April 9, 2021

Volume 89 • Issue 21

Lounging on the lawn

FSUgatepost.com

April 9, 2021

Donald Halsing / THE GATEPOST

Left: Timothy Allen, senior, and Savanna Hernandez, junior, on the Miles Bibb lawn April 8.

News GENERAL EDUCATION pg. 4 RECORDING POLICIES pg. 8

Opinions

NOT TIME TO GET COMFORTABLE pg. 9 FIRST-GENERATION STUDENT pg. 9

Sports

FSU receives $62K grant

Multi-day institute to focus on anti-racist policy initiatives

By Ashley Wall Editor-in-Chief FSU received a $62,250 grant from the Massachusetts Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF). The grant will be used this summer to run a multi-day virtual racial equity policy review institute for campus leaders.

According to a University press release, “Participants in the institute will gain a better understanding of systemic racism in higher education and how it manifests on campus.”

Additionally, according to the

RUGBY pg. 11

Arts & Features GRACE TALUSAN pg. 12 MAZGAL pg. 14-15

According to Cabello, the call for grant applications was “specifically focused on initiatives that centered racial equity work.”

Cabello said the multi-day equity policy institute will build on the work the University is “already doing with the continual departmental conversations on anti-racism.”

She added, “The really exciting part is that department heads will be able to leave the institute with an initial plan for how they’re going to execute this policy review process in

See RACIAL POLICY REVIEW page 5

Career Services provides opportunity in uncertain times ‘We’ll do whatever we can to help’

By Jared Graf Arts & Features Editor

Gatepost Archives

press release, the institute will allow participants to “be able to define what a racist policy is and how it shows up in student outcomes and create an initial yearlong plan to undertake policy review.”

Constanza Cabello, vice president for diversity, inclusion, and community engagement, said because of the institute’s virtual format, the University “will be able to open parts of it up to campus and potentially community members as well,” rather than just the 150 campus leaders initially expected.

When Jacob Mixon graduated FSU as a biology major last semester, he never would have imagined landing a job as a research associate at a biology lab a month later.

“With everything going on, I just wasn’t very hopeful I’d find a job immediately after graduating,” Mixon said. “But I knew what I wanted to do, so I started applying to places.”

Within weeks of sending out his resume, Mixon was already receiving calls from local labs requesting Zoom interviews. Luckily, the Career Ser-

vices and Employer Relations (CSER) office at FSU prepared him for the increasingly popular virtual job interview.

“I had a bunch of Zoom interviews, and I was going around closing my closet door, making sure the lighting was right, and checking my internet connection,” he said. “That’s all stuff I never would have thought of if it wasn’t for Career Services.”

During his last semester at FSU, Mixon reviewed his resume with Career Services twice and also learned how to effectively market himself to possible employers.

“I would for sure credit Career

Services with helping me get the job I have now,” he said. “They were super helpful, super nice, and really got into the nitty-gritty detail of how to apply for jobs, how to format your resume to get hits, and how to best communicate your skills.”

Prior to the pandemic, Mixon participated twice in CSER’s Suitable Solutions program - which brought employers to campus to hold mock interviews and network with students. The program also rewards students with a $100 gift card to spend on professional attire.

See CAREER SERVICES page 16

INSIDE: OP/ED 9 • SPORTS 11 • ARTS & FEATURES 12

NEWS

2 | APRIL 9, 2021

Gatepost Interview

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Ashley Wall

Wardell Powell

Associate Editors Donald Halsing Cara McCarthy News Editor Leighah Beausoleil Asst. News Editors Dan Fuentes Ashlyn Kelly Arts & Features Editors Brennan Atkins Jared Graf Opinions Editor McKenzie Ward Asst. Opinions Editor Emily Rosenberg Design Editor Kathleen Moore Photos Editor Caroline Gordon Sports Editor Danielle Achin Staff Writers Maia Almeida James Barraford Patrick Brady Steven Bonini Sean Cabot Soren Colstrup Olivia Copeland Haley Hadge Caroline Lanni Lydia Staber Advisor Dr. Desmond McCarthy Asst. Advisor Elizabeth Banks

Education Professor

By Caroline Gordon Editorial Staff What is your role at FSU? At Framingham State, I am an assistant professor of education. I teach science, secondary methods, special needs, and educational technology. I teach elementary science methods and secondary science methods. I also supervise elementary and early childhood education students as well as teach STEM courses in our graduate education program.

What is your educational and professional background?

I have a bachelor’s degree in biology from the City University of New York, Herbert Lehman College. I also have a master’s of science degree in science education from Herbert Lehman College. I have a Ph.D. in curriculum and instruction - teaching and learning in science - from the University of South Florida. I started teaching in the New York City public schools. I went to Florida and spent over 10 years at Pasco High School in Florida.

What made you want to teach at a university rather than a high school?

When I decided to pursue my doctorate, I was already teaching for eight years. I wanted to do a little bit more.

I wanted more of a challenge. As a result, I enrolled in the Ph.D. program for science educators at the University of South Florida. I wanted to teach teachers. I wanted to give back based on my experience. I wanted to use what I learned in my doctoral work and experience teaching in the K-12 system to give back.

What do you like most about your job?

I like to teach. I like being able to meet with students to talk about how to teach science to their students with and without disabilities. I enjoy just being able to give back and teach students how to effectively teach science. Naturally, to get the opportunity at Framingham State to be able to teach teachers how to accommodate students with special needs is something that I really enjoy.

How has COVID-19 impacted your work?

It changed everything. I have been home teaching for over a year, so being able to do hands-on activities has been a challenge. You are not able to bring your gizmos to the classroom for students to play around with. So in that regard, it has been a challenge.

Courtesy of Framingham State What are some of your hobbies and interests?

I like to cook! My background is Jamaican so I like to cook Jamaican food.

In addition to that, soccer is my passion. I coached soccer while I was a high school teacher. Throughout that time, I won two district championships. I am an avid soccer fan.

What do you like most about working with students?

I like to see those lightbulbs go on, so to speak. Sometimes, when students start out perhaps not knowing how “x” orks, then by the time you are finished teaching, they say, “I feel more confi ent an I kno I can o this.

Teaching science at the elementary level, you often fin teacher can i ates will say something about their experience in science not being good because they only read from books. At the end of their experience, they can say that they know how to teach science and how to allow and give students opportunities to explore and use the inquiry process of learning science.

What do you like best about FSU? I like that it’s a small campus. You can get around easily. You get to know folks. My colleagues in the Education Department are wonderful, as well as colleagues outside of the department. I like the small atmosphere - you get to know people and people get to know you.

What are your proudest career accomplishments?

I would say my proudest accomplishment thus far has been a book that I recently e ite , Socioscientific Issues-Based Instruction for Scientific Literacy Development.” As an early-career faculty member, being able to engage and do this type of work where you are able to showcase your passion, the study you have spent so much time in your Ph.D. program researching and writing about, to put together a book that’s huge.

What has been your most memorable moment at FSU so far?

Just being able to be around others and hear them talk about how they are navigating and being able to continue teaching. Going to some events to hear about the research your colleagues are doing - those times are memorable for me.

What advice do you have for FSU students?

Never stop learning. Always put yourself in a position to be a lifelong learner. That is critical if we are going to solve the problems of the 21st century and beyond.

CONNECT WITH CAROLINE GORDON cgordon4@student.framingham.edu

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Saturday, April 3 18:45 Motor Vehicle Accident Adams Road Report Taken

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Sunday, April 4 12:09 Domestic Violence FSU Police Department Report Taken

NEWS

APRIL 9, 2021 | 3

SGA addresses COVID-19 concerns and Nutrition Club funding request

By Haley Hadge Staff Writer SGA members voiced concerns regarding students not wearing masks at student service locations such as the Student Transportation Center, Sandella’s, as well as other dining locations, at its meeting April 6.

Senator Emily Rosenberg said in the “student lounge, nobody was wearing their masks. In the residence hall, nobody’s wearing their masks, or at least they’re having it halfway down.”

She asked what the administration can do to address this issue, “especially since we had 11 cases last week.”

President Olivia Beverlie explained the standard procedure that Residence Life has in place for when individuals are wearing masks incorrectly or not at all.

She said first the Security Desk Attendant (SDA) should ask them to wear or fix their mask as well as provide them with a new one if needed.

Then, an incident report including the individual’s name, the time, and the date needs to be written so that “if it is a continuous behavior, it’s addressed by the AD [Area Director].”

Beverlie added, “Every building has some type of program” with pre-determined guidelines in place to create a safe environment for students and faculty throughout the

COVID-19 pandemic.

“RAs [Resident Assistants] are supposed to be asking residents to put their masks on when we’re on rounds if we see them [students] without them on,” said Beverlie.

SGA Advisor Sara Gallegos said she has also noticed this issue of improper mask wearing and will make the supervisor of Student Transport aware of this, adding, “I’m glad you brought that up.”

Nutrition Club President Claudia Osorio requested funding in the amount of $10,000 to host Daphne Miller as a virtual speaker for the Framingham State community.

Currently, SGA has approximately $38,000 of unallocated funds, according to SATF Treasurer Ewnie Fedna.

Miller is a family physician, author, and the “founder of Health from the Soil Up, an initiative which harnesses medical resources to transform the food system and promote environmental justice,” according to Osorio.

She added, “We think Dr. Miller is of interest to all students at FSU because of her focus on sustainability and environmental justice, which are both heavily linked with racial justice, which is a focus of the University this year.”

The request was unanimously approved. The virtual event is expected to take place on April 28.

During the Student Advisory

President Olivia Beverlie at a 2019 SGA meeting.

Weather

SATF Treasurer Ewnie Fedna at a 2020 SGA meeting.

Council report, Senator Mark Haskell said he met with members of the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education on April 1 to discuss “the new undergrad experience going forward,” he said.

This discussion included “a possible Student Bill of Rights,” said Haskell. “This is a relatively new concept for most colleges, and there were a few points that were made about the right to have an effective impact on college policies.”

He added some of the main policies within this Bill of Rights may include the inalienable right to an equitable or full education in higher education, all complaints taken seriously, freedom from debt, Cares Act funding adjustable deadline, and undocumented students should be included for in-state tuition.

During her report, Mariah Farris, outreach and events coordinator, discussed upcoming events such as Ram Hunt on April 12, for which prizes include a TV, a hoverboard, and LED lights, and an Earth Day event for April 23.

During her advisor’s report, Gatepost Archives Gallegos said, “We do have some

Gatepost Archives

on-campus, in-person events that are happening.”

Student Union Activities Board and Hilltop are hosting a drive-in double-feature movie event on April 9 featuring “The Lion King” and “Grease,” Gallegos said.

She added Motivation. Intersectionality. Solidarity. Sisterhood. will also be hosting a drive-in on April 23.

Sandbox, “a big, fun carnival event,” will take place in person, on campus May 7, according to Gallegos.

During officer reports, Beverlie announced Marcie Dineen, area director of Miles Bibb Hall and Linsley Hall, will be SGA’s “pro-staff” member. This means Dineen will be the staff member on the election committee, which is chaired by Kays.

Beverlie also encouraged seniors in the virtual room to “start thinking about election committee.”

[Editor’s Note: Emily Rosenberg is Asst. Opinions Editor of The Gatepost.]

CONNECT WITH HALEY HADGE hhadge@student.framingham.edu

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

Sunday night April 11 60% chance of precipiation. Cloudy. Low near 40. E winds around 5 mph.

Monday night April 12 30% chance of precipitation. Mostly cloudy.

Low near 40. NE winds around 5 mph.

Tuesday night April 13 Mostly cloudy. Low near 45. NE wind 5 mph.

Wednesday night April 14 Mostly cloudy. Low near 45.

E winds around 5 mph.

Monday April 12 50% chance of precipiation. Cloudy. High near 50. NE winds around 10 mph.

Tuesday April 13 Mostly cloudy. High near 60. N winds around 5 mph.

Wednesday April 14 Partly sunny. High near 60. N winds around 5 mph.

Thursday April 15 40% chance of precipitation. Mostly cloudy. High near 55. N wind around 5 mph.

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4 | APRIL 9, 2021

Special Committee on General Education holds listening sessions

By Ashlyn Kelly Asst. News Editor The Special Committee on General Education held two listening sessions to hear student and faculty opinions about the general education program on Zoom.

The first meeting focused on the mission statement April 5.

According to Amanda Simons, chair of the committee, the review of the general education program began in 2017.

English Professor Patricia Lynne said it may not make sense to call it a mission statement.

“Mission statements tend to be fairly dry and brief and this is … more in the language of advertising,” she said. “It might be better to adjust what we’re calling it as well as possibly shifting the format.”

Simons said it is OK if it is not a mission statement, but asked, “Does that mean that having a mission statement is not important?”

Lisa Eck, English department chair, said, “I think there’s a case to

lems that the special committee has run into is a lack of information that comes from a lack of centralized administration of the general education program.”

In order to solve this issue, the special committee is considering creating a General Education Council.

According to McKenna, the Council “would be charged with the coherent management of the gen ed program, including the reviews that we have to do every five years, but also including this sort of day-to-day management of the program so that

would be in making sure the chairs have a way to coordinate with other chairs and know what else is out there and what’s being offered and what their courses will be competing with.”

McKenna said he hopes to get students to serve on the Council.

“I think this Gen Ed Council has to have vigorous student participation.

After all, the gen ed program is to [their] benefit,” he said.

Mancuso said she believes it will be a challenge to get people to serve on the Council.

“I think this Gen Ed Council has to have vigorous student participation. After all, the gen ed program is to their enefit -Larry McKenna, Physics and Earth Science Department Chair This process consisted of internal reviews through surveys of faculty, staff, and students as well as an external review through the Association of American Colleges & Universities.

“The general conclusion was that our current program is adequate and adequate is not super inspiring,” said Simons.

Simons said the review process was never finished and that is the responsibility of the current committee.

“One of the comments that came up in the review from our external reviewer was that the program doesn’t have a clearly defined purpose,” said Simons. “And an even bigger concern comes from our student survey, where the students don’t know what we’re doing with the general education program, either.”

The current draft of the mission statement listed certain goals of the program, such as building knowledge across disciplines, exploring majors and minors, “investigating pressing issues,” and developing skills for employability.

English Professor Halcyon Mancuso, executive director of the Mancuso Humanities Workforce Preparation Center, said she does not think the current mission statement says how the goals will be achieved, and the document is “just way too long.

“I’m not sure that students are going to get it and read it,” she added.

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be made that the breadth of gen eds needs to be promoted. We’re asking students to not just pick a major but to go outside their comfort zone for … 10 courses.”

She added the general education program should be able to answer questions such as, “Why do they [students] have to leave their comfort zone?” and “Why do they have to work across the disciplines?”

English Professor Bartholomew Brinkman asked in the chat, “How do we square the encouragement to ‘explore majors and minors’ with what often seems to be an institutional push to declare majors early?”

Marc Cote, dean of arts and humanities, said while the current twoyear window to declare a major may seem short, some departments view it as being too long.

Larry McKenna, physics and Earth science department chair, suggested a “vibrant gen ed program … would allow [students] to get a few classes done in the gen ed program while they explored the majors.”

According to Simons, many of the gen ed courses offered at FSU can count toward minors.

“Students could take a course from this domain, in that domain, and that domain and be three-fifths of the way to a minor,” she said.

The second meeting focused on the creation of a general education council April 7.

Simons said, “One of the prob-

it runs in the way that best benefits our students, our faculty, and our University.”

Eck said many opportunities “just lay dormant because we treat [gen eds] like a checklist and students just want to ‘get through’ or ‘get past’” them.

She added in the time the special committee has spent examining the general education program, they have discovered minors that students could work toward while completing their gen eds.

“I really think just the packaging … is what this Council could address,” said Eck. She also said the Council could address the scheduling of gen ed courses.

“We have some data that certain disciplines or certain departments lost ground in this last enrollment,” said Eck. “In this current system, we don’t know what those factors were were they scheduling or [something else]?”

McKenna said he was “addressed by a chair two days ago who said, ‘You guys don’t have the right to decide when I offer classes’ and the chair was quite adamant about that.”

According to Susan Dargan, dean of social and behavioral sciences, the Council would not have the authority to regulate the schedule due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, but could make recommendations.

Simons said, “I think the value

“Everyone is maxed out already with all the various departmental and University-wide committees,” she added.

Simons asked if there were a way to compensate students for being on the Council.

Chemistry and Food Science Professor Vinay Mannam proposed in the chat for students to receive professional development credit to be put on their transcripts.

Dargan said there are co-curricular transcripts available for students to order.

According to Simons, the committee is also considering creating a guide to the general education program for both faculty and students.

She said the main purpose of the guide would be “to help students find pathways through the general education program that will work for them.”

One example was if a student were interested in sustainability, the guide would list certain courses that explored the topic.

Simons added, “But this kind of advising guide would show students some ways that they could make the program work for their interests.”

CONNECT WITH ASHLYN KELLY akelly8@student.framingham.edu

NEWS

APRIL 9, 2021 | 5

Racial policy review continued from page 1 the upcoming year.”

In the press release, FSU President F. Javier Cevallos said, “We are very grateful to the Baker Administration for awarding us funding to coordinate this institute.

“We are never going to be able to close racial opportunity gaps until we address policies that limit the self-determination of students of color,” Cevallos added.

He said the grant is a reflection of the commitment the FSU community has to engage in conversations “about anti-racism and how to become a more inclusive and open institution to everyone.”

According to the University’s website, current anti-racism initiatives include a central training focus in the fall of 2020 for employees, faculty professional development aimed at “unpacking anti-racist pedagogy and giving faculty tools to enact this in their work,” and programs hosted

by The Center for Inclusive Excellence on discussions and events that “deepened understanding of race and racism.”

Additionally, the University’s commitment to being an anti-racist institution includes continual departmental conversations on anti-racism, an Anti-Racist Pedagogy Academy for faculty, and a remote workshop series focused on race.

According to the press release, a majority of the grant funds will go toward hiring educational experts.

Cabello said the University is “really looking for somebody who has familiarity with our campus, who may have worked with Framingham State in the past, who knows about our student body and some of the past work we’ve done.”

She added the educational expert hired will be “an expert in racial equity, somebody who knows higher education inside and out, and somebody who’s familiar with our campus.”

Cabello said the University has an educational expert in mind, but cannot release any names because they are not yet under contract.

According to the press release, the racial equity institute will build upon the work that began with the 2018 STEM Inclusive Excellence Grant for $1 million awarded by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI).

Through this five-year grant, “15 STEM faculty participated in the FSU STEM racial equity institute under the leadership of the grant’s primary investigator, Dr. Catherine Dignam,” according to the press release.

Dignam, chair of the chemistry and food science department, said the first year of the grant was spent “building capacity and attempting to educate both faculty leaders and administrators in such a way that we could have a shared vocabulary and a shared mental model when we approached work-related equity, inclusion, and diversity.”

From there, the curriculum for the

summer racial equity institute was developed.

Dignam said, “In year two [2019], we launched the STEM racial equity institute, which is a very intensive experience for some faculty.

Well, if folks don’t know what systemic racism is - not because they’re bad people, but because it hasn’t affected their lives - it’s really hard to be a good anti-racist institution.

“So, that’s one of the types of

Cabello said the institute will be assessed to determine whether participants understand systemic racism, what a racist policy is, and if they have a plan to move forward.

She said, “Right now, what I think

“We are never going to be able to close racial opportunity gaps until we address policies that limit the self-determination of students of color.

-F. Javier Cevallos, FSU President She said faculty spent five weeks during the summer reviewing modules to develop an “anti-racist pedagogy.”

According to Dignam, the University has partnered with the UMass Donahue Institute.

She said, “They provided us with an external evaluator and he led fo-

things we try to deal with by studying historical examples of systemic racism, modern examples of systemic racism, thinking about what that influence will have on our perspectives as faculty in the classroom and as prospective students in the classroom,” Dignam added.

On the HEIF grant, Dignam said, “I

is that there’s a real desire for folks who want to do this work well. And so, we need to provide them with the tools to do that.”

According to Cabello, the rhetoric around COVID-19 has played a role in increased hate crimes and racial trauma.

“We need to really meet this moment that we’re in - kind of the intersections of what we often call a dual pandemic of ongoing racism and COVID-19,” Cabello said. “So for me, it’s about situating our work within our local context, but also the national context as well.”

Additionally, Cevallos said the pandemic had created the challenge of retention for students of color.

“The most important issue that we have right now is the disparity in graduation rates of students of color and the overall population,” Cevallos said. “We really have to understand that students come from very different places and have very different experiences. And, we have to be willing to understand that diversity of experience, as well as backgrounds, and put programs in place to make sure everybody can succeed.”

On institute outcomes, Cevallos said he hopes all campus leaders will participate in the institute and implement what they have learned in Gatepost Archives different areas within their departConstanza Cabello, vice president for diversity, inclusion, and community ments. engagement, at a 2020 Board of Trustees meeting.

He said, “I think it [the institute] is a wonderful way for us to show our cus groups with our participants and am very enthusiastic. It [the grant] is commitment to moving forward. It’s provided us with an overall report to not going to solve all problems, but just wonderful that the Division of give us some sort of basic informa- it’s a piece of the puzzle.

Diversity, Inclusion and Community tion to help us improve the program “I like that the idea is to focus Engagement is willing to lead that and get an idea of whether it’s im- on sharpening our racial equity,” effort.” pactful.”

Dignam said. “I think we’re taking Dignam said, “President Cevallos other positive steps and we need to CONNECT WITH ASHLEY WALL made a bold statement that we’re go- keep taking positive steps.” awall1@student.framingham.edu ing to be an anti-racism institution.

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NEWS

6 | APRIL 9, 2021

COVID-19 by the numbers

April 9, 2021

By Donald Halsing Associate Editor

By Leighah Beausoleil News Editor

By Kathleen Moore Design Editor

Over four million new COVID-19 infections were reported worldwide based on data from various sources taken April 7.

Just under 710 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally.

Framingham State University administered 911 tests within the past week, and 4,371 tests within the past 30 days, according to the COVID-19 data page on the FSU website.

Nine positive tests were returned within the past week, according to the page. The seven-day negative test rate was 99.01%.

One positive case was self-reported by a student within the past week.

Four positive cases were self-reported by students within the past 30 days.

Seven students were isolated on campus and four individuals were isolated off campus. Four students were quarantined on campus and 19 people were quarantined off campus.

A total of 4,289 negative, and 27 positive results, were returned in the past 30 days. The 30-day negative test rate was 99.37%.

Cumulatively, 7,741 Framingham residents, 11.33%, have tested positive for COVID-19.

The City of Framingham reported 1,471 active cases.

There were 142 new infections, 178 new recoveries, and two new deaths reported since April 1. The number of people infected decreased by 38, or 0.5%, over the past week.

Approximately 19% of those who have tested positive remain infected.

Just under 78% have recovered and approximately 3.1% have died.

The overall death rate from COVID-19 in Framingham is 0.35%.

Cumulatively, 611,825 Massachusetts residents, 8.88%, have tested

positive for COVID-19.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health estimates there are 35,075 active cases.

There were 13,648 new infections, 9,404 new recoveries, and 170 new deaths since April 1. The number of people infected grew by 4,074, or 0.68%, over the past week.

Approximately 5.8% of those who have tested positive remain infected.

Just over 91% have recovered, and approximately 2.8% have died.

The overall death rate from COVID-19 in Massachusetts is 0.25%.

The New York Times reported that cumulatively, 4,161,913 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in Massachusetts. According to the Times, 39% of the population has received at least one dose, and 22% has received two doses.

Cumulatively, 30,920,412 United States residents, 9.36%, have tested positive for COVID-19.

Worldometer, a data source for the John Hopkins Coronavirus Resources center, reported 6,874,353 active cases in the U.S. There were 461,840 new infections, 466,965 new recoveries, and 7,067 new deaths since April 1. The number of people infected decreased by 12,192,

or 0.04%, over the past week.

Just under 22% of those who have tested positive remain infected. Approximately 77% of the population has recovered, and 1.8% have died.

The overall death rate from COVID-19 in the United States is 0.17%.

The New York Times reported that cumulatively, 171,476,655 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the United States. According to the Times, 33% of the population has received at least one dose, and 19% has received two doses.

Cumulatively, 132,934,508 people globally, 1.71%, have tested positive for COVID-19.

Worldometer reported 23,160,128 active cases around the world.

There were 4,158,373 new infections, 2,947,096 new recoveries, and 71,429 new deaths since April 1. The number of people infected grew by 1,139,848, or 0.89%, over the past week.

Just under 23% of the world’s population that has tested positive remain infected. Approximately 75% of the population has recovered and 2.8% has died.

The overall death rate from COVID-19 globally is 0.04%.

The New York Times reported that cumulatively, 709,730,462 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally.

Data sources: Framingham State University City of Framingham Mass. population: U.S. Census Bureau – QuickFacts Massachusetts U.S. and World population: U.S. Census Bureau – U.S. and World Population Clock Mass. data: WCVB Channel 5 Boston, Mass. Dept. of Public Health U.S. data: CDC, New York Times, Worldometer World data: WHO, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center, Worldometer Recovery data: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center Active Cases: New York Times Vaccination Data: New York Times *Calculations for new infections, recoveries, deaths, and infected population size change are made using both data from this week and last week’s data published in The Gatepost. New data collected Wednesday before publication.

Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST

Framingham

Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST

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Massachusetts

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APRIL 9, 2021 | 7

Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST

United States

Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST

World

Kathleen Moore / THE GATEPOST CONNECT WITH DONALD HALSING dhalsing@student.framingham.edu

CONNECT WITH LEIGHAH BEAUSOLEIL lbeausoleil@student.framingham.edu

CONNECT WITH KATHLEEN MOORE kmoore8@student.framingham.edu

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8 | APRIL 9, 2021

NEWS

Framingham State University emphasizes recording policies

By Dan Fuentes Asst. News Editor Ellen Zimmerman, interim provost and vice president for academic affairs, sent a campus-wide email regarding the University’s recording policies on Feb. 25.

The email included information from the Education Technology Of-

Capture was created to “establish a policy on the recording of course materials for the purpose of making that content available to students within the confines of a secure and protected learning environment and not through a public forum.”

Course materials, as defined by the Policy on Lecture Capture, includes “captured materials from class

dents.”

“This includes the requirement to obtain explicit written permission from other captured individuals before re-using the video in other circumstances.”

An FSU student uploaded a 43-second video clip of a Zoom call on TikTok on Feb. 4.

The video includes edited sound

“It was a big deal, especially the class that I was teaching, it was an acting class and students need to be able to trust each other. I feel like in any classroom you should be able to trust your classmates.

-Mary Kate Caffrey, Communication, Media, and Performance Department Chair and Professor fice from their Lecture Capture Standards and Guidelines.

In the email, Zimmerman stated there were “concerns raised around the recording of class activities for out-of-class usage.”

The Lecture Capture Standards and Guidelines were created to “establish usage and documentation requirements for lecture capture of

proceedings within a classroom, student-produced recordings created for an assignment, recorded presentations, and any other recorded materials to enhance the course experience.”

The Lecture Capture Standards and Guidelines state, “Recordings are intended for students enrolled in a specific course through the Univer-

Courtesy of Framingham State Mary Kate Caffrey, Communication, Media, and Perfmance Department chair and professor. course materials, authored by an instructor or a student, for later playback from within the Framingham State University Learning Management System or other web-based course space.”

Robin Robinson, director of education technology and instructional design co-coordinator and advisor, said, “It was to provide guidance and standards by which a faculty member could record a classroom interaction for the purpose of giving it to only other students in the class.”

The University’s Policy on Lecture

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

sity Learning Management System (LMS). The same privacy considerations that would apply in a physical classroom, particularly to student work, also apply to a lecture capture recording.

In her email, Zimmerman said, “Although not expressly stated, this also applies to independent student recordings of class proceedings.”

According to the Lecture Capture Standards and Guidelines, student recordings must “follow privacy guidelines when their recording captures the image or voice of other stu-

effects and a caption that reads, “Zoom class gone wrong,” followed by an exploding head emoji.

The TikTok video currently has 5.1 million views, over 693,000 likes, 5,853 comments, and 3,598 shares as of April 8.

The TikTok was a video of a class taught by Mary Kate Caffrey, Communication, Media, and Performance Department chair and professor.

Caffrey said, “I didn’t find out until one of my students contacted me and said that they would not be willing to participate in the class anymore because they’ve been humiliated on TikTok. “It was a big deal, especially the class that I was teaching. It was an acting class and students need to be able to trust each other.” Caffrey added, “ I feel like in any classroom, you should be able to trust your classmates.”

Nicole Viera, a senior English major and student in Caffrey’s class, said, “Well, my first thought was, that is the most awkward class I’ve ever been in my life, and now it’s on the internet forever.”

She added, “Out of context, it’s kind of funny and a little bit weird, but I think that reading the comments on TikTok, and thinking about it, nobody except for the 20 people in that room know the full story and it kind of made me take a step back.”

David Baldwin, associate dean of students and student development, said, “Massachusetts is a two-party state, so if you’re going to record someone, especially their voice, [you] have to have consent from the party to do it.”

Baldwin added, “To record and not let people know that you’re recording them - that’s a violation - and it’s a violation of trust, too.”

Viera said, “I had people tell me

like, ‘Oh I noticed your background’ and even my first, middle, and last name were fully present on the screen and that really didn’t make me comfortable.”

Caffrey said, “I thought it was an invasion of privacy. I thought it was disrespectful.”

She added, “The other thing about when you post media, you can edit it. You can add sound effects. You can do all this kind of stuff. So I just thought it was totally inappropriate.”

Baldwin said, “To have someone else tell you, ‘Oh, you know, there’s this video of you up there’ - I mean that’s got to feel pretty bad.”

“Then to see that so many people have seen it. I mean, just put yourself in that person’s shoes if it were a video of you,” he added.

Although Baldwin stated in an interview with The Gatepost the TikTok video has been taken down, the video is still up for viewing on the original poster’s TikTok page and has been since Feb 4.

The Policy on Lecture Capture states that student work is “only made available within the single class,” and “explicit written permission must be obtained by the instructor to share the recording beyond the specific course.”

Robinson explained the content of that recording would fall under the professor’s intellectual property.

Robinson said, “So students creating such recordings need to follow the general copyright policies.”

Caffrey said, “What I do in my classroom is my intellectual property. You can’t take my class, and then post it somewhere else.”

The Lecture Capture Standards and Guidelines states, “Students creating recordings should adhere to the University’s and third-party copyright policies as appropriate.”

Zimmerman stated in her email, “Please be advised of this policy and that violation of it may lead to disciplinary sanctions.”

She added, “Because your faculty may record their courses within the terms of this policy, students may believe that their own recording of a class without the instructor’s permission is permissible. It is not.”

Zimmerman said, “That’s regarded as a student conduct issue, if a student violates that.”

According to the RAM Handbook, any student found in violation of the Student Code of Conduct Regulations can be held to disciplinary sanctions.

Disciplinary sanctions include but are not limited to disciplinary warnings, suspension, and expulsion from the University.

Zimmerman said, “It’s good for everybody to know that if there is a violation or if they become aware of a violation, that they can report that to the Office of Community Standards.”

CONNECT WITH DAN FUENTES dfuentes@student.framingham.edu

OP/ED

OP/ ED Confessions of a first-generation college student

By Cara McCarthy Associate Editor I’ll admit - when I was a senior in high school, I had no idea where life was going to take me.

While everyone was worried about college applications, senior projects, and who they were taking to prom, I was worried about teaching myself and my parents how to fill out the FAFSA form, convincing my dad to co-sign thousands of dollars in student loans, and wondering if I was even good enough for college because I didn’t know the first thing about it.

According to the National Center of First-Generation Student Success (CFGSS), a student whose parents did not earn a four-year degree - a bachelor’s - is considered a first-generation college student.

My mother eventually earned her associate’s degree in nursing while simultaneously raising two teenagers and a toddler. My father was an electrician from the age of 18 after graduating from a vocational high school, as did I. Much of what my siblings and I learned growing up was how to build - how to use our hands - rather than how to prepare for college.

I knew how to fix a hole in the wall and build a table before I knew what a bachelor’s degree was.

Don’t get me wrong - I am thankful that if my friends need their brakes repaired, I’m their woman. But when it came to looking at colleges, I was completely lost on where to start.

When I finally received my acceptance letters in the mail, it started setting in that I would soon have to apply for financial aid and student loans because I didn’t have a college fund from my parents.

I was going into uncharted waters alone.

According to publicservicedegrees.org, first-generation college students struggle with five main aspects of college: understanding the application process, paying for college, feeling out of place in their new environment, feeling guilty, and learning how to use on-campus resources.

When it came to understanding the process of applying to college, I was already lost.

I started meeting with my guidance counselor weekly to make sure I was doing everything right. I asked my favorite English teacher and shop teacher to write my letters of recommendation. I wrote an essay that a family friend helped me edit several times before I submitted it.

Although my guidance counselor and teachers were incredible at helping me fill out applications, I had no idea what I was doing once I received my acceptance letters.

And my parents, loving as they are, knew less.

How can a first-generation student be expected to understand everything about college if their parents are just as uninformed on the subject as they?

Why do guidance counselors only talk to stu-

dents - and not parents - about college?

College is not just a decision that affects one person. It affects the entire family emotionally, physically, and financially - as they all need to be involved in the process from start to finish.

What I needed more than anything was for my parents to receive the same information I did. I didn’t know how to ask for help because I was ashamed I wasn’t following the path the rest of my family had.

That isn’t to blame my parents - they didn’t know their youngest child was going to take a different route than they had.

The stress and anxiety of asking my father to co-sign four years’ worth of student loans was almost enough for me to quit the prospect of higher education altogether.

Too often, public schools assume a student’s parents and guardians know the ins and outs of college when the truth is, in 2016, 56% of college students nationally were first-generation, according to the CFGSS. Parents and guardians need to be brought into the discussion when it comes to college because the truth is, as seniors in high school, we are still children and we still need our parents to be just as if not more informed on what a monumental decision such as college means for the entire family.

According to The Department of Education, approximately one-third of first-generation college students drop out within three years.

Thankfully, I was not one of them. But if society is going to put such an emphasis on people needing to go to college, it needs to ensure every first-generation student has the tools they need to succeed.

The first step is to make sure parents are just as informed as their children about higher education.

Secondly, we need to stop assuming that every student who wants to go to college knows everything about the process after they are accepted.

Additionally, high schools need to stop waiting for a student to speak up when it comes time to make decisions about what they will do after they graduate. Instead, educating students about what higher education entails needs to be implemented in school curriculums so they know how to make the right decisions for themselves and their families.

How is it that I spent four years in high school without learning a single thing about higher education?

Although I faced struggles while applying to college and learning to navigate college life once I arrived there, I am proud to say I will be wearing my bright-blue first-generation stole with pride this May at commencement.

But this accomplishment is not just for me.

It’s for my parents who supported me throughout this journey even when they did not have all of the answers.

APRIL 9, 2021 | 9

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

Not the time to get comfortable Last week, Framingham State saw 11 positive COVID-19 tests out of the 711 conducted - more positives than any other week throughout the course of the year.

In response to the 11 positive cases, President F. Javier Cevallos said, “We are now seeing a clear and concerning uptick in positive cases on campus.”

In his weekly email to the Framingham State community April 1, he also reminded the community that if we want to avoid going to fully remote learning for the remaining six weeks of the semester, we must continue to remain vigilant and adhere to the guidelines laid out by the University.

Additionally, Cevallos confirmed that through contact-tracing, most cases are not being passed through classes or athletics. Rather, the virus is most likely being spread in the community through socializing with peers.

Cevallos said, “We saw several students become positive this week while they were in quarantine after socializing with other students who tested positive last week.”

With spring here and warm weather approaching, we all want to enjoy a nice, sunny afternoon lounging on the Miles Bibb lawn, playing basketball near the Honors House, or hanging out with our friends.

However, we must all put our own and each other’s health first and take all necessary precautions if we want the pandemic to end.

No one wants to spend the last couple of weeks of the semester in quarantine.

We must continue to wear our masks - fully covering our mouths and noses - and maintain an appropriate six-foot distance whenever possible.

With cases across the U.S. rising, and new, deadlier variants such as B.1.1.7 from the United Kingdom becoming dominant throughout the country, it is even more crucial now that we do our part to end the pandemic.

While vaccinations are being administered millions of times each day, that is not a reason to let our guard down now.

Even those who are fully vaccinated should still adhere to the COVID-19 guidelines and are required to by the University.

There is no excuse for why someone should not be wearing a mask or practicing social distancing.

The New York Times reported 73,200 new COVID-19 cases in the U.S. April 7, with a seven-day average of 65,556 new cases per day.

To put this statistic into perspective, on April 7, 2020, the Times reported 30,337 new cases across the country, with a seven-day average of 30,133.

We are seeing more than double the number of cases we did when the pandemic began.

Rochelle Walensky, the head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, held back tears as she announced the U.S. is dangerously close to entering a fourth wave.

“We have so much to look forward to, so much promise and potential of where we are, and so much reason for hope,” Walensky said. “But right now, I’m scared.”

In less than two weeks, April 19, every citizen in Massachusetts aged 16 and over will be eligible to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.

But until the time comes when a majority of the country is vaccinated and we reach herd immunity, we need to continue to do our part to fight the pandemic.

We have gotten through the pandemic together for over a year, and the end is nearly in sight.

We all miss the way life used to be.

But if we want to get back to normal sooner rather than later, we need to continue treating the pandemic as seriously as we did when it first began.

Let’s make this incoming fourth wave our last.

For the sake of our friends, families, and ourselves.

Have an opinion?

Feel free to email it to: gatepost@framingham.edu Opinions should be about 750 words.

Anyone can submit.

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY’S INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

OP/ED

10 | APRIL 9, 2021

Campus Conversations

What steps are you taking to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 on campus?

By Donald Halsing, Associate Editor

“I’m social distancing. I’m wearing my mask. I’m making sure all of my friends are getting tested weekly and I’m making sure I am getting tested weekly.”

“I wear a mask all the time and follow normal pandemic rules. For sports teams, we’re respectful when we pass people - we put our masks up. On the bus, we have to wear shields and we’re respectful with that as well.”

-Leah Chace, freshman

-Faith Hensley, sophomore

“I socially distance. I don’t hang out in groups bigger than six. I wear my mask when I’m not in my room. I test weekly on Mondays. I only hang out with my roommate Kaya Baptiste.”

-Kaily Russell, junior

“I am always sanitizing my hands. …

Another big thing is I’m using reusable masks. … I’m getting the vaccine because everyone in my family has it, except me. … I’m also just spending time with a core group of people that I’ve met since the beginning. We all get tested every week.”

-Jillian Miles, sophomore

“Testing, not going to parties, and wearing a mask.”

-Kaya Baptiste, sophomore

“I wear my mask, use hand-sanitizing stations whenever I come across them, and avoid large gatherings.”

-Elijah Nichols, sophomore

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SPORTS

APRIL 9, 2021 | 11

SPORTS Women’s rugby rucking through the pandemic

By Danielle Achin

Sports Editor

With normalcy just over the horizon for FSU’s women’s rugby team, senior Maia Almeida is eager to watch her teammates back in action on the fiel , although she’s gra uating this year.

However, the team continues on the path for better semesters to come.

Close contact with teammates is inevitable, as players deliver punishing tackles and often leave early with injuries.

Multiple players were contacted for comment, but no one responded by deadline.

Like many other teams at FSU, the CDC guidelines wouldn’t allow the women to play either fall or spring semester this year.

Almeida is from Swansea, and despite being unfamiliar with rugby until she got to Framingham State, she quickly took an interest in playing for the school.

“In college I knew I wasn’t really going to play sports or anything, and then I saw rugby,” Almeida said. “I had no idea what it was but I saw these girls running around with this ball and I ended up going to a practice.

“I should have done it my freshman year, but honestly I was just too scared,” she added.

Her position is mainly hooker on the fiel , though she says her coach switches the team around a lot so they get a chance to play multiple positions.

Like many other student-athletes at school, Almeida questioned whether her team was eligible for a season, as varsity sports were given the greenlight to play. But after not hearing any update from the school or coach, the reality she oul n’t have a final season set it.

“It was spring break, we were supposed to have a tournament right after, and then they extended the spring break,” Almeida said. “We were con-

son, Almeida has a positive perspective on the dilemma the school faced regarding COVID-19.

“Rugby is really close contact - I get that,” she said. “We’re literally touching each other all the time. We couldn’t possibly play this right now.

“But also, we’re outside. I don’t see hy e coul n’t figure something out,” she added.

Almeida said the relationship she and her teammates have is still strong

“She [Vogt] started teaching me and the team. In games I would choke up though, and she would always yell, ‘Just do it!’ and so I always did.”

- Maia Almeida, Senior Women’s Rugby Player fused … if we were still going to have it and our coach told us we weren’t. e ere all efinitely isappointed, especially the seniors,” she added.

“We didn’t even get a senior home game.”

Almeida said the team made an effort to get together over the summer, but wasn’t able to because they live too far away and because of health concerns.

Despite not having her senior sea-

even though they haven’t been together for some time.

If you are looking for an easy going sport, Almeida said there’s a place for everyone on the team, which is always looking to recruit new members with or without experience.

Although they can’t play competitively, Almeida said Head Coach Andrea Vogt is guaranteed to run falling drills during practice, and players are prepared to get knocked off their feet.

“She’s great. She knows what she’s talking about,” Almeida said.

According to Almeida, one of the biggest lessons she took from her coach is to trust herself and know she is capable of anything.

“A lot of the time at the beginning, I barely even knew how to throw the ball. I had no idea what I was doing.

Then she [Vogt] started teaching me and the team,” Almeida said. “In games I would choke up though, and she would always yell, ‘Just do it!’ and so I always did.”

Disappointed she wasn’t able to have her senior year go as planned, Almeida remarked how she enjoyed every moment at FSU and though she is looking forward to her upcoming graduation, she will always miss the rush of the game and playing by her teammates’ side.

With graduation quickly approaching, Almeida leaves some advice for not only student-athletes, but every person attending FSU. “Just keep going,” she said. “If you push through the tough times, you are al ays going to fin out something about yourself - you just have to keep pushing through.”

[Editor’s Note: Maia Almeida is a Staff Writer for The Gatepost.]

CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ACHIN dachin@student.framingham.edu

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY'S INDEPENDENT STUDENT NEWSPAPER SINCE 1932 | FSUGATEPOST.COM

12 | APRIL 9, 2021

ARTS & FEATURES

ARTS & FEATURES ‘Stories have the power to create change outwardly’ Grace Talusan reads from her memoir ‘The Body Papers’

By Emily Rosenberg

Editorial Staff

As a Fillipina-American author, Grace Talusan said she’d never read a book with a protagonist similar to her until she read Maxine Hong Kingston’s “The Warrior Woman.”

She said the books she consumed, which consisted of mainly white protagonists, made her see herself as unworthy of attention in literature and rare appearances of Asian “caricatures inflicte great shame an embarrassment.

“I didn’t even realize my profound absence and invisibility from literature until I saw myself appear,” Talusan said. “Because of Kingston’s work, I felt a space open up in my own imagination and my idea of what was possible in writing.”

Winner of the Non-Fiction Massachusetts Book Award and The Restless Book Prize for New Immigrant Writing, as well as a former university writing professor, she is only beginning her journey to show the world what is possible in storytelling.

Talusan shared sections of “The Body Papers” as a guest reader for the Miriam Levine Reading, April 6.

Prior to reading, Talusan said she writes because she loves following her curiosities and hearing others’ stories, but also knows that “stories have the power to create change outwardly [...] in both positive and negative ways.”

She read an excerpt about her visit to St. Louis, Missouri.

Talusan said Rudyard Kippling’s “The White Man’s Burden” encouraged the United States to become an imperial power. This burden was a “euphemism” for imperialism.

“It’s a silly thing to think, but before I met my husband and had only white boyfriends, I could not get the thought out of my head that I was the white man’s burden,” she read.

Talusan said that in college, she was constantly “refracting” herself and wondering how the world saw her, as well as how she saw herself. It wasn’t until she learned about double consciousness that she realized she was not the only person who felt that way.

She added that growing up, the joke she heard most about Filipinos was that they ate dogs.

“No insult felt worse than being called a dog eater. Even though I had never done this, I felt the shame of this practice tied to my body,” she read. “Perhaps this way of characterizing Filipinos began when they were displayed in living exhibits in the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis. These

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

human zoos were evidence in support of the U.S. colonization.”

Talusan said when she visited the Missouri state archives, she found a scrapbook which included a photo of her great grandfather who immigrated to America in 1904. Unlike other Filipinos ho ere confine to the exhibit, her great grandfather walked around the fair freely and was a captain who marched in the Fillipino Constabulary band.

“He was the ideal outcome of U.S. Colonization. Christianized, educated, military - the embodiment of colonial success,” she read.

Yet, despite the higher level of respect her great grandfather may have been expected to receive, Talusan said the American mind could not move past the misrepresentations of Filipinos and what they did to dogs.

She added that when she went to the St. Louis Museum gift shop, someone whispered in her ear “big dogs.”

she had in her elementary or secondary education was an Asian American guidance counselor.

“The big joke - before he married one of the science teachers - was that I was going to marry him,” Talusan read.

“Sometimes I could forget who I was - that I wasn’t white. I acted like I was the same as my girlfriend.

I wore the same bright blue eyeshadow and sprayed [hairspray] over my black hair as I tanned at the beach which bleached my hair the color of a mushy pumpkin instead of the sunkissed blonde my friends idealized,” she read.

“I was like everyone else until I walked by a plate glass window or a bathroom mirror or saw a photo of myself with my friends. Who - in that image - became my white friends.”

She said that during college admissions season, her white friends called her lucky for being a minority, and

“It’s a silly thing to think, but before I met my husband and had only white boyfriends, I could not get the thought out of my head that I was the white man’s burden.”

- Grace Talusan, Author of “The Body Papers” “Over 100 years later, this is the story about us that persists,” Talusan said. fter finishing the piece, Talusan said she had never learned about the 1904 World’s Fair in school and believes America wants to remain blind to colonialism, but its people are also “strong enough” to be honest about it.

“Some of what I try to do in my work is challenge the silences that I’ve been encouraged to keep,” she added.

Talusan then read an excerpt titled “Yellow Children.”

In the piece, Talusan began by detailing the special college acceptance programs for students of color that she was invited to in her senior year of high school.

She said that when she visited Harvard, Sara Lawrence Lightfoot gave a speech, which left her in awe, because she had only ever met or saw white male professors. Lightfoot gave Talusan hope that she could attend a diverse university.

She added the only teacher of color

grow up in our small town, a place I felt I belonged to. And perhaps, all along, I had only been a foreign exchange student,” she read.

Talusan wished at the time, she could have said, “Ladies, if I had children, they’d be human - just like yours.”

Talusan said she “surprised herself” at a graduation party when her best friend referred to Asian Americans as “Orientals’’ and Talusan asked her to stop using that word. She said that despite feeling she would lose her that night, they stayed friends throughout college and their early adult life.

She said after her friend got a job as a waitress, she could relate to Talusan’s feeling of invisibility.

“When I waited in line, sometimes cashiers looke behin me to fin the next customer,” Talusan said. “Police officers an other authorities oul ask if I could speak English if I paused too long before responding.”

She added her friend had also casually complained about Black customers not tipping well. “Did she see me as an honorary white person? Did she forget that the man I was going to marry was African American? Or did she feel a thrill to remember this fact and say it anyway?” she read.

The passage revealed more about the microaggressions and hate her husband has endured as a Black man.

Talusan said people cross the street to avoid him, unless he has a dog with him. When he has a dog, it’s a “different world” - people will wave, and sometimes kids come up to pet it.

She added that when he was little, her husband was the target of racial bullying encased with the N-word, and one time two white men on the street attacked and beat him so badly, he was unrecognizable in the hospital.

Talusan said after her friend made that comment about Black customers, she felt hopeless about their dying friendship and abilities to overcome “obstacles in the conversation about race.

“I don’t believe my friend is a bad person. Nor do I think the school administrator, or the women gossiping about the so-called ‘yellow children’ or the many people I hear casually drop insinuating comments about race would believe it if I told them they harbored racist beliefs,” she read.

“This is not about bad people. This is about a system of white supremacy that decent people, unaware of their power and privilege, enact and uphold.”

claimed it was “too bad” she wasn’t Hispanic or Black because that would ensure her spot at one of the elite schools she had applied to.

“The subtext was that we did not deserve these spots that we were taking from white students who worked so much harder and earned it more,” she read. “I got the message.”

She added after she started to recognize how these racially charged offenses affected her, she began using the term person of color to describe herself. Shortly after, a school administrator showed Talusan his tan and told her he was no more a person of color than she was.

“Maybe I wanted him to be right. I also wanted to believe my life would not be negatively impacted by race.

Even now, I wish this was true,” she read.

Another time, she discovered women questioning what she and her white boyfriend’s babies would look like. She said they asked her, “What is a half-yellow, and half-white anyway? CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG “These women had watched me erosenberg@student.framingham.edu

ARTS & FEATURES

APRIL 9, 2021 | 13

Harvard professor sparks national reform

By Caroline Gordon

Editorial Staff

Arts & Ideas hosted “From Theory to Practice: Ethnic Studies to Make a More Just World” featuring Dr. Lorgia García Peña who discussed how ethnic studies can improve acceptance of diversity via Zoom, April 5.

With a doctorate degree in American Studies and a specialization in Latinx/a/o studies, she works as a professor in the department of romance languages and literatures at Harvard.

García Peña is the author of the book, “Translating Blackness: Migrations and Detours of Latinx Colonialities in Global Perspectives.”

In addition to teaching and writing, she is the co-founder of Freedom University, hich is a non profit school for undocumented students located in Atlanta, Georgia.

García Peña is also the co-director of Archives of Justice, a digital humanities project that aims to educate people on the hidden history of brown, Black, Asian, Indigenous, colonized, and immigrant people - focusing on those of whom are female, trans, binary, or queer.

She began the discussion by touching upon her “three points.”

First, we all have our own opinions.

Second, our perspectives on life are from eurocentric and heteronormative lenses. n finally, ethnic stu ies is a fiel that allows us to see the world from a different point of view.

García Peña described her own perspective on being an Afro-Latina woman who immigrated from the Caribbean at 12 years old.

“Some would call me a generation and a half. One foot here, one foot there,” she said.

García Peña discussed how like other immigrant children, she went to school to improve her family’s socioeconomic status.

Along the way, she said she discovered a passion for ethnic studies despite her parents wanting her to become a medical doctor or lawyer.

García Peña explained how while in college, she became informed of the space between academia and her background and that her socioeconomic status and immigrant identity created her “own belonging to the university.”

“I had two choices: I could try to fit in or I coul change the structure of the institutions that made it so my history was not in the books. I chose the latter,” she said.

García Peña touched upon how her academic experience was “profoundly personal” because of her own issue of her history being excluded from the textbooks.

She added despite not feeling included, her mother and aunt’s feminism and desire for social justice kept her motivated.

García Peña explained how her path to earning a doctorate degree and working as a professor allowed

her to fin ans ers to uestions she had about her experience as an Afro-Latina immigrant confronting racism.

Then, she escribe her o n efinition of ethnic studies as, “a project of transformation which seeks to be colonizing the university to create reforms of learning for all. It’s a process of justice.”

She touched upon the COVID-19 pandemic and how it has unveiled the fragility of capitalism and resulted in hardships for those who were previously privileged.

García Peña added that social services have failed to provide people in need with necessities such as food stamps or unemployment benefits.

She explained how many essential workers are Latinx/a/o, Black, and poor.

García Peña described how capitalism has forced universities to lay off faculty and stop hiring.

She a e espite the financial crises the universities face, the integrity of education will continue and learning won’t stop.

García Peña discussed Arturo Alfonso Schomburg, a Black and Puerto Rican writer and historian who advocated for the development of Black history departments in schools.

Courtesy of the Framingham State University all been brought up with this so-called idea of truth,” García Peña said.

She explained that when we think about the founding of a nation, we might not have the factual date or the

“I had two choices: I could try to fit in or I could change the structure of the institutions that made it so my history was not in the books. I chose the latter.”

- García Peña, Harvard Professor “His proposal was to introduce that which slavery took away - the possibility of humanity and belonging,” she said.

García Peña explained that in order to work together, we need to appreciate every voice in the classroom while dismissing a dominant voice.

She posed the question, “Out of all your high school world history classes, how many were focused on African history, outside of a section on Egypt or U.S. history?”

García Peña explained how history is always studied from the “perspective of the empire” and the history of those who experienced violence is left out.

She added we could also learn about the direct relationship between immigration and colonialism.

García Peña touched upon the current “standard of education” that is built off colonial structures but is disguised as the truth as it stems from white supremacy, that we have been taught to understand as normal, she said.

“In the process, we have all been deprived of learning because we have

correct groups of people.

“We have constitutions that are the universal truth about those particular nations. All of those are partial truths. thnic stu ies are charge ith filling in the men’s gap of eurocentric education systems that dominate all of our institutions,” García Peña said.

She described the social environment of Harvard, noting how it is not an institution that mostly serves Latinx/a/o students.

García Peña explained how students who attend colleges that don’t have Latinx/a/o spaces, look to the classroom as an environment for them to “form alliances” to confront the racial adversity they face.

She discussed a course she created at Harvard called “Performing Latinidad” and said it served as a “sanctuary” for students of color.

García Peña described how the class is entertaining for all levels of students as it has a strong performance component with a curriculum that inclu es film, poetry, an music.

“Students would get excited to perform at the end of the semester

because they became visible on a campus that constantly seemed to invisiblize students of color,” she said.

García Peña described how students made a Jennifer Lopez shrine one year, which brought the Latinx/a/o community together, but only for a week because the janitors removed it.

She also discussed the day President Donald Trump was elected.

“A scary day for many of the brown, queer, and undocumented students in my class. I simply did not have the words of comfort or wisdom that could assuage their fears even a little,” she said.

García Peña explained she still held a class the day after the 2016 election, despite many of her colleagues canceling. She opened the classroom for all students as a place to process their thoughts.

She described how students came in holding each other and crying, fearing deportation, and having to adapt to the new “Trumpian world.”

After García Peña and her students vented, she asked them, “What now?”

She described how one woman ran up to the board and began jotting down her peers’ thoughts.

García Peña said the students stayed an extra three hours, where they developed their main goal - to protect undocumented students.

Their plan was to make colleges sanctuaries for undocumented students, which is a title many colleges have adapted - but not Harvard.

She touched upon how recently, she reconnected with an old student and they discussed the post-election time period and their class.

The student said, “The syllabus gave us the tools, but the class gave us a community.”

CONNECT WITH CAROLINE GORDON cgordon4@student.framingham.edu

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ARTS & FEATURES

From bedroom art

Framingham State’s artists

By Brennan Atkins Arts & Features Editor Typically, artists display their work at the Mazmanian Art Gallery for family and friends to admire at the annual Student Juried Exhibition.

However, this past year has been especially ifficult for artists on campus. Rather than spending late nights on the fourth floor of ay all, they found themselves transforming their bedrooms into art studios to create, learn, and share art.

This semester, artists and all those interested in the artistic creations coming out of Framingham State met via Zoom due to COVID-19.

The exhibition was hosted by Ellie Krakow, director of the Mazmanian Art Gallery, and the artwork was judged by guest juror Edwin González-Ojeda, who has judged art exhibitions all throughout New England.

Due to the wide array of skills among the 21 finalists, a variety of art forms were represented such as photography, acrylic and oil paintings, ceramics, and digital arts.

González-Ojeda judged the artwork and awarded Mckenna Mancuso first place for her photo, oonNight,” Nick Carlson second place for his digital illustration piece, “Tycoon Entity,” and Sam Coombs third place for her mosaic, “Self Portrait.”

Senior Communication Arts major Mckenna Mancuso said her artistic “epiphany” happened in her sophomore year of college. Growing up, Mancuso believed you had to be good at art to be an artist. She said, “I didn’t consider myself to be very good.”

That all changed when she came to Framingham State.

“When I got into college and I started learning more about [art], I

Courtesy of the Mazmanian Art Gallery Senior Mckenna Mancuso won first place for her piece, “MoonNight,” in the Student Juried Exhibition.

For “MoonNight,” Mancuso said ple that get all the way to the top and was like, ‘Oh, anybody can be an artist.’ We just need to have fun with her inspiration came to her while on have all the money in the world. They it and get some passion into it,” she a stroll with her boyfriend. She said, can retire, but they just keep going. I “We had these cool street lamps, and I don’t know why they don’t hang up said.

Mancuso said her cousin was a huge saw the sky was super clear. I had the the boots. They just seem to like makinspiration throughout her life, as he idea to just take a photo of the moon ing money,” he said.

Carlson’s process involved sketchgraduated from art school. His art- near the street lamp - and the rest is ing his original design in his notebook work can be found hanging through- history.”

She explained how she used ed- then scanning the page to upload the out Mancuso’s home.

She photographed her award-win- iting techniques that she picked up image into Adobe Photoshop. Once ning piece “MoonNight” in the spring over the course of her time at Fram- the images were on his computer, of 2020, and said her process of cap- ingham State. She said her boyfriend Carlson said he was able to add featuring art through a lens allows the served as a peer reviewer as well as a tures to the design he had not originally intended. source of motivation. world itself to inspire her.

The pistons and light bulb proMancuso said she still can’t believe Mancuso said she took inspiration from the world around her - anything she received the award but is elated truding from the head were both added as an “afterthought” as Carlson’s that visually or musically appealed to nonetheless.

She thanked her parents, as well monstrous piece was always evolving her served as a starting point for this as her boyfriend for their support throughout his work. project.

Carlson believes art is always surthroughout her schooling. “Those are my greatest cheerleaders and I love rounding us, and he would like others to recognize art even when it may not them so much,” she said.

Senior Studio Art Major Nick Carl- seem obvious.

He said, “I would just say, ‘Create son said art has always been a prominent part of his life, as he would watch if you can create,’” stating that creating is what the human experience is his father and uncle draw.

“He [Carlson’s father] could draw all about.

Sophomore Studio Art Major Sam sharks really well - from his memory - I didn’t know how he did it. So, I was Coombs said she felt a love for art practicing in my books. Eventually, I from a young age, but it wasn’t until junior year of high school that she destarted to get good at it,” he said.

His uncle, who is only three years veloped a love for ceramics.

“I started thinking of art differentolder than Carlson, would draw graffiti on paper, an arlson thought it ly,” Coombs said, crediting her high was the coolest thing ever.” His uncle school ceramics teacher, Sean Harleft a lasting impression on him, and rington, from Bartlett High School in ebster, for being a ma or influence he started to emulate his style.

Carlson’s digital illustration piece, throughout her career.

Coombs said her inspiration for “Tycoon Entity,” explores greed and what that may look like if it were to “Self Portrait” came in the form of anting to reflect on her o n life take a physical form.

Courtesy of the Mazmanian Art Gallery “I was looking at people like Jeff during troubling times.

Senior Nick Carlson’s piece, “Tycoon Entity,” won second place in the Student Juried Exhi“At this time in my life, I felt I Bezos [CEO of Amazon] - these peobition.

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ARTS & FEATURES

APRIL 9, 2021 | 15

studio to Zoom gallery

honored at Mazgal Juried Exhibition needed to focus more on myself - so why not do that through art? I decided to make a self-portrait based on how I was feeling at the time in quarantine, which was a lot of different emotions that I didn’t want to verbally express,” she said.

While the mosaic may have started as an assignment in her ceramics class, “Self Portrait” ended as a deep look into Coombs’ life.

“The items that I chose to include in the mosaic are each symbolic in some way, such as relating to a trait, memory, or experience of my own.

Many are things that I associate with certain people or general periods of time in my life,” she said.

Coombs said she felt nervous that others would have a tough time interpreting the mosaic’s meaning because it was so personal. “Since there is so much meaning in it for me, it is hard to tell how other people may perceive it.”

Coombs began by deciding what she should include - items that were

items she had placed in it.

In addition to the three Juried Exhibition winners, Krakow presented a new award, the “Citizen as Change” award, for those who can become the catalyst for change within their communities. This was presented to Markha Baieva for her piece, “Bicultural in America.”

When Senior Studio Art Major Markha Baieva came to Framingham State, she sai she lacke confi ence in her artistic ability. Coming from a family of doctors and nurses, Baieva had to look for her artistic inspiration outside of her family.

However, as one semester rolled into the next, aieva’s confi ence grew as the professors in the studio art department worked with her.

She said she had always wanted her art to deal with meaningful subjects and for it to shed light on issues that are important to her.

“Most of my inspiration comes from my friends and family. I have a very diverse group of friends, many of

“Trust the process and don’t ever compare yourself or your work to others because your work is very special.”

- Markha Baieva, Senior Studio Art Major already sentimental to her, as well as items that would gain meaning as the piece progressed. She described how she would keep rearranging the items in different patterns until it “felt right.”

Once the composition was decide , she covere an fille the entire thing with grout,” which she left partially colored white and partially pink.

After letting the grout sit for a time, Coombs sanded it down to reveal the

whom are immigrants, and being an immigrant myself, I wanted to explore this idea of what it means to be an immigrant in America,” she said.

To begin her process, Baieva researched other famous works from bicultural artists and settled on an acrylic painting resting on top of a collage.

“I studied a contemporary artist who is Nigerian-American. Her work focuses on bringing the two cultures

Senior Markha Baieva won the “Citizen as Change” award for her piece, “Bicultural.”

Courtesy of the Mazmanian Art Gallery Sophomore Sam Coombs’ piece, “Self Portrait,” won third place in the Student Juried Exhibition. she grew up with and combining them.

She does this by putting pictures that she’s taken in her native Nigeria, images of her friends and family, and objects or landscapes, collages them onto a canvas, and then paints a scene from her home in America on top.”

Baieva wanted to warn new artists of the dangers of comparing their own work to that of others. She said, “Trust the process and don’t ever compare yourself or your work to others because your work is very special.”

For many artists on campus, the COVID-19 pandemic has created an atmosphere in which they feel disconnected from their peers. While this can create hurdles in any class, many art majors are feeling the burnout of being at home.

Mancuso said, “It makes me want to not create because I feel everybody

Courtesy of the Mazmanian Art Gallery

is just so depressed and it makes me depressed. But at the same time, I’ve been kind of getting out of that rut recently by trying to create more. I fin it to be an outlet - art and being creative.”

Carlson said, “There’s nothing like being with people and actually seeing the process. It’s kind of hard to do online. I would say the art scene has died down quite a bit.”

Baieva said, “COVID-19 changed everything for me. I had to work in a very small space whereas before, I would work in the painting studios in May Hall. I was limited on my materials and wasn’t making money to buy what I needed in order to create more work that I wanted, but I was luckily able to adjust to this situation and made the most of it.”

Despite the challenges COVID-19 has presented, artists at Framingham State continue to give words of encouragement to all those interested in becoming involved with art.

Carlson said, “I would say surround yourself with people who are about art, and people that aren’t going to knock you for doing it.

“Just keep working at it because you can only improve.”

CONNECT WITH BRENNAN ATKINS batkins@student.framingham.edu

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ARTS & FEATURES

Career Services Continued from page 1 “A couple guys and I went to Macy’s one time and got nice khakis and button-ups,” Mixon said. “That program was really helpful.”

Mixon also credited his past internships - which he acquired through CSER - as preparing him for the workforce and allowing him to get much-needed experience.

“I think getting my foot in the door at other places really helped me in the long run,” he said.

Jill Gardosik, a career counselor and internship coordinator at CSER, agreed.

“Students that complete internships typically fin full time positions a little bit easier and a little bit faster,” she said. “That experience makes you as a candidate more desirable when you’re interviewing at other companies.

“When we’ve got students with internship experience versus students without, businesses tend to get more excited and more interested about students who have had internship experience,” she added.

According to Gardosik, it hasn’t necessarily been more ifficult fin ing internships for students during the pandemic. “A lot of it is driven by the employer’s site,” she said, explaining that some businesses are better equipped to employ interns.

She also said “there really is no difference” in the way students search for internships or job positions during the pandemic.

Seniors are still encouraged to use LinkedIn, Indeed, and FSU’s Handshake site to fin postings an hiring positions. Gardosik said Handshake is a valuable resource for students because it features job and internship offers esigne specifically for college students.

Emily Abel, a career counselor, said LinkedIn is a great resource for stuents to fin a company or organi ation they’re interested in, and then connect with any alumni who may

“That’s always going to give students the leg up - if they’re chatting with people who are actually doing the jobs that they might be interested in,” she said.

Although resources like Indeed and Handshake are helpful tools when job searching, Abel said the process is much more “nuanced” than simply browsing employment sites and looking for positions online.

“It is about reaching out and capitalizing on your existing relationships,” she said. “Networking and utilizing your relationships is the number one ay to fin a position whether it be an internship or a job.”

During her experience as a counselor at CSER, Abel said networking tends to be “scary” or “overwhelming” for some students because they’re unsure of their professional identity. y helping stu ents fin their confidence,” she said she can successfully assist in their transition from a student to a professional.

“That’s always my goal when I meet with students,” Abel added. “I let them know that they have skills, they’re worthy, they have something to contribute, and that they can do it.”

Gardosik said, “We can’t stress enough how valuable it is to be networking. We’re still constantly hearing from employers that they have opportunities available. [Jobs are] still out there. They still exist for sure.”

Rich Davino, director of CSER, said, “Networking has always been critically important. People do get hired when they’re able to have a foot in the door.”

Fortunately for FSU students, Career Services offers networking opportunities - even during a pandemic.

“We’re trying to create opportunities for students to interact with employers directly,” Gardosik said. This is done through virtual job fairs and internships both at the S office and elsewhere.

“We have a variety of internship positions in our office every semester,” Gardosik said. Interns for CSER

“I would for sure credit Career Services with helping me get the job I have now.

They were super helpful, super nice, and really got into the nitty-gritty detail of how to apply for jobs, how to format your resume to get hits, and how to best communicate your skills.”

- Jacob Mixon, Framingham State Alum work there.

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

create content, conduct research to

“We all have stresses and other things we need to do outside of searching for a job.

As May inches closer, I definitely start to get anxious about my next steps.”

- Jessica Grady, Senior Career Services’ Intern expand resources, and help connect their peers with services.

The goal of student internships is to provide a quality experience and adequate supervision, as well as ensure the skills taught are “good quality employability skills,” Davino said.

Each semester, Career Services hires office interns base on their needs that semester. Gardosik said that in the past, they’ve employed a “variety” of interns, including videographers and event planners.

Last semester, senior and communication arts major Jenna McMahon worked as a marketing and event planning intern at CSER. Her job entaile creating flyers to promote events, attending Career Services’ sponsored events, and helping the office ith marketing efforts. s the only intern in her fiel , cMahon said she was able to work both in person and remotely throughout the week. She also said it seemed as though students were still taking advantage of CSER’s resources.

“I think that students still utilized Career Services during the pandemic to make sure they have their resume and cover letter done,” McMahon said.

She stressed the importance of having a resume prepared to send to employers at all times and encouraged students to apply for at least one job whenever they visit LinkedIn or Indeed. She also reminded seniors that it’s never too late to use Career Services.

“With [some employers] opening back up, it’s har to fin hat companies are offering jobs,” McMahon said.

“Our counselors have great ways of fin ing connections an helping you fin obs you coul apply for that best fit you.

Career Services’ motto, echoed by Gardosik, is simple - “Connect early and often.” bel sai , e’re a frien ly office an office that cares.

“I feel so passionately about helping students through this journey, because I myself as a first generation college student and remember so clearly the stress and confusion that comes around this whole process,” she added. “So, I care a lot. I want to help students.”

Davino said the goal is for students to “feel comfortable” and willingly use Career Services’ resources. “As much as students can utilize us, we’re going to be there. But we get if we are not a student’s priority right now,” he said.

Although Davino began his role at Career Services in January, he said staff told him that in March of last year, there as efinitely a rop off … at least initially” in the number of students using Career Services’ resources. He said this was because students weren’t physically at the University, and many were dealing with other worries at the time.

Now, Davino said, “Students are efinitely taking a vantage of oom an they’re efinitely still sche uling [appointments] with us.

“I think students are doing the best they can with everything that they’re dealing with,” he added. “And we have no idea how much they’re potentially dealing with beyond Framingham State.”

Jessica Grady, a senior computer science major and technical intern at Career Services, vouched for graduating seniors such as herself who may feel overwhelmed by school and other stresses.

“I’m only taking three courses this semester but feel like I have a full course load,” she said. “Add Covid and responsibilities at home to that, and I never feel like I have the time or patience to sit down and spend some time [job searching].”

Grady, who has interned at CSER for four years now, believes the most common challenge students face when searching for a job is not knowing where to begin looking. She suggests dedicating a little bit of time each week to job searching and reaching out to career counselors for help.

“We all have stresses and other things we need to do outside of searching for a job,” Grady said. “As ay inches closer, I efinitely start to get anxious about my next steps.”

Robert Johnson Jr., a former professional writing intern at Career Services who graduated as an English major last semester, offered words of encouragement to seniors.

“As somebody who is always wor-

ARTS & FEATURES

APRIL 9, 2021 | 17

Career Services ried about the future, especially during this time, I just want seniors to keep the faith and keep their heads up,” Johnson said. “If you don’t look ‘desirable’ to one employer, someone else will adore you and what you represent.”

When Johnson interned at Career Services for the spring 2020 semester, he updated the FSU website with current information, convinced students to make use of CSER’s resources, and wrote blog posts - until the pandemic had other plans for him.

“The pandemic shifted my focus to completing my intern legacy project,” Johnson said.

For his legacy project, Johnson created a directory of newspapers and magazines in the New England area, so students seeking jobs in those fiel s can easily contact publications that may be hiring.

“This project had me scouring the internet for very sparce bits of information,” Johnson said. “I wanted to provide a service for any journalism stu ent ho ante a ob in the fiel during or after college.”

Gardosik reminded students that companies are still hiring, but with such a competitive job market, it’s important to follow up on applications.

“Technology has made it so easy to apply for positions … that businesses these days receive a very high volume of candidates for all their positions,” Gardosik said. “It’s crucial that students are following up on a regular basis.”

If two weeks pass from the date of applying, Gardosik recommends students reach out to the employer themselves. Doing so ensures the application got to the employer without technical ifficulties an also clarifies the employer’s timeline.

“Gone are the days of sitting patiently by the phone and waiting for a company to call,” Gardosik added.

“You have to work at it - it takes time.

It doesn’t happen overnight instantly.”

Abel encouraged seniors to use Career Services’ resources in order to alleviate some of their worries. “All of them should make an individual appointment with us so we can help them buil their confi ence, uell some of their fears, and give them an action plan,” she said.

Abel also offered some advice to seniors who are anxious about their next step.

“Try not to compare yourself to your peers,” she said. “It may feel like everyone around you has a plan or knows what they’re doing - in my experience, they don’t.”

Typically, Gardosik said it takes college graduates six to nine months to fin a ob. In a pan emic, this coul be even longer.

She reminded seniors that even as

alumni, they can still use the CSER office for any employment nee s. veryone’s going to fin something - it just might take you a little longer than the person next to you in class,” she said. “And it has nothing to do with you personally.

“Things might have slowed a little bit in certain areas, but absolutely, there are still plenty of internships, plenty of jobs … and businesses still have hiring needs,” she added.

But in March of last year, this wasn’t exactly the case.

Due to ever-changing COVID-19 mandates and regulations, many employers didn’t know what their hiring process would be and were uncertain of the future. This made it challengCourtesy of Framingham State ing for some of last year’s seniors to Rich Davino, Director of Career Services and Emplyer Relations. fin a ob after gra uation.

“As much as the pandemic has been panies using programs such as HireV“Last spring, I was meeting with tragic in so many ways, I think it’s ue, a website that provides questions seniors who had carefully cultivated a going to open up doors to students to applicants without human interacplan and taken all these steps soph- and graduating students that weren’t tion and records their responses. Daomore, junior, senior year, and then even a thought before,” Davino said, vino called this process “really awkthat plan just absolutely went out the explaining how remote job opportu- ward. window,” Abel said. “That was devas- nities allow people to work for com“It takes practice to be comfortable tating for some students.” panies that may be based across the doing that. And that’s why I think According to Davino, entry-level country. being forced to Zoom so often and talking at a screen is incredibly valuable and incredibly helpful,” he added.

While it’s important to face the excitement of getting interviews, Davino also said it’s important to face the reality of rejection.

“The despair is real, and I’m never going to minimize that,” he said.

“You’ve just got to accept that you’re going to face a lot of rejection, and it’s not necessarily about you. And I know that’s really, really hard to embrace.”

For seniors who may feel discouraged or worried about their future, Davino offered words of sympathy and advice.

“There is loss,” he said. “For the class of 2021, they have missed out on opportunities “evaporated overnight” In addition to more students be- what would have been a very different and some employers were forced to ing allo e the flexibility to ork senior year. So, feel that loss, embrace rescind offers. remotely, Davino said statistically that, but somehow don’t let that preAlthough most companies adjust- speaking, more college graduates are vent you from taking whatever those ed to remote work by last fall, Davino starting their own businesses. next steps are.” said some employers have “folded” “The pandemic’s been bad - it just in certain in ustries. Specifically, he has. However, I think there are some [Editor’s Note: Robert Johnson Jr. said the restaurant, event planning, silver linings that could come over is a former Arts & Features Editor and entertainment industries have all time,” he concluded. “I think remote for The Gatepost.] taken a “massive, massive hit. work and hybrid work is here to stay.”

“Again, jobs evaporated, and those Despite so many changes in the were for full-time folks that had been employment market, Davino said working there for a long time,” Davino much of what was applicable in 2019 said. “So, taking on entry-level people is still crucial for job searching today. who were just graduating became a “A great resume is still a great rereally hard task for employers to do.” sume,” he said. “Being really comfortDue to the uncertainty of the job able with interviewing, whether it’s market, Abel encouraged students to phone or video, is … even more impursue their “plan A, but also have a portant now.” really strong plan B.” Davino said Zoom is “critically imWith different job responsibilities portant” to the interview process, beand a reduced work force at some cause it’s allowed students to become companies, Davino acknowledged comfortable communicating and that job searching can be tough. How- reading body language virtually. ever, he does believe some changes in One of the biggest changes to the CONNECT WITH JARED GRAF the employment market are benefi- hiring process is the number of com- jgraf@student.framingham.edu cial.

““Last spring, I was meeting with seniors who had carefully cultivated a plan and taken all these steps sophomore, junior, senior year, and then that plan just absolutely went out the window. That was devastating for some students.”

- Emily Abel, Career Counselor

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“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” Justice has finally been served

By Patrick Brady Staff Writer

“Zack Snyder’s Justice League” is an enhanced and expanded version of 2017’s “Justice League.” Even though the 2017 film as a cinematic failure, heavily criticized by both critics and audiences alike, Snyder’s 2021 director’s cut was surprisingly good.

Warner Bros. spent $70 million to complete the visual effects, soundtrack, editing, and new scenes for the extended version of 2017’s box office train reck of a film.

It was released as an HBO Max original March 18.

The film features a star stu e cast, hich inclu es en ffleck as Batman, Henry Cavill as Superman, and Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman.

After a superhero’s supposed death triggered the Mother Boxes ’s version of the infinity stones - reactivation, Steppenwolf - a supervillain of epic proportions - came o n to arth in or er to fin the now-activated boxes. Upon retrieval of a Mother Box from Themyscira Wonder Woman’s birthplace - Queen Hippolyta, Wonder Woman’s mother, attempted to warn her daughter of Steppenwolf’s plans.

Once she received the message, on er oman notifie atman about the attack. Together, they recruited a team of superheroes to pro-

tect the world from Steppenwolf and his minions.

Snyder is no newcomer to violent, ark superhero movies an this film was no exception.

Due to the R-rating, Snyder was able to incorporate sequences of bloody violence and strong language into his director’s cut. Although “Justice League” was originally rated PG13, the graphic R-rated content vastly improve the film.

Thanks to the absurd blood sprays and gritty - yet occasionally humorous atmosphere, the movie benefitted from being over the top. Whereas, the 2017 version felt constrained, in terms of what it could show onscreen, due to its younger demographic.

The film’s exten e uration also provided crucial scenes, which were cut from the theatrical version, due to either their graphic nature or length.

These restored scenes were quite beneficial to the overall storyline, since they expanded on the character dynamics and added no major plot holes.

In particular, the director’s cut provided full storylines and character development for Cyborg and The Flash - while eliminating some excess material from the original film.

Along with the R-rating and improved character growth, the special effects were dramatically upgraded

ACROSS 1. 15-minute pursuit?

5. Plucked instrument 9. Skater Rippon 13. Drinks similar to Slurpees 15. Uzbekistan’s continent 16. One-named soccer great 17. *Bronco’s activity (hint: delete letters 8 to 10 in this answer) 19. Walk like a hippo 20. Catchall abbr.

21. ___ de vie 22. Puts on, as makeup 24. Like some auto mirrors 27. Schreiber of “Ray Donovan” 28. “Bambi” collectible 29. Rescuers of 69-Across 33. Sporty Italian auto, briefly 36. Heavy-duty lifter 37. Word before “roaring” or “current” 38. Southeast Asian ethnic group 39. *Airport rental (... 2 to 5) 41. Smog watchdog org.

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as well. Due to the dark color palette, clear that Snyder wanted to restore the FX looked more realistic, rather his original vision.

While the DC extended universe than cartoonish.

In addition, “Justice League’s” us- has had its ups and downs, there is age of slow-motion shots added to no denying that Snyder’s “Justice the entertainment. While many peo- League” stands out as one of the best if not the best films in the . ple are not in favor of a film’s usage Through the improved CGI, cinof slowed-down action, Snyder used ematography, and R-rated goriness, them when necessary. espite the film’s ramatic im- Snyder reclaimed his director’s vision. provements over its theatrical cut, Even though it’s not geared toward “Justice League” has a few shortcom- kids, “Zack Snyder’s Justice League” finally offere the much nee e light ings. hile the film al ays kept me en- to a bloated genre of superheroes. fter all, not all superhero films gaged, it was hard to sit through for an extended period of time. After all, have to appeal to everyone. the film clocke in at a hopping four hours and two minutes.

And even though the movie was broken down into six separate parts, ADMIT ONE each chapter was around 40 minutes long. Due to this, a few scenes seemed overly drawn out - particularly during the first t o chapters. long ith the film’s exten e uSnyder is ration, “Justice League” dragged out “the Godfor another 30 minutes after the supfather” of posed ending. Unlike most superhero superhero films, the movie seeme to have t o films. conclusions, rather than one.

Instead of having a disjointed stoADMIT ONE ryline and near-nonexistent character development, the director’s cut of “Justice League” improved on the original film in almost every single way. As opposed to tacking on extra CONNECT WITH PATRICK BRADY scenes to expand the runtime, it is pbrady@student.framingham.edu

42. Blow it 43. Glowing reviews 44. Pivotal WWII date 45. Some marbles 47. Get benefit from 49. Salt Lake City collegians 50. Camp shelter’s “door” 55. Had for supper 58. A-lister, for short 59. Eggs, to biologists 60. Neighbor of Yemen 61. Person who eschews the starred answers’ deleted portions 64. Furry visitor to Oz 65. Sportscaster Andrews 66. Far from long-winded 67. ___ out (barely manages) 68. Perot of the Reform Party 69. Microchipped animals, perhaps DOWN 1. Carpet material 2. Less than 90 degrees 3. Hajji’s destination 4. Cartoon shriek 5. Dutch court site, with “The” 6. Tree that rhymes with a synonym for “money” 7. Antipiracy org.

8. Running of the bulls site 9. Bit of Java programming 10. *Monopoly card (... 3 to 7) 11. Moisturizer in tissues 12. What docs prescribe 14. Holey utensil 18. Shingle securer 23. “Pied” musician of legend 25. Portable DVD player brand 26. Most toasty 30. Bits of gel 31. Kelly on TV 32. Fix at the vet’s office 33. Baldwin of “30 Rock” 34. Dr. Zhivago’s beloved

Grade: B+

35. *Strong suit (... 4 to 7) 36. Yield to pressure 39. 2015 boxing film 40. Takes a break from flying 44. Dict. entry 46. Transcription takers, briefly 47. Watt or tesla 48. Mar. 17 honoree 51. Makes equal Puzzle solutions are now 52. Longest river in France exclusively online.

53. Sailor’s “Stop!”

54. Windex surfaces 55. Shower love (on) 56. Post-accident assurance 57. “Fiddling” emperor 62. U.S. soldiers 63. One curl or press

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