The Heights September 23, 2019

THE

HEIGHTS For a Greater Boston College - Independent since 1970

19 19

CENTENNIAL

201 9

www.bcheights.com

Monday, September 23, 2019

Making a Splash

Scoring struggles

SPORTS

ARTS

Men’s socccer lost to Pittsburgh on Friday, 2-0, and has been held scoreless through two ACC games.

“Water Glass” singer Cannon Few has transformed from a dorm room freestyler to a professional musician at BC.

A12

A16

Alumnus Lawsuit Jury Trial Begins

The plantiff alleges improper intereference in his 2012 suspension.

By Jack Miller

News Editor

and Jack Goldman

Senior News Correspondent

The lawsuit brought by a Boston College alumnus against the University for allegedly interfering in his 2012 disciplinary hearing over sexual assault accusations went to jury trial on Monday.

The plantiff is alleging that BC violated the doctrine of basic fairness when a 2012 Administrative Hearing Board found him responsible for an incident of sexual assault that year.

The alumnus—identified only as “John Doe” in court documents— brought the lawsuit after the University found him responsible for sexually assaulting a fellow student on the annual AHANA Leadership Council Boat Cruise. Doe was covering the cruise for The Heights when the incident occurred.

The University initially suspended him for three semesters, and he is seeking $3 million in damages and an expunged disciplinary record.

Doe was arrested the night of the cruise and charged with indecent assault and battery, but forensic evidence and video analysis released in early 2013 suggested that Doe did not commit the alleged assault. Prosecutors officially dropped the charges in May 2014.

Doe’s lawyers began opening arguments by detailing the sequence of events surrounding the alleged

sexual assault. On the night of the boat cruise—Oct. 20, 2012—Doe made his way across the dance floor with “JK”, an acquaintance of his. At one point, the victim—identified in court as “AB”— turned around and yelled something at Doe, believing him to have just sexually assaulted her.

Shortly afterward, security guards found Doe and brought him to state police, who covered his hands for later forensic testing. Doe spent the night in jail, and a family friend bailed him out early the next morning.

Doe’s lawyers explained his alternate culprit defense, which Doe had used as his primary defense during the disciplinary hearings. They asserted that JK—who had been drinking that night—turned to Doe just moments after the alleged sexual assault to say, “Sorry dude, that was my bad.” Over the next few days, Doe’s lawyers emphasized that JK texted Doe and several of his friends, concerned about the events of that night. Doe’s lawyers presented the texts as a combination of a guilty conscience and severe intoxication.

Later in the trial, Doe’s lawyers presented a text JK had sent Doe the next morning in which he admitted to having “0 recollection of the boat cruise…

What did they say they took u in for?”

Doe’s lawyers then recounted the history of the criminal charges, even though evidence from the criminal investigation does not fall within the scope of the trial.

From there, Doe’s lawyers presented excerpts of the Student Code of Conduct, which they argued made several promises about disciplinary hearing

and fair process, and they explained the events that unfolded at BC in the fall of 2012.

In October, Doe had three meetings with then-Senior Associate Dean of Students Carole Hughes, who his lawyers said refused to wait for forensic evidence to return, preferring a twoweek timeline.

The board, led by Catherine-Mary Rivera, then-program manager in the Office of Residential Life, convened on Nov. 8. There were four other people on the board, including an undergraduate student and three other BC employees.

Doe’s lawyers told the jury that no evidence of the crime came up on the first day, nor did the board call JK as a witness. Hughes met with JK the following day to assure him that he would appear only as a witness and not a suspect.

On Nov. 11, Hughes allegedly instructed Assistant Dean for Conduct Christine Davis to tell Rivera in an email to put JK “at ease,” according to Doe’s lawyers. This email is one of two communications that Doe’s lawyers claim interfered with the alternate culprit defense.

On Nov. 16, the panel had still not come to any conclusions. In an email to Hughes, Rivera said that they were not leaning toward either “responsible” or “not responsible” and asked Hughes if “no finding” was an option, Doe’s lawyers said. Hughes then told Rivera that then-Dean of Students Paul Chebator said such a result would be “discouraged,” according to Doe’s lawyers—the second key communication.

See Lawsuit, A3

Meegan Minahan / heights editor

Boston Students March in Friday Climate Strike The protest was one of 1,100 held across the country.

By Lauren Wittenmeyer For The Heights and Juliann Zhou

For The Heights Thousands of Boston students were dismissed from school on Friday to rally at the Climate Strike in front of City Hall—one of the 1,100 strikes held last week, according to Strike With Us. Students from over 150 nations organized strikes urging their governments to address climate change in anticipation of the United Nations’ 2019 Climate Summit.

In one of the largest youth-led movements in the city’s history, people from all across the Boston area gathered at City Hall Plaza on Friday to protest government inaction against climate change. The crowd,

mostly made up of high school and college students in bright t-shirts and Vans, rallied around three demands: that Governor Charlie Baker declare a statewide climate emergency, that congressmen and women pass policies to benefit residents in poor and polluted areas, and that the state stop using fossil fuels.

“I am striking because I think that we have this opportunity, finally, to be able to express ourselves and have a voice and show our politicians that we care about this crisis and they should too,” said Anjali Mitra, a senior at Brookline High School.

“So I’m here to show up for all of the people who can’t be here today who are affected by climate change, and I am here to show that our politicians need to stand up for us and our generation.”

Students left class, and the movement began around 10 a.m. with community events like craft activities, organization tabling, and poster-making. The rally began

See Climate Change, A5

Newton Mayor Plans to Take Back Webster Woods The University bought the land from Newton for $20 million in 2016.

By Colleen Martin Metro Editor

jonathan ye / heights editor

Hunter Hayes Has Heart-to-Heart at Stokes Set The platinum country singer opened up onstage about his difficulties with fitting in while remaining authentic. See A15.

Newton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller is seeking to reclaim Webster Woods from Boston College. BC purchased the land at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway in 2016, sparking uproar from community members who feared that the land would be used for development.

Fuller, then a member of the City Council, and the City Council were

not opposed to BC owning the land when it was purchased, the University said in a press release. BC said that it will oppose the mayor’s actions to reclaim the woods, and it will take all legal actions necessary to keep Webster Woods under control of the University.

“While I understand that they’re disappointed the City of Newton is moving forward, I’m also disappointed we couldn’t come to an amicable solution to this,” Fuller said in an interview with The Heights. “They see this land as critical to their future, but we, the City of Newton, know it is

See Webster Woods, A5

BC Professors Support Newton Judge

Their brief called for her obstruction charge to be dropped.

By Colleen Martin Metro Editor Six Boston College law professors have signed onto a brief urging the Supreme Court to drop the obstruction charges against Shelley Joseph, a Newton District Court judge. Joseph has been accused of helping a man escape from the courthouse while Immigration and Customs Enforce-

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

ment (ICE) officers waited in the front to detain him in April of 2018. She filed a motion to have her charges dropped on Sept. 6.

The six professors were part of a group of 61 retired judges to sign on. Ten BC Law alumni also put their names on the letter.

“The federal prosecution of a sitting Massachusetts state court judge, premised on acts undertaken in the normal course of the judge’s rightful exercise of judicial discretion and in furtherance of the constitutional obligation to protect the rights of the individual who stands before her, poses a serious and unwarranted threat to the independence of state court judges,”

FEATURE: Hartmut Austen

The BC studio art professor showcased his paintings in McMullen Museum............... A4

the brief says.

Judges have the power to hold control over their courtrooms, and to “check, limit, and reject” the executive branch, the document says.

“I just try to put myself in her shoes, because I’ve been there,” said Paul Chernoff, BC Law professor who signed onto the brief.

“Not with this kind of case, but I’ve been in that courtroom.”

Chernoff worked in the Newton District Court for eight years at the beginning of his judicial career, just as Joseph did. Joseph had

See Newton Judge, A5

Bradley Smart / heights editor

Eagles Back on Track

In the first road game of the year, AJ Dillon and BC overpowered Rutgers, 30-16. See A9.

METRO: The Spoken Word Poet Harold Green comes to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for a live performance....... A5

INDEX

NEWS.........................A2 METRO..................... A5 Vol. C, No. 16 © 2019, The Heights, Inc. MAGAZINE.................. A4 SPORTS.................... A9 www.bchelghts.com OPINIONS................... A6 ARTS..................... A16 69

The Heights

A2

TOP

3

things to do on campus this week

1

“Heights, Camera, Action!,” a conversation between actor Jere Shea and news anchor Paula Ebben, both BC ’87, will be taking place Monday at 7:30 p.m. in Robsham’s Bonn Studio. The duo will be discussing their path from Robsham to careers in film and television.

Monday, September 23, 2019

Kiese Laymon, author of the memoir Heavy, the essay collection How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America, and the novel Long Division, will be speaking about his work as an author on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m. in Gasson 100. The talk is part of the Lowell Humanities Series.

2

Eliza Bliss-Moreau, BC ’02 and GMCAS ’08, will host “Rethinking the Neuroscience of Emotion” on Thursday in Devlin 101 at 5 p.m. She is a psychology professor at the California National Primate Research Center at the University of California, Davis.

3

NEWS Lynch School Plans to Launch Four New Minors BRIEFS

BC EMS Hosts CPR Marathon

The first Boston College Emergency Medical Ser vices (EMS) CPR Marathon took place from 12 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Friday in Gasson 100.

While the marathon included fun activities and free prizes, its main event was the 12 hours of continuous CPR that BC EMS and other CPR-certified students performed on dummies.

The marathon was mandatory for all BC EMS members. Every member did either a 30-minute or hour-long shift, according to Katie Piccioli, the organizer of the event and MCAS ’21.

Each shift had three to four members both performing CPR and teaching it to students in attendance.

Piccioli also decided to give BC students who are CPR certified a chance to participate in the 12-hour marathon in hopes of getting as many people involved as possible.

The inspiration for the event was the 24-hour CPR marathon that Piccioli had at her high school, which she said was an event that brought members of the community together and provided them with educational opportunities.

The primary goal for the event was to forge closer ties between the EMS club and the BC community, according to Piccioli. She said that having an event like the CPR Marathon could improve BC EMS’s reputation among the student body.

“BC EMS has the stigma of getting drunk kids and bringing them to the hospital, so we want a better face for BC EMS,” Piccioli said.

“We’re here to help. We’re here to teach people things. We’re here for the students.”

Piccioli said she hopes that students’ main takeaway from the marathon is a basic understanding of CPR techniques and emergency care.

Eileen Flynn, a new member of BC EMS and MCAS ’23, emphasized the importance of awareness-spreading events like the CPR Marathon.

“It’s really important for people to know CPR, so that if they’re in a situation where someone is having a heart attack, they’re able to help,” she said.

BC EMS also set up a table full of health education information for children where they were able to engage in activities such as learning how to call 911, Piccioli said.

Several BC dance groups—including Sexual Chocolate, Fuego, and the Boston College Dance Ensemble—as well as BC’s Music Guild, made an appearance throughout the evening.

“It’s the combination of having a fun atmosphere with all the dancing and singing groups plus all the education aspect,” Piccioli said. “Just the fact that we’re doing 12 hours of continuous CPR is really cool.”

By Abby Hunt Assoc. News Editor

The Lynch School of Education and Human Development plans to launch four new interdisciplinary minors in the upcoming year: restorative justice; design thinking; cyberpsychology; and measurement, evaluation, statistics, and assessment (MESA).

As Boston College begins to focus more on interdisciplinary programs, Lynch is following in its footsteps, said Julia DeVoy, the associate dean for Undergraduate Student Services in Lynch.

“The new minors that we’re exploring and that we’re developing are designed to be at the intersections of subjects, and at the frontiers of these subjects, so that we can develop and facilitate understanding in these spaces,” she said.

Students who decide to pursue the new minors will take a set of required courses and electives and partake in a capstone experience. The capstone could consist of a field placement, a senior thesis, an internship, or undergraduate research, according to DeVoy. “We want Lynch School students to be able to have a minor that supports [not only] their personal development, but also their vocational and career development and interests as well,” she said.

The idea for the restorative justice minor grew out of some of the restorative justice initiatives that Lynch has recently been involved with. Along with the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences and Woods College of Advancing Studies, Lynch supports Inside Out, a program that allows BC students to take

a class with incarcerated students in the Suffolk House of Correction.

The students in Lynch’s first-year exp erience program—Exp erience, Reflection, Action (ERA)—also did two workshops this year with Chris Wilson, the author of The Master Plan: My Journey from Life in Prison to a Life of Purpose and speaker at this year’s Convocation.

“Out of that, and out of some of what we’ve been doing around whole-person development and rehabilitation, comes our interest in developing a restorative justice minor,” DeVoy said.

In addition to Inside Out, examples of classes students in the restorative justice minor might take are Education, Law, and Policy and Global Responses to a Humanitarian Crisis.

“Chris Wilson is just an amazing example of [how] one can have an experience or make a choice that is deeply, deeply unfortunate or wrong in the eyes of many, but that there’s a path forward,” DeVoy said. “There is restoration. There is reconciliation. And we believe, particularly with our thinking on this minor, that education plays a huge role in that.”

Many Lynch students have also expressed an interest in problem-solving, which has led to the development of a minor in design thinking, DeVoy said.

With this minor, students will focus on learning how to solve real-world problems in whatever their area of interest may be.

“Whether it’s figuring out how to effectively get fresh water from one place to another where it’s needed, or whether it’s thinking about how to create adaptive sewing machines for women with physical disabilities who are making

handbags in Ghana, [or] whether it’s approaching returning previously captive elephants to the wild—those are all design-thinking problems,” DeVoy said.

Students in the design thinking minor would take Introduction to Design Thinking and other courses focused on human-centric design, according to DeVoy. With the cyberpsychology minor, students will study the psychology of people in cyberspace and the ways in which ethical behavior might be facilitated there.

These ideas will be important for students whether they go on to work in private industry, higher education, international relations, or national security, DeVoy said.

DeVoy said that the world has seen what happens when there is ambiguity around moral and ethical behavior in cyberspace, which is one of the reasons Lynch is interested in fleshing out the cyberpsychology minor.

“There’s a whole psychological component to [it],” she said. “Computers themselves aren’t bad actors.

Computers themselves don’t go around and hack—it’s people that make those decisions.”

Those completing the cyberpsychology minor will take applied psychology classes and 6000-level courses in cyberpsychology and cybersecurity.

Their electives could include courses such as Managing for Social Impact and the Public Good, Digital Technologies, and Designing Your Future and World.

“It’s not just Western ethics that are going to need to be applied [in cyberspace],” DeVoy said. “We need to find a common ground where we’re all doing the next right thing, or we’re all attempt-

ing to do ‘the next right thing’ [within and across cyber-atmospheres].”

With data analytics and data science being so important in today’s world, DeVoy explained that it makes sense for Lynch to develop the MESA minor to complement its existing master’s and doctoral programs in this field.

Students in the MESA minor will take classes such as Research Methods and Analysis and Statistics for Applied Psychology, in addition to their electives and capstone experiences.

“We would really see that as overlapping with some of what’s happening in [the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society] too,” DeVoy said.

Lynch hasn’t established the exact timeline of when the minors will be rolled out yet, although it will likely be some time in the next year, DeVoy said. The school has also yet to decide if the minors will be available to only Lynch students or if they will be open to students across the University.

“It’s a conversation, and it’s a process, but the goal is to roll them out as soon as possible,” she said. “We just have to go through the steps that any minor would go through.”

With each of the four new minors, Lynch is looking to create opportunities that are aligned with the future directions of BC, DeVoy said.

“We’re very interested in delivering content that’s relevant for today, but we also realize that the world that our students are going to live in is a different world than [the one] they live in today, and that these are the kinds of areas that will prepare them best for that world,” she said. n

New Global Public Health Minor Draws Interest

By Owen Fahy Asst. News Editor An interdisciplinar y minor in global public health and the common good was introduced this semester as part of the greater Global Public Health program, which launched last year and plans to unveil a major in the fall of 2021. The program is led by professor Philip J. Landrigan, who is also the director of the Global Observatory on Pollution and Health.

The minor enrolled 50 of the roughly 100 students who applied, which exceeded expectations, according to Landrigan.

“We have students from all the undergraduate schools at BC,” Landrigan said. “Within [the Morrissey College of ] Arts and Sciences, we have a pretty good diversity of majors.”

The minor is a six-class course of study with three required courses.

Students must take Epidemiology, Fundamentals of Global Public Health, and Ethics in Global Health or Global

Health Law. Fundamentals of Global Public Health will be offered through the Connell School of Nursing, Ethics in Global Health will be taught by moral theology and bioethics professor Rev. Andrea Vicini, S.J., and Global Health Law will be co-taught by BC law professors David Wirth and Mary Ann Chirba.

The program has hired Rebecca Franckle as part of the minor’s focus on epidemiology—the study of the patterns and risk factors of populations’ health and disease conditions. Franckle is an epidemiologist from Harvard University who had been previously teaching at Merrimack University. She joined BC in part because of the strides the University has taken, through the Schiller Institute, to promote public health, she said.

“Historically there has been so much public health work going on at the University, but there wasn’t a formal program,” Franckle said. “This is a really great opportunity for students to

POLICE BLOTTER: 9/18/19 – 9/20/19

Thursday, Sept. 19

get involved who might not have had public health on their radar.”

Franckle said she sees the epidemiology class as an opportunity for students to develop skills that will serve them in their classes going forward.

“I see [the epidemiology class] as students learning a new language,” Franckle said. “[They will] really think objectively about where the information and data [in the news] comes from and [have] a critical eye to appreciating why some studies are stronger than others and how we make sense of some of the numbers.”

The program’s approach to the major is dependent upon the reception of the minor, according to Landrigan.

“It really depends on how the minor goes,” Landrigan said. “We started with a minor to test the concept and make sure that things work and that we can support it. It is a way of gauging student interest, but so far the interest is very high.”

Franckle said she hopes that students will be open to taking classes

and developing an interest in public health.

“It is one of those fields that students don’t necessarily know what it is when they come in, but as soon as they’re exposed to some of the topics and have the opportunity to take some of our classes, I see a lot of excitement among the student body,” Franckle said. “So I think it’s a really great opportunity for everybody.”

Franckle and Landrigan said they hope that , because the minor is interdisciplinary, students from all backgrounds and with varied career interests will consider applying for it.

Franckle said she is hoping to open up professional doors to students who may find themselves interested in the field but are still exploring career pathways.

“I’m hoping to give the opportunity to students here that might feel drawn to health-related fields [or] be considering pre-med but not quite sure if it’s the right avenue for them,” she said. n

Friday, Sept. 20

8:11 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a fire alarm at Connell Recreation Center.

1:52 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical ambulance at Robsham Theater.

12:54 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious person at Lyons Hall.

2:07 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious person at Campanella Way.

10:41 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a fire alarm at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway.

7:28 p.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a suspicious circumstance at Vouté Hall.

1:59 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical reportable at Vouté Hall.

2:51 a.m. - An officer filed a report regarding a medical ambulence at Rubenstein Hall.

—Source: The Boston College Police Department

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2019

A3

Jury Weighs Alumnus’ Claims of Interference in Fair Process Lawsuit, from A1 On Nov. 19, the panel found Doe had groped AB underneath her clothing—a lesser finding than the penetrative assault that had been alleged.

Doe’s lawyers closed their opening argument by asking the jury to consider the “promises broken” by the University, both with regard to the alternate culprit defense and the alleged interference by the Dean of Students Office.

Presiding District Court Judge Denise Casper instructed the jury to consider whether a contract—both explicit and implicit—existed in the student guide, whether there was a breach of contract, and whether Doe is owed damages.

The jury cannot determine whether the panel gave enough consideration to Doe’s alternate culprit defense or relitigate its findings.

Casper ’s narrow instructions could conflict with the First Circuit Court of Appeals’ instructions when it remanded the case back to district court. The First Circuit said that basic fairness includes the expectation that administrators would not request board members give special treatment to the prime alternate culprit.

BC’s opening argument focused on the scope of the case. The University made a point of noting that the criminal proceedings, the evidence that ultimately ended that charge, the hearing process, and its outcome were not to be considered.

On the topic of the “at ease” email, BC said that such instructions fit into the board’s existing plan to question JK as a witness, not a suspect, and that Davis did not pass the message on to Rivera. It also said that Rivera had a different recollection of the phone call with Hughes concerning the possibility of no finding.

BC closed its argument by imploring the jurors to keep their “eyes on the ball” and to avoid getting confused or distracted by references to the criminal proceedings or the outcome of the hearing. It also brought up damages, saying that, even if the jury rules for Doe, there is no evidence of economic harm—Doe later graduated from BC and is currently enrolled in law school.

As the jury left the room for a lunch break, BC protested to Casper that Doe’s opening argument included information well beyond the scope of the case. Following the break, Casper reminded the jurors to restrict their deliberations only to the effects of the communication.

The only witness on day one was Conrad Bletzer Jr., who represented Doe in the disciplinary hearings.

D ue to the narrow scop e, b oth sides’ lawyers were limited to asking questions about the content of the hearings, even to establish outside information.

TUESDAY Bletzer’s testimony continued into the second day of the trial. JK testified that he was not next to Doe at the time of the assault and denied that he said, “Sorry dude, that was my bad,” or that he had assaulted AB, according to Bletzer. JK also said that while he had been drinking the night of the cruise, he had lied to Doe when he claimed to have no recollection of that night, Bletzer said.

In her final statement, AB told the board that nobody would be safe on campus if the University did not expel Doe, Bletzer said.

Doe’s lawyers then called Rivera, the head of the board, to testify. She said that the hearing board did not see the disciplinary hearing “as a search for truth.”

Instead, she said that the hearing board was supposed to determine whether there was a violation of the Student Code of Conduct and cited the “preponderance of evidence” standard the hearing board uses as a basis for decisions. That standard is a decision based on whether evidence points to at least a 51 percent chance a violation occurred.

Rivera confirmed previous testimony regarding the timeline of events leading up to the alleged incident.

She confirmed Bletzer’s testimony that JK was allowed to bring a parent and attorney into the hearing, unlike other witnesses. He was also allowed to consult with his attorney during the proceedings.

Rivera did not recall Davis, who had just been hired as assistant dean for conduct, instructing her to put JK “at ease.”

She also testified that no witness claimed to see Doe touch AB. She also said that no witness testified to seeing Doe bend down or do anything “unusual.” During cross-examination, Rivera also noted that no witnesses placed JK within the immediate vicinity of Doe. Rivera’s recollection of JK’s defense to the board matched Bletzer’s.

Rivera would go on to confirm that the hearing board had questions about JK’s honesty due to his story changing regarding whether or not he blacked out on the night of the cruise and his claim of lying to Doe that he blacked out. Altogether, concerns over how intoxicated JK—and other witnesses—were on the cruise cast doubt on the legitimacy of each witness’ testimony, according to Rivera.

Rivera initially confirmed that nobody outside the hearing board was part of deliberations. But shortly after saying that the board had written the bullet points defining why they found Doe responsible, she then said she did not recall whether BC’s General Counsel Joseph Herlihy helped write the points.

She also confirmed the four possible outcomes in Doe’s case: responsible, not responsible, responsible for committing a lesser charge—the option the board ultimately opted for—or no finding.

Doe’s representatives moved to a conversation between Rivera and Hughes, the senior associate dean of students. In an email, Rivera said to Hughes that no verdict had been reached after the first day of deliberation, due to the difficulty of making a decision of such magnitude on the basis of a preponderance of evidence standard. In addition, Rivera wrote that she was operating under the notion that the board should avoid a no finding conclusion.

Doe’s representatives pointed out that Hughes has testified in the past that she and Rivera had another conversation about whether no finding was an option, and that Hughes told Rivera that she contacted Chebator, then the dean of students, about his stance on no finding verdicts, and he said he “discouraged” by such verdicts. Rivera recalled none of this.

Doe’s next witness was Hughes.

She confirmed a few critical pieces of information: She instructed Davis, who reported directly to her, to put JK “at ease” before the board. She also testified to direct details regarding her consulting Chebator to find out if the University gave no finding verdicts.

Hughes testified that Chebator confirmed to her that no finding verdicts were allowed, but that he discouraged them. Hughes then testified that she contacted Rivera and told her this information, which Rivera had just denied recalling.

Hughes was also asked if she told the board that AB had seen Doe commit the assault, but she said she did not recall. Doe’s attorneys asked Hughes if she believed that to be true after her initial meeting with AB, which Hughes denied.

She also denied believing Doe was guilty before the disciplinary proceedings began.

Additionally, Hughes testified that she met with JK and his father once, and Davis met with JK and his father again to assure them that JK was being called as a witness and not a perpetrator in Doe’s University disciplinary proceedings.

A particular point of interest for Doe’s representatives was how much Hughes knew about Doe’s alternative culprit defense before the hearing began.

Hughes testified that Doe told her at their initial meeting that he had not committed the assault and that it was a case of mistaken identity. She was not informed, however, that Doe was accusing JK of committing the assault until Doe’s attorney informed Herlihy to that fact only days before the disciplinary proceedings were set to begin.

Doe’s lawyers asked Hughes if Doe was allowed to defend himself using an alternate culprit defense.

She answered yes, but that the hearing board had to rule on the current

complaint—AB’s accusation that Doe had assaulted her—before taking any other action.

Upon learning this information, Hughes asked Doe to meet with her again to discuss the new allegation.

Doe initially agreed, but called her back and informed her that he wanted his lawyer present.

Hughes testified that she responded by saying she needed to talk to Doe, not his lawyer. Doe then declined to meet with Hughes and asked her to call his lawyer. Hughes responded by saying that was not necessary.

Hughes also confirmed previous testimony that AB’s family was willing to sue BC if the board did not rule against Doe. WEDNESDAY The first full testimony heard on Wednesday was from BC General Counsel Herlihy, who has worked for the University for 25 years and advised school officials during Doe’s disciplinary hearings.

Although BC objected, Casper allowed Herlihy to testify that AB’s father would occasionally make allusions to suing the University to him during phone calls about academic accommodations . Doe’s law yers tried to ask Herlihy if there had been a rush to judgement, which Casper barred at BC’s request—continuing the trend of blocking questions that challenged the hearing process or the outcome itself.

Herlihy recounted the events of Nov. 19, 2012, when the panel contacted him to present their findings.

Doe’s lawyers presented a copy of the “responsible” finding and the panel’s rationale, pointing to the bullet that said there was probably not penetration despite AB’s consistent claims that there had been.

Herlihy testified that while he did not submit the rationale, he had suggested putting that it was less likely than not the case.

Casper then permitted Doe’s lawyers to show Herlihy a chain of emails from Rivera and the other members of the board. Herlihy then said that he had made changes to the panel’s report, but they were stylistic.

BC’s lawyers began the cross-examination of Herlihy by asking about the nature of his advice to the University for disciplinary hearings. Herlihy said that he was not involved as a decision-maker, nor did he make suggestions or influence the process.

Herlihy recalled the testimonies presented to the board: AB spoke about seeing Doe near her on the dance floor with his hands in the air and with a strange look on his face.

AB’s friend “Betsy,” who had been dancing with her, testified that Doe had been standing nearby as well, according to Herlihy.

Herlihy said he was present when JK appeared before the panel, which examined the texts he had sent to Doe and others shortly after Doe’s arrest.

Herlihy recalled that the board may have spent more time on JK than typical due to his role in Doe’s defense.

Regarding the “at ease” email—in which Hughes allegedly instructed Davis to tell Rivera in an email to put JK “at ease”—Herlihy said that he had no communication about this and did not advise on JK’s treatment.

Doe’s lawyers and Herlihy disagreed about whether AB’s account of the incident only mentioned forcible penetration, rather than additional touching.

When Herlihy’s testimony ended, Casper dismissed the jurors for a 20-minute break. After they left the courtroom, Casper told Doe’s lawyers that asking Herlihy whether the University could have delayed the proceedings and wait for forensic evidence was not appropriate.

BC’s lawyers said that the line of questioning may have confused the jury into second-guessing the board, which would exceed the scope of the case.

After the jur y returned, Doe himself took the stand. His lawyers began by asking if he had committed the assault. As BC’s lawyers rose to object, Doe answered that he had not, prompting a motion to strike.

Casper reminded the jury that their considerations for the case begin and end with the question of improper interference.

Doe’s recollection of the night— presented through his memories of

the disciplinary hearing—included the fact that he had consumed two beers and no drugs.

As he recalled the criminal proceedings , B C ’s lawyers objected over references to the evidence and eventual dropped charges.

BC objected several times as Doe explained a pre-hearing conversation with Hughes, but Casper overruled each time. Doe said that he presented Hughes with his alternate culprit defense at the meeting and that he felt as though she treated him like a criminal and said he was responsible for bringing his own witnesses—namely JK—to the hearing.

Doe went on to list the three witnesses he brought before the panel: Tom, a friend present at the cruise who testified he never saw Doe touch anyone; Randy, who was on a different part of the dance floor and also testified to Doe’s behavior; and Joseph, Doe’s roommate at the time, who spoke about Doe’s alternate culprit defense.

Doe also submitted several written character references, including one from a law firm he had worked at one summer.

Doe said he moved back home to transfer to another university after his suspension, but claimed that he was not accepted due to the investigation at BC. The University’s lawyers objected, citing scope and hearsay, but Casper struck only the comment on the reasoning.

Doe returned to BC for one semester and graduated in May 2014, delaying his application to law school by one year, he said. Building the case for damages, Doe said that he did not get course credit for the fall 2012 semester, nor did he receive reimbursement for his student activity fee, meal plan, or housing payments.

Despite BC’s objection, Doe also explained that the stigma attached to BC’s finding will affect his employment, although he said he has passed the character and fitness test portion of the bar exam.

The cross-examination opened with a series of questions about Doe’s post-graduation plans—although he had taken the LSAT, he was waiting to see his results before making any decision about applying. BC’s lawyers asked about alternative plans but Doe said he did not remember.

The next line of questioning concerned his employment prospects— BC suggested that Doe would have no trouble finding jobs or obtaining references with the law firms and lawyers with which he had personal connections.

THURSDAY Thursday’s proceedings began with two pieces of expert testimony aimed at establishing economic cost to Doe as a result of his suspension and delayed graduation. Doe’s lawyers brought in Steven Shedlin, a vocational expert, and Joel Morse, a professor of financial economics at the University of Baltimore, to speak on potential damages.

Shedlin testified first and presented the jury with data on the average income for an associate attorney from their first year on.

He also showed another set of estimated earnings for Doe, lowered to account for his delayed entry into the job market.

Doe’s lawyers used their time to tease out the long-lasting effects the disciplinary action might have on Doe. Shedlin said that the disciplinary process would diminish Doe’s earning capacity and also likely attached a lifelong stigma to him.

Morse, drawing on Shedlin’s models, estimated that Doe would lose a total of $498,877 in earnings from his entry into the workforce to retirement.

Following the two economists’ testimonies, Davis took the stand as the University ’s first witness.

She served as the assistant dean for student conduct at BC from Nov. 5, 2012—coming in just as Doe’s hearing began—until June 2013, reporting directly to Hughes.

BC’s lawyers again brought up the “at ease” email, which was sent by Hughes to Herlihy and Davis on Nov. 11. In it, Hughes said that “[she] was very clear with JK that he was coming as a witness and not being charged with anything. I think it might be good to talk to Catherine-Mary [Rivera] about how the board might put him at ease.”

Monday 9/16 Jury selection Opening arguments Conrad Bletzer Jr.

Tuesday 9/17 Conrad Bletzer Jr. Catherine-Mary Rivera Carole Hughes

Wednesday 9/18 Carole Hughes Joseph Herlihy John Doe

Thursday 9/19 Steven Shedlin Joel Morse Christine Davis John Doe’s Parents

Friday 9/20 Four other members of the hearing board

Monday 9/23 Closing arguments emerson debasio / Heights Editor

Davis testified that she did not pass the message on to Rivera, as she didn’t take it as an order. Doe’s lawyers pressed her on this claim, casting doubt on the likelihood that Davis interpreted the email as a casual observation after just six days on the job.

Doe’s representatives also asked Davis whether she dealt with AB’s father, who they characterized as angry at the way the University had been handling the case.

As with Herlihy, they suggested that administrators who spoke to AB’s father may have been inclined to find Doe responsible. Davis did not recall the interaction at first, but remembered that she spoke with him after seeing emails she had sent on the matter.

FRIDAY On Friday, BC called on the other four members of the board: Brian Fishman, BC ’13 and BC Law ’16; William Mills Jr., then-director of community affairs; Norah Wylie, a BC Law professor who had previously served in an administrative role; and Robert Darrell Peterson, then-director of the Office of Graduate Students.

Fishman, who went first, said that he had found AB credible. He also described the evidence that Doe presented to support the alternate culprit defense, including the texts JK had sent to Doe in the wake of the cruise and accusations that JK had been drinking to the point of memory loss.

Fishman also noted that the board found AB’s friend Betsy, who was sober the night of the cruise, to be very credible.

All four members of the panel testified that Rivera never passed on any instructions to put JK “at ease.” They had questioned JK on his credibility, the “sorry dude, my bad” comment, and text messages with Doe and his friends, and considered JK a suspect, according to all four testimonies.

The only major difference between the four testimonies arose in Doe’s lawyers cross-examination of Peterson, who revealed that he had his doubts about Doe’s guilt and JK’s self-control on the night of the cruise.

He testified that he had thought the high-resolution video might exonerate Doe, although he later said his concerns were addressed during deliberations.

The panelists’ testimony also provided the trial’s most in-depth look into the deliberation process—all four said that Rivera said nothing to suggest that a no finding result was “discouraged,” nor was Herlihy in the room as they decided.

The consensus during the hearing was that Doe had assaulted AB, although the specifics beyond that were unclear.

The charge they settled on—responsible but with a lesser charge— was in large part due to the fact that Doe was the only witness to place JK at the scene of the assault, according to the four panelists.

B oth sides will present their closing arguments on Monday and the jury is expected to hand down a verdict on Tuesday. n

The Heights

A4

Monday, September 23, 2019

BC Law’s Immigration Clinic Blends Theory and Practice

By Maeve Reilly Asst. Magazine Editor In the late ’80s and early ’90s, law students tended to drift toward a similar group of career options—property law and contract law, among others. Immigration law was considered something of a sideline practice. When Boston College Law School (BC Law) professor Daniel Kanstroom decided to pursue immigration law, he recalls that his mentors advised him against it.

Why, they asked him, would you pursue a job in this specific field?

From a young age, Kanstroom always thought about his life as being dedicated to progressive social change. His father was a union printer of the New York Times and his grandmother was a member of the Emma Lazarus Society. Named after the poet who wrote the sonnet inscribed on the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty, the society aided immigrant women as they came to America.

While in high school and college, he thought he could actualize this calling through writing. But slowly, he came to the conclusion that law was a good place to channel those influences, particularly because he could learn to understand how power is exercised.

“If you want to make change in a meaningful way, it would be, first of all, interesting to understand what power is,” Kanstroom said. “And second, useful to be able to deploy it on behalf of people who don’t have power.”

Now, in 2019, where every top law school has multiple faculty members teaching immigration law, it seems like a shock that a distinguished law professor like Kanstroom was nudged away from pursuing a career in the field back in the ’80s. It’s thanks to professors like Kanstroom, and his student mentees, that BC Law has the flourishing Immigration Clinic it does today.

BC Law has always striven to fulfill BC’s foremost Jesuit ideal—serving others.

Before Kanstroom arrived on the scene, BC Law, like many other law schools at the time, had no immigration program in place. Kanstroom began teaching a course called Legal Researching and Writing at the law school. Shortly after, he started urging Daniel Coquillette, the then-dean, to look into introducing immigration law.

“I thought immigration law was a perfect subject for our law school because of the way in which it fit into not only the demographic history of BC … but also in the deepest ethical tradition of what this university is about,” Kanstroom said. “Thinking about human dignity, rights, and working on behalf of the marginalized … Seeing people as people. These I felt were all things in the culture of BC.” Kanstroom began to implement his goal by teaching a course in immigration law. Before long, however, he realized that when it

comes to immigration law, theory and practice have to go hand in hand—neglecting to complement one with the other would just be doing his students a disservice. Aware of this, during the time he spent teaching his course, Kanstroom was eager to provide his students with hands-on opportunities to work with practicing lawyers in the realm of immigration law.

Soon, Kanstroom had reached the point where he was pushing for BC Law to call it like it was: He believed his immigration law course, now intertwined with externship opportunities he provided for his students, had to be officially named an immigration clinic.

Kanstroom spearheaded BC Law’s effort to begin a full-fledged immigration clinic and was ultimately named the director of the BC Law Immigration Clinic. Just as he had started small by pushing to teach a course on immigration law, he started to piece the clinic together, little by little. The BC Law Immigration Clinic began by recruiting fellows to work with law students in taking on cases. Current BC Law professor Mary Holper, who was a student of Kanstroom’s, worked as a fellow for two years in the clinic before getting hired at the Roger Williams University (RWU) School of Law in Rhode Island. Kanstroom and Holper, mentor and mentee, respectively, share a similar backstory—one riddled with roots of social activism.

Holper was raised by parents who encouraged her to look beyond the confines of where she was growing up. Her mother, who taught English as a second language, introduced Holper to the allure of foreign languages. Holper’s high school French teacher sparked her love of the language and, after studying abroad in France, she began to consider a career in immigration law.

During her junior year at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Holper went abroad to Paris in 1997. While she was there, she remembers France, and Europe as a whole, as standing in opposition to immigration. She spent her time in a dorm that was mostly made up of students studying abroad.

“I just felt the impact of it a little bit more, empathizing with my fellow dormmates,” she said. “That’s what got me interested in immigration. It wasn’t just interest in meeting people from other cultures, but [I could see firsthand] what it felt like to live in a time that was anti-immigrant.”

Holper began her career in immigration law in Washington, D.C., where she represented and advised clients in detention.

After working as a fellow under Kanstroom, Holper took her talents to RWU Law and, just as Kanstroom had before her, started an immigration clinic at the law school. Having complete autonomy over what cases the immigration clinic at RWU Law decided to take, Holper occasionally took referrals,

but mainly focused on clients who were detained. Because many nonprofit organizations didn’t have the means or manpower to take on clients who were already in custody, it was important to Holper that she and her students worked on those cases. Her position as the director of the RWU Law Immigration Clinic helped shape Holper’s “tough cases only” mindset. So, when Kanstroom began to search for a replacement as the new director of the BC Law Immigration Clinic about six years ago, he found a perfect fit in his former fellow, Holper. Kanstroom was beginning to move into human rights law at BC Law and was looking for someone to eventually take over. Holper returned to BC Law to succeed Kanstroom as director of the clinic, with her experience in tow, ready to take on the challenge.

“I should say, for the record, she was one of the best students I ever had,” Kanstroom said of Holper. “And I’m so proud she’s running this program now.”

Put in charge of the Immigration Clinic, Holper asked herself three questions.

“What does the world need us to do?” she said. “What are we good at doing? What do we enjoy doing?”

By we, Holper means herself and the devoted student body that she oversees in the clinic. Similar to when she was working at RWU, Holper and her students mainly focus on detained cases. She and her students enjoy taking them, and most importantly, she says, they’re good at it. Following in Kanstroom’s footsteps, Holper and her students still try to take on the hardest cases.

“There are a couple reasons for that, one of which is obligation,” Kanstroom explained. “We have enormous resources and skills we developed over many years, and amazing, smart students that want to [take on the challenge].”

On top of that, both Kanstroom and Holper recognize that most lawyers won’t handle the difficult cases the clinic does, or if they decide to, they have to charge their clients an exorbitant amount. Of course, this means that Holper has, unfortunately, had to turn away some client referrals for people who aren’t in detention. But as Kanstroom said, the Immigration Clinic hopes to both equip its students for a career in immigration law and serve the clients as best it can.

“We’re not trying to create mediocre lawyers or average lawyers,” Kanstroom said. “We’re trying to create excellent lawyers who are smart and know what they’re doing and [more importantly], why they’re doing it.”

And Kanstroom and Holper, among the many other BC Law professors, are doing just that. Caroline Holliday, BC Law ’20, is in her final year of law school. Last year, in the fall of 2018, she spent her time under the wing of Holper in the Immigration

CELINE LIM / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Before becoming its director, Mary Holper was a fellow in the BC Law Immigration Clinic.

Clinic. Holliday credits Holper’s incredible mentoring skills for allowing her to comfortably and confidently take on three different immigration cases—a bond hearing, a case surrounding domestic abuse in South America, and a case where Holliday argued a client’s full merits in court. “[Holper] is an extremely energetic and passionate professor,” Holliday said. “We were doing a lot of new things, like going to detention centers. … I think she was wonderful about boosting our confidence and giving us all the tools to succeed in these new environments. She’s passionate, creative, and a very caring professor, as well as being incredibly impressive in terms of her mastery of immigration law and policy.”

Holliday stands as a testament to Kanstroom’s and Holper’s hopes that BC Law will continue to produce excellent lawyers. After graduation, Holliday will spend a year clerking for a federal judge in Delaware. Once that year is up, Holliday plans to return to Boston to work at the law firm Foley Hoag.

Inspired by the firm’s strong immigration pro bono practice, Holliday will be applying everything she learned from Holper, Kanstroom, and the clinic as she continues to handle the toughest cases. Holliday is one of the many students both Kanstroom and Holper have guided through court cases. Kanstroom, after creating the clinic, understands the difficulty of giving a student in the clinic complete independence.

Holper is now in charge of walking the fine line between giving her students room to lead their own cases while making sure she provides enough supervision so that clients have a chance at the best outcome possible.

Kanstroom’s legacy lives on in Holper’s work, as she continues to guide her students with the same delicate precision Kanstroom did before her. Holper’s priority as a mentor is really, really good communication, she says. From day one, she tells her students that she’d rather hear more information than less. Any small details, any small concern,

Holper is ready to help. Ultimately, she reminds them, it’s a responsibility to make sure they’re doing all that they can for their clients. Holper also understands the intensity and complexities of immigration law. Even seasoned lawyers in the field make mistakes.

“Though the consequences of that can be very grave, I don’t want the anxiety level of everyone going into this field to be like, ‘I can’t even take one case or else I’m going to be this ball of nerves,’” she said. “Just try as hard as you can to enjoy it while you’re in it, work hard … that’s the best we can do.”

When it comes to practicing immigration law, the odds are almost always against Holper and her students. Losing case after case, Holper explains, wears down even the most weathered immigration lawyers.

At the end of the day, though, one small victory reminds her of why she’s doing this line of work. “[I can be] feeling so down in the dumps about ever winning a case, and then the next day my students call me and say, ‘One of our clients just got released from jail,’” she said.

“It’s a breath of fresh air that gets pumped into you. You’re like, okay, I can go back, I can do it again. It’s not that demoralizing.”

Holper, Kanstroom, and the many students they’ve mentored and continue to mentor make up a small percentage of the population of immigration lawyers who continue to fight for immigrant rights under the current administration. Throughout the constant ups and downs that working at the clinic has produced, Holper has always kept the two goals in mind—educating her students and helping her clients.

“The most rewarding part [about my job] is when I watch the students understand what’s going on, grasp it, and own it,” she said. “Watching the clients in the hands of the students, knowing how much the clients look to us for assistance, knowing how much the system is trying to make sure they don’t win … I feel very good knowing [the clients] are in good hands.” n

Prof. Hartmut Austen Channels His Past Into His Paintings

By Chloe Pingeon For The Heights When confronted with a Heights camera last week, studio art professor Hartmut Austen did not shy away. Instead, he enthusiastically made his way down the hallway of his department, knocking on doors and inviting his fellow professors to join him in the shots.

Born in Bielefeld, Germany, Austen has been drawing since he was 12 years old—he has also been confident in his desire to work with people for just as long. After studying art in Berlin and working as a painter in Detroit, Austen arrived at Boston College as a professor and an artist in 2016. He considers art-making a necessity for himself, and drawing to be a way of thinking that anyone can benefit from.

During his upbringing, Austen’s family was supportive of his love for art, in large part because they themselves had shared similar ambitions. Ultimately, however, his parents had chosen to dedicate their lives to working with disabled individuals in their community—Austen partially

attributes the intersection of teaching and creating in his career to being raised in this environment.

“On the one hand, I wanted to do something that had to do with people and interacting with people, and that was part of the upbringing I had,” he said. “And also, I wanted to do something with the arts. I felt I had that independent streak, and for me, art-making was also an escape in a way.”

Austen had always loved drawing—so with the support of his family, he began attending art classes, in addition to his regular schooling at age 12. Even in this more structured setting, Austen valued the freedom and self-expression that the art-making process afforded him. As he developed his creativity and artistic style throughout his adolescence, he began to seriously consider pursuing a career as an artist.

But after high school, Austen’s creative ambitions were delayed by a late-’80s West German policy which mandated that all young men serve in the military after graduating high school. Austen filed a request to be exempt, citing that he felt he could not shoot a gun, and while this request

JESS RIVILIS / HEIGHTS STAFF

Shortly after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Austen finished his formal education in Berlin in ’90.

was approved, he still was required to serve 20 months of civil service on a farm that doubled as a children’s home. On the farm, Austen split his time between working with the children and engaging in physical labor, from taking care of animals to working on maintenance of the farm. Yet for Austen, pressing pause on his formal artistic training and career was a blessing in disguise.

“When you get out of school, you don’t really know what you want to do—it gave me time to think about my ambition,” he said. “Even while I was in my early 20s working on that farm, I still kept drawing and painting, and that kind of made it even clearer that I wanted to go to Berlin [to continue my formal training], which was really the most exciting city in Germany.”

Austen resumed his formal education at Hochschule der Künste (University of the Arts) in Berlin, completing it in 1990. He arrived merely months after the fall of the Berlin Wall and found a fast-paced city rife with change and transformation. His own life kept pace with this new environment, as he quickly threw himself into his work, developing a portfolio and working to find a job. Austen ended up in Detroit, Mich., because he was following a girl he had dated—who he wryly described as having “pretty much left me”—but what he found across the world was a city that was shifting and growing in similar ways to the one he had left behind. Despite some parallels between Detroit and Berlin, Austen found inspiration in the obvious differences that were also visible in his new environment.

“I found it really exciting to be in a place that was, in a way, almost forgotten,” he said. “People were moving away from Detroit and for me it felt like an exciting place. It meant there was an opportunity and nobody knew me.”

Austen found Detroit to be the right place to develop his career, and he sought inspiration both by looking inward to his

past and emotions, and outward to his new surroundings. In fact, he saw lots of similarities between the visuals he created and the interior spaces and architecture of the city. This reflection of physical environment in his work is one he noticed later in life as well, when he worked in Minnesota, and, more recently, in Boston.

“Each place affects me and always has,” Austen said. “However, it is not immediate—it is often with a time delay. You make these connections from your visual work to the place, an experience of a place, and the interactions you have with individuals that often become only apparent much later.”

The clear connection between his work, personal life, and surroundings is apparent on every level of his creative process, and these links carry over into his identity as a professor as well. Austen’s former student, Andy Zhang, MCAS ’20, worked on an independent visual arts study with Austen as his adviser, and described him as challenging, kind, and passionate.

“Professor Austen would show me how to come to my own conclusions without telling me exactly what to do,” Zhang said.

“He’s challenging, but he supports his students through taking risks.”

For Austen, it’s as much about helping his students as people as it as about training them as artists. He wants students to learn, to experiment, grow, try new things, and ultimately, to accept the failure that often comes with risks. And while Austen clearly loves the way his teaching guides his students, he also values how it grounds him in his own work. Austen described his life both as an artist and a professor as taking on two separate personas.

“As an artist, I’m crazy. I’m manic. I’m impatient. I am very self-critical. I’m sometimes frustrated,” he said. “At the same time, I’m also very joyful because I can really do whatever I want to do and what I feel is important to do. The professor’s persona

is in a way the opposite. It balances it out.”

In teaching, Austen is drawn back to the tangible explanations of his craft, and he feels this has given him more awareness of the concrete aspects of his own work as well.

As an artist, Austen has been around the block, showcasing his work across the United States and Berlin, and he specifically referenced his exhibition at the McMullen Museum titled Not Here, Not There, and an exhibition in Atlanta, Ga. titled Blurred Vision is just one of the Symptoms, as some of the work he is most proud of.

Though Austen is experimental in his work, having dabbled in print-making, wall installations, and multimedia in the past, he firmly classifies himself as a painter.

“The absolute fundamental discipline is painting,” he said. “And it is really my own work. Lonely in the studio, staring at blank canvases, not only working but wondering, ‘What am I going to do next?’”

He is an artist, not an illustrator, and this is a distinction that he feels is very important in his creative process. He doesn’t aim for precision or conceptualization in his work, but rather speaks to the way art imitates life.

In his teaching, it is the intersection of these two elements that Austen seems to be the most skilled at portraying. He does not deny that self-doubt, critique, and failure are fundamental parts of the art-making process, but he also doesn’t think that these difficulties should dissuade him, or his students, from pursuing their love of art both in and out of the studio.

“Everything [in art-making] is very personal,” he said. “It’s not that I read something, go into the studio, and translate it. No, usually it takes a long time, and this kind of figuring out how to approach something … and I have unique abilities [that] nobody else has, but I need to figure out what exactly they are.” n

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2019

A5

Climate Strike Draws Thousands of Boston Students Climate Change, from A1 around 10 a.m. with community events like craft activities, organization tabling, and poster-making. The rally began at 11:30 a.m. at City Hall with numerous speakers, from students to government officials.

At 1:30 p.m., the group mobilized, marching to the Massachusetts State House. Around 100 students marched inside to hold a mini-rally, while the rest assembled around the Brewer Fountain, chanting “Hey hey, ho ho, climate change has got to go!” as a marching band played along.

“The best part of today is seeing the group moving together from City Hall Plaza to the State House. It is a very organic, peaceful process,” said Nora, a Boston lawyer and a volunteer for the U.S. Youth Climate Strike.

“I am very motivated by the youth, and I am happy to be a supportive martial or a legal observer for a youthled movement such as this one.”

As the protest went on, Addy, a high school student at Concord Academy in Concord, Mass., climbed on the steps by the State House.

She proudly chanted, “Is this what democracy looks like?” to which a

group of protestors would respond with enthusiasm, “This is not what democracy looks like!”

“The best part of the Climate Strike is how many people came out,” Addy said. “Being a part of this movement is just something that gratifies me. In the same way, it gratifies other people. I feel like that is what counts.”

Audrey, an 18-year-old from Watertown, Mass., and Amalia Hochman, a 17-year-old from Somerville, Mass., acted as hosts. Michelle Wu, an at-large Boston City councilor, took to the stage and said she was there on behalf of her colleagues. She rode in to the protest on the bus and the Orange Line, she said, where she met students with a “Climate Now, Homework Later” sign.

“We are here on a work day, on a weekday, on a school day,” Wu said to a cheering crowd.

“We’re here because science is being ignored. We’re here because people are being ignored for the profits of fossil fuel companies.”

Other speakers included Gina McCarthy, a former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator and current director of Harvard C-CHANGE; Saya Ameli

MEEGAN MINAHAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Students gather in front of Boston City Hall before marching to the Mass. State House.

Closure of the Week MEEGAN MINAHAN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

A young protester records a video of a speaker at the Climate Strike in Boston.

Hajeb, a 17-year-old from the Sunrise Movement; Jeremy Ornstein, an 18-year-old from the Sunrise Movement; Ahria Ilyas, an 18-year-old representative of Youth-On-Board; Rev. Mariama White Hammond, an advocate for ecological justice; Mayor Martin J. Walsh, BC ’09 ; and Hartman Deetz of the Mashpee-Wampanog tribe.

Those in charge of organizing the strike were predominantly local youth—the Climate Strike has been inspired by Greta Thunberg, a Swedish climate activist.

Two high school students—Hochman,and 16-year-old Saraphina Forman of Northampton, Mass.—spearheaded the movement that was led by Massachusetts Climate Strike.

Some students, including those in Boston Public Schools and the Brookline district, were granted excused absences on account of the strike if they provided notes from parents.

While the largest group of strikers gathered at the City Hall Plaza and the Massachusetts State House, smaller groups met in Cambridge, Great

Barrington, Worcester, Acton, and Boston College.

BC students gathered on the Gasson Quad to protest before they left for the Boston march.

“Some of us just want to get out the message that, you know, climate action is important,” said Kyle Rosenthal, spokesman for Climate Justice at BC and MCAS ’21.

“And that can be a message both to students and administrators. Obviously, Climate Justice, we do have that specific goal of divestment. And we want to let administrators and trustees know that we have a large presence.”

Along with the many student demonstrators who came out to the Boston strike on Friday, there were many parents who brought their young children to witness the events unfold.

“I want them to learn how to represent their world,” said a local Boston mother who brought her 9and 11-year-old sons. “I want them to learn unity consciousness [and] how to stand up for human and social rights.” n

Weeknight Changes to Green Line D Branch: Sept. 23-26 On Monday (Sept. 23), bus shuttles will replace train service between the Newton Highlands and Kenmore stops.

No shuttle service will be provided at the Beaconsfield stop, due to narrow roads.

Weekend Changes to Green Line D Branch: Sept. 27-29 On Friday (Sept. 27), shuttles will begin at 10:30 p.m. in light of a Red Sox night game at Fenway.

Bus shuttles will replace D Line train service between the Newton Highlands and Kenmore stops, beginning at 8:45 p.m.

No shuttle service will be provided at the Beaconsfield stop, due to narrow roads.

Weekend Changes to Orange Line: Sept. 27-29 Starting at 8:30 p.m., shuttle bus services will replace Orange Line services between Ruggles and Forest Hills until the end of service on Sunday.

Weekend Changes to Green Line C Branch: Sept. 27-29 Bus shuttles will replace C line services between Saint Mary’s Street and Cleveland Circle.

This change will begin Friday at 8:45 p.m. and last until the end of service on Sunday. n

Brief Calls to Drop Judge’s Charges Law Professors, from A1 been working on the bench for four months when she was arrested. Chernoff said he understands the stress and pressure new judges are under—they could be the youngest person in the room with more experienced lawyers, police, and other courtroom staff. Still, it is their responsibility to control the courtroom and everything that goes on within it, he said.

“What happened to her, I would call it overkill,” said Edward Ginsburg, a retired judge and BC Law professor who signed onto the brief. “Great, great overkill.”

Both professors agree that Joseph’s case could, and should, have been handled by the local and state courts, instead of being moved into the federal courts.

“I have tried to be very careful about expressing any view about whether or not the judge did something right or the judge did something wrong,” Chernoff said. “I simply say that if the judge did something wrong, it should have been handled by the state.”

Fifteen law professors from across the country submitted another amicus brief on Tuesday in support of Joseph. The professors argue that the prosecution of Joseph is the “most flagrant attempt to commandeer states” in violation of the 10th Amend-

ment. The lawyers teach at 12 schools, including Yale Law School, University of California Berkeley Law School, and New York University Law School.

Joseph did not have any personal interest in allowing the man, Jose Medina Perez, to escape from the courthouse, according to the brief. She was not accused of specifically ordering the court officer to allow Perez to exit out the back door. The judge filed to have the charges against her dropped two weeks ago. If her prosecution continues, the effects in Massachusetts will be “devastating,” the judges wrote in the brief.

“Saying ‘no’ to executive actors is part of every judge’s job. Yet, if Judge Joseph is prosecuted, every Massachusetts judge in every Massachusetts courthouse will feel a constant external pressure to refrain from actions that might antagonize federal officials,” the brief says.

“That pressure will be particularly acute in cases where noncitizens are before the court as parties or witnesses. Judges cannot be impartial in the execution of their judicial duties if they are under pressure to ingratiate themselves to federal prosecutors.”

Joseph came under fire after the Boston Globe Spotlight team reported in December of 2018 that the judge had helped

Medina-Perez to escape.

She allegedly instructed a court officer, Wesley MacGregor, to take Medina-Perez downstairs to retrieve something. MacGregor then used his security access card to open the sally-port exit downstairs and release Medina-Perez out the back, according to court documents.

Joseph and MacGregor were indicted in April—Joseph was offered a plea deal in May, but she turned it down. Had she accepted, she would have had to admit guilt, and prosecutors would have dropped the charges against her. It is unclear whether she would have been able to continue on the bench.

The case has divided the state, as some have applauded the prosecutors for pressing charges against the judge, while others say the move is political and an attack on the independence of the courts.

The judges who signed on to support Joseph worked in Supreme Judicial Court, District Court, Probate and Family Court, Superior Court, Boston Municipal Court, Juvenile Court, Housing Court, Appeals Court, and Land Court.

“I signed on with hopes that somehow 61 of us would be able to push the case, at least a little bit, in a direction that might resolve it for her,” Chernoff said. n

Red Line Derailment Cause Found

By Colleen Martin Metro Editor

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) announced Monday that the Red Line car derailment on June 11 was due to a broken axle. There was poor electrical connectivity between two pieces of the axle, weakening it over time, according to the report detailing the incident.

The derailment caused significant service disruptions and was the beginning of a long summer for the MBTA—two more derailments occurred within the following two months.

The connectivity issue was between the ground ring and the ground brush— electricity exits through these two pieces after it has entered the third rail and provided energy to turn the motor. A working ground ring is smooth, but the broken one was distorted due to electrical arcing—an uncontrollable electrical discharge.

An ultrasonic inspection was performed on all of the Red Line cars after the incident, and will be completed on all Orange, Blue, and Green Line cars within the

next three weeks, the report said. Ground ring inspections are also being conducted on all Red Line cars.

Maintenance inspections will be performed on 8,500 miles of track, annual inspections of the axles—including ground ring inspection—will be conducted, and ultrasonic inspections will happen every two years going forward, the report said.

The car derailed near the JFK/UMass stop, damaging the signal system. The signals on the Red Line are slowly being restored, but the project isn’t complete yet. The restoration of the signal between North Quincy and JFK is anticipated to be completed sometime in October, according to the MBTA’s report.

The car was inspected visually in May of this past year, as well as in March.

“There is some ambiguity as well unto the level of detailed inspections being done of the ground ring and I think it’s our responsibility to really make it clear to our technicians on what they need to be inspecting for and the level of detail and precision that we need to be inspecting for on these ground rings,” said Jeffrey Gonne-

ville, the MBTA’s deputy general manager at a MassDOT Board and the Fiscal and Management Control Board meeting on Monday.

This was the first time this kind of derailment has happened at the MBTA, Gonneville said. During the visual inspection, the ground ring is not directly visible.

They are changing the procedure for how it’s checked.The ultrasonic inspections were done every two years in the past—this car’s was due for one this summer.

“That is on us,” Gonneville said to reporters on Monday. “That is on the MBTA to ensure that we’re giving our technicians the right procedures that they should be following.”

A car on the Green Line derailed in the same week as the Red Line derailment this past summer. Another Green Line car derailed near Riverside on Aug. 7, and service was suspended due to a fire near the track on the Orange Line on Aug. 23.

The MBTA announced a plan to close major T lines every weekend throughout the fall to conduct repairs and renovate the dated infrastructure. n

COLLEEN MARTIN / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BC to Pursue Legal Options to Keep Woods Webster Woods, from A1 critical to ours.”

BC purchased Webster Woods, which spans about 17 acres, from Congregation Mishkan Tefila for $20 million along with the former synagogue and parking lot.

BC has used the building as a retreat center, activity center, and practice space for students.

Since BC purchased the land, it has invested more than $5 million to repair the former synagogue and more than $1.5 million to repair a sewer line, according to BC’s press release.

The statement said BC does not have any plans for the undeveloped land.

Fuller has been in talks with the University since the beginning of her term in January of 2018, she said, to decide what will be done with Webster Woods.

While the University did not have immediate plans for the forest, it also wouldn’t commit to preserving it as a forest, according to Fuller.

Part of her election campaign platform was a commitment to preserving the woods, and she promised to take a firm step toward permanently protecting them by 2020—two years into her term—the mayor said.

She’s approaching the two-year mark, prompting her decision to claim the land under eminent domain.

“I’ve worked hard with Boston College to try to come to a resolution about this, and I am a person of my word,” Fuller said in an interview with The Heights.

“I said it. I meant it. I believe it.

We need to permanently save Webster Woods. So I’m moving forward with

it now.”

The mayor was strategic about what land she is choosing to reclaim, she said—she is leaving the building and parking lot for BC to use.

Newton’s Board of Aldermen—the former name for the City Council— wrote a letter to Setti Warren, the mayor at the time, before the sale to BC in 2016, asking that he ensure the property remain a wooded area.

One longtime resident, Stephen Block, called for the area to be preserved so that it would be available for future generations in Newton in a letter to the editor in The Heights.

The mayor will work with the Community Preservation Committee, the Conservation Commission, and the City Council to get the funding needed to buy back the land under eminent domain, a power that allows the government to take back land as long as it compensates the owner and maintains the land for public use.

Funds from the Community Preservation Act can only be used for land preservation, outdoor recreation facilities, historic preservation, or affordable housing, according to the mayor’s announcement.

She will issue a formal request for funding in the coming weeks.

Webster Woods is surrounded by 88 acres of forest land—the largest contiguous forest in Newton, Fuller said.

“Preserving the largest contiguous forest for Newton in perpetuity is essential,” Fuller said in her announcement last week. “ We must protect this diverse eco-system and the habitat it provides for birds, mammals, amphibians and insects.” n

The Heights

A6

Monday, September 23, 2019

Editorial

QUOTE OF THE week

BC Has Right to Webster Woods, But Must Be Responsible and Ethical Member of Community Ne w ton Mayor Ruthanne Fuller announced that the City of Newton would use eminent domain to reclaim Webster Woods, which Boston College purchased in 2016 for $20 million. The City Council was not opposed to the sale at the time of the purchase, according to a University press release. One of Fuller’s campaign promises was to “permanently preserve” the woods within two years of her taking office. The city’s move comes at the tail end of that two-year span. BC has not announced plans to develop the property, located at 300 Hammond Pond Parkway, which comprises 17 acres of the 105 total acres of woods, but has also not committed to preserving the forest. The University has said that it will “oppose the mayor’s plan ‘to the fullest extent possible using all legal avenues.’”

The University should be allowed to expand but must work to mitigate its impact on Newton

and the environment it may potentially disrupt BC is a Top 40 university, and its purchase facilitates necessary continued growth and is not unique among other top-tier schools. BC is a major Newton institution and should participate as is appropriate within the Newton community. As a major contributor to the community and economy, it has a right to fairly purchase property in Newton to facilitate this growth.

Equally relevant is BC’s need to be an ethical participant in the Newton community because of its hegemonic influence, employment numbers, and contributions to the community as a whole. The University has every right to own the land it purchased. If BC chooses to develop the land, it must do so ethically and responsibly.

The University has long been in communication with the City of Newton about its purchase of

“There’s no place like home.”

- The Wizard of Oz, 1939

the property.

The purchase was approved by then-Mayor Setti Warren, and the City of Newton did not attempt to purchase the land when it was originally for sale.

Acquisition through eminent domain could be excessively expensive for the city and end up costing much more than the original $20 million.

If BC is to fully develop the 17 acres, though small compared to the surrounding 88 acres, it could significantly affect the forest. BC’s property bisects the larger area.

As a responsible Newton community member, the University has a responsibility to ensure that the surrounding 88 acres are disturbed as little as possible if it does decide to develop the surrounding land. This will mean working closely with conservationists and community members about ways to minimize environmental impact.

A Guide to Your Newspaper The Heights Boston College – McElroy 113 140 Commonwealth Ave. Chestnut Hill, Mass. 02467

Editorial

Business and Operations General Manager (617) 552-0169 Advertising (617) 552-2220 Business and Circulation (617) 552-0547 Classifieds and Collections (617) 552-0364 Fax (617) 552-1753

Editor-in-Chief (617) 552-2223

General (617) 552-2221 Managing Editor (617) 552-4286 News Desk (617) 552-0172 Sports Desk (617) 552-0189 Metro Desk (617) 552-3548 Features Desk (617) 552-3548 Arts Desk (617) 552-0515 Photo (617) 552-1022

customer service Clarifications / Corrections

The Heights strives to provide its readers with complete, accurate, and balanced information. If you believe we have made a reporting error, have information that requires a clarification or correction, or questions about The Heights standards and practices, you may contact Steven Everett, Editor-in-Chief, at (617) 552-2223, or email eic@bcheights.com.

Delivery

To have The Heights delivered to your home each week or to report distribution problems on campus, contact Kristen Bahr, General Manager at (617) 552-0547.

The views expressed in the above editorials represent the official position of The Heights, as discussed and written by the

Editorial

The

Established 1919

Heights

The Independent Student Newspaper of Boston College

Steven Everett, President, Editor-in-Chief Kristen Bahr, General Manager Anders Backstrom, Managing Editor

Advertising

The Heights is one of the most effective ways to reach the BC community. To submit a classified, display, or online advertisement, call our advertising off ice at (617) 552-2220 Monday through Friday.

The Heights is produced by BC undergraduates and is published on Mondays during the academic year by The Heights, Inc. (c) 2019. All rights reserved.

Editorial Board. A list of the members of the Editorial Board can be found at bcheights.com/opinions.

Jacob Schick, A1 Editor Emerson DeBasio, Creative Director Jack Miller, News Editor Bradley Smart, Sports Editor Kaylie Ramirez, Arts Editor Brooke Kaiserman, Magazine Editor Colleen Martin, Metro Editor Maddie Haddix, Opinions Editor Celine Lim, Photo Editor Danny Flynn, Copy Chief Emily Rosato, Layout Editor Ikram Ali, Graphics Editor

The Heights reserves the right to edit for clarity, brevity, accuracy, and to prevent libel.

The Heights also reserves the right to write headlines and choose illustrations to accompany pieces submitted to the newspaper.

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

Business and Operations Allyson Mozeliak, Graphics Editor Jhon De La Cruz, Online Manager Amy Vanderschans, Social Media Director Meegan Minahan, Multimedia Editor Chris Chilton, Outreach Coordinator Abby Hunt, Assoc. News Editor Owen Fahy, Asst. News Editor Peter Kim, Assoc. Sports Editor Emily Himes, Assoc. Arts Editor Jillian Ran, Asst. Arts Editor Timmy Facciola, Assoc. Magazine Editor Maeve Reilly, Asst. Magazine Editor

Isabel Fenoglio, Assoc. Metro Editor Mary Wilkie, Asst. Metro Editor Maggie DiPatri, Assoc. Photo Editor Jonathan Ye, Asst. Photo Editor Éamon Laughlin, Asst. Multimedia Editor Scott Baker, Copy Editor Izzy Cavazzoni, Copy Editor Stephanie Liu, Copy Editor Celia Carbone, Assoc. Investigative Editor Madeleine Romance, Asst. Investigative Editor

Will Powers, Operations Manager Barrette Janney, Centennial Director David Goodfellow, Collections Manager Sophie Lu, Local Accounts Manager Ashley Yoon, On-Campus Accounts Manager

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2019

A7

Hunting for Skunks (and Faith in Humanity) The 13 Students elevator about the whole experience—she, too, was enthralled by the skunk), I turned to my best friend and greatest mentor: Google. Google told me that skunks have a penchant for infesting college campuses. Notre Dame, Northwestern, and Mississippi State University have all published articles regarding students’ skunk sightings and encounters. Upon reading this, it occurred to me that perhaps others at Boston College had also unintentionally rendezvoused with skunks. You would think this would merit significant attention, but I checked The Heights, The Gavel, and even The Rock, and there are zero articles regarding the BC skunks.

Not content to leave The Heights woefully free of investigative skunk journalism, I bravely took it upon myself to bring answers to the great people of BC. Thus began my plans for a skunk-searching excursion for some up-close observation. A (non-violent) skunk hunt.

So, that fateful Saturday night, Gabi and I set out in search of skunks. Things went wrong right away.

First of all, we started our search at 9 p.m., objectively too early for skunks. We retreated to Lower for a flatbread and strategy session, deciding that midnight would be a more suitable time for skunk sightings. After biding our time discussing our greatest regrets and debating whether or not Gabi’s life is “in shambles” (I say no, she says yes), we set out once more.

We stepped out of Lower into the muggy, musicfilled air and I felt a drop of rain hit my arm. Rendered temporarily incapacitated by my dismay, I shouted anxiously: “Do skunks even come out in the rain?!”

We checked everywhere people had reported skunk sightings. We walked the outskirts of Stayer, the perimeter of the entire construction site where the Plex used to be, and all of the parking lots on Lower campus. We did not see a single skunk. We did, however, see a lot of alcohol-related litter.

(As a community, we should really work on booze recycling—just saying.)

Ultimately, we walked back to Walsh feeling sad and defeated. The majestic skunks eluded our best 69

Grace Christenson I stood in front of my closet this weekend with a single question in mind: What does one wear to a skunk hunt?

Is it bad, I wondered, to wear all black and blend into the night? After all, I wasn’t trying to hide too effectively and then scare the skunk into spraying me. My roommate told me not to bother coming home if that happened. She loves me.

I turned to my trusty sidekick, Gabi, whom I had coerced into joining me on this journey. Dressed in allblack sweats, she looked up from her phone and rolled her eyes at me. She told me it didn’t matter.

The idea of skunk searching first came to me last Tuesday. I was walking back from a productive evening at O’Neill around midnight when I saw what I thought was an absurdly large squirrel. The flash of tail was so voluminous, so fluffy, that I stood aghast as it slipped underneath a car in the parking lot outside of the Mods.

I looked around for someone to confirm that I had just single-handedly discovered a superior species of squirrel. A girl walking a few yards ahead of me, who could apparently still see this creature on the other side of a car, whipped her phone out of her pocket and took a Snapchat video. I felt validated by her excitement.

As I rounded the corner of the car, I realized—with a squeal of delight as real as it was embarrassing—that this was no squirrel. This, dear reader, was a skunk.

Coming from a semi-urban suburb, the closest I had ever been to a skunk was watching Bambi on VHS when I was 5. Now, in the Mod lot, I felt like I was in a freaking National Geographic special. The tech-savvy pseudo-Gen-Z-er I am, I, too, reached for my iPhone and attempted to capture the majesty of nature to show off to my friends later.

After going home (and talking to the girl on the

efforts to become friends.

While this investigation is far from over, upon reflection I already have some interesting takeaways from this animal adventure. First of all, I found out that skunks are actually really great at getting rid of vermin, so we should all be very grateful for their presence. Secondly, I realized that at a school renowned for the classic BC Look Away, people are surprisingly willing to talk to total strangers. I approached multiple people in elevators, on sidewalks, and at the dining hall to talk about skunks, and, instead of running away, they had some really interesting conversations with me.

I guess this is the cliché part of the story where I talk about how the journey is more meaningful than the destination.

I spent a week engaging with new people, swapping stories and skunk tips, and realizing that their lives weren’t all that different from my own. Sure, most people aren’t going to go out on a Saturday night in search of skunks, but far more people than I expected were excited to help me achieve my goals. People offered up key skunk-sighting locations and even potential skunk bait suggestions (peanut butter, chicken). They wished me luck and asked me to update them. It turns out that people like helping you if you give them the chance.

I’ll think twice next time before writing off the BC bro in the Patriots jersey as someone completely disinterested in my existence and pursuits.

So, maybe my search for skunks wasn’t so fruitless after all. Maybe, instead of their presence, the skunks gave me the gift of restored faith in humanity.

Then again, maybe I’m just over-compensating for failure. We’ll find out in part two.

Grace Christenson is an op-ed columnist for The Heights. She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

in Core Classes

Maya Taha

Common Core classes, we all have to take them, most of us hate them. One more thing they all have in common: They’re made up of the same types of people: 1. The panicked freshman

This is the student who walks in 15 minutes late to the first class and does not hesitate to apologize profusely to the professor, email the entire class, and apologize for the inconvenience they caused. This kid is the one who is most likely to trip and fall, spilling their coffee and sending their lecture notes flying everywhere. Everyone feels sorry for this kid. Most of us have been in this kid’s shoes.

2. The grade-hungry kid

Definitely one of the worst kinds. The student that only comes to office hours the week before the exam and tries to trick the professor into giving them their test questions. Instead of simply studying and asking content-based questions, they resort to asking questions about the test format, whether the reading will be on the test, whether the homework will be on the test, whether their pet duck’s cousin’s neighbor’s social security number will be on the test.

3. The kid crushing on the professor

This person sits in the very front of the class and often fights with the grade-hungry student over the seat closest to the professor. This is the kid who wakes up three hours earlier in order to get ready for class. And I don’t mean academically ready. I mean hair done, clothes pressed, freshly-shaven. This kid often puts a lot more effort into their appearance than your average college student and doesn’t hesitate to drown themselves in cologne or perfume before class. Unsurprisingly, this kid seems to be at every office hours session and laughs a little too long at the professor’s lame jokes about our generation’s mango Juuling addiction.

4. The senior

This kid either doesn’t show up or shows up, sits in the back, and takes their midday nap in the middle of the lecture.

They’re usually the ones who hand in the exam after only 20 minutes and are the worst people to get forced into a group project with. They care about the class almost as little as the Jesuits perpetually chiling in the portraits on the walls of Gasson.

5. The junior who just returned from abroad

Parents Weekend

This person doesn’t hesitate to let you know about their amazing experiences in Australia. You will be shown the same koala photo at least four times. They somehow maintain their tan the entire semester while the rest of us return to the ghost-like paleness encouraged by Boston weather.

Your Best Behavior Please don’t do what you did in the Mods this weekend with your parents present.

Free Stuff!

Overly Drunk Parents Pick this week to conve- This may be a thumbs up. niently run out of toilet Maybe they’ll buy you paper, White Claws, olive nice liquor that you’ll prooil, and “lose” your coat. cede to chug like its Ruby.

Seeing Loved Ones Hi Mom, Dad, Reagan, and Elisa!

Welcome to BC! I love you so much!

While Not Science, Astrology Is Valuable still widely used in the business world, professionals have been calling into question the validity of the test altogether.

Yet, while astrology is instinctively dismissed, the Myers-Briggs test has been touted as helping “to build self-awareness and [being] a great tool for understanding how we interact with the world and the people Ellie Grondin around us.” Why not say the same of astrology?

While astrology is often dismissed as nothing While the book I have based most of my zodiac more than sensationalized horoscopes that claim understanding on does provide remarkable description to predict individuals’ futures, the zodiac can still of the signs, it cannot account for the different lives of provide unique insights about human nature. I was each individual that so prominently shape who we are. a zodiac skeptic for many years, thinking that it Rather, astrology seems to address an aspect of the great was absurd for people to claim that every person nature versus nurture debate—specifically, that much on Earth can fit into one of 12 designated groups. of our personality is determined at birth. Drawing from So when I came across The Little Giant Encyclopethe meaning of celestial objects, it describes underlying dia of the Zodiac in a bookstore a few years ago, I and influential qualities in people’s lives, unshaped by marveled at the idea of someone actually taking the each individual’s upbringing. book seriously.

A person is given a certain zodiac sign depending But as I skimmed through it and read about my on the alignment of the sun with a constellation on the day they are born. I know—I also think it’s far-fetched sign (Cancer), I was shocked by the text’s accuracy.

The chapter on Cancer basically had me down to a to claim that personality can be attributed to the stars, T. Sections titled “Cancer Personality,” “The Cancer but it doesn’t mean it is completely inaccurate. We’ll Female,” “The Young Cancer,” “Cancer at Work,” never really know for sure, and that’s okay as long as and “Likes & Dislikes,” went into vivid detail that it can help us think about ourselves in a different and captured much of the essence of my personality. constructive way.

Sure, many of the characteristics and tendencies People have actually been referring to the cosmos described could be applied to non-Cancers, but for guidance since the days of Ancient Greece. The the sum of all descriptions would not apply to just Greeks named the 12 signs we know today after their anyone. designated constellations, while the Bablyonians added I read through the other signs and compared a symbol to each (i.e. The Scales for Libra) and watched them to my family members, who also strikingly the stars as a way to follow the movements of the gods. lined up with their sign descriptions. Maybe by Up until the late 17th century, astrology was considered chance, I happen to be someone who aligns with my a science that included astronomy. sign characteristics more so than others, but even The sheer age and continuous practice of astrolthough I felt a bit ridiculous reading the book, I ogy throughout most of human existence should be could not simply dismiss it. It provided me a unique enough to make people hesitate before shrugging it off perspective into my own tendencies that I take as horoscope-infused nonsense. I hope the vast history for granted. As long as astrology can help people of the astrological field won’t be further watered down understand themselves in a new light, or allow them in our scientifically advanced time, so we can appreciate to simply take on new perspectives, it is serving its the role it plays in shaping culture. purpose.

It may seem crazy to think that the stars truly have I am not saying to take astrology as fact or as a any impact on human traits, but we are all made of science—because it is definitely not that. Intereststardust. The tides on Earth are in fact ruled by the moon, and as professional astrologer Diana Brownstone ingly enough, though, the Myers-Briggs corporate personality test that is so widely used today is based notes in Vogue, “Even the sun … affects your energy, on the studies of psychology expert Carl Jung, who your sense of self, it changes our skin, it makes plants was passionate about astrology. While the test is grow, and it even affects us psychologically—we can’t

just chalk up the sun to being a blob out there that has no effect on anything or anyone. Same with the moon, same with the planets.” She elaborates on her belief that “we pick up energy from the universe and the planets, which are the intermediaries connecting us to the greater cosmos.”

Whether you are a believer or not, the fact that so many people do believe in astrology reveals a lot about human nature. The zodiac allows people to maintain a unique sense of individuality while also bringing people together under a guiding universal force. Whether they know it or not, those who believe in the zodiac are essentially turning to the cosmos for help deciphering interpersonal relations in their lives by comparing personality traits and attitudes.

“We use the stars, planets, and celestial bodies to understand ourselves as multidimensional beings,” Aliza Kelly, another professional astrologer, stated in Cosmopolitan. “Practicing astrology sparks self-awareness, and at the end of the day, that’s what matters most.”

Even if you don’t buy into the idea of humans having a celestial connection powerful enough to affect how we act, the fundamentals of astrology can still be beneficial in daily life. I would say a good portion of the general public experiences some resonance with their zodiac sign—it’s at least something most people are cognizant of. The Atlantic reports that millennials, who are described as experiencing more stress and uncertainty than previous generations, especially connect with astrology as a way to find order and insight in their lives. According to The Independent, 58 percent of 18-24 year old Americans view astrology as scientific. While it is not actually scientific, the statistics reveal a widespread adherence to the practice.

People who refer to the zodiac can use the signs to better understand others and even themselves.

Astrology really provides an alternative path for personal guidance that focuses on the essence of human nature. At the bare minimum, astrology can bring to light the value of empathy—taking the time to acknowledge where people come from and how their nature influences their interactions with others.

Graphic by Ally Mozeliak / Heights Editor

6. The “undecided” sophomore

This is the kid who is running out of time to choose a major and is hoping that this class will be “the one” that leads them to the path of their dreams. Just declare a perspectives major already please.

7. Overachievers

Thank you for ruining the curve for everyone else. Not cool. And yet, I cannot say anything bad about these people, because really, we all lowkey wish we could be like them. Or at least I do. Always ahead of everyone else, they finish their work ahead of time and they don’t really seem to understand the concept of procrastination. May we all be like them, ever to excel.

8. The one who is always late

This kid doesn’t seem to own a watch or have any sense of time management. After the first midterm, it becomes apparent that tardiness is just who this person is, and even the professor gives up on passive-aggressively referring to the time as they walk in 15 minutes late, dripping wet hair, iced coffee in hand, Gucci sweatpants, Balenciaga sneakers, without a care in the world.

9. The one who brings in smelly food.

If you are this person, I hate you. Seriously, nobody likes you. Core classes are hard enough to sit through, no one needs your smelly food stinking up the entire room for an hour and 15 minutes. Don’t do it. Don’t be that person. Just eat before class, after class, or refrain from bringing in hard boiled eggs.

10. The cheater

Just kidding, because here at BC we all abide by the honor code. But at other schools, everyone hates this kid. Their eyes wander to every paper but their own during midterms.

They’re the reason the rest of us can’t wear hats during exams anymore and the reason some professors won’t let us use the bathroom during an exam. This student never studies but finesses their way to an A minus.

11. The besties

The dynamic duo. Two peas in a pod. The pair of friends who took the class together, just like they do everything else together. They dress like one another. Toward the end of the semester, they even start to look like one another.

12. The wannabe devil’s advocate

Possibly the second worst type of student, after the smelly eater. This is the kid that raises their hand straight up, 180 degrees. It goes up in a mathematically-perfect line in the most obnoxious way possible to get the professor’s attention. Once they do so, they proceed to ask the most irrelevant, unproductive, excruciatingly painful questions or remarks, with the sole purpose of proving the professor wrong. Something along the lines of: “I see your point but what if …” I once witnessed a devil’s advocate trying to argue with the professor on syllabus day.

Ellie Grondin is an op-ed columnist for The 13. The kid who actually cares Heights. She can be reached at opinions@ Last but not least, this is the rarest of them all. The student bcheights.com. who reminds the teacher about the missing reading on Canvas

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

or asks about discrepancies on the syllabus. The one who truly deserves the A but will get the A minus.

Maya Taha is an op-ed columnist for The Heights.

She can be reached at opinions@bcheights.com.

The Heights

A8

Monday, September 23, 2019

Love, Home, and the Beauty of Humanity in Harold Green’s Words

By Stephanie Liu Copy Editor Poignant and lyrical like his poems, Harold Green’s normal speech is like a soft-spoken, rhythmic prose, sounding almost like poetry to his listeners’ ears.

He’s a spoken word performer, and he has found that poetry is the way he’s supposed to spread his message of love and appreciation to the world. The value of his work and the value of his family are consistent in his work—from “When I Grow Up” to “Something to Live For,” Green tells us what drives him.

Born in 1985 in Chicago, Green grew up in Englewood, a neighborhood in the Windy City with a reputation for being rough. Despite the environment, Green describes his upbringing as warm and loving, as he lived with his immediate and extended family in a two-flat—a trademark two-family apartment unit special to Chicago— where he was surrounded by affection and support.

“I had a love bubble that I lived in,” Green said. “Every day, we felt, no matter what was going on outside, when we walked through those doors, we knew that we were going to be embraced with love and surrounded by people that loved us.”

His upbringing and the bubble of support he had in childhood made him realize how strong and positive the effect love has, even in the face of adversity, he said. “[Love,] that’s what I always wanted to push,” the poet said. “And that’s what I always wanted to use as a foundation because I know how prevalent it can be and how effective it can be.”

While his family laid the foundation of much of his art, Green’s family members were not professional artists.

With most of his family working in education and his father serving as a FedEx courier, Green is the only member in his immediate family pursuing a career in the arts. Even without a family of professional artists, however, Green was still exposed to poetry at a young age by his father, who used to write him and his sister poems.

“Because his handwriting wasn’t that great, I didn’t really know what he was saying sometimes,” Green recalled fondly. “But I knew that he was calling us prince and princess a lot, and I thought that was really cool.”

While Green’s work is primarily built on his identity as a black man and a family man, he also stresses the universality in his work. Although his individual pieces always have a specific theme, his voice is striking for everyone because he starts with the goal of finding love and beauty in the world, something that he believes everyone can understand.

“Where I come from and where I’ve

been creates a very unique outlook,” Green said. “But I have so much respect for women and I have so much respect for love, and its abilities to change this world.”

Green is a creature of habit when he produces his work. He finds his inspiration everywhere, all the time, and whenever something strikes his creativity, he uses the notes app on his phone to keep a collection of random titles, concepts, and themes to document his fleeting thoughts to fully process later.

“I just go to a certain chair and table that I sit in at my house, and wait ’til everybody goes to sleep, so everybody else’s mental frequencies are not interrupting mine, and it’s usually at night that I write,” Green said. “I’m a very ritualistic person, so it usually looks the same.”

Green started writing rap in sixth grade, but his eventual true calling to poetry came in high school. Even though he always had a proclivity for creative writing, Green only really began experimenting with poetry in his senior year, but still did not fully consider poetry a viable career choice.

“I started performing in church and stuff like that, and that’s cool, but

in which they reacted to my poetry, I knew that it was a very real thing,” Green said. “I knew that people were yearning that particular connection to an art.”

During his freshman year, he released an album. The summer after, he got an envelope in the mail. Inside was a picture of a classmate and her newborn son—on the back, his classmate wrote that if it weren’t for Green and his word, she never would have met her child.

“She had suicidal thoughts, and just from listening to my album on repeat and kind of just listening to the themes of it and things of that nature, she decided against those actions,” Green said.

“So at that point, I realized that what I was doing was so much bigger than me. And I think once you realize something is bigger than you, you have to take a step back and realize that continuing that particular thing is a selfless act.”

In addition to writing a couple of stage plays, Green also had a rap career, but in the past five or six years he has focused on poetry.

He attributes his success to his constant dedication. Once, he wrote a new poem every single day for an entire

don’t know, you know, who you are necessarily as an artist until, you know, you can produce a mass of work that you can consider yourself, like okay, I get it now—I know my voice.”

Speaking about his own experience, Green reflects on how lucky he was to be able to pursue a full-time career in the arts, but also on how work ethic and high standards were a necessity for success in the artistic field.

Encouraging aspiring artists, Green stresses the importance of having the mindset to persevere through difficulty.

“It’s gonna be a lot of no’s. There’s gonna be a lot of people that are not even gonna look your way. But for those one or two that do, you keep harboring on those wins and keep pushing on.”

Although Green finds plenty of similarities between different forms of word-focused art, what draws Green to spoken poetry in particular is the performance and universality that bring so much power to the medium. Likening spoken word more to hip-hop, Green believes that the two have a similar raw emotion that excels in forging human connection.

“I think sometimes we get lost in the schematics of literary poetry that makes it seem like if I’m not from a

PHOTO COURTESY OF PHOREVER AUGUST

Harold Green will perform at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum this Thursday for a new series, ‘Souls and Stanzas.’

I know if you say your ABCs probably they’ll clap for you in church,” Green joked.

His interest in poetry shifted from a hobby to a serious pursuit in college, where he gained traction and recognition for his spoken-word poetry, as well as a bigger, more diverse audience, whom Green noticed he could move with his words.

“I went to Grambling State University, and we had, like, representatives from each of the 50 states and the way

year, going out of his comfort zone to challenge himself.

Green was personally requested to speak at the 2015 Mayoral Inauguration as the Inaugural Poet by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, where his performance received a standing ovation from notable politicians including former president Bill Clinton, former mayor of Chicago Richard Daley, and Senator Dick Durbin.

“Consistency is key, and high value of work is key,” Green said. “You really

certain field that I don’t really know what this is,” Green said. “But when you break it all down, it makes total sense, no matter what your background is.”

Green began gaining traction from word of mouth. People had seen and loved his performances, and Facebook was just gaining popularity. Green recalls different accolades and awards he was receiving on campus for his art pulling him further into the spotlight.

People from neighboring campuses saw Green when visiting Grambling,

leading to invitations to their campuses. Green also traveled around to different states to participate in open mics, which led to even more exposure.

Beginning to get paid job offers to perform his poems helped Green realize his potential to turn his art into a career, and he decided to leave Grambling in his junior year to fully focus on his professional career. He went back to school later to finish his undergraduate degree in creative writing at DePaul University and earn a master’s degree in humanities and creative writing at Tiffin University.

Green started an artists’ collective called Flowers For the Living in Chicago in 2011, which has developed into its current form with a nine-piece band, three background singers, eight singers, and Green himself in 2014. Sam Trump, Green’s collaborator in Souls and Stanzas, is a trumpeter and singer in his collective who has performed in Boston before, and the two frequently post their collaborations on YouTube where they caught the notice of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. “[The Museum] saw us together and was like ‘oh my god, we’ve got to have them,’” Green said. “Every time Sam and I perform together it’s just a really magical thing.”

Green takes pride in the uniqueness of his work and how it can connect and inspire others. He wants people to both relate to his work and realize a new way of looking at the world with help from his perspective. With a love for life, Green’s sensitivity allows him to fully explore the world in ways that others might overlook.

“I’m so in tune with my feelings and the small intricate details of life,” Green said.

Green’s work has a meaning that is beyond an expiration date. In his view, the spoken word has a particular longevity that transcends the brevity of fads and pop culture. Through his appreciation of humanity and the deep beauty he sees in the world, Green believes that his work will continue to mature and develop, and he could see himself creating poems for as long as he lives.

“The beauty of it [spoken word poetry] is there will be a human interest and a human sentiment,” Green said.

“I think as I evolve as a person, my thoughts and views will evolve with my writings, and so will human beings.

And human beings will always want to hear what evolution looks like through a writer’s words.” n Note: Bringing his performance to Boston, Green will perform alongside his friend and fellow artist Sam Trump in Souls and Stanzas on Sept. 26, kicking off the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s Fall Thursday Evening Concert Series that showcases contemporary talent and emerging young artists.

Pure Creativity Parodies the Puritan Craze in ‘The Crucible’

By Jillian Ran Asst. Arts Editor Four hundred years after the Puritans first landed in Massachusetts, they reappeared on a brisk Tuesday night in Cambridge for Central Square Theater’s production of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible.

The scaled-down interpretation of the classic play had an intimate atmosphere.

The sets were bare bones and actors moved the pieces themselves—most of the lighting came from harsh lamps that

characters carried around during their performances. Instead of exiting the stage, characters tucked themselves into corners, frozen into place. All of this lent an eerie dollhouse effect to the production.

The Crucible cleverly dissects the messy human relationships at play in the town of Salem leading up to the infamous witch trials. All of the jealousy and feuding is laid bare for all to see as neighbor turns against neighbor. The savagery of Salem is terrifying but also incredibly petty and more than a little funny. Central Square opted to highlight the ridiculousness of

the witch trials, poking fun at The Crucible’s characters rather than turning them into monsters.

In the play’s opening scene, the arrogant Reverend Parris (Randolph Curtis Rand) worries that his reputation will be ruined because he discovered his daughter Betty (Susannah Milonzi) dancing naked in the forest with his slave Tituba (Dayenne CB Walters) and other young girls. He hardly glanced at his unconscious daughter during the scene, seemingly caring more about his position than the welfare of Betty.

CENTRAL SQUARE THEATER

Eric Tucker directed and starred in this adaptation of Arthur Miller’s classic work courtesy of the Central Square Theater.

Reverend Parris drew chuckles from the audience as he scurried frantically around the attic. Whenever the word “witchcraft” was mentioned, he grew more agitated, and Tituba would start nervously sweeping over his feet with a broom. As his niece Abigail (Truett Felt) revealed to him that the girls had had a cauldron with them in the forest, he sank despondently into a comically tiny chair and began to rock back and forth.

At crucial moments, though, the mood would suddenly grow tense. In a haunting scene, John Proctor (Ryan Quinn) told Abigail that he couldn’t continue having an affair with her. The other cast members huddled in a circle, softly singing. Abigail walked through them, and they scattered, pressing themselves against the walls as their singing turned to wailing. Suddenly, a piercing scream cut through the noise. Betty had awoken.

This deft balance between mocking humor and emotional intensity electrified the stage, whiplashing the audience from amusement to horror. When Reverend Hale (Eric Tucker) and Reverend Parris were interrogating Tituba, threatening to hang her, the room was frozen. But suddenly a sly smile appeared on Tituba’s face as she began to feed Reverend Hale lies about so-called witches in Salem.

Reverend Hale wheeled Tituba in an office chair as she peered suspiciously at front row audience members, searching for said witches.

The cast was small but masterly. Actors seamlessly shifted from role to role.

At precise moments, characters would

move together in tightly choreographed motions, sometimes effortlessly incorporating the moving of sets or changes in lighting into their performances. About 15 minutes into the play, an usher quietly led a group of late-coming audience members into the theater. Reverend Hale had just come onto the scene and was in the middle of a monologue, but managed to very naturally call out “welcome everyone” in the middle of it, playfully breaking the third wall.

Instead of 1600s Puritan garb, characters were dressed in austere ’50s-style clothing. Women wore starched white shirts buttoned up to the neck. Men wore suits or utilitarian workwear. Near the end of Act Four, all pretense of civilization in Salem collapses. To symbolize this fundamental shift, cast members trampled around and knocked over furniture.

Even the sound technician threw clothes and papers down onto the stage from his perch. In Act Four, the characters’ clothes were dirty and wrinkled. Ties were askew.

Buttons were left unbuttoned. It was a simple but striking way of underscoring the transformation that Salem had undergone.

Central Square Theater took an oft-performed play, and with creativity and thrift, made it its own. The dialogue, which can get a little dry, came to life through the cast’s comedic touches.

Dramatic moments were heightened through clever innovations in sound and lighting design, making for a wildly engaging show. Never before has Puritanism looked so fun. n

Monday, September 30, 2019

SPORTS

A9

@HeightsSports

FOOTBALL

WAKE FOREST 27

BOSTON COLLEGE 24

“I’M A HALF SECOND WRONG. THAT’S LIFE.”

CELINE LIM / HEIGHTS EDITOR

BC’s game-tying field goal attempt in the fourth quarter went awry after taking a delay of game penalty and botching the ensuing snap, and the Eagles went on to lose by three points.

By Bradley Smart Sports Editor

MICHAEL DWYER / AP PHOTO

Addazio had three timeouts left when his field goal unit didn’t get the snap off.

With 13 minutes left in the fourth quarter against Wake Forest, Boston College football kicker Aaron Boumerhi lined up for a 44-yard, game-tying field goal. The hold was good and his ensuing kick was right through the uprights. A flag flew, however, and it was a five-yard delay of game penalty on the Eagles.

The ensuing attempt from 48 yards?

Boumerhi didn’t even get a foot on it. The snap was botched, and holder Dennis Grosel’s last-ditch effort to scramble and find tight end Danny Dalton downfield was batted down by the Demon Deacons.

Those three points that the Eagles badly needed came back to haunt them. After the two teams swapped punts, Wake Forest marched downfield for a touchdown, and while BC had an answer with a halfback pass that resulted in six, it went on to suffer a disappointing 27-24 setback in front of a strong Parents Weekend crowd.

The Demon Deacons (5-0, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) converted 17-of-24 third down attempts, a prolific 70.8 percent clip that allowed for lengthy drives that chewed up clock—especially in the final few minutes with a slim lead.

And, while the penalty and botched snap stood out the most, BC (3-2, 1-1 Atlantic Coast) also went for it on 4th-and-3 from the Wake Forest 21-yard line in the third quarter instead of kicking a 38-yard field goal, and quarterback Anthony Brown promptly threw an interception. “[There were] two scoring opportunities in that game, one on a fourth down call and then of course our inability to kick a field goal,” head coach Steve Addazio said.

“They were two scoring opportunities in a tight game like this where even though all of our rushing, throwing statistics were superior, we lost out on those scoring opportunities.”

Running back AJ Dillon ran for 159 yards on 23 carries, and Brown finished 21-of-29 for 268 yards and two touchdowns

and two interceptions.The Eagles racked up 536 yards of offense, but it was the Demon Deacons offense—which ran 87 plays—that managed 11 more minutes of possession and fought off a comeback.

The Eagles didn’t get off to the best start, as Brown was picked off by Wake Forest cornerback Amari Henderson on the first drive of the game. That interception—the first from Brown in 102 pass attempts this season—set up a methodical Demon Deacons drive. They went 57 yards in 11 plays, taking a 7-0 lead on a physical five-yard run from Cade Carney.

The offensive struggles continued on the next drive, as consecutive screen passes totaled negative yardage for Brown and BC, resulting in a punt. The Demon Deacons added to their lead with a 22-yard field goal from Nick Sciba, but the Eagles showed the first signs of resilience. Wake Forest ran Carney twice from near the goal line to no avail, then quarterback Jamie Newman was

See FB vs. Wake Forest, A11

Recent Tourney Drought Under Kelly Reflects Absence of Stars

Peter Kim There was a time where Boston College men’s soccer was always a near lock to make the NCAA Tournament. From 2000 to 2012, the Eagles missed the tournament just three times: In 2003 (when BC finished the year ninth in the Big East), 2005, and 2006—the two seasons after the Eagles joined the ACC. Since then, it hasn’t quite been smooth sailing for BC.

INSIDE SPORTS

In the past six years, the Eagles have made the NCAA Tournament just twice, in 2015 and 2016, and finished with a losing record in each of the other four years. This season, BC is 5-2-1, but has failed to notch a win in three ACC contests. So what went wrong? And why are the Eagles all of a sudden struggling to make the postseason? The answer might be as simple as this: BC simply hasn’t had the top-tier talent it needs to consistently compete in the ACC, nor the attacking stars necessary to make noise in the NCAA Tournament.

Consider this. In 2015 and 2016, when the Eagles won a combined 20 games and made it to the second

round or further in the NCAA Tournament both years, BC had the dynamic Zeiko Lewis running the attacking show. The 2013 ACC Freshman of the Year—who finished his career with 18 goals and 26 assists—gave the Eagles a source of pace and skill from his hybrid midfield/forward role. The Bermuda native, who was drafted No. 17 overall in the 2017 MLS Superdraft, was able to win games pretty much by himself. In 2016, he scored the lone goal as eighth-seeded BC upset No. 1 overall seed North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. Later that season, in a first-round NCAA Tournament game against Fordham, Lewis repeated the feat, finding the

back of the net in the 82nd minute for the game-winning goal.

Before that, when the Eagles broke a two-year postseason drought in 2007, they had Alejandro Bedoya, who now has 66 appearances for the United States national team and played in the 2014 World Cup, at the heart of the team. The attacking midfielder totaled 26 points in 21 games that year, an output which stands as the sixth-most points any BC player has ever tallied in one season.

Also on that team was Sherron Manswell, the player with the second most points in a single season in Eagles history. A second-team All-ACC selection in 2007, Man-

WSOC: Eagles Falter Against Louisville VB: BC Sinks Yellow Jackets in Five Sets

swell was the perfect complement to Bedoya, scoring 11 goals as BC won the conference regular season title.

In the ACC Tournament, Manswell then scored the opening goal of the championship game, helping the Eagles knock off Wake Forest— which went on to win the national championship—for their first and only ACC Tournament title.

Manswell graduated after his excellent final season, and Bedoya left the program a year later, but it didn’t take Kelly long to reload. In 2009, goalkeeper Justin Luthy—who still leads the Eagles all-time in wins (43) and minutes played (7,400)—burst

See Star Power, A10

SCORES AND STANDINGS.................. A10 ....

A11 BC wasn’t able to score against No. 22 Cardinals until it The Eagles opened up conference play with consecutive FOOTBALL................................................. was too late, falling in a nailbiter......................................A12 wins, beating Georgia Tech on Sunday.......................... A12 FIELD HOCKEY...........................................

A12

The Heights

A10

Monday, September 23, 2019 WOMEN’S SOCCER

Eagles Suffer First Loss in ACC Opener Against No. 6 Seminoles WSOC Vs. FSU, from A9 hold onto their lead. The Seminoles were just biding their time, however.

Af ter a B C turnover, Kristen McFarland was able to outrun her defender and draw Augur out. With the net wide open, McFarland found the perfect opportunity to get on the board, continuing the Seminoles’ streak of 18 straight games with a goal.

Making its home in Eagles territory, FSU turned to Makala Thomas.

The sophomore delivered, putting the Seminoles ahead for the first time. Yet the Eagles didn’t let that faze them.

After their third corner kick of the game, Gianna Mitchell connected right in front of Jeffers and buried the ball in the net, equalizing the match for BC heading into the break.

Less than three minutes into the second half, it looked like FSU was primed to retake the lead, but Augur was compromised and an offside was called on the Seminoles. After being denied in the first, Nighswonger was ready for a second chance.

She used the same formula as McFarland before her and drew out Augur to give FSU its third goal of the night.

But, after another corner kick, Smith was subbed back into the game and connected for BC’s third successful corner kick, coming off a feed from Jade Ruiters. While the Eagles had tied up the game, all three of their goals were off corner kicks, and in order to deliver an upset, they needed to create non-set piece scoring chances.

The tie was short-lived, as FSU was able to score on a corner kick of its own to reclaim the lead. Following a second goal by Nighswonger, the Seminoles established a cushion for

Ikram Ali / heights Editor

Sam Smith scored twice, but it wasn’t enough for the Eagles to overcome Florida State. themselves. With the minutes dwindling, the Eagles were beginning to show their fatigue as the Seminoles continued to add heavy pressure on defense.

Yet the tables quickly turned—with just under five minutes left in regulation, Vaughn took a shot from the back of the penalty box and logged BC’s first non-corner kick goal, closing in on FSU’s lead.

But her late strike wasn’t enough to light the flame for BC, which fell to the Seminoles on the road again, dropping to a 0-10-1 record in Tallahassee.

After a 5-4 game, neither coach walked away from the match happy.

That said, FSU’s Mark Krikorian was slightly more satisfied with his team than BC head coach Jason Lowe.

With a week to prepare until the Eagles face off against Miami, Lowe and the team have time to readjust.

Manufacturing more shots outside of set pieces and avoiding defensive breakdowns are what guided the Eagles to an unbeaten conference record.

They’ll need to return to that if they are to stockpile wins in a very competitive ACC. n

Impressive Growth on Display in Lowe’s First Year as Head Coach Lowe’s Strengths, from A9

Scoring Goals After its four-goal performance against FSU, women’s soccer now has 21 goals in nine games.

Shutouts Men’s soccer was shut out by Pittsburgh, and now has zero goals in its last 187 minutes.

Ground and Pound In a win over Rutgers, the Eagles’ running backs rushed for a total of 272 yards.

Pass Defense Football allowed Rutgers’ Art Sitkowski to throw for 304 yards, a career high for the sophomore.

Winning Streaks After a win over Wake Forest, field hockey has now won three games in a row.

Weekend Finales Volleyball lost the final match of the Rhode Island Challenge despite having match point.

defense as a whole.

Before the setback against the Seminoles, which was a lesson in itself as the Eagles nearly erased a two-goal second half deficit, BC had gone 70-1 and outscored its opponents by a decisive 17-4 margin. The Eagles won both of their preseason exhibitions, rattled off six straight victories to start the season, and strung together three shutouts during one four-game span.

That more than compares to last year’s early season stretch in which BC, with more established players dotted throughout the lineup, started 9-0.

So how did Lowe find this success right off the bat? By implementing his own system, one that moved the Eagles away from the “kick and chase” style employed last year and toward a more heavy possession-based attack.

Lowe wasn’t shy about talking out this last spring, when he was getting to know his roster.

“What I really want is to connect us better from the goalkeeper all the way up to the forwards and be able to dictate play a little bit better through our possession and be a little bit more dynamic,” the former Wake Forest associate head coach said back in March.

“I think just playing a way that’s more sustainable and reliable throughout the season, through the ups and downs.”

A wrench was thrown into those plans when Bike (one goal, five assists in 2018) and Duran went down with injuries, but in a credit to Lowe’s ability to adapt, he shuffled the lineup and settled on freshman Sam Smith as the top player in his 4-5-1 formation.

While Smith is regarded as more of an attacking midfielder than the 5-foot-10 Duran—who more fit Lowe’s idea of a true target forward—his faith in her hasn’t been misplaced.

Through nine games, Smith has seven goals, one more than Coffey had at the same point last year. The Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., native has been nothing short of phenomenal, striking twice against FSU in her most recent outing. She’s not the only player that has found success up top, though. Lowe

has played Olivia Vaughn—the team’s most dangerous striker last year—up top and on the wing to the tune of four goals, while he’s also used Gianna Mitchell (yes, the same Mitchell who was the team’s star defender last year) up top.

Mitchell’s story is another example of Lowe’s adeptness as a head coach.

Nursing her way back from a torn ACL, Mitchell was unable to play in the first few games before being cleared. To get her back to match fitness, Lowe slotted her up top and immediately found success. The junior scored in her second game of the year against rival Boston University despite playing just 18 minutes, then added goals against Northeastern, Providence, and FSU despite never clearing 50 minutes. Lowe could’ve moved her back, but he knows not to mess with a good thing when he has it—and that’s what the Eagles have in their back four.

Riley Lochhead and Mia Karras, two holdovers from the Foley era, have flourished in new roles under Lowe. Slotted at left and right back, respectively, the duo has combined for six assists and made the most of their freedom to push the ball up the wings in attack. Lochhead never played more than 50 minutes in a match last season and largely struggled up top, she’s now third on the team in minutes and has looked dangerous often.

Karras, meanwhile, has vaulted from 210 minutes all of last year to fourth on the team and has a strong knack for the through ball. Attacking fullbacks are common across soccer, but last year Foley went with Elysa Virella and Mijke Roelfsema, and they didn’t remotely have the same freedom.

In the middle, instead of the familiar pairing of Duran and Mitchell last year, Lowe has stationed first-year defenders Michela Agresti and Sydney Moore—and the two have played excellently in front of fellow freshman goalkeeper Allie Augur. It’s not often that you see two freshmen lead the team in minutes, but it speaks to Lowe’s confidence in his freshmen, who have only truly cracked against the defending national champions.

This core unit of four, none of whom entered the year with a single start under their belt, has managed to soak up Lowe’s instruction and form a back line that is able to play the ball forward, whether on runs up the side or through the midfield.

The midfield has been some of Lowe’s best work, too. Last year, it was the Coffey show, as she dominated the possession and most of her teammates looked to play through her—as you would expect with a player of her caliber. Still, it made the attack onedimensional at times, and Lowe has been able to shuffle players around, and they’ve all largely impressed.

Jillian Jennings, Samantha Agresti, Emily Langenderfer, Gaby Careirro, and Jade Ruiters have all notched assists. The offense has been able to move the ball well in the early going—this much is clear when you look at last year’s assist-to-goal breakdown.

In 2018, Coffey had 14 of her team’s 36 assists, as BC averaged 2.2 goals per game. This year, 11 different players have registered assists on 21 goals, and the team has bumped up its scoring, albeit slightly, to 2.3 goals.

This all came to a head on Thursday against the Seminoles, the Eagles’ biggest test yet. While they were dominated in shots and chances, they did hold an early lead and nearly pushed for an equalizer in the waning minutes. To hang tight—and score four goals—against an established FSU side on its home turf that was fresh off a national championship is no small feat.

Plus, with Lowe, it seems like the loss will be the springing board for further growth. After all, the team is starting four freshmen and somehow has replicated last year’s success, even with coaching turnover, transfers, and injuries. The future under Lowe is tinted with optimism, and the worries of a 22-year head coach departing have all but faded away.

Bradley Smart is the sports editor for The Heights. He can be reached on Twitter @bradleysmart15

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2019

A11

FOOTBALL

Potent Rushing Attack Leads BC to Bounce-Back Win at Rutgers FB vs. Rutgers, from A9 The completion seemed to give Sitkowski, who was making his first start of the season, a healthy dose of confidence. The sophomore was accurate and poised, completing 23-of-33 passes for 304 yards and a completion to eight different receivers. He followed up the 74-yard touchdown strike by leading a 10 play, 55-yard drive that ended in a 23yard Justin Davidovicz field goal and gave Rutgers a 10-7 advantage.

BC simply couldn’t stay out of its own way. That 55-yard drive was aided by a fourth-down unsportsmanlike conduct call on TJ Rayam that moved the chains for the Scarlet Knights. On the other end, back-to-back false starts in third-and-short situations made life much harder on the offense, while Anthony Brown misfired on throws to Travis Levy and Kobay White that would have extended drives.

Fortunately for the Eagles, the Scarlet Knights—despite two consecutive scoring drives—weren’t error free either. Rutgers finished the game with 11 total penalties and, when it forced a stop and had a chance to extend its lead in the second quarter, couldn’t hold on to the ball. After a holding penalty backed the Scarlet Knights into 2nd-and-15 on their own 15-yard line, Blackshear took

a handoff but was swarmed by a host of BC defenders and then stripped by Brandon Barlow. Mehdi El Attrach recovered the fumble, effectively flipping the field, and the Eagles’ stalled offense capitalized.

Four plays later, Brown barrelled into the end zone on a quarterback sneak to put BC back on top, 14-10, and giving the Eagles a lead they would never relinquish.

Justin Davidovicz knocked a 28-yard field goal through the uprights to draw Rutgers closer with just 44 seconds remaining in the second quarter, leaving Brown and Co. just enough time to respond. And respond they did, with a mostly well-executed twominute drill. Three consecutive completions—two to Hunter Long and one to Ben Glines—moved the ball from the Eagles’ 35-yard line all the way down to the Scarlet Knights’ 15, and Aaron Boumerhi converted on a 38-yard field goal as time expired, sending BC to the locker room with a four-point advantage.

Sitkowski continued his efficient day after the break, yet, for the most part, the Eagles’ defense appeared more cohesive as a unit, clamping down on big plays and forcing Rutgers to dink and dunk the ball down the field. The effort was on display from the first possession of the third quarter.

BC forced a three-and-out to start the third

quarter, then immediately strung together a bruising 13-play, 82-yard drive. The march ended with eight consecutive rushing plays and a one-yard Dillon touchdown run that increased the Eagles’ lead to 24-13 midway through the third quarter.

BC would repeat the feat after Davidovicz drilled a 50-yard try, again imposing its will over Rutgers with a dominant rushing attack. Starting with 13:05 to play in the game, Dillon—who finished with 154 yards and two touchdowns on 32 carries—and the Eagles steadily marched down the field on an 18-play drive that covered 75 yards and once again ended with a Dillon touchdown, this time from four yards out. Dillon did a lot of the work, but Brown also chipped in with his legs, stretching for a pair of first downs on designed quarterback runs.

“I thought Anthony Brown ran the ball real physical, real tough today, and our offensive line did a great job today,” Addazio commented after the game.

By the time Sitkowski got the ball back, there was just 6:25 left on the clock, and Rutgers trailed, 30-16. A 28-yard completion to Bo Melton that featured, once again, several missed tackles from Eagles’ defenders, briefly gave the Scarlet Knights a spark, but two plays later Sitkowski heaved up a jump ball while running to his left and Palmer came

BRADLEY SMART/ HEIGHTS EDITOR

The Eagles forced two turnovers, with this fumble leading to a touchdown.

down with the interception, ending any hope Rutgers had of a frantic comeback.

BC ran out the clock from there, and left Piscataway, N.J., winners on a day where it certainly wasn’t its best. Brown was far from perfect, completing just 13-of-25 passes for 159 yards and sometimes missing open receivers.

“We need to throw the ball more consistently,” Addazio said when asked about Brown’s accuracy struggles. “I think that’s a fair statement.”

Like the previous week, the Eagles

struggled to tackle—Palmer’s whiff on Blackshear’s touchdown was just one example—and displayed a startling lack of pass rush, failing to sack Sitkowski.

“This is a young football team, but a passionate football team,” Addazio said after the game. “It took a shot [against Kansas] and bounced right back.”

With a young defense and a sometimes inconsistent offense, BC will likely take more shots this season. What will determine its success, as Addazio said, is how it bounces back. n

Scarlet Knights vs. Eagles Drive Chart A look at BC’s 30-16 win over Rutgers, possession by possession:

BRADLEY SMART / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Victory Features Usual Defensive Issues, Inconsistent Passing NOTE vs. Rutgers, from A9 busted out a 42-yard touchdown run. The two ended up combining for 227 yards and three scores, spearheading a bruising BC rushing offense.

A Garden State battle under center—and a surprising winner, too Brown and Rutgers quarterback Artur Sitkowski go way back. The two grew up about five miles away from each other and crossed paths during their high school football careers. On Saturday, they were back on the same field, jousting for a Week 4 victory. Brown took the win, but Sitkowksi—who was filling in for injured fifth-year senior McLane Carter—got the better of his New Jersey counterpart. Sitkowski, a sophomore who threw four touchdowns and 18 picks in 2018, completed 20 of his first 24 attempts and racked up a careerhigh 304 passing yards.

Anthony Brown shows off his legs, not so much his arm Just like last week, Brown had a hard time establishing any sort of rhythm at Rutgers. He started the game 5-of-11 for 36 yards, averaging a mere 3.3 yards per attempt. The third-year starting quarterback’s frustrations continued, but the incompletions weren’t always on him.

It appeared as if route running played a role in a few of his misfires. That said, he missed some easy throws while rolling out of the pocket, even overthrowing his tight

ends in the flat.

Brown finished 13-of-25 for 159 yards and was arguably more exciting in the run game. The redshirt junior carried the ball 11 times for 40 yards, at one point converting both a 3rd-and-8 and 4th-and-1 on the same scoring drive, and snuck the ball in from the 1-yard line for six.

Rutgers’ special teams have a day Practically every time Rutgers faced a fourth down, boos flew head coach Chris Ash’s way, as the fourth-year Scarlet Knights head coach almost always opted to punt. It wasn’t sexy, but it made for a pretty impressive special teams performance. Punter Adam Korsak routinely flipped the field, landing each of his five punts inside the BC 20-yard line. Two of the junior’s punts traveled 50 or more yards, with his long clocking out at 54. Not to mention place kicker Justin Davidovicz, who drilled all three of his field goal attempts, including a 50-yarder that cut Rutgers’ deficit to eight in the fourth quarter.

Once again, the Eagles’ defense is haunted by defensive breakdowns Although hardly perfect, BC was better in the tackling department on Saturday, particularly when wrapping up Rutgers’ ball carriers—the Scarlet Knights only had three running plays that spanned 10 yards or more and averaged just 2.9 yards per rush. Most of the issues on defense centered around coverage breakdowns.

Most notably, just eight minutes into

play, Raheem Blackshear slipped out of the backfield and sprinted past Max Richardson. The linebacker was slow to react to his assignment, and as soon as Sitkowksi connected with Blackshear, the tailback was off to the races. Blackshear made Mike Palmer look like a deer in the headlights, as the junior rumbled past the safety and the rest of BC’s secondary for a 74-yard score. No mistakes were more egregious than that, but defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan’s unit had a number of gaffes in coverage, such as when Sitkowski got three Eagles to bite with a pump fake, freeing up Aaron Young for a 17-yard gain late in the second quarter Zay Flowers reintegrated into the passing game but doesn’t bust the big play After finding the end zone in each of the first two weeks of the season, true freshman wide receiver Zay Flowers only touched the ball three times in BC’s defeat to Kansas. He entered Saturday with three receptions on the year and matched that mark four minutes into the third quarter.

Flowers ended the game with those three catches for 29 yards and two rushes for another nine yards. Yet the freshman could have had more.

Toward the end of the second quarter, Brown dialed up a pass from the BC end zone to a wide-open Flowers. One juke away from a highlight-reel play, the freshman started running with the ball before he made the reception. Flowers eventually

left the game in the fourth quarter after turf pellets obstructed his vision, but Addazio told reporters post-game that the wideout is fine.

Penalties all around, yet BC’s lack of discipline especially apparent The Eagles and Scarlet Knights combined for 18 penalties—BC was responsible for seven of those, a few of which will surely have Addazio scratching his head in the film room. Near the end of the first quarter, Rutgers trotted out Korsak on 4th-and-4.

Before he could get a boot on the ball, defensive back Lawrence Stevens was called for a false start. But after the whistle blew, BC nose tackle TJ Rayam shoved Scarlet Knights linebacker Olakunle Fatukasi to the ground, committing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. The infraction gifted Rutgers with a fresh set of downs and eventually led to a 23-yard Davidovicz field goal.

Then there’s the delay of game penalty that Brown took right before half. Following a 15-yard hookup with Hunter Long, Brown raced to the line of scrimmage and spiked the ball. Despite having the full play clock to prepare for the next snap, the redshirt junior couldn’t get it off on time, costing BC five yards. Aaron Boumerhi still drilled the ensuing 37-yard field goal, but it’s those kinds of penalties that the Eagles can’t afford in ACC play. In 2017, BC ranked tied for second in the nation, registering just 3.6 infractions per game. Now, the Eagles are being flagged seven times per contest,

dropping to 83rd in that category. BC’s loss of talent is one thing, but poor discipline is a whole other entity, related to player focus—or lack thereof—and coaching.

Despite defensive lapses, Eagles create timely Rutgers turnovers The Eagles came into the weekend tied for second in the country with a plus-7 turnover margin. Takeaways have helped BC compensate some crucial mistakes on the defensive side of the ball. That proved to be the case against Rutgers as well. Addazio’s team forced a pair of Scarlet Knights turnovers, starting with a forced fumble early in the second quarter.

Holding a 10-7 lead inside its own 20yard line, Rutgers decided to run the ball on 2nd-and-15. But Blackshear was swarmed by a host of BC defenders and, on his way down, Eagles defensive end Brandon Barlow jarred the ball loose. What followed was a game of hot potato, where three BC players tried to recover the fumble before Mehdi El Attrach jumped on it. The Eagles scored a touchdown four plays later and never relinquished the lead.

Next came an interception in the final stages of regulation. Trailing by two scores near midfield with less than five minutes to play, Sitkowski escaped the pocket and dashed toward the left sideline. While trying to avoid a Bryce Morais sack, Sitkowski spun and heaved up a duck. Palmer was there for the pick, BC’s seventh interception of the season, which all but ended the game. n

The Heights

A12

Monday, September 23, 2019

VOLLEYBALL

BC Takes Two of Three to End Non-Conference Schedule

By Peter Kim Assoc. Sports Editor

In 2018, Boston College volleyball blazed through its non-conference schedule, winning nine straight games to begin the season before falling to Harvard. In 2019, life hasn’t been quite as easy for the Eagles, who began the campaign by dropping two of three games at the Oregon Classic.

This past weekend, BC’s up-and-down start to the season continued at the Rhode Island Challenge. The Eagles began the three-match slate with consecutive wins over Bryant and Rhode Island, before dropping a back-and-forth five-set match with Albany on Saturday to cap the weekend.

Albany 3, BC 2 (Sat.) In the weekend finale against the Great Danes, BC (9-4) got off to a slow start. A kill from Akuabata Okenwa and an error from Cat Balido put Albany (4-9) up, 13-8, and the Eagles never recovered. They drew within a point twice, trailing, 18-17 and 21-20, but never held the lead again and lost the first frame, 25-22, after a bad set from Jane DeJarld.

The second set saw BC flip the script and start fast, as back-to-back kills from Clare Naughton gave the Eagles an early 7-1 advantage. Albany briefly rallied, cutting BC’s lead to 14-10 after a service error from Jewel Strawberry, but the Eagles locked down, ensuring that the Great Danes never truly got back into the set. Strawberry

atoned for her error by finishing off the frame with a kill to help BC draw even in the match.

After a back-and-forth start to the third saw Albany knot the set at 20-20, Strawberry once again helped the Eagles pull away. The sophomore, who finished with a team-high 20 kills, hit winners on three consecutive points to give BC a 23-20 edge. Balido finished off the frame with two straight kills of her own, helping the Eagles finish off a 25-21 set win and take a 2-1 lead in the match.

The fourth set was almost a carbon copy of the third, with one cruel twist for BC. Winners from Strawberry, Naughton, and Carly Kutschke gave the Eagles a commanding 23-19 lead, but this time BC wasn’t able to hold it. Okenwa had three kills, as the Great Danes won four of the next five points to tie the set at 24 apiece.

Torey Baum answered with a winner of her own to give the Eagles set and match point, yet a service ace from Andersen Vaughan swung the momentum back to Albany, and a Strawberry error sent the match to a fifth and final set.

Much like the match itself, the tiebreaking frame was back-and-forth. Eventually, however, Okenwa, who matched Strawberry with 20 kills, proved to be the difference. With the set deadlocked at nine, she struck for two winners in a row, giving the Great Danes a lead they would never relinquish. BC drew within one point at 14-13 to put the pressure on, but Naughton

made a critical error on match point, giving Albany the set, 15-13, and the match.

BC 3, Rhode Island 2 (Fri.) In the first five-set match of the weekend, the Eagles emerged victorious over a resilient URI (5-7) team. In the first set, BC looked like it would cruise to victory, seizing a 9-6 lead after three straight kills from Strawberry and a winner from Kutschke.

The Eagles kept piling on the pressure, with an ace from Torey Baum extending the advantage to 18-10, and the Rams never drew closer than six points after that. Five consecutive BC points gave the Eagles a 25-13 set win.

URI bounced back in dramatic fashion to draw even in the second frame. Claire Chaplinsky hammered a service ace to even the score at 24-24, and the frame see-sawed into extra points. Cat Balido, who finished with 12 winners, twice kept the Eagles in the game on set point with kills. But, ultimately, the Rams were able to string together two consecutive points, taking the frame, 30-28, after Strockis made an error on a spike.

BC rallied from a 16-14 deficit to take a 21-19 lead in the third set, but wasn’t able to hold on. URI quickly responded with a kill and a service ace from Abby Fillion to tie the set back up, and the teams traded the next four points. With the set hanging in the balance, though, Hazel Brown came through with a clutch kill for the Rams, and an error from Baum handed URI the set and a 2-1 lead in the match.

Perhaps upset at losing a late lead in

the previous frame, the Eagles came out on fire in the fourth. After the teams split the first six points, BC rattled off nine straight, with a kill from Naughton giving the Eagles a commanding 12-3 lead. URI tried to counter, but never cut the lead to less than eight points. BC comfortably cruised to a 25-16 set victory, setting the table for a decisive fifth set.

Unfortunately, that fifth set was short on drama. Amaka Chukwujekwu gave the Eagles a quick 5-1 lead with an early winner, and, much like in the fourth set, the early run put BC in control for the rest of the game. Strawberry fittingly punctuated a dominant final set with two more of her 14 kills, and one last winner from Izzy Clavenna gave the Eagles a 15-7 set win and a victory over the Rams.

BC 3, Bryant 0 (Fri.) In the first match of the weekend, BC had no trouble disposing of the Bulldogs (5-10), beating them in straight sets. Ten different Eagles players recorded at least two kills in a balanced offensive effort.

That balance was on full display in the first set. After Bryant cut an early BC lead to 8-7, Chukwujekwu, Balido, Kutschke, Naughton, and Strawberry all answered back with winners of their own, helping the Eagles out to a dominant 18-10 advantage.

The Bulldogs rattled off four straight points to climb back into the set, but BC ensured that it wouldn’t give up the lead. Balido spearheaded the Eagles’ attack with two more kills, and an error from Bryant’s James

Riley lifted BC to a 25-18 set victory.

Set two followed an eerily similar pattern. After the Bulldogs drew to within one point, trailing just 9-8, BC again pulled away with a dominant stretch. Balido put the Eagles up, 18-10, with one of her teamhigh nine kills, and BC coasted from there.

Silvia Ianeselli scored the last two points of the match for the Eagles, who won the second set by the exact same margin as the first, 25-18.

In the third and final set, Bryant finally remained competitive throughout, seizing a 20-17 advantage after Madison McKnight committed an error on a serve. Yet another service error from Strawberry put BC in a 22-18 hole, but boosted by back-to-back attack errors from the Bulldogs’ Haley O’Brien, the Eagles responded with a 6-0 run to give themselves match point. Balido, fittingly, finished off the match with one final winner, to give BC the sweep and a great start to the weekend.

In 2018, BC swept its first three invitationals of the season, yet head coach Jason Kennedy’s team has achieved that feat in just one of four weekend tournaments thus far this season. The Eagles certainly have stars—Chukwujekwu has the highest hitting percentage in the ACC—and both Strawberry and Balido have proven themselves to be potent offensive weapons, despite consistency struggles early in the season. That consistency will certainly have to develop quickly with the conference schedule looming. n

In Second Straight Loss, Eagles Held Scoreless Against Pitt MEN’S SOCCER

By Tom Dickson For The Heights

After a disappointing shutout loss in its conference opener to North Carolina State, Boston College men’s soccer aimed Pittsburgh 2 to return to its Boston College 0 high-flying offense that had been on display during an otherwise scorching hot start to the season. A home game against a traditionally weaker Pittsburgh side—who the Eagles had defeated in the teams’ last four meetings and owned a decisive 12-4-2 edge in the all-time series—offered a great opportunity to return to course.

Instead, the Panthers’ methodical offense controlled the pace for much of the game, limiting BC’s opportunities and allowing Pittsburgh to escape with a narrow 2-0 victory.

The game was a tale of two styles.

The Eagles (4-2, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) came out of the gates looking to attack early and often, hoping to find the consistent offense that carried them to wins early in the season. The Panthers (3-3-1, 1-1-0), on the other hand, were content holding possession and probing the BC defense, an offensive philosophy that led to Pittsburgh dominating possession for much of the opening half.

Early in the first period, the Eagles’ defense looked strong in withstanding tests at the hands of the Panthers deliberate offense. Centerbacks Victor Souza and David Longo made numerous plays on the ball, which released pressure after long periods of Pittsburgh possession and forced the Panthers into taking longer shots easily corralled by keeper Giacomo Piccardo.

Despite this confident play on

defense, BC’s offense never found a rhythm in the opening half. The Eagles looked eager to attack and apply pressure on Pittsburgh’s side of the field, but their attempts to poke holes in the Panthers back line were largely foiled by a sturdy Pittsburgh defensive unit.

BC only managed one first-half shot on goal, which came on a header by Souza more than 20 minutes after the opening whistle.

After a long sequence of slow play, the Panthers got on the board with just over seven minutes left in the first half. After a foul led to a Pittsburgh free kick just over 20 yards from the net, Panthers freshman Velikjo Petkovic launched a strike just past the outstretched arm of Piccardo and into the far corner. Four minutes later, the Eagles had perhaps their best opportunity of the game when they received a free kick about five yards above the top

of the box. However, the ensuing shot from Amos Shapiro-Thompson sailed over the crossbar, and BC went into the break trailing, 1-0.

In the second half, the Eagles were able to speed up the pace of play and force the Panthers out of their slow, comfortable offense. BC attacked hard and looked to be on the cusp of equalizing the game, but Pittsburgh was able to make big plays defensively when they needed to. The Eagles put a few shots on goal and had good opportunities off corners and set pieces, but all were turned away by the confident Panthers defense and junior goalkeeper Arie Ammann.

In the 86th minute, Pittsburgh striker Alexander Dexter—a late substitution—sealed the game for the Panthers when he beat Piccardo after a good pass left him open inside the box.

Friday’s game marks the second

game in a row that the Eagles have been shut out, their first two blankings of the season after averaging two goals a game for the first four matches of the year, a stretch where they went 4-0. Creating scoring opportunities is certain to be a priority as the team prepares for Tuesday’s game against Massachusetts. The Minutemen will be a welcome relief from conference play, as they come to Newton having lost two games in a row.

Despite back-to-back scoreless showings, there’s reason to be optimistic about BC’s season going forward.

The Eagles will play five of their next six games at home, giving them ample time to regroup and pick up key conference wins before heading on the road for the tail end of the season.

Finding their offensive stride against a lesser non-conference opponent will be crucial. n

Kayla Brandt / Heights Staff

Amos Shapiro-Thompson (left) and the Eagles’ offense struggled to create good opportunities all game long, while Victor Souza (right) couldn’t quite prevent a potent Pittsburgh attack from breaking through the BC defense.

FIELD HOCKEY

BC Shuts Out Wake Forest to Begin Conference Play with Win

By Michael Fredericks For The Heights

On Friday night, Boston College field hockey opened up league play against No. 18 Wake Forest. The No. 17 Eagles have Boston College 2 yet to finish Wake Forest 0 above .500 in the ACC under fifth-year head coach Kelly Doton, but in a similar manner to last year, started the six-game slate on the right track.

Backed by goals from freshman Margo Carlin and senior Brigid Wood, BC goaltender Jonna Kennedy turned in her first clean sheet of the season and the Eagles won their third straight game, dispatching the Demon Deacons, 2-0.

The first conference game for both squads proved to be a hotly contested match between the two ranked schools, much like last year’s 4-3 win

for the Eagles (4-3, 1-0 Atlantic Coast).

Both teams gave up plays downfield that led to penalty corners and scoring chances. In the end though, BC used goals in the second and third quarters and held off Wake Forest (1-5, 0-1) on the road with a clutch conference shutout.

Surprisingly, the first quarter of the game ended with no score by either team. It seemed that one of the two conference rivals would be able to put a shot in the cage, given the fast-paced nature of the game.

Turnovers, however, were the Achilles’ heel for both squads early on. Wake Forest repeatedly drove the ball deep into BC territory but couldn’t capitalize.

BC’s defense in the midfield was solid, generating turnovers and starting breaks going the other way, yet the back line struggled to clear the ball at times. Defenders Sky Caron and Emily

Buttinger also allowed long passes to get behind them on several occasions, leading to a few scoring chances and penalty corners. Nevertheless, Kennedy bailed them out, making several saves in transition and one spectacular stop off a penalty corner. Wake Forest forward Kelsey Gill snuck a shot past her defender off a set play and Kennedy reacted just in time to tip the ball out of bounds.

BC’s defensive pressure in the midfield picked up in the second quarter, and the team was rewarded with some good offensive chances because of it.

Carlin and Darcy Clemin constantly hounded Wake Forest players with the ball, allowing teammates to pick off errant passes and force some attempts out of bounds. Once BC had the ball, it seemed as though it could move it at will in the second quarter.

The Demon Deacons’ defense was caught off guard on multiple occasions,

including the penalty which led to BC’s only goal of the first half. Charlotte Von Huelsen gained possession off a crossfield pass and immediately went for a shot, catching Wake Forest defender Anne Van Hoof in an illegal position.

The first attempt off BC’s corner play was redirected to the top of the circle and eventually, through some crisp passing, found Wood in front of the cage for a score. BC held the lead going into the half, 1-0.

The Eagles’ tempo carried over into the second half as well. This time, Doton’s side put their foot on the gas and didn’t let up. BC’s star freshman and leading scorer—Carlin—netted her seventh goal of the season in transition with multiple Wake Forest defenders out of position.

The Eagles managed to muster two more penalty corners in the third quarter after that, but the Demon Deacons’ defense managed to hang on and clear

the ball back downfield. The rest of the game was an up-tempo stalemate, showing the weakness of both defenses on more than one occasion.

Although many long passes seemed to penetrate into the circle on both ends of the field, no scores were recorded by either team the rest of the way.

While Wake Forest has limped to a single win in six tries this year, BC has reasons to be confident moving forward. The Eagles are riding a threegame win streak and, even though they look sluggish at times on defense, their speed on the offensive end and ability to take over games in the midfield is something to keep other ACC teams wary.

The path doesn’t get easier from here: BC hosts No. 8 Louisville and No. 14 Saint Joseph’s this coming weekend, with the two teams boasting a combined 11-2 record. n

The Heights

Monday, Septmeber 23, 2019

A13

C21 Director’s New Children’s Book Inspires Religious Conversation

By Maeve Reilly Asst. Magazine Editor In a Stop & Shop in Natick, Mass., not far from Boston College, Karen Kiefer, BC ’82 and director of the Church in the 21st Century Center (C21), found herself mindlessly perusing the aisles. Glancing over the options, she happened to overhear two kids talking.

“My mother said that you shouldn’t talk about God at school because it makes people feel uncomfortable,” one of the kids said to the other.

“And at that moment, I thought, ‘[How] have we gotten here?’” Kiefer said. “We’ve gotten to the point where talking about God at school for little kids makes people feel uncomfortable, or they’re getting that message.”

Calling herself the “accidental author,” Kiefer supposed the idea to write her book Drawing God fell down from the sky. She had never intended to write a children’s book, but once the idea was in her mind, she couldn’t escape it.

Kiefer started her C21 career in 2008.

She rose from assistant director to associate director, and in June 2018, she was named director. First and foremost, she explained, C21 strives to be a catalyst and resource for the renewal of the Catholic Church.

Kiefer’s bright disposition is contagious, so it’s no surprise that she believes the most important part of renewal is talking to one another. She’s proud of all the options C21 offers, including Agape Latte; C21 Resources, a semiannual magazine with an impressive 185,000 subscribers; and Faith Feeds, a program that gives hun-

gry individuals an opportunity to talk with others about their faith over a meal.

Drawing God, set to be released on Oct. 8, tells the story of a young girl, Emma, who, after visiting an art museum, sets out to draw God. After many of her classmates tell her that her art isn’t actually God, Emma accepts that only she and God know that she drew God—until her classmates do something that surprises her.

Kiefer’s story is intertwined with illustrations by Kathy De Wit, a Belgian artist.

De Wit’s illustrations, which transition from a vibrant sun, to warm chocolatetoned loaves of bread, to a piercing red heart—as seen on the cover—illuminate the pages of the book.

Kiefer is the personification of Dewit’s luminous drawings—animated as she talks, she lights up a room. Her confidence and pride in her work are apparent as she speaks about the goals she has in mind for Drawing God. Though Kiefer said the inspiration for the book was seemingly random, her hard work brought it to be the final product that it is today.

After writing up the manuscript, Kiefer reached out to Susanna Leanord Hill, an award-winning children’s book author, in the hopes that she would review the manuscript.

“After a couple of tweaks and recommendations … she said, ‘I think you’ve got yourself a book,’” Kiefer said. “So that [gave me] confidence, and I felt like I could show it to someone else.”

So Kiefer sent the manuscript to a couple of Chirstian publishers. Jon Sweeney of Paraclete Press reached out to her shortly after, saying he called an

emergency editorial board meeting to decide whether they wanted to fast-track the book toward publication. The decision to publish Drawing God was unanimous.

“I thought, ‘Wow, if this could get out there in the world, this could really start some wonderful conversations about God, with children and with adults,’” Kiefer said, reflecting on her feelings after receiving the news from Sweeney.

Similar to how she runs C21, Kiefer has kept in mind that her most important goal while Drawing God comes to fruition is creating conversations about God and faith. Kiefer said she not only hopes that the book will inspire children to think about their relationship with God, but that it will inspire teachers, parents, grandparents, and mentors to take the message they find within the book and share it with the younger people in their lives.

Emma, the main character, is based on one of Kiefer’s daughters, Emma Kiefer, BC ’20. As a self-described quirky kid, Emma marched to the beat of her own drum. She said she believes the message of talking about faith that her mom is trying to get across through Drawing God is incredibly important.

“I think the story of the book is that even if you choose not to draw God, in a metaphorical sense, you can still ask yourself the question of whether you want to or not and understand why,” Emma said.

And Kiefer hasn’t just stopped at writing her book. World Drawing God Day will be taking place on Nov. 7, a month after Drawing God is set to be released.

Created by Kiefer and promoted through

JACK MILLER/ HEIGHTS EDITOR

Karen Kiefer, BC ’82 and director of C21, is set to release Drawing God on Oct. 8. various social media outlets and the book’s website, it will be a day on which everyone draws their own depiction of God. Kiefer, who has created a hashtag for people to use when posting pictures of their drawings, said she hopes the variety of different ways people portray their God will remind people that God is different in everyone’s eyes.

“I think we all are comforted by community, and knowing that we’re doing something with someone else, and the whole idea of participating in something with your friends, or family members or classmates, and also with perfect strangers,” Kiefer said.

Kiefer is hopeful that the hashtags will start flowing on Nov. 7 and that World Drawing God Day will be an annual event.

Kiefer and her four daughters all either

attended or are currently attending BC. Kiefer’s youngest daughter just started freshman year. Kiefer’s deep ties to the college make her feel incredibly grateful to be working on campus, she said, and she incorporates her faith into the Jesuit ideals BC promotes.

Similar to how BC pushes students to give their education to others, Kiefer encourages people to share their faith.

She believes that her faith isn’t truly hers until she shares it with others. That same mindset is applied to her book, which she believes doesn’t really belong to her—instead, it’s an opportunity to share the story with others.

“I really believe with all my heart … that the people who read this book can change the way we think about God,” she said. “[They can change] the way we talk about God, which is a beautiful grace.” n

Dudley Square Renaming Question Set to Appear on Nov. 5 Ballot

By Julia Landwehr For The Heights A question on the Nov. 5 election ballot will ask voters whether or not they agree to change the name of Dudley Square to Nubian Square. The Boston City Council unanimously agreed to add the ballot question on Wednesday.

The question—“Do you support the renaming / changing of Dudley Square to Nubian Square?”—is classified as a citywide non-binding public advisory question.

“Should the question win and a large number of residents support the change to Nubian Square, that will happen this fall into winter, and then the name of the square will be changed,” said Jerome

Smith, the chief of Civic Engagement for the City of Boston, at the Aug. 28 Committee on Government Operations meeting.

By law, the non-binding public advisory question must be asked citywide, though the council promises to pay special attention to how the Roxbury residents vote, considering that the name change will affect them most directly.

Dudley Square is a commercial center in Roxbury—55.6 percent of the residents are black, according to the City of Boston’s 2010 report. The issue of renaming Dudley Square to Nubian Square was proposed by local residents under the name “Nubian Square Coalition.”

Dudley Square, as it is currently called, is an homage to 17th century Massachusetts founder and governor Thomas Dudley. Many argue, however, that this is inappropriate considering the Dudley family’s ties to slavery in colonial-era Boston.

At the Aug. 28 meeting, Chuck Turner, a former city councilor and member of the Nubian Square coalition, emphasized that Dudley sponsored the passage of 1641’s “Body of Liberties.”

This document explicitly stated that slavery, in particular African and Native American enslavement, was to be legal in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

Because of this, many Roxbury residents hope that in changing the name to Nubian Square, a reference to the

Northeast African economic and cultural hub, residents will feel like the area more closely reflects the community as a whole.

“My personal view is that for almost 400 years, we have been under the mental and emotional domination of the Dudley puritanical vision that while people of color do have souls, we are destined, by God, to be under the domination of Whites,” said Turner, at the Aug. 28 committee meeting.

“It is time for right-thinking people to rid themselves of this devilish, destructive vision with the vision of the African Nubian concept that our ancestors brought into this country—that cooperation between all human beings is the only way.”

19 9 1

Some residents support a name change but have not agreed on “Nubian” as the new name, Flaherty said at the Sept. 18 meeting. There have been objections to the name “Nubian” in particular over concerns that Nubia itself has connections to the European and Arab slave trade. Some residents would rather see the Dudley name changed to something more Boston-specific.

“I believe strongly that the residents of Roxbury deserve the opportunity to determine for themselves what they would like to be called, and so this ballot question will give them the opportunity to do just that, to vote on November 5 on whether or not they want to change the name from Dudley to Nubian,” said Kim Janey, the councilor for District 7. n

201 9

to Donate to our centennial capital campaign Visit bcheights.com/centennial

The Heights

A14

Monday, September 23, 2019

‘AHS: 1984’ Revives Night Crawler, Jump Scares

By Kaylie Ramirez Arts Editor “Bad things are going to happen,” various characters of American Horror Story: 1984 warned throughout the show’s season premiere on Wednesday night. The warnings, sometimes frantic and other times ominous, felt like a promise and a threat: In contrast to the garish displays of last season’s premiere, the first episode of 1984 packed both crafty exposition and good ol’ fashioned jump scares into its hour-long first episode.

The title 1984 serves as both a touchstone for this season’s apparent focus on surveillance (à la George Orwell) and as an indication of time period—if the leopard print dresses and cheesy references to Def

Leppard weren’t obvious enough. In 1984, a group of friends take jobs as summer camp counselors to get away from a crime-ridden and increasingly tumultuous Los Angeles: Complaints about the city range from Ray’s (Deron Horton) diss on its heavy traffic (naturally) to Brooke’s (Emma Roberts) trauma following a close encounter with the Night Stalker (Zach Villa), a real-life serial killer who gained notoriety for a string of violent murders and sexual assaults throughout California in 1984 and 1985.

Any season premiere of AHS is inevitably complicated: In order for a storyline to come full circle in 10 episodes, you don’t have the luxury of time when setting the scene. The first episode of 1984 was, like the show’s past premieres, chaotic.

television

american horror story: 1984 ryan murphy distributed by fx Release september 18, 2019 Our rating

FX

Aside from Brooke’s run-in with the Night Stalker, Mr. Jingles (John Carroll Lynch) broke out of an asylum to reprise his own murderous past, choosing a mechanic as his first victim in a decade. Brooke, a sympathetic character with a kind heart, narrowly escapes Jingles later in the episode.

AHS leaves room for viewer intrigue with the latter, as the evidence of Jingles mysteriously disappears from the cabin. Oh, and the God-fearing camp director Margaret Booth (Leslie Grossman) is one of Jingles’ only survivors. Is this plot sounding convoluted yet? Good, you’re still with me.

AHS is known for its rotating storylines—each season introduces a new concept and cast of characters. But the show also has a history of intertwining storylines, especially in the case of Apocalypse (Season 8) and Hotel (Season 5), which both featured the return of Coven (Season 3) characters.

1984 already gave a hearty nod to Hotel with its focus on the Night Stalker, whose real name is Richard Ramirez. In the fifth season of the show, Ramirez (then played by Anthony Ruivivar) attends James March’s (Evan Peters) Devil’s Night dinner party along with a slew of other dead serial killers.

In April, Peters told Extra that he was going to “sit the season out,” so the extent to which AHS will weave Hotel into 1984 remains to be seen. Other absentees included Jessica Lange, Evan Peters, Angela Bassett, Kathy Bates, and, most notably, Sarah Paul-

son, who has received Emmy nominations for five of the show’s seasons. Although Paulson would have slipped perfectly into the role of camp director, the actress reportedly had to minimize her screen time due to her prior commitment to Ratched, Murphy’s upcoming Netflix series.

1984 borrows just enough kitsch from its namesake year for the show to still feel serious. Low-brow humor dominates the show’s bouts of comedic relief—Montana compares Trevor’s (Mitch Morrison) penis to a “lightning rod” while the two are making out in the midst of a storm in one egregious case. Displays of debauchery don’t reach the levels achieved by the first episode of Apocalypse, which shocked viewers with reality TV quality filming and, even worse, reality TV quality dialogue. Even though the episode was undoubtedly intended to shock, 1984 recognizes the importance of first impressions, striking a careful balance between spectacle and immersion.

Season 9 comes at a time when audiences are harboring haughtier tastes for horror. When AHS first premiered with Murder House in 2011, Jordan Peele was just a comedian and Paranormal Activity 2 was the standard for horror. In a post-Get Out and Midsommar world, horror fans want a snappier storyline. If AHS is to deliver on its promises of “bad things,” it’s going to take more than just guts (literally) and wit to captivate modern audiences. n

M83 Pays Homage to ’80s on ‘Digital Shades Vol. 2’

By Gio Lavoille Heights Staff On Friday, M83, led by frontman Anthony Gonzales, returned with its eighth album. The project Digital Shades Vol. 2 is a sequel to 2007’s Vol. 1 and is somewhat of a continuation of the motifs that the band explored 12 years ago.

In a press release sent to Spin, Gonzales cited synth masterminds like Brian Eno, John Carpenter, and Suzanne Ciani, the aesthetic of 1980s sci-fi and fantasy movies, and video game soundtracks as the inspiration for this project, and attempts over the course of the album to capture the excitement and thrill inherent in his inspirations.

It is a lofty task, one which he fails to fully achieve. In attempting to capture the flames of a past time, he fails to bridge the gap in his well-intentioned ode.

The album is a somewhat empty one—it rarely excites. Songs like “Temple of Sorrow” and “Feelings” are without question the best on the album and the only moments that really pique listeners’ interest. Songs like these are striking moments, which, if stretched over the course of the album, could have provided the exact effect that Gonzales was hoping for. “Colonies” and “Goodbye Captain Lee” capture the cinematic ambience that Gonzales is targeting, reaching the heights he hoped for. Sadly, M83 fails to maintain that energy, falling flat on most of the other songs on the album. While many of

its prior efforts possess some level of replay value, there isn’t much to be heard on this album. The thrills that are usually present throughout are nowhere to be found.

The concepts and ideas behind the album are certainly interesting, though. DSVII is a genuine, full-hearted attempt at an homage to the forebears of the genres that M83 operates in. There is something genuinely intriguing about looking toward the past in order to find out how to improve your craft.

Artists across genres and mediums have all taken inspiration from the past and used it to fuel their work, often producing timeless, decade-spanning works.

Looking backward to move forward is a timeless artistic tactic, one that often produces greatness. Which is why it is especially sad that M83 fails to achieve those levels of intrigue on this record.

The album is littered with influences, spanning beyond cinema and video games.

There are odes to Italian prog rock, masters of the synth and snare, orchestral arrangements, and more. It truly is a work of love and admiration for those who paved the way.

DSVII is an album filled with untapped potential. There are moments of beauty, stuck like diamonds in the rough. While they are few and far between, once you stumble upon them you can’t help but be struck.

Gonzales manages to catch lightning in a bottle but is infuriatingly unable to maintain it, losing steam on multiple occasions. Mo-

ments in the album play out like the worst documentary you could imagine instead of reminiscing on the thrills of sci-fi, lacking compelling subject matter and completely monotonous in its delivery.

It’s a testament to the skill of M83 that, even in the midst of what is often just fodder, there are songs so beautifully compelling that they make you think twice about this album. These moments are so fleeting, though ,that you can’t help but rage against them, wondering why M83 couldn’t capture this energy over the course of the entire record.

By themselves, those few songs merit the utmost praise, but they are only parts of this album. The overall monotony of the project as a whole outweighs the brief beauty of the

individual songs.

The passion behind this project, one that is clearly dear to everyone involved in its creation, is undeniable. This album means a lot to M83, and who’s to say that it won’t mean a lot to its fans, as well as general fans of the genres it is catering to.

Passion projects are rarely ever complete duds: There will always be people who feel the emotion behind the artist and are completely drawn to it. That said, it’s sad that M83 fails to create the kind of masterpiece that it sought out to, but its efforts are admirable and save this album from falling completely flat. DSVII is worth a listen, but it’s hard to say how many times you’ll end up going back to it. n

Album

For The Heights Director Rupert Goold navigates the path of discussion from the yellow brick road toward one that explores the realities of the tragic life lived by Judy Garland in his new film Judy. The life of the beloved American singer and actor is closely examined to bring light to the hardships faced by the woman in the ruby red slippers.

The film itself takes a raw and realistic approach to the star’s short, fast-paced life, choosing to center its attention around the later stages of Garland’s life instead of her more remembered younger years. Its dream-like start pictures a young Garland on the set of The Wizard of Oz. Being interrogated by the director of the film about whether she is truly devoted to the role of Dorothy, the audi-

ence is first introduced to the actress’s internal struggle: the tension between Garland’s love of performing and a “normal” life. Sitting amid the beautiful set of the land of Oz, Garland finds herself being forced into a life that will constrict her in almost every aspect, though her name is sure to be remembered.

This fear of being forgotten is depicted as a driving point for Garland in her decision to stay in the industry.

Fueled by pills and her own delusions, the film portrays Garland’s happiness as being directly correlated with both her relevance and the existence of true and meaningful relationships, which she quickly learns do not easily coincide with each other.

She is warned early on by her manager that if she chooses to let go of her career, she will be swallowed up by the rest of America and forgotten, like a

DSVII M83 distributed by mute records Release September 20, 2019 Our rating

mute records

film

judy rupert goold distributed by roadside attractions Release september 27, 2019 Our rating

roadside attractions

raindrop falling into the sea. The film uses this scene as a foundation, building off Garland’s aspiration for a legacy.

Flashing forward to her later years, Garland is found with two kids, no home, and only fleeting moments of fame.

While her name is well known across the world, her renowned voice and performances bring nothing more than fame to Garland—who is grossly underpaid and taken advantage of by executives for their own gain throughout her entire life.

With permanent lipstick-stained lips and a professionally manufactured smile, Garland is authentically portrayed by Renée Zellweger. Known for her past roles in Bridget Jones’s Diary and Chicago, Zellweger assumes the role of Garland in its entirety—leaving the viewer not to analyze her performance throughout the film but to assume that she is Garland herself. Garland’s famous laugh, dodgy eyes, and “everything is fine” mentality were perfectly executed by Zellweger and dramatically enhanced the film.

Zellweger’s singing proves to be a near facsimile of Garland’s.

Genuine smiles are only given by Garland in moments when she understands the joy she brings to others. Sitting in the home of two of her self-proclaimed biggest fans, they are brought to tears at the sound of her singing, which only leaves Garland confused at the realization that her performances really do have an impact. The film does an excellent job of portraying how Garland overlooked the effect of her music on others, and

julia landwehr

‘i don’t miss you at all’ finneas

“I Don’t Miss You At All” is the newest single release from FINNEAS, an artist most well-known for his role as a co-writer and co-producer of music released by his younger sister, Billie Eilish. FINNEAS, however, isn’t simply a puppeteer behind his sister’s sudden rise to teen pop stardom—he is a stellar artist in his own right.

“I Don’t Miss You At All” opens with driving synth chords, swiftly building up to a sudden silence where FINNEAS’ steady voice jumps in. The syncopated beat is brought back in, and it gives the song a slick pop feel. The music swells and becomes more chaotic throughout the song, but it is reigned back in at the end with a simple melody.

FINNEAS contrasts this sound with satirical and heartbreaking lyrics. He sings, “And I’m sleeping fine / I don’t mean to boast / But I only dream about you / Once or twice a night at most / And it feels so good / Eating alone / I don’t get distracted by your smile / And miss the green lights drivin’ home.” In this way, the sound of the song itself reflects the lyrics (and FINNEAS’ brilliance). With this track, FINNEAS encapsulates our human desire to cover up sadness and convince others that we don’t miss happiness at all. n

music video grace mayer

‘want you in my room’ carly rae jepsen

Tragic Life of Garland Depicted in Goold’s ‘Judy’

By Shannon Carmichael

Single review

ultimately forms the base of the emotion that drives the film. Giving her first performance at just 2 years old, performing became second nature for the star and quickly lost any true meaning to a person who longed for happiness.

Rupert Goold includes various instances of Zellweger staring longingly into the camera in order to convey Garland’s intimate connection with her audience. In the film, Garland performs and seemingly looks directly at you—enabling you to see past her jovial façade to a person longing for deeper meaning and connection. Looking directly at the camera, Garland sings “Someday I wish upon a star / Wake up where the clouds are far behind me / Where troubles melt like lemon drops.”

The well-known lyrics are given a deeper meaning as one considers overworked nature of Garland’s lifestyle depicted so clearly in the film.

The film concludes on a somber note, as if to tie a bow on the overall emotional experience. From watching the film, one is able to see past the image of Judy Garland as the all-American performer and instead come to understand her as a complex and manipulated figure that was swallowed by Hollywood and spit out to fend for herself. Judy serves as a reminder to look past the carefully constructed personas of prominent figures and view them as human beings. After all, as Garland reminds the audience in the film, she is only Judy Garland for one hour each night. n

Carly Rae Jepsen sings and dances her way through outfit montages as she gets ready for a date in her whimsical new music video for “Want You in My Room,” a song off her fourth album, Dedicated.

The video opens with the pop singer giddily gushing into her phone, confirming with her date to meet in one hour. After hanging up, the music slips in to accompany Jepsen as she dances on her bed and sings into her hairbrush. Jumping from her bed, she prances into a grassy field over to a vanity mirror where she applies lipstick. Jepsen, once again, taps into her eternal youth: She frolics around like a teenager jamming to music, hyping herself up for the big date.

Through a series of doors, Jepsen finds herself in new settings and complementary outfits.

O p ening one do or, she steps onto a beach dressed in tulle and a retro baby-blue -and-white swimsuit.

Emerging from another door, she’s now wearing a black mini dress and chunky, black-and-white earrings.

After all that time spent getting ready, when her date arrives to pick her up, Jepsen decides to whisk him away into her room.

Other imaginative components are littered throughout the video. The colors flash purple, red, and green in time with the beat of a metal drum.

A suspended comforter waltzes with Jepsen.

Her band—a saxophonist and two guitar players—is disguised as a houseplant, a chair, and a chest of drawers. All of these elements, though at times childish, are testaments to the eclecticism and steadfast peppiness that defines Carly Rae Jepsen.

“Want You in My Room” encapsulates the initial excitement and bubbling anticipation that comes with first dates.

Though Jepsen may still be confined to her “Call Me Maybe” persona, she acutely writes about a more grown-up kind of love. Laced beneath her vibrant vocals and upbeat instrumentals, she channels determination.

Jepsen knows what she wants. n

The Heights

Monday, September 23, 2019

A15

Hunter Hayes, Cannon Get ‘Crazy’ at Stokes Set Ticketmaster

By Emily Himes

Assoc. Arts Editor

Stokes Set isn’t known for attracting household names. This year, that changed—and while country music can be a largely divisive genre with many haters, Hunter Hayes was able to draw in more interest and engagement than usual.

The fourth Annual Stokes Set kicked off with opener Cannon Few, a former Heights contributor and

MCAS ’20, who goes by “Cannon” onstage. He sang a number of songs, including his singles “Water Glass” and “These Walls,” both of which are available on Spotify.

He concluded his set by imparting some wisdom on the crowd: “I’ll see you on Monday in the halls of Stokes,” he said.

Hayes took the stage to a crowd of enthusiastic fans who have known all his songs since middle school. He focused the majority of his set on his

JONATHAN YE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

Hunter Hayes performed songs from ‘Wild Blue Part I,’ his upcoming album.

newer music, emphasizing that his most recent album, Wild Blue Part I, was the first time his true self was able to shine on a recording in a long time. He spoke a lot, almost too much, about how he got bullied when he was younger and still feels like he doesn’t quite fit in. It was touching and humble, but did seem to overshadow some of the more uplifting aspects his show could have featured.

He kicked off the show on an upbeat note with “One Shot at a Time,” and segued into the slower fan favorite “Storm Warning.” He then launched into a string of newer music, starting off with “Wild Blue.” At this point, the concert hit a bit of a lull, as most people in the crowd weren’t familiar with the new music, some of which was just released last month. While the crowd wasn’t exactly sure what to do during these songs, he was able to show off his talents on the guitar. Hayes is a surprisingly skilled guitar player, which came as a shock to much of the crowd. His frequent guitar interludes became a welcome change of pace throughout the middle of the show.

Right before his last string of songs to close out the set, Hayes finally took a more optimistic view, telling students that “Whatever path [they’re] on, it’s the right one.”

This came as a welcome glimmer of hope in a concert that was previously bogged down by somewhat pessimistic tones. Earlier in the night, he described feelings of being an outcast at 28, a somewhat unexpected admission.

He ended the night with a string of popular songs that everyone knew the lyrics to, many from his self-titled 2011 album. A standout song was “Everybody’s Got Somebody But Me,” which allowed for a few softer, more acoustic moments during the show.

“Wanted,” “Somebody’s Heartbreak,” and “Dear God” all set the stage for the one song everybody was waiting for: “I Want Crazy.” The final song sent everyone into a frenzy, waving phone flashlights and jumping up and down along with Hayes. He closed out the show by thanking the crowd in a surprisingly sincere and heartfelt manner, making for a heartwarming end to the night. n

‘Resurfacing’ Examines Emotions of Opioid Crisis

By Kaylie Ramirez Arts Editor

Those who filed into Bonn Studio moments before Tuesday’s performance of Resurfacing were greeted by a meager scene: Two unassuming metal chairs sat in center stage, the bright lights beaming down on them as the theatergoers waited in their seats expectantly.

With Victorian music playing overhead, the Oh god, this is going to be one of those super self-indulgent artsy plays thought was inevitable.

But Resurfacing turned out to be anything but self-indulgent.

The performance of the one-act, two-actor play bared all of its emotional depth for a captivated room of students, faculty, and community members.

The play was presented by Health Story Collaborative (HSC), Creating Outreach About Addiction Support Together (COAAST), the Boston College Institute for Liberal Arts, the English department, and the Medical Humanities Program. It recounted the struggle of a father (Paul E. Kandarian) to support his son (Ryan Durkay)—both of which are named Paul—as the latter battles his opioid addiction.

Starting with heartwarming recollections of childhood memories, the play moved through topics such as divorce, depression, and indirection with agility and grace, fleshing out the weight of the words—a triumph of both the animated acting and the

script, which was written by Kandarian and inspired by his own experience with his son who had once struggled with addiction.

Although the actor who originally portrayed Paul Jr. and had battled addiction himself was not on hand for the performance due to “an unfortunate incident,” Durkay easily slipped into the role of an addict.

An utter lack of frivolity worked to the advantage of the performance.

The audience, denied the comfort of superfluous props, had to give their full attention to the conflict taking place on stage, whether that conflict took the form of a screaming match between father and son or a wet-eyed monologue from father or son.

While Durkay mimed doing chores on his chair at one point, the actors didn’t utilize their sole props for any corny displays of action.

Despite driving to and from and to and from rehabilitation centers, the actors didn’t mimic steering a car at any point.

It was the deft dialogue and the poignancy of the performances that moved the characters from appointment to appointment.

Adding insult to (physical and emotional) injury, the play criticizes societal ills on two main fronts: the implications of military service and, to a greater extent, the opioid crisis.

Following his first bout of opioid addiction, Paul Jr. decides to join the military to get clean. Having seen terrible things in Afghanistan, the veteran quickly relapses following

ALEXA SPITZ / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Playwright and actor Paul Kandarian used his son’s struggle with addiction as inspiration.

his honorable discharge and struggles to regain control of his life given the meager resources of the Veteran’s Association.

Resurfacing most robustly triumphs in its address of the opioid crisis by putting faces to a subject that is often talked about in general

terms by the media. While much of the recent coverage of the opioid epidemic centers around statistics, lawsuits, and pharmaceutical companies, Resurfacing forces purveyors to confront the human suffering that lies below the surface of newspaper headlines and political pleas. n

Acoustics, Morgan Center Present Acapellafest

By Grace Mayer Heights Staff

“You’ve heard about Stokes Set. You’ve heard about Modstock. But you haven’t heard about Acapellafest!” declared the hosts—Aidan Fitzpatrick, CSOM ’20, and Shea Rulon, CSOM ’20—at Friday night’s Acapellafest in Robsham Theater.

Though not as broadly advertised as Modstock or Stokes Set, what Acapellafest offers is a night of vocal performance in exchange for donation to a good cause. Partnered with The Morgan Center, a preschool for children with cancer, and hosted by The Acoustics, Acapellafest presented

performances by Boston College’s a capella groups: The Bostonians, The Common Tones, The Sharps, The Heightsmen, The Dynamics, and Black Experience in America Through Song (B.E.A.T.S.), in addition to The Acoustics. The night also became the launch event for The Morgan Center’s new initiative: “Go the Extra Mile,” a social media movement designed to promote awareness for childhood cancer. All of the proceeds from the event were donated to The Morgan Center.

The night kicked off with The Acoustics, who scattered their performances throughout the night, beginning with X Ambassadors’ “Hey

ANEESA WERMERS / FOR THE HEIGHTS

Eight of BC’s 10 a cappella groups performed at Robsham during Acapellafest.

Child” and later performing “Burning House” by Cam. The Bostonians followed with a mashup of pop songs.

The group moved from Khalid’s “Talk,” Shawn Mendes and Camila Cabello’s “Señorita,” and Halsey’s “Without Me” before jumping into Lizzo’s “Good as Hell”—naturally, the audience took to this blend of pop music, vocalizing their affinity for Lizzo’s lyrics, candidly sung by newly minted member JV Fluehr, MCAS ’23.

The Common Tones picked up on the pop tones, starting with “When I was Her Man” by Bruno Mars, then opting for another Shawn Mendes’ song, “Lost in Japan.” Their group stood out for featuring a female beatboxer, Madeline McCullough, MCAS ’20, as the base for their song selections.

These smooth pop songs set The Sharps (the all-female a capella group celebrating their 30-year anniversary) up for Billie Eilish’s slow and somber “When The Party’s Over,” led by Bianca Tjoeng, MCAS ’22. Switching gears, they eased into Queen’s “Somebody to Love,” dancing to the lyrics, only pausing for one of their members to step forward into a dramatic voiceover air guitar solo.

The Heightsmen of Boston College then took the stage, livening the pace and speeding through genres of classic rock and pop ballads, like the

band Boston’s “More Than a Feeling,” Pat Benatar’s “Hit Me With Your Best Shot,” Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer,” Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin,” and a few others.

Each song-switch welcomed a Heightsman to be front and center for a solo or duet, demonstrating the group’s flexibility and talent. The group came together for “Africa” by Toto and then finished their set with Bing Crosby’s “Penny’s from Heaven,” led by member Justin Panzarino, CSOM ’20.

The Boston College Dynamics followed, performing Alina Baraz’s “Ele c tr ic ” and Ar i ana Grande’s “Breathin.” B.E.A.T.S. started their performance by asking the audience to stand for the “Black National Anthem,” a starting point for every B.E.A.T.S. set and a moving group performance that delivered on vocals and a message. B.E.A.T.S. then closed their set by performing TLC’s “No Scrubs.”

The Acoustics rejoined the stage for the final performance. Walking onto the stage, their members had put on “Go the Extra Mile” t-shirts, a last reminder to audience members to support the Morgan Center, and to thank them for attending the show.

They closed with Amy Winehouse’s “Back to Black,” interwoven with Adele’s “Skyfall.” n

Takes All Kaylie Ramirez

The classic fratty “Who do you know here?” question took on a new form for Black Keys fans at the Wiltern in Los Angeles. “Who sold you your tickets?” became the critical question on Thursday night, and not all answers secured entry.

The Los Angeles Times reported that “hundreds” of fans were denied entry after buying tickets from resale sites, including StubHub, SeatGeek, and VividSeats—all of which are generally considered reliable vendors of resale tickets. The caveat is that Ticketmaster, the original ticket seller, made the tickets non-transferable. The Los Angeles Times report stated that each time the purchaser checked the ticket in-app, the barcode on the ticket updated, making all screenshotted tickets void.

In a statement to The Los Angeles Times, a representative for the band stated that the tickets were set at the price of $25 for the intimate show, and the band decided to make the tickets non-transferable in order to prevent price hikes by third-party vendors. Some fans told The Los Angeles Times they spent upwards of $700 to buy tickets to the show, and third-party vendors blamed Ticketmaster’s communication about the policy for the mishap.

The Black Keys aren’t alone in the fight against skyhigh resale prices. For a 2017 show at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., U2 made U2 fanclub and general admission tickets non-transferable, according to The San Francisco Chronicle.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s report played up the vendor side of the issue, detailing one fan’s struggle to resell his ticket after he discovered he wasn’t going to be able to attend—Ryan Bezerra was faced with the choice of losing $379 or going to the event to present his credit card when the resale buyer entered with the ticket.

Making tickets non-transferable is an admirable attempt to prevent price inflation on behalf of performers. Resale ticket prices can balloon to cost fans hundreds more than their original price. Last week, I wanted to see Lizzo at Agganis Arena but tickets on StubHub were going for $200, an unusually high price for the venue.

Non-transferable tickets put a hefty burden on fans to clear their schedules.

The Black Keys first announced their Let’s Rock tour in March 2019, and the first show of the tour took place last week.

The lapse of time between the purchase and the date of the concert makes it even harder for fans to predict what obligations they might have the night of the show.

The Black Keys debacle is further convoluted by allegations that Ticketmaster and Live Nation have been violating antitrust laws since merging in 2010. At the time of the merger, then Assistant Attorney General Christine A. Varney suggested that “there will be enough air and sunlight in this space for strong competitors to take root, grow and thrive,” according to a New York Times report.

Things went sour in August 2019 when Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut) and Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) alleged that the consent decree—which states that Live Nation cannot withhold shows from venues that don’t use Ticketmaster or retaliate against venues that issue tickets through other venues—is ineffective and, as a result, the two companies have been able to dominate the ticket market.

On Sept. 17, the Department of Justice confirmed that it is investigating potential violations of the consent decree on behalf of the companies. Making tickets non-transferable adds to accusations of anti-competitive behavior.

The Black Keys are slotted to perform at TD Garden in Boston on Oct. 11.

While fans who purchase tickets for the balcony sections can mail tickets to their address, tickets for the floor are available only on mobile devices. Floor seats for the event are currently available on StubHub, SeatGeek, and Vivid Seats. It is not clear at this time if Ticketmaster used updating barcodes for these tickets.

Until the DOJ is able to conclude its investigation, artists shouldn’t count on Live Nation to protect consumers—consumers that are dollar signs for the ticket market monolith, but the voices that sing and hands that clap at live performances.

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

ARTS

A16

Monday, September 23, 2019

@BCHeightsArts

launching into the : music world

By Jillian Ran

Asst. Arts Editor

College is a time for exploration.

In the cramped dorm rooms and classrooms of Boston College, lifelong friendships are made. Crazy ideas are hatched in the late hours of the night. Sometimes, by the morning they’re forgotten. But other times, these plans become the beginning of something big.

Cannon Few knows a few things about turning an idea into a full-blown career. Few, a former Heights contributor and MCAS ’20, has been making waves in the music world this past year. And these waves have reached far beyond the limits of Chestnut Hill, where he first began making music and where he performed Saturday as the opening act at Stokes Set. Few met friend and manager Luke Doyle, MCAS ’20, in their freshman year. The two bonded over music, and since then have been working together on Few’s music career. His performance was the culmination of three years of development as an artist.

Few, who grew up in South Carolina, grew up with the rich musical traditions of the South—folk, soul, and the like—and started writing and playing music when he was seven years old.

“The majority of the music that I personally played growing up was with a guitar around the campfire with my family,” Few said.

But it wasn’t until Few arrived at BC that he began to take his music seriously. Few met Doyle one night at a party. Doyle recalled the meeting vividly.

“We met one night out freshman year,” Doyle said. “The music at the party got unplugged or cut off or something, and Cannon—I had never met him before—but he started beatboxing and I freestyle rapped a little bit, and then he freestyled, and then we just exchanged information and started pretty much hanging out from the next day on.”

The two became fast friends, freestyling together in their Newton dorm rooms after class. Few began writing songs again and sharing them with Doyle and their other friends. Never before had Few considered music as a potential career path, but after friends suggested that he could make a living out of it, Few began to see his hobby in a new light.

Few initially set his sights on hiphop. He would rap over beats made by a friend in Nashville and upload the resulting tracks to Soundcloud. His earliest single, “Champagne and OJ,” garnered buzz across BC’s campus and beyond, racking up more than 200,000 plays. His friends hyped him up, but it didn’t feel authentic. The limits of the genre and murky implications of being a white rapper began to weigh on him.

“It started to feel so corny to me, because I was trying to fit myself into this thing [...] but there’s all the problems with being a white rapper and what that brings,” Few said. “[I was] losing touch with why I love music.”

Few went back to square one. He pulled out his guitar, which he hadn’t played in a few years, and started writing his own songs and recording demos. It was like returning to his childhood, when he wrote songs and typed up the lyrics on his mom’s computer.

Few’s evolved style still incorporates elements of hip-hop, but it’s defined by a low-key, acoustic sound.

INSIDE ARTS

“Singer-songwriter based, but heavily hip-hop and R&B driven” is how Few describes his music.

He cites The Beatles as a long time favorite, and he was introduced to hip-hop through the music of Kid Cudi and Chance the Rapper. And, true to his Southern roots, he’s a fan of folk band The Avett Brothers. All these disparate genres—rock, hip-hop, Americana—mingle and blend in his music. It’s what makes it so distinctive.

Although he restricted himself to just rapping while performing as a hiphop artist, Few began to experiment with singing once he made the stylistic switch. He signed up for singing lessons through BC’s music department and gradually got more comfortable with his voice. Now, he handily blends laid-back rapping with heartfelt vocals in his songs.

Because Few is relatively new to making music, he hasn’t settled into a

with Shep Goodman, a music industry veteran who owns a boutique label in Westchester, N.Y., called Dirty Canvas Records. The summer after their sophomore year, Few and Doyle traveled to New York to meet Goodman. Although he didn’t offer them an official record deal, Goodman introduced the pair to producers who subsequently helped Few record “Water Glass.” The track is a playful, summery love song that began to garner buzz on Spotify.

“We didn’t have any label affiliation or any sort of marketing plan, we just kind of sent it to our friends and said ‘send this to your friends, and your friends’ friends if they like it’ and then it just kind of blew up,” Few explained.

“It almost [has] a million streams on Spotify, which is pretty sick.”

To date, the song has 863,258 plays on the streaming platform. Few and Doyle, buoyed by the success of “Water Glass,” realized they could start taking

The music video for “Don’t Cry” features scenes of List decked out in glamorous, 1950s-inspired ensembles.

When Few’s verse begins, images of him lip-syncing appear. Few was supposed to fly out to Los Angeles to film the video with List, but family circumstances interfered. The two didn’t even meet during the creation of the video. List’s part was filmed in Joshua Tree, while Few’s part was filmed on Long Island.

The process of shooting Few ’s own lyric video for “These Walls” was a little more DIY. Far from the slick aesthetic of the “Don’t Cry” video, Few and Boyle decided to embrace the unpolished, bootstraps mentality that’s an essential aspect of Few’s identity as an artist.

The pair had plans to enlist a friend to film the video, but they kept getting let down, so they decided to take a stab at it themselves. They found an

JONATHAN YE / HEIGHTS EDITOR

routine approach to songwriting. With “These Walls,” a breezy, introspective track that was his second release on Spotify, it was a spontaneous and allat-once process.

“For ‘These Walls,’ I was noodling on my guitar, it was raining outside, and I was sitting on my bed, and I just kind of wrote the whole song right there,” Few said. But that normally doesn’t happen. That was kind of a blessing.”

Other times, Few builds off a melody or lyric idea, or experiments with lyrics over a finished beat.

Throughout the songwriting process, Doyle acts as a crucial behindthe-scenes figure who offers support and feedback, not to mention friendship.

“Since Cannon and I are such good friends, I’m in the studio with him, I’m in all the writing sessions, so I think we haveza good relationship where he trusts my opinion,” Doyle said. “I grew up around the music industry, so I have a passion and love for the creative process behind it all as well as the business side.”

Doyle’s father, Brian, was a prolific manager in the ’80s and ’90s whose clients included Mariah Carey and John Mellencamp. Now, he focuses on booking talent at a live music venue he owns in Huntington, N.Y., called The Paramount. Through Doyle, Few was able to perform there twice this past summer.

After recording several demos, Doyle’s father sent them to contacts he knew in the music industry. The demos garnered interest, especially

‘Stokes Set’

their music careers more seriously.

Last summer, the pair booked a series of live performances. Few threw a single release party for “These Walls” at The Paramount in Huntington, N.Y., and also opened for Gavin DeGraw, a pop-rock singer-songwriter, there.

Few tries to preserve the flavor of the recorded tracks when he performs live by combining acoustic and digital elements. He sings and is accompanied by guitar as well as MIDI keys and a pre-recorded track played over speakers.

“We’re using the recorded sounds with the live sounds to make it sound like the recording,” Few said.

Few has released two of his own singles—”Water Glass” and “These Walls”—in addition to a feature verse on Peyton List’s single “Don’t Cry.” Few ended up on the former Disney star’s song by pure chance. List, who is best known for her role as Emma Ross in Jessie, is signed to Dirty Canvas records. Additionally, Goodman manages Few with Doyle, meaning Goodman has a continuous interest in furthering Few’s exposure. Few happened to be in the studio at Dirty Canvas when List called Goodman and asked for an artist to feature on “Don’t Cry.” Goodman suggested Few and List, desperate for anyone, hastily agreed.

“Peyton wants a feature, we gotta do it now, this is your only shot!”

Goodman shouted at him as soon as he hung up, Few recounted with a laugh.

Few whipped up the verse in an hour and Goodman sent it to List.

Fortunately, she liked it, and Few went back into the studio to polish it up.

‘Resurfacing’

old camcorder in Boyle’s basement that they agreed lent a vintage, homey vibe to the video. Then, the duo chose the rooftop of a friend’s apartment in the Lower East Side of Manhattan as the setting. The original plan was to record a live session of “These Walls.”

When Few looked at the footage of him and his friends setting up their instruments and hanging out between takes, though, he realized the footage worked well with the recorded audio.

The shabby charm perfectly encapsulated his laid-back philosophy.

Actually putting the video together was another adventure. Few and Doyle had to spend hours on the phone with the company that made the specific adapter that would allow them to transfer the footage onto a computer.

And Few edited the footage himself.

“I cooped myself up in my sister’s apartment over the summer for, like, three days and learned how to use Premier Pro,” Few said.

Few has only released two singles, but he has plans to release another single in the coming months, and eventually a mixtape of around seven songs. He’s already recorded upward of 20 demos that he could potentially include on the mixtape. Once it’s released in February or March, Few is looking to translate his online success into more live bookings. While he’s still at BC, Few will be performing around Boston, but after graduation he’ll return to New York. It’s the city where Few made crucial friends and connections and found his footing as an artist.

Few admits that it’s tempting to run

Hunter Hayes brought his country twang and wistful lyrics to ‘Resurfacing’ put the opioid crisis in center stage for a Stokes Lawn for a lively Stokes Set showing............................. A15 spirited performance in Bonn Studio on Tuesday............ A15

with his success and drop out of BC. Juggling schoolwork and a burgeoning music career isn’t easy, not to mention the constant social media presence that modern artists must maintain.

Along with a professional website, Few has accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

“With school and everything, it’s difficult. You can see my Instagram right now, over the summer [I was] posting almost every day, and now that school starts it’s like I never post,” Few said.

But Few, with some convincing from his parents, has decided to stick it out and spend his remaining eight months at BC devising a post-graduation plan for him and Doyle.

“If I sign to a record label now, I don’t have any leverage in terms of formulating a deal,” Few said. “I don’t want to be taken advantage of in that way.”

Instead, he’s biding his time, focusing on building his fanbase while working with Doyle to expand their company, Over Easy Music. They initially created the company as a de facto record label to release Few’s music, but they’ve been considering expanding it.

Doyle plans on continuing to work as Few’s manager after they graduate.

Although he occasionally makes an appearance in the spotlight, he’s happy leaving the performance side to Few. “I know my impact, and I think Cannon knows the impact, and that’s really all I care about. I don’t really mind not having the spotlight,” said Doyle.

As a senior, Few looks back on his development as an artist with disbelief.

He got his first taste of performing live through BC’s Music Guild, where he also befriended Tanner Kellan, MCAS ’20, who now accompanies Few on guitar at almost all of his live performances. Few recalled getting ready to perform at his first open mic.

“I just remember this moment,” Few said. “The guy was helping me set up and he was saying, ‘Yeah, you know you’ve got your monitor here, blah blah blah, but I’m sure you’ve performed in front of people.’ And I was sitting there like, ‘Nope, never done it before!’”

Only two years ago, Few was terrified to perform in front of a small crowd in Hillside Cafe. Last summer, he entertained a large audience at the Gavin DeGraw show, and at Stokes Set he proved to be just as engaging live as he is over the speakers. In between songs, he delivered anecdotes and implored the crowd to follow his social media accounts.

As the opening act, he got a chance to play “Water Glass” and “These Walls,” as well as debut a number of unreleased songs. “Water Glass” was the undeniable star of the set. Few let the crowd sing during the chorus, and sure enough, they knew every word.

Few was approached a few weeks ago

by Kate Minorini, the president of Campus Activities Board and MCAS ’20, to perform and immediately agreed. The concert was an opportunity for Few to not only introduce himself to a wider audience, but to meld two parts of his identity—the free-spirited New York City musician with the Boston College English major.

“I want to get the BC community more involved with it, and I also want to be more involved with the BC community through my music,” Few said. “I want to pay homage. This is how it all started, where it all started.” n

‘American Horror Story: 1984’.......................A14 ‘DSVII’........................................................A14 ‘Judy’...........................................................A14