February 23, 2024

Sounds of a community

Chris Walsh Center uses grant to host support groups for caregivers

By Adam Levine Editorial Staff

The Chris Walsh Center for Educators and Families begins its second support group - Better Together: Supporting and Informing Caregivers of Neurodivergent Children - for caregivers of neurodivergent children March 7.

This is the second support group funded by an $18,500 grant from the Sudbury Foundation, according to the University’s website.

Deborah McMakin, professor of psychology and philosophy and program coordinator of the counseling psychology master’s program, said she is the facilitator of the support group this semester and was the co-facilitator with Jessica Ames, a clinical social worker, during the support group in the fall -

Building Resiliency: A Group for Caregivers of Neurodivergent Children.

McMakin said these two support groups are geared toward caregivers of neurodivergent children and usually have five to 10 participants each session but are open to up to 20.

She said, “Because the group is voluntary, we don’t require people to share a lot about themselves, but they just have to self-identify as a caregiver for a neurodivergent child.”

McMakin said many of the caregivers are parents and the children they care for may be a wide range of ages.

“That became really helpful because when people in a group start talking to each other and sharing their experiences, that’s really where the power of the group goes - where everyone can be a teacher and a learner in the group,” she said.

McMakin said she researched topics for the group’s curriculum, such as how to teach caregivers to support the children they care for to engage in “advocacy, communication, [and] self-compassion.”

She said she hopes “we’re building these social connections that hopefully will go beyond just the spring” and that the support groups can continue to be funded through the Center.

McMakin said she wants caregivers to know the support group is “a space for them to come and all they need to do is show up and be present” and “to be acknowledged - to be validated.”

Emily Farnhill, a graduate assistant at the Chris Walsh Center who is currently pursuing her master of arts degree in counseling psychology, said the

Black student leaders foster community at FSU

By Raena Doty Editorial Staff

Black History Month, celebrated in February every year, is a chance to educate people about and honor the cultural contributions and advancements of Black people around the world.

And thanks to the contributions of student affinity group leaders, there are constant celebrations of Blackness going on around the school, during February and beyond.

Anyone who finds themselves in the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) on Mondays may stumble upon a MISS Monday - the weekly meeting for Motivation. Intersectionality. Solidarity.

Sisterhood., an affinity group for women of color on campus.

Led by President Tiffany Jerome, a senior management major, the group fosters education, connection, and empowerment for women of color, who may be left behind when they don’t have support and solidarity from one another.

Jerome has been president of MISS for two years now and said when she took on the role, there were very few active participants in the club.

“I was the only eBoard member for about eight, maybe nine months, and it was very, very hard,” she said.

At that time, MISS had no funding because it was inactive for a semester,

she said, and added the main challenge to getting new students was finding members who wanted to be actively involved.

“Sometimes I spent two, three weeks in a row where it was just myself sitting in a room,” she said.

Jerome added that after a lot of work, MISS began to accumulate membership, and today, the club has a full eBoard.

She said a typical meeting takes a lot of thought from the eBoard, because they want the subject of meetings to be inclusive of all women of color and relevant to people’s lives.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST

(Front left) Issa Coulibaly of Crocodile River instructing (back left to front right) Sari Bsharat, Cesar Matos, Liv West, and Iz Shields how to play the drums at the “Taste of Culture” event hosted by the CIE Feb. 20.

Editorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Sophia Harris

Associate Editor

Ryan O’Connell

Interim Associate Editor

Maddison Behringer

Copy Editor

Emma Lyons

News Editors

Kaitlin Carman

Adam Harrison

Asst. News Editor

Dylan Pichnarcik

Opinions Editor

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Sports Editor

Adam Levine

Asst. Sports Editor

Riley Crowell

Interim Asst. Sports Editor

Sophia Oppendisano

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Raena Doty

Jack McLaughlin

Asst. Arts & Features Editors

Owen Glancy

Bella Omar

Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez

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Adrien Gobin

Asst. Photos & Design Editor

Alexis Schlesinger

Illustrations Editor

Ben Hurney

Asst. Illustrations Editors

David Abe

Emily Monaco

Staff Writers

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Jesse Burchill

Dante Curry

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Kristel Erguiza

Paul Harrington

Heather Nutall

Andrea O’Brien

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Meghan Spargo

Staff Illustrators

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Kyle Walker

Advisor

Desmond McCarthy

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Elizabeth Banks

(508) 626-4097

gatepost@framingham.edu

By Kaitlin Carman News Editor

Gatepost Interview

Christopher Staniszewski Professor of Mathematics

Why did you want to become a pro fessor?

Ever since I was a kid, I was like, I want to be a firefighter or I want to be a teach er. Then when I was 8, I wanted to be an astronaut or a teacher,, so it just like it kind of always was in me. I really just en joyed learning and I think learning and teaching are two sides of the same coin. So I kind of caught the bug early. I was fully planning on being a high school teacher when I went to undergrad [at the University of Rhode Island]. I dou ble--majored in math and secondary ed ucation. Then I was applying to different high school jobs. I applied to one grad school [URI] because my parents told me to. They [URI] called me and offered me a full ride through a teaching assistant ship. It kind of went like, “Oh, would you like to come back for grad school?” I was like, ““Sure, you know, maybe someday.” Then they said, “It’s on us.” So yeah, kind of non-traditional. So I went back to grad school, got my Ph.D. and started teaching here. … I wouldn’t change it for the world.

What are your research interests?

In my own research and my thesis, I worked with imaginary numbers. So like the square root of negative 1, it can’t be negative 1, because two negatives, a negative times a negative, is positive. And so I thought it was kind of fascinating the use of these numbers, but I can’t point to them in the real world. So eventually, I studied them, and then when you study that, it eventually leads to fractals, which are these patterns that are similar - no matter how much you zoom in, it still looks like the whole portrait. So those are kind of fascinating. That’s kind of what I research in scenarios called dynamical systems.

How would you describe your journey to becoming a tenured professor?

So I applied to 40 different jobs or so - which I think is actually a relatively small number for most people coming out of Ph.D. There’s a joke that applying for jobs is a full-time job. And I basically just kind of applied mostly in New England - my family’s from herebut kind of just on the coasts in general. And Framingham State was actually my first choice. Like I mentioned, I had a background in secondary education and Framingham obviously has a history [of being a teacher’s college], so I was very drawn to it that way. I was lucky enough to get an offer and I jumped right at it.

What would you like to accomplish during your time at FSU?

I think the big goal is to leave it better than I found it. I like to try and create some programs that are forward thinking and help people get jobs. You know, AI [artificial intelligence] is a big field right now and I helped design the AI minor here. And I am kind of hoping to watch that grow eventually into a concentration within the major or like a major in and of itself. So kind of just helping students, particularly STEM students, and making sure our curriculum is matched to what they’ll need in the real world. There’s part of that, but ultimately, it’s working with people. I love that my office is right across from the undergraduate Math Lounge. And so, I just love seeing the math majors every day and just joking around with them and joking around with my colleagues. College is just an environment where people are just all trying to get better and just be better humans and it’s a great environment to go to every day. So I’ve really enjoyed that. … For a long time, I’ve wanted to make a math and music Rams course. Yes, there’d be some amputation - calculation - I don’t know how I got to amputation - it feels the same for some students - but there would be some calculation in it. I’d want to talk about how Spotify can recommend one song to you based on your listening history. … Let’s talk about some of the principles behind it. … If you had a student listening to Lil Baby and then Taylor Swift, what song

would you recommend to them next? To even build toy models of that I think could be a fun component of that course. That could be a way of demystifying algorithms.

What advice would you give to students?

Speaking from experience, I doubted myself a million times in my life. And every time I thought the world was ending, I woke up the next day and it didn’t. I’ve dealt with anxiety and impostor syndrome - or versions of that - and was able to make it through. So keep trying, don’t give up. Find what works for you.

What is an interesting fact about you that people might not know?

I don’t like to wear shoes when I teach. I don’t wear shoes at home. I feel like I’m comfortable when I’m teaching. And so if I’m doing something I enjoy, I feel like I’m at home and why would I wear shoes doing that? My Ph.D. advisor, who was a Ph.D. student before me, did not wear shoes - in the winter or bathrooms - whatsoever. I would walk around the hallways in my socks and I’d go into my office. I wear shoes to work but I kick off my shoes generally and kind of walk around the classroom barefoot but not on the way to the bathroom.

Monday,

Thursday,

Courtesy of Framingham State

Chris Walsh Center

Continued from Page 1

grant from the Sudbury Foundation funds her position at the Center.

Farnhill said she helps facilitate the webinars and support groups while also running the social media accounts for the Center.

She said she began her position in September 2023, so she did not participate in the grant-application process, but she is involved “from conception all the way through getting people onto the call” for the support group.

Farnhill said she and fellow graduate assistant Natalie McCollam work with Therese Atjum-Roberts, coordinator of the Chris Walsh Center for Educators and Families of MetroWest, and McMakin to create promotional material and reach out to possible participants before group sessions and then during the call, they make sure it’s a “safe space for everyone that’s there - really listening to them [and] making sure we cover all the topics that the caregivers need coverage on.”

She said after the support group in the fall, “it was just great to hear parents come together and say that they’ve never participated in something like this before and that they were looking forward to the next one.”

Farnhill said many of the participants “felt like they got new knowledge out of it. They got a sense of connection and shared experiences with other parents, so that made them feel heard and that they’re not alone.

“I would say those are pretty big success markers for us,” she added.

Farnhill said in her studies for her master’s degree, the work for the support groups is invaluable.

She said, “This really exposes me to gain experience in consultations - just seeing what the need is out there.

“It’s really giving me a full picture of what parents need [and] how these students operate,” added Farnhill.

McCollam, the second of the two graduate assistants at the Chris Walsh Center, said she is in her second year of her master of arts program in counseling psychology and has worked at the Center since Fall 2023.

She said she is mostly responsible for the Center’s community outreach and newsletters, supporting the expert speakers the Center brings in for the community, and managing the Center’s team of undergraduate interns.

McCollam said in the fall, she helped the support group by providing resources for McMakin, Ames, and the participants. She also helped promote the group to the community.

She said, “This was the first support group I’ve been involved in and it was

Weather

Sunday night Feb. 18

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. Southwest wind 10 to 15 mph.

Monday Feb. 19

Partly sunny, with a high near 50. West wind 10 to 15 mph

incredible to see. Starting out, I was unsure. People didn’t open up immediately and I was asking myself, ‘Is this going to work?’ However, by the end, I witnessed the power of community support. The caregivers in our group were wonderful people who needed to be heard.

“This group allowed them to come together with people who were facing many of the same challenges they were and find a sense of comradery.

“From what I could see, everyone was supported and had support to offer others,” added McCollam.

She said they added additional questions to the registration form for the caregivers to “allow us to begin the group with a greater understanding of what the group participants need.

“By incorporating these questions early on, we will be able to plan for them and provide more tailored support from the beginning while still adapting as new information comes to the surface,” added McCollam.

McCollam said, “As a future licensed mental health counselor, I will be running groups as part of my career.

“I have no doubt I’ll be using the knowledge I’ve gained through this experience very soon,” she added.

“Overall, being a part of the caregiver support group has been an incredible experience for me. I hope it feels just as valuable to everyone who participates in the groups we offer,” said McCollam.

James Cressey, chair of the education department and faculty liaison at the Chris Walsh Center, said the Center mostly relies on grants to fund its work, including the support groups and the interns they pay, but all have been internal grants from the University.

Cressey said this is the first large, external grant the Center has received since it opened in 2020.

He said the Center was awarded the grant June 21, 2023, but the process to apply for it began in 2022.

Cressey said the Center submitted a concept paper to apply for a similar grant from the MetroWest Health Foundation but did not receive it.

He said a concept paper is a short version of the grant proposal. “It’s almost like a proposal before the proposal. It’s more just about the concepts, the idea, for the grant.”

Cressey said if the organization awarding the grant approves the concept paper, they are invited to submit a full proposal.

He said the concept paper was resubmitted to the Sudbury Foundation during the fall of 2022 and the Center submitted the full proposal in March

Monday night Feb. 19

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 30. West wind 5 to 10 mph

Tuesday Feb. 20

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 50. South wind 10 to 15 mph.

of 2023.

Cressey said he helped with the design of the proposal but has not been involved with the support group since.

He said, “One of the outcomes that was proposed is that parents and caregivers of children with disabilities would report increased emotional wellbeing after the six-week session and then again, after 90 days later … that would be measured through survey questionnaire methodology.”

Cressy said, “The goal is at the end of those six weeks, we haven’t fixed everyone’s problems - it’s not like you’re curing a problem - but you’re more helping the families to build their resilience and their emotional well-being so that they can continue to face the challenges that their family is going to continue to face.

“Some of the other goals were about increasing knowledge … and where to find that information,” he added.

“The grant and the mission of the Center are aligned with the University’s strategic plan and the University’s goals around community engagement. We’re ensuring that we help the University keep a strong reputation in the community as a provider of public service because that’s really important to the University as a whole,” Cressey said.

Atjum-Roberts said, “These support groups are particularly targeted to meet parents who have children who are neurodivergent.”

She added, “Parents need support and it’s hard to be a parent. … I can speak for myself. I’m a parent to a neurodivergent child who has both ADHD and dyslexia.

“And it can be lonely, so having parents have a place that they can come in, they can talk and they can share and they can ask questions, but not feel like they’re being judged, is a great service that the Chris Walsh Center can offer, and the Sudbury grant is making this possible,” she added.

Atjum-Roberts said, “We hope to be able to continue to offer these parent support groups in future years.”

Alana Gardner, a senior psychology major, said she is currently an undergraduate intern at the Chris Walsh Center.

Gardner said the Center is continuing to host more support groups and webinar series in the future.

She said these support groups are “a great way for both educators and families to get information that they may need to help support their children.

“There’s a great lack of support in the education systems alone and a lot of families don’t have the support and resources that they should have.

So I think it’s a great way to get more support resources to families,” added Gardner.

Through her work as an intern at the Center, Gardner said, “I hope to learn what role I can play myself in offering support to parents and families, because I did come from a background where I had unmet needs, so I want to do anything I can to help people in the future.”

SGA President Evelyn Campbell, a junior communication, media, and performance major, said she has not used the resources provided by the Chris Walsh Center but “it’s amazing that we are a part of helping our community members.

“It’s important that if we preach about inclusion, diversity and equity that we have actual resources and support for families.

“The community has a chance to get access to resources that are needed. There are many articles, guest speakers, panels, and events in order to make sure everyone has the opportunity to be included, supported and heard,” she added.

Student Trustee Ryan Mikelis, a senior political science major, said he has not used the resources provided by the Chris Walsh Center but “it’s always great to see FSU catering to all types of students and community members, no matter their backgrounds. It only helps to further our accepting role in the greater Framingham community.

“Inclusive efforts are at the forefront of FSU’s mission. By funding projects like these, FSU is creating a community that is open and accepting to all. We have resources that all students can utilize, regardless of race, gender, or background,” he added.

LaDonna Bridges, associate dean of academic success and director of the Center for Academic Success and Achievement, said she is a member-atlarge on the Center’s board of directors and has been involved with the Center since before it opened.

Bridges said much of the discussion of what the Center would be “centered around equity and inclusivity.

“The idea was that you would provide a lot of information to a lot more people through a center like this,” she added.

Bridges said offering a support group for caregivers is “such a natural outgrowth of where the whole thing started conceptually - the whole idea for this kind of a center.

“It’s amazing to see it come to fruition,” she added.

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

Forecast provided by the National Weather Service www.weather.gov

Tuesday night Feb. 20

Rain likely. Cloudy, with a low around 40. South wind around 15 mph.

Wednesday Feb. 21

Rain likely. Cloudy, with a high near 60. South wind 15 to 20 mph, with gusts as high as 30 mph.

Wednesday night Feb. 21

Rain likely. Otherwise, cloudy, with a low around 45. Breezy, with a south wind around 20 mph

Thursday Feb. 22

A chance of rain. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 55.

By Adam Harrison News Editor

By Dylan Pichnarcik Asst. News Editor

Four students were trapped in one of the elevators for 20 minutes in West Hall on Sunday, Feb. 18.

Kyle Walker, Lauren Mazzarella, Nathan Robillard, and Kailyn Bearce remained in the elevator for approximately 20 minutes before the Framingham Fire Dept. was dispatched to FSU to free them by prying open the doors.

Walker, a junior, said multiple pieces of the elevator malfunctioned throughout the time they were in the elevator. “We were about a foot above the lobby floor…” He said, “When we pushed the [emergency call] button, nobody responded.”

The incident was the first time Walker had experienced an elevator malfunction on campus and he said he panicked.

“We were all really just trying not to freak out. So we distracted ourselves by playing games, making up hypothetical situations, and talking through it,” Walker said.

Mazzarella, a junior, was the student who initially realized the elevator had malfunctioned.

Mazzarella said, “I recall panicking a bit when I realized.

“I was the one who pushed the call button. It was surreal because I ride that elevator every day and never expected to ever use the emergency button,” she said.

Robillard and Bearce remained in the elevator with Walker and Mazzarella until the Framingham Fire Dept. arrived and freed the group.

Two elevators inside West Hall can be used by students at all hours of the day. There is another elevator outside of West that has not been operational all year.

Maureen Fowler, environmental health and safety coordinator, said, “The outside elevator was recently repaired and we are still waiting for reinspection.”

The group was stuck in the elevator on the right side, according to Walker.

Several certificates posted in the elevators across campus indicate they

are past their expiration date. The certificates displayed in one of the elevators in Larned Hall and one in Corinne Hall Towers show an expiration date of July 31, 2022.

She said the inspections are “up to the state - the state manages the state inspections. They tell us when they’re coming. They give us the notice and say they’re coming on this particular day, and that’s not negotiable.”

Fowler said when the Facilities Department is notified, they make a phone call to the service provider as soon as possible. When the complaint is made before noon, an inspector will usually come out on the same day.

Both the Office of Public Safety and Inspection (OPSI) and the University have a list containing all the individual elevators and their inspection expiration dates.

Massachusetts OPSI Representative George Ramia said, “It’s the responsibility of the owner to notify us that their elevator is up for inspection and to process that with the paperwork and fees.”

“It’s just like a car inspection - the owner is always the one responsible,” he said.

Ramia said during inspections, “All aspects of the safety devices are tested on the elevator,” he said.

According to the updated certificates that are not currently posted, the indoor West Hall elevators are certified as of June 14, 2023, and August 3, 2023, and both expire on June 30, 2024.

Fowler said, “Posting the certificates is a different problem. I have lots of copies of the certificates in my office that the technicians just keep forgetting to put in elevators, but they are all up to date.”

Students should expect to see the updated certificates in the elevators by the end of the week, she said.

There is no written plan for accommodations in the instance that all elevators in a building are nonfunctional, but “we would figure out a way to have classes on a different level if there’s someone who needs it,” she said.

Fowler said, “Whenever there’s a report of a problem, we try to have it looked at right away. We really do try to have the elevators working all the

time.”

All inspectors who test the elevator systems at FSU and other locations in the Commonwealth have had a minimum experience of five years as elevator mechanics before they were hired. They work with the “elevator company, alarm company, and backup generator entities” to ensure proper function, Ramia said.

According to a Feb 20. email from Christopher Addario, the area director of Corinne Hall Towers, the fourthfloor elevator doors were “heavily damaged and vandalized.” The cost of the damage will be split among residents of Towers through their paid damage deposit. Any additional cost may be charged to students at the end of the year.

Fowler said, “When there’s vandalism in them or something has dropped in them - they get brokenand you have to be a licensed elevator mechanic to do any work on them. Facilities are not allowed to do any work on an elevator.”

Lindsey Hedlund, a freshman resident of Towers said “It’s really frustrating that people can’t act responsible and like adults while at a University and then expect people to

The Housing Application Online Portal is now open. Living on campus opens the door for new and unique experiences, as you make new connections and build long-lasting friendships!

pay for their mistakes.”

Raffi Elkhoury, SGA vice president, said he plans to raise the issue of elevator safety at the next SGA meeting.

When asked about her experience with Corinne Towers Hall elevators, freshman Drew Hendrigan said, “Well, sometimes it’s good and sometimes it’s bad. ... In the beginning, the two elevators worked. Then one went out of commission.

“Then after Christmas break, they both worked, but now one’s out of commission so we’re only down to the one elevator.”

Freshman Bella Medeiros said, “There’s always been one elevator always broken, and they don’t fix it until the next month or the next year. It gets really frustrating because if you live on the top floor, you’re kind of screwed.”

“The elevators are expired, too. That’s really unsafe. What if they break down? What are we supposed to do - especially if people are in wheelchairs?

Freshman Emma Ginter said, “They’re always broken. That’s all I’ve got to say. At least in Towers, that’s how it is.”

“It doesn’t surprise me, but I really think they should get that checked out,” she said, concerning the elevators posting expired certificates.

Sophomore Christian Taylor said, “I lived in Larned my freshman year, and they’re definitely slower than where I live now - Miles Bibb. I noticed for a long time that they had the tag up for the inspection sticker that was out of date for a long time.

“The Larned elevators are slower and smaller, and Miles Bibb is quicker. I think the building in general is just newer. In general, I would say they work. I’ve never been stuck in an elevator at Framingham,” he said.

[Editor’s Note: Kyle Walker is a Staff Illustrator for The Gatepost.]

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST Inside of the West Hall Elevator.

FSU named one of the most environmentally responsible universities

By Andrea O’Brien Staff Writer

Framingham State University is included in a list of 522 “Green Colleges” chosen by The Princeton Review, as part of “The Princeton Review Guide to Green Colleges: 2024 Edition,” released in October 2023.

This is the 12th time that Framingham State has been included in this list.

FSU’s Climate Action Plan, which guides the University’s approach to sustainability, was originally written in 2007 and is updated every year by FSU’s Campus Sustainability Coordinator, Megan Mayer.

“The climate action plan is really a document that helps to guide the University. It has goals and action items that we are trying to work on to improve our sustainability efforts,” said Mayer.

Although the plan has not been rewritten since 2007, the plan is updated each year with information about what has been done in the past year to help meet the initial action steps put in place in the original climate action plan, according to Mayer.

Mayer worked on a campus-wide needs assessment to gather data through surveys and focus groups to try to understand what the University is currently doing and what people would like to see to complete a total revision of the climate action plan.

“It really takes involvement from a lot of different parts of campus to decide what our University goals are going to be for the next 5, 10, 15 years,” she said.

Maureen Fowler, director of environmental health and safety, contributed to the 2022 Climate Action Plan.

Fowler worked on obtaining FSU’s greenhouse gas inventory using a climate calculator.

“I put in the amount of fuel that is used on campus by our vehicles, our heating and cooling, our travel, and that kind of information. I used an online calculator to put that information in,” said Fowler.

According to the 2022 Climate Action Plan, the three most significant sources of greenhouse gas emissions at FSU were commuting by faculty, staff, and students; on-campus steam generation; and purchased electricity.

Solar panels have been on the roofs of the Athletic Center and the McCarthy Center for many years, according to Ann Martin, capital project management director.

However, there are two new solar projects in progress, said Martin.

The first project is the installation of solar panels on Larned Hall, she said.

Construction of solar panels on the Larned Hall roof is in the “final stages of being completed,” according to Biology professor Aviva Leibert, who served as the interim sustainability coordinator last fall.

According to The Eco Experts website, solar panels are able to generate electricity within seconds of sunlight hitting them once they are fully operational.

The second solar project that is upand-coming is a solar canopy project that is going to be located in the Salem End Parking Lot, said Martin.

Lawrence McKenna, chair of the department of environment, society

& sustainability, said the advantage of canopies is that they take up unused space.

“For a close-to-campus example of a canopy, go look at the Massachusetts State Police barracks on Route 9 or the REI store on Route 30,” said McKenna.

Martin said the lifespan of the solar panels on campus is about 25 years.

Sophomore Olivia Cuccia said, “I feel like a solar canopy is a cool resource to add to FSU because I’ve seen them on a few other college campuses, and it seems like they will become more common in the coming years.”

In addition to the solar canopy project, four EV [electric vehicle] charging stations will be installed, Martin said.

FSU also made improvements to the dining hall to help promote sustainability and reduce waste.

These improvements include eliminating trays in the dining hall to conserve water, installing water-saving dishwashers, and planting a University vegetable garden, according to Framingham State’s website.

“The dining hall has a really strong emphasis on sustainability that dining services have been working on for a while now,” said Leibert.

According to a Gatepost article published on Feb 9, the University’s dining service, Sodexo, has partnered with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine to decrease food waste by collecting “frozen food, shelf-stable items, produce, and prepared food that has not been served.”

Grounds-related efforts on campus include a community garden and two spaces that are pollinator garden habitats, said Leibert.

“These are to try to help the campus itself be more integrated with the natural environment. That’s an area that I’m particularly involved with,” she said.

FSU is currently working on the “Bee Campus USA Certification,” which is a certification process that is meant to promote habitats on campus for pollinators, said Mayer.

“It’s not something where we’ll be having beehives or making honey, but the idea is that we’re actually supporting native bee species who feed off of certain kinds of flowers and native plants that are designed to grow in this region of the country,” said Mayer.

The idea is the University would be both adding to and protecting spaces we already have on campus that attract those native pollinators, Mayer added.

She said signs will be added to the pollinator garden on campus that is located behind O’Connor Hall to help promote these “Bee Campus USA Certification” efforts. There are also some native plants in the community garden next to the McCarthy Center, said Mayer.

There is a committee that is meant to guide the work of this initiative on campus, and if any members of the University are interested in joining the committee, they can reach out to Mayer.

Additionally, the University hosts regular clean-ups with a community group in Framingham called “Keep Framingham Beautiful.”

“Members volunteer their time picking up all the trash that often is generated by our campus - not on the

campus itself, but on the streets bordering it,” said Leibert.

Students can participate in on-campus sustainability efforts, specifically during Earth Week, where there will be a campus community garden and neighborhood cleanup on the Friday of Earth Week.

“I’d love to hear more from students in particular about what you’d like to see on campus and how to get people involved in the events. If there are ideas or activities that we’re not thinking of that students would really be interested in, I would love to hear more about that,” said Mayer.

The student club called the “Green Initiative” tries to get students to help join in. A lot of the efforts of the group are ones that students can be directly involved in, she added.

Junior environment, society & sustainability major and president of Green Initiative, Ainslee Caton, said the goal of the club is “to try to encourage and promote sustainability on campus through documentaries and learning activities.

“We do a lot of events of cleaning up and working with the community garden to promote more sustainable agriculture,” she said.

Campus clean-ups are held at least once a semester, sometimes twice, in collaboration with the sustainability coordinator, said Caton.

There is also a storage tank in the back of Miles Bibb Hall under the patio that collects rainfall and is used to supply water to plants and landscapes on campus, Caton said.

“The campus does a good amount to promote sustainability, specifically the dining hall. They do a lot of composting, and they have no trays, so it lessens food waste and water waste,” she added.

Also located behind Miles Bibb is a clothing and textile drop-off box that was added to the campus in February 2023, according to Mayer.

Mayer worked with facilities to put this box into place, and it is run by a group called “Bay State Textiles.”

“They [Bay State Textiles] take the material, and kind of divide it up into pieces that could be reused and sold, and pieces that would need to be recycled,” said Mayer.

Sophomore Emily Crossin said, “I’m happy that the textile drop-box exists for students to put their old garments rather than putting them in the trash

- considering how much clothing ends up in landfills each year. I know clothes can be donated to the Rams Resource Center, too.”

Kyle Taylor, a senior environmental studies major, said he thinks FSU has a good environmental department, especially with their clubs such as Green Initiative and the Wildlife Club, of which he is a member.

“I think FSU could improve by having more partnerships with environmental organizations to help students get a job related to their major straight out of college,” said Taylor.

McKenna said the COVID-19 pandemic switched everybody into “pivot mode” including everyone involved in the sustainability initiative.

“We have a lot of good ideas going on around campus. I would argue that we don’t have enough, and we are not moving as fast as we should in this regard,” said McKenna.

He said the sustainability focus must become removing the University’s dependence on fossil fuels to heat and cool its buildings and transport students, faculty, and staff in and out of campus.

McKenna said, “How do we decarbonize the amazing number of cars that come to campus every day? What is the University doing to lead that decarbonization of faculty, students, and staff? These are the kinds of sustainability questions that should be at the forefront of campus discussions on sustainability.

“How we involve students in this is important because commuting students and faculty are our primary emission sources for carbon dioxide,” he added.

McKenna teaches“Climate Change is Now: An Introduction to Earth Systems.” He said that is the foundational climate change course in the curriculum.

When teaching a course about climate change, the most important takeaway that McKenna wants students to have by the end of the course is that they can change the future.

McKenna said, “It’s up to students, who have agency and power, to change our future. The longer we wait, the more changes we are going to have to make.”

Courtesy of Framingham State

OP/ED

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

Does the ‘Refer a Ram’ program promote equity?

FSU has introduced a new scholarship program, “Refer a Ram,” which awards incoming students $1,000 per year for four years if they are referred by a University alum.

This program will be in effect for students admitted for the Fall 2024 semester.

According to Shayna Eddy, associate dean of admissions, the scholarship is part of an effort to recruit and retain more students.

Alumni can refer anyone they believe would be a good student at FSU, which includes family and friends.

To refer a student, an alum needs to know very little about them - only their name, classification (first-year or transfer), semester they are applying for, the school they most recently attended, relationship to the alum, and the student’s email or birthday.

The options for the relationship to the alumni range from relatives to coworkers, to “other,” so there are no immediate restrictions on who they are allowed to refer.

This is the only step necessary to create a completed referral.When the referred student applies and is accepted, they will automatically receive the $1,000 scholarship for their first year at FSU.

But what about first-generation students who may be at a disadvantage when applying to higher education and who may not be from a community that has access to scholarship information?

In March 2021, Framingham State received a First-Gen Forward designation from the Center for First-generation Student Success, an initiative of the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) and the Suder Foundation, according to the Framingham State website.

We at The Gatepost are concerned that this scholarship is not supportive of first-generation college students, as they might not know many college graduates - nevermind one from Framingham State.

It should be in the interests of Framingham State to attempt supporting first-generation students, but this scholarship does not.

First-generation students likely don’t have the support needed to find and apply for scholarships, and their parents or guardians may be too unfamiliar - or unwilling to submit long, information-dense forms required to enroll their children.

Entries to the Refer a Ram program might also be stunted in certain high schools. FirstGen students likely don’t know about the pro-

Have an opinion?

Feel free to email it to: gatepost@framingham.edu

gram, nor any FSU graduates, so it’s up to the alumni at their schools to suggest the scholarship.

There’s drastically different scenarios to consider - an active, dedicated alumni teaching in a school of 700 might dedicate time out of their day to write dozens - or possibly even hundreds - of referrals.

On the other hand, what about in a school district where the stigma of going to a state university hasn’t been broken? Those alumni might be averse, or even afraid to mention their alma mater and the new program.

If the goal is to retain students, then those efforts should start with those already enrolled.

The scholarship is not available for those who are currently students at FSU, even if they have received an alumni referral prior to enrolling.

Is this an equitable scholarship for first-generation students or current FSU students? We do not think it is.

Additionally, The Gatepost’s Editorial Board believes an alumni referral isn’t necessarily meaningful - it’s just proof of knowing someone who graduated from FSU.

Last year, a total of 667 undergraduate students graduated from Framingham State along with 446 graduate students. The previous year, a total of 710 undergraduate and 472 graduate students graduated.

That means in just the last two years, 2,295 students have graduated from FSU - and this scholarship can be granted by anyone who has ever graduated. If a referral grants an instant scholarship, then, hypothetically what is preventing a graduate from FSU’s Class of 2023 from offering “$4,000” discounts to Framingham State for a fee?

Besides our concerns about this scholarship, we do agree that a scholarship does not need to be offered to everyone to make it beneficial.

We do think that this scholarship could be the reason some students will choose to come to FSU.

But we are concerned that it does put other students at a disadvantage as well as providing loopholes for abuse of the scholarship.

We hope that these issues will be addressed before the Class of 2028 joins our campus.

A scholarship is supposed to be based on merit - not who you know.

Opinions should be about 500 words.

Anyone can submit. We look forward to hearing from you!

Balance is a battle

By Raena Doty Editoral Staff

To many, the American university is one of the last settings of true community living - a place where friends are accessible without jumping through hoops and one’s immediate circle is made up of more than the nuclear family.

While lots of people are starting to question what the actual value of college is in the modern economy, there’s no doubt that for many, the access to community is a major draw to the ideal of a four-year university.

But in my time at FSU, I’ve realized access to community can be a double-edged sword.

It’s absolutely true - being here has helped me build the best relationships of my life, and my professional skills have developed immensely. For this, I can only thank the incredible support I’ve gotten from friends, classmates, fellow student officers, coworkers, and all the rest of my peers.

At the same time, I’ve become privy to some of the most intricate drama of my life because of how close everyone is around me.

When I step back to think about it, I never should have expected anything else. After all, adults living on their own can’t expect their coworkers to also be their best friends, to also be their neighbors, to also be their classmates, to also share their showers.

But knowing one day I won’t be in this situation doesn’t make it easier to stomach now.

I’m not saying any of this to discourage community participation. These words come from a student, a resident student, a student worker, a student officer - and I don’t plan to give any of that up.

But it is to say, when you have multiple types of relationships with one person - when you function as both coworkers and classmates or both roommates and fellow student officers, for example - resentment can build at an accelerated rate.

I’ve had to keep secrets for friends that have changed how I view my coworkers. I’ve had differences of opinions with student officers that have changed the way I see my classmates. I’ve been keyed into drama with peers that have affected my ability to live in the same building as they do.

I like to think I’ve mostly managed to avoid the worst of the drama, and though I can’t claim that I’ve done so entirely through skill, I do have two pieces of advice to offer anyone who finds themselves wrapped up in what feels like high school.

One, give yourself a support network wider than just one group of people. I know it feels nice to be able to know everything about a group and tell them everything about yourself, but when there comes a day where you’ve grown frustrated with that group, you’ll want to vent to someone who knows no one involved.

That may mean having multiple different groups of friends to talk to, or - not to sound too much like her - calling your mother every once in a while. Or your father, your siblings, your cousins, your friend from high school who went to Salem State instead of FSU - anyone who isn’t involved in the drama.

And two, be kind. I know people say it a lot, and it can lose its impact when you hear it too much, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

Though it felt overstated when our middle school teachers were calling assemblies about these issues, there is a lot of value in not spreading rumors, not gossiping, not assuming the worst. And these are skills to be practiced, ones you must consciously evoke in order to remember to do them, so reminders should be taken seriously.

Just because someone is frustrating you in one way doesn’t mean your entire relationship with them must be soured. And if you find yourself in a situation where you can’t avoid that, sometimes it is better to let go of that relationship rather than let the bad parts of it seep into the good parts of the rest of your life.

Emily Monaco / THE GATEPOST

The world of tiny trinkents

By Kristel Erguiza Staff Writer

Ever since I was little, I’d always have a little trinket by my side. Ei ther a stuffed animal or a “Hello Kit ty” figurine my mom would give me, it always made me feel safe. I’d al ways like looking at my shelf at home and seeing the massive collection of stuffed animals I collected through out the years from family and friends.

The resurgence of these tiny trin kets has Gen-Z in a chokehold, with two popular brands, “Sonny Angels” and “Calico Critters,” being sold out of stores, resold on eBay and Depop for more than they’re worth. Not to mention the element of fun because you don’t know what you’re going to get.

The aspect of the blind box figu rines is just like a game because I love guessing and trying to get the little cherub or critter I want, but some times I ultimately get the one I don’t really like - but they are still cute nonetheless!

When I saw them on TikTok for the first time last year, I thought they were so cute! These tiny little babies wear little hats and are often made with different themes such as vegeta bles, animals, and even baked goods and sweets!

I really like their Valentine’s Day collection, which was sold out ev erywhere I went, but I did get two for

little boy that provides healing and is always by your side to make you

One cool thing I’ve seen on social media about “Sonny Angels” is that you can make them clothes. There are many Etsy shops online that create crocheted pieces that “Sonny Angels” can wear, as well as actual doll clothes that they can wear as well. I’ve seen puffer jackets made for “Calico Critters,” as well as fancy dresses.

The fact that there are different kinds of products such as “Calico Critters” and “Sonny Angels,” makes it appealing to people who wouldn’t know these trinkets to begin with. Especially with “Calico Critters,” you can really find an animal that suits you and create a whole world you didn’t even know was in your mind.

Within the “Sonny Angel” universe, there is one mystery character in the blind boxes that you can get, Robby. He’s a little rat that changes color within the different Sonny Angel blind box categories and is the best friend to Sonny, which I just think is

So, I urge you to go to your local Newbury Comics and grab a little trinket, you’ll never know how much joy

“Sonny Angels” brings me back to being a kid and how precious and how much easier that time was compared to now. Having these “Sonny Angels” are very sentimental and bring me so much joy collecting them!

Campus Conversations

Izayah

Morgan, Opinions Editor and Emily Monaco, Editorial Staff

“Why did you choose to come to FSU?”

“It has a good education program, and I am majoring in early childhood education.”

- Shalya Comfort, junior

“Originally, I was going to study studio art, and my teacher told me about FSU and I remember giving her a ton of attitude. Now look where I am!”

- AJ Vazquez, freshman

“It’s small, and they have a fashion program. So you don’t have to move to a giant city to do this.”

- Jake Measmer, junior

“Honestly, it was the first safety school I applied for. When I got in, I went to accepted students day to see the vibes and I came here and fell in love.”

- Matthew Donahoe, senior

“They had my major, and the main thing was it was a major I could afford.”

- Cyrus Bergeron, junior

“I was thinking of other schools and going out of state, but I decided that I was not ready to go anywhere out of state. So I wanted somewhere close but far enough from home.”

- Stephanie Larrieux, sophomore

Ben Hurney / THE GATEPOST

Men’s basketball concludes season with win over Fitchburg; surpasses wins from previous season

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

The Framingham State Rams defeated the Fitchburg State Falcons 71-67 in their final game of the season Feb. 17.

Framingham ended their season with an overall record of 6-19 and a conference record of 1-11. Their sixth win was one more win than the previous season and three more wins than the season before that.

The Rams honored their three seniors - Joshue Castillo, Jahden Erold, and Byran Thompson - all of whom started the game.

Castillo, who has been a Ram since his freshman year, said, “It felt great to be honored just for the fact I put in so much work and basketball has been a part of my life for a long time.” He added it was a great feeling to win in his final game as a Ram.

He said, “The program has been improving every year since my first year.

“You can say whatever you want, but a new era for Framingham basketball is coming soon - those freshmen ain’t nothing to play with,” Castillo added.

He said, “I’m positive they’ll have a better record next year than this year.”

front of friends and family during his senior game was a “pleasure” and he was “grateful” for the opportunity.

He said, “Where I’m from - I’m from Connecticut - there are not a lot of people who go to college and finish,” and after playing at different colleges, he “just felt everything good” playing in his senior game.

Thompson said after he won his final game as a Ram, he was “speechless” and the win showed the “heart and culture” of the men’s basketball program.

He said when he transferred to FSU, he and Head Coach Donald Morris Jr. talked about the program and the “culture” as a Ram. It was “bigger than myself.”

Thompson said, “When I came in here, I just wanted to change the culture,” and around campus he feels he has seen a change.

“Hopefully, the freshmen just stay smart and strong in the gym, so they can just keep changing the culture,” he said.

Freshman standout Joshua Saint Jean recorded the only double-double in the game with 13 points and 14 rebounds, which was higher than his 10.8 points per game and 8.7 rebounds

Castillo said, “I want to give thanks to all the students that supported us, although we had a few bumps on the road - super excited to see the Rams next year.”

Erold, who completed his third season as a Ram, said the win was “refreshing - definitely good to leave up on a ‘W.’”

He said the win “definitely shows everything that we’ve been through this season.”

Erold said, “The future is definitely bright” for the men’s basketball program.

“We got some really good freshmen with Josh, Harrison, and even people who didn’t get to shine yet,” he added.

Thompson, who completed his second season as a Ram, said playing in

per game throughout the season.

Saint Jean said, “It was our last game. We had to work hard for the seniors because it was their last game and we wanted to put it all on the floor for them.

“Win or lose, we wanted to put our heart out on the floor and try to win this game,” he added.

Saint Jean said, “I feel like we accomplished our goal.”

Saint Jean earned MASCAC Rookie of the Week three times throughout

the season, but his expectations were “very low” for his individual performance as a rookie.

“I didn’t know if I was going to play a lot. I didn’t know how the competition was going to be. But I feel like I’ve accomplished a lot as a freshman,” he added.

Saint Jean said, “I feel like we had a great season and we’ll have a better season next year.”

Junior Kyle Philistin scored a gamehigh 19 points in the final season of the game, which was more than his 12.2 points per game during the season. He also ranked second in the MASCAC in 3-point percentage (39.8).

Philistin, who completed his first season as a Ram, said, “I felt my performance tonight was great - shoutout to my teammates. Without them, I wouldn’t have had the performance I had.

“Throughout the season, I feel like I played great - could have picked some things up, but you know, we always have next year,” he added.

“Next season will be a great season. I can’t wait - very excited,” said Philistin.

Freshman Javaun “Stretch” Calhoun played for less than a minute during the final game, coming in only during the final seconds of the game for defensive stops.

Calhoun recorded one of the team’s three blocks during the game, with his block coming with just 6 seconds remaining on the clock and securing Framingham’s victory over the Falcons.

Calhoun said, “My coaches told me to stay ready, so I just stayed ready - I know my role.”

He said in those final seconds of the game, he knew his coaches and teammates “believed” in him. “That’s just what I do. That’s what I’m here for. I’m here for those types of moments.”

Calhoun said, “I feel like we’ll be a

lot stronger next year. We had a new team that got one more win than last year. It’s a good start. It’s only the beginning - we got to build something from the ground.”

Coach Morris said the men’s basketball program is “going in the right direction.”

He said the “nucleus” of young players is a “key element” to the program.

Morris said he thinks confidence and experience are what will help the program next season, especially with the freshmen and transfer students, many of whom did not play at their previous schools.

“All of them are more confident now. So I think coming in a year from now, they’ll completely understand what they need to do to be successful,” said Morris.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Teammates cheering on senior Joshue Castillo before win over Fitchburg Feb. 17, his final game as a Ram.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Freshman Joshua Saint Jean dunking during victory over Fitchburg Feb. 17.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Senior Bryan Thompson looking for an open teammate.

FEBRUARY 23,

Women’s basketball advances to conference finals

Adam Levine Sports Editor

Izabela Gage Staff Writer

The Framingham State Rams advanced to the MASCAC Championship Game with an 81-55 win over the Salem State Vikings Feb. 22.

This marked Framingham’s 23rd win of the season, setting a new program record, which was set at 22 wins during both the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons.

Earlier in the week, the Rams concluded their regular season with an 89-54 victory over the Fitchburg State Falcons Feb. 17.

Framingham honored their four seniors - Regan Fein and Captains Gwendolyn Carpenter, Flannery O’Connor, Jenna Tavanese.

Tavanese said, “We love everyone who comes and supports all of us, and especially on our last home regular-season game.”

Tavanese said Fitchburg guard Olivia Almeida has been her best friend since fifth grade.

She said, “We played fifth grade through senior year of high school together and then we knew coming into our freshman year of college that we weren’t going to be teammates anymore.

“But I love playing against her. If you notice, I’ll crack a smile every time I’m guarding her or she’s guarding me,” Tavanese added.

Tavanese said it was “surreal” playing against Almeida in her senior game. “I’m glad I got to celebrate my senior night with her.”

Following the win, Tavanese said, “We’re in it to win it now. We won the regular season but we’re not done. We’re going for the MASCAC Championship.”

More recently, Framingham’s win over the Vikings secured their third trip to the MASCAC Championship Game in four seasons, winning both of their last appearances in the 2019-20 and 2021-22 seasons.

Carpenter recorded 10 assists during the game. Her ninth and tenth assists set the new program record for single-season assists, at 182. She broke the previous record, 180, which she set during the 2021-22 season.

She said she did not realize she set the new record during the game and “I was just happy we got the win.

“My teammates are the reason I have that record, so it’s a testament to how well they played and how much I love playing with them,” added Carpenter.

The Rams host the Bridgewater State Bears for the MASCAC Championship Game Feb. 24.

Framingham’s two fifth-year players, O’Connor and Carpenter, played

FEBRUARY

on the team during the 2019-20 and 2021-22 championship seasons and are preparing for their third appearance in the MASCAC Championship Game.

Carpenter said, “I think that’s a huge advantage going into Saturday. … We have been in a lot of big spots and know how to handle the moment. Hopefully, we can pass that experience down to our underclassmen as well.

“This is a great program, where I had great mentors and leaders as a freshman, so it’s super cool to be able to do that for the program now,” she added.

O’Connor said, “It feels good knowing we have been here before but this is an experience like no other so we will treat it like a new game and hopefully play some very good basketball.”

Framingham beat Bridgewater 5958 in their previous matchup Jan. 31, but Framingham’s only MASCAC loss came against Bridgewater 56-47 Jan. 6.

Carpenter said, “I’m excited for the matchup. Bridgewater is a great team, so it’ll be a great game. I’m excited to see how we play and hopefully bring another win home.

“Tomorrow will focus mostly on the scout, our defensive plan, and overall game plan. We have worked hard all year to get to this moment, so we feel

very prepared!” she added.

O’Connor said, “They are a tough team with some talented players. I want us to play our game and show everyone what Rams basketball is!”

17.

FEBRUARY 17

FITCHBURG STATE 89

FRAMINGHAM STATE 54

Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

CONNECT WITH IZABELA GAGE igage@student.framingham.edu

Men’s ice hockey closes historic season in playoff loss

By Sophia Oppedisano Interim Asst. Sports Editor

Izabela Gage Staff Writer

The Framingham State Rams fell to the Westfield State Owls in a 4-0 firstround playoff loss, knocking them out of a MASCAC Tournament run Feb. 22.

The Rams entered the playoffs coming off a three-game losing streak. They entered the tournament as the fifth seed in the conference behind the fourth-seeded Westfield. The Rams held a MASCAC record of 8-11-2 going into the matchup with the Owls.

This 2023-24 season was the Rams’ most successful season in the past 9 years with eight wins, all of which came against conference opponents.

Head Coach Mike Bailey, who began his career with a 2-22-1 overall record in 2018-19, now has an all-time record of 22-85-9. The Rams worked up to an overall record of 8-16-2 under Bailey this season.

Assistant Captain Devante Dixon said, “I think our biggest strength is what used to be our biggest weakness - our team culture. We’ve established a foundation of resiliency and relentlessness, and having that foundation going into next year is exciting.”

Framingham faced the Fitchburg State Falcons Feb. 17 in a 2-0 loss in their final regular season game.

The loss was dominated by physical checking by the Falcons and the teams combined for a total of 22 penalty

minutes.

Sixteen of those penalty minutes belonged to the Falcons, giving the Rams 10 power-play opportunities. They were unable to score on any of them.

The Rams celebrated their seniors - Patrick Colgan, Trevor Stenberg, Elijah Slagter, Cam Lindsay, and Andrew Miller - during a Senior Night Ceremony before the game against the Falcons.

“Since I was a freshman, the goal preached to us by the seniors was to leave the team just a little bit better than when you got here,” Dixon said.

Despite the shutout loss, the Rams displayed the kind of perseverance Framingham home crowds have grown accustomed to.

Colgan said having family in town helped lift the team’s spirits after the loss.

“We’ve had an up-and-down season where we’ve won some games, and lost some games, so we’re kind of used to battling the adversity at this point,” he added.

The Rams outshot the Falcons 35 to 22 and the Owls 27 to 25 but were unable to find the back of the net in either matchup.

Goalie Trevor Stenberg had 20 saves against the Falcons and 21 saves

Izabela Gage / THE GATEPOST Rams players fighting for possession during loss to Fitchburg Feb. 17.

against the Owls. Stenberg has a combined .907 save percentage in his last three seasons with the Rams.

Stenberg was tabbed as the MASCAC Goalie of the Week three times this season.

The season also featured Framingham rookies, including Nathan Gines, who scored his first two NCAA goals in a win over Worcester State Feb. 1, and Brady Rossbach, who was named the MASCAC Rookie of the Week Dec. 4.

“It’s been a movie to watch. The freshmen that came in brought so much energy and swag with them. It was contagious from the get-go,” Dixon said.

Dixon added this season is just a step forward for Framingham hockey and is “by no means the peak” of the

program.

The Rams finished the season with a final conference record of 8-12-2 and an overall record of 8-17-2.

“One year at a time this program will continue to improve and with everyone buying into this mindset - into the culture we’ve been building - the sky’s the limit for this program,” Dixon said.

FEBRUARY 17

FITCHBURG STATE 2

FRAMINGHAM STATE 0

Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA OPPEDISANO soppedisano@student.framingham.edu

CONNECT WITH IZABELA GAGE igage@student.framingham.edu

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Kelsey Yelle shooting during win over Fitchburg Feb.

ARTS & FEATURES

Arts & Ideas highlights the plight of incarcerated women

By Jack McLaughlin Arts & Features Editor

Framingham State welcomed Sashi James and Emek Ergun for a discussion on incarcerated women in the Heineman Ecumenical Center Feb. 20.

“Solidarity Keeps Us Alive” is part of the Arts & Ideas “Courage + Resilience” series and was co-sponsored by the Sociology & Criminology Department and the Council on Diversity and Inclusion.

The event began with sociology Professor Zeynep Gönen providing background on the subject, and informing the audience that the U.S. has the largest population of incarcerated people in the world.

Gönen cited policies developed in

we go!’” she said.

She also talked about making sure the book kept the “collective manner” intact that was present in the original writing, a choice made in solidarity with the writers.

She described the process of translating the book as difficult and said it was done mostly over Zoom. She added that while it was challenging at times, something all of the translators shared was “a political commitment to the struggles that these amazing women have been [enduring] in Turkey.”

Sashi James spoke next, and first talked about her experience being incarcerated in 2010. At the time of James’ sentencing, she had just given birth to her fourth child while raising

let them know ‘I’m sorry I’m here, I’m going to try and do everything I can to get back home to you.’”

While incarcerated, James wrote a memoir. Upon her release, she decided not to edit or add anything to it before publishing.

“I didn’t add anything. I packed my manuscript - when I finally got released - in a box and I walked out of the prison with it. And I refused to change anything because I didn’t want my voice to change because now my circumstances have changed,” she said.

“I’m like, ‘What are you talking about?’ I learned more from the sisters in that prison, in that experience - but also I’m a Black woman who was raised in a Black community in the most incarcerated part of Massachusetts.

“Every Black woman in my community is strong and resilient,” she said.

James talked about how people in Massachusetts have a unique opportunity to lead a model for not only the rest of the country, but the world.

“Starting with closing [Massachusetts Correctional Institution - Framingham and] shipping that cost into the communities that are most directly affected by prisons,” she said.

the 1970s as the reason for the high incarceration rate in the U.S.

After this, Gönen introduced Sashi James and Emek Ergun to the audience.

James is the director of Families for Justice and Healing, a non-profit organization led by incarcerated women with the goal of ending incarceration for women and girls.

Ergun is an associate professor of women’s and gender studies at the University of North Carolina Charlotte, and a translator for the book “The Purple Color of the Kurdish Politics,” which is a series of stories from incarcerated women in Turkey.

The discussion started with criminology Professor Beth Whalley, who served as the moderator, inviting both speakers to introduce themselves and their work.

Ergun began with discussing her work translating the book. She said it originally started between her and another colleague who weren’t confident in taking on such a massive project.

“We waited and waited for somebody else to volunteer. Nobody did, so eventually one day we said ‘OK, here

three others.

Because of the conditions of James’ sentencing, she had to serve her twoyear sentence outside of Massachusetts in a Connecticut prison.

“I just had to figure out and keep my head together enough to get two years of incarceration over with,” she said.

She said while incarcerated, she met Virginia Douglas, who would become one of the cofounders of Families for Justice and Healing and leads their office in Harlem, New York.

Speaking about her incarceration, James said a positive outcome was meeting many women who “are in this fight with us.

“We’ve been able to build this sisterhood across the country to bring an end to the incarceration of women and girls,” she said.

She also talked about the severe damage that women being imprisoned face, especially if they are a mother.

“You’ve never been in a prison at 3 o’clock in the morning and heard the stifled sobs of a woman who just cannot, for one more minute, bear the separation from her children, who just wants to touch her children and

Ergun spoke about the writing process for “The Purple Color of the Kurdish Politics,” and how the original text was written by women in prison who were serving “bogus claims.

“They are basically there because they were part of a pro-Kurdish party,” Ergun said.

The incarcerated women in the book were all elected officials who were sentenced to prison over political conflict. Ergun talked about the challenge that these women had in their elected roles, especially against the Turkish government.

“They had to actually stand up, not just to the government and the police and the court, but also to their brothers and fathers and husbands,” she said.

“They refuse to be silenced in a country that has a lot of power to silence them.”

Elaborating on the oppression women face in the prison system, James mentioned that despite the conditions she was in, she was given the opportunity to meet “some of the most resilient, incredibly brilliant women.”

She brought up an experience she had where someone asked her on a panel what it was like to have a full education and go to prison with women who were “uneducated.

Ergun said an important step for people in Turkey to have a better understanding on incarceration is to “stop thinking of Kurdish people as terrorists.

“When you constantly tell people that Kurds want to break up this country, ruin the unity - that they’re terrorists,” she said, “all this language of terrorism - it not only creates this intense fear in people, but then you get a Kurdish person getting killed in the middle of the street because he was speaking in Kurdish.

“You get indoctrinated with this so much, and we’re talking about a massive population,” she added.

She talked about how for the longest time, Kurdish people were not allowed to admit they are Kurdish because of the Turkish constitution using language that she described as “being asked to forgo your ethnic identity.

“These extremely racist ideas prevent people from not only accepting each other with their differences, but living with their differences,” Ergun said.

Ergun points to prisons as a commonality between countries that openly display colonial and racist ideologies.

She talked about how she was indoctrinated to think this way about Kurdish people, and said the way she was able to look at the situation differently was to just listen.

One of her Kurdish friends was sent to prison for attending a protest, and listening to her story gave her a new perspective.

“Listen and hear them, and do something. It’s not that hard to see people being oppressed all around you,” she said.

After a short Q&A, James concluded the discussion by reinforcing that if everybody comes together for this cause, change can be made.

“We can’t get this done at all without everybody else - all hands on deck,” James said.

CONNECT WITH JACK MCLAUGHLIN jmclaughlin7@student.framingham.edu

Alexis Schlesinger / THE GATEPOST

(Left) Beth Whalley, Sashi James, and Emek Ergun at the “Solidarity Keeps Us Alive” event Feb. 20.

Affinity groups

Continued from Page 1

During Black History Month, MISS has done some work in promoting and educating specifically for Black women on campus, like holding a discussion about what it means to be Black at a predominantly white institution (PWI) and partnering with the CIE for the Taste of Culture event held Feb. 20.

Jerome said MISS was founded by Black women on campus who felt like they didn’t have a space specifically for them.

“Black History Month - it’s a time to think about that,” she said. “About how those girls that first put MISS together were thinking about making a space for Black women to feel safe.”

She added MISS is also looking forward to Women’s History Month in March, and is planning on hosting several events to highlight how important women of color are in FSU and the world.

Jerome said she thinks affinity groups are important because they give students a feeling of community and belonging at FSU.

“To have a club where a student feels like they can go and enjoy themself makes a world of difference when it comes to someone’s college experience,” she added.

Even though Jerome is graduating in May, she said MISS is in a strong place, and the organization will continue to flourish at FSU.

“After all the hard work you put into a club, it’s really really a warm feeling to know that people are actu-

Kenzler Joseph, BSU president and a senior management major, said community outreach like this serves to make the University a more welcoming space for all types of students.

Joseph said he took on the role of president for the current school year after serving in the role of treasurer.

“Both of our presidents graduated, and there was really no one looking at the presidential position, so I figured I wanted to step up,” he said.

As president, Joseph is in charge of generally overseeing the organization and making sure it runs smoothly.

He added he also does a lot of committee work, including acting as a student representative on the Advisory Council for the Advancement of Representation in Education.

This Massachusetts committee, created by the governor and lieutenant governor, was formed in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to ban affirmative action, and serves to help make sure equity in higher education is maintained, according to the Massachusetts Career & Technical Educators website.

Joseph said BSU creates a space on campus for Black students to feel comfortable.

“If you look outside in the world today, things like lack of third places, community spaces, where people can go online and relax - a lot of that has been decreasing, going down in recent years,” he said.

“Especially when you talk about places like a PWI - like here - it’s important that students in college, es-

of students signing up.

“Realistically, every month should be Black History Month,” he said, but added having a month to highlight the achievements and contributions of Black people in history helps work toward equity.

He said one challenge BSU faces in its goal to create a more inclusive community is lack of transparency about racist incidents on campus.

“It tells us about underlying issues, and we can smile and sit here and talk about ‘fRAMily’ all day, but at the end of the day, if we still don’t feel truly safe, if we still don’t feel heard and respected among this campus just like everybody else, what is all the talk really for?” he asked.

A student passing by the CIE after finishing up an office hours appointment with a professor in O’Connor Hall on a Wednesday night may find themselves at a meeting for the African Student Association (ASA).

Newly formed last semester, the group was founded by Jude Ejiofor, club president and junior accounting major.

He said his parents were born in Nigeria, and he wanted to form a space on campus for students from Africa or of African descent to come together.

Because ASA is new, it has not received any allocated funding from the school, which Ejiofor said was a challenge. He added the group has a lot of big plans that they want to execute next year, when they have more funding.

ally enjoying themselves,” she said. “What we want FSU to know is that from here on out, we’re only going up, and we’re only going to continue to grow and get better.”

Someone doing homework in the CIE on a Tuesday may find a meeting for the Black Student Union (BSU), a student organization dedicated to celebrating Black culture and creating outreach for Black students on campus, as well as generally supporting the community through programs like clothing and food drives and hosting events.

pecially Black students, have a place where they can feel safe, where they can feel heard, where they can relax,” he added.

Joseph said Black History Month is important because “Black history as a whole is never really properly highlighted or educated, even in school today.”

He said this has been a problem for him at FSU personally when he wanted to do a minor in Black studies, but every time he registered for a class, it ended up being canceled due to lack

Ejiofor said he wants to throw a gala for students to come and spend time together - where they’d be able to wear either traditional African clothing or formal American clothes.

He said he’s been in contact with people at Worcester State University about potentially inviting multiple schools to the gala, and he wants to reach out to more schools around here so the event can include even more people.

“We want to interact with other people, right? Really get to know peo-

ple, whether they’re here or far,” he said.

He added affinity groups create interest on campus and give students a space for self expression.

“If we didn’t have these groups, I don’t feel like any people would feel welcome at all on this campus, to be honest,” he said.

Ejiofor said as a group of African students, ASA’s work during February, no matter what it is, helps to highlight Black History Month.

“It is the shortest month of the year, but I really do feel like it’s a focused time where we can really appreciate our Blackness and everything that comes with it,” he said.

Evelyn Campbell, president of the Student Government Association and acting diversity and inclusion officer due to the current absence in the position, said affinity groups are a great way for students to find places of belonging and related that to how she’s part of the GenerationOne affinity group.

She added compared to other schools, FSU has a lot of great communities for people to join, and hopes all students will seek out their place on campus.

Campbell said working with the presidents of the affinity groups has been a very positive experience.

Jerome Burke, director of the CIE, said Black History Month creates a time for people to recognize the contribution of Black people across history.

“We always say that Black history should be something that is celebrated all year long. For the Black community, this is our lived experience,” he said. “I think what February does is really bring to the focus all the contributions of the Black community.

“The [Black, Indigenous students of color] are very much aware of that, and they very much want to share that with the wider community,” he added.

Burke said it’s incredibly important to see Black students in positions of leadership around the school, both for the sake of allowing Black students to develop their professional skills in contexts out of the classroom, and because it allows students to see people like themselves represented among their peers.

“When we look at faculty and staff, students oftentimes struggle to find persons in leadership positions who look like them, who sound like them, who have a similar accent, who are going through everyday experiences that they can relate to,” he said.

“It’s going to be even more important that they can find it among their peers, so having Black students in leadership positions - at least it fills that gap.

“It’s always important to have Black leaders,” Burke said.

CONNECT WITH RAENA DOTY rdoty@student.framingham.edu

Izayah Morgan / THE GATEPOST

Attendees at a MISS Monday speed dating event called “Are you the one?” Feb. 12.

Taste of Culture celebrates Black history

By Francisco Omar Fernandez Rodriguez Asst. Arts & Features Editor

On Feb. 20 the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) worked with the Black Student Union and the African Student Association to host a Taste of Culture event to celebrate Black History Month.

It was originally planned for the previous Tuesday but inclement weather caused the event to be postponed.

The director of the CIE, Jerome Burke, said they wanted to do something fun that would also celebrate African culture. He said they wanted to teach people as well.

Burke added when the CIE was deciding which groups would connect the most to this event, they thought the Black Student Union and African Student Association would be great fits. He said they were strongly involved, helping decide what would be on the menu and what fun activity they could do.

He said students should be encouraged to talk more about events they want to host, especially in the CIE, and they often just need some support to make them happen.

He added, “I just really want to shout out to the Black Student Union and the African Student Association and just say kudos on this one and great job.”

When asked how difficult the event was to set up, he said it was “a little challenging” because of the date change. He added they had to give a special request to Sodexo for the food, since it is not on their usual menu. He said they had some jollof rice, meat pies, jerk chicken, and more.

For the fun activity, he said they wanted “An expert, someone who we thought could really engage with the students.” They went with a drumming group called Crocodile River.

Burke said Black History Month is extremely relevant and everyone should understand the contribution of the Black community. He added this year’s Black History Month theme is African American art, so they wanted to do something where a form of art was the focal point. They decided on music.

On some tables were many miniature flags.

Emma Laurie, program coordinator for the CIE, and Burke said there were two of each flag, and there were flags for 64 countries related to Black History Month.

During the event, Jastrame Pierresen, freshman, had a presentation about Black History. It covered events from Black Americans sitting in white-only counters in protest to Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling during the national anthem.

She focused on Kaepernick’s protest, describing the impact it had on the country and how controversial it was.

Jastrame said after he left the NFL he maintained a strong social media presence and he continues to protest police brutality. She played a Nike ad featuring Kaepernick that promoted social justice.

Burke introduced University Police’s Community Officer Andrew Frimpong. Frimpong said he has been introducing himself in the dorms and he wants everyone to feel welcome to talk to him.

Members from Crocodile River played their drums, led by one of their co-founders Issa Coulibaly. He said he has been playing for at least 30 years, and has won an award for his performance.

He said the band’s name comes from his hometown, Bamako, Mali. He said “Bamako” translates to “Crocodile River.”

Coulibaly said his favorite instrument is the djembe, which he played during the event. It is a drum originating from West Africa, and he said it’s one of the most famous drums today.

The group had brought many drums and gave several audience members one to play along during the event.

He said drumming helps people exercise, and anyone can do it. He added when playing the drums, “you forget about all the stress and bills, you know, stuff like that.”

Coulibaly added, “Drumming is something to keep you in life, keep your spirits happy.”

CONNECT WITH FRANCISCO OMAR

FERNANDEZ RODRIGUEZ

ffernandezrodriguez@student.framingham.edu

Best of the Grammy Awards

By Bella Omar Asst. Arts & Features Editor

The 66th annual Grammy Awards took place earlier this month on Feb. 4 - a highly anticipated night of music and, in my opinion, red carpet looks.

Miley Cyrus in Maison Mar- giela

The singer’s slinky “Barbarel- la”-esque red carpet look by Maison Margiela has garnered abundant controversy from what seems like all corners of the internet.

Intricately fabricated from gold safety pins and styled with iconic Margiela Tabi heels in yellow velvet, this look is extremely eye-catching and perfectly fitting for the new Grammy Award winner.

Her larger-than-life hairdo has received the most negative attention, but the high level of drama - and hairspray - is rare, and secured this look as one of my favorites of the evening.

Marcus Falcão / THE GATEPOST

Boy Genius in Thom Browne

Indie sensation Boygenius, composed of Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus, all sported matching white tailored Thom Browne suits.

The satin lining and wood-like pattern set them apart from every other ensemble on the carpet. The charming addition of pink carnations pinned to their lapels nodded to the band’s current hiatus with red “Artists for Ceasefire” buttons spotted next to them.

The combination of Thom Browne’s whimsical design and meaningful details made this group another favorite of the night.

Ice Spice in Baby Phat

The rapper breathed new life onto the red carpet in a custom denim and fur set by iconic streetwear brand Baby Phat. Gold accessories, including an oversized cross necklace, added to the streetwear look while remaining true to Ice Spice’s signature style.

The trailing skirt featured just the right amount of slit, and styled with a cropped jacket in a matching wash and luxurious fur lining, this was the most glamorous denim on denim has looked since Britney Spears in 2001.

Caroline Polachek in Olivier Theyskens

Singer, songwriter, and producer Caroline Polachek had the most unique look of the evening in an archival Olivier Theyskens gown.

The carefully done embroidery and elegant mock-neck silhouette added a level of craftsmanship not commonly seen on red carpets recently.

A bright red lace cutout and vein-like red embroidery extending from it against the black fabric turned Caroline Polachek into a perfect ’90s goth vision on the Grammy Awards carpet.

Olivia Rodrigo in Atelier Versace

In another archival look, pop superstar Olivia Rodrigo stunned in a Versace Spring/Summer 1995 dress.

The white silky grown was embellished with silver and pink crystals to create a gradient look. The strappy sweetheart neckline paired with a red lip gave the “Teenage Dream” singer a mature and classic old Hollywood appearance - appropriate for the winner of three Grammy Awards.

CONNECT WITH BELLA OMAR bomar@student.framingham.edu

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST

Musicians from “Crocodile River” and students playing the drums at the Taste of Culture event Feb. 20.

Arts & Ideas screens ‘Till’ in honor of Black History Month

By Bella Omar Asst. Arts & Features Editor

On Feb. 21 Arts & Ideas and the Division of Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement (DICE) hosted a screening of Chinonye Chukwu’s “Till” in Dwight Performing Arts Center with a post-film discussion as part of the Arthur Nolletti Jr. Film Series.

“Till,” released in 2022, follows the true story of Mamie Till-Bradley (played by Danielle Deadwyler), whose pursuit of justice for the murder of her 14-year-old son Emmett Till (played by Jalyn Hall) in 1955 became a cornerstone of the Civil Rights Movement and the beginning of her activism.

This story of strength aligns perfectly with the Arts & Ideas theme for the 2023-24 academic year, “Courage + Resilience.”

This screening is one of several campus events hosted in honor of Black History Month.

After the screening, Sally Shafto, film studies professor, introduced Jon Huibregtse, history professor, who thanked the attendees and began the discussion by quoting Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.

“‘If we’re to continue to move forward as a nation, we cannot allow the concerns about discomfort to displace knowledge, truth, and history,’ and

‘House’

By Owen Glancy Asst. Arts & Features Editor

It’s an undeniable truth that the 1970s were a phenomenal time for horror cinema. From American independent horror films - like “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” and “Last House on the Left” to Italian Giallo films like “Suspiria” and “Blood and Black Lace” - the ’70s were truly one of, if not the best, decades for horror cinema.

Japan is certainly not to be left out, as Nobuhiko Obayashi directed one of the greatest films of the entire decade, “House.”

With such an unassuming title, it’s completely understandable that most audiences would overlook it. Its generic appearance also isn’t helped by the campy-looking poster and the fact that it’s a 48-year-old Japanese film. It definitely isn’t the most immediately enticing film for the modern movie-going audience, and that’s a shame because this is one of the most insane films of all time.

“House” takes the simple premise of a young girl and her friends vacationing at her aunt’s house in the

that is equally true for watching a film like ‘Till’ that we just saw,” he said.

Emmett Till was murdered “almost 10 years to the day after the end of World War II, and it was during World War II that African Americans really mobilized a great deal to fight for civil rights,” Huibregtse said.

A few months after the events depicted in “Till” took place, “Rosa Parks was arrested in Montgomery [Alabama] for not giving up her seat, and she said that she was thinking of Emmett Till when she refused to give up her seat on that bus, which is the event most consider kind of the start of the Civil Rights Movement,” Huibregtse said.

Senior English major Hannah Jones was introduced and said, “This film, to me, is very spiritual. My initial reaction when watching the film, I was very distraught emotionally. I actually cried in the theater watching it. I realized a lot of the metaphoric implications are still resonating today. Mamie Till really highlighted the Black female experience.

“She also really highlighted toward the end of the film how her close mindedness could have prevented Emmett from being harmed, how hate wasn’t something she could control. But also how love for ourselves should not be erased because of that hatethat really stuck with me,” said Jones.

country, only for strange things to start happening, and goes absolutely insane with it. Never before and never since have a creative team had so much fun with the making of a horror film. It feels like every decision was approved and somehow worked into the film.

This chaotic style can be disorienting at times, but it only adds to the film’s atmosphere and makes moments that would be boring in any other movie extremely entertaining. In one conversation, there will be 20 different camera angles, two different filters, and two or three extremely cheesy and overthe-top performances at the center of it all, but it never feels out of control.

Jerome Burke, director of the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE), took the floor and said, “I know that for us it was shocking to see Emmett’s photo, and as shocking as it was, I thought it was very important. And I remember George Floyd.

“We have to capture these moments that we have, to have people watch and see what it was. You can only imagine how it was for that person and their immediate family,” he added.

Jeffrey Coleman, vice president for DICE, said, “This film was very disturbing. I think what was most disturbing to me was at the end of the film - the narrative about how the individuals, the two white men and the

playful with the art of filmmaking itself, and I honestly doubt a movie will ever come along that can rival “House” in this aspect.

Obayashi’s distinct directorial flairs are on full display here, with plenty of blue screen, bright colors, and a dreamlike atmosphere throughout. It’s incredibly impressive that he was able to find success in a film so unique and so “himself.”

Every element is precisely controlled so that the chaos presented on screen is never too much during the calmer scenes and never too little during the death scenes. And these death scenes are some of the best and most memorable in film history, some of which I don’t believe have been topped since.

Not since this film has a haunted house flick ever been so creative and

It’s not just Obayashi that makes this such an insane film though - it’s the entire cast and crew working together to make this the most wild film they possibly could. Whether it be Chiho Katsura writing the script, Nobuo Ogawa editing the film, or even Shinji Kojima doing the lighting, everyone here is giving 110% effort and it shows.

Is “House” a particularly scary film? Absolutely not. However, when

white woman who were responsible for the murder, were never prosecuted - 1955 was not really that long ago.”

Attendees were then invited to the CIE for food and drink, where Burke said, “One of the things that I hope students will get from it is don’t only be shocked by what you’re seeing happening around you.

“Try to figure out how you can lend your voice for that and advocate. How you can speak up, how you can create a community that is also just as passionate as you are, and champion that energy into a greater cause,” he said.

every single person working on the film is having this much fun, does it even matter? The filmmaker’s infectious creative energy is more than enough to captivate the hardest horror movie veterans and casual film fans alike.

Since its 1977 release, no film that has come before or after “House” has truly been able to capture its unique vibe, and for this I’m extremely grateful. Remakes are a trend that has plagued horror films since the ’90s and thankfully “House” has not even been attempted, as I can’t even imagine one would be anywhere near as energetic and fun as this film is.

“House” is proof that art-house horror cinema can be easily enjoyed by anyone. For this reason, I would say that it might even be the perfect gateway into art-house cinema itself, and its popularity has slowly been rising over the years because of just how accessible it is. This, and films like “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg,” are proof that once you overcome the 1-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you’ll be introduced to profound works of art that might just change your life.

[Editor’s Note: See “Owen’s Oldies - ‘The Umbrellas of Cherbourg’” in the Feb. 9 issue of The Gatepost.]

Whether or not it is your gateway into art-house, you should definitely experience “House.” The easiest way to see the film is streaming on Max or The Criterion Channel.

CONNECT WITH OWEN GLANCY oglancy@student.framingham.edu

Emma Lyons/ THE GATEPOST

Screening of “Till” at Dwight Performing Arts Center Feb. 21.

David Abe / THE GATEPOST

CONNECT WITH BELLA OMAR bomar@ student.framingham.edu

‘Trolls’ do it better

By Liv Dunleavy Staff Writer

A harmonious new “Trolls” film has arrived with a bumping soundtrack and a story that incorporates the previous movies seamlessly. This third movie might just be my favorite of the three. With crazy animation styles, weird new species, and of course, incredible sound design, the movie doesn’t disappoint for even one second.

“Trolls Band Together” focuses on a long-lost family, and the challenges that come with bonding with, losing, and gaining important people in your life. It is revealed that Branch grew up as a part of a popular troll boy band called “BroZone,” and the members were all his older brothers.

As siblings do, they fight throughout the whole opening sequence, causing their big stage performance to go horribly wrong and the brothers end up going their separate ways, leaving baby Branch to fend for himself.

Now in the present, Branch is reminiscing about his boy band days, with a seemingly sour feeling toward his brothers and the way they departed. During a side-plot where Poppy’s best bergen friend Bridget is getting married to King Gristle, the processional is interrupted by a visitor looking for Branch in the crowd.

This turns out to be his eldest brother and problem leader of “BroZone,” John Dory, traveling around and attempting to collect all of the bros to find and save their brother Floyd from his evil diva capturers Velvet and Veneer, talentless teens who are using Floyd’s troll power to enhance their voices and dance skills in a ploy to become famous without working at all.

Velvet and Veneer are the newest “Trolls” villains, a new species called “Mount Rageons” who come from “Mount Rageous.” I loved their character de sign so much, their animation is lanky and long, and they’re shiny like plastic. “Mount Rageons” are all very futuristic, with the setting of “Mount Ra geous” overlaid with floating text re lating to music and fame.

out of what looked like 3D animated water beads. Every time someone sloshed around in that blue beady water I wanted to reach out and run my hands through it.

Another awesome character and set design I appreciated was “Vacay Island.” The Muppet-looking characters called “Vacaytioners” who lived on this island were so interesting to look at. With fuzzy textures and yarn hair, I could imagine what they felt like just by looking at them.

Their island and beach design was so satisfying, with the water made

GP Mix

Adams Auditory Allure

The “Trolls” franchise has never once disappointed with their soundtracks, but I think this one takes the cake. These songs are ridiculously catchy and of course the main draw is the funky boy band-es-

The main track “Better Place” is the song I’ve been missing in my life.

If you haven’t heard it and you’re even a smidge into early ’90s boy bands, immediately go to your preferred music streaming site, put it on, and revel in this catchy, melodious, and danceable song! I’ve been shimmying and swaying to this song all day. Even when I’m not listening to it, I’m singing it in my head.

I’d have to say beside the absolutely insane soundtrack, my favorite part of the movie is the never-ending boy band puns. Honestly, I’m surprised they were able to fit that many without it becoming unbearable, but every single time I burst out laughing! “Trolls Band Together” is blinged

out with the star studded cast of my dreams, of course with Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick returning as Branch and Poppy. The members of hit troll boy band “BroZone” include Floyd (Troye Sivan), John Dory (Eric André), Clay (Kid Cudi), and Spruce (Daveed Diggs), and our lovely Bitty B/Branch (JT).

Other celebrity cast members include Camila Cabello as Poppy’s sister Viva, Amy Schumer as Velvet, and Andrew Rannells as Veneer.

Viewers will also be surprised by a cameo at the end from a boy band with a new release made special for this movie.

Rating: A+ A “fantastimazing” and “fantastimawesome” film!

This is a highly recommendable movie, though if you haven’t seen the first two “Trolls” films you might not understand a lot of references. Luckily those two are just as great as this film and just as fun of a watch! odunleavy@student.framingham.edu

Kyle Walker / THE GATEPOST

Puzzles

ACROSS

1. Cap’s brim

6. Ones whose pants are on fire?

11. Hosp. intake areas

14. It comes before Chap. 1

15. Balance sheet entry

16. “Parks and ___” (’09-’15 sitcom)

17. Format, as many an essay

19. De Armas of “Knives Out”

20. Lodging that might have a name like The Red Stag

21. ___ Vegas Raiders

22. Contented

24. Popular jeans

26. Journalistic org. since 1846

27. Next to

30.

32. Washington or Ford

33. Occasion for a tuxedo or gown

37. “Better late ___ never”

38.

39. Word after “swap” or “swim”

40.

42. Full of suds

43.

44.

45.

48.

50.

52.

56.

57.

60.

61.

62.

63.

64. Principle

65. Wild-___ chase

DOWN

1. Middle of Caesar’s boast

2. Aware of

3. Phaser setting

4. Sphere

5. Feature of a burro but not a donkey?

6. Mango ___ (Indian drink)

7. Verizon or Xfinity, for short

8. “Right now!”

9. Takes back

10. Make more inclined

11. Clear, as a chalkboard

12. Library website button

13. Tons (of)

18. Icicle’s spot

23. “Yeah ... that’s it for me”

24. Room full of angry constituents, e.g.

25. Goes all out during a race

27. Relaxing soak

28. Say the same thing as

29. Baseball card datum

31. Pine (for)

33. “Sussudio” singer Collins

34. One of 12 on some mountain bikes

35. Air filter letters

36. “gtg, see ya”

38. Maryland seafood item

41. Yellow-green gem

42. Iditarod team member

44. New York’s ___ Station

45. Rainy month

46. Capital of Bangladesh

47. Cast a ballot

49. “At the very ___ ...”

51. Ollie’s partner in comedy

Puzzle solutions are now exclusively online.

53. Source of a museum skeleton, for short

54. Iowa State’s city

55. ___ mortals

58. Word after “stink” or “side”

59. Only even prime number

@The Gatepost | FSUgatepost.com

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST Jerome Burke speaking at the “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST Participants collecting food at the “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST African food available for attendees at the “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST (Left) Cesar Matos, Liv West, and Iz Shields drumming at the “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST (Left) Aimee Takouda and Shiba Nankya drumming at the “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST Jastrame Pierrsen giving a speech about Colin Kaepernick’s police brutality protests during the “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Maddison Behringer / THE GATEPOST N’Camara Abou Sylla playing the balafon at the “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST (Left) Issa Coulibaly, Shiba Nankya, Aimee Takouda, and N’Camara Abou Sylla drumming “Taste of Culture” event Feb. 20.

Spread by Interim Associate Editor Maddison Behringer