The Hofstra Chronicle, April 2, 2024

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Students explode with laughter during Sal Vulcano comedy show NEWS

By Frankie DiCalogero SPORTS EDITOR

Hofstra University welcomed “Impractical Jokers” star and comedian Sal Vulcano to Hempstead, New York, on Wednesday, March 27. The Office of Student Leadership and Engagement (OSLE) organized the event, which took place at the John Cranford Adams Playhouse.

Because Vulcano is a fixture and household name in New York and New Jersey, it was an almost immediate sellout of the event.

Samantha Diamond, a sophomore television and business major, was thrilled when she discovered she could see Vulcano perform for a second time.

“I was like, I can’t wait to see him again; this is going to be so good,” Diamond said.

Vulcano opened hot, giving the packed theater a chance to vent to him about everything wrong with Hofstra’s dorms. While it started as a funny opening segment for the comedian to get his feet wet with the crowd, some believed the horror stories told by the students dragged on a bit too long.

“I loved it, I love Sal, but I wish we didn’t spend half of his set complaining about the school,” said Craig Mannino, a sophomore English and writing studies major.

TUESDAY April 2, 2024

Eventually, Vulcano moved on from the impromptu Q&A and began telling hilarious stories that garnered thunderous response from the audience. He told stories about how he doesn’t like to go out anymore, drunken messages he’s sent to Uber, helping his landlord with a potential home invasion and his childhood encounter with the Tooth Fairy.

“I thought Sal was really funny,” said Emma Eitel, a sophomore video/television major. “It was a really nice break from my rigorous class and extracurricular schedule to just go out and get a good laugh.”

“The show was amazing,” Diamond said. “I even got the opportunity to meet Sal after the show. He was so welcoming and nice.”

With recent successful comedy shows featuring Colin Jost and now Vulcano, students are already sharing their thoughts on who they’d like to see come to campus next.

“I would love to see someone like John Mulaney,” Mannino said. “I think that would be awesome, but that’s pretty farfetched. Maybe someone like David Cross?”

“It probably could never happen, but I’d say Bo Burnham would be an ideal comedian to come to Hofstra,” Eitel said.

OPINION

Gatekeepers and elitists are ruining music

By Ryan Monke ASSISTANT OPINION EDITOR

There is perhaps nothing that irks a music fan more than being

prompted by other fans to prove their allegiance to a particular band or artist. Arguments over being a real or fake fan

cause divisions in communities that should be focused on the exploration and enjoyment of art. Many music fans often become so connected with what they listen to that they become territorial over their favorite bands and artists, feeling the need to gatekeep their favorite music and exclude new listeners who might be just discovering the artist.

Many die-hard fans assert what they feel is their superior status by calling into question the validity of other peoples’ fandom, creating a harmful culture of gatekeeping and elitism that is ruining music.

The Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice celebrates its 7th anniversary

By Moriah Sukhlal NEWS EDITOR

Hofstra University’s Student Center Theater was filled with an exuberant crowd on Wednesday, March 13, as faculty and students gathered to celebrate the Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice’s seventh

anniversary and to welcome the new interim dean of the School of Education, Kevin Kumashiro. The Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice has served Hofstra and the local community since its conception on March 8, 2017. According to Jonathan Lightfoot, the cen-

ter’s director and a professor of teaching, learning and technology, the center resulted from the 2016 American Association of University Professors’ contract negotiations. At the time, there were not many faculty members of color employed at Hofstra.

“Our appeal to the president and provost at the time was to support our vision of creating a center that addressed that concern by demonstrating to prospective and current faculty that we have the scholarship, the research, teaching and service, particularly when rendered at the intersection of issues of race and racism, diversity, equity, inclusion and social justice for historically marginalized and oppressed peoples,” Lightfoot said.

Students crowded the John Cranford Adams Playhouse to attend a comedy show by “Impractical Jokers” star Sal Vulcano.

Photo courtesy of the Office of Student Leadership and Engagement

Gatekeeping music hurts prospective fans of well-known bands.

Photo courtesy of Austin Neill on Unsplash

The Center for “Race,” Culture and Social Justice celebrates seven years of service to the Hofstra community in race and social justice issues.

Moriah Sukhlal / The Hofstra Chronicle NEWS

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Interim dean of the School of Education gives distingushed lecutre

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Throughout its history, the center has worked to give a voice to scholars of color and bring light to pressing social justice issues on Hofstra’s campus. “We hosted monthly colloquium series [and] offer a competitive faculty summer research grant and an African scholars distinguished lecture,” Lightfoot said.

Business

Recently, the center launched its podcast series “Critical Conversations: For the Culture.”

The first season explored the intersection of politics and race amidst the repeal of affirmative action and its implication for the future of education.

Holding true to their mission of assisting to ensure diversity among Hofstra’s faculty, the center “takes credit for Hofstra hiring its first chief diversity and inclusion officer … and reviving the Africana Studies program,” Lightfoot said.

In his opening remarks, Lightfoot emphasized the need to name the current moment that implicates the U.S. political and educational climate. In a time of book banning, fear of critical race theory, lowered access to reproductive healthcare and rampant institutional racism, “educators are walking on eggshells,” Lightfoot said.

To expand on the intersections of education, history and politics, which are critical components of the center’s mission in advocating for social justice rights, Kumashiro was invited to provide a distinguished lecture. Kumashiro was the former dean of the School of Education at the University of San Francisco, is an award-winning author and is an expert in educational policy, school reform, teacher preparation, and educational equity and justice.

His interactive lecture, “Aloha Shirts, Hula and Baseball: How Anxieties about and Cultural Technologies toward Hawaii and Japan Helped Shape the U.S. Neo-Empire,” began by asking the audience, “What is the purpose of education?”

“I believe the purpose of education is to expand one’s knowledge and brain func-

tioning as well as building a sense of community within and outside of the classroom,” said Isabella Ritieni, a junior early childhood and childhood education major. “Education also prepares students for adulthood as they acquire numerous skills and they get a sense of how they would like to participate in their community.”

The central theme of Kumashiro’s lecture was to provide an answer to the purpose of education. While education plays a central role in advancing democracy, it also has the potential to hinder it. “It can open our minds, it can also close

countries that try to colonize, or basically try to control other people’s lands, one way they accomplish that is through force,” Kumashiro said. “But another way they accomplish that is through messages in education, the stories that we are telling each other.”

Kumashiro explained that aloha shirts, hula and baseball reflect this notion since they are examples of cultural artifacts conveying stories. Stories that tell of other people and places but also “convey stereotypes or simplistic versions of who we are and what we are trying to do in the world,” Kumashiro said.

our minds; it can get us to ask questions, it can also close off the possibilities of imagination,” Kumashiro said.

In his lecture, Kumashiro reflected on his childhood in Hawaii. He recounted a personal journey into his family’s history, spurred by the passing of an aunt who left behind a wealth of compiled interviews and materials which led him to explore the cultural significance of aloha shirts, hula and baseball. According to Kumashiro, these artifacts intersect with Hawaii’s history, including its exportation and appropriation by external forces like the U.S. military and how these forces have shaped global perceptions of Hawaiian culture.

“When we think about

this moment?”

Ashish Perukari, a graduate business student, reflected on the pliant nature of education to recent inventions and said, “Perhaps, for the first time after the industrial revolution, the education system is facing a serious crisis ... With new inventions, all the age-old [post-colonial] ideas of what education is meant to do are being broken every day.”

When made public to the general masses, schools have historically “played the sorting mechanism in society,” explained Kumashiro. Schools were established to socialize the growing population, teach them how to fit into society and affirm the social hierarchy. While Kumashiro asserted that education plays a role in “allowing a group to maintain control,” he did acknowledge that education is contradictory.

“Even when you set up a system to teach people to think a certain way, people will always end up thinking in multiple ways,” Kumashiro said.

The center hopes to expand on Kumashiro’s beliefs on education in the future.

“[The stories] were so huge to me growing up in Hawaii,” Kumashiro said. “It was only recently that I began to realize that they have these really complicated histories that tell us a lot about the power of cultural stories.”

Kumashiro said that he draws from the works of Paulo Freire, who argued that “we shouldn’t dive too quickly down a path to solve a problem until we first more deeply understand what that problem is.”

Concerning Lightfoot’s previous emphasis on naming the moment, Kumashiro asked the audience to consider, “How would you name the moment that we are in, particularly regarding the intervention that education should be making in

“The center’s future rests on securing more outside funding so it can be comparable to similar institutions of greater size and impact,” said Veronica Lippencott, the associate director of the center and an adjunct associate professor of global studies and geography. “We need dedicated staff so that the directors can focus on more research, publications and more campus and community initiatives.”

In reflection on the current state of affairs, Kumashiro expressed that education should be unpredictable. “It should be allowing people to come up with answers that you haven’t yet anticipated,” Kumashiro said.

Interim dean Kevin Kumashiro conducts an interactive lecture asking the audience to consider the purpose of education in regard to the U.S. current state of affairs.

Moriah Sukhlal / The Hofstra Chronicle

What Happens There Affects Us Here: Hofstra students take to panel to discuss Israel-Hamas war and its effects here

By Julia Capitelli

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Six Hofstra students took to an anthropology discussion panel titled “What Happens There, Affects Us Here” on Thursday, March 14, to share their experiences in the United States as they relate to Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza. Each of the panelists gave presentations in which they told personal stories and individually called for action.

The panel was moderated by anthropology professor Timothy P. Daniels. He worked closely with the panelists and Hofstra club Student Voices for Palestine to organize the event.

“We decided on that panel, we wanted it to be a studentfocused panel where we would get their stories and their experiences and their views,” Daniels said.

Among the panelists was Zainab Mozawalla, a senior pre-law student triple majoring in economics, global studies and political science who spoke about how her identity ties her to the ongoing assault.

“As a Muslim, of course, it pains me to see my people hurt and have the same false rhetoric always being spread,” Mozawalla said. “Not being looked at as human and murder being justified because of the word ‘terrorist.’”

History professor Carolyn Eisenberg, an expert on U.S foreign policy, had a small part in organizing the panel and also attended. She said that many students on campus are unin-

formed and that it is important that we pay attention. She aims to create a space where students can civilly share their perspectives in her own class discussions. Eisenberg said that it was a positive thing for these students to tell their stories on the panel.

“I was glad that the students that spoke found their voices,” Eisenberg said. “I thought they were very calm and very clear about some of their experiences.”

Giovanni Salsa, a junior history major and an assistant news editor for The Hofstra Chronicle, also shared a personal account on the panel. As a Palestinian Christian with family from the West Bank, his presentation discussed his relationship with his identity and how it has changed over time.

Panelists also spoke about the treatment they experience in the U.S. regarding people’s reactions to their identities and views. Michael Katzen, a freshman filmmaking major who is Jewish-American, said that he does not support Israel’s activity in Gaza and the West Bank and shared how people have reacted to him taking this stance.

“Because I’m vocal against the violence, because I’m vocal against the hatred against the Palestinians and Muslim Americans living over here, I am accused of being a tokenized Jew,” he said. “I’m accused of using my Jewish heritage as a way of devaluing what’s going on. I’m accused of wanting another Holocaust.”

Another panelist was freshman political science major Alisha Paracha, who shared an incident that happened before she attended a vigil held by Student Voices for Palestine on Monday, March 11.

“I walked out of my house wearing a keffiyeh [a traditional Palestinian scarf],” she said. “I was taking my car out of the driveway, and as I drove away from my house, a man stuck his hand out of the car, put up his middle finger, and made a bunch of hand gestures towards me and drove away.”

Many students attended the panel and asked questions, causing the panel to run over its allotted time frame during common hour. Daniels said that there is discussion of holding a second installment of the event, which he hopes comes to fruition. “I think that there are a lot of critical questions that were raised that we could follow up on in a part two,” he said.

Similarly, Eisenberg said she hopes people continue to speak out and share their stories. She suggested hosting a moderated discussion where students have time to share perspectives and engage in constructive discourse.

“Our other job is to create a space … [where] we let different ideas about it come out,” Eisenberg said. “And really encourage students to engage with each other in a friendly way so that they can learn from each other.”

Graphic designed by Giovanni Salsa and information compiled by Sophia Guddemi

From left to right, students Alma Glavatovic, Alisha Paracha, Ritika Singh, Michael Katzen, Giovanni Salsa and Zainab Mozawalla share their perspectives on the war on Gaza.

Photo courtesy of Julia Capitelli

Campus Dining explores new grocery program

By Madeline Sisk

COPY CHIEF

Hofstra Campus Dining by Compass Group released its newest addition to the dining program, an online grocery pick-up service called Dutch Express, on Feb. 1. Since then, students have been able to place orders using an online order form on Monday and pick them up at Dutch Treats on Friday. The first orders were delivered

grocery options through dining points.

“As an opportunity to possibly address certain students with dietary restrictions and also lower costs, is there a possibility for maybe increasing the options at Dutch or offering student discounts in grocery stores?” Hunter asked at the meeting. “You know, like giving student discounts to certain grocery stores that are accessible

“The planning and decisionmaking process involved putting together a student focus group which included six different students with different class standings,” Meehan said. “During those feedback sessions, we were able to get insight from students to see what they would like from this program.”

Hunter said that it was at these meetings that Campus Dining revealed that they intended to implement an online grocery program to pick up at the Dutch Treats location. Due to concerns about food waste, an in-person grocery section would not be possible. After being given this new information, students were asked questions regarding their preferences for pickup times and what preliminary items they would like to see on the list of available groceries.

“We originally had pitched certain meat products like chicken and beef, fresh fruits and vegetables, of course, spices, butter, milk, cheese, bread, eggs, deli meats, stuff like that,”

Amid concerns from students about the limited options, Meehan clarified that the program is still in the early stages of development.

“We continue to expand upon the selection as this program progresses and [we] receive more feedback and requests,” Meehan said. “We are still in the infancy stages of the program and look forward to receiving feedback so that we can best tailor to the needs of the students.”

After the most recent test kitchen event, a California sushi roll kit was also made available for pickup. Nunes said she wished they would implement more things like it.

“I also just wish they would have meal or recipe options,” Nunes said. “For a convenience program, I want it to be actually convenient. Give me all the ingredients I need and a recipe, and I would use it all the time.”

Student hesitancies like those of Nunes are not unusual for the program. Campus Dining is struggling to get the word out effectively.

even know about it until [my friend] told me a couple weeks ago. I don’t think I ever would have otherwise.”

Among residential students, engagement is even lower.

“By looking at their meal plans during the process, we can see that this program is most popular with commuting students,” Meehan said.

Hunter believes that while this may be true in part, it may not the whole story.

“I think that commuter students are probably more likely to be open to cooking and stuff like that because a lot of students who are dorming may just want to go get sushi,” Hunter said. “I do think that there is still a demographic that could be reached for it.”

Nunes, a residential student, explained her hesitancy to use the program despite her initial excitement about the potential to have more allergen-free items on campus.

“I think the program is great for people who don’t have cars, but I do have one,” Nunes said.

“We continue to expand upon the selection as this program progresses and [we] receive more feedback and requests ... We are still in the infancy stages of the program and look forward to receiving feedback so that we can best tailor to the needs of the students.”

on Feb. 9.

“Dutch Express is our new online grocery pick-up program, meant to provide convenience and flexible options for the community,” said Lexis Meehan, the marketing manager for Campus Dining. “Guests can simply order what they want online or via mobile, choose a time that works best for them to pick up and have their groceries ready for them to put up.”

The idea for Dutch Express originally came from a meeting on Oct. 6, 2023, attended by administrators, Campus Dining and students. During this meeting, junior music business major Alyria Hunter asked about

through the Hofstra shuttle that we are able to take to grocery stores.”

After the meeting, Jade Cheng, the Campus Dining director of operations, contacted Hunter to work on implementing a grocery program for students.

Students such as sophomore engineering major Rylie Nunes looked forward to the inclusion of some type of grocery option. “Well, I have allergies. I’m gluten-free, so I feel like they could use this program to help give me more food options on campus,” Nunes said.

Students were heavily involved in the development process for the program.

Hunter said.

Some of students’ original ideas such as raw meat were not possible due to packaging and supply issues that do not conform with Campus Dining’s sustainability commitment. To circumvent this issue, they decided on deli meats as a viable option. Another concern was getting fresh fruits and vegetables, as Campus Dining sources their food entirely from local and regional sources. As a result, seasonal items could not always be available. Currently, there are some fruits and vegetables that are available on the Dutch Express order form while they are in season.

“The biggest challenge has been promoting the program and getting participants,” Meehan said.

However, aside from a single social media post in the form of a highlight on their Instagram page, @eatingathofstra, most of the promotional work has been left up to the students.

“Social media is definitely a big thing with our generation. And so that’s how most people get their information,” Hunter said. “I posted it on a couple different Hofstra things like Fizz and then the Hofstra Snapchat [story].”

Nunes said she only found out by word of mouth. “I didn’t

When Nunes has the chance to get off campus, she said she’d rather “go to the grocery store where they have more options; nothing I get at the grocery store they have on the program anyway.”

With Dutch Express in its earliest phase, Campus Dining still has a long way to go with this program.

“I think as time goes on, it’ll get more traction,” Hunter said. “And I think maybe getting some more fruit options and stuff like that, but I think that’s kind of something that comes with time and as they work through the program.”

Campus Dining now offers a weekly grocery pickup program at Dutch Treats.

Jacob Lewis / The Hofstra Chronicle

On April 8, at 4 a.m., the RSR working in Bill of Rights Hall reported to PS that two HU students and a non-student failed to comply with Hofstra guest policy and verbally harassed the RSR. The non-student was banned from campus, and the two students were issued referrals to CS for their actions.

Public Safety Briefs

Compiled by Moriah Sukhlal

visitor, was hit by vehicle two, also driven by a non-student visitor who attempted to park next to them in parking field 6A. There was damage to the back left bumper on vehicle one and front right bumper on vehicle two. No injuries were reported, and police assistance was declined at the time.

On April 8, at 11:14 p.m., the RA in Utrecht House reported to

and the building was evacuated. PS, the plant department and the Uniondale Fire Department responded to the location. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

On March 27, at 9:20 a.m., an HU student was attempting to park when they accidentally hit the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing the vehicle to hit a bush and land on the curb. A Hofstra tow truck removed the vehicle from the curb, and no injuries were reported.

On April 14, at 5:25 p.m., the fire alarm in Hampton House was activated due to burnt food in the kitchen. The alarm sounded, and the building was evacuated. PS, the plant department and the Uniondale Fire Department responded to the location. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

On March 27, at 3:52 p.m., an HU student reported that another HU student was bringing their non-service animal into unauthorized locations. This case has been referred to SAS.

On March 8, at 10:56 a.m., the fire alarm at Constitution Hall was activated due to an accidental trip by the plumbers working in Estabrook Hall. PS and Plant responded. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

On March 22, at 1:34 a.m., the fire alarm at Leiden House sounded due to waterflow. Four people were evacuated within two minutes. PS, Plant and UFD responded. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

PS that, while conducting rounds, there were loud noises coming from a room. PS responded and discovered open bottles of alc

On April 8, at 4 a.m., the RSR working in Bill of Rights Hall reported to PS that two HU students and a non-student failed to comply with Hofstra guest policy and verbally harassed the RSR. The nonstudent was banned from campus, and the two students were issued referrals to CS for their actions.

On March 11, at 1:10 p.m., an HU student reported that they parked their car in parking field 1 and went to class. Upon their return, there were dents and scuff marks on the driver’s side rear door. There were no injuries reported, and police assistance was declined.

On April 15, at 10:19 a.m., the fire alarm in New York House was activated due to burnt food in the kitchen. The alarm sounded, and the building was evacuated. PS, the plant department and the Uniondale Fire Department responded to the location. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

On March 26, at 10:20 a.m., a non-Hofstra student driver of vehicle one backed into vehicle two, also driven by a non-Hofstra student visitor, causing damage to vehicle two’s taillight and bumper. No injuries were reported. Hempstead police responded and took a report.

On April 8, at 11:14 p.m., the RA in Utrecht House reported to PS that, while conducting rounds, there were loud noises coming from a room. PS responded and discovered open bottles of alcohol. Six students were issued referrals to CS.

On March 11, at 1:35 p.m., an HU student reported that they parked their car in parking field 6 in the morning. Upon their return in the afternoon, there was damage to the left rear door. No injuries were reported, and police assistance was declined at the time.

On March 27, at 7:27 p.m., the fire alarm at Stuyvesant Hall sounded due to vaping. Sixtyfour people were evacuated within one minute. PS, Plant and UFD responded. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

On April 15, at 6:53 p.m., an HU student reported to PS that they lost their wallet containing their driver’s license, Hofstra ID, debit card and cash. The wallet was lost in a location off campus. The NCPD responded and took a report.

On April 16, at 9:44 a.m., an HU student reported to PS that some of their laundry was missing from the laundry room in Alliance Hall. The student requested a police response.

On March 26, at 1:55 p.m., the fire alarm at Amsterdam House sounded due to burnt food. Six people were evacuated within two minutes. PS, Plant and UFD responded. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

On April 11, at 10:20 a.m., an HU plant employee reported to PS that he accidentally damaged a vehicle owned by another Hofstra employee on Holland Road while working on the main campus. The owner of the vehicle was notified about the damage and responded to PS.

On March 16, at 2:41 p.m., the fire alarm in the Graduate Residence Hall sounded due to smoke from burnt food. Twenty-seven people were evacuated within one minute. PS, Plant and UFD responded. The situation was corrected, and the fire alarm was reset.

On March 27, at 8:42 p.m., an HU student was vaping in their room, causing the fire alarm to activate. Two other students failed to evacuate during the fire alarm. Those students will be referred to CS.

On March 28, at 5:25 a.m., an HU employee was driving when they backed into a parked vehicle. Damage was sustained to the parked vehicle’s driver’sside fender.

On April 16, at 10:26 p.m., an HU student was issued a referral to CS for swiping an unknown person into Netherlands South.

On April 17, at 9 a.m., an HU student

On March 17, at 10:30 a.m., it was reported to PS that vehicle one, driven by a non-student

On April 11, at 2:18 p.m., it was reported to PS that an unknown person wrote messages in chalk on the sidewalk on the south side of Hofstra Hall. Photos were taken of the graffiti, and an investigation is being conducted into this matter. The plant department was notified for cleanup.

On April 12, at 9:50 p.m., the fire alarm in Estabrook Hall was activated due to hair care products. The alarm sounded,

reported to PS that an unknown vehicle struck their vehicle in the law school parking lot. The student had a dashcam video, and the Hempstead police respond-

Alexis Friedman / The Hofstra Chronicle

FEATURES

Personal Essay: The struggle with cardiovascular disease

By Narissa Outar SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

My Guyanese family is no stranger to the horrors of cardiovascular disease. In 2014, my grandmother underwent open heart surgery at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center. My grandmother had received multiple stents implanted into her heart, evidence of modern medical innovations and the dedication of healthcare professionals.

Looking back, I have a profound gratitude for the advancements that have been made in medical science that offer hope and healing in times of crisis. And most importantly, that event reinforced the bonds of family as we rallied around my grandmother, offering our unwavering support and love throughout her recovery.

A year later in 2015, that support was once again in a year marked by heartache and uncertainty as we received news that would impact our lives forever.

At the age of 43, my mother was diagnosed with systolic cardiomyopathy, or heart failure. It began with a cough that stuck with her for months. Concerned, my mother reached out to her doctor, and despite extensive medical investigations, the source of her condition remains inconclusive.

Doctors speculate that it may have started from a viral infection, as the coughing was remnants of the flu my mother had been battling months before. Supporting this theory, a CDC study examining over 80,000 U.S. adults hospitalized with the flu concluded that sudden and severe heart complications were not uncommon, present in about one in eight patients. Even with this evidence, there is still no definite source of the cause.

Through multiple tests, it was revealed that my mother’s heart failure was already at a critical point, evidenced by her reduced ejection fraction percentage plummeting to 15%. To put this into perspective, a normal ejection fraction, which is a measurement of the percentage

of blood leaving the heart each time it contracts, ranges from 50 to 70%.

My mother’s selflessness knows no bounds; it is woven into the very fabric of her being. At the time of her diagnosis, I was only 10 years old, and my

a testament to her unwavering dedication to our well-being above all else. Only in hindsight do I understand the magnitude of her sacrifice.

I was only told the truth when I confronted my mother about the detailed medical papers

“My mother’s selflessness knows no bounds; it is woven into the very fiber of her being. At the time of her diagnosis, I was only 10 years old, and my sister was nine.”

sister was nine. In the face of her diagnosis and the new challenges it presented, my mother made a remarkable decision to shield her young children from the weight of her condition.

Looking back, my mother’s choice to keep her struggle hidden from us was something only a mother could do, an act of the purest form of love and

folded neatly in her purse during one of her cardiology appointments. For a ten-year-old, the papers didn’t mean much, but the word cardiology rang a bell from my grandmother’s experience the previous year, and I knew something was not right. It was then, standing in those cold, sterile hospital corridors, that my mother finally told me about her

diagnosis, tears streaming down her face the entire time. Over the next three years, the cardiology department at the North Shore University Hospital became a familiar place, a backdrop to the intricacies of her condition and the countless appointments that followed.

My mother became sort of a medical mystery. Firstly, she had none of the symptoms commonly associated with such progressed heart failure (such as shortness of breath, swelling or fatigue) besides the cough that started it all, and even that eventually went away with prescribed heart failure medication. As I accompa-

nied my mother to more appointments, I witnessed the perplexity that her condition posed to the medical professionals entrusted with her care.

Doctors marveled at one of their biggest questions: how did she have children despite her progressed heart condition? It was a puzzle yet to be solved. As my sister and I tagged along on her appointments, I met her team, including the head of cardiology. Their expertise and kindness offered a glimmer of hope amidst the uncertainty. In their presence, I found reassurance and comfort, knowing that she was in the best hands as we embarked on this journey together.

The turning point arrived after months of grappling with the limitations of various medications when my mother’s dedicated medical team delivered a stark ultimatum: without a pacemaker, her life expectancy fell to five years. Doctors informed her that her heart was in the same condition as an 80-year-old, someone almost twice her age.

Normally, a patient would accept that without question, but not my mother. With her usual stubbornness, born from years of overcoming obstacles, she met their prognosis with defiance, declining the pacemaker despite the dire consequences. And with that, she made the bold decision to relocate our family to Florida.

Time proved to be both an adversary and an ally. Over the next five years, she endured prolonged periods without seeing her cardiac specialist and without having the essential medications she needed, primarily due to high monthly costs that my family could not afford. It reached a point where purchasing a one-month supply of Entresto, the drug she needed the most, was considered a luxury for my mother.

I felt beyond helpless. There was no one else I needed in this world more than my mother. During these years, I stood by as more members of my family on both my mother’s and father’s

Photo Courtesy of Narissa Outar

FEATURES

Personal Essay: The struggle with cardiovascular disease

CONTINUED FROM A6

side received their diagnoses of cardiovascular disease.

Eight years passed and it became increasingly apparent that my mother’s health was declining in the weeks leading up to my arrival at Hofstra University.

We received the news that she would be undergoing a defibrillator implantation by the year’s end, and this time, there was no denying it. Despite beating the odds of survival, her heart was not able to go back to normal strength.

At a time when moving away to college was supposed to be a simple, bittersweet moment in a teenager’s life, it became the most bitter and regretful thing I had ever chosen to do. How could I leave my family in their time of need? My mom put her own worries and fears aside and

made sure I packed up my car and drove back up the East Coast to attend Hofstra.

Once again, her decision encapsulated her unwavering commitment to prioritizing others’ well-being above her own. She never wanted me to miss out on opportunities that would ensure me a better future than the life she’d had.

The prevailing narrative surrounding heart failure is that treatment will transform your life and alleviate all burdens. It’s a comforting notion that undergoing medical procedures to address the condition will somehow miraculously lift the weight off your shoulders. However, it’s just that – a notion.

In Dec. 2023, my mother decided to embrace her fate, opting to undergo the implantation of a Medtronic AICD (automatic implantable cardioverter defibril-

lator) or, as she jokingly calls it, her “robot.” It has been almost two months since her procedure, and I watch as she navigates even the normalities of life more cautiously, unable to do some of the things she once could like brushing her own hair.

My mother’s condition causes me to be constantly concerned that she might overexert herself and put undue strain on her new pacemaker. Sometimes, I let myself ponder the consequences, envisioning a life without her, but I swiftly pull back from those thoughts, chastising myself for delving into such dire scenarios. These emotions stem from years of witnessing her navigate this condition, yet I am only an outsider looking into her condition. Amidst the tumult of navigating my mother’s journey through heart failure, a silver lining emerged earlier in 2023, a guid-

ing light illuminating my path.

During my senior year in high school, as I started on the dreadful task of applying to colleges, my childhood dream of becoming a doctor remained the same. As I looked deeper into college options along the East Coast, Hofstra University emerged as a possibility, with its admirable medical school that partnered with Northwell Health, which many of the hospitals my family received care from were affiliates of.

As I continue my undergraduate journey, the memories of the compassionate individuals who aided my grandmother’s and mother’s journey through cardiovascular disease remain etched in my mind. Their dedication served as an inspiration, fueling my determination to follow in their footsteps.

In honoring the attacks of

this disease within my Guyanese family, I am committed to following a path that not only fulfills my childhood dream, but also serves a greater purpose: to heal, to educate and to uplift those in need, especially in my West Indian community – a population disproportionately affected by cardiovascular disease, yet often overlooked in public health discourse.

As a cardiologist, my goal would not be to change the world. Instead, just like that team of doctors who helped my mom, it is to make a meaningful difference in the lives of as many individuals as possible, doing whatever I can and, most importantly, doing my best to serve my West Indian community by advocating and addressing their unique healthcare needs with compassion and dedication.

Hofstra University’s Career Closet: Preparing students for success with professional attire

By Piper Cherry SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Leo Karpel, a sophomore information systems major at Hofstra University, held up a white dress shirt in the mirror, seeing if he liked how it looked.

“I’m shopping for suits for everything,” Karpel said. “So many times in the future I’m going to need them.” He put back the first shirt in favor of a lavender button-up, nodding in satisfaction.

The Career Closet, a unique offering by Hofstra’s Center for Career Development, provides students with the opportunity to pick out free, new and gently used business attire to wear for interviews, internships, networking events or professional settings.

The Career Closet has been operating for five years but has seen a surge of popularity in recent semesters, as more and more workplaces are requiring staff and interns to return to the office following the pandemic. With the prices of clothing increasing consistently at stores,

it can be difficult for college students to afford professional, high-quality attire. Even just getting to the stores can be hard for students without cars.

“Our goal is to help eliminate barriers and level the playing field when it comes to applying for jobs and internships,” said Michelle Kyriakides, the executive director of the Center for Career Design and Development. “We know that students don’t often have professional attire that they would need for an internship or for an interview.”

Since beginning its services in 2018, the Career Closet has provided hundreds of students with the clothing they need. It is currently located in Hofstra’s Campus Living and Wellness Center. Initially, the Career Closet did not have a specific space, and the event would only run every once in a while.

“We would attract a couple hundred students to those types of events. Then what happened during the pandemic was we couldn’t do a-couple-hundred-student events,” Kyriakides

said. “So, we opened up by appointment. The feedback from the students was ‘We’d like this to be here all the time.’”

Alexa Cervo, a junior journalism major at Hofstra, knows the Career Closet well. “I actually worked for the Center for Career Design and Development last semester,” Cervo said. “I visit it at least once a semester.”

While working at the closet for a school year, Cervo helped to go through the clothing donations and pick out articles of clothing that had the potential to be good for a job interview or any other professional setting.

All clothes in the Career Closet come from donations, whether that’s from alumni, local organizations or other students. With clothes coming from so many different places, the Career Closet has anything one might need.

“I’ve gone there for dress shirts, for pants, for ties. Sometimes they have suit jackets,” said Daniel Lopez, a junior accounting major. “They really have everything.”

As great as it is, many students don’t realize the Career Closet is there.

“I’m not even sure I know what that is,” said Ryan Bemben, a freshman film studies and production major.

Now that he knows about the Career Closet, he plans to go. “I don’t really have any professional clothes so it’s good to know about,” Bemben said.

Hofstra was the first institution on Long Island to implement a Career Closet, according to Kyriakides. This has since

inspired numerous other universities in the area to open them as well.

“It really is a dream come true, it’s something that I had wanted to do throughout my career,” said Kyriakides. “I think that’s my proudest part about this is that it’s spread around the area.”

The career closet is open every Monday and Wednesday during common hour and it is located in the Wellness and Campus Living Center. Donations are accepted in the Center for Career Design and Development.

Photo courtesy of Piper Cherry

M AN ON THE U NISPAN

Who is your favorite fictional villain?

By Zoe Casselman and Abby Gibson FEATURES EDITOR AND ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

O verheard @ h O fstra

“Sometimes the birds get confused and slam into the building and die.”

“I want to marry him. I want him to be my grandpa.”

“I talked about your autism at the brewery today!”

“Alicent

“Remember when my car caught on fire and my ‘Zootopia’ plush blew up?”

“Is squelching a gay thing?”

“Woke up bright and early with my tits out.”

“I am his mommy bird.”

“Jesus is not locking in here.”

“Should I flash Sal Vulcano?”

“I was chanting ‘Ozempic.’ It wasn’t catching on.”

Spread by Audra Nemirow

“The first thing that came to my brain was Ursula because she’s serving fish.”

- Maiah Massotti, junior

“Loki is the best boy.”

- Ren Casiano, junior

Hightower from ‘House of the Dragon.’ I don’t really think she’s a villain, but I guess she’s against the protagonist.”

- Nya Brooks, sophomore

Zoe Casselman / The Hofstra Chronicle

Personal Essay: What I’ve learned about friendships in college (so far)

By Aidan Judge ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

There’s a multitude of life lessons one can learn in college, like time management and financial responsibility. But some harder lessons are mixed in there as well (such as pretty much anything related to excessive alcohol consumption). The hardest lessons of all, predictably, are the ones about friendship.

Below are some of the most prominent lessons about friendship I’ve learned throughout my college career thus far – and let me be clear, I’m more than willing to bet there are more that I have yet to learn.

The first thing that comes to mind is something that I’ve found to be a tough pill to swallow: you will make mistakes and you will lose friends. The part I didn’t learn until personally experiencing this, however, is that it’s not the end of the world. Everything that happens to you in life that feels like a wrench thrown in your plans is there to make sure that you grow as a person, and college friendships are a perfect example of hardlearned life lessons.

In an environment where thousands of 18 to 22-year-olds are put into the most high-pressure experience of their entire lives, there is bound to be some tension. Nobody is perfect or the best version of themselves in college; that’s just the way it goes. You’re supposed to mess up, and you’re allowed to mess up horribly (and those who think otherwise likely haven’t hit their limit yet). What good is the college experience if you don’t gain anything from it?

Even though it sounds terrifying, if you don’t recognize your freshman self by the end of the college experience, then you did something right. I barely even recognize myself from a month ago. College is a constant state of evolution, and through that

series of changes, people will come and go, as scary as that can be. However, always trust that when one person exits, another person enters, and through that, you get another beautiful

it never feels good to willingly admit that you’ve made a mistake, especially in the realm of friendship.

When those mistakes happen, do not let your mind spiral. Soak

from your worst ones. It’s also never too late to start making new friends. This one also took me a while to figure out, which seems silly in hindsight, but it’s true. College is the

“College is the best opportunity you will ever have in your life to make friendships with people, and there are a million different ways to do it.”

opportunity to grow.

My next suggestion would be to not be so hard on yourself when these mistakes happen. As a self-proclaimed mistake-hater, this continues to be difficult to come to terms with.

For whatever reason, since I was younger, mistakes have always scared me deeply as opposed to motivating me with opportunities to grow. Trust me,

it in, and feel that pain for as long as you need to. However, (and this is where I’ve faltered in the past), very few mistakes end up becoming a defining moment in your life. In the moment, it seems overly indicative of what’s to come, but I promise you, mistakes in friendships are needed to move forward. Your best friends will be forever waiting for you if you don’t move on

best opportunity you will ever have in your life to make friendships with people, and there are a million different ways to do it.

From classes to clubs and even by randomly going up to people, you can often facilitate a friendship no matter what the circumstance may be. You’d also be surprised to know that sometimes your best friendships won’t come around until the

very end of your college career, so always keep a door open.

I’ve saved my best and most favorite piece of friendship advice for last. This piece of advice is a recent addition to my life, but it has saved me from a many spouts of conflict: only make things as deep as they need to be. Originally, I had debated if I wanted to word this as “It’s not that deep” or “don’t make things deeper than they need to be.” In all honesty, I realized that friendships – and their conflicts, in turn – can be deep, and that’s totally okay! Being able to have those intellectual, bond-forming conversations and confiding in a person about that thing that broke you allows for growth and positivity in a friendship. Having trust in your friendships is the best way to develop them, and it’s harder than you’d think. It’s difficult not to wonder, not to try and be as perfect or as cool a friend as you can be.

The best friendships are flawed. They have their moments of hardship and their moments of joy, and through those moments, those friendships come out stronger than they were before. My favorite way of putting this is that people feel the way they feel, and that’s okay.

Don’t get me wrong – at the end of the day, there is no universal way to solve any friendship issues you may encounter or any direct lessons you need to learn about friendship. I can almost guarantee that most friendship lessons that you learn in college will be ones that you aren’t expecting to learn, and maybe this makes things more comforting.

In the scariest and most transformative period of someone’s life, friendships can difficult to navigate, but trust that things will work out and you will become a better version of yourself by the end of it.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Smith / Unsplash

STUDENT SPOTLIGHT: Sky Hume

Sky is a junior music business major with a concentration in marketing. A typical day in her life is busy, balancing work, school and free time. Even though she has no Monday classes, Sky fills her day with working at an internship, mentoring at WRHU, and studying with friends and classmates. Every Monday ends with Unispan Records, the oncampus record label. Sky’s favorite drink on campus is the blackberry lemonade from Einstein Bros in C.V. Starr Hall.

Spread by Annie MacKeigan

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Annie MacKeigan / The Hofstra Chronicle

Arts And EntErtAinmEnt

By Nimba Mahlati STAFF WRITER

The term “renaissance” refers to a rebirth: a time of transition and transformation that involves artistic and cultural revival. As the COVID-19 lockdown began to end, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter felt a renaissance emerging, and she wanted to be a nurturing part of it. Beyoncé’s album “Renaissance” was born to share love, confidence and joy and is part of a three-act musical project.

“Renaissance” is more than a musical magnum opus; it is a reclamation. The EDM infused with messages about self-love also served as a homage to her late Uncle Johnny.

Beyoncé led the world into Act II, dubbed “Cowboy Carter,” on Friday, March 29. The album celebrates the music and recognition that was stolen from African American musicians.

“Cowboy Carter” carries with it profound socio-political implications that will certainly dictate how the world discusses and pays reverence to innovative artists whose legacy and impact

Beyoncé: Reclamation in renaissance

have long since been forgotten and erased.

If you say techno or EDM, people think of a dimly lit room of strangers dancing in Berlin. It wasn’t until the beginning of the 1990s, after the wall had fallen, that this music made its way into Germany.

Techno and EDM were born in Belleville, Michigan, out of

“...

know it today were founded by these young Black men who primarily played their music in underground venues and queer clubs. The music to them was the sound of social change, civil unrest and resistance.

Country music, like EDM, has Black origins. It incorporates the banjo – an instrument brought to America from West Africa

Black men who primarily played their music in underground venues and queer clubs. The music to them was the sound of social change, civil unrest and resistance. ”

the innovation of young Black men mixing tracks with drum machines, synthesizers and turntables. This sound was being developed at the same time as “house” music, where creators rummaged through otherwise useless materials to create a new unique sound. The “Death of Disco” was a catalyst for this at the end of the ‘70s.

The new genres of techno and house that led to EDM as we

through the transatlantic slave trade – and its sonic signature that is ever present and audible in country music.

Early country stars such as the Carter family were influenced by Black musicians such as Lesley Riddle, a blues and gospel guitar player and folklorist. Moreover, the melodies of several prominent country songs were taken from hymns performed by Black ministers in the South,

although, naturally, the song’s creators never received credit for this.

The next rumored genre to be explored for Act III is rock and roll. Although unconfirmed, Beyoncé is actively confronting the music industry’s past and how it has treated and accredited reverence to some genre’s founders in honoring and remembering them. Rock and roll is another genre with a tumultuous past. Beyoncé is helping to create awareness of the origins of these genres within pop culture so that the layman can gain further insight into the truth behind country music and EDM. Through that insight, it ensures its creators are not erased from history. It must be added that Beyoncé is doing this while delivering what may be the best vocal performances and live concerts in the history of the entertainment industry, creating a well-rounded repertoire of historical basis and unparalleled skill.

Quick Hits

Courtesy of People

“Godzilla x Kong” opened with $80 million at the box office this weekend.

Chance Perdomo, star of “Gen V,” has died at age 27 following a motorcycle crash.

Sean “Diddy” Combs is under scrutiny after a raid on his properties in LA, New York and Miami.

Courtesy of IMDb

Courtesy of Salon.com

Courtesy of IGN

Courtesy of AP News

Boxer Ronda Rousey has released a new memoir titled “Our Fight.”

Tori Spelling has filed for divorce from her husband Dean McDermott.

William Friedkin’s final masterpiece was the perfect farewell

By Varun Raju

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

2023 was a influential year for film when it came to blockbuster filmmaking and art cinema. At the Oscars, we saw the best lineup of nominations in years. Although the selected cultural canon of great cinematic work from the past year is diverse in terms of social inclusivity as well as cinematic mode, there are always films that don’t quite break through to the zeitgeist. One film that didn’t receive the recognition it deserves is “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial,” which would come to be the final film of one of the great American filmmakers of the twentieth century. William Friedkin died in August of last year, just 22 days before his 88th birthday and a month before the film’s release.

Friedkin had a long and treacherous relationship with Hollywood over his career spanning over six decades. He had incredible highs, including his win for Best Director at the Academy Awards for “The French Connection” (1971) which

won five Academy Awards in total, including Best Picture. He is best known for having directed “The Exorcist” (1974), a film whose production was plagued by deaths, fires and a litany of technical difficulties that led the cast and crew to believe that the set might be haunted. The film, however, would be hailed as a masterpiece by critics and audiences and established Friedkin’s position as one of the leading American filmmakers of the 1970s.

New Hollywood cinema in the 1970s, he remained an outsider, seemingly proud of his reputation as an enfant terrible, although many of his films were critical and commercial failures.

When his career seemed to

Party” (1968), an adaptation of Harold Pinter’s play, that helped him find his cinematic voice. When he was forgotten by the industry, written off in the late 2000s, it was his adaptations of “Bug” (2006) and “Killer Joe” (2011) that proved to the world that he was still more than capable as a filmmaker. His blunt, minimalistic and procedural style as a filmmaker was a perfect fit for adapting theater.

its captain (Keifer Sutherland) who he believes was acting in an unstable fashion, endangering the lives of the crew.

The film takes place entirely within a few interior locations, set almost in real-time as the walls close in on the characters wrestling with their morality, masculinity and the chains of bureaucracy. The material is perfectly within Friedkin’s expertise.

By Frankie DiCalogero SPORTS EDITOR

In 2023, the reality television series “The Traitors” made its way across the pond to the United States. Season 1 was a massive success, having assembled a cast of half-reality television stars and half-reality newcomers. Not to mention, the inaugural installment crowned a fantastic winner in “Survivor” legend, Cirie Fields.

For Season 2, it was announced that the entire cast would be made up of noteworthy reality stars and public figures.

Immediately after the cast was leaked, online spaces were buzzing over the star-studded and remarkable casting job that included legends of “Survivor,” “Big Brother” and “The Real Housewives.”

This season started with three traitors, two chosen by the host, Alan Cumming. The two selected

Even with his accolades, Friedkin often struggled within the Hollywood system and was infamous for his perilous relationships with producers and executives. Among the auteurs that emerged within the wave of

be in jeopardy, Friedkin tended to right his course through adaptations of stage plays. After a string of failures in the 1990s, it was his adaptation of “12 Angry Men” (1997) that steadied his career. When he was starting as a filmmaker, it was “The Birthday

After a 12-year hiatus from feature filmmaking, Friedkin blessed us with one more masterful adaptation before he left. Based on Herman Woulk’s play “The Caine Mutiny,” the film concerns a naval officer (Jake Lacy) standing on trial for mutiny after taking command of a ship from

Review: Season 2 of “The Traitors”

were former “Big Brother” winner Dan Gheesling and “Real Housewives” star Phaedra Parks. They then recruited a member of the “faithful” to join their traitorous circle. This recruited traitor was Parvati Shallow, a former “Survivor” winner. Despite coming into the game with a “mastermind” persona, Gheesling struggled greatly. He was outplayed by the non-gamers and was eaten alive in his final roundtable, where he became the first traitor banished from the season.

Gheesling’s gameplay was a disappointment, to say the least. His biggest downfall was underestimating the Housewives clique as well as thinking too far in advance to make any realtime decisions. Gheesling’s ego certainly got the best of him.

One of the surprisingly on-point players was Peter Weber from “The Bachelor.” Weber manipulated his fellow

players and easily found two of the traitors in Gheesling and Shallow, leading the faithful back into voting his way and sending both reality titans home.

Weber was by far the most dedicated faithful of the season. Midway, he was invited to join traitors but turned it down, citing that he had a better grasp of the game as a faithful and that it would be a betrayal to his alliance.

In one noteable return, Kate Chastain, a player from Season 1, entered the game midway and immediately began stirring the pot. Although Chastain is known less for her strategic skills and more for her comedic persona, she got the opportunity to show a different side of her, as she was recruited alongside Parks to be a traitor.

Disappointingly, Chastain struggled as a traitor. Many expected her to learn from her mistakes from the first season

and ultimately figure out how to reach the end in a comfortable spot. Although she did reach the end, she once again fell short and a lot of it was of her own doing.

The biggest highlight of the season was Parks. She was hilarious, strategic and, in simpler words, iconic. Even though she did not win, she laid out a blueprint of how future traitors should hope to play.

Besides the characters, there were also compelling storylines throughout, such as the friendship between former “Real World” and “The Challenge” stars Chris “C.T.” Tamburello and Trishelle Cannatella, the in-fighting between the traitors, and the “reconciliation” of “Survivor” legends Shallow and Sandra Diaz-Twine.

Despite the plethora of positives, some downsides hopefully can be improved upon in Season 3. The challenges, while difficult and somewhat

Sutherland’s quiet performance as a desperate leader whose downfall is a direct result of his ego and insecurities is one of the best of the year and was entirely ignored by any award ceremonies. Friedkin’s death is not the only thing that gives the film a bittersweet feeling; it was also the final performance from actor Lance Reddick – best known for his work in the “John Wick” film series – who died due to heart failure on March 17, 2023, at the age of 60. “The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial” is now available with a Showtime subscription and is a fitting farewell for one of the great American cinematic voices.

interesting, dragged on for far too long in the episodes. Some that had time limits also lost believability. Less time on competitions and more time on the social component of the game would make this show even better.

Some changes should also be addressed regarding the endgame, as the show gives the traitors too much of an advantage by allowing them to repeatedly recruit more people. That, plus potentially a more unpredictable final roundtable setup, would create even better television. Overall, Season 2 of “The Traitors” was a tremendous success that ended with Tamburello and Cannatella winning the grand prize of over $200,000. Season 3 has its work cut out for it, but seeing the success and popularity of this campy and whimsical show continue to rise, there is no doubt that great things are in store.

Photo courtesy of Parade

Friedkin died on August 7, 2023 at the age of 87.

By Matt Fisher

SPECIAL TO THE CHRONICLE

Famous American drag queen and television personality RuPaul is launching a battle against book banning with a brand-new online bookstore called Allstora. Allstora is trying to change the book industry by supporting underrepresented authors and promoting books with a focus on marginalized voices.

In a campaign to support the new bookstore, the drag superstar is sending a “Rainbow Book Bus” across the country. The bus will start in Los Angeles and travel to cities across the south to promote the freedom of literature by distributing books affected by book bans.

In recent years, there has been a significant rise in book banning, a controversial topic that deeply divides Democrats and Republicans. According to statistics presented by PEN America, during the first half of the 2022-2023 school year, over 1,400 books were banned. Thirty percent of the banned books discussed themes of race, and 26% were about LGBTQ+

subjects.

A new battle against book banning

“When we remove books from classrooms, we are giving students a world that doesn’t mirror the world that they actually live in,” said awardwinning author George M. Johnson. “It is creating a social environment where only one subject’s story gets told.”

Johnson’s 2020 memoir “All Boys Aren’t Blue” was the third-most banned or challenged book in 2021, according to The American Library Association.

“It’s erasure of a lot of the heinous and cruel ways in which this country was founded and how the ramifications of those cruel ways, i.e., genocide, slavery, still play a major role in society today,” Johnson said.

a Mockingbird’ and other books that focused on racial issues showed me American history from different points of view and helped me further explore my identity,” said freshman

“We’re focusing on the wrong things. There are other things that require our attention that need to be banned like guns and things like that, stuff that actually threatens people’s lives,” said sophomore television production and studies major Renelle Wilson.

Other students also expressed concerns about media erasure and a lack of representation.

“I think that if they are banned, children won’t be able to see people like themselves in media and literature which will then hinder their ability to be themselves,” said sophomore history and global studies major Sidney Moe.

that believe more in restricting access and people’s freedom to read,” Spindler said. “I think, ultimately, they don’t trust people to be able to read and interpret things themselves.”

Spindler also shared how those on Long Island are protected from the bans. “There is legislation already in the legislature that would hinder local communities from free and open access to titles.”

Regardless of whether Long Islanders are safe from the bans, other places continue to face an uphill battle.

By Abby Gibson ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR

The song “End of Beginning” by Djo has become the latest TikTok-turned-real-world hit. The song has taken the social media platform and the charts by storm. The identity behind Djo (pronounced “Joe”) is a name that might sound familiar – Joe Keery, who plays Steve Harrington in Netflix’s hit show “Stranger Things.” That’s not the only thing listed on Keery’s resume, which also includes 10 films, eight television shows and five albums. Keery was born in Newburyport, Massachusetts, and began acting through a summer performing arts program, continuing his involvement in theater in high school through stage crew. Music didn’t find its way onto his list of accomplishments until college, when he joined a band called

Students at Hofstra University also expressed their thoughts on the matter, saying that books they read in school helped shape who they are today.

“Reading books like ‘To Kill

Post Animal. He started on their debut album as a guitarist and drummer but changed to guitarist and vocalist for their second album.

Keery stopped touring with the band in 2019, believing that acting was getting in the way of being an active member of Post Animal. One must remember that 2019 was the release of Season 3 of “Stranger Things,” which quickly became the most popular season of the show at that time. He was also concerned about this fame overshadowing other members of the band. The leave was amicable, and he even coordinated a surprise performance of “When I Get Home” and “Dirtpicker” with the band in 2022.

computer science major Osuyuki Richardson.

Additionally, some students believe local governments are ignoring other pressing issues through their concentration on banning books.

When asked why there has been a recent rise in book bans, executive director of the Long Island Library Resources Council Tim Spindler said that conservatives do not trust people to read or interpret texts themselves.

“It comes down to a rise of certain conservative viewpoints

States visited by the “Rainbow Book Bus,” including Florida, Texas, Missouri and Utah, are leading the efforts to ban books. However, states like California and Illinois continue to dispute the bans by passing defensive bills and threatening library budget cuts. While book banning continues to be an ongoing issue, those in opposition, like RuPaul, continue to fight for the freedom of literature.

Keery began to release music under the name Djo in 2019 – his first single “Roddy” was released

on July 19. Though it didn’t hit the charts, he continued creating music. Keery used the pseudonym Djo so that listeners would be able to detach themselves from the Steve Harrington image and judge him based on the music.

While his identity isn’t secret, the pseudonym has mostly

worked out for him, as some on TikTok admitted their surprise at the connection. During performances, Keery also wears a brown wig that goes to his shoulders and wears glasses, almost as if he’s protecting his identity from show attendees. He has done a great deal to not have his biggest acting role to date overshadow his musical artistry.

In the beginning of this year, a TikTok trend using the lines “And when I’m back in Chicago, I feel it / Another version of me, I was in it / I wave goodbye to the end of beginning” from the song “End of Beginning” caught the attention of millions. By late February, the song was on charts around the world, hitting the No. 3 spot on Billboard’s Global 200.

Some used the song in TikToks in remembrance of their hometown or childhood, in line with the meaning Keery intended for the song. Keery attended DePaul University in Chicago for acting and booked his role as Steve Harrington in “Stranger Things” after graduating.

This song has become a standout for Keery as it has helped many discover his music. Through a simple TikTok, his musical talent saw overnight support and celebration at a height not previously seen for him. It will be interesting to see how his music – and acting – career continues.

RuPaul released his own memoir titled “The House of Hidden Meanings”on March 5.

Photo courtesy of Parade

The man behind the music: Djo

Keery is currently credited with 18 acting projects.

Photo courtesy of Rolling Stone

OPINION

Gatekeepers and elitists are ruining music

CONTINUED FROM A1

Music has long been heralded as the universal language. Every song can speak to people of all different cultures and backgrounds regardless of their fluency in the language the song was written in. Listeners can even feel themselves connecting to foreign music with lyrics they don’t understand, sometimes prompting them to take an interest in the culture in which the song was born. But if music has the innate ability to reach across physical and social borders to connect people, why is so much of the music community exclusionary?

In many cases, the exclusionary culture of gatekeeping music groups comes from a desire to be in a small, exclusive group of fans. The feeling of having

an underground music taste is highly sought after by hard-core fans of music. When playing your favorite music for friends, being complimented and asked about the band you’re playing evokes an unrivaled sense of validation. Nothing makes you feel cooler than casually replying to these inquiries with, “Oh, it’s a really small band. You’ve probably never heard of them.”

The desire to have an underground music taste is the primary reason that many fans gatekeep their favorite bands and try to keep them out of the mainstream. Their tastes in music feel less and less special the more widespread recognition their favorite artists get. Of course, attitudes like this actively harm other fans and the artists themselves within the music community.

Many smaller artists would be justified in feeling betrayed by their most loyal fans. Although the first fans of an artist might have positive intentions in wanting to maintain a small, close-knit community, their efforts often hold the artist back from reaching the popularity they dream of and hurt the artist’s ability to make a living off their music.

In addition to holding back smaller artists, gatekeeping music hurts incoming fans of well-known bands. Recently, notable fan communities have reacted negatively to their favorite bands being discovered by new demographics, their elitist perspectives causing them to shame new listeners for not being real fans.

In 2020, fans of the iconic pop-rock band Fleetwood Mac

found themselves divided after a TikTok user posted a video of himself skateboarding down the road with a bottle of cranberry juice to the sound of the band’s hit song “Dreams.” The TikTok exploded in popularity, becoming a viral trend and catapulting “Dreams” back into the Billboard Top 100 for the first time since 1977. Of course, some long-time fans of the band couldn’t hide their elitist attitudes. “I grew up listening to Fleetwood Mac, you heard them on TikTok. We are not the same,” one fan wrote in a sincedeleted post.

In support of the TikTok trend, band members Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks posted their own videos to the sound of “Dreams.” Nicks later reflected on the trend in an interview with CBS, saying, “I’m happy about it because it

Can teams be too good at drafting?

By Tom Norman

In the early 2010s, the Oklahoma City Thunder was shaping up to be one of the greatest young NBA teams of the era. In 2012, led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden, the team advanced to the NBA Finals, where they would eventually lose to the Miami Heat in five games.

By pure coincidence, each of those three lead guys would win a Most Valuable Player award during their careers. If you didn’t know what happens next, you would think that this team had all the makings of the next great NBA dynasty.

Unfortunately for them, that 2012 NBA Finals run was the most success the Thunder would see with these core players. The very next offseason, Oklahoma City traded Harden to the Houston Rockets due to salary cap restrictions. The Thunder could only afford to offer him a fouryear, $55.5 million contract

which, according to ESPN, Harden was not willing to take.

The question I pose is simple: can you be too good at drafting? That question may seem silly. Of course every team’s goal would be to always draft the best player possible with each pick. However, when you consider the practices put in place by professional sports leagues, drafting that many MVPs rarely works out.

One of the limitations to drafting is the salary cap. In many professional leagues, teams are limited in the amount of money they are allowed to spend yearly. This cap serves as a sort of system of checks and balances to keep rich teams from collecting all the good players. Although the salary caps for most leagues have been steadily increasing over the years, the cap still serves its purpose to limit richer teams from effectively buying all the good players’ contracts.

The cap, however, can also inhibit teams from keeping around the superstars that

they drafted. Some rules give players’ original teams the right to make the first offer. If another team makes a larger offer and the original team can’t match it, the player can take the highest offer given to them. This is what happened in 2012 with Harden and the Thunder, though OKC decided to trade him before they had to watch him leave for nothing in return.

We’ve seen the problem of having too many good players on one team pop up again recently. Currently, the San Francisco 49ers are reportedly trying to trade their star receiver Brandon Aiyuk. This is because there are many star players on the team and, in turn, just as many star playerlevel contracts that the Niners can’t afford.

They are already in a poor position with their payroll, and the pending free agency of Aiyuk isn’t helping. Even the present-day Oklahoma City Thunder may be destined to a similar fate to the 2012 team

seems to have made so many people happy.”

Surrounding a medium that has so much potential to bring people together, it’s disappointing that the music community is so plagued with issues of exclusion. Why should it matter how long a fan has followed an artist? Why should it matter how they discovered them? The obscene prevalence of these divisions within the music community has given us all front-row seats to how gatekeeping and elitism are ruining music.

Ryan Monke is a sophomore mass media studies major and an assistant opinion editor.

due to their very young core.

However, not every league has a salary cap. Major League Baseball forgoes the typical salary cap for a luxury tax system. A team’s taxes are entirely dependent on the money they spend on their roster, where teams with high payrolls have to pay more in taxes while low payrolls pay less. Although many have been critical of this system, it’s a part of the game and it would be too detrimental to the structure of the league to change it now.

For this reason, the idea of being too good at drafting doesn’t exist in baseball. With the lack of a hard salary cap, teams are at liberty to keep every good player they draft around for as long as they can. The question there becomes how much money the ownership of a team is willing to spend to keep their core.

I believe that teams can very easily get caught up in the idea of only drafting the brightest stars. But if you draft an

MVP-caliber player every year, you will eventually run out of money to pay all of them. The sweet spot of drafting is combining the star-level players with practical players that complement the stars and cost much less.

We even saw that dynamic with the 2012 Thunder. Harden wasn’t able to develop into the caliber of player he would eventually become until he left for Houston, and Westbrook didn’t win his MVP award until after Durant left following the 2015-2016 season.

The point I’m trying to make here is a simple one: having too many stars is bad for all parties. Teams have to make sacrifices because of cap restrictions, players have to pack up and move because of those restrictions, and fans get robbed of special team lineups because of, ironically, their team drafting too well.

Tom Norman is a sophomore journalism major and an assistant opinion editor.

OPINION

The views and opinions expressed in the Opinion section are those of the authors. They are not an endorsement of the views of The Chronicle or its staff. The Chronicle does not discriminate based on the opinions of the authors.

Across

2. Dinosaur-like creature from the Super Mario Bros. franchise.

3. Chris Cornell was the lead man for this Seattlebased band that began in 1984.

5. Google’s competitor to Excel.

7. Sam Bankman-Fried co-founded this company, a fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange.

9. Sea or stretch of water containing many islands.

11. Man who outlined the mathematical theorem that explains the three sides of a right triangle.

13. Virtual “thrifting” app founded in 2011.

14. Shared name of a whiskered fish and a famous reality television show.

Down

1. Capital of Iowa.

4. Large intrinsic shoulder muscle, named for its resemblance to the Greek letter delta.

6. The “toe” of Italy’s “boot.”

8. Unlike mayo, this dip swaps eggs for garlic.

10. A famous Johnny and Matt share this surname.

12. Band whose music became the soundtrack for “Mamma Mia.”

Graphic by Ethan Albin / The Hofstra Chronicle

The views and opinions expressed in the Opinion section are those of the authors. They are not an endorsement of the views of The Chronicle or its staff. The Chronicle does not discriminate based on the opinions of the authors.

Why your “cool” professor low-key sucks

By Craig Mannino

We can all think of that one professor. You know the one: they hate deadlines, don’t have a syllabus and just love going off-topic. They’re just like us! And who can complain? An easy A is an easy A, but was that A worth the tuition you paid to get it? I certainly don’t think so, and neither should you.

Before we assign blame to our university’s “cool” professors, we must be careful that the actual cool professors are not caught in the crossfire. The distinction between these two types of professors is clear. An actual cool professor cares about their lesson plan, their syllabus and their assignments. They care about teaching while simultaneously caring about you, your mental health and your life.

A “cool” professor does not care about any of these things. They are less focused

By Tom Saxa

One of the more important, albeit underrated, aspects of society is the concept of consequences. Whether it be a slap on the wrist or four consecutive life sentences, a hearty consequence will serve as an effective deterrent for bad behavior. So, what happens when consequences are removed, and one can say and do whatever they want anonymously?

People being more unfiltered under the mask of anonymity is nothing new. In fact, in 1969, well before God’s vomit bin in the form of X, the Stanford Prison Experiment proved this. This study consisted of college students acting as fake prisoners or guards in a prison setting and evaluated the psychological impact the simulation had on

on actually teaching and more concerned with the opinions of a room of teenagers and 20-somethings and the check they get at the end of each month.

A “cool” professor would rather do anything than teach. To a lot of us, this is great. A class with one of these professors can be a breath of fresh air from your regular class schedule, work and extracurriculars. But what do you get out of these classes? In my experience, you get very little.

Sure, everything your “cool” professor does means less work for you, but have you ever thought about how it also means significantly less work for them? By assigning less, they grade less; by teaching less, they plan less (if at all); and by letting class out early, they spend less time teaching (again, if at all). The “cool” professor is a waste of time. They don’t prepare their lessons, they don’t attempt to

keep the class focused, and most of all, they do not teach.

If a professor doesn’t teach, students can’t learn. At face value, this doesn’t seem like that big a deal. Regardless of whether you learned something or not, you passed the class, you got the credits and you’re one step closer to commencement. I’d argue that higher education can and should be much more than just getting a diploma. You can learn so much on this campus in and outside of classes, and “cool” professors hinder your potential.

Disregarding my idealistic view of higher education, “cool” professors also fail to serve those who view higher education pragmatically. When we graduate, we will enter a ridiculously competitive job market. In this market, standing out to employers is crucial to succeed and a “cool” professor does nothing to help their students stand out.

I understand that different

learning and teaching styles exist and that the many combinations of the two are not all compatible, but this is not a teaching style – this is laziness. Professors are employees whose job description, according to an Indeed listing for an “Assistant/Associate/ Full Professor of Education” (education is purely used as a random example), includes “teaching undergraduate and/ or graduate courses.” “Cool” professors are more concerned with being seen as “cool” to a room of young people than with doing what they are paid to do: teach.

That last piece is important because the money Hofstra University uses to pay these professors doesn’t come out of Jessica Eads’, Susan Poser’s or even David Mack’s pockets. It comes from ours. According to the Hofstra Bursar website, one credit hour costs $1,825. Given that most of the courses at this university are three credits, we can conclude that one

Anonymity makes you unfiltered

both groups. What they found was that under the guise of anonymity, the guards verbally and physically abused the prisoners in a way that was far more ruthless than they were initially determined to be. While this experiment is flawed, what was discovered is that people act far more unfiltered when they are anonymous. If you want a modern-day example, look no further than X (formerly known as Twitter). The fact that a person can create an account with no connection to their real-world self allows them to share their completely unhinged and undercooked thoughts with the public. I’ve seen it all, from numerous posts denying the Holocaust to a thread telling men to befriend children to a Jared the Subway Guy fan account … from 2019. There are countless of these

posts and accounts that would get anybody else blacklisted, but under the guise of anonymity, it’s perfectly fine.

A more pressing example is the nightmares that are Instagram comments. What originally seemed like innocuous, edgy jokes have evolved into a cesspool of degeneracy, bad taste and deplorable comments, as if the goal is to offend everyone at once. Simple videos of a child giving facts are met with a plethora of comments calling them slurs and threatening their life.

I’m not going to be the comedy police and dictate whether this kind of behavior is funny or not because, admittedly, I’ve chuckled at an embarrassing number of these comments. Still, the constant edginess arms race not only

class costs us about $5,475. Of course, scholarships exist, but it is likely that, regardless of financial aid, most people’s classes will run them back at least several thousand dollars – several thousand dollars that are not well spent by having your time wasted by a professor without a lesson plan. Seriously, think back to your last class with one of these professors. Was your experience worth over $5,000? Absolutely not. Even though it may feel like you work for your professors, really your professors work for you. You are – although not directly – paying them for your education, and any professor who fails to deliver an education under the guise of being “cool” is not cool, they are just lazy.

Craig Mannino is an English and writing studies double major.

facilitates a culture of bullying and harassment but also desensitizes us from these awful things.

The common defense to this concept is free speech. If it’s just words, people should be allowed to say anything, right? See, as much as I’m on board with the sentiment of free speech, I’m also a fan of accountability. When people make a claim endorsing racism or homophobia and then hide behind a blank user, it removes the chance for consequences and rightful backlash. Where we used to face consequences for harmful behavior, now people can often say whatever they want without accountability.

As someone who’s been exposed to the internet for my entire life, I’ve seen how people act when they have no consequences. People will

say anything that comes to mind when they don’t have a reputation to uphold. Is this fixable? Probably not, as it’s just the nature of the internet –plus free speech is still a major factor. Still, remember that words can mean a lot, and what you say can greatly impact the person who reads it, even if it doesn’t affect you.

Tom Saxa is a freshman film studies major who specializes in op-eds and all things hot takes. Find him on Instagram @tbonesaxaphone.

SPORTS

Hofstra takes down Monmouth on Lutfi OT winner

By Conner Keough STAFF WRITER

The Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team ended their fivegame losing streak in a thrilling fashion against the Monmouth University Hawks on Saturday, March 30. Sam Lutfi scored two goals, including the overtime winner. Hofstra is now tied with Monmouth, Drexel University and Stony Brook University with a 1-2 record in conference play.

Rory Jones snapped his twogame pointless streak with two goals and an assist. Hofstra goalie Sean Henderson had his

best game of the season so far, recording 10 saves, including the 100th of his collegiate career. Monmouth goaltender Tommy Heller stopped 18 Hofstra shots in the loss.

Within the first minute of play, Brandon Rispoli was called for a 30-second penalty, directly converting to a Hofstra goal. Rory Jones finished on a pass from Griffin Turner to give Hofstra the early advantage until Monmouth answered moments later.

The Pride and the Hawks traded goals to tie the game up after 15 minutes. Connor Macrae launched his first of four goals past Henderson in the final minute of the first quarter.

Goals came at a premium in the first half, as Hofstra and Monmouth were only able to make a combined seven goals.

Hawks midfielder Sean Ketchen was denied by Blake Cooling on a leaping behind-the-back shot to keep Hofstra up late in the second half.

Hofstra’s defense stood tall in front of Henderson and boxed

out Monmouth shooters to only allow three goals in the first half.

“I thought we defended better today,” said Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney. “[Cooling and Will Delaney] are guys who don’t want to let me down. They have improved in every opportunity given to them.”

Late in the half, Cooling forced a turnover which allowed Hofstra to cut a Monmouth possession short. On the fast transition, short-stick defensive midfielder Matt Villas joined the attack and scored the first goal of his career to give the Pride a 4-3 lead at halftime. Hofstra defenders created numerous opportunities like this throughout the game.

“The defense has worked a lot on their riding as the season’s gone on,” Tierney said. “When we ride and cause a turnover, it’s a two-possession swing: we take one from them and create one for ourselves.”

Hofstra took a commanding three-goal lead in the third quarter on goals by Justin

Sykes, Jones and Lutfi. Macrae ended the Pride’s three-goal scoring run with one of his own in the final two minutes of the frame.

Macrae’s goal shifted the momentum and the score knotted at seven. Hofstra entered their first overtime game since March 26, 2022, against Providence College.

Monmouth won the opening face-off, but JT Roselle forced a turnover shortly after. Heller stopped Lutfi once, then Monmouth failed to get the ball across midfield resulting

in a turnover. Before the next possession, Tierney took a timeout which resulted in drawing the Hawks defenders away and allowing Lutfi to score. Lutfi’s goal gave the Pride their first overtime win since April 6, 2019, over the University of Massachusetts.

Hofstra now has new life in the Coastal Athletic Association tournament race. The Pride plays next Saturday, April 6, at Towson University. Face-off is set for noon.

Lutfi has scored two or more goals in all six matches he has played in so far this season.

Photo courtesy of Jon Reiss / Hofstra Athletics

By Anthony Hidalgo STAFF WRITER

The Hofstra University women’s lacrosse team remained in stellar form in their fourth straight win in Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) play, taking down the Towson University Tigers 15-8 on Saturday, March 30, at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

Melissa Sconone and Kerry Walser spurred the Pride offense with four goals each while Nikki Mennella tied her season-high with five points, scoring her fourth hat trick of the season to go along with a

Pride extends CAA win streak

pair of assists after missing the last four matches for Hofstra.

Taylor Mennella also contributed four points on two goals and two assists in the win.

The Tigers jumped out to the early 1-0 lead in just under five minutes thanks to Lindsay Clarke’s fifth goal of the season, but Walser and Nikki Mennella responded just minutes apart to gain a 2-1 advantage. After Towson knotted up the score with a Lindsey Marshall goal, Nikki Mennella found the net a second time, giving Hofstra a lead they would not relinquish for the rest of the game.

Marshall was the main highlight for Towson, scoring a game-high five goals in the loss. Clarke, Milana Zizakovic and Halley Koras each added a goal of their own.

The Pride owned the second quarter, scoring the first five goals of the stanza. Sconone kicked off the run with her first goal of the afternoon less

than a minute into the quarter followed by four different members of the Pride scoring to extend Hofstra’s lead to 8-2 with over nine minutes remaining in the half.

Walser reached a special milestone in the second quarter. Not only did she complete her hat trick with her third goal of the day, but the senior also became the 21st member of the Pride to reach 100 career points.

Goalie Luchianna Cardello had four of her nine saves in just the second quarter, giving the Tigers little to work with as the Pride maintained control the whole way through. The sophomore goalkeeper also reached the 200-career-save mark during the game, continually providing evidence as to why she’s the Pride’s go-to goalie.

Towson tried to find their way back into the game with a pair of goals in the quarter but still found themselves trailing

9-4 going into the break.

Marshall completed her hat trick less than a minute into the second half as the rest of the Tigers were unable to crack any holes in the Pride’s defense, going scoreless for the rest of the third quarter.

The Pride continued to pull away, going on a 4-0 run capped off by Sconone’s fourth goal five minutes into the fourth quarter before Lauren Coletti put on the finishing touches with her 10th goal of the season a few minutes later.

Hofstra left zero questions moving forward, improving to 7-4 and 4-0 in CAA play as they now look to go on the road and battle Big 10 member Rutgers University in a nonconference matchup. Towson slips to 5-6 overall and 2-2 in CAA play.

The Pride and the Scarlet Knights will meet on Wednesday, April 3, from SHI Stadium in Piscataway, New Jersey,with the first draw scheduled for 6 p.m.

Pride bests UNCW in first sweep of season

By Nick Mongiovi STAFF WRITER

The Hofstra University softball team swept the UNC-Wilmington (UNCW) Seahawks on Sunday, March 31, after winning game three 6-1. This win for the Pride

improved their overall record to 10-17 and their Coastal Athletic Association record to 8-4. UNCW, on the other hand, fell to 17-15 overall and 8-4 in the CAA.

Hofstra’s four runs in the fifth inning broke this game open. With Gianna Iaquinto on first, Alanna Morse moved her over to second base with a sacrifice bunt. Chelsea Villar came up clutch with an RBI single up the middle, scoring Iaquinto from third base and increasing the team’s lead to 3-1.

With runners on the corners and one out in the fifth inning, Chelsea Manto reached base safely on a fielding error

by Seahawks shortstop Mary Sobataka, scoring Villar on the error. Olivia Malinowski’s two-out double to right center scored both Manto and Kayla Wilson, increasing the Pride’s lead to 6-1.

In the top of the fourth inning, Becca Vaillancourt singled up the middle as Alanna Morse came around to score to knot the game up at 1-1. With the bases loaded and one away, Malinowski walked, as Wilson crossed the plate to give Hofstra a 2-1 lead. UNCW opened the scoring in this one with Morgan Britt hitting a double to left field, scoring Tayler Vitola from second. The Seahawks led 1-0 after three innings of play.

Julia Apsel started all three games of this series. In game three, Apsel fanned five Seahawks batters throughout five innings of work. Apsel also surrendered one run on five hits and two walks, earning her ninth win of the season as she improved to 9-5.

Anna Butler came in

relief and fired two shutout innings for Hofstra.

Vaillancourt and Aliya Catanzarita both recorded multihit games, as they both went 2-4 at the plate. Malinowski went 1-4, but she knocked in three of the six runs scored for the Pride.

Vaillancourt raised her batting average to .373 after the three-game series. Vaillancourt went 8-12 with three RBIs and three runs scored in the series. Catanzarita went 6-10 with six RBIs and three runs scored in

the series. Malinowski went 4-10 with three RBIs in the series, as three propelled Hofstra over UNCW in dominating fashion.

The Pride are back in action on Wednesday, April 3, at Rutgers University to take on the Scarlet Knights. The first pitch is set for 1 p.m.

Apsel is credited with nine of Hofstra’s 10 wins so far this season.

Photo courtesy of Matteo Bracco / Hofstra Athletics

Photo courtesy of Lee S. Weissman / Hofstra Athletics

The Pride has won six of their last seven games.

SPORTS

Tigers jump ahead early to take series from Hofstra

By Aaron Diaz STAFF WRITER

On Sunday, March 31, the Hofstra University baseball team lost their second Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) series against the Towson University Tigers, 10-8.

The Pride surrendered a comfortable 5-1 lead in the fifth inning as the Tigers completed a major comeback against Hofstra to snatch the series away. Towson did strike first off Hofstra’s starting pitcher Steven Kaenzig as Bryce Frederick took Kaenzig deep in the third inning to start the scoring with a 1-0 lead. Kaenzig combatted the third-

inning home run and pitched a well-versed game, only giving up three runs on three hits in 4.1 innings pitched for the Pride.

While Kaenzig held the Tigers down, Hofstra tacked on more runs to add a sizable lead ahead of them. Against Towson pitchers Max Simpson and Ryder Jeske, the top of the Pride’s lineup piled on four runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

Will Kennedy and Alex McCoy doubled and Dylan Palmer singled while Kennedy again drew in a walk to take a 5-1 lead by the end of the fifth inning.

The Tigers then clawed back in the bottom halves of the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game at 6-6. Frederick went 3-4 from the batter’s box with three RBIs in the game, making him a big contributor to the Tiger’s come-from-behind win.

Towson took that momentum and completely overtook the Pride with a double and single from Jordan Peyton and

Taye Robinson in the seventh for an 8-6 score. Peyton came through again with another single, capping the Towson score at 10 in the eighth.

Sean Lane and Palmer tried to come back from the threerun deficit in the eighth and ninth innings, contributing two runs coming off two doubles to make the score 10-8.

Jordan Luton came in and closed the game and series for Towson with a 10-8 win over Hofstra.

In their second weekend CAA series thus far, Hofstra has gotten off to a rocky start with a 2-4 record in conference play. They have not won a series yet and sit at 10-17 overall.

Towson is no better, with the same 2-4 clip in the CAA and only seven wins on the season. However, they displayed a well-played series against Hofstra this weekend. Peyton dazzled from the middle of the lineup for Towson, finishing with three RBIs and three hits on the day.

In their losing efforts, Hof-

stra contributed eight runs off eight hits with Palmer slugging 3-5 with three RBIs. Kennedy also shined with three RBIs of his own.

Penn Sealey received the loss for his efforts in the game. He came in for one inning of work, blowing the gates open for Towson in the late innings. He finished with no strikeouts and gave up

two earned runs off four hits. Hofstra will next travel to Rutgers University for a non-conference matchup on Tuesday, April 2, with the first pitch at 3 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Rob Cuni / Hofstra Athletics

Hofstra is 33-35 all time against Towson.

By Anthony Hildago STAFF WRITER

Melissa Sconone has never known life without lacrosse.

“I’ve been playing since I could walk,” she said. “My parents were my coaches growing up, and my brothers were always in the backyard throwing balls at me, making sure I could catch everything. I picked up anything and everything I could; I just love to play.”

Sconone wears the number 50 on her Hofstra women’s lacrosse team jersey, the same number as her brothers who shaped her game from an early age.

“They have always been my biggest role models, and I’ve wanted to be just like them,” she said. “My brother is a goalie, so getting to shoot on him has been awesome, helping me grow as a player.”

Melissa’s older brother, Sean, played for the University of Massachussetts Amherst and won the nation’s most outstanding goalkeeper in 2019. He’s now with the Denver Outlaws of the Premier Lacrosse League, and along with their brother Robert, the two older siblings inspired Sconone to take her game to an elite level.

A Long Island native, Sconone spent her high school career at East Islip earning AllCounty honors three times, as well as a spot on the Newsday Top 100 Player list. Inside Lacrosse ranked her at No. 49 overall, and she was the 11th ranked attacker in the incoming

Melissa Sconone: A lifetime of lacrosse

freshman class of 2019.

However, these accolades didn’t come without their challenges. Sconone suffered an ACL tear her freshman year of high school before tearing the same ligament in her other knee less than two years later. A knee arthroscopy in her senior year would be her third surgery before she even made it to the University of North Carolina, which she called home for the last four years.

“It was a battle through high school, but it has definitely helped me grow up and taught me so many lessons in life that I’ve been able to transfer on the lacrosse field,” Sconone said. Sconone, facing the biggest road bump of her playing career,

have made it through without them; I owe a lot of my recovery process and where I am today to them.”

Despite the setbacks, Sconone wouldn’t let her injuries deter her drive to be out on the field with her teammates.

“That first game back is exciting and nerve racking all in one, but it’s just like riding a bike,” she said.

Sconone described her time at UNC as a dream, including reaching the pinnacle of college lacrosse

during her stint at Chapel Hill, Sconone’s favorite memories involve the time spent with her teammates off the field.

“My family was my rock. They gave me tough love when I needed it but were also there to support me when I was down. I would not have made it through without them.”

leaned towards her family to weather the storm ahead.

“My family was my rock. They gave me tough love when I needed it but were also there to support me when I was down,” she said. “I would not

by winning an NCAA national championship in 2022. Now, she sets her focus on the next part of her journey as a member of the Pride.

Through the first 11 games this season, Sconone has fit into the Hofstra starting lineup with ease, scoring eight goals and assisting on nine. Her 47 points are tied for second on the side, but what she contributes to the team goes deeper than the stat sheet.

Despite having over 70 points in four seasons to go along with the national title and pair of Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championships

“Traveling with the team, team meals, any second on or off the field with my teammates was the best,” Sconone said. “Going to basketball games or football games, just everything about being with the team was awesome.”

Although this season is her first with Hofstra, Sconone described how she’s already building some of the closest relationships with her new teammates.

“We went to California, for the University of Southern California, and we got to go down to Santa Monica Pier and Manhattan Beach. Walking around with my teammates and exploring those opportunities was awesome. That was my favorite memory so far,” Sconone said. “[Luchianna] Cardello and Nikki Mennella, those few girls have been awesome with me. I also played

with Taylor [Mennella] growing up playing club lacrosse. Kerry Walser has been awesome with welcoming me with open arms; I couldn’t be happier to be on the same team with her and the others.”

Something she’s been looking forward to is coaching, especially after she got her first taste last summer by joining the Long Island Yellow Jackets, working with one of their U15 teams. The club team is where she first met Taylor Mennella.

“It’s just great to give back to the younger generation, the club that groomed you and helped mold me into the player I was at Carolina and now at Hofstra,” Sconone said. “I always had a dream of college coaching.”

That goes together with her pursuit of a master’s degree in physical education.

“The goal right now is to be a physical education teacher and to coach high school sports, but whatever opportunities come at the end of this year I’m definitely going to take them with an open mind,” she said.

Despite the Pride’s 2-3 start to the 2024 campaign, the graduate student’s presence is already being felt and should only grow as the season progresses.

Photo courtesy of Lee S. Weissman / Hostra Athletics Sconone averages 2.00 assists per game, which ranks third in the CAA.

Photo courtesy of Geoffrey Bolte / Hostra Athletics

Sconone has 47 points in 11 games this season.

SPORTS

Griffin Turner hits his stride with the Pride

By Conner Keough STAFF WRITER

It’s debatable where he learns more from: on-thefield experience, or from his teammates. Griffin Turner of the Hofstra University men’s lacrosse team has bettered himself in many ways since joining the Pride in 2022.

Turner had a tumultuous journey before joining the Pride. Graduating from high school in 2020, Turner’s recruitment path had to be put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Before coming to Hofstra, the California native briefly attended Texas Christian University where he played his first year on their club team.

“I loved my time at TCU,” Turner said. “Playing club was very different from playing Division I. I wanted more commitment from the program, and I just didn’t have that at TCU.”

Making the jump from a club team to Division I lacrosse wasn’t easy. Turner wasn’t sure where he would be playing. He credits Kyle Harrison, a former player of Hofstra head coach Seth Tierney’s while at Johns Hopkins University, with recommending Hofstra to Turner.

“Kyle was a big role model for me,” Turner said. “I would watch him growing up and tried to model my game after his. After hearing him speak so highly of Tierney and the staff here [at Hofstra], it made it

pretty easy to choose here.”

The challenges continued for Turner after joining the program. New York still had strict COVID-19 restrictions in the fall of 2021 that affected Turner’s ability to get acclimated to his teammates and the unfamiliar environment.

“I kept saying to the coaching staff that I just felt bad for guys like Griffin,” Tierney said. “This was a very hard time for our team because we couldn’t get together and practice. Griffin didn’t know anybody on the team and had no way of getting to meet them.”

After minimal practice time, Turner played his first collegiate season with Hofstra that spring. His phenomenal freshman

Turner himself admits he’s been asked to do many different things as he’s gotten more playing time.

“My role has definitely changed,” Turner said. “It comes down to how much I’ve been trusted to have the ball on my stick. This year, I’ve been working on drawing more slides and being more unselfish.”

Turner’s year-over-year growth has been remarkable for the Pride. In his sophomore season, he reached a career-high 11 goals and eight assists in an injury-shortened campaign that saw him play nine games.

“Last season, I injured both my ankles about a month apart,” Turner said. “I was on crutches and couldn’t play. It was an

Stony Brook University, where the Pride ultimately fell short of the Coastal Athletic Association (CAA) tournament.

Turner hasn’t taken last year for granted. He’s continuing to improve and is riding an 18-game point streak. He sits second on the team in points (26) and is first in assists (17). Turner already notched a careerhigh in assists and averages two per game.

In his junior season, Turner credits his great play to his teammates. Away from the field, Turner had a hard time connecting with the culture of the team. After transferring from TCU and dealing with COVID-19 restrictions, it took him some time before he got

“If our team is a boat, Griffin is now one of the guys with the oar steering it to the right direction. Wherever this team ends up will be determined by guys like him.”

season concluded with him earning three starts and scoring seven goals and six assists in 14 total games. In the years since, Turner’s role on the team has only grown.

incredible feeling when I was able to come back and play the last game of the season against Drexel. I was dreaming of getting back on the field every day.”

Turner’s season finale against Drexel University was arguably the best game of his career. He scored three goals and had two assists to help the Pride beat the Dragons 8-7. Unfortunately for Hofstra, Turner’s ankle would keep him out of the lineup in the Pride’s season finale versus

on the shyer side.

“Like Coach [Tierney] said, I’m definitely a man of few words,” Turner said. “However, I have noticed myself getting more vocal over the years. I think it comes down to just becoming more comfortable with the guys on the team and building that trust in them.”

The Hofstra men’s lacrosse team has gone through many changes since Turner arrived in Hempstead. With Tierney at the helm, leadership and accountability are still central to the integrity of the program and the players he recruits.

“I’m really proud of the guys we’re coaching,” Tierney said. “If our team is a boat, Griffin is now one of the guys with the oar steering it to the right direction. Wherever this team ends up will be determined by guys like him.”

This season is young, and the path this team is on is still undecided. The Pride is currently 0-2 in CAA play which makes each game more important than the last. The individual accomplishments and points don’t matter to Turner. He stays focused on bringing the program back to glory.

comfortable.

“Rory Jones and I have been playing together for a few years now and our chemistry keeps getting more fluent,” Turner said. “Obviously, I’ve gotten a few more assists this year because guys like him are putting the ball away.”

Even with his improving output on the field, Tierney is more impressed with Turner’s growth as a leader on the team.

“Griffin doesn’t say a whole lot. He never has. But when he does speak, the whole room goes quiet,” Tierney said. “He got some votes to be a captain this year, and we’re hopeful he can be soon. He’s grown so much from the kid who didn’t know anybody, and becoming a captain next year is a real possibility.”

Turner has wholeheartedly accepted the challenge of becoming a leader despite being

“I want to win a CAA championship,” Turner said. “That would be a dream come true for me.”

Hofstra has not been to the conference tournament since 2021 and has a 16-season championship drought. Turner has one more year of NCAA eligibility and will graduate with a bachelor’s degree in finance in May.

“I will definitely be back for a fifth year. There’s unfinished business with this team. And I’m excited to see what we can do,” Turner said.

Photo courtesy of Lee S. Weissman / Hostra Athletics Turner has 59 points in his first three seasons with the Pride.

Sam Lutfi’s overtime winner caps off Hofstra’s first CAA victory of the season.

Photo courtesy of Jon Reiss / Hofstra Athletics