April 14, 2023

By Branden LaCroix News Editor

The Mancuso Humanities Workforce Preparation Center (MHWPC), which was established in 2020, held an official “grand opening” April 10.

Local business leaders and FSU faculty and administrators were in attendance. State Rep. Jack Lewis (D-Framingham/Ashland) also attended.

Halcyon Mancuso, founder and executive director of the MHWPC, said the center’s opening was originally supposed to be held in 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was postponed.

The MHWPC’s goals are to raise awareness of the value humanities studies can offer to both students and

employers, aid students majoring in the humanities to prepare for and gain employment, and help Framingham State increase enrollment in humanities majors, according to the FSU website.

The center also helps FSU faculty in the humanities develop semester-long programs and internships through its Faculty Fellowship Program.

President Nancy Niemi said, “I am honored to be here as a president whose career began and continues via my own work in the humanities.

“I am delighted to be here to help everybody to see how it enriches all of our lives,” she said.

Niemi said, “All of our majors and minors - languages, world history, American studies, English, literature, philosophy, art, religion - were woven

Malia’s Crystals jewelry is a gem

as they always have been into aspects of everything we do, and it’s our job to help people see that they’re inseparable from the rest of our lives.”

She added, “We’re humans, so we can’t have the humanities not be a part of our work outside the University itself.”

Paula Krebs, executive director of the Modern Language Association (MLA) and honorary advisory board member of the Mancuso Center, was invited to the opening as the keynote speaker.

Bridgette Sheridan, history professor, introduced Krebs and spoke about meeting Krebs at the National Humanities Alliance conference in Salt Lake City, UT in 2016.

How one student turned a passion into a successful small business

By Sophia Harris News Editor

Malia Shields, an FSU junior, said she fell in love with jewelry at a young age“ever since I was a child.”

She said college gave her the tools to open her own small business creating and selling jewelry.

But, what she loves about running her own business is “it doesn’t feel like a job,” she said.

Being able to make jewelry “wherever and whenever” she wants gives her the freedom to be her own boss, she said.

Shields said she often makes jewelry

in places where if she had a typical job, she would not be able to work, such as in a park, on a bus, or in her dorm.

She said she launched Malia’s Crystals in July 2021 first on Snapchat to assess interest and demand. Then she created a web page and Instagram account that have been the vehicles for her sales since.

Her jewelry includes handmade crystal earrings, bracelets, necklaces, and pendants.

She said she plans to expand to fullbody pieces as her business grows. These are pieces that hang around the neck and drop across the chest and waist.

She added she is also looking to incorporate leg chains as part of her fullbody piece collection.

Shields said she sources her gems and stones from trusted Etsy sellers, gem shows, and crystal stores.

She also bought various gemstones for her collection in India on the recent J-term trip, coordinated by FSU’s study abroad office, she said.

Shields said she values the “uniqueness” of her jewelry which features authentic stones and crystals encompassed in non-tarnish hardware. The design and materials make the pieces not only practical, but beautiful, as the

Emily Rosenberg / THE GATEPOST

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(Left) Mikayla Wooding, Peyton Paradis, Sophia Morreti, and Jaslyne Lemus sitting on the lawn outside Miles Bibb Hall.

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E ditorial Board

Editor-in-Chief

Leighah Beausoleil

Associate Editor

Emily Rosenberg

News Editors

Sophia Harris

Branden LaCroix

Asst. News Editor

Naidelly Coelho

Opinions Editor

McKenzie Ward

Sports Editor

Adam Levine

Arts & Features Editor

Ryan O’Connell

Asst. Arts & Features Editor

Raena Doty

Design & Photo Editor

Maddison Behringer

Asst. Photos Editor

Zachary Sorel

Adrien Gobin

Staff Writers

Jesse Burchill

Riley Crowell

Owen Glancy

Mark Haskell

Ben Hurney

Jack McLaughlin

Emily Monaco

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Kate Norrish

Bella Omar

Carly Paul

Wenchell Pierre

Dillon Riley

Kyle Walker Advisor

Desmond McCarthy

Asst. Advisor

Elizabeth Banks

Gatepost Interview Margaret Obaid Professor of Psychology

By Sophia Harris News editor

What is your educational and professional background?

I went to Framingham State as an undergrad. I was a psych major and English minor. I graduated in 2008. I worked for a year for Boston University and the VA [Veteran Affairs] hospital in Bedford. I was working on a clinical trial for people who were trying to quit smoking and were in recovery from drug or alcohol abuse. It was a clinical/research job. So after that, I went to Clark University in Worcester, for my master’s and Ph.D. in social psychology. While finishing that, I was an adjunct here. So I taught part-time here while I was finishing my degree. And then after I defended my dissertation, I started work here as a full-time professor.

What are your goals as a psychology professor?

One of my goals is that I want my students to be knowledgeable about ideas and psychology and how that can help them better understand the world around them. That can mean in their own lives. … Just helping them better understand the way they interact with other people, and the way people in general interact, and groups interact. I think part of that, and this is heavy in my mind because I’m teaching research methods this semester, is also helping students be critical consumers of psychological knowledge because everybody wants to use psychology to understand the world around us, but, sometimes, it gets distorted in the media. So, being able to understand what goes on behind the research process so they can be more tuned in to having suspicions about the way findings are communicated.

Do you have any hobbies?

I have three fairly young kids. I have an eight-year-old and an almost sixyear-old and a three-and-a-half-yearold. So they take up a lot of my timejust hanging out with them. I also coach my two older boys’ soccer teams, so I’m busy with that. But beyond them, what I like to do is - I love to read. I’m in a book club with some friends. We meet once a month. I also really love baking. I’m vegan and my family’s mostly vegan and one of my kids has celiac. All my baking is vegan and gluten-free. Baking gluten-free, especially, it’s kind of a challenge. So it’s kind of like a fun, challenging hobby. … I really like musicals, too. … So that’s really fun.

What is something your students wouldn’t expect to know about you?

I would say maybe the biggest thing … is that I get very anxious about public speaking. I think that people don’t expect it of teachers because we’re in front of classes. It’s very interactive, and I get to know them. So I still do. I’ve been teaching for quite a while now and I still do get a little anxious at the beginning of the semester before I first meet my classes.

How did you first become interested in teaching psychology?

I think from a really young age, I knew I wanted to be a teacher. Like I always loved the idea of teaching. I loved school. I’m a middle child and have a younger sister and I used to love … helping teach her to read and things like that. I babysat a lot, so I knew I wanted to teach. And when I came to Framingham, I was originally an early childhood education and psych major, and then I really fell in love with psychology. I thought, “If you don’t want to teach kindergarten, maybe I want to teach English.” That’s why I had a minor in English. And then, because I love it so much, I started to think about pursuing that. And then I thought, “Well, I can just bring these two things together, and I can do psychology.” So that became more of my intended goal. And when I was doing my grad degree, I taught at Clark and I taught at Framingham and I did a seminar in college teaching.

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State Parking Enforcement Horace Man Hall Fire Lane Citations Issued

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Do you have any advice for students?

I would say the biggest piece of advice for students would be to get to know their professors and use them as a resource. I was a first-generation college student. I know many of the students here are, too. I know it can be kind of overwhelming or intimidating and I think people can be hesitant to reach out for help. But I think most professors are teaching because they love teaching, and a big part of that is, really wanting people to learn, and wanting people to get something out of the classes, and wanting to find ways for students to be successful in classes. And when I say that, I don’t just mean in terms of grades, but in terms of really feeling like it’s beneficial to them and their lives moving forward. I think that’s the biggest thing. We have the benefit here of having small class sizes for the most part, so you really can get to know your professors and form close relationships with them. That’s really helpful for success here - especially for things like getting letters of recommendation moving forward, so that’d be the biggest thing, I would say. Also just exploring things by finding out what you’re passionate about because you don’t have to come in knowing that - a lot of people change their minds.

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA HARRIS

sharris9@student.framingham.edu

Thursday, April 13

00:48

Alarm (Fire/Smoke)

Miles Bibb Hall

False Alarm

Courtesy of Margaret Obaid

SGA shares goals for next semester

By Emily Rosenberg Associate Editor

SGA shared concerns about unwelcoming student organizations and hosted their 2023 Candidates’ Night during their April 11 meeting.

During the open forum, President Dara Barros read a message that was placed in one of SGA’s concern boxes. The concern addressed an issue a student is having involving interactions with a member of the Fashion Club.

“Every time I’ve gone to the club, this particular member has never been welcoming or inclusive, and they seem to not enjoy being there,” Barros read from the note. She added that the student wrote that she was “brushed off” by this member when trying to ask questions at an engagement fair, but the member was answering questions for everyone else.

“I will say this is a student of color,” Barros said.

Student Trustee McKenzie Ward brought up an issue regarding an incident when she was sitting outside with a professor and a student passed by who needed to use the elevator in May Hall to get to their classes, but was only informed that the elevator was not working after Ward and the professor spoke to them.

She said it is necessary that the University is more communicative when elevators are broken down or are experiencing issues.

Ward said she found an empty classroom via 25Live on a ground-level floor for the class to meet. “But not every student has those resources,” Ward said, referring to 25Live, a room-reservation website.

She said she suggested to Executive

Vice President Dale Hamel sending out a campus-wide email to inform faculty and students about these issues so proper arrangements can be made in a timely manner.

SGA also held their Candidates’ Night, which provided time for people running for 2023-24 eBoard and senator roles to give speeches about why they deserve their positions.

Evelyn Campbell, current outreach and events coordinator, said she was running for SGA president.

Campbell said having grown up as a child of divorce, she believes her mother instilled in her strong leadership values. She said as a first-generation student, she believes she can accurately represent students on campus.

“However, I can’t speak for every single person at FSU, which is why my first goal as president is to further diversify SGA. I want everyone in the student body to be able to relate to at least one person here on SGA,” she added.

Ryan Mikeles said he was running for student trustee. He is a junior political science major, a Rams engagement ambassador, the vice president of the commuter student group, and an upcoming senior orientation leader.

He said he believes these roles have not only benefited his public speaking skills, personal confidence, and campus knowledge, but have also led him to spend a lot of his time with various faculty and administrators. Therefore, the transition into the role would be swift.

“Whether it be the Admissions Office, dean’s office, student experience office or any other place on campus, you can guarantee that I will be at their door ready to bring to them the

student perspective,” Mikeles said.

Vice President Raffi Elkhoury said he was rerunning for his position. Elkhoury said his goals for next year are to make anti-racism a true priority at SGA and every facet of the campus, as well as continue the work with the President’s Council.

Liv West, a freshman senator, said she was running for outreach and events coordinator. She said as a senator, she has looked up to the upperclassmen in SGA, and working with the organization has become her calling at FSU.

Sophomore senators Billy Hubert and Dillon Riley reran for their positions. Junior Senator Ben Boyer also reran for his role.

During the President’s report, Barros said she met with Jeffrey Coleman, vice president of diversity, inclusion, and community engagement, as well as Eric Gustafson vice president of Development and Alumni Relations and will be meeting with Meg Nowak Borego, dean of students.

In the Secretary’s Report, Mark Haskell said that some senators have not been holding their office hours. He said while some senators do them every week, there have been others who are consistently missing hours.

SGA office hours are 1-2 hours in which senators and eBoard members must spend time dedicated to assigned tasks or in the SGA office ready to greet students.

In the Treasurer’s Report, SATF Treasurer Sam Houle said the Finance

Committee will meet on April 14 to confirm a funding request from Christian Fellowship.

In the Outreach and Events Report, Campbell encouraged senators to attend the All University Banquet on April 19.

In the Advisor’s Report, Gina Pacitto, SGA advisor, said The Office of Student Involvement and Leadership Development (SILD) has officially been rebranded and will now be referred to as the Center for Student Experience or the “EXP” for short. This includes their email and social media outlets.

She added, “The EXP is always here and always has an open door and we would like to make sure that everybody is aware of that.”

Senator of the month was awarded to Andrew “Andy” Thompson. Barros nominated him for his significant collaboration allowing FSAB and SGA to host events.

The U-Rock was passed to Ward by Haskell for her efforts in organizing the Administrators’ Forum.

[Editor’s Note: As of press time, all those who ran were elected to their positions and one person was written into the role of senator. The roles of SATF treasurer, secretary, and diversity and inclusion officer are unfilled at this time, according to Dara Barros. ]

CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG Erosenberg@student.framingham.edu

Sunday night April 16

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 48. NE wind about 10 mph. 30% chance of precipitation.

Monday April 17

Mostly cloudy, with a high near 64. E wind about 15 mph. 60% Chance of precipitation.

Monday night April 17

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 47. S wind about 15 mph. 50% chance of precipitation.

Tuesday April 18

Partly sunny, with a high near 60. SW wind about 15 mph.

Tuesday night Apr. 18

Mostly cloudy, with a low around 41. W wind about 15 mph.

Wednesday April 19

Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. NW wind about 15 mph.

Wednesday night Apr. 19

Partly cloudy, with a low around 44. W wind about 15 mph.

Thursday April 20

Sunny, with a high near 67. NW wind about 15 mph.

Emily Rosenberg / THE GATEPOST

Evelyn Campbell, current outreach and events coordinator, giving a speech during SGA’s April 11 meeting.

Emily Rosenberg / THE GATEPOST Senator Billy Hubert giving a speech during SGA’s April 11 meeting.

Sculpture installed on Larned Beach

By Sophia Harris News editor

A sculpture from the Danforth Museum collection was installed on Larned Beach March 29.

The sculpture, “Cells /,” depicts a figure emerging from a reflective slab. According to the sculpture’s plaque, the structure is made of stainless steel and bronze. It also features a mirror on the side facing the library.

This sculpture was created by David Bakalar in 1996, according to Jessica Roscio, director and curator of the Danforth Art Museum.

The sculpture was gifted to The Danforth Art Museum in 2003 by Bakalar, she said.

When the Danforth relocated to Vernon Street, some of its artwork and sculptures had to be temporarily relocated in order for the museum to have a smooth transition to its new building, she added.

Roscio said when the Danforth relocated to its current location and merged with Framingham State, the sculpture moved to Amazing Things Art Center and was there from 2016 to recently, when it was moved to FSU’s main campus.

The sculpture was donated as a long-term loan to Amazing Things. “They were so good as to help us out and take the sculpture for us until we could figure out what we were going to do,” Roscio said.

She said the director of Amazing Things contacted the Danforth Museum last summer and said as much as they love having the piece, they were really looking to renovate the space in front of their building.

She added, “I’m thrilled that they kept it as long as they did.”

Roscio said it took some time for the museum’s staff to “figure out where on campus it was going to go.”

When choosing where on campus the sculpture would be located, the museum staff worked with the University’s executive staff, capital planning, and Brian Bishop, an art professor and the chair of the Collections Committee at the museum, along with other members of the Art Department.

She said the process included touring the campus and looking for spaces the sculpture might look appealing.

Bishop said, “We thought, ‘Why not have more art on campus?’”

After the initial scouting tour was completed, the museum staff presented a list of locations they thought would be adequate and appealing for the sculpture and presented that list to the executive staff at the University, who helped narrow down the location, Roscio said.

She said at this stage, Capital Planning came in to assess where the sculpture could be placed based on the underground mechanics.

Roscio added Larned Beach had been a “first choice for everybody.”

Capital Planning ultimately decided it was the best spot for it on campus, she said.

Roscio said, “There were a lot of moving pieces, but the University was really, really wonderful to work with to help us figure out a home for it.”

“We wanted a place where people would be able to see it,” she said.

Bakalar’s art represents the connection between art and science.

Bishop said the location of the sculpture near Hemenway Labs represents the “integration” of these topics.

He added Bakalar’s artwork “has this connection to science always and to quantum physics and things like that.”

He added Bakalar’s art has a “connection to humanity and science and physics. I thought it could be an interesting thing” to be housed not so far from the STEM building.

Bishop said the sculpture “looks like he’s pixelated - It looks like he’s like either becoming something or deteriorating from something. I thought that was an interesting idea.”

Roscio said Bakalar’s art “definitely has a distinctive 80s and 90s flair.”

She said his art also represents a universal message, which is beneficial because “you really want it to be appealing to everybody.

“We are thrilled that it is finally in its new home and that people are enjoying it,” she added.

Sam Coombs, a senior studio art major, works as the Curatorial Fellow for the Danforth Art Museum.

She said she has been helping with the restoration of the sculpture’s base since it arrived on campus.

Coombs said Rachel Passannante, the collections manager at the museum, asked her to help give the base a “makeover.”

“I was totally on board. I was very excited that we would have an outside day of work,” she added.

Coombs said because of the long duration of time the sculpture has been outside, it needed “some maintenance.”

She said the sculpture “had a bunch

of scratches and other paint on it.”

Coombs said the maintenance included sanding the base with a belt sander and giving it one coat of paint.

She added they were careful to use smaller pieces of sandpaper when they were sanding closer to the figure itself.

Coombs said the sculpture “definitely looks a lot better.”

She said learning the context of when the sculpture was made helped her better understand its meaning.

“The piece was made around the time that computers were first coming out. So having that chunk of information helps it make more sense to me,” she added.

Eric Gustafson, vice president of Development and Alumni Relations, assisted with the relocation of the sculpture.

He said the more FSU’s community can engage with the Danforth, “the better.”

Gustafson said the sculpture is an extension of bringing that collection to campus so Framingham State’s community can enjoy the Danforth Museum on FSU’s campus as well.

He said he thinks the artwork “is fantastic - I love it. I was really excited.”

Gustafson said, “The more art we can add to campus, the better, in my opinion.”

He added, “There was a brief time I was over there looking at it and there were a lot of waves of students walking by who stopped, and it was just fun to see people engage with the art. It’s fantastic.”

Roscio said in the future, by the fall semester, the museum staff will be installing a plaque to explain what the artwork represents and information about the artist.

Sculptures by Bakalar are all over

New England,including at campuses such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Boston University.

Anthony Sims, a junior English major, said he thinks the sculpture is “neat,” but thinks Larned Beach should be converted into a field, rather than used for housing artwork.

He said, “It could very easily be turned into some sort of field to play sports on.”

Sims added he was more “entertained by the snowman” that was built on Larned Beach in March.

Hilary Lincoln, a junior biology major, said she was “surprised” to see a new piece of artwork on campus.

Faith Hensley, a junior business management major, said she was “confused at first” about the meaning of the sculpture, but after learning more about it, said she thinks “it’s really cool.”

Chele Simpsons, a junior biology major, said she thinks the sculpture is “really cute.”

Simpsons said when she first saw the sculpture in the dark walking back from the library, it scared her because she was not expecting it to be there.

Ariana Gotay, a senior political science major, said she likes the sculpture.

She added, “I think we should have more art around campus.”

Kyra Tolley, a freshman sociology major said, “I think it’s really great and might inspire other people to start taking art classes or continue with their art. I think it’s just really cool.”

Leighah Beausoleil / THE GATEPOST

The sculpture “Cells /” by artist David Bakalar installed on Larned Beach.

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA HARRIS sharris9@student.framingham.edu

She said Krebs talked about her time as dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Bridgewater State University. “I was excited about what she’d done at Bridgewater and I knew that she had to get up to Framingham State to help us raise the profile of the humanities.”

Krebs said, “In order to make sure that undergraduates understand the value of the education they’re getting in our fields, we have to be specific. We have to name skills, values, perspectives that come from our courses, and our majors, minors, and certificates.”

Krebs said universities need to work to change the negative “national story” concerning the humanities.

She said, “There’s a national story about how irrelevant we are, and how useless our degrees are.

“And then there’s a national story about how dangerous we are and how scary our courses are and how they need to be reined in and controlled,” she added.

Krebs said this “double narrative” stems from the fact the humanities teach students how to “interpret the world they’re in so that they can intervene in the world.”

She said the MHWPC and its work is a valuable asset in combating the nar-

Krebs said she was delighted to have government representatives attending because “these are the folks who need to be around the table, because they will help us to collect the information that our students will need in order to make the case for their employment after graduation.”

She added the MHWPC is important because it “works not just with students and putting them in internships and helping them get jobs, but with faculty members to help them understand the kinds of interventions they can make … so that students graduate with having been able to follow their passion into the humanities because they love it, and show their family the skills, values, and perspectives they’ve gotten from that study.”

In an interview following the ceremony, Krebs said she doesn’t know of any other institutions that have a humanities center similar to the MHWPC.

“It’s highly unusual for an institution to invest in the humanities” as much as Framingham State, she said.

Desmond McCarthy, English professor and assistant director of the MHWPC, said, “Halcyon Mancuso’s generosity in funding this center and her vision for showing how vital humanities skills are in the twenty-first-century knowledge-based

want to be there to support students.”

Joanne Britland, professor of Spanish and Portuguese, was the faculty fellow in 2022, and she explained the project she developed and why she chose to become a fellow.

She said her project was “Preparing FSU Students for a Multilingual Workforce, Spanish for the Professions, and Pathways to Internships,” noting the increase of the need for bilingual employees in the workforce.

According to a report from the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), “Making Languages Our Business: Addressing Foreign Language Demand Among U.S. Employers,” nine out of 10 employers say they rely on employees proficient in a language other than English.

The report also indicated that employer need for bilingual employees doubled between 2010 and 2015.

Britland also quoted an ACTFL report that stated by 2050, Hispanics will comprise approximately 30% of the U.S. population and by 2060, the U.S. will become the world’s largest Spanish-speaking country.

Britland said in 2021, 51% of FSU’s incoming students identified as first-generation.

Her goal as a faculty fellow was to guide students through application

uity by teaching students the process of applying for jobs and helping to prepare them for career readiness, many of whom might not have had exposure to learning how to apply for jobs.”

Britland said, “We must provide our students with tools to allow them to achieve success in an increasingly competitive job market.

“As an emerging Hispanic Serving Institution, FSU educators have an even greater duty to create courses and programs that address the needs of our student population, many of whom are first-generation students,” she added.

The second initiative of the MHWPC is its Career Readiness Initiative, part of which Mancuso said is the Career Readiness Summer Working Group, an “annual paid summer professional development opportunity for arts and humanities faculty,” which allows them “to reframe one of their courses in terms of career competencies.”

She said the group enrolled in the program works collaboratively to learn about career readiness and different ways to make “career competency categories” clearer for students through faculty syllabi, pedagogy, and “class artifacts.”

Career competencies are skills employers look for in potential employees, including critical thinking, communication, ethical judgment, teamwork, and empathy, according to the FSU website.

Mancuso added faculty also “learn language that links our course-learning outcomes to skills that employers request.”

Maria Bollettino, a history professor, History Department chair, and current Faculty Fellow, was a member of a Career Readiness Summer Working Group.

She said while not all courses can be completely reworked, “What we can do is, as Halcyon said, make visible to students what we are already doing in our classroom and give them the language to translate that to potential future employers.”

rative that currently exists in the U.S.

Concerning the role of the humanities, Krebs said she often says, “The arts create, and the humanities interpret.

“We interpret the arts, we interpret writing, we interpret music. We in the humanities ask students to understand what’s going on in a particular social interaction, historical document, musical composition, and what difference that makes,” she said.

Krebs said the MLA received a $1.5 million grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to develop better practices concerning the recruitment, retention, and career readiness for students of color, first-generation students, and Pell Grant recipients in the humanities.

She said the practices developed would be implemented by departments and institutions to aid them in their recruitment and retention initiatives.

She added the MLA will also help faculty with data collection so they know which areas of their coursework and programs need to be reviewed.

economy are inspiring.”

Mancuso said the MHWPC has three main initiatives: the annual Faculty Fellowship Program, a career readiness program, and the student intern stipend.

She said the annual Faculty Fellowship Program supports “humanities faculty-proposed projects that further our student career readiness mission at a divisional and departmental level.”

English Professor Colleen Coyne was the first Mancuso Center Fellow and developed the website for the MHWPC.

Coyne said she worked with Mancuso and McCarthy to develop the center’s messaging and “to think about our overall goals for communicating what we do to our key audiences: our students and families, our employers, and faculty at Framingham State.”

She said many students feel pressured to choose a “more practical” major, adding the MHWPC wants “to make it really clear that studying the humanities is both enjoyable - it’s a passion - and it’s practical, and we

processes and to establish connections with companies and organizations in the Boston and MetroWest areas that are seeking bilingual employees, the names of which she compiled into a database to be used by her students.

As a faculty fellow, she designed the course SPAN 225: Business Communication in Spanish, which is a gen-ed course with a prerequisite of Intermediate Spanish I or appropriate placement test score.

She said in her course, students learn the process of applying for jobs using the database she created and make appointments with the Career Center for resumé preparation and to undergo mock interviews.

Students also created ePortfolios of “cultural work” they produced over the semester, which were uploaded to a site they created through GoogleSites.

Britland said the students were then able to show their work to employers at career events and forums and they learned how to network with various companies, which gave them an opportunity to use their Spanish.

She said, “The project promotes eq-

Bollettino said one of the most valuable assets to the program is that arts and humanities faculty, as well as some faculty outside the department, are provided information from the World Economic Forum and the National Association of Colleges and Employers that concerns what employers are looking for and the language they use.

She said by becoming acquainted with that information, faculty can then share that information with students.

“We can look at our syllabi. We can look at the assessments that we have routinely done, and we can say, ‘Yes, this is where my students are practicing critical thinking. This is where my students are practicing communication. This is where they’re developing leadership skills. This is where they’re collaborating. This is where they’re working with diverse individuals,’” she said.

She added, “We’re tackling really tough, challenging subjects in a way that is inclusive and that is respectful.”

Bollettino said the program “provides a community in which to discuss ways to make some small but tangible, specific changes to our syllabi to make

“We interpret the arts, we interpret writing, we interpret music. We in the humanities ask students to understand what’s going on in a particular social interaction, historical document, musical composition, and what difference that makes.”

- Paula Krebs, Executive Director of the MLA

Mancuso

Continued from page 5

clear where students are practicing these career competencies that employers are seeking.”

As an example, in her course on Caribbean history, her students’ course assessments included a list of career competencies they were learning over the semester.

She said she informs her students on the first day of class so they become familiar with the terms on their syllabus.

“The history of the Caribbean is fabulous, and you are also developing some essential skills that will help you throughout your lives,” she said.

She added her students also complete an Academic Reflection Journal over the semester. The students name what their current learning objectives and competency objectives are, and which competencies they wish to improve.

For their final entry, Bollettino asks her students to write paragraphs that can be included in a cover letter describing the ways they developed their career competencies from the projects they created over the course.

She said her students also work with the Framingham History Center researching Caribbean migration to Massachusetts, specifically the Framingham area. The work was part of an exhibition on global migration the center is creating.

The collaborative project also asks students to identify spaces that are “essential to the community formation of a particular migrant group” in Framingham, and present analyses on the importance of these spaces and how they have evolved.

Bollettino reiterated that her students did not write about the projects they completed, but the skills they gained from those projects.

“My students were extremely grateful,” she said. “They loved it. They loved the conversations, they loved to write about it, they appreciated it, and they appreciated it for the practice but also because I was signaling to them through doing it that I cared about them as a whole person who had a future and who was working toward that future.”

The third initiative started by the MHWPC is the student internship stipend for arts and humanities students.

Mancuso said the stipend concerns equity and inclusion as the center recognizes the internship process does not extend opportunities equally to all students, adding that internships are “a key career-readiness experience.”

She said the stipend applies to the three internships the center offers: course credit internships, which run between 120 and 160 hours and fulfill departmental requirements; mini-internships, which are between 31 and 60 hours over a semester; and micro-internships, which are between one and 30 hours over a semester.

Mancuso added the center’s logo was developed by a former graphic design major who undertook a micro-internship.

According to Mancuso, since 2021, the center has funded 46 internships amounting to approximately $50,000 in stipends.

Sarah Sagan, an English major in the 4+1 Program, is the MHWPC’s so-

cial media intern.

Sagan said she has interned for the center since 2022 developing content for its website working with Coyne.

She said during her time as an intern, she has grown more comfortable with interviewing students and faculty and developing her communication skills.

“Being able to ask others questions and listening to their answers attentively is one significant contributor to finding success in the workforce,” she added.

Sagan said she has also had the opportunity to hone her artistic abilities as she developed the graphic design for the center’s materials, stressing the importance of communication “so that the artist - me - can accurately reflect the center’s goals in social media posts or other promotional materials.”

She added her internship has also helped her develop her teamwork skills during a project that required her to build off of the work of previous interns, which entailed reaching out to alumni and “organizing their responses.”

She said, “Overall, I’m incredibly grateful for the year that I’ve worked for the Mancuso Center - I’ve been able to talk to so many different members of the FSU community on a range of topics, including big data, digital humanities, humanities success stories, and more.

“It’s just been such a fantastic learning experience and I look forward to a future career with the help of the skills the center has provided me,” she added.

Geanny Infante, a senior fashion and design major, is one of the center’s four photography interns.

Infante explained she covers the Fashion Design and Retailing and History departments, but tends to gravitate toward the fashion side.

She said the internship allows her to be creative and to gain a better understanding of how to compose professional shots.

She added there are multiple events being held by the Fashion Design and Retailing Department soon. “So, I’m looking forward to those events because I was there last semester experiencing them, but now behind the lens, capturing it.”

Sam Coombs, a senior studio arts major, is another MHWPC photography intern.

She said, “Through this internship, definitely some of the most exciting skills that I’ve been developing are communication, organization, and my social skills.”

She added while she has always been a sociable person, she further developed her social skills through photography by ensuring the person photographed is more comfortable.

“I feel like you can tell the difference between when someone’s super awkward in the photo or definitely when they’re more comfortable. You can see that in the result of the photograph,” she said.

Coombs said the grand opening event for the MHWPC and the speakers helped make it clearer to her that the skills she is developing will help her in the future.

Along with funding the center, in 2018, Mancuso donated $2.4 million to

establish two “full-ride” scholarships for an incoming English major and a humanities major each year, which is the largest donation in FSU’s history, according to an April 25, 2018 article by the Boston Globe.

The Mancuso Scholarship Program now supports eight students every year.

The scholarships are intended for students who are in financial need, and provide “the financial resources to fully experience college life, and encourage recipients to link robust career preparation and extra-curricular activities with academic work in order to better position Mancuso Scholars for post-college, entry-level positions,” according to the FSU website.

Meeghan Bresnahan, a senior history major, is one of the eight Mancuso Scholars. She said the scholarship “has really helped me focus on my academics.”

She added the Mancuso Scholarship also helped her get a job at the Salem Witch Museum after she graduates.

At the conclusion of the event,

Mancuso said to the faculty attending, “Learn as much as you can about career readiness through the classroom.”

To the students attending, she said, “Understand that the world you will inhabit after FSU is changing at warp speed, such that no one can predict what your world of work will really look like in 10, 20, or 30 years.

“You cannot job proof yourself. But you can develop transferable skills that will afford you more flexibility to adapt to rapid change,” she said.

Quoting President Joe Biden, she said, “We’re a great nation in large part because of the power of the arts and humanities that’s stamped in our DNA of America.”

[Editor’s

Note: Desmond McCarthy is the Advisor to The Gatepost.]

Maddison Behringer/ MHWPC Halcyon Mancuso, founder and executive director of the MHWPC, speaking at the center’s grand opening April 10.

Maddison Behringer / MHWPC MHWPC intern and studio art major Samantha Coombs speaking at the center’s grand opening April 10.

Stop the TikTok ban

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

OP/ED Staying home for the weekends

At the end of the week when classes are finished and student organizations aren’t meeting, the once active Framingham State campus experiences a complete 180.

With commuters home for the weekend, limited dining hours and options, and a closed Health Center, the FSU campus is a desolate place.

And where is the fun?

The streets are noticeably empty.

The residence halls are unusually quiet.

Students often do not stay on the weekends, but when given the choice, who would?

There are rarely any activities held on campus by the University or the student organizations on the weekends.

Even when they are held, they are sparsely attended.

These events are not held on a consistent enough basis for students to recognize that activities do sometimes happen on the weekends.

The events that are hosted need to be publicized more widely in a range of forums in order to increase attendance.

When it comes to dining on the weekends, students have limited options due to restricted hours in the Dining Commons. Only brunch and dinner are served between 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m.

And the 7 p.m. closing time is hardly accurate given that the food is often taken away approximately 15 minutes prior.

UCOOK is open later, but leaves students with fairly limited options.

Other dining locations on campus, including Sandella’s, Dunkin’, and Red Barn, are closed on the weekends.

The Rams’ Den Grille is open 6 p.m. to 12 a.m., but offers limited healthy options and does not accept meal swipes.

Beyond the Dining Commons, there is nowhere else on campus where a student can purchase food using a meal swipe on the weekends.

Residents are required to purchase a meal plan every semester, but they are basically useless on the weekends unless you can make it to the Dining Commons during its limited hours.

If a student becomes sick or is injured on the weekend the Health Center is, unfortunately, not open to treat them.

University Police will provide taxi vouchers to those who need to get to an Urgent Care. However, students will be forced to provide a copay based on their insurance.

Additionally, counseling services are not available on the weekends.

FSU can do so much better than this.

We understand there are staffing concerns as well as lower enrollment.

However, that does not mean those who stay on campus on weekends should be forgotten.

The University needs to realize that a strategy for retaining students is ensuring the student experience is at least as satisfying on the weekends as it is throughout the week.

Events need to be held more regularly during the weekends and should be better advertised.

They do not need to be big blowout events, either.

They could be as simple as a movie night in the Forum, or now that it’s warmer, an intramural frisbee game on Larned Beach.

These events could be advertisements in social media posts, through flyers and posters, or as announcements in Campus Currents.

The Rams’ Den Grille could host the RAMS on the Run program on the weekends, allowing students to grab food on the go for a meal swipe.

This would solve the issue of students not having access to food they cannot pay for with meal swipes and would not require any additional restaurants on campus to stay open.

There does not necessarily need to be a professional at the Health Center throughout the weekend, but someone could be on call in case a student needs medical attention that is not life threatening per se, but should still be treated or checked out.

This could be even through telehealth appointments.

Students should not have to wait until Monday morning to receive medical care.

The student experience includes life during the weekend.

Administrators are able to go home at the end of a work week.

But for many students, campus is their home.

Help us make it one.

By Izayah Morgan Staff Writer

On March 23, 2023 TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew sat down to defend the app being banned in front of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

The common argument is that TikTok provides a gateway for kids to see inappropriate content when they are not age appropriate.

Advice for parents out there, stop letting your kids lie about their age on TikTok or any social media apps for that matter when they sign up. TikTok as well as other social media have infrastructure in place so that kids of certain ages do not see certain content that would be inappropriate for their age range. Monitor what your kids are doing online when you can, I know it’s much easier said than done, right? But right now we are in the prime of the digital age. Instead of actually teaching your kids about internet safety or monitoring your kids, they’ll just be thrown on to technology for hours on end.

I am not innocent as my experience babysitting little ones in my family has me making these same mistakes.

Another criticism included the security risk that TikTok “supposedly posed.” It was argued multiple times throughout the hearing that TikTok sends gathered information such as face, search history, and watch/like history to the Chinese government.

Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers stated in her opening statement, “Mr. Chew, you are here because the American people need the truth about the threat TikTok poses to our national and personal security.”

However, this claim has been criticized because it did not hold much weight due to lack of evidence.

TikTok is not available in China due to multiple reasons. Chew responded to these claims by stating, “ByteDance is not owned or controlled by the Chinese government. It is a private company.”

The hearing felt as if older generations who have a limited view on current technology were asking questions on something they did not fully grasp.

However, many expressed that Chew could not defend himself and struggled to make his case. For example, Lindsay Gorman, head of technology and geopolitics at the German Marshall Fund, stated to the New York Times, “The future of TikTok in the U.S. is definitely dimmer and more uncertain today.”

This TikTok ban has been a real possibility. Due to the national security risk that TikTok poses, certain universities and colleges around the country have banned TikTok use on the school WiFi.

There are over 100 million Americans, or one in every three Americans, who use TikTok. It’s safe to say that many will not be happy if this ban goes through. Some solutions would include sending a message to your U.S. representative, sending a message to your senator, and sending a message to the president!

If TikTok gets banned, here are some things you can do to get prepared. If you’re a content creator remove all the water marks from your videos and back them all up. If you are a content consumer make sure to follow your favorite TikTok creators and follow them on other platforms.

Letter to the Editor: The truth about WDJM

As members of the executive board of WDJM, the radio station here on campus, we would like to clear the air about the misinformation that is going around about the future of our club.

Starting this fall, WDJM will be experiencing several key changes in order to not only future-proof the club, but to improve the overall quality of radio broadcasts.

One of the key changes would be moving away from the FM broadcast signal to instead prioritize live streaming the radio signal online.

It’s an unfortunate truth that the FM signal we currently have is very weak, and barely reaches around the Framingham area. Our goal in making this change is to give our members the opportunity to reach a wider audience with the shows they are already broadcasting on-air.

We are currently working to collaborate with the Communications department to increase their involvement with the club. This will make more students who would benefit from this club aware of what we offer and how it can coincide with their academic pursuits.

This change will go into effect starting June 30. This will mark the beginning of a year-long trial to determine if this is right for the club. While the FM signal is turned off, we are planning to upgrade the equipment in the station to better suit the transition to live

streaming our content.

If we follow through with these changes, the name of the club will have to be changed as WDJM 91.3 is owned by the FCC, not the University. We hope to do this in a way that honors the legacy of this 50 year old organization.

The shows being produced will still be broadcasted live. The charm that already exists in these shows will continue, just in a more accessible way.

We will also be able to rerun these shows during unscheduled times in order to eliminate dead-air.

Transitioning to online streaming and upgrading our equipment will open more opportunities for students to create their own unique content. These changes will also allow students who don’t have equal access to technology the ability to make podcasts and other types of shows that will go on the air. We recognize that students on campus want to make these shows but can be restricted from not having the means to do so.

Our radio stream will not be overseen by the FCC which will allow more freedom for the DJs.

The cost of the FM signal and maintaining it isn’t equivalent to what we get back from it. There is a misconception that the cost of maintaining the signal is paying for an FCC license, and that is ignoring the thousands spent on other membership fees and paying

Letter from the Editor: Thank a taypayer

Dear FSU Community,

As April 15 (“Tax Day”) approaches, I wanted to express on behalf of the entire Framingham State University community our gratitude to the taxpayers of Massachusetts for their support for public higher education. Without that public support, there would be substantially less capital investment in our campus and costs to students would be significantly higher. Specifically, FSU receives annual state and federal support equating to around $32,000 per student. Of this funding, around $21,000 per student subsidizes the costs of operations while another $5,000 per student is invested in maintaining and updating the buildings and technology on our campus (capital expenditures). The remaining state support – along with federal support – funds financial aid grants to students averaging over $6,000 per student.

We often focus on the “list price” for tuition and fees of attending college. At FSU, this is currently $11,380 (having been at that level for the past three years as student academic fees were not raised during the pandemic). This figure is significantly lower than the total annual costs per student of $37,380; the state operating and capital annual subsidy of $26,000

per student is what permits a list price of $11,380. Further, state and federal financial aid (grant) funding provides support of around $6,000 per student on average - recognizing that some students receive more aid and some less based on their expected family contribution. This further subsidy results in the net (actual) cost to students of around $5,380 on average, per year. This average net cost represents approximately 14% of the university’s total cost per student for annual operations and capital investment. In other words, the university and state together pay 86% of what it actually costs to educate a student each year.

We are very fortunate to be a public institution and to receive public funding to subsidize our operations. This is truly our taxes at work. As such, I would encourage everyone to “Thank a Taxpayer” on April 15. It could be a local business owner, a relative, or even your parents! Thank you.

Dale Hamel Executive Vice President for Administration, Finance, and Information Technology

our wonderful station engineer and FCC coordinator to assist in keeping the signal usable.

After many excellent years of working with the school, our station engineer Sid Schweiger is retiring at the end of this fiscal year.

That will leave us with an antenna on top of McCarthy that is already slowly decaying with a cost of repair that we consider to not be justifiable considering the short distance it reaches.

Most importantly, this club is not defined by its name or how people can access the content we make. This club is defined by our amazing members who come into the station and make their show ideas a reality. This is not going away with the removal of the FM signal, and even more people are going to be able to experience the content we all make.

The friendships and memories made in our little station in McCarthy will not change because we’re upgrading hardware or changing our name.

Whether you have a weekly show, or have a sudden impulse to drop in and do a quick show, you are what defines this club - not an FM signal that hardly anyone outside this area can reach.

If you have any questions about the station or the club, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. We want to make sure all of our members are on the same page, especially now that we

are undergoing exciting changes to your experience at WDJM.

Take it from us, the President, Kyle Walker and Vice President, Jack McLaughlin of WDJM.

Courtesy of WDJM

The respected therapy, ABA, is anything but respectful

By Kate Norrish Staff Writer

Around a month ago, a person came to the lobby of the McCarthy Center to hand out pamphlets on what a career as an Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapist would be like. For students, this may have seemed like an interesting job opportunity.

But I can say from experience that being a child receiving ABA can be hell.

ABA is a form of therapy for autistic people to encourage social, behavioral, and independence skills. It was created in the 1960s by Ole Ivar Løvaas, according to The National Institute of Health.

According to Psychology Today, Løvaas was also heavily involved in gay conversion therapy. In fact, the techniques and philosophy applied in conversion therapy are also present in ABA therapy.

For years, ABA tended to be hyper-focused on making the person receiving it act as “normal,” or as non-autistic as possible. Stimming,

a form of movement autistics use to self regulate, is often discouraged. And those receiving it are often told to maintain eye contact when speaking to people, even though for many autistic people, that can make paying attention more difficult.

There is no harm to any one in allowing this behavior. It is natural, and not allowing it can lead to meltdowns and, as I can personally say, a lifetime of feeling like a part of you is not accepted by society.

Additionally, ABA is heavily associated with electroshock therapy and restraint and isolation, the latter of which I was subjected to. Restraint and isolation consists of a person being physically held down and locked into small “isolation rooms,” sometimes for hours, when they become overwhelmed. It has also killed people, including 13-year-old Max Benson from California in 2018, according to an article in The Sun.

Løvaas himself was a supporter

of electroshock treatment. To quote Neuroclastic, a website about the autistic experience, “He thought he was saving them, turning a bundle of raw nerve endings into something resembling a human being.”

Electroshock therapy is still used in Massachusetts, most famously at the Judge Rotenberg Educational Center in suburban Boston, according to NPR.

At the center of this inhumane treatment lies Autism Speaks, an extremely popular charity that claims to work with people with autism to make their lives as fulfilling as possible.

In reality, Autism Speaks has referred to autism as a “disaster to families,” and has shown sympathy to a mother who contemplated killing her autistic child in a PSA video. Many people, myself included, consider them eugenicists. Therefore, I would not recommend anyone to “Light it up Blue,” as it was an event created by Autism Speaks, and makes many autistic people, myself included, feel

unsafe.

Instead, I would recommend supporting ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network), an organization that helps autistic people advocate for themselves.

Because of my experience in ABA therapy, I had years of severe suicidal thoughts, and my self-harm addiction was severely worsened. No one should be made to feel like that, and such a practice should not be advertised as a harmless career, especially at Framingham State.

If a therapist cannot work with a child without hurting them, then they are not a good therapist, and no matter what their neurotype, no one should be tortured because of their behavior, especially normal, autistic traits. No matter what.

: Sculptures Playing Hooky

Campus Conversations

What kinds of events would you like to see on the weekends?

By Dillon Riley, Staff Writer

“I like the Bingos and the prize wheel events, so just having those types of events that we usually have during the weekdays. Stuff like that on the weekends would be great because I would go to them.”

“The school should do a better job at advertising events that are already happening such as sporting events. It’s a start because you could try to come up with ways to do other events that would be fun, but promoting current events takes minimal effort.”

-John Jepson, senior

“More sporting events like intramurals on the weekends like basketball or even flag football on a Saturday during the fall.”

-Joseph Antonio, freshman

“I feel like more Black community events need to be had, and anything outside on any of the lawns.”

“Literally anything outside. I would say like a big picnic, even a lawn party, or Ultimate Frisbee.”

“Bingo on the weekends. That is all.”

EARTH DAY - SATURDAY, APRIL 22, 2023

2:00PM – 6:00PM

FRAMINGHAM STATE UNIVERSITY

FREE festival for families and learners of all ages! Explore science, technology, engineering, and math and the ways they support environmental justice and environmental sustainability

Feature performance: ClimateHopeConcert

- Joshua Reis Soares, freshman

-Sam Coombs, senior

-Collins Mungai, junior

-Sofia Wilson, sophomore

SPORTS Baseball takes leap over Lasers

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

By Riley Crowell Staff Writer

The Framingham State Rams took care of business with a 10-5 win in their nonconference matchup against the Lasell University Lasers at Brandeis University April 12.

Framingham entered the matchup with an overall record of 12-9, propelled by their high-caliber offense scoring 44 runs over the past four games.

Head Coach Sean Callahan said his players are “getting a ton of swings in every day”

He said, “They’re staying consistent

in their approach - it’s all them, honestly.”

The action against Lasell began with a lead-off single by the Rams’ center fielder, Shane Costello.

Costello earned both MASCAC Player and Rookie of the Week April 10, and said, “I mean, it’s cool, but it’s nice that we just keep winning.”

The Rams followed Costello’s lead with a trio of RBI-singles by left fielder Ryan Boyle, first baseman Jimmy Gilleran, and right fielder Lucas Basile. Boyle said, “I was just trying to swing at the first pitch - trying to get a job done.”

Lasell scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the first inning, but Framingham held a 3-1 lead to end the inning.

Meet the Coach - Baseball

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

Sean Callahan, 33, is in his fifth season as the Rams’ head baseball coach and is a member of the Framingham State Class of 2011.

Callahan said he first became involved with baseball when he was four or five years old.

He said, “The first memory of it honestly is just my uncle taking me in the backyard - just hitting off the tee and playing catch.”

Callahan said he played from then all through college. He said injuries and surgeries stopped his career after college, which led him to becoming a baseball coach and instructor.

Callahan said he began coaching and instructing baseball during the summers while he studied at FSU. “When you’re not playing, you do a little bit of instruction and you help coach a few local teams and town teams. You start to kind of get into it just as a way to make extra money.

“When you’re 19, 20, and 21 years old, you’re not really thinking about going into coaching as a career,” he added.

Callahan said he began coaching 11

years ago and has coached players of all ages and levels.

He said there is a difference between youth and college coaching. “College is really where you have that change from a lot of self focus to team focus. In college, it’s truly a team game.”

Callahan said his favorite part about coaching is seeing the “progression and growth of the players.

“You build these really great relationships,” he said, adding he’s been invited to players’ weddings years later.

Callahan said, “That’s something that makes it really meaningful and memorable.”

He said he chose to coach at FSU because of “his loyalty to the school.”

Callahan said, “I had a great experience when I was a player here.

“It was coming back [to the] school that I felt love for and I knew I could help build and then add to - try to give the great experiences I had to the next group,” he added.

Callahan said his favorite memories from coaching are from his first season as the Rams’ head coach and the first game back from the COVID-19 pandemic.

During his first season as head

Following a scoreless second inning from both teams, the Rams’ offense once again came alive in the top of the third inning.

Framingham’s Gilleran contributed a two-RBI double, followed by two runs scored due to an error by the Lasell shortstop.

The Rams held a 7-1 lead at the end of the third inning.

Framingham’s starting pitcher, Cameron Prescott, provided three solid innings of work, striking out two Laser batters and only allowing one run.

After a two-RBI single from Framingham’s designated hitter, Robert Johnston, in the top of the fourth inning, the Rams controlled a 9-1 lead over the Lasers.

Lasell rallied over the next three

innings, scoring two runs in both the fourth and sixth innings.

Framingham’s relief pitcher, Jacob Gorman, shut down the Lasers’ comeback when he relieved Teaghin Andre on the mound during the sixth inning.

Gorman pitched three and onethird innings, surrendering zero hits and zero runs, while striking out four Laser hitters.

He said, “I was just trying to throw strikes, not trying to get it by the guy.

“I just threw it to contact,” Gorman added.

He said the rest of the Rams’ season is “looking up.”

Framingham currently holds a record of 13-9 and is tied for first place in the MASCAC.

This year’s baseball team surpassed the 2022 team in wins, with 17 less games played.

Callahan said, “They’ve really adapted the mentality of it being less about individual stats. It’s more just about the team and that’s it.

“We finally got a really good group that’s been super cohesive and they’re all bought in,” Callahan added.

Costello said the FSU community can expect a MASCAC championship.

“We’re the team to beat,” he said.

Framingham travels to MCLA for a MASCAC matchup April 14.

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

coach, the Rams made it to the semi-finals of the MASCAC championships. “That was a really good group.

“They played competitively the whole year,” Callahan added.

He said the first game back from COVID-19 was a “nightmare,” but his players made it a positive memory.

Callahan said, “We won the first game back, which was a huge statement piece.

“It was definitely a difficult situation, but they did a terrific job, which is why it’s one of my favorite memories,” he added.

Callahan said he grew up in Waltham. He said, “Obviously growing up so close to Fenway, you look up to Red Sox guys.”

He said he is a Bruins fan and looked up to now retired professional hockey players Cam Neely and Ray Borque.

Callahan said his coaching staff help him and are “terrific.”

Callahan is supported by assistant coaches Len Ferrari and Nick Morreale and Volunteer Assistant Kevin Higgins.

He said, “You need your players number one and you need coaches number two.”

Callahan said his coaching has become “fluid” and his players joke that,

“I’m more Zen this year than I’ve ever been.

“These guys know what we’re doing. We run really good practices. We have very good skill development - just gotta sit back and trust the players,” Callahan added.

Photo Credit / Frank Poulin Photography

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Shane Costello at bat during game against Lasell April 12.

Sean Callhan

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Jacob Gorman pitching during game against Lasell April 12.

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Steven Burbank base runnin during game against Lasell April 12.

Softball sweeps battle with Beacons

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

By Riley Crowell Staff Writer

The Framingham State Rams swept the UMass-Boston Beacons in their nonconference doubleheader at the Maple Street Field April 13.

The opening inning of the first game was scoreless for both teams, despite the Beacons tallying two hits and the Rams tallying one.

Framingham’s starting pitcher, Olyvia Mendonca, held the Beacons to a three up, three down inning.

The Rams’ offense broke away in the bottom of the second inning with their first two-out rally of the game.

Framingham’s second baseman,

Brooke Grassia, third baseman, Mikayala Rooney, and shortstop, Camille Desrochers, pieced together three RBIs, totalling four runs for the Rams.

Framingham’s Mendonca struckout two UMass batters in the top of the third inning and held the Beacons scoreless once again.

In the bottom of the third inning, Framingham’s bats continued to heat up. Framingham’s right fielder, Keely Scotia, hit an RBI single and increased the Rams’ lead to 5-0.

With two outs in the inning, Framingham launched another two-out rally. Rooney, Desrochers, and left fielder Gwen Carpenter, pieced together three RBIs, totalling another four runs for the Rams.

Head Coach Larry Miller said, “We talked about trusting the process and going up there with a good approach and sticking to that approach.

“They were able to do that, come up clutch, make some things happen, and it was nice to do it with two outs and get some runs for us,” Miller added.

Framingham held a 9-0 lead entering the fifth inning, but the Beacons rallied two runs to prevent a five-inning mercy defeat.

Women’s track and field continue to shine

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

The Framingham State University women’s track and field team placed fifth out of 17 teams at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Invitational April 8.

Framingham’s Casey McAuliffe said the team competed hard after success just two days prior at the Regis Spring Classic April 6.

Framingham’s Emily Newcomb said, “I thought we performed really well this weekend. It felt like all the puzzle pieces were finally falling into place.”

Newcomb and teammate Alyssa Caputo both earned a spot on the MASCAC Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Weekly Honor Roll April 11.

Newcomb placed third in the women’s 800-meter run at the Regis Spring Classic and first in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Invitational.

She said, “I was really proud of my first place finish, as it was my first one of the season. I would like to continue to work on my technique so I can drop some time off before the competitive league meet.”

McAuliffe was among other placewinners for the Rams. She placed first in the women’s 10,000-meter run at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Invitational.

McAuliffe said she felt strong going into the meet. “I came off a good week of training with my other distance girls.”

She led the 10,000-meter run, followed by Framingham’s Camille Car

valho, Liv Poole, and Amanda Bedard, who placed second, third, and fourth respectively.

McAuliffe said, “We show up every week willing to put in the extra miles, lifts, and motivate each other.”

Newcomb said she is proud of teammate Kammarie Pelland’s fourth-place finish in the women’s 3,000-meter steeplechase at the Jim Sheehan Memorial Invitational.

She said, “It was her first time running it. It can be a grueling race, and the fact that she finished in fourth, ahead of veteran steeplechase runners with a MASCAC qualifying time is no small feat.

“Kam is a testament of the hard work and dedication our whole team has been putting in this season,” Newcomb added.

McAuliffe praised her team’s performance. “The FSU community can expect strong performances from distance to throwing.

“Right now everything seems to be falling into place with PRs [personal records] and MASCAC qualifiers.

“I think we will make our mark in the MASCAC Championship,” she added.

The Rams travel to Regis College for the Pre-Conference Meet April 22.

Framingham’s pitcher, Rylynn Witek, relieved Mendonca during the bottom of the fifth inning.

Witek closed out the fifth inning allowing one run from a walk and striking out three batters.

Witek said, “I’m just hitting my spots knowing that my team has my back behind me.

“I trust my team a lot,” she added.

After the Rams’ offense was held stagnant in the fifth inning, Witek struck out three consecutive batters in the top of the sixth inning.

Framingham’s Scotia closed the game with a walk-off RBI to secure Framingham’s 10-2 six-inning mercy victory.

The first inning of the second half of the doubleheader continued to go the way of the Rams.

Framingham’s offense collected two runs in the bottom of the first from an RBI single by Desrochers and Rooney’s base-running on a wild pitch by UMass.

The Rams and Beacons reached a stalemate in the second inning, with neither team being able to score a run and Framingham holding a 2-0 lead.

The next offensive action came in the top of the third inning, where a sacrifice bunt by the Beacons allowed their first run to cross the plate.

UMass capitalized on a Framingham fielding error in the top of the fifth inning, scoring two runs to take a 3-2 lead.

Framingham bounced back in the bottom of the fifth inning. With bases loaded and two outs on the board, Framingham’s first baseman, Kelsey McGuill, drew a walk to tie the game.

The Rams biggest offensive contribution of the game was delivered by Rooney in the bottom of the sixth inning, who hit a two-RBI single to give Framingham a 5-3 lead.

A late Beacon rally in the seventh inning proved unsuccessful and the Rams finished off their sweep with a 5-4 victory.

Framingham is tied with two other teams for first place in the MASCAC.

Miller said, “We don’t want to get ahead of ourselves, but we want to show up, we want to play well, play our game, and keep the wind calm.”

The Rams host MCLA for a MASCAC matchup April 15.

Stats sourced from fsurams.com

2 CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

CONNECT WITH RILEY CROWELL rcrowell@student.framingham.edu

Caputo qualifies for DIII New Englands

By Adam Levine Sports Editor

Alyssa Caputo, a sophomore thrower on the women’s track and field team, threw 36.32 meters in the women’s discus throw at the Regis Spring Classic at Regis College April 6.

She placed first in the event, setting a personal and school record.

Caputo’s throw qualified her for the DIII New England Championships May 6, passing the qualifying distance of 34.4 meters.

She said she is the first athlete from FSU to qualify for the event. “It makes me very proud of myself to be able to represent our team at a competition like this.

“I can’t thank my coaches enough for the support and effort they put into this team and me,” she said.

Framingham’s distance and throws coach, Mark Johnson, said this is “huge on so many levels” for the track and field team.

Caputo said this achievement was a goal of hers when she came to FSU. “This goal felt like such a reach and I never thought it would happen this season.

“I am so excited and proud of myself that I was able to accomplish this this season,” she added.

Caputo said she keeps replaying the moment she qualified in her head. “As soon as I released the disc, I could see it flying way further than I ever have thrown.

Kaylee Beck and jumped in her arms,” Caputo added.

She said, “To prepare for the championship, I am going to continue to work on my technique, speed, and strength over these next few weeks.”

Johnson said the community can “100%” expect more qualifiers in years to come.

He said, “Just keep pushing forward and proving to the state and the region that Framingham State is on the up and up.”

Caputo said this achievement is important to the team and shows “we can compete at a high level.”

She said this demonstrates the “hard work we have been putting in - it shows in the results we are achieving.”

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

“As soon as the official said the measurement, I was so happy and excited that I ran over to my teammate

CONNECT WITH ADAM LEVINE alevine5@student.framingham.edu

Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

Adrien Gobin / THE GATEPOST Olyvia Mendonca pitching during game against UMass-Boston April 13.

Photo Credit / Frank Poulin Photography

Alyssa Caputo Stats sourced from fsurams.com and MASCAC.com

ARTS & FEATURES

Planned Parenthood attorney discusses abortion rights

By Naidelly Coelho Editorial Staff

MaryRose Mazzola, attorney and director of Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts’ ASPIRE Center for Sexual and Reproductive Health, gave a presentation, “Abortion Rights and the Law: What Now?” April 11.

She discussed abortion rights after the overturning of Roe v. Wade and potential restrictions on medicated abortion.

Roe v. Wade was a 1973 Supreme Court ruling that protected women’s freedom to choose to have an abortion, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights’ website.

“In Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the Supreme Court reversed Roe v. Wade, and held that abortion is no longer a fundamental constitutional right under the substantive due process clause to the U.S. Constitution,” according to the Center for Reproductive Rights’ website.

Mazzola said substantive due process clauses provide that the government can’t interfere with a person’s fundamental rights, such as marriage, family relations, custody, contraception, privacy, the right to interstate travel, and the right to vote.

Mazzola said in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court ruled that abortion is protected because of a fundamental right to privacy. In the Dobbs decision, the Supreme Court ruled that “abortion is not a constitutional right. It’s not a fundamental right. That privacy was never meant to cover abortion.”

There are two different types of abortion medication - mifepristone and misoprostol. Mifepristone is preferred among doctors because misoprostol can cause “pain” during the process, she said.

Mazzola said currently, some states are trying to limit access to mifepristone.

Mifepristone is an FDA-approved medication used to terminate pregnancies that are fewer than 10 weeks along, according to the Planned Parenthood website.

After COVID-19, the FDA made the drug more accessible to everyone. People were able to have it mailed to their homes or pick it up at a pharmacy without needing to go to a doctor’s office to take the medication, Mazzola said.

She said Texas U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk ruled that,“If you’re sending it by mail, you don’t know if people are taking it safely.”

In the ruling, the judge found that the FDA’’s approval of mifepristone in 2000 was not valid and suggested it be

pulled from the market, according to The New York Times.

Mazzola said individuals can get abortion pills if they are in the state of Massachusetts, “so you can drive across the border and be in Massachusetts in a parking lot on your phone but you have to be in Massachusetts.

“So I say don’t scare people - abortion medication will always be available in Massachusetts. It’s just getting a lot harder,” Mazzola said.

She said misoprostol is still available to buy and administer.

Mazzola said the Texas Heartbeat Bill (SB8) is a law in Texas forbidding abortion after a heartbeat is found, which is at a six-week mark.

She said Texas also criminalized people who were helping others obtain abortions, such as a person who drove them to their appointment, a doctor who undertook the procedure,

or someone who answered questions about it.

If a third party saw someone helping a person obtaining an abortion, they could be sued for up to $10,000 and this money would come from the person who helped, Mazzola said.

This bill forced medical institutions to stop providing abortions and if a doctor chooses to anyway, even due to a medical emergency, they could face up to 100 years in jail, she said.

“So in Massachusetts, we have a shield law that was signed into law by Governor Baker last year that says basically, in theory, that our doctors are protected from outside suits. However, the way the health care law works is the law that is on the ground in the state you’re in when you receive the health care is the applicable law,” she said.

Referring to her position at Planned

Parenthood, Mazzola said, “Obviously it’s my work. I’m pro-choice. I’m pro-abortion. I think it’s healthcare - whatever you want. Not everyone feels that way, especially in Texas,” she said.

Mazzola said the loss of access to abortion means some other very important rights may be taken away, such as the right to same-sex marriage and interracial marriage.

She said those rights may be at risk as they derive from substantive due process clauses.

Mazzola said she encourages people to donate to pro-choice organizations in Texas through Abortionfunds.org.

Raena Doty / THE GATEPOST

MaryRose Mazzola giving her talk, “Abortion Rights and the Law: What Now?” April 11.

Mazmanian Gallery begins annual senior capstone showings

By Ryan O’Connell Arts & Features Editor

The Mazmanian Gallery held the first of three senior capstone receptions April 11, showcasing the semester-long collections of four art majors under the title “Immersive (Im)maturity.”

Alphonse Smith, a studio art major with a concentration in illustration, contributed character reference sheets, digital illustration, a painting, and even a voiced animatic to the show - some of it part of a collaboration with another artist in exhibit.

Smith said “Pangolin Punch” was a joint project with Lee Seaman, a friend and fellow artist, and an opportunity for the two to finally work together on a project.

He said they both quickly decided on designing a cereal brand since it would play into both their strengths, with Smith focusing on illustration and character design while Seaman handled the graphic design aspects of the box and brand.

Smith said his inspiration for the pangolin’s - a scaled mammal, similar in appearance to an armadillo - design came from other cereals and mascots like Lucky Charms and the Trix rabbit. He added he also drew inspiration from comics due to the martial arts focus of the brand.

“I know I wanted to start with the idea of fruit punch. … I wanted maybe to just have like the first letters of the name of the cereal match,” he said. Smith added he avoided obvious choices, like penguin, in order to give the project its own unique quality.

Smith said working on a project with another person was a new experience, but not an uncomfortable one.

“It also felt familiar, because I worked with someone who I kind of just bounce my ideas off of all the time - because we’re roommates,” he said. “So essentially we just sort of collaborate our ideas all the time, but this is our first time making it into physical form.”

Smith said the most difficult part of creating an animatic was relying on voice actors - some being children, and one being his 5-year-old sisterwhich led to scheduling difficulties.

He added while the animation itself isn’t usually difficult, this time he tried to match the frames to an audio recording, the inverse of his normal method.

Smith said he likes to create because he gets to see his visions come to life.

“I have hyperphantasia, which is essentially - some people imagine things and they barely see anything. I imagine things and I see more than is actually there,” he said.

Smith said he’s never been in an art showcase before, and the feeling is exhilarating. He added he feels a little bit of imposter syndrome seeing other artists, but that he is a senior and should feel accomplished with what

he and Seaman made.

Smith said his favorite part of the project is the ending of the animation.

“The part where he’s running into the woods and he’s just sort of trying to run away. And I tried different things that maybe I could do, like a sort of cartwheel roll thing, but I was like, ‘Mm, it looks a little off,’” he said.

Smith added, “So I was like, ‘What if he’s just Sonic the Hedgehog?’ That was just so fun to draw.”

Cheyenne Morgan, a studio art major with a concentration in painting, had six paintings in the showing, most related to physical and emotional trauma she suffered.

Morgan said her project “Dakota,” which includes all six of her submissions in the exhibit, explores the subconscious mind through expressive and figurative paintings.

She said the project started with “What’s the point? Is there a point? Where’s the point?” which was an ex-

a concentration in graphic design, had a range of work in the gallery including their portion of the collaboration with Smith and two graphic design commissions done for Framingham State University and Communication Arts Professor Audrey Kali.

Seaman said the project with Smith was fun for them since they weren’t working off of existing designs, which is typical for graphic design projects.

They added working with Smith was easy, and their smooth communication made refining ideas simple. They added they both pulled and pushed ideas.

They said their goal with the project was to get experience working as a team and specifically with someone they knew well. “Sometimes it can be hard to work on a project with friends, but I say I achieved that goal. It came out nice and we had a good experience.”

Seaman said they most enjoyed

tion.

Hakim Carnes, a studio art major with a concentration in graphic design, had an interactive exhibit involving a coloring book with several pages enlarged on the gallery walls for attendees to scribble on.

Carnes said he began only with the coloring book, but eventually knew he wanted people to be able to engage with his submission. He said he didn’t know he wanted it to be interactive when he began, but discovered it could help convey his message.

“When I was creating the coloring book, it was something I wanted to do when I was - I believe in eighth grade,” he said. “And when I was presented with doing anything basically I would like to do as my project, I thought, ‘I can finally use the time in class to do something I always wanted to do.’”

Carnes said his coloring book is called “Color Me Wild,” and includes illustrations of 10 critically endangered animals. However, Carnes said he isn’t exactly passionate about them.

“I think I’m passionate about people being aware of things,” he said. “The main reason for the animals is because I don’t think a lot of the times people in many parts of the world … know that there’s a certain amount of ‘this cheetah’ left.”

ploration of her style and a comparison and contrast of good and bad perspectives. She added she “just wanted to make something creepy and pretty.”

Morgan said the project was inspired by emotions, trauma, and one of her favorite artists, Alana Lindsay.

“There is one piece called ‘Burning Flesh.’ It’s at the top right, and that one was like a physical trauma that I had to go through,” she said.

“Somebody threw gasoline on a fire and my foot caught on fire for a good 10 seconds. I got a couple third-degree burns, so it was a lot to go through,” she added.

Morgan said painting helps her calm down, but it isn’t necessarily relaxing. She said when she paints feeling overly emotional, those are sometimes “really ugly paintings,” but even those she likes to paint over again and improve on.

She said she didn’t have a goal with “Dakota,” and she likes to paint because there’s a sense of intimacy and therapy that comes with it - but also a struggle. She added since she has ADHD, sometimes it’s difficult to maintain interest in a project and other times it’s done quickly.

Morgan said she’s been in shows before in elementary and high school, and still likes to see her work displayed. She added after graduating she wants to focus on her business making and selling art, as well as branching into other mediums like photography.

Lee Seaman, a studio art major with

coming up with the branding’s logo and putting the physical mock cereal box together.

Seaman said the poster and pamphlet design they did as a commission for Audrey Kali’s “Farm and Red Moon” event was “a very cool” experience, since it was the first freelancing work they’d done outside of school.

They added it was a good learning experience of how to work with someone who isn’t as involved with graphic design and its process, and of a client-artist dialogue.

Seaman said they plan to work alongside Kali again over the summer, redesigning her photography portfolio website, just one of many concentrations Seaman has experience in.

They said alongside the “Farm and Red Moon” posters and pamphlets and “Pangola Punch,” they also had two small booklets in the show - one for a typography class consisting of 100 S’s and another, a twist on a children’s tale for their illustration class.

Seaman said they have experience in graphic design, illustration, user experience design, web design, photography, and painting, but their favorite is illustration, since it’s most in line with how they express themselves on their own time.

They said they’ve been in two of the Mazmanian Gallery’s juried shows in the past, and thinks it’s cool to see their work displayed.

Seaman said after graduating, they expect to take a break from art and then head into freelancing shortly after until they find a permanent posi-

Carnes said the elephant in his coloring book has numbers of 100,000 today, but had a population of 2.3 million in 1919, explaining why he’s using his art to raise awareness about endangered species.

He said he’s done awareness art before, and painted a mural on a building in Boston at his last job, representing the community between Dominican and Haitian populations in the area.

“‘Two mountains can’t come together, but two people can.’ And that was the main banner,” he said.

Carnes said viewer involvement is an important tool in raising awareness, since without it, people might approach information and simply walk away if it doesn’t engage them.

Carnes said his favorite part was designing the patterns for each animal, which attendees colored in on the wall.

He said this is his third art showcase, with his first two being in elementary and high school, which he admitted he didn’t appreciate at the time. He added he sees it differently now as an opportunity to do more of what he loves.

“I think that over that period of time, it’s more like it’s changed for me. Because now that I’m older, it’s not something that I had to take a class for, or I was just interested in for an afterschool pastime,” he said.

Carnes added, “It’s something that I’m paying money to learn more about, to be able to monetize in a way that I would like to do.”

CONNECT WITH RYAN O’CONNELL roconnell1@student.framingham.edu

“‘Two mountains can’t come together, but two people can.’ And that was the main banner.”

- Hakim Carnes, Senior Studio Art Major

Capstone Creations

STATE UNIVERSITY'S

The Mazmanian Gallery held a reception to display the works of Hakim Carnes, Cheyenne Morgan, Lee Seaman, and Alphonse Smith for their senior capstones on April 11, 2023.

Photos By Maddison Behringer

Spread By Adrien Gobin

Malia’s Crystals

Continued from page 1

stones are the main focus, she said. She said her jewelry “stands out against competitors,” which is important because the industry is vast.

She added she has always been creative. Whether it was drawing or painting as a child, she has always had a desire for creating and design-

ly’s support, she was motivated to expand her business to a broader consumer base.

One of the stronger aspects of her business is her social media presence, she said.

“A strong aspect is just knowing how to market through social media because that has helped boost my

these fairs.

She said, “Even though, like mine, others may be unique compared to what is already there. They won’t accept you just because you are a jewelry [business] regardless of whether it’s different from what they have.”

She has participated in craft fairs in Massachusetts and Rhode Island since starting her business, she said. And she plans to expand to selling at gem shows.

An aspect that has helped Shields grow her business is taking Entrepreneurship 101 taught by Professor Todd Smith at Framingham State.

She said this class has also helped her determine and set goals and implement business plans.

Her advice for students who want to open their own small business is not only to take Entrepreneurship 101 but “make sure you actually think about it long and hard and just real-

and questions.”

Guppy said Shields’ products have a “very beautiful aesthetic.

“That’s the reason I was intrigued in the first place. I saw her wearing her nose ring and I wanted to know where it was from. She showed me her website, and I was so excited to see her jewelry,” she said.

Guppy said the first thing she noticed was Shields’ jewelry came in a variety of colors, shapes, and designs.

“Each piece was crafted by the spark of her imagination and that’s what makes me love them even more,” she said.

She added people are “amazed” when she says the jewelry is handmade because the pieces are of such high quality.

Guppy added she is “so excited to see how far she makes it with this business in life. I’m proud to respond to people and say that I got my jew-

ing, she added.

Shields said she found inspiration from other creators on social media like Instagram and Pinterest.

Her entrepreneurial awareness was inspired by these creators, she said.

page a lot and helped me grow over the last two years - quicker than I expected,” Shields said.

While Shields said the stronger aspects of her business are her social media presence and the uniqueness of her jewelry, she has a lot of com-

When she first got the idea to start her own jewelry-making business, she told her friends and family, who said they would purchase her products.

Shields said because of her fami-

petition.

She added when she is applying for space at craft fairs, where she can advertise and sell her jewelry, it is difficult because there are so many applications for jewelry businesses at

ize that it’s going to be a lot of work. “And it’s not just necessarily for fun,” she said.

Shields added she does make a profit, but, “You might still have to work another job, which I do - but in the long run, it is really fun.”

She said, “It’s a lot of work, but I think you’d be a lot happier if that’s something that you like and aspire to do. I just think that people should really just go for it and follow their dreams.”

Shannon Guppy, an FSU junior, said she bought a nose ring and the “Forever Love” set for her sister, which is a pair of earrings and a bracelet.

Guppy said she “loved the items” she purchased.

She added, “They were beautiful and well crafted. I feel so beautiful and confident wearing any of her jewelry, and I get a lot of compliments

elry from Malia’s Crystals because I know they won’t be disappointed when they go to her website.”

Leila Hamidi-Imani, an FSU sophomore, said she purchased a bracelet, necklace, and rings and added she “loves” what she purchased.

She said, “The quality hasn’t let me down,” even while wearing the items in the shower or while washing her hands.

Hamidi-Imani said what makes Malia’s Crystals unique is her products are handmade which “creates a special experience as a customer.”

She said, “The pieces are really beautiful and unique down to each detail, so it makes me feel so beautiful.”

CONNECT WITH SOPHIA HARRIS sharris9@student.framingham.edu

Courtesy of Malia Shields Shields’ at her table during a craft fair.

Courtesy of Malia Shields Shields’ promotional media for her handmade jewelry.

Courtesy of Malia Shields

Motherscholar Collective paves way for diverse scholarship

By Raena Doty Asst. Arts & Features Editor

As part of a Scholarly and Creative Showcase hosted by the Center for Excellence in Learning, Teaching, Scholarship and Service, FSU hosted a panel of scholars from a group called the Motherscholar Collective April 12.

The panel discussed how and why the collective was formed and what they do as a group.

Maggie Obaid, a psychology professor and a member of the Motherscholar Collective, said the group formed after COVID-19 caused lockdowns and the struggle of motherscholars became very apparent in their own lives.

She said when calls started coming in for scholars to write about their experiences through the pandemic, and a group of motherscholars who had already been in contact before the pandemic began to discuss them.

“We had some frustration as a group with seeing these calls. Not because they shouldn’t exist - like, these were important things to discuss - but because we felt like voices like ours would really be left out of this conversation,” Obaid said.

They formed the Motherscholar Collective in order to make sure their voices would not be left out of the conversation just because they had particular challenges to face as mothers - particularly lack of time and emotional energy to invest in scholarship.

Katharina Azim, a professor at California Institute of Integral Studies, said the Motherscholar Collective is “interdisciplinary and nonhierarchical.”

She said the mothers in the Motherscholar Collective are incredibly diverse - they come from a wide array of academic disciplines. Members from within the same discipline often have different areas of expertise, and their personal backgrounds are also incredibly diverse.

Azim said they are “thinking intersectionally about our identities and our experiences, because our lived experiences do inform how we understand our research and how we shape our research.”

Explaining what it means when she says the collective is “nonhierarchical,” Azim asked attendees to consider what traditional group publishings look like in academia.

She said traditional publications often consider a lot of factors based on seniority in a project when deciding what the authorship of a paper will look like - what order the names will go in and whose names will be included on the final publication. But the Motherscholar Collective does not give authorship in that way.

“In our scholarly community, ‘not hierarchical’ really means that when you are bringing yourself into the re-

search project, you are bringing your whole self - you are valued, you are valuable,” Azim said.

She said the collective will list someone as an author no matter how small their contribution to the finished product was - if they could only copy edit the text at the end, their contribution is still considered valuable enough for authorship.

Ivanna Richardson, a professor at the University of Ottawa, said the

the project,” she said, and gave the example of saying it needs to be a space where mothers can leave at any moment because their child is sick.

Katie Frazier, a professor at Worcester State University, said radical feminist flexibility is mostly about accommodating the “mundane.”

Obaid said she described the principles of radical feminist flexibility to her research methods class.

“I was saying that some of these

Obaid said different members of the collective bring different experiences, and this makes the scholarly work they produce more effective.

“Members of the collective have a couple papers that explicitly address the intersection of the academic with motherhood and with other parts of our identities,” she said.

She added they have papers by motherscholars of color, disabled motherscholars, LGBT+ motherscholars, and these all contribute different perspectives and enrich the conversations they’re having.

Helen Ho, an independent researcher with a background in communication studies, said joining the Motherscholar Collective made her feel less lonely.

She said, at her former academic institution, she was the youngest person and the only person of color in the department, and when the Motherscholar Collective formed, it “felt like a home.

“It helped me to expand my boundaries in so many ways - in terms of scholarship, but also identity. And I realized that it was a space where I could feel fulfilled,” she said.

collective will add “The Motherscholar Collective” as the first author if the publisher will allow it, but otherwise, they choose based on who needs authorship.

things that I am bringing up to you about the group probably sound obvious or, like, ‘duh’ to you because it just is the way we should relate to

“We value you. We want you there in the room. We want to hear your ideas. But it’s OK, also, if you can’t. And that second portion is almost more important than the first portion - to tell people that it’s OK.”

Ho added many of the members of the Motherscholar Collective are people who have doctorates or jobs in academic fields, and this gives them a position of privilege, and “for me, the Motherscholar Collective was a way to use that privilege to lift up other voices.”

When asked how to implement the ideology of the Motherscholar Collective into undergraduate classrooms, Obaid had two main recommendations.

First, she said people should teach students to value all voices, “especially those who don’t get heard very often.”

Second, she said teachers should change how they “value input.” She added many students dislike group projects because they worry about their grades more than they worry about the people in their groups, and group work should act to teach people how to work together.

“We, as the group of authors of the piece, ask who needs which position to help support their specific career state,” she said, and added when no one needs it, they’ll choose the order of authorship randomly.

The panel then began to discuss another tenant of the group - “radical feminist flexibility.” Azim clarified this isn’t associated with radical feminist movements, but rather an ideology around how they treat each other and work together.

“We were radically mindful, for example, of the ways that time, space, and our actions uniquely affect motherscholars,” she said.

“We’re trying to facilitate a space that feels comfortable and safe for folks to bring their whole selves to

each other as humans, but it’s because you haven’t been corrupted by academia and academic research and some of the power structures in academia yet,” she said.

Richardson said a big part of the radical flexibility is that members of the collective are able to join or drop off of projects as necessary, and members only have to contribute what they’re able.

“We value you. We want you there in the room. We want to hear your ideas. But it’s OK, also, if you can’t. And that second portion is almost more important than the first portion - to tell people that it’s OK,” she said.

Another value the panel stressed was the importance of intersectionality within the Motherscholar Collective.

The members of the panel all spoke on the ways the Motherscholar Collective made their lives better and made them see the world in a new and different way.

Frazier said the Motherscholar Collective helped to make her feel more productive and happy in her life.

“There’s a difference between having it all and being whole - and I think, for me, the collective has really opened this space - this reality - where I can be my whole self in a way that doesn’t require me to simultaneously eat away or cut away parts of myself,” she said.

CONNECT WITH RAENA DOTY rdoty@student.framingham.edu

“In our scholarly community, ‘not hierarchical’ really means that when you are bringing yourself into the research project, you are bringing your whole selfyou are valued, you are valuable.”

- Katharina Azim, Professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies

- Ivanna Richardson, Professor at the University of Ottowa

‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’ - a massive level-up in quality

By Owen Glancy Staff Writer

By Jack McLaughlin Staff Writer

Super Mario Bros. is perhaps the most recognizable video game franchise on the planet, so of course a film adaptation would be one of the most highly anticipated films of 2023.

It also had quite a bit of contention from Mario fans before its release, with the sour taste of the ’90s adaptation still in the mouths of the fans. The film’s animation studio, Illumination, is also infamous for the dubious quality of its films, causing fans to become wary.

Then the voice cast was announced and many people became even more skeptical, with choices like Chris Pratt and Seth Rogen being odd to say the least.

After all the hype and controversy, the film finally released on April 5, to huge box office success.

The first major plus of the film is the visual style. Illumination is notorious for bland looking animated films that don’t flow well, but here they’ve managed to make a genuinely pretty movie with great action sequences.

Chris Pratt, the voice of Mario, was the biggest talking point around this movie since the announcement of his role in 2021. The announcement and the trailers that followed it made viewers critical as to whether he was the right choice.

His first scene is jarring for sure, but as the film progresses he adapts to the role much better and by the end of it you almost forget it’s Chris Pratt doing the voice. Was he anyone’s first choice to play this character? Absolutely not. But he manages to make it work with this iteration of Mario.

The absolute best vocal performance of the film was, perhaps unsurprisingly, Jack Black as Bowser. He sounds appropriately menacing and funny when necessary, and even sang an original song for the film. The only thing wrong with his performance is that we don’t get nearly enough of it!

On the other hand, Fred Armisen’s performance as Cranky Kong is downright terrible. He sounds nothing like what is expected of his character and brings little emotion to his role.

Charlie Day, most famous for his role in “It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia,” has an excellent portrayal of Mario’s younger brother Luigi. While his screen time is limited, Day captures the skittish nature of the character. His solo scenes of wandering around the dark lands early on have an eerie spooky vibe, something

that is reminiscent of the “Luigi’s Mansion” game series.

Luigi had a great vocal talent be hind him, but sadly we don’t get to hear much of Day’s work. Luigi is surprisingly shunned in this film, eventually be coming a plot device rather than an actual character. His limited number of scenes are mostly spent being held captive, which doesn’t really give his character much to do.

A major part of this film is the multitude of references to the Mario video games. These can range from a small vi sual in the background, to a major character or plot point. While not every reference is a winner, most of them are either harmless or actually pretty fun, serving as inside jokes for the hardcore Mario fans.

These references and inside jokes do hinder the plot. Any explanation over the logistics of this world are completely left out, and character motivations aside from Bowser and Mario are largely unex plained or generic.

Some references go even further than Mario, and include homages to classic Nintendo series and game systems. These moments are terrific ex amples of fan service, sub tly weaving in fun details that don’t directly affect the story.

The plot is easily the worst part of the film. There is very little tension as Bows er himself is not as much of an active threat for most of the movie. He and Mario only interact in the final act, and his menace is diminished by his co medic nature. While the lack of any real complex plot is fine in a video game like Super Mario, it becomes a massive negative when adapted to film.

Brian Tyler’s score incorporates musical cues from the game’s long time composer Koji Kondo. Many of the tracks update the original game’s music and give it a beautiful orches tral rendition. The scene of Mario and Toad traversing the Mushroom King dom for the first time has an amazing track with many of the game series’ main themes on full display. brief moments, and it feels like these scenes could have been more impact-

CONNECT WITH OWEN GLANCY oglancy@student.framingham.edu

Ben Hurney / THE GATEPOST

Puzzles

A court yard outside of Hemenway Hall.

Amphitheater in between Dwight Hall and Henry Whittemore Library.

A patio behind May Hall.

A basketball court in between Miles Bibb Hall and the Honors House.

The Sun Room in the Alumni House.

The Framingham State University’s Community Garden beside of McCarthy Center.