10.21 Print Music Edition

Music Edition

Wally’s Cafe Jazz club continues serving Boston’s music community

BY MACIE PARKER Contributing Writer

Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club, located along Massachusetts Avenue, has served as a cultural and musical hotspot for generations, welcoming musicians and audience members of all ages and backgrounds.

Founded in 1947 by Joseph Walcott and still family-owned, Wally’s reopened for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic on Sept. 8.

Before Wally’s shut down, pianist Kevin Harris and his band, Sphere 427, played every Friday and Saturday night. He said Wally’s upholds the tradition and creativity of African American music while incorporating contemporary jazz sounds.

“The shutdown was an interruption of all of that on a tangible level … but at the same time, that spirit and stickto-itiveness and creativity did not,” Harris said.

Gaby Cotter has been a Latin jazz singer at Wally’s since 2016. She said Wally’s closing was difficult for the owners, musicians and community members.

“During the pandemic, they got support from the community,” Cotter said, “They reopened the place all renovated … it’s still like a very small magic place.”

Although the venue itself underwent changes, manager Frank Poindexter said Wally’s is back to what it was before — three bands each night, seven days a week.

“We’re dedicated to my grandfather’s legacy,” Poindexter said. “We’re also dedicated to providing a forum for musicians to perform and perfect their craft.”

Bonnie Johnson, producer and host of 90.5 WICN radio show Colors of Jazz, said the venue is unique because it creates an intimacy around the experience of live music.

Noah Preminger, a professional

saxophonist and member of Sphere 427, said college students come to Wally’s to learn from older, professional performers, not only musically, but by talking to each other.

“It’s the only music venue for jazz where people actually hang out in Boston,” he said.

Johnson said the legacy of jazz music is important because it is an

mainstream styles of music like jazz.

“For a form of art that is, bluntly, unpopular, to have music venues that support it is crucial, or you wouldn’t hear it. It would be left to the consumer to just seek it out on the internet,” Preminger said. “It’s important to support Black owned businesses, it’s important to support jazz and it’s important to pay for music.”

community in Boston, shining a light on the African American heritage of jazz and the importance of crosscultural collaboration in music.

Field said the improvisational nature of jazz creates a shared experience that connects people through interpersonal situations when creating new music and sounds together.

“Jazz is important as a creative art form for several reasons, one of them being the African American heritage of jazz music,” Field said. “It’s an art form that developed out of the African American community.”

He said jazz also allows musicians to “collaborate across cultures,” as jazz draws on other influences like Latin American music.

“The Latinx community and people who are willing to do jazz or Latin jazz, or African jazz … they are so open to give you a space to perform,” Cotter said. “Places like Wally’s are so important in the community because they allow you to do all this together and also you grow your musicianship.”

Johnson also said that a younger audience will keep the spirit of jazz alive by supporting live music.

“There is a perception that jazz has an older audience and I disagree,” she said. “I believe that this is an urban legend … Younger folks come in because they eat up new music.”

LIFESTYLE,

African American art form that lives on through generations and creates a musical foundation of creativity and improvisation.

“Wally’s is like an incubator, so the fact that younger players can come in and play and then be heard by their peers, this to me, is an inspiration for what the future holds for jazz,” she said.

Preminger said the rising popularity of streaming platforms takes revenue away from musicians, especially musicians who practice less

After its re-opening, Poindexter said Wally’s is incorporating its own livestream that will allow more people to experience jazz without worrying about the possibility of contracting COVID-19.

“Wally’s is an incredible resource for the jazz community and beyond … it’s both a training ground for young musicians … and it’s kind of a throwback,” President of JazzBoston Ken Field said.

Nonprofit organizations like JazzBoston advocate for the jazz

Johnson added places like Wally’s also raise the voices of women in jazz and the cultural spirit and legacy of jazz music.

Cotter said she went to Wally’s as a student and finds the club to be a great place to experiment.

“It doesn’t matter how hard your week was or how much homework you’ve got to do … (after going to Wally’s) you feel alive again,” she said.

Anonymous social media Sidechat comes to BU

BY JESSIE O’LEARY Contributing Writer

Sidechat is an app “built for your college community.”

The anonymous memesharing platform launched at Boston University on Oct. 4. Since then, multiple student groups have promoted Sidechat on social media and at tables outside BU buildings, yet the platform has been met with varied opinions.

Todd Lee-Millstein, a freshman in the College of Engineering and Sidechat launch ambassador, helped promote the app on BU campus.

“I do also legitimately really like the app,” he said. “So I was happy to help out and try to launch it here,” he said.

Lee-Millstein said there were Sidechat-sponsored tables outside the George Sherman Union and Questrom School of Business which offered free cookies in exchange for students downloading the app.

“I didn’t think it would be a good marketing strategy, but I learned it works pretty well,” he said.

Before its arrival at BU, Sidechat received attention at colleges such as Harvard University and Tufts University in the spring of 2022.

At BU, in exchange for financial compensation, student organizations posted on Instagram and encouraged fellow students to download

Robert A. Brown: The legacy of Boston University’s 10th president

BY AVA GORDON Contributing Writer

Boston University President Robert Brown announced on Sept. 7 he would be leaving the position at the end of the 2022-2023 academic year.

University faculty and Student Government officials discussed his legacy, as the BU Board

of Trustees searches for his replacement.

Brown became the University’s 10th president in 2006 and during his 17 year presidency, he has dedicated himself to “the continued improvement of academic quality in all domains through the establishment of clear priorities, benchmarking and

periodic review,” according to his University profile.

During his presidency, Brown has emphasized BU “moving forward in all the right dimensions with confidence.”

“One of the things I’m proud of, that I did not think back in 2005 would be a big agenda item, is how we’ve been able to, with resources and with changes, diversify the student body, not only racially and ethnically, but also socioeconomically,” Brown said in an interview last month.

One of his memorable accomplishments was the “Choosing to be Great” plan, which focuses on strengthening the quality of the University’s undergraduate and graduate programs to attract world-class faculty members.

“Early in his Presidency, Dr. Brown initiated an 18-month planning process that culminated in the 10-year strategic plan, ‘Choosing to be Great,’ that articulates BU’s core values embedded in a set of institutional commitments,” according to his BU profile.

In 2012, BU was invited to join the Association of

American Universities, an organization of leading research universities in the U.S. and Canada. University Provost and Chief Academic Officer Jean Morrison said that Brown bringing the University into the AAU was one of his most notable accomplishments.

“President Brown has done an extraordinary job of elevating the stature of the faculty and the scholarly profile of the institution,” Morrison said. “In research, scholarship and creative work, he has enabled and led the University to hire and retain outstanding faculty.”

Brown has also initiated new academic programs such as the Kilachand Honors College, the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies within the College of Arts and Sciences and the establishment of the $100 million Rajen Kilachand Fund for Integrated Life Sciences and Engineering..

“He has laid an extraordinarily sound foundation on which we can continue building,” Morrison said. “He has positioned the University for continued

success.”

Before becoming the president of BU, Brown held numerous leadership positions at various institutions. Brown has served as Massachusetts Institute of Technology provost, dean of the School of Engineering there and head of the Department of Chemical Engineering.

Brown was also awarded the prestigious Simon Ramo Award in 2014 by the National Academy of Engineering, “for his contributions to engineering and his leadership in transforming disciplines in institutions.”

It is currently unknown who is to take his place following his retirement at the end of the school year. A new appointment should be made by next Spring.

“The University has a very strong foundation, and very good leadership in place at the board level, the Board of Trustees,” Brown said last month, “so I am confident that all the ingredients are in place for us to continue to make progress.”

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

TAYLOR COESTER | DFP STAFF

Boston University President Robert Brown. After 17 years of presidency, Brown will be stepping down at the end of Spring 2023.

Wally’s Cafe Jazz Club at 427 Massachusetts Avenue. The historic cultural and music hub reopened on Sept. 8 after being shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

BRENDAN NORDSTROM | DFP STAFF

out which iconic fictional couple you are based on your BU college

into a fall playlist for hot people

Daily Mail article claiming BU created a new COVID strain is false, University said

BY VIKRANT SABHARWAL Contributing Writer

The Daily Mail published an article on Oct. 17 that said researchers at Boston University have created a new, more deadly strain of COVID-19 which turned out to be false. The Daily Mail wrote that BU was conducting “gain of function research” to create a more dangerous strain of the virus with an 80% kill rate after a study of its impact on mice was done.

BU responded to the article by releasing a statement, noting that the reporting is “false and inaccurate.”

“We want to address the false and inaccurate reporting about Boston University COVID-19 research, which appeared today in the Daily Mail,” the statement wrote. “First, this research is not gain-of-function research, meaning it did not amplify the Washington state SARSCoV-2 virus strain or make it more dangerous. In fact, this research made the virus replicate less dangerous.”

The University claimed that the actual purpose of the research was to help develop targeted interventions that could combat the virus. The objective was to see if the virus was less virulent and what part of the virus dictates the severity of one’s disease. The University said that the research done was approved by the Institutional Biosafety Committee and the Boston Public Health Commission.

BU spokesperson Colin Riley described how the BU Media Relations office has been swamped with media requests and has been

doing their best to disseminate true information in order to overcome the article’s misinformation.

“We’ve been busy today responding to every media inquiry that came as a result of the false and inaccurate article, and providing true and accurate information to those reporters,” Riley wrote.

Riley said he reached out to the Daily Mail article author Caitlin Tilley as soon as the article came out and was brought to his attention. The author responded with an apology.

“Apologies for not coming to you before the article was published,” Tilley wrote to Riley. “This was an oversight from us and will not happen again.”

Riley called her apology “woefully inadequate” and criticized Daily Mail for failing to reach journalistic standards.

“The article required a major update and correction to address the sensational tone and false information, and accurately reflect the research,” he wrote. “The Daily Mail has failed in this regard.”

Riley said that what made this instance of misinformation unique was that the author did not get the perspective of anyone at BU before publishing.

“This one (is even more unique) based on how it came to be a published article before reaching out to the University for comment and then not getting it right,” he wrote.

Professor Ian Brierley of the Cambridge University Department of Virology wrote to the Daily Free Press that the viability of such research outlined in the Daily Mail is

unclear.

“We are dealing with mice as the experimental model and as the authors of both the Daily Mail and the (Boston University’s) bioRxiv articles say, they are aware that such studies might not translate to human

infection,” Brierly wrote. “We don’t know whether such ‘lab-grown’ highly pathogenic viruses would spread well. It is hoped not.”

Riley also credited the BU Brink, a publication delivering research news from BU, for responding

to the situation with all the facts.

“The Brink staff did a terrific job in contacting the researchers and others involved over a short period of time last evening, then writing and publishing it to refute the Daily Mail article,” Riley wrote.

BU Ombuds office provides guidance for conflict resolution

BY SOPHIA HEBERT Contributing Writer

Seeking a resource for problemsolving? At Boston University’s Office of the Ombuds, students who need a helping hand in conflict resolution can receive resources and professional guidance.

Designed to be confidential, independent, impartial and informal, according to their website, the Office of the Ombuds provides problem solving resources for primarily graduate students, faculty and staff, said University Ombuds Francine Montemurro.

“More than anything else, we help people communicate differently, work together differently and have difficult conversations,” Montemurro said.

She said issues range from interpersonal conflict resolution to “perceived harassment” to “perceived research misconduct.”

She said people also have questions about relationships with “colleagues,” a person who works for them or a person in a higher position such as “the chair of a department.”

“The thing that really is common in all of the cases that we deal with is that the situation is sensitive to the person who’s contacting us, so confidentiality is extremely important,” Montemurro said.

Riley Barrar, the associate Ombuds, said the word Ombuds came from the Swedish word Ombudsman and the profession itself originated under the 19th century Swedish government.

“It was designated actually by the King of Sweden as a designated role for the constituents of Sweden to be heard by the government,” Barrar said.

At BU, Montemurro and Barrar

are “organizational Ombuds” as

opposed to the institutional Ombuds that many governments may employ, or the advocate model Ombuds used in public health settings. She said their work can be divided into “two

The second bucket focuses on “systemic or structural” problems.

“Sometimes those individual conflicts … provide us with sort of a window into the functioning of a larger unit, a department or

Massachusetts voters to decide on undocumented immigrant driver’s license law

BY BRAEDON BLUMFIELD Contributing Writer

Massachusetts voters will decide whether or not to approve a law allowing eligible residents to apply for driver’s licenses regardless of their immigration status on Election Day, Nov. 8.

The law on the ballot, The Work and Family Mobility Act, allows for individuals who can prove current residency within Massachusetts but cannot provide proof of lawful presence in the United States to apply for driver’s licenses with documents such as a foreign birth certificate, foreign passport or consular card.

The act was passed by a two-thirds majority in the state Senate despite being vetoed by Gov. Charlie Baker. It was then challenged by a petition from Fair and Secure Massachusetts and made into a referendum, meaning that voters will decide to keep or repeal the law.

State Senator Will Brownsberger said all drivers who pass a driver’s test should be licensed, regardless of immigration status.

“What believe is that it’s the federal government’s job to determine who’s here and to control our borders,” he said. “Our job is to make sure that our roads are safe … I don’t think it’s the state’s job to decide who’s here in Massachusetts, we can’t control that. But if people are here, and then they pass the test, then they should get a license.”

He also explained how this measure can improve road safety by encouraging people to learn through official channels.

“I want anybody who’s driving in this state to go through driver’s education, to get a learner’s permit, to learn to drive properly, to understand the rules of the road and get a license once they’ve passed all those tests, like all of us have to do,” Brownsberger said.

Boston City Councilor Ruthzee

Louijeune said “everyone wins” under this new law.

“Ensuring that all immigrants and all drivers on the road have licenses makes the road safer for everyone involved,” she said.

She explained how people will feel much safer to drive when they have a license.

“You’re going to see people who are here already … being able to access city services, being able to use their license to drive and to go to the grocery store and not have a sense of fear, to drop their kids off at school,”

Louijeune said. “So all you’re doing is you’re bringing more people into the body politic.”

Shari Rendall, state and local engagement director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform — an immigration-reduction advocacy group — said FAIR opposes the law because it poses “a national security and public safety risk.”

“I do not believe giving driver’s licenses to illegal aliens or those who have entered the country illegally makes roads safer,” Rendall said.

“You don’t lower standards for driver’s licenses.”

A study from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, updated in 2021, showed that after allowing undocumented immigrants driver’s licenses the rate of hit-and-run accidents in Connecticut and California decreased by almost 10%.

The same study from the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center showed that New Mexico and Utah saw drastic decreases in their numbers of uninsured drivers after implementing laws that were similar to the Work and Family Mobility Act, 60% and 80% respectively.

Rendall said the law “rewards people who come into the country illegally.”

“It undermines federal immigration law,” she said. “When somebody comes here and enters the country illegally, they have not gone through

any kind of interview process they have not … crossed through our proper channels.”

Brownsberger, on the other hand, said he doesn’t believe this law will incentivize illegal immigration.

“People have much more powerful reasons to immigrate,” he said.

“People are starving, people are getting shot at, people are fleeing from desperate situations. Whether or not they can get a driver’s license in Massachusetts is just not going to determine whether they’ll make the decision to immigrate. It’s completely irrelevant.”

Rendall also said she thinks there’s

a “real possibility” this law will allow for voter fraud.

Brownsberger, however, explained being able to vote does not rely on or require having a driver’s license but is rather “on the basis of being a citizen.”

“If they don’t have citizenship and that’s known at the time that they tried to register to vote… They’re not going to be invited to register,”

Brownsberger said.

Gubernatorial candidates Maura Healey and Geoff Diehl were asked about their stances on the law in an Oct.12 televised debate.

“We have an immigration crisis at our southern border, we’re seeing

people pour into the country…and so when you add driver’s licenses to people who are here illegally you are now incentivizing (it),” Diehl said.

Healey responded by saying that the policy would act as a safety measure.

“As a fundamental matter, you want to know who is actually driving on our roads,” Healey said. “You want to know that they’ve received instruction and training through a driver’s ed program.”

If approved, this law would take effect on July 1, 2023 and would make Massachusetts the 18th state to institute a law of this nature.

buckets.”

“The first bucket is people contact our office because they have… some kind of problem that relates to their life or study or work at BU,” Montemurro said. “It can be anything from a question about a relationship with a colleague or a lab partner or people whom this person supervises or people to whom they report.”

something,” Montemurro said.

While the conflicts the office seeks to resolve differ, they typically pertain to situations where “the stakes feel high,” Montemurro said.

“The person feels like they may lose their job … or they may end up with a very troubled relationship with a supervisor,” Montemurro said, “and the person doesn’t know what to do or whom to turn to. That’s

Sidechat launches at BU with help from campus organizations, students have mixed feelings

SIDECHAT FROM 1 Sidechat.

A Sidechat employee reached out to Srirupa Yerramsetti, a sophomore in ENG and member of the all-female fusion dance group, Chankaar, with the goal of sponsoring a student organization at BU.

Sidechat gave Chankaar a custom link for followers ato use to download the app. The dance group received $3 for every download within the first two days of the launch. Yerramsetti said the money went to the organization’s budget.

“Obviously, everyone is looking for opportunities to fundraise,” Yerramsetti said. “I really was just like I need to try to get this out to as many people as we can.”

A number of other BU student organizations posted Sidechat to their social media, but still, BU students have mixed feelings on the benefits of Sidechat.

Rani Kaushik, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she downloaded Sidechat after seeing Instagram stories. Since initially downloading it, she does not use the app very often.

“It’s kind of not as exciting, it’s the same content over and over again,” said Kaushik. “I feel like it’s not as much new content.”

Eliza Ciardella, a sophomore in the College of Communication, said she saw the table at the GSU and Instagram stories, but did not download Sidechat.

“I haven’t really felt like I needed to see what was on it,” she said.

On the content, Kaushik said most of what is posted is “relatable” memes to BU students.

“I feel like a lot of it is more neutral, just posts about Warren escalators, GSU finding a table,” she said.

Kaushik said that when the app

first launched, there were more posts targeted at sororities and fraternities at BU. Although she said the jokes were made “in a funny way,” she said the anonymity of the app led to the “negative posts earlier on.”

“You give people an anonymous platform and they know that they can say whatever, do whatever, without anyone finding out who they are,” she said.

Ciardella shared the same sentiments about the anonymous feature of the app.

“People feel more inclined to say whatever they want, and that’s usually negative,” she said.

However, Ciardella said the overall effect of the app can help students “get a better feel of the community.”

Lee-Millstein said Sidechat helped him “feel connected to the community as a freshman.”

“It’s a good example of how social media can be used to connect people … even though the app is anonymous,” Lee-Millstein said. “They did a really good job of moderating the content. You’re not allowed to basically be hateful, or target specific people.”

what ties it all together.”

Howard Gadlin, retired consulting Ombuds at BU and current Ombudsman to Harvard Medical School, said “Ombuds take confidentiality very seriously.”

satisfying at the individual level,” Gadlin said. “At the same time, there are ways in which as an Ombuds, you can help bring about changes in the systems within an organization that improve the functionality of those systems.”

Barrar said she feels people have a misconception about Ombuds services.

“(People) often think that we are sort of a judge,” Barrar said. “We can share our thoughts on something or we might have a recommendation, but we don’t render a decision or an outcome.”

Montemurro said the Ombuds may refer people to Behavioral Medicine or the Sexual Assualt Response & Prevention Center through Student Health Services.

“We’re not therapists,” Montemurro said. “We are trying to figure out structurally, systemically and individually, what the situation is that they’re looking at so that we can help them find ways to address it or to choose not to, because we don’t want to take away their agency.”

Barrar expressed a similar sentiment.

“While our conversations can often be therapeutic,” she said, “we’re looking at a specific situation or a specific conflict, rather than someone’s entire life and history.”

“I really do believe that most Ombuds represent the safest place that someone can go to raise even the most difficult kinds of issues,” Gadlin said.

Gadlin said he has made “really good connections” with people as an Ombuds.

“When someone comes in feeling hopeless and winds up feeling resolved, that’s enormously

The Ombuds office aims to give students, faculty and staff the resources or help they need to “work through a very challenging, sensitive” conflict like a “thought partner,” Montemurro said.

“We’re not there to interrogate people,” Montemurro said, “but we’re there to help the person understand what matters to them, what the concern is, what their perceptions are, what the facts are and to help us understand the same thing.”

New engagement day center opens in Roxbury for unhoused people

BY XIAOYA SHAO Staff Writer

The Whittier Street Health Center in Roxbury launched a new engagement center on Oct. 7 to provide medical care, behavioral health care and basic needs services for unhoused people.

The Day Engagement Center is a doublewide trailer located at 1290 Tremont Street in Roxbury, adjacent to the Whittier clinic, and was established in partnership with Mayor Michelle Wu and the Boston Public Health Commission. The location is 1.2 miles from the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard — widely known as “Mass and Cass” — where many unhoused encampments are located.

“(The center will) address health equity, social justice and the economic inequities impacting vulnerable and homeless populations,” Frederica Williams, president and CEO of the Whittier Street Health Care Center, wrote in an email.

The center offers primary care and certain disease testing on a daily basis and recovery support on a rotating schedule, Williams wrote.

Food, water, bathrooms, condoms and other daily necessities are provided as well as connection to housing and legal services. The center also offers internet service, haircuts, massages, prayer circles and gift cards for manual labor.

In an Oct. 20 press conference, Wu provided updates on how the city plans to address the unhoused crisis in Boston and mentioned the new daytime center in Roxbury.

“As a City, we have responsibility to care for individuals living with substance use disorders and mental health challenges,” Wu said in the press conference. a

The new center is one of the two daytime centers Wu announced in May. Wu and the Boston Public Health Commission received $6.9 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to power the city’s substance use services for homeless people, according to the announcement.

Howard Koh, professor at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, said the new engagement center is “a ray of hope” for the issue at Mass and Cass.

“On one hand it is a very small step forward,” Koh said. “But on the other hand, if everyone involved in the Mass and Cass crisis can follow

the example of Whittier Street and make similar commitments, that’s really the only way to make sustained progress on this crisis.”

Koh said the major challenge in addressing homelessness is the transition from temporary housing to permanent, supportive housing.

“Getting people housing is necessary but far from sufficient,” Koh said. “It’s going to involve so many sectors of society who work closely together. So that is the challenge, but also the opportunity here.”

Wu proposed a bill in January that funds affordable housing and senior property tax relief by putting a 2% of transfer tax on real estate sales over $2 million, according to the Mayor’s Office of Housing.

The bill is currently in the House of Representatives and, according to the MOH, if passed, could generate “tens of millions annually” dedicated to the accommodations and relief.

Robyn Frost, executive director for the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless, said the establishment of the new center is “absolutely a needed project.”

“It’s a one-stop shop for people to go and to be able to know when they enter that door, that there’s going to be services that can help them and are really geared toward people without housing,” Frost said.

Ryan Garrant, a senior at Northeastern University who lives near the center, said services like the new center are necessary, but the center is “a short term solution for a deeper problem.”

“A lot of homelessness crisis has to be solved at a very young age,” Garrant said. “You have to get to them early, and then that environment rather than treating them when they’re older.”

Mithil Katakam, a junior at Northeastern University, said the new center is in a “ prime location” and “a really beneficial center.”

“I think it’s for a good cause,” Katakam said. “It would definitely help out, especially with Roxbury being a gentrified area.”

Koh said academic communities need to be more aware of the prevailing homeless crisis in the United States.

“We want all students to learn more about the root causes of homelessness and how we can work better together to try to address them,” Koh said. “It’s very important to work together on these issues.”

A Boston University student researcher in a lab. The Daily Mail article claiming that researchers at BU have created a deadly strain of COVID-19 with an 80% kill rate was refuted as “false and inaccurate” by the University.

VIGUNTHAAN THARMARAJA DFP FILE

The Boston University Office of the Ombuds at 930 Commonwealth Avenue. Students who may be dealing with challenging problems in their life can find support and security with the Ombuds.

MADI KOESLER DFP STAFF

REVIEW

Steve Lacy captivates at Roadrunner with genre-bending guitar solos

BY ADITHYA IYER Science Associate Editor

Two floors entirely packed full of people staring at the stage, waiting in anticipation. The crowd collectively held their breath as a crew member fixed the mic. The lights started to gradually dim, portions of the stage started to light up and artificial fog slowly rolled onto the stage. The crowd erupted into screams as a silhouette appeared on stage.

From the floor to ceiling rows of speakers, a familiar chord booms throughout the venue — Steve Lacy enters through the fog.

On Monday, Lacy performed at Roadrunner as a part of his “Give You The World” tour.

Fousheé, a singer featured on the song “Sunshine” off of Lacy’s recent album “Gemini Rights,” opened for the show.

Fousheé is an R&B and soul artist bt in this performance, she was a bona fide rock star. Unexpectedly, Fousheé performed metal versions of her popular songs “Deep End” and “Paper Plane” as well as a number of unreleased songs. Fousheé’s performance highlighted her incredible versatility as a performer. Her performance was reminiscent of the grunge and rock styles of Evanescence or Halestorm.

Fousheé’s set ended with a metal rendition of her song “Candy Grapes.”

After what felt like an eternity between sets, the crowd was

energetically anxious to hear Lacy. The first song in the setlist was “Buttons,” a perfect start to Lacy’s extraordinary performance. The song started off with a dramatic intro and was amplified tenfold by the ten subwoofers strategically placed throughout the venue. As the ending of the song crescendoed, there was a quick transition into one of Lacy’s more popular

songs “Mercury.”

“Mercury” is the third song off of “Gemini Rights” and was initially released as a single before the album dropped. The song is unique compared to the others performed at the concert because it draws from a number of different genres as inspiration.

It starts off with a Bossa Nova rhythm, which is uncommon for a popular artist like Lacy to use

ARTS

in their music. The change was further exemplified by Lacy’s choice to play the song on an acoustic guitar rather than an electric guitar which Bossa Nova is usually accompanied by.

The wide success of a song like “Mercury” highlights Lacy’s genre-bending abilities and his music’s ability to transcend the rules established by genre and style.

Lacy then started playing songs off of his previous album “Apollo XXI.” Fan favorites like “Only If,” “N Side” and “Playground” were performed while the crowd danced and sang along at the top of their lungs.

“Lay Me Down,” however, was the standout performance among the “Apollo XXI” songs by a landslide.

Lacy showed his talent as a guitarist during his performance of “Lay Me Down.” On the album, the song is a groovy, laid back song, but at the concert, Lacy had a guitar solo that lasted minutes as he traveled across the entirety of the stage. He took a very relaxed song and transformed it into a rock version that completely surpassed my expectations.

Lacy’s performance was not just entertaining due to his pure musical talent, but his personality could also be seen between songs as he spoke with the crowd. His humbleness combined with his humor made the overall concert experience feel like an intimate house show.

During the encore, Lacy played two songs that led to his initial discovery by many longtime fans, “C U Girl” and “Dark Red.” The nostalgia and passion Lacy brought to the two last songs coupled with the crowd singing along made the encore the most memorable portion of the night. Lacy’s genius as a completely selfproduced artist was evident when the curtains closed and the lights brightened once again.

BU Bands celebrates its centennial anniversary with high spirits

BY EMILY WYRWA Contributing Writer

“I’m part of the history now.”

That is how Katie McCabe, a senior in the College of Arts and Sciences and the trumpet section leader of the Marching Band and Pep Band, sums up her emotions as she prepares to perform in what Director of the Athletic Bands Aaron Goldberg called the “BU Band’s event of the century.”

The Boston University Band program is hosting its Centennial Celebration this weekend. The schedule for the weekend will include various performances by the athletic, concert and jazz bands and opportunities for families, alumni, community members and current students to come together in celebration of BU Band’s history.

“Some of it is just what we do every year, but we just have people flying in from all over the world to check it out,” Goldberg said.

In addition to the alumni returning to watch the performances, Goldberg said band members who graduated with the BU classes of 2020 and 2021 are being invited “back to put the uniform on one last time and play with their band.”

Bonnie Chen, a sophomore in CAS and flute section leader in the Marching Band and Pep Band, said participating in Centennial Weekend is a “once in a lifetime experience.”

“I’m really happy and I’m really honored to be performing for all the people who’ve been in band, seeing this program grow,” Chen said.

Goldberg said that the performances during Centennial Weekend, particularly the Marching Band’s performance, look to celebrate the “resilience and perseverance” of the BU Bands.

He said the final song in the set will be “From Now On” from the 2016 film “The Greatest Showman,” during which the band will stop playing their

instruments for a segment to sing the lyrics “we will come back home, home again.”

“We’re shining the spotlight on our alumni coming back to what was their home when they were here,” Goldberg said. “The fact that they still feel strongly enough about the band to carve out time in their lives to come back and see what we’re doing these days … that’s very special for us.”

Michael Barsano, the Director of University Ensembles, said BU band focuses on “creating community.”

“As our students aren’t music majors, this is something they do because they

want to and they love music and love making music with their friends,” Barsano said, “and that, to me, is pretty much what the event is all about.”

McCabe said the band is a “very tight knit community.”

“It is just something that people want to be a part of because the community is just so rewarding,” McCabe said.

“We really are, it is kind of cliché, but like band family.”

McCabe said she’s looking forward to the weekend and “performing for ourselves.”

“We get to show off a little bit,”

McCabe said. “A lot of the times we

can be in a bit of a supporting role in terms of where we’re performing. This is specifically a celebration of everything that the band program, on its own, has been through and has done.”

Goldberg said he hopes the weekend will be a “party for the ages.”

“What this weekend means to me is a chance for anybody who’s going to see any of this to recognize the real special thing that we’ve got going on here in the BU bands program,” Goldberg said. “It is going to be a concentrated weekend of all-out music and energy and school spirit.”

GlobeDocs film festival opens with Goodnight Oppy

BY TALIA LISSAUER Co-Campus Editor

“My battery is low and it’s getting dark,” were the final words of the viral NASA rover, Opportunity. The rover survived 15 years — long surpassing its 90 sol, the number in Mar’s days, life expectancy.

In 2003, NASA sent twin rovers, Opportunity and Spirit, to opposite sides of Mars with the 90 Sols mission to find evidence of ancient water. Spirit survived 20 times longer than expected, and Opportunity survived 55 times longer, according to the NASA website.

“Goodnight Oppy,” a documentary directed by Ryan White with a team of over 300 people, kicked off the 2022 GlobeDocs Film Festival at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Following the showing, White participated in a question-andanswer discussion with the audience and Chief Executive Officer of the Boston Globe Media Linda Henry.

GlobeDocs is an annual festival which features documentaries hosted by the Boston Globe.

White said he and his team spent two and a half years sifting through almost a thousand hours of footage from NASA’s archive, conducting interviews, digitally creating Mars and putting this documentary together.

Annah Chaya, a second-year at Northeastern University, said this was the first premiere

she has attended and the set up of the screening was “super cool.”

“We got to see a lot of his behind the scenes and what he endured especially since the filming and this whole movie creation happened right when everything shut down because of COVID,” Chaya said.

The public has been invested in NASA projects before, but White said Opportunity and Spirit connected “perhaps more than anything” else with the public. When Opportunity’s mission was declared to be over, he said it was a “gut punch.”

“The genius of the design was that they created this lovable creature,” White said, “that they didn’t have to create to invite us, the public along, the taxpayers, the people paying for this expedition.”

White said to produce a film “you really have to love your stories.”

“We’ve always been looking for a space story … but we had never found one that we thought was worth years of our lives,” White said.

Then, White said he saw the 2019 viral tweet about Opportunity and he remembered “it moving (him).” A year later, Steven Spielberg’s company, Amblin, reached out to White and asked if he would be interested in creating a documentary about the rover.

“Jeff and I looked at each other, that’s my best friend and producing partner, and said, ‘This is the one,’” White

said.

White said he worked with “huge visual effects” and used collections of photos from satellites on Mars and the pictures sent from the rovers to replicate the entirety of Mars.

“Everything you just saw in the film is completely derived from the imagery … both robots obviously had cameras on them so we were able to see through their eyes,” White said. “NASA was consulted to make sure that every scene in our film, every shot, all the lighting, the weather on a certain day or the amount of dust in the air … would be completely accurate.”

The first scene that White shot was actually the final scene in the film — the launch of NASA’s 2020 robot “Perseverance.” White was one of the few people allowed at the Kennedy Space Center to see the event because it was during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It was one of the best days of my life to get to watch Perseverance launch,” White said. “I mean you feel it literally throughout your body. So that’s when the film started. It was that shoot.”

Jennifer Seminack, a sophomore in the Boston University College of Communications, said as a film major she was “really glad” to hear the conversation with the director following the show.

“The movie itself I think was full of so much heart and

soul,” Seminick said. “It was a really beautiful little piece of art.”

Nud Pob offers authentic Thai cuisine at the heart of campus BUSINESS

BY JOHN MANIACE Contributing Writer

Looking for Thai cuisine near the campus of Boston University? Look no further than Nud Pob, located on 738 Commonwealth Avenue. This family-run establishment — which boasts “modern interpretation of classic dishes,” according to its website — has been serving the BU community for years, keeping prices affordable. Owner Eddie Chen said his favorite part of work is serving the BU community.

“Lots of students at BU, they love our food,” Chen said. “Seeing them everyday makes us happy.”

Chen said they took over the business in 2011 because he and his wife had wished to open up a restaurant in the United States. They had lived in Thailand for two years, where he learned the language and other parts of the culture.

Chen said they had to shut down for the first two months of the pandemic. He said he had no choice but to sign up for thirdparty food delivery services like Grubhub, UberEats and DoorDash to keep the business going throughout the pandemic, but the services charged high rates.

Due to these high rates, as well as high supply of ingredients with inflation nationwide, Nud Pob was forced to raise their prices to keep up, Chen said.

“All the vegetables, the rice, the food from the U.S., from Thailand, from China, they all

raised up in price, either 40 percent, 100 percent,” Chen said. “There is nothing much we can do about it.”

He said they’ve had to raise their prices, which has been a

concern, especially since most of their customers are students. “We don’t want to (hurt) our customer(s), which are the students,” Chen said. “Students are not the moneymakers. They

assistance from the federal Paycheck Protection Program, Chen said, so he and his wife put their own savings into the restaurant to keep it open.

“The money was showing up…in my account,” Chen said. “But because the funding (was) draining so fast, the money was gone without me even realizing it was there.”

Isabel Rubin, a graduate student in College of Engineering, said the food is good and the location is convenient. Rubin, whose favorite menu items are the curry dishes and the Crispy Chicken Basil, has been coming to Nud Pob for about a year.

“It’s very close to all of my classes,” Rubin said. “It’s like my favorite restaurant around here.”

Rishab Sudhir, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences, said the food comes out really quickly.

“It’s so fast. You get it in like, two minutes,” Sudhir said. “If you really need food quickly, you come here, get your food and leave.”

Chen said new customers should try basic dishes first before “leveling up” to their more authentic dishes. For example, he said, their menu includes a basic Pad Thai, a Thai Style Pad Thai (more authentic) and finally Tom Yum Pad Thai.

only have a limited amount of money to spend, so we try to save some money for our customers as well.”

The business was struggling even with government

“If you want to try our food and you have no idea what you want to try, there’s a board with the picture(s) near the counter,” Chen said. “Just close your eyes and pick one. You will get a good one.”

SAM BETSKO DFP STAFF

Steve Lacy performing at the Roadrunner in Boston on Oct. 10 as part of his “Give You The World” tour.

MOHAN GE DFP FILE

The Boston University Pep Band. The BU Band will celebrate its centennial anniversary this weekend.

“Goodnight Oppy” opens in theaters Nov. 4 and Amazon Prime Nov. 24.

COURTESY OF AMAZON STUDIOS VIA IMDB

The “Goodnight Oppy” movie poster. The documentary about NASA’s Mars rover, called Opportunity, kicked off the 2022 GlobeDocs Film Festival.

PERRY SOSI DFP STAFF

Nud Pob Thai Cuisine at 738 Commonwealth Ave in Central Campus. The restaurant offers authentic Thai dishes for an affordable price.

The best of FreeP concert photography this year

BY DAILY FREE PRESS PHOTOGRAPHERS

The jazz-rock-funk band Sammy Rae & The Friends performing at Roadrunner Boston on Oct. 15. TALIA LISSAUER

STAFF

The Boston University Symphony Orchestra performing at the Tsai Performance Center on Sept. 30. SHANNON RUSNAK DFP STAFF

English pop artist Holly Humberstone opening for Girl in Red at the Paradise Rock Club on March 18. VISHVA VENKATESAN DFP STAFF

Carly Rae Jepsen singing at Roadrunner Boston on Sept. 26 as part of her “The So Nice Tour.”

VENKATESAN | DFP STAFF

VISHVA VENKATESAN DFP STAFF

TALIA

TALIA LISSAUER | DFP STAFF

TALIA LISSAUER DFP STAFF

Pop-funk singer Steve Lacy performing at Roadrunner Boston on Oct. 10.

BETSKO | DFP STAFF

COLUMNS

THE RECORD:

rhetoric and did an interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” in which he stated that he believed Planned Parenthood was created to “control the Jew population.”

There’s a strong division that has to exist between sympathizing with the difficult side effects of Ye’s disorder and turning a blind-eye to the damaging behavior that occurs as a result of it.

This, unfortunately, is the line that Ye — and his supporters — seem to have crossed. There has been a rejection of this crucial moral principle, an absence of reprove for his actions disguised by the “permission” of his diagnosis.

in the moment, but looking back now — with a healthy dose of therapy and perspective — I’m grateful that I had a support system which kept me from crossing this fine line that mental illness often forces us to approach.

Addison Schmidt Columnist

Ever since his diagnosis of bipolar disorder became public in 2016, Kanye West — who legally changed his name to Ye last year — has become a chameleon of a public figure, shapeshifting from a rapper to a political candidate to a fashion designer with an almost perverse kind of flair.

Consequently, it seems, his public behavior has also shape-shifted, from the eerily eccentric to the dangerously concerning. Since 2020 alone, he has attempted a run for president (under the so-called “Birthday Party”), called slavery “a choice” and continues to fraternize with Candace Owens — who is known best for attempting to “bring back manly men” and for railing against the Black Lives Matter movement.

Just recently, he’s been pictured wearing a “White Lives Matter’’ t-shirt at Paris Fashion Week, which he compared to the infamous image of a man standing in front of tanks in Tiananmen Square, been banned from multiple social media platforms for spreading anti-Semitic

SING ABOUT ME:

Ye and I aren’t very similar — he’s a Grammy-award winning rapper, and I’m a high-school choir drop-out with a penchant for singing off-key. But oddly enough, we have a similarity that originates from a more personal place. We both struggle with mental illness — him with bipolar disorder, and I with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

I can’t claim to understand his behavior or his personal battle, but I do understand the difficulties that come with having a mental illness. It’s the kind of struggle that is impossible to understand without being endured — a second voice in your head that warps your sense of identity and concept of control.

In the depths of my struggle with OCD, it often felt like I was a prisoner to this second voice. Watching from a bird’seye view as it hurt my relationships and confidence and the people who cared about me.

But I was lucky in the sense that I had support — not just in finding help, but in understanding that despite the difficulty of my situation, the harm that my actions caused was not excusable. It was difficult to come to terms with

Ye’s behavior has become something that is simply accepted rather than something that is thought of critically. And, consequently, his supporters have a reality, it does more than

narrow our perception of what people with mental illness are like — it harms every person who is doing what they can to help themselves get better.

I believe in the persistence of compassion, even in situations where it seems impossible to find, for those who might not deserve it. I sincerely hope that Ye has the support he needs from the people who care about him. But we as a public have to learn that there is a dangerously important distinction

When dealing with issues as sensitive as mental health — and, in this case, racism and antisemitism — we cannot afford to confuse the two. Ye deserves support, but he does not deserve a free pass. And it is the responsibility of every person who has given him power to condemn his words and protect the people he has harmed. We owe it to every marginalized group he has put at risk — and to each person who has had the courage to address their own mental

Editorial Board

Kid Cudi’s Netflix Special ‘Entergalactic’ is an assertion that creativity and comfort can coexist

Cudi helms a star-studded cast, that’s jam-packed with Hollywood goliaths and past collaborators, as the voice of Jabari, a graffiti artist that’s inked a fresh deal with a major comic publisher in New York City. He moves into a gorgeous open concept flat in Manhattan, shortly thereafter meeting Meadow, an up-and-coming street photographer that just so happens to be his next-door neighbor.

rather than birthed from luck or a onein-a-million chance. The writers attach material success to artistry without ever blatantly touching on it, normalizing the pursuit of a dream rather than pushing the stigma of aspiring artists as people who are in over their heads — it’s really cool to see.

any individual doesn’t exude confidence with every word or movement as if to say “I know exactly what I’m doing, and I’m winning as a result,” and it inspires meager music journalists like me to trust the process and keep trudging along.

Aiden Mega Columnist

Before we delve into the nittygritty, I’d like to give Scott Mescudi his flowers. “Entergalactic” blew my expectations out of the water.

I’ve always been a fan of Kid Cudi’s music, but I was skeptical about how his artistry would translate from the booth to the big screen. This special served as an audacious inauguration into the world of film and multimedia. He has only a few production credits from the past couple of years, so I walked into this project without the faintest clue of what the end result would look like.

If you haven’t seen “Entergalactic” yet, let me be the first to tell you that several years of work amounted to something truly ethereal. It feels lazy to simply call the thing a visual album — the soundtrack is a butterfly garden, don’t get me wrong — but the music takes a backseat to grossly captivating animation, lavish character design envisioned by Virgil Abloh and a romcom tale that’s as sweet and succinct as it gets.

The plot follows the quintessential rom-com format — Jabari is woken up to blaring music in the apartment over, tosses his slides on and angrily muscles his way through a sea of inebriation only to find out that the owner is the girl of his dreams. She asks if she could treat him to lunch the next morning, setting up a high-fashion love story that sees sparks fly and go haywire in the span of ninety minutes.

The special is well worth the watch. Literal paintings in motion make for a visual experience worth a thousand Netflix subscriptions and the off-kilter artisphere entices the viewer into a rom-com story that feels as refreshing as cold water on a sunny day. Timothée Chalamet and Ty Dolla $ign also play Jabari’s best friends, so if you were still looking for a selling point to hammer the pitch home, there it is.

Behind all of the cutesy overtones of “Entergalactic,” it is an ode to the fruits that are to be picked from working within the creative sphere. Jabari and Meadow aren’t painted out to be the stereotypical struggling artists that Hollywood loves to write around. The pair relishes in success from the very beginning of the special, and their upper echelon lifestyles seem natural

Jabari and Meadow are starving artists who have found material success because they’ve stayed true to their craft. The former refuses to sell out when hired by Cosmic Comics amid urges to rebrand his gritty “Mr. Rager” character in accordance with the lighthearted

I think what Cudi did here is ubersignificant if we’re to open the gates of closed-mindedness and stop scaring the hopeful away from turning fantasy into reality. The motif of an artist hitting it big against all odds is getting a little stale, and normalizing artistic success in film and television would see young adults viewing a creative path as a viable career choice rather than an idealization. event, give “Entergalactic” a spin if you haven’t yet. I’m as sad as the next guy about Cudi saying that he might put his music career to rest on “Hot Ones,” but if that means he’ll be pumping out more stuff like this, I’d be a very happy

EDITORIAL

The one where TikTok wrecks the music industry

Before the advent of streaming, no monthly revenue existed for musicians.

Spotify indelibly changed this, offering a royalties system — where each stream of your song earns you money.

Unfortunately, the amount earned by each stream is a fraction of a penny, meaning unless one has a massive fanbase, like Drake or Bad Bunny who currently rank as the site’s top two streamed artists — earning a livable wage from streaming is impossible.

Suddenly the newfangled system, once thought to be the industry’s Hail Mary, feels like placing a Band-Aid atop a broken dam.

An obvious resolution to providing indie artists the profits they deserve is upping Spotify’s monthly subscription fee, but the disrespect of music from TikTok, combined with the uber-accessible facet of streaming, have made it even more likely that such an increase would serve as a dealbreaker for listeners.

TikTok’s inconceivable influence on the music industry has altered how Gen Z perceives music. The eighth note app, known for its short form content and endless scroll, has begun to act as a major player in making or breaking up and coming artists.

One of the most recent recipients of the TikTok fast track to stardom was Gayle— known for the hit song “abcdefu,” in which the singer wields a play on the purposefully mis-sequenced letters of the alphabet to tell her imagined ex to f— off.

Pop is easy to get people to catch on to, that’s the whole point — it’s the Marvel Cinematic Universe of music, but Gayle’s “abcdefu” goes a step further.

The hit is everything a TikTok song should be — catchy, inoffensive, and it presents a clear story so users know what

to do with it. While meaningful music may be near and dear to our hearts, no TikToker wants to decipher code when planning a video to go along with a popular song.

Though there’s no way of knowing for sure, it almost seems as if Gayle — and other writers of TikTok songs where the singer rants about a basic human experience with as much snappy repetition as possible — especially write their music to take off on the app. They mold their “art” to be well received rather than making something and hoping it fits.

Music should come from a soulful place. The origins of music stem from the human need for connection. Darwin theorized it was a method of mating call, while others believe it was a way to weave people together, fostering a more close-knit sense of community.

When you listen to a song, whether you’re indulging in nostalgia with China Anne McClain’s “Calling All The Monsters” for the Halloween season or desperate for evidence you’re not alone in feeling alone with Mitski’s “Nobody” — music provides an opportunity to feel.

TikTok, beyond making Harry Styles’s discography interminably overplayed, sucks the emotion out of music in a plethora of ways. The “slowed and reverb” or “sped up” version of a song disregards the time and consideration an artist puts into their music. The 10 second snippets songs are forced into can rearrange the intended meaning of a song entirely, while also making the art of the album even more obsolete than the practice of attempting to chart with singles already has.

TikTok music isn’t art, it’s content.

Beyond the aforementioned disrespect TikTok has fostered for music, the

accessibility of music itself has ironically made it easier to tune out.

Unlike decades ago when you had to go out of your way, not only to buy a device like a record or CD player, but the records and CDs themselves — music now rests at the tips of our fingers. We scroll for hours, hearing an endless amount of song clippets, and then, just to top it off, jump on Spotify and play a nine hour playlist to lull us to sleep. Music is right there all the time, and because of that it’s lost its impact.

TikTok is fun, and music should be too. The ability for as many people to access music for as cheap as possible isn’t a bad

thing. This is not to sound like an angry grandfather shaking his fists to the flock, but instead to encourage music enjoyers everywhere (of which we all are), to stop and smell the metaphorical roses.

Rather than taking advantage of our open entrance to music, we should go out of our way to recognize musicians who have the heart but lack the funds.

If possible, ABCDEF-you should be as willing to dedicate a bit more money each month to Spotify as you are to Netflix and Hulu. It will serve artists in the long run and save us from an apocalyptic future of nursing rhyme pop hits.

The editors rank Taylor Swift’s ‘Midnights’

BY PAYTON RENEGAR Lifestyle Editor

During the whirlwind of chaos that is print night, the editors sat down at midnight to rank the long-awaited tenth album by Taylor Swift. This is a music edition after all, and what kind of journalists would we be if we did not jump at the chance?

“Mastermind”

This song ended the album on the perfect note. Swift ends this album by celebrating herself, confidently titling herself as a mastermind. After all

Despite the cheesy lyrics such as “I want the penthouse of your heart,” we liked this carefree, empowering, going-out anthem. The technopop fit in well with the song. We felt that, unlike other songs on this album, the beat complimented her voice instead of drowning her out. Molly and Casey said to enjoy this song the most.

“Labyrinth”

One of our favorite songs on the album, “Labyrinth,” was refreshing from some of the previous songs. We agreed that Swift was her original self — not attempting to emulate current pop trends. Brendan and I ranked this song as our

This song perfectly escalated the office’s mood after the andante tempo of “Labyrinth.” Although

the rudimentary lyrics took away from the song, the beat raised positive vibrations around those huddled in front of the speaker.

“Lavender Haze”

This song sets up a fun, electro-pop tone for the rest of the album. Though the beat is positive and gets listeners into a good mood, we feel that the music takes away from the vocals — nearly drowning Taylor’s voice out. We also noticed that the title seems similar to a marijuana strand name. It could be due to her attempt to reach younger audiences.

“Anti-Hero”

Despite the somewhat cringe lyrics such as “a sexy baby,” we liked the feminine energy surrounding this song. Taylor nods to the idea that a strong female character is often seen as an “antihero” in society.

“Maroon”

This is a classic Taylor Swift song. The slower tempo mellows out the fast pace that we just witnessed with the previous song, “Lavender Haze.”

“Question…?”

This song speaks to the young adult fresh into the world. The overall message of the song is beautiful. However, the lyrics “good girl, sad boy” were hard to look past to enjoy the song. Molly, in particular, hated this lyric.

“Snow On The Beach (feat. Lana Del Rey)” Taylor tries her hand at a Del Rey style. Despite featuring Lana, but in the background, we were disappointed at the lack of Del Rey’s presence in the song. We wanted a collaboration similar to “Nothing New”’ with artists Phoebe Bridgers and Swift. We were disappointed. However, this was editors Ava and Sangmin’s favorite song in the album.

“Sweet Nothing”

The sweet, slow beginning brought the office into a child-like trance. Some editors were returning to their dorms at this point in the night. Maybe it was the music or the strong sense of community we all felt, but sentimentality surrounded us like a warm blanket for a moment. Despite the low ranking, Clare defended this song as her go-to for this album.

“Midnight Rain”

This song exists in the intersection between “Reputation” and “1989.” The song was wellenjoyed by most of the office, despite the unnecessary autotuned vocal drops.

“You’re On Your Own, Kid”

This song’s melody fits in well with the context of the song. The editors agreed that the song was meant to have a childish feel, as she’s addressing her earlier life.

“Vigilante Sh—”

This song was a revisit to the “Reputation” album. We felt as though Taylor did it right the first time. This song felt unnecessary and unwelcome as we gathered around the speaker to review the album. No one in the office attempted to defend this song.

Despite the general consensus of the office that “Midnights” was not Taylor’s best album, we found a sense of community in ranking and critiquing her songs. From laughing at the odd lyrics that caught us by surprise to the magic that filled the air when we agreed on a rank for her song, we drew closer to one another. Although we were disappointed in some songs, we spent the night connecting over her music — which is arguably an artist’s ultimate desire. And if you didn’t stay up for her 3 a.m. additions, grab your friends to create your own rankings.

THE INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY

The Daily Free Press is published Monday through Friday during the academic year except during vacation and exam periods by Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc., a nonprofit coporation operated by Boston University Students. Copyright © 2022 Back Bay Publishing Co., Inc. All right reserved.

Molly Farrar, Editor-in-Chief Sangmin Song Co-Campus Editor

Tanisha Bhat, Managing Editor

Clare Ong, Co-Photo Editor

Ava Berger Co-Features Editor

Haley Alvarez-Lauto Layout & Graphics Editor

Talia Lissauer, Co-Campus Editor Eliza Nuestro Co-Photo Editor

Claire Law, Co-Features Editor

Bella Ramirez Co-City Editor Casey Choung Co-City Editor

Lydia Evans, Opinion Editor Payton Renegar Lifestyle Editor

Brendan Nordstrom, Co-Sports Editor Chloe Patel, Co-Sports Editor Taylor Hawthorne, Co-Podcast Editor Nellie Maloney Co-Podcast Editor

Samantha Betsko, Multimedia Editor

ILLUSTRATION BY HALEY ALVAREZ-LAUTO

This is about more than Ye—the line between sympathy and turning a blind eye

ILLUSTRATION BY HALEY ALVAREZ-LAUTO

CLARE ONG DFP STAFF Taylor Swift’s new album, “Midnights” on Spotify. The album was released at midnight on Oct. 21.

Computer & Data Sciences

of

College of

LIFESTYLE

A hot girl playlist for hot cider season

BY KRITIKA IYER Senior Writer

Summer is hot. We know. There are so many hot girl playlists making you sweat on the dance floors of clubs with flashing lights or making you strut on the beach as you walk past your crush.

But what about the girls who like to cozy up as the sun sets at 4 p.m. and dig their toes in the couch cushions to watch

“When Harry Met Sally” for the millionth time? Where’s our playlist?

Worry no more. Here are the rustic, sultry, hot cider-tasting songs for your hot girl fall playlist.

“Flow” by Sade

The constant slow beat in the background topped by Sade’s airy vocals creates the perfect background music for when you’re walking over the wet leaves sticking to the concrete after it has rained. The acoustic guitar also gives this song a rural country feel — adding to the rustic energy of fall.

“Whiteout” by Warpaint

With an immediate shift in tempo from “Flow,” this song captures what it feels like to walk in chunky fall boots.

There’s something about the heavier weight of your shoes making a bigger impact with the ground that creates the ultimate strut — that’s what this song feels like. Feel free to listen when strutting.

“Way to be Loved” by TOPS

Dancing in the fall is softer — it’s effortless. It’s “sway your hips to the guitar licks”

and “tap your feet to the snare drums.” It’s this song. This is the song I play in the background as I make breakfast. It’s your perfect morning-wake-up dance session on those crisp autumn days when the only reason you’re willing to get up is for coffee.

“Those Were the Days” by Angel Olsen Angel Olsen practically whispers over a slow and soft electric guitar, looking at the

orange and red leaves on the trees blowing in the wind in slow motion while the rest of the world moves normally.

“Autumn Sweater” by Yo La Tengo

Imagine yourself in your autumn sweater in a dive bar with red walls and someone at the table across from you can’t stop staring at you. All they can think about is how pretty you look in your favorite orange autumn sweater.

“Meet Me in the Bathroom” by The Strokes

Your autumn sweater got you a steamy makeout sesh in a dirty bathroom! Go you!

“Lazy Lover” by Brazilian Girls

The dreamy, rippling, rhythmic bells in the background feel like the ripples raindrops make in the puddles they fall into. Sure, it’s raining on a lazy autumn day, but you can still make a day of it

inside. There’s so much inside — there’s the oven to bake in and the couch to lay on. There’s even a bedroom to sway in, while listening to the funky electronic sounds of this song.

“Jesus, Etc.” by Wilco

The introductory western violin sounds in this song creates the perfect segue into a western fall. Most people think of cowboy boots as the perfect summer accessory to pair with your favorite sundress, but bring them into fall and wear them with bootcut jeans or a midi dress. Now you have your perfect western fall outfit to pair with this song.

“Everything Hits at Once” by Spoon

The quirky rhythms of this song — from the melody to the ornamental instruments in the background — align perfectly with the mood swings that tend to settle in as the weather gets colder and the days get shorter. Take this song on a walk and clear your mind. Pull yourself into the present moment, and listen to every layer of this song.

“This Girl’s In Love With You” by She & Him

This is your ultimate ambient jazz coffee shop song. It’s your cooking song. It feels like a warm lamp light and hot bowls of soup. Wind down with this song.

Now that you have your hot girl fall playlist, you can confidently take on all the changes that come with the beautiful season of autumn!

How music allows me to connect with my Latin roots

BY NIKKI LERNER Contributing Writer

I am a first-generation American daughter of two Venezuelan immigrants. Spanish was my first language until I started preschool, where I picked up English from my peers and teachers.

I felt pretty connected to my culture throughout my life at home. My family made arepas and empanadas. I would visit Venezuela when I was younger, and my family events included Latin music like Reggaeton or Merengue.

Even though my parents made tremendous efforts to keep me connected to my roots, living in New York, I wasn’t surrounded by other Latinos. The last time I went to Venezuela I was six. I was speaking in English for eight consecutive hours at school.

of practice, as I only spoke with my family. I started preferring to speak English instead of Spanish. Around the time I started middle school, my Venezuelan friends that lived in places like Miami and Chile introduced me to Reggaeton songs that were popular at the time. I was fascinated with popular Reggaetoneros — Nicky Jam and J Balvin — who were beginning their rise to fame.

I grew obsessed with the rapper Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, who you might know as Bad Bunny. Since 2016, he has claimed real estate on my Spotify account as the most-played artist on wrapped for almost five years now.

queen of Perreo and went crazy every time someone would play Reggaeton at a party.

Many years after my reintroduction to my culture, I’ve never felt more Latina. I make traditional Venezuelan foods in my college apartment for my

friends. I joined Sabor Latino at BU to dance with fellow lovers of Latino culture. My Spanish fluency is thriving once again. I also saw Bad Bunny and Carlos Vives in concert this year.

Music played a significant role in my reconnection to

Venezuelan roots. I used to shy away from my culture due to ignorant comments about being Hispanic. However, I could not be more proud now. My latin sazón makes me who I am. Siempre estaré orgullosa de ser Latina.

and

I would tell people at school that I spoke Spanish and some would make racist and xenophobic jokes. They told me I didn’t “look Latina” and asked me to prove it by speaking Spanish — as if I were some sort of spectacle.

I think back to the days of attending day camp in Caracas, where I downed bags of Pepitos and frequented the beautiful beaches. When I close my eyes, I can still recall the excitement of weddings in Venezuela, and how Daddy Yankee dominated the scene.

Moments do not last forever, and as I spent more time immersed in American culture, I didn’t feel Latina anymore. My Spanish suffered from lack

Bad Bunny’s lyrics struck a chord with me every time. “Amorfoda” always hit me right in the feels. “La Romana” and “Safaera”are my go-to party anthems. “Yo Visto Asi” gave me the confidence I needed to be proud of myself. Benito’s latest album “Un Verano Sin Ti” taught me that Latinos can break through the language and culture barrier to reach global audiences.

Soon enough after my initial reintroduction to Latin music, it was all I wanted to listen to. I had hundreds of different playlists of Reggaeton, Latin trap, Salsa, Bachata and Merengue for any occasion.

I specifically liked Salsa and taught my American friends how to dance as I do at Venezuelan parties. I constantly played new and old Latin hits everywhere I went — whether it was in the car or at the beach. I became the

ILLUSTRATION

ILLUSTRATION BY HALEY ALVAREZ-LAUTO

School

Kilachand Honors College

of General Studies

Ryan & Kelly, The Office

Jess & Nick, New Girl

Meredith & Derek, Grey’s Anatomy

Mitch & Cam, Modern Family

Ron & Hermione, Harry Potter

Phineas & Isabella, Phineas and Ferb

Troy & Gabriella, High School Musical

Wanda & Vision, WandaVision

Bella & Edward, Twilight

Ross & Rachel,

Blair & Chuck, Gossip Girl

SPORTS

Men’s XC regular season wraps up, led by young talent

BY GRACIE DAVENPORT Contributing Writer

Following over a month of races, the Boston University men’s cross country team’s regular season has come to a close. Capped off by personal bests from both returning runners and fresh faces, the Terriers have made the most of their season and look to carry that momentum into the postseason

The men’s team opened their season on Friday, Sept. 2 at the Suffolk Short Course Classic. This 5K race took place on a sunny afternoon at Franklin Park, and BU’s young talent shined.

Freshman Charlie Tuttle came in sixth place overall and led the Terriers with a 15:45.4. Not far behind him, freshman Glenn Bell placed 11th at 16:00.6. Junior Spencer Twyman, sophomore Drew Fenton and senior Kathan Shenoy rounded out the rest of Boston University’s top five. Fenton posted a new personal record, improving his freshman 5K time by over 10 seconds.

All four Division I schools competing in the race placed in the top four. With a final score of 72, the Terriers finished third in a field of 15.

Only Northeastern University, with 15 points, and Brown University, with 56 points, scored lower.

Three weeks later, the Terriers were given a second chance at the same course for Boston College’s Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown.

Featuring an 8K and an open 5K race, this meet hosted 15 teams from across the East Coast. Boston came in sixth place in the 8K, led by senior Mike Hagen’s 27th-place finish. Freshman Parker Schneider finished closely behind at spot 33. Schneider’s 24:59 effort earned him the honor of Patriot League Male

Rookie of the Week.

“I came from an extremely small high school, so we didn’t have many runners at all,” Schneider said. “(It has been) just a big shift from running mostly by myself to working as a team.”

In the open 5K, graduate student Aksel Laudon crossed the finish line first overall. Also noteworthy, two freshmen placed in the top 14 — Tucker Bowerfind and Glenn Bell. Laudon’s 15:31.5 earned him his first collegiate top overall finish and a new personal best.

“Regardless of the size of the race, getting to run at the front of a race and win is a fun experience,” Laudon said. “It’s also a confidence

booster that keeps you motivated during the race and moving forward with training after that. The main thing is having all these years of training underneath me and just finally having the opportunity to be able to put it together.”

That following week, the Terriers took a trip to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania for Lehigh University’s Paul Short Invite. Encompassing over 450 schools and 5,500 runners, this meet highlighted a wide range of talent. Boston finished in the top half of the Men’s Gold 8K race, placing 19th out of 46 teams.

Cross country differentiates from traditional sports in that even if the team does not finish top three,

individual runners can still have standout races. In this case, they did, with all 10 Terriers in the event running personal bests.

Leading the pack, junior Matthew Mason placed 102nd in a pool of 416 with a 24:03.4. Schneider, senior Foster Malleck, freshman Freddy Collins and graduate student Marcel Aubry finished off BU’s top five. Schneider’s performance earned him his second Patriot League Male Rookie of the Week honor.

“(The award) wasn’t big to me right away,” Schneider said. “But looking at it now, the size of our conference, what we’re looking to do at our Patriot League meet next weekend, it means a lot to me

actually.”

In the open 8K, Laudon placed 13th in a field of 533, which put him in the top 3% of runners. Bell earned a personal best, placing 44th. Only eight freshmen placed higher.

Finishing off the season, BU participated in a pair of meets on Saturday, Oct. 15. In the morning, seven Terriers raced in the University of Virginia’s Panorama Farms Invitational. As a team, they finished 12th out of 17 with 348 points. Once again, freshmen led the way. Collins crossed the 8K finish line first for BU, placing 51st out of 176, and Schneider followed less then 14 second later.

“The freshman class has done a lot for our group overall,” associate head coach John Carpenter said. “It’s pushed and challenged our returners to certainly continue to work hard as they’ve done, but also to show them what’s possible.”

During the afternoon, another seven Terriers raced to a dominant first-place finish at the Suffolk Invitational. Racing against competition of all ages, freshman Moritz Ebbeskotte placed first overall in the 8K, posting a 25:33.6 finish. BU placed all seven scoring runners within the top 11 spots of the race.

The Terriers’ postseason will open at the Patriot League Championship in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania on Oct. 29. Loaded with both veteran and freshman talent, they look forward to the challenge ahead.

“We’re in a spot on the men’s side that I don’t know that we’ve been in, in a while. We’re going to toe the line, thinking that we have a real shot to come home with a Patriot League championship,” Carpenter said. “If we run our race and we perform the way that we know we can, we can beat anyone at that meet.”

Field Hockey upsets No. 23 Maine in 5-2 shootout

BY BRETT ABRAMS Senior Writer

The Boston University field hockey team defeated the University of Maine in a high scoring 5-2 showdown at Newton Campus Field in Newton, Massachusetts.

The Terriers (8-7, 4-1 Patriot League) were led by sophomore defender Payton Anderson, who recorded her first hat trick of her career. Junior forward Tess Csejka added two more goals to the winning effort.

On the other side of the field, senior goalkeeper Caroline Kelly tied a season-high 12 saves.

“(Kelly) kept us in the game and she was a big reason why we won tonight,” head coach Sally Starr said. “They put a lot of pressure on us and a lot of pressure on her, and she made some outstanding saves.”

Kelly’s saves and Anderson’s scoring helped the Terriers dominate and shut out the No. 23 Black Bears (11-4) in the first half. Two of Anderson’s goals came in the first half –– both off penalty corners. Csejka carried the strong first half momentum into the second half with two goals of her own, giving the Terriers a 4-0 lead deep into the

third quarter.

Starr credits the team’s ability to limit Maine’s penalty corner opportunities as a driving factor in the Terriers’ first half dominance.

“Our ability to defend around that arc was critical — really not letting them into the circle and not giving them those penalty corner opportunities,” Starr said.

However, the momentum started to shift in favor of the Black Bears at the end of the third quarter when fifth year forward Chloe Walton found the back of the net. Junior defender Poppy Lambert then cut the Terriers lead down to two points in the fourth quarter.

The Terriers’ defense held strong after giving up two goals.

“I really felt like we got back to making better decisions on ball, better decisions with our possessions,” Starr said.

Then, in the 59th minute, Anderson capitalized on the Terriers’ strong defense and scored her third goal of the game to seal the victory.

This victory ended a 10-game winning streak by Maine, the second longest winning streak in program history and the second-longest in the country this season.

Heading into the game, the

Terriers’ were coming off a tough 2-0 loss to Lafayette College. However, Starr said the film session following that game was productive and helped the team bounce back to

get the win.

“The gift that we got from that loss was our response to really work hard and get better,” Starr said. “We went from being just a good team to

a very good team tonight.”

The Terriers will face another challenge on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Newton when they face off against the No. 21 Boston College Eagles.

Bottom Line

MEN’S ICE HOCKEY

Oct. 21 & 22 vs. Connecticut

FIELD HOCKEY

Oct. 23 at Boston College

MEN’S SOCCER

Oct. 23 vs. American

WOMEN’S SOCCER

Oct. 26 vs. Army West Point

WOMEN’S ICE HOCKEY

Oct. 29 vs. Merrimack

Junior Will Loggia reaching the end of the 5K race at the Coast-to-Coast Battle in Beantown on Sept. 23.

Boston University men’s cross country finished at sixth place among the fourteen other collegiate schools.

ELIZA NUESTRO | DFP STAFF

BRENDAN NORDSTROM | DFP STAFF

Sophomore Kati Devine during the match against Colgate University on Oct. 8. The Boston University women’s field hockey team defeated the University of Maine 5-2 on Oct. 18, breaking Maine’s 10-game winning streak.