Nov. 5, 2021

Volume 90 • Issue 8

FSUgatepost.com

November 5, 2021

Two white supremacist-related decals found on campus

By Leighah Beausoleil Associate Editor Two decals promoting a national hate group were found by students on lamp posts outside the McCarthy Center Nov. 3.

The decals are propaganda from “Patriot Front,” an organization recognized by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) as a white supremacy group.

Peggy Shukur, deputy director of ADL New England, said the Patriot Front is prominent in the New England region, adding it spreads “racism, anti-Semitism, and intolerance under the guise of preserving the ethnic and cultural origins of their European ancestors.”

She said the group’s philosophy is that “their ancestors conquered America and bequeathed it solely to them.”

Shukur added the propaganda used by the group, including decals,

See DECALS page 5

Leighah Beausoleil / THE GATEPOST

McKenzie Ward / THE GATEPOST

Two Patriot Front decals were found on lamp posts near the McCarthy Center Nov. 3. University Police removed the decals shortly after they were found.

OER Pilot Program Grant estimated to save students more than $1.6 million per year

By Haley Hadge News Editor FSU received a grant of $441,367 from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to develop and use free Open Educational Resources (OERs) and lower the need for expensive textbooks.

According to Millie González, interim library dean and lead on the project, OERs are “teaching, learning or research materials that are in the public domain or released with

an intellectual property license that allows for free use, adaptation, and distribution.”

The University is the fiscal lead of the project and is collaborating with the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, Fitchburg State University, Holyoke Community College, Northern Essex Community College, Salem State University, and Springfield Technical Community College.

According to González, this consortium consists of “more than 29,000 diverse undergraduate students.”

News BUDGET pg. 4

González said, “We believe open COVID-19 BY THE NUMBERS pg. 6 textbooks are as good, if not better, for student success.”

OERs contain a “variety of components” that may range from textbooks to supplements for a textbook, González added.

However, all OERs must be reusable, free of cost, and openly licensed so that one could use and “remix” someone else’s work, she said.

For example, a faculty member could adapt and build off a GLENN YOUNGKIN pg. 7

Opinions

See OER PILOT PROGRAM page 3

COMIC pg. 8

The Swiacki Children’s Literature Festival returns in

Sports

person with lectures from Mercier, Steptoe, and Blackall

By Emily Rosenberg Arts & Features Editor

By Ryan O’Connell Asst. Arts & Features Editor

By Emma Lyons Asst. Design Editor Simmons University professor Cathryn Mercier said the return to in-person teaching has been surprisingly hard for her. She’s had to fight the impulse to withdraw into the imaginary literary worlds where there is closure.

“I can withdraw into the fictional arenas where I can vicariously fight the battles of good and evil, and always win.” she said.

On Nov. 3, Mercier gave a lecture on what’s new in children’s literature in the McCarthy Center Alumni Room.

Mercier’s presentation was part of the annual Swiacki Children’s Literature Festival, which spanned the day and included book signings and lectures with Sarah Blackall and Javaka Steptoe.

Mercier currently serves as the director of the Center for the Study of Children’s Literature at Simmons Uni-

versity. She has contributed to a variety of publications and has advised the MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant.

She also chairs the National Book Award panel for Young People’s Literature.

Mercier said since 1950, the National VOLLEYBALL pg. 10 Book Awards have aimed to honor writers who have shaped the foundation of literature. She said the committee consists of a diverse group of people who all have different literary preferences, critical training, and lives. Their goal is MANCUSO ART pg. 11 to distribute hundreds of thousands

Gatepost Archives

Arts & Features

See CHILDREN’S LITERATURE page 13 THE MANY SAINTS OF NEWARK pg. 15

INSIDE: OP/ED 7 • SPORTS 9 • ARTS & FEATURES 11

NEWS

2 | NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Gatepost Interview

Editorial Board Editor-in-Chief Donald Halsing

Joseph D’Andrea

Associate Editors Leighah Beausoleil Kathleen Moore News Editors Steven Bonini Haley Hadge Ashlyn Kelly

By Steven Bonini News Editor

Opinions Editor McKenzie Ward Sports Editor Danielle Achin Asst. Sports Editor Mikey Alves Arts & Features Editors Caroline Gordon Emily Rosenberg Asst. Arts & Features Editor Ryan O’Connell Asst. Design Editors Maddison Behringer Emma Lyons Copy Editor Patrick Brady Staff Writers James Barraford Sean Cabot Jasmine Castillo Jackson Clyde Olivia Copeland Dan Fuentes Dallas Gagnon Sophia Harris Mark Haskell Stefano Hernandez Branden LaCroix Sage Lorenzo Jack McLaughlin Johan Perez Austin Riffelmacher Nathan Rogers Ryan Schreiber Tyler Wahl Advisor Desmond McCarthy

TH E G A N T PE

E

O

Asst. Advisor Elizabeth Banks

Professor of Philosophy

What is your role here at FSU and what does your job entail?

Well, I’m here to keep an eye on Paul Bruno, the other philosopher. So, I’m just here to keep his misbehavior under control. And I’m not doing a very good job. I teach philosophy in my spare time.

My courses are - this semester - are Environmental Ethics, and Philosophy 101. I will be teaching Bioethics next semester. I have in the past taught Ethics, and Social Political Philosophy. I really like teaching the Philosophy of the 19th Century, and Contemporary Philosophy.

And I’ve enjoyed Philosophy of Science - teaching that in the past as well. So, that’s what I do here now, and I love it.

What is your professional and educational background?

I have a Ph.D. in philosophy from Boston University. I started teaching here in 1996, as an English as a Second Language teacher, in what was called the Intensive English Program back then, and now is called ELP: English Language Programs. And it’s still here - very vibrant. So, I was teaching English as a second language when I started here. And before I got here, I was teaching English as a second language for the town of Framingham, which has a very large, vibrant ESL program. And what happened was, the administrator for that program was hired by Framingham State, and she took me with her to come here. And then when I was here, I eventually started to teach philosophy as a visiting lecturer, and then I became full time. I graduated from Holy Cross in 198 . hen I finished Holy Cross in 1982, I taught for a little over two years in a country called Lesotho in Africa, and I was in a village called Marakabei. … It sits right in the middle of the country of Lesotho. And Lesotho is surrounded by the country of South Africa.

Because of a complicated history, it is an independent nation. But it’s completely surrounded by another nation. And it is a developing nation. … I was a teacher there. I went there as an English teacher, but when I got there, they were happy that I had a bachelor’s degree. And with a bachelor’s felt very @T degree, they T S HEGATEme comfortable assigning courses in O P biology, geography, and math. This was a high school. So, those are the courses - those are the courses that I taught.

Teaching biology was a challenge.

What would you say your goals are as a professor in the Psychology and

@

T TH EGATEPOS

100 State Street McCarthy Center Room 410 Framingham, MA 01701-9101 Phone: (508) 626-4605 Fax: (508) 626-4097 gatepost@framingham.edu @TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

Courtesy of Joseph D’Andrea Philosophy Department?

I really want my students to engage in critical thinking and to understand the power of critical thinking, and the limits of critical thinking. And in this way, be skeptical of their own truth claims, but to be very rigorous in trying to attain and commit themselves to their own truth claims. And I would say that these are the principles that undergird all of my courses, whether it be Bioethics or Environmental Ethics or Philosophy 101 - for any of them.

What would you say is the best part of your job?

Honestly, it is being with students who are excited about the subject matter. Excited about learning. Willing to take risks in defending truth claims. I just really am encouraged - and it happens every semester - by the people that I meet in my classes. And this really fills the gas tank every year, and really makes me love this job. It’s just being with the people. Being with the students.

What are some personal hobbies of yours?

I like to read. I love crazy movies, like horror movies from the ’50s. … I like to travel anywhere that will have me. So, a couple years ago, I had the opportunity to go to Beijing and teach there

for a summer as part of the opportunity here that was afforded me by Framingham State. Framingham State has a program that teaches in China every year. It was put on hold because of the pandemic. And so the year I went was 2019, and they have not had the opportunity to go back. I traveled around this country. This summer, I traveled around this country in my car. I called people, and people that were old friends that I had known in Africa, and people that I had known when I worked at Perkins School for the Blind, which was in the 1980s - these people, my sister-in-law, my brother-in-law, friends from college - and I visited them [in] Madison, Wisconsin, Denver, Corpus Christi, Cocoa Beach, Florida. So, I have moved around.

I like doing things like that.

Do you have any advice for campus students?

Take 32 courses here, and that’s 32 opportunities to explore the world in a different way. Just look at these as opportunities - these 32 courses - and really enjoy them and see what they have to offer you. They really can open things up in a beautiful way.

CONNECT WITH STEVEN BONINI sbonini@student.framingham.edu

Police Logs Sunday, Oct. 31 12:16 Vandalism Miles Bibb Hall Report Taken

Monday, Nov. 01 08:19 Medical McCarthy Center Transport to Hospital

Tuesday, Nov. 02 20:45 Trespass Tow O’Connor Hall Assignment Complete

Wednesday, Nov. 03 16:35 Suspicious Activity Campus Wide Report Taken

NEWS

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 | 3

OER pilot program Continued from page 1 colleagues’ OERs to better suit the specifics of their course.

She added the hypothesis the grant will test is whether the academic success of underrepresented students will increase with the implementation of free and “culturally relevant” course materials.

According to González, this has not been studied before.

Through “technology-based strategies” learning collaboration and dissemination of information will be improved, gaps in the marketplace will be addressed, and student success will be promoted, according to González.

González said this will be monitored through a number of different metrics.

She added the grant will seek to revisit two qualifying questions throughout the testing phases: “Have students’ grades improved?” and “Are students dropping out less?”

Additionally, there will be monthly staff expert meetings to supply professional development and guidance.

An industry advisory council will meet regularly to review the content created based on its effectiveness.

The Open Textbook Coordinating Council (OTCC) will spread knowledge and awareness of the project by writing a journal article.

Part of this initiative involves finding out how many faculty are using OERs, and what their respective fields of study are.

González said this information will shed light on how each discipline uses OERs, so the program can “build a structure to support” individual initiatives.

She said the purpose of the grant is to test and assess this hypothesis over the course of three years. Her team approximates that through the combined efforts of the six institutions, they will produce “at the most” 78 textbooks.

She added any institution on the state or national level will be able to use these texts and part of the grant includes allocating time and resources toward promoting these texts once produced.

This program has been in the works for “a number of years.” However, she said this specific grant opportunity arose last year.

Patricia Bossagne, director of the Office of Grants and Sponsored Programs, said, “You have to work on it and apply a couple of times before

you get their [funders] attention.”

González said, “What I wanted to do is marry my interest in supporting faculty development, but also provide them the tools necessary and funding necessary for them to finish this project.”

She said the grant is threepart. It will provide stipends, training, and support to faculty.

jority” of her classes do not use the textbook required.

Ellie Lynch, a sophomore psychology major, said often in her classes “it’s a matter of ‘Will we use the book?’”

Leticia Santos, a freshman ASL major, said, “In a lot of ways students are spending hundreds of dollars on books that they’ll use once or twice.”

science courses, where … the teacher will just flat out say, ‘The formula in the textbook does not apply to what we’re doing right now. So here’s a special formula that I made that applies to how we’re using it,’” he said, “which just makes you wonder why use a textbook if the formulas aren’t going to be the ones you use?”

Cevallos said, “Barriers such as the

“We believe open textbooks are as good, if not better, for student success.”

-Millie González, Interim Library Dean She added faculty will receive training in the meantime and have the opportunity to be part of a mentoring cohort and view a number of webinars.

Following this preparation, each faculty member will commit to two semesters of using and implementing OERs, in the classroom, she said.

Throughout this timeframe, the consortium will assess whether the program was “impactful” for students as well as gather faculty perception on its success, according to González. Cost savings will also be calculated.

González added, “All throughout that project timeline, we’re there to help.”

Carla Cataldo, corporate and foundation relations specialist, said the grant “is not just creating new content, it’s using an equity lens.”

President F. Javier Cevallos said, “The price of textbooks has been going up through the roof, and some of the books are just ridiculously expensive.

“If we can find a way to lower the cost of textbooks, it will make education more accessible to all,” he said.

He added education is meant to “open the door to a better life, to a better job, to a better everything in the future.”

Mackenzie Wahl, a sophomore elementary education major, said a “ma-

Weather

Santos added, “Sometimes, teachers will tell them that they won’t even need it, but they’ll only say that after the fact.”

She said she has purchased five textbooks this semester and spent approximately $200.

“I have used one of those books, maybe two,” she said.

Sabrina Grammatic, a senior English major, said, “It can be quite difficult to work around” the high costs of textbooks.

“My grandpa sometimes buys the textbooks for me,” Grammatic said.

She added some of her strategies to find lower costs include searching different websites such as Amazon, and using book vouchers through the campus bookstore.

She said it would be “really helpful” to have access to free learning resources.

Tadiwa Chitongo, a junior biochemistry major, said during a summer course he enrolled in, “The price of textbooks ran up around $300, but then the actual material used in the textbook was maybe five pages or so.

It felt like a waste of time.”

Chitongo added there have been “multiple times” when he could not afford a textbook and had to find other ways to access the textbook such as borrowing a friend’s or finding an online PDF. “I’ve been in classes, specifically

cost of textbooks are just things that shouldn’t happen.

“The fact that we have the opportunity to lower some of those costs by open educational resources is absolutely a great idea,” he said.

He added González “truly is a leader in the Open Educational Resources movement.”

This will be a change agent for “students who come from economically disadvantaged backgrounds,” he said.

He added he acknowledges the importance of textbook authors’ work and the credit they deserve for that work. However, he said that should not come before the educational needs of students.

“Students should not be having to pay three or four hundred dollars for a textbook. That’s just not a reasonable price,” said Cevallos.

He said this is especially true when it has been proven faculty can produce “wonderful,” same-quality work with OERs. Cevallos added, “Why not be able to share the knowledge with students? … It’s a win-win.”

CONNECT WITH HALEY HADGE hhadge@student.framingham.edu

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

Sunday night Nov. 7 Partly cloudy, with a low around 35.

Monday night Nov. 8 Partly cloudy, with a low around 40. Wind around 5 mph.

Tuesday night Nov. 9 Partly cloudy, with a low around 40. Wind around 5 mph.

Wednesday night Nov. 10 Mostly cloudy, with a low around 40. Wind around 5 mph.

Monday Nov. 8 Sunny, with a high near 60. Wind around 5 mph.

Tuesday Nov. 9 Mostly sunny, with a high near 60. Wind around 10 mph.

Wednesday Nov. 10 Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Wind around 5 mph.

Thursday Nov. 11 Mostly sunny, with a high near 55. Wind around 10 mph.

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

4 | NOVEMBER 5, 2021

NEWS

Student charges not expected to rise next year

FY21 balance sheet “level-funded” despite pandemic and enrollment decline

By Donald Halsing Editor-in-Chief Executive Vice President Dale Hamel said student charges did not increase for this academic year. He anticipates student charges will not increase for AY23, either.

He also estimates the University received at least $30 million for COVID-19-related aid since the pandemic began, which resulted in the budget for Fiscal Year 2020-21 being “level funded” despite unexpected expenses caused by the pandemic.

Additionally, Hamel said the University’s operations budget will be scaled down over the next several years to reflect projected decreases in enrollment and to avoid raising student charges.

Hamel said the University did not raise any student charges - tuition, mandatory fees, or room costs - for AY22.

Tuition has remained at $970 per year since 2011, according to FSU’s FY21 Financial Statements and Single Audit Report. Tuition is set by the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education, according to the state’s General Laws.

The FY21 Financial Report also includes figures for mandatory fees, which were set at $10,130 for AY21.

The Board of Trustees voted to freeze fees and room rates for AY22 for day undergraduate students during their Jan. 27 meeting.

[Editor’s note: see “Board of Trustees meeting focuses on diversity, academic programming, and tuition freeze” in the Feb. 4 issue of The Gatepost for more details.]

Hamel said the Board of Trustees sets tuition and fee rates each year.

“It’s actually their prerogative and responsibility to set rates - all we do is forward the recommendation.”

Hamel expects charges will not be raised for the next academic year, AY23.

He said the Board will vote on tuition and fee rates during its May 2022 meeting. “I think we’ll have a pretty good idea once we present the budget to them in late winter or in the spring.”

Hamel said, “The more you increase student charges, you’re exacerbating the problem of student enrollment.”

Freshman Ciana Dickey, a health and wellness major, said, referring to the prospect of fees not going up next year, “That’s really good, especially because it’s a state school and it’s already cheaper than most schools.”

Junior Mick Sullivan, an environmental science major, said, “Obviously, I like that - not really much else to say about it. I want to keep costs low. … I wish they would go down.”

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

Freshman Evan Chin, an information technology major, said, “I feel like it’s a good opportunity for students that are new to the whole experience in college, and it’ll be easier for them to have college be affordable for them - for people that have unfortunate situations - so it’ll be more affordable.”

Junior Odilia Mendez, a fashion design major, said keeping fees at the same levels is good because “during the pandemic, there was that time when difficult times were arising for everybody, not just those who are already in that position.”

Junior Bailey Collins, a fashion design major, said, “I think that’s good.

That helps us out, especially during stressful times, so I would be all in favor of that.”

Freshman Omar Sabally, a finance major, said, “It feels great that it’s going to stay the same.”

Hamel said two different types of enrollment decline have impacted the University’s budget.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, fewer students have enrolled into the classes of 2024 and 2025.

Hamel said the pandemic caused a short-term impact on enrollment, which required “one-time funds” to address “one-time issues.”

He added declining enrollment is also a “systemic issue” which needs to be addressed in the long term.

“We’re approximately an institution a third smaller in terms of day undergraduate enrollments than we were at our peak.

“We need to align our expenditures with that new level of enrollment because it’s not likely - especially in the short term - that we’ll see significant enrollment changes except for decreases,” Hamel said.

Hamel anticipates enrollment will continue to decline over the next few years before it stabilizes, but expects occupancy in residence halls will increase.

He said residence hall occupancy during AY21 was at 37% of capacity, and this year, occupancy has risen to 66%.

Hamel said even though the University took in less income from resident students during FY21, “Your debt service doesn’t go away, your operating utility costs don’t go away, and so on. So, that was a pretty significant impact that year.”

Although some costs do not change depending on enrollment, Hamel said other costs went down because of enrollment decreases. Because fewer students were and are occupying residence halls, utility costs have decreased.

Hamel said he has not yet added up the specific costs of the COVID-19 pandemic to the University. However, he said requests for relief funding from federal, state, and other sources exceeded $30 million.

He added the $30 million includes requests that have been received, awarded, or will soon be submitted spanning late FY20 through the start of FY22.

Hamel said unexpected costs resulting from the pandemic included $900,000 to test individuals on campus for COVID-19, purchasing laptops and internet infrastructure upgrades, modifications to classrooms to ensure safe environments, and reimbursements for students who left residence halls during the initial shutdown.

The FY21 Financial Report stated $11.5 million in pandemic-related supplemental revenue was received during FY21. This support included $9.4 million in federal grants and $2.1 million in state funding.

He said the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), a part of the federal government’s CARES Act, helped the University continue operations and provide student aid.

Hamel said federal relief from the HEERF I grant was used to rebate students’ residence hall, dining, and parking charges during the initial pandemic shutdown, and other unexpected costs during FY20. HEERF II aid helped the University balance the FY21 operations budget.

He said the University plans to use $4.6 million of the $5.6 million available in HEERF III during FY22. This action would leave $1 million for the FY23 operating budget, although Hamel is waiting for approval to “extend the use” of that funding.

The University also applied for and received assistance from application-based COVID-19 relief funds.

Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and enrollment declines, Hamel said the FY21 budget closed “level-funded.

“It ended up being a $300,000 deficit, which I’m going to count as a level-funded budget. We were very fortunate to essentially end the fiscal year with a level-funded operations budget,” he added.

Hamel said, “Fortunately, a number of different activities occurred during the course of the year” to avoid running an $11.9 million budget deficit into FY22.

He said federal pandemic relief funding, state capital project funding, restructuring of residence hall bonds, selling off underutilized properties, and “very large” investment returns will provide “a benefit” for the FY22 operations budget.

The FY22 budget, which is available on the Administration and Finance page of the FSU website, states the University has planned for $164,983,000 in total expenditures.

Budgeted expenditures total $125,697,000 for operations. The largest budgeted expenditures are $44,674,000 for employee compen-

sation, $21,693,000 for payments and debt services, and $17,200,000 for pensions and insurance.

Budgeted revenues total $123,950,000. The largest budgeted revenues are $34,188,000 in state appropriations, $31,376,000 from day division student tuition and fees, and $14,272,000 in resident student rents. Student meal plans will bring in an additional $5,500,000.

According to the Residence Life page on the FSU website, AY22 annual rates for residence hall rooms range from $8,640 to $11,140 exclusive of a $100 damage deposit.

According to Sodexo at Framingham State’s website, meal plans for the Dining Commons range from $2,010 to $2,265 for residents per semester. All resident students are required to purchase a meal plan.

Commuters have the option to purchase a meal plan ranging from $240 to $550 per semester.

Hamel said the University responded to the “immediate needs” of the COVID-19 pandemic, and has “set forth a plan to address projected deficits in the short term.”

As for the long term, Hamel said, “Even though you can run a deficit in the short term, knowing that you’ve got a plan to get out of it, you can’t run a structural deficit indefinitely. So you have to make changes to align revenue and expenditures over time.”

Hamel said he has a “pretty good model” of enrollment over the next few years because the larger classes of 2022 and 2023 will graduate, and the smaller classes of 2024 and 2025 will remain.

He added, “In the long run, we’ll be a smaller institution, meaning a smaller number of students than at our peak, but appropriately sized faculty, staff, programs, and services.”

He said reductions in staff numbers will be achieved through attrition. As staff retires or leaves the University, fewer people will be hired, preventing layoffs.

The University will soon create its 2022-2026 Strategic Plan, which will replace the 2017-2021 document.

Hamel said development of the next five-year Strategic Plan is conveniently timed because it will take about five years for the University to balance revenue and expenditures.

He added the plan will be developed under the guidance of the next University president. The University’s accreditation process will also begin around the same time, he said.

Hamel added, “Having a plan going forward that I think people can be comfortable with is a good place to be, and bodes well for the future of the University.”

CONNECT WITH DONALD HALSING dhalsing@student.framingham.edu

NEWS

Decals

Continued from page 1

stickers, and flyers, is aimed at luring in others to its extremist and white supremacist world view.

She said the content may seem “patriotic” at first, but then it exposes people to a “whole range of racist, anti-Semetic, and bigoted opinions, views, and actions.”

The decals were first discovered by Meeghan Bresnahan, a junior history major, who then reported the sighting to SGA President McKenzie Ward.

[Editor’s Note: McKenzie Ward is also Opinions Editor for The Gatepost.]

Bresnahan said she was on her way to the Heineman Ecumenical & Cultural Center for a Hilltop Players rehearsal when she noticed the first decal on a lamp post located between the McCarthy Center and Foster Hall.

“I was extremely upset,” she said.

“I remember when there were decals up last [academic] year, and I thought we had gotten past that.

“These decals stand for hate then and now, and they have no place anywhere, including on a college campus,” she added.

After receiving this report from Bresnahan, Ward said she notified the Dean of Students Office, University Police, and Director of the Center for Inclusive Excellence (CIE) Eric Nguyen.

Looking around State Street to see if there were any more, Ward said she discovered a second decal on a lamp post in front of the McCarthy Center near the public bus stop.

“Knowing that racist incidents happen in a place that you are supposed to consider your home is already traumatic,” she said. “I was not going to let a BIPOC student find these and have to report it to the Campus Police themselves. No BIPOC student should ever have to go through something as traumatic as that.

“White students, like myself, have the privilege of thinking of ‘if’ another incident of hatred will happen on our campus,” Ward added. “But for BIPOC students, it is not a question of if, but rather a question of when the next incident will occur on campus.”

Ward said SGA will be issuing a statement condemning Patriot Front on social media and will have a discussion about the decals during its meeting Nov. 9.

Interim Chief of University Police John Santoro said following Ward’s report to University Police, Community Resource Officer Katelyn Kelley began the investigation and removed the decals.

There was then a search for more decals across campus, with a second one taking place the following morning when there was more daylight, according to Santoro.

The University Police will be checking the campus security cameras to see if the person who placed the decals was captured on film, he said.

Santoro added he is unsure if the lamp posts on which the decals were placed on University or city property, but the University Police will continue investigating.

Ann McDonald, chief of staff and general counsel, said the only difference property ownership would make to the investigation would be who the crimes offended - the city or the University - but the same criminal charges would be applied.

In a Nov. 4 email to the FSU community, President F. Javier Cevallos stated, “Any individuals identified in connection to the posting of these materials could face charges, including trespassing, vandalism, intimidation, and other crimes depending on the outcome of the investigation.”

McDonald said if a member of the University was associated with the placement of the decals, they could be subjected to an internal conduct review, “which is different than a criminal charge because it’s really just a campus offense.”

She explained the difference between what would be considered free speech as opposed to vandalism.

McDonald said free speech is allowed “within the limits of whatever area or the space the individual is occupying.”

She added people are able to say what they would like in public spaces as long as it does not fall in line with “any of the prohibited kinds of speech.” However, in situations such as with the decals, property is involved.

The University cannot display anything political because it is a state property, she said. “It’s not the type of speech, but where it is that’s being restricted or limited.”

On Nov. 1, Paige Capone, a senior sociology major, said she saw someone hosting a table outside the McCarthy Center with political signs and notified her boss, Career Services & Employer Relations Director Rich Davino. University Police were then contacted.

Santoro said an officer received a report of the table with signs stating, “Make America Great,” adding the officer asked the person at the table if they went through the “proper channels” to be there.

The person had not received permission from the University and was asked to leave, according to Santoro.

Sean Cabot, a senior communication arts major, said he also saw the table on that day and took a photo of it.

[Editor’s Note: Sean Cabot is a Staff Writer for The Gatepost.]

He said the table belonged to Turning Point USA, an organization that promotes conservative values on high school and college campuses.

The table had a number of buttons, flyers, and leaflets promoting the organization and its AmericaFest event.

ADL Deputy Director Shukur said the organization’s “mission is to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government.”

She added because the organization is newer, it doesn’t “have a long history, but their leadership and their activists have made multiple racist or bigoted comments and they’ve been linked to a variety of extremists.”

Santoro said there was no note of

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 | 5

Sean Cabot / THE GATEPOST The Turning Point USA table outside of the McCarthy Center Nov. 1. the table belonging to Turning Point USA in the officer’s report, adding he, personally, did not know anything about the group.

In March, nine decals were found throughout campus from the Patriot Front group. The two people who placed them were caught on camera, but due to face masks and hats, they could not be identified, according to Santoro.

According to the ADL’s Hate, Extremism, Anti-Semitism, Terrorism (H.E.A.T.) Map that tracks all of the league’s reports related to white supremacy, the Patriot Front group came to FSU’s campus on March 10, 2020 to distribute propaganda that read, “Life of our nation liberty of our nation liberty of our people victory of the American spirit,” “America is not for sale,” “One nation against invasion,” and “Life liberty victory.”

Santoro said University Police have no record of officers identifying Patriot Front members on campus that day.

According to the H.E.A.T. Map, 5,125 cases of white-supremacy propaganda were reported in 2020 across the United States. Massachusetts reported 276 of those cases.

In a Nov. 4 interview, Cevallos said the difficulty of situations such as these is that Framingham State is an “open campus” that anyone can enter.

He emphasized that community members should try not to get “riled up about these people” because that is the group’s intention.

Cevallos added community members “just have to try to keep our mind and our commitment to anti-racism - to education - to keep the campus safe.”

Dara Barros, SGA diversity and inclusion officer, said she was “disappointed” this has happened again.

She said the University needs to take “purposeful action” and communicate with students to learn “from our own experiences” and “how we are feeling” - not just send an email.

“There is action that absolutely needs to be done at this University to make sure that that is not tolerated,” she added. “We say that it’s not tolerated and we’ve made our commitment to anti-racism, but I want to see action. We can’t just do performative action anymore. We have to do action that matters.”

Barros added, “I walk alone at night and that already scares me as

a female. Now, I’m scared as a female of color.”

CIE Director Nguyen said, “I am sad and disappointed that this continues to happen. I’m angry that this continues to happen,” adding people seem to be “willing” to spend time and energy to promote messages that “are inherently racist and hateful.”

He said after finding out about the decals from Ward, he reached out to Lorretta Holloway, vice president of enrollment and student development, as well as the University’s affinity groups.

Nguyen added the CIE is always open as a safe space for students to come to, but he invited students from the affinity groups to join him today (Nov. 4) to have conversations about the decals and what the students would like to see happen going forward.

He said he not only reports back to the administration, but also helps connect students who may have concerns or ideas with administrators.

Nguyen said when hate groups commit these acts, there are two sides of intent - intimidation and communication through hate and bigotry as well as a passive form of recruitment.

He added it is important to focus on the students who are hurt by these groups, but it is also valuable to consider the “other impacts that instances like these have.”

This gives white students and employees an opportunity to consider their role in these situations, he said.

“What kinds of stances can they take?” Nguyen asked. “What kind of work can we do? How can we continue to be more vocal about the fact that this type of hate has no place on campus? And to also communicate very clearly what are the repercussions or what are the consequences for engaging in this type of behavior.”

Students seeking support can reach Nguyen at enguyen@framingham.edu and the University’s Counseling Center at counselingcenter@ framingham.edu and 508-626-4640.

Anyone with information regarding the decals can reach University Police at 508-626-4911. Anonymous tips can be texted to 67283. Begin the message with “FSUTIP” followed by a space and the tip.

CONNECT WITH LEIGHAH BEAUSOLEIL lbeausoleil@student.framingham.edu

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

NEWS

6 | OCTOBER 29, 2021

COVID-19 by the numbers

By Kathleen Moore Associate Editor

Data collected Oct. 30

­ ­

­ ­ ­ Data collected Nov. 4

Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau, CDC COVID-19 Data Tracker, Johns Hopkins

[Editor’s Note: The number of tests administered does not indicate an outbreak of COVID-19.]

­

­­

­

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Data source: Framingham State

Data collected Nov. 4

Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Worldometer, City of Framingham

SGA accepts Outing Club’s funding request

By Patrick Brady Editorial Staff SGA approved Outing Club’s request to fund semi-weekly trips to the Central Rock Climbing Gym in Framingham during their Nov. 2 meeting.

Andrew Doig, president of Outing Club, and Ali Raza, the group’s treasurer, attended the meeting to request funding for the trip.

Raza explained the club needed $2,160 to pay for day passes to the rock climbing gym every Tuesday and Friday. He said they “negotiated” the tickets down to $15 per person daily.

Senator Raffi Elkhoury asked whether the $15 day passes were distributed among the students who show up for the event.

Raza said, “Right now, we have about six regular members. So, if they come two times a week, that’ll be $30 a week.

“Then, we … [account] for two extra people who end up wanting to come later on in the semester,” he added. “So, that all comes up to $2,160. … Anybody [who] decides not to show up or if we get fewer people one week … it’s going to be returned.”

Elkhoury asked if the club was looking into any “long-term passes.”

He said he knew a lot of rock climbing gyms had 30 passes at a discounted price, which could be dis-

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

tributed effectively among students, as opposed to paying for each “individual day.”

Doig said “down the road,” the club may be able to maintain memberships. Day passes were the most “straightforward way” to get the funds distributed.

He said alternate funding pathways would be a “great conversation” for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

The request was approved by all SGA members.

President McKenzie Ward discussed the lack of gender-inclusive bathrooms at the University. She said she has been in conversation with Patricia Whitney, assistant vice president of Facilities and Capital Planning, and Meg Nowak Borrego, dean of students.

Ward said Whitney recommended a proposal submission, which would be reviewed in January.

She added the state is making it difficult to make gender-inclusive bathrooms. “It’s not as easy as just changing the signage.”

Ward said she was scheduled to meet with Lorretta Holloway, vice president of Enrollment and Student Development, on Nov. 3 to discuss the presidential search committee’s schedule for bringing finalists to campus.

During the student advisory council update, Mark Haskell said Com-

missioner Carlos Santiago answered “various questions about funding and programming,” and Student Advisory Council’s next meeting is Nov. 19.

Vice President Emma Sullivan said the next Student Affairs Committee meeting is Nov. 9 at 5:30 p.m.

She said, “We’re going to work on maybe addressing some concerns that weren’t properly met at Admin.

Forum and start doing constitution and bylaws.”

Emily Rosenberg, outreach and events coordinator, said she sent out a sign-up sheet for the Week of Kindness table.

The Week of Kindness consists of events intended to spread kindness and strengthen the FSU community.

Dara Barros, diversity and inclusion officer, wasn’t able to attend the meeting, so Ward presented her report.

Ward said Barros had updated her on the presidential search committee. “They met in executive session for about four hours to discuss the different candidates and created a list of ‘semi-finalists’ to be interviewed in about two weeks.”

She said all the candidates would be interviewed over a “two-day period.”

Ward said the candidates will visit campus during the first two or three weeks of December. “Once I figure

[their arrival dates] out, I will send out a list for everyone to sign up and also promote it to other [organizations].”

Student Trustee Hillary Nna said the Safety Walk is Nov. 8. The event consists of students and administrators assessing the campus grounds for areas of concern.

Ward said, “If you can go, please go. We need as much student representation as we can get.

“And if you can’t go and you have specific concerns on campus … we will relay those to the University administrators, so that your voice can also be heard, even if you’re not there physically,” she added.

SGA Advisor Sara Gallegos decided not to give an advisor’s report.

Ward received the award of eBoard member of the month.

Elkhoury was declared the Senator of the Month and was also awarded this week’s “U-Rock.”

The “U-Rock” is presented to recognize a Senator’s accomplishments over the two weeks between meetings.

[Editor’s Note: McKenzie Ward is Opinions Editor for The Gatepost.

Emily Rosenberg is an Arts & Features Editor for The Gatepost] CONNECT WITH PATRICK BRADY pbrady@student.framingham.edu

O P / ED

OP/ED

THE GATEPOST EDITORIAL

Please excuse my absence, I’m sick!

Have you ever gone to class even though you were sick because you didn’t want to miss a lecture or test, or have points taken off your grade due to a professor’s strict attendance policy?

There have been recent instances of students coming to class with the flu and other illnesses simply to take a quiz because they were worried about the consequences of taking a sick day.

Even in the era of COVID-19, some professors still maintain a zero-tolerance absentee policy.

These professors’ expectations when it comes to attendance are putting the health of students, and even themselves, at risk.

According to Ann McDonald, chief of staff and general counsel, professors are not required to give allowances to students who are absent due to COVID-19 or other illnesses because they have jurisdiction over their own attendance policies.

With breakthrough cases of COVID-19 happening among vaccinated people, we cannot risk public safety when students try to avoid the consequences of draconian attendance policies.

The Incoming Student Resource Manual, which is available on the FSU website, outlines the University’s current practice for excusing absences.

It says students with documented illnesses who miss more than three days of classes might be able to excuse their absences if they contact the Dean of Students.

There should be a clearer, more concrete, and easy-to-understand set of guidelines.

We believe FSU should adopt a University-wide illness and emergency-related absence policy.

A University-wide policy would define the documentation students need to provide for their absences to be excused, such as a doctor’s note or a positive test for a communicable disease.

Additionally, the University should require faculty to give students a fair number of excused absences. Students should not attend class if they feel ill and will not be able to focus.

The COVID-19 pandemic proved nobody is immune to illness. Attendance policies that are too rigid do not reflect the reality we live in: people can die from the spread of serious illnesses such as the flu and COVID-19.

Clear written guidelines help everyone take care of their physical and mental health.

Students shouldn’t be afraid to be absent if they are sick. We need to put our health and the health of our community first.

The University should mandate faculty grant sick days to students with medical documentation during flu season and a global pandemic.

According to the Framingham State University Health Center, clinicians do “not provide ‘sick notes’ for students to professors due to a brief absence from class due to illness.”

The Health Center claims the lack of doctor’s notes for illnesses “is meant to foster mature communication between student and professor, as well as encourage personal responsibility for class attendance decisions.”

We believe the Health Center should provide medical notes if they encourage students to stay home from class when sick.

Faculty also will need to respect this guidance from the Health Center and grant students sick days.

Following the medical notes provided by the Health Center would ensure students are given an appropriate number of sick days and time to make up their work, as needed.

The challenges caused by missing classes due to illnesses can be solved through a clearly communicated policy.

FSU can’t require faculty to present their classes in a certain way, such as a hybrid modality, to accommodate students who cannot attend class in person.

However, technology can provide a good alternative for classroom instruction if a student is sick.

Students can keep up with their course syllabi and assignments and share their thoughts on Canvas discussion boards.

Students can also share notes with their peers by emailing and texting.

Students should not feel obligated to attend class when they are sick.

It’s OK to miss class if you are sick.

When students graduate and enter the workforce, they will be granted sick days for the sole purpose of preventing them from worrying about losing pay if they wake up with a fever, cough, or positive COVID-19 test.

Thankfully, companies want to preserve their employees’ health and prevent sick employees from infecting their entire workforce. We wish the University’s administration would think the same way about our campus community.

Faculty should not have zero-tolerance absentee policies.

FSU’s administration should mandate medical exemptions for students who miss class due to illnesses.

The Health Center needs to provide medical documentation for students when they are sick and need to miss class.

Faculty members who force students to come to class when they’re sick will only cause more harm than good for the entire campus community.

Have an opinion?

Feel free to email it to: gatepost@framingham.edu Opinions should be about 500 words.

Anyone can submit.

We look forward to hearing from you!

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 | 7

Glenn Youngkin - A new hope

By Steven Bonini Editorial Staff

With skyrocketing gas prices, a failing shipping industry, and the Democrats’ inability to compromise on key issues, Virginians went to the polls on election day and sent a message to President Joe Biden - a message I certainly agree with.

In a closely watched race for the Virginia governorship, GOP newcomer, Glenn Youngkin ousted Biden-backed Democrat, and Virginia’s former Gov. Terry McAuliffe.

Many of my personal friends who align themselves with the Democratic party, were shocked at the Youngkin victory.

Biden won the state back in 2020 by over 10 percentage points, and Democratic nominee for president, Hillary Clinton won the state in 2016 by a little over 5 percentage points.

A Republican win, this time around, was all but likely. However, if you ask me, the Democrats should have seen this coming from a mile away.

In 2020, I proudly cast my ballot for then candidate Joe Biden, in hopes that he would serve as a moderate, centrist Democrat, who would put focus on the economy and education - shifting the conversation away from progressive ideologies like big government spending, the legalization of recreational marijuana, and “Medicare for All.” Instead, what the country received is an incompetent Biden who can’t control his party or what they stand for, allowing progressives to walk all over his agenda, harping on the need to raise the debt ceiling, implementing paid family leave, and spending an astronomical amount of money to combat the climate “crisis,” among other things.

Meanwhile, moderates are attempting to show their constituents they can pass sensible legislation as midterms approach in 2022, and the current scene isn’t going to help them win re-election.

As a Biden voter, this is not the direction I wanted to see the party go in, and I think it’s safe to say Virginia agrees with me.

If voters were enthusiastic about the Biden agenda, and if the ideas progressives are pushing for are as popular as they say they are, McAuliffe would be the next governor of Virginia. But he isn’t now, is he?

That brings me to Glenn Youngkin - a breath of fresh air for Independents like myself.

Listening to Youngkin’s victory speech, just after midnight Wednesday morning, I was moved by some of the issues he addressed, giving me hope that there may be Republicans out there who think with common sense.

Youngkin was virtually unknown to the commonwealth of Virginia when he launched his bid for the governorship, and he won not by riding the coattails of former President Donald Trump thank God - as many Republicans have done, but by actually, in a way, disassociating himself from the former president, and instead connecting with Virginians in their communities, especially the ones Biden performed well in - emphasizing education and economic issues.

He put focus on opening more charter schools in the state, restoring “excellence” to Virginia’s schools, and stressing the need for involvement and input from parents on key education issues, as well as making it clear he wants to cut taxes, and ensure a welltrained police force.

That agenda alone, sounds to me, like a more solid plan for Virginians, than Biden’s Build, Back, Better plan does for the whole country, and it seems that this is the message Youngkin voters, especially Independents, are trying to send to the Biden administration.

The most touching part about Youngkin’s agenda was his clear emphasis on family, God, and country - all values that resonate with voters like myself.

I can only hope the Biden administration learns from these results and takes a few hints from the agenda Youngkin put forward in his state.

If anything, this should tell President Biden that he needs to leave the progressives on the cutting room floor and begin compromising with congressional Republicans.

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

OP/ED

8 | NOVEMBER, 5, 2021

Campus Conversations How have you been handling midterm stress?

By Maddison Behringer, Editorial Staff, and Emma Lyons, Editorial Staff

“I’ve been dealing with it by trying to study as much as I can for my exams, and then take time to do self care and relax and do stuff outside.”

- Rebecca Lee, Junior

“A lot of my midterms have been papers, so just taking it slow, taking breaks in between, and taking it little by little has been my strategy.”

-Julian Ramos, Senior

“For me, it’s been kind of different because most of the classes that I have don’t have a midterm - for example, English. He didn’t do an exam. He just gave us assignments to do - that’s it.

For my other classes, she just gave us projects.”

-Melanda Alcuis, Freshman

“I haven’t had a lot of midterm stress because I’ve only had one midterm. But I do like to draw and be creative.”

-Yessenia Gamez, Junior

“I’ve been dealing with midterm stress by relaxing and playing more video games.”

-Peter Marszalek, Freshman

Ready, Set, Register, with Sam the Ram

By Haley Hadge Editorial Staff

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

“You know, to deal with midterm stress, I just try to block it out, study for my exams, and just keep pushing.”

-Christian Ragan, Junior

SPORTS

SP O RTS

Women’s Soccer victorious in a 1-0 shootout against Salem State

By Danielle Achin Sports Editor

ith the spotlights on and the bleachers filled with fans, the ams omen’s Soccer team took to their home field on Maple Street against Salem State where they secured their spot in the Semifinals Nov. .

The combination of the excitement for the first game of the MASCAC tournament, combined with the frigid temperature, made the ams’ game against Salem State a classic.

Even better The ams won 1-0 in a double overtime shootout thriller.

In the first half, there was a lot of back-and-forth play. Defense on both teams was strong, keeping the ball out of each side’s danger one.

The ams held strong against the Vikings, sending strikes towards the goal.

But Salem held strong against them, deflecting their shots each time and sending both teams into the second half with a 0-0 score. reshman Jetta skirko said despite her teammates fighting against the cold returning to the field after halftime, this did not take away their focus on the game and they came back just as fired up. skirko said, “ e broke down a little bit for two or three minutes. But after that, we gained our confidence back. “ e played as a team, which is something we’ve struggled with. e went out there and played with heart, which is something we were lacking at the beginning of the season, but we really wanted it today. e played great,” she said.

After a lot more back-and-forth play in the final minute, Salem made a last attempt to score, and sophomore Kaley Moran sent a long strike toward goal that was saved by skirko, sending the game to overtime.

The back-and-forth plays continued into overtime where skirko made two saves in the match for the ams, keeping the score 0-0 and sending the game into double overtime.

This time, the ams were on the attack and made a last attempt for a goal in the last few minutes of the game. The strikes they sent toward the net were both saved by Vikings’ fefferle. ith the score remaining 0-0, this meant both teams moved to a penalty kick shoot-out competition, where the game’s winner would be determined by scoring the most out of five goals.

The Vikings converted their chance for Salem State, but were denied because of skiriko’s strong goaltending.

Graduate Jasmine ees, sophomore Calen rongillo, as well as freshmen Cathryn Cooney and Aurora Kilrain all converted their chances for S , finishing the shootout in a - set, and taking the victory for the ams. skiriko said it was more than just the hunger for winning that helped her teammates come out on top.

She said, “It’s just heart, it doesn’t even have to do with soccer - we just love each other. e’re family and it’s ama ing. This team wants to go far.”

Head Coach Kristina Kern continues her eighth season in the MASCAC Semifinals, and said she is proud of her team for making it through the game, facing off in the penalty kicks. “ ur team unity and chemistry is our biggest strength,” Kern said. “They all played for each other today and it’s really great to see that as a coach.”

Kern said, moving forward, staying connected and on the same page as one another is vital for the ams’ advancement in the MASCAC tournament. skiriko said the team’s main goal for the week is to focus on the next game and not think too far ahead to remain level headed. “ e take it day by day. e always focus on the next game, nothing more than that. e play estfield on riday, so that’s what we’re focused on,” she said.

The ams face top-seeded estfield State on the wl’s home field for the MASCAC Semifinal match at p.m. Nov. .

FRAMINGHAM STATE SALEM STATE

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 | 9

Women’s Soccer team shut out 1-0 in final regular-season game

By Mikey Alves Asst. Sports Editor n ct. 30, the ramingham State omen’s Soccer team fell short 1-0 to the itchburg State alcons in their last regular game of the season.

It was a hard fought game by the S ams, but the team just couldn’t manage to break through the alcons’ defense.

After the rainy warfare began, not even seven minutes into the match, itchburg State sophomore forward midfielder Maddie Hippert swooped in and scored on a lengthy lead pass from sophomore midfielder Ashley orter to make it a 1-0 game. or the remainder of the half, both teams refused to let a single shot go by. ramingham State fired shot after shot, tallying up nine attempted goals in the first half.

The ams continued to repeatedly knock, but the alcons would refuse to answer through the entirety of the second half as well.

Junior goalkeeper Allison Gough continued to suck the life out of the ams, accumulating an impressive total of nine saves and a shutout victory for the alcons.

S sent 1 total shots on goal throughout the game, with nine of those shots being on net.

Even though the team’s season didn’t end as hoped, Coach Kern said she already looks forward to next season.

Kern said the best memory of the season was “our Mass Maritime game. e came out in the first couple of minutes and scored four goals in the first minutes. I was really proud of the team to come right out of the gate.

“I also think one of our other standout games, even though we lost, was against orcester,” Kern added. “ e battled them the whole time. e came out really strong. e were the underdogs and only lost 1-0. I was really proud of our energy and proud of the team battling against a really good team.”

She said that the goals the team should reach for next year are to “retain the players that we have, to come back strong, and work hard in the offseason. e have a really young team, so I expect that we should do really well next year and get a couple of recruits in.”

Kern added she felt the most crucial improvements the team will need to make next year is having to “replace some solid seniors that are graduating at midfield, and replace some really good players.

“I’m hoping that my underclassmen will step up into those roles, which I’m pretty confident they will,” she said. “I think the improvement to try to build on is our midfield, which is a pretty solid group right now.”

The ams finish the season with a -10-1 overall record and a 3- conference record.

FITCHBURG STATE FRAMINGHAM STATE

1 0

CONNECT WITH MIKEY ALVES malves2@student.framingham.edu

1 0 CONNECT WITH DANIELLE ACHIN dachin@student.framingham.edu

A goalie blocks the ball at the Nov. 2 game.

Danielle Achin/THE GATEPOST

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

10 | NOVEMBER 5, 2021

SPORTS

Volleyball triumphs 3-0 in uarterfinal win

By Tyler Wahl Asst. Sports Editor The ams Volleyball team pulled out a 3-0 win against the Salem State Vikings in an important MASCAC uarterfinal game Nov. . ollowing a hard 3-0 loss to the orcester State ancers ct. 30, the team looked to build their momentum for the playoffs in this match.

The Athletic Center gymnasium was packed with spectators, and the ams’ energy showed their clear anticipation for their first postseason game.

Both teams showed a lot of fight in the first set, with the lead constantly changing at the start of the game.

The back-and-forth scoring was eventually stopped, as the ams went on to take eight straight points and a dominating 0-10 lead.

Sophomore Hailey Sanders finished the Vikings off with an impressive strike, making the final score of the first set -1 .

In the second set, the Vikings kept the score closer, starting the set off with constant lead changes once again. Although Salem State’s effort was admirable, it was no match for the ams’ team communication and solid individual play.

Sophomore Emily laherty had some great serves, which gained the ams points in the second set, and was a clear motivator for the rest of her team.

After the game, she praised her teammates despite her great individual performance, saying, “I feel really good about our team. e have a lot of young players but we have so much heart and I think that sets us apart in tough matches.”

The ams and the Vikings fought hard throughout the second set, diving for every loose ball that came their way.

S continued to stay ahead. Despite a timeout from Salem at the 19-1 mark, the ams finished off the Vikings -1 in set two.

The ams came out confident as ever after winning the first two sets, and put four easy points on the board to start the third set.

Maintaining their momentum, the ams pushed forward with great kills from freshman Valerie Sullivan and equally as exceptional aces from junior Brandee Thomas.

After those plays, S acquired a 19-11 lead, forcing the Vikings to take a much-needed timeout.

Although the timeout resulted in a few bounceback points for Salem State, the ams continued their dominance, finishing the set -1 .

Sanders and Sullivan both added nine kills before the game was finished, while laherty contributed nine digs in this important playoff win. inning this game means the S Volleyball team will advance to the MASCAC Semifinals. laherty said, “I’m so excited for the Semifinal game, and I know that everyone on the team wants it so badly. If we play with heart, everything will be fine.”

Assistant Coach Brian Gerard expressed admiration for the team as well, saying, “It’s all on the players - they’re the ones that have to do it, and we’re very proud of them.”

The ams look to continue their playoff push in their important Semifinal game against estfield State Nov. .

Tyler Wahl /THE GATEPOST

The team coming together to celebrate a score.

FRAMINGHAM STATE SALEM STATE

3 0 CONNECT WITH TYLER WAHL twahl1@student.framingham.edu

Monday, November 8, 2021 Forum, McCarthy Center 7 p.m.

Masks are Required

The Hate U Give The Arthur Nolletti, Jr. Film Series

Starr Carter is the only witness when police fatally shoot her friend Khalil. This 2018 film brilliantly depicts Starr’s courageous truth-telling about police violence against African Americans. Join us for the film screening followed by a discussion led by Dr. Claudia Springer.

Twenty-four prizes will be given away to students who attend.

This event is sponsored by the Arts & Ideas Series, the English Club, and Onyx.

Volleyball players jump for the ball Nov. 2.

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

Tyler Wahl /THE GATEPOST For more information, contact Dr. Claudia Springer at cspringer@framingham.edu Learn about disability accommodations for university events at: www.framingham.edu/accessibility.

Learn about FSU’s COVID-19 protocols: www.framingham.edu/reopening-safely.

ARTS & FEATURES

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 | 11

ARTS & FEATURES

Mancuso’s senior art purchases paint brush strokes across campus rthy Center. Mancuso selected works from these shows for the first few years of her art-purchasing program.

Krakow said during the COVID-19 pandemic, when senior thesis shows did not run in the gallery, Mancuso selected works from the annual “Juried Exhibition.” Unlike the thesis exhibitions dedicated to graduating studio art majors, the “Juried” show is open to all students.

As Mancuso’s initiative developed, Krakow said her role was finding

By Donald Halsing Editor-in-Chief Back in 2018, English Professor Halcyon Mancuso was having dinner in the Dining Commons when she came to a realization about her surroundings.

“I was just eating and looking around, and I saw all these empty walls,” she said.

After noticing the potential around her, Mancuso thought, “We’ve got all these students who do art on campus. Why can’t we get some student artwork up here?”

Mancuso decided she wanted to buy pieces from senior studio art majors and gift them to the University for display around campus.

To turn her vision into a reality, Mancuso discussed the idea with Ellie Krakow, director of the Mazmanian Gallery.

nizing them chronologically by year.

“I think it’d be kind of cool to look at the art in that way.”

After selecting which pieces she wants to buy, Mancuso said she works with College of Arts and Humanities Dean Marc Cote to solve logistical challenges with obtaining and displaying the pieces she buys.

Cote said he drafted the form students can fill out if they are interested in selling their art to Mancuso. He also contacts each year’s senior art

“The ones that I’ve chosen so far have had very much an outward-looking focus in their themes. And I say themes purely because I don’t believe that art has one theme to it.”

- Halcyon Mancuso, English professor

Mancuso’s most recent award “coincided with the history department’s request to have some identity representation” in their space on the third floor of May Hall.

Cote said the Facilities team that hangs the pieces have been cooperative and responsive. Each piece is hung using a “security hanging system” to prevent theft and damage to the art.

He also orders plaques which are displayed alongside each piece. The plaques include the student artist’s name, year of graduation, artist’s statement, and indicate the pieces are on loan as part of Mancuso’s Student Artist Purchase Award Program.

Cote said when he first heard about Mancuso’s program, he was pleased “because something like this can often be used as a springboard,” giving confidence to students in a competitive field such as studio art.

He said current art students

Donald Halsing / THE GATEPOST Markha Baieva’s triptych “Bicultural in America” is composed of a self portrait (right) and portraits of two of her friends. The portraits are painted over collages of the people and things each subject loves. Mancuso purchased the pieces in Spring 2021, and they were hung on the third floor of May Hall at the request of the History Department.

Krakow said when Mancuso started buying student art, “All of us in the [art] department were thrilled, because it’s such a great opportunity for students to have the experience of selling their work, having their work become part of a collection, and getting their work to be then seen on campus.

“We make art so that it can be seen,” Krakow added. “It’s just really amazing that their work gets to be seen in a long-term way. It’s probably really inspiring as a student to see that other students can sell their work, and have their work be on campus, and really be visible in that way.”

According to Krakow, senior studio art students display their work each spring through thesis exhibitions in the Mazmanian Gallery in the McCa-

ways to “make the whole process more systematic so that we can communicate clearly with the students about what they need to do in order to be eligible for the prize.”

Krakow said during the senior thesis shows, “I walk around the show, show her what the students are working on, and help with communication between the students and her.”

She added that she hopes a guide is created in the future to allow people to tour the campus and visit each of the pieces. “How do we get people to look, and want to look, and be engaged?”

Mancuso said visual arts represent the era in which they were created.

She hopes the Danforth Art Museum curates an exhibit with the pieces once the collection gets larger, orga-

studio seminar professor to inform painting, ceramics, sculpture, and printmaking students about the opportunity to sell their work.

He also found locations around campus where the art could be displayed and obtained approval to place Mancuso’s purchases in their new homes. Mancuso wanted to ensure “we would make all efforts to place the artworks prominently on campus.”

Cote formed a committee to investigate potential spaces in the McCarthy Center, where two of the pieces Mancuso purchased in 2018 are currently on display.

He said finding places to hang the art also requires making sure “people who frequent the areas of hanging are supportive of the idea.” He said

“might be inspired to see alumni work done when they were students hanging so prominently.” He added seeing quality student work highlighted may be helpful for prospective students and their families when deciding to attend Framingham State.

Mancuso said one of the reasons she collects and donates the art is to help the University build a collection of student artwork.

“If any of these students hit it big somehow - you never know - that becomes a sort of a point of pride for FSU, to be able to say, ‘We knew them when we taught them, and there’s at least one of their pieces hanging at FSU,’” she added.

Continued on page 12

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ARTS & FEATURES

12 | NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Mancuso student art purchase award

Courtesy of Halcyon Mancuso English Professor Halcyon Mancuso (second from left) at the ceremony for the 2018 recepients of the Student Artist Purchase Award.

Continued from page 11 Paul Yalowitz, chair of the art and music department, said giving art students money for their pieces and displaying them on campus “is a great way to get them started.”

He said the award program benefits students because they can put on their resumé that their work is hanging in a permanent collection at FSU. “It’s a little bit of recognition for the department, showing some art around campus outside of our building and outside of the gallery,” Yalowitz added.

He said Mancuso’s donations allow the art department to share what their students are doing so other departments and administrators can understand what they do in class, developing “more of a community instead of everybody being isolated all the time.”

Yalowitz said displaying art around the campus helps teach the

FSU community that art can carry “powerful stories and messages” that deal with heavy topics.

As an example, Yalowitz said Mancuso’s most recent purchase - Markha Baieva’s triptych “Bicultural in America” - tells a very powerful personal story about recent history. “She’s telling the story of her family and her experiences.

“You can have a history lecture that’ll give you some information, but you could also show these images and read her experiences,” he added. “That informs as well, and it can inform in a different way.”

Baieva’s triptych was purchased

by Mancuso from the Spring 2021 “Juried Exhibition.”

Baieva said she didn’t know about the program until Mancuso reached out to her.

She said FSU’s art department is “very small and intimate.” Usually, only professors and her peers saw her artwork.

Baieva said when she learned she

Ryan O’Connell / THE GATEPOST 2018 award recipient Emily Bowling’s self portrait is on display in the McCarthy Center lobby near Dunkin’ Donuts.

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

had won Mancuso’s award, she was honored. “I was kind of shocked that they chose my work because there’s so many talented artists in my graduating year. So I felt very happy, and I was very excited.”

She said displaying student artwork around campus is a great way to “recognize people for their artwork.”

Her triptych was hung in the history department’s hallway on the third floor of May Hall at the department’s request. Baieva said the location where her pieces are displayed is “very nice.

“My work is about diversity and coming from different backgrounds.

There’s a lot of history behind that, so I think that was a great spot to put it,” she added.

According to Baieva, “Bicultural in America” is composed of a self portrait and portraits of two of her friends - one who is Colombian and the other who is Nigerian and Filipino. The portraits are painted over collages of the people and things

each subject loves.

“It’s a way of showing someone’s culture and where they’re from in the background, and things that make up who they are, while the portrait that is painted on top is who they are in America,” she said.

Baieva said selling her work to Mancuso and seeing it hung up on campus gave her “confidence and faith” in her work. “People are interested in the work that I’m creating and that makes me want to create more work.”

Mancuso said one of the purposes of purchasing student art is to help them establish a market value as an artist. “The first time you sell a piece of work, that establishes what the market will bear,” she said. Students work with Krakow to decide on a “fair price” for their pieces.

Senior Jenna Billian, an art major with a sculpture concentration, said having the opportunity to sell her art for a fair price “would positively impact my self esteem and would help me build confidence to get my artwork out into the world.

“Having my art on display in a permanent collection on campus would feel great! I would feel proud and would bring my family and friends to see it.”

Billian said one of her professors mentioned Mancuso’s program during class at the end of October.

“That was the first I had heard of the program.”

Senior Haley Donahue, an art major with a sculpture concentration, said the opportunity for senior students to sell their artworks at a fair price is a good idea.

“Regardless of whether or not a graduating senior plans to make their career solely out of selling their work, having a good point of reference as to how to accurately price and sell work is incredibly important.

“It would feel very good to have my art displayed on campus in a permanent collection,” she added.

Donahue said if students knew more about the program, “It would give artists more time to prepare to submit, which would be beneficial.”

Both Billian and Donahue plan to submit pieces for Mancuso to consider purchasing.

Mancuso said she started the award program because she loves collecting art.

She said, “The ones that I’ve chosen so far have had very much an outward-looking focus in their themes. And I say themes purely because I don’t believe that art has one theme to it.”

Mancuso hopes students keep making art that reflects multiple perspectives and multicultural ways of looking at the world. “If they keep making that kind of art, and I keep buying that kind of art, those are the statements that we would like to put around FSU.”

Courtesy of Halcyon Mancuso 2019 award recipient Hannah Nesbitt’s “Our Father in Heaven, CONNECT WITH DONALD HALSING Reveal Who You Are, Set the World Right” is on display oppodhalsing@student.framingham.edu site the reference desk in the Henry E, Whittemore Library.

ARTS & FEATURES

Children’s literature Continued from page 1

of diverse books to children in public housing.

She began by introducing “Home is Not a Country” by Safia Elhillo, which follows a Muslim immigrant abandoned by her father and bullied by her schoolmates. Mercier described it as sensual, exquisite and immagestic.

In “A Snake Falls to Earth,” by Darcie Little Badger, the takeaway remains a serious pillar of our society. The story weaves a plot where personified animals travel a dangerous world, and all the while, Badger makes clear how the choices humans make may lead all species to extinction.

Mercier shared an excerpt of Melinda Lowe’s “It Takes Practice to be a Person,” on a Miss China beauty contest and the negative physical effects of these challenges on the women who participate in them. Also on the list was “Too Bright to See,” a coming-of-age story written by Kyle Lukoff.

She said the 10 books on the National Book Award long list expose American racism, and they “charge American readers with understanding as they issue a call to action.

“As a group, they disclose the risk of violence and violation when one lives outside heteronormative norms.

They unveil the haunting qualities of identity and they invite readers across age categories into conversation.”

She added the books celebrate trans, lesbian, and straight voices, and highlight the “beautiful” language of indegenous peoples through poetry, non-fiction, graphic novels - “all meaningful literary vehicles which engage in the faces and facets of being human.”

Mercier then shared titles of new books such as “Time for Kenny” by Kenny Pinkney, “Zonia’s Rain Forest”

by Juana Martinez Neal, and “Memory Jars” by Vera Brosgol, which she said use a variety of art techniques such as acrylic inks, dipped pens, and pastel liners to tell the stories of three childhoods lived differently across the globe.

The catalogue of what’s new in children’s literature didn’t end with North American publications, however. Mercier also shared “I Am the Subway,” a Korean picture book written by Kim Hyo-eun, and “Wishes,” a 75-page narration by Vietnamese writer Muon Thi Van. “I Am the Subway,” a warm watercolor picture book, allows the reader to see through the eyes of the train, witnessing all the different anonymous passengers who populate the cars, and a brief insight into their lives.

“There’s granny, who races to get home to cook for her family, a cobbler who recognizes people by their shoes, and the exhausted mom who gets a little quiet rocking all [on] her own,” Mercier said.

“Wishes,” while short, tells a tale

of seeking refuge through inanimate objects, emphasizing the impact of the small choices made, regardless of the situation. The connection is also made that the third person perspective in “Wishes” “speaks to the universality of wishing for hope,” Mercier said.

“The passivity [Muon Thi Van] writes implies that the little choices we make matter in times of great change and turmoil,” she said about “Wishes.”

She also discussed the books that grapple with identity, “Starfish” by Lisa Fipps, which she describes as a “dirty middle grade novel” narrating the struggles of body image and “Black Boy Joy” which illustrates the effects of racism and microaggressions.

“Imagine trailing your fingers to

phie Blackall dived deep into their creative processes and spoke of the major inspirations for their work.

Earlier in the day, they were giving autographs and signing their books that were displayed.

Senior elementary education major Julia Barry introduced Javaka Steptoe. As an author and illustrator, he won the Caldecott Medal in 2017 for his book “Radical Child: The Story of Young Artist John-Michel Basquiat.”

Steptoe began his presentation talking about his experience in the field of children’s literature and mentioning previous works he had collaborated on and contributed to.

He referenced back to a question posed previously in the day about how to find the point at which someone becomes a writer or illustrator

“You’re a writer because you’re writing.

You’re an artist because you’re creating art.”

- Javaka Steptoe, Author of “Radiant Child” the tail of a comet that burns through space right beside you,” she read from an excerpt of “Black Boy Joy.” Another common topic of the featured works was the modern drive for social justice in our society. “We Shall Overcome,” by Bryan Collier, catalogues the journey of one young girl and her friends’ journey to protest.

“Collier’s watercolor and recognizable color style animate this journey set to an inherited song,” Mercier said, before adding the relevant connections Collier makes to remind the reader of the “importance of Rosa Parks, the 16th Street Baptist Church, Little Rock Central High School, and Black Lives Matter.”

“Dream Street,” a collaborative effort between Tricia Elam Walker and Ekua Holmes, which “calls for a future where children can grow up to be whoever and whatever they want,” Mercier said. She added that both authors grew up in Boston, which emphasizes the potential we have as a community to help support the next generation’s dreams.

Mercier concluded her time at the event by suggesting “The Firekeeper’s Daughter,” by Anthony Bulli, which “reads like a compelling, intricate mystery.” She then read “Fifteen Hundred Miles from the Sun,” by Jonny Garza Villa, a coming-of-age story about the complications involving long distance in a blossoming relationship between two young boys.

“It is one thing to come out, even accidentally, and quite another thing to fall in love,” she read from the book.

Mercier closed her presentation by saying she hopes we find joy and courage in the words and legacy that have been brought to us in the past year.

Later in the evening, featured speakers Javaka Steptoe and So-

- saying that point at which you take your work seriously is when you become a writer “because that is when you grow.

“You’re a writer because you’re writing,” he added, emphasising that it doesn’t matter how many books someone has published. “You’re an artist because you’re creating art.”

He began clicking through his slideshow, featuring photos of children displaying each of the five senses, circling back to the center of his presentation, our bodies. He emphasized, “Our complete understanding of the world that we live in is through our bodies.”

He shifted focus briefly, speaking of language and the long history it holds. He said, “The words that we speak were created hundreds of years ago - and some even thousands of years ago - and those people had a different understanding of the world.”

He added, “Your feelings become the way for you to understand the world, the way for you to express how you feel.”

Expanding further on the subject of feeling, he shifted slightly to focus on the way children use their feelings to draw, and how he tries to emulate that when making his own art.

“I’m still that little kid, and I’m still making the movements and the sounds and feeling, because that’s also what I do.”

Steptoe moved on to speak on his book “Radical Child: The Story of Jean-Michel Basquiat ‘’ saying how he had an emotional connection to Basquiat, despite never meeting him in person.

He projected one of Basquiat’s pieces “Jawbone of an Ass,” a piece that inspired him to create his book because of his great emotional connection to it.

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 | 13

When looking into Basquiat, he found that he was not excessively praised, but he contrasted that by saying, “I look at this piece of artwork and I say he was brilliant.”

Steptoe broke down the illustration for the audience and revealed hidden gems within - like a small drawing of Bullwinkle in the background.

Junior Julia Parabicoli introduced the next speaker, Sophie Blackall.

Blackall emphasized that her presentation was centered around connection. “The connection between pictures and words, then between books and their readings, the connection between our childhood selves and the grown ups.”

She talked briefly about her childhood and how her love of illustration began early in life. She explained how she used to trace over images from “Winnie the Pooh” to learn how the lines connected. It was during that time that she decided that she wanted to pursue children’s literature.

Blackall moved on to talk about her actual career and the works she had made. She focused on her book “Hello Lighthouse,” which focuses on a family living in a lighthouse, and how their home is a beacon of stability.

She spoke of how she designed the illustrations for the book, emphasizing the circular shape of the inner part of the lighthouse and keeping it on the same spot in each page to show how rooted it is to its place.

While a large portion of her presentation was on her bigger projects, Blackall also took the time to shed light on her smaller projects she did more for her own enjoyment, rather than her career goals.

She explained one project she produced, which centered around people’s real-life stories about missed opportunities. She picked stories she enjoyed and drew an accompanying illustration to then post to her Instagram page.

She discussed how she often drew inspiration from real life and made an effort to include real people within her stories, furthering the personal connections she felt to her works.

Blackall closed her lecture by sharing about her soon-to-be-published book, “Things to Look Forward To.” She said, “It may be behind a cloud. But the sun will come up.

And then I thought maybe there are other things to look forward to like a hot shower and moving the furniture around and writing a letter and drawing a face on an egg.”

CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG erosenberg@student.framingham.edu CONNECT WITH RYAN O’CONNELL roconnell1@student.framingham.edu CONNECT WITH EMMA LYONS elyons3@student.framingham.edu

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14 | NOVEMBER 5, 2021

The River is deep, but the script is shallow

By Austin Riffelmacher Staff Writer

The music of Tina Turner is “simply the best.”

The Broadway musical “Tina - The Tina Turner Musical” is not.

That’s not to say this was a painful experience in the theater. With Adrienne Warren at the center of the show as Tina, it’s thrilling.

Warren does not do a cruise ship imitation of the rock legend. Instead, she provides a window into Turner’s life which featured many trials and tribulations.

A window though, not a door.

Turner’s story from poor Black girl in Nutbush, Tennessee, to the domestic abuse she suffered from husband and fellow rock legend Ike Turner, and finally her epic comeback in the 1980s is one of the greatest American biographies in pop culture.

Turner’s life is about resilience, and the musical’s bullet-point style narrative leaves the audience thinking about the music rather than the story.

Like virtually all jukebox musicals, the show’s book is so horrendous, you can’t escape how these productions only come about because a producer had the rights to a catalogue and wished to exploit the generation that grew up with Turner.

The show’s lead producer is Stage Entertainment, a Dutch-based com-

pany that mainly specializes in presenting successful American musicals in local European markets.

“Tina” is currently playing in Madrid, Hamburg, and the Netherlands.

The songs are sung in English, but the book is translated.

That sounds like the most ideal combination, because when the dramatized versions of Turner and Co. slip into dialogue, intellectually, the show falls on its face.

That’s not to say Katori Hall, the book’s author, is fully to blame. Hall, who wrote the wonderfully captivating play “The Mountaintop,” is at the mercy of Phyllida Lloyd - the director who started this dire trend with “Mamma Mia” - and her lack of a coherency journeying through Turner’s life.

Part of the problem is the interspersing of songs from late in Turner’s career with significant moments early in her life.

When Tina sings “Better be good to me” to Ike in 1962 after he proposes to her, it works as irony for what’s to come later. But the song from 1984 not only sounds out of place, it also just doesn’t make sense in her character development up until then.

As Ike Turner, Daniel J. Watts is terrific, if underused. His abilities vocally, physically, and dramatically are briefly referenced to - not explored which is a shame because you can tell if provided with better material, he’d

Outside the theater of “Tina - The Tina Turner Musical.”

@TheGatepost | FSUgatepost.com

concert style sound design. We don’t be explosive on stage.

The creative team may have avoid- get to see them until the finale, and ed being redundant about Ike and it’s a shame, because most audience Tina’s relationship, as the 1993 film, members probably wouldn’t recog“What’s Love Got To Do With It?” nize the music was live beforehand.

Warren left the musical Oct. 31. starring Angela Bassett and Laurence Fishbourne, was primarily focused With all due respect to the future with Turner’s fame in context of the women playing Tina Turner, there is no reason to sit through this show abusive relationship.

The stage musical’s one asset over without Warren.

The album is far more engaging. the film is its display of how difficult it was for Turner to make a comeback Stay home and jam to that. in the ’80s, as she was seen by record labels as being old-fashioned.

The most pathetic moment of the second act is the number “Open Arms,” which is a duet between Tina and her then manager Rhonda Gramm, who is introduced in the first act as having an affair with Ike while he was married to Tina. Again, in its lack of any decent dramaturgy, it’s really confusing as to when they became best girlfriends.

The other characters and the ensemble are stock - but the cast is fine, nonetheless.

It should come as no surprise the three musical highlights of the evening are when Warren takes us to the stars with the classics “What’s Love Got To Do With It?” “The Best,” and without hyperbole, her mind-blowing rendition of “River Deep, Mountain High.”

CONNECT WITH AUSTIN The 12-piece band does a very nice RIFFELMACHER job, although there is a lot of ampliariffelmacher@student.framingham.edu fication from Nevin Steinberg’s rock

Grade :B

Uneven, but still fun

Austin Riffelmacher / THE GATEPOST

ARTS & FEATURES

NOVEMBER 5, 2021 | 15

‘Many Saints’ is so good it’s sinful

By Emily Rosenberg Arts & Features Editor Judging by stereotype - with my flowery dresses, pink accessories, and almond milk iced coffees, you may not expect me to be the first walking into “The Sopranos” prequel on its opening night.

But, clutching my freshly built owl Build-A-Bear, I enjoyed my first movie-going since the pandemic began, and boy is there a lot to unpack.

“The Many Saints of Newark” is a prequel film to the record-breaking series “The Sopranos,” which followed the New Jersey Mafia family, and the highs/lows of boss Tony Soprano, his wife and kids, his nephew Christopher Moltasanti, and other members of the family who are released from jail.

In the show, Christopher’s father, Dicky, has been dead since the ’80s when Chris was only 3 years old. It is unknown who killed him or what he was like except that he was more of a father figure to Tony than Tony’s own dad who was in prison for most of his formative years.

“Many Saints” follows the years leading up to Dicky’s hit, who, unsurprisingly is just as sinful as Tony is as boss as he screws his dad’s wife and slowly scandalizes his nephew through his unforgiving murder and crime. Young Tony Soprano is played by the late James Gandolfini’s son Michael Gandolfini, as a growing boy who at the time’s biggest crime was stealing a beer from his dad.

The writing is excellent at captur-

Puzzles

ACROSS 1. Football venue 6. Craps calculation 10. Box with a training partner, maybe 14. Reason to say “Oopsie!”

15. Donkey noise 16. “Star Wars” princess 17. One way to be in love 18. Victim in Clue 20. Tres - dos 21. Film holder 23. They’re all the same 24. With 52-Across, mascot in Monopoly 27. / You rarely eat just one 28. Be an accomplice 29. Megan Thee Stallion or Cardi B 33. Welsh form of “John” 36. Pedal to work, perhaps 37. Brazilian metropolis, informally 38. Playing pieces in Candy Land 43. ___ bran 44. Sweet’s partner, in a sauce name 45. Sports org. for students 46. Shoe that may be bunny-shaped 48. Reverberation 51. Neither hide ___ hair 52. See 24-Across 57. Widely recognized 60. Word after “fast” or “express” 61. Naked mole-___ 62. Patient in Operation 64. w trusting 66. Sword with a blunted tip 67. Texas Hold ‘em stake 68. Perplexed

IMDb ing Tony’s innocence and naivete.

Throughout, it is difficult to believe he will become the abusive father and murderer he is in the series as he goes around as a teenager trying to score some nips with Carmela or when he throws away a gift from his uncle Dicky.

Despite being a prequel to one of the most successful series of all time, it does not rely too much on nostalgia and instead hits us with punchy references that if you’re chewing your popcorn too loud you might miss them.

It, however, manages to sneak in a joke about Tony having the makings of a varsity athlete, a classic “Sopranos” meme. And from the curtain call we’re hit with a nostalgia rush as Michael Imperioli, who played Christopher in the series, narrates a mafia funeral - a motif seen throughout the film.

A highlight is Leslie Odom Jr.’s performance as Harold McBrayer, an exhit man for Dicky who gets fed up and

starts a side operation to screw him over. While I admit the side operation he ran did not particularly engage my attention as much as the Moltisantis’ scenes, Odom’s rendition of a mafia villain is transformative, dynamic, and empowering. The only thing wrong about it is there is no sexy villain ballad, but I get that we’re not in 2016 anymore.

The other saint, Alessandro Violanti, masters a raunchy, ruthlessly violent Dicky, playing him like a childless Tony Soprano with a soft spot for his nephew. With his charm, I found myself aching for Chris who never met his father, while scenes between Violanti and Gandolfini made me think “ahhh so that’s where Tony got all his sass.”

If I had to take points off, it would be for the time wasted on lustful, misogynistic love-making scenes.

Though it could be my personal preference, it felt as though they did not add much to the story, and I kept hoping they’d cut back to the plot, as I hid my poor stuffed owl’s eyes away from the obscenity.

But if none of that convinces you, go just for the final scene. Just as “The Sopranos” series is notoriously known for its iconic ending where it cuts to black for nearly a minute, the movie wraps up with an equally satisfying statement that’ll have you leaving the theater in absolute awe.

Even those who haven’t seen the show will appreciate the mafia lore and fine-crafted story writer David Chase, who has 251 Primetime Emmy

69. Realtor’s favorite word?

70. Christmas, in Paris 71. Get a whiff of DOWN 1. Long leg bone 2. Neighbor of an Armenian 3. Lifesaver in a hosp.

4. Reaction to a silly emoji 5. Spice mix for meat 6. Thing 7. Oddly comical 8. “Lah-di-___!”

9. Harmonize 10. Skiing surfaces 11. Involving young patients 12. Senator’s staffer 13. “Projections” from the sun 19. Conked on the head 22. Benz- follower 25. Chill with friends 26. Lake bordering Pennsylvania 30. Wanted poster acronym 31. Opera with an Ethiopian princess 32. Parks who stood for civil rights while seated 33. Big ones may hinder teamwork 34. Cologne container 35. Unconventional work of fiction 36. “It’s chilly!”

39. ___ de corps (morale) 40. Eggs of a fish 41. Baby’s response to a pat on the back 42. What turns on a radio?

47. Paid (up) 48. Tooth protector 49. “United Shades of America” channel 50. African animals that whoop 53. Fill with joy 54. Crop up

nominations, can cook up. My friend who had only seen half of the first season was quaking equally as much as I was.

“The Many Saints of Newark” sets itself aside from other mafia classics by fleshing out an ugly, compelling story of humanity, capitalism, and family love that is not just entertaining, but relatable and existential. This is what made “The Sopranos” so popular, and what will cement this film as one of the best of 2021.

ADMIT ONE

Grade: A Got yourself another Mafia classic ADMIT ONE

CONNECT WITH EMILY ROSENBERG erosenberg@student.framingham.edu

55. Courtroom mallet 56. Shoplift, say 57. Treats, as a sprain 58. Crime syndicate head 59. Greenish-blue 63. ___-cone w65. Source of 20s Puzzle solutions are now exclusively online.

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PHOTOS

16 | NOVEMBER 5, 2021

Swiacki Children’s Literature Festival

Sophie Blackall and Javaka Steptoe signing books at the Children’s Literature Festival Nov. 3.

English Professor Desmond McCarthy displaying a book at the Children’s Literature Festival Nov. 3.

Audience members attending the Children’s Literature Festival Nov. 3.

Sophie Blackall presenting about her past experiences at the Children’s Literature Festival Nov. 3.

[Editor’s Note: Desmond McCarthy is the advisor of The Gatepost.]

Spread by Maddison Behringer, Asst.

Design Editor and Emma Lyons, Asst.

Design Editor /THE GATEPOST

Photos by Ryan O’Connell Asst. Arts & Features Editor / THE GATEPOST

Cathryn Mercier displaying a book at the Children’s Literature Festival Nov. 3.

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