Monday, September 26, 2022
Columnist Punnya Kalapurakkel discusses college stress and how she often feels like an orb bobbing along through life. A9
News editor Erin Shannon shares her recipe for the Fraise 75—a twist on the classic French 75. A7
A year has passed since a proposal to build a gun store in Newton embroiled residents in debate. Following public backlash and a City Council response posing greater zoning regulations, it’s unlikely a firearms store will open in the city anytime soon.
Now, some local gun control advocates say there’s more work to be done.
“I was extremely relieved and happy that the gun store did not open,” said Laura Towvim, a founding member of the Newton Gun Violence
Prevention Collaborative (NGVPC). “But as part of that process, I learned that there are 10 … gun stores within a 30-minute drive of my house. So there’s not a gun store in Newton, but we’re surrounded by lots of other communities that don’t have any regulations on the books.”
In early June 2021, Mayor Ruthanne Fuller and the City Council approved Newton’s first-ever zoning restrictions and regulations regarding firearms businesses, gun makers, and gun ranges.
In a 23-to-1 City Council vote, Newton approved new measures requiring potential firearms businesses to have a special permit and a
two-thirds majority vote of approval from the Newton City Council to open in the city.
“The zoning amendment also incorporates buffer distances from residences and sensitive uses [such as] daycare centers and schools,” Fuller wrote in a newsletter update in June 2021.
The amendment lists other buffers around parks, libraries, and places of worship.
“A gun store will make us all less safe,” a 2021 NGVPC petition with over 10,000 signatures reads. “While Newton’s gun ownership rates are low, the presence of a gun store guarantees that there will be more guns
in the hands of Newton residents, as well as residents in surrounding areas. Research is clear that more guns in a community lead to more
Truthful journalism is paramount to the preservation of democracy, according to CNN anchor and chief domestic correspondent Jim Acosta.
“Our democracy is only as strong as those who are willing to defend it, and it’s only strong when we have the courage to tell each other the truth,” Acosta said.
The Boston College Clough Center for the Study of Constitu -
tional Democracy hosted a lecture and roundtable discussion exploring the current state of journalism and its relationship to democracy in the United States on Thursday night.
During the lecture, Acosta recounted reporting on both of former President Donald Trump’s presidential campaigns and how the 2016 campaign especially fostered hostile public attitudes toward certain news outlets.
See Acosta, A2
By Amuruche enwereji
For The Heights
Boston College volleyball’s ACC opener against Syracuse on Wednesday came down to the wire. BC opened the game with a win in set one, a loss in sets two and three, and then saved itself from defeat with a clutch win in set four. The Eagles and Syracuse went back and forth in set five, but BC came up short.
The first four sets of BC’s Sunday matchup against Duke were a mirror
image of Wednesday’s contest. The Eagles split the first four sets with Duke 2–2 and battled the Blue Devils through the fifth.
But on Sunday, the Eagles flipped a switch and remained composed in the game’s final moments—exactly what they failed to do on Wednesday. BC (12–3, 1–1 Atlantic Coast) edged out the Blue Devils 15–12 in the fifth set, earning its first win on its new home court in the Margot Connell Recreation Center. BC won with set scores of 22–
25, 25–12, 25–19, 21–25, and 15–12.
“We just took a tough loss in the fifth set against Syracuse, and this game was the number one priority for the week,” BC outside hitter Katrina Jensen said. “We wanted to show that we can pull out of an ACC match as winners and prove to ourselves that we can still hang in this conference and prove to people that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”
our nation was heading for a crash and that our liberty was at stake.”
“During the 2016 campaign Trump would call us ‘the dishonest media,’ ‘the disgusting media,’ ‘liars,’ ‘scum’ and more,” he said. “Some of the audience called us traitors, or worse. The atmosphere was so intense we often had to race back to our cars after the rallies were over. I had bodyguards protecting me and my colleagues.”
The Trump administration skewed facts and truth, according to Acosta.
“Truth was being warped,” he said. “The facts were under attack. They still are. … It should come as no surprise that millions of Americans refused to accept the latest election results that clearly showed one candidate won and the other did not.”
These hostile presidential campaigns, attacks on journalism, and denial of facts served as the foundation for the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol, Acosta said.
“Back in 2019, we the press weren’t really human,” he said. “This was the climate of fear that Trump had created. In this environment, a Trump supporter could resort to violence. It had become a dangerous time in America. I feared
The event also featured a roundtable discussion, featuring Boston Globe associate editor and opinion columnist Renée Graham, Le Monde Washington D.C. correspondent Piotr Smolar, and WBUR’s Radio Boston host Tiziana Dearing, who moderated the discussion.
In the discussion, Graham explained how Americans take democracy for granted.
“Even in a flawed or incomplete state, [democracy has] always been there, so it will always be there,” Graham said. “But come November nearly every state will have at least one Republican nominee who denied the legitimacy of the 2020 presidential election outcome.”
Graham warned against the suppression of news by government regimes and authority, especially in light of Trump’s criticism of America’s press.
“There’s a reason why one of the first actions undertaken by authoritarians is to clamp down on [journalism],” he said. “They want to control the narrative that suits their own political needs and ambitions, while at the same time keeping citizens uninformed and fearful.”
Smolar commented on journalists’ duty to help serve and preserve democracy in a nation.
“I think in a very modest and careful way, if we just do our jobs, vigorously, scrupulously, we will serve democracy,” he said.
Dearing touched on another function of journalism: sharing both perspectives of an issue and enabling readers to formulate their own opinions.
“A third way that journalism can sit could be keeping your mouth shut and bringing forward those perspectives for the listener, the reader, the viewer to then draw conclusions, to draw out the background noise, and to bring the best information,” she said.
The lecture’s opening speaker and journalism scholar Michael Schudson stressed that journalism’s overall importance is conveying information to the public in an efficient yet impactful way.
“Journalism means trying to touch [the audience] by communicating sensibly and briefly, but more than that, by
Jeffery Robinson said in a lecture on Wednesday that to begin understanding the lasting legacy of the Civil War and Confederate displays today, we must turn our attention to America’s origin.
“If you have any question about how deeply the white supremacist views of those who founded our country ran, look at what’s in our Constitution,” said Robinson, founder and executive director of The Who We Are Project.
Robinson, the former deputy legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union visited Boston College Law School’s Rappaport Center for Law and Public Policy to deliver a community address titled “What Heritage Are You Talking About: Confederate Monuments in the United States.”
America’s attachment to Confederate iconography is a denial that slavery was the true reason for the Civil War, Robinson said.
“Were any of you taught in high school if there was more than one reason for the Civil War?”
Robinson said. “Why is it that you think people don’t want you to know this?”
The bulk of Confederate monument erection took place not directly after the Civil War, but at the turn of the 20th century and amid the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and ’60s, Robinson said.
“Between 1877 and 1950, over 4000 racial terror lynchings in the United States [were] documented by [the Equal Justice Initiative],” he said. “Those are the documented
ones. This is what’s happening in the country at the same time as these Confederate monuments are being built.”
Robinson also said that states with greater numbers of Confederate monuments are also statistically among the highest in lynchings.
Aiming to correct inaccuracies in the history of anti-Black racism in the United States, Robinson said The Who We Are Project aims to communicate with students, teachers, parents, and the community at large with the goal of education.
“We hire Black-owned restaurants to feed everybody, and we have national and local experts talk about the history of anti-Black racism in these states,” Robinson said.
The Who We Are Project released a documentary in June titled Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
The film is centered around a town hall lecture that Robinson delivered, with field interviews and personal anecdotes woven in to chronicle the ongoing history of racism in America.
Robinson concluded his talk by emphasizing the importance of establishing accuracy in our nation’s history.
He noted that the presentation he had just delivered would be illegal in several high schools across the country.
“If you don’t deny what the Civil War was about, then why do we have monumets on public land, paid for with public money, to honor people who mamed and murdered American soldiers?” Robinson said. n
Boston College Law School will now offer prospective students the option to apply early decision, or through binding admissions, according to Assistant Dean of Graduate Enrollment Shawn McShay.
“I believe the Early Decision option will allow students who are passionate about joining the BC Law community a direct path to reach that goal,” McShay said.
The early decision application will be due Nov. 1 and decisions will be released on Dec. 15 starting next year, according to the BC Law website.
Accepted applicants must withdraw all applications to other law schools.
BC Law’s choice to offer early decision follows BC undergraduate admissions, which added the early decision program in 2019.
The law school also joins Boston University School of Law, North-
eastern University School of Law, and Georgetown Law in offering the early decision admission option.
McShay said the law school contemplated adding the early decision option in 2019, but postponed its addition due to the pandemic.
BC Law ultimately decided to add the option largely due to student demand, according to McShay.
“If a student has taken the time to get to know us and believes that BC Law is an environment where they can thrive, the Early Decision program is the best way to indicate that commitment to the admissions committee,” he said.
BC Law’s early decision applicants must choose one of three program options—Dean’s Scholars, which awards students a $40,000 per year scholarship; BC Scholars, which awards students between $20,000 and $28,000 per year; or Eagle Track, which does not provide a scholarship.
McShay said these programs will provide applicants with “finan-
cial clarity.”
“Since the financial aid decision will accompany the admission decision candidates can get a headstart on planning,” McShay said.
Previously, BC Law evaluated applications on a rolling basis.
Prospective students could apply throughout the academic year and BC Law considered submissions when it received them.
The early decision option provides a number of benefits for prospective students, according to McShay, including faster notification of admission decisions and increased chances of admission.
“There is usually a smaller number of applicants at the beginning of the admission cycle and we anticipate that to be true for the Early Decision program,” he said. “Early Decision candidates will be compared to a few hundred students, while others will be compared to thousands.”
Prospective students will be familiar with the early decision
program from undergraduate experiences, McShay said.
“This will have a positive influence on both our admissions operation and the community at large,” McShay said.
BC Law Interim Dean Diane Ring said BC Law is pleased to
announce the launch of the early decision program.
“This will provide expanded opportunities for those looking at BC as the best fit for them, and help us identify promising candidates earlier in the cycle and bring them into the BC Law community,” Ring said. n
The most important thing about the Academy, a summer enrichment program for underrepresented students, is the fact that it is free, according to Joy Moore, executive director of the Pine Manor Institute for Student Success initiative.
“It’s about going beyond our own sort of universe here at BC and extending resources and support to our neighbors,” Moore said. “That’s something that BC has always done, but I think the Pine Manor Institute now is really a showcase for how that can be done in a really impactful way.”
Boston College hosted its inaugural Academy class of 43 students over the summer, Moore said, and hopes to continue extending its reach in the Greater Boston area.
“Our partner schools come from a variety of areas within and around Boston,” Moore said. “We have
students who come from Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan, Hyde Park, and Brighton.”
Moore said there are two prongs of the Academy: the summer program for students from eighth to 12th grade and a BC “success coach,” who follows up with students during middle and high school to help them prepare for their career or educational goals.
Students are invited to the program through partner schools in the Greater Boston area and nominated by their principals, teachers, or counselors.
“The students had to be first-generation or students from underserved and underrepresented communities,” Moore said. “They didn’t have to be the smartest student in the class. Although it’s great to have smart students, a program like this really benefits those students who could use that little extra nudge.”
Several BC departments—including Residential Life, Dining Ser-
vices, Athletics, and more—contributed to planning and facilitating the program’s first summer, according to Carly Anderson, director of the Pine Manor Institute.
Participants were greeted with a personal welcome from University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., tours of campus, and free gift certificates to the BC Bookstore on the first day of the program, Moore said.
According to Moore, one of the Academy’s goals is to help foster core values for each grade level that participates.
For example, its 12th-grade participants will focus on values such as transition, responsibility, and self-discipline.
Incoming eighth graders stayed at Williams Hall and participated in a range of activities, Moore said, including classes followed by group activities like games, journaling, and reflection.
“The week’s material drew upon themes from the Shakespearean play
Much Ado About Nothing, and the program culminated in a trip to see the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s production performed on the Boston Common at the end of the week,” Anderson said.
According to Anderson, students also received hands-on learning opportunities through the Hatchery, BC’s makerspace in 245 Beacon.
“The Academy’s largest collaboration for Summer 2022 was with the Hatchery,” Anderson said. “Their team provided supplies, workshop
space, training, staff, and instruction for students for a 3D printing and chocolate mold project.”
While Moore said it is possible the program will extend to out-ofstate students in the future, BC plans to continue focusing on helping local, underserved communities for the time being.
“[The Academy] can really grow in all directions,” Moore said. “Right now, we’re really committed to supporting and offering resources locally.” n
The Boston College Career Center changed its career fair format this year, introducing several industry-specific fairs to better connect students and prospective employers, said Francis Adjorlolo, associate director of employer engagement at the Career Center.
“Shifting the career fairs to
also be industry-specific means that we can create recruiting opportunities and avenues for students and employers to connect in ways that are unique to the needs of those particular industry areas,” Adjorlolo said.
Previously, the Career Center hosted one all-industry career fair per semester.
Now, it will host multiple industry-specific fairs and net-
working events throughout the year.
The Career Center held its tech and business career fairs this week.
It will host a health and sciences career fair, two career weeks, and two networking events in the spring semester, Adjorlolo said.
“Students are welcome to attend any fair regardless of their
major or interest, but having an industry-specific fair means that students can know generally what type of organization or opportunity they are going to find at that event,” he said.
The Career Center began discussing its plans to change the career fairs format after the virtual fair in February, according to Adjorlolo.
The goal, he said, is to improve connections between employers and students through industry-specific events.
“We can better ensure that [employers] will meet students who are interested in and prepared for the roles they are offering, and students can also know that the employers at these fairs provide internships and jobs in the industry they are interested in,” Adjorlolo said.
Matthew Fox, MCAS ’24, attended Friday’s business career fair in the Margot Connell Recreation Center basketball courts. Fox said he appreciated the new industry-specific format.
“I like that it’s specific to certain fields, because at least you know ahead of time that this is what you’re walking into and can choose which days to prepare,” he said.
There was not enough space at the fair for people to move comfortably among the tables, though, he said.
“[The Career Center] could plan to stretch [the space] out so you don’t have to squeeze through the lines of people,” Fox said. “But the way it is set up, generally, is good.”
With several other industry-specific career fairs planned for the year, Adjorlolo said the Career Center is intentional about collecting student and employer feedback regarding the fair’s new format.
“We will take all of that into consideration as we make plans for future events to determine whether these types of fairs meet the goals of both students and employer participants,” Adjorlolo said. n
success as a nation.”
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced on Tuesday it will award more than $4 million to reimburse Boston College for the cost of testing students, faculty, and staff for COVID-19 between August 2020 and January 2022.
“FEMA is pleased to be able to assist Boston College with these costs,” FEMA Region 1 Regional Administrator Lori Ehrlich said in the release. “Providing resources for our institutions of higher education to combat the COVID-19 pandemic is critical to their success, and to our
The public assistance grants, which total $4,055,605, compensate the University for the price of administering 195,435 COVID-19 tests during that period.
FEMA also announced in August it would send more than $3.3 million to BC for testing costs between January and May 2021—reimbursing the University about $7.4 million in total.
According to Jack Dunn, associate vice president for University communications, final approval for reimbursement for fall 2020 and 2021 testing is still pending.
“The tests were eligible under the COVID-19 Federal Disaster
Declaration and subsequent extensions/expansions by both President Trump and President Biden,” said Dunn and Assistant Treasurer Travis Looker. “The program is not specific to BC, and many of our peers (Harvard, Holy Cross, Brown) have recently been approved for these reimbursements as well.”
FEMA’s public assistance program is used to aid states and communities recovering from a federal disaster or emergency, according to the release.
Former President Donald Trump declared COVID-19 a national emergency on March 13, 2020.
The Sept. 20 release states that
FEMA has provided almost $1.3 billion overall in public assistance grants to Massachusetts for pandemic-related costs.
“The FEMA component is part of a larger federal effort to provide relief to universities and students,
including programs directly earmarked for financial aid,” Dunn and Looker said. “This reimbursement will be used to offset the testing expenses incurred during that semester. We expect to receive payout of the funds in the coming weeks.” n
By Connor siemien Asst. Metro Editor olivia Joung Copy Editor
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) announced that the Newton-based D Branch of the Green Line will close for three nine-day periods over the next six weeks for repairs that will address safety concerns.
The Green Line’s D Branch repairs, announced on Sept. 16, include replacing over 6,000 feet of track, upgrading station crossings, and installing equipment, according to the MBTA’s website detailing the D Branch project.
“Many of the Green Line tracks are over 30 years old and have reached the end of their service life,” the MBTA said in a press release detailing the repairs and upgrades. “Replacing this track will improve safety, reliability, and provide smoother trips for riders.”
During the repairs, free shuttle buses will stop at stations between Riverside and Kenmore, replacing trains.
The MBTA announced the closures following recent safety incidents on MBTA vehicles, including a fire on an Orange Line train car in July and a death on the Red Line in April.
Just two weeks ago, waiting riders ran after smoke and sparks shot from a Green Line train approaching the MBTA’s Park Street Station. An overhead wire fell onto the tracks, causing the incident.
The safety events caught the attention of the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA), which wrote a letter to the MBTA in April notifying it that a safety management inspection (SMI) would take place from April to June 2022 and that a report of their findings would follow.
“The Federal Transportation Authority (FTA) is extremely concerned with the ongoing safety issues at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation
Authority (MBTA),” Joe DeLorenzo, chief safety officer at the FTA, wrote in the letter.
In its report, the FTA wrote that the MBTA experienced a higher rate of reportable safety events—including a higher rate of derailments—from January 2019 to April 2022 compared to the rail transit industry’s average.
This trend continued during the inspection period and beyond, as the
In the plan, the MBTA acknowledged the FTA’s letter and the safety and infrastructure issues it raises, highlighting the planned improvements detailed in the “Building a Better T initiative.”
“This plan includes $9.6B in investments to improve our core infrastructure and advance key expansion initiatives, with the goal of expediting projects to increase safety, reliability,
[Michelle] Wu and the MBTA, … they really created a parallel substitute bus system for that period,” Bragdon said.
“I think that’s really the important thing—to be able to provide that alternative during the shutdown.”
One commuter at the Newton Centre Station, which is part of the D Branch, expressed his concerns about the efficiency of the shuttle bus system.
“One of the benefits of riding the T
municipalities like the City of Newton or Brookline or any of the other jurisdictions to give the buses priority on the street and so that the substitute buses can be expedited in a speedy way,” Bragdon said.
Yet another decision that affects the closures’ impact on commuters, according to Bragdon, is the length of the construction itself, with the D Branch closing three times for a total of 27 days through Oct. 30, according to the MBTA’s timeline of construction.
“I’m assuming that what [the MBTA] did is they wanted to spread the work out enough,” Regan said. “Maybe it would allow the people who use the D line to have a normal week and then a bad week.”
Shutting down entire lines of a major city’s transportation system is not uncommon, according to Bragdon.
“In Chicago, … they had a similar sort of situation, and they decided that they would close it for several months to get all of the work done,” Bragdon said. “And that was better than sort of trying to do it all at night because it’s very inefficient to try to get all the work done just in five hours.”
FTA noted numerous safety incidents, including train derailments, low-speed collisions, and suspensions of services.
“I can’t stress enough how much of an impact [it is] when FTA comes in and tells you that you’re deficient and you need to make improvements immediately,” said Terrance Regan, adjunct professor of city planning and urban affairs at Boston University. “So this was as big a wake-up call as I’ve ever seen the FTA make.”
The report preceded a series of repairs of MBTA lines over the past few months, and the Green Line’s D Branch is the latest section to undergo construction. The MBTA outlined its repairs, including the Green Line upgrades, in a recently published fiveyear capital plan.
resiliency, and modernization of the system,” Steve Poftak, general manager of the MBTA, wrote in the plan, which was published in May.
The shuttle buses are costly but necessary to accommodate commuters in the Greater Boston area, according to David Bragdon, executive director of TransitCenter, a non-profit that focuses on improving public transportation across the U.S.
Minimizing the potential nuisance of switching from the T to buses during the closures is possible, though, according to Bragdon, who pointed to Boston’s coordinated shuttle system during the Orange Line closures.
“In the case of the Orange Line, the City of Boston primarily covered a lot of that territory, and with Mayor
is that you avoid traffic, but the shuttles are obviously driving through traffic, which is kind of annoying,” said Danny Hames, a resident of Newton Centre, in an interview with The Heights
The parking lots at the Waban and Eliot stations will also be closed to the public during the closures, posing another potential obstacle for local commuters.
The lots will be used for track materials and vehicle storage, according to the MBTA.
In the hopes of easing the negative effects of these closures on the commuting process, Bragdon said affected communities like Newton should streamline the shuttle system by prioritizing bus traffic on local roads.
“It’s really important for the local
Hames said that the construction is an inconvenient but necessary step.
“I hope that [the MBTA] gets it done,” he said. “I know it’s for safety, so hopefully it’s done quickly and on time.”
Regan also acknowledged the frustrating effects that a complete shutdown could have on local commuters but noted that it is necessary in the long run to ensure that the MBTA is as safe as possible for its riders.
“With any construction project … you’ve got to inconvenience somebody,” Regan said. “So while I am kind of bereft over the fact that the T recently has not operated well, my hope is that it’s a wake-up call for them to reemphasize their current operations and maintenance and be focused on safety.” n
Freshman Congressman Jake Auchincloss comes off as a centrist to some of his constituents in the City of Newton and Massachusetts’ 4th Congressional District.
But two years after thwarting competitive progressive challengers for the House of Representatives seat, the 34-year-old U.S. Rep. boasts one of the strictest party-line voting records in congress and said he rejects labels like “moderate.”
“I have a deep set of principles,” Auchincloss told The Heights. “I’m committed to representing the values of the Massachusetts 4th. And I’m also simultaneously sort of deeply impatient with a fixation on ideology over solutions.”
That pragmatic view of decision making may have paid off for Auchincloss.
Two years after narrowly defeating challengers in a primary election for the seat vacated by Joe Kennedy III, Auchincloss ran uncontested in last month’s primaries and now only faces a write-in Republican candidate.
The uncompetitive race is at least in part a result of Auchincloss’s voting record in Congress. David Hopkins, an associate professor of political science at Boston College, said the Congressman has given his progressive constituents nothing to complain about.
ProPublica’s Represent database reports that only about 38 members of the House voted along party lines more than Auchincloss. He only voted against the Democratic Party 0.8 percent of the time, according to the database.
Jesse Mermell, Auchincloss’s 2020 progressive opponent, did not respond to a request for an interview made through Twitter.
Celia Shatiro, a constituent who voted against Auchincloss in the 2020 primary, said she now relates to him.
“I’m just worried about the world and the universe,” she said. “He seems to be, too.”
Auchincloss has voted with Democrats on key bills such as the Inflation Reduction Act, the Ensuring Access to Abortion Act of 2022, and the Respect for Marriage Act, the latter of which is a proposal he co-sponsered to require the federal government to recognize same-sex and interracial marriages as valid under law.
“On abortion, on guns, on climate change, on protecting our democracy, I have been a fierce, fierce, progressive advocate,” he said.
While Auchincloss votes overwhelmingly along party lines, some constituents support Auchincloss for his apparent centrism. That’s the case for Jean-Francois Ducrest, a Chestnut Hill resident. As he is not a U.S. citizen, Ducrest cannot vote for Auchincloss, but he still supports him.
“I’ve paid more taxes than most
people in this country, and I support him,” said Ducrest, who has previously donated to Auchincloss. “In fact, if I was 30 years younger, I’d love to be him.”
Auchincloss said he’s willing to disagree with Democrats. He said he believes a politician’s stance on issues should be considered on a case-bycase basis.
But even though he is willing to break party lines in the spirit of pragmatism, Auchincloss is not a traditional moderate, according to Hopkins.
“[Auchincloss is] a moderate by the standards of left-wing Massachusetts political activists,” he said. “He’s not exactly the Joe Manchin of the House of Representatives.”
Digital news source Axios Boston wrote that Auchincloss is a “Democrat touting an explicitly centrist message of cooperation with Republicans.” But when looking at national trends, Hopkins argued that Auchincloss is not a centrist.
“He’s not really out of step with the National Democratic Party,” Hopkins said. “He’s not giving progressives reason to continue to be really upset with him. Now that he’s in Congress, he’s not voting against this sort of standard Democratic agenda.”
The congressman has displayed a willingness to defend progressive legislation in front of conservative audiences. In December 2021, he defended President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Bill after Senator Joe Manchin said he would not support the infrastructure legislation.
“I go on Fox News, and I go on The
ideology.”
The congressman called his first two years on Capitol Hill “a period of fast decision-making and high stakes.”
His previous careers prepared him well for the national role, he said.
“What I learned in the Marine Corps is that in those conditions, you don’t rise to the occasion—you fall to your level of training,” Auchincloss said. “And I think much of my career to date has been training for an intense period of press decision making in high stakes.”
Auchincloss said his pragmatic view of problem solving started with his parents.
His father, Hugh Auchincloss, is the principal deputy director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Laurie Glimcher, his mother, is the president and CEO of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
Hopkins said experience in local government is beneficial for a member of Congress.
“Sometimes it looks easier from the outside than it actually is once you’re in it, because there is so much scrutiny, and you’re constantly in the public eye, and there are cameras recording everything you say, and one little comment that you make one time can wind up defining your reputation,” Hopkins said.
Auchincloss said his upbringing and career prior to 2020 help him make solution-based decisions at the congressional level.
“What threads together those … experiences really is [they’re] all non-ideological in their nature,” he said. “Science, military, business, local government—they’re all about solutions and are all domains where fixation on the ology over solutions will get you into trouble really fast.”
Auchincloss as a politician who looks for functional solutions to pressing issues, he said.
“He’s an honest guy,” Ducrest said. “He doesn’t care about money. And he cares about doing what works as opposed to what feels good, which is very different from the average politician in Massachusetts.”
Though he started in local government, Auchincloss is “bigger than Newton,” Ducrest said.
In Congress, Auchincloss represents the city’s people well, Ducrest said. But he expects an even bigger political future out of the Newton North High School grad.
“In 10 years from now, he’ll be a huge name,” Ducrest said.
According to Open Secrets, a nonprofit that compiles campaign financing data, the congressman has almost $2.5 million on hand to spend on political races.
That is more than every other U.S. Representative from Massachusetts except First Congressional District representative Richard Neal, who has served in Congress for more than three decades.
When politicians sit on large sums of campaign financing, Hopkins said it often discourages potential opponents from running against them. They could also use that funding for campaigns for higher-up offices in the future, according to Hopkins.
“Both [senators from Massachusetts] are over the age of 65—they’re not going to be there forever,” Hopkins said. “Maybe one of them gets a cabinet position at some point or something like that opens up a seat, maybe you want to think about that. Having $2 million already sitting there to start your campaign with is an advantage.”
Washington Times, or I go on The Wall Street Journal, and I make these cases for strong progressive values and priorities,” Auchincloss said.
Ducrest said he also likes that Auchincloss is willing to communicate with opponents across the aisle.
“We need more people who can speak to the Republicans who are not whackjobs,” he said. “I know that [there are] not a ton of them, but still, and we need people who can do deals as opposed to [thinking] about
“I grew up in a family of scientists—both my mom and dad—and they taught me the value of open mind and hard data as they were working to cure cancer and diabetes,” Auchincloss said.
After serving in the Marines— where he was on active duty from 2010–15—Auchincloss worked in the business sector and was elected as a city councilor in the City of Newton for three two-year terms prior to his election to Congress.
Ducrest initially supported the congressman for not letting political ideology affect his decision making. He met Auchincloss at a private event before the COVID-19 pandemic and before his first congressional election.
“He was young, but he had a lot of strong and good ideas, a tradition of service, and he was more like a traditional Democrat—a can-do Democrat as opposed to an ideologue,” Ducrest said.
Two years later, Ducrest still sees
But for now, Auchincloss is planning for his next term in Congress.
Representing 750,000 people in his district, Auchincloss said he wants to lower healthcare costs, protect Medicare, and advance democratic priorities.
“They can count on continuing to see me locking arms and on the front lines of democratic fights on abortion, on guns, on climate change, and on protecting our democracy,” Auchincloss said. n
Gun Control, from A1
The City Council’s regulations are not a full ban but still vastly limit where a firearms business could open.
Prior to the zoning rule, there were 777 properties on which a firearms business could set up without City Council approval, according to Ward 4 Councilor-at-Large Josh Krintzman. Now, there are three.
But some residents remained worried that zoning ordinances would fail as a safeguard and pushed for a citywide ban on the sale of firearms. NGVPC activists warned that such a ban in Newton could trigger intervention by the Supreme Court.
In June 2021, the City Council voted 6–0 with one abstention against a complete ban on gun stores, sticking with the strategic use of zoning regulations to prevent the proliferation of access to firearms. Since its advocacy work last summer, the NGVPC has continued working to promote gun safety in Newton.
The NGVPC’s ongoing efforts have involved spreading information from organizations working on the state and federal level, such as the Massachusetts Coalition to Prevent Gun Violence, through its email list and Facebook group.
The NGVPC lobbied last spring for the passage of an ordinance preventing air rifles from being
fired within city limits after a resident shot one in his West Newton backyard.
“We want to harness that energy that we had around the gun store issue to other initiatives that can make us safer,” Towvim said.
Heather Tausig, Towvim’s founding partner, said the collaborative is organizing a gun buyback, working with Newton schools to promote a safe storage program, and holding educational forums with the Newton’s police and Health & Human Services Department.
“[Passing the zoning ordinance] felt like another step,” Tausig said. “But legislation is kind of a marathon.” n
Newton Community Pride is auctioning off 12 public benches crafted by local and regional artists. The auction will last until Sept. 30.
Newton Community Pride—a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to beautification, art, and culture in the city—is auctioning off 12 of 17 public art benches from its “Sit & Let Your Spirit Soar” art installation online.
Now that the [installation] is coming to a close, we thought we would offer them up to the public to continue their use and to continue bringing color and creativity to our community,” said Blair Sullivan, executive director for Newton Community Pride.
The public art initiative began in late spring and ran through the summer. The Boston Chinese Evangelical Church in Newtonville donated the original benches before artists got to work on them, according to Sullivan.
A wide variety of art styles cover the benches, including designs inspired by anything from Marie Antoinette to the 1950s pop art movement to Ukrainian cultural spirit. According to Sullivan, five of the 12 benches up for auction have already been sold.
The proceeds will go towards our next public art initiative, which will be sometime in the spring,” Sullivan said.
Sullivan said Newton Community Pride is unsure what its next art initiative might be, but she said that it will be something as great as the benches.
All winning bids for the benches include the costs of moving the bench to a Newton ground-level yard or business on Oct. 8.
The benches can also be viewed on location throughout the city until the auction closes.
“We’re very excited to have these pieces continue in the community and to also raise funds and [artistic] awareness in Newton,” Sullivan said. n
roll
By ViCTor sTefanesCu Metro EditorThe new Che! Empanada in Newtonville is an authentic, delectable Argentinian spot perfect for a lunch break right off the Massachusetts Turnpike.
Che! opened its first spot in Worcester—where there’s a large Latino community, the manager said—in January 2021. But now, the restaurant is growing into a regional brand.
The Newton location opened in April, and the manager, who requested to not be named, said there are plans to expand into Harvard Square and other parts of Boston.
The Newton location is small, but not stuffy. Three tables line the colorful dining room in which flags that read “Grand Opening” indicate the restaurant’s mint condition.
Approaching the glass case sitting next to the register, both the empanadas you’d expect to see and some sweet surprises like pionono
In addition to beef fillings, Che! offers empanadas filled chicken, chorizo, veggies, and seafood. The dough
cording to the manager.
Che! also sells its empanadas in bulk. The manager said they last
Dennis Shirley loves Italy. He loves the Italian language, Italian cuisine, Italian fashion, and the country itself. It is the style of living, Shirley said, his black glasses framing a pair of bright blue eyes—the attention to beauty.
His wife is tired of listening to him describe how great Italy is, he said. She often says they should just give in and move there. But Shirley, whose father was stationed in the Mediterranean nation with the U.S. Army in the 1960s, already spent four “very happy” years of his childhood on the cobblestone streets of Naples.
“Italians are among the world’s longest-living people,” he said. “Why is that? It’s not because they have a great GDP. Not ’cause they do well on standardized tests. It’s because they’ve kind of figured out that sweet spot.”
Decades later, as a professor of education at Boston College, Shirley returned to the land of his youth for an exchange program at Venice International University (VIU). VIU’s campus is known for its bright white exteriors and red-tiled roofs, as well as its location on San Servolo, an island in the Venetian lagoon.
Shirley said the quality of food and fashion of everyday Venetians blew him away. You have to make a bit more of an effort here, he said, recalling advice he received during his time in the city— pay more attention to how you look and what you’re wearing.
“So, then I began doing that, and it just became a lot of fun,” Shirley said, sporting a maroon sweater silhouetted by the stacks of books piled behind him. “It doesn’t require that much money really, just paying some attention. But all of a sudden it woke up my mind to simple, little things that we can do that really increase our quality of life.”
It is a fitting observation for the 67-year-old professor, who has spent his decades-long career researching student well-being and engagement in the United States and across the globe.
Shirley, who is also the inaugural Florencia and Marc Gabelli Family Faculty Fellow, has worked at the Lynch School of Education and Human Development for the past 24 years.
David Blustein, a professor of counseling psychology at LSEHD, arrived at BC only a few months after Shirley in January of 1999. The pair met during Blustein’s first few weeks on the job, he said, and the two have remained close friends and colleagues ever since.
Blustein said he admires Shirley’s distinct approach to research, which incorporates a variety of academic perspectives.
“He’s, to me, a renaissance scholar and a kind of classic intellectual, the likes of which we don’t see in academia quite as much anymore,” said Blustein, who is also a Golden Eagle Faculty Fellow. “Dennis has extraordinary knowledge of philosophy and literature and poetry. So for me, talking to Dennis is like what my dream was of academia— that I would be with people who were really renaissance scholars, who knew a lot about a lot of different things.”
Shirley has taught classes on educational change, curricula, and global perspectives on education, among other topics. He said that he has been lucky to do a lot of international work throughout his time at BC, during which he has also authored or co-authored six books, the most recent of which was released in December of last year.
“My whole life is dedicated to studying what happens with the clash between idealistic educators and the reality of politics and power,” he said. “Our society has become more and more grotesquely unequal, and that’s really bad for childhood well-being.”
Well-Being in Schools: Three Forces That Will Uplift Your Students in a Volatile World, which he co-wrote with BC research professor of education Andy Hargreaves, was born out of a study of 10 school districts in Ontario, Canada. The Ontario Ministry of Education detailed its four renewed goals for education for the 2015–-2016 school year, one of which was promoting well-being.
“Ontario’s Well-Being Strategy for
gin to focus on engagement, well-being, and identity. The authors decided to split the argument into three parts, releasing the first book—called Five Paths of Student Engagement—in June of 2021. Well-Being in Schools is the second installment, while the final part, focusing on identity, is still on its way.
But there is an inherent tension with any attempt to reform education, he said. In order to understand how to improve an institution, you might have to work within the system itself.
“Then the institutions tend to socialize you into their norms and their morays, and then you become part of the machine that you’re trying to change, and that’s a problem,” Shirley said. “Or you can be outside screaming and yelling and trying to get people to change. Or you can kind of build networks that help people outside the system and people inside the system to work together, and that’s what I’ve been doing now for about 17 years.”
Thomas Groome, a professor of theology and religious education in the School of Theology and Ministry, met
the Harvard Graduate School of Education in 1988.
He then headed down to Houston where he worked as a professor of education at Rice University for 10 years before accepting the position of associate dean of LSEHD in 1998.
“I’d always wanted to get back to New England,” Shirley said. “I love seasons. I love history. I love the ocean. I love the mountains. I learned to love the Red Sox.”
But it was during his decade-long spell in Houston that Shirley, who is “not particularly religious or spiritual,” began working in community organizing with inner-city Christian congregations.
“When you see people putting their faith into action on behalf of the most dispossessed, it’s profoundly inspiring,” he said. “That was definitely a magnet for me in coming to BC, and it’s enriched my life a lot here.”
This work brought him to cities all across Texas—such as Dallas, Fort Worth, San Antonio, El Paso, and Lower Rio Grande Valley—as well as Louisiana, New Mexico, and Arizona.
But this was not Shirley’s first time living in the American South.
He was born in Columbia, S.C. in 1955, though he admits he didn’t stay there very long. Shirley’s father was in the U.S. Army working for NATO, so the family moved around a lot when he was a kid, he said.
“Every generation has its own kind of crystallizing events that form its generational consciousness,” Shirley said. “I grew up outside of Washington, D.C. in the latter half of the ’60s, and there was a lot of social protest going on. My father served two tours of duty in Vietnam, and I thought I’d better figure out what’s going on in the world.”
Though he has spent nearly a quarter of a century at BC, Shirley said he is proud to be a child of the American public school system. He graduated high school in Fairfax County, Va. in 1973 and completed his bachelor’s at the University of Virginia in political and social thought in 1977.
With a cup grasped tightly between my pudgy hands, I often trekked up to McDonald’s soda fountains as a child. Giddily, I would press my cup against each lever, mixing sodas, lemonade, and teas until I created a concoction sweet enough to rot teeth. Now, at 21, I’ve decided that inventing cocktails is the adult version of this childhood impulse. There’s something uniquely satisfying in tweaking an ingredient here and there until your creation is just right.
Having some staple drinks under your belt is definitely a good thing. Personally, I’m partial to the Moscow Mule, or as my dad jokingly calls it, the Leningrad Llama. This week, however, I decided to put a spin on a different classic: the French 75. I first tried a French 75 this summer when my friend Catherine and I stumbled upon an on-the-go cocktail cart while roaming the streets of Dublin. The combination of gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and champagne was tart but just sweet enough to be immensely refreshing.
In my version of the French 75—or as I call it, the Fraise 75—I decided to incorporate a sweet strawberry flavor. I used Beefeater Pink Strawberry Gin and macerated strawberries to add this spin that will leave you craving another sip. I think this cocktail is best served in a champagne flute, but feel free to modify the recipe to any style glass you like.
Education” defines well-being as a “positive sense of self, spirit and belonging that we feel when our cognitive, emotional, social and physical needs are being met.”
“We got [to the school districts], and we saw a lot of new things in education we hadn’t seen much before: students meditating in class, students learning to identify their emotions,” he said. “A school system created an app so students could post anonymously if they were worried about a student who was struggling with depression or anxiety.”
According to Shirley, Well-Being in Schools supports the assertion that looking forward, education should be-
Shirley about five or six years ago, he said, and it quickly became clear that he and Shirley shared the same general philosophies of education. Groome said he admires Shirley’s commitment to looking beyond empirical data to philosophy, morality, and the humanities for the grounding of education.
“I see Andy and Dennis taking on tremendously humanizing education,” Groome said. “An education that will enable people to make and keep life hu man. For themselves, but also for other people and for the common good of society.”
Prior to his tenure at BC, Shirley completed his doctorate in teaching, curricula, and learning environments at
“I had some great teachers in my public school system who were the kinds of people who take their students’ thinking really seriously,” he said. “Really knew their academic content down cold. Had a sense of humor.”
Shirley then moved to Manhattan
INSTRUCTIONS:
a strawberry into quarters and macerate in a glass.
some of the mashed strawberry in the stem of a champagne flute.
a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Add the gin, lemon juice, simple syrup, and remaining mashed strawberry to the shaker, and shake
Strain the drink into the cham-
Top with champagne, and garnish the glass with a slice of
Pearl (Mia Goth) is the product of inherent insanity, obsessive ambition, and the conditions of her repetitive, dull, and unfair upbringing. Behind her wide eyes and unsettlingly steady voice lies a propensity for violence.
The new movie Pearl, released on Sept. 16, is a study of this vicious character who also terrorizes Ti West’s horror movie X Pearl is a thought-provoking and eerie prequel to West’s earlier film.
“I want to be loved,” Pearl says.
When she’s not terrifying audiences with her violent tendencies, Pearl’s desperation to escape her abusive mother and unresponsive father provokes sympathy from the audience. Goth carries much of the movie on her shoulders, as she not only plays the protagonist but is also a co-writer of the film.
Pearl grips its audience with a back-and-forth narrative that bounces between Pearl’s insanity and her sympathy-inducing dreams
for a better life. Pearl’s aspiration to become a movie star is underscored by her repressive home life and her sense of invisibility to the world.
But Pearl is also very conscious that there is something deeply wrong with her. In a way, Pearl’s self awareness and, sometimes, her remorse humanizes her character. The film carefully crafts this brilliantly complex character that leaves the viewer conflicted about how they should feel about the young, hopeful, murderous Pearl.
Goth’s calculated acting in Pearl is the most compelling aspect of the movie. The actress does not overdo her gestures and naturally brings the character to life. Her wardrobe, youthful face, and neatly styled hair give an innocent look to her character that contrasts with who she really is.
Goth’s long, heartfelt monologues and exaggerated smiles give Pearl distinctive and almost admirable character traits. Even though viewers likely know the future of Pearl’s character from watching X, the film still stands out for its artistic
portrayal of insanity and for its carefully written script.
Set on a Texas farm in 1918, the movie resembles The Wizard of Oz with the set’s antique aesthetics. But in this film, Dorothy is replaced with
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Released Sept. 16, 2022
Marcus Mumford’s album, (Self-Titled), begins with these striking lines on the track “Cannibal.”
“I can still taste you and I hate it / That wasn’t a choice in the mind of a child and you knew it / You took the first slice of me and you ate it raw / Ripped
‘(Self-Titled)’
Released Sept. 16, 2022
it in with your teeth and your lips like a cannibal / You fucking animal,” Mumford sings.
This introductory verse sets the tone for the whole album, which centers around Mumford’s experiences, reflections, and attempts to move past the sexual abuse he experienced as a child.
The Mumford & Sons lead singer’s first solo album is not only an impressive display of Mumford’s innate musical ability and storytelling, but it is also a deeply vulnerable and commendable look into his past.
Mumford crafts a cohesive story from song to song through the 10 tracks of the album. “Cannibal” ends with Mumford singing, “Help me to know how to begin again.” This leads directly into the second track, “Grace,” where he starts by lamenting, “Well how should we proceed / Without things getting too heavy?”
Herein lies a major theme of the record: Mumford’s struggle to deal with the knowledge, experience, and resulting trauma of the abuse. Musically, “Grace” also showcases a classic stomp-and-clap folk rock style that Mumford & Sons is
known for.
“Better Angels” comes in the latter half of the album and finds Mumford singing about a turning point in his emotional and creative journey.
“It’s alright / I don’t wanna get ’em out of my head / Is this where we begin again?,” Mumford sings.
The line is a clear response to Mumford’s plea in “Cannibal” and he seems to make headway in dealing with his past. The song’s more hopeful lyrics are aided by an upbeat acoustic guitar and simple production that allow Mumford to remain the focal point of the song.
Phoebe Bridgers and Clairo accompany Mumford on two tracks—“Dangerous Game” and “Stonecatcher”—both superstar artists in their own right, and each harmonize perfectly with Mumford. The guest artists provide new intricacies and depth to (Self-Titled)
The quietest track of (Self-Titled) is “How,” featuring Brandi Carlile. On this final track of the album, Mumford for-
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Sophie May’s music isn’t just good—it’s fist-pumping alone in the car, ratty hairbrush as a microphone, tear-inducingly good. Her debut EP, titled You Do Not Have to be Good , encourages you to be whoever you want to be.
The 23-year-old, U.K.-based artist’s rise has been meteoric. She learned to play guitar at age 19 and posted snippets of original songs on TikTok at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, she has over 200,000 followers on the platform.
May began by posting 60-second clips of songs she wrote during lockdown, giving listeners just a taste of her indie style that is reminiscent of legends like Joni Mitchell and Carole King.
Fans soon flooded her account, commenting prompts to inspire May’s songs and hoping the artist would write lyrics based on their experiences. One commenter wrote, “Wait, can you write a song about diving into something head first that you know will destroy you? ha.” May made an improvised TikTok video based off of the line.
May often edits her clips in new ways and sometimes creates something unique to the lyrics of whichever song she is recording.
In a clip reminding fans that they can pre-save her song “Bruises & Scratches,” she drew the man the
song is about by tracing his silhouette without lifting her pencil off the paper.
Not beholden to every TikTok trend, May sets herself apart from other social media creators with her songwriting skills. Before learning to play guitar, May thought she would study English literature. Her close analysis and writing skills are serving her well in her lyrical pursuits.
Her debut single “With The Band” is about feeling like a self-obsessed rock star’s groupie, grasping at metaphorical straws to get the attention of someone who is self-absorbed. The song currently has over one million streams on Spotify.
“Schoolgirl’s shoes on Velcro floors / He could mumble all his words, he’d still be man enough,” May sings.
Her lyrics are detail-oriented, rhythmic, emotionally vulnerable, and relatable. Her melodies are impossible to get out of your head, and intricate harmonies only add to this wonderful problem. Indie-rock influences and an experimental acoustic guitar add rhythm and dynamics to a more traditional base in folk music.
Some of May’s songs exude a melancholy nostalgia, while others, like a song only released on TikTok called “Marianne,” could be
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After four years of waiting for another full-length album—since 2018’s Thank You For Today—, the tenth album by rock band Death Cab for Cutie, Asphalt Meadows, has finally arrived.
Any Death Cab fan who knows the band’s track record would expect Asphalt Meadows to be an album full of slow-burn songs. Death Cab for Cutie is famous for electric endings to songs that start slow and gradually build.
The band’s earlier tracks, like “Someday You Will Be Loved” and “Transatlanticism,” are some of the best examples of this quintessential Death Cab move. While this style is still present on Asphalt Meadows, it doesn’t deliver the same satisfying listening experience as it usually does. At times, the build is so obvious and dramatic that it feels like self-parody.
But those moments where the style
is at its best make the album worth listening to.
Unfortunately, Death Cab also structured its album like one of those slow-burn songs they are known for. The beginning of the album is full of mediocre songs with shaky starts that are not justified with the stellar outros that any listener would expect. The songs that do finish with satisfying endings are buried too deep into the album. But most listeners would stop listening by then.
In the first track, “I Don’t Know How I Survive,” lead vocalist Ben Gibbard’s strong voice refuses to mesh with the lackluster instrumentation in the beginning of the song. The song opens with an acoustic sound, but with a backing track underlayer that does not blend well. “Rand McNally” and “Roman Candles” fall victim to this same issue and there is a missing sense of cohesion throughout most of the tracks.
Thankfully, the sixth song on the album, “Foxglove Through the Clearcut,”
is a turning point. Every following song improves with every note. The lyrics become more descriptive and creative. Gibbard paints a haunting image of devastation and nature in the poetic lyrics.
“And now, he and I watch the foxglove grow through the clearcut / Where a forest once grew high and wild / For what is a funeral without flowers?” Gibbard sings.
The songs get longer as the album unfolds, giving more time for Death Cab’s slow builds to shine.
The album culminates with “I’ll Never Give Up On You.” The track describes a failing faith in the state of the world, but a commitment to “never give up” on someone he loves.
“I've given up on confrontation / And I've given up on every politician too,” Gibbard sings.
This sense of despair mixed with hope is mirrored in the light instrumentation fighting against the dark distortion throughout the track.
The frustration of listening to some of these beginning tracks makes what could have been a great album just okay. If Death Cab reverted back to these more complex lyrics and better
instrumentation, Asphalt Meadows could have reached the same acclaim as its other albums. Instead, fans are left with an album mostly full of disappointing songs.
The end of summer and the subsequent return to school is an important span of time. For me, the end of August means frantically packing up my things, quitting my insufferable job, and heading back to the Heights. But, it wasn’t always like this. And for high school students everywhere, the end of summer and the beginning of senior year really only means one thing: college application season is upon them.
As the sibling of a high school senior, watching my sister agonize over the Common App, study for the SAT, and most importantly, agonize over which school, if any, she will apply Early Decision to, has made me weirdly reminiscent of the college process. Not in the sense that I miss applying—because that was literal hell—but I miss the newness of college and what it felt like to apply to Boston College. All of the campus visits, carefully crafted supplemental essays, and emails to BC admissions are made in a desperate hope to convey that you’re the “right choice.” But simultaneously, you might try to convince yourself that BC is truly the right place for you. So, three years after applying, with two years of college in the rearview mirror, this is my “Why BC.’’ To my surprise, it’s wildly different from when I applied.
Few things are certain in life: death, taxes, and BC admissions plastering Gasson on every single piece of their marketing materi-
al. Inevitably, as a 17-year-old drawn to the aesthetically pleasing aspects of college, I ate this up. Although superficial, when deciding to apply to BC, its gothic-style architecture and famous buildings—like Gasson—were a huge motivating factor. What a tour guide and an admissions pamphlet can’t show you, however, are all the “small spaces” that exist across campus that I would argue give Gasson a run for its title. These “small spaces” do wonders to make a big campus feel homey and personal.
Whenever I’m having a not-so-good, very bad day, you can find me on the Stokes Bridge sipping a coffee while doing some light reading (and maybe even a little online shopping). From the perch of a worn-in chair, looking out onto the quad, campus feels somewhat distant, leaving me to exist momentarily in my own personal universe. The beauty of this “small space” is that it relegates you to the role of campus observer. You’re still present, but also left alone to read, drink coffee, and do my favorite activity: people-watching. In a spot like this, you can decompress while also appreciating the bustle of campus. Stokes Bridge is truly the perfect in-between-class oasis. The Reservoir
I know that the Chestnut Hill Reservoir isn’t technically on campus, but I feel as though the BC community has claimed it as our own. When I applied to BC, I don’t even think I knew what the Reservoir was. But now, it is one of the places that I most strongly associate with BC. Whenever I need a dose of “nature,” I put on my sneakers and head to the Reservoir. Whether I’m walking alone or with a group, time spent along the Reservoir is time spent well. In my mind, the Reservoir acts as sort of a metaphorical bridge, connecting residential BC on one side, to Boston and Cleveland Circle on the other. The best part
about the Reservoir are the benches scattered around the perimeter. Personally, I’ve never sat at the benches, but I appreciate the variety of the people they attract. At BC, it’s easy to get caught up in the “bubble” and find yourself spending time with the same type of people everyday. At the Reservoir, however, the people sitting on the benches exist outside the “bubble,” acting as an important reminder that Boston and the surrounding communities aren’t just made up of BC students.
For BC, the adage “the people make the place,” applies. The people I’ve met here are unlike any other. When thinking about the people I’ve met while at BC, I feel like I see the best parts of human nature personified and magnified. Without getting too sappy, I would describe my friends here as equal parts inspirational and genuine. Being at BC with them encourages me to be the best and most genuine version of myself. When I’m not on the Heights, I spend my time at home, counting down the seconds until I can return to campus. Being at BC feels like a warm hug in the best possible way.
If I were writing my “Why BC” essay today, I would emphasize all of these things along with making a variety of promises for myself. I would promise to make the most out of these four years and cherish every second. I would promise to be a great friend and community member. I would also promise to attend office hours, go to church, call my mom, etc. Basically, I would do or say anything just for the opportunity to come to school here. So, three years after submitting my application, I can confidently say that I made the right choice.
Cameron Walker is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at cameron.walker@bc.edu.
If I told you that 49 percent of American adults eat a sandwich every day, would you believe me? Well, don’t take my word for it—it’s true, according to a BC Dining Instagram caption last week. With the Eagle’s Nest Deli reopening, these sandwich statistics can fly high—just like the deli lovers on campus who are now broken free from the chains of insane lines at Lower and Hillside for their turkey and brie cravings.
We all know that if you didn’t take a sunset picture, the sunset never really happened. The same rule applies to pictures taken of Gasson Hall—the beautiful centerpiece of BC’s picturesque campus. Even better, when you post those stunning spires and elegant archways on your story and they get reposted by @Gassongrams, you’re sure to feel like a million bucks. If you do manage to score a shout out, you better hold onto that 15 minutes of fame for dear life.
I have never been one to test the waters. If you ask anyone from my middle school gym class, I was the kid in capture the flag who never risked a toe on the other side of the line, even when my entire team was in jail. Crappy of me, I know, but the fact still stands that I am generally neither the savior nor the experimental type. Yet, for some reason, as I sit down to write this column and simultaneously address the unfortunately empty recesses of my ancient brain, I have decided to experiment just a little.
Now, I am risking a little too much honesty in admitting that there is quite literally nothing in my brain right now. But that is precisely what I want to talk about. In the past year and a month that I have been at Boston College, I have come to experience a state of being that I believe is particular to college students: the Bobbing Orb.
The Bobbing Orb, as I have experienced it, occurs when I am overstimulated with noise, assignments, and social interactions. It is when my brain ceases to be an ordered arrangement of reason, memory, schedule, and responsibility and collapses—rather artfully—into a series of floating tendrils that barely keep me tethered to my basic obliga -
tions. For example, a tendril will float by, reminding me of the math worksheet I must complete before midnight, while another will tap the edge of my awareness, signaling that my friend’s birthday is in a few days. Sometimes the tendrils I observe are most unhelpful in moments of crisis. I can be in the middle of an exam, trying to reach in my mind for a particular theory while my mind rather unhelpfully recites back the Pirates of the Caribbean theme song, complete with the full musical score. Where these tendrils originate, I do not know, but they materialize in the ether of my mind’s orblike state.
This sensation has become a way of life for me in the past week. So much so that, whenever my friends inquire after my wellbeing, I respond that I have simply been an orb, bobbing through life. Although that’s gained me several strange looks, I’ve been pleased to find that many of my friends feel the same way, and more significantly, can identify the Bobbing Orb as a constant companion in their college lifestyle.
It is in these recent, rather relieving, conversations that I have come to understand why the Bobbing Orb exists: to remind me to let go of the illusion of control that I have over my mind and its expression. It is, after all, rather difficult to be present with one’s thoughts while in college. As opportunity after opportunity presents itself, it is easy to feel like one tiny foot soldier in a legion of warriors all trying to push themselves to achieve every type of success. And while I enter every school year with a series of resolutions on the type of college
student I am going to be and the sort of excellence I am striving for, I cannot impose a regiment so harsh that I forget that my mind is first and foremost a place so tender, soft, precious, and free. I can admit, rather begrudgingly, that this is a lesson I need to be reminded of quite often. As extracurricular activities and academic commitments begin to pile up, I can find myself beating my brain in frustration as to why I cannot generate more completed work, think more critically, or at least be anything other than soup. Yet, I can understand that to acknowledge the Bobbing Orb is to accept my inherent humanity and to surrender to the comedy of hearing “Baby Shark” on double speed as I crunch to finish an exam in the last five minutes of class.
Whether or not you have been able to resonate with the Bobbing Orb, I am grateful for the time that you have spent with me today. It has been refreshing for me to have company as I sit on the floor of my mind and watch the tendrils float by. I hope my first (and last) experiment proved itself to be a worthy one. If, even for a second, you found yourself feeling more present with your thoughts while reading this, I would consider it a success.
To my fellow bobbing orbs out there, please know that I completely and wholeheartedly empathize with your present state. I have heard a little rumor, though, that a nap and a warm meal help immensely.
Punnya Kalapurakkel is an op-ed columnist for The Heights She can be reached at punnya.kalapurakkel@bc.edu.
As if having to drag yourself out of bed for your 9 a.m. isn’t hard enough, mentally preparing to walk to class in the rain might just be the final straw. Having to choose between a hoodie or umbrella and sneakers or full-blown rain boots is a battle within itself. But when you do finally stumble into class after your trek in the elements, your frizzy hair and smudged mascara dripping down your face—not to mention your horrifyingly wet socks—might have your classmates convinced that Halloween came early.
Now that midterm season is approaching, motivation in the morning is getting more and more scarce. Coupled with the rain, the long elevator lines on the first floor of Maloney make us all consider turning back around to our dorms for the day. Some might not fantasize about going home when they approach the massive elevator line, but may instead picture themselves grabbing a bite to eat, calling their mom, or even sitting on a bench and staring into the abyss while the crowd dies down. Anything but taking the stairs.
Boston College should increase transparency and oversight of the Student Organization Funding Committee (SOFC) to prevent future budgeting issues for BC’s variety of student organizations. Regardless of SOFC’s internal behavior, the BC administration has a responsibility to provide adequate and stable support to student organizations on campus, and recent events within SOFC have shown the organization’s oversight has fallen short in 2022.
On Sept. 15, SOFC informed student organization leaders that it had already allocated its entire budget for the semester. Without any remaining cash on hand, SOFC will be unable to provide additional funding to student organizations this semester, which has not occurred since February 2012.
SOFC is a student-run organization that acts as the primary funding body for the vast majority of registered student organizations at Boston College. Every semester, SOFC accepts budget requests and lineitem requests—funding appeals for individual activities, such as culture celebrations and dance competitions—from club leaders. SOFC’s activities are overseen by the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) through a graduate advisor and a full-time advisor. It routinely manages the distribution of hundreds of thousands of dollars each semester for hundreds of clubs at BC.
Since SOFC has allocated all of its bud -
get for this semester, it cannot fulfill lineitem requests for any club that may need funding for events or competitions later in the semester. SOFC recommends that student organizations submit their budget requests prior to the start of the school year, but clubs often do not know the number of students in their organization until at least a week or two into the semester. OSI does not even host the Student Involvement Fair until the first Friday of classes.
This means that dance clubs risk missing competitions, culture clubs risk losing their annual celebrations, and BC’s film club will not be able to provide BC-subsidized budgets for any of its newly scripted short films.
After years of fulfilling line-item requests from student organizations throughout the semester, SOFC knew to plan for these requests and still failed to do so.
Members of The Heights’ Editorial Board emailed the OSI staff responsible for the oversight of SOFC—requesting financial documentation and asking about the supervision of SOFC—and did not receive any answers to their questions.
In an email to SOFC on Sept. 20, a student representative said they were unable to disclose information about the inner workings of SOFC because they would not have sufficient time to consult with “OSI, the VP of Student Affairs, and the administration at large” before answering questions.
The evasiveness of SOFC and its supervisors did not stop there. OSI sidestepped several phone calls from Heights editors, claiming each time that all relevant staff were in meetings. Later, when Heights editors visited the OSI office in Carney Hall, they were turned away and told to return the following afternoon. When editors returned to the office the next day during the specified timeframe, they were once again turned away because “everyone” in the office was in meetings. This lack of transparency following SOFC’s troubling announcement demonstrates the need for clarity and reform in BC’s management of student organizations.
In a previous comment to The Heights , SOFC stated it will be “revisiting [its] guidelines and seeing how [it] can tighten up gray areas so that this doesn’t happen in the future,” and attributed the depletion in funds to an unusually high number of club funding requests.
Regardless of the committee’s conduct, the BC administration has a responsibility to ensure that all student organizations have the funding and resources to operate throughout the year—independent of the number of budget requests sent to SOFC early in the semester. The sudden and unexpected nature of SOFC’s announcement, which lacked any financial transparency or explanation, caused unnecessary confusion for BC club leaders.
With two minutes left in the first half, North Carolina crossed the ball in front of the box, bypassing Boston College women’s soccer’s defense before lodging it in the back of the net. This goal broke the dam, and the Tar Heels scored two more goals within the first four minutes
BC (4–4–3, 0–3–0 Atlantic Coast) failed to answer any of the Tar Heels’ goals on Sunday and fell to No. 3 North Carolina 3–0. The Eagles’ defense collapsed late in the first half and continued to spiral early in the second, costing BC the game.
The Eagles have gone scoreless in three straight games, a deadly stretch that has resulted in three straight losses. In those games, opponents outscored
The first half of Sunday’s matchup was a defensive battle, with BC fighting hard to keep up with the Tar Heels. Though neither team scored in over 43 minutes, North Carolina continuously pressured the Eagles, and the Tar Heels outshot BC in the first half 9–2.
The Eagles fought to push the ball up the field and played a calm and collected game, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack. They moved as a unit and prevented scoring opportunities from the Tar Heels.
The tides changed, though, when North Carolina logged its first goal to close out the half. The Tar Heels finally put the pieces together and broke down BC’s defense.
A penalty kick early in the second half granted North Carolina its second goal. After the Tar Heels’ second score, the Eagles seemed to lose their confidence, and they played frantically in an effort to catch up.
North Carolina kept the pressure on, outshooting BC 17–4, and had seven shots on goal to the Eagles’ three.
The Tar Heels continued to connect in
CORRIGAN
By Jack Bergamini Asst. Sports Editor
Boston College football knows what it feels like to lose, having dropped two of its first three games this season.
But the magnitude of the loss that BC suffered against Florida State Saturday night in Tallahassee was an entirely new feeling for the Eagles.
Not much went right for the Eagles (1–3, 0–2 Atlantic Coast) who struggled on all levels in their 44–14 loss to Florida State (4–0, 2–0) in front of a sold-out, 79,560-person crowd. The game marked BC’s largest loss during head coach Jeff Hafley’s career on the Heights.
“We didn’t coach good enough,” Hafley said. “We did play good enough. We didn’t tackle good enough.”
In a nightmare first two minutes for BC, the Seminoles exploited a banged-up BC team. Florida State’s Trey Benson took the Eagles’ opening kickoff 93 yards to the house after BC elected to defer.
“You can never kick the ball down
the middle of the field,” Hafley said about Danny Longman’s kickoff. “It started with the kick, and guys getting off blocks and then guys missing tackles. So we got to take a look at who’s on that team [special teams] and who’s capable of playing well on that team.”
Florida State then picked off quarterback Phil Jurkovec on BC’s first drive—reminiscent of his first drive interception against Virginia Tech in Week Two—on a pass intended for Zay Flowers. The throw was behind Flowers, who tipped the ball into the hands of FSU’s Omarion Cooper.
Jurkovec threw two interceptions on the night while totaling just 105 yards and one touchdown on 15-for23 passing. He looked uncomfortable in the pocket all game and struggled to connect with anyone but Flowers, who finished with 45 yards on seven receptions.
Flowers, tight end Dino Tomlin, and running back Pat Garwo III were the only players to have two or more catches for BC. Tomlin and Garwo had two each.
The Eagles looked like they could get the ball back after stopping Florida
State on three straight plays on its first offensive drive, but the Seminoles decided to go for it on fourth-and-9. Florida State converted, got within one yard of a touchdown, and proceeded to score one play later on a Lawrance Toafili rush to make it 14–0.
“You can’t get away from your game plan that soon after being down 14,” Hafley said. “You can fight your way back. But you have to be able to handle that as a player … and a coach, and you can’t let it rattle you and can’t let it change who you are. … That’s what we need to learn to do better. Right now we’re not good when we go down.”
The Seminoles quickly got the ball back, going on a 10-play drive that ended with a 15-yard Benson rushing touchdown, his second of the day.
BC had plenty of opportunities to stop the bleeding but could never finish the play. The Eagles almost sacked Jordan Travis near the end of the first quarter, but the Eagles couldn’t bring him down. The Seminoles kicked a 30-yard field goal, capping off a first quarter in which FSU totaled 184 yards to BC’s 17.
“I believe our team was ready to play,” Hafley said. “I believe that we’re ready to start fast. We had a great walk through this morning. So it’s a matter of execution.”
Continual bad decisions from the defense, including not being able to contain the quarterback and unnecessary penalties, gave the Seminoles free first downs throughout the game. BC’s run defense had some nice plays early, doing its best to give BC’s offense a chance, but the Seminoles finished the game with 180 rushing yards.
The Eagles’ run game couldn’t get anything going, averaging 2.8 yards per carry for 95 yards.
“We could do better running the ball as a running back room,” said Garwo, who finished with nine rushes for 41 yards. “We could do better pitching and catching as a whole. You just got to play better at the end of the day and be more focused so we can continue moving the chains.”
Vinny DePalma—who led all players with 11 tackles—got a stop on fourth down, giving the Eagles the ball back, but a holding penalty hurt the Eagles. The flag brought back a
Jurkovec rush that would have resulted in a first down, ending any hope the Eagles had of scoring before halftime.
Flowers was the only BC wide receiver to register a catch in the first half.
A Jurkovec overthrow to a wideopen Flowers in the third was a perfect metaphor for BC’s night. As the ball sailed past Flowers’ hands, ACC Network’s cameras zoomed in on a deflated Jurkovec, hanging his head in defeat.w
The Eagles finally got on the board with a 12-play, 75-yard drive. The touchdown came on a five-yard reception from running back Alex Broome.
Jurkorvec’s night ended when quarterback Emmett Morehead subbed in during the fourth quarter. Hafley, however, shut down any speculation that Jurkovec’s starting job is in danger.
“No,” Hafley said when asked about a quarterback change. “The game was out of hand, and we want to get Emmett some reps. That’s all that was.”
Morehead played less than a quarter, finishing with 35 yards on 3-of-5 passing and a touchdown. n
When it comes to evaluating quarterback Phil Jurkovec, his struggles haven’t all been a result of poor offensive line play through four games. Across Boston College football’s three losses on the season— including two conference losses—Jurkovec has thrown a combined five touchdowns and five interceptions on 53-of-92 passing, good for a 57.6 completion percentage.
While head coach Jeff Hafley expressed his commitment to stick with Jurkovec who returned onto the Heights for a third year, Saturday night's loss to Florida State was an all-out disaster—though it wasn’t all Jurkovec and the offense’s fault.
The Seminoles went on a fiery tirade in the first half, scoring 31 unanswered points, and defeated the Eagles 44–14.
Here are three observations from the loss.
Following an interception on BC’s first offensive drive of the game, Jurkovec hung his head as he trotted back to his sideline and motioned for his top target, Zay Flow-
ers, to have a chat. Jurkovec had made an errant throw on a poor decision and hadn’t committed to his receiver’s route, even though Flowers had beaten Florida State’s defensive back Omarion Cooper in the flat.
Flowers stuck his release off the line of scrimmage and made a cut to an open spot on the field. But when Flowers planted his foot off the cut, the ball was already sailing two yards behind him—a classic read for defensive backs in zone coverage. Cooper made a good play on the football. On the third-and-6 play, Jurkovec had a clean pocket, his primary read was open, and time was in his hands. He made a mistake.
Later in the game, Jurkovec was under pressure on another third-and-long, and another inaccurate throw filtered into the hands of the Seminoles. The pass was seemingly intended for Flowers, but Jaelen Gill was also running up the seam.
Florida State went with an all-out blitz, dropping a single linebacker in coverage, and Jurkovec seemingly knew he was going to get tackled. Instead of ducking for safety, he threw a wobbler on his back foot, and Florida State took it away with ease.
Special Teams Were Less Than Special As Seminole fans bellowed their “war
chant,” and kick returner Trey Benson received the opening kickoff in the center of the field on the 7-yard line, the beatdown was about to begin. Florida State’s kick return squad was teeming with aggressive blocks as Benson took the first sign of game action to the house. He crossed over the 20-yard line, found a seam at the 40, and broke into the open field.
In his postgame press conference, Hafley discussed his defenders’ poor tackling, especially on special teams. Lewis Bond, the last man standing in Benson’s way, exhibited Hafley’s concerns brilliantly. As Benson neared the goaline, Bond reached out an arm, but Benson stiff-armed him and threw him off the tackle, never giving BC’s defense a chance. The 79,560 fans in attendance went into an uproar that shut down all hopes of an Eagles’ comeback right from the start of the game.
Things on special teams didn’t get much better for BC. Though Danny Longman has plenty of on-field experience— considering how much BC has punted this year—and proven he can consistently punt 40-plus yards down the field, the containment of Seminole punt and kick returners was dreadful all night long. BC
ranks 129th in the FBS in kickoff return defense and 58th in punt return defense.
Backups Don’t Back Down If there’s anything that went right for BC in the loss, it was Hafley’s decision to let some of his bench players see live-action stints, especially quarterback Emmett Morehead.
Morehead, a 6-foot-5 redshirt freshman, is a promising up-and-comer for the Eagles. Morehead completed his first pass on a 7-yard connection with wide reciever Dino Tomlin early in the fourth quarter. He
finished his brief appearance with 35 yards and a touchdown on 50 percent completion. Morehead threw the first touchdown pass of his career to Joseph Griffin Jr. with just under one minute to play.
Redshirt freshman Xavier Coleman registered the most individual rushing yards for the Eagles with 44, and back-up tight end Spencer Witter caught Jurkovec’s longest throw of the night for 22 yards. True freshman Alex Broome saw action, too, grabbing Jurkovec’s sole touchdown pass of the night. n
There’s no doubt that the ACC is one of the top men’s soccer conferences in the country. Six ACC teams are ranked in the top 25 nationally, and conference stronghold Clemson won the 2021 National Championship. One of the conference’s top teams reminded BC men’s soccer just how strong ACC soccer is on Saturday.
Despite a sound defensive performance, BC was outmatched under the lights in Koskinen Stadium. The Eagles (2–3–3, 0–2–1 Atlantic Coast) sparingly created scoring opportunities and fell to No. 7 Duke 1–0.
Both teams began the match with a patient, disciplined approach. The Blue
Devils (6–0–1, 2–0–1) controlled the majority of possession, and BC relied on its back line. Center backs Victor Souza and Diego Ochoa executed clearances as the Eagles fought against Duke’s strong attack.
BC goalkeeper Leon Musial was active in the first half, frequently coming off his line to grab dangerous lofted crosses and through balls. The junior was banged up a bit in the 29th minute when Duke’s Amir Daley collided with him. Referees handed Daley a yellow card, and Musial remained in the game following some medical attention from trainers.
BC’s best scoring opportunity of the first half came in the 36th minute when Tyshawn Rose took the ball up the left flank on a counterattack. Rose sent a left-footed pass toward the middle of the box that just missed Amos Shap-
iro-Thompson, who was driving toward the net. The ball trickled through in front of the goal before it rolled out of bounds.
Midfielder Peter Stroud headlined the Blue Devils’ attack, sending multiple dangerous balls toward the net. In the 32nd minute, Stroud blasted a shot that just missed the target, keeping the score knotted at 0–0.
Shakur Mohammed was another key force in the Blue Devils’ offense. The sophomore generated a number of chances by using his speed to move down the right sideline and send crosses into the middle of the box.
Duke unlocked the Eagles’ defense in the 53rd minute. Antino Lopez whipped a cross in from the right side, and BC’s defense cleared it. The clearance went directly to the feet of Ruben Mesalles, who rocketed a left-footed half volley from about 18 yards out to put the Blue
Devils up 1–0.
The shot was perfectly placed in thew bottom-right corner, and Musial had no chance to make a stop.
The Blue Devils seized momentum after their go-ahead goal, bombarding BC’s net with shots and threatening scoring opportunities. The Eagles struggled to control the ball, and Duke put constant pressure on BC’s defense.
Shapiro-Thompson was the spark behind the few chances BC created. With the Eagles failing to possess the ball much in the final third, Shapiro-Thompson opted to send shots toward the net, including two long-distance shots that missed the goal by inches.
Rose also generated a couple of last-minute scoring opportunities, sending a couple of balls into the 18-yard box, but the Blue Devils’ defense cleared them every time. n
By will Mortenson For The HeightsCayla Barnes missed out on the entire 2021–22 women’s hockey season while training full-time with the U.S. National Team and competing at the 2022 Olympics. In Boston College women’s hockey’s season opener against Franklin Pierce on Saturday, it was like she had never left.
Barnes recorded a goal and an assist on Saturday to lead the Eagles (1–0) to a 4–1 victory over Franklin Pierce.
“I have a great team surrounding me here, so it made it easy,” Barnes said about her transition back into college hockey. “I’ve always been kind of an offensive defenseman. … Being able to contribute to that [offense] and help put pucks in the net is something I hope to do this year.”
The Eagles looked shaky at the beginning of the first period, as a handful
of ill-advised pinches on the offensive blue line allowed the Ravens (0–1) to generate chances on the rush. BC goaltender Abigail Levy jumped into action on multiple occasions in the first 10 minutes of play, and she stopped all six shots she faced in the first period. Levy surpassed 3,000 career saves in the win.
After surviving a shaky start, the Eagles spent most of the latter half of the first period in the offensive zone.
The Hannah Bilka–Olivia O’Brien–Abby Newhook line created the most grade-A scoring chances of any line in the scoreless first period, the best of which came when Bilka shot a backhand that went just wide in the 12th minute.
BC head coach Katie Crowley attributed the slow start to a mix of rust and inexperience.
“I think a little bit of both … we finally started to get really rolling once that third came along but [there was] still a little bit of rust and we have lots to work on,” she said.
BC started the second period playing high-speed hockey but struggled to beat Ravens’ goalie Lucy Hanson. The Eagles squandered a power-play chance midway through the period, but Barnes broke the deadlock on a deflected wrist shot from the slot with 7:19 remaining in the period.
BC’s lead didn’t last long, however, as Franklin Pierce’s Ava Kison tucked a rebound into an open net to tie the game at one apiece with just under four minutes left in the second frame.
The Eagles poured on the pressure in the closing minutes of the period, but a couple of outstanding saves by Franklin Pierce goaltender Suzette Faucher thwarted BC’s attack. Faucher made 33 stops through the first two periods.
The Eagles took the lead for good eight minutes into the third period when freshman forward Kate Ham fired a wrist shot over the glove of Hanson from a sharp angle. Bilka made it 3–1 just two minutes later with a circus
goal that popped up and over Hanson.
“I just took it to the net, and good things happened,” Bilka said.
The Eagles tacked on a fourth goal with five minutes remaining when Barnes toe-dragged a Ravens defenseman and found Gaby Roy for an easy backdoor tap-in.
Franklin Pierce appeared to run out
of gas late in the game, as it struggled to manufacture any sort of comeback. The relentless forecheck and superior speed of the Eagles proved too much for the Ravens to handle.
“We have a deep team this year,” Crowley said. “I was really proud of all four lines [and] all seven D out there. … It was a full team effort.” n