERI WILNER

Wilner brings a wealth of academic and professional experience to the theatre this fall.

University and Florida State, along with numerous workshops on the craft of playwriting, Wilner enters BC with plenty of classroom experience. Wilner is teaching a class entitled Writing Wrongs: Creating the Issue-Based Play. Students who take the class will have the opportunity to voice issues in society that they’re passionate about, with Wilner directing them to plays that focus on the topic. The class culminates with the student writing his or her own play tackling the issue. “The idea of the class is how can you take an idea that you’re super passionate about and super opinionated about and make it into a night of theater that’s going to be interesting to an audience,” Wilner said. Coupled with teaching, Wilner will be advising the spring production of her most recent play, Kingdom City. Set to open in March, Kingdom City centers around a high school production of The Crucible in Kingdom City, Mo. and the conflicts that arise when a local youth minister tries to cancel the production. Wilner was inspired to write the play after reading a New York Times article about a similar situation happening in Fulton, Mo. While she appreciated the irony in censoring an Arthur Miller play, Wilner was driven to write Kingdom City

as a response to what she sees as the censorship of theatre, an issue she cares about deeply. “I find when I write on clever ideas, I’ll run out of steam,” Wilner said. “But if it’s something that’s so important to me, then not only does it fuel me through the whole writing process, which can be quite long and arduous, but then those are the plays that people respond to because the audience can just feel the passion, energy, and urgency in them.” With many of the students taking on the role as members of a high school drama club in Kingdom City, Wilner is set to be reunited with two of her high school drama compadres, faculty members Larry Sousa and Luke Jorgensen. Sousa, who served as stage director for the production of Kingdom City, was the set designer for the trio’s drama club, often staying long after school to work on painting and constructing the sets. The fact that the person who once designed the sets for her high school productions is now designing the set for her own play is a surreal experience for Wilner. “In addition to having this fabulous job, I get to relive the most joyful days of high school,” Wilner said. “It’s a once-ina-lifetime experience to have the past, present, and future converge in such a delightful way.”

Influenced by playwrights like Tennessee Williams, Wilner stuck to writing plays until last year, when she adapted one of her short plays, Bake Off, into a full-length musical entitled Cake Off. Focused on a man and woman participating in a Pillsbury baking contest, the musical premiered in Arlington, Va., to rave reviews. With the theme of theatre productions this year focusing on gender parity and how there is often an imbalance between the sexes within the theatre world, Wilner’s arrival at BC couldn’t have had better timing. According to Wilner, despite the commonly held belief that women are the most involved behind the scenes in the realm of theatre, in reality only 12 to 20 percent of plays in the United States are written by women. Coupled with the fact that 70 percent of ticket buyers are women, this makes for a huge disparity. A veteran member of the theatre community, Wilner has had her share of experience with the issue and is eager to share her experiences with the BC theatre community. “Systemic sexism in the theatre industry is to blame, as up until very recently, a lot of the people that ran theaters were men,” Wilner said. “People tend to pick what they relate to and what their tastes are.”

Thursday, January 17, 2014 Monday, October 24, 2016

THE HEIGHTS THE HEIGHTS

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THE HEIGHTS THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 17, 2014 A6

B5 Monday, October 24, 2016

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Rebecca Hersman, former U.S. assistant secretary of defense for countering weapons of mass destruction, warned on Friday that the ongoing use of chemical weapons in Syria threatens to normalize their use worldwide, and that the crisis engulfing the country has seen such attacks increase at an alarming rate. The presentation, titled “Toxic War: Syria, ISIS, and the Use of Chemical Weapons,” was sponsored by the Undergraduate Government of Boston College (UGBC). Hersman began by pointing to the first full-scale use of chemical weapons in warfare, when German forces deployed chlorine gas against Allied troops at the Second Battle of Ypres during the First World War, resulting in thousands of casualties. The chlorine gas reacted with the water in victims’ lungs, creating a violently corrosive acid that ate away at their flesh, killing them horrifically. Following the conclusion of the Great War, the world was so sickened by the widespread use of chlorine gas, mustard gas, and other chemical weapons by both the Allied and Axis Powers that it was decided that such weapons had no place in any future war, said Hersman. The Geneva

Protocol, signed in 1925, banned the use of any poisonous gasses in wartime. Hersman said that this ban on the use of chemical weapons was not violated even during World War II, when both sides actually possessed massive stockpiles of poison gas. Even Adolf Hitler thought it unthinkable to use such weapons against his most dangerous enemies. International distaste for chemical warfare kept such weapons from being used for decades after the protocol was enacted. The government of Iraq, however, began using nerve agents extensively in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War, Hersman said, pointing to the massacre of Kurdish civilians in the town of Halabja in northern Iraq as an example. In what is now considered an act of genocide, Iraqi troops used the presence of a few Iranian soldiers as an excuse to blanket the heavily populated town with mustard gas and sarin, a nerve agent, killing over 5,000 Kurdish civilians. This attack stunned the international community, and a special United Nations body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), was formed in order to rid the world of all poison gas stockpiles, Hersman said. By 2010, the use of chemical weapons had

disappeared, with most countries voluntarily pledging to destroy their capabilities—except for Syria, which maintained one of the largest chemical weapons programs in the world. After the Arab Spring uprisings in 2011, Syria descended into civil war, with rebel groups fighting to wrest control of the country away from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Hersman said that, at the time, the international community wasn’t worried about the possibility of an outbreak of chemical warfare, as Assad’s forces were thought unlikely to face a serious challenge. But after a sarin gas attack on the rebel-occupied city of Aleppo by government forces in 2013, the U.N. dispatched a team to conduct what is now known as the Sellstrom Investigation. The U.N. team was denied permission to inspect most of the Syrian government’s capabilities, and were unable to conclusively report on the state of Assad’s arsenal. While the team was waiting in Damascus, Syria’s capital city, government forces dropped large quantities of sarin gas into heavily populated, rebel-controlled areas on the outskirts of the city. Hersman said that over 1,300 civilians died in the attack, most of them women and children. It was the deadliest chemical attack since the 1988

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Rebecca Hersman spoke of the history of chemical weapons in war and the implications of their use on a global scale. Halabja massacre in Iraq. President Barack Obama, who had just months earlier stated that any Syrian use of chemical weapons represented a “red line” that would necessitate U.S. intervention if crossed, opted to pursue a diplomatic eﬀort to eliminate further atrocities, Hersman said. The administration brokered a deal with Russia and Assad’s government, whereby the three nations agreed to destroy Syria’s remaining cache of chemical weapons. While vast quantities of these weapons were successfully destroyed, Hersman pointed out, the government of Syria was not sincere in its efforts to comply

with the agreement, making it difficult for foreign observers to assess the amount of chemical weapons that remain in Assad’s formerly massive arsenal. Chemical attacks on Syrian civilians have continued, Hersman said. The Syrian-American Medical Society’s 2016 report on the crisis alleged that over 160 chemical attacks have been carried out by government troops, two of which have been conclusively proven to have been perpetrated by Assad’s forces. On Sept. 6, over 100 civilians in Aleppo were killed by a gas attack, and Hersman said she sees no indication that these atrocities are on the decline in

the embattled nation. “ We are st anding at the threshold of the normalization of use of an internationally banned and virtually eliminated weapon in the Middle East and beyond,” Hersman said. She pointed out that such war crimes being carried out with impunity on a large scale are concerning from more than just a humanitarian perspective. “We have a lot at stake,” Hersman said. “[Prohibitions on the use of chemical weapons] are among the foundational humanitarian principles and norms that have been respected since 1925—and they’ve gone out of the window in Syria.”

Jg\eZ\i1 Cffb`e^ Xk JfZ`Xc Aljk`Z\ @jjl\j K_ifl^_ X JZ`\ek`ÔZ C\ej By Julia Sandquist For The Heights

Margaret Beale Spencer, a professor of urban education at the University of Chicago, began her lecture Oct. 20 by proposing suggestions to solve the issue of the treatment of youths as invisible by both their peers and teachers. Spencer’s lecture, “Conceptual Benefits of a Human Vulnerability/Resiliency Approach to Youth Development and Learning: Challenges and Opportunities,” was part of Boston College’s Symposia Series sponsored by the Lynch School of Education. As a comparative human development psychologist, Spencer has devoted much of her work to the development of the Phenomenological Variant of Ecological Systems Theory (PVEST). She explained that PVEST serves as a framework to examine strength

and resiliency, especially during the process of identity formation in adolescents. PVEST also addresses the social, historical, and cultural contexts in which youths develop as well as the perceptions and self-evaluations that people use to form their identities. At the beginning of her talk, Spencer said that PVEST allows people to look at world conflicts through an identity-focused cultural ecological perspective. In other words, it’s a way to look at social justice issues through a scientific lens. Spencer explained her definition of vulnerability, which she sees as a balanced or imbalanced state between risk and different protective factors. Children with high risk factors and low protection factors are highly vulnerable. She gave the example of a special-needs student. On the other hand,

people that have both high risk factors and high protection factors have a low vulnerability and high resiliency. “We too often do our science looking at vulnerability and coping mechanisms of young children,” Spencer said. “We just look at individuals who are at a high risk compared to those with a lot of protection and support, so we assume we know how to help. This tradition has not gotten us as far as we need to go.” She then broke up her theory of identity formation of young children into several parts by showing her audience a series of diagrams. The first diagram showed a person’s net vulnerability level, which is the history of his or her prior experiences and coping outcomes. Next was one’s net stress engagement, an actual experience that challenges an individual’s well-being and

8cld ?fc[j :f]]\\# :Xi\\i KXcb By Amanda Ilaria For The Heights

In a room ﬁlled with both graduate and undergraduate students, Arnie Sookram, worldwide lead for the Windows Devices Group ecommerce business and BC, posed the question, half-jokingly: “So who wants a job?” Nervous laughter ﬁlled the room as everyone raised their hands. This question, seemingly simple, was met with a great deal of apprehension and anxiety for graduate and undergraduate students alike. Sookram shared his thoughts and experiences on the transition from college to the corporate world. Sookram graduated from BC with a degree in economics, and then headed to New York City to work in corporate finance. After completing graduate school, he moved into management consulting for PwC and iXL/Scient. Next, he transitioned into digital marketing and e-commerce teams at AT&T, Backcountry.com, and GameHouse.com. He currently works at Microsoft as the worldwide lead for the Windows Devices Group e-commerce business. Sookram began his presentation, which was sponsored by the Shea Center for Entrepreneurship, Computer Science Society, Grad Tech Club, Information Systems Academy, with the maxim that life is a marathon,

not a sprint. He emphasized how important it is to stay in the moment and take advantage of all the opportunities offered not only at BC, but also those offered by careers. You also have to be able to market yourself, in corporate America, he said, especially when transitioning from one job to another. “Someone once told me, ‘you’re always selling,’ and that’s not a lie,” Sookram said. “You have to figure out a way to market yourself … Then with those transitions it’s not so much the skills you have, it’s why your skills will make an impact on the next thing.” Sometimes students find their competitve edge in a class they take outside of their majors. This competitive advantage can also come from the development of “softer skills,” which Sookram describes as leadership training, team building, or business growth. Sookram similarly stressed the importance of building both personal and professional relationships. “You have to make a lot of friends both personally and professionally,” he said. “You cannot separate your personal and professional lives—the two things are not mutually exclusive.” Sookram utilized country-turnedpop singer Taylor Swift and her brand as an analogy for this concept. Swift has a huge network and support system of friends who are able to sell her brand which, in turn, has made her

hugely successful. The same can be said about building both professional and personal relationships. Friendships can also arise with mentors. “Mentors will help guide you and give you advice … and take their advice, because they are probably right,” he said. “And it’s advice for lots of things, for your life or your profession or whatever you decide to do.” Sookram underlined the concept that the place somebody begins working at after graduation is often not the place they will be found working 20 years from now. It took Sookram nearly 10 years to ﬁnd his “professional sweet spot.” “I never would have thought that I would have ended up at Microsoft 20-plus years after graduation leading global e-commerce,” he said. “You just don’t know.” Sookram highlighted the importance of attending career fairs, asking hiring managers lots of questions and remaining actively in the moment. He encouraged students to take advantage of all the opportunities BC has to oﬀer and to appreciate their time here. “It is a privilege to go to a place like BC … [BC instills] this concept of grace—how to be controlled, polite, and pleasant in your behavior,” he said. “To get promoted you have to be likeable and you have to be competent. It’s pretty simple.”

coping methods employed to resolve dissonance-producing situations. The last parts show a person’s emergent identity where coping strategies are repeated, become stable, and combine with self-evaluation to form an identity. Finally, one reaches the the life-stage, where a person possesses specific coping outcomes, so his or her identity affects future behavior and outcomes like self-esteem, achievement, and health. Spencer said that for people who are interested in social change, these individual parts of the model are important, for people must interfere between these levels of identity formation in order to help children overcome challenges they may face. One example of this kind of intervention was Spencer’s project to improve the lives of adolescents with special needs who were at high risk and highly

vulnerable in their high school. Her project was a collaboration between the University of Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia school system, and she worked to decrease the risk and stressors of being in a school where special-needs students’ statuses were undermined. Both schools came up with a solution to place special-needs students in classes at the University of Pennsylvania instead of their regular high schools to decrease peer feedback that increased the stress of these students every day. Spencer explained that her intervention was overall a success, because the project gave special-needs students a stronger academic identity, and, as a result, their graduation rate quadrupled. At the conclusion of her speech, she praised BC’s commitment to resolving social justice issues. Spencer noted that

most schools are not motivated to resolve complex issues like the well-being of special- needs students, immigrant youth as they come of age, and the coping response of transgender youth as they manage the traditional structure of gender expectations. “Because BC is a school that is run with a social justice purpose, students are being trained to think about these issues in a way that is respectful,” she said. “It’s not the way most schools are because generally, it is mostly about ‘me’ as opposed to ‘we.’” Spencer also expressed her hope that her speech would inspire students to look at social and race issues from a different perspective. “I hope that today’s comments provide a way of thinking to use science as a way to maximize social justice,” Spencer said.

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

Brain Games: inside the BC Psychology Department . Ashley Stauber

With topics ranging from sleep to imagination, Boston College’s psychological research department is abundant this fall with experiments that are sure to enlighten all those involved. The Heights combed McGuinn Hall, the home base for a vast majority of BC’s psychology department, and spoke with a broad range of researchers about their ongoing work.

For The Heights

Though many of the principal researchers behind the studies did not want to say too much about their experiments in an eﬀort to not give too much away, we walked away with a broader understanding of the postgraduate work taking place at BC. From what we could hear (and understand), the upcoming results of these experiments are something to be really psyched about.

Matching Games

Visual Imagination Study When it comes to imagination, the researchers in the study “Visual Imagination Study” definitely have an idea that “colors outside the lines,” so to speak. “Our hope is that we can show after five weeks that those drawing from instructional visual imagination intervention will show improved levels of visual imagination,” said Ellen Winner, the principal researcher of the study and a professor in the psychology department. The idea for the project emerged after The Templeton Foundation, an organization that funds interdisciplinary research on human purpose, put out a request for a proposal to study imagination. The study required a proposal for a new measure of imagination, and thus Winner and her team decided to develop a measure of visual imagination. They are currently in the process of validating the project to show that people in the arts do better on tasks involving imagination. The intervention that they propose consists of five weeks of drawing lessons in order to show that certain kinds of drawing instruction can improve visual imagination.

Observational drawing, in which participants draw what they see, is being used as the controlled variable within the experiment, which is what you see and is not expected to change the level of visual imagination. The main part of the design of the experiment includes participants drawing from their imaginations with the help of instructional videos that will propose ideas such as “draw the imagined underlying structure of a ﬁgure” or “create an imagined space.” After five weeks, the participants will email their drawings to the researchers, who will then compare the levels of visual imagination from the beginning to the end of the ﬁve weeks. The participants in the study are all non-art majors. Working alongside Winner is Jen Drake, another principal investigator for the study, and Winner’s former doctoral student. These researchers have also collaborated with two art teachers, Seymour Simmons and Seth Brouser from Winthrop University in South Carolina, who have assisted in the creative development of the instructional videos used in the study.

Time, Number, and Math Games Another research study, by the name of “Time, Number and Math Games,” is focused on studying predictors of math achievement—namely, what types of tasks correlate with later math achievement and how people learn about different representations of numbers. “Our lab is interested in how infants, children, and adults learn about number and math concepts,” said researcher Karina Hamamouche, a Ph.D. candidate in the BC

psychology department. The team doesn’t have any restrictions on who can participate, although in some studies they need native English speakers. Despite this, anyone can sign up for time slots on SONA, which is a system that allows researchers to post time slots about their different studies, and people can choose to participate at whatever time works best for them.

Want to be transported back to your childhood days of board games and matching? Sign up to participate in “Matching Games,” another ongoing research study in the psychology department. The design of the project is a matching game in which the participant sees one set of dots followed shortly by another set of dots. The participant then has to choose which of those two options matches with the first one that they saw. That match is either based on numbers or the proportion or percentage of red dots out of the whole. Although the participant is always paying attention to the red dots, the quantity of red dots takes on a very different meaning depending on what they are told to look for within each task. The goal of

the study is to see how people might be matching data differently depending on which type of quantity they are paying attention to. “Our lab in general looks at how people look at numerical information and quantity,” researcher Michelle Hurst, MCAS `20, said. “Quantity can take on many different meanings, so in the ‘Matching Games’ study, we are comparing what changes when the quantity that we are asking people to pay attention to is an absolute number like ‘10 dots or 40 dots,’ or what happens when it’s a relational quantity. If half or a quarter of the dots are blue, how does that change the way that people are paying attention to the information?” This experiment may be a few steps up from your childhood matching games, but it’s just as fascinating in design.

Sleep and Word Pairing In Sleep and Word Pairing,” researchers in the Cognitive and Aﬀective Neuroscience Lab are interested in investigating the eﬀects of sleep on the cognitive integration process of speech. Emotional integrations are quickly made but are not as durable over time, so this study is looking to see if sleep can act as a protectorate of these cognitive integrations due to prior research suggesting that sleep enhances emotional integration. “It’s been previously shown that emotional integration has been more easily formed compared to neutral integration,” researcher Emily Czeisler, MCAS `17, said. “So the study is looking at that in terms of cognition as well as sleep.” The design of the study is set up in two parts that each take place in one of the labs

at BC. Participants will come in either in the morning or the evening for their 30-minute sessions depending on their sleep delay versus wake delay. “The participants will then do a couple of pen and paper tasks and then view a series of word pairs so that we can measure individual differences about their different habits, and then they will also have a computer task,” Czeisler said of the design of the experiment. “During the second session, they will do some more pen and paper tasks to assess more individual differences, and then another computer task as well.” Especially during the rush of midterms, this study seems to serve as a reminder that extra sleep may actually help more than that 2:00 a.m. Red Bull in achieving academically.

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With the emergence of wearable fitness technology, it seems that office-wide FitBit step contests have become the norm for health-conscious companies everywhere. At Boston College, the Walk Across Campus program is inspiring faculty to get healthier every day. The results have also become apparent—some participants have reported losing as many as 20 pounds by participating. But according to one frustrated professor, some members of faculty have been abusing the game for financial gain. According to Charlie Hoffman, a professor of physics at BC, several staff members have been racking up hard-to-believe step totals. The three metrics that are awarded with prizes are total steps, flights of stairs, and active minutes, which is defined as extended periods of continuous physical activity. By these metrics, the FitBit data suggests that some BC faculty members have been completing daily marathons. “This competition began as something that was really fun, but then as the semesters were going by, people began putting up numbers that were really kind of absurd,” Hoffman said. Hoffman, with the support of several staff members, wrote an email to the director of the Healthy You program, which is the sponsor of Walk Across Campus. In these emails, Hoffman expressed his frustration not only at the ludicrous nature of the total step counts by some staff members, but at the hypocrisy of rewarding such behavior. After several emails, the director responded, completely failing to acknowledge

any wrongdoing. “There is financial gain for unethical behavior here,” Hoffman said. “It takes away from people who are actually walking 20,000 steps a day.” The core of Hoffman’s frustration lies in the fact that if such a behavior were committed by a student, he or she would likely be subjected to a hearing from the academic integrity board. Although the repeated offenders do possess alibis to explain their massive step counts (insomnia has often been cited as an alibi of sorts), Hoffman believes the numbers are not possible. The biggest of these offenders, a BC carpenter, consistently logs around 50,000 steps per day, equating to a full marathon of walking on an average weekday. On weekends he claims to walk even more, something like 30 miles. According to Hoffman, this member of the BC staff consistently logs more than 16 hours of active minutes, meaning that he is performing extended physical activity for 16 continuous hours per day. As Hoffman pointed out, that means that for every hour he is awake, he is walking. This spurred Hoffman to try and garner some support for his cause of step verification. “Well I thought, at what point does this become ridiculous?” Hoffman said. “The fact that these guys are 50 percent ahead of the next leading step -getters is what made me want to mess with them.” So Hoffman devised an experiment. Bringing a rocker to work—a device that simply rocks back and forth continuously and repeatedly—Hoffman racked up a whopping 200,000 steps in one day. He openly acknowledged that he was

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Walk Across Campus program, intended to promote active lifestyles, has instead come under scrutiny from frustrated faculty members. “supplementing,” as he calls it, in his emails to the director, yet even this was not enough to convince the program to verify step counts. In the online database, he encouraged one of his coworkers to simply lie and enter a 40,000-step day, and the program accepted the input with no FitBit verification involved. It was only when Hoffman changed his name to Jaqen H’ghar—an assassin from the popular series Game of Thrones—and entered his height as 9-feet tall, that the program was prompted to raise any red flags regarding his numbers. It was decided, however, that he simply had a defective FitBit rather than a method of supplementing his numbers. “It was a nice small victory to get them to finally acknowledge that not all of the numbers were correct,” Hoffman said. “But the word ‘cheating’ was never mentioned.”

It is not hard to see why supplementing step count numbers is an enticing option for some. For the first several years of the competition, top prizes included rewards such as having all health care costs covered by the University. This is no small prize, and can run into thousands of dollars over the long term. As Hoffman has expressed, it is frustrating on behalf of non-supplementing staff and hypocritical on the part of the University to reward those who so blatantly have found ways to increase their numbers. Even an act as small as attaching the FitBit to a pant leg and bouncing a leg can create steps, but the highest step counters are doing more than this. Racking up 950 active minutes every day requires more than nervously bouncing a leg. “It’s so absurd,” said Hoffman, noting the

size and cost of the prizes involved. “It seems ridiculous that the program rewards, and now encourages, unethical behavior.” Although the prizes have significantly decreased in value in recent years, Hoffman’s point remains valid. The University ought to uphold integrity standards in all methods of competition, whether by student or staff. Rewarding this manipulative behavior solely because it is inconvenient to verify the information is as unethical as the behavior itself, and Hoffman simply wants to bring this to light. “Of course I would never accept the prizes with my 200,000-step days,” Hoffman said of his own experiment in manipulation. “I just can’t stand seeing this behavior rewarded with such significant financial rewards, it just isn’t fair.”

THE HEIGHTS

EDITORIALS

QUOTE OF THE DAY

?fn kf 9i`e^ k_\ GcXk\j 9XZb kf Cfn\i Where have all the plates gone? Long time passing. Where have all the plates gone? Long time ago. Where have all the plates gone? Young students stole them, everyone. Oh, when will they ever learn? As you might be able to tell from that clever little ’60s folk music reference, the issue of missing plates at Corcoran Commons remains relevant to Boston College Dining Services. According to BC Dining, more than 2,000 plates are missing from Corcoran Commons. At the beginning of the semester, all food at Corcoran Commons was served on reusable plates. This was part of a sustainability initiative, meant to prevent students from taking to-go containers and eating in the dining hall. Encouraging the use of reusable plates was supposed to lower the use of these containers. Students who want to use disposable containers must ask a cashier to provide them and then transfer the food themselves. Since this was initiated, incidences of plate larceny have skyrocketed. Instead of asking for to-go containers at the cashier, students appear to be bringing plates back to their rooms and not returning them. This means that the dining hall has to use disposable containers to make up for the lost plates, which, as Elizabeth Emery, director of BC Dining, said, “defeated the whole purpose.” This is an unfortunate situation that is clearly difficult to address, as students have to return the plates themselves. One possible way to encourage students to return plates would be to designate a small unused area of dormitory trash rooms for plates.

Monday, October 24, 2016

Students who otherwise might not bring the plates back to Lower might be willing to drop the plates in the trash room to be picked up. While this would require someone to pick up the plates, it is one possible way to attempt to retrieve the lost plates. Another useful attempt to improve BC Dining’s sustainability would be to encourage the phasing out of plastic containers in favor of the cardboard, biodegradable containers, which are the ones that students must now specifically request at the cash register.

“Everyone had clearly spent far too long perfecting their appearance. I used to feel intimidated by people like this; now I see them as walking insecurity beacons, slaves to the perceived judgment of others, trapped within a self-perpetuating circle of crushing status anxiety.” -Charlie Brooker

Fe\ gfjj`Yc\ nXp kf \eZfliX^\ jkl[\ekj kf i\klie gcXk\j k_Xk k_\p _Xm\ kXb\e nflc[ Y\ kf [\j`êXk\ X jdXcc lelj\[ Xi\X f] [fid`kfip kiXj_ iffdj ]fi [èè^ _Xcc gcXk\j% BC Dining has taken good steps to hear, understand, and address student concerns, with more meal options and convenient channels for student feedback. The creation of a student dining advisory board this semester was a good way for BC Dining to respond to student concerns and should be continued. BC Dining’s responsiveness to email requests also helps in these efforts. Collaborative efforts between BC Dining and students are a good way to address current issues and improve the dining halls for the future. Hopefully this collaboration can help bring the lost plates back to Lower.

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The Boston College Women’s Center created a new mentorship program called Thrive, which gives sophomore girls the opportunity to discuss issues relevant to their lives and join a community of other BC women. The program ha s eight mentoring groups, each made up of two senior mentors and eight sophomore girls. Ascend, a program created by the Center for Student Formation, served the same purpose in years past, but was recently changed into a program for freshmen. The creation of this new program is a good way for the Women’s Center to promote mentorship. With the change of Ascend to freshmen, it is commendable to create a new program that serves the same role for sophomores. Before this, students would have to switch from being the mentee to the mentor after freshman year, but this allows students to better transition to their upperclassman years. It provides an important service to sophomore women and opens up a new opportunity to improve life at BC. As Victoria Garcia, a graduate assistant in the Women’s Center, said, “We’re really looking to have meaningful, authentic conversations that maybe you’re not necessarily having with your roommate or when you’re going out on the weekends.” By bringing this program to sophomore women and improving its scope, the Women’s Center continues to respond to student concerns and create positive programs. The Women’s Center has promoted the program through bulletin boards and social media, and accepts applications on a rolling basis. This approach is a good way to spread information about the program and reach

the most students possible. Another improvement of this program is the change from a previous Women’s Center one-on-one mentorship program, Duo. While one-on-one mentoring can be a very useful thing, it was decided that it wasn’t as productive, since counselors couldn’t be sure that each mentee was receiving the same attention and benefiting equally. This new group situation helps remedy that issue and helps to ensure that students receive the maximum benefit from joining the program.

The views expressed in the above editorials represent the official position of The Heights, as discussed and written by the Editorial Board. A list of the mem-

bers of the Editorial Board can be found at bcheights. com/opinions.

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HEIGHTS

THE

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The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel. The Heights also reserves the right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accompany pieces submitted to the newspaper.

Letters and columns can be submitted online at www. bcheights.com, by e-mail to editor@bcheights.com, in person, or by mail to Editor, The Heights, 113 McElroy Commons, Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467.

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THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

LeYcèbè^1 JkXiè^ ;fne K_`j <c\Zk`fe 8 ;ldY\[$ ;fne L%J%8 M8C<I@< :?<I9<IF DREAMS - After another hard day at the old brain factory (that’s how we millennials say college nowadays) sometimes the only thing you can do is collapse on your bed and beg for the sweet release of dea—sleep. I mean sleep. Sinking into the covers, you feel your eyelids dragged down your cheeks, over your neck, around your back, and down to your toes. Everything goes black and then your childhood friend is standing next to you wearing a crinkled suit and carrying 17 black briefcases plastered with stickers reading “Latent Dezires and Tire Firez.” Also, President George H. W. Bush is standing next to you holding a pistol and muttering about internships. It appears as though you are dreaming. “Friend,” you say. “Moo muggets in the slip stream.” Your friend looks at you and smiles, “Let’s fly.” You both take off into the air, wind whipping past you as you swirl and twirl down a busy street. You laugh and rejoice as you realize that you’ve always been able to fly. And you’re Harry Potter. And all your dead loved ones are at the ice cream store that looks like a gigantic horse waiting to see you again. You land outside the store, rub your lightning scar, and turn to your friend. “This is amazing,” you say, slowly regaining your power of speech as tears of joy begin to slide down your cheeks and then evaporate in a cloud of light-blue smoke. Your friend turns to you, smiles slowly, and then melts into a gigantic bloody thumb-spider with the face of your third-grade teacher .............................

In the 1960s, student activists rallied behind the slogan: “the personal is political.” I don’t mean to steal their words, but recent events have shown me how true this refrain is. I would, however, like to make an amendment. In my experience, the personal hygiene is political. When I was prescribed my contact lenses, my eye doctor gave me a tutorial. We hunched over a small cosmetic mirror, a halo of fluorescent light shining back at us. My doctor placed the contact lens on my fingertip, and I studied it closely. It was a small watery curve, flimsy enough to fold at the slightest touch. Despite its transparency, it felt remarkably solid on my fingertip, and I wondered how it would ever disappear on my eye. My doctor gave me a nod, and the study ceased. I peeled back my right eyelid. This is the tricky part of contact lenses. Normally, when a foreign object charges at your eye, you look away or blink or turn your head. When you put in a contact lens, you have to look at the obtrusive thing squarely, without hesitation or fear. You touch your finger to your eye and you do not flinch, or you will have failed. Vulnerability has no place in optical care. When the contact hit my eye, I felt a cold, wet sting. I held my finger to my eye for a few more seconds until the burning faded to a soft simmer. Then I moved my finger away, blinked a few times, and looked up at my doctor. His face came into focus. I saw the network of wrinkles on his forehead and the glaring reflection of fluorescent light on his balding head. I almost laughed. “It’s that easy?” I asked. His eyes crinkled underneath thick, plastic-rimmed glasses. “It’s always easier for the ladies.” I laughed with him, though at whom I have no idea. My laugh felt stale in

my throat and my thoughts lingered on this moment as he showed me how to remove the contact and clean my lens case. In some respects, my doctor’s quip seems unsurprising. Putting in my contact lens felt eerily familiar. With my finger poised in front of my unblinking eye, I could almost see myself as an 11year-old girl, holding a tampon in one hand and a cheap handheld mirror in another. I saw myself again, eight years later, in my boyfriend’s bedroom. “It’s that easy?” I could have asked after we had sex for the first time. My transition to womanhood has been an education in accepting discomfort. I have learned to insert a tampon in a dimly lit Port-o-Potty, elbows banging against the plastic walls. I have learned not to wince when sex came too soon and too quick. I have learned to stare at myself in a mirror as I stab my eye with a contact lens.

Dp kiXej`k`fe kf nfdXe_ff[ _Xj Y\\e Xe \[lZXk`fe `e XZZ\gk`e^ [`jZfd]fik% I looked it up later. Two-thirds of contact wearers are women. It is easier for the ladies, or so it would appear. Perhaps this ease is learned. We can handle the discomfort or pain in a way that men have never had to, simply because we have been asked, again and again, to open our bodies up to the discomforting things of the world. Each time we are asked, we say yes. We stare at the obtrusive thing squarely, welcoming it in with steadied and unblinking eyes. Is there such a thing as too much tolerance? Too much acceptance? How much unpleasantness must we welcome in? As we barrel toward the November election, my eyes grow tired. They have seen Donald Trump brag about sexually assaulting women. They have seen him use sexist and petty language to demean Hillary Clinton. They have seen him

threaten to overturn Roe v. Wade. This election has tested the limits of discomfort I can accept, and frankly, my eyes have seen enough. I know that women’s bodies are practically public space. They bear the marks of a bloated cosmetics industry and a culture of sexual assault and intrusive political discourse. Every time I put in my contacts, I think about the blurred lines between my body and the world around it. Some days, it feels as though my body doesn’t even belong to me. Every time Trump opens his mouth and makes another crack about women’s bodies, I am reminded of just how much a single man can threaten my physical autonomy. We have accepted Trump into this election. We have stared him square in the face as he denies the value of women with one breath and then claims to support them with another. We have absorbed the hatred and intolerance with remarkable patience. We have been taught well. But in this election, with up to four Supreme Court seats hanging in the balance and the reality of a female president just within reach, we must unlearn this patience. Tampons and contact lenses are one thing. A man who brags about grabbing women by the p••sy is quite another. In a speech in New Hampshire, First Lady Michelle Obama called for an end to Trump’s rhetoric. She spoke directly to the women of the audience. “This is not something that we can ignore,” she said. “It’s not something that we can just sweep under the rug as just another disturbing footnote in a sad election season. … Maybe we’re afraid to be that vulnerable. Maybe we’ve grown accustomed to swallowing these emotions and staying quiet. … Now is the time for all of us to stand up and say enough is enough. This has got to stop right now.” As women and as voters, we must draw the line. We must look at Trump with our steadied and unblinking eyes, and we must finally say no.

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…………………. You turn and run. Behind you, a gigantic 1991 Buick Regal is speeding down the street, packed full of everyone you’ve ever cared about. “Help,” you scream. A large, burly arm sticks out the window and then points a thumb to the ground. “You’ve disappointed us all,” a voice says, before 17 human-sized praying mantises wearing football pads and pink thongs appear in the distance and come running for you. You try to run but can’t move. Using every inch of your willpower, you manage to lift your left foot in the air, move it half a centimeter, and then put it down again. As you try to scream, a small child walks up to you and tells you that academic advising meetings are coming up after Andrew Garfield and William Tyndale stop STEALING THE DAMN TOILET PAPER. The world grows calm for a second. The child smiles and your heart stops racing. Then his face falls off and you’re naked and 27 people are laughing at you and there are iguanas with shark teeth crawling up your leg and you’re falling and you’re falling and AHHHHHHHHHHHHH. SWEATY SHEETS - Gross.

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I<9<::8 DFI<KK@ Amid my midterm-induced, sleepdeprived reverie, I was awakened by a strange conversation taking shape in one of my classes. Out of a dark, caffeine-saturated cloud emerged my inquisitive spirit, prodding me to listen to the words materializing around me, and to the nervous laughter and incredulous looks appearing on the faces of my classmates. They’d been talking about Tocqueville. Yes, then I remembered, something to do with Tocqueville’s impression of American women—exceptionally independent and highly educated as girls, but alas extremely subordinated after accepting their place in the domestic sphere after marriage. But there was something I’d missed. The situation had escalated quickly. So quickly, in fact, that one bold student was now posing the question— through a series of persistent queries and counterarguments directed at stunned classmates—would society be better off if women had never entered the workforce? Once I registered what was happening, the black fog around my brain quickly dissipated as my indignation rose. The ﬁrst assertion was that women had lowered national wages. The second, that women are inherently more emotional and less rational than men, and therefore better suited to stay at home with the kids, in a world where such division of labor is necessary. To an extent, I even admired the kid for so persistently pursuing an argument so blatantly unpopular in the collegiate setting. But on the other hand, I was deeply annoyed. According to this line of thinking, the entry of women into the workplace has led to the deterioration of the family,

population decline, higher crime rates, and less civic and social involvement. In an attempt to control my womanly emotions and pursue the argument rationally, I decided I would do a little research on my own. For the sake of time, let us address the question of whether the number of women in the workforce, rising mostly after World War II and growing extremely rapidly ever since, has lowered wages overall. This is a complicated economic question that involves the consideration of many variables, and I am by no means an economist, but the reason I was so peeved was mainly that I had not been provided any substantial evidence pointing to a correlation between the entry of women into the workforce and decreased wages.

K_\ \ekip f] nfd\e èkf k_\ nfib]fiZ\ _Xj Xcjf k\e[\[ kf èZi\Xj\ k_\ >;G f] Zfleki`\j Xe[ \ogXe[\[ j\Zkfij f] \Zfefd`Z îfnk_% If the argument is just that increased competition for jobs decreases wages, then that doesn’t necessarily mean women should be the ones to leave the competition. In fact, findings have shown that women on average perform better than men not only in school, but also in the workplace. According to these reports, girls tend to focus more in school, receiving substantially higher grades on average in all subjects, and are as of last year more likely to have higher education degrees than men, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A recent study published by the American Psychological Association found that girls have received higher grades than boys in every subject for nearly a century. A study released by the Ponemon Institute found than women work harder and longer than men. The entry of women into the workforce has also tended to increase the GDP of coun-

tries and expanded sectors of economic growth. According to an Economist article, “Goldman Sachs calculates that, leaving all other things equal, increasing women’s participation in the labour market to male levels will boost GDP by 21% in Italy, 19% in Spain, 16% in Japan, 9% in America, France and Germany, and 8% in Britain.” Though I am a bit skeptical of such optimistic reports, which are fraught with so many overlapping technical and causative considerations, the plethora of research on the subject shows that the entry of women into the workforce has not had negative effects on economic productivity. I thought it would be fun in class to take the opposite side of my classmate’s argument and assume that women really are better workers—which is plausible, since they’ve been proven to be better students. So I asked my class whether, assuming this rationale is true, and accepting the fact that parents do need to partake in domestic and child-rearing responsibilities, would it not be more rational for men to increasingly insert themselves into the domestic sphere? No more nervous laughter from the class. Just silence. I don’t doubt that negative effects can arise when both parents work full-time jobs, but that’s still no reason to assume that domestic responsibilities can’t and shouldn’t be shared between a man and a woman. Viewed from this angle, it was easier to see that the logic is flawed and that individual considerations are more important than gender generalizations. I asked this mainly to amuse myself, because overall I think the individual is the most important factor, and that men and women aren’t really as different as some societies would have us think. The way my classmates reacted to the idea of men at home and women at work should be the same way people react to the opposite idea.

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IP8E ;L==P Something is rotten in the state of American politics. Opinion and speculation outplay reason and deliberation. The imaginary supersedes the incontrovertible; the polemic replaces the dialectic. The American public is withdrawing en masse from politics, creating a vacuum to be filled by a dysfunctional government in which compromise is the stuff of a bygone era and partisanship is the new normal. Congress is a dual universe. Both parties have a distinct set of what they believe are facts and realities about the economy, gun control, abortion, race, and so on. Forget finding solutions: they seldom agree on what the problems facing our country even are. This summer, Congress failed to pass legislation—from Zika funding to gun control—when minor ideological snags and petty partisanship sunk the whole ship. Reasonable governing and bipartisanship have taken a back seat to ideologically weaponized agendas. If someone brought either party undeniable evidence that the other’s plan would deliver better, cheaper, more efficient, publicly backed results, nothing would happen. Such is the lamentable state of modern-day politics. All of our ills were front and center in Las Vegas Wednesday at the television finale of Battle to be Leader of the Free World 2016. Amid the pejorative, juvenile nicknames and unending torrent of bile that both candidates slung at each other, Donald Trump incessantly peddled the hallmarks of his campaign— conspiracy, oft-repeated falsehoods, and dumbed-down rhetoric hollow of substance. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton dodged questions about the Machiavellian maneuvering and secrecy dogging her campaign, widening the gap between her private and public personas. Deceit and misinformation were the themes at our highest stage of political discourse—a sad reflection of our times. Americans view publicly elected officials in a negative light—the 113th Congress’s approval rating hovered at 15 percent, and President Barack Obama has struggled to hit or sustain 50 percent approval during his eight-year tenure. We can heap criticism on our politicians, and people like me can write scathing criticism all we want. But making a scapegoat of them doesn’t absolve us. We are part of the problem. We are steadily becoming a nation of political illiteracy and civic impotency, standing in stark contrast to the democratic project that Alexis de Tocqueville so adored. Why vote? Cue mid-20th century writer George Jean Nathan: “Bad officials are elected by good people who do not vote.” And being informed? Responds one of our earliest political theorists, Thomas Jefferson: “If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and will never be.” In short, any effective democracy requires an informed, engaged, and active citizenry. America’s record of voter turnout in modern history is abysmal, while the levels of misinformation are staggering. In 2014, a national survey conducted by the Annenberg Public Policy Center found that over a third of Americans cannot name a single branch of U.S. government. According to the Pew Center, less than half (48 percent) of America believes climate change is mostly due to human activity. From 2010 to 2015, a stable amount of one-fifth of Americans believed that Obama was born outside the country. If a voter won’t show up to the polls and a citizen can’t pass a ninth-grade civics test, why would either care what Congress is up to? And if one in five Americans has such a pernicious conviction that the president is a foreigner, would he or she even consider the merits of his proposals, or resoundingly reject them? It could be a case of the chicken or the egg—our collective withdrawal from politics is concurrent with a higher incidence of political paralysis on Capitol Hill. It is difficult to discern which came first. The first step we could take—a “yuge” one at that—is to be politically informed and civically engaged. Our lack of interest, profound ignorance, and downright contempt has indeed permeated the political system—how could it not? The presidential election—this one in particular—is a rare time when politics have the nation’s collective attention. The moment of the final debate, and perhaps the decisive moment of 2016, came when Trump refused to accept a cornerstone of democracy—the peaceful transition of power. The Founding Fathers are probably turning in their graves.

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THE HEIGHTS

A10

Monday, October 24, 2016

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The area around McElroy Commons on a Saturday afternoon in autumn, just as the leaves begin to change hues, is a familiar and relaxing scene at Boston College. The beautiful scenery is spotted with students walking to get food, talking, and calmly going about their days. Just as a peaceful Christmas morning is contrasted by the tangible excitement of children running down the stairs, these easygoing Saturdays at BC are occasionally juxtaposed with a swarm of ecstatic youth rushing off the bus and leaping into the arms of their beloved BC Bigs mentors. The Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay (BBBSMB/BB) and the Big Sister Association of Great Boston (BSA/BS) focus on connecting disadvantaged children with mentors as a way of providing these children with guidance, stability, positive role models, and ideally a brighter perspective for the future. BB/BS cultivates positive relationships by having match specialists pair a mentor, a big, with a mentee, a little. The match is made based on both partners’ personalities to ensure there is a good fit between bigs and their littles. The extension of this program, BC Bigs, serves as a connection between BB/BS, and incorporates the values of BC into the goals of BB/BS.

“[BC Bigs] is unique,” said Katie Sullivan, BC Bigs’s new program director. “We are partnering with existing organizations who have a different perspective and a long history of doing this kind of work.” The mentor relationship in this program is founded in and modeled around cultivating what BB/BS call the “six C’s” of child development, Sullivan explained. These six traits–caring, character, confidence, connection, competence, and curiosity–are the values which BC Bigs aims to instill these in the children from a young age through its two programs. The program aims to assist them in growing into successful adults, and to ensure the children gain as much as possible from their experience in the program. “The overall mission is to get BC students matched with kids in the Boston area and to build a strong relationship that goes both ways,” Nicole Panza, BC Bigs’s graduate assistant, said. The first of the two programs BC Bigs organizes is a school-based program, in which bigs take weekly walks or trips on public transport to spend time with their littles, either during recess or after school. There are currently six schools and one community center involved, with another in the pipeline to be incorporated soon. The school-based programs are built off of

bigs’ core values and centered around one-on-one interactions between bigs and their littles. The other program run by BC Bigs is the Franklin Field program, which transports littles from the Franklin Field housing development to BC for biweekly Saturday afternoons of activities. The first hour of this program involves a large group activity, which could be anything from scavenger hunts to talent shows, followed by one-on-one time between the bigs and littles. In both programs, it’s the one-onone time that allows the unique relationship between a big and a little to be formed, and the activities that take place are just as varied as the personalities of the littles. In the school-based programs, some matches enjoy playing sports and games outside, while others take it inside for arts and crafts. In the Franklin Field program, some prefer to shoot baskets or take a swim at the Plex, others prefer to get out and explore the campus, while some are happiest having a long lunch while talking with their big. No matter the activity, however, there is always plenty of fun to be had and an abundance of conversation. Emily Rodrigue, a group leader and MCAS ’17, noted that because many bigs are matched for the entirety of their time at BC, the relationships develop over multiple years, which makes them

particularly impactful. Similarly, bigs feel that the ability to be an influential role model–particularly in the lives of children who need them–is perhaps the most powerful aspect of being involved in this program. Maxwell Oldshein, a group leader alongside Rodrigue and MCAS ’17, repeatedly mentioned how being a part of the program changes not only the lives of the littles, but those of the bigs too. “You don’t realize how much of an impact [the littles] can have on you,” said Oldshein, reflecting on his time in the program. “They put your life into perspective, and you can see just how lucky you are.” Meaningful relationships like these, however, are not formed simply overnight. Rodrigue mentioned that in the beginning there are mostly “surfacelevel” conversations, as communication in the early period doesn’t always flow easily. In fact, several bigs have cited some struggles in the beginning of their relationships. “At first she was shy, and wouldn’t open up about anything going on, so that was definitely a challenge,” said Victoria Perron, a BC Bigs veteran and MCAS ’17. Perron also mentioned that it can be difficult to find things the two can both relate to, as the littles lives can seem very different compared to those of the bigs. Yet over time, as both the big and the

little get to know each other, and with a little perseverance from both parties, the relationships form into something more comfortable and more capable of evincing change and personal development. “All of the things we say that volunteering does ... not only is it helping the place you’re volunteering, but it’s helping you as a person develop,” Sullivan said. “All of that is magnified when you have a personal relationship with somebody.” The B C Bigs staff is hoping to improve the program is by creating a deeper sense of community. It’s making efforts to allow the Bigs to connect more with each other on campus, and the program is also trying to increase the impact of family groups, which are weekly reflection meetings for bigs held by group leaders. BC Bigs is also in the process of adding more Catholic schools to the program, in an effort to further align the campus organization with the Jesuit values of the University. While BC Bigs has definitively created a positive impact in its five years of existence, it is not content to remain stagnant. This year alone has seen the addition of a full-time staff for the first time in program history, the addition of more matches in both programs, and the incorporation of more schools. It is clear that program-wide growth is underway.

JAMES LUCEY / HEIGHTS EDITOR | JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Dfi\ K_Xe Jfle[1 K_\ K`d\c\jj 9\Xlkp f] Mèpc I\Zfi[j MADELEINE LOOSBROCK It’s a Sunday evening in October. My roommates and I are lying on our living room floor kind-of sort-of completing the weekend’s homework. In the background is the soft hum of Bon Iver on my hot pink Crosley turntable. The record player sits on a small stand by the window under a framed Vampire Weekend album, which we felt completed the retro aesthetic we’d planned for the space. Under the stand is a shelf where we keep our small assortment of records. I got most of my records from my father’s college collection of classics—The Stones, The Smiths, The Beatles. I ran across them while packing for school one summer, and decided they’d make good wall art for my dorm room. These records lived on my wall. They were purely art—concert posters would have had the same effect, but there’s something about owning a vinyl that a CD just can’t replicate. My interest in my father’s records came a few years after the original hipster vinyl revival, which began sometime between 2006 and 2009, almost 50 years

after its prime. While the record’s origin spans back to the 19th-century gramophone, its heyday was in the ’60s and ’70s, when rock ruled the country and hippie culture fueled the music industry. The 12-inch 33 1/2 RPM, long-playing record became the standard analog sound storage medium, and every record label around the country adopted it. Records were the best consumer-grade music people had access to, until CDs came along. When this happened, most big labels stopped producing LPs and converted completely to CDs, causing a momentary death of the vinyl record. Shortly after finding my dad’s collection, I remember Googling “record stores near me.” My best friend and I spent a summer afternoon driving around Minneapolis looking for these stores, only to find few still in existence. We went to a store called the Electric Fetus, where I purchased my first vinyl—Bon Iver’s For Emma, Forever Ago. I’d listened to the album more times than I could count on iTunes and Spotify, but to hold it in my hands, to make the exchange of cash for the music, brought a certain physicality to music that I’d never felt before. It’s no question that people are buy-

ing more vinyl, but their reasons for doing so are the bigger cultural phenomena. There appear to be three main reasons for buying vinyl—nostalgia, sound quality, and aesthetic. With these sects there also seems to be an age divide. Older people tend to buy vinyl out of nostalgia or dissatisfaction with digital sound quality, while younger people tend to enjoy the aesthetic of the record’s album art and the counterculture associated with it. The nostalgia makes sense. As CDs continue to die out and digital music dominates the industry, people who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s yearn more and more for the music of their youth. My dad often reminisces on the romance in saving up a month’s allowance to buy a record, and the novelty in placing the needle on the vinyl to watch it play. These are childhood memories, and it’s only human to wish for the innocence of childhood in the stress of adulthood. As far as sound goes, there’s great debate about vinyl versus digital sound quality. It’s hard to deny that the record has a fuller, more embodied sound than a track on a computer. There are imperfections in vinyl, a soft crackle in older records, a scratch here and there, that

add a unique character to something that contemporary technology has perfected. More than the sound, though, is the experience of listening to an album from start to finish. Most albums are still written with this intent, but are rarely listened to this way. With Spotify and iTunes and Pandora, it becomes less and less common to sit down and listen to an album all the way through. People create playlists of audio files that they don’t even own, mixing songs from Kanye to Frank Sinatra to The Alabama Shakes all in one sitting. The listening experience has drastically changed. A large portion of today’s American music-loving population never grew up listening to vinyl on a record player. They were given an iPod at age 10, and began curating playlists. Upon discovering the turntable, contemporary music aficionados have developed an appreciation for listening to music the way it was written, thus prompting the purchase of records. When I purchase these records, I physically own the music. It gives a feeling of particular permanence to my music that I’ve never felt with my digital library or even with my CDs, which are just printed digital copies anyway. In the

digital age, analog becomes the novelty. There’s a generation of people that have never owned music in the way you own music with a vinyl record, which is perhaps why its popularity is increasing at such a rapid rate. Placing For Emma on the Crosley and carefully lifting the needle to the edge of the record, I am prepared for an experience. I let go of the needle as it glides over the shiny black disk, crackling for several seconds before the music begins. One song ﬂows into another and the album tells a story—exactly how Justin Vernon wrote it. No shuﬄe. No skipping. The album bleeds heartbreak, solidarity, sadness. I’ve heard it thousands of times on my computer, but it wasn’t until I listened to the record that I understood the story, the artist’s intent. I have songs that I like more than others, and will continue to listen to them on my various playlists at the perfect sound quality Spotify Premium provides. But it is nice, once in a while, to just sit and experience a musical artifact that has climbed back to the forefront of American culture.

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SPORTS

MONDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2016 FOOTBALL

A FRUITLESS LOOP LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS STAFF

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across the country for its oﬀensive futility. His eyes funereal, Addazio noted the things that didn’t go his team’s way: injuries to Connor Strachan, Jonathan Hilliman, and, toward the end of the game, Patrick Towles; a

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Steve Addazio stepped solemnly into the Yawkey Athletic Center. His head down, his face taut, Addazio sat in front of the media to give a brief opening statement. Gone is the rambunctious King of the Dudes, the man who took social media by storm with hilarious Vines in 2013. Gone is the hungry man who demanded juice after an improbable upset victory over Southern California, or who eyed pizza after Boston College football’s record-breaking win against lowly Howard. In his place is a man whose program has been through the ringer in the last 12 months, one in the midst of an ACC losing streak mocked

EAGLES

20 28

ORANGE

strong performance from Syracuse quarterback Eric Dungey; an inability to pass the ball whatsoever. But when reminded that this Saturday was the ﬁnal day the Eagles would be favored in an ACC game for the rest of

the year, Addazio stuck to his message: that his team is close to ﬁguring it out. They’re just one or two plays away from putting the embarrassment behind them. “You can see where the places are to ﬁx them, you can see where they are,” Addazio said. “The fruit is there. We have got to grab the fruit.” But he knows what everyone knows. The Eagles couldn’t grab the fruit. They haven’t all season. And now, when they had the best chance yet this year to do so, they failed more painfully than they had all throughout

See BC vs. Syracuse, B3

HOCKEY

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WORCESTER, Mass. — There’s just something about the DCU Center that excites Jerry York. Nothing Boston College 6 about it is parHoly Cross 1 ticularly special. The stadium is just like all the others: drab, color-coordinated seats and some ice. The food isn’t great. And western Massachusetts is no one’s idea of a vacation destination. Normally it just means that Boston College men’s hockey has reached a regional. Worcester typically represents

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the ﬁrst step to the Frozen Four, the annual goal of York’s club. Yet it’s only the sixth game of the season. So why does York love making the 45-minute drive from Chestnut Hill? Because the Eagles just can’t stop winning there. With a 6-1 domination of its new hosts—College of the Holy Cross—the Eagles improved to 15-1 all-time at Kelley Rink West. It’s one of the easiest locks in all of sports. And York knows it very well. “Usually it’s later when we come,” York said. “We feel comfortable here, and we just enjoy playing at the DCU Center.” The Eagles (4-2-0) toppled the Crusaders (2-1-1) today without the usual suspects, too. None of the team’s top three returning scorers—Colin White, Austin Cangelosi, and Ryan Fitzgerald—found the

See BC vs. Holy Cross, B4

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JOSH MENTZER / HEIGHTS STAFF

Boston College women’s hockey has had a rough go of it this season. Well, rough in the context of the Eagles, who went on an Boston College 4 incredible 40-1 Quinnipiac 1 run last season. For other teams, a 3-2-2 record is just a slow start. It’s been a rebuilding year for the Eagles, and the frequent alterations of lines and pairings by BC’s coaches attest to that. But after a 4-1 win against Quinnipiac University, it appears that the Eagles are ready to take on the rest of the season

with a vengeance. The first game in the home-and-home series against the Bobcats (5-2-1) ended in a scoreless tie, and the stalemate continued into the first period at High Point Solutions Arena. The clash picked up in the second, when a tripping penalty for Abby Cleary handed BC (4-2-2, 3-1-0 Hockey East) its second power play of the day. The Eagles themselves had already gone on the penalty kill twice, but a collaborative effort between the offense and defense put them on the board. With Caitrin Lonergan acting as the fourth forward on the power play, Andie Anastos helped her get the puck within scoring range. Lonergan then passed it off to Toni Ann Miano, who slammed it into the goal, breaking the scoring dry spell for the two teams. It didn’t take too long for the Bobcats

See BC vs. Quinnipiac, B4

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KFD ;<MFKF Though Boston College football’s on-ﬁeld product has been lacking the last two seasons, the program has taken fans back to better days by honoring heroes of years past. On Saturday against Syracuse University, current Carolina Panthers linebacker Luke Kuechly had his jersey retired at halftime, and Atlanta

Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan will receive the same honor against the University of Connecticut later in the year. I love that BC is honoring two of its greatest legends with halftime ceremonies this season. At worst, it sells tickets and gets reminiscent fans reacquainted with BC football. At best, it creates a sense of excitement around the future of the program for fans and recruits alike (and still sells tickets). But I think the University can go even further to memorialize its storied athletics history. The time is right for BC to erect another statue at Alumni Stadium.

INSIDE SPORTS THIS ISSUE

Now, with one already dedicated to BC football’s greatest legend in Doug Flutie, who should be honored with the second? Ryan and Kuechly are two of the best, most gifted, hardest-working players to ever put on college football uniforms. They absolutely deserve the jersey retirement ceremonies they’ve been oﬀered this year, and then some. But, to be frank, they’re kind of boring. Kuechly and Ryan are lead-by-example guys. They’re modest, well-kempt, straight-edge players. These are all absolutely honorable traits to have, but

they’re mundane. People don’t want to pose next to a bronze sculpture of Kuechly slaving over notes from his ﬁnancial statement analysis class in the wee hours of the morning the day before the big exam. BC needs to build a statue of a player whose spirit, passion, and relentless drive embody the program. BC needs to build a statue of a player with swagger, personality, and poise. BC needs to build a statue of Mark Herzlich. For those unacquainted with Herzlich’s story, he was a linebacker for BC from 2006 to 2010. A standout player

Field Hockey: Eagles Finish No. 3

Women’s Soccer: BC Falters to Virginia

With two wins, including one in double OT on Sunday, BC clinched its highest ACC berth..B2

The Eagles scored first, but Virginia notched three in a row to hurt BC’s playoff hopes....B2

during his time in maroon and gold, Herzlich was ACC Defensive Player of the Year and a finalist for the Butkus Award in 2008. He was expected by many to declare for the draft after the season (and some pundits projected him to be drafted early in the first round), but he returned to BC for one final year. In 2009—what should have been his triumphant senior season—Herzlich was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer, which forced him to miss the entire year. In the United States, about one in 1 million people is

See Mark Herlizch, B3

TU/TD...................................B2 Volleyball..................................B2 Men’s soccer..............................B4

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

FIELD HOCKEY

THUMBS UP BASKETBALL IS BACK  The NBA season kicks oﬀ this week. The Knicks visit the Cavaliers to start the season, followed by the Spurs visiting the Warriors. We’ll let you in on a little secret, guys—two of the teams playing on opening night will meet again in the Finals. JEFF’S JOURNEY  Los Angeles Rams coach Jeff Fisher is approaching a very important career milestone —capturing the No. 1 spot on the all-time professional coaching losses list. With just five games to go, it is entirely possible that he will achieve the honor this season. Go Jeﬀ! KEENUM’S GIANT MIS TAKE With time running out and the Rams down to the Giants by one touchdown, Case Keenum launched a pass into the endzone. The problem was, there wasn’t a Ram anywhere in sight. The Giants intercepted it in the endzone to seal the score.

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down the line, preventing BC defenders from poking the ball away, and tucked a shot into the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead. The Eagles (9-7, 3-3 Atlantic Coast) refused to quit, earning several penalty corners and shots in the minutes immediately following the goal. Emily McCoy tested PC’s goalkeeper Megan Guilbert twice in a two-minute span within the first six minutes of the game. McCoy’s first shot went high. Guilbert handled her second shot, recording her first save of the day. Both teams seemed to score at various points in the first half, but the officials whistled the goals off. Providence’s goal was discounted after officials determined that the Friars had broken the rules on a penalty corner. BC seemed to score in the final seconds of the half, but the officials ruled that time had expired before the goal. With these goals discounted, Providence took a 1-0 lead into halftime. Neither team managed to dominate in the half. Brittany Sheenan, Leah Frome,

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Boston College field hockey entered this weekend with an even record at 7-7, facing one ACC matchup against Wake Forest and one non-conference contest against Providence College. It was a successful weekend for the Eagles, who fought until the very end of a double-overtime victory against the Friars just two days after recording a win against the Demon Deacons. The Eagles took the field against Providence on Sunday, the day after the ACC announced that they would be the No. 3 team in the upcoming ACC Field Hockey Championship, BC’s highest-ever ranking in the tournament. Perhaps it was this good news that fueled the Eagles through a grueling, 100-minute long contest against the Friars. Providence (12-5, 4-2 Big East) opened up scoring very early in the game. Two minutes in, Sylvia Miller found herself with possession of the ball along the baseline by Audra Hampsch and BC ’s goal. She dribbled

THUMBS DOWN CRAZY COACHING - As tensions exploded in football’s matchup with Syracuse, the benches cleared for a ﬁght. In the scuﬄe, a Syracuse coach placed his hands on what looks like Will Harris and shoved him. This is inexcusable and should be addressed this week.

AMELIE TRIEU / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Ymke Rose Gote shields and protects the ball from Brittany Dickinson.

RAINY GAME DAY - The Orange brought rain with it when it visited Chestnut Hill this weekend. Those students and fans who did come out for the game didn’t last long, chased away by poor play and chilly, rainy weather. After all, who wants to watch football struggle in the pouring rain when there’s Netﬂix to catch up on? All those episodes of LOST aren’t going to watch themselves, guys.

SPORTS in SHORT

Like Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down? Follow us @HeightsSports

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penalty corner in the 20th minute. Haverhals tipped the ball in on the left post, sneaking the ball past Wake Forest goalkeeper Isla Bint. The lead didn’t last long for BC, however. Nicola Pluta received the ball to the right of the goal. She fired a shot past Hampsch to equalize the score at 1-1. Wake Forest continued to test BC throughout the rest of the half. Julie Grashoff and Pluta forced more shots on Hampsch, who handled each shot easily. As the final seconds of the half ticked away, the Eagles managed to score again to carry a 2-1 lead into halftime. Emily McCoy took a penalty corner and passed it along to Haverhals. Haverhals gathered the ball in and fired a shot past Bint for her second goal of the game. The first 25 minutes of the second half saw action from both teams, but neither team actually scored until the 66th minute. Matherson passed the ball along to Lytle on the right side of the goal. Lytle fired a shot past Bint to cushion BC’s lead at 3-1. The cushion goal came up huge in the end, as the Demon Deacons managed to score another goal in the final seconds of the game. Grashoff received the ball from a penalty corner and tucked a shot past Hampsch to bring the score to 3-2 in BC’s favor. Doton praised her team after the game. “I think overall it was a great team win,” she told BCEagles.com. “Any ACC opponent we face is going to bring it.” The Eagles enjoyed a successful weekend overall, earning a conference win and then battling to the final seconds of a competitive game against Providence to earn two wins on the weekend.

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Boston College women’s soccer faced a tough matchup when it traveled down to Charlottesville, Va., for a contest Boston College 2 against Virginia 3 the No. 8 University of Virginia this weekend. The Cavaliers entered the game having won three of their previous four contests, with their one loss to powerhouse Duke. The Eagles entered the game having lost their previous three games. The momentum did not change for the two teams, as UVA fought to a 3-2 victory over BC. BC (10-7-1, 2-6 Atlantic Coast) started out strong, recording the first shot of the game barely a minute into play when Gaby Carreiro tested UVA’s goalkeeper, Morgan Stearns. The shot could not pass Stearns, who made the first save of the game to prevent BC from taking an early lead. She was less lucky just a couple of minutes later. Barely five minutes into the game, McKenzie Meehan received the ball

in the center of the box, just 8 yards out from the goal. She fired a shot past Stearns, who was unable to collect the ball, giving BC an early 1-0 lead. It appeared that Meehan injured herself on the play, as she left the game following her goal and did not return. Although they faced an early deficit, the Cavaliers (12-3-2, 5-22 Atlantic Coast) did not slump. They would take the next five shots of the game, with one opportunity blocked, one out wide and one out high. The other two shots, including a header off a cross, were safely collected by Alexis Bryant. Hayley Dowd managed another opportunity for the Eagles when she ripped a shot on Stearns in the 13th minute, but the ball sailed out wide. After her shot, both goalkeepers had a couple of minutes without any real tests. UVA would break the momentary stalemate with a corner kick and another couple of shots, although none of the opportunities were on frame. This pattern continued throughout the remainder of the first half. Each team managed to create at

ACC Football Standings 8kcXek`Z

the period. The roles reversed in the second overtime period, as the Eagles shut the Friars down, refusing to concede a shot. Meanwhile, BC attacked Guilbert and the Providence defense repeatedly throughout the period. Frederique Haverhals managed two shots early in the period, with Guilbert recording one save and the other shot sailing wide. Eryn McCoy also took a shot, but couldn’t keep the ball on frame. BC created chances for itself with penalty corners throughout the period, but as the seconds ticked away the Eagles just couldn’t find the back of the net. If the second overtime period ended with the score still tied, the teams would go to penalty strokes to determine the winner. With 52 seconds remaining in the period, Emily McCoy found herself with possession of the ball by the Providence goal. She lured Guilbert out toward her before sending the ball flying towards the right goalpost. Lytle found herself in the right place at the right time, deflecting the ball into the back of the net to seal the last-minute double-overtime victory for the Eagles. “It took us a little bit to get going in the game,” head coach Kelly Doton told BCEagles.com after the game. “We came out and battled, and the biggest thing is we got the victory.” The hard-fought, gritty win came just two days after the Eagles defeated ACC opponent Wake Forest (8-7, 0-6 Atlantic Coast). BC won by only one goal in this game, too, but it didn’t come down to the wire this time, as the Eagles fought to a 3-2 victory over the Demon Deacons. Haverhals scored first to give BC a 1-0 lead halfway through the first half. The Eagles were awarded a

WOMEN’S SOCCER

9P 8EE89<C JK<<C< COSTLY GOAL - McKenzie Meehan scored early when women’s soccer played Virginia, but it came at a cost. Meehan appeared to injure herself on the play—she left the game and did not come back. This would be a huge loss for women’s soccer.

Kaitie Fink, and Emily McCoy combined for six shots in the half. The Eagles also had six penalty corners in the half. Meanwhile, the Friars finished with four first-half shots (including the goal) and three penalty corners. The second half saw an uptick in the action. The Friars’ Kali Kilmer tested BC with an early shot, but Hampsch managed it easily. Adrienne Houle got her stick on the ball following a penalty corner, ripping a shot towards the goal, but it bounced off of the post. BC took advantage of a golden opportunity in the 52nd minute of the game. The Eagles were awarded a penalty corner. Lucy Lytle stuck her stick out as the ball approached her, tipping it past Guilbert into the back of the net for the equalizer. With the game tied at 1-1, both teams doubled down defensively. Emily McCoy managed another shot, but it ricocheted off of the post. Her sister Eryn McCoy ripped a shot at Guilbert, but the goalkeeper handled it easily. She was also unfazed by an opportunity from Brooke Matherson, making the save to preserve the tie and keep the Friars in the game. Meanwhile, Providence failed to get a single shot off after BC’s goal, although it was awarded two penalty corners at the end of regulation. The teams headed into the first 15-minute overtime period determined to earn the golden goal and capture a gritty victory. PC recorded the first shot when Houle ripped the ball wide of the goal. Soon after Houle’s shot went wide, Hampsch kept the Eagles in it after saving shots from both Houle and Kilmer. The Eagles struggled to create opportunities in the first overtime period, failing to test Guilbert with a single shot in

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least a couple of opportunities, but none of them amounted to anything. The biggest moment in the half came when Bryant faced a penalty kick from the Cavaliers in the 33rd minute. Alexis Shaffer lined up against Bryant, looking to equalize the score for UVA. She just could not place the ball correctly, as Bryant recorded another save to preserve the Eagles’ lead. The lead wouldn’t last very long for BC as the second half began. Just six minutes into the second half, UVA was awarded another penalty kick. Once again, Shaffer lined up against Bryant. This time, however, Bryant couldn’t make the save. Shaffer’s shot found the back of the net, tying the game at 1-1 for UVA. Shaffer’s goal opened the floodgates for the Cavaliers. UVA continued to test Bryant and her defense, recording shots and corner kicks in the minutes immediately following the goal. With all of their opportunities, it didn’t take long for the Cavaliers to take the lead. Just five minutes after Shaffer’s goal, Jasmine Wright received the ball almost 20

Numbers to Know

yards out. She fired a shot off low and to the right. Bryant lunged for the ball, but just couldn’t get her fingers on it. Barely 10 minutes into the second half, UVA rode a wave of momentum and took a 2-1 lead. Despite the momentum, the Cavaliers seemed to stall for a while after the second goal. Lauren Berman managed a shot for the Eagles, but it sailed wide of the goal. UVA recorded several shots, but none of them proved too difficult for Bryant and her defense until the 74th minute. The ball hit off BC and went out of bounds along the goal line, giving the Cavaliers a corner kick. Montana Sutton lined up to take the kick. Her ball was perfectly placed for teammate Kristen McNabb. McNabb beat her defender and got her head on the ball, sending it past Bryant into the back of the net and increasing UVA’s lead to 3-1. Facing a multi-goal deficit late in the game, BC didn’t give up. The Eagles continued to test the Cavaliers, ultimately scoring one more goal. With just about 10 minutes

remaining in the game, UVA’s Tina Iordanou committed a hard foul just outside the box, earning a yellow card in the process. Carreiro lined up to take the free kick. She placed the ball perfectly, sending it past Stearns into the back of the net. There wasn’t much to celebrate, however, as UVA still held a 3-2 lead. The Cavaliers preserved this lead for the remainder of the game to finish with the hard-fought victory. UVA outmuscled BC in almost every single category of play. The Cavaliers recorded 22 total shots, with eight on frame, compared to BC’s seven total shots, five of which were on goal. And the Cavaliers earned 13 corner kicks, while the Eagles only managed three. Bryant finished her day with five saves, all of which came in the first half. Stearns recorded three saves throughout the game. With the loss, BC is riding a four-game losing streak at the very end of the season. The Eagles must find a way to gain momentum and turn things around heading into postseason play.

Quote of the Week

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THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

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B3 FOOTBALL

Saturday By the Numbers

Mark Herlizch, from B1

diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma. The five-year survival rate has improved substantially over the past few decades, but the disease still kills about 40 percent of those in Herzlich’s age range who contract it. Thus, Herzlich required extensive treatment, and the chemotherapy caused him to lose all of his hair. But he fought, and he fought, and he fought. And eventually, he won. On ESPN’s College Gameday on a fall night in 2009, right before a nationally televised game between BC and Florida State at Alumni Stadium, Herzlich announced that he was cancer-free. The Eagles would go on to win the game over the Seminoles, 2821, in Herzlich’s honor. Though his hair still hadn’t grown back at the time, he was a fixture on the BC sideline during games that season, cheering as if he hadn’t missed a beat. In 2010, Herzlich would prove that to be the case. Herzlich played in every game at linebacker the next season, turning in another stellar performance and leading BC to an appearance in the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl. Though he went undrafted in the 2011 NFL Draft, Herzlich signed with the New York Giants shortly after and has played for the team ever since. Not only did Herzlich inspire fans with his story, but he inspired his teammates every day. Herzlich’s absence from the lineup opened up a spot for Kuechly, a true freshman at the time, to start. Kuechly shined from the first day, and the two formed a formidable linebacking tandem when Herzlich returned in 2010. “Mark kept us grounded in perspective,” Kuechly said. “Watching him go through chemo and battle cancer, you understand that we’re all playing a game. Mark’s energy and enthusiasm through the whole ordeal really inspired us all to play harder.” Herzlich, who was just as successful as Kuechly and Ryan during his time at BC, had a personality that towered over his physical body. He would smear eyeblack on his face in the fashion of a superhero mask. Once his hair grew back from the cancer treatments, he grew (and still maintains) a mohawk. Just as Flutie’s classic gameclinching pass against the University of Miami was one of the University’s most iconic moments, Herzlich’s victorious battle against cancer (in addition to his stellar on-field career and his booming personality) is the stuff of legend at BC. He deserves to have a statue outside of Alumni Stadium. Flutie’s only concern? That Herzlich’s statue would overshadow his own existing one. “Man, he’s a Greek god,” Flutie said of Herzlich, who was friendly with Flutie’s nephew Billy at BC. “I’m just like a little kid on the corner compared to him.” Herzlich perfectly embodies the spirit of BC football. He was a tough player who would grind it out every Saturday afternoon, no matter the circumstances. He played with unwavering passion, he won with unmatched style, and he exuded an unbelievable level of ferociousness that few have matched on the Alumni Stadium turf. These qualities are exactly the ones that need to be breathed back into the program. By honoring Herzlich with his own statue, BC would honor a deserving candidate and show future recruits what being an Eagle is all about.

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passing

Patrick towles:

eric dungey:

4 14, 45 yards, 1 int

32 39, 434 yards, 3 td, 1 int

Rushing

patrick towles:

eric dungey:

10 att, 104 yards, 1 td

17 att, 54 yards

davon jones:

dontae strickland:

14 att, 66 yards

12 att, 32 yards

rECEIVING

RECEIVING

michael walker:

amba etta-tawo:

3 REC, 40 YARDS

10 rec, 144 yards, 1 td

charlie callinan:

steve ishmael:

2 REC, 19 yards

8 rec, 108 yards, 1 td

8^Xèjk Ë:lj\# 9: Cfj\j @kj 9\jk J_fk Xk Xe 8:: Nè BC vs. Syracuse from B1 this trying 2016 season. They had every opportunity on a rainy homecoming Saturday afternoon against their biggest rivals on the football field. But they simply couldn’t slow down the high-powered Orange offense, nor could they muster enough points, in a 28-20 loss. With the defeat, BC has now dropped 12 consecutive games in the ACC. The Eagles (3-4, 0-4 Atlantic Coast) began the game with an eye on that fruit, showing a brand of fight that eluded them in blowout losses to Clemson and Virginia Tech. On the opening drive for Syracuse (4-4, 2-2), Dungey made a poor pass down the middle of the field right into the hands of Will Harris. The safety, who has had a rough season in coverage, dashed down the middle of the field for 60 yards. He cut to the sidelines with only Dungey to beat rather than going to the middle. Showing frustration over his pick, Dungey ripped Harris to the ground out of bounds. Panic ensued as both benches cleared. Replays showed that a Syracuse coach may have put his hands on a BC player. Addazio was visibly livid after the game about the incident, yet did not want to jump to conclusions as he hadn’t seen a replay. “I think there’s some stuff on the video that will need to be addressed on that play,” Addazio said. “Some stuff went down over there that I could see myself, and that’s going to be addressed over there. … Let’s let the proper people take a look at it and make the proper decision.” Like against Clemson, the turnover set the Eagles up with prime position,

only this time against a defense that has routinely struggled to shut down even its worst opponents. Yet on 3rd-andshort, Patrick Towles failed to grab the fruit. He had a running lane wide open, but instead decided to throw the ball. Whether the receiver caught it didn’t matter—Towles was well past the line of scrimmage. A prime scoring opportunity led to a 30-yard Mike Knoll field goal. Yes, it was three points, but it was another four left on the field that really stung the Eagles. Then the Orange is the New Fast offense came alive. Under new head coach Dino Babers, Syracuse employs a fast-paced, no-huddle scheme designed to make sure defenses can never take a breath. He unleashed his biggest weapons against a BC secondary that has struggled to take down the best the ACC has to offer. Dungey repeatedly mixed his passes and runs, efficiently balancing when to go to his many weapons and when to tuck it and run. In total, Dungey finished with 488 yards of offense by himself, 434 of which were through the air. “I think the quarterback is the real deal,” Addazio said of Dungey. “You know, he made some plays to win that game.” It wasn’t without the help of BC’s now-porous secondary. Dungey spread the ball around primarily to four different receivers, all of whom had over 70 yards. Steve Ishmael went over the top of John Johnson to get one foot down in the end zone. Amba EttaTawo made a one-handed grab and pushed Kamrin Moore to the ground on a 68-yard pass, too. Yet the Orange just kept BC in it. Myles Willis showed off his incredible speed with an 89-yard kickoff-return

touchdown. Cole Murphy missed a 40-yard field goal. Towles even did his best Tyler Murphy impression with a perfect 75-yard play fake touchdown run, one which ultimately cost him the fourth quarter because of a pulled hamstring and forced backup Darius Wade to play with the game on the line. Instead, the Eagles failed to execute. No play better exemplifies their struggles than the final one of BC’s second drive of the third quarter. The Eagles drove down the field largely on the ground, mixing in jet sweeps and off-tackle runs. Towles rarely went through the air—something he couldn’t do for most of the game—except for one pass to Michael Walker in the flats that went for 17 yards. On 3rd-and-12 from Syracuse’s 20, Towles went back to Walker. The sophomore bobbled the ball, turning upfield before securing possession. It bounced out of his hands and into those of Parris Bennett. Between that and Towles’s inexcusable past the line of scrimmage penalty, BC got three points when it should have had another 14. “Those are just two right off the top of my head that are just glaring,” Addazio said. “They’re right in front of you to be had. I mean, they’re touchdowns any way you shake that stick. In a game like this, those two touchdowns matter, obviously.” Yet the Eagles couldn’t grab the fruit. They got their opportunities and repeatedly failed against a team they should have beaten. And because of that, they’re staring down the gauntlet of yet another winless ACC season, and little certainty of what lies ahead.

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR (TOP, MIDDLE) | LIZZY BARRETT / HEIGHTS STAFF (BOTTOM, LEFT)

A fan wearing an Eagle hat looks on in sadness during BC’s 28-20 loss to Syracuse. The offense struggled, as quarterback Patrick Towles (8, top) pulled his hamstring after a 75-yard touchdown run.

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

MEN’S SOCCER

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Men’s soccer hasn’t scored a goal in two weeks. Since a 1-0 win over Pittsburgh on Friday, Oct . 7, Boston College 0 BC has Wake Forest 1 failed to find the back of the net over a four-game skid, in which it has lost three games and tied one. The most recent loss came Saturday night at the hands of No. 2 Wake Forest (12-2-2, 51-1 Atlantic Coast), which only needed one goal to defeat the Eagles (6-6-2, 2-3-2). The lack of form is not just a recent dip in performance. Since starting 4-1-0 and opening conference play with a win against Duke, the Eagles are 2-5-2. While they have played

well against top-five teams—tying both Louisville and Clemson—they have dropped points to Harvard and Connecticut. Outside of a five-goal outburst against Albany in September, BC hasn’t scored more than one goal in a match since its third game of the year. The team just can’t seem to find the back of the net, but against Wake, it wasn’t for lack of chances. Wake Forest dominated the first half by all measures, keeping a lion’s share of possession and sending 13 shots toward goalkeeper Cedric Saladin. Saladin had an exceptional half with seven saves, three of which came in rapid succession, just 10 seconds apart. Despite the superiority of the home team, BC had six shots on goal and forced the opposing

goalie Alec Ferrell into three saves. The Demon Deacons took advantage of the best chance of the half when forward Jon Bakero slipped past the defense for a breakaway goal, beating Saladin to his right, in the 19th minute. BC turned the tables in the second half and took the game to Wake Forest in search of an equalizer. In a complete reversal, the Eagles had seven shots, while allowing just one shot from the Deacons that was off target. BC’s first big opportunity of the match came in the 55th minute, when Ferrell denied Zeiko Lewis at point-blank range, and Lewis’s second-chance header went over the bar. BC’s other big chance of the game came in the 79th minute,

when a Callum Johnson freekick from 30 yards out forced Ferrell into a diving save to the left—his fifth and final save of the half. Despite an abundance of talent in attack, the Eagles have yet to find a winning combination. Leading goal-scorer Max Schulze-Geisthovel broke out early and picked up the majority of minutes at striker for a six-game stretch, but after picking up a knock and missing the Clemson game, he has only played 30 minutes at UConn and 20 minutes against Wake Forest. With Trevor Davock still yet to find a goal this year, BC opted to move Mohammed Moro up from defense to outside midfield, pushing Davock to the bench and Ike Normesinu to forward alongside Simon Enstrom. Dav-

ock and Enstrom looked to be potent strike partners, as they put in a great showing against Clemson, but after another goalless game at UConn, head coach Ed Kelly has once again moved things around. While they haven’t been scoring much, they still have been in every game thanks to solid performances from the defense. Saladin has been outstanding in net, while Tommy Gudmundsson has replaced Len Zeugner as the towering presence in back. Younes Boudadi has locked down the right back role, while Josh Forbes has also been impressive. Against Wake, the defense showed great resolve to shut down the Deacons in the second half, allowing only one off-target shot and keeping themselves in the game.

The game ended on a sour note for the defense, however, as Abe Bibas received a red card with nine seconds remaining for a hard foul, limiting the depth and forcing Moro back to his usual spot. On the bad end of the defensive spectrum, there is the five goal drubbing at the hands of UNC and a 5-3 outlier win against Albany. Other than that, BC has given up two goals four times, going 1-3 in those games, and has given up one goal or none eight times. The problem is that BC has only picked up one win from the last five games in which they’ve conceded a goal or less. With two games remaining, BC’s proven goalscorers of the past need to show up to keep their season alive.

MEN’S HOCKEY

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scoresheet. What’s more, the Eagles actually lost White for much of the game. The star center and Ottawa Senators first-round pick got shaken up on a collision and hurt his right shoulder. After the game, he had a bandage over his nose. As a precautionary measure, York pulled him from the game, especially with a midweek match against Merrimack coming up on Tuesday. No matter for the Eagles, who suddenly have been showing a lot of depth. Five different players found the back of the net, including two for the first time in their careers. Mike Booth got the party started with his first collegiate goal. The freshman from Carey, Ill., launched the puck top shelf after deking a couple of times in front of the net. His goal put BC up 1-0 at 14:33 in the first. With time expiring in the opening frame, Casey Fitzgerald—BC’s highest-scoring blue liner from last year—doubled the lead. He tipped in a dribbling pass from Zach Walker to demoralize the Crusaders heading into the locker room. Luke McInnis also got his first goal as an Eagle against the Crusaders. In the second, McInnis, the son of BC assistant coach Marty McInnis, showed the poise of a 15-year NHL veteran. He baited HC goaltender Paul Berrafato into

coming closer to him by holding the puck in a wound-up formation at the left circle. When Berrafato bit, McInnis made him pay. Five minutes later, one of the team’s lone veterans, Matthew Gaudreau, tallied one of his own, tipping it in from Michael Kim. The captain, Chris Calnan, added his first of the season on a power play early in the third. He tipped it in from the left of Berrafato on a pass from Graham McPhee. Fitzgerald put the icing on the cake with a perfect goal in stride on a no-look pass from Gaudreau behind the net. The strong play of Fitzgerald and Kim in particular, both offensively and defensively, thrilled the longtime coach of the Eagles. “I think they’re coming up strong, and they have to,” York said of the importance of those two. “I’ve always thought that from the blue line back is how you have to build your club.” Equally as splendid was the performance of Joe Woll in goal. The freshman netminder for the Eagles saved 25 of the 26 shots that came his way, the final goal coming only in garbage time. He expertly manned the crease, dashing back and forth as Holy Cross fired at him. Repeatedly, the Crusaders tried to challenge Woll’s glove side by coming up hard on the right before making a late pass to an expectant forward on his left. Every time, Woll

stuffed them. His most impressive sequence came with under two minutes to go. Woll faced two shots in under 10 seconds from the opposite side of the ice. The first, Woll lunged on his stomach to the left. The other, he perfectly deflected with his right shoulder. And, between him and Ryan Edquist, who shut down Colorado College on Friday, the Eagles are starting to forget Thatcher Demko. Well, maybe they haven’t gone that far yet, but Holy Cross certainly won’t forget about Woll any time soon. “There’ll be some Crusaders shaking their heads about how some shots didn’t become goals,” York said with a laugh. Despite the score, York was impressed with the play of Holy Cross, a program largely coming into its own. He thinks recruits should be enamored with Holy Cross’s combination of great academics, a lovely campus, and David Berard, a coach you want to play for. With Notre Dame leaving Hockey East after this season, York sees the Crusaders as the program to give the conference 12 teams again. “If the fans keep coming, they have a chance to become a member of [Hockey East],” York said. But don’t be fooled by York’s welcoming attitude. He just wants the Eagles to come back to the DCU Center more often.

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Freshman Graham McPhee, who tallied three assists on Saturday, battles for the puck against a Holy Cross defender.

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Throughout four games, a lot of things have gone right for Boston College men’s hockey in a 2016Colorado College 1 17 seaBoston College 4 son that began with much uncertainty. The Eagles have seen impressive work out of their two new goaltenders. They’ve broken in several freshmen on defense, like Jesper Mattila, Connor Moore, and Michael C amp oli. And they’ve held their own against some of the nation’s best teams, even earning an upset victory against then-No. 3 Denver. The only thing that hasn’t worked is the power play. Last season, the Eagles finished ninth on the man advantage, converting on 36 of their 168 chances. Entering the night, BC sat dead last in all of college hockey. The team was tied with three other teams—Minnesota, St. Cloud State, and Mercyhurst—for not having a goal on the man advantage. Yet the Eagles’ 0-for-23 mark was, by far, the worst in the nation. After the game, head coach Jerry York was in disbelief at that statistic. Only because he thought it was too low, that is. “It felt like 0-for-53,” York said. “Is that really all it was, 0for-23? Well, good.” So, in their home opener Friday against Colorado College, the Eagles scored on their first two power plays. And the game-changer was none other than Colin White. With two goals—one on the power play—and an assist, White showed off the skills that made him a first-round pick of the Ottawa Senators two years ago. His play, coupled with an aggressive penalty kill, gave the Eagles a 4-1 victory over Colorado College. Despite the final score, the Tigers (1-3-0) actually kicked off the scoring parade. The Eagles left Ryan Edquist out to dry early in his first career start by getting back-to-back penalties to start the first.

Edquist, a freshman from Lakeville, Minn., held his own on the first penalty, but Nick Halloran made BC (3-2-0) pay by the second. He took in a rebound off of a Casey Fitzgerald shorthanded attempt, going down the near boards to launch a wrister from the faceoff circle past Edquist’s left shoulder. But the Eagles—and White— responded immediately. Earning a penalty of their own from a Cole Josefchak interference call, BC bombarded CC goaltender Alex Leclerc. Ryan Fitzgerald set up White’s goal by sending him a pass off the boards. White went low on Leclerc’s right pad, knotting the game up at one. “He gets one, and he feels good about himself,” York said of his superstar, who had only notched one goal through his first four games after leading the team last season. On their second power play of the game, the Eagles came out of the gate sluggish, unable to complete crisp passes. The momentum changed when Casey Fitzgerald—BC’s top offensive blue liner—sniped the puck from deep in the left circle to give them a 2-1 lead into the locker room. York believes that the early season yips were an aberration for the Eagles, and that scoring the first two will give the team confidence on special teams moving forward. “It’s like in baseball, when you go 0-for the doubleheader, you come back the next day and get a couple of big hits,” York said. “Once you get one really good opportunity, it leads to more opportunities.” By the second period, the Eagles took off on the offensive. With his family in from Tampere, Finland, Jesper Mattila notched his first collegiate goal. Initially, it appeared that Mattila was attempting to get a quick deflection off Leclerc or force a save that would lead to an offensive-zone faceoff. Instead, he got a chance to celebrate. Immediately following the goal, Mattila jumped into the arms of

fellow freshmen Mike Booth and Zach Walker, causing all three to fall to the ice. But like a Broadway diva, White stole the show yet again with his otherworldly ability. Scott Savage sparked White’s second goal by attempting a clear. When Ben Israel whiffed on the deflection, White used his NHL-caliber speed to outskate everyone down the near boards. He went top shelf on Leclerc, forcing the goaltender to depart for backup Derek Shatzer. Dominant play on the penalty kill helped lead to a BC victory as well, particularly from defensemen Casey Fitzgerald and Michael Kim. On one play, Halloran and Branden Makara chased down Kim on a 2-on-1, with Fitzgerald trailing far behind. Halloran aimed for a shot, but Kim jammed his body in between Edquist and the offensive duo for the Tigers enough to make him dish it to Makara. That gave Fitzgerald enough time to shove Makara out of Edquist’s way, and send the puck down the ice. The play ultimately led to the penalty that created Fitzgerald’s goal. In total, Fitzgerald and Kim helped the Eagles stop Colorado College on 8-of-9 power plays. “Mike Kim came in halfway for us last year so he’s technically still a freshman,” York said, “and Casey Fitzgerald is just an outstanding defenseman.” Of course, York would have preferred if his young Eagles squad hadn’t given the Tigers that many chances on the power play. Nine penalties, one of which was a game misconduct, are a product of adjusting to new NHL-style rules that college teams must now abide by. The Eagles are also struggling through the loss of Julius Mattila, whose upper-body injury requires surgery and will sideline him likely until January. For now, the Eagles are just grateful to be home, at long last. And, thanks to White and the return of the power play, they’re even happier to have one more thing checked off their to-do list.

WOMEN’S HOCKEY

<X^c\j :XkZ_ =ì\ è :femèZè^ Nè Fm\i Ef% * Hlèe`g`XZ BC vs. Quinnipiac, from B1 to respond. After a hooking penalty on Anastos, it was Quinnipiac’s turn for the power play. Just a minute after the Eagles put a goal on the board, the Bobcats evened it up when Katie Burt couldn’t get her hands on a hard shot from the blue line by Taryn Baumgardt. Toward the end of the period, the crowd watched as the old Makenna Newkirk returned. After experimenting at center for most of the season so far, Newkirk slid back into her slot at right wing following her performance in the role during the game prior. The move paid off

during yet another power play when Grace Bizal and Lonergan moved the puck up the ice and left Newkirk with it at the circle. She took it from there, tricking goalie Sydney Rossman to put it in the net. Minutes later, the Eagles headed out to the locker room with a 2-1 lead. Nearly halfway into the third period, BC came roaring back at an unexpected time. After going on two successful penalty kills, the Eagles were faced with one more after Anastos was sent to the box for tripping. This time, they exceeded expectations. Lonergan launched a backhanded shot at Rossman for another goal, tallying a third point in the

game for the freshman. BC received an additional goal from its first line only a few minutes later. Kenzie Kent notched her first of the season off of a pass from Anastos, who got the puck from a speedy Haley McLean. Burt staved off a few more shots from the Bobcats, and the game was over. A victory against an ECAC team, particularly one that went 30-3-5 last season, predicts a climb back to the top for the Eagles. BC may have seemed shaky in its first few games, but it has propelled itself back into the big leagues with this win. Opponents, take note. The Eagles are back.

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Kenzie Kent scored her first goal of the season in the third period during BC’s win on the road against the Bobcats.

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THE HEIGHTS THE HEIGHTS

Thursday, January 17, 2014

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THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

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Four years after the events of Jack Reacher, the personification of action clichés: Jack Reacher, must fight against a corrupt military, shadowy arms dealers, and one angsty teenager to save the day. One thing is for certain, this is a movie that audiences will never want to see again. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back is the second installment JACK REACHER in the Paramount Pictures film series based on the Jack Reacher books by Lee Child. This movie is directed by Edward Zwick, a director known for movies like Glory, The Last Samurai, and, notably, not the first Jack Reacher movie. The change in directing style and unfortunate, drop in quality between the two films is almost immediately apparent. The movie starts off strong with its first scene. Reacher (Tom Cruise) is sitting at a diner while four men lie beaten on the ground

outside, presumably due to a few quick punches by our action star before the movie began. Two police officers arrive on scene to bring him in. While placing him under arrest, Reacher calmly predicts that first the phone at the edge of the shot will ring and second, that the officer arresting him will be wearing the handcuffs. After sharing an incredulous laugh, the two officers start to handcuff Reacher. Then, the phone rings and his predictions come true. While this scene is certainly cheesy, it is enjoyable and feels very similar to the tone of the first movie, in which Reacher operates at almost superhero levels. The movie quickly slides downhill from here, however. Reacher is shown developing a telephone relationship with Army Maj. Turner (Cobie Smulders) until arriving at her office to the news that she has been charged with espionage and placed under arrest. Reacher must break her out and clear her name and his own, all while avoiding the military police officer Maj. Espin (Aldis Hodge) and the trained killer known as The Hunter (Patrick Heusinger). Jack Reacher: Never Go Back suffers from a few key issues. First, its PG-13 rating seems to stop it from being the movie it wants to

be. There are plenty of perfectly fine movies with a PG-13 rating, but Jack Reacher: Never Go Back feels like it was rated this way just to make more money from the wider range of eligible viewers. And more than that, the movie also has too many different plot arcs with different characters that are all edited together like puzzle pieces that don’t quite fit. There are times when the movie cuts to people who haven’t been seen for 30 minutes and expects the audience to remember and care about what is going on with them. The film is cluttered with a constantly rotating cast of side characters who serve no other purpose than to move Reacher from one action set piece to the next. Shoehorned into this mess is a character who is apparently supposed to ground or humanize the unstoppable action god that is Reacher and make the audience sympathetic to his character. This character is his maybe-daughter, a teenager named Samantha (Danika Yarosh). She, to the dismay of the film’s writers, quickly becomes tiresome. Samantha is annoying, unrelatable, a caricature of a 15-year-old girl, and on top of everything, a liability to Reacher and Maj.

PARAMOUNT PICTURES

‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’ is largely bland, with boring dialogue and stale action set pieces. Turner. Her actions make very little sense outside of the “she’s a rebellious teenager who won’t listen to authority ﬁgures” trope. She constantly gets herself and everyone around her into trouble. Even with numerous action scenes, the movie quickly becomes boring, feeling twice as long as its near two-hour runtime. The antagonists in the movie are some of the most generic bad guys in ﬁlm in the last decade. They all drive black SUVs, wear black trench coats with black sunglasses, and, when they’re important enough to have lines, speak with horrendous accents. The movie doesn’t try to

make the audience care or understand who these people are or why they are doing such awful things besides giving viewers a few throwaway lines of bad dialogue. The movie then ends in the same way as most every other generic action movie—everything has been perfectly resolved. Jack Reacher: Never Go Back oﬀers nothing new. Cruise and the rest of the cast seem to only be on screen for an easy paycheck. The movie is bland and forgettable, which is unfortunate, as it could have been a continuation of another perfectly ﬁne, if unoriginal, action series.

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1 LIONSGATE

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE REPORT TITLE

WEEKEND GROSS

WEEKS IN RELEASE

1. BOO! A MADEA HALLOWEEN

27.6

2. JACK REACHER: NEVER GO BACK

23.0

3. OUIJA: ORIGIN OF EVIL

14.1

4. THE ACCOUNTANT

14.0

5. GIRL ON THE TRAIN

7.3

6. MISS PEREGRINE

6.0

7. KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES

5.6

8. KEVIN HART: NOW WHAT?

4.1

9. STORKS

4.0

10. DEEPWATER HORIZON

3.6

INTERSCOPE RECORDS

Forming a more cohesive and concise narrative within the album, Gaga gives fans a soulful and well thought-out album that will warrant praise. 9P :<:@C< C8>@E<JKI8 =fi k_\ ?\`^_kj Stefani Germanotta is the real star of Lady Gaga’s newest album, Joanne. There is a distinct line drawn between the stunt-driven Lady Gaga of the past and Joanne’s presentation of the real, raw talent she has always possessed. This album is a huge step in Gaga’s journey to discover and reveal her true identity as an artist. Even the title of the album, Joanne, refers to a deeply personal moment in Gaga’s life. It is her middle name, and more importantly, it is the name she shares with her aunt, who died of lupus at age 19. The loss was traumatic for her family, especially her father, who still cries for the loss of his younger sister. “If I could just heal my dad, then maybe I might heal someone else,” Gaga said when asked about the album’s tiJOANNE tle by The Lady Gaga Sunday Times. The 2013 release of Gaga’s album ArtPop, a two-day party known as “ArtRave,” was outrageous, even for Gaga. It combined the visual aesthetics of surrealist art with overt musical production. ArtPop made her usual lyrical, moral messages of confused identity and embracing awkwardness seem slightly tired and boring. Fans had already seen that side of Gaga, and needed an album like Joanne to illuminate the masked and mysterious Stefani Germanotta. Lady Gaga has always had an amazing

ability to mesmerize audiences. Joanne reveals that this talent comes from more than just her outrageous costumes and intricate stage design. Gaga’s sheer instrumental and vocal talents have proved to be all that’s necessary to captivate an audience. Joanne presents a very clear focus on the honest, big, and clear vocal sound that Gaga projects so well. There is a unique infusion of blues, country, and classic rock that appears on this album, which feels more grounded than the styles explored on ArtPop. “Perfect Illusion” is the album’s pre-released track that most closely resembles Gaga’s original sound. The repetitive, catchy sing -along chorus belted in Gaga’s recognizably raspy chest voice make this song a must listen for anyone who misses Gaga’s “Bad Romance” phase. The subject matter reaches a little deeper then her previous club hits. Lines like “It was a perfect illusion, mistaken for love, it wasn’t love” give the track a more intense emotional context. In the duet “Hey Girl” featuring Florence Welch, of Florence and the Machine, lyrical themes of feminism and female empowerment combine with an easy to listen to retro beat. The vocalists, each respected for their incredibly strong and recognizable vocal styles, accentuate and illuminate each other’s talents. “Diamond Heart” is the most bluesy, raw, and real track on the album. The gritty vocal sound stops everything and makes listeners pay attention. The lyrics come in crisp and clear, and it is obvious Gaga wants people to comprehend every word. The lyrics, “Head full of Jameson / Girls playin bad because it doesn’t pay to be good / a cruel king made me

tough,” could be a possible reference to Lady Gaga’s past, and her struggle to overcome, and educate others about sexual assault. The track is lyrically the most beautiful and complex on the album, and deserves a listen. Pre-released power ballad “Million Reasons” is the album’s lyrical statement piece and evidence of this “classically modern” sound. Nashville singer-songwriter Hillary Lindsey, the song’s guest lyricist, allows Gaga an opportunity to showcase her unabashedly strong vocal abilities, without compromising the venerability of the performance. The country-style ballad has classic Gaga messages of love, acceptance, and female empowerment but with a gritty, unapologetic twist. This can be seen in lyrics like, “And if you say something that you might even mean / It’s hard to even fathom which parts I should believe.” This release from Gaga is so distinctive because of its wide variety of musical collaborations, ranging from power vocalists like Welch to songwriters like Beck and Elton John. Gaga always leads with her best, most creative musical ingenuity, which makes her a real artist. There are still minor inconsistencies that Gaga seems to be working through. There is a lack of an overall cohesive narrative, and drastic shifts from high to low intensity. Songs like “Perfect Illusion” and “A-Yo” resemble 2009, “Poker Face” Gaga, while the title track “Joanne” and power ballad “Angle Down” are more subdued, delicate, and possibly an overcompensation for ArtPop. Overall, Joanne lays a strong foundation for future transparency in Gaga’s work.

2 PARAMOUNT PICTURES

3 UNIVERSAL PICTURES

HARDCOVER FICTION BESTSELLERS 1. SMALL GREAT THINGS Jodi Picoult 2. TWO BY TWO Nicholas Sparks 3. VINCE FLYNN: ORDER TO KILL Kyle Mills 4. COMMONWEALTH Ann Pachett 5. HOME Halrlon Coben

6. WOMAN OF GOD Patterson and Paetro 7. PRECIOUS AND GRACE Alexander Smith 8. TODAY WILL BE DIFFERENT Maria Semple 9. CRIMSON DEATH Laurell Hamilton 10. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Colston Whitehead SOURCE: New York Times

?Xiifnè^ M`j`fej f] =lkli\ :Xgk`mXk\j 8l[`\eZ\j è Ê9cXZb DìifiË 9P 8I:?<I G8IHL<KK< ?\`^_kj <[`kfi What does the future look like? Will technology bring humanity together or just drive us further apart? Does it offer us new ways to connect and understand each other, or new ways to exploit, hurt, and destroy? These are only some of the questions that Charlie Brooker attempts to address in his anthology series Black Mirror. Each episode examines a completely different scenario, some set in our modern society, BLACK MIRROR others in Netflix bizarre and terrifying future worlds in which characters navigate a world corrupted and molded by technology. The “black mirror” of the title refers to the screens that surround us, that we carry in our pockets. Technology reflects the flaws of human beings and shows us what we are capable of in this rapidly evolving world. The third season of Black Mirror pre-

miered on Netflix on Oct. 21. Each episode has a unique take and approach, following wholly different storylines. Some are more speculative and intellectual, while others move at a breakneck speed. Like the first two seasons, these six new episodes are horrifying and fascinating, and invite the viewer to question his own assumptions. The first episode “Nosedive,” starring Bryce Dallas Howard, explores a world in which everyone rates personal interactions with other people based on a five-star system, much like an Uber ride. These ratings determine your worth and status in society. After ordering a morning coffee, Lacie Pound, played by Howard, gives her barista a five-star rating, which he reciprocates. The episode lures the viewer into a world of manufactured happiness and constant anxiety. Each moment comes with the fear that someone might turn on you and turn your 4.2 rating into a 3.8. As Pound attempts to raise her rating to a 4.5 so she can receive a discount on her new home, she reconnects with an old friend, played by Alice Eve, who has turned her beauty and social graces into a 4.8 rating. When Pound is invited to attend her friend’s wedding to be the

maid of honor, she decided to use the occasion to deliver a heartwarming speech that will earn her plenty of 5 star ratings from “quality people.” As the attempt to get to the wedding goes awry, she realizes how fickle and cruel people can be, and her rating slowly begins to plummet. The happy veneer slides off as the episode reveals the pains and constraints that social media place on us. One episode “Shut Up and Dance” follows young boy accidentally downloads a virus that films him in a compromising situation. The hackers contact him and, through a series of emotionless text messages, blackmail him into running around the city completing strange and illegal tasks. Facing the possibility that his shameful secrets might be exposed to everyone he knows, etched into the permanence of the internet, the boy, played by The Imitation Game’s Alex Lawther, is a nervous and emotional wreck throughout the course of the episode. All the while, the faceless blackmailers remain completely in the shadows, lacking any empathy and playing with people for no truly discernible reason. While watching an episode of Black Mirror can be a harrowing experience, it is also

NETFLIX

‘Black Mirror’ is a jarring show that breaks expectations in astounding fashion each episode. remarkably entertaining and even darkly funny. Great performances and engrossing directing ground each episode in a solid believability that allows the show to explore its more mind-bending themes. Fans of ﬁlms such as Ex Machina and even old anthology series such as The Twilight Zone will find much to enjoy in Black Mirror. Alternate realities, the consequences of internet hatred, biological weaponry, and even survival horror video games ﬁnd a place in this new season, with each episode leading the viewer down

a rabbit hole of twists, turns, and dangerous possibilities. Out of the dozens of quality TV shows being produced, Black Mirror is a unique and particularly relevant experience. It balances its entertainment value with probing, diﬃcult, and necessary challenges to the viewer that will make you rethink the way you look at not only the technology in your life, from the laptop in your backpack to the phone in your pocket, but the people around you and the way we treat each other.

THE HEIGHTS

Monday, October 24, 2016

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ISABELLE LUMB / HEIGHTS STAFF

G_fkf ;`jgcXp ?fefij ?`jgXe`Z ?\i`kX^\ 9P :8C<9 >I@<>F 8jjfZ% 8ikj I\m`\n <[`kfi The Hispanic Heritage Month Exhibit on display in O’Neill Library’s First Floor Gallery showcases the everyday beauty and vibrancy of life within the Hispanic community through photographs by students and administrators. Echoing sentiment s of pride, solidarity, and reverence, the exhibit represents a notion of progress coupled with admiration for the past. As one panel states, “We continue to grow as individuals with a new identity, but we never forget where we came from and how we got here.” Displaying a wide variety of photos from around the world and at Boston College, the exhibit is able to effectively convey a sense of diversity among the Hispanic community. The individual photographs, coming from Cuba, Costa Rica, the United States, and other places, are unique, as they each distinguish and highlight a specific life or faction within the expansive Hispanic community. Espiritu Santo (2016), contributed by Carlos Brenes, CSOM ’17, shows a man decorating the streets in San Lorenzo de Flores, Heredia, Costa Rica. In celebration of Holy Week, the man crafts large doves on walls, using various materials like sand and grass. The photo highlights the importance of artistic expression within the community, as this man’s art represents but one piece in a larger celebration.

Another work by Brenes, Espinos, Costa Rica (2016), depicts a man, Sergio Quesada, on his horse, Tango, as they stroll around Heredia. The simple, yet majestic, photo celebrates one aspect of Costa Rican life. Basilica De Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles, Cartago, Costa Rica (2008) by Samantha Solett captures the beauty and intricacies of the basilica as it sits in the sun, casting shadows beneath on the pathways beneath its smooth arches. The striking blues, whites, and reds of the Costa Rican flag contrast brilliantly with the darker blues of the sky and the softer colors of the basilica. The basilica’s beige colors, coupled with ornate white embellishments, bring the edges of the building into focus. The photo is striking and truly captures the beauty of such an important cultural building. Else where in the world, Annelise Preciado, BC ’14, in Estudiantes de la Escuela Anaisa, MUDHA (2015), captures students in the Dominican Republic as they go about their school day. These students are of Haitian descent and entered the Dominican Republic seeking refuge. The school system in place helps these students, who would not otherwise be allowed into the national education system. This photo is especially touching, as it shows the ever-expanding and evolving notion of heritage within the Hispanic community throughout the world. On B C ’s campus , one photo, 2nd Latin American Leadership Conference

by the Latin American Business Club, depicts the initiative of the club, as members speak with Empresas Polar CEO Lorenzo Mendoza. The discussion with the brewery/food-processing CEO from Venezuela speaks to BC’s draw and influence, as well as the international boundaries the Hispanic community can cross for culture and business. OL AA Wall Demonstration (2015), from the Organization of Latin American Affairs, depicts the group’s protest last year in front of Gasson. Constructing a wall of its own in response to Donald Trump’s propositions, the organization, through posters and conversation, sought to call to mind the contributions and prevalence of Hispanic and Latino peoples in America. Such demonstrations at BC call to mind the importance of family and community as these individuals stood up for their beliefs and values. Visually, the exhibit is effective in its goal of displaying the myriad experiences and lifestyles had in the Hispanic and Latino communities in and outside of the United States. The Hispanic communities stretch across the globe and claim people from almost every nation. Regardless of race, creed, or color, in this country, Hispanic roots run deep in many places. On BC’s campus, it’s a similar story. In seeing this diversity in our world and on campus, we are able to see, in a small part, the larger extend of vibrant diversity seen in our world.

During their performance in the Theology and Ministry Library, Len Graham and Brian Ó hAirt transported the audience to a different time and era with their natural, acoustic sound and melding of Irish poetry, song, and dance. Beginning the night by bringing the audience closer to the stage for a “campfire feel,” the duo set the scene for a performance focused on the art of musicmaking and storytelling. Both Graham and Ó hAirt are excellent, multi- talente d musicians and ar tist s . Effortlessly weaving their own personal stories into their performances throughout the night, the audience understood and appreciated the men behind the music. While Graham is from Ireland, Ó hAirt was actually born and raised in Chicago. Drawn to Irish culture from a very young age, Ó hAirt came to know the language as well as the dance, music, and literature. Although the musician wasn’t born in Ireland, he learned from the best. Graham and Ó hAirt showcased their talents in different ways. In addition to his wonderful singing voice, Graham was a wonderful orator. On two occasions, the vocalist broke out into the verses byWilliam Butler Yeats from memory. Delivering the poetry with fervor and poignancy, Graham left everyone still, waiting for the next word he would utter. Verse after verse, each word seemed to mean more than the previous one. After he would finish each poem, he would explain the historical significance of each of them with careful attention to detail. Graham had a strong understanding of the historical importance of everything in the set. His gift for storytelling was remarkable. He listed dates and names as though the noteworthy historical events had happened to him personally. There was notably a certain personal element to it all that made his accounts especially interesting to listen to. The pair had abilities outside the realm of singing and oration. In the middle of a verse, Ó hAirt stood up and began to dance in an Irish style right in time with the music. Following an older and more traditional version of Irish dancing, he surprised and delighted the audience. He paid careful attention to not cover the sound of Graham’s singing and to stay perfectly in step with the tune at hand while stomping his black dress

ISABELLE LUMB / HEIGHTS STAFF

shoes. Adding flair with some difficult turns and steps, Ó hAirt had the audience members on their toes, as well, while they watched Ó hAirt with delight. Perhaps the most moving moment for some in the audience was when Ó hAirt began to sing in Gaelic. Some of the crowd could be seen mouthing along the words as he sang in the charming language. Prefacing each piece in Gaelic with a short translation, he would highlight important parts of the piece so the non-Gaelic speakers in the room could still understand the importance behind the words. This seemed to be the part of the show when Ó hAirt connected the most to an older generation in the room. He is a vessel for a part of the Irish culture that is vital to Irish history and really explored it well with the audience. Ó hAirt and Graham had a clever duet arranged at the end of their set. Graham’s mother-in-law and her family had been tasked with retrieving verses from different towns in Ireland when she was a child, so they could have the full version of songs. Graham’s daughter had taken the lyrics and translated them into English so more people could understand the verse that was sung. The pair sang the ballad in English followed by Irish, allowing the audience to have a more comprehensive experience with the selection. In addition to the singing and dancing, the men also played instruments. Graham was brilliant on the spoons, and Ó hAirt was wonderful on the tin whistle. The two appeared to have a lot of fun onstage playing fast-paced reels with their instruments, and this feeling quickly moved into the audience. The cozy atmosphere of the event was fostered throughout the night and allowed for a personable experience between the performers and the audience. Some of the audience knew the choruses of a few of the songs and sang along with the performers. One audience member even sang out praises in Gaelic after the duo had concluded a piece. As the night came to a close, everyone was reluctant for the pair to go. As one of their concluding songs, the vocalists performed a familiar tune and the room began to sing along during the chorus, “Happy are we all together / Happy are we one and all / May we lead a life of leisure / May we rise and never fall.”

PHOTO COURTESY OF LEWIS CENTER FOR THE ARTS

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It’s not every day that one encounters something truly extraordinary. Especially as students, there aren’t a lot of opportunities in our ordinary schedules when we come upon something that actually fascinates us—something that makes us stop and really reflect on human ability and the inner mechanisms and functions of our brains. Those that attended Friday’s ‘Playing by Ear’ concert in Devlin 112 did, on the other hand, have one of these rare and captivating experiences in seeing Brittany Maier perform a wide range of covers and a few original songs on her keyboard. Maier is blind and has autism. Born four months earlier than expected, weighing 1 pound and 5 ounces, Maier was kept in an oxygen tank. During that time, she lost

her eyesight. She spent six months in the hospital before she was finally released to her parents. Some time later, she was diagnosed with autism. Unable to fully communicate, Maier’s story was told by her mother, Tammy Maier. Tammy told the audience squeezed into the small classroom how they came to understand Maier’s gift and about all the exciting and phenomenal experiences Maier has had because of her skills. Maier, who is now 27, has played at Citi Field as well as Carnegie Hall. The main bulk of Maier’s performance, which was arranged by Boston College’s chapter of Best Buddies, was made up of covers spanning an unparalleled spectrum of styles , artists , and music periods . Maier has perfect pitch, which allows her to identify and play back notes without looking at sheet music. This has allowed

her to memorize a vast catalogue of songs. Maier’s mother says that her family stopped keeping track of how many songs she had performed at about 40,000 songs. This isn’t to say that Maier could produce any of these songs in an instant, but, to some extent or another, they are all in her head somewhere. Maier ’s p erformance of audience requests Friday evening proved her ability to traverse a wide swath of very different song choices spanning several decades. Songs like Elton John’s “Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters” and Beyoncé’s “Halo” are probably very rarely, if ever, played in the same set. Alongside these songs could be found other hits from One Direction, Barry Manilow, Billy Joel, The Beatles, Justin Bieber, and a few of the more memorable songs from Disney’s constantly expanding library of animated musical numbers.

Midway through the evening, one of BC’s a cappella groups, The Common Tones, squeezed into the front of the room to serenade Maier and the gathered crowd. The group masterfully performed Taylor Swift’s hit “Wildest Dreams” and Beyonce’s “Love On Top.” While The Common Tones’ set was well done, it seemed a little odd, as the group sauntered in just before performing and left just after it had finished. This isn’t to say that The Common Tones’ appearance wasn’t appreciated—it just seemed a little awkwardly timed and disorganized, as some coordination with Maier and her mother could have melded the two acts together rather nicely. At some point during the latter half of Friday’s performance, Maier’s mother asked a member of the audience to help with a demonstration. She asked the student to play a few notes for Maier that she would

then play back for the audience. After running through this a few times, Maier took one of the sets of five notes the student played for her and turned it into a full, original song. This small example of Maier’s musical ingenuity was extremely impressive and demonstrated her inventiveness at the keyboard. ‘Playing by Ear’ gave attendees an unequalled experience. Seeing Maier jump between decades and styles of music with such proficiency was spectacular, and hearing her story told by her mother was incredibly inspiring. The love between this mother-daughter duo is palpable and witnessing the devotion that the two have put into their artistry and into each other tugged at the heartstrings. As far as oncampus arts events go, there will probably never be anything resembling this one for some time to come.

JULIA HOPKINS / HEIGHTS EDITOR

ARTS& &REVIEW MONDAY , O,CTOBER 19,24, 2015 MONDAY OCTOBER 2016

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If I keep questioning our reality, I may be in for an early existential crisis. The more books I read, the more films I watch, and the more people I talk to have me doing just that. I’d like to think this errs on the side of thoughtfulness rather than conspiratorial insanity, but crazy people usually are the most vehement defenders of their own sanity. I believe my conspiratorial beginnings were founded when I first read George Orwell’s 1984. Essentially blueprinting the horrors that the world could very well come to, the book was to me a warning of the possible post-apocalypse. As a young, naive person, I believed that as long as a book like 1984 existed, that post-apocalyptic world would never come into existence. How could we, unless by an ungodly amount of ignorance, make true the things detailed in 1984? Since then, I’ve learned to never put anything past humanity. Like Icarus, we never know when we have gone too far until it’s too late. I began to see, from a moderate eye, similarities between the book and our world. Whether it be speech codes, vitriolic ideological chasms, or paradigm shifts toward the asexual and the unemotional, 1984 seemed less and less horror-fiction and more horror-reality. This kind of thought experiment was interesting and left quite the impression. In this way, I began to think that art, whether through literature, film, or television, tries to describe our reality on a deeper level. Recently, as I have been watching HBO’s Westworld, I have been thinking about this idea more and more, especially in relation to Plato’s allegory of the cave. In Westworld, androids powered by artificial intelligence created to fulfill human fantasies must come out of ignorance and realize that their world is a sham. This allegory of the cave is seemingly removed from humans because the humans are not the protagonists. Nonetheless, the story is much the same, pointing to a reality beyond the one that is known. The Matrix speaks to many of the same points, where people, all of the human race, in fact, are subjugated by sentient computers that feed off a human source of energy. The Truman Show sees Truman as the protagonist of a reality show he calls his life, unbeknownst to him. Ex Machina shows a machine trapped in a cage that tries and ultimately succeeds in escaping. Prometheus finds scientists trying to answer the unanswerable question, “Where did we come from?” Pan’s Labyrinth, The Wizard of Oz, Stranger Than Fiction, Contact, Donnie Darko, Total Recall, Enter the Void, and Man in the High Castle all touch on this idea to varying degrees. Do I even need to mention Alice in Wonderland? Why are all these films grasping at the same thing? Questioning our reality. It is as if they are all screaming this point and we are too dumb to see it. The conspiracy theorist in me would suggest, as I postulated with Orwell, that these films are trying to enlighten us in small ways by hinting at the fact that our world is an illusion, or, at the very least, that there is something off about it. We are the robots, we are Donnie, we are Alice, we are Ava, we are Truman, etc. The filmmakers are, through the extension of this allegory, the ones who have exited the cave and are attempting to help us transcend it as well. But as reason attempts to correct the course, I’ve come to conclude that we can all ask these very human questions. We ask similar things because we have not been given answers. Films, as directors and actors bring stories to life on screen, are innately imbued with that human essence of uncertainty. I still grapple with this notion, despite my better judgement, because I have always held films and art in general to high standards. Apart from the obvious, I think most try to say something more profound and universally human. In many of these cases, I wonder how big or how small of a portion of the world they are speaking to. But, in the end, I will still be left wondering if the world is just as it seems, if the world is anything but what I see, or if it is something else entirely.

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LUCIUS XUAN / HEIGHTS STAFF

The CCE’s Fall Show wasn’t PSL-level basic. Instead, it was brilliant. 9P :?8E;C<I =FI; ?\`^_kj JkX]] Another week gone at Boston College, another week closer to freezing weather, costume parties, leaves falling from trees, and, yes, pumpkin spice lattes. It’s not hard to see why so many call autumn their favorite season. The not-quite-winter-yet months have a lot to offer for anyone on campus. For BC’s Committee for Creative Enactments (CCE), on the other hand, the abbreviation “PSL” doesn’t just mean pumpkin spice lattes—it means Pumpkin Spice Laughter, too. Last Friday night, CCE performed its annual fall program, this year entitled “Pumpkin Spice Laughter.” And just as autumn inevitably comes marching on, so does the Committee for Creative Enactments. In a fascinating way, the CCE seems to mirror fall in a number of ways: always consistent, always fun, with a tiny bite of cold reality. But hey, no one ever said comedy couldn’t hold a kernel of truth, too. That is precisely why reviewing CCE’s work can be surprisingly difficult . Putting into words its exact level of comedic mastery can be something of a challenge, due to the simple fact that it is so unlike any other comedy troupe on campus. This isn’t the first time that The Heights has reviewed a CCE show (and it certainly won’t be the last), so this ha s alre ady b e en said b e fo re — s t i l l , th o u g h , it’s tough to oversell the atmosphere that CC E creates. Referring to its show as a type of performance game seems criminally inaccurate. It is a game, yes, but it feels as though

the club’s motivations run deeper than just creating a good time. It’s strange to walk into a show knowing not a single person in the room and still feel welcome—a part of the family, in a manner of speaking. Just by being at the show, it’s as if the crew wants to welcome each and every person on an individual level. And how do they accomplish such a feat? The clearest answer, undoubtedly, is the relationships that exist between CCE performers. This, it seems, is the Committee’s strongest skill—no other troupe on campus seems to genuinely love and care for one another quite as much, at least on stage. It may be a bit corny, and even something of a cliche, but the group’s personable nature truly does make its comedy some of the best that a person can find on campus. Of course, this by no means suggests that the crew lacks technical mastery—that could not be farther from the truth. Be it short-form or long-form skits, every member of CCE has his or her ability to improvise down

to a science. In all honesty, seeing the shift between the quick-wittedness of short-form improv skits and the mental dexterity of long-form bits was one of the best parts of Pumpkin Spice Laughter. Again, with nothing but the utmost of consistency, the CCE crew knows exactly how to play out each scenario to garner the maximum amount of laughs. One of the best cards that the Committee has up its sleeve is the “Sex With Me is Like…” game. A fan favorite, it gets pulled out at nearly every show— members in the audience shout out a subject, and the crew has to improv a joke starting with the sentence “Sex with me is like…” that somehow incorporates the subject at hand. Anything under the sun (even Donald Trump) is fair game. Is it a complex idea? Not particularly. Is it hysterical every single time? Absolutely. It doesn’t take a genius to laugh at a sex joke, but coming up with them over and over with no preparation certainly does. Sometimes, living in the midst of the BC bubble, it’s easy to forget that life is not all about midterms, social pressure, and the stress of managing dining dollars. And, certainly, the exterior world has not exactly felt like a paragon of stability either over the past several months. It has been said many, many times that laughter is the best medicine for any malady. And just like any half-baked cliche of a catchphrase, that’s really not true at all. But without any doubt, CCE’s Pumpkin Spice Laughter definitely felt like medicine for the world of stress that has been resting squarely on the shoulders of many around campus. Perhaps if more people attended events by the Committee for Creative Enactments , the y might find that those stresses don’t feel q u i te s o u n b e a r ab l e anymore.

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I N SI DEARTS THIS ISSUE

‘Joanne’

Lady Gaga’s latest album marks a turn away from the popstar’s usual style, B6

‘Jack Reacher: Never Go Back’

The action/espionage thriller and sequel fails to be anything but ordinary and cliche, B6

Weekend Box Oﬃce Report.........................B6 Hardcover Bestsellers....................................B6 Black Mirror.....................................................B6